How Cole Ragans Offers Hope for a Similarly Talented Twins Southpaw

10 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

So if he became an elite pitcher that wouldn't be awesome?  The second part said it wasn't a far fetched idea,  its not a baseline,  but he has the ceiling that could achieve that.  I don't know where he will end up.   His stuff is ridiculous though, especially for a lefty.  

4 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

His ceiling hasn’t dropped an inch after all of his injuries? 

He hit 98 mph on the fastball just the other day,  and his slider still has the crazy spin that is having horizontal and vertical drop,  with a wicked change-up.  that is 3 pitches all coming from the exact same arm slot causing major tunnel issues for a hitter.  15 strikeouts in 9 innings pitched  would tell you high A ball or not is crazy. If he can maintain his stuff, as he goes longer outings and remain healthy,  that upside is absolutely still a #1 type pitcher.   

That is what he did AFTER the injuries.  What you worry about injuries is that it saps the velocity or movement or the major risk here is that he will continue to have injuries.  My viewpoint is it was 1 big injury,  yes there is some future risk of injury, but that up to this point it doesn't seem affect his velocity and thus his upside.  Maybe in your view it does.  However, like Ragans who had significant time off for injuries and inconsistency at that MLB level, that caused him to  traded from Texas to Kansas City in the Chapman trade,  it doesn't negate the ultimate talent there.  The talent just has to be healthy enough to stay on the field and execute.  .  

On 2/18/2025 at 10:12 AM, bean5302 said:

Since he ended last year at 3.0 inning outings, I'd think he'd pick back up there for maybe April.
April 3.0 inning, 50 pitches max
May 4.0 inning, 60 pitches max
June 4.0 inning. 70 pitches max
July 5.0 inning. 75 pitches max
August 5.0 inning. 80 pitches max
September 6.0 inning. 85 pitches max
100 innings-ish total

Something like that is what I'd expect to see, though obviously not that steady on a start to start basis. I think a lot of it depends on whether or not Prielipp can remain healthy. It's a tall call since Prielipp has mostly been out of action for so long. Will his conditioning hold up or will he start having fatigue during the long season? That 98mph in mid-Feb isn't necessarily a great thing if he's pushing like it's a tryout and risking his arm.

I also don't think there's almost any chance of seeing Prielipp out of the 'pen at the MLB level. He's not on the 40 man and he doesn't need to be added until this offseason. The Twins shouldn't need to manage his innings late in the year, and while he'll probably start off in AA, that's still a lot of ground to cover where he'll have to A) be outstanding B) remain healthy where the Twins C) have a real need for a reliever and D) will trust an unproven MiLB player to provide those reliever innings.

If CP is lights out the 1st 90 days and can work 4 innings, he will be added to the 40 man as soon as an injury happens and the twins need a lefty.  He has the highest ceiling of all the LHP depth. He may just knock the door down.