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mikelink45

Entry posted by mikelink45 ·

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blog-0856930001583336691.jpgI just read the ESPN prospect ratings by Kiley McDaniels and is was an interesting look from a new perspective. Riley came over from FanGraphs and he has a different style than Law and others I have read. What interests me is the Twins prospects ratings, of course, and he challenged some ideas. https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/28820713/kiley-mcdaniel-top-100-prospects-2020

 

First of all he has Royce Lewis rated the highest at number 15 - a surprisingly high rating in my mind, but he also lists him as a CF. "His hitting mechanics still need a little work in terms of timing and quieting his hand movement, but scouts rave about his makeup, and the raw power and speed are still elite. I'm betting on Lewis figuring things out and becoming an above-average everyday player with some chance to become a star, possibly in the infield"

 

Jhoan Duran was #54 - "The maturity and command look to be in place for a ground-ball-focused rotation workhorse with swing-and-miss stuff." This is really nice to see, I expected Balazovic to be above him.

 

#58 Trevor Larnach, "He's a slightly better bet in my book than Alex Kirilloff to be an above-average everyday player, but they're in roughly the same area." So the argument about who is number one - Kiriloff or Lewis has a new twist.

 

#63 is Alex Kiriloff, "Kirilloff's pitch selection leaves a bit to be desired, while he's moving down the defensive spectrum to first base and his wrist has been giving him trouble."

 

#93 Jordan Balazovic, "He also doesn't have a bunch of plus pitches that he's learning to harness, rather a number of above-average offerings that he already has a good feel for mixing."

 

It appears on all the lists that the top five prospects is the same (Graterol by the way is #92 "his command might be enough to start, but it's legit closer stuff").

 

Of course the question remains - who is the not on any list prospect who will be the next Arraez and throw the rankings out of the window. The second question - is it better to suddenly appear on the list and shoot to the top or to start your career with high expectations and high rating and then slowly slide down the list?

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  1. Trevor Larnach
  2. Royce Lewis
  3. Jordan Balazovic
  4. Jhoan Duran
  5. Alex Kiriloff
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twinsfanstreif

Crazy that most likely 4 out of these 5 will be at AAA this year. That along with the 3 of the next 5 in line (Thorpe, Jeffers, Rooker) also being at AAA means Rochester is gonna be a scary good team, we could have over half of our top 20 prospects there by year's end!

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jkcarew

Thanks for sharing.

 

Not sure I'm buying Kirilloff "moving down the defensive spectrum to first base"...at least any time soon. He played a lot of first base least year, I think, simply based on a combination of factors not necessarily related to his competence as an outfielder. It had a lot to do with the roster makeup at Pensacola. He didn't play much first-base at all when Diaz was there...but then had to play there much given the roster make-up before/after Diaz and also as Kirilloff was nursing...or coming back from nagging injuries frequently.

 

FWIW...if you look at Kirilloff's and Larnach's at-bats in Spring Training so far...fundamental stuff like BB's and K's...they seem ahead of Lewis (and others like Jeffers) with the bat, at least at this point in time.

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mikelink45

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

Not sure I'm buying Kirilloff "moving down the defensive spectrum to first base"...at least any time soon. He played a lot of first base least year, I think, simply based on a combination of factors not necessarily related to his competence as an outfielder. It had a lot to do with the roster makeup at Pensacola. He didn't play much first-base at all when Diaz was there...but then had to play there much given the roster make-up before/after Diaz and also as Kirilloff was nursing...or coming back from nagging injuries frequently.

 

FWIW...if you look at Kirilloff's and Larnach's at-bats in Spring Training so far...fundamental stuff like BB's and K's...they seem ahead of Lewis (and others like Jeffers) with the bat, at least at this point in time.

The comment is from the article - not mine, but the fact is that Kiriloff has never impressed with his fielding in the OF (look at past TD prospect notes) and 1B seems like the bottom of the lineup locations for players (other than DH).  I do see Larnach and Kiriloff in a competition - if Sano does well and I expect him to then 1B is no longer open.  Cruz probably has only one more year at DH, but seldom does that go to a young player and if it does Rooker comes back to the discussion.  Kepler stays in right, someone takes CF and that means that when Rosario becomes to costly LF will be available.  I have no idea who gets it.

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