Seth Stohs

Just a great article from Michael Russo and Dan Hayes on The Athletic, and this video is fantastic. If you have The Athletic, be sure to read the article too.

Seth Stohs talks to 2021 draftee and right-handed starter, Pierson Ohl. Taken in the 14th round of the 2021 MLB draft, Ohl had a dominant career in college, culminating in a Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year award. View full video

Yeah, I would definitely not include Max Kepler on this list... Joe Benson would make mine... maybe the "What If" of if Kevin Slowey hadn't been hit in the wrist by a comebacker.

Glen is cool, and was very good... But Joe Nathan should be in the Billy Wagner category. He should be in that 25-40% range. Glen may get a vote or two.

There is. Right under the article...

And their sons and nephews and grandkids and, and, and...

I'm sure. Ryan Smith will be an MLB hitting coach. Tha managers are good too , hard to know what roles might open up.

Yup, he's been around for a couple of years now, and yes... some legacy stuff there... and assumptions... but he's a smart guy in his own right. He's getting some good experience too.

On Wednesday, the Minnesota Twins and their affiliates announced their managers and coaching staffs for the 2022 season. In addition, the full Player Development staff was announced. All four full-season affiliates will have their 2021 manager return to lead them again in 2022. The St. Paul Saints will be led again by Toby Gardenhire. Ramon Borrego will be managing the Wichita Wind Surge. Brian Dinkelman returns to the Cedar Rapids Kernels, and Brian Meyer will be again managing the Ft. Myers Mighty Mussels. Player Development Staff and Minor League Coordinators Alex Hassan returns for his third season as Director of Player Development. His assistant directors will be Drew MacPhail and Tommy Bergjans. Brian Maloney starts his sixth year as the senior manager of minor league operations. Kevin Morgan was on the Twins big league coaching staff much of last season as an additional coach following the loss of Mike Bell. He is returning to the role he was hired by the Twins in 2020 to hold, Minor League Field Coordinator. Edgar Varela had been the Twins hitting coach the previous two seasons. He returns to his roots as the Coordinator of Instruction. Justin Willard will return for his second season as the Twins Pitching Coordinator. Zach Bove will be the assistant pitching coordinator. Nat Ballenberg will also be a pitching coordinator for "special projects." Bryce Berg joined the Twins organization a year ago and was the Cedar Rapids hitting coach. This year, he will be the organization's Minor League Hitting Coordinator. Tucker Frawley will take over as Infield and Catching Coordinator. They are new to those specific positions. A year ago, Donegal Fergus (hitting coordinator), Billy Boyer (infield and base running coordinator) and Michael Thomas (catching coordinator) were let go during spring training. Mike Quade returns for his fifth season as the Outfield Coordinator. St. Paul Saints Toby Gardenhire (39) returns for his second season at the Saints' helm. He was to be the Rochester Red Wings manager in the 2020 season that didn't happen. Before that, he was a manager in Cedar Rapids and Ft. Myers. Matt Borgschulte was the Saints Hitting Coach in 2021, but he is now one of the MLB hitting coaches for the Baltimore Orioles. Ryan Smith takes over the hitting coach duties in St. Paul. He had been with Wichita a year ago and Cedar Rapids the previous two seasons. He coached in the Arizona Fall League in 2021 as well. Cibney Bello returns to the Saints as one of their pitching coaches. It is his seventh season in the organization and second with the Saints. He will be joined by former big-leaguer Virgil Vasquez (Pirates, Tigers). He is in his eighth season as a coach in the Twins organization. Last year, he was in Wichita. Mike McCarthy was one of the team's pitching coaches in 2021, but he has joined the San Diego Padres organization in the same role. Tyler Smarslok will return as the Saints' defensive coach. He also coached first base most of the season. Wichita Wind Surge Ramon Borrego returns to the Wind Surge after they won the division title in 2021. He is in his 12th season as a manager in the organization. “We are thrilled to have Ramon back in Wichita and look forward to the season,” said Jordan Kobritz, Wind Surge CEO. “Ramon and his staff did a