Sickels Twins Prospect Update

[jorgenswest]

Mid season update from Sickels

 

https://www.minorleagueball.com/2018/7/18/17584728/minnesota-twins-top-20-prospects-for-2018-mid-season-review

[snap4birds]

Mitch Garver:  solid glove.

 

Did Sickels just blow all of his credibility?

[gunnarthor]

Nice write up. Graterol is a top 100 guy now. Lewis and Kiriloff are both up (gives Kiriloff a B+ grade). Romero graduated off list but also gave him a B+.  

 

I like that he mentions Balazovic at the end there. He's a good sleeper guy and has looked good in Cedar Rapids, where he's almost 3 years younger than the league average.

[ashbury]

Mitch Garver:  solid glove.

 

Did Sickels just blow all of his credibility?

Stone hands. Solid glove. I'm not sure I see the difference.

[Ben Noble]

Couldn't agree more with Sickels on Tyler Watson (from the Kintzler trade) as a big-time sleeper, I really thought he'd bust out this year. Still only 21, but his numbers are definitely not moving in the right direction.

[AlwaysinModeration]

Comment on Tyler Jay:  Coulda had Benintendi.

 

At the time of the draft, it was known that Benintendi was rocketing up the draft boards and that the Red Sox, who I believe drafted immediately after the Twins, really wanted him.

 

Would have nice instead of drafting a first round reliever....

[nicksaviking]

 

Comment on Tyler Jay:  Coulda had Benintendi.

 

At the time of the draft, it was known that Benintendi was rocketing up the draft boards and that the Red Sox, who I believe drafted immediately after the Twins, really wanted him.

 

Would have nice instead of drafting a first round reliever....

 

I didn't want Benintendi, but I do remember not wanting the Red Sox to get the guy they reportedly wanted. That desire was just instinct though.

 

I was going to say that if the rumor is that the Red Sox really want a guy, you should probably draft that guy. But then I remember that the Red Sox also really wanted Trey Ball as well.

[dbminn]

For those that haven't seen Balazovic, here's a video of a recent K. A gangly young guy but mechanics and stuff look promising (at least to this one batter):

 

 

[gunnarthor]

 

For those that haven't seen Balazovic, here's a video of a recent K. A gangly young guy but mechanics and stuff look promising (at least to this one batter):

Thanks for sharing. He does look good and gangly.

[Vanimal46]

For those that haven't seen Balazovic, here's a

. A gangly young guy but mechanics and stuff look promising (at least to this one batter):

I know nothing about mechanics, but that arm looks pretty whippy, no?

[TheLeviathan]

This made me scratch my head a lot.

[jimmer]

 

I didn't want Benintendi, but I do remember not wanting the Red Sox to get the guy they reportedly wanted. That desire was just instinct though.

 

I was going to say that if the rumor is that the Red Sox really want a guy, you should probably draft that guy. But then I remember that the Red Sox also really wanted Trey Ball as well.

I remember that they wanted Pedroia too, who they got with their first pick in a draft (2nd round).  Same draft in which we passed on him, I believe, five or six times :-(

[jimmer]

 

Comment on Tyler Jay:  Coulda had Benintendi.

 

At the time of the draft, it was known that Benintendi was rocketing up the draft boards and that the Red Sox, who I believe drafted immediately after the Twins, really wanted him.

 

Would have nice instead of drafting a first round reliever....

Be nice if we didn't draft relievers in the first round at all.

[Monkeypaws]

 

Comment on Tyler Jay:  Coulda had Benintendi.

 

And every team coulda had Pedroia, Kluber, Judge, JD Martinez(who the Twins actually drafted in 06), 23 teams coulda had Trout, etc.

 

I hate those kind of hindsight comments.

[Thrylos]

 

Mitch Garver:  solid glove.

 

Did Sickels just blow all of his credibility?

 

Solid = "about average".

 

And for some reason defensive metrics do not penalize Garver as much as the eye test.  Add a .998 FP (I know, but still...) and, yes, he is "solid",.

 

As in as solid baseball player as Nick Punto was.

 

 

 

[ashbury]

And every team coulda had Pedroia, Kluber, Judge, JD Martinez(who the Twins actually drafted in 06), 23 teams coulda had Trout, etc.

 

I hate those kind of hindsight comments.

Also, imagine the outcry if the Twins had drafted some corner outfielder, when the crying need was and always has been pitching.

 

Still, Benintendi was the very next player drafted. You have to hope that he was at least given consideration by our brain trust. The comparison to later-round draft picks like Kluber isn't close in this case. Those definitely are Twenty-Twenty Hindsight; to me, this one belongs in What Might Have Been.

[Vanimal46]

Also, imagine the outcry if the Twins had drafted some corner outfielder, when the crying need was and always has been pitching.

 

Still, Benintendi was the very next player drafted. You have to hope that he was at least given consideration by our brain trust. The comparison to later-round draft picks like Kluber isn't close in this case. Those definitely are Twenty-Twenty Hindsight; to me, this one belongs in What Might Have Been.

I guess you could say they should have Benin touch with Benintendi...

 

(•_•) / ( •_•)>⌐■-■ / (⌐■_■)

 

(music cue) “YEEEEAAAAAH!”

[rv78]

Woulda Coulda Shoulda......... yeah hindsight isn't fun especially when big market teams like the RedSox and Yankees land prospects that turn out to be stars when other teams pass on them. 

