Twins Minor League Report (7/28): Tim Beckham Calls Game

Big Friday night for the pitching prospects with Jordy Blaze, Varland, Povich, and Hajiar all going. Let's hope for some strong performances.

With Beckham hitting north of .400 for the Saints, he deserves a shot back in the big leagues.  Considering two of the Twins best players also play second base, it ain’t gonna happen with the Twins.  Seems like a perfect time to include him in a trade for some of that pitching the Twins need.

would also open a spot to move either E-S or Julien up to the Saints, which would open a spot in Wichita to move Severino up from the Kernel’s.  That would give him a month at AA for the Twins to decide whether he merits a 40-man spot come November.

While we all are waiting for Martin to show more promise, Julien is quietly doing what we were hoping Martin would do--playing pretty good defense, hitting for average, getting on base a ton, and showing some decent power.  I agree it would be nice to see him in St. Paul for a bit this summer IF he is not traded.  Wallner is off to a slow start but I think that is typical for him when he changes levels.  He started the season at Wichita slowly as well.  This will be a litmus test for him, however, to see if he can continue to produce despite his swing and miss tendencies.  But, he might be on the move as well, and it will be interesting to see who is shipped out in the search for pitching. 

Great write up today!  Thanks!

Beckham should not be in MiLB anymore.  He has been hitting .400 for a while now and I think his OPS has been over 1.000 for a quite a while as well.  If the Twins are not going to use him then they should at least do him the courtesy of trading him.  He could be the perfect stash for a playoff team that might need utility help right now or down the line. He wouldn't even need to be added to a teams 40 man right away so would be flexible insurance.

Palacios has been looking good with the bat the last few months.  Just a tad bit more power like he showed last night and he could be a legit starting shortstop.

I appreciate the OP mentioning Henriquez has been doing better lately.  I have just gotten used to lot's of walks and runs given up that I just assume that is who he is now.  Nice to see him give up no runs through 4 innings last night.

I hope the Twins don't trade CES at the deadline.  He looks like an All Star with the bat.  Kind of Cruz like being able to hit balls out of the park.  They were scared of him enough last night to practically intentionally walk him.  He walked on 4 pitches with two men on.  Other teams don't want to pitch to him in tight situations.

I mentioned a while ago Severino had a good bat but needed to be better.  He must read Twins Daily as the last few weeks he has really turned it up a notch.  If he keeps this up he might need to be protected from Rule V.

Jullian one of my favorite hitters because he has a special eye at the plate just keeps producing as well.  Some really good bats going right now.  Hope guys keep doing well.  Should be another fun night tonight.

47 minutes ago, roger said:

With Beckham hitting north of .400 for the Saints, he deserves a shot back in the big leagues.  Considering two of the Twins best players also play second base, it ain’t gonna happen with the Twins.  Seems like a perfect time to include him in a trade for some of that pitching the Twins need.

The Twins could also include Miranda in a trade, call up Beckham and not worry much about their infield bench production.

28 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

The Twins could also include Miranda in a trade, call up Beckham and not worry much about their infield bench production.

I look forward to Miranda being more productive than Beckham for a lot longer, myself. If we trade Miranda, and I really hope we don't, we're going to need real production from Steer.

1 hour ago, roger said:

With Beckham hitting north of .400 for the Saints, he deserves a shot back in the big leagues.  Considering two of the Twins best players also play second base, it ain’t gonna happen with the Twins.  Seems like a perfect time to include him in a trade for some of that pitching the Twins need.

would also open a spot to move either E-S or Julien up to the Twins, which would open a spot in Wichita to move Severino up from the Kernel’s.  That would give him a month at AA for the Twins to decide whether he merits a 40-man spot come November.

Beckham is 32 years old on a one year minor league contract. He just doesn't fit as a starting player on either a contending team or a rebuilding team.

Unfortunately for him the role that he fits best in is the one he is currently in, which is emergency minor league depth.

41 minutes ago, Dman said:

Beckham should not be in MiLB anymore. 

Agreed!

Urbina and Severino continue to play well. Gipson-Long had a rough 1st inning but then dominated. Hope he's adjusting to moving up one level. CES not only hits but, if I remember correctly, he seems to do well in clutch situations and not just when the game is out of hand and the other team brings in a mop-up pitcher.

1 hour ago, roger said:

With Beckham hitting north of .400 for the Saints, he deserves a shot back in the big leagues.  Considering two of the Twins best players also play second base, it ain’t gonna happen with the Twins.  Seems like a perfect time to include him in a trade for some of that pitching the Twins need.

would also open a spot to move either E-S or Julien up to the Twins, which would open a spot in Wichita to move Severino up from the Kernel’s.  That would give him a month at AA for the Twins to decide whether he merits a 40-man spot come November.

I agree wholeheartedly.  Beckham looks like a great trade chip.

I was also wondering if it is legal for a Twins pitcher to go seven innings?

14 minutes ago, big dog said:

I look forward to Miranda being more productive than Beckham for a lot longer, myself. If we trade Miranda, and I really hope we don't, we're going to need real production from Steer.

What you'll really need is production from the pitcher they get in return for Miranda. They'll be fine in the infield as long as Lewis can play SS.

The Twins have an opportunity to trade "studs for studs" with an infielder - whether that is Kirilloff, Arraez, Miranda or even Polanco. This isn't a vet for prospects deal, this would be rebalancing the roster to address shortcomings on the pitching staff using depth from the infield. Beckham is a nice insurance depth piece for 2022 but he has no future with the team (or really any team) beyond using him now when he's playing well.

