Twins Daily's 2025 MLB Draft Day 2 Thread -- updated with each pick

[AZTwin]

We went with all college kids except for 2 guys who had MLB bloodlines

[Blyleven2011]

49 minutes ago, DocBauer said:

You might be right. Drafting catchers early is always a crapshoot unless you have access to someone special. So many just never hit their way out of a paper bag, never learn to be quality backstops even if they have a good bat and move elsewhere, or their bat is too good to leave behind the plate so they again move elsewhere. 

Still, I'm surprised the Twins didn't draft a single backstop for depth at least. But they did draft 2 pretty interesting ones last year. I'm still surprised for depth reasons though.

Wasn't one of our drafted catchers from 2024 let go for telling the other players opponents what pitch was coming  ...

[DocBauer]

2 minutes ago, Fatbat said:

My guess is the Olivar gets on the 40 man and is the backup C out of spring training next year. 
Im still GEEKED about our first 4 picks. All could be special!! They drafted some absolute studs!

Cardenas and Winkel are above Olivar at catcher right now, which isn't saying a lot. Someone else will have to be brought in barring Vazquez back on a 1yr $3M deal. (Don't kid yourself, it might happen). 

Olivar is a bat 1st, contact hittibg LF with SOME power and solid bat zone control. And he can be a 3rd catcher. He's not to be dismissed as a solid prospect. But Gonzalez, Rosario, and Fedko could surpass him over the next season or so.

Unfortunately, the 2 best catcher prospects in the system are Diaw...out now with a broken thumb I believe...and Ferrer, going good after a slow start.

[Dman]

48 minutes ago, DocBauer said:

I know this wasn't the deepest draft, and I expected the Twins to take a lot of arms after focusing so hard on position players in 2024, and spending their $ on early picks, but from Fang in the 13th or maybe Jones in the 14th on, I'm really not sure what they were doing. 

I mean, Boring looks maxed out physically and has poor numbers, including BB and K.  Stevens from Alabama never played for Alabama. Looks like a small school or JC kid who was going to transfer in. Only 33 IP in summer ball. I'm guessing a number of injuries? Dalquist is maxed out at 5' 10" 195lbs and no great numbers either.

I'm more interested in 19th rounder Becker, LHRP who BB WAY too many at 4.7, but also K'd 12.2. At least he's a LH pen option with K ability. And 20th rounder Hiker had a good 2023 in the pen for lower level Wisconsin-Whitewater, a really good 2024 as a starter there, and then a poor 2025 after transferring to Arizona, though his WHIP and K numbers were solid. I'm betting he goes back to AZ for 2026.

FWIW, 17th rounder JP Smith II has had a really nice career at Sacramento State for 3yrs. .297/ .372/ .581/ .953 quad slash line with solid power numbers. But while listed as a 3B on the Draft Tracker, he's really only played 1B. So I don't know what to think about him.

For the most part, I feel good about 1-12/13. After that it feels like a handful of fliers that I just generally don't see the attraction to.

I agree, but just to be a tad bit more positive I would say Fang is interesting because he has secondaries and Jones is interesting simply because they have drafted him twice and he isn't even in BA's or FSS's top 600 players.  Not that they see everyone, but it seems odd and compelling at the same time.

You look back though and most of their drafts stall out around pick 13 and picks 19 and 20 they usually waste on guys who likely won't sign.  Once you are outside the top 350 or so the pickings are slim, but yes in years past it seemed you could at least get excited about the potential of a few of these guys.

They are lotto tickets inn that 14 to 18 range usually with one plus pitch and a chance to develop more, but the odds are super long.  So long story long I guess I am not too surprised that there wasn't much there after pick 13.

While I am surprised the Twins didn't take a catcher most of those with any promise what so ever were taken early and honestly I preferred the picks they made on Ellwanger, Reitz and Barr to grabbing a catcher and that is likely where they would have needed to get one if they even wanted one.

Surprise number two was the High school pick of Agbayani at pick 6.  Not sure how much extra they need to pay him? Maybe he is fine with half a mil? Interesting spot for them to go high school though.

While they did a good job of grabbing arms earlier this year I still wouldn't have minded picks 6 and 7 on arms as well.  A pretty balanced draft with 6 of the first eleven picks on bats and 5 on arms.  Pretty Twinsy draft.  I am hoping for a high success rate for this class.

[DocBauer]

6 minutes ago, Blyleven2011 said:

Wasn't one of our drafted catchers from 2024 let go for telling the other players opponents what pitch was coming  ...

Yes, Derek Bender. He was drafted as Bat first option who was probably destined for 1B. There was at least some hope he could learn to be a full time catcher, but 1B was really in the cards for his future. 

It was really the athletic duo of Diaw and Ferrer that were drafted to be catchers of the future. Diaw was off to a great start at CR before he was injured. Ferrer was a top HS catcher prospect who the Seminoles made an OF, and who the Twins are attempting to turn back in to a backstop. Both are way better athletes than you normally see there, with potentially really solid bats. Both are at CR this season. The HOPE was, IMO, that while working on defense, each might be ready for AA in 2026. Ferrer has been good after a slow start. But AA for both or either might be in question now.

Bender is probably out of baseball for good. Last I heard, he's been trying to clear his name. Hard to do when umpires and the other team have reported the same information. 

[Blyleven2011]

8 minutes ago, Fatbat said:

My guess is the Olivar gets on the 40 man and is the backup C out of spring training next year. 
Im still GEEKED about our first 4 picks. All could be special!! They drafted some absolute studs!

