As the Twins try to zero in on whom they might acquire in next month's amateur draft, it's hard not to think about what they'll miss out on, too.
"I'm a little sad that we won't get a Taylor Rogers. We won't get a Brian Dozier. No Mitch Garver," said Deron Johnson, the former Twins scouting director who is now a special assistant to current scouting director Sean Johnson. "There are some good big leaguers in the draft beyond the fifth round, and it's really exciting to watch them reach that potential. I feel sad for guys like that, who won't get drafted."
Major League Baseball, in an effort to slash costs during the coronavirus pandemic, informed its 30 teams last week that the annual June draft, which once had an unlimited number of rounds but has lasted 40 rounds since 2012, will be limited to only five rounds when it begins on June 10, cutting the numbers of drafted players from more than 1,200 (there were 1,217 last summer) to only 161.
And only four of them will become potential Twins. The defending AL Central champions own the 27th overall pick in the first round, due to their 101-win finish in 2019, and the 59th pick in the second round. The Twins will also choose 128th and 158th in the fourth and fifth rounds. A competitive-balance pick after the second round, No. 66 overall, was sent to the Dodgers in February as part of the trade for Kenta Maeda, and the team forfeited their third pick, which would have been 99th, by signing Josh Donaldson as a free agent in January.
The Twins will be limited to spending $4.53 million on those four picks, divvied up any way they negotiate, with their first-rounder slotted for $2.57 million and their second-rounder $1.18 million. In another cost-saving move, draftees will receive 10% of their bonuses this year, and 45% each of the next two Junes.
"It's not many players, but in the upper tier of the draft, we feel it's an above-average group this year. We're still excited about the talent we'll be able to add," said Sean Johnson, who makes the final call for the Twins. He expects the draft to be unusually heavy on college players, with few high school players taken after the first round or two, "because teams will understandably feel safer taking players they have followed for two or three years," he said.
