Sports News
BREWERS SELECT INFIELDER BROCK WILKEN IN FIRST ROUND OF 2023 FIRST-YEAR PLAYER DRAFT
MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee Brewers selected Wake Forest University infielder Brock Wilken with the 18th overall pick in the first round of the 2023 First-Year Player Draft. The announcement was made by Vice President of Domestic Scouting Tod Johnson.
Wilken batted .345 (82-for-238) with 15 doubles, 31 HR and 82 RBI in 66 games as a junior at Wake Forest in 2023. He holds the ACC career record for home runs with 71, while his 31 HR in 2023 set a school record. Wilken was named Second Team All-ACC in 2023 after leading the conference in HR (31), walks (69), runs (90), slugging percentage (.807) and total bases (192) and ranked second in RBI (82) and third in on-base percentage (.506).
The 21-year-old was named First Team All-American by the American Baseball Coaches Association, Second Team All-American by Baseball America and National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and Third Team All-American by Collegiate Baseball.
Wilken hit .272 (69-for-254) with 13 doubles, 23 HR and 77 RBI in 60 games as a sophomore at Wake Forest in 2022. In 2021, he batted .279 (51-for-183) with 11 doubles, 17 HR and 44 RBI in 47 games, setting a Demon Deacons record for most home runs as a freshman.
Following his freshman season, Wilken was named the Most Valuable Player of the Cape Cod League in 2021 after hitting .302 (39-for-129) with 10 doubles, 6 HR and 26 RBI in 36 games with the Harwich Mariners.
Milwaukee will round out the first day of the 2023 First-Year Player Draft by selecting 33rd (Competitive Balance Round A) and 54th overall (second round).
The First-Year Player Draft resumes tomorrow at 1 p.m. CT with rounds 3-10 exclusively on MLB.com. Rounds 11-20 will be held Tuesday, July 11 starting at 1 p.m. CT on MLB.com.