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It's time to put my money where my mouth is. I'm not sure how I'll stack up against the biggest names in the industry, but there are a few things here I feel really good about and a few things that I don't. Lots of phone calls are being made and there will probably be at least a couple dramatic turn of events over the next eight hours. But that's what makes it so fun. Enjoy!The last one. 1. Phillies - Kyle Lewis, OF Mercer. The latest buzz has the Phillies taking prep CF Mickey Moniak. But in my original mock, I said I had a gut-feeling that Lewis was going to be the guy. I’m going to go with my gut on this one. (Previous: A.J. Puk, LHP, Florida) 2. Reds - Nick Senzel, 3B, Tennessee. The lack of college bats coming off quickly could be a trend… or the Reds just like Senzel this much. (Previous: Kyle Lewis, OF, Mercer) 3. Braves - Corey Ray, OF, Louisville. Like the teams above them, the Braves have dollar flexibility too. The Braves have a few more picks (#40, #44, #76) on the first day too that they can get creative with. (No change) 4. Rockies - Mickey Moniak, OF, California prep. I still don’t think it’s wise for the Rockies to pass on top-end pitching, but if Moniak doesn’t go first. This is his landing spot. (Previous: Jason Groome, LHP, New Jersey prep where I said this, “I’ve been told Groome is the wild card of this draft and to not be surprised if he takes an Appel-like tumble”) 5. Brewers - Zack Collins, C, Miami. I felt good about the Perez pick until the recent PED reports. The Braun stuff is too recent to go back to that well. I don’t feel great about Collins, but that’s the choice. (Previous: Delvin Perez, SS, Puerto Rico prep) 6. A’s - A.J. Puk, LHP, Florida. This would work out well for Billy Beane. I had Puk rated #1 on my board. (Previous:Nick Senzel, 3B, Tennessee) 7. Marlins - Braxton Garrett, LHP, Alabama prep. I won’t be shocked if Garrett is the first prep pitcher off the board based on all the good things I heard about him all spring. (Previous: Mickey Moniak, OF, California prep) 8. Padres - Cal Quantrill, RHP, Stanford. Exactly as I said before: Lots of talk that Quantrill has a deal with Padres at #24. That doesn’t make sense to me. Draft Quantrill at #8 and take one of the high price tag guys at #24. Regardless, Padres are going to leave the draft with two or three top talents. (No change) 9. Tigers - Riley Pint, RHP, Kansas prep. I really like Pint and if he falls into the Tigers lap… good for them. (No change) 10. White Sox - Blake Rutherford, OF, California prep. I’m going to stick with Rutherford here. I considered a tumble to the Mets more than getting popped early by the Brewers. Interesting talk that his inflated asking price might be due to the Phillies trying to push him down. (No change) 11. Mariners - Justin Dunn, RHP, Boston College. I continue to mock Dunn going before the Twins because I really hope he falls. (Previous: Zack Collins, C, Miami) 12. Red Sox - Zack Burdi, RHP, Louisville. I don’t like this pick here, but when something makes a ton of sense and nothing has changed two weeks later, why change it? (No change) 13. Rays - Gavin Lux, SS, Wisconsin prep. Lux is the top shortstop now that Perez has a red flag. (Previous: Dakota Hudson, RHP, Mississippi State) 14. Indians - Alex Kirilloff, OF, Pennsylvania prep. I’m going to leave this here, even though I wouldn’t mind him dropping one more pick. (No change) 15. Twins - Dakota Hudson, RHP, Mississippi State. I think Dunn, Quantrill and Kirilloff all would be in play if available. The price tags on the prep arms have become too inflated to feel great about getting them done. (Previous: Justin Dunn, RHP, Boston College) 16. Angels - Taylor Trammell, OF, Georgia prep. (No change) 17. Astros - Cody Sedlock, RHP, Illinois. (No change) 18. Yankees - Will Craig, 3B, Wake Forest. (No change) 19. Mets - Matt Thaiss, C, Virginia. (No change) 20. Dodgers - Jordan Sheffield, RHP, Vanderbilt. (No change) 21. Blue Jays - Garrett Whitley, RHP, Texas prep. (Previous: Kevin Gowdy, RHP, California prep) 22. Pirates - Nolan Jones, SS, Pennsylvania prep. (No change) 23. Cardinals - Delvin Perez, SS, Puerto Rico prep. There’s not a better potential landing spot for Perez. (Previous: Kyle Muller, LHP, Texas prep) 