Jeremy Nygaard

“Je vais être de retour!!” -- Edouard Julien in a since-deleted tweet sent on June 24, 2019. And with that - which translates to “I will be back!!” - Julien’s Twins career appeared to be over before it started as the draft-eligible sophomore announced his intentions to return to Auburn for his junior season. Oh, how things change in a hurry. At the time, it made perfect sense. Even Auburn couldn’t figure out exactly where to play Edouard Julien on the field. As a freshman, he started 59 games between designated hitter, first base, and second base. As a sophomore, he started 62 games at third base. There was no question about his bat, though. That belonged in the lineup. His final game as a Tiger saw these worlds collide. Against Mississippi State in the College World Series, Julien hit a massive two-run home run in the top of the second inning to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. It was a 429-foot blast to right field that, at the time, was tied for the longest in the history of TD Ameritrade Park. He later singled in another run to push the lead to 3-0. In the bottom of the final frame, the Tigers gave up two run, but still had the lead. One out away. Tying run 90 feet from home. And a routine ground ball to third base. Three batters later, Mississippi State was celebrating their walk-off victory. No one would have blamed Julien for going back to Auburn to try to help his team back to Omaha. But money - nearly a half million dollars - talks and the Twins now have one of the best guys at getting on base in all the minor leagues. Age: 23 (DOB: 4/30/1999)2022 Stats: (AA): 508 PA, .300/.441/.490, 17 HR, 67 RBI, 19 SB, 98 BB, 125K. (AFL) 96 PA, .400/.563/.686, 5 HR, 17 RBI, 6 SB, 23 BB, 22K.ETA: 20232022 Ranking: 19National Top 100 RankingsBA: NR | MLB: NR | ATH: NR | BP: NR What's To Like The bat. The eye. The legs. Julien's entire offensive arsenal is loaded. In an offseason that saw the Twins offload Luis Arraez, the organization has a ready-made replacement. Julien has been able to get on base in almost 44% of his minor-league plate appearances. You could make a pretty good argument that no one is better suited to bat lead-off. He's stolen 53 bases over the last two seasons. He has slugged nearly .500, you could argue that his bat belongs right in the middle of the lineup. You could literally make any argument you wanted about getting Julien in the lineup because he is prolific with the bat in his hands and a lineup with him in it is better than one without. What's Left to Work OnIf you're talking about someone with an elite offensive package and he's only #5 on the team's prospect rankings, you've either got the best system in baseball (it's not that) or there is something significant that sticks out that needs to be talked about here. The Twins - like Auburn - have used Julien all over defensively. He's started double-digit games in his career at first base, second base, third base, and left field. And as you slide down the defensive totem pole as Julien has (and Arraez did), it makes the presence of elite offensive skills even more important. Because the last stop is as a designated hitter. Ideally, Julien either finds a comfortable home (second base? left field?), but the most likely scenario involves him being used all over the infield and in left field. There's a lot of work to do here yet, but the reality remains that Julien is a low-ceiling defender. What's Next After a successful full-season run at Wichita followed by an outstanding fall in Arizona, Julien will almost assuredly start his season in St. Paul. From there, what happens in 2023 is going to be dependent on a handful of things. Assuming the bat doesn't regress, Julien will get ample opportunities to hone his defensive skills in the infield and, likely, in the outfield. But the performance and health of those above him will be the biggest factor. Before all that, though, Julien will compete for Team Canada in the WBC. Julien figures to get plenty of plate appearances and will likely find himself playing second base. Will he use this opportunity as a springboard for his upcoming season? Luis Arraez got an opportunity and ran with it all the way to a batting title. Maybe that's all Julien needs too... and the defensive side will sort itself out in time. Previous InstallmentsHonorable Mention Prospects 21-30 Prospects 16-20 Prospects 11-15 Prospect #10: Austin Martin, SS Prospect #9: Louie Varland, RHP Prospect #8: Jose Salas, INF Prospect #7: Connor Prielipp, LHP Prospect #6: Simeon Woods Richardson, RHP Prospect #5: Edouard Julien, 2B View full article

