With the 26th Overall Pick the Twins Select Chase Petty

[Andrew Thares]

With their first round pick, the Twins took a high upside high school pitcher in Chase Petty who has a 100+ MPH fastball.

The Twins had to wait until pick 26 to make their first selection, but they wound up with a guy that has the upside to eventually be one of the best players in the entire draft class.

Chase Petty is a high school right-handed pitcher from Mainland Regional High School in New Jersey. He is consider by many to be a high-risk, high-reward prospect that if all goes well could one day shine at the front of the Twins starting rotation. I had Petty ranked as the 20th best prospect in the draft. Here is what I wrote about him prior to the draft.

"New Jersey prep pitcher Chase Petty is most well-known for his incredible fastball that has been clocked as high as 102 MPH. That pitch is not only my highest graded fastball of any pitcher in this draft, but it is tied for the highest graded pitch thrown by any pitcher in this class. However, Petty is not just a one pitch pitcher, as he also features an above average slider, and occasionally throws a changeup that has a lot of promise as he develops it further.

The hang-up with Petty is his command, as he is still a very raw product and can get wild out of the strike zone at times. Petty is also the classic case of a right-handed power pitcher that is very exciting, but tends to fall in the draft, usually due to a high asking price, developmental concerns or a combination of both. If he does fall, the college route would not be a bad option for him, as the University of Florida has built a reputation for developing pitchers in recent years."

If you want to get to know Chase Petty even further, I would highly suggest watching this feature of No Days Off that was done on him.

 

Let us know you throughts on the pick. Do you like the potential high upside pitcher the Twins got late in the 1st round, or would you rather have seen them go in a different direction?

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[mikelink45]

I believe the standard line for drafts in all sports is - I can't believe our luck, he fell to us and is much better than his draft position.

MLB.com says - "The 6-foot-2, 190-pound hurler was ranked the No. 27 prospect in the Draft by MLB Pipeline and is committed to the University of Florida. The assigned slot value for the No. 26 selection is $2,653,400."  

https://www.mlb.com/news/twins-2021-mlb-draft-day-1-picks

Since I have no personal way to judge it will be wait and see. 

 

[Rosterman]

And they must think he will sign!

 

[Tom Froemming]

Here's the coverage MLB Network provided ICYMI

 

[TopGunn#22]

I like this pick !  Power arm.  Potential staff Ace.  First, sign hi.  Then start coaching him up to iron out his command issues.  But I like the Twins being aggressive regarding a power arm.

[D.C Twins]

The Kid.... I mean 'Zeus'... has confidence and charisma for days.

He seems to have mastered the extreme confidence without crossing over into arrogance which is not easy.

Seems level headed with good priorities and perspective.

I'm impressed....which of course means nothing... but I'm impressed

[Lucas Seehafer PT]

Unconventional selection for the Falvine regime, but I like the gamble here. He may just be the Twins top pitching prospect.

[Danchat]

I like the pick, it was about time they took a pitcher in the 1st round. High school pitchers may be a longshot, but in reality all picks are crapshoots, so why not? Can't wait to see him pitch in 2025 or 2026.

[Seth Stohs]

2 hours ago, Rosterman said:

And they must think he will sign!

 

They wouldn't have taken him if they didn't already reach an agreement on numbers. 

[bean5302]

I'll admit, I'm laughing a little on the inside with all the comments about looking confident and the interview talking about him dripping in swag. Hopefully, he has a cute girlfriend. That's how you really know a baseball player has the confidence to succeed at the big league level. I learned that in Moneyball.

Aside from all that, it's great to see him excited and enjoying the honor. That's fun to watch. A huge congratulations to him!

[Brandon]

Not too many pitchers through lighting bolts so that will be entertaining.  Will be glad to see if he can move quickly through the organization.  He seems to really love the game and when that is the case why not sign for around 2.5-2.6 million and get going as soon as possible.  

[roger]

Biggest selling point to sign today versus waiting three years is that tax rate on big bucks is probably going up.   Will still take a couple weeks for him to develop residency inFlorida.  That saves another couple hundred thousand in taxes. 

[jmlease1]

If they can develop that change up for him, then his fastball is really going to be tough. That's some serious gas he's got going. High school pitchers are a risk, but every draft pick is a risk especially pitchers. He seems worth a chance and I do have some confidence in the development process the Twins are establishing, and he'll definitely be at less risk of throwing 140 pitches in a bunch of regular season college games and having Tommy John at 21.

Looks like a good pick at that part of the draft. Now the work begins.

[Dman]

Like most I am concerned about Petty's 100 MPH arm holding up.  Green and Kopek both ended up having TJ surgery so no question this is a risky pick but if he does turn out he has a very high ceiling.  Sounds like he has worked hard on his mechanics already so command and control is what he will be refining as he already has velocity under his belt. Happy to see them grab a high end pitcher with where they picked.  Detroit, KC and Cleveland all took 1st round pitchers as well.

I hope this gamble pays off and if I were the Twins I would grab more pitching on day 2.

[jorgenswest]

Pick 26 trivia…

The best high school pitcher drafted 26th is Jeremy Bonderman. He comes up in Moneyball with Billy Beane throwing a chair at the wall in disgust after Grady Fusin used their first pick to draft a high school pitcher. They did get some value for him as he was part of a package that brought back Ted Lilly in a deadline deal. Bonderman was drafted in 2001 and arrived at the majors in 2003. He finished with 4.9 career WAR which is the 5th most for players drafted 26th.

Alan Trammell is a Hall of Famer drafted in this spot. He arrived at the majors quickly after being drafted. The two other players with lengthy major league careers are Dave Henderson and Dan Plesac.

The Twins selected Dan Serafini as a high school pitcher in this spot. He was drafted in 1992 and it took 5 years before he arrived in a 1997 as a September call up.

Players drafted in this spot can also be an asset in trade. Daniel Schlereth was part of the three team Curtis Granderson deal. Bryan Morris was part of a deal for Manny Ramirez.

Very few players drafted 26th have had a significant major league career. The Twins drafted an arm talent with elite velocity. It is on them develop that talent  into an asset.

[bighat]

10 hours ago, D.C Twins said:

The Kid.... I mean 'Zeus'... has confidence and charisma for days.

He seems to have mastered the extreme confidence without crossing over into arrogance which is not easy.

Seems level headed with good priorities and perspective.

I'm impressed....which of course means nothing... but I'm impressed

Heck yeah man.

He's getting calls from Mike Trout and going out to dinner with Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado tonight!

Looks like he's got a great arm too. Loving this kid!

[Trov]

Seems like a bit of a gamble, but I think that is not bad for the pick number.  He has the power arm, if he can develop that will be nice.  He will be higher risk for injury, one that level of velo at his age normally leads to injury, but not always.  Also, his lack of playing year round ball being from NJ leads to teams letting guys slide.  Same town as Trout and similar draft area.  Not saying he will be pitcher version of Trout, but point is you can get some good diamonds in the rough in the norther states sometimes.  

Here is to hoping he can become a top starter, or worst case a top pen arm. 

[SoDakTwinsFan4]

Love this kid. Classy too, I love what he said about the organization and fan base. He obviously also knows he's going to have to grind through the minors. I'm excited about him & look forward to following him. 

[mikelink45]

I just went back to TD rankings before the draft you had him number 20.  Pretty good!