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Draft Notes: Lewis, McKay, Day 2, Gore, Greene, Wright, Beck

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No. 1 overall draft pick Royce Lewis will take his physical with the Twins soon, tweets Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. There aren’t expected to be any hangups in negotiations, per Berardino, who notes that the industry expectation is for Lewis to receive a bonus north of Dansby Swanson’s $6.5MM bonus from the 2015 draft. The top pick in the draft came with a slot value of $7.7MM, and MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger wrote this week that Lewis could sign for around $1MM less than that sum. That’d put his bonus in the $6.5MM to $6.7MM range, saving the Twins anywhere from $1MM to $1.2MM from the slot value. FanRag’s Jon Heyman pegs the expected value at “just a tick over” $6.7MM. Rays top pick Brendan McKay, meanwhile, is expected to sign for somewhere between $7MM and $7.2MM, according to Berardino. That’d be the largest bonus ever given to a college player under the current draft structure, surpassing Kris Bryant’s $6.7MM sum.

More notes on the draft…

  • The Twins “crushed” Day 2 of the draft, MLB.com’s Jim Callis opines. Adding high school right-hander Blayne Enlow, a potential first-round talent that dropped due to a strong commitment to LSU, kicked off a day in which Minnesota selected five players that ranked inside MLB.com’s top 200 draft prospects. Enlow, Callis writes, has the best curveball in the draft as well as a fastball that has touched 94 mph and has room to grow as his projectable frame grows. Callis also lauds the White Sox, Dodgers, Red Sox and Brewers for the talent they secured in rounds three through 10. ESPN’s Keith Law agrees that the Twins did quite well to land Enlow with the No. 76 pick and also gives quite a bit of praise to the Athletics, who landed a first-round talent (in his estimation) with the 81st pick by taking shortstop Nick Allen. Law opines that the undersized Allen, who is listed at 5’8″, would’ve been a top 10 pick if he were three inches taller.
  • FanRag’s Jon Heyman provides some insight into the progress being made with the top five picks in the draft. The Padres, according to Heyman, are expected to sign No. 3 overall pick MacKenzie Gore, a high school left-hander, for the full slot value of $6,668,100. Reds top pick Hunter Greene, meanwhile, is expected to sign for a deal “close” to the $7,193,200 slot value of his No. 2 overall selection, per Heyman. (Also of note for Reds fans: Heyman spoke to a rival exec who heaped praise on the Reds’ draft, opining that they “won the draft by far.”) And the Braves look to be going well over slot to sign Vanderbilt right-hander Kyle Wright, as Heyman reports that they’re discussing a deal worth close to $7MM, while the No. 5 slot carries a value of $5,707,300. Of course, Wright was long rumored to be a potential No. 1 overall pick, so it stands to reason that he’d come with a fairly sizable price tag.
  • Baseball America’s John Manuel reported yesterday that Stanford right-hander Tristan Beck, a potential first-round talent that missed the 2017 season due to a stress fracture in his lower back, will not sign and plans to head back to Stanford (Twitter link). That didn’t stop the Yankees from drafting him late (29th round), though New York would obviously need to give him a massive bonus in order to convince him to forgo a return to college, as a healthy Beck would do quite well in next year’s draft. The Yankees may not have the leftover money even to make a legitimate effort to sign Beck, though he makes for a nice contingency plan if the team unexpectedly finds itself with some extra pool money to play with.

Minor MLB Transactions: 6/15/17

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Here are the day’s minor moves from around the league…

