Two Former Top-100 Prospects Proving Baseball Development is Rarely Linear

Timely article because both players look like they are making their case for more prominent roles. Miranda, particularly, is making life miserable for opposing pitchers with his ability to foul off difficult pitches as he sifts through the offerings waiting for one to hit on a line.

its all about cuttn down on the K's. 

They both have shown why you do not just dump guys because of some struggles.  So many fans were writing both off after last year and felt trades or DFA should be done.  Where would we be this year without them?  Everyone was sold that Wallner jumped past Larnach to a point that Larnach was out the door.

It took longer than some would like but Larnach finally seems to have adjusted to how they pitch him at MLB level.  The book is still throw offspeed over and over, with a once in awhile show me fastball out of the zone or way on edge to keep him honest once in awhile.  Like yesterday, he saw no fastballs from Castillo.  Castillo went changeup in middle of zone, then changeup low changeup low over and over. The fact he is taking some of them for balls, and then actually hitting them when they are strikes is huge. 

Miranda just is healthy.  I say it time and again, even little injuries where you are just dealing with pain, can affect so much in your swing, or pitching that you do not even notice until that pain is gone.  They talked on game last night about the high fastball Miranda is doing better with this year.  Think about how last year, his back shoulder was in pain, as someone who broke his shoulder once, it is hard to lift it up fully sometimes and if he could not lift his back arm up high enough, makes it hard to hit the high fastball at all. 

Along with Woods-Richardson, and Buxton finally being healthy, these guys are the Twins'  huge surprise bright spot

A good point of this posting is to not give up on young players. And, maybe more importantly, you can’t count on young players production, because, as this posting points out, their progression is not linear. Have to give the FO and the player development team kudos for Miranda and Larnach. As fans, we need to be patient with guys like Kirillof, Julien, and Wallner. 

I think Miranda has a great chance to become an all-star in the next few years. He's forced his bat into the lineup everyday and if he can shore up his glove work he will probably be our starting first baseman next year. Lewis is at 3rd, Lee will be at 2nd and Miranda is too young to be dubbed a DH. I think s lineup with both Miranda and Larnach looks real good right now. Now we just need to finally dump Farmer and give his roster spot to the more deserving Brooks Lee. Why waste precious MLB development just to run out Farmer who is as automatic of an out as you can get, and will be gone next year anyways?

I'll admit, I had forgotten that Larnach had gotten up into the Top 100 and as high as some had him rated. Of course the pore-2021 rankings were basically guesswork from everyone because of the pandemic since there was no minor league season. Larnach also might have been one of those guys whose development cycle got messed up because of losing the 2020 season. He ended up getting less than half a season in AA and might have benefitted from having that time to hone his approach on breaking pitches before getting thrown into the fire in MLB. he's also dealt with some injuries too.

Miranda I never really worried about his ability, just whether other players had passed him on the depth chart because of his injury year in 2023. Never felt like last year's struggles were anything other than health related, but when you're playing positions that have a lot of high-level competition it doesn't take much to get pushed down. (Look at what happened to Nick Gordon, who was playing very well in AAA before another injury hit and Arraez took the opportunity and ran with it. Gordon never really got much of a chance on the dirt again in MLB) I hope Miranda spends a lot of time in the off-season working at 1B; there's a real opportunity for him there and if he can be a 1B who occasionally fills in at 3B and plays some DH he'll have a very significant role if he keeps hitting like this.

The last option year really helped Larnach stick with the Twins: they didn't HAVE to decide if he was a MLB player at the start of the season and could let him recover from the turf toe, get healthy, and wait for an opportunity in the minors. Without that, there's a good chance he would have been lost on waivers.

If I had to choose between the two, I'd take Miranda. I am glad Larnach is contributing but I'm going to wait until he puts in a full season before I get too excited. 

Not sure how the Twins keep Miranda's bat and Lewis' bat in the lineup every day, but I suppose it's a good problem to have. 

Could Miranda possibly be a trade candidate? 

