Andrew Thares

In most years, the purpose of this article is reserved for tracking the signing each of the 40 plus Minnesota Twins draftees. This year, things will be a little different, as the entire draft system has been changed, which I am sure all of you know about by now. So, in addition to tracking the eventual signing of each of the Twins four draft picks, we will also be tracking when the Twins sign undrafted players, in the signing period that began Sunday morning at 8 a.m. CT.While the draft may be different, the bonus pool rules are still in place for the draft picks that were made. This year, the Twins have a total bonus pool allotment of just $4,528,600 to use across all four of their picks. If a player goes unsigned, the slot value for that particular pick is removed from the team’s total bonus pool. For the players that went undrafted, they are allowed to sign for a maximum of a $20,000 signing bonus. How many players are actually willing to sign for this amount remains to be seen, but the ones that choose to do so with the Minnesota Twins will be tracked here, along with a brief background on each of those players, so you can get to know them a little bit better. Bonus Pool Tracker: Draft Picks Signed: 4 | Bonus Pool Used: $4,330,000 | Bonus Pool Remaining: $198,600 Pick Signings: Round 1: Aaron Sabato | 1B | Slot Value: $2,570,100 | Signed For: Signed for $2,750,000 Round 2: Alerick Soularie | OF | Slot Value: $1,185,500 | Signed For: Signed for $900,000 Round 4: Marco Raya | RHP | Slot Value: $442,900 | Signed For: Signed for $410,000 Round 5: Kala’i Rosario | OF | Slot Value: $330,100 | Signed For: Signed for $270,000 Undrafted Free Agent Signings: John Stankiewicz | RHP | Fordham In three seasons pitching for the Fordham Rams, John Stankiewicz posted a career 2.00 ERA, with a 145 to 37 strikeout to walk ratio over 135 innings pitched. After spending 2018 in the bullpen, Stankiewicz transitioned to the starting rotation in 2019, where he took his game to the next level. In 17 starts (plus 4 relief appearances) since the start of the 2019 season, Stankiewicz dominated the competition, on his way to a 1.51 ERA over that span. In 2019, Stankiewicz was named a 3rd-Team All-American by the ABCA, NCBWA, and Collegiate Baseball, and was also name the Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Year, after finishing the season with the NCAA's 6th lowest ERA (1.47) and 9th lowest WHIP (.901). Lucas Sweany | LHP | Pacific Lucas Sweany is a 6'6" junior LHP from the University of the Pacific. In three career seasons for the Tigers, Sweany has made 13 starts and 25 relief appearances to the tune of a 4.62 ERA. Sweany has also tallied 93 strikeouts and 32 walks in 113 career innings pitched. Allante Hall | C | Pensacola State After spending the 2019 season at Howard College where he had a .273/.431/.432 slash line in 22 games, Allante Hall transfer to Pensacola State, where he put up a .214/.340/.262 slash line 13 games before the season was cut short. Hall was ranked by Perfect Game as the 38th best catching prospect coming out of high school in 2018, and was originally committed to Arkansas before ending up at Howard College. Zarion Sharpe | LHP | University of North Carolina Wilmington Zarion Sharpe is the third pitcher that the Twins have added thus far in the undrafted free agency process. In four seasons at UNCW, Sharpe threw 157 innings, with 33 of his 38 career appearances coming as a starting pitcher. For his career, Sharpe has a 4.07 ERA (2.18 in 4 starts in 2020), while striking out 147 batters and walking 60. Sharpe was teammates with Twins prospect Ryan Jeffers his first two seasons at UNCW. Jeffers caught Sharpe nine times in those two seasons, so if they were to link up at the same level in the future, there is already some built in familiarity there. Willy Diaz Vasquez | SS | Prairie Baseball Academy HS, Lethbridge, Alberta Willy Diaz Vasquez is the lone high school player that the Twins have signed in undrafted free agency. Diaz Vasquez is originally from the Dominican Republic, but played his high school ball in Alberta, Canada. Other Twins Draft Related Articles Minnesota Twins 2020 MLB Draft Recap What's Next for the Twins and Undrafted Players? Twins Continue to Load the Corners in 2020 Draft MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email — Follow Andrew Thares on Twitter here Click here to view the article

Players are limited to signing bonuses of a maximum of $20,000, which means it will likely be exclusively college seniors signing, as opposed to going back for their extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA.

