Twins Prospect Spotlight Series: Travis Blankenhorn

I need that prospect handbook ASAP.

The handbook is getting very close to being done. We're excited to get it into your hands, but there are still some finishing touches left. I'm sure Seth be able will share details sometime soon, so be on the lookout for that. 

The strikeouts are a concern, as is the platoon splits. I'm very interested in seeing what this kid is capable of doing at the next stop.

I had a theory that if I mentioned "dingers" and "fly-ball rate" in the same article you might magically appear, lol. Thanks for adding that analysis.

It's so hard to try and evaluate production in the FSL that I think those two stats you mentioned -- Ks and vs. LHP splits -- may be the most important things to pay attention to in concerns to Blankenhorn next season. 

With both Blankenhorn and Ben Rortvedt I can see myself writing these same kind of articles next year, basically saying "the numbers don't look amazing on the surface, but here's some underlying stuff that we can be excited about." I'd imagine both of them will also be putting in quite a bit of work on defense, so it won't surprise me if their huge breakouts with the bats don't come until Double-A.

Blenkenhorn is one of my favorite prospects in the system. In fact, he and Cabbage are two of my most "intriguing" prospects in the entire system. 

Thank you for adding this and the analysis that follows. Some multi-sport guys never catch up, but I agree that it's an important thing to keep in mind in the early goings. Cabbage didn't quite crack my top 50, but I wouldn't be shocked at all if he ends up putting it together and is one of the guys who makes the biggest jumps over the next year.

I think once Blankenhorn finds a home in the field he's going to be able to work his way to becoming very reliable on defense. I've seen some people relate his defensive outlook/projected journey to Trevor Plouffe's. He bounced around a bit in the infield, and was a little sketchy when he first started playing 3B. But once it became apparent that was going to be his position, Plouffe worked himself into a solid defender. 

Initially, I thought this was a cocky young athlete getting his.  I couldn't have been more wrong.  He's hungry, aggressive, and gritty, not to mention a true leader who hates to lose.  

Yeah, he's got that whole Bryce Harper haircut thing going on with the top all long and the sides shaved. I could see where at a glance someone might make assumptions about his personality. But he plays hard and is a competitor, and from the sound of your story (thanks for sharing, by the way), it sounds like he's a good dude too.

(For the record, I like Bryce Harper too, but I know that's not a very popular opinion.)

If Blankenhorn continues to be mostly playing 2B, his value decreases in my mind.  Twins have lots of guys who profile as MI types who will need at bats and being already removed from 3B should make him drop a bit.

 

Also, I am not sure why it would be relevant to compare Blankenhorn’s age 20 year with Kepler's age 20 year?  Kepler was coming off elbow surgery and played in less than half of the season getting his first taste above rookie leagues, while Blakenhorn was in his 2nd stint of low A ball and underperformed compared to when he was at CR in 2016. 
Nothing about their experience seems comparable at all.

Yep, seems like a big reason why a lot of people dropped him to the 20-25 range was due to defensive concerns. I think he could hit enough to be a corner OF if it comes to it, so I'm less worried about where he ends up defensively. The Twins have a ton of MI guys, which may make him less valuable to the org/more likely to be a trade piece, but doesn't really change his prospect stock at all.

Blankenhorn and Kepler were the same age and at the same level, so I wouldn't agree that nothing about their experience is comparable at all. Like I said, I just thought it was really interesting to see their numbers side-by-side. Just a fun thing that I came across, draw your own conclusions.