Steve Lein

You obviously need an Insider account to view the full list with his scouting notes, but Law put out his Top 100 today: http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/12211713/top-100-prospects-2015-including-kris-bryant-byron-buxton-more-mlb 6 Twins are included: #2 - Byron Buxton - gives him 80 grades on speed and arm, says can play 70 grade defense in center. Still has all the tools and athleticism, but Injuries pushed his timeline back a full year. #15 - Miguel Sano - Thinks if his arm strength doesn't come back after Tommy John surgery, it will speed up a move to a new position. Thinks more likely to see majors in 2016 vs. this year after missing last season. 80 power, obviously. #30 - Alex Meyer - Thinks it would be a waste of his two plus pitches (fastball, slider) if he were moved to the bullpen. Should show up this year. (I like where Law spots him, I still believe he's definitely the Twins top starting pitching prospect over Berrios and Stewart) #43 - Nick Gordon - Thinks he'll stay at SS and play it well, improved a lot his final HS season and first professional season. Also mentions CF if somehow he doesn't stick. Cites strong contact skills and approach for his age. #53 - Kohl Stewart - Four pitches, all with potential to be plus. Fastball up to 97, swing and miss slider. Potential to front a rotation with development, and needs to work on the changeup. #97 - Jose Berrios - 93-96 with his fastball, curveball is best secondary pitch but not consistent enough yet. Mentions he's seen a lot of Berrios in his time, and still thinks lack of height and fastball plane could push him to bullpen. Ceiling of #3 starter.

Well, the thing is, Torii Hunter back when, talked about how Kirby took him under his wing as a mentor, and because of that he thought it was his duty to do the same for the next CF, who was Denard Span. It became a thing among the CF's in the Twins organization, that they made sure they helped the next guy coming up. Span then did it with Revere. I don't dismiss the 'mentor' aspect at all, I think It's quite real in Torii's case..

Escobar had 35 doubles, 2 triples, and 6 HR's last year! q; ) I'd hope they platoon Schafer and Hicks until one of them (hopefully Hicks) shows they're the better option. Denard Span always talked about Hunter's mentoring and how it helped him. Jackson in Detroit did the same.

Here's the article: http://m.mlb.com/news/article/107421602/prospect-watch-top-10-third-basemen Bryant definitely is worthy of being above Sano. Even if Miguel had played all of last year I think he would have moved in front of him. Gallo is at #2 only because of the lost season for Sano, I would think. They're all comparable in power, but Bryant is the best "hitter," and has also turned himself into the best defender of the three, so it's not that much of a question to me (They're all really good prospects). I'm just happy I stashed Bryant on my fantasy roster all season last year, haha. Will get to keep him for nothing this season!

He was about 8% walk rate last year (which is not terrible -> Vargas was 10.6% at AA), but with that many K's (28% -> Vargas was 16.7%) and it only gets you to a .307 OBP, there are flags you can't ignore in my view. But I definitely agree with you on the second point. If he continues to do what he's done, there will be a place for him! There were a lot of examples of Twins hitters improving numbers after moving on from the FSL to the Eastern League, and I imagine it will be the same in the Southern League for the reasons you mention about the FSL. I'm certain that I'm as excited as you are to see if this happens with Walker, I'm just more of a skeptic, that's all!

Rosario's reports are fine, but never have been on the level of Aaron Hicks or Buxton's from a defensive standpoint. Rosario was moved because they (at the time) saw a lack of IF depth, and a plethora of OF depth in the minors, and Rosario was the best option to stay in the infield.

If you question the drop in 2013, how do you not question the fact it increased to 28% in the FSL? I don't hate RBI's as much as some as a stat to use to praise hitters, but it's obviously not great either. But I'll throw out another flawed stat for added comparison: Harrison did not rely on HR's to score runs. Take away the gimme runs scored for HR's, and Harrison scored 77 by simply getting on base. Take away the gimme's for Walker, and he scored only 53 runs by getting on base. Also, something I like to look at is what I call "RBI percentage" which is a percentage measure of Runs batted in vs. possible runners to bat in, when up to bat. It ignores RBI's from HR's for the batter (i.e.: I subtract HR's from RBI totals before making the calculation, so it measures only the baserunners driven in). In this category, Walker drove in 18.5 percent of all possible runners on base in 2014. Harrison? He drove in 19.2%. Seems odd, doesn't it? What I'm getting at, is home runs aren't everything. They're nice, but in a guy like Walker's case (where that's all he currently has), he has to be competent in other things to make the power play as he moves up. And that's what I want to see.

