Hendry Mendez Deserves to Be Part of Twins’ September Callup Conversation

[SE23]

2 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Nick Gordon would have been an MVP if he could just improve his instincts, fix the hole in his swing and recognize the zone a little better. 

Admittedly, there are a lot of big if's for every prospect and past performance does not guarantee future success.

[JADBP]

2 hours ago, HarmonK03 said:

The moves with Gray and Jackson are neither for rebuilding or competitive, that's the problem.  And it shows how there is no change, they value the fringe players or over their own prospects.  Gray has no business being on a major league roster and shouldn't be recalled.  The only role Jackson should have is backup catcher and that role is currently being filled by Caratini.

They are making these moves because they think it makes them competitive.  I don't know what more evidence Tom P. needs but Zoll should be fired today, not the end of the season.

Agree 1000% on Zoll (fire him already!).

But they are not making these moves because they value fringe players.  They are making these moves because they are wed to the moves they made in the past.  They traded or signed these players and to give up on them would mean 1) some financial hit, and 2) and admission that they made a bad trade or signing, or 3) some level of embarrassment.

Its like Wallner's case.  The management have tried for five years to make Wallner into a useful MLB player and it has not happened.  He has a good arm and some occasional power, but two out of five tools is not a useful MLB player.  But he was a first round pick and the Twins just can't let go of that draft mistake,  No matter how many times they send him to AAA, where the pitching is not nearly as good as MLB, he is not going to blossom into an MLBer.   How many other cases do we have like this:  Brooks Lee, Chase Petty, Aaron Sabato, Keoni Cavaco, Larnach, Royce Lewis, Ales Krirlloff, Tyler Jay, Kohl Stewart, Levi Michael.....these are all first rounders that the Twins missed on.  Now, I still have hope for Lee and Lewis, and maybe we can trade Larnach.  But what a mess of 1st round picks! 

There are two questions:  1) are the Twins really bad at picking first rounders (OK, but Vaughn Lacky was a gimmee...it was an obvious pick that needed no analysis).  Yeah, they are.  Start looking at the scouts!  And, 2) how can all of these first rounders not develop into fine MLBers?  (see Lee, Lewis,....heck the whole list!).  If at least some of these were good picks, then why couldn't we develop them?  Lewis is filled with talent...how did we mess him up so badly?  Fire the development staff!

Oh my what a mess!  And Zoll is in charge of it all.....

 

[Cory Engelhardt]

22 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Have him work with Hawkins. If he could teach Funderburk how to throw things near the zone, Wallner's got the arm 😄

I actually think Wallner does have a better chance of helping in the bullpen for a team than he does on defense in an outfield. His best position player position at this point is probably dh, so why not try pitching again in the kbo. Have him hit too, why not? If you could find a 6th inning reliever AND Matt Stairs 2.0 in one position, that would be fun to cheer for right?

I'm probably nuts, but it makes sense to me.

[SE23]

10 minutes ago, JADBP said:

Agree 1000% on Zoll (fire him already!).

But they are not making these moves because they value fringe players.  They are making these moves because they are wed to the moves they made in the past.  They traded or signed these players and to give up on them would mean 1) some financial hit, and 2) and admission that they made a bad trade or signing, or 3) some level of embarrassment.

Its like Wallner's case.  The management have tried for five years to make Wallner into a useful MLB player and it has not happened.  He has a good arm and some occasional power, but two out of five tools is not a useful MLB player.  But he was a first round pick and the Twins just can't let go of that draft mistake,  No matter how many times they send him to AAA, where the pitching is not nearly as good as MLB, he is not going to blossom into an MLBer.   How many other cases do we have like this:  Brooks Lee, Chase Petty, Aaron Sabato, Keoni Cavaco, Larnach, Royce Lewis, Ales Krirlloff, Tyler Jay, Kohl Stewart, Levi Michael.....these are all first rounders that the Twins missed on.  Now, I still have hope for Lee and Lewis, and maybe we can trade Larnach.  But what a mess of 1st round picks! 

There are two questions:  1) are the Twins really bad at picking first rounders (OK, but Vaughn Lacky was a gimmee...it was an obvious pick that needed no analysis).  Yeah, they are.  Start looking at the scouts!  And, 2) how can all of these first rounders not develop into fine MLBers?  (see Lee, Lewis,....heck the whole list!).  If at least some of these were good picks, then why couldn't we develop them?  Lewis is filled with talent...how did we mess him up so badly?  Fire the development staff!

Oh my what a mess!  And Zoll is in charge of it all.....

 

My hope is that the scouting and drafting bias turns from "light tower power" to "elite athleticism."

[HarmonK03]

39 minutes ago, SE23 said:

My hope is that the scouting and drafting bias turns from "light tower power" to "elite athleticism."

Until you have a change in the front office, this won't happen.  

[SE23]

14 minutes ago, HarmonK03 said:

Until you have a change in the front office, this won't happen.  

We've managed to get Jenkins, Erod, Culpepper, Houston, Lackey, etc. Even guys like Ross and Winokur have some promise,  Maybe it's a trend?

