Ranking the Twins Top-5 Hit Tool Prospects

What does someone have to do to get a 70-75 rating, Miranda hit .340 at top 2 levels of MiLB last year and only 50/55 rating?

4 hours ago, 4twinsJA said:

What does someone have to do to get a 70-75 rating, Miranda hit .340 at top 2 levels of MiLB last year and only 50/55 rating?

70-80 ratings are reserved for prospects with an ELITE tool. One season of hitting .340 when you've consistently hit around .270 doesn't deserve an elite hit tool rating. 

Think Mark McGuire power, or Aroldis Chapman velocity. ELITE. 

From MLB.com

Austin Martin = 65
Royce Lewis = 55
Misael Urbina = 55
Danny DeAndrade = 55
Alerick Soularie = 50
Jose Miranda = 50
Aaron Sabato = 50
Emmanuel Rodriguez = 50
Spencer Steer = 50
Yunior Severino = 50

From Baseball America in regard to general definitions. A 50 grade tool is "average" 

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/explaining-the-20-80-baseball-scouting-scale/

Quote

20: As bad as it gets for a big leaguer. Think Billy Hamilton’s power.
30: Poor, but not unplayable, such as Edwin Encarnacion’s speed.
40: Below-average, such as Eloy Jimenez’s defense, or Trevor Bauer’s control.
45: Fringe-average. Reynaldo Lopez’s control and Kurt Suzuki’s arm qualify.
50: Major league average. Juan Soto’s speed.
55: Above-average. Nick Castellanos’ power.
60: Plus. Alex Bregman’s speed or Stephen Strasburg’s control.
70: Plus-Plus. Among the best tools in the game, such as Corey Seager’s arm, Patrick Corbin’s slider or
Francisco Lindor’s defense.
80: Top of the scale. Some scouts consider only one player’s tool in all of the major leagues to be 80.
Think of Aaron Judge’s power, Byron Buxton’s speed or Aroldis Chapman’s fastball.

It's worth noting that a players batting average may not represent their actual hit tool as plate discipline and experience can make a huge impact here. I'd say Eddie Rosario has at least a 70 grade hit tool. If he'd learn some discipline, his batting average would skyrocket. Royce Lewis scouting reports also mention Lewis being over-aggressive at the plate, but his pitch recognition and bat speed being well above average. 

8 hours ago, 4twinsJA said:

What does someone have to do to get a 70-75 rating, Miranda hit .340 at top 2 levels of MiLB last year and only 50/55 rating?

Plus 30 HR's.

I saw Miller hit one over the right field fence last week in an inter squad game of the low A vs. High A players, He hit it from the left side. I'm glad you ranked Miller in the top 5, plus you gave Miller and Martin the only two 60 ratings for future hitting. This means Miller and martin are the two best prospects as far as future hitting is concerned, I think.  Although I do not disagree, I wonder why Miller ranked so high at such a young age.  Fun article, although I would have put Miranda #1, but I understand that others would pick Martin. It is a shame Lewis is not in the top 5, but I have to agree he is not a top 5 prospect in this ranking.

1 hour ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

Plus 30 HR's.

Power is a separate tool from hitting, so that's not going to be a factor in this ranking.

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

From MLB.com

Austin Martin = 65
Royce Lewis = 55
Misael Urbina = 55
Danny DeAndrade = 55
Alerick Soularie = 50
Jose Miranda = 50
Aaron Sabato = 50
Emmanuel Rodriguez = 50
Spencer Steer = 50
Yunior Severino = 50

From Baseball America in regard to general definitions. A 50 grade tool is "average" 

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/explaining-the-20-80-baseball-scouting-scale/

It's worth noting that a players batting average may not represent their actual hit tool as plate discipline and experience can make a huge impact here. I'd say Eddie Rosario has at least a 70 grade hit tool. If he'd learn some discipline, his batting average would skyrocket. Royce Lewis scouting reports also mention Lewis being over-aggressive at the plate, but his pitch recognition and bat speed being well above average. 

Eddie Rosario definitely did not have/does not have a 70 hit tool. 

I would venture to say that the highest he was rated in hit tool was 60, by any respectable publication.

Based purely on results, I wonder where Eduoard Julien ranks for a hit tool. Or is he all pitch selection?

I know I am a broken record (or the digital age equivalent) on this, but I think Emmanuel Rodriquez has a higher hit tool ceiling than Steer or Urbina, Cody.  What number would you assign to his future hit tool?  Thanks for the article.  Always interesting to speculate on prospects.

13 hours ago, Devilsadvocate said:

Eddie Rosario definitely did not have/does not have a 70 hit tool. 

I would venture to say that the highest he was rated in hit tool was 60, by any respectable publication.

I'm entitled to my opinion as much as anybody else. If you've watched Rosario and the kind of utterly trash pitches he's driven hard, you might feel different. Rosario hit .288 and .290 while still chasing trash and walking at 5% across 2017-2018. Rosario typically posts excellent contact rates despite his aggressive style and the fact he receives a low percentage of pitches in the strike zone. Rosario does and can recognize balls vs. strikes. He's just overly aggressive. Rosario could compete for the batting title if he'd lay off the trash pitches. Instead, early in his career, Rosario sold out for power trying to keep up with Sano and I believe he's been arrogant as a result of his successes in hitting garbage.

There is some hope for him. Rosario is trying to tighten up his game based on his swinging strike rate and o-contact rates. His swinging strike rate was under 10% last year and his o-contact rate has skyrocketed while his overall swing percentage hasn't dropped much.

 

5 hours ago, bean5302 said:

I'm entitled to my opinion as much as anybody else. If you've watched Rosario and the kind of utterly trash pitches he's driven hard, you might feel different. Rosario hit .288 and .290 while still chasing trash and walking at 5% across 2017-2018. Rosario typically posts excellent contact rates despite his aggressive style and the fact he receives a low percentage of pitches in the strike zone. Rosario does and can recognize balls vs. strikes. He's just overly aggressive. Rosario could compete for the batting title if he'd lay off the trash pitches. Instead, early in his career, Rosario sold out for power trying to keep up with Sano and I believe he's been arrogant as a result of his successes in hitting garbage.

There is some hope for him. Rosario is trying to tighten up his game based on his swinging strike rate and o-contact rates. His swinging strike rate was under 10% last year and his o-contact rate has skyrocketed while his overall swing percentage hasn't dropped much.

 

Yes, I've likely seen Eddie play just as many games as you have and understand his deficiencies as a hitter. 

I do agree with on one thing though - You're definitely entitled to you own opinion.