The Twins will pick eighth in Sunday night’s amateur draft, their highest slot since they drafted Royce Lewis No. 1 overall in 2017, and while they’re confident they’ll get a good player, they don’t have a great feel for who it will be.
“It’s certainly shaping up as one of those years where we’ll figure it out a couple of minutes before we pick,” Twins scouting director Sean Johnson said Thursday.
After the Chicago Cubs use their seventh pick, the Twins will have three minutes to make up their minds.
“I think we’re going to do a lot of planning on scenarios, run some simulations on: ‘If this player makes it, how do we feel?’ ” Johnson told reporters before the Twins opened a four-game series against the Chicago White Sox at Target Field.
The three-day, 20-round draft is heavy on position players — or light on pitching, Johnson said. “The pitching just isn’t there on the surface,” he said. “There are a lot of incomplete resumes.”
That’s because the top several prospects — such as high school right-hander Dylan Lesko and Cade Horton — are recovering from surgeries. So, while the Twins might have a chance to take the best pitcher in the draft, they appear more likely to take a position player such as LSU first baseman Jacob Berry, junior college third baseman Cam Collier or Georgia Tech catcher Kevin Parada.
“It’s a little fuzzy past the two or three names (and) not a lot of confirmation as to who is going to be off the board as you talk to other teams and get a pulse on that,” Johnson said. “It’s a little more difficult year than most, especially if you’re picking eighth. You feel like there’s a pretty strong list and you’ll get one of those players.”
SOX REFOCUSED
The White Sox won the American League Central going away last season, 13 games up on second-place Cleveland and 20 games up on last-place Minnesota. But they haven’t held a piece of first since April 11, and entered this series in third place, five games behind the first-place Twins.
So, it’s a big series for Chicago, which, manager Tony La Russa said, refocused ahead of a July 1-3 series against the Giants in San Francisco with next week’s all-star break on the horizon. Since then, the White Sox are 9-6 after Thursday’s 12-2 victory.
“They know that we’re in a position where we can’t afford to back off,” La Russa said before Thursday night’s game.
“Starting with that series at San Francisco, everybody’s just committed to, ‘Let’s take our best shot and see what our record is on Sunday,’” La Russa said. “From what I’ve seen … you’re going to see our best shot.”
JIM KAAT DAY
The Twins will retire the jersey number of Jim Kaat in a ceremony before Saturday’s 1:10 p.m. first pitch against the White Sox.
Kaat’s No. 36, which he wore for 13 seasons (1961-73) in Minnesota will be the ninth retired Twins number, and 10th overall including the league-wide retirement of Jackie Robinson’s No. 42.
Kaat and former Twins teammate Tony Oliva will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., on July 24.
BRIEFLY
Outfielder Matt Wallner of Forest Lake, a 36th-round Twins draft pick in 2016 and tied for ninth in all of minor league baseball with 21 home runs, has been transferred from Double-A Wichita to Class AAA St. Paul. … Right-handed pitcher Ben Heller signed with the Twins on Thursday and was assigned to Triple-A St. Paul. Heller, 30, who fractured his elbow during spring training with the Diamondbacks in 2021, pitched four seasons with the New York Yankees, going 2-0 with a 2.59 earned-run average. He struck out 30 and walked 15 in 31⅓ innings pitched and has a career 1.340 WHIP.
"heavy" - Google News
July 15, 2022 at 07:59AM
https://ift.tt/iqIUJlK
In position player-heavy draft, Twins will have a quick decision to make at No. 8 - St. Paul Pioneer Press
"heavy" - Google News
https://ift.tt/lexRO1K
https://ift.tt/U2oMGX6
heavy
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "In position player-heavy draft, Twins will have a quick decision to make at No. 8 - St. Paul Pioneer Press"
Post a Comment