2026 Minnesota Twins MLB Draft Day 2 Thread

[Brock Beauchamp]

Day two is here! After a busy opening night in Philadelphia, the Minnesota Twins are back at the table today to work through the back half of the 2026 MLB Draft. This is the spot to follow along, react to the picks, and talk through the board together as the Twins fill out their class.

How Day 2 Works

The draft was trimmed to a two-day event for the 2026 cycle. Day 1 handled Rounds 1–4 on Saturday; Day 2 covers Rounds 5 through 20 today. That's the bulk of the picks, and it's where front offices get creative — mixing high-upside prep gambles, senior-sign value plays, and money-saving college seniors to make the bonus pool math work.

Speaking of the pool: Minnesota came into the draft with a $16,929,600 bonus allotment, fourth-largest in baseball. Slot values across the board rose about 2.5% from 2025, and the Twins' Day 1 investment at No. 3 overall ($9.74M slot) means how they spread the rest of the money around today will be worth watching.

Quick Day 1 Recap

Before we get into Day 2, here's how the Twins opened things up:

Round 1 (No. 3 overall): Vahn Lackey, C, Georgia Tech. The 2026 Johnny Bench Award winner as the nation's top catcher, Lackey hit .397 with 20 homers and 78 RBIs this spring, and pairs plus power with strong defensive tools behind the plate. The area scout who recommended him was Jack Powell. He has also recommended Byron Buxton, Niko Goodrum, Akil Baddoo, Edouard Julien, Sawyer Gipson-Long and many other Twins players and prospects. 

Sean Johnson said, "We've never talked about Vahn Lackey being safe. we just think he's extremely talented... We just see tremendous upside and impact on our major-league team. Those are the things we probably woke up every day in the last couple of months thinking about him is how he can impact our major-league team and our organization more than the safety of it all." 

Round 2 (No. 43): Carson Tinney, C, Texas. A Notre Dame-to-Texas transfer with legit 70-grade raw power (22 HR, exit velos north of 115 mph) and a patient approach, though with some swing-and-miss in the profile. Trevor Brown was the area scout who recommended Tinney. Brown is also responsible for the signing of current Twins like Kody Funderburk, Andrew Morris, and Marco Raya, and prospects such as James Ellwanger and Dasan Hill, 

Sean Johnson talked to media after Day 1 was complete. "We take the best player on the board, and that's what we did. I think it's the first time it's ever happened. But we weren't trying to make history or not make history. It was just where we were at on the board; That's who were thought was the best player to take. We're excited to have both of them." 

Of Tinney, Johnson mentioned his exit velocities and huge power. He also talked about his arm and defense. It wasn't long ago (2018) that the Twins drafted Ryan Jeffers in a similar spot in that draft, and he was said to be an offense-first catcher. However, the Twins scouts believed all along that with development, he could be good. Is the same true for Tinney? "The raw ingredients are there. He can really throw. From everything we've looked at, his defensive stuff under the hood was solid. From the Combine, his background as a catcher, he's wired to really want to work at it and improve and take steps forward."

Competitive Balance B (No. 74): Brett Renfrow, RHP, Virginia Tech. The 6-foot-3 Hokies starter sits 94 and has touched 97 while working at the top of the strike zone. He's got upper-80s slider and cutter. He also throws a pretty low-80s, over-the-top curve. He also has a changeup. What can the Twins pitcher development staff do with him? John Wilson is the legendary Twins scout that recommended Renfrow. He's been in the Twins organization for more than 35 years. He's responsible for current Twins David Festa and Cody Laweryson, and prospects like Kyler Fedko, Tanner Schobel, Xavier Kolhosser, Callan Fang, and Jonathan Stevens. One of his best draft picks was LHP Ryan O'Rourke.  

Sean Johnson: "Really fits our mold of college starter, really good strike thrower, full mix of pitches that we think we can enhance and optimize more once we sign him. Really good make up."

Round 3 (No. 79): Ethan Wachsmann, RHP, Grandview HS (Colorado). The Twins first prep pick was this 6-foot-4 right-hander sits in the mid-90s but had touched triple digits at the Combine. He throws both a curveball and a slider. He has a commitment to Wake Forest. Will he follow in the footsteps of fellow Grandview alum Kevin Gausman by going to college (LSU), or wills the Twins find enough to meet his asking price? He was recommended by area scout Chandler Wagoner. He also recommended Luke Keaschall in 2023. 

