The Minnesota Twins started day two of the draft without a third-round pick — courtesy of signing Lance Lynn in free agency — but selected Utah outfielder DaShawn Keirsey Jr. with their fourth-round pick (No. 124 overall).
Keirsey, the second Pac-12 outfielder the Twins have selected in this draft, hit .386/.440/.609 for Utah this season, and is a career .334/.391/.473 hitter.
He has also battled some injury problems:
Keirsey was No. 82 on Baseball America’s top-500s list of draft-eligible prospects. They also note how impressive this year’s breakout is since his injury came last May, and was gruesome as he dislocated and fractured his left hip while tracking a home run ball in the outfield. BA also notes: “Scouts have been impressed with his athleticism, plus raw power, a strong throwing arm and running ability.”
Keirsey was also a wide receiver in high school:
“We have him as a plus runner, 60,” Twins scouting director Sean Johnson said. “He’s running well. This guy is a good center fielder. We’ve seen him make a lot of great plays with range. They play at the pro park in Salt Lake City where the Bees play. I personally have seen him make a great play over his head. This guy will go into the wall still.
“If you blow out your hip, you’re a little less inclined to go into the wall with that kind of force” Johnson reasoned. “But he is a fearless player. He’s a really good defender. He has a really pro swing. He’s got some raw power. Obviously, his home run numbers are a little low, but we think there is some more power in there.”
The Twins had an extended wait between the end of Monday night’s picks (59) and Tuesday’s first one (124) — Johnson said it felt like 1,000 picks — but they were elated to see Keirsey there when the time came to pick in the fourth round.
Part of that wait was that the Twins traded pick No. 74 to the San Diego Padres as part of the Phil Hughes trade.
“We obviously know who went there (at pick 74),” Johnson said. “So we paid attention. Part of it was that it felt like pick 59 and our first pick today felt like 1,000 picks. It felt like we were in the penalty box for a while. So when we got back out, it was nice.
“We walked into the room today and we just planned on as many scenarios as we could come up with. Obviously, we held up guys we preferred. We had a small group of players we were going to take at 59, and Keirsey was one of them. We felt good about getting him in the fourth round. That was a nice get for us to start the day. We got some momentum early. Keirsey, we were totally happy with. We felt good about today.”
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With pick No. 154 in the fifth round, the Twins selected right-handed pitcher Cole Sands from Florida State. Sands is a junior, and ranked No. 116 on MLB.com’s top-200 prospect list before the draft. He was also No. 74 on Baseball America’s list.
Sands was taken in the 22nd round by the Houston Astros in 2015, but opted to go to Florida State instead. He battled some biceps tendinitis this year, and finished the season with a 4.46 ERA in 13 starts with an 86-25 K/BB ratio and 1.11 WHIP in 72.2 innings.
Over three years with the Seminoles, Sands has a 4.71 ERA with 208 strikeouts and 87 walks in 224.2 innings.
Sands has been terrific the last two years with the Falmouth Commodores in the Cape Cod League, posting a combined 2.61 ERA with 39 strikeouts and just nine walks in 31 innings.
While there have been some questions about the workloads of Florida State pitchers, the Twins came away comfortable with any sort of risk that represented.
“I’m not sure what his top pitch count was,” Johnson said. “Again, we weighed the risk and history of that particular school. We felt good about it. Obviously, I’m going to our medical staff, trainers and the scouts who’ve seen him, and asking if everyone feels good about it. Everyone felt good enough to take on the risk there in that round.
“If you’re in the first or second round, maybe it’s a different story. But at some point, you take on the risk of injury more so. Your threshold is better in those rounds than up top.”
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With pick No. 184 in the sixth round, the Twins selected shortstop Charles Mack from Williamsville East High School (N.Y.). He was No. 133 on MLB.com’s top-200 draft prospect list and No. 118 on Baseball America’s top-500 list.
Mack is a Clemson commit, and reportedly not a sure thing to stay at shortstop. The Twins, in fact, listed him as a third baseman with the pick.
MLB.com says he has some “serious raw power to tap into” while Baseball America suggested he could go somewhere as high as the second to fourth round.
Johnson said the Twins were — of course — hopeful Mack wouldn’t be too tough to sign.
