Article: Ranking the Twins First-Round Picks (Part 3: 11-20)

[Seth Stohs]

Last week, we started a series looking at and ranking 53 Minnesota Twins first-round draft picks. In Part 1: 31-53, we saw a lot of reminders that the draft is not a science, many don't make it or do little when they're there. In Part 2: 21-30, we started seeing some players that had some role in the big leagues for at least a little while.

 

Today, we present Part 3: 11-20. In this grouping, you will see quite a few players who have had some solid, though not spectacular, MLB careers. Several of these players are still active and have a chance to move up this chart, maybe even significantly.#20 – 2009 – Kyle Gibson – RHP

Gibson fell to the Twins with the 22^nd overall pick in 2009, out of the University of Missouri. He was fast-tracked in 2010, pitching for the Miracle, the Rock Cats and ending with the Red Wings. That’s where he began the 2010 season. He started quickly, but he really started struggling and missed time. He had Tommy John surgery and missed most of the 2012 season. He began 2013 with Rochester and went 7-5 with a 2.92 ERA. Despite the setback, he arrived in the big leagues at age 25. Like most, he struggled in his initial big league visit, posting a 2-4 record and a 6.53 ERA in 10 starts. However, in 2014, he made 31 starts and went 13-12. In 13 starts this season, he is 4-5 but has a 3.33 ERA. As he continues, he will likely rise up this list quite a way. MLB WAR: 3.0

 

#19 – 1967 – Steve Brye – 3B

In 1967, the Twins had the 17^th overall pick and selected an outfielder from Oakland named Steve Brye. He moved quickly through the minor leagues and debuted as a 21-year-old with nine games in September. Drafted as a third baseman, he played most of his nine-year career in the corner outfield positions. He played over 100 games just once in his career. In 1974, he played in 135 games for the Twins and hit .283/.319/.365 (.683) with 32 doubles. For his career, he hit .258/.309/.365 (.674) with 97 doubles, 13 triples and 30 homers. MLB WAR: 5.5.

 

#18 – 1990 – Todd Ritchie – RHP

Ritchie was the 12^th overall pick in the 1990 draft. The big name before the draft was Todd Van Poppel, but Ritchie had actually beaten him in high school matchups in Texas. He very slowly worked up the farm system and made his Twins debut out of the bullpen in April, 1997. He pitched to a 4.58 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP in 42 games. The following year, he pitched in 15 games for the Twins before they released him after the season. In something we’ve seen in recent years, the Pirates signed him and he went 15-9 in 26 starts in 1999. He pitched almost 400 innings for the Pirates in 2000 and 2001. He then pitched for the White Sox, the Brewers and the Rays over the next three years. Overall, he went 43-54 with a 4.71 ERA over 835.2 innings in eight big league seasons. MLB WAR: 6.3.

 

#17 – 1980 – Jeff Reed – C

The Twins used the 12^th overall pick in the 1980 draft to select Reed, a catcher from high school in Illinois. On Opening Day 1984, he made his major league debut with the Twins. He played in 18 games for the Twins that season. Then seven games in 1985. Then he played in 68 games for the Twins in 1986. Before the 1987 season, he was traded with three other players to Montreal for Tom Nieto and Jeff Reardon. He went on to play for 17 seasons in the big leagues, for the Expos, Reds, Giants, Rockies and Cubs. He hit .250/.334/.361 (.695) with 144 doubles, ten triples and 61 homers. Maybe he should be moved up this list because this will be his 14^th season as the Elizabethton Twins hitting coach. MLB WAR: 4.5

 

#16 – 2007 – Ben Revere – OF

The Twins were criticized by many when they drafted speedy Ben Revere with the 28^th overall pick in the 2007 draft out of high school in Kentucky. He hit .325 in the GCL that year. He hit .379 in Beloit in 2008. He hit .311 in Ft. Myers in 2009. In 2010, he hit .305 in New Britain and received a September call up. He hit .303 in Rochester in 2011, though he spent most of the season with the Twins. He played in 124 games for the Twins in 2012 and hit .294. He stole 74 bases for the Twins Following the 2012 season, he was traded to Philadelphia for Trevor May and Vance Worley. In the three seasons with the Phillies, he’s hit .300/.327/.359, and in 2014 he hit his only two major league homers. He also led the league with 184 hits. He has been a frequent contributor to Web Gems on SportsCenter and is still just 27 years old. He will continue up this list as well. MLB WAR: 6.0

 

#15 – 1996 – Travis Lee – 1B

The 1996 draft was rather controversial. The Twins selected Lee with the second overall pick out of San Diego State. He was playing for Team USA in the Olympics and the Twins did not tender him a contract within 15 days, so he was deemed a free agent. He then signed a 4 year, $10 million contract with the Diamondbacks. In 1998, he finished third in Rookie of the Year voting. He played nine seasons in the big leagues and hit a combined .256/.337/.408 (.745) with 191 doubles, 16 triples and 115 home runs. He played for Arizona, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay and the New York Yankees. MLB WAR: 7.2 WAR.

