The Minnesota Twins selected 17 pitchers and 13 position players on Day 3 of the MLB Draft, including right-handed pitcher Seth Halvorsen from Heritage Christian High School in Maple Grove. “Probably a tough sign at this point,” said Twins scouting director Sean Johnson when asked if he’ll enter the organization or go to college. “We’ll have to come up with some money that we may or not have later in the summer. But probably not.” Halvorsen is likely headed to the University of Missouri, where he aspires to be a two-way player. The Twins see him as a pitcher long-term, and he likely would have gone in the first 10 rounds had teams around the league thought he would have gone pro. Draft picks are at a premium, especially in a league where cost control is vital to success, and Minnesota had already dealt their third-round pick, No. 74, to the San Diego Padres in the Phil Hughes deal. They’re certain they will sign the vast majority of the players they selected in the past three days, including all of the players they took on June 4-5 — the first 10 rounds of the draft. “Thirty-two of 39 are expected to sign,” said Johnson. “Usually give yourself a few backup plans in case something doesn’t work out or guys change their minds.” Oregon State outfielder Trevor Larnach was Minnesota’s first selection, at No. 20 overall. Tyler Webb, a center fielder out of the University of Memphis was their final choice at No. 1,204. In between, the Twins chose 20 pitchers and 19 position players. Twenty-nine were from college, including six from the first 10 rounds, and one was from Puerto Rico. Nine of them were from the Midwest, including two from Ohio, Nebraska and Illinois, respectfully, and one was from Plover, Wis. Johnson did not think these players were any more likely to sign, however, than the players who came from typical Sunbelt locations like California, Florida or Texas. “I don’t think we gave it any weight in our process,” said Johnson. “Most of these guys want to sign, or not, and we take them in certain rounds because of that.” None of those players were Luke Heimlich, a convicted child molester and Lanarch’s teammate, who went undrafted despite being a potential first-round talent. “We made a decision as an organization to not select him,” said Johnson, directing any further questions to chief baseball officer Derek Falvey. “I would say straight up, last year he would have gone the end of the first round, probably 25-40, if I had to guess. “We discussed it as a group, and looked at all sides of the thing and tried to make a good decision. And that’s the one we made.” Falvey installed Johnson as the scouting director last season, and had to scramble to implement his methods after being hired in October of 2016. Now they feel they have their people in place and have refined their process. “We had so many changes just in our organization from top to bottom and by the time the draft rolled around we were kind of adapting on the fly and trying new things,” said Johnson. “We didn’t want to overwhelm the scouting group with all the information, and we’ve introduced a little bit more to the decision-making process. “We’re already thinking about how do we change things in next year’s process to make it even better. … We’ll go back and do a deep dive on what we this week and what did we do wrong and what do we do going forward. The slow integration is kind of how we’ve done it and the scouts are taking to it very well.” The Twins scouting department used TrackMan technology to address some of their blind spots from last season. “You don’t get TrackMan data for free, so we’ve spent more money in our budget to pay for those services and get that data,” said Johnson. “And apply it — that’s the no. 1 thing. We have tremendously talented people in that group that did a great job and infused it into the process. “And we had a brand new computer system that has all the data stored. We have a place to house it all. So our developers are just out-of-this-world awesome. They’ve changed the way we do a lot of our work, and our computers, having all that information at the click of a button [is] invaluable.” TrackMan analytics influenced Minnesota’s first two picks on Day 3 of the draft: Michael Helman (11th round, Texas A&M) and Jon Olsen (12th, UCLA). “Helman, that was another from our analytics team. We merged some visuals from his performance and some things he does, and we were glad to get him to lead off the day,” said Johnson. “Jon Olsen, he’s had Tommy John surgery already, we liked a lot of stuff from his TrackMan results. We know the makeup very well. Our area scout, Seth Moir, used to be the director of operations at UCLA, so we know the kid extremely well.” But TrackMan did not influence all of Minnesota’s selections. Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoa, a right-handed pitcher out of Baldwin High School in Hawaii, wasn’t heavily scouted. “We got a kid from Maui, so that was exciting,” Johnson said, smiling. “We had a few shots of video, he wasn’t scouted very heavily. And we have a pitching assessment that we do on all these pitchers that we take from a risk standpoint; that’s one of Derek’s things that he’s brought. “We have a handful of guys assigned to watch video. So we threw him through our shredder last night, and saw some things we liked in his delivery. Regi Grace (10th round) is one of the same guys from that standpoint. He’s got a delivery foundation that we want to see in pitchers, and that kind of gave us some confidence to take those guys.” The Twins have had mixed results with the draft recently, which has often been their lifeblood by necessity as a mid-market team.<doc-sep>With the 20th overall pick, the Twins selected OF Trevor Larnach, 21, in the first round of the 2018 MLB Draft. The Twins will now need to sign him in order to earn their $3,120,000 signing bonus pool slot allotment for the 20th pick. (If you’re not sure how the draft bonus pools work, you can read our MLB Draft overview for this year, or our post on bonus pool strategies from last year.) These are his scouting grades according to MLB.com: Hit: 55 | Power: 55 | Run : 40 | Arm: 55 | Field: 50 | Overall: 50 Larnach, a left-handed batter, hit .324/.447/.637 with 17 homers in 204 plate appearances as a Junior for the Oregon State University Beavers this year. He developed significant power over the last year, and scouts believe he profiles as a corner outfielder in the pros who will both strike out and walk. He does have the ability to hit the ball the other way, so he should keep defenses honest. Reports on his defense vary, and he’s definitely an offense-first kind of player. With his advanced college bat he could move through the system quickly, either replacing one of the team’s current outfielders or working as trade bait if he succeeds in his first few years. Here’s a bit of Larnach in action: The Twins will make their next selection later tonight with the 59th overall pick in the second round of the draft.<doc-sep>The Minnesota Twins started day two of the draft without a third-round pick — courtesy of signing Lance Lynn in free agency — but selected Utah outfielder DaShawn Keirsey Jr. with their fourth-round pick (No. 124 overall). Keirsey, the second Pac-12 outfielder the Twins have selected in this draft, hit .386/.440/.609 for Utah this season, and is a career .334/.391/.473 hitter. He has also battled some injury problems: Keirsey is 13 months removed from a serious hip injury that required surgery after crashing into the OF wall. His once-elite speed has started to return, per https://t.co/ytkkrWjELL, and he remains a solid defender in center with an average arm. Contact hitter with gap thump. — Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) June 5, 2018 Keirsey was No. 82 on Baseball America’s top-500s list of draft-eligible prospects. They also note how impressive this year’s breakout is since his injury came last May, and was gruesome as he dislocated and fractured his left hip while tracking a home run ball in the outfield. BA also notes: “Scouts have been impressed with his athleticism, plus raw power, a strong throwing arm and running ability.” Twins go with Utah CF DaShawn Keirsey, twitchy athlete who can stay in CF, impact speed that, good contact skills with more of a leadoff profile — Brian Sakowski (@B_Sakowski_PG) June 5, 2018 Keirsey was also a wide receiver in high school: As a freshman, new @Twins OF draft pick DaShawn Keirsey Jr. was a big part of @utahbaseball winning a Pac-12 title in 2016. Here's what I wrote about him in my Star Spotlight in the final series that year: https://t.co/CL405CrQo0 https://t.co/NMXEMp0C8R — Shotgun Spratling (@ShotgunSprD1) June 5, 2018 “We have him as a plus runner, 60,” Twins scouting director Sean Johnson said. “He’s running well. This guy is a good center fielder. We’ve seen him make a lot of great plays with range. They play at the pro park in Salt Lake City where the Bees play. I personally have seen him make a great play over his head. This guy will go into the wall still. “If you blow out your hip, you’re a little less inclined to go into the wall with that kind of force” Johnson reasoned. “But he is a fearless player. He’s a really good defender. He has a really