4 Pitchers the Twins Could Target in the 2022 MLB Draft

Any of the college relievers ready to pitch THIS YEAR? Hahaha, no...really. 

Cade Horton of Oklahoma has pitched more than Prielipp

Yes please on pitching in the first round!

Twins have be successful finding and developing college hitters later in rounds and have a nice crop of hitters in the minors as well as some young guys in the majors.  

If the top 7 hitters are gone at 8 hopefully the Twins don't settle for Cross. He had the 4th highest OPS on his team. That doesn't scream elite talent. 

Take the most upside and don't be afraid of TJ surgery.

1 hour ago, DJwessmix said:

Any of the college relievers ready to pitch THIS YEAR? Hahaha, no...really. 

Kumar isn't far away.

Last year the Twins finally took a pitcher in the 1st round but as the OP stated I think there are too many bats at the top for them to go pitcher at 8.  In fact I wouldn't be surprised if pitchers dropped out of the top 10 completely and picked up steam from 15 to the supplemental round.  

I like both Lesko and Porter and could see them worthy of the number 8 spot.  Lesko was talked about going top 10 until TJ but given the success rate with that surgery his having TJ out of the way might be a good thing for whoever picks him because he should be a fast mover after that.

Porter has that Chris Sale type body and the velocity to go with it so I like him as well.

Thing is the Twins don't like to bet on arms early in the draft and they have been able to find pitchers later in the draft so I highly doubt they go pitcher at 8.  Given the lack of high end arms in the system though I wouldn't mind them going pitcher with their top 3 picks and then spreading things out from there but I don't think they will do that.

45 minutes ago, High heat said:

Yes please on pitching in the first round!

 

Twins have be successful finding and developing college hitters later in rounds and have a nice crop of hitters in the minors as well as some young guys in the majors.  

That might have been true for many years but there is a different development regime now and recent history suggests this front office might be better at doing it the other way around.

Since the new regime took over in 2017, Mark Contreras is their only position player pick outside of the 2nd round to make the majors.  Spencer Steer might be the next and even he was a 3rd round pick.

Meanwhile they have already gotten significant contributions from Ober and Winder taken in the 13th and 7th rounds respectively.  They've also had several more guys pop up from the later rounds including Varland last year and Festa this year who look very promising, and others like Headrick, Gipson-Long, and Schulfer who haven't gotten quite as much attention but are also looking promising as they make their way to the high minors.

This is not to mention that the 1st round pitching in this draft is incredibly thin.

I think the first round is the best opportunity to get a position player with truly plus tools, and they can mold some pitchers from the later rounds.  The front office has typically demonstrated that this is their strategy and this year would probably be a terrible year to veer away from it.

The high school pitching is fairly deep and I think there could be some interesting high school arms available and signable in the second round.  I'd be very interested in seeing them take a high upside shot there.

1 hour ago, Tim said:

Kumar isn't far away.

I heard he's at White Castle!

Lets draft them and throw them in the MLB pen right away.  Can't do worse than what we got can they?

Here is where it gets cloudy, and perhaps a little more interesting. Philosophically speaking, the FO is prone to position players/bats early as they feel the cream of the crop is a shallow pool, whereas there are many more arms capable of progression and improvement later on. Also, while this FO is not adverse to chances, they do seem adverse to big risk. 

While we're talking 2 very different FO's, they've selected a HS pitcher only 6 times in this century.  But you have 2 awfully good ones in this class. Are they good enough for "risk" at #8? Could a healthy Lesko really be the #1 player available? Can you afford NOT to take hum, if you're the Twins or anyone else?

Prielipp is very tempting post surgery, and Rocker might be even better. But is Rocker an injury just waiting to happen?

I think the Twins follow normal MO and ger the very best position player they can. But I just have to wonder if this is the year they really surprise and take the big risk for a potentially big reward.

I really like the idea of picking Kumar Rocker with the possibility to impact the majors as soon as next year, His medicals definitely could be a concern, but I think the upside is well worth it. He's got true top-of-the-rotation stuff with the pedigree to boot.

The top of the draft is flush with really solid, projectable bats. BUT, The Twins have a lot of elite bat, 1B/corner OF types in their system. Kirilloff, Larnach, Wallner, Sabato, Encarnacion-Strand (I know he's a 3B now but projects more LF/1B.) Not to mention Rooker, who we traded off partially because we have a glut of these kind of players. 

2 hours ago, Jamie Cameron said:

I'm really leery of Lesko. I have a personal bias against prep righties, as they burn out so often. I'd feel a lot more comfortable with Prielipp (subject of tomorrow's first in-depth profile) than Rocker. At least with Prielipp, he's had surgery, he's thrown a few times in front of talent evaluators, and the stuff seems pretty consistent (less some command that you'd expect to take a minute to come back).

I also like Prielipp better than Rooker, partially because he's LH, as I have love to have one of your top rotation arms being LH. (Shades of Viola and Santana). They are quite possibly the hardest thing to find. And while I have no knowledge as to Rooker's medical, I still find it alarming the Mets, with all their financial resources, balked at signing him. And while it may be a foolish arguement, Prielipp has already undergone surgery. So if he's looking good, you've sort of dodged that bullet already. 

I also am not in favor of drafting HS RH pitching early. And it seems teams have begun to, generally, push those guys down the board unless they are really elite. Petty was a bit of a gift for the Twins at 26 last year. Five years ago, he's probably in the early to mid teens.

But when you have a pair of HS arms like Lesko and Porter with a pair of pitches already 60-70, man, it's hard not to be tempted by "what could be". I think teams have to at least give pause in regard to risk/reward with those two

I still think the Twins follow current MO and select a position player. But I really don't want a position less bat again, or a "toolsy" player who doesn't already exhibit a solid "hit" tool. 

I'm with the Kumar crew, his medicals aside 19 strike outs is impressive. Plus they could use a good strong arm in the Rotation or Bull pen.