Twins Draft Preview: Andrew Benintendi

Who is this guy?

The 5-10, 180-pound lefty/lefty Arkansas outfielder is an interesting story. He started 60 of the team’s 61 games last year and put up only OK stats for a college freshman. He was certainly on teams’ draft radars - he was drafted by the Reds out of high school in the 31st round - but so are thousands of other kids. Things started to change this spring when he got off to a blistering start and scouts realized that his early July birthday made him the rare draft-eligible true sophomore. They checked him out and even as recently as one month ago Benintendi still wasn’t knocking down draft doors. Could go in the 2nd round? Not exactly compelling for a team drafting at #6.

But after that hot start, he has yet to slow down. Hitting only one home run all of last year, Benintendi is now tied for third in the nation with 18. His .391 batting average (14th), .492 on-base percentage (9th), .738 slugging percentage (3rd) all rank among the best in all of Division 1 baseball. And he happens to be getting it done in the best conference of them all (while striking out in only around 10% of his at-bats). He was recently named SEC’s Player of the Year.

Why the Twins will pick him

Benintendi checks almost all the boxes. Before this year, he was known for his plus athleticism, his ability to steal bases - on the clock he was scoring plus run-times - and for his ability to play a plus defense in center field. That alone isn’t going to get anyone drafted on the first day.

This year he’s added serious strength (which is showing up as usable game-power) and Baseball America recently called him one of the best three “pure hitters” in college baseball. While his arm keeps him from being a true “five-tool” player, he is as close as you can come. During a recent conversation with Seth Stohs, the guru of all things Twins, he made the comment that Benintendi sounds “a lot like Byron Buxton”. It’s because he does and that type of ability gets you drafted really high.

Why the Twins will not pick him

The Rockies are rumored to be interested in Benintendi with the third overall choice. Obviously that would be a reason the for the Twins not to take him. The universal knocks on Benintendi are, quite literally, the only things he can’t control: He’s not the prototypical outfielder in that, he’s small. The other knock is that he doesn’t have a long track-record of success. After his ho-hum initial season at Arkansas, he didn’t play any summer ball. This success that he’s having is nearing 60 games, but for some teams that’s just not enough.

The Twins currently have an abundance of outfield talent: Arcia, Rosario and Hicks are all on the big-league roster. Buxton, Kepler, Walker and Harrison are in Chattanooga. And that doesn’t include the guys further away (in A-ball or lower) or the fact that both Trevor Plouffe and Miguel Sano are going to, eventually, both need a spot in the lineup and a popular rumor is moving one of them to the already-crowded outfield.

But Benintendi is special and he could very easily be the Best Player Available at the sixth pick.

If he’s still available.

Not bad for a guy who many said “Who?” about merely a few weeks ago.