Part 4: Seth's Midseason Top 40 Twins Prospects (11-15)

Been thinking about this for a couple days now since Kennys Vargas was demoted and the Twins went to a 13-man staff:   Any chance Mitch Garver could be the position player that is brought back when they eventually go back to a 12-man staff?  Vargas was having a really tough time from the right side of the plate; something that Mitch could provide.  Garver has a ton of flexibility also; can be the 3rd catcher but most importantly can DH (again, as some RH pop) as well as fill in for Joe at 1B. 

After a bit of a slow start at the plate in Rochester he has really been good the past two weeks or so - slashing .270/.413/.514  That's a .927 OPS.  Also has 9 walks against 10 K's - a solid ratio. Not too shabby overall.

I could be way off base on this. But I think he could help the Twins.

Isn't Grossman the RH DH? he should be, imo. Not much power, but he avoids outs very well.

 

I do agree, Garver could possibly help this team, but I'm not sure I'd want him to DH over Grossman right now.

The flexibility is intriguing to me.  Rather have Garver sub for Joe instead of throwing Gimenez over there at 1B.  Even a bench bat, hitting for Castro late in a game without putting your catching in dire straits (still have Gimenez).  

Maybe even free up Robbie to play a little OF against lefties and give Rosario  a break.

This is a list of role players unless Palacios can pass up Vielma and Gordon at SS.  I see more value in Granite than in Palka - I am not a fan of the big K rate and I do like defense.  Granite would have been a nice fill in when Buxton came out with the cut hand.  We have Grossman, Vargas as bats for DH and what we need is a good right hand/left hand combination for that position and the bench.  I would like to see Adrianza as a good fielding infielder (until they bring up Vielma) and Granite as a good fielding OF on the bench.   I am not sure how Garver is going to get in to the mix.  He is not a starter and right now the team seems to really like Giminez (maybe because he can pitch).  

Hopefully Jorge will continue to rise - we need to see so more starters coming up. 

Isn't Grossman the RH DH? he should be, imo. Not much power, but he avoids outs very well.

 

I do agree, Garver could possibly help this team, but I'm not sure I'd want him to DH over Grossman right now.

That's a good question.  I'd lean to play the player with more upside in Garver, but I understand that Robby provides value with the getting on base tool.

More importantly, I would rather have Garver up here instead of Gimenez.  It's nice to have an all catch and no hit cather, but having two of them?  Plus, it seems to me that Castro is a defensive upgrade over Gimenez (eye test only here), so why not bring Garver up?  Between catching 2 times a week, 1b once a week and DH every 7 or 8 games, that's plenty of at bats (4 games a week) for a kid who is only getting older at AAA and appears to have the hit tool at his disposal (not to mention on base tool).

I don't get the Granite ranking at all.   You either rank based on potential ceiling or on actual performance plus age combination.   Granite is a guy who needs to get on base to steal bases to succeed.  He is 24 and hitting .247/.287/.315, so he is not performing up to par for this type of ranking.   His ceiling is Jason Pridie at this point if he ever makes the majors.   The other thing that makes zero sense is that he jumped 11 spots while actually sucking... 

Apparently your stat sheet of his paltry 89 ABs doesn't have an injury column. The rest of us are accounting for this.

Jorge is a guy that interests me. He seems to throw pretty hard and have at least solid secondary stuff. He seems to have good control and has been a model of consistency the past couple of years. I've even read reports from teammates and the such that he's got solid/good stuff. So why aren't his SO numbers better?

I've never seen a call for a third catcher before under the guise that it "adds flexibility" to the roster.

Man, this team needs some reliable arms so they can downsize the bullpen and get a real bench.

Jorge is a guy that interests me. He seems to throw pretty hard and have at least solid secondary stuff. He seems to have good control and has been a model of consistency the past couple of years. I've even read reports from teammates and the such that he's got solid/good stuff. So why aren't his SO numbers better?

There are a lot of factors in pitcher success. Jorge obviously doesn't fool opposing hitters, whether its because his delivery isn't deceptive, his secondary pitches are easy to pick up, or whatever reason or combination of reasons. 

The bottom line is that starters who can't strike guys out in the minors cannot start in the Majors. It just doesn't happen. Jorge's only chance at the Major League level is to move to the bullpen in the hopes that his stuff improves significantly during short stints.

There's no harm in starting him in the meantime - most MLB relievers started games in the minors.

On the other hand, that means his prospect value is limited . . . Seth has him 10 spots or so too high.