Genuinely surprised by the comments here. Yes, Prielipp is almost all upside. But the overall stable of prospects has been depleted over the last couple years with trades and graduations. But discounting him because of his lack of track record isn't completely fair. There's a reason he was the #1 starter in the best conference in college baseball. There's a reason he had success in his limited time there. Dylan Lesko was also projected to be a top pick in the 2022 draft before his season was cut short by Tommy John. Baseball America has him ranked #79 overall in baseball. Prospect rankings are always looking for potential. Sure, this could end poorly and he could never live up to his billing as a top prospect in the system. But no other pitcher in the organization has the ceiling he has and that counts for a lot here. There were 10 writers that submitted prospect rankings. Prielipp was #4 on half of them... so he was much closer to being #4 overall than not being in the Top 10. As far as innings go... sure, maybe it's closer to 100. The innings he is destined to throw on the back field in a very controlled setting under many watchful eyes are going to happen - and not count towards the total. If he does that for 3 weeks instead of going to an affiliate, his innings count will look different than if he goes north immediately. But, either way, the organization will have a plan to help him increase those innings in a way they feel comfortable with.

There's been so much written about Connor Prielipp here since he was drafted just over six months ago. The thing about Prielipp, is that, unlike so many others in his draft class, Prielipp has yet to officially throw a professional pitch. And despite our penchant for covering all the angles on every prospect, it would be hard to believe we've ever given this much press to anyone else without a single throw. But there's a good reason for this. Image courtesy of William Parmeter Age: 22 (DOB: 1/10/2001) 2022 Stats (Alabama): DNP ETA: 2025 2022 Ranking: NA National Top 100 Rankings BA: NR | MLB: NR | ATH: NR | BP: NR What's To Like? Video games have the ability to build players. You get so many attribute points that you can disperse into the creation of a player. Connor Prielipp might be a great example of that player you would build. Naturally, you'd love to probably make that perfect pitcher 6' 5' and 230 pounds, but you don't want to use too many of your points there, so you make him Prielipp's size (6' 2", 210) to avoid the stigmatism of only being six feet tall. And you make him left-handed because the lefty is always going to get a few more chances than a right-handed pitcher. Then you start dabbling with pitch-mix. While a 100 mph fastball might be nice, you've realized it's not all about velocity anymore. So you bump that down to the low-to-mid 90s with deceptive movement because you're smart enough to know that the results will be better anyway. Since it's a video game and the only way you're really fooling anyone is with a breaking ball, you take all the attribute points you saved on your (sneaky good) fastball, and put them into your slider. With a speed that nears 90 mph and a spin rate over 2,900 rpm, you've equipped your build-a-prospect with an elite pitch. You're not crazy, so you kept some points to give your guy a change-up because if you're going to make it to The Show as a starter, you need that third pitch. You also know that through development, you'll get plenty of time to work on the finer points of pitching - control, fastball command, and working on that third pitch. Your ceiling is super high. So high, in fact, that Baseball America has your prospect as their projected #1 starter of your team three years into the future. That last part isn't even some trick. It's the truth. Connor Prielipp has the tools and potential to be the real deal. What's Left to Work On Yeah, so what I didn't tell you was you got extra attribute points because I saddled your build-a-prospect with a few less-than-ideal traits. Connor Prielipp has a "grew up in the cold of the midwest" background. The track record of those types isn't long or great. While Wisconsin isn't a hotbed for pitchers, it's not a death wish either. There are actually three pitches in the Hall of Fame who were born in Wisconsin. (So what they were all born in the 1800s?) And Brad Radke too! It's entirely possible that baseball hasn't advanced to the point (yet) to realize that beer and cheese are actually what helps pitchers develop. But, whatever, Wisconsin is great. So are the people. The biggest question mark about Connor Prielipp is his left elbow. Between the COVID shutdown and Tommy John surgery, Prielipp threw a grand total of 28 innings over seven starts since graduating from high school. At a minimum that will make you pause. At a maximum, you realize this prospect is almost entirely about projection. Because while the tools are present, there is no track record; no sustained success. So there's literally nothing to not work on. What's Next To throw. In a game. To live hitters of another team. Prielipp participated in Instructional League, which, to my knowledge has taken on a more development-type camp than game-play. But for all intents and purposes, there were no setbacks and he was full-go. With the restructuring of the minor league system and what I'm sure will be a slow play to increase innings, it would be hard to believe that Prielipp will be throwing every five days all season. What would make sense is a slow build-up, staying in Ft. Myers after the teams break to keep working his way back. A piggyback approach where he throws three innings regularly and throws 60-65 innings between low-A and high-A over the course of the year would make a ton of sense. If the development stays on track and the arm stays healthy, maybe there's a discussion to open it up a little more for a late-season promotion to Wichita. The Twins can and absolutely should do everything they can to develop Prielipp into an important member of their big-league starting rotation, but that's going to require a ton of patience and good health. And if those things happen, Prielipp isn't the Twins #7 prospect next year. He's going to be a Top 20 prospect globally. Previous RankingsHonorable MentionsProspects 21-30Prospects 16-20Prospects 11-15 Prospect 10 (Austin Martin) Prospect 9 (Louie Varland) Prospect 8 (Jose Salas) View full article

