Thrylos

The one thing he should be doing is not playing favorites. Liriano sucks, he is sent to the pen. Marquis sucks worse, he is kept in the rotation. Valencia sucks, he is sent to Rochester. Hughes sucks, he is waived. Casilla sucks, he is benched. Plouffe sucks worse, he is the starter at third base.

Yeah. Hope he is back soon. Messed up knees are tough on catchers though. Wonder whether the Nationals might want some Butera to go with their Span now...

Originally Published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- With the Twins having a severe need for pitching in the organization as well as six picks among the top 100, it is certain that more than one of those picks (and probably the second overall pick) will be used to draft a pitcher. To this respect, I am presenting profiles of the top 22 pitching prospects for the 2012 MLB draft. I will be presenting these alphabetically, and at the end I will rank them. I will be doing about one a day and I will finish before the June 4th draft day. You can find all the profiles (in reverse alphabetical order) as they are presented here. I will start with RJ Alvarez and end with Kyle Zimmer. Each profile withcontain a bit of background information and statistics, a mini scouting report and videos and photos. Profile 4: Chris Beck Profile/Stats: Chris Beck is a junior at Georgia Southern and a three-year player there. He is from Jefferson, GA and went to Jefferson High School. He is listed at 6'3" and 235 lbs. He was born of September 4, 1990. He throws Right handed. He was selected by the Cleveland Indians in the 35th round of the 2009 Draft. In his current season he started 12 games and relieved in one and is 4-6 (84.2 IP) with a 3.72 ERA, 22 BB and 97 strikeouts allowing a .274 opponent batting average. Last summer in the Cape Cod league he had a 1.62 ERA, 52 IP, striking out 41 and walking 13. His best collegiate season was in 2011 when he went 9-5 in 103 IP, walked 40 and struck out 109, allowing a .211 OBA. Mini Scouting Report: His fastball averages around 93-94 mph with occasional bursts at 95 has excellent control but needs work with his command. It is an above average pitch. He has a slurve that is a plus pitch and sits at mid 80s and can be his out pitch. His changeup is at the mid 80s and needs work to be consistent but has a nice late downward movement when thrown as intended and potentially can be a plus pitch. Has a nice natural delivery. Videos/Photos: Because of the difficulty in embedding videos here, please go to the original post to see 2 videos of Chris Beck http://www.pointstreak.com/baseball/photos/p142679.jpg

Originally Published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- With the Twins having a severe need for pitching in the organization as well as six picks among the top 100, it is certain that more than one of those picks (and probably the second overall pick) will be used to draft a pitcher. To this respect, I am presenting profiles of the top 22 pitching prospects for the 2012 MLB draft. I will be presenting these alphabetically, and at the end I will rank them. I will be doing about one a day and I will finish before the June 4th draft day. You can find all the profiles (in reverse alphabetical order) as they are presented here. I will start with RJ Alvarez and end with Kyle Zimmer. Each profile withcontain a bit of background information and statistics, a mini scouting report and videos and photos. Profile 4: Chris Beck Profile/Stats: Chris Beck is a junior at Georgia Southern and a three-year player there. He is from Jefferson, GA and went to Jefferson High School. He is listed at 6'3" and 235 lbs. He was born of September 4, 1990. He throws Right handed. He was selected by the Cleveland Indians in the 35th round of the 2009 Draft. In his current season he started 12 games and relieved in one and is 4-6 (84.2 IP) with a 3.72 ERA, 22 BB and 97 strikeouts allowing a .274 opponent batting average. Last summer in the Cape Cod league he had a 1.62 ERA, 52 IP, striking out 41 and walking 13. His best collegiate season was in 2011 when he went 9-5 in 103 IP, walked 40 and struck out 109, allowing a .211 OBA. Mini Scouting Report: His fastball averages around 93-94 mph with occasional bursts at 95 has excellent control but needs work with his command. It is an above average pitch. He has a slurve that is a plus pitch and sits at mid 80s and can be his out pitch. His changeup is at the mid 80s and needs work to be consistent but has a nice late downward movement when thrown as intended and potentially can be a plus pitch. Has a nice natural delivery. Videos/Photos: Because of the difficulty in embedding videos here, please go to the original post to see 2 videos of Chris Beck http://www.pointstreak.com/baseball/photos/p142679.jpg

They won yesterday with this lineup and I bet Gardy will run the same lineup until they lose

That was interesting to me too. On the other hand, he got free College education, which might be the smart thing to do

