Twins Top 100 Prospects

[mnfireman]

MLB Pipeline has released their updated, season-ending prospect list and the Twins have 4 top 100 prospects on it: Jenkins #13, Lackey #18, K. Culpepper #31 and Houston #54. Jenkins and Culpepper will graduate prospect status early next season, leaving the team with only 2. 

Emma, Tait, and Quick (I believe) have fallen out of their post-draft Top 100. I believe Prielipp was listed at some point this season, but graduated prospect status. Has the farm system fallen behind in terms of development, have players regressed, or is it just part of the normal cycle? 

It will be interesting to see the other publications lists when published.

[bean5302]

Teams would only be expected to have 3 prospects in the top 100 on average. It's not like the Twins' farm is devoid of talent. It's just unlikely to be a top farm system next year.

St. Paul 40-35
Wichita 30-39
Cedar Rapids 17-49
Fort Myers 31-32

The Twins MiLB affiliates had rough seasons. Especially A+ and AA. 

[Jim H]

I agree with Bean's thoughts  on the farm system. Jenkins figures to be an impact player. Possibly Lackey as well. The other ranked guys are likely major regulars. Once the various corner outfielders get sorted, I think  the Twins should get a major league regular or two from that group. There are interesting prospects further away, but it is hard to  spot a surefire major league starter among the minor league pitchers.

For such a "loaded system" the minor league results were rather disappointing. Maybe it will look better next year.

[MackMan]

The Twins are in that weird cycle where their top prospects are starting to hit that graduation/fall of period all at the same time due to 1) stagnation at the upper minors or 2) the prospects aren't as good as we thought they were or 3) they graduated to Rookie status in the MLB. I am very excited to see what some of these prospects can bring us next year after their short time in the majors this year. 

Jenkins 100% showed us how good he can be when he finally starts seeing the pitching. Emma showed us that he has the ability, he just needs to slow the game down and let it come to him. You could see he was pressing when he should be patient and let things unfold. Culpepper showed us that he is MLB ready, but maybe not the long-term SS we need. He seems comfortable enough to play it until Houston gets up and then I think he understand that 3rd or 2nd are going to be his home. I would actually enjoy a middle infield of Houston and Culpepper with Lee anchoring the hot corner. Could be some exciting defense going on.