Twins Draft Class 2022 Update

[Jeremy Nygaard]

17 signings. 17 bonuses included. That leaves three players unsigned. Keep reading to learn all you need to know about this year's draft class.

You can go more in-depth on any specific player in the Twins Daily Draft Tracker. 

I'll give you the class overview here. 

All of the Top 10 round selections and seven of the Day 3 selections are signed, sealed and delivered. We'll keep you updated at Twins Daily as they all embark soon on their professional careers. 

Only Brooks Lee (first round) and Connor Prielipp (second round) came in over slot. Surprisingly enough, Lee's bonus was more over slot than Prielipp's. Both figure to enter the Twins Top 10 prospects and it isn't out of the question to consider Lee and Prielipp the organization's top hitting and pitching prospect, respectively. 

In order to get both players signed to over slot deals, the Twins had to shave money off their Day 2 picks. Each one of those players came in under slot - between $24,100 and $178,500 - to guarantee the Twins could make that happen.

Now that the dust has settled and figures are public, there are a few interesting tidbits.

The Twins spent $9,933,700 of their $10,081,500 bonus pool, meaning they still have $147,800 remaining to spend. Additionally, they could spend 105% of their bonus pool without any penalty. That means the Twins could spend up to $651,875 more.

Omari Daniel has not signed yet, but he will be reporting to Fort Myers this weekend and is likely to forego his college eligibility to begin his professional career. Sources have indicated that Daniel's bonus will not exceed $125,000, which would require the signing team to dip into their bonus pool.

So that leaves Garrett McMillan (Alabama) and Korbyn Dickerson (Kentucky prep committed to Louisville). Both have said publicly they will not be signing and that would be the expected outcome. The Twins could offer either one $272,800 (sixth round money) to sign. That would put them right at the limit of their bonus pool. If they wanted to use the 5% extra, they could sign either to $776,875 (which is basically third round money) or they could offer each $450,937 (late fourth round money). 

A late signing after professing publicly that a player is returning isn't unprecedented. The Twins signed Edouard Julien for $493,000 in 2019 after he stated he was going back to Auburn

As the signing deadline approaches next week, the only question remains... will either McMillan or Dickerson change their mind?

	MINNESOTA TWINS				$651,875
	Player	Round	Slot	Bonus	$147,800
	Brooks Lee, SS, Cal Poly	1	$5,442,400	$5,675,000	-$232,600
	Connor Prielipp, LHP, Alabama	2	$1,662,700	$1,825,000	-$162,300
	Tanner Schobel, SS, Virginia Tech"}" style="font-size:9pt; padding:2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align:bottom">Tanner Schobel, SS, Virginia Tech	CB	$1,002,000	$1,002,000	$0
	Andrew Morris, RHP, Texas Tech"}" style="font-size:9pt; padding:2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align:bottom">Andrew Morris, RHP, Texas Tech	4	$533,300	$500,000	$33,300
	Ben Ross, SS, Notre Dame Coll."}" style="font-size:9pt; padding:2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align:bottom">Ben Ross, SS, Notre Dame Coll.	5	$398,500	$220,000	$178,500
	Jorel Ortega, 2B, Tennessee"}" style="font-size:9pt; padding:2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align:bottom">Jorel Ortega, 2B, Tennessee	6	$301,200	$250,000	$51,200
	Kyle Jones, RHP, Toledo"}" style="font-size:9pt; padding:2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align:bottom">Kyle Jones, RHP, Toledo	7	$235,600	$176,700	$58,900
	Zebby Matthews, RHP, W. Carolina"}" style="font-size:9pt; padding:2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align:bottom">Zebby Matthews, RHP, W. Carolina	8	$187,900	$125,000	$62,900
	Cory Lewis, RHP, UC-Santa Barbara"}" style="font-size:8pt; padding:2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align:bottom">Cory Lewis, RHP, UC-Santa Barbara	9	$164,100	$140,000	$24,100
	Dalton Shuffield, SS, Texas State"}" style="font-size:9pt; padding:2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align:bottom">Dalton Shuffield, SS, Texas State	10	$153,800	$20,000	$133,800
	Andrew Cossetti, C, St. Joseph's"}" style="font-size:9pt; padding:2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align:bottom">Andrew Cossetti, C, St. Joseph's	11	-	$125,000
	Nate Baez, C, Arizona State"}" style="font-size:9pt; padding:2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align:bottom">Nate Baez, C, Arizona State	12	-	$125,000
	C.J. Culpepper, RHP, Cal Baptist"}" style="font-size:9pt; padding:2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align:bottom">C.J. Culpepper, RHP, Cal Baptist	13	-	$125,000
	Omari Daniel, SS, The Walker School	14	-	Agreed
	Ben Ethridge, RHP, So. Miss."}" style="font-size:9pt; padding:2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align:bottom">Ben Ethridge, RHP, So. Miss.	15	-	$125,000
	Jankel Ortiz, SS, Ac. Pres. HS (PR)	16	-	$125,000
	Alec Sayre, OF, Wright State"}" style="font-size:9pt; padding:2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align:bottom">Alec Sayre, OF, Wright State	17	-	$100,000
	Zachary Veen, LHP, Point Loma	18	-	$80,000
	Garrett McMillan, RHP, Alabama	19	-	intends to return to Alabama
	Korbyn Dickerson, OF, Trinity HS (KY)	20	-	intends to go to Louisville

