Draft Preview - Minnesota Twins

The twenty-second team draft preview on my blog focuses on the Minnesota Twins and their scouting director Deron Johnson.

Here's an excerpt from the writeup, which features small writeups on 10 players involved with Johnson's work:

Deron Johnson took over the amateur scouting department from long-time scouting director Mike Radcliff following the 2007 season, a position that Radcliff held for 15 drafting seasons. Needless to say, Johnson had a big some big shoes to fill following his promotion. Prior to the promotion, Johnson had been the Twins’ West Coast Crosschecker for almost a decade, a position that resulted in a fair amount of talent coming into the Minnesota system. Prior to holding that crosschecker position, Johnson had been the Twins’ Northern California area scout, and his scouting instincts are not in question. He’s an excellent evaluator, and the Twins have benefited from having him in their system as they rebuilt towards success with a proven plan under Radcliff’s drafting strategy. Johnson now has a pair of solid drafts under him, and it’s time to look at a few of the trends he’s been following since his first draft in June 2008. To begin, Johnson generally capitalizes on excellent players with higher draft stock falling to him in lower spots. Hicks was picked right where he should have gone, but players like Kyle Gibson, Shooter Hunt, Tyler Ladendorf, and Ben Tootle should have all gone higher than when the Twins grabbed them. That’s an excellent testament to how well the Twins have executed their draft strategy, as they’ve been able to maximize the value in each pick, with the vast majority signing for slot money. Looking beyond that, Johnson has continued much of what Radcliff had started in terms of the type of player that the Twins draft. Generally, they are high makeup players with solid baseball skills. They get a solid mix of upside players with safer players, and the bats they spend high draft picks on are usually more toolsy than polished. The pitchers they draft are quite the opposite, as they have plus command or a lot of experience, with Hunt falling in the latter. This method of operation has been very successful for the Twins as an organization, and I expect more of the same in 2010.

Direct link here.

I'm also running a special on the 2010 MLB Draft Notebook, as the next 5 buyers will be entered in a drawing for an autographed baseball from Jameson Taillon. If you'd like to read more about the promotion, go ahead and do so here.

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What do you think? What will the Twins do?