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Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook 2012 NOW AVAILABLE –$13.99 for 179 pages of Twins minor league content. You can get a copy now by clicking here. If you are unable to see the book’s cover, please click here. Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook 2012 NOW AVAILABLE as E-Book - If you’re interested in ordering the electronic version of the Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook 2012. Order the e-book for just $6.99 by clicking here. Friday,
January 27, 2012 Twins Fest Weekend Minnesota
Twins Prospect Handbook 2012 – Now Available as an e-book for $6.99 by clicking here. You can, of course, still get the print version
for $13.99 by clicking here. The procedure I
had done yesterday kind of won last night, so I wasn’t able to finish the
next installment of the Organizational Depth Chart, so that will return next
week. I was, fortunately, able to watch the Diamond Awards live on
FoxSportsNorth.com, and it was incredible. It’s such a nice event for such a
great cause, but it also appears to be a fun event to be at. I would say that
it is on my bucket list of baseball activities. Here are some of the
highlights: ·
Liam Hendriks and Brian Dozier accepted their awards for minor
league pitcher and player of the year and did a good job in their comments. ·
Ben Revere
stole the show. He was so funny in his speech, and in his responses to
questions from Dick Bremer. The best story (among many hilarious ones!) was
about the triple during which he tripped and did a complete summersault. He
said that his dad and his brother were at the game. They didn’t get to sleep
until about 2:30 because, you see, his dad is a football coach, so they had
to watch it on video several times and then do some running drills, and his
dad brought cones, and… it was hilarious! Revere’s smile was in full effect! ·
Tom Kelly went
last and said there were benefits to being last. He
kind of roasted most of the earlier presenters, which was hilarious. But when
he was done, the surprise was on him. Dick Bremer told him to stay up on the
stage and invited Dave St. Peter and Jim Pohlad to
come up. St. Peter went on to talk about Kelly and said that September 8th
will be Tom Kelly Day at Target Field. At that time, the Twins will retire
Kelly’s #10. Kelly was clearly shaken. He didn’t know what to do. In fact, he
quickly shook, Bremer’s hand and walked off the
stage to a standing ovation. As the ovation dropped to a sitting ovation, the
FSN cameras showed Kelly wiping away tears. Clearly, that was an incredible
honor for him, and I am so glad that I got to see it. I’m sure it’ll
appear on FSN on TV in the near future. It is something you will definitely
want to watch. I am about to
make my trek to the Twin Cities, to Twins Fest. I’ve been going now for about
five years and always enjoy it. I plan to be at the Metrodome
Friday night and Saturday throughout the day. Then a reminder, at about 7:30
on Saturday night, the TwinsCentric crew and several
other of your favorite Twins writers and bloggers will be at Old Chicago in
Roseville. So come on out. If you see me, please come and say hi. It’s fun to
meet people there. I will try to have a few Prospect Handbooks with me. Hopefully
I’ll see a bunch of them walking around the Dome. As I’ve pointed out, I
believe 22 players in the book will be signing at Twins Fest this weekend,
including Dozier and Hendriks on the cover. Twins
Fest is what you make it. If you like spending money on autographs, it’s
great. It’s a baseball card and memorabilia show. It’s a great place to
people watch. I know people who could sit in the Dome’s bleachers and listen
as the 1500 ESPN personalities interview Twins players, coaches, front office
people and more. It really is a fun event.
And, so that I
can get on the road, I’m going to cut this off here and keep it all positive.
I won’t even talk about Dan Wheeler signing a minor league deal with
Cleveland, or Brad Lidge signing with the Nationals
for $1 Million + incentives. Twins Fest weekend is a great way for baseball
fans to start getting ready for the 2012 season. Spring Training is just
around the corner, and that always brings hope and excitement. At least for
me, it does. If you have any
further questions, please feel free to e-mail me at sethspeaksnet@hotmail.com or
leave your thoughts in the Comments
Section! Thursday,
January 26, 2012 SethSpeaks… in Fargo Today The kidney stone
saga is about to come to an end, I hope… at least for now! I have a doctor’s
appointment this afternoon in Fargo today that should end this chapter. I’m
not looking forward to what will be done, at all, but I am very much looking
forward to getting back to normal!! I’m also looking forward to heading to
the Twin Cities on Friday. I will be at Twins Fest on Friday night and
throughout the day on Saturday. The TwinsCentric
guys and several more of your favorite Twins bloggers/writers are getting
together at Old Chicago in Roseville on Saturday night about 7:30, so stop by
and say hi, if you’re in the neighborhood. At 12:35 this
afternoon, I will be joining Jack Michaels at the RV Show at the Fargo Civic
Center. The Jack Michaels Show on 740 The Fan will be broadcast live from there from 12-2, and
I’ll join him for a segment at 12:35. We’ll likely discuss Twins prospects,
transactions, Twins Fest and more. Of course, if you’re not able to make it
to the RV Show, or Fargo, you can always listen live by
clicking here.
I hope to
return tomorrow with more of the Organizational Depth Chart. Wednesday,
January 25, 2012 Organizational Depth Chart: Third
Basemen Minnesota
Twins Prospect Handbook 2012 – Now Available as an e-book for $6.99 by clicking here. You can, of course, still get the print version
for $13.99 by clicking here. We have looked
at the catchers and the first basemen in the Twins organization the past two
days. Today, I’ll be looking at the third basemen. Again, the purpose of this
series is two-fold (if not more). First, it’s a look at the depth at or near
the big leagues. Second, it’s a glance at the depth at the position
throughout the system. You can find out who might be coming up to the Twins
if there is a need, and you can find out who the prospects to watch might be.
