MLB Draft Deep Dive: Minnesota Twins

In order to satisfy my innate curiosity as it pertains to the MLB Draft, I have taken a comprehensive look at the 2018 draft for each of the 30 MLB organizations. But I also wanted to get an idea of what each of the teams had done for the 20 years prior so that is included as a prelude to the 2018 information. I'll be looking first at each team in each division, starting with the National League East, and then I'll follow up with a an overall look at both the historical draft results to date and the early 2018 results.

My goal is to get a better idea of the big picture as to how the systems compare in terms of draft results, as well as how a good or bad draft class affects a system, the overall impact of the draft on the baseball talent pool and the circuitous ways in which draft picks are used to bolster a system for which they may never even play. This project is just a first step. I intend to expand on this information over time (including a later revisit of the 2018 class and the addition of the 2019 class next offseason) and I will share my findings as I do so.

AMERICAN LEAGUE CENTRAL

MINNESOTA TWINS

Historical Draft Results from 1998 through 2017 (TO DATE)
Drafted 961 | Signed 551 | Pitchers Signed 283 | Position Players Signed 268
Total WAR 281
Total Players to MLB 79

Note: The following players are listed at the position at which they were originally drafted.

1998 | 4 to MLB | WAR 2.9 | High WAR 2.1, RHP Saul Rivera, 9th rd
1999 | 6 to MLB | WAR 26.9 | High WAR 27.2, C Justin Morneau, 3rd rd
2000 | 5 to MLB | WAR 1.8 | High WAR 4.1, OF Jason Kubel, 12th rd
2001 | 4 to MLB | WAR 59.3 | High WAR 55.1, C Joe Mauer, 1st rd
2002 | 6 to MLB | WAR 50.0 | High WAR 26.3, OF Denard Span, 1st rd
2003 | 2 to MLB | WAR 13.9 | High WAR 15.6, RHP Scott Baker, 2nd rd
2004 | 6 to MLB | WAR 23.0 | High WAR 8.7, LHP Glen Perkins, 1st rd
2005 | 6 to MLB | WAR 23.3 | High WAR 12.1, RHP Matt Garza, 1st rd
2006 | 7 to MLB | WAR 4.6 | High WAR 5.5, 3B Danny Valencia, 19th rd
2007 | 1 to MLB | WAR 6.8 | High WAR 6.8, OF Ben Revere, 1st rd
2008 | 4 to MLB | WAR 9.4 | High WAR 10.6, OF Aaron Hicks, 1st rd
2009 | 3 to MLB | WAR 32.9 | High WAR 23.9, SS Brian Dozier, 8th rd
2010 | 7 to MLB | WAR 9.8 | High WAR 8.8, OF Eddie Rosario, 4th rd
2011 | 2 to MLB | WAR 2.2 | High WAR 2.3, OF Dereck Rodriguez, 6th rd
2012 | 6 to MLB | WAR 14.6 | High WAR 6.9, OF Byron Buxton, 1st rd
2013 | 6 to MLB | WAR (0.1) | High WAR 1.0, C Mitch Garver, 9th rd
2014 | 3 to MLB | WAR (0.2) | High WAR 0.2, RHP Trevor Hildenberger, 22nd rd
2015 | 1 to MLB | WAR (0.1) | High WAR (0.1), LHP Andrew Vasquez, 32nd rd
2016 | 0 to MLB | WAR 0.0 | High WAR N/A
2017 | 0 to MLB | WAR 0.0 | High WAR N/A

The highest WAR to date, both total and individual, is from 2001. C Joe Mauer (1st round, 55.1 WAR) spent his entire 15-year MLB career with the Twins. He was a six-time All-Star, earned five Silver Sluggers, three Gold Gloves and was named American League MVP in 2009. Mauer announced his retirement in November 2018. After Mauer, the Twins 2001 class drops off precipitously with the next player in line being RHP Nick Blackburn (29th round, 6 seasons, 3.1 WAR). Blackburn also played exclusively for the Twins.

