Twins Prospect Pulse: Monitoring the Minors

Drew · June 15, 2018

I look forward to vastly overrating everyone of these guys for the next few years. #KiriloffHOF

Han Joelo · June 15, 2018

Just two eye-poppers I noted:

Moran's insane K rate.

Lewin Diaz has not walked in 28 days. Maybe he needs to go to Ft. Myers to reboot? Oh...isn't he on the 40 man?

rdehring · June 15, 2018

Holy Cow, Arraez has a strikeout rate that's lower than Wade the last 28 days! And that Kirilloff guy isn't all that much higher, or Miranda. Maybe the Twins are developing a few guys who won't strike out as much as a few of their current young guys.

And thanks for this report, I like it!

IaFan1 · June 15, 2018

Kiriloff is the bright spot. Not to much to excited about after him and Royce Lewis. So many disappointments on this list.

jkcarew · June 15, 2018

Thanks for the update. I'm not seeing 'so many' disappointments.

On an unrelated note...we should probably add the 4th overall pick in the 2013 draft to the 'other 10 to know'.

The story with his year so far is that he's reduced walks and increased strike-outs. Unfortunately, the reduced walks have resulted in more hits and slightly more runs. Remains a work in progress.

Tom Froemming · June 15, 2018

Kiriloff is the bright spot. Not to much to excited about after him and Royce Lewis. So many disappointments on this list.

I disagree.

Rooker has been raking in Double A of late, Graterol has been a beast, Thorpe is racking up strikeouts while facing older batters 93% of the time, Wade has 10 more walks than strikeouts, Rortvedt is a 20-year-old catcher who's now hitting in the FSL and Blankenhorn is in the top-15 in slugging in the FSL. Plus, Enlow is one of the youngest pitchers in the MWL and Baddoo seems to be feeling out who he is as a hitter. Since the start of May, Akil has a .790 OPS (MWL league-average OPS is .704).

If you expect to see 15 Hall of Famers on here, then yeah, I guess you're going to be disappointed.

Tom Froemming · June 15, 2018

Thanks for the update. I'm not seeing 'so many' disappointments.

On an unrelated note...we should probably add the 4th overall pick in the 2013 draft to the 'other 10 to know'.
The story with his year so far is that he's reduced walks and increased strike-outs. Unfortunately, the reduced walks have resulted in more hits and slightly more runs. Remains a work in progress.

That section will rotate each month.

To your point, Kohl Stewart does have a 9.2 K/9 and 3.6 K:BB ratio on the year, but he also has a 7.36 ERA and 2.02 WHIP in his last four starts. He's definitely making some progress, but we're seeing some of the growing pains too. Overall, I'm still higher on him than I was before the season started, despite the run prevention problems.

tarheeltwinsfan · June 15, 2018

Only 3 of the top 20 are "surging" over the last 28 days. What gives? Kirilloff, Rortvedt and Blankenhorn are the only top 20 players to show any marked improvement over the last 28 days. The won/lost records of the Twins minor league teams are disappointing. I thought the Twins had a top ten farm system. Not according to the won/lost records.

tarheeltwinsfan · June 15, 2018

Maybe Rooker and Thorpe are "surging" also. This is a great idea for a monthly article. Thanks.

Dman · June 15, 2018

Only 3 of the top 20 are "surging" over the last 28 days. What gives? Kirilloff, Rortvedt and Blankenhorn are the only top 20 players to show any marked improvement over the last 28 days. The won/lost records of the Twins minor league teams are disappointing. I thought the Twins had a top ten farm system. Not according to the won/lost records.

Won\loss records don't mean much in the minors. Development trumps everything. To your point our teams have lost a lot of one run games\close games this year. Fort Meyers especially. Pitching is still a weakness in the system at least IMO it is. Lots of games lost by the bullpens in the minors this year.

Also the Twins have an extremely young roster in Cedar Rapids and several players looked over matched early in the year. I think those players will come on strong in the second half. I am also happy that the Twins are promoting the promising young talent early even if it means more losses. It gives them a chance to move through the system faster and or if they hit a tough level repeating a year is not a big deal. While its not always true but more often than not when players who are young for their level have success they seem to be players that can make it to the big leagues. I think you will see Baddoo, Miranda, Pearson, Arias have greater success as they move up. First full season that young is tough. To me they already have been pretty successful.

There are a lot of really good to great players in the Twins system right now. Just need to give them some time to develop. It's hard to be in the top 2% to 5% let alone stand out from the best of the best.

Seth Stohs · June 15, 2018

Only 3 of the top 20 are "surging" over the last 28 days. What gives? Kirilloff, Rortvedt and Blankenhorn are the only top 20 players to show any marked improvement over the last 28 days. The won/lost records of the Twins minor league teams are disappointing. I thought the Twins had a top ten farm system. Not according to the won/lost records.

No one ranks farm systems by Win-Loss record.. I don't pay attention to other systems, but I would think the Twins should be in the Top 20.

28 days is a very random number.

mikelink45 · June 15, 2018

I really enjoyed this and look forward to it monthly. On a side, but hopefully related note, I hope that Sano's plunge to A ball wakes up Rooker and others that we want more than 30 big swings a year. If it is HR or nothing I am not interested and maybe the Twins won't be either.

