Dman

I'm happy with any of Lackey, Emerson or Flora. Lackey would be my first pick as having an arm that could control the running game as well as hit would be a really valuable asset that is incredibly hard to find. He is also athletic enough to play other positions as well. Emerson with nice contact skills and a big body might take a little more time, but looks like a unique talent as well. Feels like the Twins have a fair number of arms in the pipeline but if Flora is a top of the rotation arm sure wouldn't hurt to take the best pitcher in this draft at three. Feels like there should be an elite prospect at three no matter what.

Dominant game from Gallagher giving up only one hit. A little lucky as there were some deep fly balls and one really hard hit ball right at someone. Still his bendy stuff and ability to go high and low in the zone make him tough to hit when he is hitting his spots. Langenberg with 6 K's in a little over two innings. He came out really strong, but the stuff wasn't as crisp the more pitches he threw. Might need more time to build up but he looks like a classic relief arm to me. We'll see how things go. Nice to see him getting those K's though. Nice to see Gabby showing some power and helping the Saints grab a much needed win. Hoping more of those AAA bats warm up.

I have several thoughts. First the pessimist in me had the Tigers likely sweeping the Twins. When they won the first game I was relieved that we couldn't be swept. When they won the second one I couldn't believe the teams good fortune to touch Skubal for 4 runs. Getting past Framber seemed like asking for far too much and yet here in the upside down world the Twins live in it is the Tigers in danger of being swept and not the Twins. Go figure. The pen can be creaky, but so far they have gotten the job done for the most part. If you would have told me they would be trusting Cody Lawyerson as the setup man I wouldn't have believed it. He seems to have more trust from the manager than most of the other arms at least for the moment. Turns out the arm they tried to pass through but got claimed should have likely been kept. Fortunately he found his way back. After the way this team started, being at 6 and 6 seemed impossible three days ago. If they can hang around .500 in May they might see fans showing up at the park yet. This team seems like a house of cards, but winning these last three gives some measure of hope. Especially if the Blue Jays and Red Sox continue to play poorly.

Yeah I was one of those that had my concerns about Bradley. My first concern is the Rays don't usually give up on arms that are likely to work out better than expected in the future. They aren't perfect, but with Jax's likely dominance for what looked like a 5th starter or pen arm had me concerned. My second concern was looking at the stats from previous years it looked like he had peaked. He had that nice year in 2024 but it looked like teams had figured him out to some degree in 2025 and his second ERA with the Twins at 6.61 didn't help me see dominance was coming. I do think his refining of his splitter and so far not walking as many guys in key situations appears to have changed his trajectory to top of the rotation arm. It is very early but you look at 2024 and his solid numbers there and then see how he has built out his pitch mix and it looks like he has a strong chance to be a number one or two arm. It just goes to show that a new pitch and some confidence mixed with good talent can really change things in a hurry. We'll see if it lasts, but right now it looks like the Twins got a heck of deal for Bradley. I know the Twins got a steal of a deal for Ryan as well, but it seemed most experts were up in the air about a guy who threw so many fastaball's making it at the MLB level. He wasn't a sure thing either at the time. Kudos to the Twins and Ryan for expanding the arsenal to to build beyond the fastball and make him one the better arms in the league. I don't think either arm was a sure thing to turn things around. but have to give credit to the development staff for making it happen.

We've seen what dominant arms can do for teams. I think he will likely slot in around pick three in the end. The Twins getting the best pitcher in the class at number three seems like a good get to me. Still I would argue they need hitting worse than they need pitching as they have several potential top of the rotation arms in the system, but not much for hitters outside of AAA. I also would not mind Emerson or Lackey at three either. At any rate it's nice to know there is going to be an elite talent when they pick. Seems like it will be hard to mess this one up with so many good choices likely to be there.

I might have flipped places for Soto and Quick, but given Quick hasn't thrown a pitch this list looks good to me. That's 5 nice arms if everything clicks. Bohorquez could be another difference making arm as well.

