I kind of get what you're saying, but you're kind of ignoring some prominent counter examples like Pablo Lopez (VEN), Carlos Correa (PR), Willi Castro (PR), Christian Vasquez (PR), Johan Duran (DR) and so on. The fact that we traded a bunch of these guys away has more to do with their value/cost than our affinity for Latin American baseball.  And our best kids feature some Latin roots as well: ERod (DR), Tait (PAN) and Rojas (CUB) are in our top 5.  It's a feeling but it's mostly an artifact of the deadline fire remaking the roster.

On 10/9/2025 at 10:11 AM, Cris E said:

I kind of get what you're saying, but you're kind of ignoring some prominent counter examples like Pablo Lopez (VEN), Carlos Correa (PR), Willi Castro (PR), Christian Vasquez (PR), Johan Duran (DR) and so on. The fact that we traded a bunch of these guys away has more to do with their value/cost than our affinity for Latin American baseball.  And our best kids feature some Latin roots as well: ERod (DR), Tait (PAN) and Rojas (CUB) are in our top 5.  It's a feeling but it's mostly an artifact of the deadline fire remaking the roster.

I really don't know where you are coming from. I'm not saying that the Twins are shying away from Latin players & I stated that IMO they aren't racially biased. My point is that the Twins system doesn't favor, maximize, or even appreciate the Latin factor that doesn't fit into their analytical mold. The mold that so often holds onto players that should be traded but aren't. Twins are biased, but it's not racial. It's analytical, which often hurts Latinos. Latinos in general have more intangibles that are hard to put in a spreadsheet. So IMO, they are more apt to be traded or falls through the cracks. All those Latin players you mentioned were acquired via trade or otherwise, except ERod & his shine has faded. This reflects on our ability to scout, draft & develop these players. Are the Twins getting the most out of these prospects? I think not. Will they maximize ERod's potential? Will they be able to develop Tait into a respectable MLB catcher? I have my doubts. My point is that Twins need to reevaluate how they do things in their Latino department. Culture shock is bad enough in itself, We need help these guys as much as possible to adapt. That's why I mentioned Nelson Cruz who could help. We don't have much of a chance to acquire top Oriental prospects, so IMO, we need to do better job with our Latino players.

International signees pose special challenges as many are signed at 16 and frequently are Rule 5 eligible before they are ready to contribute at the majors. Because of how difficult it is to project, the Twins have chosen quantity over quality and seldom sign a top 10 IFA. An exception to this was Miguel Sano who was the top ranked IFA in 2009 and signed for a then record 3.15 million. In recent times, Boston and Atlanta have been punished for circumventing rules on IFA. The Twins signed recently released The Twins signed recently released Yunior Severino when his contract was voided  

Currently 4 of the Twins top 10 prospects (per MLB) are from Latin America. Only Rodriguez was signed by the Twins. Tait, Rojas and Gonzalez were acquired via trades. I am not certain this would constitute an under representation. Of these only Tait seems an almost certain major leaguer—which is one of your points regarding lack of development. 
 

Edited to correct that Rojas was acquired via a trade with the Blue Jays. 
 

Also there is no reason for the bold type regarding Severino. It was a cut and paste and I have not been able to correct this. 

A geographical component may come into play just as much as any perceived analytical procedure. Playing baseball for a team home based so far away from warm climates may not be as appealing to some Latin players when it comes down to signing and developing them.

This is temporary.   It is not a strategy.  Just a few years ago, the twins hired a Hispanic coach partly because of the high numbers of Hispanic players on the MLB roster.   
Look for more Hispanic and Asian players joining the Twins roster in the future.   One prediction, however:  The Twins will not have another German born player (like Max Kepler) on the roster in the next 10 years. 

On 10/14/2025 at 10:19 AM, strumdatjag said:

This is temporary.   It is not a strategy.  Just a few years ago, the twins hired a Hispanic coach partly because of the high numbers of Hispanic players on the MLB roster.   
Look for more Hispanic and Asian players joining the Twins roster in the future.   One prediction, however:  The Twins will not have another German born player (like Max Kepler) on the roster in the next 10 years. 

