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Let’s look at a few options: 1) Based on previous three years’ win total What might be the “simplest” idea in terms of calculating, the draft order could be ordered by reverse win totals over the previous three season. It would result in this order: 1 Tigers (58.33) 2 Orioles (58.67) t3 Marlins (65.67) t3 Royals (65.67) 5 White Sox (67.00) 6 Padres (69.00) 7 Reds (70.00) 8 Giants (71.33) 9 Blue Jays (72.00) 10 Rangers (74.33) 11 Pirates (75.33) 12 Phillies (75.67) 13 Angels (77.33) 14 Mets (77.67) 15 Mariners (78.33) 16 Rockies (83.00) 17 Braves (86.33) t18 D-backs (86.67) t18 Rays (86.67) 20 Cardinals (87.33) 21 Twins (88.00) 22 Athletics (89.67) t23 Brewers (90.33) t23 Cubs (90.33) 25 Nationals (90.67) 26 Red Sox (95.00) 27 Indians (95.33) 28 Yankees (98.00) 29 Dodgers (100.67) 30 Astros (103.67) Repeat. My preference (of the six ideas): 6. It’s too simple. Literally no one is doing anything right now, so there has to be a better idea than the most basic idea. 2) Basic lottery When the 1994 NHL season didn’t happen due to a lockout, the 1995 NHL Draft used a pretty basic lottery idea to determine draft order. MLB could employ a similar strategy. Teams would be weighted based on making the playoffs between 2017-2019, and first overall picks in the last four drafts (2017-2020). Teams that had not made the playoffs nor selected first overall received three lottery balls. If a team made the playoff once or had a first overall pick, they received two lottery balls. All other teams got one lottery ball. Three balls (13 teams): Angels, Blue Jays, Giants, Mariners, Marlins, Mets, Padres, Phillies, Pirates, Rangers, Reds, Royals, White Sox Two balls (5): Cardinals, D-backs, Orioles, Rays, Tigers One ball (12): Astros, Athletics, Braves, Brewers, Cubs, Dodgers, Indians, Nationals, Red Sox, Rockies, Twins, Yankees After a team had a ball drawn, they could not receive another pick. All odd-numbered rounds followed this same order. Even-numbered rounds were reversed, resulting in a snake-style draft. My preference (of the six ideas): 3. It’s a really good, workable idea. In fact, it worked the last time an idea like this was needed. 3) Complex lottery This would be similar to the previous idea, but would determine the Top 50 picks. There would be no competitive balance picks, though compensatory picks could be added after the Top 50. Round 2 would begin after the first 50 picks and the compensatory round and would use the first model to determine the order of selection for the remainder of the draft. The intrigue with this model is that teams could end up with between zero and five picks in the Top 50 selections. How many balls you end up with in the hopper would be determined as follows: -All teams get one (30 balls) -Teams that typically receive a Competitive Balance pick (teams who received shared revenue) get an additional ball. (14 balls) -Teams that drafted in the Top 10 over the last three seasons (excluding compensation picks) would receive another ball or balls. (30 balls; up to 3 per team) This would result in 74 balls, 24 of which would not be chosen. The top 20 picks would be protected (could not be traded or lost to free agent signings). If you have one or zero picks in the Top 50, your first pick is protected (cannot be lost due a free agent signing). Picks 21-50 (and their assigned pick value) could be traded. The reveal would definitely be televised and the hopper breakdown would look as follows: Five balls (1 team): Padres Four balls (6): Marlins, Orioles, Pirates, Reds, Royals, Tigers Three balls (5): Athletics, Blue Jays, Giants, Rockies, White Sox Two balls (12): Angels, Braves, Brewers, Cardinals, D-backs, Indians, Mariners, Mets, Phillies, Rangers, Rays, Twins One ball (6): Astros, Cubs, Dodgers, Nationals, Red Sox, Yankees The Twins would have a 2.7% chance of receiving the first pick. All teams chances to select first would be between 1.4% and 6.8%. That seems fair. My preference (of the six ideas): 2. I actually love this idea. A lot. 4) Based on three years’ spending pools Teams that had less success, lost players that resulted in draft compensation or are in a smaller market end up with larger draft pools. On the flip side, good teams, those who signed the best free agents or are in larger markets, end