Hicks

[jimbo92107]

Aaron Hicks has the same kind of speed as Denard Span, plus a considerably better arm. Probably not as high an average, but more pop in his bat, and he's a switch hitter. The Twins look pretty stacked near term in the outfield with guys like Hicks, Benson, Arcia and Buxton coming up in the next few years. Should be interesting.

[diehardtwinsfan]

Aaron Hicks has the same kind of speed as Denard Span, plus a considerably better arm. Probably not as high an average, but more pop in his bat, and he's a switch hitter. The Twins look pretty stacked near term in the outfield with guys like Hicks, Benson, Arcia and Buxton coming up in the next few years. Should be interesting.

 

Buxton is at least 4 years out. Though you should add Benson to this list... Not quite ready to write him off just yet. Yes, OF looks very nice. If Revere continues this, he's going to be a very nice trade piece when Hicks is ready to go. I'm still loving an OF of Arcia/Hicks/Benson... well above average at the plate and in the field.

[Turd Furgeson]

I'm interested to see if Tom Brunansky can get even more out of Aaron Hicks in AAA next year, given his recent success with guys like Plouffe and Revere. This recent performance with Hicks has been very reassuring after last season.

[CharacterGroove]

It's a stretch to put Revere's year on Tom Brunansky. Revere's had success at every level he's played at professionally. His one mediocre year was his rookie year - not all that out of the ordinary. But I certainly hope that Hicks finds that next gear, and hopefully there's a hitting coach out there that can help.

[MWLFan]

One other interesting piece of this is that these players are moving up the ladder. For several years people have talked about the talent for the Twins all being in the lower levels of the minors and now this is all starting to bubble up. Next year Arcia and Hicks at least will be at AAA with Benson possibly, at least one will probably be spending significant time in Minnesota. Sano and Rosario will be at A+ and might get to AA by the end of the year, I actually hold out more hope for Rosario making that transistion quicker if he can get off the DL in Beloit soon. Behind them you have Harrison, Goodrum, Kepler and Buxton in Low A next year along with a whole bunch of arms from this years draft. That is a pretty good pipeline for 2014 onward. I have not even mentioned some prospects of various standing like Tosoni, Micheal, Hermann, Ortiz and Santana. The narrative on the Twins minor leagues is in transition this year. Also expect that at the current pace the Twins will have another Top 10 draft pick in what maybe a better class next year, with what looks like two high draft picks from this year dropping back in possibly. These are all ifs, performance can go south on any of these players, injuries can happen any game, ceilings can suddenly be reached and players plateau at AAA, and you can never predict what goes on in the brain on a 19-22 year old male that can lead to trouble. But the outfield and parts of the infield are looking hopeful.

 

Pitching...well maybe we can get something for Span, Willingham and any other spare parts to help and possibly catch lightning in a bottle like we did with Johan, Frankie, Nathan and possibly Diamond.

[Chance]

2014 lineup?

 

CF- Hicks

LF- Benson

1B- Mauer

DH- Willingham

RF- Arcia

3B- Plouffe

C- Doumit

SS- Dozier

2B- Rosario? Not impossible but highly unlikely. Stopgap for Rosario the following year.

[Brock Beauchamp]

I just love this line " and from all reports is already major league ready defensively". Hmmm so what does that mean he has mastered the skill of catching a fly ball and throwing it. LOL

There's a lot more to centerfield than catching a ball and throwing it. More than a corner spot, routes are crucial and it's easier to get your feet turned in the wrong direction in center field. A split second of hesitation and that relatively easy catch turns into a double.

 

There's a reason why a lot of guys aren't center fielders and it's not only their range and arm.

[Turd Furgeson]

It's a stretch to put Revere's year on Tom Brunansky. Revere's had success at every level he's played at professionally. His one mediocre year was his rookie year - not all that out of the ordinary. But I certainly hope that Hicks finds that next gear, and hopefully there's a hitting coach out there that can help.

I know, but I believe Revere had mentioned working with Brunansky specifically, he helped to make his swing more compact and tweaked a couple other things. Either way, Brunansky is a good hitting coach. Hicks will benefit from his instruction.

