Twins Daily College Baseball Notebook: Week 7

[Jamie Cameron]

Tennessee continued their historic start to the season, there was chaos resulting from a bat flip gone wrong, and who has some of the most explosive power of all college bats in the 2022 draft? It's all in the latest installment of the College Notebook.

The Twins are up and running. A promising opening weekend for the major league team was underpinned by several spectacular performances from Twins prospects. Boy, is it amazing to have baseball back every single day. Here’s the latest from Jeremy Nygaard, capturing news and notes as we shuffle towards the draft in July, including updates from Keith Law as he offers his initial musings on college prospects from the season. Here’s the latest highlights from Week 7 of the college baseball season.

Weekly Recap
Tennessee continued its historic start, sweeping Missouri to move to 31-1 (12-0) this season. Meanwhile, the biggest shakeup in the top five came as Miami (previously number nine) swept previous number two Virginia to supplant them in the rankings. The rest of the top ten are OSU, Texas Tech, Oregon State, Virginia, Arkansas, Texas, Louisville, and Notre Dame.

At the end of the weekend, here is where Baseball America has the top 25 teams.

 Moment of the Week
Introducing the ‘anti’ moment of the week. After a righteous bat flip, Houston’s Brandon Uhse trips over first base. The next Houston hitter is thrown at by Sam Houston State and the game descends into chaos. SMH.

Potential #8 Pick Performances
Kevin Parada continued to crush this week, adding three home runs and ten RBIs to an already spectacular season. No one is hotter in college baseball than Parada. His continued performance at his current level will take him into top-five consideration in July.

Brooks Lee had a ‘meh’ week for Cal Poly. However, his hitting tools are so well-rounded that a ‘meh’ week involves striking out twice, instead of once. Jacob Berry had a strong week for LSU, adding two home runs and six more RBIs. Berry has been extremely solid this year, if not quite firing on all cylinders, and is currently mocked to the Twins at eight by Baseball America. The most impactful news from the top 12-15 player group this weekend is that Chase DeLauter has a broken foot. DeLauter, a corner outfielder who is putting up an excellent season at James Madison, will be out for at least three weeks.

This week, we’re shifting the focus of potential number eight prospects from Daniel Susac, to Jordan Beck. Beck has been rapidly ascending big boards since the beginning of the 2022 season. Initially, at number 50 overall, he currently sits at number 13 in Baseball America’s Top 200. Beck has already clubbed seven home runs in 2022 after hitting 15 in his Sophomore campaign at Tennessee, and some view him as having the best power tool of any college bat in the draft. Beck profiles as a strong right-fielder with good range and a strong arm. If he can cut down on strikeouts and control the strike zone more effectively, he has a chance to be a top ten pick in July.

Here are the latest number for draft-eligible college players the Twins may have interest in at number eight overall.

     Brooks Lee, SS, Cal Poly, 52-126 (.413), 7 HR, 36 RBI, 27 BB, 8 K
     Jace Jung, 2B, Texas Tech, 50-129 (.388), 10 HR, 40 RBI, 34 BB, 20 K
     Kevin Parada, C, Georgia Tech, 55-141 (.390), 15 HR, 50 RBI, 19 BB, 16 K
     Jacob Berry, CI, LSU, 47-128 (.367), 10 HR, 34 RBI, 14 BB, 13 K
     Gavin Cross, OF, Virginia Tech, 38-111 (.342), 7 HR, 23 RBI, 13 BB, 10 K
     Chase DeLauter, OF, James Madison, 38-87 (.437), 8 HR, 35 RBI, 28 BB, 21 K
     Daniel Susac, C, Arizona, 56-143 (.392), 7 HR, 32 RBI, 11 BB, 24 K
     Jordan Beck, OF, Tennessee, 40-126 (.317), 7 HR, 25 RBI, 12 BB, 28 K

Who are you most interested in as a potential number eight pick for the Minnesota Twins? Join the discussion in the comments.

 

 

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[PDX Twin]

I'm really interested in someone who isn't a power hitter! We have so many of those all the way through the system. Everyone on your chart has at least 7 HR in, what, 30 games?

