TD Top Prospects: #6 Wander Javier

Would he be the highest ceiling Twin prospect since....Sano?

He's probably the most intriguing prospect in the system right now, given his ceiling - and easily the minor league player I'm most interested in following this season. 

I know it's common for most young kids to be labeled as a shortstop, then moved as they develop - so i was pleased to read that he has the potential to stick. It's been far too long since the Twins have had an exciting shortstop prospect in their system. 

Unfortunately a raw prospect like this won't be to the Majors for 4 years and that would be a fast timetable. This is an AAP to follow for the next several years.

I think likelihood of actually making the majors and what they will do when they get there has a lot of weight on rankings which would push Javier down a list if I were to make one. That is part of the fun of these lists, they vary so much from person to person based on what they value more or less than the next guy and his list...

Looking at the video don't see the big leg kick that was mentioned. Which is a good thing.. Don't see any hitch.. a bit of a loop in his swing but not bad and should be able to correct pretty easily with instruction.

Will have to see if can find any video of his defense which from all accounts sounds good  and would be of great interest.

 A long way out but hopefully he will continue to improve as he matures. Still 4-5 years out which seems forever but nice to have this kind of talent n the system.

Tempered enthusiasm.  I keep thinking the difference between this list and the lists for the last 5 years is the absence of a player you could somewhat reasonably think has some sort of All-Timer/Hall of Fame upside.  Sano and Buxton had that when they were on the list.  (Maybe they don't now...)

Javier, though raw, is as close to that as this list has.  One thing all that Dozier-to-LA trade talk did was make me think about how painful that "third piece" in a trade deal can turn out to be.  Kind of like Liriano.  As lottery tickets go, giving up Javier in a trade would be pretty painful.

Watershed moment in life: realizing that a top 10 Twins Daily prospect is younger than your oldest child.

Watershed moment in life: realizing that a top 10 Twins Daily prospect is younger than your oldest child.

If I had a nickel every time I heard "should be able to stick at Shortstop".....

This ranking is way too high for a kid that played 9 games in the DSL. Plus there are questions about his swing mechanics and whether or not he'll stay at short. In fact most scouting reports I've read question his hit tool and doubt he'll have the range for short. 

Any thoughts on the overlap of Gordon and Javier both being SS?  Nice to have the depth in the organization with the complete struggles to develop an every day SS, but at some point decisions will have to be made.  Doesn't seem like either one is likely to hit enough to move to the OF.  Polanco looks like 2nd baseman of the future.

Any thoughts on the overlap of Gordon and Javier both being SS?  Nice to have the depth in the organization with the complete struggles to develop an every day SS, but at some point decisions will have to be made.  Doesn't seem like either one is likely to hit enough to move to the OF.  Polanco looks like 2nd baseman of the future.

Mike (edit: and markos) covered it pretty well. Javier and Gordon are 3-4 years apart developmentally and who knows what the MLB roster will look like in 4-5 years. You can't project baseball rosters that far ahead. That's why getting prospects is all about best player available, and let the chips fall where they may. If it causes a logjam then you have some good trade bait to rebalance things later.

He's an exciting prospect.  I don't think it's too early to rank him this high - I believe a few places have him in our top 10.  The fangraphs prospect guy said Javier has the most upside of anyone in the system and ranked him #6.  Sickels had him #9 and also gushed about the possible tools.  

I agree he's exciting and he might be one of my new favorite young prospects to follow this year. I just don't know how you rank someone so high with nothing to go on except unrealized potential. He hasn't demonstrated anything remarkable in game action yet so it's pure projection based on above-average raw talent and limited DSL time. I understand getting enamored with the upside, but the floor/ceiling spread is enormous at this point and should be considered.

Do you remember when Buxton was considered the number 1 prospect for the Twins  months after he was drafted?  Nothing unusual at all.  

 

As a matter of fact, I suspect that Kirilloff, who has less potential than Javier and the same experience as a pro, will be ranked higher than Javier.  And nobody will blink, because he was "a first round draft pick".  Same way that nobody blinked about Buxton's ranking back then.

I considered that. The way I saw it is that both Buxton and Kirilloff played 48 and 55 games in the rookie leagues, respectively, with Buxton advancing to the Appy league after a couple dozen games and Kirilloff starting there. Both showed well enough as 18 year olds in advanced rookie leagues to go straight to low A in their first full season. So those rankings had more to go on in both cases. It's probably true too that, fair or not, top 10-15 picks get a little more pedigree credit than international players due to how much more we know about them at the time of acquisition (older in age, more game tape, typically played against better competition, more scouting history, etc).