Again, I'm not saying we are shying away from Latino players, like you said, we have a high number of them in our system. 10 yrs ago, we had a lot of very promising young Latino players coming through our system, Eddie Rosario, Jorge Polanco, Sano & Berrios, but IMO could have been handled differently. Later, we had Duran, who was a failure until they finally put him in the BP. Miranda came up, looked good & sputtered. We have Emmanuel Rodriguez now in our farm system, who was supposed to really impact the Twins this year. He has sputtered & lost some shine. Granted, injuries have something to do with it. We aren't drafting & developing impact Latino players like we used to. We have fallen in player development, but it seems it hit the Latino prospects more because of their analytic approach. I applaud them for having a Latino manager, but I don't think Ramon Borrego (now MLB 1B coach) has helped that much.

There has been a lot of hype over some of our Latino acquisitions. Gabriel Gonzalez is a liability defensively & I doubt he can hit MLB pitching. We got a few promising catching prospects; Tait led that pack. But the Twins have done nothing to develop catchers since Swanson left. If they make it to MLB, it won't be at catching, which greatly deflates their value. 

I appreciate your opinion & optimism, Strumdatjag. But I see it as a long-term problem.

On 10/14/2025 at 10:54 AM, MinnInPa said:

IMO there are way too many of those players .. and its ruining the games..soon ballparks will be equivalent to mexican and caribbean leagues antics. Foreign players should be limited on MLB rosters

Thank you for your opinion, MinnInPA. But I disagree, baseball is an international sport & I, for one, enjoy the diversity & excitement that Latinos & Orientals give to the sport. The World Games are a marvel to watch & are becoming more & more serious competition.

Just a fun comment regarding international baseball. 

Was at a game once that included several Latino fans....they were tossing flying tortillas in the air...like Frisbees...it was a fun and unique experience. 

On 10/14/2025 at 8:54 AM, MinnInPa said:

IMO there are way too many of those players .. and its ruining the games..soon ballparks will be equivalent to mexican and caribbean leagues antics. Foreign players should be limited on MLB rosters

You must be fun at Cinco de Mayo parties. 🙃

The Twins have traded away a lot of Latino players because they've had a lot of Latino players. I don't think they've been traded away at a higher rate than any other country of origin and you haven't provided any data to back up your claim.

I think quantity over quality is the way to go for International signings. No matter which  go it will take a really skilled group of scouts identifying talent from the talent they see play most of which is prior to age 16.

It is so hard to identify quality. Go back 10 years to the 2015 draft season. Those players would now be n the primes of their careers. The top 13 (I planned to go 10 but there was a 4 way tie) consisting of the group that were signed for 2 million or more is pretty unimpressive.

There is one significant player in Vlad Guerrero, Leody Taveras has 4.5 WAR OBP er his career that spanned 6 major league seasons. The only other one to,reach the majors is Gilberto Celestino. Of the others many did not make it to AA. Less expensive bonuses were given to some quality players. Juan Soto signed for 1.5 million. Andre’s Gimenez 1.2. Oneil Cruz 900K. Tatis Jr 700K. The previous edition of the Twins front office went big. They gave Wander Javier 4 million which was the third highest bonus. At least for that year it sure seems like quantity over perceived quality would have been the way to go.

2014 may even be more dismal for the top 10 bonuses. If you are still interested look at the top 10 of 2016. Some of these 2016 guys are now just in their age 25 or 26 season so maybe have some chance of playing in the majors. 

On 10/25/2025 at 4:42 PM, jorgenswest said:

I think quantity over quality is the way to go for International signings. No matter which  go it will take a really skilled group of scouts identifying talent from the talent they see play most of which is prior to age 16.

It is so hard to identify quality. Go back 10 years to the 2015 draft season. Those players would now be n the primes of their careers. The top 13 (I planned to go 10 but there was a 4 way tie) consisting of the group that were signed for 2 million or more is pretty unimpressive.

