Minnesota Twins 2018 MLB Draft Signing Tracker

A little surprised Keirsay went that far over slot.  I guess he was willing to bet on himself next year.  

He signed for no money?? Wow! What a good kid. Makes me want to cheer for him... 

 

And yes, I am a jerk... Ha!

If you're a jerk then so am I for thinking it.

Jim Callis says that Jeffers got $800K. Well under slot!

 

300K is not bad but I was hoping for more saving there.  If he does remain a catcher and hits with power then this is an amazing deal.  However, He seemed destined to be a 3rd or 4th round pick to me.  I don't believe he was even in MLB's top 200 not that that means anything.  I just think they could have grabbed him later but I guess they really love his bat and approach.  I hope they are right and other evaluators are wrong.

yep.  we needed to save $500k with him for it to be a good pick.   They must really like him

Yeah that was the amount I was looking for as well.  I figured he was worth about 600k.  Granted I don't know how hard it is to get there but that is what I was thinking when they made that pick.  I guess Fangraphs had him rated fairly high so maybe they split the difference who knows.  I was just hoping for a little more to spread around for a HS talent down the line.

MLB has Williams as signed for $10,000.

He was much higher rated by fangraphs. Much.

I wonder why FanGraphs had him rated so high?  His bat was clearly superior to others in the class?  His defense seems to be universally touted as below average coming into the draft and he is a slow runner so he gives you virtually no upside defensively unless of course he does develop into an average catcher.  So I guess I don't understand how Fangraphs can rate half a player that high.  He really only seems to have high offensive potential and scouts were mixed on if his current power will really carry over to wood bats and MLB.

I know I heard the FO mention last year that they look for hitters with certain characteristics like plate discipline and swing plane etc. So this guy must have a lot of things that they like in a hitter and I guess Fangraphs agree's but there are a lot of warts on this guy as well from a defensive standpoint so I hope they can develop this guy. Otherwise it was wasted pick in an already thin high end talent draft for them.

Fangraphs probably likes his chances of sticking at catcher much better than mlb.com. That would explain the delta, IMO.

That must be it.  I read somewhere he has a plus arm so if they help him frame pitches, increase his pop time etc. then he can be average defensively with offensive upside.  I hope he can do it.

Yeah... we need to be careful with going by any of the draft rankings... Teams see these guys so much more than those sites (as good as they are)... and all teams will see things differently... I know I'm not smart enough to say a guy "should have signed for" whatever the amount.

 

Your last comment clearly puts you in a class of one on this site. Everyone else seems to be pretty definitive on what the Twins should have spent on every draft pick.

Yeah... we need to be careful with going by any of the draft rankings... Teams see these guys so much more than those sites (as good as they are)... and all teams will see things differently... I know I'm not smart enough to say a guy "should have signed for" whatever the amount. 

To be honest it is hard to know what amount guys should be signed for but we do get clues.  One way to determine worth is based on where analysts see players likely to be ranked.  Not every player will have 1st round worth and through 40 rounds lots of players sign so they seem to understand where they rank and thus what they are worth to get a chance at their dream.

We know college seniors have little leverage in this process unless they have had an outstanding year\college career.  We know highly touted high school seniors will require a lot of money to sign away from colleges where some have potential to turn into first round picks and make a lot of money.  We know juniors have some leverage to get a little more money based on their talent and where they were picked. 

We know the basic idea is to use your pool to sign as many of the picks as possible and if you save enough take a shot at a high schooler who fell and gamble on their potential. 

So knowing a players approximate ranking, leverage, and potential ceiling I would argue we have a decent idea of what players might be signed for.  Granted we don't know a lot of information that scouts\organizations do so the value us box score watchers apply can be skewed. But it is fun to form an opinion and put it out there and see if holds up or matches up to what really happens and typically it is pretty close but there are always surprises as well.

Your last comment clearly puts you in a class of one on this site. Everyone else seems to be pretty definitive on what the Twins should have spent on every draft pick.

Fair enough, but putting my moderator's hat on for a moment, let's go easy on this angle. Everyone here is entitled to a view - if posting were limited to baseball insiders it would be a quiet forum. Discuss topics, but not other posters.