Los Angeles Dodgers third base coach Dino Ebel’s kids have been hard to miss at the ballpark, be it Dodger Stadium or around the diamonds of SoCal, where they’ve dominated for powerhouse Corona High School. Brady is the older, taller, left-handed swinging infielder drafted 32nd overall by Milwaukee a year ago while Trey bats right-handed, was slightly less regarded as a prospect and was ticketed for Texas A&M this fall.
Well, guess who’s got bragging rights now?
The Brewers made it back-to-back Ebels by snagging Trey with the 25th overall pick this year, a selection possibly rooted in bonus pool ramifications (Trey was ranked 86th by Baseball America, 107 by MLB Pipeline) but also familiarity.
After all, Brady is working out OK, with a .412 OBP and 26 steals as an 18-year-old in the Carolina League. And as they’ve proven at the big league level this year, the Brewers seem to know what they’re doing.
Rockies party like it’s 2002
Paul DePodesta was brought in to significantly modernize the Colorado Rockies, and his efforts have already shown up positively on the field in Denver. Yet when it came time for his first draft, he went full Moneyball.
A protagonist of the book and movie (“Peter Brand” in the latter, portrayed by Jonah Hill), DePodesta was armed with three of the top 38 picks and went very college-heavy. Not unlike the DePodesta of Oakland vintage, where he pioneered draft models that kept the A’s viable well into the 2000s.
Now, after a long stint with the Cleveland Browns, DePodesta is back in ball and so are his college tendencies. Kentucky shortstop Tyler Bell (10th overall), Georgia catcher Daniel Jackson (37th) and UCLA right-hander Reddenmann (38th) were the first picks of his tenure, stoking memories of the Nick Swisher-Joe Blanton-Mark Teahen-A bunch-of-guys-who-didn’t-pan-out Moneyball draft of 2002.