  • The Twins released left-hander Kevin Chapman and re-signed right-hander Drew Rucinski to a new minor league contract, per Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (Twitter link). The 29-year-old Chapman was acquired from the Braves in exchange for Danny Santana following Santana’s DFA and tossed 11 1/3 innings of 5.56 ERA ball in Triple-A prior to his release. He has a career 4.09 ERA in parts of four big league seasons — all coming with the Astros. As for Rucinski, the 28-year-old posted solid numbers in 23 1/3 Triple-A innings before being hit hard in his small sample of work in the Majors. Despite a career 5.50 ERA in Triple-A, he’s pitched 23 1/3 innings of 2.13 ERA ball with a 25-to-3 K/BB ratio as a member of Minnesota’s Triple-A affiliate in 2017.
  • The Royals picked up infielder/outfielder Zach Walters on a minor league deal, according to MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan (Twitter link). Walters, 27, was hitting well for the independent Kansas City T-Bones before returning to affiliated ball. He’s seen time with the Nats, Indians and Dodgers in the Majors and has shown power but struggled to get on base. In 181 Major League plate appearances, he’s a .176/.227/.382 hitter with 10 home runs. He’s been better in his Triple-A career, hitting .262/.309/.475 through 1711 plate appearances in parts of six seasons.
  • Former Orioles outfielder Henry Urrutia has landed with the Red Sox, as Double-A Portland broadcasting and media director Mike Antonellis tweets. Urrutia, a former Cuban star, had struggled in his brief MLB opportunities with the O’s and was released late in May after losing his 40-man spot last summer. Through over a thousand trips to the plate at Triple-A in his career, Urrutia carries a mediocre .277/.327/.374 slash.

Twins Expected To Sign Third-Rounder Blayne Enlow To Over-Slot Deal

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The Twins are expected to sign third-round pick Blayne Enlow for a bonus of roughly $2MM, reports MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger. That sum is more than two and a half times the size of the No. 76 overall selection’s slot value of $755,400.

Minnesota surprised many by selecting prep shortstop Royce Lewis over a more polished college product such as Louisville left-hander /first baseman Brendan McKay or Vanderbilt right-hander Kyle Wright — long rumored as the two favorites to go first overall — but Bollinger notes that Lewis is expected to sign for around $1MM under the $7.7MM slot value at No. 1 overall. That gives the team some added flexibility, and it seems that Enlow will be one of the primary beneficiaries of that maneuvering.

A high-school righty-hander out of Louisiana, Enlow was rated as the No. 14 prospect in the draft by ESPN’s Keith Law but fell to No. 76, perhaps in part due to a reported strong commitment to Louisiana State University. Baseball America ranked Enlow as the No. 29 prospect in the draft, according to Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com. He ranked 33rd on the lists of both Baseball America and Fangraphs.

Law notes that Enlow was a popular name among teams looking to go overslot later in the draft, which the Twins clearly appear to be doing. He draws praise across the board for his 6’4″, 180-pound frame that leaves him with room to add some size and likely some velocity to a fastball that sits in the low 90s. MLB.com notes that Enlow may have the best curveball of any high school arm in the class, and Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen notes that Enlow has the highest-measured breaking ball spin rate in the class. BA’s report on him notes that Enlow “is the kind of pitcher who sometimes makes it to [college], and if he does, blossoms into a potential front-of-the-rotation ace.”

The Twins have a bonus pool of $14.1MM in this year’s draft — the largest of any team in the league. That should give Minnesota the opportunity to spend a bid creatively even further down the line, whether on some of the players selected earlier today in rounds three through ten or tomorrow in rounds 11 and beyond.

Minor MLB Transactions: 6/13/17

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We’ll use this post to track the day’s minor moves:

  • Right-hander Nick Tepesch, who was recently released by the Twins, is back with Minnesota on a new minor league deal, per a club announcement. The 28-year-old made one start for the Twins earlier this season and lasted just 1 2/3 innings — his second brief stint in the Majors since a lengthier run with the 2013-14 Rangers. Tepesch struggled to a 5.59 ERA in Triple-A Rochester this season but has a career 3.54 ERA in parts of four seasons at that level. He’s been placed on the minor league DL, per the Twins, but he’ll again function as rotation and bullpen depth when healthy.
  • The Yankees announced that they’ve outrighted southpaw Tommy Layne to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Layne, 32, thrived in the Bronx following a midseason pickup in 2016, but he’s had a rough go of it in 2017. Thus far, he’s totaled 13 innings and been tagged for 11 runs on 16 hits and eight walks with nine strikeouts. Layne has been hit hard by lefties and righties alike, but he’s held same-handed opponents to a .187/.286/.230 line through 346 big league plate appearances.
  • Catcher Francisco Pena has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Norfolk following his most recent DFA, per a club announcement from the Orioles. The 27-year-old has already been designated for assignment and outrighted once earlier this season, which afforded him the option to reject this assignment in favor of free agency. However, it appears that Pena will remain with the organization in hopes of securing another look in the Majors. A well-regarded defender, Pena has collected five hits (two homers) in 10 at-bats in the Majors this season. His 60 big league plate appearances haven’t been especially productive, though, and he’s had difficulty getting on base despite showing decent pop in his Triple-A career.

