2026 Minnesota Twins MLB Draft Recap: 21 Thoughts on 21 Draftees

[Bangkok Twins Fan]

Good stuff, Jamie. An outstanding roundup! Like the others have said, i also appreciate all the work you put into getting this done. Now I'm even more excited about some of these picks.

[AlLagoon]

Great write-up. Thanks.

[DocBauer]

On 7/16/2026 at 10:32 PM, ashbury said:

Possibly true and not really relevant. 

No doubt every team picking in that range sees a few guys they wanted go off board a few picks prior. It won't be the last good prospect available. 

The braintrust's job is to have a guy on the list they believe in and will "scoop" from the next lower-drafting team. 

No team gets them all right but the picks that come before their turn are not some kind of built-in excuse.

I have to ask Ash, while I agree you always have to expect to be "scooped" by teams before you, are you more disappointed they didn't draft a pitcher anyway? Or more disappointed that Tinney was the next best player on their board? 

[ashbury]

10 hours ago, DocBauer said:

I have to ask Ash, while I agree you always have to expect to be "scooped" by teams before you, are you more disappointed they didn't draft a pitcher anyway? Or more disappointed that Tinney was the next best player on their board? 

I'm just in no position to second guess the guys who study the prospects, since I don't.  Ordinarily second round is a great time to draft a catcher if they think he'll reach the majors.  That's how they got Jeffers.

Best player available remains the mantra.

So I'm not disappointed, to use your word.  If they end up with two major leaguers, things have a way of working out.

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

Well a lot of the signing bonuses are coming in and are much different than what I expected.  

Lackey  -240,000

Tinny      -436,000

Renfrow   ??????   Signed but unknown - likely need to see some savings

Wachsman   +1,200,000

Lapour        0

Murdock    -30,000

Lay        0   (wow I thought this was a senior sign discount - it was not)

Bayles    -45,000

Waiting on Burns, Raab and Klecker.   

 

The savings for Wachsmann came on the early picks it appears.  Tinney still has immense upside even with the discount.   The most surpising was Murdock, Lay and Bayles with minimal savings and zero on Lay who was a 4 year senior.   I think they like this pitching group better than I expected.  There is a possiblity the Twins go over for the 1st time ever.  Thats not my base case.  As of now the Twins are still $524k short Renfrow has to be a decent amount and then maybe Raab and Klecker.   Will be curious to see how this comes out. Just interesting the players I thought we would see the savings on specifically Lay we say little.  

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

They signed all 21 drafted prospects.  

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

Twins have overpaid by 260k and counting so far.  Notable signing bonuses since last update.  

Burns with 300k bonus - 50 k more than allowed.  

Raab and Klecker were senior sign savings.   We overpaid by 50k for the 11th round on for Teel and Lane.  Its clear both of those were real targets by this organization.  Honestly I like Turner the best of the 3 and he only got 150k but it shows all 3 are real prospects.  

It shows a real investment by the Twins.    

[Mike Sixel]

If they went over by 5%, it will be a first, and I'll be impressed (it is such a cheap investment, relative to so many other things MLB teams do).

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

15 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

If they went over by 5%, it will be a first, and I'll be impressed (it is such a cheap investment, relative to so many other things MLB teams do).

They ended up exactly even with a Bouchard oversign by 35K.  Lay only received 75K which is wrong on this site and a couple other sites.  

[amjgt]

Interesting analysis from a random dude on Twitter.

14% “hit rate” is way higher than I would have expected

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

19 hours ago, amjgt said:

Interesting analysis from a random dude on Twitter.

14% “hit rate” is way higher than I would have expected

These are the top lottery picks of teams draft boards that they have leverage on.  Don’t expect much but they could outshine their signing bonus. 

[wesnewy]

I hope the new CBA will give more incentive for teams to fast-track players up to the bigs because it's so hard to be excited and patient about all of this new talent the Twins acquired just for us to not see them until 2-4 years in the future.  

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

6 hours ago, wesnewy said:

I hope the new CBA will give more incentive for teams to fast-track players up to the bigs because it's so hard to be excited and patient about all of this new talent the Twins acquired just for us to not see them until 2-4 years in the future.  

The CBA uncertainty is why the big prospects are still down.