I just think - at this point - projecting someone from the most volatile group has a lower probability. Elijah Green was the top high school hitter at this point last year. He ended up being the fourth drafted. Jackson Holliday wasn't even a mention and he went first overall. All accounts were that the Twins were in on the college hitter demographic. That could certainly change from year-to-year. But the Twins love college guys with hitter's profiles and Gonzalez and Wilson definitely fit that profile. On the flip side, I wouldn't dislike taking Clark at all. The ceiling on high school guys is typically (right or wrong) higher than college guys and I'm a sucker for upside. One name that I think could propel up draft boards is prep SS Arjun Nimmala and it wouldn't surprise me at all if other prep guys start popping up in the spring either.

I re-formatted things and it's a little confusing, but yes... #42 is the comp pick.

We’re still a half year away from the 2023 MLB Draft and, for the most part, every draft-eligible player will have many opportunities to help or hurt their draft stock. Today, we’re going to do a fun exercise where we look at the Twins draft spots and compare them to the recently-released Baseball America Top 200 draft prospects. The Twins had luck on their side when they moved up to the 5th draft spot earlier this winter. As a result, the organization is likely going to add another Top 100 prospect to their stable. Currently, the big two names are LSU outfielder Dylan Crews and Tennessee right-hander Chase Dollander. You'll see a lot of names come in after that - almost exclusively hitters - which plays well for a Twins organization that has developed a pattern of drafting college hitters. #5 - Baseball America ranks prep outfielder Max Clark from Franklin, Indiana and a Vanderbilt commit as the #5 prospect. Clark fits the Twins M.O. as someone who is referred to as a “pure hitter.” As is typical with a hitter who doesn’t swing and miss often, there isn’t a lot of evident power. With the athleticism and instincts to play center field and the arm to play right, Clark checks a lot of boxes the Twins typically value. Likelihood: Low. While Clark fits the skill profile, the Twins organization has favored college hitters and the Twins shouldn’t miss out with a Top 5 pick. Jacob Wilson, a shortstop from Grand Canyon University, is ranked #7 and has elite bat-to-ball ability. He’s also got MLB bloodlines. It wouldn’t be hard to draw (aside from only being a right-handed hitter) comparisons to Brooks Lee. After drafting in Competitive Balance Round B last year, the Twins will draft in the Round A this year. Adding the 34th overall pick not only allows the team to add another highly-rated prospect, but gives them the advantage of having additional pool money to spend. #34 - A number of teams forfeited their second-round pick to sign a free agent, so the Twins get to draft tenth in the second round. The 34th-ranked player by Baseball America is Virginia Tech outfielder Jack Hurley. Having a lot of swing-and-miss in his game, Hurley is going to have to hit for power to make up for it. There’s not doubt the Twins saw plenty of Hurley while scouting Tanner Schobel, their second-round pick in 2022, as well as when Hurley played for Team USA this summer. Likelihood: Reasonably high. It makes sense from the perspective that the Twins would draft another Matt Wallner-type player: strikeouts, power and powerful arm. But once you get out of the top 10 picks, let alone the first round, projecting any specific player to a team proves futile. #49 - This one might make you chuckle. Last year, the Twins selected a falling Alabama southpaw in Connor Prielipp. Right now, Baseball America has Grayson Hill, an Alabaman southpaw, ranked forty-ninth overall. Hill lacked great control both at Alabama and in the Cape Cod League, but has shown flashes of big-time stuff. Likelihood: Coin toss. Pitching will likely dominate the Top 10 rounds for the Twins and the organization has a great relationship with the Alabama coaching staff. Hill seems to be more a project than the Twins typically take. #82 - Coming in as the 82nd ranked prospect is Wisconsin prep right-hander Dylan Questad. Committed to Arkansas, Questad falls into the category where you either have to get drafted this high or enroll at college, which most Wisconsin prep pitcher do (most notable, of late, to do that is the aforementioned Prielipp.) Likelihood: Low. Not for any other reason than because the Twins have a penchant for going the college route. Three years from now, Questad could definitely figure prominently on the Twins draft board. #113 - Jared Dickey is the 113th ranked prospect. A few things pop out immediately: He’s listed as an outfielder/catcher. The Twins desperately need to add catching prospects. He walks more than he strikes out. And he’s from Tennessee, a tough SEC school from which the Twins have plucked from three times since 2020 (Jorel Ortega, Jake Rucker and Alerick Soulaire). Likelihood: As high as you’d see at this point. He does things the Twins like and he’s from a place the Twins like to draft from. #149 - Ranked 149th is Liberty right-hander Trey Gibson. Gibson struggled and was hurt in 2022 and, when he was healthy, had a hard time throwing strikes. He’s raw, with upside, which is as good of gamble to take at this point of the draft as any. Likelihood: Low. But drafting a college pitcher here is almost definitely going to be the way the team goes. #179 - The Twins match up with another son-of-a-former-MLBer in Oregon prep lefty Paul Wilson at #179. Wilson is committed to Oregon State, the same college his father, Trevor, pitched for in the 80s. Likelihood: I’d bet on Wilson fulfilling his commitment to the Beavers. It’s normal to see preps ranked in the Top 200 not sign or, in some cases, not even get drafted. And that’s part of the danger of taking rankings as trying to use them as a quasi-mock draft. There’s still a lot of time to go between now and the July draft, but sometimes you just need a dose of it to get the draft blood flowing! View full article