View full article

[roger]

Thanks for the recap, Jeremy.  
 

Appeared on draft day that many of the guys drafted 4-10, were selected higher than rated by the various sources.  Expect that was done to have the dollars to go over slot on the top two.  Strategy worked and couldn’t be happier with the first two signed, sealed and delivered.  I am hopeful that Prielipp becomes the Twins version of Chris Sale and is pitching at Target Field late next year.

One question on the dollars for Prielipp.  Saw I think in the first tweet about his signing that his slot was $1,622,000 or so.  With them well under, it no longer makes a difference unless they want to take a run at one of the last two.
 

 

[Dman]

First thank you Jeremy for all the work you put into the draft with articles, video's and comments!!  It was very insightful and I for one really enjoy the kind of info and content you bring to Twins Daily. So thank you!

I am thankful the Twins got the two high schoolers signed.  They both have really good tools and project well especially with their arms and defense.  Hopefully their hit tools will end up plus but we will have to wait and see.  They both appear athletically gifted so just need to hit the ball to succeed. 

Have to say I was surprised Prielipp made it to the second round and that he ultimately did not quite get first round money.  That leads me to question if other teams see him more as a reliever than starter? I know Fangraphs did so it will be interesting to see how things ultimately turn out.  Still, likely elite reliever in the second round would not be a bad get either.

As usual I really don't understand draft rankings when it comes to pitchers past the second round.  Just given the comments and where Morris was ranked I didn't see him commanding the $500,000 bonus he got.  I thought it would be in the 3 to 4 hundred range tops.  I don't have the info the Twins do though so obviously they feel like he was the best pitcher available at pick number 4.

Happy to see both catchers getting the max they could get in the 11th and 12th rounds as I like both and I think they deserved even more but at least they gave the slotted value there.

Is Garrett McMillan worth going over slot for?  He wasn't ranked in the the top 300 that I could see.  I guess I don't see the attraction there but maybe someone can fill me in?  

Dickerson is interesting and the Twins didn't get much in the draft for outfield prospects but with the swing and miss he seems like a long shot to me.  Still if they had to put that money on just one player I would go with Dickerson.

I know I complained about all the shortstop\utility player picks but I really like what they did in this draft.  They got a couple of high schoolers with good projection (i.e. not slow footed position less players). They got arguably the best bat in the draft.  They grabbed an elite arm in the second and under rated player with their supp pick. I am interested to see how how the smaller school Ben Ross does at the pro level and if his bat plays the Twins might have a legit shortstop there. I think Morris and Lewis are interesting arms and I really liked both catchers they drafted after the first ten picks.

To recap they got high upside early in the draft and still found talented bats late in the draft along with two high school shortstops.  I think they did pretty well this year.

[Tiantwindup]

As with Dman I also offer thanks to Jeremy and others that provided superb draft coverage all along the way. Maybe I didn’t pay as much attention to prior drafts or just can’t remember very well, but I think this year’s effort sets a new standard for the draft. Kudos to all from TD who contributed!

[Jeremy Nygaard]

50 minutes ago, roger said:

One question on the dollars for Prielipp.  Saw I think in the first tweet about his signing that his slot was $1,622,000 or so.  With them well under, it no longer makes a difference unless they want to take a run at one of the last two.

Prielipp got $1,825,000 against his slot value which was $1,662,700.  What the Twins did this year - which was very smart - is they announced all their deals in one swoop. 