up with smaller draft pools. This idea takes the average of what teams spent in 2018 and 2019 with their bonus pools in 2020. Calculating the order this way would have similar results to the first idea, though this weighs recency a little heavier (as draft pools increase year-by-year -- until 2020). It would result in the following order: 1 Royals ($14,085,600) 2 Tigers ($13,219,633) 3 Orioles ($12,962,833) 4 Marlins ($12,322,500) 5 Padres ($12,148,843) 6 White Sox ($11,327,667) 7 Pirates ($11,146,000) 8 Giants ($11,009,767) 9 Rays ($10,837,800) 10 D-backs ($10,288,300) 11 Blue Jays ($9,917,700) 12 Rangers ($9,751,567) 13 Reds ($9,734,733) 14 Mariners ($9,430,533) 15 Mets ($9,213,579) 16 Indians ($9,010,388) 17 Rockies ($8,951,000) 18 Phillies ($8,619,167) 19 Cardinals ($8,468,033) 20 Angels ($8,267,200) 21 Braves ($7,720,200) 22 Cubs ($7,643,917) 23 Athletics ($7,631,333) 24 Red Sox ($7,526,900) 25 Twins ($7,464,900) 26 Brewers ($7,154,233) 27 Nationals ($7,031,793) 28 Dodgers ($6,888,980) 29 Yankees ($6,865,100) 30 Astros ($5,020,866) My preference (of the six ideas): 5. Gets the nod over option 1 due to the weight of recent results. 5) Organizational record Somehow combining both major- and minor-league records over a number of years may give a more accurate look at organizational talent. How you weigh wins at each level would make this a very complex exercise. My preference (of the six ideas): 4. It might be the best way… but would be very, very complicated. 6) Owner blind bid This is my favorite (and also the least likely) option. Create a TV event that includes all 30 owners and each owner takes a turn revealing a donation to a charity of their (or MLB's) (or by fan vote!) choice. (Bids would obviously have to be revealed to MLB prior to the live event.) Those donations are put in order, from greatest to least, and that’s the draft order. Want to call the owners cheap? This is your chance! Competitive Balance and compensatory picks would still be included and starting in round two, draft order would have to revert to using one of the other ideas. My preference (of the six ideas): 1. But it would NEVER happen. What do you think? Would you go with one of these options or is there a better idea out there?

We covered the first night with pretty quick recaps on Cavaco, Wallner and Canterino. We came back on Thursday morning (an AM podcast!) to discuss the second and third day of the draft. Who do we like? Who might not sign? And deeper dives on many of the players who heard their names called by the Minnesota Twins. Our goal was to keep it 60 minutes - and we did it as far as draft coverage goes (about 55). But we did spend the last 10 minutes talking about what the next steps could be now that Craig Kimbrel is no longer an option. As always, all of our podcasts are available here or you can download directly from iTunes here.

Minnesota was picking near the middle of the first round so there were plenty of options available. Cavaco turned 18 on Sunday and comes in at 6-feet-0 and 185 pounds. He bats and throws right-handed. He comes from East Lake High School in Chula Vista, California. It's the same high school as former number one overall pick Adrian Gonzalez. He is currently committed to San Diego State but the 13th pick is slotted to receive a $4.2 million bonus. Cavaco wasn’t well known entering this past spring season. He wasn’t invited to many of the summer showcase events. These events allow scouting departments and front office personnel to see top-tier players face some of the best young pitchers. MLB.com ranked him as the 28th best prospect in the draft. https://twitter.com/betsyhelfand/status/1135715288559837184 In the fall, he was invited to a showcase. At the Angel Elite showcase, he was able to really exhibit some of his power potential. He has the potential to be a five-tool player as he has a very strong arm so this should help him to stick at third or short. He’s athletic, has great hands with a good set-up at the plate. Also, he has shown some speed as he can get home to first out of the box in less than four seconds. https://twitter.com/BaseballAmerica/status/1135705853632372736 Being the 2019 draft season’s biggest riser, means there are some things still to work on. There are some questions surrounding his hit tool, especially since he wasn’t