Who was No. 1 pick in Brewers alumni-game draft? It wasn't Ryan Braun

[ASFN Admin]

Team Wisco and general manager Gord Ash didn't go with perhaps the obvious choice in making the first pick of the Milwaukee Brewers Alumni Legends Game, a selection made at the Saint Kate hotel in downtown Milwaukee on July 23.

A fleet of former Brewers players will be on hand at American Family Field for a three-inning alumni showcase July 24, following the Brewers' regularly scheduled game against the Colorado Rockies, which starts at 3:10 p.m. CT. Former Brewers general manager Doug Melvin (Team Milwaukee) and his top assistant, Ash (Team Wisco), selected the teams a day in advance, with former coaches Garth Iorg (Team Wisco) and Ed Sedar (Team Milwaukee) serving as managers.

Ryan Braun was on the board, but Ash went with a player he called "the former Ohtani" in selecting Yovani Gallardo, the ex-Brewers standout pitcher who could also hit a little bit during his tenure with the Brewers from 2007-2014, with 12 career home runs.

With the chance to draft six position players, two catchers and seven pitchers, there's a boatload of value in a pitcher who can do a little work in the field. A later-round pick for Brooks Kieschnick demonstrated further how much Ash had this in mind.

Melvin and Sedar quickly snapped Braun up with their first-round pick. "I'm going to have to tell him the game's only three innings," Melvin said. "He didn't start hitting in the clutch until the seventh, eighth and ninth inning, so I'm a little worried."

Players were selected based on positional availability and ... well, the perception that they still have enough left in the tank to contribute on a baseball diamond.

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Here's how the picks played out in the draft:

• Round 1: Yovani Gallardo (Team Wisco) and Ryan Braun (Team Milwaukee)
• Round 2: Geoff Jenkins (Team Wisco) and Corey Hart (Team Milwaukee)
• Round 3: Bill Hall (Team Wisco) and Richie Sexson (Team Milwaukee)
• Round 4: Eris Sogard (Team Wisco) and Jeremy Jeffress (Team Milwaukee)
• Round 5: Jonathan Lucroy (Team Wisco) and Carlos Villanueva (Team Milwaukee)
• Round 6: Randy Wolf (Team Wisco) and Jace Peterson (Team Milwaukee)
• Round 7: Casey McGehee (Team Wisco) and George Kottaras (Team Milwaukee)
• Round 8: Corey Knebel (Team Wisco) and Travis Shaw (Team Milwaukee)
• Round 9: Eric Thames (Team Wisco) and Ben Sheets (Team Milwaukee)
• Round 10: Chase Anderson (Team Wisco) and Jeff Bianchi (Team Milwaukee)
• Round 11: Brooks Kieschnick (Team Wisco) and Chris Narveson (Team Milwaukee)
• Round 12: Brad Boxberger (Team Wisco) and Doug Davis (Team Milwaukee)
• Round 13: Brandon Kintzler (Team Wisco) and Dan Kolb (Team Milwaukee)
• Round 14: Erik Kratz (Team Wisco) and Manny Piña (Team Milwaukee)
• Round 15: Jesús Aguilar (Team Wisco) and Tim Dillard (Team Milwaukee)

Dillard (now a team broadcaster) appropriately became this draft's version of Mr. Irrelevant, and Sedar immediately expressed an interest in trading him.

"I like our offensive power, and our pitching ... you just don't know," Melvin said. "Story of my career."

Team Wisco​

• General manager: Gord Ash
• Manager: Garth Iorg
• Position players: Jesús Aguilar, Bill Hall, Geoff Jenkins, Casey McGehee, Eris Sogard, Eric Thames
• Catchers: Erik Kratz, Jonathan Lucroy
• Pitchers: Chase Anderson, Brad Boxberger, Yovani Gallardo, Brooks Kieschnick, Brandon Kintzler, Corey Knebel, Randy Wolf

Team Milwaukee​

• General manager: Doug Melvin
• Manager: Ed Sedar
• Position players: Jeff Bianchi, Ryan Braun, Corey Hart, Jace Peterson, Richie Sexson, Travis Shaw
• Catchers: George Kottaras, Manny Piña
• Pitchers: Doug Davis, Tim Dillard, Jeremy Jeffress, Dan Kolb, Chris Narveson, Ben Sheets, Carlos Villanueva

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Who was No. 1 pick in Brewers alumni-game draft? It wasn't Ryan Braun

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