fantastic job developing players last season, with two Wind Surge players promoted to the Majors and several others to Triple A.” Derek Shomon was named the team's hitting coach, the role he performed in 2021 for Ft. Myers. Joe Mangiameli returns as the team's catching coach. Wichita will have two new pitching coaches in 2022. Peter Larson jumps up from Low-A Ft. Myers this year. He is in his fourth year in the organization. Dan Urbina is also in his fourth season with the Twins. He was a pitching coach in the FCL a year ago. Luis Ramirez had been one of the team's pitching coaches in 2021. He has joined the Twins big-league staff. Cedar Rapids Kernels Former Twins infielder Brian Dinkelman returns for his third season as Kernels manager. Before that, hew as the team's hitting coach. Dinkelman said, “I’m looking forward to another exciting season of baseball in Cedar Rapids. I’m excited to be back as manager of the Kernels and the opportunity to play in front of the home crowd. It should be another great season at the ballpark.” Jairo Rodriguez returns for his second season as a coach for the Kernels. It is his 15th season in the Twins organization. He played from 2007 through 2016 before joining the organization's coaching ranks. In fact, he played for the 2013 Cedar Rapids Kernels, the first year as a Twins affiliate. Shawn Schlechter moves up from the FCL as a hitting coach. Mark Moriarity and Richard Salazar will both return to the Kernels as their co-pitching coaches in 2022. Kernels General Manager, Scott Wilson, “I am very excited to have nearly the entire coaching staff back from last year. These are the coaches that took us to game 5 of the playoffs, after a year off. They are very competitive, and great with our fans. We are lucky to have this quality staff, with a couple new names, back for another year. Bring on April 8th!” Ft. Myers Mighty Mussels Brian Meyer was set to be the hitting coach a year ago for the Mussels, but when Aaron Sutton retired from the coaching world before spring training, Meyer was named manager. Takashi Miyoshi, who managed the FCL Twins a year ago and has worked in Elizabethton and other roles in the organization, will be the bench coach. Rayden Sierra, hired in April of 2021, will be the hitting coach again in 2022. Former big-leaguer Carlos Hernandez will return for his fifth season in the organization, third straight year as a pitching coach for Ft. Myers. He pitched for the Astros from 2001-2004. Jared Gaynor in the other pitching coach. He is in his fourth season in the organization. “We have a development-driven staff with a lot of diversity in our backgrounds and within the game, which will help us all continue to grow,” Meyer said. “With Ray Sierra and Carlos Hernandez returning, we have experience in navigating through the demands of the league, which in turn we can help the players adjust to.” Florida Complex League Seth Feldman will be the first-year manager for the FCL Twins after managing in the Dominican Summer League (DSL) the past two years). He will have four hitting coaches. Former Twins minor leaguer Yeison Perez returns while Andrew DiTullio, Emilio Guerrero and Luis Reyes are the others. Former big leaguer Calvin Maduro and Bobby Hearn return to the FCL pitching coach role. They are joined by Erick Julio as a third pitching coach. In addition, Brad McKenney will be the team's analytics coach. Anders Dzurak will be the rehab pitching coach. Dominican Summer League Rafael Martinez will be the manager for the DSL Twins. It is his first year in the organization. Ricardo Nanita returns for his second season as a hitting coach. Ruben Santana, a middle infielder in the Twins organization from 2015-2021 will also be a hitting coach. Jimmy Alvarez will be an infield coach for the team. He has coached in the DSL going all the way back to 2009. DJ Engle will be a pitching coach for the second straight season. Kevin Rodriguez returns for his fourth season as a pitching coach. View full article

I like Luis... I think he's so much fun to watch, and in a game that has so much swing-and-miss, it's fun to watch him own an at bat. That said, I think the knees are really a concern, and I would rather just go year-to-year. I don't think it's a whole lot more, even if he keeps hitting .300 every year by just going year-to-year. And frankly, an extension in two years with him may not look a lot different than this even if he keeps hitting for average.