part of the summer showcases. It’s tough to know what he would do against that level of talent, but the Twins believe his power tool will continue to grow. Minnesota drafted him as a shortstop, but many think he might have to end up back at third base. Minnesota could save money on signing Cavaco because of where he was projected to be drafted. This could be used to offer over-slot deals to other picks. Besides the 13th pick, the Twins have a pick in the competitive balance round (39th overall), which is sandwiched between the first and second round. The club’s second round pick is 54th overall. https://twitter.com/MillerJohnP/status/1135708352158167040 Feel free to discuss and check back as there is more to come…

The Twins had three picks on the opening day of the MLB Draft. With their first-round pick, the Twins selected SS/3B Keoni Cavaco. During the competitive balance round, the club took Minnesota native Matt Walner, a college outfielder. With the 54th overall pick in the MLB Draft, Minnesota selected RHP Matt Canterino. ***Listen to Across the Meadow's breakdown of the Canterino pick.*** Canterino is a right-handed pitcher out of the Rice University. As a freshman, he led Conference USA with 111 strikeouts in 96 innings. Only two college pitchers have struck out over 100 batters over the last three seasons and he is one of them. He’s been making the rounds as he pitched for the US collegiate national team and he pitched in last year’s Cap Cod League. He even won that league’s All-Star Game. His fastball can reach into the upper-90’s but it typically sits in the low 90s. His slider might be his best pitch as it can reach the mid-80s. He also has a spike curveball with a lot of action. His high strikeout totals show that he can get both righties and lefties out on a consistent basis. The Twins hope he can remain a starter as he transitions to his professional career. Some scouts have been critical of his delivery during his collegiate career. He uses a lot of effort during his delivery and this makes it tough to stick as a starting pitcher. Because of the effectiveness of his other breaking pitches, he hasn’t had to rely on his change-up as much. This could be another thing for him to work on as he moves through the Twins system. Feel free to discuss and check back for more information.

California prep SS Royce Lewis. Bet you didn't see that one coming a few days ago. Represented by Scott Boras, Royce Lewis is a high-upside, middle-of-the-diamond player. He'll start his career at shortstop, but has the athleticism to play center field as well. There are some questions about his hit tool and if power will develop. There are also some doubts that his arm can hold up on the left side of the infield. Those questions are pretty typical of prep position players. He'll have a few years to develop and answer those questions. But there are no questions about his speed, his approach and how he's an elite athlete. The ceiling is amazingly high. The big question is how taking Lewis will shape how the organization uses the rest of their draft pool. It was suggested to me that if Lewis didn't go first, he could tumble to seven... that might give the Twins an extra $1.75 million to play around with. Get your popcorn. The rest of your night is going to be fun!

Alex Kirilloff was featured earlier this week in his own draft profile. Kirilloff in a nutshell: He's 6-2, 195 and will start his professional career in center field. He has the arm to handle right field and the power profile to fit in either corner. The Twins will have to buy him out of a commitment to Liberty. Kirilloff is a good student who could have gone to larger-profiled schools, but chose Liberty based on his religious background. The biggest question surrounding Kirilloff is his hand speed - can he catch up to the heat? - but the Twins don't share those concerns. Kirilloff will likely start his professional career in the GCL this summer and will turn 19 in November. As they have done in the past, the Twins have selected a very "toolsy" outfielder; Kirilloff checks all the boxes: Hit, hit for power, speed, arm and defense. Baseball America ranked Kirilloff as the 15th best prospect in the draft. MLB.com ranked him 18th. Alex Kirilloff was kind enough to share with us (via twitter) his response to getting drafted.

