Cody Christie’s Post-Draft Top 10 Minnesota Twins Prospects

Gonzalez is the only one I disagree with. His bat has to be great, even at this young age, as his defense and other tools aren't his calling card. At this point, I'm not seeing a great bat either.

Quote

Raya must build up his workload to be considered a starting pitching prospect. 

He also needs to pitch well. Right now he's being handled like an egg and throwing rotten.

1 hour ago, CCHOF5yearstoolate said:

Zebby should be no lower than 5, pushing for #4. Gonzalez is certainly too high, not to say I'm out on him but he's outside their top 10 hitting prospects in my opinion. 

Yeah, I didn't understand how low Zebby was given he is now at AAA and has the best stats across the MN farm system, I'd put him at #4.

Andrew Morris is 22 and pitching great in Double-A, doesn't get noticed. Marco Raya is 21 and pitching poorly in Double-A, gets all sorts of attention. In Double-A it doesn't matter anymore where you were drafted.

1) Jenkins

2) Lee (though he's probably coming off the list soon)

3) Rodriguez

4) Festa

5) Matthews

6) Keaschall (OF, not IF)

7) K Culpepper

8) Soto

9) Morris

10) CJ Culpepper

I'm not sure which Culpepper Fangraphs will rank higher.

I think Raya is way too high based off his workload and performance so far. I say Zebby is our top pitching prospect. He has outperformed Festa and everyone else completely. I'm not too high on Gonzalez yet either, id like to see him start hitting more before putting him in top ten. Keaschal should be right up there with Lee and Rodriguez.

Sorry for the double post🤦‍♂️

@DJL44 you beat me to the list as it should be.  I might even just graduate Lee off of it since its obvious that he will accrue mlb time just due to injuries. A case could be made to flip flop Festa/Mathews.  
If you take Lee off, there is an argument also to put Dasan Hill in at 10/11 based on projectibility of an 18 yo lefty pitcher.

Remember when people said that this FO only drafted bat-first corner outfielders?

Raya should be 10 (or higher) and Zebby 6 (or lower). 

Raya will be elite bullpen at best; not gonna stick as a SP

On 7/18/2024 at 10:34 AM, DJL44 said:

He also needs to pitch well. Right now he's being handled like an egg and throwing rotten.

But other than that...I don't get Raya in our top 10 either.

1.  Emmanuel Rodriguez   I have him ahead of Jenkins because of proven performance.  A career .940 OPS who mixes hit, power, and speed.  
2. Walker Jenkins  #5 overall pick in a stacked draft, he could have more power upside than Rodriquez with a solid projected floor for a 19 year old.

3.   Luke Keaschall  This guy has professional hitter written all over him.   Might be a bit aggressively ranked because I don't think all of the power will follow him to the MLB level, but the OBP should.

4.   Kaelen Culpepper   Most recent first round pick.  This ranking is assuming he shows he can stay at SS, eliminates his chase, and shows he has a bit more power than anticipated.  

5.  Brandon Winokur   Another 19 year old who is holding his own in professional baseball.  Probably more slated for corner OF than SS he is playing, but he has the potential to leverage his great size to be a solid hitter.

6.  Charlee Soto   Going from young to younger.  The 2023 draft is well represented on this list.  Soto has the raw stuff to be an ace, but at just 18 years old there is still a lot of development.

7.  Zebby Matthews  One of the college group of 2022 draft college arms (Matthews 8th, Connor Prielepp 2nd  Morris 4th,  Kyle Jones 7th,  Cory Lewis 9th,  CJ Culpepper 13th).  Matthews has improved his velocity and in the early break from the gate is in the lead.  

8.   Marco Raya   Based on age and stuff, ranks here and ahead of Festa and other pitchers.  Aggressively pushed to AA at age 20 he seems to have hit a bit of a wall there.   While he is holding his K/9 level his BB/9 almost doubles at the AA level.   Plus, while they have been uncharacteristic aggressive in promoting Raya, they are incredibly conservative in usage.   Raya has averages only 3 innings per start in his career and has pitcher only 154 innings to date.

9.   Andrew Morris   In the horse race to the big leagues, Morris is stride for stride with Zebby Matthews and there is no guarantee which will reach the big leagues first (and there are still dark horses in that race if they can get back healthy).

10.  David Festa  Solid stuff, but it appears to me that the results do not match the potential.

The rankings as a whole do not matter to me.  However,  what Matthews is doing deserves to be a top 5 ranking.  Festa slightly below.  Matthews is looking like a solid #3 type pitcher.   

Where it gets interesting is we now have 4 pitchers with extremely high ceilings, players could potentially be a #1 type pitcher with varying degrees on those probabilities.  The least likely is Canterino,  they guy has great stuff he just has been unable to stay healthy.   We will go with another health issue but I honestly feel more comfortable he has turn the corner and that is Priellip.  Honestly,  he may have the highest ceiling of any other pitcher.  If he continues to flash what he has done in his first 2 outings I don't know how you don't have him in your top 6-8 rankings.  Soto,  would be right there as well.  A very sturdy 18 year old,  that is making big strides on command and letting his above average to elite stuff start to over take games.  He still is a bit hit and miss,  1 to 2 good outings followed by a clunker,  but as an 18 year old more than holding his own at A ball,  and if continues what has done in his last 3-4 starts,  may be showing he is beginning to dominate that level.  Lastly Dasan Hill.  Hasn't signed yet or thrown a pitch for us,  but has an elite slider with a very good fastball.  He needs to add weight to his frame,  but again looks to have the potential to be a high end lefty pitcher.  We have plenty of other pitcher options from the 21-24 drafts.  The biggest knock is we have had no #1 type pitchers in the system.  If you remove Canterino,  we now have a shot at potentially 3 that could hold that mantle.  That is a huge accomplishment for this organization.  I hope one of those 3 or another pitcher in the system can get there in the next couple year.   

You make a great argument for Raya to be outside the top 10…then you put him at 6??

Zero evidence he’s on a path to be a major-league starter. Graterol 2.0, but without a dominant pitch.