pro swing. He’s got some raw power. Obviously, his home run numbers are a little low, but we think there is some more power in there.” The Twins had an extended wait between the end of Monday night’s picks (59) and Tuesday’s first one (124) — Johnson said it felt like 1,000 picks — but they were elated to see Keirsey there when the time came to pick in the fourth round. Part of that wait was that the Twins traded pick No. 74 to the San Diego Padres as part of the Phil Hughes trade. “We obviously know who went there (at pick 74),” Johnson said. “So we paid attention. Part of it was that it felt like pick 59 and our first pick today felt like 1,000 picks. It felt like we were in the penalty box for a while. So when we got back out, it was nice. “We walked into the room today and we just planned on as many scenarios as we could come up with. Obviously, we held up guys we preferred. We had a small group of players we were going to take at 59, and Keirsey was one of them. We felt good about getting him in the fourth round. That was a nice get for us to start the day. We got some momentum early. Keirsey, we were totally happy with. We felt good about today.” — With pick No. 154 in the fifth round, the Twins selected right-handed pitcher Cole Sands from Florida State. Sands is a junior, and ranked No. 116 on MLB.com’s top-200 prospect list before the draft. He was also No. 74 on Baseball America’s list. Sands was taken in the 22nd round by the Houston Astros in 2015, but opted to go to Florida State instead. He battled some biceps tendinitis this year, and finished the season with a 4.46 ERA in 13 starts with an 86-25 K/BB ratio and 1.11 WHIP in 72.2 innings. Over three years with the Seminoles, Sands has a 4.71 ERA with 208 strikeouts and 87 walks in 224.2 innings. Sands has been terrific the last two years with the Falmouth Commodores in the Cape Cod League, posting a combined 2.61 ERA with 39 strikeouts and just nine walks in 31 innings. This is #mntwins 5th-rounder Cole Sands. He's 92-95 mph with his fastball, 80-83 mph with his slider and has a high 3/4 delivery. Overcame bout with biceps tendinitis this spring for 'Noles. Doesn't miss a lot of bats. pic.twitter.com/gMy6lDWWUp — Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) June 5, 2018 While there have been some questions about the workloads of Florida State pitchers, the Twins came away comfortable with any sort of risk that represented. “I’m not sure what his top pitch count was,” Johnson said. “Again, we weighed the risk and history of that particular school. We felt good about it. Obviously, I’m going to our medical staff, trainers and the scouts who’ve seen him, and asking if everyone feels good about it. Everyone felt good enough to take on the risk there in that round. “If you’re in the first or second round, maybe it’s a different story. But at some point, you take on the risk of injury more so. Your threshold is better in those rounds than up top.” Twins go with Florida State's Cole Sands, gets up to 96 mph, cruises more in 91-94 mph range right now, solid mechanical profile, chance for average SL and CH — Brian Sakowski (@B_Sakowski_PG) June 5, 2018 — With pick No. 184 in the sixth round, the Twins selected shortstop Charles Mack from Williamsville East High School (N.Y.). He was No. 133 on MLB.com’s top-200 draft prospect list and No. 118 on Baseball America’s top-500 list. Mack is a Clemson commit, and reportedly not a sure thing to stay at shortstop.<doc-sep>With the 20th pick in the 2018 MLB Draft, the Minnesota Twins selected Oregon State outfielder Trevor Larnach. In recent mock drafts, Larnach was unmocked by Keith Law of ESPN and mocked 14th by Baseball America. Larnach is a fascinating prospect because he has been one of the better hitters in college despite the fact that he has been overshadowed a bit by the presence of top 5 pick talent Nick Madrigal. Larnach carried Oregon State during Madrigal’s absence due to injury and has posted a .324/.447/.637 line in 2018 with 17 home runs and 64 RBIs in 55 games. With Larnach, you are getting a polished college bat with an advanced approach that will allow him to be productive on the field even when he is hitting bombs even though he will hit his fair share of those. He hits the ball hard and being from Oregon State where there is a plethora of Trackman data available, it is well-known just how hard his contact is even when he is making outs or it isn’t readily known just how well he has performed. His power has taken a big step forward this year and he is particularly adept going the opposite way. Left-handed college hitters with a track record of performance, good on-base skills, and that use the whole field are generally a pretty good bet come draft day. The bat is really going to play because a lot of scouts think that he is destined for left field. He has a decent arm, but he isn’t a particularly fast guy which may limit his position options as a pro. However, if he continues to show the same feel for hitting and turning on the pitches he is supposed to, his bat will certainly play there. It certainly didn’t hurt his cause that he has a good history swinging a wood bat as he was outstanding in his last stint in the Cape Cod League.<doc-sep>
