Dan Brewer with Staten Island in 2008

The Yankees drafted Dan Brewer in the 8^th round of the 2008 draft. The relatively unheralded outfielder, a 20 year old from Bradley University, set many school records and was the only player ever to steal 40 bases and hit 20 home runs in the same season. Brewer played a lot of 2^nd base in college but converted to centerfield his junior year. He also played in the Little League Word Series for Illinois.

Hitting:

Brewer’s biggest asset is his bat. While he doesn’t have an array of impressive tools (or even a stand out one for that matter) Brewer is a polished hitter who is able to maximize his talent and has found an approach that works for him. He’ll constantly be pinned in the underdog role due to his size (6’0”, 190lbs) but he’s done nothing but hit in his short career. In 2008 he started in Staten Island and got off to a slow start. A change in approach had Brewer using the whole field and he finished strong in his Yankee debut. 2009 saw more of the same from Brewer. As a guy who wasn’t pegged to have a starting role in Charleston, Brewer forced himself into the lineup with another impressive array of hitting. His .323/.429/.473 line had him promoted mid-season to A+ Tampa where he also hit well.

Brewer was able to increase his walk rate in 2009 and has cut down his K% at every level he’s reached. While he’s not going to hit many homeruns or really dazzle you with power, Brewer does have a solid swing to all fields and can be effective with putting the ball in the gap. As well as his prowess with the bat, Brewer can run a bit but gets more out of smart base running decisions than pure speed. Brewer’s future success will all be predicated on how well he can continue to swing the bat as he climbs the organizational ladder.

Fielding:

As I mentioned before, Brewer was a 2^nd baseman for most of his baseball life. The move to outfield happened in college and the Yankees moved him again to a corner outfield spot. He’s actually taken very well to the outfield and while he’s still learning, his plus arm has helped to stand out particularly in RF. Total Zone has him as about an average defender which seems right as most scouting reports conclude that is indeed how Brewer rates.

Future Outlook:

Brewer might be the prototypical “underdog” in the sense that he doesn’t have the best physical traits or athletic tools. Despite that however he’s given the Yankees a season and a half of impressive success. A couple of glaring issues stand in the way of Brewer making leaps and bounds up the Yankee system however.

The biggest in my opinion would be that as a corner outfielder, Brewer most likely just won’t be able to hit enough for the position. So far we’ve seen decent power and good contact hitting skills from Brewer but with his size it’s a safe bet to say we’re unlikely to see a prodigious increase of any sort. A move back to 2^nd base would change that. Brewer has said many times in interviews he’s itching to get back in the infield and if the Yankees ever do decide to move him his bat would certainly be better suited for that role.

Brewer seems like he may be more of an organizational piece at this point.  If he continues to make progress however and the Yankees do decide to move him back to 2^nd, he could develop into a nice utility asset in the future.

It’s very difficult to project Brewer above the lower minors because of his very average tools. When coaches and scouts talk about Brewer you tend to hear a lot of “He has IT” or “he has an X factor”. While whatever “it” is may be enough to move Brewer through the system, in my opinion his ceiling is very limited despite his extremely impressive numbers thus far. His position, his size and his tools all are reasons that I’m a little hesitant to get worked up about him just yet.

It’s a good bet Brewer will start 2010 in Tampa’s outfield. It’ll be very interesting to watch him as he moves along. If I had to guess a place where Brewer would hit a wall it would be Trenton and if he hits in the same fashion he did in 2009, he may just see some time in the Thunder outfield this year.

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