The Minnesota Twins rounded out their draft with a healthy dose of catchers and pitchers. Here are the Day 2 and some notable Day 3 selections.
The Minnesota Twins found themselves drafting two college bats with their first two selections of the 2018 MLB draft. In the first round they drafted outfielder Trevor Larnach out of Oregon State. We at Puckett’s Pond took a quick look at the high floor prospect shortly after he was drafted here. With their second selection, the Twins selected a bat first catcher out of UNC-Wilmington, Ryan Jeffers. Someone we also wrote about shortly after he was drafted here.
Into Day 2 of the draft it looked as though the Twins likely saved some pool money based on who they drafted Day 1. That gave the Twins draft team the ability to look at some players that had maybe dropped lower than they expected. The Twins could then use then plan to use that extra pool money and draft players they plan to try to pay over slot for to get them into the Twins system.
With a couple picks missing from the Twins arsenal after signing Lance Lynn and trading another away in the Phil Hughes trade. Let’s pick up with the Twins selections in the 4th round.
4th Round: DeShawn Keirsey, CF, Utah
With their fourth-round pick, the Twins selected DeShawn Keirsey out of Utah. While there is some concern with how Keirsey will be affected going forward by a hip injury he sustained this looks like a solid selection by the Twins. Leading up to the draft 2080baseball.com even included Keirsey as a potential Day One selection in their center field preview.
Keirsey’s best tool pre-injury was his speed which was graded out as a 70 on the 20-80 scouting scale. He appears to be progressing well as he strengthens his hip and is still rated at 60 with his speed (mlb.com). Keirsey also has a very good bat to ball skills as was exhibited over his college career. He led Utah in many offensive categories and was second in the Pac-12 with a .386 batting average. Keirsey also had a .440 OBP and .609 slugging percentage and Pac-12 leading 23 doubles this past season.