Minnesota
Twins Danny Valencia (Luke Hughes, Jamey Carroll)
2011 was a
difficult year for Valencia. In the first half, his numbers struggled thanks
to a lot of at-‘em balls. His high BABIP in his
rookie season was evened up by his low BABIP in his sophomore season. He can
hit, and hitting in the bottom third of the lineup, he will succeed. His
defense wasn’t as good in 2011 as 2010 either. More disturbing, he was the
player blamed most by the manager, which makes no sense. I expect a solid
season out of Valencia in 2012, maybe somewhere along the lines of
.280/.340/.450 with 30+ doubles and 12-15 home runs. As I’ve pointed out
before, I won’t be even a little surprised if Ron Gardenhire
says that Sean Burroughs is competition for a starting job. Burroughs will
get plenty of at bats in spring training though. And Luke Hughes, who is out
of options, should again receive plenty of at bats and time in the field at three
infield positions including 3B. Jamey Carroll is really a middle infielder,
but some seem to think he might be a 3B option as well. I can’t see
that. Rochester Red
Wings Sean Burroughs. Ray Chang Burroughs was
once one of baseball’s top prospects, then struggled, then got into drugs and
alcohol. But he had a nice comeback season last year that saw him reach the
big leagues for the first time since 2006. He did a nice job as a pinch
hitter for Arizona. He is known as a very good defensive third baseman, which
bodes well for him. He has also shown the ability to hit for average. I
really believe that although he likely isn’t in direct competition with
Valencia for a starting job, he is likely going to be battling Luke Hughes
and maybe Tsuyoshi Nishioka for the final bench
spots. With Trevor Plouffe also likely on the bench
many nights, Gardy may find it important to have a
left-handed bench bat. Ray Chang made
a very good impression last year in spring training. He went to New Britain
and played well. He was promoted to Rochester where he played even better,
hitting 3rd many games for them. Unfortunately, he broke his
fibula and missed almost two months. He will likely get time at 3B and at SS
for the Red Wings. New Britain Rock
Cats Deibinson Romero,
Michael Hollimon Romero was once
considered a very good, high ceiling prospect. Following a
injury-riddled season in Beloit, the Twins added him to the 40-man-roster. He
struggled and was removed from the 40-man-roster a year later. Many questioned
his work ethic, but he responded in 2011 with a solid year in AA. He could
have become a free agent after the 2011 season, but he quickly resigned with
the Twins. Likewise, the
Twins and Hollimon quickly agreed that he would
return to the Twins rather than enter free agency. Between New Britain (97
games) and Rochester (29 games), he hit 19 doubles and 18 home runs. He
primarily played 2B and LF but also go some time at the hot corner. The Twins
drafted him in the 49th round in 2003 but he didn’t sign. In 2008,
he got 25 plate appearances with the Tigers. He had six hits, including two
doubles, a triple and a home run. Ft. Myers
Miracle Anderson Hidalgo, Jairo
Perez Hidalgo has
been in the organization since 2006. He has moved up one level each year and
was with the Miracle last year. His .274 batting average was the lowest of
his career. In 2010, he was the only Beloit Snappers player to hit over .300
(.316). He has an unorthodox swing at the plate that many wonder if it will
adapt as he moves up the ladder. Defensively, he’s a little below average. Jairo Perez
seemingly came out of nowhere last year. He spent the first two months of the
year in Extended Spring Training, but after joining the Snappers in mid June,
he hit .337/.413/.580 with 20 doubles and 15 home runs. He had missed all of
2010 with Tommy John surgery. He primarily played 3B but also played a few
games at 2B. He is a little guy who takes a monstrous swing. He is not fast
and his range is limited, so 3B is a better option. Beloit Snappers Miguel Sano, Roy Larson, Adam Bryant I think most
Twins fans have heard pretty much everything about Miguel Sano. He is the
consensus top prospect in the Twins farm system. He got the big signing
bonus. He draws comparisons to Miguel Cabrera and other great power bats in
the game. He had a lot of errors last year in Elizabethton at both shortstop
and third base, but he can flat-out hit. He hit .292/.352/.627 with 18
doubles, seven triples and 20 home runs in 66 games for the E-Twins. His
power potential is off charts. The Twins are typically patient with their
young prospects’ development. The same should be true of Sano. As much as his
offensive game is advanced, there are more aspects of the game that he needs
to work on. He needs to make more contact. He needs to run the bases better.
And he needs to play better defense and just mature, in general. I would
expect him to spend the whole season at Beloit. Adam Bryant was
the team’s 9th round pick just last year, and as a four-year
college senior, he signed quickly and was sent to Beloit where he held his
own. He played all three infield positions and was solid with the bat. He’s a
solid, all-around player who will likely advance as a utility player. The
Twins signed Larson out of the University of St. Thomas. He’s 6-6 and
struggled in E-Town, but he has very quick hands and bat speed. He can play
both corner infield spots. Due to his age (he’s 24),
he’ll likely have to advance through the lower levels quickly. Extended Spring
Training/Short-Season Travis Harrison, Javier Pimentel It will be
interesting to see where Harrison and Pimentel will play in 2012. The
assumption is that both will go to Extended Spring Training. Harrison was the
team’s supplemental first-round pick in 2011 out of high school in
California. He has a bunch of power potential and some believe that he could
also become an all-around hitter. Pimentel was signed in 2010 out of the
Dominican Republic for about a $700,000 signing bonus. He split the 2011
season between the Dominican Summer League and the GCL. I think he would
likely head to the GCL again, but he has very good potential as well. Signed
as a shortstop, he already spent most of his time at third base in 2011. TOP THREE
PROSPECTS 1.) Miguel Sano, 2.) Travis Harrison, 3.) Jairo Perez SUMMARY Third base is
Danny Valencia’s for the near-term. Sean Burroughs provides some quality
depth. This would be a position where the Twins are quite strong at the lower
levels (with Sano, Harrison and Pimentel), but there is not much help above
Beloit for 2012, at least not anyone that would have any long-term potential.
We’ll need to wait until at least 2014 to see Sano (and that’s only if he
advances on the Joe Mauer path), and Harrison and
Pimentel are likely 2016 arrivals. Will Sano be able to stick at 3B? How will
Valencia fare through his pre-arbitration and arbitration years? If you have any
further questions, please feel free to e-mail me at sethspeaksnet@hotmail.com or
leave your thoughts in the Comments
Section! Tuesday,
January 24, 2012 Organizational Depth Chart: First
Basemen Minnesota
Twins Prospect Handbook 2012 – Now Available as an e-book for $6.99 by clicking here. You can, of course, still get the print version
for $13.99 by clicking here. After looking
at the catchers throughout the Twins system yesterday, I’ll be looking at the
first basemen today before continuing around the diamond throughout the
coming weeks. Again, the purpose is two-fold. First, it’s a look at the depth
at or near the big leagues. Second, it’s a glance at the depth at the
position throughout the system. You can find out who might be coming up to
the Twins if there is a need, and you can find out who the prospects to watch
might be.
Minnesota
Twins Justin Morneau,
Ryan Doumit (Joe Mauer,
Luke Hughes) As much as I
have no worries about Joe Mauer as he comes back in
2012, I am equally concerned about Justin Morneau’s
ability to come back and play. Obviously I really hope that I am wrong. I
hope he comes back and performs to the MVP-like caliber that we saw from 2006
through 2010. Defensively, he was tremendous and that is a great example of
his work ethic. Hopefully by now, fans understand the seriousness of head
injuries and concussions. As much as they’re saying that Morneau
won’t be just a DH, that has to be considered an option. We talked quite
a bit yesterday about Doumit as a backup catcher,
and his ability to hit. He’s not good defensively behind
the plate, and frankly, he’s not too great in front of it either. He could
play some at 1B, but it may not be pretty. I wouldn’t be
surprised to see Joe Mauer play first base a couple
of times a week to keep his bat in the lineup. He played rather well there
with the glove a year ago. Luke Hughes showed last year that he could adapt
to first base. He had a positive UZR at both 1B and 2B. He also provides a
solid right-handed bat off the bench. He’s the only right-handed bat in these
four options. Rochester Red
Wings Chris Parmelee,
Aaron Bates, Steve Pearce Parmelee showed in
September what he could be capable of in the big leagues. He has been very
solid the past two seasons in New Britain, but no one could have anticipated
his strong September performance with the Twins. It’s the beauty of small
sample size. That said, Parmelee
seems to have figured a couple of things out the last two years. He puts
together solid at bats, uses the whole field and hits for power. He needs a
half-season at Triple-A to continue to progress, but the Twins’ 1st
round pick in 2006 can be a solid contributor to the Twins lineup for years
to come. If the Twins
need a 1B option early in the year, or just want a good left-handed bat off
the bench, Bates should be considered. The Red Sox third round pick in 2006
debuted with the Sox in 2009. Last year, he joined the Red Wings in early May
and was their best, most consistent hitter. He hit .316/.408/.439 with 30
extra base hits. He was invited to big league camp. So was Steve Pearce who
burst on the prospect scene in 2007 when he dominated at four levels. Since
then, he has not put up big numbers, but he has had over 100 plate
appearances in four of the past five years in the big leagues. The Twins
drafted him in the 45th round in 2003 out of high school. He
didn’t sign. He is kind of a right-handed Aaron Bates. New Britain Rock
Cats Nate Hanson, Steve Liddle Hanson is a
Minnesota native who played for the Gophers before being drafted by the Twins
as a third baseman. During the 2010 season, he played more and more first
base, and now he is well respected for his glove and athleticism at first
base. He joined the Rock Cats at about the halfway point of last season and
held his own. Liddle was hurt much of the 2011
season. He has surgery on his non-throwing shoulder in the offseason.
