Twins Daily 2021 Top Prospects: #5 RHP Jhoan Duran

That is one nasty pitch but if he only really has two pitches I would give the nod to Balazovic but if he does find that third pitch with the splinker I would have to give it to Duran.  That is just filthy.

Nice to see 5 pretty solid guys in Duran, Balazovic, Canterino, Sands and Windor with some pretty impressive stuff. Would love to see all of them make it.

Nice to see 5 pretty solid guys in Duran, Balazovic, Canterino, Sands and Windor with some pretty impressive stuff. Would love to see all of them make it.

I love the depth. Not every prospect turns out great, but when you have a handful of prospects, something good is going to happen. A couple of these guys are going to be solid or better starters for several years. 

In September of 2023. Everyone one in the top 7 will be headed for the playoffs in a Twins uniform.

It's a tough call, they are pretty close. Right now I'd have to agree with you and pick Duran. I trust the competition of our top pitching prospects will help push themselves to the next level.

Given that the question was 'best pitching prospect' rather than 'best starting pitching prospect' I'll go with Duran. When you can regularly hit triple digits on the radar gun with reasonable command, you are going to attract a lot of attention. While Balazovic has notably increased his velocity, I doubt he's going to be hitting triple digits. If Duran 'just' ends up as an overpower late inning arm, that would make him a highly valued prospect (see Brusdar Graterol).

I would choose to put them both in next years rotation - two young arms, two different styles - it should not be either or.  The Dobnak, Smeltzer, Thorpe group better get their act together, the future is breathing down their necks. 

Love both prospects, but you may have sold me on the idea of Duran being our top pitching prospect.

I have to say (to me and my uneducated opinion), I see them as two sides of the same coin.                 Both have tremendous potential and upside and I would call them 1A and 1B (or sharing the #5 slot).

I would choose to put them both in next years rotation - two young arms, two different styles - it should not be either or.  The Dobnak, Smeltzer, Thorpe group better get their act together, the future is breathing down their necks. 

I agree on that group, especially Smeltzer and Thorpe, to a degree.  I'm still holding out hope (possibly ill-advised) on Dobnak.  He finished the year 1-4 in the giving his team a chance department.  Not a good finish, and he may be figured out.  However, I just can't stop rooting for the guy, because when he's on and the defense is on it makes for fun baseball.  I hope he ends up being the change of pace pitcher in the rotations of coming years. 

That heavy sinker reminds me of Scott Erickson in his prime.

If he can change up his speeds on the fast ball to save a little, that will go a long way. I am not a fan of 5 pitches really I like 3 with the ability to change speeds on them to keep guys off balance.  Really those 4th and 5th pitches get tossed so rarely they are kind of waste to work on.  I have high hopes for him though.  

I see Duran and Ober in the Twins future. We'll see about Balazovic.

Please - Can somebody give us the correct phonetic pronunciation of his name???

Late 2022 .. 

Berrios

Maeda

Duran, Balazovic, Canterino

i think its "Yo-WAHN Doo-RAHN".

Thorpe, Graterol, Romero, Gonsalves, Jay, Stewart, Jorge, Eades, Meyer, May. It's been a long time since one the team's top starting pitching prospects debuted and actually stuck as a starter. Berrios is getting lonely and he and Gibson were probably the only two since the Baker/Garza/Liriano/Blackburn era. We are way overdue for a homemade starter to click; I think Duran is going to be the one. Or I really want him to be the one anyway.

Remember Kevin Slowey? It seems weird to look back and think I was really into Kevin Slowey lol

Remember Kevin Slowey? It seems weird to look back and think I was really into Kevin Slowey lol

He did finish with 7.7 fWAR in his career, which honestly isn't that bad for a 2nd round pick.

Standard Spanish pronunciation:  J is an aspirated English H and the H is silent.

So, "hoan". But, given English butchering of all languages, they may call him anything from Juan to Ho'an. Or just dipthong the O-A, into an Asian expletitive used after eating food that is too hot:  HHHoooaaannn!

I don't know.

If Wes Johnson can work his slider magic on Duran to go with the splinker and big fastball he has #1 starter potential. I don’t think Jordan has that high of a ceiling.

Thorpe, Graterol, Romero, Gonsalves, Jay, Stewart, Jorge, Eades, Meyer, May. It's been a long time since one the team's top starting pitching prospects debuted and actually stuck as a starter. Berrios is getting lonely and he and Gibson were probably the only two since the Baker/Garza/Liriano/Blackburn era. We are way overdue for a homemade starter to click; I think Duran is going to be the one. Or I really want him to be the one anyway.

Exactly what I was thinking.

He looks like a pitcher. That's something.

He's the one pitcher I absolutely do not want to trade unless they throw in the kitchen sink. For one thing, I just want to say Duran-Duran is a Minnesota Twin.

He looks like a guy who just needs game innings to refine a third offering and get experience in mixing pitches to set up hitters. The talent is there. It will be interesting to see if the Twins have him focus on working on just one breaking ball this year to try and establish a solid 3-pitch mix. I'm guessing they'd work on the slider, partly because that seems to be an organizational preference, but also because it would probably work well with his other two pitches. While the slower curve could look really slow and throw people off against his hard stuff, it also might be a lot easier to detect.

I'm really excited about Duran. I don't expect him to be a significant part of the rotation this season absent a ton of injuries, but he's on track to be a fixture in 2022 and that's fantastic. He could be really really good. At worst, he's a weapon in the bullpen, but he could be a feature in the top half of the rotation for years. 

I hear jo-AHN DUH-rahn. I think. That was fast.

That heavy sinker reminds me of Scott Erickson in his prime.

It's unfortunate that Erickson's prime only really lasted two half-seasons.