2018 DRAFT
39 Drafted | 32 Signed | 16 Pitchers | 16 Position Players
29 College | 26 Signed | 14 Pitchers | 12 Position Players
1 JC/CC | 1 Signed | 1 Pitcher | 0 Position Players
9 HS/NS | 5 Signed | 1 Pitcher | 4 Position Players

Notable: The Twins traded their Competitive Balance (Round B) pick to the Padres and forfeited their third round pick for signing free agent RHP Lance Lynn away from the Cardinals. Minnesota signed 27 of their top 28 picks with the top holdout being 16th round HS RHP Anthony Tuionetoa of Hawaii.

PITCHERS
All but two of the 16 pitchers signed (11 RHP, 5 LHP) logged at least some playing time. Two pitchers were promoted beyond the Short Season A* level, one to Full Season A and one to Advanced A. None of these pitchers debuted on MLB Pipeline's Top 30 Prospect list for the Twins.

Noteworthy Debut

RHP Andrew Cabezas, 18th round, University of Miami, Rk
46 IP | 11 G / 9 GS | 2.74 ERA | 0.957 WHIP | 14 BB : 44 K

In total, the Minnesota 2018 Draft pitchers combined for a 3.64 ERA and a 1.333 WHIP over 396 innings as compared to the 3.67 ERA and 1.299 WHIP (average of 376.2 innings per affiliate) compiled by the total 2018 Draft class in 2018.

POSITION PLAYERS
All of the 16 position players signed (3 1B, 2 2B, 3B, SS, 6 OF, 3 C) logged at least some playing time. Four players were promoted beyond the Short Season A* level, all to Full Season A. One player debuted on MLB Pipeline's Top 30 Prospect list for the Twins as a Top 10 prospect. One player, 28th round college catcher Austin Hale, voluntarily retired in August.

Top Prospects

🔟 OF Trevor Larnach (L/R), 1st round, Oregon State University, A
42 G | .303/.390/.500/.890 | 21 BB : 28 K

🔟 Top 10 Prospect

Noteworthy Debut

C Ryan Jeffers (R/R), 2nd round, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, A
64 G | .344/.444/.502/.946 | 34 BB : 46 K | 17 2B / 7 HR

In total, the Twins 2018 Draft position players combined to hit .281/.366/.427/.793 as compared to .261/.349/.386/.735 batting line compiled by the total 2018 Draft class in 2018.

*Notes on players include the highest level achieved for the 2018 season using the following abbreviations:
Rk = Rookie
SSA = Short Season A
A = Full Season A
A+ = Full Season A Advanced

GENERAL NOTES: Information was obtained from Baseball-Reference and the MLB Draft History site. The occasional discrepancy in historical information was resolved to the best of my ability by delving into the player information available on B-R. On the historical information, the player position in the totals reflects the position at which the player was drafted (and not any subsequent change of position). On the 2018 information, the player position reflects the primary position played in 2018 for all players who were signed and the position at which the player was drafted for those who did not sign. Prospect listings on MLB Pipeline were as of early January and may not reflect any subsequent changes to that site.

PREVIOUSLY

NL EAST
Atlanta Braves
Miami Marlins
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies
Washington Nationals
NL East 2018 Draft Summary

NL CENTRAL
Chicago Cubs
Cincinnati Reds
Milwaukee Brewers
Pittsburgh Pirates
St. Louis Cardinals
NL Central 2018 Draft Summary

NL WEST
Arizona Diamondbacks
Colorado Rockies
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants
NL West 2018 Draft Summary

AL EAST
Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox
New York Yankees
Tampa Bay Rays
Toronto Blue Jays
AL East 2018 Draft Summary

AL CENTRAL
Chicago White Sox
Cleveland Indians
Detroit Tigers
Kansas City Royals

COMING NEXT
AL Central 2018 Draft Summary