Earlier Moves

  • The Angels have announced that outfielder Shane Robinson was outrighted to Triple-A after clearing waivers. The eight-year MLB veteran would be entitled to reject the assignment, but it seems he has foregone that option since he’s listed on the Salt Lake roster. Robinson, 32, had a five-game stint in the majors for the Halos after appearing in 65 contests for the organization last year. Over his 772 career plate appearances, Robinson owns only a .227/.295/.300 batting line. But he was slashing a productive .289/.372/.358 in his 183 trips to the plate at Triple-A before his promotion.

Twins Select Royce Lewis First Overall

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The Twins have taken high school infielder Royce Lewis with the first overall pick of the 2017 amateur draft, as Keith Law of ESPN.com suggested on Twitter and John Manuel of Baseball America tweeted would occur. The selection is the first for the organization’s newly installed front office, led by chief baseball officer Derek Falvey and GM Thad Levine.

With the draft clock ticking down, reports suggested that Minnesota had whittled it down to two possibilities: Louisville two-way star Brendan McKay and Lewis. But McKay’s camp declined to take the bonus that Minnesota was offering him, according to MLB.com’s Jim Callis (via Twitter), leaving the team to move on.

The 18-year-old Lewis is seen as a highly projectable talent who may thrive in center field even if he can’t stick at short. He hails from California’s JSerra Catholic High School. MLB.com’s team of Callis and Jonathan Mayo joined Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs in ranking Lewis as the fifth overall prospect on the board. Baseball America had him at seventh.

High-school righty Hunter Greene and Vanderbilt starter Kyle Wright have drawn the most votes as the top overall player available. But every team’s assessments are different. And maximizing an overall draft requires bonus pool management. The first overall slot came with over $7.7MM in total spending capacity, some of which will likely be allocated to other selections.

Draft Chatter: Lewis, McKay, College Arms, Mock Drafts, A’s

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With the MLB Draft just a few hours away, there’s some increasing talk that the Twins are giving serious consideration to high school shortstop Royce Lewis with the No. 1 overall pick. John Manuel of Baseball America tweeted today that Lewis is in consideration and adds that he was told by a Twins official that signability is a factor for the Twins up top. Yahoo’s Jeff Passan tweets that the Twins are down to Lewis and Louisville left-hander/first baseman Brendan McKay. Meanwhile, 1500 ESPN’s Darren Wolfson tweeted that as of this morning, a Twins front office source told him that no decision has been made.

For those wondering whether the Twins may cut a deal with Lewis to save money and allow greater spending with their Comp Balance pick and second-round selection, FanRag’s Jon Heyman tweets that Lewis has a high asking price. (Lewis is reportedly being advised by agent Scott Boras.) Adding to the Lewis/Twins steam is La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, who tweeted that with less than three hours until the Twins are on the clock, the Lewis steam is real. McKay and flamethrowing righty Hunter Greene are both in the mix, Neal adds, and money is a significant factor in the decision. Obviously, the Twins will spend their entire allotted draft budget regardless of who they take, but the amount for which the first overall pick signs will determine how aggressive the Twins can be on pick Nos. 35 and 37 as well as with the rest of their selections.