[HarmonK03]

1 minute ago, SE23 said:

We've managed to get Jenkins, Erod, Culpepper, Houston, Lackey, etc. Even guys like Ross and Winokur have some promise,  Maybe it's a trend?

I hope you are right but I have lost all faith in this front office.  Remember the catcher they drafted in the second round doesn't fit this mold.  But is this the exception or the rule going forward we will see.

[bean5302]

3 hours ago, SE23 said:

We've managed to get Jenkins, Erod, Culpepper, Houston, Lackey, etc. Even guys like Ross and Winokur have some promise,  Maybe it's a trend?

Of those, how many are successful at the MLB level, not just in the minors? It's great we have a farm full of guaranteed no-miss players, but they're just wishful thinking.

The reality I continue to point out is the Twins had dozen or so other can't miss elite MLB prospects in the Falvey era. While these new prospects are hyped to the moon, they don't rank any higher than other guys who turned out to be flops in the big show.

[Seth Stohs]

One September call up is likely to be an activated Austin Martin. Mendez has had a nice showing in 2026 in St. Paul. Wallner certainly is more deserving of the roster spot. They can certainly argue that they need to see and spend more time with E-Rod 

The other one will be a pitcher. It could be Joe Ryan, and if he's back before then, he could be whoever gets sent down when he's activated. 

I miss the days of calling up as many as they want. Teams would do a third catcher, a utility infielder, an extra outfielder and several relievers. You could add 1-2 good human interest stories. Those were the days. 

[Bangkok Twins Fan]

17 hours ago, Cory Engelhardt said:

If Buxton is available and Keaschall is on the team, then there is only room for one other starting outfielder. There will be a lot of trades, or should be, of outfielders for pitching in my opinion

With Keaschall now in the outfield mix that makes the glut of players even thicker. We didn't lose any outfielders at last month's trade deadline, so there needs to be a cull in the near future. 

[HrbieFan]

18 hours ago, MeleMouth said:

Twins should have traded Mendez at the deadline for a decent pitching prospect.

Twins 40-man has 4.5 left-handed corner outfielders who are either bad or mediocre at fielding: Larnach, Wallner, Roden, and Mendez, with Clemens as a PT, plus ERod with Jenkins to follow. They should have converted at least one into pitching and Mendez was the best combo of youth, hitting well, and being expendable.

Mendez was also part of a past regime. Future roster construction should prioritize fielding higher. 

They couldn't move a proven bat in Larnach. Doubt Mendez would have brought back much more than a donkey. E-Rod is the one they need to see what he can do in the bigs

[Woof Bronzer]

10 hours ago, bean5302 said:

Of those, how many are successful at the MLB level, not just in the minors? It's great we have a farm full of guaranteed no-miss players, but they're just wishful thinking.

Nobody believes all our prospects are no-miss players, that's a strawman argument you keep having with yourself.  

You also never seem to consider that maybe, just maybe, the Twins are currently rostering several players who have a demonstrated lack of success at the MLB level. You seem to think it's better to rely on players who have played at MLB before, even if they were awful, than give a young guy a chance because all prospects don't work out.  This sounds like Derek Falvey thinking!  Worked out great for him.  

I would think by now this current Twins "core" has demonstrated to fans that they just aren't good enough, and they need better players.  The roster needs to get significantly better.  ESPN just did a list of the top 50 players in baseball, the Twins had 0.  They aren't good enough.  Continuing to hold back promising prospects in order to play older, worse AAAA players is a really poor strategy for a middle revenue team like the Twins.  

There are 3 ways to get better talent:  trading assets, spending $$ in free agency, and developing your own talent.  The Twins don't spend on high end free agents, so we are down to trades or development.  I'll let you determine how well trading has worked for this club - similar to prospects, some work out, some don't.   Teams like the Twins absolutely cannot be successful without developing and playing their own talent.  Ask the Brewers or Rays.  

Enjoy the battle for 77 wins though.   

 

[killercarewoliva]

19 hours ago, rdehring said:

I think the Twins added their 27th player yesterday, Jackson.  Fantastic seeing he wasn't claimed and is back with the Twins.  I know he replaced Martin, who went on the IR.  But Martin will be eligible to come off only a few days before September 1.  Wouldn't surprise me to see them wait until the 1st, then bring Martin back off the IL. 

Would love to see EmRod getting some time in September to see how he adjusts.  Unless there is an injury, bringing him up will be surprising.

I see Mendez as real. fantastic prospect. of course, Jenkins is incredible too, but they're all these reasons. why not to bring him up? then we have Mr. Rodriguez and when I've seen him play like in the spring or something on television, he looks like a superstar running to bases but ladies and gentlemen he has a 235 batting average in AAA. unless he's hitting a home run almost every time, that's not Major League material as yet. I can't see anybody belonging in the majors with a 235 minor league batting average.

[LambchoP]

Twins need to clear out some of these outfielders and try to trade them out for some pitching.....

[Cris E]

1 hour ago, killercarewoliva said:

I see Mendez as real. fantastic prospect. of course, Jenkins is incredible too, but they're all these reasons. why not to bring him up? then we have Mr. Rodriguez and when I've seen him play like in the spring or something on television, he looks like a superstar running to bases but ladies and gentlemen he has a 235 batting average in AAA. unless he's hitting a home run almost every time, that's not Major League material as yet. I can't see anybody belonging in the majors with a 235 minor league batting average.