24. Padres - Matt Manning, RHP, California prep. Manning will fall due to money demands. Quantrill won’t. So while Manning gets the bigger bonus, he won’t go before Quantrill. (No change) 25. Padres - Will Smith, C, Louisville. Nobody has the helium of Smith right now. (Previous: Chris Okey, C, Clemson) 26. White Sox - Eric Lauer, LHP, Kansas State. (Previous: Gavin Lux, SS, Wisconsin prep) 27. Orioles - Kyle Muller, LHP, Texas prep (Previous: Eric Lauer, LHP, Kent State) 28. Nationals - Jason Groome, LHP, New Jersey prep. The Nationals always seem to both a) not get scared away and get their way. (Previous: Alec Hansen, RHP, Oklahoma) 29. Nationals - Robert Tyler, RHP, Georgia. (No change except I had him 28 previously) 30. Rangers - Josh Lowe, 3B, Georgia prep. (No change) 31. Mets - Bryan Reynolds, OF, Vanderbilt. (Previous: T.J. Zeuch, RHP, Pittsburgh) 32. Dodgers - C.J. Chatham, SS, Florida Atlantic. (Previous: Joey Wentz, LHP, Kansas HS) 33. Cardinals - Buddy Reed, OF, Florida. (No change) 34. Cardinals - Logan Shore, RHP, Florida. (No change.) --- Bonus picks 35. Reds - Kevin Gowdy, RHP, California prep. (Previous: Forrest Whitley, RHP, Texas prep) 40. Braves - Ian Anderson, RHP, New York prep. Braves have been rumored to be working on a “package” deal: bat at #3 and arm here. (No change) 42. Phillies - Joey Wentz, LHP, Kansas prep. The Phillies are going to get to someone, though no idea who that is. (Previous: Braxton Garrett, LHP, Alabama prep) What do you think? 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Though we’ve spent the last few months hearing about the interest the Twins have in prep power arms, it’s been a new demographic - college pitchers - who have started making their way to the forefront. Some names are ones you many have heard of. Some names might be new.WHO ARE THEY? Same with the high school class, the top of class isn’t likely to be available at #15. Unlike the high school class, only one name, Florida southpaw A.J. Puk, appears to have no chance to be available. The next tier of collegiate arms includes Justin Dunn (RHP, Boston College), Zack Burdi (RHP, Louisville), Dakota Hudson (RHP, Mississippi State), Cody Sedlock (RHP, Illinois) and Cal Quantrill (RHP, Stanford) among others. WHY THE TWINS WILL DRAFT ONE OF THEM With the fluidity of the draft board thanks to recent developments, including bonus demands and drug tests, the college class is the most stable group. With the exception of Quantrill, all are healthy. And all are signable. Burdi was profiled here, so we’ll focus on the other four today. Justin Dunn (6-2, 185) has as much helium coming into the draft as anyone. After converting to the rotation from the bullpen early in the season, Dunn has settled into a mid-90s strike-thrower who also features a slider with a developing curveball and changeup. Dunn is still a relatively fresh arm, with only 120 innings thrown in his three seasons at Boston College Dakota Hudson (6-5, 225) might have the best stuff in the draft. A mid-90s fastball and potentially plus curveball headline his four-pitch mix. Hudson also was working on limited innings after his first two years at Mississippi State (34.0 total), but was successful last summer in the Cape Cod League (56 2/3 innings) before throwing 106 more innings as a junior. Cody Sedlock (6-4, 210) has become a workhorse for the Illini in 2016, proving to be extremely durable. Averaging 118.75 pitches over his last four starts (which doesn’t include a 9 1/3 inning start a month ago that didn’t track his pitches, Sedlock has already endured pitch counts that would make Bert Blyleven proud. Cal Quantrill (6-3, 185) was a legitimate 1-1 candidate before suffering from elbow issues. While healthy, Quantrill has a four-pitch mix that features a low-90s fastball with a plus changeup. His dad, Paul, was an undersized righty who had a 14-year big league career, leading his league in appearances four straight years, making the All-Star game as an 11-win reliever in 2001. WHY THE TWINS WON'T DRAFT ANY OF THEM Depending on who you talk to, you could get many different takes on how these pitchers rank and who to include in this tier. Maybe they’ll go with a college pitcher, but select one that is outside of this group. Maybe the team is confident that their bonus slot