Advanced Data Suggests Big Things for Top Picks in Twins' Draft Class

Very early days ... but also very encouraging. Thanks for the article.

All of these guys portend to be decent hitters. This is what the Twins look for in the draft - hitters. What is missing within the Twins organization is players who can play above average defense. I think an athletic player might learn the craft at a position but this requires the Twins to identify a specific spot on the field for their prospects. We see the results from Austin Martin and Royce Lewis of where players are who spend their time in the minors at a position that they can never play at the major league level.

I also think that the twins should be developing these young hitters to focus on one or two defensive positions and learn to play them well, rather than trying to have them sporadically play all over the place. They do this, then these guys get to the majors and are a defensive liability and have to learn a position at the major league level. Definitely not ideal ..

Your top draft picks should be doing well in the low levels. If not the scouting department needs to be looked at

1 hour ago, tony&rodney said:

All of these guys portend to be decent hitters. This is what the Twins look for in the draft - hitters. What is missing within the Twins organization is players who can play above average defense. I think an athletic player might learn the craft at a position but this requires the Twins to identify a specific spot on the field for their prospects. We see the results from Austin Martin and Royce Lewis of where players are who spend their time in the minors at a position that they can never play at the major league level.

I really don't agree with this critique of the Twins.  They are an average defensive teams (currently Statcast's FRV has them +6 runs, which puts them in the cluster of teams ranked 10-22 that are single-digit runs from average). 

For Royce Lewis, if we had settled on a different position earlier in his career that would have been CF, which would mean he would currently be playing LF, and he has been an average 3B for his career.  People didn't think Lewis was going to get this big, and if he hadn't he would probably be our SS (and only hitting 20HR/600PA)

DeBarge = Sonny Gray and also = Berrios since he was picked close to the same slot and lastly = El DeBarge the 80’s pop singer with same name. So I’d like to see 4 or 5 borderline all star seasons out of Debarge before he hits free agency so he can be comparable in this company.  
 

Is Amick any good defensively?  His power seems legit, does he strike out too much or get on base well?  
 

Im assuming Culpepper will be a .260 hitter with 15-20 HR power and around 10 stolen bases in the majors.  I hope he is good defensively at SS cause at some point we will need another good one to step in for a while.

4 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

All of these guys portend to be decent hitters. This is what the Twins look for in the draft - hitters. What is missing within the Twins organization is players who can play above average defense. I think an athletic player might learn the craft at a position but this requires the Twins to identify a specific spot on the field for their prospects. We see the results from Austin Martin and Royce Lewis of where players are who spend their time in the minors at a position that they can never play at the major league level.

Perhaps you should look up where the players have played in the monors

8 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

All of these guys portend to be decent hitters. This is what the Twins look for in the draft - hitters. What is missing within the Twins organization is players who can play above average defense. I think an athletic player might learn the craft at a position but this requires the Twins to identify a specific spot on the field for their prospects. We see the results from Austin Martin and Royce Lewis of where players are who spend their time in the minors at a position that they can never play at the major league level.

The highlights I've seen of Culpepper make him look plenty smooth at SS with a very good arm and lateral movement.....

7 hours ago, old nurse said:

monors

Couldn't find that.

All three of these guys should crush low A.  Now, the change itself from time off to playing ball again affects a number of players, such as Charlie Condon and JJ Wetherholt. Amick (average) and DeBarge (bad) are not playing well at low A.  Kaelen Culpepper is not playing well at A+ after playing well at low A.  All of them should be deserving to play A+ (two aren't) and doing well there (no one is).

DeBarge (25% K rate at low A) was another disappointing pick by the Twins in the vein of Noah Miller, Keoni Cavaco, and Aaron Sabato, though I'll admit to hating the pick immediately in KDB's case.  The others I had to see play in the minors.  I swear somebody must have said "he's just like" Keaschall without qualifying on competition he played against and the competition he did well against.  Amick doesn't seem too exciting, and I don't see anything in him to provide optimism. 

I seriously wonder how the Twins got Keaschall, given the choices they've made.  Thank goodness there were no decisions to make wrt Jenkins and Lee.

It was a bad draft, both overall and for the Twins.  Culpepper is probably the best hitting hope of the three, but I don't see anything special there.