Seth Stohs

Adam Mazur promoted from High-A to Double-A. He was drafted out of the U of Iowa in the 2nd round of the 2022 draft. He graduated from Woodbury HS.

Prato is a prospect who has worked his way up the system. Shuffield is not.

I don't think so, unless it's the reason he's returned to swinging at pitcher's pitches.

it's his shoulder again. No timelines given.

They've got Solano and Farmer and Castro to play 3B. They're just bringing up another bat.

Friday was a very busy day throughout the Twin entire system. Big innings defined the day for most of the offense Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge (photo of Marco Raya) The Minnesota Twins got tor runs off the batted of Here are the records of the six Twins affiliates through games on Friday. St. Paul Saints: 52-35 Wichita Wind Surge: 34-47 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 50-32 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 42-40 FCL Twins: 12-15 DSL Twins: 7-20 Let’s get to the report. As always, please feel free to discuss and ask questions. TRANSACTIONS Following the Twins win in Oakland, Dan Hayes tweeted that Jose Miranda will be going on the injured list. Matt Wallner will join the team in Oakland. Lefties Zach Neff and Josh Mitchell were deemed recovered from their Tommy John surgeries. They pitched in a couple of rehab games… and on Thursday, the Twins released them. Right-hander Juan Mercedes was promoted from the FCL Twins to the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels. John Klein was sent back to the FCL. RHP Eduardo Soriano was promoted from the DSL to the FCL Twins. In fun, former Twins prospect transactions, 2015 fourth-round pick Trey Cabbage was called up to the Angels and activated before Friday night’s game. In the game, he hit for second baseman Michael Stefanic SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 5, Durham 8 Box Score The Saints open up their “second half” at CHS Field. They fell behind early but quickly caught up and went ahead only to give up five in the ninth to fall to the Bulls. Louie Varland made the start. He was charged with three unearned runs on eight hits over the first four innings. He struck out seven batters without issuing a walk. Josh Winder came on and struck out three batters over 2 2/3 scoreless innings. Michael Boyle had a walk and a strikeout and recorded three outs. Patrick Murphy got the final out of the eighth inning. Then he came out for the ninth and gave up five runs on four hits and a walk. Austin Brice came on with two runners on base and allowed both to score. Anthony Prato got St. Paul on the board in the second with a two-run homer, his fifth since joining the Saints. In the third frame, Andrew Stevenson’s 10th homer tied the game at 3-3. Stevenson gave the team the 4-3 season with a single that drove in Prato. Gilberto Celestino gave the Twins another run in the seventh inning with a ground out that scored Stevenson. Stevenson went 3-for-5 in the game from the leadoff spot. Jair Camargo had two hits. Prato his his ninth double and fifth homer during his five weeks with the Saints. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 3, Springfield 4 Box Score Like the Saints, the Wind Surge got a lead going into the late innings. Unfortunately, a big-inning was enough to give the team a loss. The Wind Surge powered their way to an early lead. Patrick Winkel drilled his fourth homer of the season in the second inning. In the fifth frame, DaShawn Keirsey hit his 10th home run. Aaron Sabato made it a 3-0 lead with a single that scored Yunior Severino. Highly-regarded Marco Raya made his second Double-A start and it went quite well. In 3 2/3 innings, he gave up no runs. He gave up just one hit and one walk, and he struck out four batters. He was more efficient with his pitches and was able to almost get through the fourth inning. He threw 51 pitches in the game. Isaac Mattson came on and walked two batters but no runners crossed the plate before he got the final out. David Festa returned to the team after his scoreless inning in Saturday’s Futures Game in Seattle. He got back in the action with two perfect innings. Three of the six outs came on strikeouts. However, Regi Grace came in for the seventh inning. He’s been the best reliever in the organization all season and really had his first rough outing of the year. He gave up four runs on four hits and a walk and recorded just one out. Denny Bentley came on and allowed an inherited runner to score, but he was able to provide five outs without any additional runs scoring. Alex Scherff struck out two batters in a one-hit ninth. Keirsey and Winkel each went 2-for-4 in the game with the home run. