2wins87

I sort of agree with this, but I always prefer to see a young, future superstar in his breakout years rather than an established superstar in his decline. Too many guys get voted in year after year even when they start playing really poorly.

Here's my NL ballot. 1B– Similar to Davis in the AL, Paul Goldschmidt hits bombs. Paul Goldschmidt, ARI 2B –I can never keep Matt Carpenter and Chris Carpenter straight. I also don't know how St. Louis keeps on managing to get such good production out of all of these position players with All-American sounding names that you've never heard of. David Freese, Jon Jay, Allen Craig, now Matt Carpenter. Anyway, I'm not really interested in seeing Utley and Phillips again, so Carpenter it is. Matt Carpenter, STL SS– This one seems pretty easy. Troy Tulowitzki, COL 3B– Who doesn't want to see Captain America in the All-Star game? David Wright, NYM C– This one also seems pretty easy, except there are actually a few deserving candidates. Still, I'm always going to go with the guy that plays great defense and hits as well. Yadier Molina, STL OF– First two are easy. Carlos Gomez, MILand Carlos Gonzalez, COL. After that it gets hard. Hunter Pence doesn't generally seem like an All-Star, but he's having a really good year. Andrew McCutchen is part of the next class of superstars and he's also having a good year. But Hunter Pence plays like he just stepped out of a time machine from the 1910's and chugged a liter of Red Bull. But McCutchen is coming off of back-to-back 5+ WAR seasons. But Hunter Pence has crazy eyes and swings like he's fighting off invisible demons. I want to see Hunter Pence. Hunter Pence, SFG

A bit of a tough week for Harrison. 4 Errors,just 4 for 21 (.190), though he did have 5 walks giving him a .370 OBP. He also had a HR and a double. Overall on the year he now has a triple slash of 258/346/463. His 10 homeruns ties Adam Brett Walker and D.J. Hicks for the Kernels team lead and his 17 doubles are second to Hicks's 20. He's got 10 more PAs than he had in Rookie ball last year so it's a good time to compare his progress. First, his power output is definitely up with a .205 ISO versus a .160 last year. He's managed to do this against generally better pitching while keeping his strikeout rate at a manageable level 23.2% versus 20.2% last year. His walk rate is virtually the same 9.1% versus 9.5% last year. The drop in his batting average seems to be mostly a product of luck and probably a bit better defense at the A level. In the field he has boosted his fielding percentage to .911 from .832 last year, and his range factor per game is up to 2.52 from 2.02 last year. He's reportedly making some great plays, but his consistency still needs to improve if he's going to be able to stick at 3B. Overall, I'd say he's making solid progress, so his stock as a prospect is improving. The hit tool could be better, but he's not striking out at a really alarming rate so I think that it may still come around. I still expect he'll spend a full year in Cedar Rapids unless he really breaks out at some point, but at this point there's no reason that he shouldn't be starting at A+ next year.

The All-Star game is the most important game of the year (Home-field advantage!), so obviously careful attention must be paid when filling out our ballots. We must avoid voting for sentimental favorites or just voting for all the Twins on the ballot in early May. I'll start with my ballot for the AL, and post the NL later. 1B – This one is easy. First-basemen are supposed to hit bombs; Chris Davis hits bombs. Chris Davis, BAL 2B – I think Cano is probably a lock to be the starting second baseman for the AL team, and he is deserving. There is probably going to be a lot of debate though over whether he or Pedroia should be the starter. Pedroia would also be deserving, probably more deserving. But frankly, I'm tired of Cano and the Yankees and I'm tired of Pedroia and the Red Sox so I'm going to go with someone who has arguably played as well as both of them. Howie Kendrick, LAA SS– This one is between perennially underrated Jhonny Peralta and perennially underrated (especially by Bill Smith and the Twins F.O.) J.J. Hardy. Both are deceptively good fielders, both have some pop. Peralta is having a better overall offensive season, but Hardy has more bombs. But “Jhonny”? I just learned that his name is supposedly due to a clerical error on his birth certificate. I guess that makes me hold it against him less, but still. J.J. Hardy, BAL 3B– This one is easy, despite already having two Orioles, what's not to love about Manny Machado? No more Orioles after this. Manny Machado, BAL C– Also easy. Joe Mauer, MIN DH– This is for aging guys who could never field, but tear the cover off the ball year after year. Detroit has too many of those guys, so they often end up on the field playing defense anyway. But I'm going to use a write-in for the guy that really should be here. Miguel Cabrera, DET OF– First one's easy. Mike Trout, LAA There are a lot of other guys I like here, but to be fair I'll just go by WAR for the next two, as Fangraphs and BBRef actually agree on who have been the best. Coco Crisp, OAK and Jose Bautista, TOR. Feels a little weird voting for Crisp, but every ballot needs a veteran with no All-Star appearances having a career year.So who's on your ballot?

