Twins just made draft history with their catcher of the future

The Twins didn't mess around with the No. 3 overall pick. Minnesota locked up Vahn Lackey, the Georgia Tech catcher, for $9,497,500, a number that immediately rockets him into the top 10 bonuses ever paid out in an MLB Draft. It landed just under his $9,740,100 slot value, which in draft-pool math is basically a rounding error.

Jim Callis

@jimcallisMLB

No. 3 overall pick Vahn Lackey signs with Twins for $9,497,500 (slot value = $9,740,100). Second-highest @MLBDraft bonus of all time. @GTBaseball C, all-around talent w/uncommon athleticism for position, slashed this spring.

For context on how big a number this actually is: the all-time draft bonus record belongs to UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky, who signed with the White Sox for $10.35 million. Lackey now sits at No. 2 all-time, ahead of names like Paul Skenes, Chase Burns and Charlie Condon, guys who've combined to reshape multiple pitching staffs. That's the company a Georgia Tech catcher just walked into.

The production backs up the price tag. Lackey slashed his way through 2026 for the Yellow Jackets, hitting.397 with a.519 on-base percentage and a 1.291 OPS, 20 home runs, 78 RBIs and 15 stolen bases in 61 games. Catchers who run and hit for that kind of power are basically a unicorn at the position, which is exactly why teams pay premiums to lock them up before someone else does.

Jim Callis

@jimcallisMLB

With Vahn Lackey signing with the @Twins, here's the updated list of the 10 highest bonuses in @MLBDraft history:

Bonuses like this also say something about where the Twins think they are as a franchise. Handing nearly $9.5 million to an amateur catcher isn't a move a team makes if it's punting on the next few years. It's a bet that Lackey is a foundational piece behind the plate, the kind of two-way threat who can anchor a lineup and a pitching staff at the same time.

Now the actual baseball starts. Lackey heads into the Twins' system as one of the most-watched prospects in the sport, and every scout in the organization will be tracking how that Georgia Tech power translates against pro arms. The bonus check clears fast. Proving it out takes years.