In the past, deal details would trickle in and agents do the math and know exactly what the team has to spend. If someone else reported a figure this year, I'd go with it. But I stayed away from reporting any deals myself because it may have been suggested in the past that I wasn't helping the situation by putting those numbers out.

By getting them all done together, it does create some ability to be flexible now if they want to be with one of their unsigned picks.

Also, I appreciate the kinds words!

[Jeremy Nygaard]

47 minutes ago, Dman said:

Have to say I was surprised Prielipp made it to the second round and that he ultimately did not quite get first round money.  That leads me to question if other teams see him more as a reliever than starter? I know Fangraphs did so it will be interesting to see how things ultimately turn out.  Still, likely elite reliever in the second round would not be a bad get either.

As usual I really don't understand draft rankings when it comes to pitchers past the second round.  Just given the comments and where Morris was ranked I didn't see him commanding the $500,000 bonus he got.  I thought it would be in the 3 to 4 hundred range tops.  I don't have the info the Twins do though so obviously they feel like he was the best pitcher available at pick number 4.

Is Garrett McMillan worth going over slot for?  He wasn't ranked in the the top 300 that I could see.  I guess I don't see the attraction there but maybe someone can fill me in?  

Appreciate the kind words!

I think there is some range on Prielipp's outcomes because he's thrown so little. If you want to get him to 200 innings/year, we have a long way to go. If you want to deploy him as a fastball/slider reliever, you might have a dude by next July. I think the Twins will do everything they can to run him out as a starter and have him throw his change-up as much as possible. If that becomes an average pitch, he's a starter. There are just a lot of questions about him, understandably, due to how little he's thrown.

One thing that Sean told me years ago is that after you get out of the second round, there's no consensus. And that their draft board - and this is when it was 40 rounds - has a lot less names than we'd ever imagine. I think he said they'd have 600 or so names on the board when there were over 1200 players drafted. So I'd *guess* that Morris was a guy they absolutely loved (and was much higher on than the rest of the industry). Him and Lewis weren't even big-time money-saving picks. (And I'm super intrigued by Lewis).

Now to McMillan... Sean has said on more than a few occasions that they have a really good relationship with the Alabama coach. And that relationship played a big part with being comfortable drafting Prielipp (and that he was also under consideration at #8). I'm guessing that the Alabama coach was really high on McMillan and sold the Twins on him. I'm not sure that he's worth more than $125k and I'm not sure if the Twins have any desire to even pay him that. But having good relationships pay off and this might just be what that is.

[Jeremy Nygaard]

23 minutes ago, Tiantwindup said:

As with Dman I also offer thanks to Jeremy and others that provided superb draft coverage all along the way. Maybe I didn’t pay as much attention to prior drafts or just can’t remember very well, but I think this year’s effort sets a new standard for the draft. Kudos to all from TD who contributed!

Thanks. I'm going to do some things differently next year and the coverage - I promise - will be even better. So raise your bar a little bit!

We'll have Jamie more involved and might find another person or two to take on some of the load. And hopefully we find someone to take on a bit of the Brewer Fanatic load so I can focus even more on the Twins. 

It's a crazy few weeks, that's for sure. Fortunately, my schedule was pretty open. 

[tony&rodney]

Excellent work and a fine draft - excited to see how Lee and Prielipp work out.

[h2oface]

These unsigned 19 and 20 guys are probably better off going to college to play for the next year. 

I would love to hear the conversations that happen when the selection gets stiffed his slotted bonus.

[bunsen82]

So here are my thoughts. The Twins obviously liked their first 2 draft picks as they very rarely go overslot on their early picks they are usually trying to gain money to use later in the draft. 
 

2. Someone posted Priellip was closer to 48 than 28. Base on the contract I think that is a fair assessment. It’s not to say he doesn’t have high upside, but due to his injury he was lower on peoples boards than many of us anticipated and he commanded much less dollars to sign.  
 

3. This is another year where the day 2 signings are more interesting to me than the day 2. On day 2 currently only the knuckleball pitcher and the volts 2nd baseman look like they have a reasonable shot at the MLB.  We are also getting a couple high school athletes as lottery tickets. This was one hell of a draft.  