Here we have 2 types of hitters represented in the system. Miranda, Kiriloff & Lee are pure hitters if they aren't hitting, it's because there is something physically wrong & need to correct the physical problem. Then we have the "all or nothing" big bats. Larnach, Wallner & Julien. The league has the book on the holes in their swing & they have to relearn their mechanics. I doubted Larnach but he proved me wrong this offseason by adjusting, which gives me hope that Wallner & Julien can too. My concern is that they may at times fall back in their old ways.

I am very excited about our young hitters like (LHH) Kiriloff, Larnach, Wallner, Julien, & Keirsey (SHH) Lee, Castro & Severino (RHH) Miranda & Martin who can hit RHPs besides LHPs. All of them deserve playing time in MLB. I  was very disappointed that FO picked up inferior veterans to block our young players from valuable playing time and forced our temporarily more vulnerable hitter Kiriloff into a more physically demanding position to jeopardize his swing & health.

23 minutes ago, bighat said:

If I had to choose between the two, I'd take Miranda. I am glad Larnach is contributing but I'm going to wait until he puts in a full season before I get too excited. 

Not sure how the Twins keep Miranda's bat and Lewis' bat in the lineup every day, but I suppose it's a good problem to have. 

Could Miranda possibly be a trade candidate? 

IMO absolutely not. Trade Santana, he's gone next year anyway, due for a regression, trade value is up & saves money. Playing time at 1B & more ABs will do Miranda good.

The outfield situation next year is a bit concerning. I assume Max will be gone so that means two of Larnach Wallner and Kiriloff have to produce. Not sure I want to bet on that. I guess you can throw Martin in the mix because we are going to have lots of infielders. Would we roll the dice on these guys knowing that if we need to we could play Castro in left?

2 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

I think Wallner is ready to return - not the other two.

I'm willing to wait it out a bit but I'm mostly there with you. After a rough series against the Mudhens, Matt had some good results against the Iowa Cubs.  29 PAs and only 4Ks.

1 hour ago, Linus said:

The outfield situation next year is a bit concerning. I assume Max will be gone so that means two of Larnach Wallner and Kiriloff have to produce. Not sure I want to bet on that. I guess you can throw Martin in the mix because we are going to have lots of infielders. Would we roll the dice on these guys knowing that if we need to we could play Castro in left?

As they figure it out, Emma Rodriguez will be waiting in the wings.

55 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

The Twins are undoubtedly a contender. They aren't going to trade Santana, full stop.

I can imagine Miranda, Julien or Kirilloff going reps at first base if Smooth starts to slump, but Carlos S is as certain to be on this team for the rest of the year as Carlos C is.

That's right keep Santana, trade Miranda. Answering the text below

Quote

Could Miranda possibly be a trade candidate? 

Keep Santana at 1B no matter what to massage the FO's ego, keep Kiriloff hurt in the OF, keep Julien at 2B when we are a better team with Lee there. Next year we'll look at 1B & say we have no one at 1B with experience & unnecessarily pay for an expensive mediocre defensive 1B FA. We lose Kiriloff for nothing & still wonder what to do with Julien. Miranda will get plenty of time at 1B with another team & become an all-star. This is a realistic scenario I see.

Should we trade Santana? I say yes, definitely before trading Miranda. Will we? probably not. That's why CLE is still 6 games ahead of us after MN battling to stay afloat with a treasure chest of untapped MLB-ready young players begging for time to shine.

2 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

I  was very disappointed that FO picked up inferior veterans to block our young players from valuable playing time and forced our temporarily more vulnerable hitter Kiriloff into a more physically demanding position to jeopardize his swing & health.

Where does this come from? And LF! is more demanding than 1st but  "temporarily more vulnerable hitter"  and jeopardize his swing and health? Really? Oh and Cole was a monster in Pittsburgh.

5 hours ago, bighat said:

If I had to choose between the two, I'd take Miranda. I am glad Larnach is contributing but I'm going to wait until he puts in a full season before I get too excited. 

