Article: Twins Draft Gems (Rounds 11-40)

[Seth Stohs]

The Twins have drafted ten players so far in the 2015 first-year players draft (Rule 4 draft). After making two picks on Monday night and eight on Tuesday afternoon, the Twins will draft thirty players on Wednesday. Yesterday, I showed that there are many examples of very good MLB players that have been drafted in rounds three through ten. Today, I’ll show that there are several big leaguers who have been selected in rounds 11 through 40 as well.

 

As you’ll see, many of these players decided not to sign for the low-dollar signing bonuses of the late rounds. They choose to go to college and may get drafted again. However, those are just as impressive when you consider that one of the scouts saw him and thought he was worth drafting.Continue on to read some of the Twins top picks from rounds 11 through 40.

 

11^th Round

 

1967 – Al Hrabosky – LHP – High School in California – WAR 10-6

Hrabosky didn’t sign after he was drafted by the Twins. He went to Cal State-Fullerton. Two years later, he was a first-round pick by the Cardinals. The Mad Hungarian had a 13 year big league career in which he won 64 games and added 97 saves. In 1975, he went 13-3 with a 1.66 ERA and 22 saves in 97.1 innings. It was a different era of relief pitchers.

Honorable Mention: Jerry Reed (1973), David Dellucci (1994), Evan Meek (2002)

 

Current: Nelson Molina (2013), Taylor Rogers (2012), Tyler Kuresa (2010)

 

Last year: Tanner English

 

12^th Round

 

1993 – Alex Cora – SS – High School in Puerto Rico – WAR 7.0

 

Cora also chose not to sign at the time, choosing to go to the University of Miami. Three years later, he was selected in the third round. He spent 14 seasons in the big leagues. After being the Dodgers starting shortstop for a couple of seasons, he was their starting second baseman for a couple of years. He remained in the big leagues for another half-dozen years in a utility role.

Honorable Mention: Pat Meares (1990), Jason Kubel (2000)

Current: Ethan Mildren (2013), Alex Muren (2012)

 

Last year: Pat Kelly

 

13^th Round

 

1991 – Matt Lawton – 2B – Mississippi Gulf Coast CC – WAR 15.0

 

Lawton debuted with the Twins in 1995 and stayed with the team through mid-2001 when he was traded to the Mets for Rick Reed. He was the Twins All Star representative in 2000. He is one of the more underrated Twins players of the last 20 years (in my opinion). After leaving the Twins, he played for the Mets and then five other teams before retiring following the 2006 season.

Honorable Mention: Pete Falcone (1972), Rob Wilfong (1971), Scott Leius (1986)

Current: Brandon Peterson (2013), Ryan O’Rourke (2010)

 

Last Year: Zach Tillery

 

 

14^th Round

 

1989 – Mike Trombley – RHP – Duke University – WAR 9.2

 

Trombley debuted with the Twins in 1992. In his first few seasons, he made some starts, but he primarily worked out of the bullpen and found his success there. In his final season with the Twins (1999), he had 24 saves, though he was 2-8. He spent time with Baltimore and the Dodgers before finishing his career back with the Twins for a handful of games.

Honorable Mention: Dan Naulty (1992)

Current: Zach Granite (2013)

 

Last Year: Tyler Mautner

 

 

15^th Round

 

1967 – Rick Dempsey – C – High School in California – WAR – 25.3

 

Dempsey debuted with the Twins as a 19-year-old in 1969. He played five games in 1970, six games in 1971, 25 games in 1972 before being traded to the Yankees. He was traded a year later to Baltimore and that’s where he found his value. He was the MVP of the 1983 World Series and later was part of the 1988 Dodgers World Series championship team. He continued playing into his 40s.

Last Year: Roberto Gonzalez (2015)

 

16^th Round

 

1980 – Jim Eisenreich – OF – St. Cloud State University – WAR 13.4

 

Eisenreich played in 48 games for the Twins between 1982 and 1984, but he could not overcome his issues with Tourette’s Syndrome. He left baseball, and played amateur ball for a couple of years. The Royals gave him another shot, and he took advantage. Known as a professional hitter, he hit .296/.349/.410 (.759) over the final ten seasons of his big league career. He went 4-8 in the 1997 Marlins World Series championship series.

Honorable Mention: Yonder Alonso (2005), Kolten Wong (2008), Lenny Webster (1982)

Current: Brandon Bixler (2013)

 

Last Year: Tyler Kuresa

 

 

17^th Round

 

1978 – Kent Hrbek – 1B – Bloomington Kennedy High School – WAR 38.4

 

The Twins took a home town kid, just down the road from Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, and he turned out pretty good. Hrbek quickly got to the big leagues, debuting with the Twins as a 21-year-old in August of 1981. He was an All Star and finished second to Cal Ripken in the 1982 Rookie of the Year vote. He finished second in MVP voting in 1984. He was a key contributor to the Twins two World Series championship teams and hit 293 career home runs, all with the Twins. Following his career, he was inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame and still is an ambassador for the Twins organization.

