Keith Law's System Rankings

[Physics Guy]

Keith Law has the Twins at #2 in his minor league systems rankings.

 

"The Twins placed more players on my top 100 (seven) than any other team, only one of whom was initially signed by another organization, and they added a former top-100 guy, Trevor May, in a trade this offseason. Their system is particularly strong in center field, enough that they're working on converting Eddie Rosario to second base, and has more power arms with a chance to start than it has at any point in the past decade.

 

 

The major league team is down, and isn't going to turn it all around in a year, but there's a lot of talent coming around which the Twins can build another contender."

[Badsmerf]

K-Law loves the Twins part 1????

 

He is a big upside guy and the Twins top 10 is oozing talent and upside. I'm not sure I'd have them #2 with them still being void of arms, but after this draft I think it will be pretty easy to put them in the top 5 with a shot at #1 with continued improvement from prospects and a good draft class.

[Seth Stohs]

It's "Insider" ESPN stuff, so be sure to add the link:

 

St. Louis Cardinals lead Keith Law's ranking of all 30 farm systems - MLB - ESPN

[Brock Beauchamp]

Bold ranking. Like Smerf, I'm not sold on a #2 ranking with the lack of arms but there's no denying there is a ton of upside in the system right now.

[drjim]

Bold ranking. Like Smerf, I'm not sold on a #2 ranking with the lack of arms but there's no denying there is a ton of upside in the system right now.

 

Law is really high on Meyer and to a lesser extent Gibson. That would explain some of it.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Law is really high on Meyer and to a lesser extent Gibson. That would explain some of it.

 

Yeah, I know he's high on Meyer. I'm high on Gibson as well but the ranking still seems a bit high. It seems to me a team in that position wouldn't be banking so heavily on two guys.

[gunnarthor]

Law is really high on Meyer and to a lesser extent Gibson. That would explain some of it.

 

True. But he was also a big supporter of Rosario and Arcia before others. It'll be interesting to see how where those 7 guys place in his top 100.

[twinsnorth49]

Bold ranking. Like Smerf, I'm not sold on a #2 ranking with the lack of arms but there's no denying there is a ton of upside in the system right now.

 

Yeah, this, if the current arms progress as hoped and they add some more high upside guys through this year's draft, then you can probably call it a #2.

[righty8383]

Everybody wants to talk about them being short on arms. What about middle infield? That is this teams biggest weekness if you ask me.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Everybody wants to talk about them being short on arms. What about middle infield? That is this teams biggest weekness if you ask me.

 

Well, if Rosario sticks, it's far less of a problem. There is also Polanco to consider. The team is definitely short on MI talent but pitching is so much more valuable that people focus on it more than the middle infield.

[righty8383]

True. But he was also a big supporter of Rosario and Arcia before others. It'll be interesting to see how where those 7 guys place in his top 100.

 

I loved this KLAW qoute about Arcia after the future's game.

he loads his hands a little low but he accelerates them so well he could probably start them in the press box and still get the bat through the zone in time.

[Physics Guy]

Royals 11th

Indians 19th

Tigers 25th

White Sox 28th

 

I think this bodes well for 2014 and beyond. 2013 is another story for another thread.

[Physics Guy]

It's "Insider" ESPN stuff, so be sure to add the link:

 

St. Louis Cardinals lead Keith Law's ranking of all 30 farm systems - MLB - ESPN

 

Sorry, I meant to do that also.

[johnnydakota]

Yeah, this, if the current arms progress as hoped and they add some more high upside guys through this year's draft, then you can probably call it a #2.

 

Still need middle infielders , but the system is deffinatly on the right course ,since they decided to jump into the international market, and drafting strong arms instead of controll pitchers. this is 1 area we can all cheer for and a positive side to the organisation...

[PseudoSABR]

K-Law loves the Twins part 1????

They aren't Twins yet, as soon as they graduate to the major league club, his tune will change.

[Cap'n Piranha]

K-Law loves the Twins part 1????

 

He is a big upside guy and the Twins top 10 is oozing talent and upside. I'm not sure I'd have them #2 with them still being void of arms, but after this draft I think it will be pretty easy to put them in the top 5 with a shot at #1 with continued improvement from prospects and a good draft class.

 

I'm not sure that any organization with Meyer, May, Gibson, Berrios, Williams, Baxendale, Chargois, and Melotakis could be classified as "void" of arms. Do all of those guys have a lot to prove? Sure. But outside of maybe 5 guys who qualify as prospects, that's true of every arm in the minors for every organization. Bottom line, for the first time that I can remember, the Twins have at least one prospect at every position that can be realistically projected as an average or better MLB player.

