Baseball America's Top 20 Midwest League Prospects

[Seth Stohs]

Baseball America posted its Top 20 Midwest League prospects this morning and the Twins/Cedar Rapids Kernels were represented by just one player. Kohl Stewart was given the #6 ranking. Though his fastball was clocked between 92 and 96, he didn't strike out a lot, though he got a lot of weak contact. 

 

There are several players that we may believe were omitted, including Lewis Thorpe and Chih-Wei Huh (I'm guessing Stephen Gonsalves wouldn't have qualifies for the MWL list maybe). 

 

Rochester native Mitch Brown, who was Cleveland's 2nd round pick in 2012, ranked #19.

[Seth Stohs]

The shoulder injuries are certainly concerning. As much as the Twins have taken care of him, we can't know what all the football did to his shoulder, if anything. 

 

That said, I'm still very high on him. I think he'll progress well, if healthy.

[nicksaviking]

I guess it's safe to say that Thorpe will not be on BA's top 100 list then.

[Mike Sixel]

I guess it's safe to say that Thorpe will not be on BA's top 100 list then.

 

I think that is a likely conclusion, yes.

[Seth Stohs]

Thorpe is probably the name the surprises me the most. Not great numbers, walked too many, but also struck out a bunch as the 2nd youngest player in the league at times.

[gunnarthor]

I guess it's safe to say that Thorpe will not be on BA's top 100 list then.

Probably, but the league top 20s and the final list can be pretty different at times, for a variety of reasons, including the fact that only one person does the league top 20 while a group works on the the top 100 list. 

[kab21]

The K rate doesn't concern me (yet).  It's my understanding that Stewart either shelved his slider or didn't use it much to work on his fastball/change this year.  Taillon (mentioned in the article) did the same a few years ago and his K's bounced back later on.  Of course there are other prep pitchers that never struck anyone out and never improved (like Jacob Turner and Porcello).