With the 5th Round complete we move over to a new thread, and here we will update as the draft progresses for the Twins 6th through 10th round picks.
The Twins 6th round selection, pick 179, carried a value of $274,800. The values decrease from there: their final pick of the day, the 299th overall pick in the 10th round, has a value of $145,500.
In the past few years under the Falvey-Levine-Johnson draft regime, the Twins have used some picks in this range for senior signs.
What is a senior sign? Simpy put, a senior sign is a way for a team to add minor league depth while saving money. A college senior has two options: be drafted and sign with a team for whatever they give you, or try to make a team as an undrafted free agent. Since minor league players make next to nothing, seniors will choose to sign for anything from $5,000 to $50,000 because it is better than what they would get as a free agent. That saves the teams upwards of $100,000 each pick that they can use for the players in the earlier rounds of the draft, or even guys on day 3 who have decided they will sign for more than the $125,000 slot that picks in rounds 11-40 are allowed. Sometimes those senior signs become real prospects, but more often than not they are organizational depth who help fill out rosters in the minors.
With the 179th pick in the 2019 MLB Draft, the Twins select:
Sawyer Gipson-Long, RHP, Mercer
Here is another off-the-board pick, with Sawyer Gipson-Long not even making the 500 prospect board for Baseball America or Fangraphs.
But just because he isn’t heralded doesn’t mean he doesn’t have promise. He is a 6’4” 220lbs starter who can sit 90-94mph. He threw 81.2 innings over 23 appearances (14 starts) and struck out 99 while walking 18. He had an ugly ERA at 5.29 but 11 of the 48 runs he gave up came in a single start. He also only threw over 100 pitches in three of his starts, getting to the 90 pitch mark in 40 others.
During the draft broadcast Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline mentioned that Gipson-Long has a good fastball-slider now even though he didn’t have that sort of breaking ball as a prep. Slider flashes above average now.
He has the body to start, he has some velocity, and I’m sure he will sign fairly cheap. Let’s see if the Twins system can help him improve his prospect stock.
With the 209th pick in the 2019 MLB Draft, the Twins select:
Anthony Prato, SS, UCONN
GIVE ME ALL YOUR SHORTSTOPS! Anthony Prato is not a highly ranked player, but he does come in at 372 on the Baseball America big board. He has been a consistant contact hitter throughout his college career at UCONN, increasing his BA, OBP, and SLG every single year to the point where he hit .324/.441/.430 this year. He does not have much power, but he walked more than he struck out this year and has plus speed according to BA.
Prato will likely profile better as a second baseman with an old school contact + walk approach (like Luis Arraez?) and is a switch hitter.
With the 239th pick in the 2019 MLB Draft, the Twins select:
Casey Legumina, RHP, Gonzaga
Casey Legumina had a really solid season as a reliever for Gonzaga in 2018, shifting over to the starting rotation this year. In 4 starts he pitched well with a 1.50 ERA in 24 innings and a 29/8 K/BB rate. Then he was shut down for the year with a forearm strain. Prior to the injury he was getting his fastball up to 96 mph with a delivery that makes many thinks he will stick as a starter.
Legumina is ranked as Baseball America’s 206th best prospect in the draft despite the injury and you have to wonder if the Twins see in him what they saw in Cole Sands last year, who also battled injury in his final college season, albeit not as drastic as Legumina’s. Sands is already in High-A Fort Myers after not throwing a single inning of professional ball last year, so maybe Legumina has a similar chance to shoot up some levels next year assuming he doesn’t require surgery.
With the 269th pick in the 2019 MLB Draft, the Twins select:
Brent Headrick, LHP, Illinois State
Headrick is another off-the-board draftee by the Twins, failing to make the 500 prospect big boad of both Baseball America and Fangraphs.
Even so, he had an impressive year for Illinios State, throwing 96 innings with a 3.47 ERA and a 115/31 K/BB rate. He is a big lefty at 6’6” 227lbs and has been a weekend starter for the last two years, taking the Friday night ace mantle this year.
Even though Illinois State is a smaller program, Headrick pitched against some decent competition this year. He gave up 8 runs (5 earned) in 4.1 innings against #1 Vanderbilt early in the year, a game where #4 overall pick JJ Bleday went 1-for-5 with a double and a strikeout.
With the 299th pick in the 2019 MLB Draft, the Twins select:
Ben Gross, RHP, Duke
Ben Gross is a pretty typical senior sign, technically a graduate transfer to Duke this year from Princeton.
This year for Duke he started 12 games and appeared in 19 total, throwing 70.1 innings with a 4.10 ERA and a 69/30 K/BB rate.
Some senior signs do have a bit of upside/potential here and there, but Gross will ultimately sign for anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000 or so and then take the hill every few days for our Rookie-ball teams until he slowly progresses into the lower level full season leagues.
And that is it for Day 2 of the 2019 MLB Draft. Rounds 11-40 of the Draft will take place tomorrow, but unfortunately I have to get back to work for the rest of the week, so we won’t have pick by pick summaries. Since many of the players will be far more obscure, we likely wouldn’t have much on them anyway. We will do a recap of those rounds and the draft as a whole later this week!