The common conception is that the two biggest jumps in level for a prospect to make is from A+ to AA and from A to A+. Doesn't really make sense to do them both at once. For any prospect.

Nice to see him bounce back in his second start at AA. At the rate he's been moving, I wonder if we could see him on the opening day roster next year.

Sounds fun. I've been trying to keep a twins prospect board this year as it's a good way to follow the minor leaguers

I don't think I'd be upset if the Twins took Shipley. He can touch the high 90's with his heater and would probably sign slightly under slot, giving the Twins a bit of flexibility later. Ball is also interesting and he's got momentum

There's no way Boston can cut a deal with Stewart that forces the Twins to pass on him. Boston 6.8 million for the first 10 rounds, 3.2 million for their 1st pick. Say the Twins want to take a five percent discount on Stewart and Boston says they will offer him 4th pick slot (4.5 million). They've now gone 1.3 million over slot on their first pick, and if they want to stay within 5% of their allotment they've now got 2.6 million to spend on the rest of their picks which are worth 3.6 million. They have to average more than a 25% discount on the rest of their picks; if they don't sign one of them, they have to manage an even bigger discount on the ones that they do. They are either relegated to taking a bunch of college seniors and guys who didn't expect to make it into the top 10 rounds or losing their first round pick next year. So yes, cutting a big deal with Stewart would mean that Boston is punting either this year's or next year's draft. If Stewart falls to Boston it will be because the teams ahead of them all like somebody else better.

Personally I think he'll spend the whole year in Cedar Rapids and start next year in Fort Myers, especially if the organization wants to keep him at third base. But I don't actually know anything. If he gets really hot and they decide to move him to first base maybe he starts moving a lot faster, but a full year in low-A would fit with the organization's typical prospect trajectory.

Great interview, I linked it on his prospect thread now. I've always thought that cross training, like golf, could be good for a player, maybe not everyone, but these guys swing baseball bats so often that I wouldn't expect playing golf from time to time to creep into their swings in a bad way. I would think that golf might help you get your hips through the zone, use your core muscles, etc.

Thanks to SD Buhr for his great interview with Harrison: Twins Daily - Q & A With Travis Harrison

I can't see this happening, because it just seems like a terrible strategy. I can't believe that the Astros really think Moran is a comparable talent to the other top guys in the draft. They really thought Correa was, so it was a good strategy. But this would be something like trading the first pick for the 5th pick and some pick in the middle of the first round (plus a couple of somewhat higher picks in the later rounds--in a shallow draft). Seems like an awful idea to me, I wouldn't be happy if I were an Astros fan and they did it.

I wouldn't, but I can't speak for the Twins obviously. There are a lot of factors that can go into the decision to go to college. Signing in the top 10 would give him financial security for many years to come, so it's definitely the right decision financially. I feel part of Appel's decision to basically demand to be paid first slot money last year had to do with the fact that he liked Stanford and wanted to go back there if he didn't get drafted really high (this is specualtion, but I think there is more to the story than Appel is a spoiled rich kid with an agent whispering in his ear about how much money he's worth). It worked out for him, but it was a risk. It's possible Stewart is doing something similar, maybe he'd really like to go to college, so he'll make it clear that he's going to need to be drafted high to sign, and if that makes him fall he'll be ok with it, and if it makes a team offer him a very lucrative signing bonus, he'll be happy with that too. The comment definitely makes it seem likely that one of the two will happen. But who knows really.

You have to realize that Santana is 20 months younger than Beresford and playing in the same league. Age to league to can be a pretty big factor in determining how well a player's stats hold up in a more advanced league. It also means Santana's got a bit more time to cut down on his errors; I think the Twins like his footwork and motions at SS. I'm not saying this to knock Beresford, I've always liked him as a prospect, and if he can develop even a little bit more power I think his bat will play well in a utility role, and I think he's definitely closer to the majors than Santana right now.

How does Beresford's defense rate? He's always hit well in the minors, albeit with zero power, so his ticket to the majors seems to be as a utility infielder. I know he's played a few games at 3B, so his arm must be at least decent. The org has pretty much moved him off of SS, but this is probably because they want Santana playing there.

Great game for Harrison last night going 3 for 4 with a homerun, which gives him homeruns in back-to-back games and 7 (or 8 depending on how you want to count) on the year. Hopefully he can maintain this kind of power production.