Although he has played more outfield, he played
quite a bit of first base as well. After a frustrating 2011 season, it will
be interesting to see if he jumps to New Britain. Ft. Myers
Miracle Michael Gonzales, Lance Ray, Danny Rams Gonzales
returned to Beloit in 2011 about 25 pounds lighter. He came through with a
healthier, more productive season. He showed better range at first base. More
important, his hands and his bat were much quicker. He increased all of his
numbers from 2012 and is certainly ready for the Florida State League. Lance
Ray has primarily played in the outfield, but he does a nice job when he
plays at 1B as well. Rams will catch at times, but he will play some other
positions including outfield and DH. He played quite a bit of 1B in Beloit in
2010. Beloit Snappers Rory Rhodes, Kennys
Vargas Rhodes is 6-7,
so the natural comparison for him will likely be Richie Sexson,
and I think that’s a fair comp. He has a ton of power at such a young age.
The Australian needs patience, but he also will need to compete in a
full-season league in 2012. Putting the ball in play more often will be a big
thing. Defensively, he was a solid defensive third baseman, but with Miguel
Sano in the picture, Rhodes primarily played first base at E-Town last year. Vargas is a big
guy, a switch-hitter with a powerful swing from both sides of the plate. He
was putting together some solid numbers, hitting in the middle of the E-Town
lineup when he was suspended for 50 games for using a banned weight-loss
supplement. It cost him the end of the 2011 season and will cost him the
first 32 games of the 2012 season. But he has some real potential, so I
expect the Twins to stick with him after the suspension is up. Elizabethton
Twins Josh Hendricks Another
Australian, Hendricks was signed as a catcher but was quickly moved to first
base. He was very streaky and inconsistent with the bat in 2011, but he does
have good size and power potential. He could have a big year in 2012 at
E-Town. TOP THREE
PROSPECTS 1.) Chris Parmelee, 2.)
Michael Gonzales, 3.) Rory Rhodes SUMMARY For 2012,
Justin Morneau is the question mark. He hasn’t
finished a full season in several years. He has the concussion injury, but
the wrist surgery is also concerning for a power hitter. If the Twins didn’t
have so many other needs and concerns, maybe it would make sense to add a 1B
to the mix. However, Chris Parmelee is close and
could take over the position for the next half-dozen years. Bates and Pearce
are guys that could pinch hit or fill in very temporarily. If you have any
further questions, please feel free to e-mail me at sethspeaksnet@hotmail.com or
leave your thoughts in the Comments
Section! Monday,
January 23, 2012 Twins Organizational Depth Chart:
Catchers Minnesota
Twins Prospect Handbook 2012 – Now Available as an e-book for $6.99 by clicking here. You can, of course, still get the print version
for $13.99 by clicking here. For the most
part, the Twins spring training rosters are pretty well set. I wouldn’t be
surprised if there is another reliever brought in, and there could be some
more minor league signings. I thought it would be late enough in the
offseason to start taking a look at the Twins organizational depth. So, over
the next two weeks, I’ll go position by position and name the players
throughout the farm system with a few thoughts. In doing so, I’ll be trying
to figure out what the Twins minor league rosters will look like.
Minnesota
Twins Joe Mauer, Ryan Doumit, Drew Butera Maybe it’s
hopeful optimism, but I’m not worried about Joe Mauer
in 2012. 2011 started out with injury, a bad diagnosis made public, and a
not-so-subtle hint of confusion surrounding his health, his toughness and how
even his teammates and managers didn’t always understand what the situation
was either. If Mauer is healthy, he’s one of the
best catchers in baseball, offensively and defensively. Ideally, he could
again catch 110-120 games and if he does so, we know that he will likely hit
.320/.390/.490 or so with 35 or more doubles and potentially a dozen home runs.
Doumit was a
tremendous signing early in the offseason. His career numbers in the NL show
that he has posted an OPS very similar to Jason Kubel’s. Offensively, I expect the same type of hitter as
Kubel. That’s probably a little optimistic. I think
Doumit (along with Trevor Plouffe
and Luke Hughes) will be the primary DHs, unless Justin Morneau
can’t play 1B and they have him DH. Doumit can also
catch 30-40 games a season to give Mauer a day off
from behind the plate. He’s not too good back there. Butera is the
opposite. He has no chance offensively, particularly when overexposed as he
was last year. Butera is the actual backup catcher,
in my mind, since Doumit should be starting every
day. As a true backup catcher, he’s fine, plays good defense, does a good job
against the running game, and works well with pitchers. When he has to play
most days and gets 400 plate appearances, that isn’t the design. In reality,
the Twins have a bunch of versatility on their major league roster, so I
might prefer to have Butera in Rochester. If Mauer or Doumit is hurt one
game, the other could catch the rest of that game, and Butera
could be up the next day. Of course, that would assume the Twins utilized the
DL well, something they did very poorly the last couple of years. Rochester Red
Wings Rene Rivera, JR Towles We saw in 2011
what Rivera could do, and it was pretty much just as bad offensively as Butera. He just swung more crazy and more often.
Defensively, he is obviously quite solid. JR Towles comes over from the Astros where he was once a top
prospect in baseball. He never really hit with the Astros, although he never
really got much consistent playing time. There may be some hope here for some
optimism. New Britain Rock
Cats Danny Lehmann, Chris Herrmann Butera, Rivera and Towles are pretty much the same. I may be wrong, but
everything I’ve seen, read and heard from players throughout the system,
Lehmann is the best of that group. He won’t hit a lot, but no worse than
Rivera and Butera did, and his defense is just as
good, if not better. I’ve talked to a lot of pitchers in the Twins system the
last couple of years and all agree that they love throwing to Lehmann. Chris Herrmann
is the Twins top catching prospect, and it isn’t terribly close. He made a
very strong impression in 2011 at Ft. Myers and in New Britain. He didn’t hit
for average, but he gets on base a lot. He also hits a lot of doubles with a
smooth left-handed swing. He runs very well for a catcher. Part of his value
is his versatility. In college, he played mostly in the infield. Early in his
Twins career, he played mainly in the outfield and played well there.