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I'm not suggesting tons of tons of extra effort or resources. I'm suggesting sending him to St. Paul to see if he can figure it out on his own. And if not, cut him. He's not blocking anyone. Curtis Terry was their 1B last year. 250/348/429 (777 OPS). 861 career minor-league OPS. The "other players" aren't exactly a high bar to clear. But even if it's not Sano, I'd like the Twins to have some established depth at first base in St. Paul.

Sano has always been a polarizing dude, so I'm not shocked at the responses. I'm not suggesting a big-league deal - and I have no idea about the willingness to either sign a minor-league deal or if he has the desire to still ball - but the Saints aren't going to be trotting out the "next big thing" anytime soon, so there's not downside of getting Sano on a minor-league deal if he's interested (and if he is, a change of scenery would probably be best for him anway). The reality is the Twins/Saints are most likely to sign some random MILB FA to fill the role. In 2022, Curtis Terry was the primary first baseman. In 2021, Tomas Telis, Damek Tomscha and Sherman Johnson each manned first for over 20 games. My point is that if I have to choose between Sano and someone like those guys listed, the choice shouldn't be hard... and there's no risk, yet the possibility of some reward.

There’s little doubt that anything suggesting the Twins should bring Miguel Sanó will be met with eye rolls (at best) or emphatic statements that include some expletives (at worst), but at least hear me out. Miguel Sanó was one of the best prospects in baseball; one of the most highly-touted prospects the Twins have ever had in their organization. Miguel Sanó is one of the biggest Twins disappointments in club history; a global top prospect who never lived up to his billing. Image courtesy of Matt Blewitt, USA Today The Twins paid Miguel Sano over $9 million for only one home run among five hits in 60 at-bats in 2022. And then paid him another $3 million to simply go away. Much has been made of Sanó’s inability to stay healthy or in shape or, simply, not show up a few dozen pounds overweight. Everything above is completely true. So true, in fact, that even those who look for silver linings aren’t going to have much of an argument to make. But I still think the Twins should consider bringing him back into the fold. The expectations surrounding Sanó were sky-high well before he made his major-league debut as a 22-year-old in the summer of 2015. And despite striking out in over a third of his plate appearance, he still managed to hit 18 home runs in 80 games, reach base over 38% of the time and put up an OPS of .916. He rarely played in the field as he was coming off missing the 204 season because of Tommy John surgery, but the vision of being the third baseman of the future was still bright. Of course, we all know what happened the next year: someone got the wise idea that Miguel Sanó could be a right-fielder (while literally every not-as-smart person knew he couldn’t) and Sanó was back to playing third base exclusively by July 1. Getting jerked around caused him to struggle offensively, but still he managed 25 home runs and bounced back to be an All-Star in the 2017 season. The 2018 and 2020 seasons were both really bad, but sandwiched around a 34-home run year in 2019 where Sanó post a career-high .923 OPS. You could take the 2020 season for what it was - short with a lack of time to prepare - add it to the 30 home run season in 2021 and think maybe, just maybe, Miguel Sanó could get back on track in 2022. But that train derailed before even leaving the station. A torn meniscus on April 26 and more knee issues almost immediately after returning in July caused an abrupt end to a short, disappointing season. The Twins