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 15, Beloit 2 Box Score The Kernels went to their old stomping grounds (well, the Twins old Midwest League affiliate grounds) and used a couple of big innings to record an easy win in the new stadium. Jorel Ortega put the Kernels on the scoreboard with a solo homer, his second since joining the team. He also kicked off a big, eight-run fourth inning when he singled with the bases loaded to score Kala’i Rosario. Misael Urbina walked to score Noah Cardenas. Jose Salas drove in Noah Miller on a fielder’s choice. Willie Joe Garry’s single then drove in Ortega to make it 5-0. Leadoff man Tanner Schobel kept things going with a two-run double to give the Kernels a 7-0 lead. Emmanuel Rodriguez followed with a triple and then scored on a Rosario sacrifice fly that made it 9-0 after four innings. Beloit hit a couple of solo homers in the bottom of the fifth frame, so that Kernels wanted to get that back… and more. In the top of the sixth, Rosario singled in Rodriguez with the 10th run. Then Noah Miller drove in Rosario with a single. Jorel Ortega’s second homer of the night (and third in his short time with the Kernels). The three-run shot made it 14-2. The Kernels added one more in the seventh inning as well. Zebby Matthews was one out from qualifying for the Win. He gave up two solo homers in the fifth inning, the only runs he gave up in 4 2/3 innings. (56 of his 80 pitches (70%) were strikes.) He struck out five and didn’t issue a walk. Malik Barrington “vultured” the Win to improve to 4-0. That said, he struck out three batters over 2 1/3 scoreless innings. He gave up two hits and walked one batter. Finally, John Wilson struck out two batters over two scoreless innings to close the door. The Kernels got contributions from everyone. Misael Urbina was the only player without a hit, but he had a bases-loaded walk. Noah Miller was the lone player with just one hit. Seven hitters had at least two hits Jorel Ortega, the team’s sixth-round pick a year ago, finished the game going 4-for-5 with the two home runs. He scored three runs and drove in five runs. Emmanuel Rodriguez went 3-for-5 with a walk and his third triple. He also stole his 11th base. Rosario went 2-for-4 with a walk. Noah Cardenas went 2-for-5 with a walk and his 14th double. Jose Salas was also 2-for-5. Willie Joe Garry was 2-for-4 with a walk. Tanner Schobel went 2-for-6 with his ninth double. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 6, Clearwater 2 Box Score Ft. Myers took the early lead and then had a big-inning late and held on for the win. Right-hander Ben Ethridge, the Twins 15th-round pick in 2022 from Southern Miss, finally earned his first Win of the season and as a professional. Coming into the night, he was 0-4 despite an ERA of just 2.49 and a WHIP at 1.06. After beginning the season in the bullpen, this was his sixth consecutive appearance as a start. I could argue that his Friday night start was his best yet, but he’s had a few good starts. In this game, he tossed five shutout innings. He gave up just two hits, walked one and struck out two batters. He dropped his season ERA to 2.23. Wilker Reyes struck out four batters over the next two innings. He gave up no hits and no runs and walked two batters. Ricardo Velez pitched a scoreless eighth inning but gave up a two-run homer in the ninth. The Twins signed Carson McCusker recently after spending three seasons with Tri-City in the Frontier League. That was after four seasons at Oklahoma State. In the first inning, he gave the Mussels a 2-0 lead with his fifth home run in his 10th game. He went 3-for-4 and is now hitting .439 with a 1.270 OPS. The Mussels grabbed some insurance runs in the eighth inning, turning a 2-0 lead to a 6-0 lead. Rubel Cespedes hit his 19th double which scored two runs. Rafael Cruz drove Cespedes in with a single. Ricardo Olivar concluded the scoring by knocking in Cruz with the fourth run of the inning. Danny De Andrade went 2-for-5 with his 11th and 12th doubles. COMPLEX THOUGHTS from FLORIDA FCL Twins 9 FCL Red Sox 8 Box Score In a day filled with big innings, it was very true in the FCL game on Friday. The Twins had a four-run second inning and kept piling on runs including two runs in the top of the ninth. That gave them a 9-2 lead, but the Red Sox countered with six runs in the bottom of the ninth. Thankfully the Twins stopped the bleeding just in time. In this game, it was all about the offense. Yasser Mercedes is a top ten Twins prospects according to Twins Daily and other places. But he got off to a very slow start in his Stateside debut. Coming into Friday’s game, Mercedes was hitting just .157/.228/.255 (.483) with two doubles and a homer. He had played in just 13 games. In this game, we were reminded of the talent that he has. He went 4-for-5 with his second and third home runs. He stole his fourth base. He scored three runs and drive in four runs. After this game, he is still hitting just .214 with a .685 OPS. Not great, but adding .200 points of OPS in one day is a good start. Keoni