Pitchers say that his defense behind the plate has improved, and he now
throws out a solid percentage of would-be base stealers. He could be a
versatile backup player with the Twins by September, and he is also good
enough to be the primary backstop for the team as well should they move the
$184-million-dollar man to another position at some point. Ft. Myers
Miracle Danny Rams, Dan
Rohlfing, Josmil Pinto Rams made a
good impression last year at big league spring training and was very good in
April. At that point, he got hurt and played through it, but his numbers were
not what he and organization would have wanted. Defensively, he has a strong
arm, but isn’t touted as a great defender. It’s just a gut feeling, but Rams
is very talented, and I think once he gets to New Britain, we’ll start seeing
some of his power potential turn into some power numbers. Rohlfing played infield
in high school and the Twins moved him to catcher. After awhile, he was moved
to the outfield. Last year, he was pushed to New Britain where he held his
own as a backup catcher. When he was sent back to Ft. Myers, he was in the
lineup most every day, either behind the plate or in the outfield and he
played well. He was invited to spring training this year because he has made
an impression on the right people. Josmil Pinto put up
huge numbers in E-town a couple of seasons ago, but he really struggled in
2010 in Beloit. He returned to Beloit and did alright before being moved up
to Ft. Myers. He has a strong arm, but it’s likely he’s a DH because he does
struggle behind the plate. Beloit Snappers Andy Leer, Philip Chapman, Matt Koch, Matt
Parker, Jairo Rodriguez, Kyle Knudson This is where
you start realizing that not all of these players will remain in the
organization beyond spring training. There will likely be some injuries and
others also added to the Disabled List for depth. Andy Leer is
from North Dakota and went to college at the University of Mary. He was an
infielder with the Snappers in 2011, and at Instructional League, he was
moved behind the plate. Philip Chapman and Matt Koch were both drafted in
2011. Chapman hit well, but he was a college guy playing in the GCL. Koch
signed late and played in a dozen or so games in Elizabethton. Both are old
enough that they should move up to Beloit, but based on numbers, one could
stay in Extended Spring Training. Matt Parker was a non-drafted free agent
singing a couple of years ago. He’s a defensive guy. Knudson played with
Beloit in 2011, but he missed most of the second half of the season with a
groin injury. He’s one that they will need to keep because he is solid
defensively and has some offensive potential. Jairo
Rodriguez is a strong-armed backstop without much offensive upside. Elizabethton
Twins Kelly Cross, Michael Quesada Cross was
drafted out of high school in 2010 and signed late. He got into just a couple
of games. He really struggled last year with the GCL Twins, but he’s a guy
that they’re going to have to push quickly because he’s only got one more
season that he can play in the short seasons. Quesada was one
of the better hitters with the GCL Twins last year and showed good power.
Some scouts really like his potential. The Twins
typically draft a couple of college catchers in the first ten rounds or so,
and they go to Elizabethton as well. So, it’s really impossible to predict
who will play any position in Elizabethton or the GCL. TOP THREE
PROSPECTS 1.) Chris Herrmann, 2.) Danny Rams, 3.) Dan Rohlfing SUMMARY Joe Mauer is an All Star, an MVP, a Gold Glove winner, a Silver
Slugger winner, and he’s paid like it. A couple more big seasons and he’s a
first-ballot Hall of Famer. But, he has to stay healthy. Chris Herrmann is
likely a year away from being ready for the big leagues. He is likely the one
player in the minor leagues that has the chance to be a starting catcher.
There are several terrific defensive catchers whose ceiling is backup
catcher, not that that is a bad thing! If you have any
further questions, please feel free to e-mail Seth Stohs at sethspeaksnet@hotmail.com or
leave your thoughts in the Comments
Section! Friday,
January 20, 2012 Analyzing the Twins Top 20 Prospects
In my very-recently released Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook, I unveiled my 2012 Twins Top 30 Prospects. I thought it would be fun to analyze the Top 20 prospects to see if any interesting notes, or even trends, emerge. I found a few, but maybe you’ll find even more. A reminder, these are my Top 20 Twins prospects. If you make a prospect list of your own, yours will likely look a little different, but most of the players will be the same with some variance. Here is my Top Top Twins Prospect List:
Some Notes: · Nine of my Top 20 Twins prospects were 1st or 2nd round draft picks. There are two 1st round picks and two supplemental 1st round picks since 2006 that are not on this list. 2007 top pick Ben Revere is no longer a “prospect” since he has spent so much time in the big leagues. Matt Bashore was the Twins supplemental first round pick in 2009 from Indiana. He’s had a couple of arm surgeries and returned to limited action in 2011. Reports indicate that by the end of last season, he had regained most of his velocity and he may have the opportunity to move up prospect lists quickly next season. · Following the 2007 season, Torii Hunter chose to sign with the Angels instead of the Twins. Because of that, the Twins received the Angels first round pick in 2008 and the first supplemental first round pick of that draft. With the 27th overall pick, the Twins chose Carlos Gutierrez who does not appear on my Top 20 prospect list, but he is a good relief pitching option who throws really hard with a good sinker but needs to throw more strikes. With the 31st overall pick, the Twins chose a hard-throwing right-hander out of Tulane University names Shooter Hunt who fought Steve Blass Disease since the 2008 season. This past December, he was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft. · The Twins have a strong scouting presence all around the world, and that is shown in their top prospect list. Three players are from the Dominican Republic, and there is one player from Venezuela, Australia, the Netherlands and Germany. The Twins also have prospects from Cuba, South Africa, Mexico, Panama, Taiwan and the Czech Republic. · Of these top 20 prospects, 13 were drafted by the Twins. Of those, seven are high school hitters. The Twins have had great success drafting hitters out of high school (see Torii Hunter, Michael Cuddyer, Justin Morneau, Jason Kubel, Joe Mauer, Denard Span, Ben Revere).Aside from Revere and Mauer, most of these players took five or six years to make their big league debuts and more importantly make a big impression in the big leagues. Joe Benson and Chris Parmelee are also examples of this. Drafted in 2006, they made their big league debuts in September of 2011. Each will likely start making a bigger impression on the Twins in 2012. That’s why I always find it funny when people are so disappointed that we haven’t seen Aaron Hicks dominate at the upper levels of the minor leagues yet. Or, although he was drafted a year earlier, Angel Morales is younger than Hicks. Niko Goodrum is one of the best athletes in the organization as well and played very well in Elizabethton last year. Travis Harrison was one of the top power hitting prospects from the high school ranks in the 2011 draft. · Although not drafted, Miguel Sano, Oswaldo Arcia and Max Kepler were all signed as 16 year olds and certainly fit into the high-upside young hitter mold!! · The other thing that the Twins have done is draft college pitchers in the first rounds of the draft. Just two college-drafted pitchers appear