Category: MLB Draft

How the Minnesota Twins can shock MLB

The 2017 June amateur draft is just around the corner and our hometown Minnesota Twins have the first overall pick. Sometimes there is a clear number one choice to take, this is not one of those years. When you have the top pick on the draft you had better hit the bull’s eye and then sign that player or you will pay for your mistake for years to come.

The top players rated by many (in no particular order) are Hunter Greene, a RHP/SS from Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California, Brendan McKay, a LHP/1B from Louisville University and  Kyle Wright, a RHP from Vanderbilt University. Let’s assume for the moment that these players are indeed the cream of the crop and that the Twins will select one of these players.

Several mock drafts have the Twins snapping up the LHP/1B prospect Brendan McKay from Louisville with the initial pick in the draft come June 12. Baseball America states that:

Meanwhile, McKay has changed in the last month, adding a cut fastball and pitching with diminished velocity. Against Georgia Tech on April 13, he pitched much of the game at 88-91 mph but one-hit the Yellow Jackets over eight shutout innings. Then last weekend against Clemson, in five shutout innings, McKay threw plenty of cutters—a pitch he just broke out April 28 against Toledo—as his fastball dipped into the 88-90 range. Despite that velocity drop, McKay is striking out more batters than ever, ranking eighth nationally with 12.4 strikeouts per nine innings and 110 strikeouts overall.

You have to wonder if you should take a pitcher with the first pick in the draft that throws only in the 88-91 MPH range? Now days with the need for speed, it has to raise some serious question marks. When you pick a player that is both a pitcher and a position player are you hedging your bet or are you going to waste a few years if you choose the wrong position for McKay. If he turns out to be a first baseman, do you want to have selected him number one over all?

Some feel that the right-hander from Vanderbilt, Kyle Wright has the highest upside with lowest risk. He supposedly has four plus pitches at times and is trending towards being the top pick.

Then last by certainly not least we have the high schooler from Sherman Oaks, California, Hunter Greene. He is a RHP and a shortstop who has already reached 101 MPH on the mound but has been shut-down as a pitcher this spring and is playing shortstop full-time. The next coming of Babe Ruth some say… The rumors are that he wants to be a San Diego Padre. No RHP out of high school has ever been drafted number one over-all.

I am not sure if there is any good way to rank the 52 (actually 51 because Danny Goodwin was drafted number one twice) over-all number one picks selected over the years so I will use WAR (B-R) in the list below to rank them, If you look at the 52 number one over-all picks rated by WAR, the top seven are all high school picks and all position players. As mentioned earlier, no RHP has been picked number one over-all out of high school. 

First over-all picks since 1965

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2017 MLB Draft order announced

Draft order and slot amounts can be seen by clicking on the draft logo.

Major League Baseball will hold day one of the 2017 MLB Draft on Monday, June 12th at MLB Network’s Studio 42 in Secaucus, New Jersey. This year’s Draft will begin live on MLB Network and MLB.com at 7:00 pm (ET). To the start of the Draft, MLB Network will air a Draft preview show, also simulcast on MLB.com, at 6:00 p.m. (ET).

For the third time in team history, the Minnesota Twins will have the first overall selection of the Draft. In 2001, Minnesota drafted Joe Mauer with the top overall selection. The Twins also held the first overall pick in 1983, when they selected pitcher Tim Belcher, though he did not sign. The Twins will select three times in the top 37 slots (1, 35 and 37).

The 2016 first round selection was the Phillies high school outfielder Mickey Moniak and he is currently playing in class A ball. Three of the number one overall selections (Moniak in 2016, Brady Aiken a LHP high school pitcher selected in 2014 by Houston, and Mark Appel a collegiate RHP selected by Houston but now with Philly in 2013) in the last four years have yet to reach the majors.

Best players drafted by Minnesota Twins by round

I went through the history of the Minnesota Twins June Amateur draft choices to see who the best players were that the club drafted, signed and the player debuted with Minnesota across his chest. The player may or may not have played his entire career with the Twins but the WAR numbers are for their entire careers. Why are they ranked by WAR you may ask? Simple, I know of no other way to rank them, so right or wrong, I have chosen B-R WAR.

Twenty five of the 61 rounds shown have no players that qualified meaning that no one ever drafted in that round has made it to the majors with Minnesota. So if the Twins draft you in one of those rounds in the future, the odds are very much against you. Unless you have followed the Twins since day one, you might not recognize or remember some of these players.

