Twins Select Levi Michael

With their first round pick, the Minnesota Twins select Shortstop Levi Michael from the University of North Carolina. He just turned 20 years old in February. As a freshman in 2009, he hit .290/.382/.527 with 15 doubles, four triples, 13 HR and 57 RBI. He walked 26 times and struck out 56 times. In 2010, he hit .346/.484/.575 with 14 doubles, four triples, nine home runs and 54 RBI. He stole 22 bases in 24 attempts (after stealing 5 bases in 9 attempts his first year). He walked 44 times and struck out 26 times. In those first two years, he was hit by 31 pitches. In 2011, he hit .297with 14 doubles, three triples and five home runs. He was hit another 14 times. He walked 47 times and struck out 41 times. He played in 60 of the team’s 62 games although he was hurt early in the season as well.

He is generally touted the top college shortstop in the draft, although there are not a lot of high quality college shortstops.

Twins fans have become accustomed to the team selecting college pitchers and high school bats. Middle infield has been a problem area for the Twins for years, so it is actually nice to see the team go with a college shortstop this year. Of course, it is still likely to take him a couple of seasons to get to the Twins, but it does give the team hope for that shortstop position. Really nothing to complain about with this pick. Hopefully he will sign quickly and play up to Ft. Myers this season. He will then compete with the likes of Brian Dozier and James Beresford for who plays SS and who plays 2B in coming years.

Any thoughts on the pick, please feel free to leave them below.

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