Crew, 1st-round pick Frelick make it official

MILWAUKEE -- Brewers first-round Draft pick Sal Frelick got his first look at American Family Field on Tuesday when he was among three top Milwaukee picks who signed their first professional contracts.

Frelick, the speedy Boston College outfielder, was selected 15th overall by Milwaukee. He signed on Tuesday, along with Competitive Balance pick Tyler Black, a second baseman from Wright State taken 33rd overall, and Oak Creek, Wis., native Alex Binelas, a third baseman out of the University of Louisville drafted 86th overall in the third round.

They were the first signings announced by the Brewers in the wake of last week’s three-day MLB Draft.

Frelick signed for $4 million (above slot value of $3,885,800), Black signed for $2,202,200 (full slot value) and Binelas signed for $700,000 (just above slot value), MLB.com’s Jim Callis reported.

“Long road,” said Frelick, when asked what went through his mind as he put pen to paper. “There have been a lot of things in the past with injuries and with COVID, so I never really thought to get to this spot. To put my name on paper was really special.”

Frelick, 21, hit .359 with six home runs and 27 RBIs in 48 games as a junior at Boston College in 2021, earning All-ACC First Team and ACC Defensive Player of the Year honors. He was named to the Baseball America All-America Third Team and was a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award.

Because it has been 40-some days since he last played a baseball game, Frelick will travel to Phoenix on Wednesday to spend some time at the Brewers' spring complex. Once he logs some at-bats and gets his baseball legs back, the club will assign him to a Minor League affiliate, scouting director Tod Johnson said.

Frelick, who couldn’t take batting practice with the Brewers on Tuesday because of COVID-19 protocols, said he was “champing at the bit just to play baseball.” Someday he hopes to meet outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr., whom Frelick cheered when Bradley played in Boston.

Signing his contract, he said, “was everything I thought it would feel like. It was really special. And to do it in such a good baseball town, as well. The next part now is a couple of years of grinding and hopefully I can get back here soon.”

Black, 20, a native of Toronto, batted .383 with 13 homers and 59 RBIs in 48 games during his sophomore season at Wright State. He was named All-Horizon League First Team and a Third-Team All-American by Perfect Game, ABCA/Rawlings and D1Baseball.com after leading the Raiders to the NCAA Tournament.

Binelas, 21, hit 19 home runs with 63 RBIs in 50 games as a sophomore at Louisville in 2021, earning Third Team All-ACC honors. Early in the Draft process, he was considered a potential Top 5 pick, but his stock took a hit when he got off to a slow start after suffering a fractured hamate in his hand in 2020 before the season was halted.

He played his high school ball at Oak Creek High, about 15 miles from American Family Field, and said it has long been his dream to play for the Brewers.

“I want to bring a World Series to Milwaukee. I want to be a part of that one day,” Binelas said last week. “That’s always going to be in the back of my head, working up through the farm system and every workout that I go through. It’s something added onto me, that, growing up here, I want to help the organization as much as I can, because it’s what I’ve grown up watching.”