[Jamie Cameron]

1 hour ago, PDX Twin said:

I'm really interested in someone who isn't a power hitter! We have so many of those all the way through the system. Everyone on your chart has at least 7 HR in, what, 30 games?

What kind of prospect interests you? I can definitely add some notes in depending on what you're looking for. 

This season, there's a really strong crop of college hitters all with good hit AND power tools. I get that it's hard to discern between them on this years stats though, it just to give a little more context than my word that they're good lol.

[PDX Twin]

Obviously, power is a good thing, ceteris paribus. But we seem to have a lot of guys with poor hit, run, and field tools at the expense of great power tools. It's so hard to judge the hit tools of draftable players because they are not facing professional pitching. It seems like power and speed are easier to assess. But, for balance if nothing else, I'd really like to see more guys like Miller and not so many like Sabato.

[ashbury]

Just now, PDX Twin said:

Obviously, power is a good thing, ceteris paribus.

Haven't seen Paribus on the prospects lists - I'll keep an eye out.  Thanks for the tip.

[SteelDodo]

Personally, I would LOVE one of the two catchers. Outside of Jeffers and Sanchez (who only has one year left on his contract anyways), I don't see any catcher who has a realistic shot to contribute to the big league club in the future.

[DocBauer]

I am always in favor of BPA, period. That's what you do with your 1st rounder, especially when you're drafting as high as the Twins are this year. I don't believe in drafting for need, however, if you "score" 2 players nearly the same, go with need.

No way to know how the draft will proceed once the time comes, but there are a pair of really good looking catchers available and it would be a good bet that at least one of them will be available for the Twins. There are some good defensive catchers in the system. Some have surprising athleticism and can even play other positions. Some have power potential. Some even have decent hit potential. And we drafted a couple fairly early last year. But there is nobody in the system that you can point to and say: "a couple years, he's going to be really good and ready." 

My interest and hope is one of the catchers, who have bats and power, to be another Jeffers, hopefully. Need meets talent and opportunity in this draft.

[Jamie Cameron]

5 hours ago, PDX Twin said:

Obviously, power is a good thing, ceteris paribus. But we seem to have a lot of guys with poor hit, run, and field tools at the expense of great power tools. It's so hard to judge the hit tools of draftable players because they are not facing professional pitching. It seems like power and speed are easier to assess. But, for balance if nothing else, I'd really like to see more guys like Miller and not so many like Sabato.

Ah, gotcha. What I'd say in response is that the FO tendency for college bats should be separated from the guys they might take this year. Sabato has incredible power but is pretty limited as a prospect (strikes out a ton, no obvious defensive home). The possibilities in the top 8 are going to have BOTH strong hit and power tools, that's a little bit of the reason why the uniformity behind the numbers from the guys mentioned.

[Jamie Cameron]

4 hours ago, SteelDodo said:

Personally, I would LOVE one of the two catchers. Outside of Jeffers and Sanchez (who only has one year left on his contract anyways), I don't see any catcher who has a realistic shot to contribute to the big league club in the future.

I totally agree that if thins lined up, a catching prospect would be great and fill a need. Agree with Doc's thought below though, BPA.

[ashbury]

1 hour ago, Jamie Cameron said:

I totally agree that if thins lined up, a catching prospect would be great and fill a need. Agree with Doc's thought below though, BPA.

I'm repeating myself to say that having a stud catcher is a rich team's luxury.  It means all other needs are filled.  I'm all for having a great catcher fall into my lap; but when consciously  investing, such as an early first-round draft pick, I want a shortstop or a pitcher or a hard hitting center fielder.  Second-rounders Ben Rortvedt and Ryan Jeffers are my idea of how to draft catching, if it's a priority.

[Blyleven2011]

We traded perry,  the only pitcher in our system  with an ace label attached to him...

 

What I'm looking for is a college ace , bulldog , stud that might be on a major league roster in less than a year ...... 

Other clubs can find them , why can't the front offices  top professionals find them ...