Sean Johnson: "A player we scouted heavily. We had a lot of people going in and out of Denver this spring. He really checks a lot of the boxes for a high school pitcher. He's got a really tremendous body, and it's only going to get better.  He's a very athletic kid with really good arm action. He's got multiple spin pitches. He's got a changeup that can be really good that's only going to get better once he uses it more in pro ball. Obviously up to 100 at the Combine. We don't try to overreact to what we see at the Combine. We saw him throw plenty hard this spring. He's committed to Wake Forest. It's a guy you could easily see going to Wake Forest and coming out the other side looking like a first-round pick. To get him in the spot we did feels like a real win for the room."

Round 4 (No. 107): Tommy LaPour, RHP, TCU. A wide receiver and a wrestler in high school, LaPour stuck with his best sport and attended Wichita State for his freshman year. He went to TCU the next two years. At 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds, he is very strong and works with a heavy fastball that sits in the upper-90s. He also has reached triple-digits. He also has a mid-80s slider which can be good. He also has an upper-80s changeup.  Like Renfrow, LaPour was recommended by area scout Trevor Brown.

Sean Johnson:  "LaPour probably goes in a little bit higher of a range on the board. A guy we liked coming into it. had a really good year last year. We tracked him back to Wichita State and high school. Football and wrestling background is interesting. He's a big guy, but he's athletic and we think he moves well. LaPour throws extremely hard, and he's got good pitch shapes to start. These are the guys that our player development really likes to work with." 

The Twins' Day 2 Picks

Here's the slate Minnesota is working with today, along with the slot values attached to the early rounds:

Round	Overall Pick	Slot Value
5	139	$536,900
6	168	$406,800
7	197	$319,600
8	227	$253,300
9	257	$215,400
10	287	$199,900
11–20

A key wrinkle for the late rounds: in Rounds 11–20, teams can spend up to $150,000 per pick without it counting against the bonus pool. Anything over that threshold gets deducted from the pool, which is exactly the lever clubs pull to chase a tougher sign late or to bank savings for an over-slot deal earlier in the day.

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[DasBat]

Always interesting to see if they can find some MLB talent late in the draft.  So far I think it's been a solid draft.  Not necessarily who I'd have gone with but I can see why they did.  I'm hoping for another high upside high school pick mixed with the usual college guys.

[Mike Sixel]

Interesting they told the HS pitcher he should ask for first round money....

Good luck to the team and all the picks. An exciting day for them. A time of hope and celebrating.

[weitz41]

Pretty happy with day 1. So far, they seem to be picking big dudes. Vahn 6'2" 215, Tinney 6'4" 240, Renfrow 6'3" 220, LaPour 6'4 245. I'm not going to pick through previous drafts but it seems like these guys are more filled out then previous drafts. No 6'5" 175 lbs. guys so far. Meaning all power forwards

[Fatbat]

Great picks!  Today should bring some more excitement to the org. We no longer have a lack of catching depth!!!

[TJSweens]

I felt a lot better about these picks until you listed the other players these area scouts recommended.

[DasBat]

3 minutes ago, TJSweens said:

I felt a lot better about these picks until you listed the other players these area scouts recommended.

Ha! I thought the same thing.

[Patzky]

48 minutes ago, Fatbat said:

Great picks!  Today should bring some more excitement to the org. We no longer have a lack of catching depth!!!

So long as there aren't any Derek Benders in the bunch, we're stocked!

[Coach JT]

Come on Twins , be better . We needed pitching and especially left handed power pitching . We draft not just one but two catchers and yes grabbed pitching later but once again we draft no left handed pitchers and needed to use one of the top two picks on a elite arm talent and draft left handed pitchers. Time to gut the whole staff including scouts. 

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

5 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Interesting they told the HS pitcher he should ask for first round money....

Good luck to the team and all the picks. An exciting day for them. A time of hope and celebrating.

To be fair the quote was he could go to college for 3 years and come out a 1st round prospect.  He could also be mediocre and be a mid to late round draft pick.  I am sure they have price range agreed to prior to picking him.  
 

many of these picks are going to flame out. It takes some luck but I like the profiles of both catchers. Both players that continue to improve. They had excellent stats in the best pitching conference - if the Twins think they can improve their defense with their track record we have to give them the benefit of the doubt.    The pitchers is a crap shoot. 

[LyleCole]

One criticism anyone can make about negative comments about the Twins, and MLB draft in particular, is that it is impossible to amateur scout these players.  The Twins scouts have and they have watched many reps of these players.    And I will also preface this with the statement that I thought Ryan Jeffers was not a very good pick in his draft.

