Twins (Paddack) vs Detroit (Skubal): 6/29/25, 6:10pm

[Western SD Fan]

6 minutes ago, Danchat said:

This regime has only spent one top 30 pick on a pitcher since 2017 and that indeed was Petty. Within the first 5 rounds since then, they've had exactly zero successes for starting pitchers (with the jury being out on the recent classes). As for the bullpen with first 5 rounds, Cole Sands is the only success. They prioritize hitters in the draft (and the results are a mixed bag if you're being charitable) and have forced themselves to hit on late picks to find starters but have mostly found arms that can work as solid relievers. That plus having zero successes the last decade with international pitching prospects, the strategy leaves them with no path to finding high end of the rotation pitching. Obviously it's a hard thing to develop, but is it really surprising that this strategy has yielded minimal results?

Thanks for doing the research.  I was going to suggest Jax but went back and looked and he was drafted in 2016 before the regime change.  I remember his selection in the 3rd round as being controversial as the AF wouldn't let Jax out of his commitment.  Since our pitching "pipeline" is supposed to mimic the Cleveland pipeline, it would be an interesting article to compare the two side by side.  I also believe the Cleveland pipeline has been largely over-hyped as they don't seem to have similar success outside of Cleveland (Civale, Bauer, Kluber, Plesac) which may suggest the greatest power that Cleveland has in their pipeline:  pitching coach Carl WIllis.

[Patzky]

8 hours ago, Irishman said:

The Detroit Tigers selected Skubal in the ninth round, with the 255^th overall selection, of the 2018 MLB draft, and he signed with the team with a $350,000 signing bonus.^[

Twins missed it 9 times in that draft.  Only 2 picks in 9^th round.   WTH!  Twins must have declined the pick in the 9th round.  Really stupid!

That tells me that Twins FO and scouting department really suck.

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