So the age-old question becomes... Would you rather see the Twins sign one $4 million guy or four $1 million guy... or 40 guys at $100,000?

I'm pretty sure his defense was bad enough that most wouldn't give him a chance. He was really bad back there. But he was a fantastic singles hitter, didn't strike out, battled like crazy. He made the most of his talent.

Others signed by the Twins today... (per Ben Badler, Baseball America.) Yasser Mercedes, OF, Dominican Republic Yilber Herrera, SS, Dominican Republic Bryan Acuña, SS, Venezuela Jose Rodriguez, OF, Dominican Republic Anderson Nova, OF, Dominican Republic Juan Zapata, SS, Dominican Republic Daniel Peña, C, Twins

Thank you, and yes, I believe in humanizing the players, reminding us that they're more than names in box scores and on stat sheets. And, frankly, most of them are just good dudes, living and working toward the dream that many of us likely had.

I appreciate the thoughts... Those SethSpeaks days were fun, but I am definitely glad to be doing this now... Thank you again, and there's always something positive!

And another thing I didn't really write is that for the most part, I do wait until players are in the FCL/GCL before ranking them. I probably could have, maybe should have, included Danny De Andrade, but he may be the lone DSL exception and that's really only because he got a big bonus.

Having tough decisions on the 40-man is a good thing, so I agree, it's deep. But what's funny is that most years when it comes down to who to add, etc., it becomes pretty easy. And they can make trades if they want. From a pitching standpoint, we all know most teams use a lot of pitchers in a season, so this is good.

I agree... definitely fun to see these guys play.

I think I'm OK with that. HA! And hey, I might as well hone up to it. We're talking about prospect rankings here... And maintaining these lists is tough. Ha! Also, I'm not the smartest person you'll ever meet. Jordan Gore is intriguing to me too... not just because of his transition from infielder to pitcher, and not just because he had a really good year... Having watched him quite a bit, it's that he has three pitches. He's put the time and work in to not just be a one-pitch pitcher. I think it's pretty impressive.

On LHP... there is a fourth with Moran, but I don't necessarily think that drafting lefty starters was a huge priority. I remember asking Sean Johnson about that after day 2 (when they had drafted Hajjar, Povich and MacLeod)... and he said that they take the player they are most convicted in. Pitching is obviously a priority, and getting lefties is a good thing, but I don't think it was a strategy. As for the International players not being represented here... I'm not exactly sure what to make of it, or if it's even a bad thing. The international signings on here, for the most part, are the guys that got big signings bonuses (Rodriguez, Urbina, Javier, Severino)... I think also that the guys signed from the Dominican or Venezuela are 16. That's so far away from the big leagues. Many spend two years in the DSL before getting to the GCL/FCL, so we don't even know their names for 3 years after they sign unless they're one of the big names. The Twins draft college guys after the first couple of rounds, pretty much, as a strategy. They come in and have an immediate impact. Look at all the pitchers from the 2019 draft class on this list. We know them and see their stuff because they're in Ft. Myers or Cedar Rapids, etc. So I just think more are visible... maybe.