Mike Sixel · June 16, 2018

I also enjoy this! thanks!

I imagine Diaz won't be anywhere near the top 20 anymore.....go look at the SS signed that year, the good ones, the ones the Twins had A LOT of cap to sign that year....sigh.

Mr. Brooks · June 16, 2018

I disagree.

Rooker has been raking in Double A of late, Graterol has been a beast, Thorpe is racking up strikeouts while facing older batters 93% of the time, Wade has 10 more walks than strikeouts, Rortvedt is a 20-year-old catcher who's now hitting in the FSL and Blankenhorn is in the top-15 in slugging in the FSL. Plus, Enlow is one of the youngest pitchers in the MWL and Baddoo seems to be feeling out who he is as a hitter. Since the start of May, Akil has a .790 OPS (MWL league-average OPS is .704).

If you expect to see 15 Hall of Famers on here, then yeah, I guess you're going to be disappointed.

It seems to me that Rooker is struggling mightily again, from the last few milb reports.

EDIT: Just tallied them up.

3-25, 7K, 1 BB since his 4 walk game last week.

Edited June 16, 2018 by Mr. Brooks

tarheeltwinsfan · June 16, 2018

.

28 days is a very random number.

I also wondered why Tom chose 28 days to use as a comparison in his article.

Seth Stohs · June 16, 2018

I also wondered why Tom chose 28 days to use as a comparison in his article.

It's easily available online.

Seth Stohs · June 16, 2018

I also enjoy this! thanks!

I imagine Diaz won't be anywhere near the top 20 anymore.....go look at the SS signed that year, the good ones, the ones the Twins had A LOT of cap to sign that year....sigh.

Without spending a ton of time, he'll definitely still be Top 20 for me. I had him at 12. I'd guess he'll be in that 17-20 range. He's still got a ton of potential, and the Florida State League is tough. Obviously I'll do much more research later in the year, try to figure out how often he's hitting the ball hard, quality of PA, all that kind of stuff... So we'll see where he ends up... but definitely not a guy to give up on.

Tom Froemming · June 16, 2018

28 days is a very random number.

Would it seem less random if I said last four weeks?

Lewin Diaz has not walked in 28 days. Maybe he needs to go to Ft. Myers to reboot? Oh...isn't he on the 40 man?

Diaz is already in Fort Myers, no he's not on the 40 man. Not sure if a joke just went completely over my head, or what.

I also enjoy this! thanks!

I imagine Diaz won't be anywhere near the top 20 anymore.....go look at the SS signed that year, the good ones, the ones the Twins had A LOT of cap to sign that year....sigh.

I would agree with Seth, I think he's still in my top 20, but barely. What the FSL has done to Diaz should be reason for people to really start believing in Travis Blankenhorn's bat.

Han Joelo · June 16, 2018

Would it seem less random if I said last four weeks?

Diaz is already in Fort Myers, no he's not on the 40 man. Not sure if a joke just went completely over my head, or what.

I would agree with Seth, I think he's still in my top 20, but barely. What the FSL has done to Diaz should be reason for people to really start believing in Travis Blankenhorn's bat.

Sorry. A bad joke went under your feet, actually. I think I was thinking Diaz was eligible for the Rule V this year maybe.

Great reports--thanks for doing this. I have to remind myself that some guys aren't surging because they've been consistently good all season, which makes Kiriloff's surge all the more impressive.

Doctor Wu · June 16, 2018

I also appreciate these minor league reports. Keep 'em coming! I'm starting to think that Todd Van Steensel could be a keeper, someone to help the bullpen in another year or two. But every time I see his name in print I'm reminded of Todd Van Poppel, one of the all-time great draft busts in memory.

Strato Guy · June 16, 2018

Love these reports!

Overall it seems to me that our minor league teams are under preforming. Alarming for me is the SP's that were seemingly on the verge of being called up to the bigs, like Gonzalves and Littell, are struggling. I am a little down on the former. If he cannot get more command, he has no chance of succeeding in the bigs with the average stuff he possesses.

Pitz · June 16, 2018

I was not that high on Kirilloff coming into the year, but I continue to be more and more impressed. Checked his splits yesterday and was pleasantly surprised to see that he's crushing both lefties and righties.

70charger · June 16, 2018

Sorry. A bad joke went under your feet, actually. I think I was thinking Diaz was eligible for the Rule V this year maybe.
Great reports--thanks for doing this. I have to remind myself that some guys aren't surging because they've been consistently good all season, which makes Kiriloff's surge all the more impressive.

He was Rule 5 eligible. I was against putting him on the 40 man because I didn’t see a way another team could keep him in the big leagues all year even if he was selected. I was, disappointingly, correct. And the way he’s going he won’t get rostered or selected next year either.

caninatl04 · June 17, 2018

Only 3 of the top 20 are "surging" over the last 28 days. What gives? Kirilloff, Rortvedt and Blankenhorn are the only top 20 players to show any marked improvement over the last 28 days. The won/lost records of the Twins minor league teams are disappointing. I thought the Twins had a top ten farm system. Not according to the won/lost records.

We were spoiled last year with (just about) every MiLB team well over .500 and in the playoffs.

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