Twins Daily 2021 Top Prospects: #6 RHP Jordan Balazovic

Sometimes, having a sub-par major league roster is a boon for prospects like Balazovic, or Larnach. They are able to come up young and learn on the job. Early results are often ugly, but in the end, thiose hard knocks pay long term dividends.

Look at guy like Radke: came up at 22, got slugged around his first 2 seasons, but not horribly. Finished 3rd for Cy his 3rd year.

Not that I want to back to losing baseball, far from it, but it has to be rough for near-ready prospects to bide their time.

I like Duran's stuff better but like what you said Cody, what makes Balazovic maybe a little better is his ability to hide the ball. That deception gives him an edge. I'm looking forward to seeing both Balazovic and Duran later this season.

Yes, I would have him as the top pitcher, probably ranked #4.

The Kluber, Clevinger, Bieber, Civale, Plutko, Plesac, McKenzie train is getting old. (I probably forgot someone)

C'mon Twins, time for a new Balazovic, Duran, Ober, Canterino, Enlow, Sands, Winder line.  All the one 'n' done's in the rotation this year present the perfect opportunity for a segue.

Sometimes, having a sub-par major league roster is a boon for prospects like Balazovic, or Larnach. They are able to come up young and learn on the job. Early results are often ugly, but in the end, thiose hard knocks pay long term dividends.

 

Look at guy like Radke: came up at 22, got slugged around his first 2 seasons, but not horribly. Finished 3rd for Cy his 3rd year.

 

Not that I want to back to losing baseball, far from it, but it has to be rough for near-ready prospects to bide their time.

I feel that in this case it's tougher on the positional prospects then the pitching ones.  All these prospects are going to require injuries to occur to get called up.

Take Larnach for example.  He can only really get called up if there are injuries to Corner OFer's.  Sabato for 1B and DH's.  The pitchers have a greater probability of getting called up through out the season.

That's not even counting doubleheaders and the such where an extra pitcher can get called up!

A violent deliver and a plus-slider. I hope he can stay healthy.

I am big on this kid.  He seems to be that under the radar guy that Faleve seems to be known for identifying.  How many under the radar guys was he credited for helping draft or trade for in Cleveland?  I am not saying he will be future Cy Young winner, but have high hopes for him.

Excited about JB, probably a year away, but hope he sees a few spot starts in second half of year. Could see Duran with a couple spot starts in May/June then called up to stay second half of year, he is further along in development.

If his stuff is better than Dobnak and Shoemaker, get him up to big leagues.

First, I’m not as high on this pitching staff as some. Im comfortable with the 1-3, but if you can add an electric arm to the back end during the regular season, that’s massive. A guy like Dobnak shouldn’t be blocking anyone (before you throw stats at me, apparently the FO doesn’t think all that highly of him either - they never seem to want to commit to him as a fixture in the rotation).

Also, if they’re going to keep pulling stunts like yanking the Cy Young runner up while he’s cruising after 5 in a playoff game, I’d rather see a guy like Balazovic, who can pitch multiple innings with high-ish end stuff vs. the 4th or 5th option from a fairly shallow bullpen.

In order to feel good about him being used in that role, you have to get him major league innings during the regular season. Don’t pull the same shortsighted roster management that was done with Kirilloff for the sake of milking service time.

Once a pitcher gets to a certain level in terms of ability, I don’t see the sense in burning up their arm in the minors. Get him up, use him in some way, keep him stretched out with bullpens and live batting practice, and let the top-notch pitching coaches here round him into form. Blowing away the same 20 year olds and journeyman in AA isn’t helping anyone a significant amount. Do not play the service time game with top pitching prospects.

Darius wrote a comment I really like and stole much of what I would say.  So I will just second his post and say that they need to get him up and use him during the year.  I want him in front of the Dobnak, Thorpe, Smeltzer trio.  And Duran will bypass them too.  2021 - Berrios, Maeda, Balazovic, Duran and ???? I look forward to it. 

I'm really enthusiastic about balazovic and would be tempted to push him higher. I really think he could be a serious horse in the rotation. (I've also made it a goal to consistently pronounce his name right before the end of the season, gah)

I'm really glad he was working in saint Paul last year, but it's a real shame he didn't get to face regular competition in minor league ball. But I think he could see Target Field in 2021.

A violent deliver and a plus-slider. I hope he can stay healthy.

I have seen a few videos. I guess I am not as smart as some others but the delivery looked smooth on the videos I saw

If his stuff is better than Dobnak and Shoemaker, get him up to big leagues.

Once a pitcher gets to a certain level in terms of ability, I don’t see the sense in burning up their arm in the minors. Get him up, use him in some way, keep him stretched out with bullpens and live batting practice, and let the top-notch pitching coaches here round him into form. Blowing away the same 20 year olds and journeyman in AA isn’t helping anyone a significant amount. Do not play the service time game with top pitching prospects.

He's pitched a single game at AA... Usually the jump between A+ to AA is considering the biggest in the minors, so I would think he needs to spend some substantial time there before getting a crack at the big leagues. If you did call him up, I'd expect to see what Berrios/Gibson/May did in their first stretch of starters - not because he's a bad pitcher, but because he simply isn't ready yet.