Article: Twins Select Byron Buxton #2 Overall In MLB Draft

[John Bonnes]

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?621-Twins-Select-Byron-Buxton-in-MLB-Draft

[Dark Kinetic-Grip]

Buxton looked absolutely depressed about the news. He couldn't move from his chair.

[Thrylos]

Good pick. Here is my mini-profile on him with 3 videos.

[luckylager]

good pick!

[Mike Sixel]

I was fine with Gausman, Correa, Buxton, Zimmer, Appel...so I guess I'm fine. Didn't see the reaction, but it sounds like he wasn't thrilled. Not a good start to endearing himself to the fans.

[PMKI]

I was fine with Gausman, Correa, Buxton, Zimmer, Appel...so I guess I'm fine. Didn't see the reaction, but it sounds like he wasn't thrilled. Not a good start to endearing himself to the fans.

You would think that he would had to have known it was either the Twins or the Astros.

[John Bonnes]

I think he was fine. They talked to him before the draft and he looked like he was a little overwhelmed by the attention, trying to stay cool. It appeared the same after he was selected. It seemed like he was having a hard time hearing the announcers, too.

[Cris E]

How different did Hunter or^H^H^H^H^H^H^H Span look the day they were drafted? Top picks go to bad teams, and #2 is going to be worse than most. (EDIT: Hunter wasn't a top pick.)

[clutterheart]

I am glad he didn't Cam Newton it and act like a Rock Star.

Get him in E-town ASAP to keep him humble

[Chance]

I said that I thought Gausman was the top pitcher in the draft, and therefore the Twins should pick him. With that said I like Buxton and will support him as a Twins fan from now until he busts or is traded. Best of luck to him. Hope hes everything the Twins think he is and more.

[Mike Sixel]

Thanks John, good to know.

[skraft33]

I can't blame the Twins from taking the guy they thought was the best player on the board.

[Mauerzy4Prez]

How different did Hunter or^H^H^H^H^H^H^H Span look the day they were drafted? Top picks go to bad teams, and #2 is going to be worse than most. (EDIT: Hunter wasn't a top pick.)

 

Read this article a see his quote after he was drafted. He is a young guy who is clearly not used to that much attention. I have think we made a killing on this pick!

[ashbury]

I like Buxton and will support him as a Twins fan from now until he busts or is traded.

These are the options, are they? Real optimism.

[greengoblinrulz]

Twins already announced on radio that Buxton will go to GCL not ELIZ....that's next yr.....grrrr

[twinstalker]

Twins already announced on radio that Buxton will go to GCL not ELIZ....that's next yr.....grrrr

That's fine. If he crushes the GCL, they'll move him up. If he doesn't, he needs to stay there...as well as improve during the instructional league in the fall. Simple as that. I think he starts at Beloit next year. I don't see him staying in extended spring training after playing this summer.

[righty8383]

It would be great if he signs quickly enough to play GCL opening day on the 18th!

[mlhouse]

So, if we sign him (and I assume we do), it is GCL. Then extended Spring Training and Elizabethton. Then Beloit, and maybe a promotion to Ft Myers. Then Ft Myers. Then New Britain.

 

At a minimum this guy will help us in four fn years. WHO IS GOING TO PITCH FOR THIS TEAM IN THOSE FOUR YEARS? Nick Blackburn, Cole DeVries, Scott Diamond, PJ Walter, and Liam Hendricks, with absolutely zero quality bullpen pitchers? Compounding the problem is then selecting another HS player with the first comp selection.

 

THeir one college arm is coming off an injury, Luke Bard, projects as a setup man in the majors. We do need quality relief pitchers, but not getting an established college starting pitcher is just ridiculous.

 

Sorry, this is extremely poor management and the team is being run "The Twins Way" even though that model is past its expiration date.

[TheMix]

I disagree vehemently with that last assessment. You take the best player available generally, and especially in this case, with a guy that has that steep an upside. We do need pitching, but no one pitcher, be it Appel, Gausman, etc. is A) going to help right away be a lock to help your team or C) help a team that was one loss away from a 100 loss season so drastically that he completely alters your look in the division....hell, even Strasburg couldn't do that, and he was the pitching pick of my generation. That's just terribly shortsighted....especially in a draft that was light on talent to begin with. From everything I've read, Appel/Gausman probably wouldn't have gone top 5 last year....and projected as #2 starters. We got a projected #2 starter with the 32nd pick with a little more risk involved. This team wasn't going to be solved with one college pitching prospect (that also are never locks) so why be angry when they took the guy that had perhaps the highest upside in the draft? 38 SB in 39 tries, throws 97 off the mound, batted .500, and will hopefully develop power. How is that not just as good as a player that plays 1 of 5 games and can't propel a team single-handedly to the division title either? We got pitching today, and we'll get more tomorrow, and we'll almost assuredly get just as good, if not better pitching next year when we'll still be up near the top, and with a better draft class (according to Kevin Goldstein). "The Twins Way" has come up against some rather hard knocks lately due to bad luck....you wanted them to draft pitching, well they did with Gibson and Wimmers (both looked to be solid locks for #2's or at worst #3 just like Appel and Gausman), and both of them went down (unfortunately). That's not "the Twins Way"'s fault. That's bad luck. This was a not so great draft class with a guy like Appel that looked to be not so signable (especially now), knowing full well that no one pitcher is going to save this team (not now, not in the next year or two) and they took a guy that has ridiculously high upside. That's not poor management, that's discerning and very intelligent management.