Continue reading Best players drafted by Minnesota Twins by round

Analyzing Minnesota Twins First Round Picks – Part 2

 

How long does it take a Twins first round pick to reach the majors?

I wanted to see how long it takes a Minnesota Twins first round selection to reach the major leagues and there is really no good way to measure that so I decided to use the number of months it took for the player to debut in the major leagues after being drafted. I took nothing else, including injuries into consideration. It also does not mean the player stayed in the big leagues, it simply means he made his major league debut by appearing in a big league game.

Straight to the big leagues – just one, Eddie Bane a LHP out of college.

Second Season

10th month of pro ball – just one, Bryan Oelkers a LHP out of college.

13th month of pro ball – again just one, Adam Johnson a RHP out of college.

14th month of pro ball – again just one, Matt Garza RHP out of college.

Third Season

22nd month of pro ball – two players, Paul Powell an OF out of college and Chuck Knoblauch a SS out of college who went on to win ROY award as a 2B.

23rd month of pro ball – one player, Dave McCarty a collegiate 1B.

26th month of pro ball – two players, Travis Miller a LHP out of college and Todd Walker a collegiate 2B.

27th month of pro ball – three players, Lenny Faedo a SS out of high school, Scott Stahoviak a SS out of college and briefly played 3B in the majors, Glenn Perkins a LHP out of the University of Minnesota.

Fourth Season

34th month of pro ball – two players, Joe Mauer a C from Cretin-Derham Hall a Minnesota high school and Matt LeCroy a C out of college.

36th month of pro ball – one player, Byron Buxton a high school OF.

39th month of pro ball – two players, Steve Brye a 3B/OF out of high school went on to become the first Twins first round draft choice to debut as a Twins player and Ben Revere a high school OF.

Fifth Season

46th month of pro ball – three players, Jose Berrios a high school RHP, Jeff Reed a C out of high school and Rick Sofield who was drafted as a SS out of high school but play in the OF for Minnesota.

48th month of pro ball – two players, Kyle Gibson a collegiate RHP and Dan Serafini a high school LHP.

49th month of pro ball – two players, Mark Redman a collegiate LHP and Willie Banks a high school RHP.

50th month of pro ball – one player, Torii Hunter a high school OF.

51st month of pro ball – one player, Michael Cuddyer was drafted as a high school SS and played primarily in the OF.

Sixth Season

58th month of pro ball – one player, Aaron Hicks a high school OF.

63 month of pro ball – one player, Chris Parmelee a high school OF.

Seventh Season

70th month of pro ball – one player, Denard Span a high school OF.

71st month of pro ball – one player, Trevor Plouffe a high school SS but played 3B

74th month of pro ball – one player, Alex Wimmers a collegiate RHP

75th month of pro ball – two players, Matt Fox a collegiate RHP and Derek Parks drafted as a RHP and C but was a catcher for Minnesota.

Eighth Season

82nd month of pro ball – two players, Todd Ritchie a RHP out of high school and Bob Gorinski drafted as a high school SS but played OF with the Twins.

87th month of pro ball – one player, Kyle Waldrop a high school RHP 

Continue reading Analyzing Minnesota Twins First Round Picks – Part 2
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Analyzing Minnesota Twins First Round Picks – Part 1

Since the June Amateur Draft began in 1965 the Minnesota Twins have selected 72 players in round one, some are their regular first round selections and other are supplemental picks for the loss of a free agent or failure to sign a round one selection. 

Over the years the Twins have failed to sign seven first round selections, about 10% of their total first round picks. The seven players that did not sign were four position players and three pitchers. You would think most of these would be high school players that chose to go on to college but that is not the case here, six were college players and only one was a high school player. The last time the Twins organization failed to sign a player was 2000 supplemental pick RHP Aaron Heilman.

Minnesota Twins first round draft picks 1965-2016

POS HS COLLEGE
C 2 1
1B 1 1
2B 0 1
SS 8 3
3B 4 2
OF 12 2
RHP 9 10
LHP 1 8
DID NOT SIGN 1  6
  38 34

 

Continue reading Analyzing Minnesota Twins First Round Picks – Part 1

How have teams fared with their first round picks in the June Amateur Draft

The 2017 MLB June Amateur  Draft is still a long ways off but since my home town Minnesota Twins have the first overall pick in the draft it got me to thinking. I spent some time recently researching how MLB teams have fared with their first round picks in the June Amateur draft that first started in 1965. The very first pick in the very first draft was made by the Kansas City Athletics and they chose Arizona State University outfielder Rick Monday who went on to a nice 19 year career with three teams with two All-Star selection and a career WAR of 33.1 but he was not HOF worthy. Drafting back in 1965 was an inexact science just like it is today, HOF pitcher Nolan Ryan was drafted in round 12 and ended up with a career war of 81.8 and HOF catcher Johnny Bench who ended up with a 75.0 WAR was selected in round two. Other first round picks that year that you might remember were RHP Joe Coleman, catcher Ray Fosse and third baseman Bernie Carbo.

