Twins Minor League Breakout Hitters
SethSpeaks.net
Weekly Minnesota Twins Podcast Live Tonight at 10 – What a win for the Twins. Should
be plenty to talk about, good and bad… the emotional rollercoaster of this
great game of baseball. I definitely welcome your phone calls and
questions and comments at 347-202-0548. It should be an entertaining show.
The Twins full-season minor league seasons
all get started on Thursday. Last week, I e-mailed many Twins bloggers,
specifically those that focus a lot of time and writing on the Twins minor
league system. I asked them to write up a quick paragraph on who
their choices were for six categories. I asked for their choices for the
Breakout Hitter and the Breakout Pitcher of the Year in the High-levels and in
the Low levels of the Twins farm system. I’ll be posting those periodically
throughout the next couple of days. Hopefully you enjoy the series and will
comment your choices as well. And as always, feel free to ask questions in the comments.
With the five people below, we will answer your questions, maybe even with
differing opinions.
Roger Dehring – He has been tracking the Twins minor league system
and players for a long time. He is an occasional guest writer here, but he does
a tremendous job of keeping the fine folks of Twinkie Town updated on
the Twins minor leagues with his Weekly Minor League Reports each Saturday.
Josh Johnson
– Finishing up college may inexplicably understandably been his top
priority of late, but when it comes to knowing the Twins minor league system,
Josh is among the top! He has written at Josh’s Thoughts for several
years.
Steve Lien - Steve writes the Twins content for Gear Up for Sports. He
has written a lot of information on Twins minor leaguers and spent nearly as
much time watching minor league practices in Ft. Myers as I did.
Cody Christie
– Cody is the North Dakota Twins fan even if he now
makes his residence in the Twin Cities. He has been a he addition to the Twins
blogosphere in the past year writing on all levels of Twins baseball from the
minors to the history.
Today, we are going to start by posting our
choices for the Breakout Hitters of the Year. Each of us will make two
selections, one in the upper levels (AA/AAA) And one
in the lower levels of the system.
TWINS BREAKOUT HITTER – UPPER LEVELS
Seth - Mark Dolenc – The Minnesota native will return to New
Britain. Last year, he was the fourth outfielder, but the terrific athlete
should get a lot of consistent playing time. He isn’t a young prospect and was
drafted as a project. He has taken some time to develop, but he could be a good
power-speed threat who plays very good offense. Most Twins fans probably haven’t
heard much about him, but hopefully this year, they will. RUNNER-UP – Evan Bigley.
Roger – Aaron Hicks - Many are asking when will this gifted
young athlete put it together and become the player we have all
heard about since being selected in the first round of the 2008 draft? I
believe it will be this year at Ft. Myers. He will earn a mid-season
promotion to AA, where he will be in the hunt for the organization's Player of
the Year. Runner-up: Angel Morales
Josh – Steve Singleton – He tied for an
Eastern League-high 43 doubles in 2010 but with a glut of infielders at
Triple-A, Singleton will start the season in New Britain, a place he’s called
“home” since the middle of the 2009 season. He is a very hard worker and
everything should come together in 2011.
Steve
– Chris Parmelee. Not much to choose from as far as “breakout”
hitters go at the upper-levels for the Twins, but Parmelee
is a prime candidate as he’s yet to have that season where everything clicked. Last
year he cut down on the K’s and drastically improved his contact rate and
batting average, but at the expense of his power. This is the year it all comes together for
the former 1st Round Pick. RUNNER-UP:
Evan Bigley
Cody – Chris Parmelee - Parmelee had a good enough season last year that the Twins placed him on their 40-man
roster for the 2011 campaign. He has shown steady improvement in the minor
leagues and this could be the year that he breaks out of his shell. The power
numbers have been there and he continues to improve in other areas of the game.
Big things are in order for Parmelee this season. Runner-Up:
Rene Tosoni
TWINS BREAKOUT HITTER – LOWER LEVELS
Seth – Lance Ray – The 2010 draft pick out of
Kentucky quickly moved up to Beloit last year. This spring, he worked with the
Miracle for most of camp and some called him the best pure hitter on that team.
He will begin this season in Beloit again, but his pure, left-handed swing
should thrive and he will likely move up to Ft. Myers around midseason. RUNNER-UP – Paul Kelly.
Roger – Rory Rhodes - A young man with mammout power
who began to play like a star this winter in his native Australia.
After hitting .319/.410/.407 in 91 at bats for the GCL Twins last year, Rhodes
hit .279/.362/.514 with seven doubles and five home runs in 111 at bats for
Brisbane of the Australian Baseball League (the same league as Luke Hughes and
Liam Hendriks). Rhodes should move up to
Elizabethton where he could put up power numbers beyond any we have
seen. Runner-up: Eddie Rosario
Josh – Chris Herrmann – Skipping an entire
level is no easy task and Herrmann’s 2010 numbers showed why teams rarely do
it. But the 23-year-old catcher/outfielder will be repeating the Florida State
League in 2011 and I think he’s ready to put a rough year behind him and regain
his form.
Steve
– Nate Roberts.
The Twins 5th Round Pick in 2010 out of High Point
University, where in his Junior season he led the NCAA
in Runs Scored (88) and On-Base-Percentage (.573). He also hit 19 HR’s, drove in 69, walked 53
times compared to only 35 K’s, and stole 36 of 39 bases in 59 games to take
home the Big South Conference POTY Award.
In 35 games at Elizabethon, his tri-slash line
was .336/.444/.547 (OBP led League), 2nd on the team in OPS to only Oswaldo Arcia. RUNNER-UP: Eddie Rosario.
Cody – Oswald Arcia, OF - One of the Twins rising starts from the Dominican
Republic, Arcia had a great season in 2010 and that
should transfer to the coming year. He seems to be a pure hitter that can spray
pitches to every part of the field. At only 19-years-old, he still has plenty
of time to develop a more muscular physique and continue to add power. Runner-Up: Niko Goodrum.
We’ll be back later with our Breakout pitcher
predictions of the year. Feel free to leave
your hitter choices in the comments today.
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