Cavaco was sent back to the FCL Twins after hitting below .200 with the Kernels in the first half. It appears to be an opportunity for a restart for Cavaco, a chance to play against a lower level of competition, hopefully experience some success, gain some confidence, work on some things, and then see where it goes. In his second FCL game, he had a single, double and triple over five at-bats. He scored two runs and drove in three runs. Harold Grant went 2-for-5 and his two-run homer in the ninth inning proved to be more important than originally thought. It was his second homer. Brayan Medina made the start. In 4 2/3 innings, he gave up two runs on three hits. He walked four batters and struck out three batters. Cleiber Maldonado then struck out five batters over 2 1/3 scoreless innings. Lopez came on and worked a scoreless eighth inning. However, in the ninth frame, he gave up six runs on five hits and two walks. Yon Landaeta came on with two runners on base and both scored. However, he struck out two batters and was able to get the third out before the Red Sox were able to tie it up. The Twins scored runs in four of the first five innings. Normally that, and the nine runs that came with it, would be considered good. And it is. However, when the pitchers give up runs in each of the five innings, and 17 runs in those innings, it isn’t great. Jeicol Surumay started. In 1 2/3 innings, he gave up four runs (3 earned) on three hits and three walks. Cristian Hernandez came on and was charged with eight runs (5 earned) on eight hits and three walks over 2 1/3 innings. Eider Machuca came on and gave up five runs (4 earned) on three hits and a walk and recorded just one out (despite two strikeouts!). Jose Ojo came and allowed one inherited runner to score. But he got five outs without any more runs crossing the plate. The best news to come out of this game was the return of Hendry Chivilli. He hadn’t played since opening day, June 5. He went 1-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base. Dameury Pena went 2-for-2 Ariel Castro went 2-for-4. Yilber Herrera was 1-for-3 with a walk. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitters of the Day – Jorel Ortega (Cedar Rapids) - 4-for-5, 2 HR(3), 3 R, 5 RBI. Yasser Mercedes (FCL Twins) - 4-for-5, 2 HR(3), 3 R, 4 RBI, SB(4). Pitcher of the Day – Ben Ethridge (Fort Myers) - 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, BB, 2 K. 77 pitches, 46 strikes (59.7%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on the new Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Wednesday. (Note - our next prospect rankings update will come after the draft.) #1 - Brooks Lee (Wichita) - 1-for-4 #3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Cedar Rapids) - 3-for-5, 3B(3), 2 R, RBI, BB, 2 K, SB(11). #4 - Edouard Julien (Minnesota) - 2-for-3, 2B(11), RBI, K. #6 - Marco Raya (Wichita) - 3 2/3 IP, H, 0 R, BB, 4 K, 51 pitches, 34 strikes (66.7%). #8 - David Festa (Wichita) - 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 25 pitches, 16 strikes (64.0%). #9 - Matt Wallner (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, BB,K. E(5). #10 - Yasser Mercedes (FCL Twins) - 4-for-5, 2 HR(3), 3 R, 4 RBI, SB(4). #11 - Austin Martin (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, BB, K, SB(1) (2B, batted second) #12 - Jose Salas (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-5, R, RBI, K. #13 - Noah Miller (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-5, BB, 2 R, RBI, BB, 3 K. #14 - Jordan Balazovic (Minnesota) - 1 IP, H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K. 17 pitches, 11 strikes (64.7%) #18 - Jose Rodriguez (FCL Twins) - 1-for-5, K. #19 - Yunior Severino (Wichita) - 1-for-4, 2B(12), R, 2 K.. SATURDAY’S SCHEDULE AND PITCHING PROBABLES Durham @ St. Paul (7:07 PM CST) - LHP Brent Headrick (3-1, 4.05 ERA) Springfield @ Wichita (6:05 PM CST) - RHP Pierson Ohl (1-2, 4.73 ERA) Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CST) - RHP Kyle Jones (4-4, 4.53 ERA) Fort Myers @ Jupiter (5:30 PM CST) - LHP Jarrett Whorff (2-0, 1.71 ERA) FCL Red Sox @ FCL Twins (9:00 AM CST) - TBD DSL Guardians Red @ DSL Twins (10:00 AM CST) - TBD Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Friday’s games or any other Twins minor league topics! 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With the 2023 MLB Draft now complete, Seth and Jeremy discussed the 21 Minnesota Twins picks. From Walker Jenkins, the 5th overall pick in the draft on Sunday night to Ashton Larson in the 20th round and 19 picks in between. They discussed the players but also the themes from the draft, such as 12 straight college pitchers at one point. Starting the draft with four high school players in their top five picks. Scouting all over the country, high school, college and junior college, Division I, Division II and Division III. View full video