can meet the demand of a prep arm. Maybe one of the few bats they like falls into their lap. There’re also some things that could have you look the other way with the pitchers mentioned above. It won’t be a factor with the Twins, but Dunn doesn’t have a long track-record as a starter. Hudson’s biggest question mark is his fastball command. He walked 34, threw 14 wild pitches and hit eight batters this year. Those numbers aren’t always indicative of “command issues”, but they help substantiate the issue. Should there be concerns about Sedlock’s workload? How many MLB pitchers have thrown 10 2/3 innings in a game this season? How many have thrown 132 pitches in a game? Sedlock did both of those in an April start this season. Oh, Sedlock threw between 31 and 32 innings in both of his first two seasons, so this was quite a jump. Quantrill hasn’t pitched in a game since undergoing Tommy John surgery in March of 2015, so there’s a lot of mystery around the pitcher who is said to have a deal in place with the Padres. Names that I’m less high on are T.J. Zeuch (RHP, Pittsburgh), Connor Jones (RHP, Virginia) and Eric Lauer (LHP, Kansas State). All three are getting first-round buzz. Other draft-related articles: Local Profiles Zack Burdi Zack Collins Prep Arms 10-round mock Draft Board Alex Kirilloff Click here to view the article

In previous years, instead of me putting my own board together, I tried to gather enough information to accurately predict how the Twins would stack their board. While I’ll never know how accurate I was, my opinion is that I wasn’t too far off.This year is different. Obviously, when the Twins are picking fourth, fifth or sixth, there are only so many players and combinations of them that can go before the Twins were picking. Drafting at 15 makes things more difficult. Having a handful of players whose signability is being questioned makes it infinitely more difficult. Even as the draft approaches - it’s only three days away! - it’s being described as being a “long ways away.” Seems ridiculous, right? Not really. There are still a number of high school pitchers who have unknown price tags. We heard last week that the Twins weren’t going to be able to get Manning done with their draft slot at 15. It’s entirely possible that we could be adding more prep pitchers into that category as the week progresses. Why is that happening? Because the teams at the top of the draft - the Phillies, Braves and Reds - have so much money that they can spread it out among their first few picks, essentially taking players off the board before they’re selected. So even if the Twins have settled on their Top 15, there’s a strong chance that none of those players are actually “available” when the Twins come to the podium. Make sense? What you’re going to see below is not a guess at how the Twins have their board stacked, but instead how I would stack my own board… with the caveat that whichever player is drafted will sign for slot at pick 15. I know that’s an impossibility, but without knowing every player that has a high price tag, this is the best way to fairly assess the talent. 1) A.J. Puk, LHP, Florida. I’m not totally sold on Puk - especially after his last start - but you could do worse than taking a left-handed pitcher who throws mid-90s. The combination of ceiling and floor makes Puk the relatively easy choice to take first overall. 2) Jason Groome, LHP, New Jersey HS. I debated Groome vs Pint as top prep pitcher, but Groome’s curveball and the fact he’s young for his class gives him a ceiling of an ace-starter and there are never enough of them. 3) Kyle Lewis, OF, Mercer. Sure, he hasn’t played against the best competition and that magnifies some of the questions about his bat, but his no one can match his ceiling as a hitter and he appears athletic enough to stay in center field. 4) Riley Pint, RHP, Kansas HS. It’s hard to look at a prep pitcher who throws 100+ and not assume he’s going to need Tommy John surgery sometime soon. For me, it’s hard to look at Pint and not think he’s going to be Max Scherzer in a handful of years. If Pint was a little more consistent with his breaking stuff, I’d rank him above Groome. 