The question becomes how to rank the teams and I decided to rank them in order of career WAR as determined by Baseball-Reference. I looked at how many players were drafted and signed by each team and then totaled the career WAR numbers and then determined an average WAR for each drafted/signed player.

It was a fun exercise looking at the list of players that were drafted and signed as first round picks. Did they deliver on the promise you thought they had when your team announced that they had drafted and signed them? In baseball there are no guarantees that a first round pick from high school or college will make it to the big leagues and wear your teams colors.

The thing to remember here is that I only looked at first round picks. There are many great players drafted in later rounds but the round one picks get all the ink, most of the money and they wear that “first round pick” label for ever. 

Continue reading How have teams fared with their first round picks in the June Amateur Draft

They weren’t what we expected them to be

With no outs in the bottom of the seventh, coach brings in a new pitcher.

The June amateur draft started in 1965 and the Minnesota Twins have had 72 first round selections including supplemental/compensation picks. Nine of those first round picks have been left-handed pitchers (eight were collegiate picks and one was from high school) with Tyler Jay being the most recent lefty being selected in the first round in 2015. So how have these pitchers fared for the Twins?

1973 – Eddie Bane – Drafted in round 1, 11th over-all out of Arizona State University and went straight to the big leagues making his debut on July 4, 1973 at Met Stadium in a start against the Kansas City Royals. The 5’9″ Bane didn’t figure in the decision but pitched well in a 5-4 loss to the Royals. Injuries hindered Bane’s career but Bane himself said that he just wasn’t good enough to be a big league pitcher. Bane’s big league career consisted of 44 games for the Twins with a 7-13 record and 4.66 ERA. Bane became a free agent in October 1977 but never saw big league action again. WAR with the Twins was a -1.0.

1982 – Bryan Oelkers – Drafted in round 1, 4th over-all (selected one pick earlier than the Mets selection of Dwight Gooden) out of Wichita State University. Oelkers was a 20th round pick of the Chicago Cubs in 1979 but he chose not to sign.  Oelkers was only the second player born in Spain to reach the major leagues. Oelkers debuted in the big leagues with only 8 minor league games in his resume the following season on April 9, 1983 at the Kingdome in a start against the Mariners. Oelkers had a good start going 6.2 innings giving up only 3 hits and 2 earned runs but he came away with his first big league loss. Oelkers ended his first and only season with the Twins with an 0-5 record and a 8.65 while allowing 56 hits in 34.1 innings. In January of 1986 the Twins traded Bryan Oelkers and Ken Schrom to the Cleveland Indians for Ramon Romero and Roy Smith. Oelkers pitched for Cleveland in 1983 going 3-3 with a 4.70 ERA in 35 games. Oelkers pitched in the Expos, Cubs and Cardinals minor league systems  but never reached the big leagues again. WAR with the Twins was -1.3.

1992 – Dan Serafini – Was the Twins round 1 selection and 26th over-all out of Serra High School in San Mateo, California. In 1996 Baseball America had him rated as the 76th best prospect and the Twins called Dan Serafini up to pitch a game against the New York Yankees on June 25 at the Metrodome. Here is what Serafini had to say about that experience in a 2013 interview –

“It was not an easy team to pitch against for my first time playing in the big leagues, but it was a great memory. It was kind of funny. The Twins wouldn’t let me into the locker room before the game. They didn’t want any animosity in the locker room because they hadn’t sent anyone down (to Triple-A) yet. I had to stay in a hotel and then on game day I got to show up right before the game started so that I could get ready to play. It wasn’t the greatest experience, but it was still a good experience. I got to the big leagues!”