I don't think the Twins are really taking what is already in the system into account, they just want the best players that fit their model for future success. There is no such thing as too much of one thing in a farm system, as there are always players who get hurt, don't pan out, or could even be traded as valuable assets. To me this is the best way to build a strong farm system.

The 2020 MLB Draft will go down in history for not only being just five rounds long, but for the lack of scouting teams were able to do in the months leading up to the draft, thanks to the seasons being cut short by the coronavirus. This created a whole new set of challenges for MLB organizations like the Minnesota Twins. So, let’s take a look at how the Twins faired with their four picks in this year’s draft.Prior to the draft, I looked into a number of different strategies that the Twins could use in this draft, specifically as how they could divvy up their signing bonus pool. One of the strategies outlined was a portfolio approach, where they would try to save money with their first couple of picks, in order to spread that money around into there last two picks, where the slot values are not as high. Aaron Sabato With their first-round pick, the Twins went to the college ranks to select UNC first-baseman Aaron Sabato. In his one full season in a Tar Heels uniform, Sabato put his powerful bat on full display, tallying 44 extra-base hits in just 64 games played. This included hitting for the cycle against rival North Carolina State on May 16th. Sabato is more than just raw power though, as he is a career .332 hitter at UNC, with a career .459 OBP in 83 games played. It is hard not to see how Sabato fits into the Twins overall draft philosophy of drafting big and powerful bats, joining the ranks of Brent Rooker, Trevor Larnach, Ryan Jeffers, Keoni Cavaco and Matt Wallner all taken in the early rounds in recent years. Since Sabato is a draft eligible sophomore, with a lot of potential, he likely will not sign for below the slot value of the 27th pick in the draft. If you would like to read up more on Sabato, and see what Scouting Director Sean Johnson had to say about him, you can do so here. Alerick Soularie Going into day two of the draft, the Twins had their sights set on Tennessee outfielder Alerick Soularie. He was a player that was circled high on their boards, and they didn’t feel like he would be there when they made their next pick after this one, a whole 69 picks later. Soularie began his college career at San Jacinto JC (the same JUCO that both Roger Clemens and Andy Pettite went to) where he lit up the competition on his way to a .402/.513/.745 slash line with 10 home runs in 59 games and lead his team to a third-place finish. This impressive performance opened the doors to a transfer to Tennessee, where he continued to have great success. In his only full season for the Volunteers Alerick Soularie hit for an impressive .357/.466/.602 slash line, while going up against SEC pitching for the first time. His numbers were down slightly to start the 2020 season, before it got cut short. It is hard to know for sure from an outside perspective, but it seems like Soularie is a pick that the Twins should be able to sign for below the $1.19 million assigned to that slot. Which would allow the Twins to spend over slot, in order to sign each of their final two picks. If you would like to read up more on Soularie, and see what Scouting Director Sean Johnson had to say about him, you can do so here. Marco Raya The only pitcher that the Twins selected in the draft was Marco Raya, a prep arm out of the state of Texas. Raya is a bit undersized, but he is a good athlete and excellent mechanics that helps him pump it up as high as 94 MPH without needing a lot of effort. Raya also throws two above-average breaking balls in a slider and curveball. Both pitches have potential to be plus pitches down the line. Finally, Raya also throws a pretty decent changeup, which gives him a rare four-pitch mix that not a lot of high schoolers have at this point in their development. It will be a few years until we really know who Raya is as an MLB prospect (he’s still only 17-years old), but he has a bright future ahead of him. Being a high school player, committed to Texas Tech, the Twins will likely need to use some of the money saved on Soularie in order to sing him. If you would like to read up more on Raya, and see what Scouting Director Sean Johnson had to say about him, you can do so here. Kala'i Rosario The Twins final selection in the 2020 MLB Draft was a high school bat, with a powerful profile in Kala’I Rosario. Rosario is a player that impressed a lot of scouts in the Area Code games last season. While there is a lot of work to do with his overall approach and swing at the plate, it is evident that Rosario has much raw power as any other prep player in the draft. While many other sites weren’t as high on Rosario, I fell in love with what this guy could potentially be if he is able to maximize his raw power, which is why he came in at number 73 on my final pre-draft rankings. While Rosario might be far from a finished product, he has plenty of time to develop (he won’t turn 18 until July), and already has some great upside tools. As was the case with Raya, the Twins will probably need to go above slot value to sign Rosario, but they are confident that they will be able to get a deal worked out. If you would like to read up more on Rosario, and see what Scouting Director Sean Johnson had to say about him, you can do so here. In total, it was a very good draft for the Minnesota Twins, all things considered. Not only were they limited in the number of picks and time to scout these players, but they also had the 4th smallest signing bonus pool, which hampers a lot of what they could do in the draft. However, they came into this draft with a plan, and executed that to near perfection, and now the minor-league system has four new potential stars of the future. Great work by all of the scouts and other members of the organization that had a hand in this draft. Let us know below what you thought of the Twins draft, and what letter grade you would give them. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email — Follow Andrew Thares on Twitter here Click here to view the article

