2017 MLB Draft: Milwaukee Brewers select 2B/OF Keston Hiura of U.C.Irvine in the First round and becomes Highest Selected Asian ever

With the 9th overall pick in the 2017 MLB Draft, the Milwaukee Brewers select Keston Hiura from the University of California, Irvine.

Hiura will be one of the toughest calls in the draft, as one of the top college bats available with projection needed for his defense and future position. Offensively, Hiura has few peers in college, as he hit 14 homers as a prep senior in Southern California’s strong Foothill League, then hit his way onto USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team with two strong seasons to begin his career at UC Irvine. He was one of Team USA’s top hitters while playing DH last summer, then ranked among national leaders in batting, walks, on-base and slugging percentage through early May this spring.

At 5-foot-11, 190 pounds, Hiura has a compact swing path, present strength and plus bat speed. Combine that with a feel for the barrel and excellent strike-zone judgment, and Hiura was producing as much hard contact as any hitter in the country. Scouts who like him grade him as a plus hitter with plus power, while others see him above-average (55 on the 20-80 scouting scale) rather than a true plus (60). Hiura has an elbow injury that has kept him from playing in the field since April 2016, and while he had a platelet-rich plasma injection in January that had his arm feeling better, he has not thrown this spring, though he usually takes ground balls in pregame.

An average runner who played center and left field in his first two years, Hiura could be an outfielder and could be a second baseman, but most teams believe he’s having elbow surgery as soon as he signs.

Hiura attended Valencia High School in Valencia, Santa Clarita, California.^[1][2] As a senior he hit .500 with 14 home runs and 30 runs batted in (RBI).^[3]

Hiura was not drafted out of high school and played college baseball at University of California, Irvine for the Anteaters.^[4] As a freshman in 2015, he hit .330/.392/.520 with seven home runs and 52 RBI over 56 games. As a sophomore in 2016, he hit .358/.436/.559 with seven home runs and 41 RBI over 53 games.^[5][6] After the season, Hiura played for the United States collegiate national team.^[7][8]