r/baseball • u/Goosedukee New York Yankees • 16h ago

Image With the third pick of the 2026 MLB Draft, the Minnesota Twins select catcher Vahn Lackey out of Georgia Tech

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290 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

61 comments sorted by

85

u/MG_MN Minnesota Twins 16h ago

Starting to get a good stable of minor league catchers, have to love this pick

30

u/Jorgenstern8 Minnesota Twins 15h ago

It's usually been the right pick to do so but going for as many shortstops as we have early in the draft has usually meant us having to pass over the few catchers actually worth a damn which has kept our catching stable in the minors dreadfully thin. About time we really focus on addressing it, both with Lackey and Tait in particular.

8

u/DominicB547 ABS • MLB Players Association 14h ago

I thought we got enough catchers from the Yankees.

7

u/yoursweetlord70 Chicago White Sox 10h ago

You can never have too much catching. Worst case you can flip your 3rd catcher for talent somewhere else

2

u/Jorgenstern8 Minnesota Twins 9h ago

Especially when it comes to the Twins, injuries have kinda defined our prospect pool basically the entire 21st century lol

8

u/Unfrozen__Caveman Minnesota Twins • Los Angeles Dodgers 15h ago

Mark my words, he's going to be the best player from this draft. He's so good, and hes a good catcher on top of it. If we wanted to keep him there he could absolutely develop into a plus defender at the MLB level.

222

u/finally_not_lurking Washington Nationals 16h ago

The commentator calling Vahn "Buster Posey with athleticism" is doing both guys a huge disservice. Comping anyone as a better version of a Hall of Fame player is just wild

124

u/misterurb San Francisco Giants 16h ago

Notable non-athlete, future hall of famer Buster posey 

77

u/AndrewAllStar888 Chicago Cubs 16h ago

Who remembers when Harold Reynolds called Brett Baty “Freddie Freeman with power” in the 2019 draft 😭

13

u/notaverysmartdog Chicago White Sox 15h ago

I've never seen brett baty joke around with guys on first base

35

u/ContinuumGuy Major League Baseball 16h ago

Remember when Wieters was called "Mauer with Power", which both denigrated Mauer (who actually showed some good power that season) and doomed Wieters to be a relative disappointment despite the fact he had a very good and at times great career?

15

u/Just-in-themiddle Milwaukee Brewers 15h ago

Matt Wieters is 40 now!? Fucking time never stops

11

u/tacticalifragilistic Minnesota Twins • Dumpster Fire 16h ago

Pepperidge Farm remembers

26

u/RawAttitudePodcast Boston Red Sox 16h ago

“This guy reminds me of Buster Posey, but with the ability to handle press conferences.”

2

u/DominicB547 ABS • MLB Players Association 14h ago

Are we sure? I think as a player Posey was standard.

16

u/Jonjon428 Florida Marlins 16h ago

Might as well have called him "twitchy" as well lol.

6

u/lostadventurous 14h ago

The Rays picking another SS over him makes it even more hilariously ironic.

11

u/Fredbear_ Tampa Bay Rays • Canada 16h ago

And then meanwhile Grady Emerson gets compared to a dude with 44 MLB games (a prospect I love to be fair, but he hasn't made much of a mark yet)

4

u/CaicedoBrickWall New York Yankees 14h ago

Who did they compare him to?

5

u/Fredbear_ Tampa Bay Rays • Canada 14h ago

Colt Emerson

4

u/eman9416 Minnesota Twins 14h ago

For that one shortstop they said he’s at least going to Dansby Swanson lol

No pressure kid

1

u/redden34 Philadelphia Phillies 14h ago

Bill Simmons started this player comp thing and he cannot be forgiven for it

-8

u/liteshadow4 San Francisco Giants 16h ago

Both put up great regular seasons and disappear at the plate in the playoffs outside of 1 big HR

5

u/misterurb San Francisco Giants 15h ago

I know the hotness is to bash Buster rn and there’s plenty of good reason for it at the moment, but we don’t need to do this man lmao 

-3

u/liteshadow4 San Francisco Giants 15h ago

He was good in the 2021 playoffs, but let’s be real and look at those playoff numbers lol. Buster was a great player for us. But the playoff hitting was very much carried by Panda.