[Physics Guy]

I believe his Top 100 Prospects list comes out later this week. What is your guess on the order of our prospects? Since he had Buxton ahead of Sano midseason last year, here is my guess:

 

Buxton

Sano

Meyer

Rosario

Gibson

Hicks

Arcia

 

I don't necessarily agree with that order, but I'm guessing KLaw's is close to that.

[nicksaviking]

Looks like the list will come out tomorrow.

[righty8383]

I believe his Top 100 Prospects list comes out later this week. What is your guess on the order of our prospects? Since he had Buxton ahead of Sano midseason last year, here is my guess:

 

Buxton

Sano

Meyer

Rosario

Gibson

Hicks

Arcia

 

I don't necessarily agree with that order, but I'm guessing KLaw's is close to that.

 

A couple weeks ago someone asked him on Klawchat if there was a rational argument for putting Buxton ahead of Sano. His response was

I couldn't make one, but I'm listening.

So I think its safe to conclude that Sano will be higher on the list.

 

My guess is Sano, Buxton, Meyer, Arcia, Rosario, Gibson, Hicks

[ALessKosherScott]

Bold ranking. Like Smerf, I'm not sold on a #2 ranking with the lack of arms but there's no denying there is a ton of upside in the system right now.

 

IMO, it's less the number arms that scares me and more the number of players on the top ten list who haven't hit New Britain yet. There's a lot of upside in the system, but we're probably two years away from knowing how it's all going to play out.

[Mark_RM]

K-Law loves the Twins part 1????

 

He is a big upside guy and the Twins top 10 is oozing talent and upside. I'm not sure I'd have them #2 with them still being void of arms, but after this draft I think it will be pretty easy to put them in the top 5 with a shot at #1 with continued improvement from prospects and a good draft class.

 

Agree. A #2 ranking by KLaw, while a bit surprising, I think is in character for him. From reading and listening to him for a while, he seems to give more weight to high-upside/toolsy guys and not higher floor guys. Am very interested to see the ranks tomorrow.

[Brock Beauchamp]

IMO, it's less the number arms that scares me and more the number of players on the top ten list who haven't hit New Britain yet. There's a lot of upside in the system, but we're probably two years away from knowing how it's all going to play out.

 

True. Two of the three guys in NB or higher should see significant time with Minnesota this season (Gibson and Hicks). A lot can still go wrong with this farm.

[bird]

I'm not sure that any organization with Meyer' date=' May, Gibson, Berrios, Williams, Baxendale, Chargois, and Melotakis could be classified as "void" of arms. Do all of those guys have a lot to prove? Sure. But outside of maybe 5 guys who qualify as prospects, that's true of every arm in the minors for every organization. Bottom line, for the first time that I can remember, the Twins have at least one prospect at every position that can be realistically projected as an average or better MLB player.[/quote']

I think I recall hearing that one of the Twin's development guys, just a couple weeks ago, opined that the strength of the ststem was its pitching. Sorry, I wish I could recall the details but I can't. Anyway, on the surface that seems far-fetched, but who knows, we might be much more excited about the pitching pipeline next year at this time.

 

And we can add some names to this group too: Bard, Wimmers, Salcedo, Boyd, Jorge, Zach Jones, Tonkin, Boer, Hermsen- a couple of these guys might pan out too. So yeah, I agree that the system is far from void of pitching talent.

[Brock Beauchamp]

I'm not sure that any organization with Meyer' date=' May, Gibson, Berrios, Williams, Baxendale, Chargois, and Melotakis could be classified as "void" of arms. Do all of those guys have a lot to prove? Sure. But outside of maybe 5 guys who qualify as prospects, that's true of every arm in the minors for every organization. Bottom line, for the first time that I can remember, the Twins have at least one prospect at every position that can be realistically projected as an average or better MLB player.[/quote']

 

Not "void", just "a ton of question marks and little performance to back it up". Gibson and May are the only guys on the list who have shown anything above A ball and their performances have been less than stellar. I'm not bashing them (I'm high on Gibson) and I think at least one will have a solid MLB career but there is a lot of potential and not a lot of stats to back up the enthusiasm.

[Badsmerf]

Exactly. Its not void, just in question still. In the next year hopefully those questions will be answered... in a good way.

[PseudoSABR]

Bard, Wimmers, Salcedo, Boyd, Jorge, Zach Jones, Tonkin, Boer, Hermsen

Honestly, this is an interesting collection of quasi prospects.

[kab21]

tbh - If I'm ranking systems I don't really care if every prospect plays the same position. I care about talent and the Twins have a lot. #2 is still a little high because I'm a little more cautious than KLaw with lower level prospects though.