But, I think there is something wrong with the Twins draft models and their strategic decision making and I think two points about the first 4 rounds of the 2026 draft make this clear.  First, the 2nd round decision to take Carson Tinney and the 3rd round decision to take high school pitcher Ethan Waschman.   

First, the Tinney choice.  While some believe this is not Aaron Sabato II and that he has premium value as catcher, I question the need to bring in a limited bat to ball power hitter into the system at this time and I discount his positional value significantly because a)  he is not very mobile and b) we just drafted a guy who we plan on being the catcher of the future in the previous round along with having another top prospect at the position in A+ who will be competing for PAs against these two college draft picks who need to move up the ladder fast.  

Tinney has a very high strike out rate and struggles against off speed pitches that often will get worse as he faces better quality pitchers at each minor league level up to the majors.  He also did not perform well with the wood bats in the Cape.  He only hit .165 with 39 strike outs in 90 total plate appearances.  

In another thread I commented that there was a scout that stated Tinney's position is "Batters Box" and I think that is what he should be developed as.   Work him at 1B 40% of the games, DH 40% of the games, and maybe catch 20% of the games.  Shift his defensive spectrum to the lower end and let him concentrate on hitting rather than catching.

And while you should take the best player on your board, I simply do not understand how college pitchers do not have enough weight in whatever decision models the Twins are utilizing.  

Second, the Waschmann choice.  This kid could be the next CyYoung, but I just have a problem with the Twins taking a high school pitcher when their development success of high school pitchers has been so limited.  They can't keep Charlie Soto, a Comp A selection with a $2.5 million signing healthy.  He is in his 3rd year in the organization and has thrown 15.2 innings betweein 2025 and 2026.  And Dasan Hill, a Comp B player who signed for an overslot $2 million bonus has completely fallen apart with control in 2026.   We hope they both get back on track and certainly they can.   

But with the pitching staff from top to bottom of the organization being what it is where we snap up every discarded pitcher on the designated for assignment wire and trade for replacement level 35 year old  relief pitchers just above the replacement line at best, we need to inject faster moving pieces into the pipeline.  Now, I can see drafting a high school pitcher from the top of the board if we would have taken a college pitcher in round 2, but we doubled up on catcher in round 2.  I get we took Brett Renfrow, who is a reasonable pick in Comp B round.  From what I saw there was a wide range of rankings on Renfrow and he seems to have the same profile as Cole Sands.  

I am sure that rounds 5-20 will continue the Twins strategy of hitting this level of 4 year college pitching, but I think it is just going to add more of the same.  

I wish all of these kids, and the organization, good luck.  I am not trying to be negative on them, just how the Twins make their selections.

[Patzky]

10 minutes ago, LyleCole said:

One criticism anyone can make about negative comments about the Twins, and MLB draft in particular, is that it is impossible to amateur scout these players.  The Twins scouts have and they have watched many reps of these players.    And I will also preface this with the statement that I thought Ryan Jeffers was not a very good pick in his draft.

But, I think there is something wrong with the Twins draft models and their strategic decision making and I think two points about the first 4 rounds of the 2026 draft make this clear.  First, the 2nd round decision to take Carson Tinney and the 3rd round decision to take high school pitcher Ethan Waschman.   

First, the Tinney choice.  While some believe this is not Aaron Sabato II and that he has premium value as catcher, I question the need to bring in a limited bat to ball power hitter into the system at this time and I discount his positional value significantly because a)  he is not very mobile and b) we just drafted a guy who we plan on being the catcher of the future in the previous round along with having another top prospect at the position in A+ who will be competing for PAs against these two college draft picks who need to move up the ladder fast.  

Tinney has a very high strike out rate and struggles against off speed pitches that often will get worse as he faces better quality pitchers at each minor league level up to the majors.  He also did not perform well with the wood bats in the Cape.  He only hit .165 with 39 strike outs in 90 total plate appearances.  

In another thread I commented that there was a scout that stated Tinney's position is "Batters Box" and I think that is what he should be developed as.   Work him at 1B 40% of the games, DH 40% of the games, and maybe catch 20% of the games.  Shift his defensive spectrum to the lower end and let him concentrate on hitting rather than catching.

And while you should take the best player on your board, I simply do not understand how college pitchers do not have enough weight in whatever decision models the Twins are utilizing.  