The Twins selected corner outfielder Trevor Larnach with their first round pick in the 2018 MLB draft, the 20th pick overall. Here’s what the Twins went on to pick after then. Round 2, Pick 59: Ryan Jeffers, Catcher, UNC Wilmington Jeffers is a four-year college junior. He is listed at 6’4” and 225 pounds. He both bats and throws right handed. He can also play some outfield, and started all 62 games his team played at one position or the other. He led his conference in a significant number of offensive categories, including doubles, home runs, OBP, and SLG. According to MLB Draft Countdown, He is projects as a future 55-grade player in all tools except speed. His throw tool is already there, and he currently rates at 50 in both average and defense. Here is a fun video of him hitting a home run against Arizona State: Round 4, Pick 124: DaShawn Keirsey Jr, Centerfielder, Utah Keirsey is another red-shirt junior. He is listed at 6’2” and 195 pounds. He is a left handed thrower and batter. He was a pitcher in high school, so his arm should be pretty good. He was a first team All-PAC-12 selection. Keirsey suffered a nasty injury to end his 2017 season, dislocating his hip and fracturing his hip socket in a collision with the wall. He was able to come back and have a nice 2018 season. Here is some more information on the injury. Want to see a couple of home runs from him? Here is a highlight video that includes his two-homer game against Cal Round 5, Pick 154: Cole Sands, Right Handed Pitcher, Florida State Sands is also, like the rest of the Twins picks so far, a red-shirt college junior. Obviously, he throws right handed. On the rare occasion he would bat, he also bats from the right side. Sands is actually a re-draft, he was selected in 2015 by the Houston Astros, in the 22nd round. He chose to go the college route, and improved his draft stock considerably. His brother is currently a pitcher in the Chicago Cubs organization. MLB Draft Countdown has him with a 90-96 mph fastball as his best pitch, and a good slider and change up to complement it. His mechanics rate highly as well. This video shows quite a bit of him pitching, if you are curious Round 6, Pick 184: Charles Mack, Third Baseman, Williamsville East HS (NY) Charlie Mack is the first high school player taken by the Twins. He played short stop in high school, but the Twins have chosen to list him as a third baseman. He is 6’0” and 190 pounds. He’ll be nineteen in November, so he is a bit on the older side for a high school prospect. He is committed to Clemson, so we will have to see if the Twins can sign him away from college. MLB Draft Countdown has his highest grade currently as his throw tool, at 50. He is projected to be able to hit well for average in the future as well. Here are some highlights of Mack from the 2017 Area Code Games Round 7, Pick 214: Josh Winder, Right Handed Pitcher, Virginia Military Institute The Twins went back to the college ranks for Winder. He’s another fourth year junior, and is a big guy. He is listed at 6’5” and 210 pounds. He took second team All-SoCon honors in 2017, and made the All-tournament team. Here is a good video of Winder pitching Round 8, Pick 244: Chris Williams, Catcher, Clemson Williams is the second college catcher taken by the Twins. He is a senior, so should be very signable. He is listed at 6’1” and 220 pounds. He was considered a versatile player in college, and also played in the infield. He was drafted in the 31st round in 2017 by the Tampa Bay Rays. He hit two grand slams in two days against Miami. Do you want to watch the second one? Here it is Round 9, Pick 274: Willie Joe Garry Jr, Center fielder, Pascagoula HS (MS) Garry is the second high school player the Twins selected this draft. He is 6’1” and weighs in at 170 pounds. Garry bats and throws with his left hand. He is committed to a junior college, Pearl River Community College. Garry might have one of the coolest videos around, an interview with his local paper and overlaid with some highlights.