Could Twins' Emmanuel Rodriguez Become the Top Prospect in Baseball?

I'm far more interested in what he does when he gets here than is how he is viewed before he does.  We've had a hole at one corner for half a decade and will may well have one in the other next year.

cant show what yah got in the hot tub

Lots of things ERod needs to work on, starting with staying injury free. But there is a lot to like: power, good walk to strikeout ratio, athleticism, strong arm. The Twins already have chronically injured players in Buxton and Lewis, who both miss significant segments of every season because of injuries. Let’s hope ERod isn’t another fragile player.

Read the article thinking some information on his injured hand would be included because that is the only weakness I have seen thus far. Until his injury, I tried to watch nearly every plate appearance and since there were pitchers also worth watching it was possible to watch him track down balls in centerfield as well. Nothing in Emmanuel's game is less than stellar, except for games played. EmRod totally dominated AA.

I'm not sure where the concerns about defense come from. The feed via milb.com is limited, which decidedly means it is a less than accurate way to assess Rodriguez's skills as an outfielder, but he sure looked outstanding on the grass. Read what Fangraphs has to say for another viewpoint on EmRod. 

Nothing works unless he is in the lineup though. Other than that major hurdle, yes, Emmanuel Rodriguez is as a good of a prospect as there can be.

While top dog at BA fantasy prospects is quite an honor. There's quite a bit difference between fantasy & real life. There's no doubt that Emma has the potential & the 5 tools. It seems that Wallner after years in the pros is just started developing his defense & hitting to go along with his power. Hope Emma can develop them quicker. I'd love to keep Emma in the organization but if there came an opportunity to highly upgrade a need, I'd consider a trade if the other side was highly motivated.

8 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

Hope Emma can develop them quicker. I'd love to keep Emma in the organization but if there came an opportunity to highly upgrade a need, I'd consider a trade if the other side was highly motivated.

I always agree that any player is tradable if there is a clear path which upgrades the roster. This is why I mentioned Royce Lewis a couple of times in the past year. Right now I cannot think of any possible trades that would involve EmRod, which doesn't mean he cannot be traded. Like I commented above, he needs to be available or those skills are worthless.

A centerfielder with a big arm that can run down most anything is a need and Rodriguez would be gold in a corner outfield position. The guy hits a ton of extra bases, hits for a high average, has an absurd OBP and OPS, and hits most everything hard. Oh, EmRod also is daring on the bases. He does strike out a ton. The biggest need the Twins have is a player just like a healthy thumping Emmanuel Rodriguez. If I could find a similar talent that would be an upgrade, yes, I then trade Rodriguez. Who is that player? 

Wish we would get an update on his injury timeframe. I think we should pump the brakes a bit on being even the Twins top prospect. Sure, he had a good first half, but he's been hurt ever since. Until he can stay healthy and produce consistently in the top levels of the minors, you never know what can happen. If he's constantly hurt or never improves his contact, he could end up another Sano. If his hitting improves with more experience and he stays on the field, he could be our OF of the future. An outfield of Rodriguez, Buxton and Wallner looks pretty nice. Like all our guys it seems, health will be the biggest sticking point. Why can't we ever seem to keep our stars and top prospects healthy?

People have been asking about an injury update and Emma's whereabouts for over a month. Seems nobody knows what happened when on the rehab assignment. You can't be #1 when you aren't available to play.

4 minutes ago, Jocko87 said:

But where has he been for the last two months?

Two rehab games 6+ weeks ago then nothing?  It's been awfully quiet.

Total mystery. The Twins and all of the writers with access are crickets on their best prospect. It sure is unusual.

23 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Total mystery. The Twins and all of the writers with access are crickets on their best prospect. It sure is unusual.

Makes me wonder if there isn't a more serious injury they're not telling us about. Not sure why, it's looking like his season is over already. Unless his 2025 season is in jeopardy, report the injury, let's get him healthy and ready to go for spring training. Plan for and hope for an early AAA promotion. Or, if he starts there and does well, maybe a late season debut. Hopefully based on results and not out of need because of injury.