Second, the Waschmann choice.  This kid could be the next CyYoung, but I just have a problem with the Twins taking a high school pitcher when their development success of high school pitchers has been so limited.  They can't keep Charlie Soto, a Comp A selection with a $2.5 million signing healthy.  He is in his 3rd year in the organization and has thrown 15.2 innings betweein 2025 and 2026.  And Dasan Hill, a Comp B player who signed for an overslot $2 million bonus has completely fallen apart with control in 2026.   We hope they both get back on track and certainly they can.   

But with the pitching staff from top to bottom of the organization being what it is where we snap up every discarded pitcher on the designated for assignment wire and trade for replacement level 35 year old  relief pitchers just above the replacement line at best, we need to inject faster moving pieces into the pipeline.  Now, I can see drafting a high school pitcher from the top of the board if we would have taken a college pitcher in round 2, but we doubled up on catcher in round 2.  I get we took Brett Renfrow, who is a reasonable pick in Comp B round.  From what I saw there was a wide range of rankings on Renfrow and he seems to have the same profile as Cole Sands.  

I am sure that rounds 5-20 will continue the Twins strategy of hitting this level of 4 year college pitching, but I think it is just going to add more of the same.  

I wish all of these kids, and the organization, good luck.  I am not trying to be negative on them, just how the Twins make their selections. 

I looked back a few years in drafts and located some round 10-18 players still in the conversation.. Ty Langenberg, David Festa, Mike Paredes, CJ Culpeper came to mind. It really is a crapshoot. Their 2022 draft was excellent throughout the first few rounds.. Brooks Lee Connor Prielipp, Andrew Morris Ben Ross Zebby Mathews all in the first eight picks. 

[LyleCole]

5 minutes ago, Patzky said:

I looked back a few years in drafts and located some round 10-18 players still in the conversation.. Ty Langenberg, David Festa, Mike Paredes, CJ Culpeper came to mind. It really is a crapshoot. Their 2022 draft was excellent throughout the first few rounds.. Brooks Lee Connor Prielipp, Andrew Morris Ben Ross Zebby Mathews all in the first eight picks. 

Maybe???   Are any of those guys your mention established major league players?   Maybe?  Idk.  

[Patzky]

40 minutes ago, LyleCole said:

Maybe???   Are any of those guys your mention established major league players?   Maybe?  Idk.  

When you have four of those guys as players your team depends on and a fifth mashing at AAA, yes.

[Heiny]

Cole Selvig taken by the Miami Marlins.

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

Some interesting pitchers taken so far.  Similar approach to last year where we seem to be loading on pitching prospects. 

[Heiny]

Gopher Isaac Morton taken by the Cubs.

[Mike Sixel]

1 hour ago, LyleCole said:

One criticism anyone can make about negative comments about the Twins, and MLB draft in particular, is that it is impossible to amateur scout these players.  The Twins scouts have and they have watched many reps of these players.    And I will also preface this with the statement that I thought Ryan Jeffers was not a very good pick in his draft.

But, I think there is something wrong with the Twins draft models and their strategic decision making and I think two points about the first 4 rounds of the 2026 draft make this clear.  First, the 2nd round decision to take Carson Tinney and the 3rd round decision to take high school pitcher Ethan Waschman.   

First, the Tinney choice.  While some believe this is not Aaron Sabato II and that he has premium value as catcher, I question the need to bring in a limited bat to ball power hitter into the system at this time and I discount his positional value significantly because a)  he is not very mobile and b) we just drafted a guy who we plan on being the catcher of the future in the previous round along with having another top prospect at the position in A+ who will be competing for PAs against these two college draft picks who need to move up the ladder fast.  

Tinney has a very high strike out rate and struggles against off speed pitches that often will get worse as he faces better quality pitchers at each minor league level up to the majors.  He also did not perform well with the wood bats in the Cape.  He only hit .165 with 39 strike outs in 90 total plate appearances.  

In another thread I commented that there was a scout that stated Tinney's position is "Batters Box" and I think that is what he should be developed as.   Work him at 1B 40% of the games, DH 40% of the games, and maybe catch 20% of the games.  Shift his defensive spectrum to the lower end and let him concentrate on hitting rather than catching.

And while you should take the best player on your board, I simply do not understand how college pitchers do not have enough weight in whatever decision models the Twins are utilizing.  