You need to get out more. Ladies and Gentlemen, in MLB as a whole the batting average is only .244 and there are six TEAMS with a .235 or lower batting average (including the Guardians and Yankees.) 

To your specific point, the high scoring, offense-rich International League has a batting average of .253 and three teams have a sub-.240 BA including Tampa and Baltimore, two teams with some minor league talent.  The Saints are third in the league with a .258 BA. Culpepper was only hitting .271 and has made that work so far at the higher level against some excellent teams. 

Mendez can hit. But to succeed he either needs to add some doubles/HR so he can DH or find somewhere to hide on the field in the bad half of the inning. But Rodriguez can hit too. His is a walks and power model, and that can be harder to sustain when the pitching gets better. ABS will help him out (compared with earlier guys like Julien who didn't have the firm zone to work with) but he needs to play with the big boys to find out. He'll always have a high strikeout rate because of how much time he spends deep in counts, but if he gets on base and drives the ball it's a viable way to play. 

[Cris E]

17 hours ago, JADBP said:

Agree 1000% on Zoll (fire him already!).

But they are not making these moves because they value fringe players.  They are making these moves because they are wed to the moves they made in the past.  They traded or signed these players and to give up on them would mean 1) some financial hit, and 2) and admission that they made a bad trade or signing, or 3) some level of embarrassment.

Its like Wallner's case.  The management have tried for five years to make Wallner into a useful MLB player and it has not happened.  He has a good arm and some occasional power, but two out of five tools is not a useful MLB player.  But he was a first round pick and the Twins just can't let go of that draft mistake,  No matter how many times they send him to AAA, where the pitching is not nearly as good as MLB, he is not going to blossom into an MLBer.   How many other cases do we have like this:  Brooks Lee, Chase Petty, Aaron Sabato, Keoni Cavaco, Larnach, Royce Lewis, Ales Krirlloff, Tyler Jay, Kohl Stewart, Levi Michael.....these are all first rounders that the Twins missed on.  Now, I still have hope for Lee and Lewis, and maybe we can trade Larnach.  But what a mess of 1st round picks! 

There are two questions:  1) are the Twins really bad at picking first rounders (OK, but Vaughn Lacky was a gimmee...it was an obvious pick that needed no analysis).  Yeah, they are.  Start looking at the scouts!  And, 2) how can all of these first rounders not develop into fine MLBers?  (see Lee, Lewis,....heck the whole list!).  If at least some of these were good picks, then why couldn't we develop them?  Lewis is filled with talent...how did we mess him up so badly?  Fire the development staff!

Oh my what a mess!  And Zoll is in charge of it all.....

If you listen to Shelton they are making these moves for the very immediate future. Jackson was brought back because he's a right side bat. No mention that he hasn't had more than a handful of AB in the past few weeks, just that he fits in as a pinch hitter or runner. That's not a good answer if you want more consideration for the kids, or for winning in 2026, or anything really. But it explains where the decision came from. 

As far as the first rounders go, most are not stars for any team.  In fact many are not even average.  Someone did a real study of the top 20 rounds for 2005-15 and found that the average career WAR of those players that reached the majors (not at all a given) was under 7 for the first round, 3.3 for the second and 2.1 for the third.  Honestly the back half of the first round isn't even anything special. Lewis is already at 5.7, Larnach is at 4.5, and Lee has 1.5 this year.  They are all young and still improving and should be as good as anyone's by the end of their careers.

And as far as pride preventing them from letting guys go, you can easily find a host of players that this organization has given up on. It happens all the time, no pride involved. Look at first rounder Wallner. How about Nick "First Round" Gordon.  Look at second rounder Miranda. Former child star Sano ended up with 8 War,  164 HR including two 30 HR seasons so the persistence was somewhat justified.  But in the end these guys lasted as long as their work warranted, not their draft slot. 

[ashbury]

21 hours ago, thelanges5 said:

Twins OF…

False advertising.  Larnach has yet to be an All-Star.  The FTC will hear about this, if it still exists.

[MeleMouth]

5 hours ago, HrbieFan said:

They couldn't move a proven bat in Larnach. Doubt Mendez would have brought back much more than a donkey. E-Rod is the one they need to see what he can do in the bigs

Mendez could have brought back a 40-45 pitching prospect. For Larnach, the Twins were of course aiming to get someone who is a good reliever right now, which is a much higher target.

[DocBauer]

Sorry, NO.

Mendez has a great contact bat and limited power and a good OB%. He's also still a work in progress defensively. His ground ball rate might work at AAA, but it's not glong to work at the ML level. 

He doesn't have to be a consistent 20+ HR...Doubles are also great...but he will be another Miranda or Julien with contact only.

He needs another year...and he's still really young...to learn to LIFT the ball for even more hits, as well as more power.

He's ABSOLUTELY NOT on the list for promotion with Rodriguez and Jenkins sitting in the wings. In fact, I'd put him behind the RH Gonzalez before promotion.