Over the past several weeks, I have shared my Twins Top 30 Hitting and Top 30 Pitching prospect rankings. This is the first time the information has been presented this way, and based on feedback, it is a positive thing. That said, I wanted to summarize what had been posted, so enjoy. Again, I certainly think that the Twins system is strong. It likely won’t be a Top 10 organization by the national publications, but I legitimately think that as many as 25 or more from each of the lists can play in the big leagues with continued development, health, and of course a little luck. Before getting too far, let’s take a look at the two lists... And before I do that, I will acknowledge my mistakes. (Yes, I make them from time to time...) 1.) I switched shortstops Jermaine Palacios and Wander Javier in my rankings. I showed Palacios ranking as the #25 hitter with Javier checking in at #15. Those should be reversed. 2.) I was looking at my living Twins Top 152 prospect rankings (Yes, I have one, and no, not going to share it) for this summary and realized that I just missed RHP Austin Schulfer. I have placed him in where I had ranked him among pitchers and overall in the below charts. I acknowledged in one of the pitcher articles that while it is a good start to split up the Hitters and Pitchers, there was a logical additional separation that is needed... Starting Pitchers and Relief Pitchers. You see, right or wrong, I still have it in my head that a #3 of #4 starter is still going to through 150-160 innings a season while even the best relievers will throw 60-70 innings in a season. Fair? Not necessarily because no one is questioning the importance of a quality bullpen. Twins fans certainly understand that need. And, maybe it's something that will change in time. If we're being honest, we have seen pitching roles change over the past few years and I would expect that will continue. Aside from the top starting pitchers, most starters are only going through the batting order twice, pitching four or five innings. That is making the value of relievers much more important. So, I did want to take a few minutes and also provide my list of the top 15 Twins relief pitching prospects. Top 15 Relief Pitching Prospects 1. Jovani Moran, LHP 2. Osiris German, RHP 3. Yennier Cano, RHP 4. Jordan Gore, RHP 5. Steven Cruz, RHP 6. Ryan Mason, RHP 7. Alex Scherff, RHP 8. Denny Bentley, LHP 9. Zach Featherstone, LHP 10. Ryan Shreve, RHP 11. Derek Molina, RHP 12. Zach Neff, LHP 13. David Festa, RHP 14. Josh Mitchell, LHP 15. Melvi Acosta, RHP Again, that is a really good group. The top five were included among the Top 30 Pitching Prospects, and likely #6 through #12 on this list would have appeared very soon. Seth's Top 50 Twins Prospects (Clicking on the player links will bring you to a list of any article that player has been tagged in on Twins Daily. It's fun to look back and see how they've progressed, and other interesting information from their careers.) Royce Lewis, SS (Hitter 1) Jose Miranda, IF (H2) Austin Martin, SS/OF (H3) Matt Canterino, RHP (Pitcher 1) Joe Ryan, RHP (P2) Jordan Balazovic, RHP (P3) Simeon Woods Richardson, RHP (P4) Josh Winder, RHP (P5) Chase Petty, RHP (P6) Marco Raya, RHP (P7) Jhoan Duran, RHP (P8) Cade Povich, LHP (P9) Noah Miller, SS (H4) Emmanuel Rodriguez, OF (H5) Steve Hajjar, LHP (P10) Kala’I Rosario, OF (H6) Blayne Enlow, RHP (P11) Gilberto Celestino, OF (H7) Louie Varland, RHP (P12) Spencer Steer, IF (H8) Cole Sands, RHP (P13) Edouard Julien, IF (H9) Sawyer Gipson-Long, RHP (P14) Drew Strotman, RHP (P15) Aaron Sabato, 1B (H10) Matt Wallner, OF (H11) Misael Urbina, OF (H12) Jovani Moran, LHP (P16) Casey Legumina, RHP (P17) Keoni Cavaco, SS (H13) Chris Vallimont, RHP (P18) Christian Encarnacion-Strand, 3B (H14) Jermaine Palacios, SS (H15) Regi Grace, RHP (P19) Yunior Severino, IF (H16) Alerick Soularie, OF (H17) Jair Camargo, C (H18) Osiris German, RHP (P20) Christian MacLeod, LHP (P21) Alex Isola, C/1B (H19) Sean Mooney, RHP (P22) Yennier Cano, RHP (P23) Austin Schulfer, RHP (P24) Jeferson Morales, C/OF (H20) Seth Gray, 3B (H21) Will Holland, SS/CF (H22) Cody Laweryson, RHP (P24) Jordan Gore, RHP (P25) Mark Contreras, OF (H23) Charlie Mack, C (H24) Notes It is hard not to notice that the top three prospects are hitters. However, prospects four through 12 are all pitchers. Frankly, an argument could be made that those nine pitchers could be fairly interchangeable. If you were to tell me that Jhoan Duran or Josh Winder