Twins seek next franchise icon with top-three Draft pick

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EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- It’s a bit over two months until the 2026 MLB Draft, which starts July 11 in Philadelphia, and this year’s is a pretty big one for the Twins. They pick third overall, their highest selection since taking Royce Lewis No. 1 in 2017.

The last time before 2017 that Minnesota picked in the first three selections? Well, that yielded Byron Buxton with the No. 2 choice in ‘12. The time before that? Joe Mauer, No. 1 in ‘01.

There’s certainly no guarantee you get a star when you pick at the sharp end of the Draft, but your chances are an awful lot better. Getting it right in the first few picks can have franchise-changing implications. Which, of course, means that getting it wrong can as well.

So while the fundamental process doesn’t change, and neither does the underlying strategy -- get the best player available -- there’s a different weight with a tip-top pick.

“When you’re picking three, like we are this year, you’re trying to really focus on a core group,” said general manager Jeremy Zoll, “but you’re also trying to stay open-minded. How many names do we want to keep fitting in that mix? Because we want to keep our eyes open as much as possible. … In general, the higher you pick, the better chance you have at acquiring superstar talent, so that’s obviously an exciting opportunity for all of us.”

Conventional wisdom at this point has Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey heading to the Twins. Early May conventional wisdom on the Draft is often wrong, but Lackey is probably the top name to know right now.

MLB Pipeline ranks Lackey as the No. 3 overall prospect. He’s an athletic catcher with a big arm and a 60 hit tool on the 20-80 scale and has also played some third base. As of Wednesday, Lackey sports a .371/.491/.682 line for a ferocious Tech offense, and has even stolen nine bases in 10 tries.

Of course, Lackey isn’t the only candidate. As Zoll said, scouting director Sean Johnson and the rest of the Twins' Draft group are “trying to stay as open as possible.”

For one thing, weird things happen on Draft day, and it’s at least possible one of the current consensus top two picks -- UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky and Texas high school shortstop Grady Emerson -- could fall to them. And there are other names in the picture as well, like UCSB right-hander Jackson Flora, Alabama shortstop Justin Lebron and Florida high school shortstop Jacob Lombard.

“You really have to think through it,” said Zoll. “And a lot of that really comes down to, not to discount all the work that goes into [preparing for] Draft week, but a lot of that really gets drilled down in that final week of meetings, which is only laid by such a strong foundation of work ahead of time. Until we get into that room the week before, you’re trying to keep as open of a mind as possible.”