 You can see the entire interview here. Serafini’s start lasted 4.1 innings and he gave up 7 hits and 5 earned runs and was saddled with the loss in a Yankees 6-2 over Minnesota. That was the only game that Serafini pitched in a Twins uniform in 1996. Serafini spent portions of 1997 and 1998 in Minnesota but as spring training ended in 1999 the Twins sold Dan Serafini to the Chicago Cubs. Serafini career numbers with the Twins were  9-6 in 35 games with a 5.88 ERA. Serafini went on to pitch for the Cubs, Pirates, Reds and eventually the Rockies not to mention pitching in Japan, Mexico and Independent ball. Appears to have hung up his jock strap after the 2013 season. His WAR with Twins was a -0.6.

1994 – Travis Miller – Was a supplementary 1st round selection and 34th pick over-all from Kent State University for the Twins not being able to sign 1993 first round pick catcher Jason Varitek. Miller’s debut at the Metrodome on August 25, 1996 against the Rangers was one he would like to forget, one inning pitched with five hits and two walks including two home runs allowed and seven earned runs and he took the defeat in a 13-2 Twins loss. Miller however continued to pitch for the Twins albeit primarily in relief from 1996-2002 until the Twins released him in June of 2002 and he never pitched in the big leagues again. His Twins career lasted all or parts of seven seasons in which he appeared in 203 games winning 7 and losing 18 with a 5.05 ERA and a Twins WAR of 1.2.

1995 – Mark Redman – Was a Tigers 42 round pick in 1992 but did not sign and he went on to be the Twins first round selection in 1995 and 13th pick over-all. Debuted in a start against the Mariners at the Metrodome on July 24, 1999 and got a no decision for his efforts in which he lasted 4.2 innings and gave up 3 earned run on 4 hits and three walks. The Twins won the game 10-3. Redman was primarily a starter for Minnesota from 1999-2001 going 15-13 with a 4.86 ERA before being traded to the Tigers for closer Todd Jones. Redman was an All-Star with the Royals in 2006. Redman who pitched in the big leagues for 10 seasons with eight different teams posted a 3.6 WAR with the Twins.

 1998 – Ryan Mills – Was originally drafted in 1995 by the Yankees in round 13 but didn’t sign and the Twins scooped him up in round 1 with the 6th over-all pick out of Arizona State University and signed for a $2 million bonus. After seven seasons Mills had a 17-40 minor league record with a 5.79 ERA and a 1.73 WHIP before the Twins told him to look for other employment. Mills never put on a Twins uniform.

Glen Perkins 20152004 – Glen Perkins – Perkins was selected by the Minnesota Twins in the first round and 22nd over-all of the 2004 amateur draft out of the University of Minnesota as compensation for losing Eddie Guardado and signed for a $1.425 million bonus. His big league debut took place September 21, 2006 at Fenway Park as a reliever in a Twins 6-0 loss and he pitched 1.1 innings without allowing a hit. Perkins was originally a starter but after putting up an ERA of 5.89 in 2009 and 5.82 in 2010 the Twins put him in the bullpen where he has flourished as a closer when he is not injured. Perkins has been a Minnesota Twin for all or parts of 11 seasons and has a Twins WAR of 8.8 and has made the All-Star team three times.

2009 – Matt Bashore – Bashore was a first round and 46th over-all supplemental pick for the loss of Dennys Reyes. Injuries kept Bashore from achieving his dream and the Twins let him go after the 2011 season when he pitched in Elizabethton for the second time after sitting out 2010 due to injury. Never wore a Twins uniform and walked away with a $751,550 Twins signing bonus.

2015 – Tyler Jay – Twins first round selection and sixth player taken over-all from Illinois when he was the highest ever MLB draft choice and signed by Minnesota for $3.8 million. Jay was a reliever in college but the Twins are transitioning him to a starting role. Jay was promoted to Chattanooga (AA) in July but only appeared in 5 games there pitching 14 innings before being placed on the DL in early August with a neck/shoulder injury. Additional info on his injury can be found here, not exactly promising news.

So there you are, 57 years worth of LHP drafted in the first round by the Minnesota Twins, nine left-handed pitchers, eight out of college and one out of high school drafted by the Twins and what have we had to show for it? Glen Perkins has been the only one to really pan out and he didn’t come into his own until he was moved to the bullpen. You expect your first round picks to be All-Star caliber players and the Twins have had just two. You have to wonder, with their dismal track record why do the Twins even bother drafting LHP in round one? Why waste a first round pick on LHP?

