MILWAUKEE – The Brewers ended the MLB Draft with a half-court heave at the buzzer.

The thing about Milwaukee’s 21st and final selection is not just that 6-foot-7 Samuel Mendez spent most of his sporting life playing basketball in the Dominican Republic, but that he’s 28 years old — making Mendez, a right-handed pitcher out of Cisco (Texas) Junior College, the oldest player on record ever to have his name called in the MLB Draft.

There’s a chance, MLB said, that some team, some time, has drafted someone older. The league doesn’t have a birth date on record for every player since the start of the draft in 1965 — particularly players in the late rounds during the 1960s and ’70s. But the league does have a heck of a lot of birthdates, including one for every player who has eventually made it to the Majors, and none of them were as long in the tooth as Mendez.

“He is a former semi-pro basketball player from the Dominican Republic who moved up here to play baseball and wanted to get drafted or signed,” Brewers scouting director Tod Johnson said. “K.J. Hendricks is the area scout down there, and he got to know [Mendez] through the coach at Cisco that K.J. knows real well.

“He’s 94-97 [mph with his fastball], throws strikes, has some feel for his secondary stuff. Obviously a 28-year-old is not a normal profile for the Draft, but I also wanted somebody for you guys to ask me about. So we figured, why not?”

Johnson was kidding, obviously. The Brewers spent the past year preparing for the Draft, which saw them take 11 hitters, including center fielder Sal Frelick and second baseman Tyler Black on Day 1, nine pitchers — including four who stand 6-foot-6 or taller — and one two-way player in Quinton Low, a left-handed-hitting first baseman and a right-handed pitcher from Chatfield High School in Littleton, Colo., who would begin his pro career at first base if he doesn’t opt to attend Santa Clara College instead. He’s one of the 6-foot-6ers.