cmb0252

Defensive stats are horrid. Every site is different and none of them agree on what to measure. Baseball-reference has him at a positive dWAR.

Agreed. I don't understand how people haven't been impressed by Hicks. I know I have been. He started bad, which was to be expected, but then adjusted which is impressive for a 23 year old. Not every prospect is Trout or Harper. Give Hicks time.

Expert scouting reports: Keith law: Stewart has a scholarship to carry a clipboard for Johnny Football next year at Texas A&M, but should never set food on campus except as a fan because his baseball future is so bright (and comes with lower risk of concussions). He has four legitimate pitches with an athletic, strong build and the potential for two grade-70s offerings on the 20-80 scouting scale. His fastball is consistently 92-94, touching 97, with good downhill plane and some boring life to his arm side. He doesn't command the pitch yet or throw it for enough strikes, which may be inexperience of a function of the delivery. His slider is his best pitch, 85-88 with hard, late break down and away from right-handed hitters, although he doesn't command it as well as he does his hard 79-82 mph curveball. He also has a a straight change at 83-85 with solid arm speed but little action. Stewart's delivery isn't ideal, as his hips are pretty stiff and his pitching arm doesn't pronate until fairly late, while he drifts forward off the rubber rather than taking a strong stride towards the plate, much of which may be the reason for his below-average command and control. Even with those issues, he's by far the best prep arm in the class and should go in the top half of the first round. Kohl Stewart: 2013 MLB Draft Prospect Profile - ESPN Baseball America: A premium football recruit as a quarterback, Stewart passed for 8,803 yards and 87 touchdowns in three high school seasons before committing to play two sports at Texas A&M. It’s unlikely he’ll ever play for the Aggies because he’s the top high school pitcher in the draft. He may not get the No. 1 overall pick buzz of righthanders Jonathan Gray (Oklahoma) and Mark Appel (Stanford), but one scouting director said, “Stewart’s pure stuff is as good as theirs, and he’s more athletic than they are.” Scouts love the 6-foot-3, 190-pounder’s arsenal, athleticism and competitiveness. They say that he has better present stuff than Jameson Taillon did when the Pirates took the suburban Houston righthander No. 2 overall in 2010. Stewart has boosted his fastball from 88-93 mph last summer to 91-96 for much of the spring, though his velocity tails off at times in the later innings. His life and command with his heater make it even more dominating, but his best offering is a power mid-80s slider with tilt. He has improved his curveball and shows feel for his changeup, and he’ll display four above-average big league pitches at times. He has a clean delivery and should get even better once he concentrates solely on baseball. Stewart has been limited at times this spring because of minor shoulder (a carryover from football), hamstring and thumb ailments, but none is a major concern. Neither is his signability, because he’ll get picked early enough to be paid handsomely and teams don’t believe he’ll go to Texas A&M to sit behind reigning Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel. Some clubs could shy away from Stewart because he’s a Type 1 diabetic, though Brandon Morrow went fifth overall in 2006 with the same condition. Stewart should go in the same range this June. 2013 MLB Draft: First Round Analysis - BaseballAmerica.com Christopher Crawford: I heard reports that the Twins were so enamored with Kohl Stewart that they were ready to take him over even Bryant, Gray and Appel. I’m not sure if I would’ve done that, but I get the infatuation. Stewart will show four pitches; a nasty slider and a plus-plus fastball plus an above-average curve and average change. In other words, he’s really good. I’m not in love with his mechanics, but he’s a smart kid and very athletic, so I see No. 1 potential with the floor of a dominating reliever or back-end starter. A scout had this to say: "He’d be the No. 2 player on the board if I was running the show,” an NL East scout said. He’s got two 70 (on the 20-80 scouting scale) pitches in his heater and his slider, and I think the curve and change have gotten better. He’s not the prettiest mechanically but he’s got good rhythm and he knows how to pitch. That’s potential ace stuff, to me.” 2013 Draft Review: Minnesota Twins | Jonathan Mayo: There are several things that make Stewart an intriguing, yet enigmatic, prospect. The first is his dual-sport status: Stewart is one of the better high school quarterbacks in the country and is committed to Texas A&M for both sports. Secondly, Stewart is a Type 1 diabetic and interested teams will surely want to be sure about his health. Even with those variables, Stewart is bound to get a lot of attention, especially after throwing very well at the Area Code Games over the summer. He can run his fastball up to 95 mph with a slider and changeup to go along with it. He's more of a thrower than pitcher right now and his arm action concerns some. That might be a question answered only if a team feels he's willing to forgo his two-sport college experience. Stewart played in both the Area Code Games and the Perfect Game All-American Classic over the summer. He was the starting pitcher for the West in the Perfect Game, giving up one run on two hits over his inning of work. 2013 Prospect Watch | MLB.com: News

Kohl Stewart (RHP) Bats - Right Handed Throws - Right Handed Weights - 200lbs Heights - 6'3" Born - October 7th, 1994 (18) Stewart was drafted #4 overall in the 2013 draft by the Twins out of St.Pius X High School, Houston. Stewart was committed to play QB at Texas A&M but choose to play baseball instead.Stewart is a right handed pitcher with an ideal pitchers frame. He posses a fastball that sits between 92-95 mph which has hit 97 and has some movement. His best pitch is a 85-88 mph slider. He also has a curve ball and change up that both profile to be at least average pitches. ESPN's Keith law grades his current and future tools as the following: Current. Future Fastball- 65. 70 FB movement- 50. 50 Command- 35. 50 Control- 40. 50 Curveball- 55. 55 Slider- 65. 70 Change up- 50. 50 (Based on the scouting scale of 20-80. 50 being average) Stewart is currently on the Twins GCL roster and has made three appearances. In 8 innings of work he has give up 5 hits, 1 ER, with 7 k and 1 walk. He currently has a 1.15 ERA.

