Seth Stohs

When else in recent years did they acquire young arms via trade? Scott Diamond came through the Rule 5 draft. In the last several drafts, they have clearly gone after some power arms. Ben Tootle threw 100. Matt Bashore threw 97 before all his arm issues. Billy Bullock was in the upper-90s. Kyle Gibson hits 94, but he has "out" pitches. Wimmer's changeup was considered on 'out' pitch. In the 2012 draft, they drafted a lot of power arms (Bard's FB/SL, Melotakis (98), Chargois (97), Jones (100). Tyler Jones hits 95. Santana touched 96, I guess, but he was generally 91-92 with the FB. His changeup was his 'out' pitch.

I don't think it's really a change in philosophy as much as finding a guy who has that kind of stuff in the draft at that spot.

I'll be honest. I can certainly see him jumping up to #3. I'd be a little surprised if he gets above Sano and Buxton, but if he does make the case to be considered for #1, we all will be very happy!! He does have some serious talent and potential.

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?r=1353-TD-Twins-Top-Prospects-8-JO-Berrios

Age: 18 (DOB: 05/27/94) 2012 Stats (Rookie): 3-0, 30.2 IP, 1.17 ERA, 0.62 WHIP, 49/4 K/ BB ETA: 2016 The 2012 draft was very important for the Minnesota Twins. Instead of drafting college players, the Twins used their first two picks on high school players. They took OF Byron Buxton with the #2 overall pick. With their first supplemental first-round selection, compensation for having lost Michael Cuddyer to the Rockies in free agency, the Twins took right-handed pitcher, Jose (JO) Berrios. The Twins made him the highest drafted pitcher every from Puerto Rico. It didn’t take long for him to agree to sign for a $1.55 million bonus, exactly the slot amount for the 32nd selection. Berrios had a very impressive debut season. After reporting to Ft. Myers, he began his career with the Gulf Coast League Twins. He pitched in eight games. He was used in relief the first seven appearances before making one start. He went 1-0 with four saves. In 16.2 innings, he gave up just seven hits, walked three and struckout 27 of the 62 batters he faced. On August 6th, Berrios and Buxton were promoted to the Advanced Rookie Elizabethton Twins. Berrios made three starts for the E-Twins and went 2-0. In 14 innings, he gave up just eight hits, walked one and struckout 22 of the 51 batters he faced. [ATTACH=CONFIG]3203[/ATTACH] What made him so successful in his first season of pro ball? According to the Twins new Director of Minor League Operations Brad Steil, “He was confident, aggressive, and attacked with his fastball. He also located his fastball pretty well and used his off-speed more effectively as the year progressed.” The Good Although statistics don’t tell the full story in the lowest levels of the minor leagues, Berrios posted some amazing numbers in the GCL and was even better once he started making starts in Elizabethton. The statistic that jumps off the page is the 49:4 strikeout to walk ratio that he posted. It speaks to his control, but when an 18-year-old kid dominates in a league (Appalachian) where the average age of the hitters is 20.2, we can also conclude that he has some pretty electric stuff. Berrios is blessed with a very strong arm. He touched as high as 98 mph although his average fastball was in the 93-95 range. More important, his fastball has a great amount of natural movement. Along with great control of his fastball, he has some secondary pitches that could become plus big league pitches. He throws a slider that is already quite good. It sits in the low 80s and is sharp. He also is throwing a changeup that has room for improvement but the mechanics with it are very good. Add in that he is very athletic and has a consistent, repeatable delivery. Mike Radcliff is the Twins Director of Player Personnel. Understanding the importance of the 2012 draft to the Twins future, he also played a very active role in scouting. He had several wonderful things to say about Berrios. “He has a very good fastball, with velocity and life. He also has good confidence. He has good command and keeps the ball down in the zone, “he added, “He has a focus, and an aggressiveness on the field and desire and dedication in his daily approach.” Steil said, “I would say that he showed good mound presence and pitch-ability for his age.” The Bad Berrios has a tremendous upside, but let’s not forget that he has a long ways to go to reach the big leagues and much more developing to do. According to Radcliff, “Like all young pitchers, he will have to improve his pitchability. He will have stuff and control, but he will need to develop his approach and style. The development of his breaking pitches and whether or not he’ll be able to use his changeup will dictate his ultimate role and ceiling.” Steil adds, “He will need to locate his off-speed pitches more consistently and develop at least one of them into a go-to out pitch.” Berrios is listed at just 6-0, a height that often is deemed “too short” to be a major league pitcher (or an NFL quarterback, right, Russell Wilson?). But Radcliff does not seem worried about that with the lanky Berrios. “He is a very good athlete with a durable frame. Despite his lesser bulk, he has a resilient arm which allows him to have upside and projection to all of his pitches.” The Bottom Line Although many teams did not think that JO Berrios would be drafted in the 1st round, the Twins were convinced of his talent, his stuff, his make-up and most important, his potential. His first-year, rookie league performance certainly was an indication that the Twins were right in their conviction. He had a remarkable season and showed the characteristics that made the Twins like him. He is just 18 years old and has room for improvement and development, as you would expect. He also has the potential to be a top-of-the-rotation starter. Will Berrios begin his season in Cedar Rapids, and how quickly can he move up? Mike Radcliff said, “Will will be diligent to place him in environments that will allow him to have success and develop simultaneously. His advancement will be determined by his ability to apply his talent along with his natural maturation to handle the pro baseball environment.” Brad Steil added, “I would say that he showed good mound presence and pitch-ability for his age. It’s possible he could move fairly quickly, depending on how quickly his off-speed pitches improve. The Midwest League will be a good challenge for him.” I had done quite a bit of research on potential Twins draft choices. I read quite a bit and watched several videos of Berrios. I immediately liked that the Twins made him the 32nd overall pick last summer. However, when I saw the below video of Berrios showing his reaction to being drafted by the Twins, I absolutely loved the pick. [video=youtube;8p-A5jDpHYk] [TD’s Top Ten Prospects: #10: Max Kepler] [TD’s Top Ten Prospects: #9: Trevor May]

