Friday,
January 8, 2010
14 Invited to
Spring Training
Each spring, all players from
the 40 man roster are required to report to big league training camp. Teams are
also able to invite players not on their 40 man roster to camp. This afternoon,
the Twins
announced that they have invited 14 players to Major League training camp,
four pitchers and ten hitters. Here are my thoughts. Feel free to add yours.
The Pitchers
·
Jose Lugo –
Lefty reliever throws 94 mph with a very good slider. Too many walks, but I
think we will see him in 2010.
·
Mike Maroth – Lefty who throws about 64 mph with speeds that are
even slower than that. 32 year old hasn’t pitched in
the big leagues since 2007. He has zero chance of pitching with Twins, but
wants just one more chance, and if he can contribute at Rochester, that would
be great… and surprising.
·
Anthony Slama – No question here. Obviously he’ll start in the
Rochester bullpen, but he could be ready soon.
·
Kyle Waldrop
– Waldrop was the third first round pick of the Twins in 2004 out of his school
in Tennessee. After missing all of 2008 with a shoulder injury, he came back in
2009 and pitched well in Ft. Myers and better in New Britain.
The Catchers
·
Jair Fernandez – Teams have a lot of pitchers in spring training.
They need a bunch of catchers.
·
Danny Lehmann
– Defense on par with Drew Butera. Offense on par with 2009 Mike Redmond.
·
Danny Rams –
Tremendous power, when he makes contact. Struck out a ton at E-Town in 2008.
Dominated E-Town in 2009. Moved up to Beloit. Struck out a ton. He’s got a long
way to go, but huge power potential. And a strong arm.
The Infielders
-
·
Chris Parmelee – Another solid year for Parmelee
in terms of power and walks, but he also struck out a little less and hit for
more average than previously. He showed good improvement.
·
Brock Peterson
– played very little in Rochester’s first two months. Didn’t hit. Played nearly
every day the rest of the way and was the Red Wings best hitter. He became
6-year minor league free agent, but the former 49th round pick
signed back with the Twins.
·
Steve Singleton
– After promotion to New Britain, he really hit well. Singleton plays a very
solid 2B, but he also has good pop in his bat. A year from now, I think he’ll
be the frontrunner for Twins 2B for 2011.
The Outfielders
·
Brian Dinkelman – Doubles hitting machine, it’s no surprise he’s on
this list. It is surprising that in the Twins press release, he was listed, by
the Twins, as an OF. He has played mainly 2B in his minor league career. Only
after Singleton was promoted to New Britain did Dinkelman
start playing primarily LF.
·
Juan Portes – A nice, surprising add, Portes
had struggled in two seasons in Ft. Myers. 2009 was a big year for him. He
moved up to New Britain and played very well, hitting .300 much of the season.
He can also play 3B and 2B.
·
Ben Revere –
2007 top pick has made the Twins scouting group look great so far. If he hits
.300 in 2010, he could be in the 2011 plans too!
·
Rene Tosoni – Twins high on this talented, left-handed hitting
Canadian. He does pretty much everything well, except hit lefties. That said, he could be ready in a platoon role later in 2010.
My general thoughts – This list makes sense to me. I’m sure there are some guys that could
also be added. I would be very surprised if even one of these 14 started the
season with the Twins without some strange scenario happening. Guys like Jose Lugo, Anthony Slama, Brock Peterson and Rene Tosoni could see time with the Twins in 2010. The team
has more ‘prospects’ on this list than normal. It gives the coaching staff
three or four extra weeks to see guys that could compete for big league roster
spots in 2011. In fact, a few of them could be September call-ups.
Any thoughts on any of the selections? If you have any questions or comments, please comment here.