Originally Published at The Tenth Inning Stretch -- With the Twins having a severe need for pitching in the organization as well as six picks among the top 100, it is certain that more than one of those picks (and probably the second overall pick) will be used to draft a pitcher. To this respect, I am presenting profiles of the top 22 pitching prospects for the 2012 MLB draft. I will be presenting these alphabetically, and at the end I will rank them. I will be doing about one a day and I will finish before the June 4th draft day. You can find all the profiles (in reverse alphabetical order) as they are presented here. I will start with RJ Alvarez and end with Kyle Zimmer. Each profile with contain a bit of background information and statistics, a mini scouting report and videos and photos. Profile 3: Jake Barrett Profile/Stats: Jake Dalton Barrett is a junior at Arizona State University and a three-year player there. He is from Mesa, AZ and went to Desert Ridge High School. He is listed at 6'3" and 230 lbs. Was born on July 22, 1991 in Upland, California He throws Right handed. He was a third round selection (99th overall) of the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2009 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign. In his freshman year he was a reliever and moved to the rotation in his sophomore season before returning to the pen this season as the closer. In his current season he appeared in 25 games, pitched 27 innings and is 1-4 (9 saves) with a 1.67 ERA, 7 BB and 32 strikeouts allowing a .181 opponent batting average. Last summer in the Cape Cod league he had a 1.62 ERA, 52 IP, striking out 41 and walking 13. His best collegiate season was in 2011 when he went 9-5 in 103 IP, walked 40 and struck out 109, allowing a .211 OBA. Mini Scouting Report: His fastball averages around 92-93 mph with occasional bursts at 96-97 with good movement at the lower speeds. It is a plus pitch but needs work with command. He has a plus slider in the mid 80s which can get up to 88 mph. He has an above average change up that sits in the low 80s. In high school he used to throw a slow curve and a splitter, which he abandoned. His delivery used to be fairly violent and used to fall off towards the first base side, but has been improved. Still is a maximum effort delivery. He reminds some people of Boof Bonser on the mound. Videos/Photos: Because of the difficulty in embedding videos here, please go to the original post to see 3 videos that show the evolution of Jake Barrett as a pitcher

Originally Published at The Tenth Inning Stretch -- With the Twins having a severe need for pitching in the organization as well as six picks among the top 100, it is certain that more than one of those picks (and probably the second overall pick) will be used to draft a pitcher. To this respect, I am presenting profiles of the top 22 pitching prospects for the 2012 MLB draft. I will be presenting these alphabetically, and at the end I will rank them. I will be doing about one a day and I will finish before the June 4th draft day. You can find all the profiles (in reverse alphabetical order) as they are presented here. I will start with RJ Alvarez and end with Kyle Zimmer. Each profile with contain a bit of background information and statistics, a mini scouting report and videos and photos. Profile 3: Jake Barrett Profile/Stats: Jake Dalton Barrett is a junior at Arizona State University and a three-year player there. He is from Mesa, AZ and went to Desert Ridge High School. He is listed at 6'3" and 230 lbs. Was born on July 22, 1991 in Upland, California He throws Right handed. He was a third round selection (99th overall) of the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2009 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign. In his freshman year he was a reliever and moved to the rotation in his sophomore season before returning to the pen this season as the closer. In his current season he appeared in 25 games, pitched 27 innings and is 1-4 (9 saves) with a 1.67 ERA, 7 BB and 32 strikeouts allowing a .181 opponent batting average. Last summer in the Cape Cod league he had a 1.62 ERA, 52 IP, striking out 41 and walking 13. His best collegiate season was in 2011 when he went 9-5 in 103 IP, walked 40 and struck out 109, allowing a .211 OBA. Mini Scouting Report: His fastball averages around 92-93 mph with occasional bursts at 96-97 with good movement at the lower speeds. It is a plus pitch but needs work with command. He has a plus slider in the mid 80s which can get up to 88 mph. He has an above average change up that sits in the low 80s. In high school he used to throw a slow curve and a splitter, which he abandoned. His delivery used to be fairly violent and used to fall off towards the first base side, but has been improved. Still is a maximum effort delivery. He reminds some people of Boof Bonser on the mound. Videos/Photos: Because of the difficulty in embedding videos here, please go to the original post to see 3 videos that show the evolution of Jake Barrett as a pitcher

Nepo-Shawn and (seriously) this is so the reason he is there. And (darn) if Toby G did not get married and retired last offseason, you know that he would be the third baseman for the Twins right now instead of Plouffe, right? /sarcasm yeah this is one of those frustrating signings this season (like the Thurston signing) because the Twins gave up on prospects like Solarte and others. The more I think of it, the more I believe that the biggest problem with the Twins is having 80some year old Rantz in charge of their minor league system (and the only member of the Twins HOF who was elected while doing what he is still doing - hey someone won a game used bat for that.) Lots of issues there

How many 23 year old middle infielders you know who had a .843 OPS in AA and were busts? Punto? Hockin? Please. Punto had a .680 OPS in AA and Hockin a .690. Not even close.

The middle IF who the Twins lost as a MiLB FA because they kept roster spots for Gray, Maloney, Vasquez and such even after he hit .329/.367/.466 as a 23 year old last season in New Britain? He is in the Rangers' organization and hitting .309/.364/.500 with 5 HRs in 32 games as a 24 year old in AAA. And has a 22 game hitting streak going. Meanwhile the Twins have the likes of Thurson in Rochester. Gotta love Rantz and his talent evaluators sometimes...