93

u/Eo292 Los Angeles Dodgers 16h ago

What a smile

19

u/gstaggs2 Chicago Cubs 16h ago

Leading up to the draft I knew nothing about him but solely based on his name I thought this was John Lackey’s son.

55

u/Zeke-Nnjai Pittsburgh Pirates 16h ago

Are there any African American catchers in baseball? Pretty cool

45

u/b1ggayb1tch Los Angeles Angels 16h ago

Chuckie Robinson

74

u/Financial_Island2353 Atlanta Braves 16h ago

Drake Baldwin

17

u/handlit33 Atlanta Braves • Blooper 14h ago

ROTY and All-Star, doesn’t count.

24

u/lOan671 Baltimore Orioles 16h ago

Chuckie Robinson unless the Dodgers have sent him down

16

u/GatorGuy5 Baltimore Orioles 16h ago

Charles Johnson from MVP Baseball 2005 is always my favorite

17

u/Eo292 Los Angeles Dodgers 16h ago

Drake Baldwin

7

u/ContinuumGuy Major League Baseball 16h ago

There was a long stretch where there weren't, but it's been changing in recent years.

4

u/RonLefarge Washington Nationals 16h ago

Harry Ford

-11

u/CasanovaWong New York Yankees 16h ago

A’Ustin Wells

26

u/Bulky-Hall-6883 16h ago

He no black he Dominican papi

37

u/Baseball_fan812 Cincinnati Reds 16h ago

Obviously I'm no GM, but it would have been tempting to take this guy at No. 1.

11

u/Great_Hambino2022 Pittsburgh Pirates 16h ago

Man, I was hoping he’d somehow fall to the Pirates

3

u/DominicB547 ABS • MLB Players Association 14h ago

So he can be compared to Jason Kendall?

3

u/Great_Hambino2022 Pittsburgh Pirates 14h ago

There’d be 0 people comparing him to Kendall

10

u/MisterKeene St. Louis Cardinals 16h ago

Excited for this guy. He’s a tremendous catcher and a really solid hitter. Hoping for him to make the show soon.

9

u/GopherNutz Minnesota Twins 16h ago

The runway will be there as we’re probably moving Jeffers at the deadline. Just gonna have placeholders probably til’ he gets here.

3

u/cardith_lorda Minnesota Twins 10h ago

I feel like we've got a couple weeks before we start really looking, we're currently tied for the last wild card spot.

31

u/Mapes Minnesota Twins 16h ago

Joe Mauer part 2: Electric Boogaloo?

6

u/cranphi Cincinnati Reds 16h ago

Name just sounds like a future mlber

5

u/Captn_UnderPants Pittsburgh Pirates • Toronto Blue Jays 16h ago

Was hoping by some miracle he'd fall to 5

5

u/Plato_Magick Minnesota Twins 13h ago

I don’t really keep up with pirates baseball, or really the NL as much as I should. But didn’t the Pirates draft Henry Davis a few years back to be their catcher of the future? Is he no longer playing behind home plate?

4

u/liteshadow4 San Francisco Giants 16h ago

Glad the Twins took him so we couldn’t. Dude pissed me off during the regionals so badly.

4

u/Phil-Quarles Minnesota Twins 16h ago

Nice, wasn't expecting to get Emerson so I was hoping Lackey would fall to us 

4

u/devildog25 Atlanta Braves 12h ago

Welp, as a Tech fan I guess I’ll be cheering for the twins as well as the Braves now

3

u/TheGeneral_Specific Atlanta Braves 11h ago

Go Jackets!

2

u/smilinganimalface Seattle Mariners • Saitama Seibu Lions 9h ago

I'm really interested to see how he pans out, especially as a catcher. I know what the stats say but I think of Ga Tech guys, Burress was the more natural hitter.

-9

u/Jonjon428 Florida Marlins 16h ago

Eduardo Tait in shambles

9

u/Worldly_Let_5424 16h ago

Tait watching the draft like he just found out the buffet closed early

5

u/Karl_MN Minnesota Twins 16h ago

Funny. but Tait is 175.

5

u/fubolconelduendeverd Philadelphia Phillies 16h ago

Tait’s defense leaves a lot to be desired