The Twins Prospect You’re (Actually) Waiting For

Miranda is a different from Wallner in terms of progress and and position. 6-5 and 250 is also a little different than 6-2 210. On the other hand both grapefruit and apples are both fruits. They are high in pectin which will produce something in the end.  Wallner may or may not progress this year. Edouard Jullian could be the stud from the Rapids  Who knows at that stage?

I know they have a long way to go, just getting drafted out of high school, but looking forward to watching Noah Miller and Chase Petty's progress.

I was really disappointed in Rooker last year. Previously, he's always shown the ability to adapt to each level successfully. After a tease in 2020, I thought he had a chance to make some kind of mark in 2021. I fully appreciate there is a big step from AAA to MLB, but again, Rocker has always settled in and "figured it out" before. If Larnach needs a little more time, which is very possible, I would not be shocked to see Rooker and a healthy Cave...if he finds the 2018-19 version of himself...suddenly sharing LF in 2022, at least initially. And that wouldn't be a bad thing, although a small reach, as it would mean even more depth and even more trade possibilities. 

I think Wallner can hit. The power is real. He's got a good arm. From everything I've read/heard, he's at least average defensively. I fully expect him to begin 2022 in Wichita at this point. They key for him, like Rooker, like Sano, and others, is to be able to control his hitting zone and not be a flailing, almost automatic out/consistent K victim.

We've had fun in Forum and Main Page speculation about a future Twins lineup in a couple of years and Sabato has often been brought up as a DH and 1B option. And that may be. And I mean no disrespect to Sabato who be an absolute masher with quality OB skills, but Wallner, able to be a legitimate corner OF, would probably be more valuable if his bat plays.

22 minutes ago, 4twinsJA said:

I know they have a long way to go, just getting drafted out of high school, but looking forward to watching Noah Miller and Chase Petty's progress.

I'm still holding out some hope for Cavaco and him turning a corner in 2022. For the first half of 2021, he was Ft Myers best hitter.

And while he has a long way to go, and will have basically not pitched competitively for almost 2yrs, I'm really excited to see what Marco Raya does this next year.

1 hour ago, Prince William said:

Miranda is a different from Wallner in terms of progress and and position. 6-5 and 250 is also a little different than 6-2 210. On the other hand both grapefruit and apples are both fruits. They are high in pectin which will produce something in the end.  Wallner may or may not progress this year. Edouard Jullian could be the stud from the Rapids  Who knows at that stage?

Could Julian have any better first season in pro ball? OK, the BA could be a little better I guess, but when you have that incredible OB ability, it tells me the BA will rise. He was outstanding and I don't feel we've talked enough about him. I do wonder if there's any chance he can/could play even a "decent" SS for added versatility value?

I'm also big on Steer.

The Twins Prospect You’re (Actually) Waiting For:

Royce Lewis. Because I have no idea what to expect.

Lewis and Duran.  Lewis because we badly need a long-term SS.  Duran because he has the highest ceiling among our SP prospects.  These two guys reaching their potential would be huge.  They both also have question marks and hopefully their arrival would be a product of them harnessing that potential.

At A+ Wallner’s stats are BB% almost 10, K% 33

Rooker at the same level has similar BB% with K% 29

Data is from Fangraphs. 

I have been trying to follow Wallner and have really liked what he has done - not a Rooker, not a Sabato - lump those two together for now, but a ballplayer who makes contact, can field, can throw and does bat.  I would love to see him progress to AAA this year.  But for now I join the Lewis and Duran bandwagon, and yet the man I really want to see is Balazovic - never seen him pitch, but we have heard so much about him the last few years that my curiosity is running high.

Wallner definitely has talent and deserves his prospect status; when he hits the ball it goes a long way and he gets on base enough and makes enough contact to be a force in a minor league lineup. But that K-rate scares me. If he's whiffing that much in A-ball, it doesn't really bode well for his ability to continue to make hard contact as he rises through the system and more importantly in MLB. Rooker has really struggled because of just this problem (his limits as a defensive player hurt him as well, and it does sound like Wallner is more of an asset there...but Wallner still looks like he tops out as "ok as a corner OF"). 