on this list, and each of them has some question marks. Kyle Gibson was the team’s top prospect one year ago, and pitched very well the first two months of 2011. Unfortunately, as we all know, he had to have Tommy John surgery in September and will miss most, if not all, of the 2012 season. Alex Wimmers was the two-time Big 10 Pitcher of the Year at Ohio State. He was a control pitcher that draft experts said was closest to the big leagues. Unfortunately, he had a hamstring injury in spring training last year and it led to some very disturbing control issues. However, he seemed to be a rare example of someone overcoming Steve Blass Disease as he came back late in the season and pitched much better. He ended his season by throwing a 7-inning no-hitter for Ft. Myers. I would expect to see both make starts for the Twins in 2013. · The Twins did have three pitchers pitch at three levels in 2011. Reliever Matt Hauser (San Diego State) is my top ranked Twins reliever prospect (#28). Pat Dean (#30) was the Twins 3rd round pick in 2010 from Boston College. Lefty Logan Darnell (#25), the 6th round pick in 2010, was the third. All three pitched briefly with Beloit before spending most of their season in Ft. Myers. Darnell spent the most time in Double-A New Britain. The Twins have a history of being willing to promote college pitchers quickly through the minors. The following players have pitched at three levels in one season with the Twins: Scott Baker, Glen Perkins, Brian Duensing, and Jesse Crain. Matt Garza actually pitched at four levels, including the Twins, in 2006. · The Twins hadn’t drafted a high school pitcher in the first round since 2004 when they drafted Kyle Waldrop with the 25th overall pick (Anthony Swarzak was taken in the 2nd round). The Twins used their second supplemental first round pick in 2011 on Hudson Boyd, who not only has shown good control, but he has touched 97 mph on the radar gun. He could move up quickly. · Here is a quick look at where these twenty players ended the season playing: Three Did Not Play (2011 draft picks), Four ended the season in Elizabethton, Two in Beloit, Four in Ft. Myers, Two in New Britain, two in Rochester and three with the Twins. You often hear that the Twins prospects are all at the lower levels of the farm system. However, Benson, Parmelee and Hendriks are all top ten prospects who made their big league debuts on September 6. Each figures into the Twins long-term future. Brian Dozier and Chris Herrmann were the high-risers among prospects and both will likely debut with the Twins in 2012 after strong seasons in New Britain and strong showings in the Arizona Fall League. · When Baseball America releases its Top 100 Prospects list, Miguel Sano will likely rank in the Top 25-30. It is possible that Rosario, Arcia, Benson and maybe even Gibson will appear in the Top 100 lists. · If you listen to Baseball America’s most recent podcast, they discussed their Top 10 rankings for AL Central teams. They clearly had the Royals as the best farm system in the division. They ranked the Twins with the second-best prospects in the division (and middle of the pack overall). They ranked the White Sox and Indians as having the two worst farm systems in all of baseball, with the Tigers very close to the bottom. Any other comments on these twenty prospects of the Twins farm system in general? I’ll be happy to answer them in the Comments. Here are some other thoughts and links: · On Wednesday, the Minnesota Twins Caravan came to The Shed in Warroad. Ron Gardenhire, Joe Vavra, Brian Duensing and Glen Perkins were in attendance, along with TC Bear. TwinsBaseball.com’s Rhett Bollinger was there as well. It was a nice event, and very informal. The Twins contingency seemed to really appreciate and enjoy it. It was great to be up close with the players, talk to them and, as a couple of people told me, see them as regular people. I think we (many fans) forget that at times. I have been to several Twins Caravan events over the past five years. I definitely recommend going if you’ve got one in your area. It’s just a great opportunity to meet players, get autographs if you want, and start getting excited for a new Twins season. · Speaking of great events, Twins Fest is next weekend. I just got my tickets in the mail yesterday. I plan to be there on Friday night and Satuurday throughout the day. I don’t get the autographs, but I enjoy talking to people, players and fans alike. SO, if you’ll be there, be sure to say hi! · Baseball America will be posting its Top 20 Twins Prospect list on its website today, so be sure to check there this afternoon. I want to welcome any questions or comments that you
might have. Feel free to e-mail me or leave your thoughts in the Comments
Section! Tuesday,
January 17, 2012 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook
2012 Now Available!!
ORDER HERE – Although the book will be $13.99, you can get it now for $12.49 (introductory offer) by clicking here. If you are unable to see the book’s cover, please click here. From AJ Achter to Jacob Younis (or Aaron Hicks to Miguel Sano to Liam Hendriks to Alex Wimmers, if you prefer), learn more about the prospects throughout the Twins minor league system. From last year’s book, a dozen players rose to the big leagues. How many will play with the Twins in 2012, and who should Twins fans get excited about? Stohs noted, “I hope Twins fans will use this as a coffee table type of book. The Twins do build from within, so fans can learn more about these players before they get to the big leagues. The book is about the top prospects and the guys that 99% of fans haven’t heard of. They all work very hard to achieve their big league goals. Few will get there, but they also deserve recognition for all of their efforts.” This is the fourth annual Twins prospect handbook by Stohs. The 2012 version features: · Self-published, available at LuLu.com as a 6x9 paperback book, with 179 pages of Twins minor league content. · More than 150 Prospect Profiles. Profiles by Seth Stohs, Cody Christie (North Dakota Twins Fan), Nick Nelson (Nick’s Twins Blog), Josh Johnson (Josh’s Thoughts). · Article on the 2011 Twins Major League Debuts, by Seth Stohs (quotes from Brian Dinkelman, Chris Parmelee and Liam Hendriks) · What do big stats in the Appy League really mean? by Roger Dehring (Twinkie Town) · Plotting a path through the 2012 Draft, by Cody Christie · Minor League Player of the Year: SS Brian Dozier, by Seth Stohs · Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Year: RHP Liam Hendriks by Seth Stohs · Minor League Reliever of the Year: LHP Andrew Albers, by Seth Stohs · Top 5 Twins Dominican Summer League Prospect Profiles, by Seth Stohs · SethSpeaks.net 2012 Minnesota Twins Top 30 Prospects · SethSpeaks.net Top 30 Twins Prospects History (past six years of good and not-so-good choices) · Top Ten Twins Prospect Rankings by many Twins bloggers, media and national rankings · Cover by Josh Johnson with photos from David McQueen (Elizabethton photos) and Ashley Marshall/MiLB.com (New Britain photos) · Photos inside by Greg Wagner (Ft. Myers photos) and Rinaldi Photos (Beloit photos) If you have any further questions, please feel free to e-mail Seth Stohs at sethspeaksnet@hotmail.com. I want to welcome any questions or comments that you
might have. Feel free to e-mail me or leave your thoughts in the Comments
Section! Monday,
January 16, 2012 Twins Arbitration Scenarios Major League players with less than six years of
service time and more than three years of service time are eligible for
salary arbitration. As we all know, there are a bunch of Super-2 arbitration-eligible
players as well each year. On Tuesday, arbitration numbers will be exchanged.
