Ranking the Twins Drafts

The Twins will draft second in the June draft, the highest spot they have had since they took Joe Mauer as the number one choice in 2001. I thought it would useful to evaluate the drafts from 1994-2003. I will rank more recent drafts separately since, for the most part, its too early to really evaluate their overall success. Players in parenthesis were taken after the top 100 players.

2001 - Mauer, Morales, (Blackburn)
1999 - Bowen, Morneau
1994 - Walker, Pierzynski, (Koskie)
2002 - Span, Crain, (Neshek)
1997 - Cuddyer, LeCroy, (Romero)
2003 - Baker
1996 - Jones, Allen, (Ryan, Moeller, Lincoln)
2000 - (Kubel)
1995 - Redman, (Mientkiewicz)
1998 -

If you look at the 2004 draft below, you understand why its too early to evaluate recent drafts. The only "proven" players on the list are Tolbert and Perkins. That is assuming last year was proof for Perkins and Tolbert contributed enough to prove anything.

The rankings here, not surprisingly, are almost entirely in chronological order. And its not impossible the 2004 draft will move ahead of the 2005 draft. The players in parenthesis are players who are now recognized as significant prospects but were taken after the first 100 picks.

2005 - Garza, Slowey, Duensing, (Burnett, Tosoni)
2004 - Plouffe, Perkins, Swarzak, Waldrop, (Tolbert)
2006 - Parmelee, Benson, Robertson, (Dinkelman, Manship, Valencia)
2007 - Revere, Rams
2008 - Hicks, Guttierez, Lanigan
2009 - Gibson, (Herrmann, Dozier)
2010 - Wimmers, Goodrum
2011 - Michael, Harrison, Boyd, Boer

If you compare the two lists, the biggest difference is the presence of two MVP's, Mauer and Morneau, on the first list. Hicks is probably the only player on the second list who looks to have that kind of potential. Of course, Morneau didn't look likely to play at that level either shortly after he was drafted.

The real point of this is that the Twins have done a pretty good job with past drafts and it may be as late as 2020 before we can fully evaluate this summer's draft.