A bit more on tonight’s draft…

  • Fangraphs’ Gerald Schifman takes an excellent look at the usage of some of the top college arms in the draft, examining each pitcher’s average pitches per start, the percentage of starts in excess of 115 pitches and the number of “Pitch Smart” violations. (More details on the Pitch Smart guidelines here.) Notably, projected top picks like Vanderbilt’s Kyle Wright and Louisville’s Brendan McKay have had their pitch counts and rest between starts managed quite well for the most part. On the other end of the spectrum is UCLA righty Griffin Canning, who has throw 115+ pitches in 53 percent of his outings in the past two seasons. Missouri’s Tanner Houck has also had some troubling usage trends, including high pitch counts and a lack of rest between outings.
  • As is always the case on draft day, there are a number of last-minute mock drafts from some industry experts that readers and draft followers will want to check out. Both Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com agree that the top five picks will go Brendan McKay (Twins), Hunter Greene (Reds), MacKenzie Gore (Padres), Royce Lewis (Rays) and Keston Hiura (Braves). That, somewhat surprisingly, would leave Kyle Wright out of the top five, though Callis has him going sixth to the A’s, while Mayo has him going seventh to the D-backs. BA’s John Manuel agrees with that top three, though he has high school outfielder Bubba Thompson going to the Rays and Wright going to the Braves at No. 5. ESPN’s Keith Law also published a draft-day mock, listing McKay, Greene, Gore, Lewis and Wright as his respective top five.
  • The Athletics are up with the No. 6 pick in the draft tonight, and Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle connects them to a number of outfielders and pitchers. High school lefty MacKenzie Gore is on Oakland’s radar, though many project him to go before the A’s are on the clock. High school outfielder Austin Beck is also an Athletics target and recently had a private workout with the A’s. Slusser notes that they’d be thrilled to see Kyle Wright slip to them with the sixth selection, similarly to the manner in which Florida lefty A.J. Puk dropped to Oakland last year after being discussed as a potential 1-1 option. Wright’s teammate, outfielder Jeren Kendall, is also intriguing to the A’s, per Slusser.

Minor MLB Transactions: 6/12/17

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Here are Monday’s minor moves from around the game…

  • The Twins have signed right-hander Tim Melville to a minor league deal and assigned him to their Triple-A affiliate in Rochester, according to Nate Rowan, the PR director of their Rochester affiliate (Twitter link). The 27-year-old Melville was a fourth-round pick by the Royals in 2008 and made his big league debut with the Reds last season, yielding 11 runs on 16 hits and nine walks in just nine innings of work. That unsightly cup of coffee aside, Melville has been enjoying a nice season with the independent Atlantic League’s Long Island Ducks. Through 47 innings, he’s worked to a 3.45 ERA with a 48-to-18 K/BB ratio. Melville has a rather pedestrian 4.61 ERA in 160 career innings at Triple-A, but he’ll add some depth to a Twins organization that recently released Nick Tepesch and promoted Triple-A lefties Nik Turley and Adalberto Mejia to the Majors.

Poll: Who Will Be The No. 1 Overall Draft Pick?

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Major League Baseball’s annual amateur draft kicks off tonight at 7pm ET, and the Twins will be on the clock with the No. 1 overall pick for the first time since selecting local catcher out of St. Paul’s Cretin-Derham Hall high school named Joe Mauer back in 2001. While some draft classes have a very clear top overall pick (e.g. Bryce Harper, Stephen Strasburg), that doesn’t appear to be the case this season. There have been rumors circulating about who the Twins will select No. 1 overall tonight for months, now, and the top three names on the board, at the very least, seem to be clear….

  • Hunter Greene, RHP/SS, Notre Dame HS (Sherman Oaks, Calif.): Greene has been the most talked-about player in the draft class for the past year. A two-way high school star that has already graced the cover of Sports Illustrated and generated awe with a fastball that has reached 102 mph, Greene sits atop the draft rankings of MLB.com, Baseball America and ESPN. However, while he has the highest upside in the class, there’s also never been a high school right-hander selected No. 1 overall in the draft, and the risks associated with a prep pitcher are greater than those associated with a college player or even a fellow high school pitcher. Most mock drafts from experts have had the Twins passing on Greene, though he’s undoubtedly a tempting option for the new-look Minnesota front office.
  • Kyle Wright, RHP, Vanderbilt: Wright ranks first on Fangraphs’ list of draft prospects, just edging out Greene for that top spot. Over the past month, he’s been the most oft-connected name to the Twins, with most draft experts and scouting reports touting him as the best combination of ceiling and certainty. Armed with a fastball that sits in the low to mid 90s and can reach 97 mph, Wright also has solid control and three secondary offerings that scouting reports peg as average to above-average. He may not have generated as much fanfare and intrigue as the two-way stars that join him atop the draft class, but Wright is very much in the mix to go first overall.
  • Brendan McKay, LHP/1B, Louisville: Scouting reports on McKay are split on whether his best long-term fit is on the mound or as a position player, but there’s a general belief that he could excel either way. Whether a team prefers McKay as a pitcher or a hitter, he seems like a virtual lock to go in the top five of the draft. MLB.com’s report gives him a future 60-grade rating in either role, while ESPN’s Keith Law notes that he showed a bit of fatigue on the mound late in the season. Dedicating himself fully to one discipline under a professional coaching/player development staff could allow McKay to take his game to a new level in either direction. The Twins have been connected to McKay quite often, and while most mocks had Wright going No. 1 overall for the past month, McKay’s name has regained a bit of steam in the past few days.