[Squirrel]

2 hours ago, Jeremy Nygaard said:

Omari Daniel has not signed yet, but he will be reporting to Fort Myers this weekend and is likely to forego his college eligibility to begin his professional career. Sources have indicated that Daniel's bonus will not exceed $125,000, which would require the signing team to dip into their bonus pool.

Is this a surprise? Or, will be if/when he signs? I didn't even expect this to be a discussion at this point; never figured he'd even consider signing

[Jeremy Nygaard]

51 minutes ago, Squirrel said:

Is this a surprise? Or, will be if/when he signs? I didn't even expect this to be a discussion at this point; never figured he'd even consider signing

The day after he was drafted I was told he was going to JC and would be treated as a draft-and-follow.

Something changed over the last week, apparently. So that was kinda surprising, but it could have been as simple as his rep telling the team that his number came down.

[Jeremy Nygaard]

1 hour ago, h2oface said:

These unsigned 19 and 20 guys are probably better off going to college to play for the next year. 

I would love to hear the conversations that happen when the selection gets stiffed his slotted bonus.

There's only a guarantee of a percentage of the slot if players were invited to the Top 300 (I believe) and disclosed their medicals.

But anyone drafted outside the Top 10 rounds (or drafted in the Top 10 who wasn't part of that selected group) wasn't guaranteed anything.

[bunsen82]

53 minutes ago, Jeremy Nygaard said:

The day after he was drafted I was told he was going to JC and would be treated as a draft-and-follow.

Something changed over the last week, apparently. So that was kinda surprising, but it could have been as simple as his rep telling the team that his number came down.

Quote

 

My guess is he decided he would be better off immediately going to the twins organization to get healthy and get stronger for next year.  He is one heck of a lottery pick.  

[Jeremy Nygaard]

8 minutes ago, bunsen82 said:

My guess is he decided he would be better off immediately going to the twins organization to get healthy and get stronger for next year.  He is one heck of a lottery pick.  

I agree. It's a much better decision for your future to rehab a repaired elbow with professionals than it is to rehab at the local junior college. (No offense to any junior or community colleges!)

[DocBauer]

Going to echo great thanks for some amazing hard work by you Jeremy, and  Jamie. Much appreciated!

Lee is going to stick at SS for at least a couple of years. And why wouldn't you see what he can do there? Arm and hands and instincts all say he can play the spot well, if not really well. Lack of great speed or, supposedly, great quickness says he moves one day. But I've seen a lot of really, really fine SS that lacked that extra quickness factor that were fine ML SS due to those instincts, hands, arm, and good positioning. Names like Ripken, Blauser and Correa pop in my head.

Totally understand some scouts and pundit experts looking at Prielipp and thinking possible BP piece. But every single draft pick for as long as I can remember...with only a few exceptions every draft...is almost always "mid rotation starter with BP floor". Prielipp was an outstanding HS performer and top prospect. What he did at Alabama in his one year was SICK. Yes, it's going to take a couple years to be 100% physically, 100% in regained feel, 100% for a solid 3rd offering (or more), and a few years to rack up the innings. So what? Kid is quite young and has amazing potential. Still stunned he lasted until the Twins pick in the 2nd. Should have been gone late 1st, or top of the 2nd. Also surprised he didn't demand $2M+, which is what I thought. 

No question the Twins probably drafted at least a few guys over slot in order to under-sign to give them flexibility. Doesn't mean they drafted poorly, or guys who don't have futures. Very interesting to me that virtually all the position players, despite different levels of experience, seem to have good "hit" and contact tools, usually with some power. There's even some speed mixed in there. The Twins love their power, as all teams do, but over their last 5 drafts, they've also drafted some athletes with hit/contact. Just felt like a little more concentration this year. 

I just love drafting so many SS because they will stick or move to 3B, 2B, OF, and use their skills to starters or good utility players. And again, no way to predict who will turn out, but all these guys show athleticism, hit tool, and some projectability. Nice!

But big shout out to 6th round pick, 2B, Jorel Ortega. One year wonder? Or a finally healthy hitting stud? Potentially huge steal there.

3 catchers selected in 2021 and 2 more this year. This organization values catching. They understand the importance, even if they aren't dropping TOP draft selections for them. But then again, who is? And how many TOP, can't miss catching prospects are there each year? Not sure I don't like Cossetti and Baez more than the 3 guys picked last year. Said it before and will say it again; you can more easily teach a catcher who hits to be better defensively than you can teach a defensive catcher to be a good hitter.

