The MLB draft is coming up next week and the sad part is, for many Twins fans, this could be the highlight of the season. The Twins are drafting second overall, meaning they should get a superstar player with their pick. Over the past few years, superstars such as Bryce Harper, Stephen Strasburg, Eric Hosmer, Buster Posey and Gerrit Cole have all gone in the top five picks. Big name players can be found at the top of the draft and a team can greatly improve (sometimes quickly) if they grab the right player.
For the Twins, that qualifier “if” has been the big problem when it comes to top draft picks. I thought it would be interesting to look back at the top draft picks from the Twins drafts throughout their history. Although the team has existed in Minnesota since 1961, they have only been bad enough to have a top five pick eight times. That being said, those eight picks have been…well…see for yourself:
1982 – 4th Pick overall: Bryan Oelkers (Pitcher)
About the pick: Oelkers appeared in only 10 games for the Twins in 1983 before bouncing around the lower levels of the team. In 1986 he was dealt to Cleveland where he spent one more season before retiring.
Who They Missed: Dwight Gooden (5th overall), Duane Ward (9th), Barry Bonds (2nd Round), Randy Johnson (4th Round)
Who They Should Have Taken: Dwight Gooden, while Gooden developed character issues and made questionable decisions while with the Mets, he was still a very good pitcher – it’s possible the New York pressure contributed to the issues he had. Maybe with a smaller market, things would have been different for Gooden.
(While Bonds and Johnson are bigger names, they fell into the later rounds – meaning every team passed on them at least once, so you can’t knock the Twins for ‘missing’ them).
1983 – 1st Pick Overall: Tim Belcher (Pitcher)
About The Pick: Belcher was actually a solid starting pitcher in the majors; the problem was – it wasn’t for the Twins. The team could not reach a contract agreement with their first round pick (they were not offering enough money, according to Belcher) and Belcher returned to college rather than taking the smaller contract. At least if you whiff on an early pick, that player still PLAYED for your organization. Not signing the overall number one pick was a large misstep for the Twins.
Who They Missed: Kurt Stillwell (2nd), Roger Clemons (19th)
Who They Should Have Taken: With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, Clemons is the obvious star in an otherwise lackluster class
1987 – 3rd Pick Overall: Willie Banks (Pitcher)
As far as picks go, Banks is far from the worst one the Twins have had. He made his first appearance with the Twins during their 1991 championship run and managed to work as a serviceable starter for the next two seasons. In 1993, Banks was dealt to the Cubs and the curse of the goat (or whatever hex the Cubs have) took over. Banks was never the same and bounced around with five other clubs until 2002.
Who They Missed: Jack McDowell (5th), Kevin Appier (9th), Craig Biggio (22nd)
Who They Should Have Taken: McDowell, or even Mike Remlinger (16th) would have been solid pitchers, Biggio would have been a franchise bat. Of that group, I’d say Biggio was the best option.
1991 – 3rd Pick Overall: Dave McCarty (1B)
McCarty was drafted with the expectation of being a power slugging first base staple for the future. In his stints in the minors, McCarty looked to fit that part perfectly, slugging in top percentages of the league and showing the propensity for power.
McCarty can best be described as an AAAA (4A) player, however. Once McCarty hit the majors, the average and power simply did not translate. He barely hit above .200 in 167 games as a Twin and only pushed across three home runs. It’s not uncommon to see a player who simply doesn’t translate well to the major league level, but when it’s the third overall pick – it certainly is a disappointment.
Who They Missed: Dmitri Young (4th – an ACTUAL power hitter), Manny Ramirez (14th), Cliff Floyd (16th – Once again, a power hitter and a firstbaseman to boot), Mike Sweeney (262nd), Nomar Garciaparra (130th)
Who They Should Have Taken: This draft hurts worse than most simply because of how badly the team missed. They wanted a power bat and they missed four of them. Cliff Floyd was the exact player they were looking for (power, 1B) and they missed.
1996 – 2nd Pick Overall: Travis Lee (1B)
Once again, the Twins front office messed up this pick as much as possible. Just like they did in 1983, the Twins failed to sign Lee to a contract and ended up with nothing to show for the number two overall pick. While Lee never became a superstar, the fact the Twins walked away with nothing makes this one of the worst drafts in the team’s history.
Who They Missed: Eric Chavez (10th), Jake Westbrook (21st), Gil Meche (22nd), Jimmy Rollins (46th), Roy Oswalt (684th),
Who They Should Have Taken: This is sort of a spotty draft class, with no real superstar to be found in the first round. So it’s not like the Twins failed to sign a pick while the next Ken Griffey Jr. sat waiting. However, when you fail to sign a pick at all, any player – even a simple, solid, everyday starter like the fellows above, are better options. Jimmy Rollins is the obvious “coulda-woulda-shoulda” but Eric Chavez is the more realistic pick.
1999 – 5th Pick Overall: BJ Garbe (OF)
This is a big whiff. Garbe, selected out of high school, never made it any higher than AA ball in the Twins system. His average floated around .190 during three years in the Twins’ farm system before he retired from baseball.
Who They Missed: (Warning: This list hurts the most) Barry Zito (9th), Ben Sheets (10th), Alex Rios (19th), Brian Roberts (50th), Carl Crawford (52nd), Brandon Phillips (57th), Jake Peavy (472nd) – ALBERT PUJOLS (402nd)
Who They Should Have Taken: Okay, with 20/20 hindsight the obvious pick is Pujols, but given that he fell into the 13th round – clearly every major league club had him ranked well below where he should have been. The realistic pick would have been either Zito or Sheets. Rios and Crawford would have filled the OF void that they drafted Garbe for and Roberts, Phillips and Peavy are franchise players who would have made a great impact on this team.
2000 – 2nd Overall Pick: Adam Johnson (Pitcher)
Johnson pitched for the Twins from 2001 to 2005. His career ERA as 10.25. Enough said.
Who They Missed: Chase Utley (15th), Cliff Lee (105th),
Who They Should Have Taken: 2000 was a shallow draft with very little in the way of big stars. Utley is the best pick on the board in the early rounds and Lee is the best player – but when the draft is filled with role players, it’s hard to fault the Twins for “missing” at number 2.
2001 – 1st Overall Pick: Joe Mauer
Mauer has won three batting titles, one AL MVP award and appeared in four All-Star games. He is the face of the Twins franchise and a superstar in Major League Baseball. While is pick was initially shunned by Twins fans (who thought they should take the fireball pitcher – Mark Prior) it’s clear that management got this one right.
Who They Missed: Mark Prior (2nd – this is “missed” in a good way), Mark Teixeira (5th),
Who They Should Have Taken: Joe Mauer – no exceptions
There are some interesting trends to point out here:
1) The Twins picked third in each of the years they won the World Series
2) The Twins have had high picks in bad classes (1983, 1996, 2000)
3) They just missed Ken Griffey Jr, and Adrian Gonzalez (Drafted prior to their picks in 1993 and 2000)
4) The 2nd overall pick has not been kind to the Twins
5) The Twins pick 2nd this year
History is not on the Twins’ side when it comes to high draft picks. (Essentially they're 1 for 8, or .125 in terms of BA). Fans can take solace in the fact that a) the last high draft pick the Twins had turned out to be a good one and b) the team doesn’t pick high that often (meaning they usually are good).
Time will tell if the Twins’ number two pick in the 2012 draft is the move that help start another winning tradition or a pick that will live with the seven other “flops” listed above.
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