Double no hitter through 6.5. Oliveros pitched a perfect 7 th after Bromberg pitch 6 no hit innings.

No hitter both ways after 3 Bromberg is pitching for the Rock Cats

I've heard that kind of excuse from Twins' FO types before. Here is the reality: Slama's career BB/9 is 3.9 BB/9. With his tendency to strike batters out, this translates to a career 3.14 K/BB. If that is not good enough for the Twins, that is ok, but when they go out this off-season and sign pitchers with worse control and numbers and keep them in the majors, then there is at least an inconsistent approach that makes someone think that there is something else going on here.... For example: Marquis: Career: 3.5 BB/9 and 1.50 K/BB Gray: Career: 3.4 BB/9 and 1.49 K/BB How are these people better than Slama?

Good stuff!

Unlike basketball and football, the baseball stats are pretty much meaningless for comparison purposes. Not only the level of competition between let's say a Pac-10 University and a High School in Montana are different, the players do not have to play right away. So a lot of the picks are "speculative" in nature looking at raw stuff and projections. Like a 6-6 170 lbs high school kid who throws 91-92 has only 2 pitches but has good control and command, could with work project to be a mid 90s top of rotation guy, if the other pieces, like the mechanics etc are there. So pre-draft stats are somewhat meaningless...

I suspect that you are talking about the later rounds with the names other than Appel, correct? Pretty sure that Rucker will follow on Hicks' footsteps and end up being drafted as an OF.

Not from this year on based on the new CBA... Paying above slot will pretty much be an extinct practice. I think that Giolito will go in the top 10-15 picks.

Yesterday was spelled correctly. Wonder whether someone else typed the thing today

Yes indeed

...cannot spell their own player's names even in official lineup cards. Proof

My understanding is that, contractually, radio and TV broadcasting staff are practically employees of the MLB club they cover. So DicknBert, Dazzle and Robbie are Twins' employees. I suspect that they would not say anything bad about the team. On the other hand, beat writers and other TV and radio personalites are not.

Mike, thanks. I just don't buy into these numerical projections, in general. And most of them will be wrong anyways For example after the 2001 season, Boof Bonser was projected as a #1 and was ranked on the top 30 overall prospects by Baseball America. We know better after the fact. So I don't buy those numbers

It is mind baffling that Slama is not up with the Twins. He was not even invited to Spring Training while a whole bunch of minor league free agents were invited. Totally crazy. Hard to get into Gardy's and Andy's brains, but I think that something that Gardy said when he was talking about Liriano the other day might shine some light on why these people have not given Slama a chance: He said something to the effect (paraphrasing) that if Liriano goes to the minors he will not improve because MiLB hitters are swing happy and they will swing all the time and he will dominate without having great stuff. I just wonder if that's what they think that Slama is doing. Nuts.

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- With the Twins having a severe need for pitching in the organization as well as six picks among the top 100, it is certain that more than one of those picks (and probably the second overall pick) will be used to draft a pitcher. To this respect, I am presenting profiles of the top 22 pitching prospects for the 2012 MLB draft. I will be presenting these alphabetically, and at the end I will rank them. I will be doing about one a day and I will finish before the June 4th draft day. You can find all the profiles (in reverse alphabetical order) as they are presented here. I will start with RJ Alvarez and end with Kyle Zimmer. Each profile with contain a bit of background information and statistics, a mini scouting report and videos and photos. Profile 2: Mark Appel Profile/Stats: Mark Appel is a junior at Stanford University and a three-year player there. He is from Houston, TX and went to Monte Vista High School. He is listed at 6'6" and 200 lbs. He throws Right handed. He was drafted in the 15th round out of High School by the Detroit Tigers but he did not sign. Was a Two-year letterman in basketball and baseball. In his current season he started 11 games and is 7-1 (86 IP) with a 2.72 ERA, 20 BB and 85 strikeouts allowing a .226 opponent batting average. Last summer, playing with Team USA, in 9 IP as a reliever (4 games) and an one game starter he had a 5.00 ERA striking out 11 and walking 2; in the Cape Cod league he had a 1.35 ERA, 20 IP, striking out 25 and walking 3. Mini Scouting Report: His fastball averages around 94-95 mph with occasional busts at 97-99 and he has excellent command. It is a plus fastball. His change up is a circle change and sits around 82-83 mph and is a borderline plus pitch. He is throwing a tight slider in the low 80s, which is a work in process and is working on a cutter that sits on the low 90s and touches up to 93 and so far has a nice side to side movement. He is throwing from a three-quarters position and his height allows for a tight downward plane. Mark Appel has been mentioned as one of the top picks on this draft and there are a lot written about him and most baseball fans who are following the draft know who he is. Here is a great analysis from Hardball Times, which is worth reading. It analyzes his mechanics and discusses whether or not he should be a top pick. Videos/Photos: Because of the difficulty in embedding videos here, please go to the original post to see 4 videos of Mark Appel Pitching and interviews http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/stan/sports/m-basebl/auto_action/4986944.jpeg