What Happens After the Twins Draft a Player?

[Cody Christie]

Image courtesy of William Parmeter

For a young baseball player, hearing his name called in the MLB Draft is the culmination of years of work. But for the Minnesota Twins, it is only the beginning.

The modern draft calendar has changed the way organizations handle their newest players. Draft picks are arriving later than they did under previous schedules, yet they are also getting into games sooner. That leaves organizations with a shrinking window to introduce players to professional baseball before sending them onto the field.

For the Twins, that means the traditional Draft Camp experience has become more condensed. So, what actually happens once a newly drafted player arrives in Fort Myers?

On a recent episode of Inside Twins, Twins Director of Player Development Drew MacPhail provided some insight into how the organization handles that transition. While the process differs between position players and pitchers, the overarching goal is the same: make players comfortable, educate them on the organization's philosophies, and then let them play.

Hitters

The first priority isn't necessarily mechanics, swing changes or statistical development. It's making sure a player feels like he belongs.

"I think the priority is 1.) when they get into the system and they arrive at the complex, making them feel comfortable," MacPhail said. "Letting them know they belong and we're excited to have them in the system."

That's an important first step for players who have spent their entire lives playing amateur baseball. Suddenly, they are entering a professional organization with new coaches, new teammates, new terminology and an entirely different level of expectations. The Twins use the first portion of that process to introduce players to the organization.

"It's really about educating them on some of our philosophies within player development whether their pitchers or position players," MacPhail explained.

MacPhail discussed that the first week can feel a little like going back to school.

"We always joke that that first week is going to feel a little bit more like school," he said. "I'm sure they are pretty over school and ready to play baseball full-time professionally, but honestly, that's kind of what it looks like. It's a lot of presentations and walking the guys through some of the resources we have available and at our disposal."

That classroom portion doesn't last forever. Interestingly, the organization has found that many players don't require as much physical preparation as one might expect.

"A lot of these guys are really prepared when they enter the system," MacPhail said. "They have been working out at facilities whether that is at their colleges or an agency, so we've actually been pleasantly surprised at how built up these players are when they arrive."

That allows the Twins to get position players into games relatively quickly. And once they are there, the organization doesn't want to overwhelm them with instructions.

"We let them know is: 'We drafted you for a reason,'" MacPhail said. "So we want them to be confident in their abilities, kind of take some of the information we are giving them, apply it to their game, and ultimately performance is our North Star."

The Twins aren't drafting players and immediately attempting to rebuild them from the ground up. They have already identified qualities they like, whether that's a hitter's bat speed, defensive ability, athleticism or offensive upside. Now, they want to see those traits play against professional competition.

"We really are pretty hands off with the guys and let them go out and compete, play in games, especially the position players that go and play," MacPhail said.

The games eventually become part of the evaluation process.

"Then once we get a solid sample of performance, we let the games give us feedback," MacPhail said. "Then we bring that performance, those outcomes, to the player and work on a player plan kind of going into their first professional offseason."

That process will be particularly interesting to follow with this year's draft class. Vahn Lackey and Carson Tinney are two of the hitters tied to the Twins' hopes for immediate production from the class. Rather than spending an extended period of time in instructional settings, the Twins want those players to get onto the field, compete and begin creating a professional track record.

The organization can then use those results to determine what comes next. For hitters, that means the first professional games can serve as an important introduction to what the Twins believe they can become.

Pitchers

The approach is different for pitchers. The Twins' newest arms are already at the organization's Fort Myers complex, but fans shouldn't expect to see most of them taking the mound in official games this season. That's by design.

"With our pitchers, we tend to be a little more conservative and just have them build up," MacPhail said.

The physical demands of pitching make the transition from amateur baseball to professional baseball more complicated. Rather than rushing a pitcher into game action simply because the calendar allows it, the Twins can use the remainder of the year to establish a foundation.

There are exceptions.

"For the most part, we do have a couple guys that if they have been pitching in the MLB Dream League that we might get one or two innings at the end of the Low-A season," MacPhail said.

But that isn't the expectation for most of the organization's higher-round selections. Instead, the Twins want those pitchers to build efficiently and enter next year prepared for their first full professional season.

"For the most part, especially with those higher round draft picks, we tend to prioritize them building up efficiently, building up to lives, shutting down early in the offseason so we can then build them back up in October," MacPhail said.

That process gives the organization an opportunity to establish a throwing program without immediately piling professional game innings onto a young arm. The goal is to get pitchers through their first professional offseason the right way.

That includes "their first full professional offseason of lifting, throwing program, and ultimately entering early spring training camp," MacPhail said, before adding that the goal is to get them ready "for their first full professional season."

The Twins are thinking about 2027 and beyond. That patience can be difficult for fans to see. A high draft pick arriving in Fort Myers creates natural excitement, and there is an understandable desire to watch that player compete immediately.

But pitching development isn't always about getting a player into games as quickly as possible. Sometimes, the most important work is happening behind the scenes.

The First Step in a Long Process

The draft is often treated as the finish line for amateur players. For the Twins, it's the starting point. The organization has less time than ever before to get its newest players acclimated to professional baseball, but the process remains fairly straightforward. Make them comfortable. Educate them. Build them up. Let them compete. Then use the results to determine what comes next.

For hitters, that can mean getting into games relatively quickly and allowing professional competition to provide the first real feedback. For pitchers, it often means taking a more measured approach and using the rest of the year to build a foundation for the following season.

Ultimately, the Twins don't need their newest draft picks to prove everything immediately. They just need to give them the tools and environment to begin figuring out why the organization selected them in the first place.

"We drafted you for a reason," MacPhail said.

That's the message the Twins want their newest players to hear from the moment they walk through the doors. The development process can then begin.

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What stands out about how the Twins handle their recently drafted players? Leave a comment and start the discussion. 

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[um_stevenel]

Thank you for this! Was wondering about exactly this transition and evaluation recently. 

[nicksaviking]

We've seen that hitting approach for years and I agree with it. Sometimes it seems odd that they change their approach at the plate in year two with varying results, but it does make sense because these are still very young people who are leaving college or even high school for their first job in a new city. I'm sure for some guys there's no issue, but for plenty, the anxiety and insecurity of 'OK, I guess I'm a grown up now!' could easily get in their way. You want these guys to hit their peak someday, so I'm all for giving them a soft landing into the real world, where they aren't overwhelmed and immediately told that everything they knew about baseball was wrong and now they need to change x, y and z. 

[Jim H]

The simple answer to the article's title is "let them play". The answer is embedded in the article, but disguised by a lot of verbiage. The drafted players have played baseball since age 5 and have had success at every level, or they wouldn't have been drafted. They will need to struggle before changes to swing or pitching attributes will be accepted or really even needed.

I expect the orientation mentioned in the article isn't really much of a necessity for the players either. Maybe for a high school draftee, but these players have been adapting to new coaching and training pretty much every year since age 5. More intensity maybe at the pro level maybe, but college baseball programs can be pretty intense as well.

[Andy MacPhail]

For years the philosophy has been; defense, baserunning, fundamentals & even hitting doesn't matter. You have to focus on hitting HRs & let us show you how. I have to believe that it has changed. I agree in that making the draftee as comfortable as possible, especially internationals, can make an impact.