June 24, 8:30 AM update Apologies for having not updated for a bit. But 14 hour days filled with work and school can do that to a person. Lots to unpack here... starting from the top: https://twitter.com/MikeBerardino/status/878416355648819201 This doesn't give an exact figure, but will save the Twins nearly $350,000. That puts the Twins savings around $1,450,000. https://twitter.com/jimcallisMLB/status/878393874426802176 Enlow sucks up most of the savings and lowers their available pool to around $200K. https://twitter.com/hudsonbelinsky/status/877968302164684801 Bechtold comes in $221,300 over the pool. https://twitter.com/hudsonbelinsky/status/878063064398020608 De La Torre comes in $266,700 over the pool. https://twitter.com/MLBPipeline/status/878410484986167296 Widdell comes in $179,300 over the pool. The three seniors each got $10k each, which saves the team $429,500. That leaves the Twins with exactly $1,466,400 to sign Leach. It will be interesting to see if he gets all of it. (That's good planning.) Here's how it looks... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ June 20, 2:30 PM update https://twitter.com/jimcallisMLB/status/877230600154959872 With the three official signings (Lewis, Rooker and Barnes) done, the Twins are $1,102,700 under the cap. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ June 19, 8:00 AM update Not reporting any bonuses. But many players will be signing on the dotted line today or tomorrow. Still no official word on P Blayne Enlow. Checked with Twins source and was told he "cannot comment." 11th-round pick OF Gabriel Rodriguez has also not agreed to terms. Both of these players fall into the category that will receive overslot bonuses. (Enlow will obviously receive more.) Clubs typically like to have all of their underslot players done first so they know exactly how much money they have left. On the flip side of that, they try to keep those numbers under wraps so that while negotiating overslot deals, the agents don't know exactly how much money is remaining. Both Enlow and Rodriguez are expected to sign. There should be plenty of "official" draft news in the next 24-48 hours. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ June 17, 7:00 PM update Just a note: Regardless of what I hear, I won't report any "official signings." I'm leaving that up to the Twins, as many things can happen between the agreement and the official announcement. So despite hearing that some of these agreements have been signed, I'm going to leave them simply as "agreed." The big new name here is 3B Austin Bechtold. There is an agreement in place and look for an official announcement relatively soon. The other two names are OF TJ Dixon and P Austin Bizzle. Neither of those deals will cut into the bonus pool. Neither was expected to. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ June 17, 5:30 PM update SS Royce Lewis is officially a Twin. Four others from Day 3 agree to terms. Confirmed agreements/signings up to 14. https://twitter.com/JonHeyman/status/876209671610216448 https://twitter.com/Twins/status/876209498628685824 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ June 17, 10:30 AM update https://twitter.com/Twins/status/876096136083275776 More information will be posted when it becomes available. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- June 16, 6:00 PM update The signing of OF Brent Rooker is official. https://twitter.com/Twins/status/875848794964992004 https://twitter.com/ChrisCotillo/status/875806072099016704 https://twitter.com/DWolfsonKSTP/status/875850733228363776 June 16, 11:00 AM update: Plenty of new "scout's takes" in both the Day 2 and Day 3 write-ups. (I just added seven more.) The graphic below shows five more players who have agreed to terms: LP Charlie Barnes, who arrived in Minnesota last night, LP Bryan Sammons, who is already in Fort Myers, P Bailey Ober, C Andrew Cosgrove and SS Jordan Gore, all of whom will report to Fort Myers on Monday. Sammons was a senior draft, but could be a sleeper. All five of those players are expected to play at Elizabethton. (Jeremy's note: I don't know why the graphic is as small as it is. I'll try a different computer and see what happens... or maybe Brock can tell me how to fix it.) (Jeremy's note, part two: I'm going to be very careful about reporting signing bonuses. While it is fun to scoop Jim Callis... there can also be ramifications to that type of announcement before everything is finalized.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- June 16, 9:00 AM update: Starting at the top of the draft... Doogie Wolfson of KSTP has had a few nuggets on SS Royce Lewis. https://twitter.com/DWolfsonKSTP/status/875444032486473729 https://twitter.com/DWolfsonKSTP/status/874442782793977857 Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press is reporting that OF Brent Rooker has agreed to terms for "slightly more" than slot ($1,935,300). https://twitter.com/PioneerPress/status/875660988976177157 I'm reporting a few more happenings with some later-drafted players. OF Jared Akins, P Derek Molina and P Alex Robles have all agreed to terms and will be reporting to Fort Myers. Robles will report Monday. I assume that's going to be a day full of getting settled into Fort Myers, while physicals and actual signings will happen on Tuesday. You can follow the progress of the signings with this handy-dandy little chart that I'll continuously update.