Presumably yes, the Twins are in constant contact with each of these players agents throughout the process, so they know what number it would take to sign them before they even select the player. So, if the Twins wouldn't be able to sign both of these high schoolers, they probably would have passed on them.

Kala'i Rosario was my 73rd ranked prospect in my pre-draft rankings. I gave him the following scouting grades - Hit: 50 Power: 70 Run: 40 Throw 50 Field: 45. The 70 grade raw power was tied with Spencer Torkelson and Austin Hendrick for the highest raw power grades in this entire draft class, just above Aaron Sabato who I gave a 65 raw power grade. The Twins clearly had an objective in this draft.

After taking two college hitters in Aaron Sabato and Alerick Soularie, with their first and second round picks, respectively. In the fourth-round, the Twins selected their first pitcher of the draft, taking Marco Raya, a right-handed pitcher from Laredo, Texas.Watching Marco Raya pitch, you can tell this kid is a great athlete. Despite being undersized at just 6'0", Raya is able to maximize his velocity through his mechanics and quick twitch. Another thing that is evident with Raya is the balance he has on his back leg, which really helps him get into his set and deliver strikes with consistency. Twins scouting director Sean Johnson noted, "We really love his mechanics, his delivery, his arm action. He checks a lot of boxes for us. For a high school pitcher, great foundation to evolve into a starter." Johnson also said they liked a lot about his current pitch mix, "We’ve seen him up to 94 mph. He’s got two distinct breaking balls and a good changeup. He’s got a great foundation to develop. He’s a great piece of clay for our player development to mold and to build. He’s not huge in stature, but he’s still got room to add strength." Raya will typically sit in the low 90s with his fastball, and it is hard to project a lot more than that from him down the road. However, it does record relatively high spin rates for a fastball, typically at 2,400 RPM plus, which could help make it more of a future strikeout pitch than just the pure velocity would suggest. Raya also brings two excellent breaking balls to the table, with a sharp slider, and a hard-breaking curveball that to me appears to be his best pitch. The slider sits in the low-to-mid 80s, while the curveball has more downward break and is typically upper 70s. Just like with his fastball, Raya can generate high spin rates with both of his breaking pitches, which is something a lot of analytically driven scouting departments, like the Twins, want to see in young pitchers as they try to project them going forwars. Finally, Raya mixes in the occasional low 80s changeup, that shows signs of a future fourth average or better pitch. This will be a key factor in Raya's development as a starting pitcher. If he can continue to develop all four of his pitches, and show that they are MLB worth pitches, he has a real shot making it as a starting pitcher with a four-pitch mix. If not, Raya's could be a likely bullpen candidate, where his fastball could potentially play up a little bit, and his breaking ball could dominate. According to Johnson, Raya also has great intangibles. "He’s a tremendous worker, a tremendous competitor. Tremendous competitor. He's a solid athlete. Again, we’re really excited to get him in the fourth round." from our writers— Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email Click here to view the article

Well of course the Dodgers take Clayton Beeter with the pick the Twins traded to them for Kenta Maeda.

Beeter is a name that keeps coming up by Twins fans today. He has big upside with a plus fastball, a plus curveball and an average changeup. However, he comes in at just number 70 on my list due to control issues and limited experience starting with just 4 starts in his career at Texas Tech.

Jared Kelley finally off the board to the White Sox at pick #47. Great pick for them, ugh...