Readers can check out more details on this year’s draft class by diving into the excellent work from Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com (free); Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs (free); Keith Law of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required/recommended); and John Manuel and his team over at Baseball America (subscription required and, once again, recommended).

But, if you already have an opinion on the matter formed, let’s get right to the poll (link for Trade Rumors mobile app users)…

Who will the Twins take with the No. 1 overall pick?
Brendan McKay 33.14% (2,088 votes)
Kyle Wright 32.27% (2,033 votes)
Hunter Greene 27.62% (1,740 votes)
Other (Specify in comments) 6.97% (439 votes)
Total Votes: 6,300

Draft Notes: Twins, Reds, Rays, Braves

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A day before the start of the 2017 MLB Draft, here are the current rumblings.

  • The Twins look likely to select Vanderbilt righty Kyle Wright or Louisville two-way player Brendan McKay with the first overall pick, John Manuel of Baseball America writes in his last mock (which came out Friday). Late last week, Jim Callis of MLB.com suggested the Twins were leaning toward McKay, although it seems the first pick is still the subject of some uncertainty. Both sources have the Reds taking California high school righty Hunter Greene at No. 2 and the Padres going with North Carolina high school lefty MacKenzie Gore at No. 3, although those picks could seemingly change based on what the Twins end up doing. (ESPN’s Keith Law, by the way, has a long profile of Greene, calling him “the best prospect in the draft class and one of the most gifted teenage players I’ve ever seen,” even as he notes that kind of praise can lead to burdensome expectations.)
  • Interestingly, Jonathan Mayo’s latest update in the MLB.com link above cites speculation that the Rays at No. 4 and the Braves at No. 5 could make predraft deals with players to save money against the value of their picks and then go after highly regarded talents in later rounds. (The Rays have a pool of about $12.5MM, with the Braves at just under $10MM.) One possibility should the Rays go that route is Alabama high school outfielder Bubba Thompson, who MLB.com currently rates as the No. 26 prospect in the draft. Atlanta could do something similar, but they could also take Wright or California high school SS/OF Royce Lewis if those players are still available when they make their first selection.
  • It’s possible you remember Darren Baker, Dusty’s son, as the small batboy being yanked away from home plate by J.T. Snow in the 2002 World Series. Now, though, Darren is an outfield prospect with a commitment to Cal. Dusty says, though, that Darren will honor that commitment unless he’s drafted “real, real high,” according to Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post (on Twitter).

Twins Designate Drew Rucinski

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The Twins have announced that they’ve designated righty Drew Rucinski for release or assignment. The move clears space on the club’s 40-man roster for lefty Nik Turley, who will start today against the Giants, as expected. The Twins also optioned lefty Randy Rosario to Double-A Chattanooga.

[Related: Updated Minnesota Twins Depth Chart]

The Twins signed the 28-year-old Rucinski to a minor-league deal last offseason, and he’s bounced back and forth between Triple-A Rochester and the Majors since the club selected his contract last month. Overall, he’s allowed five runs in 4 1/3 big-league innings with the Twins, but he’s pitched very well for Rochester, with a 2.31 ERA, 9.6 K/9 and 1.2 BB/9 in 23 1/3 frames, most of them spent in relief. He had previously pitched in the Indians, Angels and Cubs organizations.

The 27-year-old Turley has spent parts of ten years in the minors since the Yankees selected him in the fifth round of the 2008 draft. He had limited success in the farm systems of the Yankees, Giants and Red Sox but has thrived since a brief stint in independent ball last season — he posted a ridiculous 0.37 ERA, 16.6 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 in 24 1/3 innings thus far this year in Chattanooga and has also pitched well in Rochester. The journeyman will be making his big-league debut today.

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