Keith Law Top 100 Prospects

[Vanimal46]

Emmanuel Rodriguez 48, Brooks Lee 51. 

[chpettit19]

His response to a question about why no Royce Lewis on the list:

"He's barely played in four years and has no position. Still a prospect, and I'm glad they cleaned his swing/lower half up, but I don't know where he plays at this point."

[Vanimal46]

4 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

His response to a question about why no Royce Lewis on the list:

"He's barely played in four years and has no position. Still a prospect, and I'm glad they cleaned his swing/lower half up, but I don't know where he plays at this point."

Harsh, but understandable. Since Lewis was drafted, KLaw has been saying Lewis will end up in CF. The path to playing time is muddied now that Correa and Buxton are locked in long term. 

[gunnarthor]

Seems fair. I like Lee but someone has to be the low man on him and Klaw might be the high man on Rodriguez. 

[chpettit19]

9 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Harsh, but understandable. Since Lewis was drafted, KLaw has been saying Lewis will end up in CF. The path to playing time is muddied now that Correa and Buxton are locked in long term. 

I'm a huge believer in Royce so my opinion may be biased, but there are plenty of guys on his list that don't have a position (mostly Cs who may not stay behind the plate) or are blocked at the big league level so I'm not super sold on that point. The not playing in 4 years is hard to argue with, though. And I think that's a fair explanation.

[Dman]

6 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

I'm a huge believer in Royce so my opinion may be biased, but there are plenty of guys on his list that don't have a position (mostly Cs who may not stay behind the plate) or are blocked at the big league level so I'm not super sold on that point. The not playing in 4 years is hard to argue with, though. And I think that's a fair explanation.

Yeah there isn't much to base Lewis on but I plan to give Law a ton of crap once Lewis gets it going.  All SSS but Lewis had a dominant AAA debut and at least solid MLB debut until injured.  It sure looked like he cleaned up the things Law was concerned about with his bat and he felt fine dropping him but not lifting him back up?  Kind of biased IMO.

As long as he is man enough to say he was too chicken to give Royce props I guess that is OK by me but I think he makes himself look bad excluding him but that is just my biased opinion.  Lot's of other evaluators took notice of Lewis and he seems the odd man out on this one.

I think he did say he puts more emphasis on projection in his list so guys further away get larger bumps.  Royce has little projection left and he almost looks like a top end super utility type at this point for the Twins so maybe he adjusts for that as well? Hard to say.  I am struggling to help him find good reasons to not have him on the list and I like Law more than most.  

 

[whosafraidofluigirussolo]

9 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

His response to a question about why no Royce Lewis on the list:

"He's barely played in four years and has no position. Still a prospect, and I'm glad they cleaned his swing/lower half up, but I don't know where he plays at this point."

9 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

Harsh, but understandable. Since Lewis was drafted, KLaw has been saying Lewis will end up in CF. The path to playing time is muddied now that Correa and Buxton are locked in long term. 

I like reading Law's writing—he writes from experience, he's opinionated but he backs up his opinions thoughtfully, and you can tell he thinks about things other than baseball. I'm not sold on his rationale here, though. If lack of a clear path to a position is part of the reasoning for dropping a player in rankings, that seems like a demerit based on team and organizational construction, stuff that's out of the player's control.

If some hypothetical minor leaguer was playing shortstop not because he had the ability to play it well, but because his organization was otherwise barren of talent at SS, I feel like evaluators like Law would rate the player based on his skills in an absolute sense. They wouldn't regard him more highly because of opportunity to claim a position they didn't think he had the skills to play. Isn't this the same thing in the opposite direction?

[dxpavelka]

At the end of the day, Law's opinion really doesn't matter.  All that matters is what guys do on the field.

[Doctor Gast]

Law really missed it with Lewis & a few others

[SF Twins Fan]

I don't understand his take on where Lewis will play.  He's athletic enough to play 2nd, 3rd, potentially SS and all three outfield positions.  If he continues where he left off last season, the Twins will find a position for him or they'll trade him to a team that needs him.

[tony&rodney]

The prospect lists are not too high on the Twins pitching prospects. The Falvey practice of trading for starting pitchers will need to continue if the guys within the system do not develop beyond backend starting status. This, as much as anything, was a reason to make whatever trade possible to pry away an Edward Cabrera sort from Miami.

[Vanimal46]

1 hour ago, tony&rodney said:

The prospect lists are not too high on the Twins pitching prospects. The Falvey practice of trading for starting pitchers will need to continue if the guys within the system do not develop beyond backend starting status. This, as much as anything, was a reason to make whatever trade possible to pry away an Edward Cabrera sort from Miami.

Yeah, hopefully we see former top 100 prospect Balazovic have a bounce back season in 2023. Marco Raya is the only other pitching prospect I’ve seen ranked in the top 100 on the usual publications. Maybe Connor Prielipp makes the jump to the top 100 now that he’s recovered from TJS. 

[Mike Sixel]

I sympathies with his position that Lewis hasn't been healthy for a few years. Not so much on the position issue 

100 isn't that many, I'm not worried that more aren't on the list. 

[beckmt]

22 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

Harsh, but understandable. Since Lewis was drafted, KLaw has been saying Lewis will end up in CF. The path to playing time is muddied now that Correa and Buxton are locked in long term. 

There is the old explaination, if a player is good enough (and Lewis is, they will find a spot for him).  KLaw is out to lunch here.

[Vanimal46]

1 hour ago, beckmt said:

There is the old explaination, if a player is good enough (and Lewis is, they will find a spot for him).  KLaw is out to lunch here.

Sure, but is Lewis a top 100 prospect if he’s playing a non premium position like 2B, 3B, or corner OF? I don’t know. I’m just speculating what K Law may be thinking as he’s putting together his list. 

Overall I enjoy K Law a lot. He marches to the beat of his own drum and has analyzed more prospects than I ever will in my life. 

[Mike Sixel]

Twinkiefan: is Emmanuel Rodriguez someone to get excited about in Minnesota? I’ve read high praise, but haven’t seen him in person. Thanks!
Keith Law: He’s on the top 100 with a full writeup. I would be excited, if I were capable of feeling emotions.

[bird]

On 1/31/2023 at 8:31 AM, SF Twins Fan said:

I don't understand his take on where Lewis will play.  He's athletic enough to play 2nd, 3rd, potentially SS and all three outfield positions.  If he continues where he left off last season, the Twins will find a position for him or they'll trade him to a team that needs him.

Concur. I can envision Correa, Lewis, and Lee anchoring 3B, SS, and 2B, perhaps even respectively, if Lewis can play SS as well as he did last year, but in any case, we can dream on three interchangeable guys playing solid defense and being a force at the top of the order. That Lewis hasn't yet claimed a position or played a lot so far? Obscures his talent, but doesn't change the reality. Let's hope KLAW , in this case, is underrating Lewis.