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    Is Billy Amick Entering the Minnesota Twins' Long-Term Plans?

    The 23-year-old has become an afterthought in most Twins top prospect lists. Could he re-enter the fray as an anticipated future major-league contributor? Is that happening already?
    Cody Schoenmann

    By Cody Schoenmann

    Image courtesy of Braden Botts, Wichita Wind Surge

    Twins Video

    Upon arriving at Clemson University in 2021, Billy Amick quickly became one of college baseball’s best hitters. He batted .414/.464/.772 with 13 home runs over 192 plate appearances in 2022. The right-handed-hitting corner infielder transferred to the University of Tennessee for the 2023 season, where he hit a less-impressive (but still excellent) .306/.387/.639 with 23 home runs over 292 plate appearances, playing a role in Tony Vitello’s club winning the College World Series. Sporting a keen approach and plus power during his college career, Amick was projected to be selected in the back half of the first round in the 2024 MLB Draft. Instead, he slipped to the second round, where he was selected 60th overall by the Minnesota Twins.
     
    Since joining the organization, Amick has become an afterthought for those who monitor Twins prospects—understandably so. Recent draft selections Walker Jenkins, Kaelen Culpepper, Connor Prielipp, Marek Houston, and Riley Quick have excelled in the organization’s minor-league system, entering Top 100 prospects lists and operating as engines for optimism surrounding the club’s long-term success. International free agent signees Emmanuel Rodriguez, Kendry Rojas, Eduardo Tait, and Hendry Mendez have also demonstrated flashes of becoming plus major-league contributors, effectively clogging the available headspace of Twins Territory prospect perverts.
     
    The tools for some sort of breakout remain, however, and Amick is beginning to piece them together. Appearing in 18 games with Single-A Fort Myers after being selected in 2024, he hit .222/.351/.413 with three home runs over 77 plate appearances. He then generated a 101 wRC+ with Fort Myers before being promoted to High-A Cedar Rapids in late March 2025. Amick excelled with Cedar Rapids, hitting .310/.418/.455 with four home runs and a 152 wRC+ over 244 plate appearances. The now-23-year-old is again performing well at a higher level this season, hitting .235/.309/.482 with six home runs and a 100 wRC+ over 97 plate appearances with Double-A Wichita.
     
    Amick’s impressive Double-A numbers have largely been accumulated since Apr. 18, with four home runs and a 128 wRC+ over 41 plate appearances during that stretch. As he did during his college career, Amick has hit the ball hard and in the air the past couple of weeks, which is always key to unlocking latent power. The 23-year-old's success in Double-A is especially encouraging, given that he is over a year younger than the average position player at the level. High whiff and strikeout rates have been and always will be a concern. He has whiffed 40.5% of the time and struck out 28.9% of the time at Double-A. Still, his swing-and-miss concerns can be forgiven if he hits the ball hard on contact, a trend he has continued during his first month-plus in the high minors.
     
    He's not ready to play in the majors right now, by any means. If he makes it, it will be as a late bloomer who turns a corner with regard to contact skills. The risk that he's a poor man's Matt Wallner is real. He plays third base well enough to be more valuable than Wallner defensively, though. Given the club’s long-term uncertainty at both corner infield spots; lack of right-handed-hitting position-player prospects; and Amick’s sustained success between Low-A, High-A, and Double-A the past three seasons, the 23-year-old could climb up the Twins’ top prospects lists, inserting himself into the club’s long-term plans after all.

    Interested in learning more about the Minnesota Twins' top prospects? Check out our comprehensive top prospects list that includes up-to-date stats, articles and videos about every prospect, scouting reports, and more!

    View Twins Top Prospects
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    twinstalker

    twinstalker 798

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    A really bad draft pick who's lived down to that assessment.  Age 23 season, striking out 29% of the time at AA, it's not in the cards.  Worse, the bandbox that is Wichita and and other hitters parks in the Texas League inflate hitting stats.

    jmlease1

    jmlease1 15,612

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    6 hours ago, twinstalker said:

    A really bad draft pick who's lived down to that assessment.  Age 23 season, striking out 29% of the time at AA, it's not in the cards.  Worse, the bandbox that is Wichita and and other hitters parks in the Texas League inflate hitting stats.

