Keoni Cavaco, Minnesota's first pick in Monday's MLB draft, made it clear he's in a hurry to play for the Twins as soon as possible. The team's second pick, Southern Miss outfielder Matt Wallner, has been thinking about that possibility his whole life.
The Twins used their three first-day picks on a couple of power hitters in Cavaco and Wallner, who played high school baseball in Forest Lake, and on a power pitcher in Rice righthander Matt Canterino.
The latter two, they've followed for a while. But Twins scouts had barely heard of Cavaco at this time a year ago, because the 6-1, 185-pound teen, a shortstop and third baseman from Eastlake High School in Chula Vista, Calif., wasn't invited to many of the summer showcases that amateur players attend. But when he took part in the Angels Elite showcase in Anaheim in November, they took notice.
"We saw him at Angels Stadium at a workout, and he was hitting balls on the rocks out there in left-center, which caught a few of our guys' eyes. As it should," Johnson said. "That's when we really dug in [on him]. And we literally had somebody at every one of his games this spring."
They saw an athletic infielder who played defense like he was born to it, and had an arm so strong, he occasionally pitched. He also has speed that reminded scouts of ...
"He would run 4-flat [seconds] to first from the right side, which honestly is close to what [Byron] Buxton does," Johnson said. "We're not thinking he'll be that fast for the long term, but he's got really great hands, he's got at least a 7 arm on the [scouting] scale of 2-8. He can throw from different angles. He's just really athletic, and the defense comes really easy to him."
Cavaco, who turned 18 on Sunday, has committed to play for San Diego State next year, but the Twins are confident, Johnson said, "that we're going to reach an agreement at some point." The bonus allotted for the 13th pick is $4,197,300, which figures to be pretty convincing, though each of the Twins' last two first-round picks, Royce Lewis and Trevor Larnach, accepted less than the slot amount to sign, allowing the Twins to conserve bonus money for later-round picks.
"I have a bunch of friends there [at San Diego State], and it would be cool to play with them," Cavaco said. "But I had my heart set on playing pro ball from the beginning. I'm young, so as soon as I can get into the system, as soon as possible, the faster I can get up."
Wallner, who was named Minnesota's Mr. Baseball as a high school senior in Forest Lake, intrigued scouts with his 95-mph fastball as a freshman, gave up pitching this season and he wound up batting .323 with 22 home runs.
"I love hitting. I love working on outfield drills and just playing every day," Wallner, 21, said.
The Twins took Wallner with the 39th pick overall, a competitive balance pick they received between the first and second rounds of the draft.
His Twins history goes back to "getting blown out" the revolving doors at the Metrodome. "Watching Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer and Michael Cuddyer and Torii Hunter, just so many legends when I was younger. Those guys just drew it to me."
Canterino has been Rice's ace for the past couple of seasons, and posted a 2.81 ERA for the Owls this year.