Nope, that's upside beyond the top 10. I don't believe in a lot of the college RP's being able to start, and I'm much more bullish on Kepler than most. Upside to me includes both ceiling and likelihood of reaching that ceiling. Walker is low on that line of thinking for me right now.

Yeah, but he wasn't intentionally walked once the entire season... That's a direct reflection on his contact issues, if you ask me. They knew he could change the game with a good swing, but they certainly weren't afraid to pitch to him. Despite the HR's, the probability of him striking out and doing zero damage was far higher than him hitting that game changing HR. And don't get me wrong, he's definitely the type of prospect to get excited about, but there's a lot of work to do. (and he certainly looks like he puts in the effort!)

I'm in this camp as well. I don't know how any body can be impressed by a .246 average in A-ball, especially from a guy with his experience level. He may be 'young,' but he also spent 3 full seasons in college, making him more experienced than a lot of guys even 2 years older than him. He had a terrible April, and a strong August from a batting average standpoint. in between he hit about .245 (month's ranging from .226 to .262) and struck out over once per game throughout the entire season. Though I think he will get moved to AA to start the year, I don't necessarily think his performance last year merits it. The HR's are nice, but there needs to be more improvement elsewhere. I want to see a Travis Harrison-like improvement in contact and plate discipline before I really start believing in Walker (and it doesn't even have to be as extreme as Harrison, but there has to be improvement).

Well, if I consider my top 10 to be: Buxton, Sano, Meyer, Stewart, Berrios, Gordon, May, Burdi, Thorpe, and Polanco, I end up with: Hitters: 1. Rosario 2. Kepler 3. Harrison 4. Walker 5. Minier Pitchers: 1. Gonsalves 2. Hu 3. Chargois 4. Z. Jones 5. Reed And there's several other names I'd consider for these as well: Turner, Murphy, Cederoth, Duffey, Melotakis, Peterson...

Well, I know Eddie can handle CF, but I wouldn't want him out there in an every day capacity. Want to have an even more terrible OF-defense this year? This is the route you would take to do that.

It has to be May or Meyer. The Twins made a conscious effort to acquire their type of pitching, but have not seen any fruits of those labors yet (granted, injuries and performance played a part too). In my best scenario, I think you start with May in the rotation, with Meyer as long relief where he can stay somewhat stretched out like Swarzak. Then when a spot-start is needed you give it to him and hope he never lets go of it. May was a better pitcher last year, so he has to be the frontrunner now. There is no doubt in my mind that Meyer has the best stuff in the entire Twins organization. Yes, you would like to see less walks, but the thing about high-strikeout/walk pitchers is they can also get away with a lot more than guys who don't rack up K's and let a whole bunch more balls be put in play (walks are bad, hits are worse). I'm not expecting Clayton Kershaw, but a 2014 Liriano, Kennedy, Odirizzi, or Ross type performance is more than reasonable to me. And that's pretty dang good too.

I think Kennys will find similar BB-taking and on-base percentage success moving forward. A lot of times prospects come up and they want to assert or prove themselves right away. They do this by swinging the bat. I think this is what Kennys was doing, and he was pretty successful. He's also playing winter ball, and though he hit just .263 in the Puerto Rico regular season, his on-base percentage was .430. He drew nearly a walk per game, with 33 BB's in 37 games, and struck out just 30 times. His BB% there was 22%. He definitely has this ability, and I think this will be a part of his game he improves in the majors this season, even if some other areas may regress.

And for nostalgia's sake, the first prospect of the Twins who really got me into following all of them, was Trevor Plouffe. I was playing Shortstop back then for my Amateur team, and he was drafted to hopefully be the next big one for the Twins. I was also kind of fascinated because this was probably the first year the MLB draft had live media coverage, on ESPN2 if I'm not mistaken. After the Twins drafted him in the first round they had a live via satellite interview with him, and I thought it was cool to see a guy excited to start a pro-career right out of high school, where I had been just a few years earlier. I was so jealous, haha! Stuck with Plouffe through all his struggles because of this soft spot for him, and love that he's made it.

