One Twins Pitching Prospect to Watch at Each Minor League Level

22 minutes ago, Cody Christie said:

Nearly 78% of his plate appearances came against younger batters

I think you mean batters who are older than him. Looking at the Fort Myers roster, only De Andrade is younger than Oliveras. You and Seth have really put this guy on my radar to watch this year.

Stretch for me to read Dobnak’s name under a ‘Prospects’ header. But yes, he’s organizational depth who could find something and figure into things in 2023. As could Aaron Sánchez.

Ugh! Just NO WAY I can pick ONE GUY at each level that I'm watching. I'm watching them all! LOL. But I will TRY to FOCUS best I can.

AAA: Dobnak is not merely a feel good story. When healthy, he's been a pretty solid back end starter. But Dman is correct that he just doesn't have a "put away" pitch, and that hurt him at the ML level. He doesn't have to K 9 per. But even with weak contact and a load of ground balls, he's got to be at least 6 or 7K per. His future with the Twins will be as a middle/long man. But his career pursuit as a SP might just be with someone else. Despite not being on the 40 man, I can still see him added at some point to be a contributor at some point. Good sentimental call.

But I am 100% focused on Balazovic. Still frustrated and confused why he was pitching with an aching knee that threw off his mechanics in 2022. Why? It had to mess with his head as well. But he felt better late in the year and actually threw much better his last few starts. He reported to ST early to get ready for this year. The entire "sucker punch" debacle can be debated at length, and has been. And I'm just not going to spend type rehashing all the opinions and possibilities. But you don't have his frame, his stuff, and dismiss all that potential after one bad season due to a troublesome knee. His arrival "clock" is certainly delayed at this point due to his broken jaw. At this point, I don't care if he's ready August instead of June or July because I'm still looking at the long game with him. He isn't exactly old. 

My #2...since we're NOT focusing on the obvous...is Headrick. HUGE season. AA numbers aren't great for 2022, but he finished strong. I was still surprised he jumped to AAA this soon, but love the aggressive approach. The Twins see something to make this move.

AA: Funderburk is an interesting choice. What hasn't he done right so far? But, IMO, he screams a mid/long LH who will join Laweryson or Winder as an outstanding 7/8 man grouping in the pen who you can count on for anything from 1-4 IP and NOT feel either has to ride the shuttle as the top 6 in the pen and the rotation talent won't necessitate so much movement as we've seen in the past.

But if we are choosing to ignore the OBVIOUS, which is Festa, and concentrate on the less obvious, then it has to be Adams. Drafted in 2021, apart from ONE appearance, he didn't debut until last year. Solid numbers at A- and mediocre numbers at A+. But already at AA? College pitcher or not, he's being moved aggressively. 

My #2 is Enlow. He was mediocre in his return from TJ in 2022. How does he look NOW?

A+: OK, can't chose the obvious of Priellip? Got it! Nowlin is my guy! Top arms come various places and sometimes surprise. This kid has STUFF! Does his frame allow him to pitch multiple innings at the ML level? (Probably still filling out at is age). Can he harness enough control? His ceiling says he will fill out a bit physically to deal with the demands of being a ML SP, and he will gain enough control to be at least a mid rotation starter. His floor screams a dominate 1-2 IP RP arm. Still only 22yo, there's a lot of variance in his future.

My #2 is actually my 1A. I want to see a healthy Raya..."small shoulder issue"...ready by May as reported. This kid seems like lightning in a bottle. He was my favorite 2020 draft pick and I'm riding my opinion on him until he proves me right or wrong. I think he's a combination of Berrios and Ryan and I think he's going to be a keeper.

A-: Other than Priellip, the entire rotation of Ft Myers is pretty much draftees from 2022 and FCL arms. I'm OK with that. There may be some optimism with position players, and it will be interesting to watch. But I like the rotation here. Is Oliveras a potential stud coming from the DSL? The Twins have been largely in to position players regarding international signings. And they traded a few away in recent trades. But Oliveras might be one they stick with.

But my #1 and #2, as of now, are Cory Lewis and Zebby Mathews. Both are long framed and have a nice build to say they are projectibale. I actually like them better than Morris, the 4th round pick last year. So they are the guys I'm looking at initially unless someone Oliveras jumps up and proves themselves.