2013 Twins draft summary

 

Kohl Stewart
Kohl Stewart

Each year after the June amateur draft is completed I try to put together a draft summary that shows at a quick glance how the Twins drafted. The Twins first pick (fourth over-all) this year is RHP Kohl Stewart from Houston, Texas St. Pius High School. Stewart is a consensus four-star prospect as a quarterback and has a football scholarship waiting for him at Texas A&M. But according to numerous reports Stewart feels that his future is with baseball and he is expected to sign with the Twins in the next few days. Several reports have Stewart as “the highest ceiling pitcher” in this years draft. Keith Law, ESPN states that: “He hit 96 mph and sat 92-94 consistently, showing a plus slider at 85-88, a hard curveball at 79-82, and even a few change-ups at 83-84 with decent arm speed.” With their second pick the Twins continued taking pitching and selected RHP Ryan Eades from LSU.

When the smoke cleared after three days of drafting the Twins had selected 40 players and will probably sign about 30 of them. Between 1998 and 2009 the Twins signed an average of 23.41 drafted players per year but between 2010 and 2012 they signed an average of 30.33 drafted players per year so it looks like the team realized they need to bring new blood into the organization the last few years.

Although the Twins history in drafting pitching is atrocious, that does not stop them from trying and this year they used 24 of their 40 picks on pitchers. Seven are lefties and 17 throw from the right side. Based on the Twins drafting history, I think I might have a better chance of winning the Powerball then the Twins do of drafting an “ace” pitcher but you have to give them credit for trying. It will only cost me $2 to try to win the Powerball but the Twins will have to shell out about $4.5 million this year to see if they hit the jackpot with Kohl Stewart.

The Twins drafted zero first baseman this year. If you are a first baseman and looking to be drafted, you don’t want the Twins to select you because since 1990 the Twins have drafted and signed only three first baseman that have worked their way up the minor league ladder to wear a Twins uniform. In 1999 the Twins selected Terry Tiffee in round 26 and he played in just 17 games at 1B for Minnesota. In 1995 the Twins picked Doug Mientkiewicz in the fifth round and he played first base in 628 games as a Twin. In 1991 the Twins used their first pick to select Dave McCarty and he played a total of 86 games at first base for Tom Kelly before he was sent packing. Previous to that you had first baseman like Dan Masteller and Steve Dunn. You have to go all the way back to 1978 when the Twins took Minnesota native Kent Hrbek in round 17 to find a top-notch first baseman that the Twins drafted. For those of you wondering about Justin Morneau, he was drafted in round 3 in 1999 but he was drafted as a catcher. It seems a lot easier for the Twins just to “create” first baseman from players that fail to meet expectations at other positions or when size or age catches up with them rather then waste a draft choice trying to find one.

 

 Twins 2013 draft

Position College High School Bats Right Bats Left Switch Hitter LHP RHP
C 3 1 3 1 0 n/a n/a
1B 0 0 0 0 0 n/a n/a
2B 1 0 1 0 0 n/a n/a
SS 2 1 1 2 0 n/a n/a
3B 1 0 0 1 0 n/a n/a
OF 6 1 5 2 0 n/a n/a
P 17 7 n/a n/a n/a 7 17
Totals 30 (75%) 10 (25%) 10 6 1 7 17
rookie card
rookie card

Did you know?

November 26, 2010 – That in the 1989 Amateur draft the Minnesota Twins drafted two AL Rookie of Year winners in Chuck Knoblauch (first round) and Marty Cordova (tenth round) as well as two 20-game winners in Denny Neagle, albeit not with Minnesota (third round) and Scott Erickson (fourth round). And then, in round 52 they drafted Denny Hocking as a catcher and he went on to become one of the lowest-drafted players to ever reach the majors. Hocking had a 13 year big league career and was a Minnesota Twin between 1993-2003. In 1997 Hocking played games at 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, RF, CF, LF and DH. Though he was drafted as a catcher, Denny never donned the “tools of ignorance” in a big league game.