These 3 Minnesota Twins Prospects Are Off to Disappointing Starts in 2023

Biggest disappointment for me is Simeon Woods Richardson. He really looked liked he was going to take off last fall and all the hype this spring about how he was the eighth man deep and how he was a stud.  Hopefully he finds his groove and gets back into form.

Seems like less than a month ago I was getting roasted on this site for mentioning the fact that we're nearly two years in to the Berrios trade and thus far have ZERO return to show for it.  Never an egg timer when you need one.

I nominate Cedar Rapids’ entire infield….Salas, Miller, Schobel, Cavaco. 

SWR is confounding to me. I was never as high on others, despite his previous status, as part of the Berrios trade. But I was willing to wait and see due to youth, early promotion for such a young player, and the whole Olympic experience which disrupted his development. He won me over after having a really good 2022. He really looked like he was on the precipice of being a solid ML starter who could help this year at some point. I don't know that his STUFF says anything more than a mid rotation starter, but he sure looked like he was ready to contribute and gain experience as a future rotation piece. Right now? Woof! What is going on?

Salas and Rodriguez? A pair of great young prospects, especially Rodriguez, IMO. The previous FO was often admonished for not pushing prospects hard enough. I don't think that has been an issue for the current FO. And I recognized Ft Myers was going to be built by 2022 draftees and FCL promotions and a few holdovers. But I really questioned Miller, Salas, and Rodriguez being pushed to CR based on age, experience, and coming off injury in the case of Rodriguez. 

Now, CR is often a better hitting environment than Florida. I've often said, if you can hit in Florida, you can probably hit even better in CR. But we're talking about 19-20yo players in A+. There's still a lot of season to play, and a lot of time to adjust and finish strong. But I do wonder if the Twins might have been a little too aggressive in a few of their promotions. But again, talent rises, and there's a lot of season left.

I'll take Emma Rodriguez as the player who will take off this year and we'll forget about this slow start.

7 hours ago, FlyingFinn said:

I'll take Emma Rodriguez as the player who will take off this year and we'll forget about this slow start.

I sure hope you are right. I've been disappointed by Woods-Richardson's performance this year, but the slow start by Rodriguez is even more puzzling and worrying. Hope he's healthy and ready to put up some better numbers next month. 

14 hours ago, dxpavelka said:

Seems like less than a month ago I was getting roasted on this site for mentioning the fact that we're nearly two years in to the Berrios trade and thus far have ZERO return to show for it.  Never an egg timer when you need one.

Right? And where the heck did Austin Martin disappear to? This guy was supposed to be the next Darby Swanson but I haven't heard a peep about him lately. He's now 24 years old and the Twins have plenty of holes in the outfield - if Martin was developing on target he'd be the starting center fielder right now and M.A.T. probably wouldn't be on the team. It's another reminder that prospects are NEVER a sure thing, no matter how highly they are ranked. 

Falvey's "wunderkind" schtick is getting tired. Time to deliver results. 

1 hour ago, bighat said:

And where the heck did Austin Martin disappear to?

He is injured.

I'm not super worried about Rodriguez; he's coming off an injury and not everyone is Royce Lewis. The talent is great and I think he just needs the time to get back into a groove. He's also adjusting to a new level, so the slow start isn't a huge shocker.

SWR was the big surprise to me. I really liked the way he was profiling and he did well in his cup of coffee in MLB so to see him struggling in AAA so far this season was not something I saw coming. He's had stretches where his control has wobbled before so hopefully he can get it back together.

Salas is hard to know. He's pretty young, and sometimes it takes a while for these toolsy kids to figure it how to translate it into production. But it's a little concerning seeing such a big jump in Ks, no power, and a loss of plate discipline.

44 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

Reasons why we try to keep performers like Polanco for as long as we can. There’s always a shiny new guy with some success and “he just needs a chance to show what he can do……..” nothing new. Players come & some that are touted as sure things, are going to wash out OR take 4-5 years to get to the right consistency level.

Couldn't agree more.  Hate to keep harping on the same points over and over again but Eddie Rosario is a perfect example.  We moved on from him for nothing to save $8 Million, in part because we had "an overabundance of corner OF talent."  First of off, I'm old enough to remember a time when fans of this team would scream and holler about "cheap ownership" getting rid of a proven performer to save $8 Million.  Actually we'd have whined about substantially lower savings.  And, yes, I know.  He's absolutely sucked since he left.  All he's managed to do is win a World Series and make a second playoff appearance.  Know what else he's done?  Outperform most of the collection of stiffs we've put in LF for the last two and a half years prior to Larnach showing a pulse this year.  The play in 2021 SHOULD have been to keep him and let somebody play him off the roster.  Moves like that are why we've spent the last two years WATCHING the playoffs.  Polanco's a great example of the same situation playing itself out in the coming years.  Do we move on from him this off season and declare the one of Lewis or Brooks Lee play that spot going forward or do we keep him AND bring up one of the kids and give both playing time until the kid(s?) play him off the roster?  Your move Mr. FalVine.