I wanted to see what Ellwanger looked like so watched that game on MiLB TV. Ellwanger can throw hard as I heard them say he got to 97 and I wouldn't be surprised if he threw faster than that, but the control wasn't there. He was very lucky to work his way out of a couple of jams. Only one game, but it looks like he might be at A ball a while until he can throw more strikes. In that same game they turned to Moring and I expected him to likely have a rough debut. Here is what TD wrote when drafted "A righty out of UCSB who had limited innings in 2025. Moring had a 3.60 FIP, striking out 28% of hitters (great) and walking 16% (less great) in just 17.2 IP." So given the walk rate and limited innings I expected him to struggle especially in the windy conditions. Man was I wrong. It was utter domination. He had their hitters so off balance and swinging at air it was crazy. He was up in the zone and the bottom of the zone and throwing in curves literally and figuratively that had hitters baffled. That was an impressive debut. If he can keep that up the Twins might have something there. Jones had a great night as well. He couldn't match Moring's swing and miss stuff, but I think he broke like 5 bats or something and was throwing 94-96 all night. Actually I saw 96 in his last inning. Very efficient night for him going 5 innings in 54 pitches. We'll see if that stuff plays that well as time goes on, but it looks like he's got a heavy fastball and was tough to square up at least in the freezing cold in CR. While I do think Fort Meyers is going to be hit challenged this year they did have to face the Phillies number one, third and fourth round draft picks from last year in this series. Wood their number one pick was on the edges all game and looks like he will be moving up fast. I was kind of wondering if the Twins would take him where they picked Houston, but with some arm issues at the time I can see why they didn't. Still he looked too good for that level or maybe the Muscles hitters are just that bad? Not sure just yet. Young's body looks ready for the Majors right now. He is a big guy,, but he played well at short and when he hit his triple he ran well until his legs slowed down as he looked a little tired heading to third. His triple looked like it would be up in the air long enough to be caught, but he hit it so hard it went over the fielders head. He's got some big boy power. Not sure if he will be able to hit anything but fastballs though. April is a cold month for CR, St Paul and Wichita and some players play better in the cold than others. Lot's of hitters seem to struggle in the cold. Hopefully the weather warms up soon.

Happy to see DeBarge hit for some power. Getting the ball in the air was an issue for him last year. If his hit tool comes around he could be a nice option for the infield. Ross with a heck of a game. Hopefully he can finally crack AA pitching. Gallagher with an up and down outing. He didn't look as sharp I've seen him in the past. Betting he'll look better as time goes on.

I'm in on Lackey too. It is so hard to find elite defense with good offense. I know it's early and most sites have him around #5 right now, but here's one that thinks he can challenge for the number one pick., 2. Tampa Bay Rays – Vahn Lackey, C, Georgia Tech If there is any player in a position to push Cholowsky for 1st overall, it is Lackey. Coming into the year, he was highly regarded as one of the best athletes in the whole draft who just happened to also be a plus defender behind the plate. He has shown the ability to play multiple positions in the field while also stealing 18 bases last year. The main concern was the power output. With elite bat-to-ball skills, Lackey hit .347/.421/.500 with only six home runs and only 25 walks in 60 games. That aggressive contact-first approach would always limit his potential, but in 2026, something has shifted. Lackey already has exceeded his home run total from last season without any regression to his bat-to-ball skills. He has nine home runs through 20 games and is showing impressive plate discipline with 20 walks to 10 strikeouts while hitting .479. That success is backed up by the data, where he has an 88.3% contact rate, a 13% chase rate, and an impressive 93.7 mph exit velocity and 62.1% hard-hit rate. From a data and production standpoint, there is starting to be an argument that an elite athletic catcher with those batted-ball profiles is the better selection than Cholowsky. I don’t see it happening as of now, but if Lackey keeps it up, it will shock me to see him get past 2nd overall.

Right now Vahn Lackey would be my pick. A possible good to elite Defensive catcher who can hit would be a nice get at three to me. Does anyone know if Flora is a Skenesian like talent? If so might be hard to pass on an ace arm as well. I still like Emerson too. Could be tough to choose who take at #3. Might come down to who cuts a deal.

Happy to see Raya get off to a good start to the season. I feel like the more he stays away from his fastball the better. Breaking stuff has really good movement. Hopefully he throw them for more strikes. Really hoping he can be an elite pen arm in time. Will be interesting to see how things go for him this year out of the pen.

He's had a nice spring. Hopefully he keeps it up.

I get that spring training numbers don't mean much, but I'd still give the nod to Abel for that last spot. Abel's ceiling is just higher than Zebby's and all he really needed to improve on was his control. If his control is under control I think he has the better pitch mix and better stuff. He has the the potential to be mid or higher caliber arm. Still as this article noted they might still give that last spot to Matthews and give Abel some time at AAA since he has the least amount of MLB time. In the end I don't think it will matter much as I am not convinced Ober will last long to start the season and Abel or Matthews will be called up relatively soon anyway.

I just don't see Ober lasting the season. If I'm Matthews, Morris and maybe Rojas I'd be ready. Ober looks pretty shaky to me. The starting five could be quite young this year. We'll see what Ober has left in the tank, but given his velocity isn't climbing back up it doesn't bode well for his future.

Didn't know he had a 700 OPS in SEC play. Lot's of Scouts acknowledging chase rates were too high last year. Still there is a reason he has ranked number 3 pretty consistently on boards. They don't just put guys there willy nilly. If the swing does come along this year especially in the SEC that would imply a step forward for him. If not then certainly he will fall down the board. Happens all the time. Some guys go up, some down. Still pretty early. We'll see what things look like as the season progresses.

