Draft Update

First things first -- there was obviously no Nightly Notes post last night. Just didn't have a chance to get around to it. There will be one tonight, however. Now, onto this draft update.

La Valle Neal, Strib Twins reporter, posted an update on the draft from Patrick Reusse today on his blog. The post casually mentions that the Twins have signed 16 of their 50 picks so far, with a couple of more close to being done and another on the way. Twins scouting director Mike Radcliff doesn't feel that the Twins will end up signing more than 20 or so of the players that they drafted.

So, who has signed? Some of the names are easy -- the Twins released a list of players on June 12 who had already been inked to a contract, so that's where I'll start:

1.) Ben Revere - OF - 1
2.) Michael McCardell - RHP - 6
3.) Daniel Berlind - RHP - 7
4.) Steven Hirschfeld - RHP - 9
5.) Andrew Schmiesing - OF - 11
6.) Daniel Rohlfing - C - 14
7.) Daniel Latham - RHP - 15
8.) Lee Martin - RHP - 18
9.) Benjamin Petsch - C - 19
10.) Ozzie Lewis - OF - 21
11.) Spencer Steedley - LHP/1B - 25

That's all that the website acknowledges, but I've posted a few other names who have appeared on rosters over the last few days, and that gets us up a bit closer to the 16 that Reussue says have signed:

12.) Chris Cates - SS - 38
13.) Charles Nolte - RHP - 24
14.) Michael Tarsi - LHP - 12

Finally, Reusse mentioned one more player by name who has signed on with the club, although to this point he hasn't been assigned to a roster:

15.) Angel Morales - OF - 3

So, who's the mysterious #16? I wish I knew. I'll be watching rosters to try to figure out who else the Twins have signed. Now, if the Twins just updated their "draft results" page, things would be so much simpler.

Finally, the other takeaway from the Neal/Reusse piece is that the Twins believe they're going to successfully complete deals for 2nd round catcher Daniel Rams, 4th round shortstop Reggie Williams, 8th round catcher Daniel Lehmann, and 10th round pitcher Blair Erickson. Hopefully those deals will get done sooner rather than later, so the players have a chance to possibly get some playing time this season in the GCL or with Elizabethton. And what's with all the Daniel's?

Anyway, even if the Twins do end up signing just 20 out of 50 players, that's not substantially below expectations (I think I was suggesting 22-27 at one point) -- and they will have done very well amongst their top 12 picks. Hopefully there are a few playmakers in the bunch . . .