For the first time in school history, a Manitowoc Lincoln baseball player was drafted to the MLB right after graduation.
Noah Wech was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers with the 575th pick in the 2024 draft, which was much later than Wech’s agent initially thought.
In his first interview since being drafted, Wech told Seehafer News, he wasn’t overly worried.
“I was like, okay, whatever. You know, not a big deal. Just go to college,” he explained. “I was actually doing stuff for college. I think I was signing up for housing.”
Then, he got the call…sort of.
“I got a text from a buddy of mine from the (Fond du Lac) Dock Spiders that I was teammates with. He was like, ‘Dude, congrats.’ And I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ I wasn’t watching it, you know?” he recalled. “I had no clue. And then he’s like, ‘You just got drafted.’”
Noah called the entire experience rather surreal, especially since he was taken by a team that plays a mere 81 miles away from Municipal Field.
“I had a draft work out there,” he told us. “Being able to pitch out American family field and come out of the bullpen and do all those things and be in front of all the scouts that they have and, you know, the vice president and everything like that, you know, it’s just it was crazy. And now, obviously, getting picked and having the opportunity to actually play there and be a big player for the Milwaukee Brewers is unbelievable. It’s pretty crazy feeling.”
While being drafted is a major accomplishment, the ink hasn’t hit the paper just yet.
The Brewers organization still has other players taken earlier in the draft that they need to get on contract, and if there is money left, Noah could become a big-league ball player.
However, if not, Noah will go play Division 1 ball at Oklahoma State, which he says if that’s the case , he plans to “Go balls the wall for three years there and then and then hopefully you get drafted even higher.”
Wech thanked the Manitowoc community for the “constant support” and said he is proud to show younger players that even though they are from a “small town,” hard work and dedication can make anything happen.
