So, to recap. The 2026 Minnesota Twins have, at the MLB level, currently:
-Byron Buxton, 2012 2nd overall pick.
-Alex Jackson, 2014 6th overall pick.
-Royce Lewis, 2017 1st overall pick.
-Trevor Larnach, 2018 1st round pick.
-Ryan Jeffers, 2018 2nd round pick.
-Matt Wallner, 2019 1st round pick.
-Austin Martin, 2020 5th overall pick.
-Mick Abel, 2020 1st round pick.
-Brooks Lee, 2022 8th overall pick.
-Connor Prielipp, 2022 2nd round pick.
-Luke Keaschall, 2023 2nd round pick.
All of these people were picked high for a reason, and the Twins themselves picked all but three of them. The goal was to draft, or accumulate, the kind of prospects to build a great team out of. Now...with all of these people on the active roster...how come nothing's getting done?
It blows my mind that people like Matt Wallner, Trevor Larnach and Royce Lewis could look so good out of college or high school, get to the MLB level and continue to blow opportunities. Wallner is the kind of athlete you could build in a lab, and they still can't get him to hit for average. Royce Lewis can hit home runs like crazy, but only for 2 weeks out of the year, in between injuries and slumps. Larnach's a decent power hitter but he's more okay than anything. I also think about Brooks Lee, who came up as this incredible shortstop prospect, one who got Carlos Correa traded to get himself more room there...and as of a week ago, starting Lee at short is no longer a viable option. So now he's a third baseman. Let's see, who's the nearest shortstop in that draft- oh, Zach Neto. He'd have been a good career shortstop. Or...would he have been if the Twins drafted him?
I give Lee shit for blowing the SS job but he's actually having a halfway decent season. He's hitting .252 with 8 homers and 35 RBIs, and is one of the best non-Buxton plate performers the Twins have right now. Keaschall's also beginning to heat up, and he's got 10 stolen bases already. If Jeffers had stayed healthy it'd have been a nice top of the order, and guys like Tristan Gray, Austin Martin and Ryan Kreider providing excellent bench work. Granted, not much depth beyond that though, but I think the Twins are at the point where they're just trying shit out and seeing if that works better than the original plan.
Case in point: the Twins just cut Simeon Woods-Richardson, after a dismal 0-7, 7.74 ERA start, and sent him back to his initial system in Toronto. The plan is to go with a four man rotation of Joe Ryan, Taj Bradley, Zebby Matthews and Connor Prielipp [which is actually a pretty decent combination considering Matthews and Prielipp's ceilings], plus an added bullpen slot as they debate whether to stretch out Mike Paredes all the way. At some point either Mick Abel or Bailey Ober will come back anyhow. And honestly...for a team that everyone was assuming would be a last place punchline, that's not bad at all. It makes me wish the team hit better.
The Twins do theoretically have enough to stay ahead of the Royals, but the Royals want out of last very badly, and won't be afraid to really go crazy to get to that point.
Coming Tomorrow- The Cardinals have a very young rotation, and technically he's the ace. So he's beginning to act like one.
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