There's been a lot of sturm and drang over Austen Martin's lack of power production in AA, but it's easier to add power to a guy who can get the bat on the ball at all times and really control the strike zone then it is to add contact to a guy who whiffs a lot. Plenty of history of players adding patience at the plate and drawing more walks as they progress in their careers too, but how many went from being high K guys to good contact? I like Wallner, I'm rooting for Wallner, but I really want him to get that K-rate down to something more manageable and projectable.

I'm actually really enthusiastic about Celestino next year. I feel like they'll probably start him in AAA, but if he can continue his hitting success from last year in AAA when he returns to the majors he looks like an almost perfect 4th OF for the Twins. He was called up way too soon last year and wasn't ready for it, but rather than let it implode his season he did a great job of getting back on track when he went back down to AAA, which is where he should have spent most of his time last year anyways. Feels like he's being forgotten about a little because he struggled so badly at the plate when they hauled him up to MLB in utter desperation, but I think he's going to be really valuable especially with Buxton's injury concerns.

I was happy to see Wallner in the AFL. I think if he doesn't get hit in the face with a pitch that he makes the all-star team. He was my first 1/1 baseball card too!

Like Wallner but seems to me to be one our most tradeable prospects for starting pitcher. Wallner and one of Balezovich, Canterino, Strotman.....for a Manea or Mahle...its going to take giving up quality. 

Royce Lewis is the prospect I most want to follow in 2022 (please let there be a full 2022).

Wallner is a fringy prospect unless he can manage the strikeouts a little better. His AFL appearance hung out at 30% as I recall, which is better than I expected and against competition which is historically better than A+ ball. I sometimes wonder why prospects like Wallner don't invest more time into conditioning. If he had some better wheels, he'd rise a lot in terms of potential value.

Some comments in here about Rooker, but I'm not as concerned about him. The advanced metrics showed he had really lousy luck in 2021. His expected numbers were much higher than the actual results. Here's hoping he not only takes a step forward in 2022, but the luck evens out.

On 12/18/2021 at 2:01 PM, bean5302 said:

Royce Lewis is the prospect I most want to follow in 2022 (please let there be a full 2022).

Wallner is a fringy prospect unless he can manage the strikeouts a little better. His AFL appearance hung out at 30% as I recall, which is better than I expected and against competition which is historically better than A+ ball. I sometimes wonder why prospects like Wallner don't invest more time into conditioning. If he had some better wheels, he'd rise a lot in terms of potential value.

Some comments in here about Rooker, but I'm not as concerned about him. The advanced metrics showed he had really lousy luck in 2021. His expected numbers were much higher than the actual results. Here's hoping he not only takes a step forward in 2022, but the luck evens out.

32% K rate is lousy luck

On 12/17/2021 at 12:05 PM, Game7-91 said:

Like Wallner but seems to me to be one our most tradeable prospects for starting pitcher. Wallner and one of Balezovich, Canterino, Strotman.....for a Manea or Mahle...its going to take giving up quality. 

At least if Mahle is on the Twins, he can't break Buxton's hand again, eh? 

https://www.mlb.com/news/byron-buxton-left-hand-injury-twins

I am not that optimistic about any of the arms, so I want to see Lewis. Tic Toc. Time to shine or move on. I don't know if that qualifies though, because I am (actually) tired of waiting for him. 

1 hour ago, h2oface said:

At least if Mahle is on the Twins, he can't break Buxton's hand again, eh? 

https://www.mlb.com/news/byron-buxton-left-hand-injury-twins

I am not that optimistic about any of the arms, so I want to see Lewis. Tic Toc. Time to shine or move on. I don't know if that qualifies though, because I am (actually) tired of waiting for him. 

Bringing up a guy who has missed two years because we are tired of waiting for him is not exactly good development practice.  I guess it's just fine for a fan but absolute incompetence for an organization.