Brewers Pick Wall Alum Andrew Fischer in 1st Round MLB Draft

Over the last three years, Wall High School graduate Andrew Fischer has gotten used to playing for a new team every year.

Fischer’s next team change will be his most monumental yet. His new organization? The Milwaukee Brewers.

The Brewers selected Fischer with the 20th overall pick in Sunday’s Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, making the former Wall star the first Shore Conference alumnus to be selected in the first round since Barnegat’s Jay Groome (12th overall) and Jackson Memorial’s Matt Thaiss (16th overall) in 2016.

Fischer is also the first ever first-round selection in the MLB Draft from Wall High School.

“It’s a great program,” Fischer said of the Brewers in an interview with MLB Newtork following his selection. “I just want to go out there and play and I want to win. I think the Brewers have a ton of young talent and it’s just a great spot to be.”

The recommended slot value of the 20th selection this year, according to MLB.com, is $4,286,100.

Tennessee coach Tony Vitello was on the MLB Network broadcast and described Andrew Fischer as “Jersey Shore to a T” and compared his mentality to that of Boston Red Sox third baseman Alex Bregman.

“My dad (Brian) was a wrestling coach,” Fischer said, describing his own mentality. “Discipline: that’s what you are taught growing up.”

Fischer attended Duke University as a freshman and broke the program’s single-season record for home runs by a freshman. He then transferred to the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) in the hyper-competitive Southeastern Conference and in his first season in the SEC, Fischer stood out. He clubbed nine homers in his team’s first 15 games, including a three-homer game in mid-March, 2024. Fischer went on to bat .295 with team-highs in home runs (20) and RBI (57) while running a .397 on-base percentage and a .643 slugging percentage.

Following an all-conference selection as a sophomore at Ole Miss, Fischer again hit the transfer portal ahead of his third college season and chose the University of Tennessee — the 2024 NCAA National Champion. In his only season with the Volunteers, Fischer blasted 25 home runs – good for third in all of Division I – while posting a .341 batting average and team highs in on-base percentage (.497), slugging percentage (.760) and RBI (65). With those 25 home runs, Fischer was the first Tennessee player to lead the SEC in home runs since Hall of Fame first baseman Todd Helton.

Fischer told MLB Network he emulated a different — and more contemporary — left-handed hitter.

“I’m trying to emulate Harper in the box as much as I can,” Fischer said. “Obviously, he has a different rhythm in the box and a different approach sometimes, but how can you not watch a guy like that hit. He does it at the highest level and he is fun to watch as well. He brings a ton of energy and that’s what I was taught from a young age: you’ve got to go out and have fun every single day.”

Coming off his sophomore season, Fischer set out to improve his plate discipline while cutting his strikeouts and he succeeded in completely flipping his walk and strikeout rates. From sophomore to junior year, his walk-rate jumped from 13.5 percent to 21 and he cut his strikeout rate from 20 percent to 14. The result was a batting average that improved by 46 points and an on-base percentage that improved by a full 100 points.

“As I have matured, I have realized in the offseason, I need to lock in on a few things and really hammer away at them to try to improve,” Fischer said. “You’re punching the clock every day, focusing on those one or two things that you want to improve. Before this season, I really locked in on my plate discipline. I have always been able to take my walks, but I wanted to get the next level where I am only swinging at the pitches I want to hit and doing damage on every swing.”

Fischer’s standout college career came after a two-year varsity career at Wall High School, during which he was a two-time All-Shore selection by Shore Sports Network, including a First-Team selection as a senior. In his final year at Wall, Fischer hit .382 with a .564 on-base percentage and .684 slugging percentage. With that performance came five doubles, two triples and four home runs, plus a single-season program record 33 walks. Fischer was also the closer for the Crimson Knights, posting a 1.44 ERA with 36 strikeouts and nine walks in 24 1/3 innings.

Fischer did not play varsity baseball as a freshman in 2019, when Wall rode a senior-and-junior-heavy team to the NJSIAA Group III championship. Two other players in the Wall program that season are currently in MLB organizations: Monmouth University’s Trey Dombroski is currently in Double-A in the Houston Astros organization and Coastal Carolina’s Teddy Sharkey is pitching as a reliever at High-A for the Baltimore Orioles.

This is also the second straight season the Brewers were the first team to pick a Jersey Shore alumnus in the draft. In 2024, Milwaukee selected right-handed pitcher Chris Levonas directly out of Christian Brothers Academy with the 67th overall pick. Levonas opted to attend Wake Forest University this past season and will be eligible for the draft again in 2027.

Fischer will not be going back to school and could be on a fast track to the Major Leagues based on his track record of hitting and improvement in college, coupled with the success of college players making the transition to the Major Leagues in the last two years. Six players from the 2024 Draft are currently playing in the Major Leagues, including four hitters: Nick Kurtz (fifth overall; Athletics); Jac Caglianone (sixth overall; Kansas City Royals); Christian Moore (eighth overall; Tennessee) and Cam Smith (14th overall; Chicago Cubs). Smith was traded to the Houston Astros, with whom he made his debut this March.

“The Draft has never been the end goal for me,” Fischer said before Sunday night’s Draft. “It’s the next step.”