A found a bit better, more up-to-date scouting report on Thorpe that I hadn't seen when first starting this thread. From BA: His fastball was 86-88 touching 91 before the signing period began, but was more like 88-92 in his outings since signing. His change-up has good sink and fade, and he also learned a cutter last summer. Also he's at least 6-2 now, and possibly still growing. BaseballAmerica.com: Prospects: International Affairs: International Reviews: Minnesota Twins

It's been two weeks since I last updated because I'm in Sweden now where they don't have baseball but something called brännboll instead, so I've been a little out of the loop. But anyway. Harrison had another walk off single last night, this one traveled a lot less far than his last. It was his only hit in 6 ABs last night. Overall, he went 8 for 30 in the last week (5/11-5/17) with 4 doubles, 1 walk and 8 strikeouts. This was after going 3 for 15 with a homerun and a double in the 4 games after his previous walk-off. He also committed two errors to bring his yearly total up to 10 (a .892 fielding percentage). Scouting guru John Sickels also had a nice writeup on Harrison and Adam Brett Walker II after making a trip to watch the Kernels. Sickels praised Harrison's bat speed and said he looked like he could be an "adequate" third baseman, while saying he was still more likely to wind up at first. He also said that Harrison looked pull-happy and had trouble laying off sliders and other stuff out of the zone. The pull tendency may be from the coaching staff working on his approach to improve his power. When he hit .301 in rookie league last year he was hitting to all fields, so He probably needs to work on recognizing when to turn on things and when to go with the pitch, as well as improve his overall pitch recognition.

First, here's a video of Harrison's walk-off last week: [video=youtube_share;3Pn_dc9t2is] It looks like a high fastball that Harrison is able to turn on using his quick hands. After that at bat he went 2 for 3 with a double in Saunday's game, then hit a homerun (this one counted) in four tries on Monday. After that he went a bit cold in his next 4 games, only notching one hit and two walks in 15 PAs, striking out 3 times. He also committed a throwing error and two fielding errors in that stretch, though he also got himself involved in a couple of double plays. Overall for the year, he's now hitting 267/320/467 and he has 8 errors for a .871 fielding percentage. His strikeout rate is at 22%, which is a manageable rate, especially since he's been flashing his power. All reports are that he's working hard on his fielding, so that should come around, and there's nothing to indicate that his bat won't play in a corner infield spot in the future.

The last two years haven't been great, and by the time August rolls around it is unlikely that the Twins will be very close to the division leaders, but this is nothing like the mid and late 90's, which really wasn't a good time to be a baseball fan in Minnesota. The Twins have some very good prospects which will be coming up in the next few years and they have the payroll flexibility to fill the holes in the free agent market when these prospects enter their primes. I expect the Twins' payroll to be in the 100-125 million range again soon and that is plenty to be competitive with the right strategy. Look at teams like Atlanta and St. Louis, who have remained competitive pretty much every year with generally middle market payrolls. I think 2015 and 2016 will really be the test when we have some talented young players under contract for cheap to see whether the front office and ownership are serious about really being competitive. And with the solid scouting and development system already in place and more payroll flexibility than in the past, I think the Twins could be in position to compete for a long time. So in sum I think it's a great time to be a baseball fan in Minnesota, you just have to be a little patient. And even when the team isn't winning, you've got a beautiful open air stadium to enjoy some summer games.

Love the start from Baxendale. Seems like he could be a solid middle of the rotation guy. Great value in the 10th round.

In a chat with Jeff Johnson of the Cedar Rapids Gazette, farm director Brad Steil was asked if Buxton would be kept in Cedar Rapids for at least half a year. He said: "Don’t know about that. We’ll have to see." So it seems that the Twins don't plan on holding Buxton back for some arbitrary amount of time if he continues to play well.

You can check it out here: GAPPER: April Prospect Report - Minor League Ball For those not familiar it's a proprietary system for objectively rating prospects using their position, numbers, and age-to-level. Not surprising to see Sano and Buxton leading their leagues. A little bit surprising that Polanco comes in second to Buxton. He's obviously had a great April, but I didn't realize it was second-best-prospect-in-the-league great. I'm also a little surprised that Boyd managed to sneak into the top five Twins pitching prospects given his K/BB rate, but I guess I have to cut him a little more slack given his age.

3 of the hits, 2 of the walks and all of the runs came in one inning. Not sure what happened in that inning but the others were pretty brilliant. He did seem to be falling behind a lot, but for the most part the AA hitters couldn't hit him anyway. That could be different with major league hitters.