# List of Minnesota Twins first-round draft picks

The Minnesota Twins are a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the American League Central division. Since the institution of MLB's Rule 4 Draft, the Twins have selected 70 players in the first round. Officially known as the "First-Year Player Draft", the Rule 4 Draft is MLB's primary mechanism for assigning players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur clubs to its franchises. The draft order is determined based on the previous season's standings, with the team possessing the worst record receiving the first pick. In addition, teams which lost free agents in the previous off-season may be awarded compensatory or supplementary picks.
Of the 70 players picked in the first round by Minnesota, 30 have been pitchers, the most of any position; 22 of these were right-handed, while 8 were left-handed. Twelve outfielders were selected, while twelve shortstops, seven third basemen, four catchers, four first basemen and one player at second base were taken as well. Thirteen of the players came from high schools or universities in the state of California, and Florida follows with nine players. The Twins have drafted six players from Arizona, including five players from Arizona State University.
Two of the Twins' first-round picks have won championships with the franchise. Willie Banks (1987) and Chuck Knoblauch (1989) won a World Series title on the 1991 championship team. Knoblauch is also the only first-round draft pick of the Twins to win the MLB Rookie of the Year award, taking home the award in 1991. Catcher Joe Mauer (2001) is the only Twins first round draft pick to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2024. In 2009 Joe won the American League Most Valuable Player award, the only first-round pick of the Twins to win the award. Mauer has also won three Silver Slugger Awards, two Rawlings Gold Glove Awards, and is the only catcher in MLB history to win three batting titles.
The Twins have made 16 selections in the supplemental round of the draft and have made the first overall selection twice (1983 and 2001). They have also had 18 compensatory picks since the institution of the First-Year Player Draft in 1965. These additional picks are provided when a team loses a particularly valuable free agent in the previous off-season, or, more recently, if a team fails to sign a draft pick from the previous year. The Twins have six times failed to sign their first-round pick. Eddie Leon (1965), Dick Ruthven (1972), Jamie Allen (1976), and Tim Belcher (1983) all failed to sign with the Twins without the team receiving compensation. The Twins did, however, receive a compensatory pick when they failed to sign Jason Varitek (1993). Varitek did not sign and instead chose to enter the draft again the following year and was taken by the Seattle Mariners. Additionally, Travis Lee, the Twins' only selection in 1996 and the second-overall pick of that draft, did not sign with the team. Lee's agent, Scott Boras, did not communicate with the Twins for the first two weeks after the draft and then invoked a rarely used rule that a team was required to make a contract offer within 15 days of the draft or relinquish their rights to the player. As a result, Lee and 3 other 1996 first-round picks who were Boras clients were granted free agency and he ultimately signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

## Key

| Year | Each year links to an article about that year's Major League Baseball Draft. |
| Position | Indicates the secondary/collegiate position at which the player was drafted, rather than the professional position the player may have gone on to play |
| Pick | Indicates the number of the pick |
| * | Player did not sign with the Twins |
| § | Indicates a supplemental pick |
| † | Member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame |

## Picks

| Year | Name | Position | School (Location) | Pick |
| 1965 | Eddie Leon* | Shortstop | University of Arizona (Tucson, Arizona) | 9 |
| 1966 | Bob Jones | Third baseman | (Dawson, Georgia) | 20 |
| 1967 | Steve Brye | Third baseman | St. Elizabeth High School (Oakland, California) | 17 |
| 1968 | Alex Rowell | Outfielder | Luther College (Decorah, Iowa) | 16 |
| 1969 | Paul Powell | Outfielder | Arizona State University (Tempe, Arizona) | 7 |
| 1970 | Bob Gorinski | Shortstop | Mount Pleasant High School (Calumet, Pennsylvania) | 22 |
| 1971 | Dale Soderholm | Shortstop | Miami Coral Park High School (Miami, Florida) | 21 |
| 1972 | Dick Ruthven* | Right-handed pitcher | California State University, Fresno (Fresno, California) | 8 |
| 1973 | Eddie Bane | Left-handed pitcher | Arizona State University (Tempe, Arizona) | 11 |
| 1974 | Ted Shipley | Shortstop | Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tennessee) | 14 |
| 1975 | Rick Sofield | Shortstop | Morristown High School (Morristown, New Jersey) | 13 |
| 1976 | Jamie Allen* | Third baseman | Davis High School (Yakima, Washington) | 10 |
| 1977 | Paul Croft | Outfielder | Morristown High School (Morristown, New Jersey) | 15 |
| 1978 | Lenny Faedo | Shortstop | Jefferson High School (Tampa, Florida) | 16 |
| 1979 | Kevin Brandt | Outfielder | Nekoosa High School (Nekoosa, Wisconsin) | 11 |
| 1980 | Jeff Reed | Catcher | Joliet West High School (Joliet, Illinois | 12 |
| 1981 | Mike Sodders | Third baseman | Arizona State University (Tempe, Arizona) | 11 |
| 1982 | Bryan Oelkers | Left-handed pitcher | Wichita State University (Wichita, Kansas) | 4 |
| 1983 | Tim Belcher* | Right-handed pitcher | Mount Vernon Nazarene College (Mount Vernon, Ohio) | 1 |
| 1984 | Jay Bell | Shortstop | Gonzalez Tate High School (Pensacola, Florida) | 8 |
| 1985 | Jeff Bumgarner | Right-handed pitcher | Hanford High School (West Richland, Washington) | 13 |
| 1986 | Derek Parks | Right-handed pitcher | Montclair High School (Montclair, California) | 10 |
| 1987 | Willie Banks | Right-handed pitcher | St. Anthony's High School (Jersey City, New Jersey) | 3 |
| 1988 | Johnny Ard | Right-handed pitcher | Manatee Community College (Bradenton, Florida) | 20 |
| 1989 | Chuck Knoblauch | Shortstop | Texas A&M University (College Station, Texas) | 25 |
| 1990 | Todd Ritchie | Right-handed pitcher | Duncanville High School (Duncanville, Texas) | 12 |
| 1990 | Midre Cummings | Outfielder | Edison High School (Miami, Florida) | 29$^§$ |
| 1991 | Dave McCarty | First baseman | Stanford University (Stanford, California) | 3 |
| 1991 | Scott Stahoviak | Third baseman | Creighton University (Omaha, Nebraska) | 27$^§$ |
| 1992 | Dan Serafini | Left-handed pitcher | Serra High School (San Mateo, California) | 26 |
| 1993 | Torii Hunter | Outfielder | Pine Bluff High School (Pine Bluff, Arkansas) | 20 |
| 1993 | Jason Varitek* | Catcher | Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, Georgia) | 21 |
| 1993 | Marc Barcelo | Right-handed pitcher | Arizona State University (Tempe, Arizona) | 33$^§$ |
| 1993 | Kelcey Mucker | Outfielder | Lawrenceburg High School (Lawrenceburg, Indiana) | 38$^§$ |
| 1994 | Todd Walker | Second baseman | Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) | 8 |
| 1994 | Travis Miller | Left-handed pitcher | Kent State University (Kent, Ohio) | 34$^§$ |
| 1995 | Mark Redman | Left-handed pitcher | University of Oklahoma (Norman, Oklahoma) | 13 |
| 1996 | Travis Lee* | First baseman | San Diego State University (San Diego, California) | 2 |
| 1997 | Michael Cuddyer | Shortstop | Great Bridge High School (Chesapeake, Virginia) | 9 |
| 1997 | Matt LeCroy | Catcher | Clemson University (Clemson, South Carolina) | 50$^§$ |
| 1998 | Ryan Mills | Left-handed pitcher | Arizona State University (Tempe, Arizona) | 6 |
| 1999 | B.J. Garbe | Outfielder | Moses Lake High School (Moses Lake, Washington) | 5 |
| 2000 | Adam Johnson | Right-handed pitcher | California State University, Fullerton (Fullerton, California) | 2 |