Let’s look at the rest of the league

Continue reading They weren’t what we expected them to be

Meet the first player to be drafted by the Twins to play for the Twins

Ron Keller
Ron Keller pitched for the Twins in 1966 and in 1968

Major League Baseball’s first amateur draft was held in June 1965. Teams chose players in reverse order of the previous season’s standings, with picks alternating between the National and American Leagues. With the first pick, the Kansas City Athletics took Rick Monday, an outfielder from Arizona State University.

Originally, three separate drafts were held each year. The June draft, which was by far the largest, involved new high school graduates, as well as college seniors who had just finished their seasons. Another draft was held in January, which typically involved high school players who graduated in the winter, junior college players, and players who have dropped out of four-year colleges. Junior college players were required to wait until their current season was completed before they could sign. Finally, there was a draft in August for players who participated in amateur summer leagues. The August draft was eliminated after only two years, while the January draft lasted until 1986.

Ron Keller was an eighth round selection and the 143 pick overall by the Minnesota Twins in MLB’s first amateur draft that was held in New York City in 1965. Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan was the New York Mets 12 round pick and 295th overall that same year. The Twins selected the 6’2″ Keller out of Indiana University as a right-handed pitcher.

From 1957 to 1961 Keller earned six letters at Cathedral High in Indianapolis playing baseball and basketball. According to teammates, Keller was a very intelligent player and knew how to keep the ball down and to throw strikes. At IU Keller majored in accounting and played under Ernie Andres who had a short stint in the big leagues as a third baseman for the Boston Red Sox in 1946. After retiring from baseball Andres coached the IU baseball team from 1949-1973.

After being drafted and signed by the Twins, Keller was assigned to the St. Cloud Rox (A) where he led the league in wins with 9 (3 losses) and he completed 11 of the 14 games that he started. Keller posted a 2.03 ERA and he struck out 132 batters in 111 innings.

In 1966 started the season with the Wilson Tobs (A) where he was 4-2 in 55 innings before being bumped up to the Charlotte Hornets (AA) where he was 3-0 in 48 innings. After his brief stop in Charlotte he was assigned to the Denver Bears (AAA) where he started seven games and posted a 5-1 record. When Camilo Pascual took one of his annual trips to the DL, Keller was called up by the mother club and he made his inauspicious big league debut at Met Stadium on July 9, 1966 in an 8-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers, just barely a year after being drafted and starting his professional career. Keller shut down the Tigers in 2 of the 3 innings he pitched but he gave up 3 “earnies” in the middle inning. Keller only appeared in one more game again in relief for the Twins in 1966 before being send down. Advancing from “A” ball to the big leagues in just one year after signing was very impressive indeed.

Ron Keller spent all of 1967 in the minors at Denver (AAA) and posted and 10-11 record with a 4.78 ERA. Keep in mind we are talking Denver which was no easier to pitch in then than it is now. Keller spent most of 1968 with Denver again but was called up by the Twins and appeared in just 7 games in 3 months with the parent club. In the spring of 1969 the Twins brain trust wanted to ship Keller back out to AAA but Keller said “no” and retired from baseball at the age 25.  “I thought I had nothing more to prove in the minors,” he said. “Twins owner Calvin Griffith refused to trade me, and wouldn’t believe my threats to quit baseball.”

You have to wonder if either Griffith or Keller regretted their stubbornness and their decision.

The MLB June amateur draft is far from a science

2016 DraftThe 2016 MLB will take place June 9, 2016 in Secacus, New Jersey and the Minnesota Twins will have the 17th selection this year. There are already numerous mock drafts being published but as normal they are all over the board, so what else is new. Here is a list (with pictures) on MLB.com of their proposed top 100 2016 prospects.

Baseball draft are so different from all the other sports in many ways but the two main differences that stand out is that baseball drafts are more international than other sports and if you get drafted in baseball you can look forward to spend a number of years in the minor leagues before you have the experience and necessary skill sets to play in the major leagues. Sure there have been some players that went directly to the major leagues but they are rare and the last player to do so I believe is RHP Mike Leake who was drafted eighth overall in 2010 by the Cincinnati Reds from Arizona State and now pitches for the Cardinals. The last Twins player to be drafted and go straight to a big league mound was LHP Eddie Bane who also was from Arizona State.

The June amateur draft is exciting for the fans but it is serious business for the MLB teams that have spent lots of time and money watching these young prospects as they try to determine who is the best player available when it comes time to make their selection. Mistakes in a draft can and do haunt teams for many years. There are many ways to mess up a draft choice, the player may not turn out to be as good as you thought, you might have bypassed a star player, you might not be able to sign the player, the player and/or his agent may state they don’t want to play for you, and of course an injury may cut his career short. If everything goes your way you have yourself a baseball player but the odds are stacked against you.