We're all aware that the Twins entered the draft process with an advantage over the other clubs - that coming off the heels of being the worst team in baseball last season and cushioned by the fact they qualified for a Comp Round A pick - owning the largest draft pool in all of baseball and the largest pool of all time. It was entirely fair to assume that the club wasn't going to spend its entire allotment ($7.7m) on the first pick. No team ever had. In all likelihood, no team ever will. The Twins were going to take the player they liked the most in a price range they were comfortable with. There are rumblings that Brendan McKay turned down an offer from the Twins. I'd be surprised if he was the only one. But I doubt it was an "offer" as much as it was the Twins trying to find the magic number with a handful of players. Brendan McKay will likely break the new-rule bonus record of $6.7m held by Kris Bryant when he signs with the Rays. It wouldn't surprise me if Hunter Greene's number is in that range too. But Royce Lewis wasn't a "money-saving" pick. Lewis was the club's top target and will sign for a fair price - a price that will likely be very close to - if not more than - $6.7m. Basically, what I'm saying is that Lewis, McKay and Greene will all sign for relatively similar bonuses. And, honestly, I think the Twins had a pretty good inkling that regardless of who they drafted - and they didn't make their mind up til the very end according to various reports - they were going to bank around a $1 million. That's not being cheap. That's just using the resources available to them. Now let's turn the page... Immediately our focus turned to picks 35 and 37. We knew there would be some money available to spend later in the draft. It made a ton of sense to do it at 35 and/or 37. And I'm sure - OK, not sure but guessing - that the club had a handful of prospects they really hoped would fall to these spots and that the money would be used up. Purely speculative, but I'd put Shane Baz and Seth Romero in that group. Sam Carlson was someone fans placed in that group. Call it whoever you want and call that pie-in-the-sky Plan A. The fact is, though, outside of the draft room not one knows who was actually in that group or how big it was. From everything that I can gather, they weren't "sniped," there just wasn't a prospect they liked so much to blow their entire pool on (which at that time could have been nearly $3 million). So they stuck to their board at #35 with Brent Rooker and took a player at #37 in Landon Leach who was quickly moving up draft boards. And then they turned to Plan B, which was still a really good plan. When Leach's name was called - and Carlson's wasn't - and then fans looked for where he was ranked by Baseball America and MLB.com, many were aghast. How dare they go cheap! Did they just screw up their whole draft? Those types of things filled up both my Twitter timeline and mentions. To many I replied with some variety of "let's see what happens tomorrow." The reality was they knew they still had around $1.5m with which to play around. They probably also - when they picked at #35 and #37 - had a really good idea which group of prep arms would fall to the first pick of the third round. A group that I'm assuming they thought would include Sam Carlson and definitely included Blayne Enlow. As soon as Monday's picks wrapped up, I'm guessing they got on the phone with Enlow's reps and made sure the (reportedly) $2 million they had to offer him was enough. It was. One question that gets asked often is, "Then why not just draft Enlow in Round 2 and take Leach in Round 3. Hoping he falls was risky." Yep, it was. But you can also look at it from a couple of other perspectives: Maybe Leach was a guy the club had to have. And Enlow was one of a group they knew they'd get one of. It also could do with the draft pools. If Enlow is drafted in Round 2 and doesn't sign, the club loses a lot more of their pool than if he's drafted in Round 3 and doesn't sign. Then they turned the page to the next rounds, which they seemed to have played relatively straight until round 8, when they draft their first of three consecutive college seniors. When the smoke cleared on Day 2, I asked about the signability of the players and the remaining draft pool: No concerns on signability and no money left. As we turn the page to Day 3, the focus shifts to filling rookie-league rosters. Though reports of Enlow's bonus started to drift out last night, there will still be a few back-up guys drafted just in case he doesn't sign and they have money to use. All in all, the Twins did a pretty good job manipulating their pool to get the best high school shortstop, one of the top college bats, and two really good prep arms. Maybe they do know what they're doing.

