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Before the Cape Cod league he wasn't looked at as a big time prospect but when you are a lefty hitting 97 with a wipeout slider you become one real fast. Here lies the problem. For about 50-60 innings during the cape he showed ace potential but before and after he hasn't shown anything similar.

Someone posted an interesting read over at minorleagueball.com named Everything you wanted to know about how your team drafts. It breaks down college vs hitters, pitchers vs hitters, and even positionally. It goes back 5 years which in the Twins case is perfect because that's when Johnson took over. Link below: EVERYTHING you wanted to know about how your team drafts - Minor League Ball

Yeah, I agree. While he has shown better power this year im not sure im buying it fully. I'm not a huge fan of Moran but I understand how teams could take him in the top 10 if you feel he will stick at 3B. Also, he has put up INSANE BB/K numbers. Something like 5/1 which is unheard of.

From BA on Bryant: The three home runs give him 28 on the season, so with just two games to go, he could make a serious run at Victor Roache’s BBCOR record of 30. On the season, Bryant is now hitting .346/.506/.880.

From reports I have read Manaeas fastball was back to normal, 90-93, this weekend while his slider was significantly better.

Bryant had a monster weekend. Went 5-6 Sunday with two HRs, total of 3 HR this weekend, had a few more hits Saturday and a handful of walks. This is from Christopher Crawford: "I think people get so enamored with the power numbers that we forget this kid has some discipline, too," an AL scout said. “I don’t think it’s just a case of him being pitched around either. There’s a lot of swing and miss to his game, but he’s a smart hitter who works counts into his favor. We’ll see if that continues at the pro level, but I’d bet on it.” Moran also had a good weekend. Had a HR, a double, and 6 walks.

From Christopher Crawford: Stewart was sensational against Nolan Catholic in the 5A playoffs, pitching a complete-game shutout while giving up just two hits and striking out 14. The right-hander’s fastball was clocked in the mid 90s, and his devastating slider gave hitters trouble all afternoon. “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.”

I posted this on the mlb draft boards thread but seeing it is BA they might deserve their own thread.

From BA on Frazier: Outfielder Clint Frazier is making a strong bid to be Baseball America’s High School Player of the Year. In a postseason series against Riverwood International Charter School (Sandy Springs, Ga.) he went 2-for-5 with two home runs as Loganville (Ga.) High advanced on a sweep. Frazier walked three times in the two games and is now batting .505/.612/1.165 with 16 home runs and 44 RBIs in 30 games.

I don't think the problem is the bats, Manaea has actually put up good numbers this year, but more about his stuff being inconsistent. I don't know if this is due to injuries, fatigue, or the simple fact that the stuff we saw in the Cape was an illusion.

Haha, everyone listing the same thing with in 3 minutes! Small world

Berries with a poor outing. On the bright side Buxton's bat has finally woken back up and is currently, only the 6th inning, 4-5. Not to be out done Walker is also 4-5 but with two HRs. I know people want Buxton to be promoted but Walker, due to college experience, needs to be moved up first.

While when scouting prospects you do like seeing good stat lines but what is more important are grades. Scouting grades go from 20-80 with 20 being the worst possible grade, 50 being big league average, and 80 being plus plus level. Let's take Keith laws grades for Manaea: Fastball:55 Fastball movement: 45 Command: 65 Control: 65 Slider: 50 Change up:50 Feel for pitching:65 According to Law's grades all of Manaea's pitches have been average this season and the main reason he has dominated is because of his control/command/feel for pitching. While having all of those is a good thing typical front of the rotation pitchers usually have at least 2 pitches in the 60-70 range. Manaea did show 60-70 grade fastball/slider combo in the cape cod league he hasn't show even close to those in college (before or after). A lot of pitchers are aces in college but profile as #4-5 type guys in the bigs (Wimmers, Baxendale, or Windle). College to the majors is a big jump. People need to remember Manaea wasn't on the prospect scene before his Cape Cod appearance. He has two more starts to prove not only does he have the stuff to be a front of the rotation starter but that he is healthy.

Duffey was a relief pitcher while Baxendale was a starter.

Manaea and Stanek are great arms? They have been incredibly inconsistent this year and have shown no signs of being top of the rotation arms. I think people are just blinded by the fact they want a college arm that they are ignoring the many defaults. This draft is incredibly deep in college arms. If they want an advanced arm with flaws grab one in the second round.

This is a great point. While I'm not sure you will get that big of discount, I bet you can get a couple 100k off like last year at least. Either way with how this draft is shaping up, for better or worse, there is no clear cut best player at 4 if Gray/appel/Bryant go off the board. This surprisingly gives the Twins some extra leverage as Jeremy pointed out above.