[Harrison Greeley III]

mlhouse, this isn't the NFL. There's a lot you can criticize this organization for right now, but you're really up the wrong tree.

[nicksaviking]

His sentiment may have missed the target, but when the main adjective for the #2 overall pick is "projectable" there is room for concern. Projectable is basically and optimistic way of saying maybe. Are we really so certain that the Twins are going to develop power in a guy who as of now does not posess it? There is no track record to show this organization has the knowledge and instructors to do this. Skeptics have the right to think his true upside may be closer to Michael Brantely.

 

I'm just playing devil's advocate, I'm going to back this guy until he proves undefendable, but there is plenty of room for doubt, I'm not going to bash anyone who disagrees with the pick.

[Boom Boom]

Everything I've heard about Buxton sounds eerily close to everything I heard about Hicks when the Twins selected him.

 

Hopefully Buxton progresses more quickly than Hicks has.

[deanlambrecht]

So, if we sign him (and I assume we do), it is GCL. Then extended Spring Training and Elizabethton. Then Beloit, and maybe a promotion to Ft Myers. Then Ft Myers. Then New Britain.

 

At a minimum this guy will help us in four fn years. WHO IS GOING TO PITCH FOR THIS TEAM IN THOSE FOUR YEARS? Nick Blackburn, Cole DeVries, Scott Diamond, PJ Walter, and Liam Hendricks, with absolutely zero quality bullpen pitchers? Compounding the problem is then selecting another HS player with the first comp selection.

 

THeir one college arm is coming off an injury, Luke Bard, projects as a setup man in the majors. We do need quality relief pitchers, but not getting an established college starting pitcher is just ridiculous.

 

Sorry, this is extremely poor management and the team is being run "The Twins Way" even though that model is past its expiration date.

Don't look now, mlhouse, but the Twins bullpen is 14th in mlb, 8th in the AL, and 3rd in the ALC, waaaayyyy ahead of the Tigers and Cleveland. http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/team/_/stat/pitching/split/128

 

Great? No. But a long shot from your claim of "zero quality bullpen pitchers." If a starting or bullpen pitcher who projected as one who could help us very soon, that would be one thing. But that wasn't the case.

 

Buxton was the top ranked player available when we got the pick. The pitchers nearby weren't considered by anyone to have a ton of upside, so we picked Buxton. It's kind of hard to argue with that logic, frankly.

[mlhouse]

Saying the criticism of the Buxton pick is "short sighted" is actually short sighted. HEre are the facts. The Twins are a rebuilding team and most of their minor league talent is concentrated in the low minors. Based on the Twins methodology (not mine), Sano and Rosario are still several years away from the big leagues. Drafting Buxton essentially means that all of the talent is 4-5 years away from just BEGINNING their major league careers.

 

THe problem is that we have very little talent in the upper end of the organization and this pick dooms the major league team to many years of terrible play. Taking the "upside is great", but taking the best college starting pitcher means that within 2 years we could have a guy getting innings at the major league level.

 

The "Twins Way" always was an obsolete notion and despite its press clippings was not the most successful way of running an organization. We had decent seasons and made some playoffs, but if we would not have been in the weakest division in MLB, we would have missed the playoffs almost every year, and much of the success we had was from players who really did not play the "Twins Way".

 

We are now in a rebuilding mode, and the step by step process of moving prospects really needs to be discarded. The coaching staff needs to be replaced by a manager that can work and develop young talent, because this staff clearly does not have the ability to do so. As long as they pretend that we are "contenders", the longer this process is going to drag on.

[mlhouse]

Don't look now, mlhouse, but the Twins bullpen is 14th in mlb, 8th in the AL, and 3rd in the ALC, waaaayyyy ahead of the Tigers and Cleveland. http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/team/_/stat/pitching/split/128

 

Great? No. But a long shot from your claim of "zero quality bullpen pitchers." If a starting or bullpen pitcher who projected as one who could help us very soon, that would be one thing. But that wasn't the case.

 

Buxton was the top ranked player available when we got the pick. The pitchers nearby weren't considered by anyone to have a ton of upside, so we picked Buxton. It's kind of hard to argue with that logic, frankly.

14th in the MLB....wow. How many wins does that translate to?

 

As far as pitchers with "tons of upside", that is really a crock. Gausman, Appel, and Zimmer amy not project to being #1 starters (whatever that term means) but they clearly project into #2 starters (whatever that means) that have all the pitches and could be major inning eaters in the MLB. Looking at our rotation we don't have a #1, or a #2, or a #3, or a 4 or 5 either. Gausman, who would have been my pick, could easily be in the starting rotation for this team the day he signs. If we could have concentrated on college arms we could have potentially got 2 starters to the big leagues within 2 years and let them develop at that level. Then if we could have got lucky with another pitcher currently int he minors like Hendricks, Gibson, Wimmer, Hermesen we could have 60% of a rotation up and getting experience.