[stringer bell]

One other interesting piece of this is that these players are moving up the ladder. For several years people have talked about the talent for the Twins all being in the lower levels of the minors and now this is all starting to bubble up. Next year Arcia and Hicks at least will be at AAA with Benson possibly, at least one will probably be spending significant time in Minnesota. Sano and Rosario will be at A+ and might get to AA by the end of the year, I actually hold out more hope for Rosario making that transistion quicker if he can get off the DL in Beloit soon. Behind them you have Harrison, Goodrum, Kepler and Buxton in Low A next year along with a whole bunch of arms from this years draft. That is a pretty good pipeline for 2014 onward. I have not even mentioned some prospects of various standing like Tosoni, Micheal, Hermann, Ortiz and Santana. The narrative on the Twins minor leagues is in transition this year. Also expect that at the current pace the Twins will have another Top 10 draft pick in what maybe a better class next year, with what looks like two high draft picks from this year dropping back in possibly. These are all ifs, performance can go south on any of these players, injuries can happen any game, ceilings can suddenly be reached and players plateau at AAA, and you can never predict what goes on in the brain on a 19-22 year old male that can lead to trouble. But the outfield and parts of the infield are looking hopeful.

 

Pitching...well maybe we can get something for Span, Willingham and any other spare parts to help and possibly catch lightning in a bottle like we did with Johan, Frankie, Nathan and possibly Diamond.

Tosoni is runnerup to Benson for the "worst year of my career" award. He is going backwards in the org, suffered injuries and not hit anywhere, except for his last day in AAA, when he went 5-5 and then was demoted.

[chopper0080]

2014 lineup?

 

CF- Hicks

LF- Benson

1B- Mauer

DH- Willingham

RF- Arcia

3B- Plouffe

C- Doumit

SS- Dozier

2B- Rosario? Not impossible but highly unlikely. Stopgap for Rosario the following year.

Doumit being our starting catcher in 2 years is a bit of a stretch IMO.

[Chance]

Well if you don't think Doumit can start then he can back up herrmann. Either way I like it.

[diehardtwinsfan]

2014 lineup?

 

CF- Hicks

LF- Benson

1B- Mauer

DH- Willingham

RF- Arcia

3B- Plouffe

C- Doumit

SS- Dozier

2B- Rosario? Not impossible but highly unlikely. Stopgap for Rosario the following year.

What happened to Parmalee?

[Seth Stohs]

I'm interested to see if Tom Brunansky can get even more out of Aaron Hicks in AAA next year, given his recent success with guys like Plouffe and Revere. This recent performance with Hicks has been very reassuring after last season.

Brunansky never coached Trevor Plouffe.

 

Brunansky was credited a lot for Benson's year last year (even though Benson was the minor league player of the year the year before too)... Bruno coached Benson in Rochester this year too.

 

Brunansky was credited a lot for Dozier's year last year... Bruno coached Dozier in Rochester this year.

 

Rochester has a really bad offense.

 

Bruno is probably a good hitting coach. We don't know. But he's never been the hitting coach for two MVP hitters... Vavra has done a pretty good job too.

 

Final point... how much do hitting (or pitching) coaches have to do with it?

[Seth Stohs]

What happened to Parmalee?

If Willingham and Mauer are still around in 2014, he's not going to play in front of him, and he's not in the same caliber of prospect as Arcia... bench or traded?

[darin617]

I'm interested to see if Tom Brunansky can get even more out of Aaron Hicks in AAA next year, given his recent success with guys like Plouffe and Revere. This recent performance with Hicks has been very reassuring after last season.

Not sure how you link Plouffe and Brunansky together. I didn't think he spent any time in the minors this year.

[Chance]

I assumed trade bait but I was in a rush so I didn't mention that part sorry. I assumed parm would be good to trade when mauer moved to full time first/emergency 3rd catcher

[Shane Wahl]

Aaron Hicks was foolishly discounted over the past two seasons.

[diehardtwinsfan]

If Willingham and Mauer are still around in 2014, he's not going to play in front of him, and he's not in the same caliber of prospect as Arcia... bench or traded?

