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WHO ARE THEY? The headliners of the group, Jason Groome (LHP, New Jersey HS) and Riley Pint (RHP, Kansas HS) are both expected to be long gone by the time the Twins come to the podium. (Though there has been some recent chatter of Groome sliding.) The second tier of prep pitchers has a few more names in it: Ian Anderson (RHP, New York HS), Braxton Garrett (LHP, Alabama HS), Matt Manning (RHP, California HS), Kyle Muller (RHP, Texas HS), Joey Wentz (LHP, Kansas HS), and Forrest Whitley (RHP, Texas HS) WHY THE TWINS WILL DRAFT ONE OF THEM Each of these young hurlers has something you could absolutely fall in love with. Ian Anderson is 6’ 4”, 175 pounds and has hit as high as 97 on the radar gun. He also throws an advanced changeup and curveball for where you’d project a cold-weather prep to be at his age. To top it off, Anderson has a body that offers projection. Braxton Garrett, according to a veteran scout, is “one of - if not the best - left-handed high school pitcher I’ve ever seen.” Garrett doesn’t throw particularly hard - 91-92 mph - but offers a curveball that is almost unanimously viewed as the best in the prep class. His changeup is a potential plus pitch as well. Matt Manning is a big body (6’ 6”, 200 lb) that has a huge fastball. It’s been clocked in the upper-90s, though he sits in the mid-90s. His secondary pitches have taken a back seat to his dominant fastball, but both his curveball and changeup offer projection. Kyle Muller can lay claim to the fact that he recorded 36 consecutive outs on strikeouts at one point this spring. He’s not overpowering - throwing in the low-90s - but he’s very deceptive and left-handed hitters will struggle with his fastball. His secondary pitches don’t project as above-average. Joey Wentz is a big lefty (6’ 5”) who throws hard (up to 96 mph) and has a potentially plus curveball. He’s got great control and a low-effort, easily-repeatable delivery. Forrest Whitley is the guy on this list I could see most likely to be both a) available and willing to sign at #15. Whitley is all of 6’ 7” and depending on the food intake of the day, tips the scale at around 240 pounds. The big Texan has a full mix of pitches, though. A fastball that has been clocked as high as 97 mph, a slider that projects as plus and a curveball and changeup that still need work, but he’s shown a feel for. WHY THE TWINS WON'T DRAFT ANY OF THEM In addition to the rumored high asking prices, none of these pitchers come without warts. Anderson had a rough spring, dealing with an oblique injury, pneumonia and wet weather that made it hard for him to get on the mound. He’s a Vanderbilt commit, one of the hardest schools to sign kids away from. Another Vanderbilt commit, Garrett is also a Scott Boras client which means, as one scout says, “we won’t know what he’ll cost until the draft.” The question about Manning has also been his price tag. Recently I was informed that the Twins slot “wasn’t going to get it done.” My personal belief is that the Padres are working to get both Manning and Stanford pitcher Cal Quantrill as a package in some combination at #8, #23 and #24. Manning also plans to play both baseball and basketball at Loyola Marymount. Muller lacks the ceiling of the other pitchers on this list, though he’d probably be the most signable. Twins fans would likely be disappointed with a first-round pitcher who Baseball America suggests is a “future No. 3 or No. 4 starter.” Wentz is committed to Virginia and it’s going to take big money to sign him away from that commitment. Though he did lose a lot of weight this spring, Whitley is going to battle conditioning issues (and that didn’t work well for the Twins and Hudson Boyd). He also broke a finger right before the season started and missed a few weeks. There’s also talk of an email that was sent from Whitley’s dad that seemed to blast professional baseball, though I haven’t been able to substantiate that report. --- In the most recent mock drafts, Baseball America projects the Indians taking Anderson the pick before the Twins at #14. Keith Law and MLB Pipeline have Anderson going to the Yankees at #18. Law and MLB Pipeline both project the Marlins taking Garrett at #7, while the Baseball America crew has him dropping all the way to the Nationals at #29. Law has Manning going to the Padres at #8. MLB Pipeline connects him to the Twins at #15, but warns of the high price tag. Baseball America has Manning falling to the Cardinals, who have three picks in the top 34, at #23. Law projects the Twins take Muller at #15, while Baseball America (#32 to Dodgers) and MLB Pipeline (not in top 34) have him going later. Wentz does not appear on any of the three mock drafts. MLB Pipeline connects the Padres to Whitley at #8 (my note: likely under slot), while Law makes the same connection, only at #25 (my note: probably over slot). Baseball America goes in between, slotting Whitley in at #21 to the Blue Jays. If every one of these pitchers was available at #15 and willing to sign for slot, I’d order them in this way (with a significant gap between the top half and bottom half): Braxton Garrett Ian Anderson Matt Manning Joey Wentz Garrett Whitley Kyle Muller Other draft-related articles: Local Profiles Zack Burdi Zack Collins

*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?