Honorable Mention: JJ Putz (1998), Paul Maholm (2000), Chip Hale (1987)

Current: Dalton Hicks (2012)

 

Last Year: Mat Batts

 

18^th Round

 

1973 – Rick Peters – IF – High School in California – WAR 3.2

 

The Compton, California, native chose not to sign with the Twins out of high school. He went to Arizona State and four years late was the Tigers seventh round pick. He debuted in the Motor City in September of 1979. He played in 133 games and posted a 103 OPS+ that year. He was a part-time utility outfielder in the big leagues in 1983 and 1986 with the A’s.

Current: Ryan Walker (2013)

 

Last Year: TJ White

 

19^th Round

 

2006 – Danny Valencia – 3B – University of Miami – WAR 2.1

 

Valencia bashed his way up the Twins minor league system. He debuted as a 25-year-old in 2010 and impressed. In 85 games, he hit .311/.351/.448 (.799) with 18 doubles and seven home runs. In 2011, he played in 154 games and hit .246/.294/.383 (.677) with 28 doubles and 15 home runs. He got 34 more games with the Twins in 2012 before being sent to AAA and eventually traded to the Red Sox. He resurfaced with the Orioles in 2013, the Royals in 2014 and has now been with the Blue Jays for the last year. These last three teams have found his value as a left-handed pitcher masher.

Current: Jared Wilson (2013)

 

Last Year: Jarrard Poteete

 

20^th Round

 

1990 – Damian Miller – C – Viterbo University in LaCrosse – WAR 9.0

 

Drafted in 1990, Miller did not debut with the Twins until a 25-game stint in 1997 as a 27-year-old. That offseason, Miller was selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the Expansion Draft. He certainly found himself there and was the catcher for Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling on that 2001 World Series championship team. He continued to be a starting catcher in the big leagues through 2007, finishing his career with three years in Milwaukee.

Current: Jason Kanzler (2013), Zack Larson (2012)

Last Year: McCarthy Tatum (did not sign, went to Fresno State)

 

21^st Round

 

1990 – Eddie Guardado – LHP – San Joaquin Delta College – WAR 13.7

 

Guardado moved quickly through the Twins farm system and debuted as a 22-year-old in 1993. He began his big league career as a starter, but he was pretty terrible. He made the move to the bullpen and earned the Everyday Eddie moniker. He was a middling, frequently used reliever until 2000 and 2001 when he performed well. Late in 2001, he became the closer. He led the league with 45 saves in 2002. He was an All Star for the Twins in 2002 and 2003. He signed with the Mariners in 2004 and spent time with the Reds, and Rangers before coming back to the Twins in August of 2008. He was recently added to the Twins Hall of Fame, and he is now the Twins bullpen coach.

Honorable Mention: JC Romero (1997), Lenny Webster (1985)

 

Current: Tyler Stirewalt (2013)

 

Last year: Onas Farfan

 

22^nd Round

 

2007 – Mickey Storey – RHP – Florida Atlantic University – WAR 0.3

 

Storey didn’t sign and a year later he was the A’s 31^st round pick. He debuted with 26 relief appearances for Houston in 2012. He pitched in three games for the Blue Jays in 2013. He is currently pitching in the Atlantic League for Somerset.

Current: Alex Swim (2013)

 

Last year: Trevor Hildenberger

 

23^rd Round

 

1999 – Willie Eyre – RHP – College of Eastern Utah – WAR 0.5

 

Eyre and David Herndon both have 0.5 WAR, but I went with the guy who signed with the Twins. He debuted with the Twins in 2006 and pitched in 75 games over those two seasons. He posted a 5.31 ERA over those two seasons. He got time with the Rangers and the Orioles as well.

Current: Zach Hayden (2013), Tim Shibuya (2011), Dallas Gallant (2010)

 

Last Year: Miles Nordgren

 

24^th Round

 

1998 – Juan Padilla – RHP – Jacksonville University – WAR 1.0

 

Padilla moved up three levels in his first full season. He reached AAA Rochester in 2003. He moved on to the Yankees organization in 2004 and made his debut as a 27 year old that year. He pitched in 18 games with the Yankees before pitching in 12 games for the Reds. He pitched in 24 games (and posted a 1.49 ERA) for the Mets in 2005.

Current: Brandon Easton (2013), Nick Burdi (2011), Michael Quesada (2010)

 

Last Year: Alex Real

 

25^th Round

 

2003 – John Gaub – LHP – South St. Paul High School – WAR – (-0.1)

 

The choice here was between John Gaub and Adam Johnson. Gaub wins. Neither of them actually signed when they were taken in this round, choosing to go to college. Gaub went to the University of Minnesota and was the Reds 21^st round pick in 2006. He pitched in four games (2.2 innings) for the Reds in 2011.