I'd argue that the lineup is wrong... Doumit won't be a full time catcher, nothing close to it, nor should he be. Parmalee should be the every day 1B in 2014 with Mauer spelling him occasionally and spelling Willingham at DH occasionally, but still catching.

[Fanatic Jack]

This is encouraging news!! The problem is the Twins could have a lineup full of great position players but they still need 1-3 pitchers who can actually get people out on the mound. They have nobody right now at the major league level who can do this. The minors are completely depleted as well.

[Badsmerf]

Aaron Hicks was foolishly discounted over the past two seasons.

Foolishly? Did you follow basis? His seasons were very underwhelming. Its one thing to have tools, its another to grow and utilize them. Look at some of the toolsy OF in the past 5 years that have failed. Hicks had some real issue. I haven't read any scouting reports on what has changed, but he certainly turned something around. I'm interested to see if he can keep it up the rest of the year and earn a promotion, and what scouts have to say about him now.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Foolishly? Did you follow basis? His seasons were very underwhelming. Its one thing to have tools, its another to grow and utilize them. Look at some of the toolsy OF in the past 5 years that have failed. Hicks had some real issue. I haven't read any scouting reports on what has changed, but he certainly turned something around. I'm interested to see if he can keep it up the rest of the year and earn a promotion, and what scouts have to say about him now.

Hicks is doing a "struggle, succeed, struggle, succeed" through the minors. I am relatively high on the kid and never got too down on his struggles outside of his ineptitude from the left side of the plate. He also never really "wowed" me as a prospect, either. I've always been more of an Arcia guy.

 

I think people have a tendency to jump the gun far too quickly on prospects. One bad year happens. If he starts to fail a second year at the same level, then there should be real concerns. Besides, Hick's "failures" were still relatively decent (730-ish OPS) for his position.

[Turd Furgeson]

Brunansky never coached Trevor Plouffe.

 

Brunansky was credited a lot for Benson's year last year (even though Benson was the minor league player of the year the year before too)... Bruno coached Benson in Rochester this year too.

 

Brunansky was credited a lot for Dozier's year last year... Bruno coached Dozier in Rochester this year.

 

Rochester has a really bad offense.

 

Bruno is probably a good hitting coach. We don't know. But he's never been the hitting coach for two MVP hitters... Vavra has done a pretty good job too.

 

Final point... how much do hitting (or pitching) coaches have to do with it?

I don't know how much a hitting coach impacts the performance of a hitter. Ultimately, I suppose a lot of it really depends on how well a hitter implements the changes that they are given. He's not going to turn turds (which is mostly what resides at AAA) into gold, I don't think any hitting coach past, present, or future will be capable of that.

 

I do know that Brunansky started with this organization in 2010 with the Twins rookie league team and is now the hitting coach of their AAA affiliate. That speaks pretty highly to his abilities.

 

Brunansky never coached Plouffe, my mistake.

 

The fact is that Aaron Hicks has been a very toolsy player with legit 5 O'clock power since he's been drafted, but he hasn't done very well to convert his hitting tools into in game action, though he is making strides this year. I assume that he'd benefit from what is probably the best level of hitting instruction that we have in the minors. Do you disagree with that?

[DaveW]

Hicks continuing to play very very well. His OPS is now up to .836 and he is showing some legit HR power by hitting his 10th on the season. While 30/30 type production is a reach I think 20 HR 30 SB type production, can be expected in the majors at some point as he continues to grow. Couple that with elite defense in CF and the ability to have a high OBP...wow... this kid could be one of the best leadoff hitters in all of baseball.

[Riverbrian]

Hicks continuing to play very very well. His OPS is now up to .836 and he is showing some legit HR power by hitting his 10th on the season. While 30/30 type production is a reach I think 20 HR 30 SB type production, can be expected in the majors at some point as he continues to grow. Couple that with elite defense in CF and the ability to have a high OBP...wow... this kid could be one of the best leadoff hitters in all of baseball.

From your lips to gods ears... I really hope you are right. I would love to see a monster come from the farm and just tear it up.