Minneapolis – Quentin Young was one of those prospects the Minnesota Twins draft team had always hoped to land. When they were running their mock drafts in the draft bunker at Target Field this last week, they focused on Young, and not just because of his family connections to baseball.
Young is a 6’6”, 225 lbs. prep shortstop from Oaks Christian High School in California, and Dmitri and Delmon Young’s nephew. At 18, he’s already surpassed the size of his uncles, with plenty of room left to grow. When he fell to the Twins at the 54th pick in the second round, there wasn’t any chance they’d pass him up.
“The upside with Quentin Young is tremendous,” said Twins assistant general manager Sean Johnson. “I think that’s probably like the highlight of our scouts for the night. We thought he’d be off the board by then. To be able to get him where we took him, our scouts are probably in the room still trying to do gymnastics.”
While Minnesota’s scouting department may not be Olympic gymnasts, they’re beyond ecstatic about molding Young into a star player. He already has incredible power and a strong throwing arm for his age and build. Still, Young has room for growth with his contact and fielding skills, which scouts have graded at 45 and 50 on the 80/20 scale.
There are very few 6’6” shortstops, let alone 6’5”. Elly De La Cruz is baseball’s tallest shortstop at 6’5” and an outlier at the position. It’s hard for anyone taller than De La Cruz to stick at short.
The Pittsburgh Pirates tried 6’7” Oneil Cruz at shortstop when he first arrived in the majors in 2022. However, they decided that, given his incredible throwing arm, he was better off playing center field rather than throwing nearly 100 MPH throws from shortstop to first.
Young is unlikely to remain at shortstop with his size, but that doesn’t mean he will leave the infield. He has better running abilities around the bases and on the diamond than his uncles. Ideally, he could become a third baseman in the long term. However, the Twins are unlikely to permanently secure his position anytime soon, as they see him growing significantly as a player.
“When you go watch him play shortstop in California, he can move,” Johnson said. “It will depend on what his body looks like when he matures and where he ends up. But I think if you can see a guy play a pretty decent shortstop in high school, adding it all together, you’re hoping he has a chance to play somewhere on the dirt.”
Like they do with every position player, Young will be shuffled around from position to position to see which one fits him best. The player development department often puts players like Young in a position that is the hardest for them first, then moves them down the defensive spectrum depending on their performance.
The Twins will likely start with Young at shortstop after he signs with the club, but Johnson said they’ll also try him at other positions.
“There’s a real chance that Quentin Young is going to stand and play some short when he signs, and we’ll see how that goes,” he said. “But I think we’ll want to challenge the player the most they can right away, and then let the game dictate where they should move.”
No matter where Young ends up on the major league diamond, he’s one of the most exciting draft picks the Twins made this cycle. He’ll be a player to watch in the minors for the next few years, and not just because of his family lineage. Minnesota doesn’t often get a prep player built like Young, and he will be a force to reckon with at the plate as he develops in Minnesota’s minor league system.
“Our area scout, Dillon Taschen, did a great job getting to know him and following him all spring,” said Johnson. “We had a really good process. We got a lot of looks on him. And so it’s great to be able to actually select a player we did a lot of work on. And same thing with all the players we took tonight.”