I made that some comp in my mind and sent it to someone... That person then chastised me for comping a draft pick to a Hall of Famer. Ha! But I still like it!

I'm sure everything was done right... There are several others who have had to have a second shortly after returning. It's unfortunate, of course. And now they can do the newer version of UCL surgery (modified TJ). I know Josh Mitchell is coming back from his second TJ surgery in the past couple of years.

It's looking like another Tommy John, from what I've heard.

I love the HS picks. Says a lot about Falvey/Levine/Johnson/Scouts, etc... Who knows if they'll even be around when these kids get to the big leagues, but they're going with the young'ns, and that's awesome. Wickonur is tall, tons of power! Like it!

Baseball is really hard. Getting to the big leagues means that you're incredibly amazing at the game and it's an incredible accomplishment by an organization. but it's not easy, so while we end up expecting so much from the 1st and 2nd round picks, they need to develop at their own pace, and play a lot, and learn from everything, and then we hope.

First, thank you so much for the kind words. Second, while I am very excited about at least 2 of their 3 picks, we should hope that they are excited about these early picks and believe they can all make the big leagues. Of course, they need to sign them and then the work begins of slowly moving up the ladder and development.

Day 1 of the draft is always a lot of fun. When your favorite team has a top-five pick, it's even better. The Minnesota Twins had three of the first 49 picks in the draft. In other words, after a tough afternoon at the ballpark, Sunday was a fun night for Twins fans. Image courtesy of Stephen Brashear, USA Today "It's been a long wait to be able to acquire and draft a player like Walker (Jenkins). It was a thrilling night, and we're super excited to be able to select him," Twins Director of Scouting Sean Johnson said at the end of a long first day of the draft. The general thought heading into the MLB Draft was that there were five elite talents. At that point, there were still a lot of excellent players, but those five were clearly at the top. Rumors, or even conversations, hinting that the Twins might draft a college bat if only a high school player remained from that top five. The strategy is logical. Pick a guy a few spots above where he would likely be picked and sign him for under the slot value. Then, use the saved money to go well above the slot on a player or two in the second or third rounds. A source I trust told me that was never really considered. Of course, it's always necessary to have contingency plans and think through what could happen. Michael Cuddyer has been very active with USA Baseball since his retirement, giving back to an organization that helped his development as a young player. Cuddyer coached the North Carolina native when he was 15 years old and in years since then. Denny Hocking was the manager of Team USA a year ago and coached Jenkins as well. He tweeted, "Twins got a great one in Walker. The fan base is going to fall in love with him." Doug Mientkiewicz tweeted, "Congrats Twins! You just got an ABSOLUTE STUD! Walker Jenkins is the best kid you will ever be around!! Plays with heart and he gets it! You just got a number one pick overall in any other draft!!" The Twins area scout for North Carolina is Ty Dawson. Of Jenkins, Sean Johnson said, "He's a five-tool player. We love his swing. We think he's got a chance for real power. He's a big kid, but he moves pretty well. He can really throw, and we think that he can really defend. You can't ask for much more than that when you're looking for a high school prospect. He's just a well-rounded player and a phenomenal person off the field. We asked a lot of people, and really no one had anything negative to say about Walker, his personality, his character, and his family. Just a great group of people and an awesome kid." Johnson added, "Just to have the opportunity to select a player like that who can do it all and impact the game on both sides is rare and something our group didn't want to pass up on. Another person who is incredibly impressed after spending time with Walker Jenkins is the Twins second draft pick of the night, Charlee Soto. Both players were participating in a Team USA event. Soto said, "I met him last summer at PDP (Player Development Pipeline). Unfortunately, he got injured there and couldn't finish it. He got injured and went to the hospital, but the next day he was at the field to support us. He was always supportive. He was always a leader. He was always getting us stuff in the dugout. He was a very, very humble kid, and I can't wait to get to work with him because I know we're going to bring a lot to Minnesota." In addition to Jenkins, Soto will have another friend in the Twins organization. He knows 2022 draft pick Omari Daniel. "I talk to him every now and then. He loves the process. He's developing every single day. He's told me a lot. Having someone inside the organization helps me a lot." Several players received invitations to attend the draft in Seattle. Asked why it was important for him to be in Seattle, he noted, "Last year, I played in a high school all-star game, and I actually attended the draft in LA. So, seeing all of those guys walk up on the stage after they got drafted, it just showed me that I want to be there one day. I want to be at the draft in person. I saw all the fans that were there cheering. That's a once-in-a-lifetime experience. When I got that email invite, I instantly said 'Yes.'" Charlee Soto stands 6-5. He's already got a big fastball in the mid-90s and has even touched triple-digits. He's worked on a slider and a circle changeup as well. Hocking mentioned to me after Day 1 of the draft was complete that Soto just missed making the National Team last summer. He "didn't feel he threw enough strikes at the time." (Hocking's added comment to me on the Twins first pick, "Walker Jenkins is amazing.”) Johnson said they saw Jenkins a lot in 2022 at events such as the East Coast Pro Challenge, Team USA, etc. "Really sound delivery. He's got three nice pitches now. Obviously, the velocity's there. He's been up to the upper-90s already. He's