After a night where the Minnesota Twins added yet another powerful bat to their farm system that is loaded with them, they look to add three more new young and exciting prospects into the Twins minor league ranks, with picks in the second, fourth and fifth rounds.If you want to read up more on last night’s selection you can do so here: Twins Select Aaron Sabato with the 27th Overall Pick Day two of the MLB Draft starts Thursday evening at 4:00 pm CT and can be watched on either ESPN 2 or on MLB Network. It can also be streamed live on MLB.com. In total, the Twins have three more picks tonight, which is two less than they were originally scheduled to have. As they traded their Competitive Balance Round B pick to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Kenta Maeda trade, and forfeited their third-round pick by signing Josh Donaldson. Here is a breakdown of the three picks the Twins do have tonight, and the bonus money attached to each of those picks. 2nd Round: 59th Overall - $1,185,500 4th Round: 128th Overall - $442,900 5th Round: 158th Overall - $330,100 While many of the top players have already been taken, there is still plenty of talent that should be available when the Twins make their first selection of the night at pick number 59. In total 17 of my top 50 prospects are still available. Throughout the night, I will be updating the list of the top 10 prospects still available down below, going all the way through my top 100 prospects. Top 10 Prospects Available (Live): 46. Kevin Parada | Loyola HS, Los Angeles, CA | Pos: C 49. Chase Davis | Franklin HS, Elk Grove, CA | Pos: OF 50. Drew Bowser | Harvark-Westlake HS, Studio City, CA | Pos: 3B 56. Tanner Witt | Episcopal HS, Bellaire, TX | Pos: RHP 58. Alejandro Rosario | Miami Christian HS, FL | Pos: RHP 59. Seth Lonsway | Ohio State | Pos: LHP 62. Cade Horton | Norman HS, OK | Pos: RHP/SS 64. Tommy Mace | Florida | Pos: RHP 69. Enrique Bradfield Jr. | American Heritage HS, Plantation, FL | Pos: OF 73. Kala'i Rosario | Waiakea HS, Hilo, HI | Pos: OF Twins Selections 2nd Round: 59th Overall - Alerick Soularie | Tennessee | Pos: OF You can read more about Alerick Soularie here. . 5th Round: 158th Overall - Kala'i Rosario | Waiakea HS, Hilo, HI | Pos: OF You can read more about Kala'i Rosario here. Read up on some of the other great draft coverage on Twins Daily 2020 MLB Draft Day 1 Thread Minnesota Twins Draft Preview First Round Busts: The Twins Struckout Three Consecutive Years Reviewing Minnesota’s Recent First-Round Picks What does MLB History Say About the 27th Pick? Mike Trout and 3 Other Stars the Twins Passed On in the MLB Draft How Should the Twins Strategically Approach the MLB Draft? MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email Click here to view the article

