Vervehound

the comp that sticks out in my memory for kepler is shawn green. loose, athletic build with a sweet lefty stroke and developing power. very good athlete but he's going to be a corner of'er at the major league level.

when i read this article, all i could think about was how the twins could exploit this annually by flipping relievers when they're out of contention. to me, the relief market is the key to a small market (or medium market) team building assets, whether it be by trading for prospects or acquiring picks via free agency.

you need to check out his clips on the web - the guys is a freaking monster on the mound who is getting better daily. easily my no.1 for next year's draft. 1. Sean Manaea, lhp, Hyannis (Jr., Indiana State) The Cape pitcher of the year, Manaea led the league in innings (52), strikeouts (85) and opponent average (.119) while ranking second in ERA (1.22). "I saw maybe four balls squared up all year off him," Hyannis manager Chad Gassman said. "It was almost like he put it on autopilot and said, 'I'll see you in the eighth inning.' " Manaea's fastball velocity continues to rise, and he worked at 94-96 mph most of the summer and hit 98 in a relief appearance. He has late life on his fastball that makes it explode on hitters and elicit swings and misses. There's still room for more projection in his 6-foot-5, 215-pound frame. He throws from a lower three-quarters arm slot, so he's not always consistent with his secondary pitches, but both have the potential to be plus offerings. He tightened his slider and gained more faith in his changeup, which he throws with a splitter grip that gives it tough downward movement. His delivery adds deception without detracting from his ability to fill the strike zone.

manaea has stud written all over him. love everything about him and his low profile background might keep him from going number 1. he'll be one of the top prosepcts in the game as soon as he's drafted so i don't think putting a number behind him is really doing anyone any favours. look at guys like taillon and cole - both look like number 2's after this season and wouldn't you still be ridiculously pumped to have either?

interesting mock up already. the top four are, imo, the top four consensus players as of right now. if we do get manaea, we may just have mark appel to thank for it. not sure if appel's dickering with the astros this year allowed buxton to fall to us as the stros went for signability with correa, but it may be possible to one day conclude that one player's decision allowed the best player in consecutive drafts to fall to us. http://www.mymlbdraft.com/MLB-Mock-Draft

this. best player in the draft, at least as of right now. i don't see how he doesn't go no. 1 and i think he's close to rodon.

Just this, is an great example for the reasons I do not care about BA. You cannot rank the same guy 6th best in a AA league and 7th best in a high A league. Just ridiculous... seriously? there couldn't be better prospects in high-A than 2-A one year? i think your gripe is missing any and all nuance with the process - a process b.a. is pretty clear about. they talk to a lot of scouts and managers within a league and have generally laid eyeballs on the players for the leagues they're covering. what they're doing is taking the consensus. is it possible that ten people watching arcia while he was with n.b. thought more highly than ten others who saw him playing at ft. myers? considering he hit better at 2-A, i would say that's likely, not just possible. b.a. is the best by miles.

callis' reasoning is sound. he thinks baez has a legit chance to stay at ss and the bat speed is special. makes sense for him to edge out sano, imo, though sano's 80 bb's give him a different element.

sure you know how this works? if pinto hits well in the higher minors, he'd go straight to 40-man roster, if not the active 25. this is the one chance teams'll have to scoop him up with the rule V.

can't judge how the low-a team will do based on e-town numbers but next year should feature the likes of buxton, berrios, kepler, polanco, goodrum, walker, boyd, harrison, mata, robb, duffey, chargois and bard. good lord.

masterful job of rantz providing us with absolutely no new information on our prospects.

might want to learn his actual name if you're going to pimp him. Sorry, didn't know you couldn't talk a kid up cause his name is spelt stupid. you sure can, but i'm guessing knowing his name might make more people listen to you.

which is more ludicrous: salcedo at no.7 or angel morales at no.10? asinine list. also, their system ranking formula is much too simplistic as it only accounts for top 100 talent and places an equal value for each spot between the rankings so the difference between the 2nd and 3rd ranked prospects is one point and the difference between the 82nd and 83rd prospects is one point. boo.

buxton was firmly on everyone's radar at this point last year and was considered the top prep. your point is well taken but the reality is that the majority of the top picks are identified in the previous year, even prepsters. that said, the college crop was alleged to have two elite talents at this time last year - appel and devin marerro - so an awful lot is dependent on spring performance.

might want to learn his actual name if you're going to pimp him.

btw, i've done some preliminary sniffing around next year's top prospects an i've got to say that manaea jumps out to me. i prefer him over both appel and stanek. i'm guessing he's the number one overall pick.

