Every Twins player picked in the first round since 1998

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 Major League Baseball draft, which will be held June 10-11, will be limited to five rounds.

With the truncated version this year, we thought we’d take a look back at Minnesota Twins drafts since 1998 – when the last two expansion teams were added – to see how the Twins have fared in each round.

We’ll start with Round 1, which obviously has the most players making it to the majors. In upcoming articles, we’ll touch on rounds 2-5, 6-20 and 21-50.

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Instead of ranking each player subjectively, we’ll order them objectively – by baseball-reference.com’s WAR (wins above replacement). Note: For pitchers, we’re using only their pitching WAR. To add in their hitting WAR seems a bit unfair, but we’ll include it in the capsule for reference sake.

Since 1998, the Twins have 18 players drafted in the first round make it to the major leagues. Here’s the list, followed by the first-round picks who didn’t (or, have yet to) reach the bigs.

Round 1

Joe Mauer, C, 2001
WAR: 55.3

The hometown kid was the 2009 MVP and six-time All-Star. As Minnesota’s catcher from 2004-13, Mauer had a slash line of .323/.405/.468 (135 OPS+) and won three batting titles – he’s just one of three catchers to lead the league in hitting and the only to do it in the American League. Concussion issues forced a move to first base, and Mauer’s hitting slipped as well, but he still finished his 15-year career hitting .308/.388/.439 with 1,018 runs, 939 RBI, 428 doubles and 143 homers. Among every No. 1 overall pick in MLB history (which dates back to 1965), Mauer is fourth in career WAR, behind just Alex Rodriguez, Chipper Jones and Ken Griffey Jr.

Denard Span, OF, 2002
WAR: 28.1 (17.3 with Twins)

Span debuted with Minnesota in 2008 and played with the Twins through 2012. He hit .284/.357/.389 (104 OPS+) with the Twins and .281/.347/.398 (103 OPS+) overall in his 11-year career, which ended after the 2018 season. The speedy Span stole 185 bases in his career, 90 with Minnesota. In two ALDS series with the Twins, he went 10-for-28 (.357). Traded to Washington in November 2012, Span also played for San Francisco, Tampa Bay and Seattle.

Matt Garza, P, 2005
WAR: 14.4 (-0.7 with Twins)
Batting WAR: -1.8 (0.0 with Twins)

Garza pitched just two years – at ages 22 and 23 – with the Twins before being traded to Tampa Bay in a six-player deal in November 2007. Garza was 8-13 with a 4.47 ERA in 26 games (24 starts) with Minnesota. In his 12-year career, which ended in 2017 in Milwaukee, Garza was 93-106 with a 4.09 ERA (101 ERA+) and 1.322 WHIP in 290 appearances with 284 starts. He also pitched for the Chicago Cubs and Texas.

Aaron Hicks, OF, 2008
WAR: 11.6 (2.5 with Twins)

After three years as a backup where he hit just .225/.306/.349 (81 OPS+), Hicks was traded to the New York Yankees in November 2015. Hicks finally emerged in 2017, with a 122 OPS+ in 88 games before hitting 27 homers with 90 runs and 79 RBI in ’18. Overall in his career, Hicks has hit .236/.328/.401 with 82 homers and 51 steals.

Byron Buxton, OF, 2012
WAR: 9.8

Inconsistency and injuries have followed Buxton, who just turned 26 in December, in his five seasons with the Twins. He’s played at least 100 games just once – in 2017 when he batted .253 with 16 homers and 29 steals (with just one caught stealing). He was off to a hot start before injuries struck again, and he finished hitting .262 with 30 doubles and 10 homers in just 87 games. In 393 career games, Buxton has hit .237/.292/.414 (87 OPS+) with 60 steals (and eight caught). He has the highest stolen base % of any player in MLB history (min. 50 attempts).

Kyle Gibson, P, 2009
WAR: 9.4
Batting WAR: 0.2

Gibson pitched seven years – six full seasons — with the Twins before signing with Texas this past offseason. He won double-digit games five times, including 13 twice. Gibson’s best season might have been 2018, when, although he sported a losing record (10-13), he set career bests in ERA (3.62), innings (196 2/3) and strikeouts (179). Overall, he had a 67-68 record, 4.52 ERA (94 ERA+), 1.411 WHIP and 7.0 K/9.

Glen Perkins, P, 2004
WAR: 9.0
Batting WAR: -0.1

Perkins began his career as a starter but found his groove – and role – as a reliever. From 2011-15, Perkins had 120 saves, a 2.84 ERA, 1.111 WHIP and 9.8 K.9 while making three consecutive All-Star games from 2013-15. In those three All-Star seasons, Perkins had 36, 34 and 32 saves. Injuries cost Perkins most of the 2016 and ’17 seasons, which were the final two of his career. Overall in his 12 years, Perkins appeared in 409 games with 44 starts, going 35-25 with 120 saves and a 3.88 ERA.