The Minnesota Twins have selected University of North Carolina first basemen Aaron Sabato with their first-round pick. Sabato has about as much power as any player in this draft, short of first overall pick Spencer Torkelson. He fits in nicely with how the Twins have drafted in recent years.Prior to the MLB Draft, I had Aaron Sabato ranked as the 38th best prospect in the draft. Here is the profile I wrote on Sabato during our pre-draft Top 50 Prospect series. Scouting Grades Hit: 55 Power: 65 Run: 35 Throw: 45 Field: 40 Overall: 50 For a college first baseman, with no real potential to play anywhere but first or DH, you better bring a powerful bat if you want to be considered a potential first-round pick, and that is just what Aaron Sabato does. As a draft eligible sophomore, Sabato’s time to impress scouts at the college level has been limited, but he has made full use of that time. After blasting 18 home runs in 64 games as a true freshman in 2019, Sabato belted another 7 home runs in just 19 games this spring, before the season was cut short. Defensively, things aren’t always the smoothest for Sabato at first-base, though they aren’t bad enough to take his glove off the field just yet. Hopefully with some professional coaching, he can bring up his play closer to average at first base. Aaron Sabato is a young player for a college pick, having just turned 21 last Thursday. After going undrafted coming out of high school in 2018, Sabato tore it up in his freshman season at UNC with an impressive .343/.453/.696 slash line. For his efforts, Sabato won a trophy case full of awards, which includes Co-National Freshman of the Year, first-team All-American, first-team Freshman All-America, NCBWA Freshman Hitter of the Year, first-team All-ACC and ACC Freshman of the Year. He followed that up with a .292/.478/.708 slash line in 19 games this spring before the season got cut short due to COVID-19. Sabato has put his power bat on full display in his time with the Tar Heels, hitting 25 home runs and 31 doubles in just 83 career games. Twins Scouting Director Sean Johnson said of the Twins top pick, "We thought he was the best offensive player left on the board from every standpoint possible. Going back to his season last year, if you look at him analytically, he lined up with some of the guys who went at the very top of the board." This now marks 4-4 on the Twins taking a hitter with their first-round pick, since the current regime took over the team. Personally, I think this strategy makes a lot of sense. Typically, pitchers in the draft come with much more risk than hitters do. The reason being, you never know when a serious injury is going to happen, but they are far more likely to happen with a young pitcher than a young hitter. I think this strategy also speaks to the overall player development strategy of the Twins front office, and that is take talented hitters with good power potential early, then focus on developing pitchers as they come up through the minor league system. This really makes a lot of sense when you consider the background of some of the Twins front office personnel, especially Derek Falvey, who had a big hand in developing the dominate Cleveland Indians starting rotation they had while he was there. Ty Dawson is the Twins area scout for the Carolinas. It was his first season in that role and second in the organization. He joined the organization and spent the first year as a junior college specialist/scout. But Johnson explained that a decision like a first-round draft pick is made by much more than just one person. Johnson noted, ""We did have an all-hands-on-deck approach for this draft. Under the circumstances, Rocco, Mike Bell, Wes Johnson, and on down, all of our player development people, from Jeremy Zoll and Alex Hassan, all of our coordinators. I would say we had upwards of 50 Twins employees that had some opinion on this group of players, from the scouts, PD (Player Development), front office. We asked for a lot of opinions. We really believe in wisdom of crowds. We tried to look at the player from every direction possible." Read up on some of the other great draft coverage on Twins Daily Minnesota Twins Draft Preview 2020 MLB Draft Day 1 Thread How Should the Twins Strategically Approach the MLB Draft? First Round Busts: The Twins Struckout Three Consecutive Years Reviewing Minnesota’s Recent First-Round Picks What does MLB History Say About the 27th Pick? Mike Trout and 3 Other Stars the Twins Passed On in the MLB Draft MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email Click here to view the article

And just like that, Abel goes off the board with the very next pick.

Teams are showing that they are going risk averse in the draft so far. Mick Abel deserves to be well off the board, but as a high school right hander, with presumably a high signing bonus asking price, teams are deciding to steer away from him.

I think the Orioles are trying to save money with their pick, and there was a wide split on how people felt about Meyer coming into the draft, so not a total surprise that he went off the board this early. All it takes is one team to buy in on him.

I think this approach would definitely be gaming the system. If a team used this strategy, I think the MLB would step in and punish that team, possibly not giving them the extra draft pick next year. Hopefully no team actually stoops down to this level.