There is one significant player in Vlad Guerrero, Leody Taveras has 4.5 WAR OBP er his career that spanned 6 major league seasons. The only other one to,reach the majors is Gilberto Celestino. Of the others many did not make it to AA. Less expensive bonuses were given to some quality players. Juan Soto signed for 1.5 million. Andre’s Gimenez 1.2. Oneil Cruz 900K. Tatis Jr 700K. The previous edition of the Twins front office went big. They gave Wander Javier 4 million which was the third highest bonus. At least for that year it sure seems like quantity over perceived quality would have been the way to go.

2014 may even be more dismal for the top 10 bonuses. If you are still interested look at the top 10 of 2016. Some of these 2016 guys are now just in their age 25 or 26 season so maybe have some chance of playing in the majors. 

 

 

Thank you for sharing Jordonswest. My observation of how fewer Latinos are making it into MLB was mainly about the Twins. But I wouldn't doubt that it's a national problem. I wouldn't doubt it because analytics are widely accepted all over the league. I'd like to reiterate that IMO, Latinos are falling through the analytical cracks. In drafting, teams are looking at stats & are missing the point of how well they are able to acclimate to pro ball & a new culture. Plus, in development, they may have difficulty in assimilating the analytical data they are fed & maybe they are not getting the personal attention they need. 

IMO, this analytical craze, that favors non-athletic, defense-inept big bats has gone too far. All human element is abandoned. It's difficult for anybody to make it to the MLB IMO this has affected Latinos much more than anybody.  It has hurt the Twins. They look only at the computer spreadsheet & miss the reality around them. IMO, baseball has greatly fallen in the USA from the national pastime; very few get excited anymore. But in Central America & the Orient, baseball is still big, people get very excited about the sport & their best athletes pursue baseball. In Central America, for many, baseball is their only way to survive. So they are very motivated.

I was very disappointed that Roki Saki didn't choose MN. But why would he? MN has nothing to draw him here. We can't compete with the West for Japanese players, so we need to focus on the Latino' culture. We have baseball schools in the DR, which have served us well in the past. LAD has hired our Nelson Cruz to be their diplomat to these Central American countries; they aren't depending only on analytics & mass drafting to get lucky in the International draft. IMO, we should do the same

1 hour ago, Doctor Gast said:

Thank you for sharing Jordonswest. My observation of how fewer Latinos are making it into MLB was mainly about the Twins. But I wouldn't doubt that it's a national problem.

Your "observation" is contradicted by all the data.

Baseball Demographics, 1947-2016 – Society for American Baseball Research

Diversity in MLB expanding in 2023

Latino representation in MLB is above 30% and has never been higher.

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

Your "observation" is contradicted by all the data.

Baseball Demographics, 1947-2016 – Society for American Baseball Research

Diversity in MLB expanding in 2023

Latino representation in MLB is above 30% and has never been higher.

I don't know the data; I never said I did. I only commented on the data that Jordonwest gave. My concern & observation is based on the Twins' ability to draft & develop these players. If you want to call out Jordonwest on his statement go ahead but leave me out of it.

BTW, thanks for the data.

On 10/23/2025 at 2:33 PM, Doctor Gast said:

Thank you for your opinion, MinnInPA. But I disagree, baseball is an international sport & I, for one, enjoy the diversity & excitement that Latinos & Orientals give to the sport. The World Games are a marvel to watch & are becoming more & more serious competition.

well the rate it is going ..bat flips will enhance to throwing the bat into the stands ...and finger pointing, chest pounding and peacocking down the first base line will become more arrogant and obnoxious

On 12/3/2025 at 8:13 AM, MinnInPa said:

well the rate it is going ..bat flips will enhance to throwing the bat into the stands ...and finger pointing, chest pounding and peacocking down the first base line will become more arrogant and obnoxious

The rate what is going? Exactly what would bat flips, finger pointing, etc. have to do with Doctor Gast's discussing Latin American players in baseball? What is the connection? Or did I just get sucked in by a bot or troll. Us really old folks are easily fooled. 

you dont think the arrogance, showboating etc hasnt been increasing in recent years ?? and just who is leading that charge??