The farm system has a ton of good arms with several of them being close to the bigs in Gibson, Meyers, and May. Add in the fact the Wimmers will be back at some point and the solid group of arms drafted last year, I have no idea why people are obsessed with grabbing a arm at 4. Obviously you can never have enough pitching but there is no point to reach for an arm at 4 when the draft is deep in them.

He pitched well yesterday, albeit vs Alcorn State, in a 100 pitch/1ER performance. I have read about the quality of his stuff yet but he did have a 11/1 K/BB ratio. I definitely agree with you though that he feels like a HS prospect because of the risk/reward. The Twins are just stuck at the worst place to be in the top of the draft, the pick after the consensus guys. Obviously things can change but right now mocks have Appel/Gray/Bryant going 1-2-3 with us grabbing a HSer or reaching for a college guy.

Agreed.

This is one of three weekends left before the draft for draft prospects to increase or decrease their stock. I will up date all the individual draft pages on Monday but here is a quick run down. Good: Manaea-11k, 1 ER outing Bryant- 2-5, 1 HR Moran- 1-2, 1 HR Bad: Appel-5 ER, 4/5 K/BB ratio Ugly: Shipley- 7 ER, 6/4 K/BB ratio Also, Chris Anderson was average.

For all the Manaea fans out there he had a solid outing last night. 7 innings pitched, 3 hits, 1 ER, 1 BB, 11 K, 100 pitches He did pitch against Alcorn state, not exactly a power house, but it is still nice to see him throw 100 pitches. I haven't seen a report yet with the quality of his "stuff" yet which is a lot more important than his counting numbers.

Updated the thread with BA's draft board. Gray #1 and Frazier at #4. They have scouting reports on the site but you have to be a member.

His brother just got traded to the Ravens yesterday.....has nothing to do with this thread but just saw it scroll across my TV. Shipley has huge upside but like Manaea he has too many question marks for a #4 pick for my taste. If I want a lottery ticket I'm spending it on Stewart. His fastball is already just as good as Shipley's and has a 65 grade slider to go with it.

To all the people who are saying they want the Twins to draft Manaea is it just because he is a college pitcher? Because he sure hasn't pitched like a #4 pick should. He is covered in red flags. If people don't want the Twins to reach for a under slot guy then why do you want them to reach for a need? Throwing away value is throwing away value.

J.J. Cooper answered the week 5 Prospect Hot Sheet questions today and this is what he had to say about the Twins: Among guys who could conceivably end up in the top 20-25 prospects, which players have done the most so far this year to help their prospect status? J.J. Cooper: When the season began, if you told me that Byron Buxton got off to a slow start and was just starting to figure it out right now, I'd think that was a pretty expected occurrence. Instead, he's been the best player in the Midwest League. That's a pretty good start for a guy who has some of the best tools in baseball. Does Buxton have the skill set, makeup, and ceiling to be the #1 prospect in the game heading into the 2014 season? (assuming Profar, Taveras, and Myers will be ineligble) J.J. Cooper: He'll be in the discussion. He's got all the tools and he's showing the skills you would want to see as well. Hey boss....Sunday May 18th...should I go see Kane County and Vogelbach at Cedar Rapids and Buxton/Polanco/Goodrum or Beloit and no prospects at Quad Cities and Carlos Correa J.J. Cooper: Go to Cedar Rapids. That's a very fun team to watch. when can i hope to see lindor and sano make their move to the eastern league? J.J. Cooper: Keep waiting a little while. Fans love to see guys get promoted after the first good week or good month. But for teams, there is very little upside in making a very quick promotion and all kinds of downside--teams hate to see a guy get in over his head because that often ends up slowing down development. If those two spent all year in high Class A, they'd still be on the fast track. I wouldn't think it would be that long, but there doesn't appear to be any reason to not keep both of them around til the all-star break at least. Sano or Soler? J.J. Cooper: Give me Sano, but they're both very good Kyle Gibson's first start this week made him ineligible for the list, but his second was mighty impressive. What can we expect from him as a major leaguer? J.J. Cooper: I wrote about that yesterday. Doing it against Toledo, which is a pitchers' best friend, played a part in Gibson's dominance, but yeah, he's pretty much ready for the big league call. I think he could be a solid middle of the rotation starter, which in Minnesota means he'll be at the front of the rotation before long. Can you remember a better group of Twins prospects than what they have now? Best overall Twins farm system I can remember. J.J. Cooper: Can't think of an organization that has had a better start to the minor league season. I've been a Twins fan my entire life...the last SUPERSTAR player I recall was Kirby Puckett (No major disrespect to Mauer...he's just not that godly). Anyway, is Sano the next superstar player the Twins will have, and does he truly have Cabrera like potential as hard as it is to be THAT good? J.J. Cooper: Our definitions of superstar appear to be different because if a three-time batting champ, three-time Gold Glove, MVP catcher isn't a superstar, than who is? But Sano and Buxton both have superstar potential, at least by my definition of a superstar.