Be sure to refresh this page as we will be making updates throughout the night. The 2020 MLB Draft is finally here. This was supposed to be an historic draft for Major League Baseball, as it was originally scheduled to take place in Omaha, Nebraska ahead of the College World Series. However, that all changed with the outbreak of COVID-19. Now, the MLB Draft will be historic for an entirely different reason, as it will consist of just five rounds, the fewest in MLB Draft history.The first day of the 2020 MLB Draft will be available to watch on ESPN & MLB Network, and can be streamed on MLB.com beginning at 6:00 pm CT on Wednesday night, and will be covering Round 1 and Competitive Balance Round A. Rounds 2 through 5 will be held on Thursday night beginning at 4:00 pm CT, and can be viewed on ESPN 2 & MLB Network, and can also be streamed on MLB.com. In total, the Minnesota Twins will have just four selections in this year’s draft, as they traded away their Competitive Balance Round B selection to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Kenta Maeda trade. Additionally, they also forfeited their third-round selection by signing Josh Donaldson, who had turned down a qualifying offer from the Atlanta Braves. Here are the Twins four picks and the slot value associated with each of those picks. 1st Round: 27th Overall - $2,570,100 2nd Round: 59th Overall - $1,185,500 4th Round: 128th Overall - $442,900 5th Round: 158th Overall - $330,100 Some of you probably haven’t had the chance to read up on the prospects that will be taken tonight. So, if you would like to read up a little bit more on these prospects, here are the links to the Twins Daily MLB Draft Prospect rankings. Twins Daily 2020 MLB Draft Prospect Rankings 2020 MLB Draft Top 50 Prospect: 1-10 2020 MLB Draft Top 50 Prospect: 11-20 2020 MLB Draft Top 50 Prospect: 21-30 2020 MLB Draft Top 50 Prospect: 31-40 2020 MLB Draft Top 50 Prospect: 41-50 I also encourage you to take time to read Seth Stohs Minnesota Twins Draft Preview, where he gives you all the information you need to be prepared for the Twins draft, along with listing a few prospects that have a great shot at being selected by the Twins with the 27th overall pick later tonight. Additionally, a few of our Twins Daily staffers have offered their own predictions for who the Twins will select with their first-round pick. Andrew Thares Casey Martin, SS, Arkansas The Twins have shown an affinity for taking hitters, particularly college hitters, in the early stages of the draft in recent years. I expect that trend to continue again in this year’s draft. There are a number of quality college hitters the Twins could be targeting with their first-round pick, but a player that peaks my interest is University of Arkansas shortstop Casey Martin. Martin had a tremendous freshman season, which helped lead Arkansas all the way to the National Championship series, where they fell short to Trevor Larnach’s Oregon State team. While Martin comes with some risk, I believe he has more potential upside than many of the other college hitters in this draft. Tom Froemming Daniel Cabrera, OF, LSU It's possible Cabrera is taken before the Twins pick, but it wouldn't surprise me to see other teams pass on a collegiate corner outfielder who's only shown so-so in-game power. It's not a profile you can pin big dreams on, but Cabrera strikes me as among the players in this range most likely to have some sort of an MLB career. This is a short draft. I'd be risk averse, given the circumstances. Yep, another corner outfielder. Why not? Value is value, and you can always trade from organizational areas of strength. Derek Falvey seems to relish in plucking unheralded pitchers from the most obscure of places. The Twins haven't taken