I understand OF Sayre was a small school 17th round pick and his conference player of the year, but I'd sure like to know if there's something to like there. Nothing just seems to stand out from the small reports I've read other than solid hit tool. Untapped potential?

Johnson and his entire scouting department could fall out of bed tomorrow, hit their heads, have concussions and amnesia and still know more than I do about scouting and projection. But why is it I look at numbers, and length, and reported stuff, and past examples, and find myself more intrigued by Matthews and Lewis than Morris and Jones, drafted before them? I kinda like the long, young, and less experienced Culpepper a bit as well. Possible surprise?

Tell me LHP Zachary Veen and his amazing control didn't make you wonder for a moment? A couple MPH on his fastball has to have you thinking LH BP help, right?

Pleasantly surprised it looks like both HS SS, Daniel and Ortiz, are both in the fold. Both well recruited and projectile. I thought the injury to Daniel might push him to a pro **** and some bonus $. But thought it would take more. And to get both? Awesome!

Not sure what to think of SP McMillan from Alabama. He was their Friday starter, but his numbers were nothing special. A flier considering, as mentioned in the OP, because the Twins have a good relationship with the school and think he's ready to take another step?

HS OF Dickerson sounds like a great recruit that might be a stud in 3yrs. But you draft him on a WTH whim "just in case". Well, based on available $ left and the 5% allowable overage, there is some REAL $ left to sign either McMillan or Dickerson, or both potentially. And I well remember Julien signing for over slot money at the last moment. Turned out to be a good move for the Twins, right. I wouldn't be surprised if at least one of these guys still signed.

Overall, liked the approach of arms and SS and a pair of catchers with some worthwhile HS talent worth taking a shot on. Time will tell if this draft is anything beyond the first two selections, but the plan looks to have been a good one.

[Monkeypaws]

Thanks Jeremy. Pretty nice to get your first 18 of 20 signed sealed and delivered, even sneaking a few HS players in there on day 3.

And thanks Doc for a great post

[Doctor Gast]

Nice to have you back, you did an excellent job. I wouldn't doubt that Preilip would start out in the BP but hope eventually make it into the rotation. Happy that we signed who we've sign already

[Mike Sixel]

Thanks for all the great coverage

[nicksaviking]

I'll echo everyone else, great stuff.

McMillan must have some pretty decent projectable attributes to go back to school as his numbers don't exactly scream 6th round money.

[DocBauer]

31 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

I'll echo everyone else, great stuff.

McMillan must have some pretty decent projectable attributes to go back to school as his numbers don't exactly scream 6th round money.

Assuming, of course, that he actually does return to school. There's a whole lot of money still available on the proverbial table for another signing, or two.

[Seth Stohs]

15 hours ago, Jeremy Nygaard said:

The day after he was drafted I was told he was going to JC and would be treated as a draft-and-follow.

Something changed over the last week, apparently. So that was kinda surprising, but it could have been as simple as his rep telling the team that his number came down.

The Twins, Sean and others, said that they were going to try to sign him. The draft-and-follow was a possibility, but they wanted him signed right away for multiple reasons. 

[ScottyB]

According to MLB draft tracker, Daniel signed for $232,800.

[Mike Sixel]

Fangraphs not nearly as high on Preilip (sp?) as this site is....

[DJL44]

Is 9 pitchers enough? Half the roster is pitching and pitchers flame out more often than position players. The Twins don't sign much pitching in the international free agent market. Pitchers are also the most common currency at the trade deadline.

A draft with 12-14 pitchers seems more prudent.

[ashbury]

2 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Fangraphs not nearly as high on Preilip (sp?) as this site is....

He did drop for a reason, and I don't know that his bonus expectation entirely accounts for it.

Past the (early) first round, no draft picks should be viewed as sure things, and we kind of are treating Prielipp that way.  Our FO took him as a high-upside candidate, but one of those in the second round means his floor is totally zero.

[bunsen82]

I think its fairly evident the Twins liked Priellip much more than the rest of MLB.  Could be our relationship with the program,  could be we are projecting him much higher than most.  We paid him overslot,  but not crazy overslot money.  Even still I think we can comfortably say he was likely the highest rated pitcher they had on their board from what we can gather.   As to how good he will be that is comes down to how healthy he is and can he perform even close to his first season in college.  If so we have a pretty dynamic arm.  It is a high upside gamble on an injured arm.  We have plenty of those throughout the system.