If I were a player, I would certainly want Boras representing me.. He gets good deals for his clients, and at the end of the day, Mark Appel is Boras's boss. If Appel wanted to sign, he absolutely could have. I don't blame Boras, Appel is back in college because apparently he wanted to for some reason.

A tweet minutes ago from Friend of Twins Daily, Darren "Doogie" Wolfson, "Asked a #MNTwins source if it's random that Jose Contreras is working out at their facility, or if a signing is coming. Answer: "Random.""

not only 7 in the top 10, but 7 in the top 65. That's pretty incredible!

Worked well for Matt Harrington, didn't it?

The rosters are finalized about 4-5 days before their seasons start. Guessing: Sano, Rosario, Michael start in FM. Kepler in Cedar Rapids. I'd also say there's a pretty decent chance that Berrios and Buxton are in CR.

For those unaware, Jeremy is the official Unofficial Draft Expert of Twins Daily who we should make official! (Or something like that). I'm told that this draft is "horrible", but they will certainly take someone at #4 with some major upside. I do love what the Astros did in the 2012 draft. They took Correia as much for signability as for the fact that he is a legit hitting talent, but they used the extra $2.4 million he signed below the cap and took Lance McCullers and gave him $2.5 million and also got Rio Ruiz in the 4th round and went overslot for him.

Liriano and Neshek, but again, they are by far the exceptions.

My general thought would be no, they shouldn't sign him. However, before the Tommy John surgery, he was pitching very well, even closing, for the Phillies. On a minor league deal, of course I'd have no problem with bringing him in. Also, Watkins will be the Cedar Rapids hitting coach. Jake Mauer will manage. Watkins lives in Ft. Myers and is incredibly active at the Twins facilities throughout the offseason.

Baseball America's book says Arcia will start the season in New Britain. But the Twins have lots of outfielders. Besides Bigley and Ramirez in Rochester, they also have Clete Thomas, Brandon Boggs, Hicks, Arcia, Benson. Roberts could move all the way to AA. Ray will. Morales most likely will. Rams likely needs to get to AA this year. Tons of options.

I think Left Field will be his position as well. He played CF the whole Elizabethton season... until they brought Byron Buxton up and Kepler moved over to LF. I do think it's smart to continue to give him work at 1B as well, just in case there is a need there sometime in the future. It will be interesting to see if the Twins (or if he forces the Twins to) add him to the 40 man roster following the upcoming season.

It's "Insider" ESPN stuff, so be sure to add the link: St. Louis Cardinals lead Keith Law's ranking of all 30 farm systems - MLB - ESPN

If he was saying he wasn't going to sign for less than $120 million and saying hat he didn't intend to stay... yup. The Twins offered Santana $100 million. They also gave Torii Hunter $42 million at the same time in his career that they gave Joe Mauer his $42 million deal. (which was pretty much the same deal they gave to Santana at the same time in his career).

You realize that this is the exact same approach used by Tom Kelly, right? All it is saying is that you play the game that day, then you play the game the next day then. Any other thinking is what should be considered wrong.

completely agree. If the internet and blogosphere would have been around when Hank Aaron and Willie Mays and MIckey Mantle and any of history's great players played, people would have realized that they weren't always great, they had slumps, they stuggled. IF may have been worse back when guys like KIllebrew had to spend their teen years in the big leagues rather than develop.

I'm optimistic for a .680-.700 OPS this year from Dozier. I think he can hit .270ish/.330ish/.360ish. He could get to double-digit home runs. If he can have that IsoD around .060-.080, he would be fine in that #2 spot in the lineup.

Thanks for blogging. Hopefully you will continue to do so... but, got to add to the discussion: 1.) Gardy/Andy - you don't think that Gardy enjoys having hitters like Morneau, Mauer, Willingham, Doumit, and Plouffe arround? You don't think they appreciated having a healthy, pre-TJ Liriano or Johan Santana or Joe Nathan or healthy Juan Rincon? 2.) Mijares was making a statement of some sort for himself, not for the team. Gardy/Delmon were right. He also didn't exactly pitch well before the Twins decided to let him go, so I can't quite get on board with that one. Orlando Cabrera did a nice job for 2 months with the Twins. He was OK at best the following year (2010) and the Twins brought in JJ Hardy to play SS, and Cabrera was horrible in 2011. It's hard to be upset about not bringing him back. 3.) The Yankees have a no-facial hair policy. How has that been negative for them? Also, I'll let others jump on you for the playing the old "race" card. The Twins have a history with black players and have definitely improved their presence in Latin America in recent years as well.

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?r=1348-Brian-Dozier-Learned-Lots-from-2012-Looks-Forward-to-2013!