All three are in Ft. Myers rehabbing. I think the thought is that all three will pitch in 2014, but most likely not right away. Rosario has his Tommy John surgery in late April, and Romero's was in early July (so he may miss the full season). Landa had shoulder surgery, so he could be ready in the midseason. No buzz on Felix Jorge. He'll need to show he can succeed in Cedar Rapids this year.
Based on their high-dollar international signing status, and big-time power potential, it'd be disappointing if Diaz and Minier are not Top 20 guys a year from now. Vielma is an interesting one. I don't know that he will ever hit enough to be a Top 20 guy, but he should continue to move up the ladder because he's probably the best defensive infielder I've seen in my 5-6 years of going to the Twins Midwest League affiliates. That's hugely valuable to an organization and potentially to a big league roster, but it doesn't necessarily show up on prospect rankings.
I think that, whether he gets to Chattanooga right away or after starting the season back in FM, Travis Harrison's power will show up more in AA than in High-A. That's not to say he'll get to the Twins or hit 27 homers in 2015, I think he'll regain his status as a prospect.
Before last season, I think I had Santana at 15 and Vargas at 19 or so. This is an interesting question. I guess for me, Santana would probably be somewhere between 6 and 8. Vargas would probably be around 10-12. (This is kind of top of head, but I think those are good ranges)
I like Hicks. He's got good power, and he is solid around first base. Reasons he isn't ranked higher. He's a big guy, long swing. RBI don't factor into prospect rankings. He is older than much of his competition. Hasn't hit a lot of home runs considering his size.
Honestly, even that's not an easy question to answer because it's almost pitcher to pitcher. There are a lot of pitchers who can't throw strikes or be around the plate much at all. Fielding isn't great. The fields aren't great. You can still look at BB/K rates. I always like extra base hits. But in the DSL, age to level of competition is the thing that will tell you which ones are probably the best prospects.
There are several, which always makes the start of each new season so much fun. Which minor leaguers will come out of nowhere to become prospects. I think Jorge Fernandez and Brian Navaretto will be fun to watch (possibly both in Cedar Rapids). I also would not give up on Alex Wimmers or Ryan Eades. Both have enough stuff to pitch in the big leagues. Wimmers will be in his second full year back, so he should get back to showing why he was a late first round pick. Eades has good enough stuff, just needs to be more consistent from pitch-to-pitch.
We considered a lot of guys. When we put some lists together, we had about 40 names. Ha! I'd say guys like Chih-Wei Hu and Zack Jones were probably the closest to being included. Mitch Garver was brought up.
C - Stuart Turner 1B - Dalton Hicks (Kepler) 2B - Levi Michael SS - Jorge Polanco 3B - Miguel Sano LF - Eddie Rosario (if he's at AAA, Travis Harrison) CF - Byron Buxton RF - Max Kepler (Walker) DH - Adam Brett Walker (Kepler, Hicks, etc.) That's a pretty solid lineup of prospects.
At noon (central time) on Saturday, I will answer question on the Twins Daily Top 20 Prospect list, and any Twins minor league topics right here. If you'd like to ask a question (or questions), please just leave them below and I will answer them. Please ask just one question in each comment, please. That will make it easier to respond. You can start asking questions now, but I won't start answering them until noon.
I feel horrible for Profar, and yet I also feel bad for the Rangers. They made the unfortunate mistake of calling him up at 19 and now his two missed years is going to mean he'll be a Super-2 after this year with hardly any playing time. I don't like that Buxton and Sano got hurt for 2014, but at least they weren't accumulating service time at the same time. Profar has major talent. The Rangers aren't going to dump him. He won't make much in arbitration because he hasn't played. he's still young and has so much potential.
Mike Berardino shared many thoughts from Twins Minor League Director Brad Steil. He talked about Lewis Thorpe, Jorge Polanco, Niko Goodrum, Travis Harrison, Eddie Rosario, Wilkin Ramirez and more in this article. Lots of really good nuggets.
It's been written many times at TD that he used his slider in 2014. It was used sparingly, but it was used. It was because of all those reasons. He was 19, don't want him using it all the time, and do need him to have the other pitches.
Remember that Mike Berardino did the Twins list, and they have a group of others that determine the overall Top 100. They don't have to match... though it would make more sense if it did.
Ironically, there are three examples listed in the article, and a link to almost all of the Tommy John surgeries in history with date of surgery and date of return. His weight has been listed on this site and in the Prospect Handbook and other places several times in the last year, including in the article.
One thing I'm curious for reader thoughts on... what do you think is a fair, reasonable timeline for "shaking off rust?" I asked the question in the article, and the obvious/correct answer is that there is no way to know for any one individual, but what do people think? Do we think he'll shake it off in spring training? It took Rosario months to shake off his rust from missing 50 games, and Sano missed a full season. What are you thinking/hoping/expecting?