The Best Twins Prospect You've Never Heard Of

[Cody Christie]

Every year some prospects exceed expectations and start rising in an organization's top prospect rankings. So, who is the best Twins prospect you've never heard of?

 

The Dodgers originally signed Jair Camargo as a 16-year-old out of Colombia. He made his professional debut in the Dominican Summer League, hitting .250/.309/.346 (.654) with eight extra-base hits in 41 games. Over the next three seasons, he climbed the Dodgers' organizational ladder, continuing to be young for each level. In 2019, he played 79 games at Low-A with a .642 OPS as a 19-year-old. 

Minnesota acquired Camargo along with Kenta Maeda for Brusdar Graterol and Luke Raley. His organizational debut was forced to wait until 2021, when he spent the season at High-A. Camargo was 1.5 years younger than the average age of the competition, and he posted a .697 OPS, which was his best total in a full-season league. His numbers still weren't impressive, but the team hoped he could continue to improve as he got closer to Target Field. 

In 2022, Camargo seems to have put it all together, and he's doing it at Double-A. He returned to Cedar Rapids for the season's start, where he hit .296/.314/.496 (.809) with 11 extra-base hits in 28 games. Minnesota promoted him to Double-A, and his bat got even hotter with Wichita. In his first 32 Double-A games, he hit ten home runs, and he's over two years younger than the average age of the competition. Over 73% of his at-bats have come against older pitchers, which makes his performance even more impressive. 

Defensively, Camargo spends most of his time at catcher, but he has also seen time at first and third base. For the season, he has thrown out 35% of attempted base stealers. Since joining the Twins organization, he has yet to post a fielding percentage below .982 at any level, and he has a .979 fielding percentage in his catching career. He is indeed a prospect to watch by adding his improving offensive skills to a solid catching frame. 

Currently, Twins Daily doesn't rank Camargo as one of the team's top-30 prospects, which points to how much his season came out of nowhere. MLB Pipeline recently updated their top-30 list, and Camargo was also absent from their rankings. If he continues to play this well, it will be hard to keep him off these lists entering the 2023 season. 

In recent years, Ryan Jeffers has been the top catching prospect to come through the Twins organization. Jeffers made his debut in 2020 as a 23-year-old after hitting .264/.341/.421 (.762) at High- and Double-A in 2019. If the Twins follow a similar development plan, Camargo has a chance to debut in 2023, especially if there are injuries at the big-league level. 

If Minnesota wants to keep Camargo, he must be added to the 40-man roster this winter. There are plenty of other prospects the Twins will need to consider adding before the Rule 5 Draft, including Simeon Woods Richardson, Matt Canterino, Matt Wallner, and Louie Varland. Young catchers with big bats are not easily acquired, so the Twins will need to evaluate if his power surge is real before making a roster decision. 

Do you think Camargo has put himself into the team's long-term plans? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion.

 

 

 

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[Rosterman]

Is he eligible to be a minor league free agent?

[Doctor Gast]

I really hope so because MN is really hurting at the MLB level (IMO MN greatest need) but a jump from the Kernels to MLB is a big jump. Yet I agree Carmargo is underrated.

[jorgenswest]

I appreciate the incite and makes me wonder which of Camargo or Isola is a better option to be added to the 40.

There will be a need for a third catcher to be on the 40 during the season. I think defensive readiness trumps offensive readiness in this role.

In 159 innings Isola has just one passed ball but he has allowed 39 stolen bases in 40 attempts. That is a massive number in only 159 innings. In 412.1 innings Camargo has 8 passed balls and allowed 36 stolen bases in 55 attempts. There are other important defensive contributions from catchers that aren’t measured here but I don’t see how Isola would be ready to play catcher.

If the Twins feel Camargo is close enough to be ready defensively he has shown enough bat to earn that spot on the 40.

[Lonestar]

Why are neither Camargo or Isola on MLB Pipeline's Twins Top 30 prospect list, but Sabato, Strotman, and Helman are?

[dxpavelka]

Not much in the way of highly regarded catchers in the pipeline which made the March trades so head scratching.  Body by Willians Austidillo which makes one wonder how long he'll last behind the plate but if he gets here soon enough half a decade shouldn't be out of the question.  88 hits from the big league catcher spot this year so opportunity knocks.

[bird]

Although none ranked highly, Fangraphs noted that the Twins are "loaded" with depth at catcher, and mentioned six catching prospects, including Camargo. They did not mention either Caleb Hamilton or Chris Williams, both of whom would likely merit a mention if the list was redone. Importantly, I suspect Fangaphs will grade a few of these prospects more generously this off-season, especially Cardenas, Williams, Camargo, and maybe even Jeferson Morales and Winkel. So, if Caleb Hamilton, who got his cup of coffee this season, is not regarde by scouts as highly as a bunch of these other guys, that probably bodes well.

[Omgbenji]

Whoa, I really enjoyed this article. Thank you for working on this! Camaro is definitely under the radar but I’ll be watching for him in the minor league reports now. Gotta add this guy to the 40 though right? He’s already in AA and putting up superior numbers to Jeffers. Keep him around!

[Seth Stohs]

My guess is they're already working on trying to get Camargo to sign a minor-league deal for 2023. Hard to envision adding him right now just because there are so many others to add ahead of him. But no question they'd love to keep him around. 

[terrydactyls]

11 hours ago, Seth Stohs said:

My guess is they're already working on trying to get Camargo to sign a minor-league deal for 2023. Hard to envision adding him right now just because there are so many others to add ahead of him. But no question they'd love to keep him around. 

Would a minor league deal exempt him from the Rule 5 draft?

[Rosterman]

14 hours ago, terrydactyls said:

Would a minor league deal exempt him from the Rule 5 draft?

No. So do you sign him after the draft? Pay him too much that another team won't sign Rule 5 him if you do sign him?