“Hopefully not,” Johnson reiterated. “He had a strong commit also to Clemson but we feel confident we’ll sign him.”
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With pick 214 in round seven, the Twins selected right-handed pitcher Josh Winder from Virginia Military Institute. Winder was not among MLB.com’s top-200 draft prospects, but was No. 223 on Baseball America’s top-500 list.
Winder had a 5.40 ERA for the Keydets this season, though he did carry a 91-19 K/BB ratio in 85 innings. He also allowed a high number of hits (105) and homers (16), and was coming off a markedly better year as a sophomore last year: 3.59 ERA, 112-19 K/BB ratio in 107.2 innings.
Winder set VMI single-season records for strikeouts and innings pitched in 2017, though his stuff hasn’t been quite as good this year according to Baseball America. A fastball that was in the mid-90s has fallen into the upper 80s and his slider hasn’t been nearly as sharp, hurting his overall draft stock.
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The Twins spent pick No. 244 (round eight) on Clemson senior catcher Chris Williams. Williams hit .275/.391/.554 for the Tigers this season with 17 homers and he was also hit by eight pitches, oddly enough.
In his four years at Clemson, Williams hit .274/.365/.511, and over the last two years he hit 31 of the 43 homers he stroked at the school.
Williams was not listed among MLB.com’s top-200 draft prospects, but was No. 213 on the Baseball America list. He was also a 31st-round pick of the Tampa Bay Rays last year.
The industry consensus seems to be that Williams profiles as more of a 1B/DH-type, as 2080 Baseball also listed him as a 1B on one of their scouting videos.
Baseball America says he’d have been a pick in the top-five rounds had he not suffered an injured shoulder which required surgery. He played first base mostly this year.
“Williams was a guy who he had the shoulder injury and would have gone pretty high last year in the draft,” Johnson said. “We think there’s an outside chance he can catch. It’s part of the rehab and our player development, they’ll do their thing and we’ll see if we can get lucky there on a catcher. He’s got a ton of power. He’s put up a lot of home runs the last two years at Clemson. We’re excited about that.”
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With their ninth-round pick — No. 274 overall — the Twins selected outfielder Willie Joe Garry Jr. from Pascagoula High School (Miss.).
Garry was the first player selected by the Twins who wasn’t listed among Baseball America’s top-500 list, and he didn’t have a listed Division I commitment. He was committed to Pearl River Community College, though Johnson doesn’t foresee any issues getting him signed.
Perfect Game listed Garry as its No. 415 draft-eligible prospect, and according to notes provided by the Twins, he played under the tutelage of former Minnesota outfielder Matt Lawton in youth ball.
“We just liked the upside of the player,” Johnson said. “He’s a plus athlete. He’s got a good swing. He can run, throw and field. We think he’s a center fielder. There’s a lot to like. He has really good makeup. Our scouts did a great job identifying his character and he’ll probably be a signable guy.”
The Twins became aware of him last October — he didn’t do much on the summer circuits — and have been following him since, Johnson said.
“He’s a guy we saw in the Jupiter Tournament in October in Florida,” Johnson said. “He hadn’t been all over the circuit in the summer. So we kind of saw him late in the fall and kept an eye on him, and he kept on progressing in the spring. Our area scout Derrick Dunbar got to know him very well. We felt good about taking him.”
Johnson added that the Twins also like targeting younger high school players, a bill that Garry — birthdate May 29, 2000 — fits.
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The final pick of the day for the Twins came in round 10 — No. 304 overall — as the team nabbed right-handed pitcher Regi Grace from Madison Central High School (Miss.). Dunbar was also the scout who recommended him.
Grace was No. 491 on the Baseball America top-500 list. After leading his school to a state title in his sophomore year, he suffered a back injury that laid him up for his entire junior season.
He’s a Mississippi State commit, and BA had him sitting 88-90 mph while touching a few ticks higher, and his 6-foot-2 frame has room to add more velo at some point, they said.
Grace was named a 2018 Rawlings-Perfect Game Honorable Mention All-American, and in 32 games this year for Madison HS he posted a 1.31 ERA and 98-10 K/BB ratio in 64 innings while hitting .367.
In this video — which also features Twins front office member LaTroy Hawkins — Grace chats about the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.:
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