Was a weak draft in my opinion , but yes I'm satisfied with the first 4 picks on Day one ...

There could be sleepers in the next 17 picks , that's up to coaches to develop the talent to find that diamond in the ruff  ....

We've been spoiled with some recent good good drafts the past 3 years ...

Why no catcher drafted is an interesting observation  , do we possibly get that mlb ready catcher in a deadline trade  , I really don't know if I want rushing the dodger catcher / leftfielder  , from what I've heard , his defense at catcher needs work , can we or do we want to fix that  ...

[Blyleven2011]

4 minutes ago, DocBauer said:

Yes, Derek Bender. He was drafted as Bat first option who was probably destined for 1B. There was at least some hope he could learn to be a full time catcher, but 1B was really in the cards for his future. 

It was really the athletic duo of Diaw and Ferrer that were drafted to be catchers of the future. Diaw was off to a great start at CR before he was injured. Ferrer was a top HS catcher prospect who the Seminoles made an OF, and who the Twins are attempting to turn back in to a backstop. Both are way better athletes than you normally see there, with potentially really solid bats. Both are at CR this season. The HOPE was, IMO, that while working on defense, each might be ready for AA in 2026. Ferrer has been good after a slow start. But AA for both or either might be in question now.

Bender is probably out of baseball for good. Last I heard, he's been trying to clear his name. Hard to do when umpires and the other team have reported the same information. 

He probably needs to play overseas Japan or Korea or Mexico league if he wants some kind of a career ...

[DocBauer]

7 minutes ago, Dman said:

I agree, but just to be a tad bit more positive I would say Fang is interesting because he has secondaries and Jones is interesting simply because they have drafted him twice and he isn't even in BA's or FSS's top 600 players.  Not that they see everyone, but it seems odd and compelling at the same time.

You look back though and most of their drafts stall out around pick 13 and picks 19 and 20 they usually waste on guys who likely won't sign.  Once you are outside the top 350 or so the pickings are slim, but yes in years past it seemed you could at least get excited about the potential of a few of these guys.

They are lotto tickets inn that 14 to 18 range usually with one plus pitch and a chance to develop more, but the odds are super long.  So long story long I guess I am not too surprised that there wasn't much there after pick 13.

While I am surprised the Twins didn't take a catcher most of those with any promise what so ever were taken early and honestly I preferred the picks they made on Ellwanger, Reitz and Barr to grabbing a catcher and that is likely where they would have needed to get one if they even wanted one.

Surprise number two was the High school pick of Agbayani at pick 6.  Not sure how much extra they need to pay him? Maybe he is fine with half a mil? Interesting spot for them to go high school though.

While they did a good job of grabbing arms earlier this year I still wouldn't have minded picks 6 and 7 on arms as well.  A pretty balanced draft with 6 of the first eleven picks on bats and 5 on arms.  Pretty Twinsy draft.  I am hoping for a high success rate for this class.

Not a good draft for prep arms, not a great draft for catchers, not a deep draft for college bats, but a deep draft for college arms. A mediocre draft overall. So I hear, LOL.

Glad the Twins leaned in to what was strong. Especially since they went position player rather heavy last year.

The more I reflect on Agbayani, the more I like him as a projectible kid a couple years from now. But if he doesn't stick at SS, do the other tools advance enough to contribute offense elsewhere? I know he's young, but I'm just looking down the road. I don't hate the pick.

I'm probably being unfair to the later round arms, and Fang might work out. So might Jones. Every draft is different. I just liked what they did in 2022 and 2023 more than what I've seen this year for the late arms.

It was a fairly decent and well rounded draft overall. As far as catchers go, I thought they did great with Diaw and Ferrer last year. I didn't expect a top catcher for this year. Im just surprised that for depth purposes alone they didn't snag 1 or 2 late for depth and hope potential.

I'm not down on the draft at all. I just don't know how much I see potential in most of the late picks. Again, probably unfair since every draft is different. 

[tony&rodney]

Only two high school players drafted. Interesting.

[LyleCole]

I am not as sold as some on this Twins draft and I think it is very questionable overall.  

I am not sold on the first round pick Marek Houston.  I think the defense projects but there has to be significant questions on his hit tool.  I mentioned in a comment, out of 28 hits in the Cape Cod Summer League he only had 2 extra base hits, both doubles.  His slugging percentage was under .350.   IT is very hard to be an effective MLB player, even an advanced utility player, with that level of power.  I said this in another comment, but I think people are overstating his floor by a wide margin.  

I really like the concept of Riley Quick and based on his raw pitch potential I am actually surprised he did not get drafted well before pick 36.  He seems like a pitcher that could advance through the system quickly except for the fact he has had arm troubles which will create a more cautious approach and that the sum of his pitches against live batters is much less than the raw effectiveness of the individual pitches which suggest command issues.  I know he has starter potential but I wonder if they should move him to the bullpen like Jesse Crain to reduce the wear on his arm and concentrate on being a total fastball-slider with only mixed in change and lower pitch counts per outing.

The last pick I really know anything about is Q Young.   You can describe this pick as a major "hit or miss", but in the end that is what his professional baseball career will come down to.   There is one hell of a lot of swing and miss in that hitting profile, and that is against much lower level competition and much less effective offspeed and breaking pitches.  THis is the case with a lot of these young hitters and I think it is the most difficult thing for a young hitter to learn.  Expect huge strike out percentages that will continue to climb as he moves up competition level.