Twins Select Charlee Soto at #34 in the 2023 MLB Draft

[Jamie Cameron]

With the 34th overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, the Minnesota Twins selected Charlee Soto, a right-handed pitcher out of Reborn Academy, Florida. Soto is the 36th ranked player on the Twins Daily Consensus Board.

Image courtesy of Thieres Rabelo

Charlee Soto is a 17 year old pitcher out of Reborn Academy, Florida. He is ranked 36th overall on the Twins Daily Consensus Board with rankings between 28 and 55 in the boards I use at inputs.

On the mound, Soto is a physical, impressive presence at 6'5, 210 pounds. Soto converted to pitching full time relatively recently, after playing as a shortstop for most of his early baseball career.

On the mound, Soto's arsenal is headlined by a lively fastball, that sits between 94-96 mph but can grab 97-98 mph with regularity with good life at the top of the zone. He has a little noise in his operation on the mound, but that's hardly surprising for a player relatively new to pitching.

Soto has a pair of exciting secondaries. He features a sharp biting slider that sits in the mid 80s with plenty of bite and good spin rates (2300-2500 rpm). Additionally, he has a feel for a split change with a ton of good tumble and fade.

Soto has just average control currently, hardly surprising for a pitching prospect so young. He has one of the quickest arms in the entire draft class, and the Twins have shown a proclivity for adding velocity to their pitchers. Soto has the size, projectability, and emerging arsenal to be a force on the mound. The Twins will likely bring him along slowly (think Marco Raya). The clay is there to mold. The ingredients are incredibly exciting.

What do you think of the Charlee Soto pick? Join the conversation in the comments below.

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[NeverSeenATwinsPlayoffWin]

Sounds like Marco Raya 2.0. A good fastball that is going to gain velo with age and a slider that could become a great out pitch. I feel good about the organization's ability to develop him.

[Devilsadvocate]

5 minutes ago, NeverSeenATwinsPlayoffWin said:

Sounds like Marco Raya 2.0. A good fastball that is going to gain velo with age and a slider that could become a great out pitch. I feel good about the organization's ability to develop him.

Except this guy has a legit starter's frame. He's 17. Excited to say the least.

[DocBauer]

Thought they might pick the LH HS kid White who was selected right after. I was kind of hoping that was the target when the selection was coming up.

But hard not to be thrilled with a young man and arm like Soto. 6' 5" and around 210lbs with a 95mph that touches 98 and he's only 17yo.

Caught the pre-draft interview with him on MLB and he seems very mature, bright, and thoughtful. Very cool that he attended the draft last year as a junior just to share in the experience and use it for growth potential/motivation for this year. And I believe I heard he does a lot of community work as well.

Admit I don't know a lot about his secondary offerings, but can't wait to learn more.

[Dman]

Really love the pick!  A ton of potential and still very young. The Twins have been good at developing pitchers and he already has good velocity.  Very excited to have a hard thrower with top of the rotation potential in the system.

just two really, really good picks. Hoping they get another good one in the second round.  Still good talent through the top 50 and then a slight drop off but good top 100 as well.

[Matt Braun]

I always roll my eyes at the “big projectable high school arm with velo,” but this kid can’t even vote, so I’ll tame my passive aggression. Hope the Twins can develop him well! 

[Dman]

2 minutes ago, DocBauer said:

Thought they might pick the LH HS kid White who was selected right after. I was kind of hoping that was the target when the selection was coming up.

But hard not to be thrilled with a young man and arm like Soto. 6' 5" and around 210lbs with a 95mph that touches 98 and he's only 17yo.

Caught the pre-draft interview with him on MLB and he seems very mature, bright, and thoughtful. Very cool that he attended the draft last year as a junior just to share in the experience and use it for growth potential/motivation for this year. And I believe I heard he does a lot of community work as well.

Admit I don't know a lot about his secondary offerings, but can't wait to learn more.