Second, the Waschmann choice.  This kid could be the next CyYoung, but I just have a problem with the Twins taking a high school pitcher when their development success of high school pitchers has been so limited.  They can't keep Charlie Soto, a Comp A selection with a $2.5 million signing healthy.  He is in his 3rd year in the organization and has thrown 15.2 innings betweein 2025 and 2026.  And Dasan Hill, a Comp B player who signed for an overslot $2 million bonus has completely fallen apart with control in 2026.   We hope they both get back on track and certainly they can.   

But with the pitching staff from top to bottom of the organization being what it is where we snap up every discarded pitcher on the designated for assignment wire and trade for replacement level 35 year old  relief pitchers just above the replacement line at best, we need to inject faster moving pieces into the pipeline.  Now, I can see drafting a high school pitcher from the top of the board if we would have taken a college pitcher in round 2, but we doubled up on catcher in round 2.  I get we took Brett Renfrow, who is a reasonable pick in Comp B round.  From what I saw there was a wide range of rankings on Renfrow and he seems to have the same profile as Cole Sands.  

I am sure that rounds 5-20 will continue the Twins strategy of hitting this level of 4 year college pitching, but I think it is just going to add more of the same.  

I wish all of these kids, and the organization, good luck.  I am not trying to be negative on them, just how the Twins make their selections.

It's not just the twins. HS pitchers are the biggest busts of any pick in any sport. That said, it could go great. 

[Cory Moen]

Just now, Heiny said:

Gopher Isaac Morton taken by the Cubs.

Hopefully he has success with the Cubs! Always neat to see a local guy get a shot! 

[Nshore]

I can't believe they haven't called Lackey up yet!

- Wanted to be the first one to say it.

[GopherMike]

I like this draft pretty well. I certainly understand the logic. Take the best position player with your top 2 picks and then flood the system with pitching. We are so desperate for starting pitching depth from top to bottom (and relatively good on position players) that I don't think they can take too many pitchers in this draft. 

[LyleCole]

1 hour ago, Patzky said:

When you have four of those guys as players your team depends on and a fifth mashing at AAA, yes.

Brooks Lee.  Has he performed as well as what the expectations were for the 8th overall pick?

 

Have any of the pitchers, including Prielipp really established themselves as players you want to depend on???   

[LyleCole]

36 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

It's not just the twins. HS pitchers are the biggest busts of any pick in any sport. That said, it could go great. 

I don't disagree.  Plus those guys usually require a much higher bonus to get them to drop their college commitment as well as take much longer to develop for any return on investment.  

[Fatbat]

4 hours ago, Patzky said:

So long as there aren't any Derek Benders in the bunch, we're stocked!

Buster Posey is what the comp for Lackey should be!

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

Thomas Burns- can regularly top 100 mph with great ride. However questionable command and doesn’t really have a secondary pitch yet. Purely a reliever at this point. 

[ashbury]

26 minutes ago, LyleCole said:

Brooks Lee.  Has he performed as well as what the expectations were for the 8th overall pick?

 

Have any of the pitchers, including Prielipp really established themselves as players you want to depend on???   

Glancing only at the first round, the 2022 draft is shaping up as one of the weaker crops recently.  Both the 2023 and 2024 drafts have a greater number of players already contributing at least 0.5 WAR cumulative career-wise than 2022.  2021 and especially 2020 are already far stronger too - maybe the 1 and 2 additional years accounts for that, but I don't think so.

A deeper analysis would require more effort than I care to spend, but it might be appropriate to grade on the curve when looking at what the Twins accomplished so far with that draft.

[Mike Sixel]

24 minutes ago, LyleCole said:

Brooks Lee.  Has he performed as well as what the expectations were for the 8th overall pick?

 

Have any of the pitchers, including Prielipp really established themselves as players you want to depend on???   

How good do you expect Lee to be? How good has he been since moving to third? He's in the top half of all 3b in baseball since the move. That seems good to me. 

How fast are you really expecting people to estay themselves? That was a great draft. 

[DataNerd]

All of the picks so far appear to be saving a bit of money, with the Lay pick saving a good chunk.  Wondering if they go for an overslot guy in the 11th (where it is less damaging if you can't sign them because there is no money attached to the pick) or if Wachsmann is the only overslot guy in the draft for us.

[DasBat]

Lots of pitching, which isn't bad.  I do like to see a little bit of balance between pitchers and hitters though.  

[Danchat]

Quote

Sean Johnson talked to media after Day 1 was complete. "We take the best player on the board, and that's what we did. I think it's the first time it's ever happened. But we weren't trying to make history or not make history.

Uh, is this a serious quote? It's the first time they've ever went BPA? Wouldn't they argue they went BPA at #3?