Current: Chad Christensen (2013)

Last Year: Taylor Hearn (did not sign, went to Oklahoma Baptist, drafted in 5^th round on Tuesday)

 

26^th Round

 

1995 – Corey Koskie – 3B – Kwantlen College – WAR 24.6

 

Koskie, drafted from Manitoba, debuted as a 25-year-old in September of 1998. He came up and Tom Kelly was afraid to play him at third base. It didn’t take long and he was a very good defensive third baseman. He too may have been one of the more underrated Twins in recent years too. He had really good power, and he had surprising speed. He also took a lot of walks and got on base a lot. He left before the 2005 season as a free agent to play for the Blue Jays. He spent 2006 in Milwaukee until he had a concussion that ended his career way too early.

Honorable Mention: Lyman Bostock (1972)

Last Year: Blake Schmit

 

27^th Round

 

1988 – Scott Stahoviak – RHP – High School in Illinois – WAR 1.0

 

Stahoviak didn’t sign and went to Creighton for three years before the Twins drafted him again, that time as a third baseman. He is often used as part of a mid-90s Twins joke, but considering his 1996 season. In 130 games, he hit .284/.376/.469 (.845) with 30 doubles and 13 home runs. That’s pretty solid. He just never able to replicate those numbers.

Honorable Mention: Eric Decker (2009) – drafted out of the University of Minnesota, where he did play baseball (outfielder), he chose football and that seems to have been the right choice for him.

 

Current: Chris Mazza (2011)

Last Year: Gabriel Ojeda

 

28^th Round

 

1987 – Bret Boone – SS – High School in California – WAR 22.6

Boone didn’t sign with the Twins and instead went to USC. Three years later, he was drafted in the 5^th round by the Mariners. He played second base and hit a lot of home runs, 252 in his 14 year career. In 2005, he was released by the Mariners and the Twins did sign him. It didn’t go well. In 14 games, he hit .170.

Current: David Hurlbut (2011), Nate Hanson (2008)

 

Last Year: Austin Diemer

 

29^th Round

 

2001 – Nick Blackburn – RHP – Seminole State College – WAR 3.3

 

Say what you want about how things turned out for Blackburn, but if you can get 137 starts out of a 29^th round pick, you’re thrilled. In his first two full seasons, he went 11-11 (both years) with a 4.05 ERA (103 ERA+) and a 4.03 ERA (109 ERA+). The hope was that he could continue to pitch that way, despite the lack of strikeouts. Things went downhill from there. Overall, he went 43-55 with a 4.85 ERA in his six big league seasons.

Last Year: Cameron Avila-Leeper (did not sign, went to Delta College)

30^th Round

 

2008 – Michael Tonkin – RHP – High School in California – WAR (-0.3)

 

Tonkin has been back and forth from Rochester to Minnesota each of the last three years. He’s done well in the minors but it has not yet transferred to the big league success. That said, he hasn’t been really given any extended looks yet.

Current: Tanner Vavra (2013)

 

Last Year: Michael Theofanopoulos

 

31^st Round

 

1996 – Mike Lamb – C – Cal State-Fullerton – WAR 4.1

 

Lamb didn’t sign with the Twins at this time, but he would come to the organization late in his career. He went back to school and a year later went in the seventh round. After four years with the Rangers, he became a big on-base percentage guy with the Astros. He posted .800+ OPS three out of four years. He came to the Twins on a two-year deal, but after just 81 games, he was hitting .233/.276/.322 (.598) and was released.

Last year: Sam Hilliard (did not sign, went to Wichita State)

 

32^nd Round

 

Not one 32^nd round pick of the Twins has made it to the big leagues… yet.

 

Last year: Orynn Veillon (did not sign, went to Louisiana-Lafayette)

 

33^rd Round

 

1997 – Nick Punto – SS – Saddleback College – WAR 15.3

 

Punto didn’t sign at this time. A year later, the Phillies made him their 21^st round pick. He came to the Twins in the Eric Milton trade and had a polarizing, though very underrated career with the Twins. Though he hasn’t retired, he is not playing this year. He has 14 years in the big leagues. He does a few things very well. He played great defense at three infield positions. With the Twins, he also took good at bats and got on base, most years.

Current: Stephen Wickens (2011)

 

Last Year: Trey Vavra

 

34^th Round

 

1991 – Tim Davis – LHP – Florida State University – WAR 0.8

 

Davis went back to FSU and was selected by the Mariners in the 6^th round a year later. Two years later, he debuted with the M’s. Over the next four seasons, he posted a combined 4.62 ERA in 122.2 innings over 89 games.

