Quite a bit has changed in the five months since the Twins landed the No. 3 pick in MLB’s draft lottery.
UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky is having a monster season — .337/.464/.699 with 20 homers in 50 games — and remains the consensus No. 1 prospect in the class, but there’s been some recent industry-wide speculation that his grip on the top spot has loosened at least a tiny bit.
Texas high school shortstop Grady Emerson has seemingly gained some ground on Cholowsky, or at least to the extent he could give the White Sox something to think about with the No. 1 pick on July 11. Emerson has long been considered the top high school prospect in the class, and his stock continues to rise.
Unfortunately for the Twins, whether Cholowsky and Emerson go 1-2 or 2-1, the odds are heavily against either player still being on the board at No. 3. And that’s a shame, because the Twins entered the lottery with the second-best odds and dropped one slot, with the Rays jumping them.
However, the emergence of two college standouts overshadowed by Cholowsky — Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey and UC Santa Barbara pitcher Jackson Flora — could make for a nice consolation prize at No. 3. Neither player was viewed as a sure-fire top-10 pick as of the December lottery, but their stocks have soared.