    Impressive that you've already written him off after he's barely played a full professional season. 23 is hardly old, even for AA. It sounds like you prejudged him before he ever took an AB. Was there anything he could have done to be acceptable to you, or are you just so mad that they picked him and not someone else that he can do no right?

    arby58

    arby58 3,739

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    21 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

    Because hitting for power is important for creating runs. It just is. avoiding out + hitting for power = runs. It's a simple formula, but a proven one. 

    Miguel Sano gets used as a poster child of what we supposedly don't want around here, but what we don't want with a Sano type is one who gets injured a bunch and goes into rapid decline. As a hitter, however, Sano was very impactful in his healthy seasons. Even with all his injuries and a massive and borderline tragic decline, he's got a career OPS+ of 115. Can you really look at his 2015, 2017, and 2019 seasons and say this guy couldn't hit? (yes, the even-numbered seasons count too, but 1 of those was the idiotic "let's put him in RF!" experiment and the other down seasons are more about injury than lack of skill) If Billy Amick is Miguel Sano as a hitter I'd be thrilled! (he's not)

    Having a lower BA and a lot of K's may not be aesthetically appealing, and you probably don't want your lineup filled entirely with those dudes, but it's also not a death sentence and can in fact improve your roster. Beyond that, part of what keeps a team in good shape and winning is when you have lower level prospects come up and be solid contributors even if it's only for a few seasons. Be a quality starter for a few years, rather than have to spend precious free agent dollars on an aging veteran to fill in at 1B or 3B or DH.

    Amick might not get there? You'd like to see his contact rates get higher in AA and his power production be higher as well, but there's things to like about him and potential for him to realize.

    Agreed. The love for BA alone is misplaced. The current MLB average batting average is around .243, and there are plenty of impactful players well below that - Kyle Schwarber is hitting .205 but has 11 HRs and 20 RBI. James Wood is at .232 but has 10 HRs and 25 RBIs. 

    bunsen82

    bunsen82 2,440

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    1 hour ago, jmlease1 said:

    Impressive that you've already written him off after he's barely played a full professional season. 23 is hardly old, even for AA. It sounds like you prejudged him before he ever took an AB. Was there anything he could have done to be acceptable to you, or are you just so mad that they picked him and not someone else that he can do no right?

    He completely ignores his last year stats of .310/.418/.455  in high A.  I hope he starts consistently hitting a little more and improving the BA a bit and continues to improve the walk rate.  No hits last night but 2 walks. Overall though he continues to show flashes.   

    There is a definitely a contingent on here who have disliked Amick since the day he was drafted.  The only way to prove them wrong is to get to the MLB level and produce.  About 50% of 2nd round picks and 40% of 3rd round picks (Amick was a late 2nd round pick) make it to the big leagues.  Just on pure odds base Amick had less than a coin flip chance of making it to the big leagues.   So its not exactly a gotcha.  You are taking semi flawed players at this point in the draft and his flaw was average to below average hit tool.  Can he improve it.   I will say the Twins must see something in him to keep pushing him and sending him to the AFL.  I think I will take their actions on Amick over message board posters.  

    As to players figuring it out and granted its 1 game,  but Sabato hit 3 home runs last night in AAA LOL.   For a player who was completely written off he is giving himself a shot at getting to the MLB level.  

    jmlease1

    jmlease1 15,612

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    36 minutes ago, bunsen82 said:

    As to players figuring it out and granted its 1 game,  but Sabato hit 3 home runs last night in AAA LOL.   For a player who was completely written off he is giving himself a shot at getting to the MLB level.

    I still don't have a lot of belief that Sabato can become a real MLB option (and I know there are people rooting for him to fail since he was a Falvey pick), but I admire how he's ground away and continued to fight for a career in pro baseball and earned his way up to AAA.

    But you never know with baseball. And if some of these guys figure it out late and even become a platoon option for a couple of years...that's a good thing and I'm rooting for them.

    Trevor Plouffe didn't become a useful MLB player until he was 26 (he was 8 years into his pro career before he finally made the Opening Day roster); he needed 2 attempts with a lot of struggles and a position change before he could stick. He had 2 ok seasons, 2 really good seasons and then he was basically done and kicked around for 3 more seasons in MLB before hanging it up. You need those guys coming up through the system too; it's not just star or bust.



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