With the implementation of the MLB Amateur Draft in 1965, a team's ability to build a farm system and stock a major league team is largely affected by it success in drafting future talent.

In analyzing the results of the Calvin Griffith years of the draft (1965 - 1984), I looked at players drafted in rounds 1-5.

For the first 10 years, 51 players were drafted 1 through 5. Of those 51 players 6 did not sign with the Twins. This group included Eddie Leon (Round 1, 1965 draft), Del Unser (Round 2, 1965 draft), Steve Garvey (Round 3, 1966 draft), and Dick Ruthven (Round 1, 1972 draft).

Of the 45 players who did sign with the Twins my research shows that 34 never played a game in the majors.

Here’s some interesting information about each of the 10 drafts:

• 1965 -

  • 1^st and 2^nd picks did not sign (Eddie Leon and Del Unser)

  • Picks 3 and 5 never made it to MLB.

  • Best Player Drafted – Graig Nettles (4^th round) had a 22 year career but only 3 with the Twins. He was traded to the Indians with Dean Chance, Bob Miller and Ted Uhlander for Luis Tiant and Stan Williams.

• 1966 -

  • 3^rd and 4^th picks did not sign (Steve Garvey and Rob Desjardins)

  • 1^st, 2^nd and 5^th picks never played a game in MLB.

  • Best Player Drafted – Steve Garvey, who did not sign and 10^th round selection Steve Braun

  • Not a good draft

• 1967 -

  • 1^st and 5^th picks played in the majors (Steve Brye and Dave Goltz) the other 3 picks did not.

  • Best Players Drafted – Dave Goltz (5^th), Al Hrabosky (11^th but did not sign) and Rick Dempsey (15th)

• 1968 -

  • Pick 1, 2, 3 and 5 never played a major league game.

  • Best Player Drafted – Jim Nettles (4^th round) played 3 years with Twins in a 6 year career. Career WAR of 1.1

  • Secondary Phase – January Draft - 1^st pick, 1^st round Eric Soderholm. Career WAR of 21.5

  • Not a very successful draft until the secondary phase

• 1969 -

  • 2^nd, 4^th and 5^th picks never played a MLB game while 1^st round pick (overall pick #7) Paul Powell had 42 AB over 3 seasons in the majors.

  • Best Players Drafted - 3^rd round pick, Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven, and 8^th round pick Rick Burleson who never signed with the Twins.

• 1970 -

  • 1^st round pick Bob Gorinski had one season in the majors (118 Abs) and 2^nd rounder, Mark Wiley, pitched in 21 games over 3 seasons (1 season with the Twins). The 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th picks never played in a MLB game.

  • Best Player Drafted - 14^th round pick Steve Staggs who had 2 seasons in MLB with a total WAR of 0.6.

  • Secondary Phase – 8^th round, 125^th pick Jim Barr. Did Not Sign. 30.7 lifetime WAR.

  • Another unsuccessful draft

• 1971

  • The Twins were able to sign all of their 1 – 5 picks this draft. Unfortunately this would have been the year to have none of them sign. They selected Dale Soderholm (Brother of Eric), Michael Uremovich, Scott Marchael, Robert Gallagher, and Steve Marquard with their 5 picks. None of them ever made it in MLB.

  • Best Player Drafted - 13^th round, Rob Wilfong who had 11 seasons in MLB with 6 of them with the Twins. He had a lifetime WAR of 7.5

  • Another unsuccessful drafting

• 1972

  • 1^st round pick, 8^th overall pick was Dick Ruthven who would pitch in the majors for 14 years but none with the Twins, because he did not sign with them. 3^rd round pick Willie Norwood would play 4 seasons in MLB, all with the Twins. 5^th rounder Doug Clary would play one season in MLB but not with the Twins. 2^nd round and 4^th round picks would never make it to MLB.

  • Best Player Drafter – Dick Ruthven (see above) and Lyman Bostock (26^th round) who had a 4 year MLB career, with 3 with the Twins. He was tragically murdered in 1978. He had a lifetime WAR of 13.1

• 1973

  • 1^st round pick, Eddie Bane, was the 11^th pick in the draft. Looking to duplicate the success of the Rangers in letting their overall 1^st pick (David Clyde) make his professional debut in the major leagues, the Twins also let Bane pitch without any time in the minors. His first game was on July 4, 1973 against the Kansas City Royals. Bane pitched 7 innings and gave up 1 run (earned) on 3 hits, with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts. He would leave the game trailing 1-0. Twins scored 3 runs in the 8^th, but Ray Corbin would give up 4 runs in the top of the 9^th for a Twins 5-4 loss. While that start was very encouraging and it looked like the Twins had a keeper in Bane, he ended the 1973 season with a 0-5 record and a 4.92 ERA pitching in a total of 23 games. Bane would spend the 1974 season and much of 1975 pitching in Tacoma in the Pacific Coast League. He did return to the Twins for parts of the 1975 and 1976 seasons but 1976 would be his last season in the majors. His career stats were 7 wins 13 losses with a 4.66 ERA. In 168 total innings he would strike out 80 batters and walk 83. With the 182 hits allowed he would end up with a career WHIP of 1.583. None of the other top 5 picks would ever see a MLB game.

  • Best Player Drafted – Jerry Reed (11^th round). He did not sign with the Twins and had a 5 year major league career with a WAR of 5.0

  • Once again, an unsuccessful draft.

• 1974

  • The 1^st, 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th round selections never made it to the majors. However, 2^nd round pick, Butch Wynegar would be the best draft pick since Bert Blyleven in 1969.

  • Best Player Drafted – Butch Wynegar – 26.5 WAR playing 7 of his 13 years with the Twins. He was an All-Star in his 1^st two seasons and finished 2^nd in Rookie of the Year voting to Mark Fidrych. The 2^nd best player selected was Eric Show, drafted in the 36^th round. He did not sign with the Twins.

Recap -

• • This article summarizes the 1^st 10 years of Calvin Griffith’s 20 years of drafting.

  • A total of 11 players in the 1^st 5 rounds of these drafts (51 players) would play at least one major league game with the Twins

    • Graig Nettles, Steve Brye, Dave Goltz, Jim Nettles, Paul Powell, Bert Blyleven, Bob Goronski, Mark Wiley, Willie Norwood, Eddie Bane, and Butch Wynegar.

  • Six of the 51 picks never signed with the Twins.

  • Thirty four of the players never played a major league game.

Obviously, the results from the first 10 drafts were not very good. Next week we will look at years 1975-1984.