A Lot of Mocks, A Lot of Directions

Keith Law of The Athletic and both Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis of MLB.com have released updated mocks over the last week. Baseball America did a "staff mock draft." We'll have Twins Daily/Brewer Fanatic Mock Draft v.2.0 posted right here next week. 

Keith Law and joined an earlier Jim Callis mock draft, projecting the Twins to select Campbell SS Zach Neto. Now, how high Neto is on their board remains to be seen. Law has them taking Neto over Gavin Cross (OF, Virginia Tech) and Cole Young (SS, Pennsylvania prep), while Callis arrives on Neto because Termarr Johnson (2B, Georgia prep) and Cam Collier (3B, Florida prep) are off the board.

Says Baseball America about Neto, who they currently rank him 16th on their board: 

Quote

Listed at 6-foot, 185 pounds, Neto shows only average raw power in batting practice, but he backspins the ball consistently and has solid bat speed and barrel manipulation—enough so that scouts think he’ll get to every ounce of the raw power that he does have, with potentially above-average game power depending on the major league environment. There are some questions about whether his setup will need to be simplified at the next level against better competition, but so far Neto has shown an ability to be on time. Neto has played all over the infield for Campbell but was the team’s everyday shortstop in 2022. He has solid hands and defensive actions, with easy plus arm strength that allows him to make challenging throws in the hole. 

At this point, every connection made to the Twins and their first pick has involved a hitter, though it's been split on a college or prep hitter.

Callis, more recently, pairs the Twins with Jacob Berry (hitter, LSU) and Jonathan Mayo has the Twins selecting Gavin Cross (OF, Virginia Tech) for the third straight time. Both are being selected on the strength on their bat, while Cross projects as a much more serviceable defender than Berry. 

Of note, *maybe*, Callis mentions other players the Twins may be interested in and actually lists a pitcher, Connor Prielipp (LHP, Alabama) who hasn't pitched while recovering from Tommy John surgery. On the heels of a promising throwing session at the Draft Combine, Prielipp is now under consideration for a Top 10 pick. 

JJ Cooper of Baseball America go the responsibility of making the selections for the Twins in Baseball America's two-round "staff draft." Cooper was hoping to take Cam Collier with the 8th pick, but saw him go to the Cubs one pick earlier. 

Instead he paired the Twins with Jace Jung (2B, Texas Tech) who is another strong hitter with a questionable defensive future and Thomas Harrington (RHP, Campbell) in the second round. Harrington doesn't represent an overly high-floor selection, but he would be a pretty safe pick who projects as a mid-rotation starter.  

JEREMY's BIG BOARD will return after next week's mock draft.

MOCK DRAFTS / PROSPECT BOARDS

Baseball America - Staff Draft (6/22/22) / v4.0 (5/26/22) the draft changed but the link stayed the same / v2.0 (4/1/22) /  v1.0 (2/10/22) / Top 300 (4/27/22) / Staff Draft v.1.0 (4/20/22)

MLB.com - Mayo Mock Draft (6/1/22) / Callis Mock Draft (5/25/22) / Mayo Mock Draft (5/18/22) / Callis Mock Draft (5/11/22) /  Mock Draft (4/27/22) / Callis - Top 10 (12/15/21), Mayo - Top 20 (7/20/21) / Top 150 (4/25/22)

The Athletic - Law Mock Draft (6/21/22) /  Bowden Top 10 (6/1/22) / Law Mock Draft (5/19/22) /  Law Top 100 (5/5/22) / Law Top 30 (3/10/22)

ESPN - McDaniel Mock Draft (6/1/22) / Early Draft Rankings (7/26/21) ($$$ - ESPN+) / McDaniel’s Draft Rankings (2/24/22) / Draft Rankings 2.0 (4/27/22)

Fangraphs - The Board / 2022 MLB Draft Rankings and Offseason List Primer (11/30/21) 

Prospects Live - v3.0 (6/6/22) / v2.0 (4/21/22) / v1.0 (1/4/22)