Twins Daily 2022 Draft Coverage, April 7

[Jeremy Nygaard]

Happy Opening Week of Twins Baseball! As pro baseball gets into the swing of things, the amateur season continues and now starts to share the spotlight. We've got you covered on all things draft-related.

For draft lovers, this week is going to be a focus on just a couple pieces of information that came out since our last update. Last Friday, Baseball America published their second mock draft of the spring. If you recall (or to save you from checking), they mocked the Twins selecting James Madison outfielder Chase DeLauter in their first version. DeLauter really struggled in the season’s first series against good competition, though he has seemed to right the ship (against lesser competition). He has dropped in the newest projection. 

Version 2.0 now has the Twins selecting Jacob Berry, a corner infielder from LSU. That would be an excellent value pick, considering he’s viewed as one of the top two college hitters in the draft (along with Cal Poly’s Brooks Lee). The current regime has placed an emphasis on college bats, so a potential Berry pick - which may frustrate some - would fall in line with what we’ve seen with picks like Aaron Sabato and Trevor Larnach.

Speaking of Brooks Lee…

Keith Law posted some scouting notes earlier this week at The Athletic. He really likes the aforementioned Lee, calling him “one of the safest bets at the top of the draft this year” though he offers the caveat that Lee doesn’t “offer the upside of the high school players in that same echelon.”

Law also writes about Kevin Parada of Georgia Tech. Parada has gotten plenty of pub at Twins Daily in the last month and Law sees him as a “top 10 (pick) if the draft were held today, with a chance to get into the top five.”

Jumping into my Top 10 this week are two new names: 

• Jackson Holliday, a prep SS from Oklahoma who’s committed to Oklahoma State. He’s the son of Matt Holliday, the hitting coach at Oklahoma State, under head coach Robin Ventura. 
• Daniel Susac, a catcher from Arizona. Jamie Cameron did a great job introducing him in his college baseball notebook earlier this week.

Jeremy's Top 10 MLB Draft Prospects 

1.) Druw Jones, OF, Georgia prep (Vanderbilt commit)

2.) Termarr Johnson, 2B, Georgia prep

3.) Elijah Green, OF, Florida prep (Miami commit) (Baseball America breaks down his game.)

4.) Brooks Lee, SS, Cal Poly

5.) Dylan Lesko, SP, Georgia prep (Vanderbilt commit) (Baseball America breaks down his game.) (previously: 7)

6.) Jacob Berry, 3B, LSU (previously: 5)

7.) Kevin Parada, C, Georgia Tech (previously: ?

8.) Jace Jung, 3B, Texas Tech (previously: 6)

9.) Andrew Susac, C, Arizona (previously unranked)

10.) Jackson Holliday, SS, Oklahoma prep (Oklahoma State commit)

OUT: Chase DeLauter, cOF, James Madison (previously: 9); Robert Moore, 2B, Arkansas (previously: 10)
 

MOCK DRAFTS / PROSPECT BOARDS

• Baseball America - v2.0 (4/1/22) /  v1.0 (2/10/22) / Top 200 (3/14/22)
• MLB.com - Callis - Top 10 (12/15/21), Mayo - Top 20 (7/20/21) / Top 100
• The Athletic - Law Top 30 (3/10/22)
• ESPN - Early Draft Rankings (7/26/21) ($$$ - ESPN+) / McDaniel’s Draft Rankings (2/24/22)
• Fangraphs - The Board / 2022 MLB Draft Rankings and Offseason List Primer (11/30/21) 
• Just Baseball v1.0 (2/10/22)
• My MLB Draft (1/18/22)
• Prospects Live v1.0 (1/4/22)

 

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[MN_ExPat]

Don't pick Lesko, Don't pick Lesko, Don't pick Lesko...

 

[Jeremy Nygaard]

28 minutes ago, MN_ExPat said:

Don't pick Lesko, Don't pick Lesko, Don't pick Lesko...

 

Lesko was realllllllllyy good yesterday. There will be much more on him next week. 

As of today, I'd pick him at 8... but I think there's only a slim chance he'd be available.

[Dman]

I am pretty sure they will go with a bat even though I wouldn't mind doubling down on an arm.  Depending on how things fall I could see the Twins going young with someone like Cam Collier.  He would fit in with some of the other young bats to create a second wave of hitters in Rosario, Rodriguez, Urbina and Cavaco.

I like Berry's bat a ability to switch hit I just don't think he will fall to number 8 though either.