Continue reading The MLB June amateur draft is far from a science

Twins first round draft history since 2000 – Part 2

2015 DraftAs promised we are taking a look at the round 1 draft history of all the MLB teams. There are a number of ways that we could rank them but in this case we will rank them in in career WAR (using Baseball-Reference WAR stats) order. This is obviously only a picture in time because these WAR numbers change as these players play each day. One thing to keep in mind as you look at this list is that a players drafted in round one by a team may not have ever played for that team because they were traded, became a free agent, etc.

Some of the columns in the table below are abbreviated. The third column is number of round 1 picks from 2000-2014. Column four is the number of players that played at least one game in the majors. Column five is the percentage of players that reached the majors. Column six is the career WAR of all the players selected from 2000-2014 that reached the majors. The players column shows the player(s) selected that reached the majors and and have the highest career WAR. Obviously star players that have been around for awhile have high WAR numbers. The table should be sortable.

RANK TEAM # of RD 1 PICKS # REACH MAJOR % REACH MAJOR Car. WAR PLAYERS
1. Giants 24 17  71% 121.1 Matt Cain, Buster Posey, Tim Lincecum, Madison Bumgarner
2. Phillies 16 8  50% 120.0 Chase Utley, Cole Hamels
3. Royals 22 12  55% 116.4 Zack Greinke
4. Twins 28 12  43% 110.3 Joe Mauer
5. Diamondbacks 27 18  67% 108.9 Max Scherzer
6. Braves 25 13  52% 96.2 Adam Wainwright
7. Mets 20 12  60% 93.3 David Wright
8. Rays 27 9  33% 92.8 Evan Longoria, David Price
9. Brewers 22 9  41% 90.5 Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder
10. Angels 22 13  59% 86.8 Jered Weaver, Mike Trout
11. Rangers 30 16  53% 85.5 Mark Teixeira
12. Nats/Expos 20 11  55% 83.5 Ryan Zimmerman
13. A’s 31 20  65% 82.3 Nick Swisher
14. Dodgers 21 10  48% 79.0 Clayton Kershaw
15. Pirates 19 12  63% 75.5 Andrew McCutchen
16. Reds 24 13  54% 73.5 Jay Bruce
17. Red Sox 30 19  63% 62.7 Jacoby Ellsbury
18. Tigers 17 10  59% 59.4 Justin Verlander
19. Blue Jays 34 17 50% 59.1 Aaron Hill
20. Marlins 21 14  67% 58.2 Adrian Gonzalez
21. Cardinals 29 14  48% 56.4 Colby Rasmus
21. Orioles 20 11  55% 56.4 Nick Markakis
23. Rockies 22 12  55% 55.1 Troy Tulowitzki
24. White Sox 20 11  55% 45.9 Chris Sale
25. Mariners 16 11  69% 45.4 Adam Jones
26. Cubs 21 10  48% 42.9 Josh Donaldson
27. Yankees 21 9  43% 28.6 Phil Hughes
28. Indians 26 11  42% 27.5 Jeremy Guthrie
29. Padres 31 11  35% 19.3 Khalil Greene
30. Astros 18 7  39% 11.2 Jason Castro
 TOTALS/AVERAGE  704  372  53%  71.4

Interactive Whiteboards by PolyVision

As you can see in the table above the Twins rank fourth overall in career WAR and that looks good. On the other hand if you look at percentage of round 1 players drafted that reached the majors for even one game, the Twins rank sixth worst in all of baseball at 43%. That would seem to mean that they have drafted some high quality players but they also miss totally on a high number also. I guess you could say the Twins drafts are high risk hoping for high rewards.

Can you believe the San Francisco Giants first round selections? Between 2000-2014 they have had single digit picks just twice (5th and 6th overall) and picks 20 and above overall 11 times and they have players like Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner, Tim Lincecum, and Matt Cain? They also selected Zack Wheeler during this time period and traded him to the Mets.

Over the years baseball people brag about the Rays and their draft picks, Although the Rays have had a couple of primo number ones, overall they rank lowest with just 33% of their number one picks reaching the majors. It is important to remember however; that I am only looking at number 1 selections here and not the entire draft for all the teams.

The draft will be 50 years old this year, why did it get started? There is a nice piece written by John Manuel at Baseball America that you should stop by and read entitled “Reichardt Relishes Role In History“.

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