Article: Big Steps Forward

[jsteve96]

 

Hard to argue with any of those names, but got to add a handful more:

 

Daniel Palka.  I personally had him ahead of Walker when the Twins acquired him, but arguably he jumped to a top 5-10 type of prospect this season.

 

Huascar Ynoa.  His debut in the states as an 18 year old has been much better than that at the DSL as a 17 year old.  His control improved by leaps and bounds and he is really dominating the GCL

 

Trevor Hildenberger.  He has been on the second group of relievers in the Twins' organization in my mind (with the Jones' and Williams) but this season he moved to the first class with Burdi, Chargois and likely ahead of Reed.  A bit older for his teams, he mind end up being Anthony Slama or Rob Delaney, but very impressive season

 

Mike Theofanopoulos.  See above but from the left side.  30th round pick from Berkeley, he was not in a prospect conversation.  Right now, with his compatriot Melotakis, are probably the top 2 LHRP prospects in the organization.

 

LaMonte Wade.  Opened eyes last season and the most important thing is that he did not close them this one.  He has Matt Lawton written all over him for some reason.

 

Lewis Diaz and Amaurys Minier.  They both needed a rebound season and they got one after disappointing 2015

I would add Travis Blankenhorn and Jaylin Davis onto this also.  been a good year for twins prospects

[jsteve96]

 

 

 

Williams Ramirez in Cedar Rapids. Nobody can hit him.

 

 

Williams Ramirez career ERA 1.81.       As a starter (25 starts) 1.54 ERA 135K's and 70 hits allowed in 123 innings... the guy shoulda been starting in A ball 2 years ago, not a surprise he's doing good. needed to be in AA by now at least. wonder what he did to piss off the Twins

[jsteve96]

 

 

 

Andrew Vasquez - Saw where Theopanolos and Melotakis were getting some love as lefty relievers but Andrew has the best breaking ball in the Twins' minors, he's put up great numbers so far for Etown/CR this year.

I checked up on this guy, 12 innings vs LHB only 3 hits, 18:0 K/BB ratio... seems like this kid could come up and pitch tomorrow for the Twins as a LOOGY

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

Williams Ramirez career ERA 1.81.       As a starter (25 starts) 1.54 ERA 135K's and 70 hits allowed in 123 innings... the guy shoulda been starting in A ball 2 years ago, not a surprise he's doing good. needed to be in AA by now at least. wonder what he did to piss off the Twins

 

I'm guessing he didn't piss them off at all.  He was a late signing (December of 2012 at age 20), transitioned from the pen to starting in his second season, and as such restarted the DSL.  Played well in the GCL at 22.  Skipped Etown and went straight to CR at 23.  Let's drop the slow promotion/Twins must be incompetent with all prospects stuff.  Please. this meme is so old and untrue that it's getting ridiculous, and I'd like to believe that the people who read these forums can remember the bazillion counter examples to all of this. There are real things that players learn during development and real reasons why they start in the various leagues. Prospects are very much a case by case basis. 

 

That's not what happened here and a quick look at seasonal stats shows that he's moving along at a reasonable pace for reasonable reasons. Whether or not he is a good prospect, time will tell, but I'm guessing the Twins will know a bit more about him than any of us scouting box scores ever will.

[DJL44]

The Twins ruin prospects two ways

 

They promote them too slowly and the player stagnates OR they rush them too quickly and the player is overwhelmed. No matter how the Twins promote prospects they are always clearly wrong in hindsight.

[ashbury]

The Twins ruin prospects two ways

 

They promote them too slowly and the player stagnates OR they rush them too quickly and the player is overwhelmed. No matter how the Twins promote prospects they are always clearly wrong in hindsight.

Maybe there's a little of that, but mostly we have different people posting differing theories to explain a perceived lack of results. Let's not turn this into bickering by telling people they are posting wrong. Address specific posts with specific rebuttals, if you wish. I guess this has turned into a Moderator's Note when it didn't start out as one.

[jsteve96]

 

  Let's drop the slow promotion/Twins must be incompetent with all prospects stuff.  Please. this meme is so old and untrue that it's getting ridiculous, and I'd like to believe that the people who read these forums can remember the bazillion counter examples to all of this. There are real things that players learn during development and real reasons why they start in the various leagues. Prospects are very much a case by case basis. 

 

That's not what happened here and a quick look at seasonal stats shows that he's moving along at a reasonable pace for reasonable reasons.

lets drop the being a dick here and think about how a guy with a career .153 OPP BA has only played 1 level per year. should be moving up faster with the numbers he puts up. a WHIP of 1 in his career.

Edited August 17, 2016 by jsteve96

[jud6312]

A couple of guys I'm interested in following are ones that aren't needle-movers, but for some reason I'm intrigued by them.

 

I'm happy to see Cederoth remaining relatively healthy and consistent. Those walks are probably cause for concern though.

 

I also like watching John Curtiss' lines. Again, the walks are probably a cause for concern, but he seems to miss some bats.

 

I'm pleased you included Walker on there, too. Position flexibility, good fielder ... he's got Twins written all over him, so it's nice to see him starting to put together a good offensive season. Never thought I'd see that out of him.