What’s the chance the Twins will draft a star with No. 16?

When the MLB amateur draft begins Sunday, the Twins will watch the 15 teams picking ahead of them draft player after player that they had hoped to select at No. 16.

Which, weirdly, is actually kind of fun, Sean Johnson said.

“We know inside the top 10, those names are somewhat interchangeable. Depending on who takes certain [players] and who doesn’t, it may push some players toward us, players that will get closer than we imagined,” said Johnson, the vice president of amateur scouting who will oversee the Twins draft for the ninth time Sunday. “Our [scouts’ and evaluators’] lists are not all in the same order. We have players in the top 20 in different orders and different preferences, and that makes for a fun conversation.”

Yes, they are choosing in the midpoint of the first round, and then at No. 36 with a competitive-balance pick, but Johnson said even that is a bigger advantage than it might seem. In a deep draft with a dozen or so generally recognized top prospects, but none rated significantly higher than the rest of the field, they should get a player who will excite their player development department.

“I think we’re right in the sweet spot of the draft. Once we get past the top 10, we feel like there’s really good depth at our first pick and our second pick and maybe not a huge delta between the talent level or upside of those players,” Johnson said. “We really like where we pick.”

History demonstrates why that is. Arizona selected outfielder Corbin Carroll at No. 16 in 2019; he’ll be in Atlanta for the All-Star Game next week. The Phillies got Gold Glove-winning shortstop J.P. Crawford with that pick in 2013; he’s batting .286 for the Mariners this year. One year earlier, the Nationals used the 16th pick on righthander Lucas Giolito, who has beaten the Twins eight times so far in his career, and has made nine quality starts already in 2025 for the Red Sox.

“We’re constantly asking questions and poking holes at the process to try to make it the very best we can be. We’re chasing perfection in the draft, which is impossible to achieve but yet we still try,” Johnson said. “And we also have player development people looking at these players. It’s not like we draft them and hand them off and say, ‘Here are the players we like. We hope you like them too.’ They have some buy-in on who we’re taking.”

Byron Buxton was back atop the Twins’ lineup Friday, having sat out only one game with a left hand sore from being hit by a pitch Wednesday.

It was a relief not only to the Twins but to Buxton, who is scheduled to take part in the Home Run Derby on Monday and the All-Star Game on Tuesday.

“He’s going to be fine,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He’s going to the back for the next three days and should be good to go going into the break. I don’t have any real concern over him physically.”

The Twins have not announced who will start on the mound for Saturday afternoon’s game with the Pirates, and there’s a good reason for that, Baldelli said.

They don’t know.

“Let’s see how tonight goes,” Baldelli said before the game.

The Twins have been short a starting pitcher since Bailey Ober went on the injured list last week in Miami. When they had no starter rested for last Saturday’s game against the Rays, Cole Sands and Danny Coulombe pitched the first two innings, then turned the game over to Travis Adams for four innings.

Something like that could be the answer this time, too — however they arrange the workload, Adams will almost certainly be involved.

One possibility that had been rumored, that the Twins might activate righthander Zebby Matthews from the injured list without sending him on a rehab assignment, was raised with Baldelli. Any truth to that?

“He’s not pitching tomorrow,” Baldelli said definitively, before adding, “for us.”

The St. Paul Saints trailed by a run when rain came to CHS Field on Friday night, and their three-game winning streak ended when the game was called after eight innings, Iowa winning 8-7.

Former Twins pitcher Kenta Maeda started for Iowa and gave up 10 hits and five earned runs in five innings. Edouard Julien hit a long home run off Maeda in the first inning.

Jose Miranda also homered for the Saints.