Twins could have pick of pitchers with eighth overall selection in MLB draft

It's entirely possible, Sean Johnson believes, that the Twins could draft the best amateur pitcher in America on Sunday.

Go ahead and dream — a future Jacob deGrom? The next Gerrit Cole? An 18-year-old Max Scherzer clone?

Wait, there's bad news, too.

"The pitching is just not really there [in this year's draft], not on the surface" and especially not in the top 10, said Johnson, the Twins' vice president of scouting who will have the final say on whom the Twins take with the eighth overall pick. "I don't think a pitcher will go before us. We had a pretty good signal that there won't. … There are pitchers with incomplete resumes, some just got injured this spring, some are just coming back from injury. So it gets really difficult to fill in the holes and make sense of their performances."

The Twins will choose eighth — a pick that figures to be made around 6:45 p.m. — plus 48th and 68th on the first day of the draft, which includes the first two rounds plus compensation and competitive-balance picks. Rounds 3-10 of the 20-round event take place Monday and the final 10 rounds are Tuesday.

"It's certainly shaping up as one of those years where we'll figure it out a couple minutes before we pick. There's maybe two players that we feel 100 percent will be off the board by the time we pick, and there's another group where there's a chance they could make it to our pick," Johnson said of he and his scouts' deliberations this week. "So we're going to do a lot of planning for scenarios — run some simulations on, if this player makes it how do we feel? It's a little fuzzy past the first two or three names, so it's a little more difficult this year than most."

It's also the first time the Twins have picked among the top dozen players since Royce Lewis was chosen first in the 2017 draft. That adds to the pressure of choosing a future major leaguer, Johnson admitted, but doesn't change the process much. The consensus this year, he said, is that there are some outstanding collegiate hitters available — but perhaps not many who combine that skill with elite defense.

"You want to deliver a player to [the] player development [department] who has a chance to impact the game on both sides of the ball," Johnson said. "That's not always possible."

The history of eighth picks doesn't inspire much confidence — no Hall of Famers have been chosen eighth, though former Rockies great Todd Helton could yet change that. Others of note: shortstop Francisco Lindor of the Mets and one-armed pitcher Jim Abbott.

The Twins have chosen No. 8 three times, though only second baseman Todd Walker (1994) ever played for them. Pitcher Dick Ruthven refused to sign after being chosen in 1972, and shortstop Jay Bell, who went on to two All-Star appearances, a Gold Glove and a world championship with the Diamondbacks in an 18-year career after his 1984 selection, was traded to Cleveland before reaching the majors.

The day was so memorable, Johnson still has the video saved on his phone.

Carlos Correa came to Target Field for a private workout a few days before the 2012 draft, and put on the most incredible workout the Twins' vice president of scouting had ever seen — "and not even close."

Correa displayed the arm of a pitcher while playing shortstop, and "every round of [batting practice] was majestic," Johnson reminisced. "He started peppering balls in the upper tank and he was 17 1/2."

Matt Wallner has come home.

The 24-year-old Forest Lake native was promoted to Class AAA St. Paul on Thursday, after pounding out an organization-leading 21 home runs and posting a 1.033 OPS at Class AA Wichita. The promotion puts Wallner, a right fielder chosen 39th overall in 2019, in position to make his major league debut next season.

Christian Encarnacion-Strand, drafted just last year in the fourth round, will move up from Class A Cedar Rapids to take Wallner's place at Wichita. Encarnacion-Strand, a third baseman, has 20 home runs this season, plus 23 doubles and three triples for a .968 OPS.