How Twins scout Sean Johnson prepares for highest draft pick in a decade

MINNEAPOLIS — Sean Johnson wasn’t even supposed to be in this position.

Yet when the Minnesota Twins pick third in Major League Baseball’s amateur draft on Saturday, their highest selection in nearly a decade, they’ll rely upon a sound decision from their steady, well-informed amateur scouting director/assistant general manager, who is now in his 25th season with the organization.

The interesting part is Johnson, 50, first joined the Twins as the result of a fluke.

Back in 2002, Johnson was fired after only two months of area scouting when the Florida Marlins axed their player development and scouting departments following Jeffrey Loria’s sale of the Montreal Expos to the league, freeing him to purchase the South Florida club.

Loria’s transaction caused a domino effect, creating a Twins area-scouting vacancy. Johnson was recommended and flew to meet with then-West Coast supervisor Deron Johnson.

A week later, Sean Johnson packed his belongings to move to Phoenix.

“The rest is history,” said Deron Johnson, now the Twins’ senior scouting advisor.

Sean Johnson, a student of legendary scout Mike Radcliff, has spent the last decade helping the Twins navigate tumultuous waters as the franchise modernized its draft process. Dens previously filled with eight to 10 old-school scouts became information super highways, complete with 50 different opinions about which player best fits the organization’s needs.

Peers believe he’s more than capable of becoming a GM or president of baseball operations someday. They say Johnson expertly steers a draft room full of wide-ranging opinions through lively discourse by valuing every voice, being prepared and staying open-minded.

“You’re looking for somebody that’s willing to stick their neck out and make a decision,” former Twins GM Terry Ryan said. “Sean never had that problem. … He didn’t have arrogance, but he has confidence. He carries himself well. When he’s around, people know who the boss is. But he doesn’t act like a boss.”

As GM Jeremy Zoll navigates overseeing his first draft room after the January departure of Twins president Derek Falvey, he takes comfort in knowing how Sean Johnson operates.

“Each and every year he goes back to the drawing board and figures out what we can do better,” Zoll said. “Sean does a phenomenal job leading that group.”

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Johnson’s career began in 2000 in the baseball operations department at his alma mater, Wichita State. A seldom-used catcher over three seasons, including Wichita’s last College World Series team (1996), Johnson thought his future was in player development.

Then Marlins scouting director David Chadd convinced Johnson in September 2001 to become a Midwest-based area scout.

Only five months later, Johnson was displaced, as Loria brought his baseball operations group to Miami from Montreal, resulting in mass layoffs.

“Everyone in PD, everyone in scouting was gone,” Johnson said.

In his short time with the Marlins, Johnson had already attended scout school and made a handful of in-home visits with players.

Though he’d be paid for the year, Johnson had nothing to look forward to.

Then the Twins had an opening. Montreal had hired away the Twins’ Four Corners area scout, Lee MacPhail IV, in February 2002 to be their scouting director. Suddenly, the Twins were without coverage for Arizona, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico, right in the middle of the pre-draft scouting season.

Twins area scout Gregg Miller knew Johnson from Wichita State and recommended him.

“I didn’t know him,” Deron Johnson said. “I needed a guy really quick. I flew him out to San Francisco and we drove around the city and talked a little bit. I thought he’d be a good fit.”

Now that he’s held supervisory roles since 2007, Sean Johnson understands the pinch his predecessor was in.

“It’s hard to hire a scout in the middle of spring,” Sean Johnson said. “We talked about players I saw and what I thought just to make sure I had some feel for what I was doing. … A week later, I’m suddenly leaving a town I never thought I’d leave. Left my whole family behind. Moved to Phoenix.”

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When Falvey asked him who should run the new draft model, Tim O’Neil instantly recommended Sean Johnson. What makes O’Neil’s reaction stand out nearly a decade later is Falvey was gauging his interest in taking over as scouting director.

Falvey wanted to follow an industry trend and modernize his amateur scouting department by incorporating a new model in the Twins’ draft process. O’Neil or Sean Johnson were the top candidates to replace then-director Deron Johnson in late 2016.

O’Neil, the team’s current assistant scouting director, remains adamant Sean Johnson was the only choice.

“If I owned the team, I would hire him over me,” O’Neil said. “Sean’s the only guy that could blend our traditional scouting department with the model factoring in player development, research and development.”

And he did, growing the team from less than a dozen to as many as 50.

“Originally we were so ‘Old school, scout-em-up, line-em-up,’” said Texas-based area scout Trevor Brown. “When the model came in, it was like, ‘What’s this?’”

The model was designed to improve the flow of information. Every day, hundreds of pieces of information are gathered on players across the nation and input.

The Twins’ system was archaic. When he first started in 2002, Johnson mailed in carbon copies of his scouting reports. The club evolved and reports were next phoned into an answering machine. Eventually, reports were emailed.

“But you couldn’t change the report again,” Sean Johnson said. “It just went to the office and that was it. … Now, I can change my mind tonight on a player if I want. I just need to have a good reason.”

Bringing the draft room together would be a challenge. Scouts think the analysts live in a paper world. Analysts think the way scouts operate is antiquated. Someone had to bridge the gap.

“His superpower is he understands the process and knows where to push and pull,” Falvey said.

Johnson’s experience gave him credibility with older scouts to ask them to adjust. He also understood analytics and wouldn’t let non-scouting departments forget the value of information being supplied by those on the ground.