Twins were connected to White but he has had trouble throwing. Strikes so a bit more of a wild card if you ask me.  Soto a bit unproven but likely can hit 96 to 98 and reach back for triple digits.  I think they made the right choice. Several mocks I saw had Soto being taken in the 20’s. Twins might have been surprised he was still there.

if White can learn to control his stuff and maintain the velocity he is the better pick as a hard throwing lefty. He is young but pitchers that can’t  control their stuff has been something we have seen can be hard to correct for any team.  I think Soto was the right choice there but that is just with the little info I have.

[Reptevia]

20 minutes ago, NeverSeenATwinsPlayoffWin said:

Sounds like Marco Raya 2.0. A good fastball that is going to gain velo with age and a slider that could become a great out pitch. I feel good about the organization's ability to develop him.

Based on what?  All the other pitchers they’ve developed???  I hope I live long enough to see these two picks debut. 

[Beast]

I like the pick.  Know nothing about the kid, like basically everyone else, but like the size and velo combo.

[NeverSeenATwinsPlayoffWin]

Quote

Based on what?  All the other pitchers they’ve developed???  I hope I live long enough to see these two picks debut. 

You do realize that this FO has only had six years to develop pitchers. Also, in six years, we've seen Duran, Ryan, Ober, Varland, and Jax make their debuts. I think that qualifies. Since 2017, the Twins have used a top-100 selection on pitchers Landon Leach (HS), Blayne Enlow (HS), Matt Canterino (HS), Chase Petty (HS), Steve Hajjar (College), Cade Povich (College), Connor Prielipp (College), and now Soto. 

Leach is the only "bust" of the list, with Enlow, Canterino, and Prielipp still in the organization and progressing. Petty is progressing well with the Reds, Hajjar is now in Cleveland and their pitching system wanted to trade for him, and Povich is striking out everything in the Orioles' system. Prielipp needs to get healthy, but looks to be a very high ceiling guy.

I don't know where your thinking is but this organization has been great at bringing in good, cost-controlled pitching (hence why we have a top-5 staff in the majors). From the Twins taking Joe Ryan, a fastball-only 25 year old AAA starter into a bona-fide ace with three excellent pitches, taking a 20 year old Jhoan Duran at high-A to a dominant young closer, finding Bailey Ober in the 12th round and turning him into a sub-3.00 ERA pitcher, or turning the previous FO's 3rd round pick into a great setup man (Jax). 

If your measuring stick is wanting every pitcher your organization selects to turn into 2006 Johan Santana by their age 23 season, the Twins FO has failed (and so has every FO in baseball). However, they have created a top-5 staff while using limited FA money and draft capital on pitching. But sure, be upset that the 2020 fourth round pick who is already at AA and appearing in the futures game hasn't debuted yet.

[Fatbat]

I believe that I called this pick in one of the threads…. I’m very happy the twins finally caught my vibe 😂

[Linus]

Like the pick. Upside!

[gunnarthor]

I liked this pick a lot. Two pretty solid drafts in a row for the FO. Nice to see.

[Doctor Wu]

I like this pick a lot! Just from reading what the reports say, you can't help but like the potential. Hopefully we will feel the satisfaction and excitement that comes from developing a young athlete like that into a quality pitcher. Stay healthy and work hard young Charlee!

[jmlease1]

Looks like a good pick. The velocity is impressive, and it sounds like he has 2 off-speed pitches to refine already; I'll admit I'm always a little biased toward pitchers that have a change-up. Lot of HS pitchers don't really have all that much in that area: they can overwhelm kids with the velocity and then any kind of off-speed pitch, even if it's not really all that great still looks like it's falling off a table. So it's good to hear that he's got two in the arsenal that are already developing and he won't have to create one from scratch. It'll be interesting to see what the team can do with him to refine his command and control early? he's likely to get stronger working as a professional, so I wouldn't be surprised to see the velocity tick up a bit more, so if he can find the zone consistently he could do very well.