I will take kohl Stewart then. I will write something up tomorrow. Too many beers tonight. Of course if there is no objections.

Buxton another multi hit game which included an inside the park home run. He is now 12-21 in his last 5 games. He is sort of good.

From Kiley McDaniel on the Twins international signings: Lewin Diaz, 1B, DR, $1.4 million Toni Tapia, 3B, DR, $550,000 Robert Molina, C, Venezuela, money not confirmed Callan Pearce, RHP, South Africa (17 years old), money not confirmed

No qualified offer because he will take it in a heart beat. I just don't see the value at 10 million a year. He hasn't been worth that in 3+ years.

Today BaseballAmerica released another installment of their prospect hot sheet and coming in at number two on their list was a name we have heard before. Byron Buxton. Here is what they had to say about the only Twins prospect to make the list this week: No. 2 Byron Buxton, cf, Twins Team: high Class A Fort Myers (Florida State) Age: 19 Why He’s Here: .526/.526/.632 (10-for-19), 5 R, 2 2B, 3 RBIs, 0 BB, 3 SO, 1-for-1 SB The Scoop: On Buxton’s first three days after his promotion to Fort Myers, he went 2-for-13. Consider that his three-day transition to the Florida State League. Since then, he’s gone the 10-for-19 you see above, with four straight multi-hit games. He also has made a few outstanding catches in center field. Of all the amazing things things about Buxton’s full-season debut, his consistency may be the most impressive. He has yet to go three straight games without a hit. He has gone hitless in back-to-back games just twice all year. J.J. Cooper hosted a chat and he answered this question about Mr. Buxton. Byron Buxton, will he be given the chance to compete for a starting spot next spring? J.J. Cooper: Don't see that. It has happened before (see Albert Pujols in 2001), but it's way more likely he starts next year in Double-A and makes it to the majors before the end of 2014 if he doesn't have any setbacks. For the full prospect list follow the link below: Prospect Hot Sheet (July 5): Precocious Julio Urias Earns Top Spot - BaseballAmerica.com (Also, Monday BA will be releasing their mid season prospect list. Will Buxton be #1?)

Agreed.

Twins notes on mlbtraderumors.com from Jesse Sanchez: The Twins are among the teams interested in Taiwanese right-hander Jen-Ho Tseng, tweets Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com. Tseng, 18, ranked as the No. 29 international prospect in this year's class, according to MLB.com. He was the youngest player named to this year's Chinese Taipei roster in the World Baseball Classic. Sanchez also tweets that one of his sources says previous reports linking theTwins to Cuban outfielder Dariel Alvarez are inaccurate. The most recent connection between Minnesota and Alvarez said that the Twins expected the 24-year-old to be too pricey. Sanchez adds that he's still trying to gauge the market for Sanchez to determine his likely price tag.

Gonsalves pitched 2 innings today. Struck out 3 but walked 2. Gave up 2 hits and didn't allow a run.

Trade trusty closers? Then install a new arm to trade the next year? That is.....the smartest idea ever. BP arms are so volatile so when they have value move them when you can. Burton was a popular name last year after getting him for nothing. Now his value is way down.

Opp. Didn't see this post before mine.

Outside of one bad inning May pitched pretty well. Hopefully he can keep up these outings...less the one bad inning.

Yeah, are draft prospects available? I have been leading the kohl Stewart bandwagon for months!

Agreed. Sano was one of the youngest players in high A, turned 20 in May, and just made the hardest jump in the minors to AA. 82 plate appearances is nothing.

From Buster Olney: "Teams are circling the Twins, waiting to see if they will ever decide to at least weigh offers for closer Glen Perkins, but to this point, they have been told: He is not available. If the Twins altered course and made him available, he would be at the center of perhaps the most aggressive bidding war of the trade deadline." http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/buster-olney/post?id=2296

I think this is a pretty good description of star vs above average player. The one concern I have is how people keep putting Stewart aside because he hasn't pitched in the bigs yet. Stewart has rare tools that make him an elite pitcher regardless if he has pitched in the pros or not.

I think our definition of super stars is different. I see tiers of players as busts, below average, average, above average, star, and finally super star. There aren't many super star players in the league, maybe 10-20 at a time, so my definition is a little stricter than yours.

There are very few super star level prospects in the minors. Most teams would just be happy to have one while we have two. Very excited about this group of kids.

Rumors has it that the Padres and Mayky Perez are working on a deal. Wasn't he one of the Twins targets?

According to 99% of fans Keith Law hates their team.

Nailed it. $1.4 million is a lot of green.

Take a deep breath. The Twins have been linked to plenty of the top international free agents, none of which have been signed yet. Wolfson mentioned that you shouldn't expect quick signings by the Twins. While it is annoying that the Twins haven't signed anyone there is no indication that they won't come out of this with a big haul of prospects. Terry Ryan said yesterday that they plan to use their whole allotment and to do that they would need several big signings.