Who Is He? Kyle Wright is “best player in the the draft by far” a Twins scout told me about a month ago. It just so happened to be an echo of what the same scout told me late last summer, around the time the Hunter Greene hype-train started barreling down the tracks. Wright had just completed his time pitching for the Collegiate National team, with his last outing coming in relief, but pitching five one-hit innings and striking out five Cubans. That was the exclamation point to a very strong summer showing: 16 2/3 innings, 16 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.20. Kyle Wright had officially arrived. Armed with a low-to-mid-90s two-seamer, a four-seamer that touches 97, two breaking balls - a curveball and slider that both sit around 80 mph and a changeup that has slowly been getting better and better. Four usable pitches when he’s at his best, Kyle Wright has the makings of a top draft prospect. You can read an interview with Kyle Wright done by the boy wonder Chris Cotillo. Why the Twins Will Pick Him When you’re picking first, you take the best player in the draft, right? Well, that’s arguably one feather that Wright has in his hat. But that’s all relative. If you want ceiling, there are higher ceilings than Wright's. If you want a higher floor, Wright’s got a lower floor than some others. What Wright has, in many people’s opinion, is the perfect combination of potential and floor. He’s developed admirably since arriving at Vanderbilt. As a high school senior, he was 6’ 3”, 175 lbs with a fastball that touched 90 if the wind was blowing right. Three years later, he’s 6’ 4”, 220 and can touch 97 and could still have more developing to do. After being a stud in the bullpen as a freshman, Wright moved into the rotation and was Vandy’s Friday night starter as a junior. The stars were aligned… and then he struggled. The velo was there. The consistency wasn’t. But after not putting up great numbers, he’s Wrighted the ship. The 5-5 record might not be as pretty as last year’s 8-4 or the 6-1 as a freshman, but the peripherals are all better. His K/9 is up to 10.5 from 10.3. His WHIP went down to 1.06 from1.22. His walks are down. His home runs are down. He’s just better. His performance last Saturday, with many Twins scouts in attendance, was the stuff worthy of being the first overall pick. You can read all about it here. Why the Twins Will Not Pick Him When you think of first overall picks, the names Stephen Strasburg and David Price pop into your heads. Wright isn’t those guys. There isn’t a “generational” college prospect. Ideally, when you’re drafting first, there’s the can’t-miss guy that’s going to breaking into the major leagues within a year of signing. This isn’t one of those drafts. You may make a comparison between Wright and Strasburg though. Only it revolves around their deliveries. I went into more depth a few weeks ago in a separate piece for Twins Daily. While Kyle Wright has a clean bill of health, Strasburg hasn’t as he’s had multiple arm injuries. Is it enough to make the Twins look another direction? That remains to be seen. Then there are the inconsistencies that Wright has shown over not only the last few months, but the last few seasons. As with anyone with a developing body and skills would, that shouldn’t be too alarming. But when mixed with the other things, how does it stack up against other prospects? Nick Nelson wrote about the Vandy product being the Wright fit recently. I’d say he is. I would guess that somewhere in the upper parts of Target Field the team has made a call to Wright’s representatives, CAA, and have begun negotiating what it’s going to take to get that name on the dotted line. (Editor's note: they haven't... yet.) In my estimation, that conversation - if the sides aren’t close - is the biggest factor as to whether the Twins pick him or not. And I’m guessing they won’t be too far apart… at least not by the end of the weekend. Follow Kyle on Twitter too. Previous Draft Profiles: Hunter Greene, SP/SS by Nick Nelson Brendan McKay, SP/1B by Cody Christie Royce Lewis, SS/OF by Nick Nelson Pavin Smith, 1B by Tom Froemming My 10-round Mock Draft

DRAFT SLOTS AND POOL Each draft pick has a specific dollar amount assigned to it, but it’s not as simple as just drafting a player in that spot and him getting all the dollars tied to the pick. The team and player can agree to any signing bonus and that money goes against the cap. As long as the entire draft class stays under the limit, there are no penalties. There are a few exceptions: If a player doesn’t sign, the team loses value assigned to that pick. For example, if the Twins fail to sign the first overall pick, their draft pool would be reduced to $6,386,100. Additionally, the cap for all picks for rounds 11-40 is $100,000. A team who signs a player for more than $100,000 will have the excess amount count against the cap. For example, if the Twins sign their 11th round pick for $600,000, $500,000 will count against the cap. 1st overall (round 1): $7,770,700 35th overall (comp round A): $1,935,300 37th overall (round 2): $1,846,100 76th overall (round 3): $755,500 106th overall (round 4): $507,000 136th overall (round 5): $378,700 166th overall (round 6): $283,300 196th overall (round 7): $220,700 226th overall (round 8): $174,400 