a pitcher in the first round during Falvey's first three drafts, I'm gonna bet that streak continues. Cody Christie Bobby Miller, RHP, Louisville College players are going to be the way to go by the time the Twins pick rolls around in the first round. Miller has some upside with a fastball clocking in the mid-90s. His teammate Reid Detmers will go much higher, but Miller could be a very valuable pick for the Twins at this point in the draft. Matthew Taylor Ed Howard, SS, Mount Carmel HS, IL I think the Twins take HS shortstop prospect, Ed Howard with the #27 pick in the draft. The Twins have a clear need up the middle, with not much depth behind Royce Lewis (and no guarantee of Lewis even playing shortstop long term). Howard projects to be a great athlete with good hands. At just 18 years old, he figures to be a project, but would be a very solid choice on draft night should he fall to the Twins. Twins Selection: Twins Daily Top 5 Prospects Available (Live): 12. Jared Kelley | Refugio HS, TX | Pos: RHP 21. J.T. Ginn | Mississippi State | Pos: RHP 22. Cole Wilcox | Georgia | Pos: RHP 23. Daniel Cabrera | LSU | Pos: OF 28. Casey Martin | Arkansas | Pos: SS MLB Draft 1st Round Selections (Live): 1st Overall – Tigers | Spencer Torkelson | Arizona State | Pos: 1B 2nd Overall – Orioles | Heston Kjerstad | Arkansas | Pos: OF 3rd Overall – Marlins | Max Meyer | Minnesota | Pos: RHP 4th Overall – Royals | Asa Lacy | Texas A&M | Pos: LHP 5th Overall – Blue Jays | Austin Martin | Vanderbilt | Pos: Utility 6th Overall – Mariners | Emerson Hancock | Georgia | Pos: RHP 7th Overall – Pirates | Nick Gonzales | New Mexico State | Pos: 2B 8th Overall – Padres | Robert Hassell | Independence HS, Thompson's Station, TN | Pos: OF 9th Overall – Rockies | Zac Veen | Spruce Creek HS, Port Orange, FL | Pos: OF 10th Overall – Angels | Reid Detmers | Louisville | Pos: LHP 11th Overall – White Sox | Garrett Crochet | Tennessee | Pos: LHP 12th Overall – Reds | Austin Hendrick | West Alleghney HS, Imperial, PA | Pos: OF 13th Overall – Giants | Patrick Bailey | North Carolina State | Pos: C 14th Overall – Rangers | Justin Foscue | Mississippi State | Pos: 2B 15th Overall – Phillies | Mick Abel | Jesuit HS, Portland, OR | Pos: RHP 16th Overall – Cubs | Ed Howard | Mount Carmel HS, IL | Pos: SS 17th Overall – Red Sox | Nick Yorke | Archbishop Mitty HS, San Jose, CA | Pos: 2B 18th Overall – Diamondbacks | Bryce Jarvis | Duke | Pos: RHP 19th Overall – Mets | Pete Crow-Armstrong | Harvark-Westlake HS, Studio City, CA | Pos: OF 20th Overall – Brewers | Garrett Mitchell | UCLA | Pos: OF 21st Overall – Cardinals | Jordan Walker | Decatur HS, GA | Pos: 3B/OF 22nd Overall – Nationals | Cade Cavalli | Oklahoma | Pos: RHP 23rd Overall – Indians | Carson Tucker | Mountain Pointe HS, Phoenix, AZ | Pos: SS 24th Overall – Rays | Nick Bitsko | Central Bucks East HS, Doylestown, PA | Pos: RHP 25th Overall – Braves | Jared Shuster | Wake Forest | Pos: LHP 26th Overall – Athletics | Tyler Soderstrom | Turlock HS, CA | Pos: C 27th Overall – Twins | Aaron Sabato | UNC | Pos: 1B 28th Overall – Yankees | Austin Wells | Arizona | Pos: C 29th Overall – Dodgers | Bobby Miller | Louisville | Pos: RHP *Note the Houston Astros do not have a first or second round pick as part of their punishment from Major League Baseball for sign stealing. Read up on some of the other great draft coverage on Twins Daily First Round Busts: The Twins Struckout Three Consecutive Years Reviewing Minnesota’s Recent First-Round Picks What does MLB History Say About the 27th Pick? Mike Trout and 3 Other Stars the Twins Passed On in the MLB Draft How Should the Twins Strategically Approach the MLB Draft? MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email Click here to view the article

