Twins Tidbit: Jose Miranda is a Top Rookie Slugger

Very cool, brings clarity to his role on this team. So lets not trade him please.

J M better be off limits to any trade talks. 

I love the positivity, but about the best Miranda can hope to finish in the ROTY voting is 2nd. No one is beating out Rodriguez. Both are special players, but Rodriguez is having arguably the best rookie season since Mike Trout. That's a-whole-nother-level.

I encourage everyone to catch some Mariners games after the Twins finish for the night. He is worth it.

Mirandas fielding is still a negative Rodriguez is in a whole different universe from Miranda.

I think what we've been watching is a very talented young hitter just beginning to figure it out. And he's only going to get better. I see him as a fixture for the next several years in the lineup with, HOPEFULLY, an eventually healthy AK and Larnach. 

IMPO, I think the defense arguements against Miranda have been blown out of proportion. First of all, I've seen a whole lot of rookies, not just with the Twins, struggle a bit with defense at first. Rookies are playing and hitting at an entirely different level, with an entirely different sort of pressure. Secondly, being a young rookie, 21-24yo, and being a top prospect, doesn't mean there isn't work yet to do. Most aren't a finished product, infield in particular, when promoted, and their bat gets them promoted first. And third, while I don't have the numbers in front of me at the moment, he has been primarily a 3B the past few years. So his learning more about 1B at the ML level, and making rookie mistakes, doesn't surprise me. NOTE: I've seen him make a poor play at 1B and then same game, or next, do exactly what he was supposed to. So he's learning.

At 3B, reflecting on the Twins ONLY, Gaetti, Koskie, Plouffe, defensive improvement doesn't happen over night. I think the kid is going to be just fine.

Gaetti was never negative at third; Koskie was a positive , except his first ten games; Plouffe was never a good infielder but not bad with a bat.

We need top line fielders more that good bats, defense has been a large negative for the Twins too long.

12 hours ago, RpR said:

Gaetti was never negative at third; Koskie was a positive , except his first ten games; Plouffe was never a good infielder but not bad with a bat.

We need top line fielders more that good bats, defense has been a large negative for the Twins too long.

Give me smarter base running vs top fielding. We have been atrocious this year and that is squarely on the manager. 

20 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

Other than Arraez, there's no hitter in the Twins lineup I'd rather have up when the team needs a big hit right now than Miranda.

Are 'ya feelin vindicated today? You should, you called it? ?....

...8th innings 2 outs, 2 down , 2 on, opposite field....thing of beauty......10th inning, pull the tying 1b to LF. So where do they pitch Miranda now, he can pull, go the other way, gap power, or park it. Sounds like the whole hit package.

He's been getting clutch hits consistently for a while now. It will be interesting to see how opposing pitchers adjust their respect level and approach to him, and then how he adjusts to their adjustments. Agreed with a previous post, it HAS been great to watch him blossom against MLB pitching.