 

#14 – 2004 – Trevor Plouffe – SS

Plouffe was the 20^th overall pick in the 2004 MLB draft, the first of five Twins first-round picks that year. He signed a day after he turned 18. He advanced step-by-step and was in Triple-A shortly after turning 22 in 2008. He spent all of 2009 in Triple-A. He debuted and played 22 games at shortstop with the Twins in 2010. The team quickly moved him out of shortstop and he played several positions before moving exclusively to third base in 2012. Aside from a couple of rehab stints in Rochester, he has been a full-time big leaguer since 2012. Over the last few seasons, he has continued to improve offensively and defensively at third base. The 29-year-old has plenty of good years ahead of him and will likely move up this list quite a bit. MLB WAR: 7.3

 

#13 – 1995 – Mark Redman – LHP

The Twins drafted Redman out of the University of Oklahoma with the 13^th overall pick in 1995. He started in Ft. Myers and pitched well there and in Double-A New Britain. However, he never put up an ERA below 5.05 in Triple-A Salt Lake (does anyone?). He debuted with the Twins late in the 1999 season, and as a rookie in 2000, he went 12-9 with a 4.76 ERA. He made nine starts for the Twins in 2001 before being traded at the deadline to the Tigers for Todd Jones. He made 32 starts for the Tigers. Then he went 14-9 for Florida in 2003, winning a World Series championship. He then spent a year in Oakland and a year in Pittsburgh. He was the Royals All-Star representative in 2006. However, he was a free agent after the season. He played for the Braves and Rockies over the next two years and was done after the 2008 season. In all, he went 68-85 with a 4.85 ERA. MLB WAR: 9.5.

 

#12 – 1994 – Todd Walker – 2B

With the eighth overall pick in 1994, the Twins took Todd Walker, a second baseman out of LSU. He was a hitting machine in college. He went straight to Ft. Myers and posted a .938 OPS with ten homers the rest of the way. He hit .290 with 27 doubles and 21 homers in Double-A in 1995. In 135 games in Salt Lake in 1996, he hit 41 doubles, nine triples and 28 homers while posting a .999 OPS. He finished the season with 26 games with the Twins. He split 1997 between Rochester and the big leagues. He then hit .316/.372/.473 (.845) with 41 doubles and 12 homers in 1998. His numbers dropped in 1999. In 2000, he was optioned to Triple-A again. Famously, he did not get along with manager Tom Kelly at all. He wasn’t a good defensive second baseman. Finally, in mid-2000, he was traded to Colorado with Butch Huskey in exchange for Todd Sears. From 2001 to 2007, he hit a combined .289/.349/.439 (.788). Overall, he hit .289/.348/.435 (.783) with 284 doubles, 30 triples and 107 home runs. MLB WAR: 10.5.

 

#11 – 2005 – Matt Garza – RHP

The Twins used the 25^th overall pick in 2005 on Fresno State righty Matt Garza. He began the 2006 season in Ft. Myers. He made eight starts there, ten starts in Double-A New Britain and then five starts in Triple-A Rochester before ending the season with nine starts for the Twins. He spent the first half of 2007 in Rochester before going 5-7 with a 3.69 ERA. Following the season, he was traded to the Rays with Jason Bartlett for Delmon Young. From 2007 through 2014, he has not posted an ERA over 3.95. He’s struggling with the Brewers this year, but in his career, he is 79-83 with a 3.88 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP. MLB WAR: 15.9

 

 

 

There are some very solid MLB players in this grouping. Coming soon, we'll take a look at the top ten Minnesota Twins first-round draft picks. There are some very good names on that list.

 

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[Rosterman]

Out of 43 names, we start getting some positives!

 

[Seth Stohs]

Ha! yeah, and like I wrote several of these guys are still playing (about half) and can continue to rise up this chart. It's really interesting to note, but the Twins have actually done pretty well drafting since the late 90s (with a couple of obvious exceptions). Before that, it was very hit-and-miss.

[twinssouth]

Every time I see Garza, it reminds me of one of the worst all time trades in Twins history. The GM at time (I refuse to say his name) panicked when Tori left and had to replace him with a so called big bopper Delmon Young and he even threw in Bartlett.

[twinssouth]

Didn't the Travis Lee fiasco have to do with money, even telling the Twins before the draft not to draft him and they did it any way

[DocBauer]

BUT, if second place ROY finisher Young had turned out to be what everyone hoped and thought he would be, perspective on the trade would be very different.

[Seth Stohs]

 

BUT, if second place ROY finisher Young had turned out to be what everyone hoped and thought he would be, perspective on the trade would be very different.

 

Truth. At the time, the general thought was that the Twins had young pitching and needed a big right-handed bat. Young never turned into what people (most people) thought he would, and Garza immediately had a nice playoff showing. Garza's been OK, Young's become a bit part. At the time, it made some sense. In retrospect, it wouldn't happen.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Didn't the Travis Lee fiasco have to do with money, even telling the Twins before the draft not to draft him and they did it any way

 

I don't recall any of that. I think it was just that he wasn't offered a contract within 15 days. I want to say it was Boras, but I'm not sure. I think Matt White was another from that year that did the same thing. They both got huge signing bonuses as free agents. 

[sftwinsfan]

 

Didn't the Travis Lee fiasco have to do with money, even telling the Twins before the draft not to draft him and they did it any way

 

Scott Boras discovered a loophole in the CBA that required a team to offer a contract within 15 days or relinquish the rights to the player.  Most teams were unaware of the existence of the rule and Boras got 4 1st rounders declared free agents.  He's tried various other tactics over the years to get draftees declared free agents but that was his shining moment.  

[DocBauer]

Scott Boras discovered a loophole in the CBA that required a team to offer a contract within 15 days or relinquish the rights to the player.  Most teams were unaware of the existence of the rule and Boras got 4 1st rounders declared free agents.  He's tried various other tactics over the years to get draftees declared free agents but that was his shining moment.

 

Yeppers. And if you recall, the Twins deliberately didn't offer a contract immediately...which has now become standard practice...as a favor to Lee as he was participating in the Olympics...and they didn't want to distract him.

 

IF I remember correctly, I think they even told him that, that they would wait to talk numbers until afterward.

[nater79a]

That 2001 trade deadline was a lot of fun. Besides the Mark Redman for Todd Jones swap I believe we made the Matt Lawton for Rick Reed deal. Neither Jones/Reed did much to help the Twins down the stretch but I was just glad we did something to try and help a surprising team that year.