256th overall (round 9): $148,000 286th overall (round 10): $137,100 UNDER CONSIDERATION As of today, there are a handful of names still being talked about as potential 1-1 candidates. We will go in depth on these players as the draft gets closer. But the list of names contains college arms righty Kyle Wright and lefty Brendan McKay, preps uberprospect Hunter Greene, shortstop/centerfielder Royce Lewis and pitcher Shane Baz, and college first baseman Pavin Smith. Handicapping the race to go first three weeks early probably has Wright in the lead as McKay fades. Greene, who hasn’t pitched in a game for over a month, and only threw 28 innings all year, remains an ultra-intriguing prospect, but is surrounded with question marks. Lewis has some questions about his bat, but is a premium athlete who oozes potential. Baz has as much helium as anyone in the draft and. Smith is a left-handed bat who plays first well defensively, but has some questions about his ability to hit left-handed pitching. DRAFT STRATEGIES Having the largest draft pool provides the Twins with some flexibility to get creative. But pump your brakes before your mind wanders too far. This isn’t going to be like the Correa/McCullers/Ruiz year or the Bregman/Tucker/Cameron year. The reason is simple: The rules changed. The Twins still have the pick worth the most, yes; but the value has been reduced (by almost $1.25 million) while picks 5-9 have all increased by over a million dollars. By bringing the values of these picks much closer together, it has narrowed the advantage in two ways. First, the team picking first, in this case the Twins, can’t just skim a million and a half off of their pick value and still be able to offer more than the second team could. And on the flip side of that, teams that pick after the Twins could get creative with their pools and be able to come up with more than the first pick value. That would have been very tough to do before. That doesn’t mean the Twins can’t still get creative. I anticipate they’ll still be able to save a considerable amount of money to turn a 6th round pick into a 2nd round value or an 11th or 12th round pick into a 5th round value (or something like that). The ability to get creative remains, but the chance to manipulate their pool into getting two Top 7 talents doesn’t. OTHER POTENTIAL TARGETS Two names that are intriguing in the 30s are Clark Schmidt, a right-handed pitcher from South Carolina who is missing the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, and Seth Romero, a lefty who was kicked off the team at Houston. Both are first round talents and just might be worth the risk with that “extra” pick. The Twins drafted Tyler Benninghoff in the 11th round last year knowing that he’d need Tommy John surgery. And the Twins know Romero well, though it’s unclear whether or not he’ll make their final draft board. Some other names that should receive consideration: Heliot Ramos, a Puerto Rican outfielder, Jacob Heatherly, a prep lefty from Alabama, Brent Rooker, an outfielder from Mississippi State and Greg Deichmann, a third baseman from LSU. The Twins drafted both Rooker and Deichmann last summer. Though the draft is quickly approaching, many teams haven’t gotten a great read on contract demands yet and that doesn’t happen for many players until the final days before the draft. But the Twins have always been one of the best teams in the league at being able to gauge a player’s signability. Both Stephen Gonsalves and Kolton Kendrick are recent players to have dropped, and while many teams passed because of signability issues, the Twins were able to draft confidently because their area scouts did the work and knew the players would sign. Though their professional careers haven’t taken the same paths, the organization impressed many others with the homework they had done. And you better believe the Sean Johnson-lead scouting department will have all their homework done this year too.

According to various reports, Greene sat at 98-99 with his fastball. Some radar guns even flashed triple digits. Throughout his 91-pitch, 13-strikeout, complete-game outing, his fastball never dipped below 95. Greene also flashed a devastating slider. You can see Green throw one pitch, with the Twins crew in the background below: Greene has become the darling of the draft. He's helped the poor by doing a sock drive, collecting socks in exchange for autographed cards. (And I missed the deadline... but he still sent the cards.) He's gone through hard family times as his younger sister dealt with leukemia. He's shown his personality through his social media. On the field, he's proven to be, perhaps, the most unique prep right-handed pitcher in recent memory (or ever?) and strives to make history as the first ever high school right handed pitcher to go first overall. He's also a pretty darned good shortstop. In a draft that doesn't include any top notch college stars, Greene continues to shine brightly and is becoming a cult hero in Twins Territory. --- Check back for updates.