paid Sanó more than $34 million as a major leaguer and watched him strike out over 1000(!) times. And when his Twins career ended unceremoniously when they bought out his contract, many were happy to wipe their hands off him. And that’s fine. But as you look at the current construction of the Twins roster, you can’t help but wonder about the health and depth of first base. Luis Arraez - all 5’ 10” of him - is expected to be the Opening Day starter. Arreaz was fantastic in 2021 and led the league in hitting, but is not your prototypical first baseman… and he’s not exactly a model of healthy knees. Jose Miranda played a lot of first base last year… but with Gio Urshela getting traded, Miranda is the primary third baseman. Alex Kirilloff is a solution… if he recovers from having his arm shortened after battling wrist that cut short his last two seasons. Max Kepler and Joey Gallo are both options in the sense that they’re bigger targets, but neither has played a lot of first base recently. But that’s an easy fix. Tell ‘em Wash. And there’s where Sanó should enter the conversation. On a minor-league deal with an invitation to Spring Training. If he shows up overweight and out of shape, you can cut him. If he shows up a little overweight and in a shape other than completely round, you can send him to St. Paul to hit bombs and be a call away if the questionable depth fails in front of him. Miguel Sanó doesn’t have to be the #3 hitter. There doesn’t have to be the expectations of being an All-Star or hitting 30 home runs. But any gas that might still be in his almost-30-year-old tank sure beats the idea of rostering the likes of the Curtis Terrys, Roy Moraleses and Tim Beckhams of the world. It does for me anyway. View full article

The Twins have made upgrades offensively this offseason, but have left the pitching staff alone. If the team intends to seriously compete, here are three players the teams could target. View full video

In regards to Silva, I haven't seen anything linking him to the Reds like HrbieFan mentioned. But in fairness, MLB only mentions that the Twins have shown interest. Which isn't a real strong connection. And Carlos Silva is a pretty common name, so it's hard to do a whole lot of internet sleuthing.

Yes, the signing period is just delayed. It may help a little bit for some kids, but you're talking a few months.... and many of these kids were likely reaching agreements a few years ago. So good for teams, but also more times for teams to weasel out of verbal deals. I'm only speculating, but I think it's probably easier to identify traits of hitters at a young age than pitchers. The Twins have *always* spent more on hitters than pitchers and done well, for the most part, with hitters. But Huascar Ynoa was one of their big signings a few years ago and he was a success story... just for another team. As far as catchers go, they've swung on a number of them... and missed. Again, it might be that it's harder to identify traits of catchers at a young age. Heck, the success rate on 18 year old catchers is low. So it would make sense to not throw a ton of money at a catcher. I've always been of the mind that when you're talking about 15, 16, 17 year olds, I'd rather sign 50 at $100,000 than 5 at $1,000,000, but I just don't think that's feasible with roster limits and where to house everyone. So identify a few of the real big names and then take a shot at lower number guys. The Twins previously had a lot of success in Australia (less lately). Plucked Kepler from Germany. And signed other Europeans as well. They're always active in the Dominican and Venezuela. And they even signed a kid from Curacao a few years after I had wondered if they ever would. So if they're missing any opportunities, I would guess they're off-setting it with taking other chances elsewhere.