Not sure how the Twins keep Miranda's bat and Lewis' bat in the lineup every day, but I suppose it's a good problem to have. 

Could Miranda possibly be a trade candidate? 

I hope not. 2025 infield could look like this:

1B: Julien/Miranda

2B: Lee

SS: Correa

3B: Lewis/Miranda

Could Rotate DH, Castro could help here and LF, Wallner settles in to RF. 

3 hours ago, FlyingFinn said:

…Emma Rodriguez will be waiting in the wings.

Either the east wing or the west wing of the local hospital.

It’s anyone’s guess right now😉

22 hours ago, Schmoeman5 said:

Where does this come from? #1) And LF! is more demanding than 1st but "temporarily more vulnerable hitter"  and jeopardize his swing and health? Really? #2) Oh and Cole was a monster in Pittsburgh.

#1) Let's put this into perspective. Let's break Santana's wrist & recently recovered but not 100% put him into LF, Let's see how his swing & health holds up? Larnach has a turf toe, a "temporarily more vulnerable hitter" so he's temporarily only DHing.

#2) "And yet as Cole adhered to the organization’s pitching philosophy, prioritizing efficiency and soft contact, the results were only good, not great. “Not the monster we know today,” said Ron Wolforth, founder of Texas Baseball Ranch. Cole struck out less than a batter per inning for the Pirates." 

#3) Well-trained umpire did not give Martin an error but you said he did.

Not everything you don't agree with is false, What is your qualifications in these matters?  Are you more qualified than a well trained umpire in a clear cut decision. Or more qualified than the founder of Texas Baseball Ranch? Cole's striking out less than a batter per inning doesn't make him a monster. Just because you want or are led to believe something is so, doesn't make it so.

16 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

#1) Let's put this into perspective. Let's break Santana's wrist & recently recovered but not 100% put him into LF, Let's see how his swing & health holds up? Larnach has a turf toe, a "temporarily more vulnerable hitter" so he's temporarily only DHing.

#2) "And yet as Cole adhered to the organization’s pitching philosophy, prioritizing efficiency and soft contact, the results were only good, not great. “Not the monster we know today,” said Ron Wolforth, founder of Texas Baseball Ranch. Cole struck out less than a batter per inning for the Pirates." 

#3) Well-trained umpire did not give Martin an error but you said he did.

Not everything you don't agree with is false, What is your qualifications in these matters?  Are you more qualified than a well trained umpire in a clear cut decision. Or more qualified than the founder of Texas Baseball Ranch? Cole's striking out less than a batter per inning doesn't make him a monster. Just because you want or are led to believe something is so, doesn't make it so.

Cole didn't strike out a batter per inning. It was .95. Those were some not good Pirates teams. And they did handle him cautiously.  Just like any organization would. Just because he wasn't known on the national stage doesn't mean baseball people weren't taking note. And if you're insisting that the ball Martin booted in the 1st inning where he moved 3 feet wasn't an error. Then I question your baseball IQ.  Since you're questioning mine. 

27 minutes ago, Schmoeman5 said:

Cole didn't strike out a batter per inning. It was .95. Those were some not good Pirates teams. And they did handle him cautiously.  Just like any organization would. Just because he wasn't known on the national stage doesn't mean baseball people weren't taking note. And if you're insisting that the ball Martin booted in the 1st inning where he moved 3 feet wasn't an error. Then I question your baseball IQ.  Since you're questioning mine. 

1st of all I'm not questioning your baseball IQ. I'm just setting the record straight on you trying to negate the points (that you didn't like) when I used unbias & qualified sources,

I couldn't see if Martin moved 3ft or more but I can tell you that he didn't have time to set himself up in front of the ball where he could field that ball squarely so he'd have to back-hand the ball.

You can believe that Martin made the error, or Cole was a monster while in PIT (while he had the potential to be, but that wasn't the point I was making) I don't care & I won't make a point to refute it. But don't set yourself higher than unbias more qualified personnel just to refute my point that you don't like,