Yes, where the heck is he? Strange too to rate his so high, and write an article about him, without having had a word about him, at least that I've seen, for at least a couple months. The Twins own injury report says nothing except extremely dated stuff about thumb. Really weird.

2 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

I always agree that any player is tradable if there is a clear path which upgrades the roster. This is why I mentioned Royce Lewis a couple of times in the past year. Right now I cannot think of any possible trades that would involve EmRod, which doesn't mean he cannot be traded. Like I commented above, he needs to be available or those skills are worthless.

A centerfielder with a big arm that can run down most anything is a need and Rodriguez would be gold in a corner outfield position. The guy hits a ton of extra bases, hits for a high average, has an absurd OBP and OPS, and hits most everything hard. Oh, EmRod also is daring on the bases. He does strike out a ton. The biggest need the Twins have is a player just like a healthy thumping Emmanuel Rodriguez. If I could find a similar talent that would be an upgrade, yes, I then trade Rodriguez. Who is that player? 

I do not see him top prospect unless many guys ahead of him graduate from the prospect list all at same time.  He has too many questions to be answered. When healthy he has put up strong numbers, but he has not been healthy much lately.  I worry his K rate will rise up as he moves up leagues.  I get his has a huge walk rate, but as the writer suggest that could be because he takes too many pitches.  Now, I have not seen any of his at-bats and possible he is just looking for particular pitches and is willing to take, but if he has the Joe Mauer take a fastball down the pipe simply to work count, he will need to be better at making contact or he will have way too many strike outs as MLB level. 

Walker Jenkins will pass up EmRod

1 hour ago, LambchoP said:

Wish we would get an update on his injury timeframe. I think we should pump the brakes a bit on being even the Twins top prospect. Sure, he had a good first half, but he's been hurt ever since. Until he can stay healthy and produce consistently in the top levels of the minors, you never know what can happen. If he's constantly hurt or never improves his contact, he could end up another Sano. If his hitting improves with more experience and he stays on the field, he could be our OF of the future. An outfield of Rodriguez, Buxton and Wallner looks pretty nice. Like all our guys it seems, health will be the biggest sticking point. Why can't we ever seem to keep our stars and top prospects healthy?

Every player gets injured on every team. No one plays thru it like Cal Ripken Jr.  If these prognosticators are running the numbers and come up with erod, then other players are dealing with bigger career impediments then he is. Fantasy wise, he may be the best or “they” are bad at analytics. 
As a GM, you don’t just dream of having the best potential talent, you figure out a way to achieve it.  Anyone that thinks top prospects are tradeable, needs to understand that it takes one hell of an offer to pry these types of prospects away from an organization.  Then look at the business plan of Falvine and you will understand that top prospects stay and the 3rd tier are regularly traded regularly. 2nd tier(Chase Petty) if an immediate hole is filled (Sonny Gray). 

47 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Jenkins has been ahead of Rodriguez since the moment he was drafted, basically. That said, Jenkins' results aren't impressive to me. Highly concerning how his plate performance dropped off a lot after his return to A ball after last year's SSS, and even more, his BB rate has evaporated at A+ ball so far. Jenkins is clearly more raw than people expected at the end of last year. Still plenty of time for Jenkins to surge up production this year, and he's a19 in A+ ball like most of his peers coming out of the 2023 draft.

Jenkins has been injured most if this year so it makes sense that his development and production isnt off the charts. 

Kepler is likely to leave in FAgency so when Erod showcases his skills in early ‘25, he will likely get the call to MLB before he is ever tabbed the best prospect in baseball. It really wont matter when he holds his own in MLB. He might even push buck over to LF. 

‘26-‘28 outfield: EmRod, Jenkins, Wallner, and Buxton. Speed, power,  glove, arm.   A lot of k’s, but super fun to watch.

Infield: Lewis, Lee, Keaschall, Julien, Correa, and Miranda. See above.

Hope they all stay healthy and I live that long. 

lol, lets see him stay healthy for two weeks in a row  before we talk about top prospect potential. This dude is out of the lineup more than Buxton has been. I can drool about his potential as much as the next guy, but his soft tissue is made out of Play-doh.