The Twins will have the largest bonus pool at their disposal (nearly $13.5 million), but won’t have the ability to “play the draft” as others have in the past. Comparing the last two drafts, the first pick this year has $7.4 million tied to it, a dramatic decrease from last year’s $9 million and change. The first overall pick this year is twice the slot of the 13th pick; last year the first pick was worth twice as much as the fifth pick. These changes that have happened in the new CBA put a direct damper on teams trying to tank for the first pick (or, more specifically, the money tied to the first pick). Gone are the days when a team could cut a deal with a player (or two) and use those savings on a third player who miraculously drops in the draft. In 2015, the Astros, owning the second, fifth and thirty-seventh picks were able to hand out three of the highest six bonuses. Don’t misunderstand, some players will still sign underslot and some will still sign for overslot. It’s just not going to be the same as it was before. And that directly impacts the Twins. Fortunately, despite all the changes, the Twins will still pick first and still have their choice of all the players available. And there are some good ones. You probably saw the Keith Law tweet on Friday night that California prep RHP Hunter Greene hit 100 mph. (Or if you bought the Twins Prospect Handbook, you read there that he’s touched 100 mph before.) Law’s tweet really got Twitter going though. But according to a source in California, Greene touched 102 mph last week and has demonstrated improved command of his entire four-pitch arsenal. Over 60 scouts witnessed Friday’s tilt, where Greene also showed his ability to hit. 2/7 Update: Was able to talk to another source who was at the game. Said Greene touched 101 on Friday night and that his slider "was better". The slider is the aforementioned "fourth pitch" to go with his curveball and change. The Twins are believed to have had three scouts in attendance. The state of Minnesota swooned. Greene has become the fan’s early favorite to be selected first overall. But will the front office decide this is the year where a prep right-handed pitcher finally goes first overall? Only time will tell. If not, there are plenty of other options. The college season hasn’t gotten underway yet, but Vanderbilt OF Jeren Kendall is a polished, five-tool prospect who deserves to be in the conversation. The Twins are enamored with the college pitching class which includes RHP Alex Faedo, Florida; RHP Kyle Wright, Vanderbilt; RHP J.B. Bukauskas, North Carolina; and RHP Alex Lange, LSU; among others. There are other preps to consider too and one of the names at the top of the list is California prep SS Royce Lewis. Lewis headlines a fairly deep group of prep hitters and is out to prove he can play the most difficult position in baseball. He has played third base, deferring to upperclassmen, but is making the move to shortstop this spring. Some scouts also believe his future home might be in centerfield. If there’s one thing the old regime loved: it’s toolsy preps such as Lewis. Other notes: Christopher Crawford, who formerly wrote for ESPN, is now posting draft info at Hero Sports. You can read more on both Lewis and Alex Faedo there. Full draft slots and pick values can be found at Baseball America. It’s a place worth bookmarking. You can see what’s changed since I wrote up and even earlier draft piece in October. And going back even further, here’s a link to the Twins Daily Draft Preview of Baseball America’s #1 Prospect, Andrew Benintendi. The college baseball season kicks off soon. Be sure to check back for updates on your (potentially new) favorite players.

From the moment the draft wrapped up and word of signings started to trickle in, you've been able to follow all the news right here at Twins Daily. Today, the Twins are expected to officially announce the signing of three more players: Alex Kirilloff, the team's first-round pick, who is signing for slot; Brandon Lopez, who needs to pass his physical to finalize a $30k deal (which saves the Twins $126,600) and switch-hitting prep catcher Kidany Salva, who will sign for $70k pending contract approval. 6/24 Update: Austin Tribby, a big-bodied left-handed pitcher from Missouri who is out of college eligibility, is undergoing his physical and is expected to be official soon. Tribby is almost certainly looking at a $1,000 signing bonus. That will leave only fifth-round pick pitcher Jordan Balazovic remaining. All I've heard is that there are not expected to be any hang-ups with him either, though he is likely to come in over slot. Using Benninghoff's terms, even if Balazovic got the same $600k, the Twins would still have over $62k left. (Though it is possible that Balazovic could eat up all that's remaining.) But let's pretend that the Twins sign all of their Top 10 round picks and still have $75,000 left. They could offer any of their unsigned picks up to $175,000 without penalty. Who could get that money? I'd really like to see the Twins pursue Matt Jones, Canadian prep pitcher, 28th round. And it sounds like there is a distinct possibility they reach a deal with the young lefty. UPDATE: Matt Jones will undergo his physical on Sunday and sign after that. Let's revisit some of the guys that could take up the extra pool money. Shamoy Christopher, JUCO catcher, 20th round: Christopher is one of those "pop-up" guys who not all the teams knew about going into the draft. The Twins liked him, though he hadn't given every indication he wanted to sign. They've been in contact with him throughout the last few weeks, but at this time it sounds as though his demand is more than the Twins are willing to spend. Matt Byars, Michigan State catcher, 24th round: Do the Twins turn to another Wisconsin kid, who played JUCO ball in Illinois before hitting .284 in the Big Ten, adding another catcher to the system? Greg Deichmann, LSU third baseman, 26th round: Deichmann was a draft-eligible sophomore who has only played significantly for one season and has two years remaining. He demonstrated power, hitting 12 home runs in the best conference in America, and only committed eight errors at third base. Deichmann would likely command more money than the Twins have. Could they spread the money out and lock up a couple more players? It's always a possibility. Could there be another player or two they are keeping tabs on? Absolutely. So while the class is almost complete, there still is plenty of intrigue.