Joe Mauer was everything that a baseball fan could ever dream of. From Minnesota, the Twins drafted a hometown kid No. 1 overall in 2001. Mauer stayed with the Twins for 15 seasons, then became a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
With the 2025-26 MLB Draft Lottery happening on Tuesday, December 9 in Orlando, Florida, along with other exciting things going on this week, the Twins have the second-best odds (22.18%) of landing the top pick for a third time this century. Only the White Sox (27.73%) have a better chance of garnering the No. 1 pick.
Before we find out where the Twins will draft in 2026, let's take a step back to remember Minnesota taking Mauer No. 1 overall, and where it ranks among other top picks this century.
Ahead of 2025-26 MLB Draft Lottery, let's reminisce when the Twins drafted Joe Mauer No. 1 in 2001
Note: Only players who played for the team they were drafted by will be included in this list. For example, Adrian Gonzalez did not suit up for the Marlins despite being taken No. 1 in 2000 by them.
Honorable Mention: Justin Upton
The No. 1 overall pick in 2005 by the Diamondbacks, Upton played his first six seasons in Arizona. During this time, Upton garnered two All-Stars and one Silver Slugger. He muscled 108 home runs, which is ninth-most in Diamondbacks history. He went on to hit 325 career home runs with six different teams across an impressive 16-season career.
No. 6: Gerrit Cole
Coming out of UCLA as a mega prospect, Cole was taken by the Pirates first overall in 2011. He spent five seasons with Pittsburgh, picking up one All-Star nod and a Top 4 Cy Young finish. Pittsburgh couldn't hang on to him, as he's gone on to receive six All-Star nominations, two ERA titles, and a 2023 Cy Young Award (Yankees).
He is currently 61st all-time in career strikeouts with 2,251.
No. 5: David Price
Price gets the nod over Cole on this list because he spent two more seasons than Cole did with the club that drafted him, and he won a Cy Young Award with them. Price was taken No. 1 in 2007 out of Vanderbilt by the Rays. In seven seasons, he was named to the All-Star Game four times with Tampa Bay.
Price has the best ERA in Rays history (3.18), bWAR (21.3), and WHIP (1.142). Across 14 seasons with five teams, Price has two ERA titles, five All-Stars, and a 2018 World Series ring (Red Sox), and 2,076 strikeouts.
No. 4: Paul Skenes
Maybe it's recency bias, but Paul Skenes is leading the charge for a new-age of pitching. Starters are bigger than ever, stronger than ever, and yet, he still produces solid metrics across the board. In just two seasons, Skenes has a Rookie of the Year Award, a Cy Young Award, an ERA title, two All-Stars, and another Top 3 Cy Young finish.
The LSU product was taken No. 1 by the Pirates in 2023, and there's been no looking back. He's as exciting and powerful as any other player in the game. Single-handedly, he's made the Pirates relevant. He's somehow even attracting free agents to Pittsburgh, too. You can argue Cole or Price over Skenes, but he has put together as dominant of a two-year start to a career as anyone in the modern age. If the Pirates find a way to hold on to him, he can go down as one of the best No. 1 picks ever.
No. 3: Stephen Strasburg
Stephen Strasburg left plenty to be desired, but he battled through plenty of injuries to still put together an unbelievable career. He spent all 13 seasons with the Nationals after they drafted him in 2009.
He garnered three All-Stars, a Silver Slugger, and the most strikeouts ever in a Nationals uniform (1,723). But most importantly, he ignited Washington to a World Series championship in 2019. He was named the World Series MVP after delivering two solid starts, combining for 14 strikeouts and a 2.51 ERA. Strasburg was a horse all postseason in 2019, totaling 47 strikeouts across 36.1 frames with eight runs allowed. This run alone puts him in the Top 3.
No. 2 Bryce Harper
The Nationals literally hit a home run back-to-back seasons by taking Strasburg in 2009, then Harper in 2010. Does Harper deserve the nod over Strasburg? It's debatable, but Harper did win his first of two MVPs as a National. In seven seasons, he claimed Rookie of the Year honors, six All-Stars, an MVP, and a Silver Slugger.
Harper brought an aura to Washington that drew in a national crowd. People who are a fan of the Nationals or Phillies still love him (or hate him despite not being linked to their favorite team). That's hard to do for what was then a losing franchise, but he dug them out of irrelevancy.
No. 1: Joe Mauer
And then there was one. All things considered, Joe Mauer was the best No. 1 pick since Chipper Jones in 1990. Both played an illustrious career with one franchise en route to a deserved spot in the Hall of Fame.
A Minnesota-born star, Mauer was named to six All-Star Games and won five Silver Sluggers, three batting titles, three Gold Gloves, and the 2009 MVP after hitting .365 with 59 extra-base hits. That makes him a tough guy to top on this list, and Mauer deserves to be the top-ranked player among these other legends.