{"id":790238,"date":"2026-07-19T03:18:38","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T03:18:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/790238\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T03:18:38","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T03:18:38","slug":"twins-no-3-mlb-draft-pick-vahn-lackey-agree-to-contract-terms-source","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/790238\/","title":{"rendered":"Twins, No. 3 MLB Draft pick Vahn Lackey agree to contract terms: Source"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Vahn<\/p>\n

Vahn Lackey hit .397\/.519\/.772 with 20 homers and 15 stolen bases in 61 games for Georgia Tech in 2026. Brian Westerholt \/ Associated Press<\/p>\n

July 18, 2026 Updated 4:48 pm EDT<\/p>\n

The Minnesota Twins agreed to terms with top draft pick Vahn Lackey on Saturday, the No. 3 selection in last weekend\u2019s amateur baseball draft, according to a team source who was granted anonymity to speak candidly.<\/p>\n

Terms were not disclosed as the catcher\u2019s deal is pending a physical, which is expected to occur on Monday or Tuesday, according to a person with knowledge of the negotiations.<\/p>\n

The projected slot value for the third pick in the 2026 draft was $9.74 million.<\/p>\n

Lackey, an outstanding athlete who batted nearly .400 as a junior at Georgia Tech, is the Twins\u2019 highest draft pick since they selected Royce Lewis first in 2017. Lewis earned a franchise-record $6.725 million signing bonus when he signed.<\/p>\n

Lackey hit .397.\/.519\/.772 in 283 plate appearances for the Yellow Jackets.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s hard to take your eyes off when you see him play,\u201d Twins assistant general manager\/scouting director Sean Johnson said. \u201cHe can really throw. He\u2019s athletic. He blocks. He does all the little things that you want to see a catcher do. He can take charge on the field. You can\u2019t take your eyes off him when he\u2019s out there. His presence is really good. All the things you want to see, the intangibles, he has them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lackey is the highest catcher drafted by the Twins since they selected Hall of Famer Joe Mauer with the No. 1 pick in the 2001 draft.<\/p>\n

He rose toward the top of the draft board after blossoming during his junior season at Georgia Tech. A .347 hitter as a sophomore, Lackey increased his home run total from six as a sophomore to 20 as a junior, crediting the jump to focusing on adding launch angle to his swing.<\/p>\n

The Athletic\u2019s Keith Law recently wrote of Lackey<\/a>: \u201cHe\u2019s extremely athletic with 55 speed and outstanding agility, getting up out of the crouch quickly on blocks or weak ground balls, with an 80 arm that just needs to be more consistent. He\u2019s an excellent hitter for contact, with a 15 percent whiff rate this year. \u2026 Lackey\u2019s appeal is his ability to stay behind the plate and add value at such a scarce position.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Connections:\"Connections:<\/p>\n

Jul 18, 2026<\/p>\n

Connections: Sports Edition<\/p>\n

Spot the pattern. Connect the terms<\/p>\n

Find the hidden link between sports terms<\/p>\n

Play today’s puzzle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vahn Lackey hit .397\/.519\/.772 with 20 homers and 15 stolen bases in 61 games for Georgia Tech in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":790239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,11424,6,12],"class_list":["post-790238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba-draft","tag-basketball","tag-minnesota-twins","tag-nba","tag-nba-draft"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116944483685794431","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}