Six players who could fall to the Twins in the first round of Sunday’s MLB draft

The Twins will soon learn their consolation prize for Sonny Gray, the runner-up in the American League Cy Young voting last year, departing as a free agent during the offseason.

Along with the No. 21 overall pick in Sunday’s MLB amateur draft, the Twins received the No. 33 pick as compensation for losing Gray, who declined a qualifying offer before signing a three-year deal with the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Twins have four picks — Nos. 21, 33, 60 and 69 — on the first day of the 20-round, three-day draft at Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas.

Another important factor for the Twins is they hold the 11th-highest bonus pool ($12.2 million) to spend on their picks in the first 10 rounds, which gives them more leverage if a highly rated player slides in the draft because of signing bonus demands.

It’s the fourth time the Twins have picked below No. 15 in the first round since 2012, and their late-first round picks have produced mixed results. They took Trevor Larnach in 2018, Aaron Sabato in 2020 and Chase Petty in 2021. Sabato hasn’t advanced past Class AA and Petty was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for Gray.

“Ideally, you’re hoping that a player that you get in the 20s is coming from your board somewhere in the top 10 or 15,” said Sean Johnson, the Twins’ scouting director. “There have been years where we had several options when it was our turn to pick in the 20s, and then there are some years where our board got completely wiped out, and maybe one or two names left that we wanted to take with our first pick.”

This draft class is expected to be heavy on college position players in the first round.

One area of focus for the Twins’ scouting department is making sure their picks align with the strengths of their minor league staffs. The Twins have six top-100 rated prospects, according to Baseball America, and they’ve had strong rookie classes in the past two years.

Brooks Lee, the No. 8 pick in the 2022 draft, rose quickly through the minor leagues, and Luke Keaschall, a second-round pick last year, is already viewed as a top-50 level prospect.

“We are leaning really heavily into not only who our scouts think are good fits for our organization and our [research and development] group believes the numbers support this selection, but we’re pushing into who are the best fits for our player development group,” Johnson said. “We’re learning from all the players who we’ve taken in the past, what we’ve been able to enhance, what hasn’t gone as well.”

Cleveland has the first pick in the draft, and the top three players are considered to be college infielders Travis Bazzana of Oregon State, Charlie Condon of Georgia and J.J. Wetherholt of West Virginia.

Here are six players to watch for the Twins’ top pick:

A two-way player in college, the 6-1 Benge is a first-round prospect as a lefthanded-hitting right fielder. He batted .335 with 18 homers, 24 doubles, 64 RBI and almost as many walks (49) as strikeouts (51) in 61 games, adding 10 stolen bases.

On the mound, he had a 3.16 ERA with 44 strikeouts in 37 innings.

One of the top prep bats, the 6-2 lefty hitter batted .415 with a .579 on-base percentage. Committed to the University of Texas, he compiled seven homers, 30 RBI and 29 stolen bases. There are concerns whether he will stick at shortstop after he had shoulder surgery in 2022.

After starting his college career at Charleston Southern, Waldschmidt impressed during his two seasons in the SEC. The 6-2 left fielder recorded a .333 batting average with 14 homers, 17 doubles, 46 RBI and nearly as many walks (41) as strikeouts (45) in 59 games while stealing 25 bases. He is rated as a below-average defender.

An explosive pitcher with a fastball that touches 101 mph and a dominant slider, the 6-4, 235-pound Brecht is far from polished. He struck out 128 batters in 78 innings this year, but he walked 49 while throwing more sliders than fastballs. There is significant risk he is more likely to end up as a reliever than starter because of his command.

He’s a former two-sport athlete as a receiver on the Iowa football team.

Doughty, listed at 6-1 and 196 pounds, had a 1.11 ERA during his high school season with 85 strikeouts and 10 walks in 50⅓ innings. The Oklahoma State commit features a mid-90s fastball with a high-spin curveball and slider.

A multipositional righty hitter, the 6-foot, 195-pound King hit .308 in his first season at Wake Forest after playing the first two years of his college career at Division II Wingate. He posted 16 homers, 14 doubles, 64 RBI and 11 stolen bases while totaling 25 walks and 34 strikeouts in 60 games. He’s an aggressive hitter who often swings early in counts.