I hate it how slow the Twins are with their upper Echelon MILB/young signee prep talent. Here are a few examples of similar upside to Buxton over the last few years. These were all top 5 picks, Buxton will likely reach A ball to start 2014 if the Twins continue to keep players for 2 years in E-Town/GCL (Kepler Goodrum) and likely Boyd and Harrison

Manny Machado Drafted in 2010 made A Ball debut in 2011

Tim Beckham Drafted in 2008 made A ball debut in 2009

Mike Moustakas Drafted in 2007 made A ball debut in 2008

Josh Vitters Drafted in 2007 made A ball debut in 2009 (played 4 games in A ball in 2008)

Buxton is a lot different from Goodrum and (especially) Kepler

I hate it how slow the Twins are with their upper Echelon MILB/young signee prep talent. Here are a few examples of similar upside to Buxton over the last few years. These were all top 5 picks, Buxton will likely reach A ball to start 2014 if the Twins continue to keep players for 2 years in E-Town/GCL (Kepler Goodrum) and likely Boyd and Harrison

Manny Machado Drafted in 2010 made A Ball debut in 2011

Tim Beckham Drafted in 2008 made A ball debut in 2009

Mike Moustakas Drafted in 2007 made A ball debut in 2008

Josh Vitters Drafted in 2007 made A ball debut in 2009 (played 4 games in A ball in 2008)

Kepler and Goodrum were extremely raw prospects when signed and they didn't exactly earn a promotion. Harrison and boyd are sandwich picks and are not comparable (or even close) to Buxton or the other top 5 picks that you mentioned. Buxton will almost certainly make his A ball debut in 2013 and I wouldn't be shocked if he made it there this year.

 

It's easy to be critical of the pace that young hitters (HS and intl) are promoted but you need talent and results to earn a promotion. Moses, Parmelee and Hicks were the only highly regarded HS bats (at the time of the draft) that the Twins have taken since Mauer and they didn't exactly push for promotions. You could include Plouffe/Span in that list but I don't recall scouts really loving their bats at the time of the draft.

Kepler and Goodrum were extremely raw prospects when signed and they didn't exactly earn a promotion. Harrison and boyd are sandwich picks and are not comparable (or even close) to Buxton or the other top 5 picks that you mentioned. Buxton will almost certainly make his A ball debut in 2013 and I wouldn't be shocked if he made it there this year.

 

It's easy to be critical of the pace that young hitters (HS and intl) are promoted but you need talent and results to earn a promotion. Moses, Parmelee and Hicks were the only highly regarded HS bats (at the time of the draft) that the Twins have taken since Mauer and they didn't exactly push for promotions. You could include Plouffe/Span in that list but I don't recall scouts really loving their bats at the time of the draft.

I think Buxton is fairly comparable to Bubba Starling talent wise, and a lot more advanced than Hicks was ever thought to be. I could see Buxton coming to class A in June or July next year (similar to Hicks timeline) just so they can get him through Extended and make sure that he is ready.

Buxton is a lot more advanced than Starling too

Kepler was signed @ 16 and started is career @ 17. He is currently 19 and in E-town.

Buxton is a lot more advanced than Starling too

No he is not,even Keith Law said in his chats that the first guy in this years draft would have been picked 7th or 8th in last years. Lets not start over rating our prospects here....

No he is not,even Keith Law said in his chats that the first guy in this years draft would have been picked 7th or 8th in last years. Lets not start over rating our prospects here....

"advanced" and "better" aren't the same thing.