Former Twins second-round pick retires from baseball at 24 years old

Former Twins prospect Steve Hajjar, who was their second-round pick in the 2021 draft, has retired from professional baseball at age 24, according to reports.

Part of the infamous Tyler Mahle trade in 2022, Hajjar is calling it quits after a three-year minor league career where he bounced around multiple organizations and struggled mightily with command.

Hajjar, a 6'5" left-handed pitcher, was the 61st overall pick in the '21 draft after a strong redshirt sophomore season at the University of Michigan. He made his pro debut for the Twins in 2022 and pitched well at Low-A Fort Myers, striking out 71 batters over 43.2 innings.

In early August of that year, prior to the MLB trade deadline, Hajjar was dealt to the Cincinnati Reds along with Spencer Steer and Christian Encarnacion-Strand for Mahle, who was plagued by injuries and made just nine starts for Minnesota over the following two seasons. Steer's emergence as a quality player for the Reds (20+ home runs, 85+ RBI in each of the last two years) makes it one of the worst trades in recent Twins history.

Hajjar dealt with a shoulder injury and made just two starts in the Reds' organization before being traded to Cleveland in March 2023. He never made it past High-A in the Guardians' organization, largely due to issues with control. Over the last two seasons, Hajjar walked 98 batters in 104 innings. He was let go by Cleveland and claimed by the Pirates in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 Draft this winter, but now he's decided to hang up the cleats and move on.

The Twins' 2021 draft class hasn't yielded much. 26th overall pick Chase Petty was traded for Sonny Gray, which worked out well. Noah Miller, taken 36th overall, didn't hit at all before being traded to the Dodgers for Manuel Margot (which didn't work out well). Third-rounder Cade Povich, who was dealt to the Orioles in the ill-fated Yennier Cano-Jorge Lopez deal in 2022, reached the majors for Baltimore last year. Fourth-rounder Encarnacion-Strand was in the Mahle deal and hit 13 homers for the Reds in 2023.

But the Twins did make a great pick in the 13th round when they drafted David Festa out of Seton Hall. After showing impressive flashes last season, he's got a chance to be a major part of their rotation for a long time. The only other selections from that class who still have some prospect shine appear to be pitchers Christian MacLeod (fifth round) and Travis Adams (sixth round).

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