Current: Bryan Haar (2012)

 

Last Year: Mike Baumann (did not sign, the Mahtomedi pitcher went to Jacksonville University where he went 7-1 with a 2.24 ERA in 84.2 innings – 85 Ks)

 

35^th Round

 

1996 – Josh Bard – C – High School in Colorado – WAR – 3.2

 

Bard was a backup catcher (with a few seasons when he was a starter) for ten years in the big leagues. He played for Cleveland, Boston, San Diego, Washington and Seattle.

Current: Jared Wilson (2012), David Hurlbut (2009)

Last Year: Brad Mathiowetz (did not sign, from Rochester Mayo, went to Des Moines Area CC)

 

36^th Round

 

1974 – Eric Show – RHP – High School in California – WAR 15.9

 

Show did not sign and went to UC-Riverside. Four years later, he was the 18^th round pick of the San Diego Padres. He played for the Padres from 1981 through 1990 before a partial season with Oakland in 1991. Never an All-Star, he went 101-89 with a 3.66 ERA (99 ERA+), but he had some really good years. Three times he won at least 15 games in a season.

Honorable Mention: JD Martinez (2006)

Last Year: Kirvin Moesquit (did not sign and went to Seminole State College)

 

 

37^th Round

 

1988 – Aaron Sele – RHP – High School in Washington – WAR 20.6

Sele, who was born in Golden Valley, Minnesota, didn’t sign and went to Washington State. It was a good decision for him because three years later he was drafted in the first round by the Boston Red Sox. He was twice an All Star over his 15 year career. He won 15 or more games four times. He won 148 games in his career.

Last Year: Tyree Davis

38^th Round

 

1992 – Gary Matthews, Jr – 2B – High School in California – WAR 14.2

Son of Sarge didn’t sign with the Twins and went to Mission College. In 1993, he was the Padres 13^th round pick. He played for seven teams. Early in his career, he was all over the place. Later in his career, after making some great defensive plays in centerfield, he made some big money. He played 1,281 games over 12 seasons.

Honorable Mention: TJ Mathews (1991), Tommy Watkins (1998)

 

Last Year: Brett Doe

 

39^th Round

 

1994 – Brian Lawrence – RHP – High School in Texas – WAR 8.1

 

Lawrence didn’t sign and became a 17^th round pick in 1998. He spent five seasons with the San Diego Padres. Then in 2007, he made six starts for the Mets. He won 50 games in the big leagues.

Honorable Mention: Anthony Slama 2006

Last Year: John Jones (did not sign)

 

40^th Round

 

2007 – Chase Anderson – RHP – North Central Texas College – WAR 1.8

 

Anderson didn’t sign and was the 2009 ninth round pick of the Diamondbacks. He debuted with the D-Backs in 2014 and went 9-7 with a 4.01 ERA. He has made 11 starts this year, though he has just a 1-1 record.

Last Year: Dalton Guthrie (Did Not Sign, son of former Twins RP Mark Guthrie, went to the University of Florida)

After the 40^th Round

 

The MLB Draft is now 40 rounds. It had been 50, and not too long ago, it went until a team no longer wanted to make picks. Here are a few guys who were drafted after the 40^th round:

• 41^st Round – Brian Raabe (1990)
• 42^nd Round – Lance Carter (1993)
• 43^rd Round – Jason Vargas (2001)
• 45^th Round – Pat Neshek (1999), Steve Pearce (2003)
• 46^th Round – AJ Achter (2010)
• 48^th Round – George Springer (2008)
• 49^th Round – Michael Holliman (2003), Brock Peterson (2002)
• 52^nd Round – Denny Hocking (1989)

It’s Day 3 of the 2015 MLB Draft. As the rounds continue, the odds of a player making it to the Major Leagues, but there are enough examples of players just with the Twins that have made it. Or, even if they don’t sign and go to college, they can move up the draft chart later and get another opportunity.

 

Will any of this year’s late round picks be the next Kent Hrbek, or Aaron Sele? We shall find out.

 

Click here to view the article

[mdawg888]

Just goes to show you can find talent at just about any point in the draft! Interesting note, I actually have two connections on this list. I played in Mickey Storey's conference (Atlantic Sun) in college with Campbell University. He actually no-hit us his sophmore season...dude was filthy. Cory Kluber, Daniel Murphy and Drew Butera were also in the league at the time with Stetson, Jacksonville, and Central Florida respectively. 

 

I also played with John Gaub in the Northwoods League for St. Cloud. Great guy, great arm!

[Loosey]

Did the Twins Draft Lenny Webster twice?

[Seth Stohs]

 

  On 6/10/2015 at 3:15 PM, Loosey said:

Did the Twins Draft Lenny Webster twice?

 

yes, there were a few of those.