Brady Ebel, son of Dodgers coach Dino, switches allegiances to Crew

MILWAUKEE – It’s amazing how quickly fandom can take a 180 degree turn.

Take Brady Ebel, the 17-year-old son of Dodgers third-base coach Dino Ebel. The two were in Milwaukee just last week for the Dodgers-Brewers series at American Family Field, and Brady, a top Draft prospect who played infield for a Corona (Calif.) High School team with three first-round prospects, even took early batting practice with the Dodgers while Brewers scouts watched from above. It turned into a tough week for the Ebels when the Brewers swept the three-game series, capped by 21-year-old outfielder Jackson Chourio’s first career walk-off hit on Wednesday.

By Sunday night, the younger Ebel was happier with that result. The Brewers drafted Brady with the 32nd overall pick, landing a potential future shortstop as compensation for the departure of another, Willy Adames, who left last winter as a free agent and signed with the Giants.

All of a sudden, Brady Ebel was wearing a different shade of blue.

“I really haven’t even thought about that. Now that you say that, I’m a huge Brewers fan,” he said Monday from Atlanta, where he’s attending the All-Star Game with his dad. “You know, I’m rooting for them the rest of the season and hopefully they beat the Dodgers in the playoffs. You never know.”

Of course, he also loves his dad, a baseball lifer with a sparkling reputation around the game from his time coaching for the Angels (2006-18) and Dodgers (2019-present). Brady was born in July 2007 and grew up at Major League stadiums, just like former Brewers slugger Prince Fielder and so many other sons of players and coaches.

He cannot help but model his game after former Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager, but that’s just the start of the star power Brady has had in his orbit his whole life.

“I’ve been able to see the superstars: Mike Trout, [Albert] Pujols, [Shohei] Ohtani, [Freddie] Freeman. You can name a lot of players,” Ebel said. “Just to see the way they go about it and train and the way they take every day so serious because they were preparing to be great. Those guys don’t take days off.

“Just being able to see them walk through the clubhouse and talking to those guys and asking questions has helped me and my brother a lot.”

Ebel’s younger brother is on a similar path. Trey Ebel is also a middle infielder and will be a top notable going into next year’s Draft.

“Now it’s my turn to start my career and hopefully play against these guys that I know,” Brady said.

He had a sense while visiting Milwaukee last week that he might be walking around his future home. Ebel has played for the Brewers’ Area Code teams in Southern California for years, meaning Milwaukee’s scouts knew all about his abilities at shortstop before Ebel moved over to third base this season to accommodate Corona shortstop Billy Carlson, who was drafted 10th overall by the White Sox. And that was after right-hander Seth Hernandez was drafted sixth overall by the Pirates.

Brewers VP of amateur acquisition Tod Johnson watched from the upper deck as Ebel took BP at American Family Field last week, then got to spend some time with him during one of the Dodgers-Brewers games.

“He’s exciting,” Johnson said. “He’d been at our ballpark a couple of times [for tournaments] and he was at our workout in early June. So it was not the first time I had seen him take BP on that field. I did not like that he was wearing Dodger blue. That wasn’t making me that happy, but I’m glad he’s in a better shade now.”

The slot value for the 32nd overall pick is $2,970,900 and the signing deadline is July 28. Ebel has a scholarship offer from LSU.