The teams will say how much they are offering to the player, and the player
and his agent will submit the value that they think they should receive. Of
course, in most cases, the team and the player come up with a value somewhere
in the middle and numbers never get exchanged. When the offseason began, and TwinsCentric
was working on its Offseason GM Handbook, the Twins
had eight arbitration-eligible players on their roster. Since the end of the
season, there have been a few changes: ·
Phil Dumatrait – Was Designated for Assignment and removed from
the 40 man roster. He became a free agent but returned to the Twins on a
minor league contract. That means, he is no longer
eligible for arbitration. ·
Jason Repko – Was Designated for Assignment and removed from
the 40 man roster. He became a free agent but has not yet signed with another
organization. ·
Matt Tolbert - Was Designated for Assignment and removed from
the 40 man roster. He became a free agent but has not yet signed with another
organization. ·
Jose Mijares – Was non-tended last month by the Twins. Less than
a week later, he signed with the Kansas City Royals. ·
Kevin Slowey – Was traded to the Colorado Rockies in December. That leaves the Twins with three
arbitration-eligible players. The Twins will likely attempt to sign all three
before Tuesday’s deadline. It is also possible they are working on multi-year
deals with one or more of them. Here they are: 1.) Alexi Casilla
– In 2011, the 2B/SS made $700,000 in his first year of arbitration. In the Offseason
GM Handbook, TwinsCentric predicted that he
would get $2.5 million in arbitration. If I were to place my bet, I think it
will be closer to $1.5 million. 2.) Glen Perkins – In 2011, the lefty reliever made $865,000 in his
first year of arbitration. TwinsCentric projected
him to make $1.8 million, and I think that is about right. I also believe
that the Twins may look to lock up Perkins for three years (to buy out one
year of free agency). Perkins may be hesitant to sign a long-term deal
knowing that there is a chance he will get some time as Twins’ closer this
year, and closers make a bunch more money. However, if he wants to stay with
the Twins, it’s possible that he could be signed in the neighborhood of three
years and $8 million. 3.) Francisco Liriano
– In 2011, Liriano made $4.3 million. Despite a
frustrating season, he will likely get a raise. TwinsCentric
predicted that he would be awarded $6 million, but I think it will be closer
to $5 million. A year ago, I said that the Twins should sign him to a 4 year,
$40 million deal. At this point, I’d be very hesitant to give Liriano a multi-year deal. However, if they are at all
interested, now is the time to do it. This would be
a buy low scenario. Could the Twins now have the talented (but enigmatic) Liriano to a three year, $18 million now? If so, would
you consider it? We will learn quite a bit before Tuesday’s deadline.
Many years the Twins get all their arbitration situations figured out before
numbers are even exchanged. This year, the Twins have three very interesting
situations. What do you think will happen? Leave your thoughts
in the Comments
Section! Sunday,
January 15, 2012 Twins to Sign Joel Zumaya? UPDATE – I read things wrong. The Twins gave Zumaya a Major League contract, guaranteed money as
opposed to a minor league contract. That changes things a little bit. It’s
still not enough money to worry about or be upset about, but there is a
little bit more risk in the deal. As Jim Crikket
points out in the Comments section, it’s a find deal if it doesn’t affect the
Twins ability to sign someone else that can be counted on more. (Coffey,
Wheeler, etc?) ---- According to a tweet by Jason Beck of MLB.com, the Twins have reached an agreement with RHP Joel Zumaya on a minor league contract that will reportedly
pay him between $800,000 and 1.7 million. Obviously, especially in this case, the Twins are
wise to not report it themselves until Zumaya
passes a physical. A caution to Twins fans expecting to see the Zumaya of 2006 that threw 100-101 mph with a sharp slider
and little control. Reports of his tryout several weeks ago were that he is
touching 92 mph with his fastball. However, there is little risk in a minor
league contract, and Zumaya is still just 27 years
old. The last time he pitched was at Target Field in 2010 when he bounced off
the mound after throwing out his elbow. As a 21 year old rookie in 2006, he posted a 1.94
ERA in 62 games. From 2007 through 2010, he averaged 27 appearances and 31+
innings. He did not pitch in 2011. I must admit that Zumaya
is a name that intrigued me coming into the offseason, but based on there
being 50 scouts at his tryout, I assumed that the
Twins would not be in the mix. Now, I’m just very curious how this will go. What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the Comments Section! Friday,
January 13, 2012 Tweets of the Week I’m known on Twitter for doing a lot of tweeting and
retweeting. For those who are not on Twitter, it
simply means that I tweet something that someone else already tweeted. I retweet Twins related articles
and blogs or general comments that I tend to agree with. If you’re interested
in following me on Twitter, you can click the “Follow” button here, or you
can simply bookmark my twitter page and check it from time to time. Today, I
wanted to go back to Saturday and blog many of my retweets
from the week. Hopefully you enjoy the variety of topics! SATURDAY ·
It was Saturday
afternoon that I found out I had been included in Top Prospect Alert’s Top 50 Must-Follow Twitter
Accounts.
Quite an honor! You’ll want to check the link out just to see who else made
the cut! ·
Here is a nice article on Scott Diamond’s 2011 season and becoming the first player from Binghamton
University to play in the big leagues. SUN DAY ·
Puckett’s Pond continues its look at the Twins non roster invites
by writing about OF Matt Carson. ·
I exchanged a
few tweets with Jon-Paul Morosi (from Fox Sports)
And Seth Everett. My opinion is the Raines is an easy choice for Baseball’s
Hall of Fame. To this point, voters don’t necessarily agree. Rained was
overshadowed by Ricky Henderson as a leadoff hitter, and he was much more of
a Hall of Famer than former Expos and recent Hall of Fame inductees Andre
Dawson and Gary Carter. MONDAY ·
NoDak Twins Fan
blogged his first of a three part series on Justin Morneau. ·
Todd Van Steensel wrote about his release by the Twins. More unfortunate, arguably, was the manner in
which he found out. Sadly, I’ve heard a few other similar stories from former
Twins minor leaguers. ·
The Puckett’s Pond Non-Roster invite of this day was Ray
Chang,
who is from Kansas City. He was terrific last year until a broken fibula cost
him two months of his season. ·
Travis Aune and I co-hosted a special offseason Twins Minor League Weekly. We weren’t sure how much there would be to be said,
but we went 90 minutes and filled the time fairly efficiently. ·
Check out the new DiamondCentric t-shirt showing Timberwolves rookie sensation, Ricky Rubio! ·
There were
several tweets regarding Reds SS Barry Larkin entering the Hall of Fame. I
was always a big Larkin fan, and I think it goes back to my baseball card
collecting days. I thought his 1987 Topps and Donruss
cards were so cool. It’s kind of how I became a big Roberto Alomar fan, because
of his cool mustache thingy on his 1988 Donruss
card! I thought Larkin was a definite Hall of Famer, and it was good to see
him get such support from the voters too. ·
Often I hear
Twins fans frustrated by how slowly they perceive the Twins to be when
promoting prospects. I think the opposite side of that spectrum is what the
Mets did five years ago. Aaron Gleeman and I had a fun-filled exchange on
Twitter after the Mets DFAd former huge prospect
Fernando Martinez, the Mets top prospect at the time. (Aaron sent me a link to an
article I wrote
at that time.) In the Johan Santana trade, the Twins got the Mets #2 prospect
according to Baseball America (Deolis Guerra),
their #3 prospect (Carlos Gomez), their #4 prospect (Kevin Mulvey) and their #7 prospect (Philip Humber). That would
be the equivalent of them trade Joe Benson, Eddie Rosario, Aaron Hicks and
Kyle Gibson. At the time, Tyler Robertson was my #1 Twins prospect
which indicated how much the Twins needed to restock their farm system.