or Chase Petty should rank fourth, I'm not going to argue too vehemently. More important than the actual ranking is that the Twins have a lot of pitchers with not only big-league potential, but they have potential to be playoff starters in the future. I noted this throughout the series, particularly in the comments, but it's important to note who is no longer eligible for prospect status. On the mound, Bailey Ober, Griffin Jax , and Ralph Garza, Jr. surpassed rookie qualifications. Alex Kirilloff, Trevor Larnach, Ryan Jeffers, Brent Rooker, Ben Rortvedt, and Nick Gordon are no longer "prospects" either. For those curious, Lewis Thorpe, Devin Smeltzer, Randy Dobnak, Cody Stashak and Jorge Alcala were not rookies in 2021 after their big-league time in 2020. Breakdown (Pitchers): Right-Handed Starting Pitchers (19), Left-Handed Starting Pitchers (3), Right-Handed Relief Pitchers (3), Left-Handed Relief Pitchers (1). All three left-handed starters were drafted in 2021. Breakdown (Position Players): Catchers (4), Infielders (13), Outfielders (7). Obviously versatility is important in the organization and several players got time in multiple spots. I tried to include them where they played most often. How Acquired: Drafted by Twins (35), Acquired in Trade (8), International Signing (6), Minor League Signing (1, Jermaine Palacios). This is a large number, but more important, three of the top 7 prospects were acquired in July. 13 of these 50 players are on the Twins 40-man roster, so if there is no new Collective Bargaining Agreement, they will not be able to start spring training. They can't just go to minor league spring training. Several have told me (in the Twins organization and elsewhere ) that Covid could potentially have rippling negative impact on organizations and player development for a couple of years. Obviously that is primarily regarding pitchers, but there can also be hitters who will hopefully get their groove back again in 2022. It's also important to remember that a pitcher drafted out of college in 2019 was likely 21-22 years old. With the missed 2020 season, they pitched in 2021 at 23-24. Four-year college players even a year older. While age-to-level of competition is often a factor in prospect rankings, and it needs to be, it's my opinion that it has almost no bearing right now on what a pitcher can be as we move forward, and if they come up at 24 or 26 isn't a very big deal. So when I read comments like, "Well, Pitcher A is already 24, he has to be rushed up now..." I can't disagree more. As always, what makes doing these rankings fun is the interaction with the readers. Here at Twins Daily, I believe we have the best Twins minor league coverage around, and we have a lot of our readers and writers that have a strong interest in learning more. These lists serve many purposes. First, it's to highlight players that deserve to be talked about. Second, it's fun to think we are smart and that there is some science to these prospect rankings. I've done Twins prospect rankings going back to 2003 or 2004 online. It is not a science. These are kids, working their way up an organizational ladder, just like many kids just out of high school or college. The develop at different rates. They work hard. They get hurt. Things happen and they don't always pan out. So, we need to give them credit when we can, and we can dream on them helping our favorite team become a viable, consistent winning team. I enjoy the comments section. I enjoy being challenged. I try not to run from questions you ask while also being respectful of the players and their families. So please discuss these players and more in the comments. And also, please let us know what you want to see from Twins Daily's minor league coverage in 2022? What can we do better? What would you like to see more of, or less of? Your feedback helps us so much and we want to continue to improve. Twins Spotlight Several of these Twins players have been a guest on Twins Spotlight over the past two offseasons. We have now had 51 episodes. To look back and see who we have interviewed and listen back to them, click here. Previous Rankings (To look back at what I wrote about the 60 players, click below) Hitters Part 1: 26-30 Hitters Part 2: 21-25 Hitters Part 3: 16-20 Hitters Part 4: 11-15 Hitters Part 5: 6-10 Hitters Part 6: 1-5 Pitchers Part 1: 26-30 Pitchers Part 2: 21-25 Pitchers Part 3: 16-20 Pitchers Part 4: 11-15 Pitchers Part 5: 6-10 Pitchers Part 6: 1-5 View full article