In Houston, Twins believe they nabbed 'best college SS on the board'

MINNEAPOLIS -- For the second consecutive year and the third time in four years, the Twins have taken a polished college shortstop with their first pick in the MLB Draft. And this one may be the purest shortstop of them all.

The latest addition to the club’s farm system is Wake Forest’s Marek Houston, an outstanding defender and quality runner who flashed a new level of power for the first time in his junior year at Wake. He follows Kaelen Culpepper (2024) and Brooks Lee (2022) as first-round college shortstops going to the Twins.

“It’s kind of a moment I’ve always looked forward to my whole life,” said Houston. “Always dreamt of being drafted one day. And you wake up and it’s here. It kind of comes way quicker than you think. … It’s just amazing. All the people around you. It’s awesome.”

After Houston, Minnesota selected University of Alabama right-hander Riley Quick in Competitive Balance Round A, high school infielder Quentin Young in the second round and Dallas Baptist righty James Ellwanger in the third.

• Minnesota's No. 54 Draft pick next up in the Young baseball legacy

Houston experienced an offensive breakthrough in 2025, complementing his already exemplary defensive profile. He was regarded as possibly the best defensive shortstop in the 2025 Draft class.

“We thought Marek was the best college shortstop on the board,” said Twins amateur scouting director Sean Johnson. “We’ve seen him for a long time at Wake Forest and really love to watch him play shortstop. … We really feel like he’s a really good shortstop -- range, arm, all the things that we know are important for the position. His makeup, his leadership for the position … we’re really ecstatic about getting him with our first pick.”

A right-handed hitter, Houston has been a three-year starter for Wake, one of the top programs in college baseball. The Demon Deacons made the NCAA tournament in each of his three seasons, and reached the College World Series in 2023. Houston batted .354/.458/.597 in 2025 and also thrived in the Cape Cod League in 2024.

In short, he’s seen a lot of top-level competition already in his baseball career.

“Playing the competition we do in the ACC, and even other conferences, out of conference games, you get better every year,” Houston said. “If you look at my stats, I get better every year. And that’s how it should be. Being a baseball player, you play another year, you should get better and better. That’s kind of how I like to see it, and that’s just kind of how it was.”

Houston, MLB Pipeline's 15th-ranked prospect, could be the best defensive shortstop in this year's Draft, but he also comes with a new offensive approach that allowed him to do more damage with the bat during his junior season at Wake Forest.

After combining for 12 homers in his first two seasons for the Demon Deacons, Houston added muscle and put more of an emphasis on power, resulting in 15 homers during his junior season. Houston's bat-to-ball skills were also evident in his 27 multihit games last season, which included 10 games with three or more hits.

“A lot of work put into this year,” he said. “I go into each year thinking about what can I do to get better, and for me, that was just impacting the ball a little bit more than I did the year before. I went into the year trying to gain a little bit more muscle, try to get a little bit stronger and faster.”

On defense, Houston has quickness, arm strength and good range, with observers believing he can be a strong defender in the big leagues. But if his bat falls short in the pros and doesn't allow him to play every day, his athleticism should allow him to find success as a utilityman.

"I couldn't be happier for or prouder of Marek," Wake Forest head coach Tom Walter said in a release from the school. "His hard work and sacrifice has paid off, and he has become the type of player a Major League team can anchor their defense around. The Twins are a great organization with a track record of development. Marek will thrive in the Twins' organization, and his ascent to the big leagues will be swift."

Here is a look at the other picks the Twins made on Day 1 of the Draft:

Riley Quick, RHP, Competitive Balance Round A (Pick No. 36 overall)

• Bats/throws: R/R
• School: University of Alabama
• Calling Card: Pure power. Quick is one of the hardest-throwing college pitchers in the class, with a sinker that sits at 95-97 mph and touches 99, a cutter that can get to 95, along with a slider and a changeup, to boot.
• Quote: “We think there’s even more to unlock with the way he uses his pitches and his arsenal. Our pitcher development guys are just so excited to have him on board.” -- Johnson

Quentin Young, SS, second round (Pick No. 54 overall)

• Bats/throws: R/R
• School: Oaks Christian High School (Calif.)
• Calling Card: Loud tools. Young is a big young man with big tools, including very high grades on his power (60 on the 20-80 scouting scale) and throwing arm (65). He’s the nephew of big leaguers Dmitri and Delmon Young, and the Twins are almost as enamored with his makeup as with his physical attributes. But the pure tools are special.
• Quote: “I think that’s probably like the highlight of our scouts for the night. We thought he’d be off the board by then. To be able to get him where we took him, our scouts are probably in the room still trying to do gymnastics. … We always say, ‘You get me this guy in this round, I’ll do a backflip.’ I might go back in there and they’re still trying to do it. Just tremendous upside. Some of the highest upside in the whole Draft.” -- Johnson

James Ellwanger, RHP, third round (Pick No. 88 overall)

• Bats/throws: R/R
• School: Dallas Baptist University
• Calling Card: Serious gas. Ellwanger’s fastball grades as a 60 on the 20-80 scale, and he’s got true swing-and-miss stuff, garnering 95 strikeouts in 63 1/3 innings at DBU this year. He has had elbow problems and needs to throw more strikes, but his upside is immense.
• Quote: “Our area scout, Trevor Brown, has been on this guy for two years. Really liked the pitches, the body, the athlete, and so you're just going to watch them in person, evaluate them. You get them under our analytics microscope so it's really about loud pitches that play on TV. So you put that together, and then you're layering on makeup and who the player is and how they're driven to be even better. And we really loved everything in the background there with James, and we think he's a great fit for our organization." -- Johnson