Guerra was clearly rushed by the Mets. Gomez was pushed to the big leagues
far too fast. Mulvey went from being a 2nd
round pick straight to AA. And Humber had Tommy John surgery. ·
ManCenter.com
posted its Top 10 Twins prospect list. TUESDAY ·
Are you
following the log entries of former Twin R.A. Dickey as he and Kevin Slowey
are currently climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro? ·
Check out this
photo that the North Dakota Twins Fan is calling “Pot of Gold.” ·
NoDak Twins fan
posted Part 2 of his Morneau
Chronicles series.
·
Paul Boye (Phrontiersman) tweeted: “Greg Maddux should be the first
unanimous Hall of Famer and I won't hear otherwise.” I concur! ·
John Manuel was
in charge of putting together Baseball America’s Top 10 Twins Prospect list. 1500espn got their copy in the mail and
posted the list. WEDNESDAY ·
Here is the newest episode of Gleeman & The
Geek. ·
Puckett’s Pond Non-Roster invite of the day was Brian Dinkelman. ·
NoDak Twins Fan
posted Part 3 of his Morneau
Chronicles.
·
Some Twins fans
are down on our favorite team and its minor league system, but hey, at least we aren’t White Sox fans! ·
Knuckleballs’
Jim Crikket posted his Top 10 Twins Prospects list. ·
Hudson Boyd, Dakota Watts, Kyle Gibson and David Bromberg joined former Twins 3B (and
lifetime .357 big league hitter) Tommy Watkins for the Ft. Myers portion of the Twins Winter Caravan. ·
Here’s a pretty
cool Sports Illustrated picture of Kevin Garnett’s shoe
tribute to Kirby Puckett
after his death. ·
Starting next
week, the Twins Winter Caravan will begin throughout the Upper Midwest. Here is
the list of locations, times and dates for the caravan. It’s a great time, so
if you get a chance to go to one, be sure to do so. ·
Twins
International scout Howie Norsetter posted a
tremendous response
to an angry blog commenter regarding the Twins and their Australian signings.
Well worth the read!! Upon reading this blog, Todd Van Steensel, who the Twins just released last week, tweeted to
me, “I loved the Twins and had a great time there, had great coaches and made
great friends, just wish it ended a little better.” ·
Thrylos98 informed us that former Twins catcher Mike Redmond
was promoted to Dunedin to manage the Blue Jays Hi-A
affiliate in the Florida State League. THURSDAY ·
North Dakota
Twins fan wrote about the pursuit of a little white spherical object (sometimes referred to as a baseball. ·
Brian Dozier
was the subject of the Puckett’s Pond Non-Roster invite of the day. ·
Baseball
America’s Ben Badler informed us that the Twins signed Mauricio Silva, a 16-year-old right-handed pitcher from Venezuela,
for $370,000. It makes me happy every time that I see the Twins sign one of the top 20 or 30 prospects from Latin America.
·
Puckett’s Pond
also posted several Thursday links. ·
According to
the Baseball Hall of Fame, it was 30 years ago (on Thursday) that the Twins
drafted Kirby Puckett with the 3rd overall pick in the now-defunct
January draft. ·
Had a good
Twitter discussion with FSN’s Robby Incmikoski. He posted a couple of pictures from the arena in
Chicago and commented on Jordan’s 6 NBA titles and called him the best
athlete ever. I said I thought that Bo Jackson was the best athlete. Others
chimed in with discussion on how winning NBA titles has to do with being an
athlete, and I think the word “athlete” refers to strength, speed, power, and
everything that Bo Jackson was. I just wish the guy wouldn’t have had the hip
injury because he was incredible. Few remember he had a 32 home run, 105 RBI
season with the Royals. The man was amazing. As I tweeted, “Bo Jackson was
6-1 and 230+ pounds and ran a 4.2/40. He hit a bunch of HR before “the era”,
had a big arm, knocked down LB and out-ran DBs.” ·
Bob Nightengale tweeted that the Twins and Target Field will host
the 2014 All-Star game. Later, Twins President
Dave St. Peter
tweeted that nothing was official yet. ·
Phil Dumatrait, who spent much of 2011 with the Twins, is the non-roster invite of the day at Puckett’s Pond. FRIDAY ·
Parker’s TwinsCentric blog of the day is titled Coffey is for (setting up for) closers. ·
Nick’s Twins
Blog discusses payroll. ·
NoDak Twins Fan
posted his Friday Links-n-Thinks. ·
Aaron Gleeman
posted, at Hardball Talk, that Johan Santana still isn’t sure
when he’ll be able to pitch again despite having surgery 16 months ago. ·
Joe Christensen
wrote a very nice article on Dan Johnson, from Blaine, and his career which has been up and
down but full of some big moments. ·
Phil Mackey
wrote about the Twins’ Pitch-to-Contact philosophy. ·
If you’re
heading down to Ft. Myers for spring training, tickets go on sale tomorrow morning. ·
You can now
vote for Prospect #29 in the Twinkie Town Community Top 50
Prospect
voting! FINALLY – I’ll be editing the Minnesota Twins Prospect
Handbook 2012 all weekend, so look for much more order information on
Monday! Twitter is awesome… Way better than Facebook, which I’m also on from time to time. If you’re
interested, you can follow me at www.Twitter.com/SethTweets. If you would like, please feel free to e-mail me or leave questions or comments in the Comments Section! Tuesday,
January 10, 2012 Twins Prospect Handbook Coming Soon UPDATE 1/14 – Jus a real
quick Thursday morning update. I’ve spent a lot of time the last two nights
finishing up my first full draft of the Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook 2012,
and I’m very happily complete. I put it together and ordered up a couple of
review copies. I will be spending the weekend editing like crazy and hope to
make this available for purchase early next week. I appreciate your patience
with me. As of now, it’s looking like it’ll be 174 pages (in a 6x9 format). A
huge thank you to Josh Johnson for
his work on the cover and with some profiles. Cody Christie wrote an article and did a whole bunch of profiles.
