Twins Minor League Report (5/11): LeBlanc, Albers, Jay Dominate

Is Palka going back to his former self?

May: 176 .293 .353

His former self was pretty good... It's only 10 games or so... that's why I always warn people when a guy has a good month to remember it's a long season and there will be good and bad... He'll be fine.

It'll be tempting for the Twins to move him up real wuickly given the dumpster fire at Target Field. I hope they don't over rush it. Give him at least a full month in Rochester.

Assuming you mean Buxton, I agree... I think he should spend another month there, just to make sure any adjustments stick.

Today's report shows well what is wrong in the Twins' World:

Randy LeBlanc has nothing to prove in a league that he is 2 years older than the average player.  He should be at Fort Myers.  The problem is that the Twins' system is so congested in the upper levels with starters who belong in the Independent Leauges, like Andrew Albers (and David Martinez and Omar Bencomo) or the pen, like David Hurlbut (and Logan Darnell and Ryan Eades) to bring up the high A phenoms so players like LeBlanc will play at the levels they belong.  

 

This is LeBlanc's 3rd season with the Twins.  He will need to be added to the 40-man roster after the next season.  He better play in competitive levels for the Twins to assess whether he should be added.  So far he has not.  And he is just an example.

So, using your point... who pitches at Rochester then if you get rid of those guys that aren't prospects or future big leaguers in your opinion? Gonsalves and Stewart and maybe even Jorge could move up to AA, but then who would pitch at AAA? 

I guess they could just forfeit games so that non-prospects don't clog up spots.

Of course LeBlanc should move up, but he's moving back to starting, so I have no problem with him getting 5-7 starts in CR before moving up, and again, I assume he moves up when Gonsalves moves up. 

Buxton has been pretty great in AAA from what I have seen.  Outside of the Saturday double header where I think he went hitless in both games, he has had at least a hit in every game.  He has had at least 2 hits in 7 of his last 10 games with 3 doubles and 3 home runs.  Best of all his K/BB ratio is 6/5.  .455 OBP.

 

I hope they keep him down there until June still to let him really get this confidence engrained in his mind and let the adjustments sink in.

 

If he can do anything close to this at the MLB level I think everyone in Minnesota will collectively breathe a sigh of relief.

He crushed the double in his last at bat, hit it almost as hard as Kepler hit his triple. But the Buxton at bat that impressed me the most was the one in which he walked. He fell behind 0-2 and worked the count until he walked. That was impressive to me.

The FSL as a whole is hitting .241/.314/.344 (.657), and averaging 29 K and 12 BB per 32.2 IP.  The teams that Jay has faced are collectively hitting even worse than that, ranking 6th, 8th, 9th, and 11th out of 12 in raw OPS.

Maybe they're hitting worse than that because they're facing the Miracle pitchers? 

I think you took what he said the wrong way.  it seems to me he is simply stating those types of players shouldn't stand in the way of the young pitchers that are showing potential to be number 1, 2 or 3 starters.  I don't think he was saying get rid of every pitcher who is a non-prospect.

 

Right now the only interesting prospect pitcher at AA is Slegers and even he looks like a four or five to me.  You could say Eides but really in the end he is just too hittable.  They really should move him to the pen unless they just want him to be filler.  The rest of the spots appear to filled by guys that have peaked and at best would be number 5's.  Why have those guys block the prospects with greater potential?

 

You can say it is early in the season and it doesn't matter but these guys are only going to throw so many pitches\innings this year and it makes more sense to challenge them and acclimate them to a new level as soon as possible so that you can decide what they can do at the upper levels and if they are worthy of being added to the forty man or helping the Big club ASAP.

 

A lot of us don't see the point in delaying the young pitchers when there is no one of note blocking them.

I'd never say that top prospects should be blocked. I'd also say that keeping a top prospect at the right level isn't always a bad thing either. 

I've said many times that I think Gonsalves is ready to move up. I think a case could be made for Stewart. Those two are top prospects. When they deem them ready, they'll make room for those guys. Jay needs to be more consistent. Jorge just needs another 5-6 starts at the level to see how it goes. Pushing guys can be good, or it can be completely detrimental, and I certainly won't pretend to know when the perfect time to promote a pitcher (or hitter, for that matter) is. 

LeBlanc and Clay likely move up when Gonsalves and Stewart move up. I'm comfortable with that. But Andrew Albers isn't keeping anyone from pitching at Rochester. Slegers has had mixed success in about 8-10 AA starts. There's no need for him to jump to AAA right now. Giving up on Eades at this point would be silly. Maybe he becomes a long reliever. Maybe he flames out in AA. Maybe he becomes a solid #3 starter, and if Berardino's reports of him hitting 97 this spring was accurate, and he does have 4-pitches, it may click for him in July, or next May... or not at all, but to say at this point he'll never make it isn't right... Pushing him to a level that doesn't put him in a good position to succeed doesn't make sense. 

I just think it's silly to say that there is no value in having some organizational filler in the upper levels allowing the organization to be more patient with prospects that they believe in. 

wow, what a terrible straw man.

 

No one is saying cut every non-prospect. But, we are saying, for a team that has developed almost no on in years, for a league that is getting younger and younger, maybe they should promote players faster. Pick the guys you don't want around in a year or two, and if they get bumped, they get bumped.

 

but, don't keep doing things the terrible way you've been doing them for years.

Of course it was a little over the top, but simply put, not all prospects move up at the same pace. You can't make a judgment on every pitcher within 1-2 years. There are fast-risers and there are some that move at a slower pace. The Twins have pushed Berrios to the big leagues at 21. The thought that they don't push their top prospects is silly at this point. But to think that guys like Slegers and Eades and Stewart should be promoted at the same pace isn't fair to the players or the organization. To think that Cody Stashak should be at Ft. Myers just isn't fair to him. He's made 4 starts in Cedar Rapids. 

There will be guys like Thorpe and Romero coming up from EST at some point in the next 4-6 weeks, and there will be changes. But to think that guys like Albers don't provide some value to Rochester's roster when 3-4 of their Opening Day starters are in the big leagues isn't fair either. And no, Slegers isn't ready for AAA (and that doesn't make him a lesser prospect because of it)... I can go with DJ Baxendale moving up. I have no problem with that. But teams also need depth. I don't necessarily understand the Nick Greenwood signing, but he's left-handed and pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals (including in the big leagues) the last two years. Why not try to find lightning sometimes?