 

THere is nothing the matter with acknowledging we are a terrible team that is in a rebuilding mode. Pretending otherwise just adds to the misery as a bad team creates bad results with little to show for the losses. Do what the Twins did in 1982 and get the younger talent up, take your lumps, and let them develop at the major league level.

[Harrison Greeley III]

His sentiment may have missed the target, but when the main adjective for the #2 overall pick is "projectable" there is room for concern. Projectable is basically and optimistic way of saying maybe. Are we really so certain that the Twins are going to develop power in a guy who as of now does not posess it? There is no track record to show this organization has the knowledge and instructors to do this. Skeptics have the right to think his true upside may be closer to Michael Brantely.

 

I'm just playing devil's advocate, I'm going to back this guy until he proves undefendable, but there is plenty of room for doubt, I'm not going to bash anyone who disagrees with the pick.

No one is saying there isn't doubt because ultimately it's a bet on the future which can't be predicted. But the main thing is that he was coming from a 'Twins have to draft for need' angle which is not how this particular sport works like it does in the NFL or NBA. I personally wanted Zunnino. I just want this pick to flourish, it would hurt too much for this pick not to. Zunnino is so much clearer of a picture of what you're getting that he seemed like the more appropriate investment, though I know Buxton's ceiling is significantly higher. If Buxton is the next Matt Kemp, that's fine by me. But you're right there is a much higher variance of possible outcomes with a supremely talented 19 year old than a guy who has spent a lot of time already developing on a college's watch versus the organization's.

[drb07]

14th in the MLB....wow. How many wins does that translate to?

 

As far as pitchers with "tons of upside", that is really a crock. Gausman, Appel, and Zimmer amy not project to being #1 starters (whatever that term means) but they clearly project into #2 starters (whatever that means) that have all the pitches and could be major inning eaters in the MLB. Looking at our rotation we don't have a #1, or a #2, or a #3, or a 4 or 5 either. Gausman, who would have been my pick, could easily be in the starting rotation for this team the day he signs. If we could have concentrated on college arms we could have potentially got 2 starters to the big leagues within 2 years and let them develop at that level. Then if we could have got lucky with another pitcher currently int he minors like Hendricks, Gibson, Wimmer, Hermesen we could have 60% of a rotation up and getting experience.

 

THere is nothing the matter with acknowledging we are a terrible team that is in a rebuilding mode. Pretending otherwise just adds to the misery as a bad team creates bad results with little to show for the losses. Do what the Twins did in 1982 and get the younger talent up, take your lumps, and let them develop at the major league level.

The Twins have won 6 of 7. They may not be a great team, but we should give the boys some credit as they are working their tails off to get the organization out of the basement. An optimistic fan base never hurt an organization.

[TheMix]

Saying the criticism of the Buxton pick is "short sighted" is actually short sighted. HEre are the facts. The Twins are a rebuilding team and most of their minor league talent is concentrated in the low minors. Based on the Twins methodology (not mine), Sano and Rosario are still several years away from the big leagues. Drafting Buxton essentially means that all of the talent is 4-5 years away from just BEGINNING their major league careers.

 

THe problem is that we have very little talent in the upper end of the organization and this pick dooms the major league team to many years of terrible play. Taking the "upside is great", but taking the best college starting pitcher means that within 2 years we could have a guy getting innings at the major league level.

 

The "Twins Way" always was an obsolete notion and despite its press clippings was not the most successful way of running an organization. We had decent seasons and made some playoffs, but if we would not have been in the weakest division in MLB, we would have missed the playoffs almost every year, and much of the success we had was from players who really did not play the "Twins Way".

 

We are now in a rebuilding mode, and the step by step process of moving prospects really needs to be discarded. The coaching staff needs to be replaced by a manager that can work and develop young talent, because this staff clearly does not have the ability to do so. As long as they pretend that we are "contenders", the longer this process is going to drag on.

You seriously completely disregarded my whole point.....and just made the point for me in the same post.

 

So if we get a close to major league ready (#2) pitcher at #2, what exactly does it do for us when most of our talent is in the low minors?

 

Nothing. A #2 pitcher doesn't suddenly drag us out of the cellar.

 

Simple. Done. End of argument. I understand your point, but the logic is completely faulty.

[DaTwins]

It's way too early to get into this, but whatever. Do you guys think Buxton ascends to #1 on the Twins' prospects lists or will he be #2, after Sano? Does anybody think he could even be below Rosario or Arcia??

 

FWIW, I'd slot him right behind Sano.

 

EDIT: Just realized this discussion is already taking place in a different thread. See y'all there.

[mlhouse]

A #2 pitcher gets us to a team taht is worth following. Simple, Done, End of Argument. Pushing the "upside" 6 years down the road does not. By the time the postion players are ready, then a pitcher like Gausman will have been pitching in the majors for a couple of years and, hopefully, developed.