Nick Nelson wrote up several
profiles as well. Roger Dehring wrote a very interesting story. It was great
to work with Ashley Marshall from
MiLB.com who let me use a couple of pictures of new Britain players on the
cover. David McQueen is a
photographer from Elizabethton that let me use the Sano and Rosario cover
photos. Thank you to him, and to Greg Wagner for the Ft. Myers
pictures. The Beloit player pictures throughout the book were provided by Rinaldi Photos. I’d definitely encourage
people to follow them on Facebook because they have
a ton of great photos of Snappers players. There are a lot of Thank You’s in book writing and those that helped in any way
know who they are, and I just want to thank them all. I think this book is
even a little better than last years, which I
thought was pretty good too! Before you get started, be sure to listen to last
night’s 90-minute Twins Minor League Weekly show. There were a lot of great topics discussed,
so listen to it and let me know what you think. Feedback is always welcome! As I mentioned yesterday, the Minnesota Twins Prospect
Handbook 2012 will be available soon. As has been the case in
previous years, there will be over 160 profiles of Twins minor league
prospects, from AJ Achter to Jacob Younis. It includes my choices for the Twins top
prospects in the Dominican Summer League. There are special articles from
Cody Christie (NoDak Twins Fans) and Roger Dehring (Twinkie Town).You’ll find my updated prospect
list and the history of my top 30 Twins prospects over the past seven years
(which is rather interesting in retrospect!). I also wrote articles with a
ton of quotes from Brian Dozier (Hitter of the Year), Liam Hendriks (Starting Pitcher of the Year) and Andrew Albers
(Relief Pitcher of the Year). Today, I thought I would share with you a couple of
paragraphs from the three articles. Each is full of quotes from each player. BRIAN
DOZIER – SS – Twins Minor League Hitter of the Year … He credited his
manager, Jake Mauer. “I tell you what,
he’s a player’s coach. He’s been there, gone through the system and
everything. He really relates to his players very well.” He moved up to
New Britain and worked for former Twins hero Tom Brunansky,
a member of the Twins 1987 World Series championship team. Dozier said, “He
is one of the best when it comes to hitting. He knows how to hit. Actually,
when I got moved up, he found a couple of little tweaks in my swing that I
never knew I was doing. He showed me on film. I was like, ‘Well, that makes
sense!’ Ever since then, since that first week, we worked really hard in the
cage, and he found a couple of things, and it took off from there.” … Mark Dolenc is a Minnesota native who spent the past two seasons
in New Britain. He said, “When Dozier came up, he immediately stepped in and
took on a leadership role.” Dozier said, “I
think from a leadership aspect, everybody kind of looks to the shortstop.
They are the captain on the infield. I know Gardy
takes a lot of pride in his shortstop being like the quarterback on the
field. I’ve taken that to heart a lot. Same thing with my college coach, he
was the same way. I’m not a big vocal guy. I never have been. I do try to put
myself into the right situations, the right place at the right time, not only
on the field but off the field. If you play the game the way it is supposed
to be played and always give 110%, people respect that. I try to do that each
and every day.” … LIAM
HENDRIKS – RH SP – Twins Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Year … “I was lucky
because when I was younger, I didn’t throw very hard, so I had to throw
strikes. I was able to keep it up and as I started throwing harder it stuck
with me which is always good. I can locate most (of
my pitches) pretty well. I think my changeup is my best pitch, but at times,
it is the slider, and every now and then, it’s even the curve ball. I’ve got
the pitches so if one isn’t working, I can hopefully fall back on another
one.” “Philosophy-wise,
just get ahead. You look at the averages up 0-2, rather than down 2-0. As
soon as you get ahead, it makes the hitters sweat a little bit. Most of the
time, guys aren’t going to hit you hard.” … It has been a
meteoric rise through the Twins farm system the past two years. In the 2010
and 2011 seasons, he pitched in Beloit (Low A), Ft. Myers (High-A), New
Britain (AA), Rochester (AAA) and with the Twins (MLB). “Every now and
then, I’ll think back and think that this takes guys six to eight years to do
at times. And I’ve gone from Low A in my first full season in pro ball to the
major leagues in two years. I look at it that way and think, ‘Oh Wow! That
doesn’t happen often, especially to guys who were signed or drafted out of
high school like myself.” “As I was
saying to Luke Hughes, the stars had to align for me to get the call up this
year. Luckily enough they did, and hopefully I’ve opened up some eyes up
there. I’m hoping to head to spring training and open some more.” … ANDREW
ALBERS – LH RP – Twins Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Year … 22 games with
the Miracle, he went 4-1 with four saves. In 52.1 innings, he gave up 48
hits, walked seven and struck out 46. “My plan was to
just go out and be aggressive and pitch to my strengths. I guess I surprised
myself a little bit with the first half that I had. Everything kind of went
my way, and I caught some breaks and got a little lucky. The defense was
outstanding with the likes of Brian Dozier, James Beresford and Aaron Hicks
up the middle. Those three guys can make up for a lot of mistakes that I make
as a pitcher.” … So what has he
learned about himself along this journey? “I found out
that I could still pitch. I had been through a bit of adversity and come out
better from it. I learned that I didn't have to live and die with every game
and that there are a lot more important issues out there than winning or
losing a baseball game. I think being out of the baseball world and not
having a job in affiliated ball allowed me to gain a new perspective on
different areas of my life. I began to
enjoy baseball a lot more and was able to relax more on the mound instead of
putting so much pressure on myself to perform every time out. I think that
attitude has greatly contributed to my success.” … All three of these players played at least half of
season at Double-A New Britain, so it isn’t out of the realm of possibility
that we could see all three players in a Twins uniform. All three were
generous with their time as they answered my questions via e-mail and on
podcasts and such. I’m really excited about the 2012 book. I think that
the three previous books were good and this one can be better. Twins blogger Josh Johnson designed the cover.
Johnson, along with TwinsCentric’s Nick Nelson and the NoDak Twins Fan Cody
Christie,
helped me by writing some profiles. The profiles are a good combination of
stats, advances stats and splits and scouting reports. Much more information will
be coming in the near future. Thank you to all for your support! If you have any questions, please let me know! Monday,
January 9, 2012 Twins Minor League Weekly Tonight Tonight at 9:00 central time, Travis Aune and I will be hosting a special offseason edition of
Twins Minor League Weekly. The Twins have been quite active in the minor
league free agency department this offseason. You’ve seen information here on
each of the moves as they have happened, but Travis and I will discuss them
more and what they mean to the Twins organization. We’ll also step back and
take a look at the players that the Twins have let go during the offseason,
the Rule 5 additions and subtraction, minor leaguers in winter ball, and
where we think some of the organization’s top prospects will begin the 2012
season. It should be a lot of fun and a good discussion, so hopefully you’ll
join us live and participate in the chat room, and ask us a lot of questions.
Listen Live here or download it here later. Prospect
Handbook – I’m really,
really hoping that the Prospect Handbook will be available before Twins Fest.
I may soon start taking some pre-release orders, but if you are planning on
attending Twins Fest and would like a copy of the handbook to bring with you
to be signed by players or just to have there, I’ll see if I can find a way
to get them to you quicker. If you would like a sneak peak of the awesome
cover that Josh Johnson created for the book, click here! A Nice
Honor – On Saturday
afternoon, I was at home putting some finishing touches on the first draft of
the Prospect Handbook, when I found out that Top Prospects
Alert
had named me as one of the Top 50
Must Follow Baseball Accounts. It’s kind of cool to be on a list that includes
the likes of Bryce Harper, Buster Olney, David Price, Keith Law, Ken Rosenthal, Logan Morrison, Peter Gammons and so many others! That’s it for today! Feel free to leave comments or
more links/topics in the Comments section. Most Recent Postings (for a complete list, check out the Archives) 1/16/12 – Twins
Abitration Scenarios 1/15/12 – Twins
to Sign Joel Zumaya 1/10/12 – Twins
Prospect Handbook Coming Soon 1/5/12 – Twins
Infield Situation 1/4/12 – Twins
Outfield Situation 1/3/12 – Relief
Help Available?
12/27/11 –
Twins Top Moments of 2011
12/23/11 –
Kevin Slowey or Jason Marquis? 12/22/11 –
Marquis Attraction? 12/21/11 – 2nd
Preliminary Top 50 Twins Prospect List 12/20/11 – What
Could Have Been? (Kubel leaves) 12/19/11 –
Guess Who’s Back? Twins Notes |
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