I follow everybody, haha! But if I'm picking favorites out of those, I think they go in this order after this season: 1. Max Kepler Love the uniqueness of his background. Still have the images and memories in my head of Spring Training a few season's ago, when he was playing with the Cedar Rapids roster early that included Miguel Sano, Eddie Rosario, and Kennys Vargas. I watched 3 games, and Kepler was the best player on the diamond in all of them. Line drive after line drive. Think he was like 8-11 with two doubles, a triple, and a couple walks in those games. His hitting and play stood out head and shoulders above everyone, including Sano, who I actually was disappointed with in what I saw then. Though pitchers were pretty much avoiding him. Been waiting for Kepler to put it all together, and I think AA will be where he does this season. 2. Nick Burdi I hope he's fast tracked, and am disappointed he didn't get a Non-roster invite to Spring Training. He is absolutely filthy. The 3-pitch K you'll find in my Adopt-A-Prospect thread for him shows this: http://twinsdaily.com/topic/11821-nick-burdi-2014/ I still think he should have been placed at least in the FSL to start his pro-career last year (I would have put him in AA), so he could be playing for a MLB roster spot this spring, but whatever. Wrote about him some when I went to Cedar Rapids this year too: http://twinsdaily.com/blog/15/entry-5310-color-me-and-joe-mauer-impressed-by-lewis-thorpe-and-nick-burdi/ He's the real deal, and I have zero doubts he's the next Twins closer. Sooner than you think. 3. Lewis Thorpe Pretty much am on his bandwagon because of the same game I saw with Burdi, and the subsequent interview with him after. Great kid and fun interview. Extremely bummed about his injury. Many thought he could shoot up prospect lists with a good season, and he certainly did that as an 18 year old in the MWL in my opinion. Would probably be about #7 or #8 on a Top 10 list for me right now.

Yup. I haven't been able to find a single other autograph of Sano's that looks like the one I got with the help of Tommy Watkins at ST three years ago. Kinda frustrating actually, especially if one is a collector!

SS Santana 2B Dozier 1B Mauer DH Vargas RF Arcia LF Hunter 3B Plouffe C Suzuki CF Hicks

Also that, haha.

^ It's been stated multiple times Sano is starting in AA.... Edited because: 40-man (derp)

I like it... For now. I kind of see this as the start of more player movement. Bunch of SP prospects knocking on the door, and now room for only one of them. Could see a SP prospect dealt for help elsewhere. Could see them hope Nolasco improves and flip him during the season to free up room. Nice to see the Twins getting the guy they wanted.

Well, what few people know if you don't deal with the disease yourself, is that we are very prone to joint problems, especially with shoulders. Not saying that's the exact issue with Stewart as he's a pro athlete and taking care of his body better than 90% of the population I'm sure, but I certainly wouldn't dismiss it as an afterthought. I would certainly put it on the list of possibilities for at least contributing to his shoulder problems.

Yuck on Graham. That fastball they say he has? He didn't have it last year after his shoulder issues in 2013. From BA: "Why He Wouldn’t Be Picked Graham’s stuff was not nearly as good in 2014 as its been in the past and he especially trailed off in the second half, which explains why he was left unprotected. Graham could regain much of his previous plus stuff, but its at least as likely that his shoulder problems mean that 95-plus mph fastball is a distant memory." I'm all for Delino DeShields, however.

I think they frown on front-loading contracts because it would set a form of precedent for giving lower salaries as players age. They don't want contracts like A-Rod's and Pujols's to disappear (e.g.: still making a ton of money as they are past their prime), and that would be a step in that direction.

Just throwing this out there, as it's really the only way Santana would make sense to me: if the Twins are serious about signing him, I think they have other resulting moves in mind if it happens. And I believe that means trading someone from the their list of highly regarded pitching prospects for a position player... If I were running things and everything went to plan with what they have now, I would hope my rotation at the end of the season was: Hughes Nolasco Gibson Meyer May/Berrios If Santana were to sign, that leaves no room for more than one of Meyer, May, or Berrios. In turn, i think this only makes them useful as trade assets.