Twins Daily 2022 Draft Coverage, April 21

[Jeremy Nygaard]

A quiet week in the draft world is not the worst thing. In fact, any draft noise in late April is usually injury-related. So we’ll take a week without big news as a good sign. There were, though, still three draft-related articles that I want to draw your attention to.

Keith Law’s posted a piece last Friday that had information on three of the draft’s top prospects. It is behind a paywall, so I’m only going to give you a few excerpts.

Law raves about Druw Jones, putting some crazy high future grades on him saying he “wouldn’t project any 18-year-old to become an 80 defender like his dad was, but Druw is plus now and he could still improve. He’s a plus runner with 70 power now, even though he hasn’t really filled out physically, with electric hands and tremendous strength in his wrists already, like Andrew McCutchen at a similar age.”

There are more question marks about fellow Georgia prep Termarr Johnson, who stands only 5-8 and will likely need to move from shortstop to second base when he turns pro. But the hit tool is for real “with some scouts saying they think it’s a 70 hit tool, the highest they’ve seen on a high school hitter in over a decade” according to Law. The Twins have valued the ability to hit more than anything lately. Johnson probably won’t fall that far, but you’d have to believe the Twins would be very interested if he did.

The last top prospect update in Law’s piece is about Dylan Lesko. It’s no surprise that Law, who saw Lesko at the NHSI event two weeks ago came away impressed saying Lesko’s changeup is “every bit of a grade 70 pitch, the best one I’ve seen a high school pitcher throw, comparable to the best offspeed pitches I’ve ever seen from a high schooler.” But his last line about Lesko is far more ominous, though, citing his recent arm soreness, “As a high school pitcher, and now one facing a potential long-term injury, however, he’s going to go a lot lower and might end up considering going to school.” If true, this is not good.

Speaking of Jones, Maria Torres of The Athletic wrote about the pressure that Druw Jones is facing as the draft’s top prospect, but how he’s embracing it and having fun. According to Torres, Jones is putting up video-game-on-easy numbers. “He has batted nearly .600, with 43 hits, including eight home runs, in his first 24 games. He has coupled a comical .597/.685/1.028 slash line with 17 stolen bases in 18 tries.”

And of course, he’s having fun doing it.   

And, finally, just posted on Wednesday, Baseball America had a write-up of the first day of the Scott Boras Classic. The headliner of Tuesday was Mikey Romero, who is projected to go in the top two rounds. Committed to LSU, Romero is considered the top prep position player in Southern California. Sound familiar?

A relatively quiet week means no movement in my Top 10.

JEREMY'S TOP 10 PROSPECTS

1.) Druw Jones, OF, Georgia prep (Vanderbilt commit)

2.) Termarr Johnson, 2B, Georgia prep

3.) Elijah Green, OF, Florida prep (Miami commit) (Baseball America breaks down his game.)

4.) Dylan Lesko, SP, Georgia prep (Vanderbilt commit) (Baseball America breaks down his game.) (previously: 5)

5.) Brooks Lee, SS, Cal Poly

6.) Jacob Berry, 3B, LSU 

7.) Kevin Parada, C, Georgia Tech

8.) Jace Jung, 3B, Texas Tech

9.) Andrew Susac, C, Arizona 

10.) Jackson Holliday, SS, Oklahoma prep (Oklahoma State commit)

MOCK DRAFTS / PROSPECT BOARDS

• Baseball America - v2.0 (4/1/22) /  v1.0 (2/10/22) / Top 200 (3/14/22)
• MLB.com - Callis - Top 10 (12/15/21), Mayo - Top 20 (7/20/21) / Top 100
• The Athletic - Law Top 30 (3/10/22)
• ESPN - Early Draft Rankings (7/26/21) ($$$ - ESPN+) / McDaniel’s Draft Rankings (2/24/22)
• Fangraphs - The Board / 2022 MLB Draft Rankings and Offseason List Primer (11/30/21) 
• Just Baseball v1.0 (2/10/22)
• My MLB Draft (1/18/22)
• Prospects Live v1.0 (1/4/22)

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[Mike Sixel]

How advanced are the two catchers? 

[Dman]

I am getting a little scared we might just miss out on the elite hitters in this draft.  Hopefully more guys bubble up especially pitchers so we can snag a good hitter.

[Aichiman]

The last time we took a 5' 8" guy in the first round, things worked out pretty good.

 

[Jeremy Nygaard]

20 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

How advanced are the two catchers? 

Pretty advanced. Legit top 10 draft prospects. The thing with any catching prospects is the pace at which their bat and defense develop. If bats develop faster and the club has any alternative, those players typically end up playing elsewhere. They both certainly have a chance to remain behind the dish... and I think that would be enough for either to be seriously considered.

[Jeremy Nygaard]

17 hours ago, Dman said:

I am getting a little scared we might just miss out on the elite hitters in this draft.  Hopefully more guys bubble up especially pitchers so we can snag a good hitter.

I wouldn't be getting scared or even worried about that quite yet. So much can/will happen between now and then. We haven't even started to hear who these guys are represented by and their demands and that usually throws a wrench into things.

[cheeseheadgophfan]

8 hours ago, Aichiman said:

The last time we took a 5' 8" guy in the first round, things worked out pretty good.

 

Ben Revere?  ?

[Aichiman]

13 hours ago, cheeseheadgophfan said:

Ben Revere?  ?

Ben was good,; but I was thinking about the little round one from Chicago.

 

[Steve71]

Well, to be fair Puckett was taken 3rd overall in the January phase of the draft, after going undrafted in the prior June phase.  This means all the teams passed on him for some 40 or 50 rounds the prior summer.  He was not considered any kind of serious prospect.

So much for the accuracy of scouting.....

[tony&rodney]

While we still hope Larnach, Wallner, and Sabato do well and wish Rooker luck in San Diego, the Twins need to stick to drafting power pitchers (Petty) or athletes who can do more than swing a bat. There should be delicious choices at draft position #8 this July. 

[nicksaviking]

Lesko is having TJ surgery. Kiley McDaniel ranks him 8th now, which just so happens to be where the Twins select:

https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/insider/story/_/id/33810529/kiley-mcdaniel-2022-mlb-draft-rankings-20-which-former-mlb-star-son-soars-our-top-150

I'm not afraid of TJ anymore, I'd be interested.

Matt Holiday's kid would interest me too. The kids of former MLB stars are tearing up the league right now. I assume there's no shot at Andrew Jones' kid though.

Even though the Twins need a catcher, I think it's always a horrible idea to draft one early. Unless he turns out to be a generational talent, the offensive difference between a bad catcher and a "good" catcher tends to be marginal.