5) Corey Ray, OF, Louisville. Ray doesn’t have Lewis’s loud power tool. In fact, he lacks any significant carrying tool (unless you want to count his speed). What Ray offers, though, is enough with the bat and glove to project him with an MLB floor, which isn’t easy to do. 6) Nick Senzel, 3B, Tennessee. Senzel’s calling card is his hit tool and there is a lack of that quality in this draft. Good enough to stick on the left side of the infield, Senzel is another high-floor, top-10 pick. 7) Mickey Moniak, OF, California HS. Moniak has the chops to stay in center field and has the hit tool to project as an everyday player, though he’ll probably not add much power as he develops. 8) Braxton Garrett, LHP, Alabama HS. Garrett is the safest of all the prep arms, equipped with a MLB-ready curveball already. The Twins would love him at 15, if he’s available. 9) Delvin Perez, SS, Puerto Rico HS. Young but unfairly compared to Carlos Correa, Perez may have the highest ceiling in the whole class. Will he hit though? 10) Justin Dunn, RHP, Boston College. People are going to do the “another reliever” thing with Dunn if the Twins pick him, but his electric arm is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. For being a relatively fresh arm (that can run it up to 99 mph), he offers a high floor to go with an extremely high ceiling. 11) Ian Anderson, RHP, New York HS. I tried not to dock Anderson for his signability questions and when lined up with Dunn, I have them ranked very closely. Dunn, though smaller, gave me less durability concerns than Anderson, which is why I rank Anderson one spot lower. 12) Alex Kirilloff, OF, Pennsylvania HS. Kirilloff projects to be a good hitter with potential plus power and a good enough arm to play right field. Though I’d always err on the side of pitching, Kirilloff is one hitter who may be on the board at 15 that I’m sold on. 13) Dakota Hudson, P, Mississippi State. I had come around on Hudson before he struggled in his last start. He battles with command, but I’ve been told he may have the best “stuff” in the draft. My concern is the Twins would try to clean up the delivery in hopes that it will improve command, but instead it will cause his “stuff” to play down. 14) Blake Rutherford, OF, California HS. Rutherford is a year older than most other prep players and appears to be physically mature, so there isn’t as much upside as you’d typically get with a high schooler. There’s still a lot of things to like in his bat - I’m just not as sold as some others. 15) Matt Manning, RHP, California HS. I always feel like there’s more to unlock in multi-sport starts and Manning, who is committed to play both baseball and hoops at Loyola Marymount, has plenty of raw ability already, hitting 98 mph with his fastball. I believe Manning has a deal with the Padres. 16) Cal Quantrill, RHP, Stanford. Quantrill missed the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, but was a legitimate Top 5 candidate before the injury. He has the upside on a #1 starter and likely won’t make his professional debut until Spring Training 2017, nearly 23 months following his procedure. 17) Zack Collins, C, Miami. Collins has the bat to profile as a big-leaguer, but there are questions about his defensive home. He’ll need time to develop behind the plate, but teams might want to push his bat through their system quicker, shifting him to a corner, likely first base. 18) Zack Burdi, RHP, Louisville. Guys who can throw triple-digits and profile with a clean enough delivery have to be considered first-round picks. While Burdi’s ultimate home is probably in the bullpen, he’s an intriguing option for teams in the middle of the first round. 19) Joey Wentz, LHP, Kansas HS. It’s hard not to factor signability into ranking Wentz, who is committed to Virginia. He’s backed off the mid-90s that he was throwing early in his season, but still offers the upside of a front-end starter. 20) Forrest Whitley, RHP, Texas HS. The big-bodied Texan beat out a number of college pitchers for the last spot on this list. There are conditioning questions, but he’s got present ability that projects to play up as he continues to work his body into shape. Just missed: Cody Sedlock, RHP, Illinois and T.J. Zeuch, RHP, Pittsburgh Other draft-related articles: Local Profiles Zack Burdi Zack Collins Prep Arms 10-round mock What does your board look like? Click here to view the article

