Stock Watch: 3 Rising Twins Prospects

[Cody Christie]

Every winter, fans take stock of the players throughout their favorite team's farm system. These three Twins prospects have seen their stock rise significantly over the last year. 

Jose Miranda, 3B
Seth's 2022 Prospect Rank: 2
Miranda had always been considered a good prospect, but his 2021 season placed him on the baseball's prospect map. As a 23-year-old, he hit .344/.401/.572 (.973) with 32 doubles and 30 home runs at Double- and Triple-A. Miranda led all minor league baseball with 306 total bases with only 74 strikeouts in 127 games. He was the easy pick for the Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Year as he had arguably one of the best seasons ever for a Twins prospect. 

If Miranda can replicate his 2021 numbers, an argument can be made for him being the best prospect in the Twins organization. Austin Martin and Royce Lewis will rank higher than him on many lists, but Miranda's breakout season is hard to ignore. Baseball America and the Athletic moved him into their top-100 prospect lists, but some of that is based on his previous track record. Miranda should debut in 2022, and fans can get excited about how much his stock has risen.

Louie Varland, RHP
Seth's 2022 Prospect Rank: 19
Minnesota selected Varland with their 15th round pick in 2019. After signing, his professional debut was cut short because of some soreness in his pitching elbow. Minnesota saw some mechanical issues with Varland's delivery, and they worked with him during the COVID downtime to make adjustments. With an improved fastball in the high-90s, Varland transformed himself from a late-round pick to a pitching prospect to watch. 

In 2021, he dominated at Low- and High-A with a 2.10 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP in 20 appearances. He posted a 142-to-30 strikeout to walk ratio, including 14.5 strikeouts per nine at Low-A. His college experience meant he was old for Low-A, but he was younger than the average age of the competition when he got to Cedar Rapids. He was named the Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Year at season's end. Varland won't appear on any national top-100 lists, but his 2021 season puts him into the team's long-term pitching plans.  

Emmanuel Rodriguez, OF
Seth's 2022 Prospect Rank: 14
Any prospect that signs for $2.5 million on the international market will get noticed, but players signed as teenagers take time to develop. Last season, Rodriguez made his professional debut and hit ten home runs with a .870 OPS. He finished runner-up to Kala'i Rosario for Twins Daily's Short-Season Hitter of the Year, which has previously gone to players like Matt Wallner and Akil Baddoo.  

Rodriguez has a long way to go before he makes his big-league debut, but he has all the tools to be one of the team's top prospects in the years ahead. His advanced approach at the plate allows him to get into favorable counts where he can unleash his power. His above-average speed will enable him to steal bases and play above-average defense in centerfield. Entering his age-19 season, Rodriguez will get his first taste of full-season action with a chance to be one of the team's top-10 prospects next winter. 

Which player's stock has risen the most? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion.

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[jmlease1]

In terms of stock rising, this makes sense to me with these picks. Miranda was a guy twins staff always rated, but had never reflected that in the performance, so this jumps him up. Varland was an interesting pitcher, but until they ticked his fastball up, it was hard to know if he had a weapon to fall back on. both got much more interesting after last season.

[RJA]

Whose stock rose the most?  I would have to say Miranda as he has been in the system longer and had nowhere near the success in prior years as he did last year.  He was a guy who was pretty much unknown who became one of the best hitters in minor league baseball last year.  What a great story.  Let's hope he carries that success to the bigs this year.

[twinstalker]

ERod's K rate is downright scary, and it's doubtful he'll be much unless that magically changes.  I'd choose a different 3rd prospect.

[DocBauer]

Obviously it would be silly to pick guys like Steer or Julien who are just getting their careers started. But there are two guys I ALMOST want to add to this list.

Jordan Gore completed his transition to the mound as a RP and had a pretty great 2021.

Yunior Severino seemed to take a step forward last season, especially after his promotion to CR.

Gore is "old enough" and newly transitioned he will hopefully go undrafted if there is a rule 5 this year. And Severino is "young enough" and still unproven enough to also, hopefully, also go undrafted. I can't include them in the same category as the other 3, but I was impressed by the development of both.

[DocBauer]

1 hour ago, twinstalker said:

ERod's K rate is downright scary, and it's doubtful he'll be much unless that magically changes.  I'd choose a different 3rd prospect.

Totally get your concern! The BA and SO numbers aren't good. But the BB and OB% and power numbers and OPS are impressive for an 18yo getting his first taste or stateside pro ball. It's those numbers that indicate he has an eye and approach that gives real promise. 

[jrod23]

Miranda's 2021 season reminded me of Kirilloff's 2018 season.  Great thing is that Jose's season happened at AA/AAA instead of A/High-A.  Rave reviews on both, but completely different paths and approaches to success.  I'm excited.

Louie?  I love it.  It's fantastic.

Rodriguez?  Maybe I'm jaded, but signing guys at the age of 16 is a COMPLETE AND UTTER CRAP SHOOT!!!  Yes, baseball is culture in the Dominican & Haiti.  Yes, there is such thing as pedigree, but geez.  Look at the amount of players who have made it off of minimal signings vs. max signings.

[Blyleven2011]

Miranda hits close 270  in mlb , gets on base and scores runs  ,,, miranda should help excite the twins lineup ,, 

Twins change third base coach and hopefully  that will help twins score more runs also , he was awful  sending players to score , slow runners he sent and out by a mile , fast runners he stopped and we didn't score with no outs ..

Varland I hope pans out but have heard he only right now has 2 pitches