Seth's 2022 Twins Top Prospect Summary

Again, I certainly think that the Twins system is strong. It likely won’t be a Top 10 organization by the national publications, but I legitimately think that as many as 25 or more from each of the lists can play in the big leagues with continued development, health, and of course a little luck. 

Before getting too far, let’s take a look at the two lists... 

And before I do that, I will acknowledge my mistakes. (Yes, I make them from time to time...) 

1.) I switched shortstops Jermaine Palacios and Wander Javier in my rankings. I showed Palacios ranking as the #25 hitter with Javier checking in at #15. Those should be reversed. 

2.) I was looking at my living Twins Top 152 prospect rankings (Yes, I have one, and no, not going to share it) for this summary and realized that I just missed RHP Austin Schulfer. I have placed him in where I had ranked him among pitchers and overall in the below charts. 

I acknowledged in one of the pitcher articles that while it is a good start to split up the Hitters and Pitchers, there was a logical additional separation that is needed... Starting Pitchers and Relief Pitchers. You see, right or wrong, I still have it in my head that a #3 of #4 starter is still going to through 150-160 innings a season while even the best relievers will throw 60-70 innings in a season. Fair? Not necessarily because no one is questioning the importance of a quality bullpen. Twins fans certainly understand that need. And, maybe it's something that will change in time. If we're being honest, we have seen pitching roles change over the past few years and I would expect that will continue. Aside from the top starting pitchers, most starters are only going through the batting order twice, pitching four or five innings. That is making the value of relievers much more important. So, I did want to take a few minutes and also provide my list of the top 15 Twins relief pitching prospects.

Top 15 Relief Pitching Prospects
1. Jovani Moran, LHP
2. Osiris German, RHP
3. Yennier Cano, RHP
4. Jordan Gore, RHP
5. Steven Cruz, RHP 
6. Ryan Mason, RHP 
7. Alex Scherff, RHP
8. Denny Bentley, LHP
9. Zach Featherstone, LHP
10. Ryan Shreve, RHP
11. Derek Molina, RHP
12. Zach Neff, LHP
13. David Festa, RHP
14. Josh Mitchell, LHP
15. Melvi Acosta, RHP

Again, that is a really good group. The top five were included among the Top 30 Pitching Prospects, and likely #6 through #12 on this list would have appeared very soon. 

Seth's Top 50 Twins Prospects
(Clicking on the player links will bring you to a list of any article that player has been tagged in on Twins Daily. It's fun to look back and see how they've progressed, and other interesting information from their careers.)

1. Royce Lewis, SS (Hitter 1)
2. Jose Miranda, IF (H2)
3. Austin Martin, SS/OF (H3)
4. Matt Canterino, RHP (Pitcher 1)
5. Joe Ryan, RHP (P2)
6. Jordan Balazovic, RHP (P3)
7. Simeon Woods Richardson, RHP (P4)
8. Josh Winder, RHP (P5)
9. Chase Petty, RHP (P6)
10.  Marco Raya, RHP (P7)
11.  Jhoan Duran, RHP (P8)
12.  Cade Povich, LHP (P9)
13.  Noah Miller, SS (H4)
14.  Emmanuel Rodriguez, OF (H5)  
15.  Steve Hajjar, LHP (P10)
16.  Kala’I Rosario, OF (H6)
17.  Blayne Enlow, RHP (P11)
18.  Gilberto Celestino, OF (H7)
19.  Louie Varland, RHP (P12)
20.  Spencer Steer, IF (H8)
21.  Cole Sands, RHP (P13)
22.  Edouard Julien, IF (H9)
23.  Sawyer Gipson-Long, RHP (P14)
24.  Drew Strotman, RHP (P15)
25.  Aaron Sabato, 1B (H10)
26.  Matt Wallner, OF (H11)
27.  Misael Urbina, OF (H12)
28.  Jovani Moran, LHP (P16)
29.  Casey Legumina, RHP (P17)
30.  Keoni Cavaco, SS (H13)
31.  Chris Vallimont, RHP (P18)
32.  Christian Encarnacion-Strand, 3B (H14)
33.  Jermaine Palacios, SS (H15)
34.  Regi Grace, RHP (P19)
35.  Yunior Severino, IF (H16)
36.  Alerick Soularie, OF (H17)
37.  Jair Camargo, C (H18)
38.  Osiris German, RHP (P20)
39.  Christian MacLeod, LHP (P21)
40.  Alex Isola, C/1B (H19)
41.  Sean Mooney, RHP (P22)
42.  Yennier Cano, RHP (P23)
43.  Austin Schulfer, RHP (P24)
44.  Jeferson Morales, C/OF (H20)
45.  Seth Gray, 3B (H21)
46.  Will Holland, SS/CF (H22)
47.  Cody Laweryson, RHP (P24)
48.  Jordan Gore, RHP (P25)
49.  Mark Contreras, OF (H23)
50.  Charlie Mack, C (H24)