got a fantastic slider. He's got a really good feel for a changeup, and he throws strikes. Put all those things together, and we think he's got a chance to be a major-league starter. (He's an) awesome kid. (I) Got a chance to spend some time with him at the Combine. He came to a workout we had in Ft. Myers before the Combine. So we've had a lot of different punch points with Charlee. We were super excited that he made it down to our pick, and we're really glad to select him." "I look a lot at Gerrit Cole. Just the way he pitches, the way he does things. I feel like he pitches so calmly, so (passionately). And also, being born in Philly, I looked a lot at Roy Halladay. He was a great arm as well. I was always watching him on YouTube. Anywhere I could, I watched him and learned a lot from those two guys." Born in Philadelphia, the Soto family moved to Kissimmee, Florida, when he was young. He has been to the Twins facilities in Ft. Myers. That's where some of the Team USA trials took place. He said he was impressed by the weight rooms, the facilities, and the cafeteria. He graduated recently from Reborn Christian Academy, and faith is something he says has helped him along the way, particularly in recent days. "Today, I was leaving everything in God's hands because I knew he was going to choose the best route for me, and He did. Being a part of the Twins organization, He put that for me. He was the man in control. I was stressing a little bit, but I wasn't stressing a whole lot because I knew he had big plans for me." A friend of his recently moved to Minnesota. On Saturday, he sent Soto a photo of him in a boat in the middle of the lake and asked him when he was going to join him. "I think it was a sign that I just didn't see." The Twins area scout for central Florida is Brett Dowdy. He and other Twins evaluators saw a lot of Soto over the past couple of years, but he took significant steps forward this spring. Johnson noted, "Early in the spring, our guys were buzzing about how good he was and just how much they loved his pitches, his mound presence, and his ability to manage the game. That was all really positive signals for a group. He was a guy we kind of had circled with our second pick. We didn't know if he would make it, obviously, but we were certainly hopeful going into the night." After drafting two high-ceiling high school players with their first two picks, the Twins went to the college ranks for their second-round pick. Luke Keaschall was the 49th overall pick. He spent two seasons at the University of San Francisco, hitting over .300 in both years and developing his game. He then transferred to Arizona State this past year. In 55 games, he hit .353/.443/.725 (1.168) with 25 doubles and 18 home runs. He also was 18-for-20 in stolen base attempts. Johnson on Keaschall "A wrestling background in high school. A guy who did really well at the University of San Francisco, and then we got to see him a lot more this spring at Arizona State. We were really drawn to him. He's just a dynamic athlete. I think he's got a chance to play a lot of different positions. Offensively, he controls the strike zone. I think he had 18 home runs this spring. He takes good at-bats and has a chance to play all over the diamond. We'll figure out where he fits in eventually. And a terrific kid. One of our favorites that we connected with at the Combine. We think the makeup is a separator. It's special, which is rare. Most guys are more in the middle. We really fell in love with Luke." The "Four Corners" area scout for the Twins is Chandler Wagoner. Arguably, the night's best moment came after the Twins third pick. Television cameras finally showed the Twins draft room. In it, there was a jersey with the name Radcliff on it. All of the scouts were wearing a white visor, just like the one Mike Radcliff wore to ballparks all over the country, all over the globe. It was a really nice, emotional moment and was important to many in the organization. Johnson said they were hoping it would happen earlier in the night, but they were thrilled it happened. "We wanted to have the jersey in the shot, and we all came up with the idea. It was for our scouting brethren. The scouts that knew Mike well, they always saw him in a visor. That was his look pretty much every game he went to. That was our way of paying tribute to him so that other people in the industry would understand right away. We finally got the shot. It was a beautiful moment." Johnson tried to recall his thoughts on Jenkins and the other picks. "The last time we saw him together was at the Perfect Game All-American Game in Phoenix in late August. That's when he put the highest 'follow' he could on Walker. I remember reading that report when it came in. Maybe this is Mike saying this is who he wants if he's not here when the draft gets here. He was a big Walker Jenkins fan; I'll say that. And he saw Charlee Soto as well. He was right in line with how we thought about him. He thought he was a first-day talent. I know he's smiling. We thought about him a lot after we took Walker Jenkins." The scouts headed to their hotel rooms after the draft was complete. Hopefully, they can all get some good rest. But more work will be done on Monday afternoon when the draft resumes. Starting at 1:00 central time, teams will make their Rounds 3 through 10 picks. "We'll resume in the morning before we get going. We'll just kind of stare at the board and kind of map out a plan for the next few rounds. (Day 2) is seemingly always the most hectic day because you're constantly pivoting, as your board falls apart, to different scenarios and ideas. Signabilities change overnight and into tomorrow. We collect as much information as we can on where agents are with players and how to proceed after that. We'll get going a few hours before the draft starts and try to prepare as best we can." There is reason for excitement about the Twins first day of the draft. All three players are exciting, as you would hope from Top 50 picks. Be sure to stop by Twins Daily all afternoon to find out who the next seven players will become members of the Twins organization. Discuss in the comments below what you think of the Twins choices, what you might have done differently and more. View full article