With only three weeks remaining until the MLB Draft kicks off, there is plenty of information floating around. Though trying to pinpoint the direction the Twins are going to go at #15 remains somewhat of a mystery.*Consensus (at least as far as I can reach) suggests all of A.J. Puk (1), Riley Pint (2), Jason Groome (3), Kyle Lewis (4), Nick Senzel (5), Corey Ray (6), Delvin Perez (7) and Mickey Moniak (8) will be gone before the Twins pick at #15. Those rankings are according to Baseball America and the list was compiled before I checked their rankings… so it might be safe to consider those players in their own tier. *If you’re interested in what is going on locally, Nick Hanson, a big right-handed pitcher from Prior Lake, is the prep player in the state garnering the most attention. Hanson, who isn’t listed among Baseball America’s Top 200 prospects, but checks in at #44 on Perfect Game, is committed to Kentucky. *Dalton Sawyer (LHP, Sr) leads the charge for the surprising Gophers. Sawyer passed up signing with the Twins after being drafted in the 27th round last year. He had a tough junior season but he’s definitely taken a step back in the right direction with a bounce-back year. Senior-signs are hot commodities in the first 10 rounds, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Sawyer go before the end of Day 2. *Other Gophers to keep an eye on are C Austin Athmann and P/OF Matt Fiedler. It’s unclear at which position the Twins prefer Fiedler. *Zack Collins (15) can be a "catcher", though it’s doubtful he’ll ever be an average defender. The Twins do like Collins, “an offensive force,” but appear to targeting a different batch of players. *Speaking of catchers - and everybody and their brother has an issue with their catching depth - the Twins will take a catcher in the Top 10 rounds. They always do. But they won’t take one in the first round just because they don’t have a high-profile prospect. They won’t take one that high because no one is deserving. There is plenty of depth and it’s not beyond the realm of possibility to see the Twins take a high-ceiling, long-term project like Mario Feliciano in round 3 or 4 and then take a lower-ceiling, college catcher like Jeremy Martinez later on Day 2. Regardless of the who or when, though, this draft isn’t producing an answer at Target Field before 2021… or later. *Nolan Jones (18) has been skyrocketing up draft charts this spring, but doesn’t seem to be of any interest to the Twins. Or vice versa. *In Baseball America’s most recent mock draft, Hudson Belinsky has the Twins taking Dakota Hudson, a right-hander from Mississippi State. *Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com released his first full mock draft of May 12th, a day before BA, and also had the Twins taking Hudson. *The Twins have been connected to Matt Manning, a prep power right-hander from Sacramento and in Keith Law’s first mock, released Tuesday, he paired the two. Manning is committed to Loyola Marymount and though you may seen some questions about his signability, you’re reading here that there isn’t. Interestingly, Belinsky has Matt Manning going before the Twins, while Mayo has him dropping to #21. *Perfect Game released their first mock draft on May 11 and guessed the Twins would take Connor Jones, RHP, Virginia, passing on Hudson and Manning. They will be releasing their next - and hopefully better - guesses in a week. Perfect Game, in my opinion, has taken a big step down after losing some of their best assets and doesn’t get ringing endorsements in the scouting world either, for what’s it worth. *A third name to add into the mix of Hudson and Manning is Alabama prep lefty Braxton Garrett. Though he’s been projected to be off the board on all four of the mentioned mocks, he’s a Vanderbilt commit (tricky) and a Boras client (tricky). But if it comes down to best available and Hudson and Manning aren’t, Garrett should be next in line. *While this is my sense as of today, I’ve had more than a couple people tell me that someone good is going to slide to the Twins. Not “the Twins are going to get someone good”, the word “slide” has been used. It could be a coincidence, sure. It could be an emphasis on how weird this draft is expected to be, yes. But it could be something else too… maybe? Click here to view the article