It was a good night for the 2011 Minnesota Twins as they won their 5th straight game by beating the American League Central division leading Cleveland, 6-4. They also added 3 new players to the organization through the MLB Draft.
The MLB First-Year Player Draft is an exciting and optimistic time for every franchise because it gives them and their fans hope for the future. Any pick could be the next great player for your favorite team, even if you might not know it for years. Sometimes a player can reach the majors in a little over a season but its pretty rare* and they may never make it to the highest level of professional baseball.
*Matt Garza, at the age of 21, was picked in the 1st round (25th Overall) of the 2005 MLB Draft on June 13th, 2005. He made his Major League Debut on August 11th, 2006 so it took him just over a year to get to the Twins. He still spent some time in the minors in 2007 but its not often that a player advances through 5 levels of the minor leagues that quickly. By July of 2007, he was a full-time major league pitcher. Kyle Gibson looks to be on a similar path.
The 2011 Minnesota Twins might’ve addressed their biggest need with the 30th pick in the first round by taking University of North Carolina Junior SS Levi Michael. In his 3rd season with UNC, the switch hitting infielder is currently batting .297 with an on-base percentage of .444 while slugging .455 with 14 doubles, 3 triples, 5 HRs and 48 RBIs. He’s stolen 15 bases on 16 attempts and has 47 walks and 41 strikeouts. He’s had 8 errors in the 60 games he’s played so far this season. North Carolina is the 3rd overall seed in the NCAA Baseball Tournament. UNC made it to the Super Regionals and will host Stanford in a best of 3 series starting Friday at 2pm Central time on ESPN.
It sounds like Levi Michael has great makeup as he finished high school early in January of his senior year so he could enroll at UNC and be their starting 2nd baseman by the time the season began in February of 2009. That’s pretty amazing for an 18-year-old kid. He finished that season with a .290/.377/.527 line while hitting 15 doubles, 4 triples, 13 HRs and 57 RBIs with 26 walks and 56 strikeouts. He was 5 for 9 in stolen base attempts and had 15 errors in his 65 games at second base.
He got even better in his sophomore season. Levi had to move over to 3rd base for 59 of the 60 games played throughout the college season and he ended up with 13 errors and a .913 fielding percentage. He made up for it with the bat, his plate discipline and his speed. He batted .346/.480/.575 with 14 doubles, 4 triples, 9 HRs and 54 RBIs with 44 walks and 26 strikeouts. He also stole 20 bases in 22 attempts.
It should be fun to watch Levi Michael progress through the Twins system. He has the versatility to play either middle infield spot although a lot of scouts think he will end up at second base.
What do you think about the Twins first pick of the 2011 MLB Draft?
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Robb Dahlen