Notes 

• It is hard not to notice that the top three prospects are hitters. However, prospects four through 12 are all pitchers. Frankly, an argument could be made that those nine pitchers could be fairly interchangeable.  If you were to tell me that Jhoan Duran or Josh Winder or Chase Petty should rank fourth, I'm not going to argue too vehemently. 
• More important than the actual ranking is that the Twins have a lot of pitchers with not only big-league potential, but they have potential to be playoff starters in the future. 
• I noted this throughout the series, particularly in the comments, but it's important to note who is no longer eligible for prospect status. On the mound, Bailey Ober, Griffin Jax , and Ralph Garza, Jr. surpassed rookie qualifications. Alex Kirilloff, Trevor Larnach, Ryan Jeffers, Brent Rooker, Ben Rortvedt, and Nick Gordon are no longer "prospects" either. For those curious, Lewis Thorpe, Devin Smeltzer, Randy Dobnak, Cody Stashak and Jorge Alcala were not rookies in 2021 after their big-league time in 2020. 
• Breakdown (Pitchers): Right-Handed Starting Pitchers (19), Left-Handed Starting Pitchers (3), Right-Handed Relief Pitchers (3), Left-Handed Relief Pitchers (1). All three left-handed starters were drafted in 2021. 
• Breakdown (Position Players): Catchers (4), Infielders (13), Outfielders (7). Obviously versatility is important in the organization and several players got time in multiple spots. I tried to include them where they played most often. 
• How Acquired: Drafted by Twins (35), Acquired in Trade (8), International Signing (6), Minor League Signing (1, Jermaine Palacios). This is a large number, but more important, three of the top 7 prospects were acquired in July. 
• 13 of these 50 players are on the Twins 40-man roster, so if there is no new Collective Bargaining Agreement, they will not be able to start spring training. They can't just go to minor league spring training. 
• Several have told me (in the Twins organization and elsewhere ) that Covid could potentially have rippling negative impact on organizations and player development for a couple of years. Obviously that is primarily regarding pitchers, but there can also be hitters who will hopefully get their groove back again in 2022.
• It's also important to remember that a pitcher drafted out of college in 2019 was likely 21-22 years old. With the missed 2020 season, they pitched in 2021 at 23-24. Four-year college players even a year older. While age-to-level of competition is often a factor in prospect rankings, and it needs to be, it's my opinion that it has almost no bearing right now on what a pitcher can be as we move forward, and if they come up at 24 or 26 isn't a very big deal. So when I read comments like, "Well, Pitcher A is already 24, he has to be rushed up now..." I can't disagree more. 

As always, what makes doing these rankings fun is the interaction with the readers. Here at Twins Daily, I believe we have the best Twins minor league coverage around, and we have a lot of our readers and writers that have a strong interest in learning more. These lists serve many purposes. First, it's to highlight players that deserve to be talked about. Second, it's fun to think we are smart and that there is some science to these prospect rankings. I've done Twins prospect rankings going back to 2003 or 2004 online. It is not a science. These are kids, working their way up an organizational ladder, just like many kids just out of high school or college. The develop at different rates. They work hard. They get hurt. Things happen and they don't always pan out. So, we need to give them credit when we can, and we can dream on them helping our favorite team become a viable, consistent winning team. I enjoy the comments section. I enjoy being challenged. I try not to run from questions you ask while also being respectful of the players and their families. So please discuss these players and more in the comments. And also, please let us know what you want to see from Twins Daily's minor league coverage in 2022? What can we do better? What would you like to see more of, or less of? Your feedback helps us so much and we want to continue to improve. 

Twins Spotlight 
Several of these Twins players have been a guest on Twins Spotlight over the past two offseasons. We have now had 51 episodes. To look back and see who we have interviewed and listen back to them, click here. 

Previous Rankings
(To look back at what I wrote about the 60 players, click below)
Hitters Part 1: 26-30
Hitters Part 2: 21-25
Hitters Part 3: 16-20 
Hitters Part 4: 11-15 
Hitters Part 5: 6-10 
Hitters Part 6: 1-5 

Pitchers Part 1: 26-30  
Pitchers Part 2: 21-25
Pitchers Part 3: 16-20 
Pitchers Part 4: 11-15 
Pitchers Part 5: 6-10 
Pitchers Part 6: 1-5