ORLANDO, Fla. – The Twins will have their highest pick since 2017 in next July's MLB Draft.
Minnesota received the third overall selection in the annual MLB Draft Lottery at the Winter Meetings in Orlando. The last time the club had such a high pick, it took Royce Lewis No. 1 overall in 2017. It will be the ninth time in franchise history that the Twins pick third or higher.
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“Three is a good outcome,” said Twins president of baseball and business operations Derek Falvey. “We’d love to have the first pick. Ultimately, to pick in the top three is a really exciting opportunity for the organization. And I think we’re going to get someone there that we know our scouting group is going to like and work really hard to make sure that we know, and we’ll see how it shakes out.”
Entering the Lottery, the Twins had the second-best odds at the No. 1 overall pick despite finishing with the fourth-worst record. That’s because the Nationals and Rockies, both of whom finished with worse records, were ineligible for the Lottery. The White Sox, who had the best odds, received the No. 1 pick, and the Rays will select second.
So in one sense, Minnesota “fell” one spot from where it stood in the pre-Lottery rankings. But from another perspective, the Twins will pick one spot higher than they would have if there weren’t a Lottery. They were guaranteed to select no worse than 10th due to their record.
Falvey and general manager Jeremy Zoll explained that when they did not hear before the public reveal that they had been selected No. 1, they had a good feeling they would not be getting that pick. So given that context, they were not at all displeased to land at No. 3.
“Once we had an indication that it wasn’t going to be the top pick,” Zoll said, “I know [amateur scouting director Sean Johnson] and the scouting group were really hopeful to be in the top three. So to land that feels really good.”
Draft prospect rankings are very preliminary at this point, since none of the players has begun his college or high school season yet. But at this moment, the No. 3 prospect in MLB Pipeline’s Draft rankings is prep infielder Justin Lebron from Alabama. Lebron was a second-team All-American as a sophomore in 2025, posting a .316/.421/.636 slash line with 18 home runs and 17 steals in 59 games.
Recent high picks have, by and large, turned out well for the Twins. Their last top-three pick prior to Lewis was Byron Buxton, who went second overall in 2012, and before that they took Joe Mauer – now a Hall of Famer – No. 1 in '01. Their highest pick since Lewis was outfielder Walker Jenkins, who went No. 5 in '23 and is now the No. 10 overall prospect in baseball.