tarheeltwinsfan

Seth, Thank you for this view of the future. All 5 are flame throwers. YES ! If Wes Johnson can get a couple of additional mph out of each of them, then several of these prospects will be consistently over 100mph. That can't be bad. After reading about the 6-10 pitching prospects, I can't wait to read about 1-5. I'm beginning to see the light.

I am looking forward to the top 5.

Interesting points.

Severino is my pick to click, as I said in another post several days ago.

Parker and Dan, Thanks to Dan, especially. No way I'm getting back there. That took guts. That was so funny. I watched it several times. All of TD readers need to watch this.

I was all in on this idea until the trick pitch. Then I realized you were just kidding. You had me reeled in at "Bring them all up in '22."

I really enjoyed this exercise. It shows how difficult it is to predict the future, even with all our stats and past data. There are so many variables. Past stats, age decline, Covid, injuries, family problems, team chemistry, money, pitching coaches and hitting coaches, the fire in one's gut to put in the hard work when one has 11 million dollars in the bank already, not wanting to be on a team (do you think that was LL's problem...who knows?) and being on a team in a pennant race vs. languishing in last place ( "I could'a been a contender. I could 've been somebody, instead of a bum, which is who I am." said a crying, dejected Terry Malloy, played by Marlon Brando in "On the Waterfront"). GM's have a hard job.

Did Duffy change his pitch selection or did the catchers or did Wes Johnson or Rocco? Do the catchers share some of the blame for the pitch selection or should Wes have gotten the catchers to call the curve more and quickly eliminate the sinker? I blame Duffy's failure to get ahead in the count on Duffy.

Really a great series. Thanks Nick.

Ashbury, Thank you for your thoughtful and informative reply. I concede to your point of view. It is a wise, fact based position. I am not worthy.

Ashbury, I'm not talking about winning. The question was who would you rather watch pitch for the Twins. I want to see some young flame throwers. That would be fun. Remember how excited we all were to see Ryan's first start. Or Bailey Ober's first start Or Berrios' first start. Now be honest, how excited were you to watch JA Happ's first start for the Twins? I know you probably don't think the 3 prospects I named are ready yet, and their young heads may be messed up by starting in the majors too early in their careers and you may be right...but there is no way to prove it unless they start. Ryan and Ober were ready. And before they started for the Twins, they were ranked similarly to the 3 stud prospects I named. Won't you reconsider and let me keep the 3 prospects on the Twins 25 man roster when I become GM this February? (It's not officially been announced yet, so don't tell anyone.)

I'm watching Yunior Severino. He has been paid 4.5 million (some by Atlanta and some by the Twins) so far and now it is time to show that he was worth it. If I got my hands on that kind of money and I had to go to the office tomorrow for my job, I might be tempted to cruise, Hopefully that won't happen with Yunior.

Who would you rather see pitch in 2022 for the Twins: Jordan Balazovic and Jhoan Duran and Simeon Woods Richardson or JA Happ and Matt Shoemaker and John Gant?

In all due respect Tom, the Twins will never end up with Snell and Odo for that guy you said the Twins would give up and whose name I did not recognize. But no harm in asking. Thanks for really emphasizing Emmanuel Rodriguez to me. I'll pay more attention to him now.

Seth, I understand that Rortvedt was not eligible for ranking in this list. I just disagree that he would rank higher than these 3 , "at least by a little bit". My point is that if he were eligible for this list, which I understand he is not, then considering his defensive skills, which are superior to our 2 major league regulars, Rortvedt should rank higher than these 3 catchers on the list by a lot more than just "by a little bit"...But then I have not seen the next 15 rankings, which I'm sure will blow my feeble argument out of the water. Thanks for your excellent contributions to TD.

Cody, I'm having a nice day today. I think I'll put off reading this article, because I don't want to ruin my otherwise nice day. Please no mas, no mas.

To summarize: Pitch more rookies, more often. I agree.

Seth, If you build it, they will come.

$500 million has to be for more than just the branding rights, don't you think Ted? . I wonder specifically what is being acquired for $500 million dollars. The article states Topps is selling its digital and physical assests, so maybe machinery and possibly even plants and warehouses are being sold. By the way, does anyone want to buy a 1954 Henry Aaron rookie card for 1/5000 of the price being paid to Topps by Fanatics? Ted, thanks for this timely article. The Topps brand is very sentimental to us old baseball card collectors.

I was in Elizabethton several years ago when Severino was there. One of the "officials" of the team introduced me to Larnach. Nice guy, especially when I teased him about knocking my Tarheels out of the college World Series.. Later I asked this official who were the other players currently on the Elizabethton team that have impressed him. He said: "See that light pole in left field? Severino had hit a ball over that light pole. Watch him" I have been hoping he would keep progressing toward the Twins. Severino is my minor league hitter/fielder pick to click this year.

Seth, Can you explain this comment about Rortvedt please. Does this ranking not consider fielding skills? Thank you for your excellent summaries.

Thank you Dave for the encouragement.

Willow River is very beautiful Thanks for sharing these stunning pictures..

I have been writing a memoir, mainly for my children and grandchildren and for the men I served with in the Army.. My father wrote one for us and I've always appreciated that he did. He was a combat engineer in WWII and lost his only brother, a P-51 Mustang pilot. I went into the Army in September 1967 and spent 16 months in Korea in 1968 & 1969. Dan Bolger, a retired Army General and a professor of Military History at NC State University has written a book entitled "Scenes From An Unfinished War: Low Intensity Conflict in Korea 1966-1969". You can pull the complete book up on Google. In 2003 The History Channel did a documentary called "Running the DMZ" I was interviewed in that documentary. You should be able to find it on youtube, although it has been 19 years since I have seen it featured on The History Channel. . I'm writing about my experiences in this little known conflict which killed 2 of my platoon members (Michael Rymarczuk from Philadelphia ( KIA July 30, 1968) and a KATUSA ( Korean Augmentation to the US Army -KIA August ? 1968), whose name I can't remember, even though we had shared a foxhole several weeks before his death) It was the summer of 1968 in the Korean DMZ. Vietnam was the big story and rightly so. But if we ask Michael's family, or the KATUSA's family, or the families of Joseph Cayer and Mike Reynolds from New York (ambushed and both killed in their jeep Sept 27, 1968 in my company area of the DMZ) or Earl Jeffrey from Texas, Cleveland Davis from Florida, a KATUSA named UM, I. S. . or Rease Weathers from Kentucky, all of whom were in my platoon ( 3rd platoon, Charlie Company, 3/23rd Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division) and all of whom were wounded in the summer of 1968, they will all tell you that in the summer of 1968 the DMZ of Korea was a dangerous place to be. In telling my story, I feel I will be telling their stories.

Congratulations.