Yes that will be tougher than normal, but I am guessing there are still a number of players that would be willing to sign for lower amounts, otherwise what does MLB expect to happen with the post draft free agency, that has a cap of $20K. Maybe the Twins aren't able to go as low as $10K, but they could offer $30K, $40K or even $50K and still free up $600K plus for that first pick. It will be tougher than usual, no doubt, but could still be done.

With the drastic alterations made to the 2020 MLB Draft, organizations will need to throw out their traditional model for the draft and come up with a strategy to best approach this year’s draft. While many teams will stay true to a simple plan, and number of teams might look to mix things up to get the most out of this draft.Ever since the bonus pool system came into effect, MLB teams have used a number of different strategies to bring in the best group of young talent that they could. For those who are unfamiliar with how the MLB Draft typically works, each pick in the first ten rounds is assigned a pick value. The cumulative total of the pick values a particular team has is what makes up their bonus pool. One strategy organizations have used to take advantage of this is drafting a player that demands more money than that pick is worth in an early round, then saving money sporadically throughout the rest of the first ten rounds to make up for that. Under the current Minnesota Twins regime, the strategy has been quite the opposite. In the three drafts since they have taken over control, the Twins have actually been able to spend over their slot allotment after round five by an average total of $285,600 per year. They were able to do this because they incorporated a strategy of saving money in the first five rounds of the draft, so they could then target players that other teams had to pass on, because they couldn’t afford, them later in the draft. One notable example of this came in last year’s draft when the Twins selected University of Auburn middle infielder Edouard Julien in the 18th round. Prior to the draft, Baseball America had ranked Julien as the 203rd best player in the draft, but he fell to the Twins at pick number 539 because teams were unable/unwilling to match his relatively high asking price. With money that the Twins had saved in early rounds of the draft, they were able to tap into their bonus pool money and sign Julien for $493,000, which is more bonus money than any other player taken after the 16th round received in last year’s draft. With the alterations to the 2020 MLB Draft, the Twins will likely need to recraft their strategy so they can bring in the best players possible with the draft picks and bonus pool allotment that they have. For reference, here are the four picks that the Twins have in this year’s draft, and the bonus pool allotments associated with those picks. Download attachment: Screen Shot 2020-06-08 at 8.52.03 PM.png The Twins total bonus pool allotment for the draft stands at just $4,528,600, which is the 4th fewest in the MLB. It is worth noting that the Twins are without their Competitive Balance Round B selection, as they traded it to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Kenta Maeda trade, as well as with their 3rd round selection, which they gave up when they signed Josh Donaldson, who had turned down a qualifying offer from the Atlanta Braves. So, let’s break down a few different strategies that the Twins front office could employ to best attack this year’s draft. Aggressive Approach The first strategy that we will look at will be going aggressive in the first round. Often times in the draft, good players at the top of most draft boards, especially high schoolers with a lot of leverage, tend to fall in the first round because of a high asking price. Given the conservative nature many teams will likely take to this year’s draft, it is highly likely that the Twins could find themselves in a position to pounce on a high caliber player, that they will need to overpay in order to sign. The Twins have just shy of $2 million in bonus pool money to work with from their rounds 2,4 and 5 picks that they could use to pay over slot with their first-round pick. However, if they do so, the Twins will need to be quite conservative with their remaining three picks, in order to stay within their total bonus pool allotment. This strategy is reminiscent of what the New York Mets (along with a few other organizations to a lesser extent) used in the 2019 draft. For those that don’t recall, in the third round of last year’s draft the Mets decided to select Matthew Allen, a right-handed high school pitcher from the state of Florida. Allen was a highly regarded prospect in last year’s draft, so high in fact that I had him ranked as the 9th best prospect in that draft. Allen fell to the third round because teams felt he would be difficult to sign away from his commitment to the University of Florida. However, despite having already gone $310,000 above slot value on their first two picks, the Mets decided to take Allen anyway, which meant that they needed to save every penny that they could in order to sign him. To do this, the Mets proceeded to draft college seniors, who typically sign for $10,000 or less, with each of their next seven picks. If the Twins followed this strategy with their 4th and 5th round selections, they could free up roughly $750,000 to use with their first two picks. Conservative Approach On the other end of the spectrum, the Twins can look at their limited situation in this draft and decide not to get too cute, but just stay in line with the status quo. That means targeting players who will sign for approximately the same amount of money that the pick is worth. This strategy will prevent the Twins from getting into a bind with their last couple picks, by having to make decisions they wouldn’t otherwise make. From an outside perspective, this is a strategy I expect a lot of teams to use, so they don’t make a mistake with an alternative draft setup that has a lot of unanswered questions. The negative to this strategy, however, is you run the risk of missing unforeseen opportunities by taking the same approach most of the other teams take. There might be a stud player who falls to one of the Twins picks, but instead of taking a chance on that player, you play it safe, and take someone cheaper, or vice versa, and you miss the chance to better utilize draft capital later in the draft. Diversified Approach The final strategic approach that we will look at for the Twins is an attempt to diversify their 2020 MLB Draft portfolio, by splitting up the funds more evenly amongst their four picks. With the nature of how the MLB Draft works, especially so this year, there will be a number of players with second or even first round grades that could fall into the fourth or fifth rounds. If the Twins wanted to, they could try and save a good chunk of money with their first-round pick, which accounts for nearly 57 percent of their total bonus pool, by drafting a player that will sign well under slot value, and then use that money to target players that are falling with their three remaining picks. This way, the Twins won’t be putting all of their eggs in one basket, per se, and instead could select as many as four players with top two round talent. Getting more players with early round talent could be especially important this year, as teams will have a difficult time signing high quality players after the draft, given that they are limited to giving a $20,000 maximum signing bonus to players that go undrafted. This limited bonus could make it difficult for MLB teams to even sign college seniors away from the extra year of eligibility that they have been granted by the NCAA, let alone underclassmen or high schoolers. As you can see, there are a number of different strategies that the Twins could take in this draft, and there are many more that are not even mentioned in this article that are probably being considered by the Twins. While the draft may be a lot shorter than normal, one thing is for certain, it will be exciting to see how the 30 MLB teams approach this unique draft format. Let us know in the comments below which strategy you prefer, or if there is a strategic approach that you like, that was not mentioned above. More 2020 MLB Draft Coverage 2020 MLB Draft Top 50 Prospect: 1-10 2020 MLB Draft Top 50 Prospect: 11-20 2020 MLB Draft Top 50 Prospect: 21-30 2020 MLB Draft Top 50 Prospect: 31-40 2020 MLB Draft Top 50 Prospect: 41-50 MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email Click here to view the article