Then when the guys you draft like Buxton and Sano, who are suppose to be the heartbeat of your team by now, can't even stay in the majors makes it that much worse to bear. 

[gunnarthor]

 

Also, imagine the outcry if the Twins had drafted some corner outfielder, when the crying need was and always has been pitching.

 

Still, Benintendi was the very next player drafted. You have to hope that he was at least given consideration by our brain trust. The comparison to later-round draft picks like Kluber isn't close in this case. Those definitely are Twenty-Twenty Hindsight; to me, this one belongs in What Might Have Been.

IIRC, the Twins weren't linked much to Bennintendi. The knock on him was he was short (5'10") and probably couldn't stick in center and there were questions about whether his bat would play in a corner. Some scouts labeled him a "tweener." Turns out he's been a pretty good pick but it's worth noting that Fenway (and most AL East ballparks) cover his limitations nicely.

 

The name the Twins were linked to were mostly pitchers, including Jay, Fullmer, Allard and Buehler but all had flaws (height came up a lot). The bats that came up the most was Tyler Stephenson and Daz Cameron, at least as I remember it.

[Otto von Ballpark]

IIRC, the Twins weren't linked much to Bennintendi. The knock on him was he was short (5'10") and probably couldn't stick in center and there were questions about whether his bat would play in a corner. Some scouts labeled him a "tweener." Turns out he's been a pretty good pick but it's worth noting that Fenway (and most AL East ballparks) cover his limitations nicely.

 

As for Fenway, Benintendi has a higher career wRC+ on the road than at home. As for the AL East, his 3 highest OPS ballparks are outside that division (although admittedly smaller samples).

[jorgenswest]

The Twins seemed to have made a decision to prioritize college relievers in the last administration. It was a critically bad decision and drafting Tyler Jay at that point was a mistake. If you draft a high school starting pitcher in the same spot many never make it but the upside of an ace starter makes it a worthwhile gamble. Jay didn’t have that upside as a college reliever.

 

New guys in charge now that would not have drafted a college reliever.

[jorgenswest]

For those that haven't seen Balazovic, here's a

. A gangly young guy but mechanics and stuff look promising (at least to this one batter):

I saw him pitch and was impressed. I was disappointed that I missed Graterol but seeing Balazovic followed by Enlow left me very encouraged.

[Vanimal46]

The Twins seemed to have made a decision to prioritize college relievers in the last administration. It was a critically bad decision and drafting Tyler Jay at that point was a mistake. If you draft a high school starting pitcher in the same spot many never make it but the upside of an ace starter makes it a worthwhile gamble. Jay didn’t have that upside as a college reliever.

 

New guys in charge now that would not have drafted a college reliever.

Concur.

 

They were years behind other organizations developing power arms. I'm not sure who it was that proposed the idea of transforming college relievers with high velocity readings into starting pitchers. It was a bad idea.

[Mike Sixel]

 

Concur.

They were years behind other organizations developing power arms. I'm not sure who it was that proposed the idea of transforming college relievers with high velocity readings into starting pitchers. It was a bad idea.

 

And none of this is hindsight......sigh.

[gunnarthor]

 

The Twins seemed to have made a decision to prioritize college relievers in the last administration. It was a critically bad decision and drafting Tyler Jay at that point was a mistake. If you draft a high school starting pitcher in the same spot many never make it but the upside of an ace starter makes it a worthwhile gamble. Jay didn’t have that upside as a college reliever.

New guys in charge now that would not have drafted a college reliever.

Eh. This comes up all the time and it's not really that cut and dried. Jay went about where most draft experts thought he should go. Almost all of them thought he could make the transition to starter and, if not, could be a quick to the majors as a standout reliever. I think the bigger issue with Jay has been injuries. He's pitched all of 153 innings since we drafted him, over half of them in 2016. But I think the Twins drafted him on merit and not because he was a reliever.

 

As for the reliever strategy, yeah, I didn't much like it although it didn't happen every draft. The 2014 draft was the main one but Gordon and Burdi were both good picks - the strange picks in rounds 3-10 were head scratching. The idea, as I understood it, being that 1) a college reliever didn't have the mileage on his arm 2) picks in these rounds usually miss so why not try a gamble 3) Twins were targeting flame throwers. I don't think it worked out and that's probably why Johnson was moved out of his position.

 

The main change in our drafting philosophy happened with Smith and Johnson took over and they favored flame throwers over control pitchers which is why we have a pretty ugly run from 08-11 drafts on pitchers. But we have a few years before we can say whether Lavine and Sean Johnson are any better at drafting.

[Mike Sixel]

I endorsed the Gordon pick....but Trea Turner should be the starting SS here right now......we don't know yet if picking Gordon was a good idea or not, though I think it will be fine, it won't be great.

[Platoon]

I think "he looks like he is catching with a frying pan instead of a catchers mitt", was my take on Garver. And to an extent it still is. He fights the ball way too much. He is virtually the antithesis of a pitch framer. His supposed strong arm is negated by what many say is a poor pop up time. But on a somewhat positive note, there is no doubt he has put in some serious time working on blocking balls in the dirt. He is starting to slide squared up to the mound, vs turning his body and have the ball angle off him. While I know that he is often credited with "calling a good game", my question is who actually calls the game. Catchers are constantly looking into the dugout before putting their fingers down. Since I seriously doubt they are checking to see whether Dominoes had delivered yet, what exactly are they looking for?