Article: Twins Top Prospects Part 2: 31-40 (Preliminary)

[diehardtwinsfan]

Thing about Garver is that he was picked in round 9. That means the Twins passed up on him 8 times, and so do most other teams. When picked that low, he obviously has some glaring weaknesses. I don't have too much of an issue letting him play in Cedar Rapids as I'd imagine that was the point... It's a league where he shouldn't have too much issue competing, but also one that will allow him to work on whatever those weaknesses are. I'm pretty excited about the guy b/c he performed very well there and showed all the requisite skills that are necessary to succeed at higher levels. I don't fault the Twins for putting him there, they had reason. I do think that he's got the potential to be a good major league catcher. He's got 3 more seasons until he's a 40 man decision. Next year should give us a real good idea if he's for real.

[bird]

Without looking anything up and relying on my decline-phase memory, I can recall both instances of promotion by emergency (Cordova, Stahoviak, Becker) and promotion by greed (Wynegar, Carew), but also a combo (Hrbek, Gaetti).

 

Any way you cut it, I think history would show that the really elite players- the Pucketts, Carews, Blylevens- are pretty elite right from the start.

 

That's why I wouldn't at all be surprised to see Buxton and Sano get the call and have success in 2015. And also why it's not surprising that guys like Hicks and Plouffe struggle and guys  like Parmelee eventually flame out. What makes it so interesting are these mysteries. For example, is Pinto more like Plouffe, or will he end up more like Stahoviak? 

[Seth Stohs]

Thing about Garver is that he was picked in round 9. That means the Twins passed up on him 8 times, and so do most other teams. When picked that low, he obviously has some glaring weaknesses.

 

 

To be fair, Brian Dozier was an 8th round pick which means most teams passed him by 8 times and the Twins did 7 times. He too was a college senior. His first full year, he split between Beloit and Ft. Myers. There was a middle infield need at that time. The Twins clearly like Garver enough to want him to play every day (catch a lot and have him DH a lot to), and they wanted Turner to catch a lot in Ft. Myers. Draft round matters to some degree, but once they put in a full season, it matters much, much less. 

[Steven Buhr]

As we discussed a lot during the season, clearly the Twins didn't want Turner and Garver splitting time on the same team, so they split them up.

 

Garver had the far superior offensive year of the two. Defensively, I don't know how they each grade out in terms of calling a game and all the other stuff that goes in to being a professional-level catcher, but they had similar results when it comes to controlling the running game.

 

Garver clearly has to move up to Ft Myers next year. One would assume Turner would move up to Chattanooga, but his case for automatic promotion is not as solid as Garver's. If he starts at AA and doesn't hit, they'll either have to demote him and end up in a split time situation with Garver in Ft Myers or promote Garver to AA at the same time.

 

Just going to be interesting to watch the dynamic between these two for a while.

Edited September 25, 2014 by Steven BUHR

[Mike Sixel]

Right, SD....they wanted those two split up to get them both time. It was a good decision, IMO. I think they COULD be in the same town, and split C and DH, depending on needs of others to DH. Maybe even play some 1B......but keeping them split for another year (at least to start) seems to make sense (not having thought much about other C options.....).