And, Cam Johnson and Jack Hurley are still available. Johnson must be pretty set with his commitment to LSU. That has to be why he hasn't been taking. He even had Big Frank Thomas advocating for him tonight. I like the Tanner Schobel comp. Sean Johnson said that the scouts absolutely love him. I wonder if he might be a little under slot?

Horvath went to the Orioles with the #53 overall pick in the draft!

I mean, he was there and they took him, so ...

Heard they never even considered other guys assuming Jenkins was available.

Shocking! No, not shocking that he likes the Jenkins pick... shocking that he actually said something nice to and about the Twins!

How is this measured? Having a Top 10 prospect? Because Lewis and Kirilloff have been Top 10 global prospects in the past. Top 100 types? Jeffers, Larnach, Julien, Rodriguez, Miranda, Ryan, Balazovic were all Top 100 prospects at some point. The Twins minor-league system likely ranks in the bottom 3rd of organizations right now. It's definitely not a top system right now. It remains a deep organization, especially as it relates to pitching (which is so weird as a Twins fan). Not Top 100 guys, but definitely guys who can help in the big leagues with continued development.

Curious what you thought Lee would be hitting at AA? He leads the league in doubles. He's playing good defense. He's a good eye at the plate. If he was hitting .280/.364/.438 (.802), would he still be considered failure in your eyes? If he puts up those numbers in the big leagues that'd be fantastic. And that's 15 points of batting average, which is a few bloopers falling in.

It's a good point and one we probably don't think about enough. Getting through that first full season is a real grind, and I often hear from players who adjust their offseason workout schedule and strain to adapt for Year 2.