NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. -- With the Twins set to make the No. 1 overall selection in the MLB Draft in June, the new front office made changes to its scouting department on Monday, as Deron Johnson was promoted to senior advisor of scouting and Sean Johnson was promoted to scouting director.
Deron Johnson had previously served as scouting director for the Twins since the end of the 2007 season, and he has been with the organization since 1994. Sean Johnson was the club's West Coast supervisor since '08, and he joined the Twins in '02 as an area scout. Deron Johnson's role will now expand to both international and professional scouting, while Sean Johnson will run the amateur scouting department.
"We feel like we're giving an opportunity for two guys who had made real impacts in this organization to take even greater leadership roles," Twins general manager Thad Levine said. "Hopefully the outcome will be to make better personnel decisions than we've been making."
Deron Johnson, 50, was in charge of the past nine Drafts for the Twins, selecting first-round players such as Aaron Hicks, Byron Buxton, Kohl Stewart, Nick Gordon and Tyler Jay. He started with the Twins as a Northern California scout in 1994 before becoming the West Coast supervisor in '98.
Most of his experience is in amateur scouting, and he'll still have a say in the upcoming Draft, but he'll be used in more roles to take advantage of his scouting acumen.
"You hear a lot about the personnel you're going to get a chance to work with, and I think Deron Johnson had the reputation of being one of the best talent evaluators in the game," Levine said. "The way we look at this right now is that the upcoming season and the seasons to come are so vital for us, so we want to put our best evaluators in situations to scout the best players in the world."
Sean Johnson, 41, will now run the Draft for the Twins, and he is responsible for creating the organization's amateur scouting philosophies. He'll also oversee the 27-man amateur scouting staff.
"What allowed us to do this was having Sean Johnson waiting in the wings," Levine said. "He's made the most of all of his opportunities. In my career, I can't think of too many people who are more universally endorsed than Sean Johnson, both internally and externally."