Article: Twins Daily Top 20 Prospect Countdown: 11-15

[Jeremy Nygaard]

Just giving you a hard time, Jeremy.

 

Maybe by mid-season Max will have "graduated" from the the prospect lists and instead be playing in the MLB All-Star Game in Cincy!

 

Greatest Twin to ever come from Bradley University! 

 

You all realize that my feelings for Murphy stem from me correctly projecting the Twins drafting him exactly when they did... and then him tearing up the Appy League. It was a snowball that just kept keeps rolling.

[Seth Stohs]

Greatest Twin to ever come from Bradley University! 

 

Some of us older individuals who remember watching a certain "big-boned" centerfielder might disagree... at least for the time being.

[tobi0040]

Some of us older individuals who remember watching a certain "big-boned" centerfielder might disagree... at least for the time being.

 

Towards the end of his career, even my Mom used to say "he better hope he hits it over the wall"

[ashbury]

Towards the end of his career, even my Mom used to say "he better hope he hits it over the wall"

Was Bill Tuttle really that slow?

[Steve Lein]

Thorpe did come to the Twin Cities last Fall to get the elbow checked out so hopefully everything is fine. You just never know with those UCL's though.

 

I thought it was Keith Law I saw a blurb from, but I haven't been able to track it down again. But there was something I read that said that it ended up being less than originally feared, and he should be ready to go. Of course we won't know on that for sure until it happens, but I was pleasantly surprised to read that. Just wish I could find it again.

[TRex]

Was Bill Tuttle really that slow?

Say... is this Tuttle a red herring (ala MASH)?

[JB_Iowa]

Say... is this Tuttle a red herring (ala MASH)?

 

That was his cousin, Jonathan, pride of Battle Creek, Michigan,

 

Bill was a little before my baseball memory:

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/tuttlbi01.shtml

[nicksaviking]

I guess I don't embrace the idea of pitchers being devalued because they throw low 90's or high 80's.   There is so much more to pitching than velocity and thinking a guy has a ceiling of DeVries or Fox just because they have the same velocity is misguided in my opinion.    Nick Bcakburn in his last lousy year was low to mid 90's with his fast ball but his command wasn't great and his movement was poor.    In contrast the last two times the Giants have won the WS their average velocity as a team was 90.8 which was average for the entire league and they threw the fastball less than any other team.   I love a good fastball but give me a guy with command and "stuff".   If a guy is doing that well and striking out people at that rate then he is different from those that have his same velocity that are not doing as well.   Its true that it might not play as well in the majors but you might as well compare him to Maddux or Buehrle rather than DeVries or Fox.

 

Low velocity wouldn't bother me if they still generated strikeouts. 

[Paul Pleiss]

"There's no such thing as a pitching prospect" - Everyone ever.

 

Max Kepler is the most exciting name on this list for me after Lewis Thorpe. Both seem to have huge upside/potential. I want to see them succeede.

[jokin]

He's 19.  Is there really concern that he's going to stop developing?  Add a pitch when he's 20, add another when he's 21, fiddle around with a fourth pitch while he's 22-23, and you've got something.  No, that's not how development works, on a clock like that, but the point is he's got time like any 19 year old prospect does.  A year's a long time at this age.  He has to make use of the time of course.

 

With a birthday of July 8, 1994, he's actually 20, and closer to 21 than 19.

 

His current repertoire is only going to carry him so far in the minors. I still like his potential a lot, but without at minimum, an average major league breaking ball, his value as a major league starter is pretty  problematic.

[ashbury]

With a birthday of July 8, 1994, he's actually 20, and closer to 21 than 19.

Wouldn't be the first off-by-one bug I ever introduced.

[DocBauer]

A little late to the party, not sure if someone has made a similar point here or not, but in the overall scheme of things, I think you could say that Thorpe and Gonsalves are as valuable or important a prospect as anyone in the system.

 

That's a lot to throw on the shoulders of kids so young, and still low on the milb totem pole, but perhaps the hardest thing to ever find in baseball is a true, top of the rotation LHSP. And while it is admittedly early to project stardom for either of these talented kids, neither of them is a LH, soft tossing, crafty college senior picked in round 23 performing well in the rookie league.

[diehardtwinsfan]

I guess the idea of saying Gonsalves  projects as a 3 is pretty suspect in my opinion.  He has the results along with a good fast/change combo.  He's also done it at a young age relative to league and has the eyeball metrics too (mid 90s fb from the left side).  That strikes me as a ceiling much higher than a slightly above average pitcher.  Whether he gets there or not is why he's in the low teens as opposed to the top 5.  He's no sure thing, for many of the reasons cited.  But to me, he's got 1/2 potential, and I'd have him rated much higher than Taylor Rogers.

[jimmer]

I think a #3 pitcher isn't just slightly above average.  Most relievers are pitchers who aren't good enough to start. They have to be included into the mix.  A typical #3 pitcher is a quality pitcher.