1996 - Travis Lee. He didn't want to play for the Twins. He had Boras tell the Twins to hold off on contract talks so Lee could concentrate on the Atlanta Olympic Games. The Twins did as requested and then they filed for free agency because the Twins didn't send out a contract within 15 days of the draft. He was granted free agency. The Twins have shied away from Boras ever since. The only other Boras client I can remember the Twins dealing with was Joe Crede, and that was because Crede insisted on the Twins over the reccomendation of Boras. no - lee's agent was jeff moorad, who went back on a verbal pledge to terry ryan in order to get lee free agent status that year along with the prep pitchers. i believe the only boras client the twins have drafted is jason varitek.

Max Knutson, LHP with low 90's stuff. Arden Hills I believe. Good Athlete. Showed well at PG National Showcase. good one. i see he's a nebraska commit, along with boldt. that's troubling. gophers need their new stadium bad.

i'd like the team to use right half of the minny and paul logo and call themselves the "paulies". stupid name on the surface, but it'd be an homage to the big league team. if not, then i'd like it to be the st. paul vulcans. it'd be a nod to the city's heritage while at the same time incorporating star trek into the fold. think of the marketing opportunities! vulcan caps could come with pointy ears, the vulcan salute could be given after home runs, etc.

next year's mlb draft has a chance to rival 1990's as the best ever for minnesota amateurs. in 1990, the gophers dan wilson was taken at no.7, edina's tom nevers at no. 21, cretin's chris weinke in the 2nd round, wbl's jamie ogden in the 3rd and cretin's mike vogel in the 6th. not to mention that dan smith, the no. 16 overall pick from creighton was a mn prep as well. for 2013, the gopher's tom windle was just named the no.11 prospect in the cape this summer and could sneak into the first round. ryan boldt from red wing made the cut for the u.s. 18u team and has been making a name for himself this summer on the showcase circuit. coon rapids' logan shore has been talked about since his freshman year and just missed the u.s. 18u team cut. all three figure to be taken in the first two rounds, though shore's committment to florida might cause him to slide. additionally, the gophers' d.j. snelton is a monster of a lh who was drafted by the padres out of high school and could fly up charts with a strong spring. anyone i missed?

i have no problem picking him but have the twins ever picked a boras client in the draft?

both whitson and dylan covey will be former 1st rounders who're available to be re-drafted. whitson struggled with injuries this year but i don't think any of them were arm related so he could easily resurface at the top. meadows and frazier appear to be at the head of the prep crop but both are outfielders and even though you always go bpa, i think you jigger the formula this year make sure the bpa isn't a prep of'er.

matt harrington. twins were rumoured to be in on him with the second overall pick but took adam johnson instead. if ever an agent should've been fired, it was harrington's.

twins have done a great job tanking for the second year in a row and would currently own the third overall pick next year would the season end today. unfortunately, the 2013 draft doesn't look particularly strong but there does seem to be a consensus that appel, stanek from arkansas and manaea from indy st are the top three arms available and we'd be guaranteed a shot at one of them at no. 3.

i'd argue that the twins sometimes keep their prospects too long in rookie ball. it's not unusual for a player to do three years in our two rookie league affiliates and sometimes this can be damaging, imo. case in point: niko goodrum. his numbers were solid last year and he hasn't progressed this year but often times a guy will rise to the level around him when challenged. i think he's stagnated with a second year in e-town. that said, holding players back before full season ball is often times a good thing as you can get a half season of instructionals in and start reworking their game in a low pressure environment. perfect example of this from this year is max kepler. instead of doing a better job identifying who would benefit from a challenge and who wouldn't, the twins tend to do this type of thing across the board. why was holding goodrum back a bad thing and kepler back a good thing? goodrum held is own in 2011 in e-town, was from a baseball hotbed, and was age appropriate for the appy last year (for a prospect, at least) and the only way he was going to significantly improve on his offense was to start hitting for significant power (and get off to a better start), which wasn't his game and has likely led to him trying to do too much. kepler, on the other hand, was an 18 y.o. from germany with a miniscule slugging percentage who will have to grow into a power type to profile at a corner o.f. spot. i was surprised he didn't repeat the gcl. at any rate, holding him back was the right move, regardless of his numbers this year.