If Lebron can keep pace with the bat I still think he could go number one. Starting to think the Twins will end up with Emerson. I think Emerson would be a great pick for the Twins. With Culpepper, Houston and to some extent Lee on the way there having a player a few years behind those guys would be nice as they form another wave of talent. I am a big believe in Emerson's bat and his defense looks solid as well. There's a long way to go, but any of those three looks good to me.

I would have liked to see more of Morris and Klein. Klein didn't walk anyone and gave up no runs. Would have been nice to see a few more K's, but he made me curious as to what he might be able to do against better competition. Looks like he won't get that chance at least this spring. Rodriguez and Gonzalez were doing their thing but mainly as subs against lessor competition. Future still looks bright for those guys and they'll get more at bats at AAA as the Twins figure out the logjam in the outfield. No real surprises just would have liked to see what some of these guys could do or not do against tougher competition.

Yeah I saw that but he already was sacrificed and put on waivers by another team. The Twins might need room for Hendricks or Chafin or someone else who performs better. Unless of course Kent performs really well then he would earn that spot. Given someone else just gave up on him though that does not appear a sure thing.

We sure have a lot of these types of guys right now. I guess they can see if he can compete for a spot or try and move him through waivers at the end of spring training and see if he makes it through.

I agree I never thought Roden was a good fit from the beginning. The only thing I can think of is they maybe didn't have a ton of faith in Rodriguez or they figured they could get value from one of their other lefty outfielders in trade? That means the main reason for this trade was to get the younger lefty (Rojas) with potential to be a starter and Roden was just added as a lefty bat that is a better defender? I know the Twins had been looking for better defense in the outfield and Roden fits there better than Larnach or Wallner, but Martin defended well in left the end of last year. They will have Rodriguez, Gonzalez and eventually Jenkins to find room for and all but Gonzalez appear to be good to great defenders in the corners and can even play center if needed. The minute they traded for Roden they had to know they would need to get rid of at least one and maybe two lefty outfielders. I assume those two would be Outman and Larnach. I don't think I can let them live down that Outman trade. It looks like they just gave Stewart away IMO. We'll see what happens after spring training as injuries can change things, but right now the outfield looks very messy to me.

I tend to agree with the comments so far. The only guy on this list with starting potential is Gallagher. I think with a bit more refinement he could be a mid rotation guy, but given some of the contact he gave up last year he could stall out at AAA. Will have to see how well he pitches this year to get a better gauge of just how good he is. I do have faith that Culpepper and Olivaros could be relievers if they can find better command and control. Everyone else has pretty long odds to even be a contributor at the MLB level IMO. I assume the next list will have the young arms with higher ceilings on it.

I do think the Pablo injury could make the Twins think twice about an immediate bullpen role for Festa. He has some MLB experience as a starter and while he likely won't get you five innings he was pretty good at getting through 4 innings. As others have noted I like him better in the pen as in time he could be elite there. We'll see where things end up but as @DJL44 mentioned he is 26 already. Can't wait around much longer on a decision or you lose those MLB innings as he enters his prime years.

I agree if he is out that would be a huge blow for competing this year. The other thing not mentioned is how much can we depend on Ober this year with his Velo declining and another year older if he can't perform to expectations things get even worse. I like Bradley, Mathews and Abel, but odds are it takes time for them to adjust and one or more could fail to be effective as well. Pablo is a huge key to trying to turn this team around. Not saying they can't be successful without him, but it sure gets a lot harder given the rotation was supposed to be the one strength this team had given all the uncertainty everywhere else on the roster. Without him it feels like their is nothing to lean on.

Using International Bonus money means the Twins gave the Dodgers no real money, just the ability to spend the agreed upon Dollars on international players (cue the cheap Pohlads comments). As others have mentioned the ability to spend that money on some 16 year old that likely never makes it to MLB versus spending it on a pretty decent lefty reliever sounds like a great investment to me. Especially since there is no guarantee they will spend ALL of their allotment anyway. The Dodgers have been really, really good at finding good international players so it makes sense they would want more money in their pool especially with a very full roster as things stand. I think the Twins got a good deal here and LA gets a chance to recoup some young talent with long odds to turn out.

Was thinking the same thing. They could trade Larnach and Ober or Jeffers to get some money back. It would allow them to move Festa and maybe Bradley to the pen right away. If they needed more in the pen they could try Abel there and maybe later in the season Prielipp would make sense. If it all falls apart later in the season then you could still trade Ryan or Pablo to help pay for Valdez. Twins would finally have a Lefty starter and three top of the rotation arms should allow them to compete at least through the first half of games. If Tom wants to put his money where his mouth is it seems like something that could move the needle IMO. Not sure how much it would take to get him. Sounded like they were looking for around 30M AAV on a longer deal. Probably too rich for Pohlad blood.