“Not only did he support it, he was hungry for it,” Falvey said. “If he was in the seat and we integrated the information, there was going to be a blend.”

That stands to this day. Young or old, scout or analyst — on Sean Johnson’s squad, every opinion matters.

“He really challenged me a lot, especially early on, which I thought was really daring and bold,” said Twins Midwest scouting coordinator Mike Ruth. “We’d known each other for 20 years. He could have said I don’t want to have that conversation. … Looking back on it now, he’s improved my life a great deal and improved me as a scout.”

The give and take took time. But Johnson found ways to incorporate everyone.

Ezra Wise, who rebuilt the team’s model from scratch when he started with the Twins in 2019, did some in-person and video scouting when he previously worked for Philadelphia and Baltimore.

Johnson began inviting him to showcase events to sit with veteran Twins scouts, something all members now do. Wise thinks the crossover is improving relationships.

“There’s a lot of back and forth,” Wise said. “There’s a lot of folks on the scouting side being very interested in what they can learn. … When this was all brand new, there was a lot more head butting and disagreements. Obviously, there still lots of constructive disagreements, but that’s what we want to cultivate.”

Johnson could see advantages to the model, including fewer nights on the road for scouts, a reduction in recency bias and no more single poor performances informing teams’ opinions.

But unlike other model-based teams, he wanted to emphasize the importance of scouts’ input, too.

“I tried to remove the wall that was there,” Johnson said. “And say, ‘Hey, we’re all in the same boat here. If we work together, we can do some really great things. There’s pros to each side. Let’s figure out what those things are and let’s use it to make us better.’”

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It didn’t take long for Johnson to recognize his good fortune in landing with the Twins. In his first week with the club, Johnson attended a high school game at Cherry Field in Tucson, Ariz.

“I met a scout who said (of Radcliff), ‘You need to realize, you’re working for the best scouting director in the game,’” Johnson said. “‘They’re gonna treat you well.’ … I never forgot that moment.”

Johnson previously spoke to Radcliff on the phone, but they had yet to meet. Even though he wouldn’t be inducted into the Scouting Hall of Fame until 2014, Radcliff, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2023, was a legend in the scouting world.

Johnson was young, motivated, sharp and unafraid to share his opinion.

“He was calm, diligent and cooperative,” Ryan said. “He wanted players — all that kind of good stuff that you’re looking for in an area guy.”

Radcliff quickly discovered the gem the Twins lucked into. He could see the work ethic and people skills and spent considerable time mentoring Johnson.

“(Radcliff was) Sean’s role model,” Brown said. “I think Sean embodies a lot of Cliffy’s traits and a lot of things Cliffy did with people, the ability to listen and really take in what somebody has to say.”

Johnson credits an army of Twins scouts for molding him, including Radcliff, Deron Johnson, Ruth, Vern Followell, John Wilson, Mark Quimuyog, John Leavitt and Earl Frishman, among others.

“I was addicted to scouting right when I started,” Sean Johnson said. “There’s a chance when I go to the ballpark I can change the future of the franchise.”

Johnson’s peers say his treatment of co-workers is a key component to changing the department’s culture.

“Elite consistency,” O’Neil said. “His character is just incredible and his care level is second to none.”

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In the immediate future, Johnson’s only concerned with the upcoming draft. He was promoted to Twins assistant GM in January 2025 and now participates in pro personnel as well as his amateur duties.

“I get to give my opinion and my angle of things,” Johnson said.

But Johnson also recognizes he’s addicted enough to the amateur scouting side to not overthink his title. Johnson learned long ago being preoccupied with getting a promotion could hurt him. Staying focused on his task has served him and his team better.

“I know there’s plenty of growth that comes with those jobs,” Johnson said. “I love to learn and to be challenged to do new things and to try to make things and processes better. But being a part of a team, whatever that looks like, I don’t care as much about the title.”

Both Falvey and Ryan believe Johnson can handle a bigger assignment. The key is exposure to the pro side, which he’s gotten of late. Falvey and Zoll were already bringing Johnson into the fold prior to Falvey’s shocking departure in January. Falvey believes his former co-worker has the skill set needed to handle roster rules, long-range planning and more.

“We brought him into a lot more of those discussions because he does have exceptionally high (emotional quotient),” Falvey said. “He’s a tremendous people leader. … The EQ side and people leadership side, and the instilling belief in the people around you, that’s a gift, and Sean has that gift. He could absolutely be (a GM) if he so desires to.”

For now, Johnson simply wants to impact the franchise, same as he does every year, regardless of which way their picks fall in the draft order. He’s focused on making sure the team is prepared for all possibilities. Last month, the Twins interviewed 50 players during the draft combine that took place over four days.

“The pressure is always there to try to deliver good players,” Johnson said.

Headed into the draft weekend, Twins have been linked to UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky, Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey, UC Santa Barbara pitcher Jackson Flora and Texas high school shortstop Grady Emerson.

With the third pick, the Twins will have a plethora of options. As long as they’re prepared, Johnson said handling the chaos of the day won’t be an issue.

“Being open-minded until we can’t be anymore is really the goal, and that’s the day of the draft,” Johnson said. “The people in our room go above and beyond to make sure that we’re buttoned up on everything we need to be. We are ready for the scenarios that are going to unfold in front of us.”