Ben Revere, OF, 2007
WAR: 7.9

Revere emerged as an everyday outfielder for Minnesota in 2011 and ’12 and stole a combined 74 bases while hitting .278/319/.323 (79 OPS+). Before the 2013 season, Revere was dealt to Philadelphia in a trade which partly netted the Twins pitcher Trevor May. Revere had a couple of productive seasons with Philadelphia before heading to Toronto and eventually also Washington and the Los Angeles Angels, but he never had an OPS+ of at least 100 (league average) of any of his eight seasons. He finished with a career slash line of .284/.319/.343 (83 OPS+) with 211 steals.

Trevor Plouffe, SS, 2004
WAR: 7.2 (8.0 with Twins)

Plouffe came up as a utility player for Minnesota before becoming the starting third baseman for a few years. He hit 96 home runs with Minnesota, including a career-high 24 in 2012. In his seven seasons (2010-16) with the Twins, Plouffe batted .247/.308/.420 (99 OPS+). Plouffe finished his career playing for Oakland, Tampa Bay and Philadelphia in his final two years.

Jose Berrios, P, 2012
WAR: 7.0
Batting WAR: 0.1

We have a feeling Berrios will be moving up this list rather quickly. After struggling as a 22-year-old rookie in 2016, Berrios won double-digit games and sported under a 4 ERA in each of the next three seasons. A two-time All-Star, Berrios sports a 43-34 record in 104 games (103 starts) in his four seasons with a 4.21 ERA (105 ERA+), 1.262 WHIP and 8.8 K/9. Berrios is coming off a season in which he reached 200 innings for the first time (200 1/3) and went 14-8 with a 3.68 ERA (124 ERA+) and 195 strikeouts.

Aaron Heilman, P, 2000
WAR: 2.2 (DNP with Twins)
Batting WAR: -0.6

Heilman didn’t sign with the Twins and was taken again in the first round in 2001 by the Mets, where he’d eventually spend six years. Heilman also pitched for the Chicago Cubs in 2009 and then two years with Arizona. He finished with a 35-46 record with a 4.40 ERA (97 ERA+).

Kyle Waldrop, P, 2004
WAR: 0.5
Batting WAR: n/a

Waldrop appeared in 24 games and 32 1/3 innings in 2011-12 for the Twins, all in relief, going 1-1 with a 3.23 ERA and 1.515 WHIP. Most of Waldrop’s work came in 2012 when he toiled 21 1/3 innings. He signed with Pittsburgh before the 2013 season and spent one year in the minors with the Pirates.

Kohl Stewart, P, 2013
WAR: 0.4
Batting WAR: n/a

Stewart pitched in 17 games for the Twins with six starts from 2018-19. He had a 4-3 record in 62 innings with a 4.79 ERA and 1.435 WHIP. Stewart signed with Baltimore this past offseason.

Luke Bard, P, 2012
WAR: 0.2 (DNP with Twins)
Batting WAR: n/a

Bard was selected by the Angels in the 2018 Rule 5 draft, pitched eight games then returned to the Twins. After spending the year with Triple-A Rochester, Bard signed as a free agent with … the Angels. He has a 4.90 ERA over 60 2/3 major-league innings.

Alex Wimmers, P, 2010
WAR: 0.2
Batting WAR: n/a

Wimmers got into 16 games in relief in 2016 and six more in ’17 for a total of 24 2/3 innings. He went 1-3 with a 4.38 ERA and 1.662 WHIP. Wimmers signed with Miami in 2018 and pitched a couple of months in the minors before being released.

Chris Parmelee, OF, 2006
WAR: 1.0 (0.8 with Twins)

Splitting time between first base and the outfield, Parmelee played in 273 games for the Twins over four years from 2011-14. The majority of his playing time came in 2013, when he had 303 plate appearances in 101 games, batting .228 with eight home runs. In his four seasons in Minnesota, he batted .249/.317/.392 (96 OPS+). He finished out his career with 32 games in Baltimore (.216, four homers) in 2015 and six games with the Yankees (4-for-8, 2 HR) in 2016.

Matt Fox, P, 2004
WAR: 0.0 (0.2 with Twins)
Batting WAR: n/a

Fox finally made it to the majors at age 27 in 2010. He made one start for the Twins, lasting 5 2/3 innings and allowing two runs on four hits with a walk and no strikeouts. He was subsequently waived and picked up by Boston, where he pitched 1 2/3 innings over three relief appearances.

Adam Johnson, P, 2000
WAR: -1.1
Batting WAR: 0.0

Johnson made his major-league debut four days after his 21st birthday. He made his last MLB appearance just over two years later. In between, he pitched just 26 1/3 innings – all but 1 1/3 of those coming in his first year, 2001. Johnson allowed 33 runs (30 earned) in his nine games (four starts) a 10.25 ERA. He last pitched in Oakland’s minor-league system in 2006.

Didn’t / have yet to play

Keoni Cavaco 2019

Matt Wallner 2019*

Trevor Larnach 2018

Royce Lewis 2017

Brent Rooker 2017*

Alex Kirilloff 2016

Tyler Jay 2015

Nick Gordon 2014

Levi Michael 2011

Travis Harrison 2011*

Hudson Boyd 2011*