| 2000 | Aaron Heilman* | Right-handed pitcher | University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, Indiana) | 31$^§$ |
| 2001 | Joe Mauer$^†$ | Catcher | Cretin-Derham Hall (St. Paul, Minnesota) | 1 |
| 2002 | Denard Span | Outfielder | Tampa Catholic High School (Tampa, Florida) | 20 |
| 2003 | Matthew Moses | Third baseman | Mills E. Godwin High School (Richmond, Virginia) | 21 |
| 2004 | Trevor Plouffe | Shortstop | Crespi Carmelite High School (Encino, California) | 20 |
| 2004 | Glen Perkins | Left-handed pitcher | University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, Minnesota) | 22 |
| 2004 | Steven Waldrop | Right-handed pitcher | Farragut High School (Knoxville, Tennessee) | 25 |
| 2004 | Matthew Fox | Right-handed pitcher | University of Central Florida (Orlando, Florida) | 35$^§$ |
| 2004 | Jay Rainville | Right-handed pitcher | Bishop Hendricken High School (Warwick, Rhode Island) | 39$^§$ |
| 2005 | Matt Garza | Right-handed pitcher | California State University, Fresno (Fresno, California) | 25 |
| 2005 | Henry Sanchez | First baseman | Mission Bay High School (San Diego, California) | 39$^§$ |
| 2006 | Chris Parmelee | Outfielder | Chino Hills High School (Chino Hills, California) | 20 |
| 2007 | Ben Revere | Outfielder | Lexington Catholic High School (Lexington, Kentucky) | 28 |
| 2008 | Aaron Hicks | Outfielder | Wilson High School (Long Beach, California) | 14 |
| 2008 | Carlos Gutiérrez | Right-handed pitcher | University of Miami (Coral Gables, Florida) | 27 |
| 2008 | Shooter Hunt | Right-handed pitcher | Tulane University (New Orleans, Louisiana) | 31$^§$ |
| 2009 | Kyle Gibson | Right-handed pitcher | University of Missouri (Columbia, Missouri) | 22 |
| 2009 | Matthew Bashore | Left-handed pitcher | Indiana University Bloomington (Bloomington, Indiana) | 46$^§$ |
| 2010 | Alex Wimmers | Right-handed pitcher | Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio) | 21 |
| 2011 | Levi Michael | Shortstop | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, North Carolina) | 30 |
| 2011 | Travis Harrison | Third baseman | Tustin High School (Tustin, California) | 50$^§$ |
| 2011 | Hudson Boyd | Right-handed pitcher | Bishop Verot High School (Fort Myers, Florida) | 55$^§$ |
| 2012 | Byron Buxton | Outfielder | Appling County High School (Baxley, Georgia) | 2 |
| 2012 | José Berríos | Right-handed pitcher | Papa Juan High School (Bayamón, Puerto Rico) | 32$^§$ |
| 2012 | Luke Bard | Right-handed pitcher | Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, Georgia) | 42$^§$ |
| 2013 | Kohl Stewart | Right-handed pitcher | St. Pius X High School (Houston, Texas) | 4 |
| 2014 | Nick Gordon | Shortstop | Olympia High School (Orlando, Florida) | 5 |
| 2015 | Tyler Jay | Left-handed pitcher | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Champaign, Illinois) | 6 |
| 2016 | Alex Kirilloff | Outfielder | Plum High School (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) | 15 |
| 2017 | Royce Lewis | Shortstop | JSerra Catholic High School (San Juan Capistrano, California) | 1 |
| 2017 | Brent Rooker | Outfielder | Mississippi State University (Mississippi State, Mississippi) | 35 |
| 2018 | Trevor Larnach | Outfielder | Oregon State University (Corvallis, Oregon) | 20 |
| 2019 | Keoni Cavaco | Shortstop | Eastlake High School (Chula Vista, California) | 13 |
| 2020 | Aaron Sabato | First baseman | University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill, North Carolina) | 27 |
| 2021 | Chase Petty | Right-handed pitcher | Mainland Regional High School (Linwood, New Jersey) | 26 |
| 2021 | Noah Miller | Shortstop | Ozaukee High School (Fredonia, Wisconsin) | 36$^§$ |
| 2022 | Brooks Lee | Shortstop | Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo, California) | 8 |
| 2023 | Walker Jenkins | Outfielder | South Brunswick High School (Southport, North Carolina) | 5 |
| 2023 | Charlee Soto | Right-Handed pitcher | Reborn Christian Academy (Kissimmee, Florida) | 34$^§$ |
| 2024 | Kaelen Culpepper | Shortstop | Kansas State University (Manhattan, Kansas) | 20 |