Twins Minor League Report (7/20): DSL Twins Beat DSL White Sox, Catchers Win Awards

28 minutes ago, Dman said:

I think Merecedes early stats in the DSL are some of the better numbers I have seen from a Twins high level prospect in the year they signed them.  Have to see if he can keep it up though as those guys can be volatile with the generally aggressive swing early and often approach. Still it would be nice to have a young, good sized, fairly speedy centerfielder prospect in the system.  He could be just what this system needs as there isn't much there right now.

Was thinking the same about Yasser. The bat depth that has been built in the organization the last 4 years us quite impressive. 

Thanks for the report, Andrew.

Will double down on the above comments about Williams and catching, in general.  With the catching situation for the Twins and upper levels, have thought the Twins are in a terrible situation behind the plate.  Maybe there is more in the pipeline than I was aware of.

Will second the above comments about Mercedes and how well he is doing.  Looking at yesterday's box score from the DSL Twins got me wondering, however, is pitching in the DSL exceptionally bad this year?  If memory serves, there were usually very few hitters on the DSL Twins with averages above .300.  Looking at the box score, seems that nearly all of them are above .300.  Seth, have you noticed how much better the Twins kids are hitting?  Are hitters throughout the league hitting much better?  Or is it just that the Twins have a special group this year?

11 hours ago, Seth Stohs said:

Also, Yasser Mercedes has sure done well to start his career. 

A bit of an echo chamber in here, but I also have enjoyed seeing Yasser's name in the box scores the past few weeks.  Currently on a 10 game hitting streak.  During that time, he has several 3 or 4 hit days as well!  Before July 7th, he was a bit streakier during his first 13 professional games.

Seth - Any chance Yasser or Jose Rodriguez (who's July box scores look great as well) crack the top prospect lists as early as this offseason? Or any other guys we might expect to make the top 20 in the DSL or FCL? I know it is early...

3 hours ago, roger said:

Will second the above comments about Mercedes and how well he is doing.  Looking at yesterday's box score from the DSL Twins got me wondering, however, is pitching in the DSL exceptionally bad this year?  If memory serves, there were usually very few hitters on the DSL Twins with averages above .300.  Looking at the box score, seems that nearly all of them are above .300.  Seth, have you noticed how much better the Twins kids are hitting?  Are hitters throughout the league hitting much better?  Or is it just that the Twins have a special group this year?

 

The leaguewide OPS in the DSL is .718, which isn't particularly high and is only a bit higher than the Complex League and Midwest League.

The DSL Twins lead the league with an .815 team OPS, so they have been a very good hitting team.  The majority of organizations have two DSL teams now, so I don't know if the overall talent pool has been diluted a bit, but there are a bunch of young first year guys doing quite well for the Twins.

The next biggest signings behind Mercedes unfortunately have not been among them, with both Herrera and Acuna struggling quite a bit, though I think they've both been a bit better as late.

Jose Rodriguez has really been great.  He's also younger than Mercedes (actually he's one of the youngest in the league) and has hit for more power with fewer strikeouts.  I haven't found any signing bonus information for him but I think he was mentioned in BA's international signing roundup so I'd guess low 6 figures.

Anderson Nova is another young 17 year old who's hitting very well with good plate discipline numbers.

Daniel Pena is about the same age and has also hit pretty well, with little power and few walks but also with a pretty low strikeout rate.

I'll also mention Isaac Pena, a Venezuelan who is already 18 but is also in his first year and basically never strikes while also taking some walks.  Fun fact, his hometown is just about an hour's drive from Arraez's hometown of San Felipe.

As always, DSL stats are the least reliable for statline scouting, so we can expect some of these guys to fizzle out as they move up.  However, the Twins seem to have done very well with the latest signing class.