For Twins' draft, top pitchers might be out of arm's reach

Despite a never-ending quest to develop starting pitching, the Twins are likely to pick a position player in the first round of the major league baseball draft Monday. And he'll likely be from college.

Some things just can't be forced, and this is a year in which high-quality arms are not expected to be available when the Twins, with the 13th overall pick, are put on the clock. So they have several college hitters lined up for when their turn comes up.

"The high school pitching group is a little down, and the same with the college pitching group," scouting director Sean Johnson said. "There are probably four college pitchers that will go in the first 30 picks, somewhere.

"It is just the way the year is. You're seeing the industry has been taking a lot of the better high school pitching and signing it before it gets to college. There are cycles where that shows up, and this is one of those years. There's just not a lot of college arms available, and maybe part of the reason is that group of pitchers were drafted and signed out of high school."

In addition to the 13th overall pick, the Twins have a pick in the competitive balance round (35th overall), which takes place following the first round. Those picks go to teams that are in the bottom 10 of revenue or market size. Their second-round pick is 54th overall. Rounds 3 through 10 will take place Tuesday, and 11-40 on Wednesday.

UNLV shortstop Bryson Stott, Texas Tech third baseman Josh Jung, Tulane third baseman Kody Hoese and Baylor catcher Shea Langeliers are among the players projected to be available when the Twins are picking.

Stott has a good glove and has started to tap into his power potential but could end up at third base. Jung projects as a better hitter for average than power while playing solid defense. The 6-4 Hoese has turned on the power this season, but some are concerned by his lack of power in wood bat leagues. And Langeliers is a strong defensive prospect with framing skills and a big arm who also has some power potential.

"You have to go in the draft room prepared to have as many names as you need," Johnson said. "Obviously there's a few guys, that number is probably five or six, that we know aren't getting to our pick. But after that, it kind of flattens out and I think we could be picking from a lot of different guys."

This is Johnson's third draft as scouting director after replacing Deron Johnson following the 2016 draft. Deron Johnson didn't go out with a whimper. Three of his first five picks from that draft — outfielder Alex Kirilloff, catcher Ben Rortvedt and righthander Griffin Jax — are showing progress, with Kirilloff a top hitting prospect.

"The high school hitters we took are doing very well," Sean Johnson said. "I think we were just trying to build off of what we had started before Derek [Falvey] and Thad [Levine] came in."

Johnson's initial first-round pick was prep shortstop Royce Lewis. Last year, the first-round pick was Oregon State outfielder Trevor Larnach. In 2017, six pitchers were taken in the first 10 rounds. Last year, only three. So the Twins' drafting has been reflective of the strengths of the draft.