I'll put it another way - I'm sure Miranda is going to be the better player over the next 5 seasons but Beckham is playing well right now and might be the better player in the month of August.

11 minutes ago, 2wins87 said:

Beckham is 32 years old on a one year minor league contract. He just doesn't fit as a starting player on either a contending team or a rebuilding team.

Unfortunately for him the role that he fits best in is the one he is currently in, which is emergency minor league depth.

Generally I would agree with you but 32 isn't "that" old and IIRC the issue with Beckham was the bat so if that is fixed then he should be a good MLB player.  

Beckham was hurt early in the year so only 136 PA compared to needing around 300 to be a qualified hitter at AAA but for reference below is a snip of all AAA hitters and notice that Kirilloff had about the same number of at bats and we were screaming for him to be added back to the MLB club. Since posting those number Kirilloff has been doing just fine at the MLB level.  I think the same is likely for Beckham as well. Granted 136 PA is still a relatively small sample size but hitting 400 for that long isn't easy either.  Kirilloff couldn't do it so I think it is an accomplishment that needs to be acknowledged at this point and yes I think that means he deserves a shot at the MLB level.

26 minutes ago, big dog said:

we're going to need real production from Steer.

The beauty is the Twins have several more options than Steer to bet on. Steer looks good but so do Encarnacion-Strand and Edouard Julien and even though he has been struggling of late I wouldn't bet against Austin Martin and his talent. That's just the Double-A infielders. 

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

The beauty is the Twins have several more options than Steer to bet on. Steer looks good but so do Encarnacion-Strand and Edouard Julien and even though he has been struggling of late I wouldn't bet against Austin Martin and his talent. That's just the Double-A infielders. 

Agreed. That’s why I would give up one or even two of them for a very good pitcher. I’m not giving up Miranda for two months of a slightly above average pitcher. He’s not going to get us Castillo by himself- and if all we get is Castillo we are probably trading him for what ends up being one playoff win. 

Just now, big dog said:

Agreed. That’s why I would give up one or even two of them for a very good pitcher. I’m not giving up Miranda for two months of a slightly above average pitcher. He’s not going to get us Castillo by himself- and if all we get is Castillo we are probably trading him for what ends up being one playoff win. 

And of course we are going to have to give up a lot more to get that very good pitcher, I didn’t mean a couple of AA guys alone. I just don’t think Miranda should be part of the deal, and I certainly don’t think that Beckham changes my mind by even 1%. But that might be just me. 

13 minutes ago, big dog said:

I’m not giving up Miranda for two months of a slightly above average pitcher. He’s not going to get us Castillo by himself- and if all we get is Castillo we are probably trading him for what ends up being one playoff win. 

Unless you think the Twins would non-tender Castillo they would have him on the team next season.

I'd be much more interested in Jose Miranda for Pablo Lopez.

Beckham is similar to Jake Cave: great minor league depth, but not ideal for the MLB roster. If he can serve as a sweetener in a deal for a pitcher or makes it so we don't need to include as high quality a prospect, then great. 

Henriquez still seems a little too hittable to me. I'm glad he's doing better in terms of run prevention, but the WHIP isn't getting to a place where I feel very confident in his ability to have sustained success. 

I would love to know how other teams value someone like Julien or Encarnacion-Strand at this point.

Austin Martin - he seems to have missed most of July. How bad is that thumb injury and when did it happen (how long was he playing with the injury)?

Great that Beckham & Palacios are heating it up in AAA and should be called up to the bigs. We have a lot of 3B/2B  quality players and Brook Lee that would eventually fall into that slot.

4 hours ago, roger said:

With Beckham hitting north of .400 for the Saints, he deserves a shot back in the big leagues.  Considering two of the Twins best players also play second base, it ain’t gonna happen with the Twins.  Seems like a perfect time to include him in a trade for some of that pitching the Twins need.

would also open a spot to move either E-S or Julien up to the Saints, which would open a spot in Wichita to move Severino up from the Kernel’s.  That would give him a month at AA for the Twins to decide whether he merits a 40-man spot come November.

Beckham has a long MLB track record. He's not serviceable away from 3B and has nearly 2000 plate appearances where he's been league average. He's got like a .556 BABIP right now. If his K:BB ratio were reversed, I'd be inclined to agree with you because that would signal a change in Beckham's approach. Instead, it just seems like all the balls he's hitting have eyes.

To be honest, there's not much more a guy can do from a stats standpoint to have earned a chance, but at age 32, he had to know he was a long shot. It's just not a good decision organizationally to call him up, and I don't suspect any contender would be interested in a 32 year old scrub level veteran 3B, even if he is cheap.

40 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

Austin Martin - he seems to have missed most of July. How bad is that thumb injury and when did it happen (how long was he playing with the injury)?

Martin hurt his elbow diving for a ball on July 7th. It wasn't expected to be long term.

1 hour ago, ashbury said:

"Nice prospect.  We have one like him too."

right. but would that guy be a top 10 prospect for them, or a top 20? Global top 300? 400? 500?

2 hours ago, ashbury said:

"Nice prospect.  We have one like him too."

Every system has good to great prospects and Jullien  might not be quite as shiny as some so I get what you are saying but I think if you are willing to look at MiLB stats from all leagues what CES is doing is pretty rarified air.  I think he is the  2nd youngest player to have that high of an OPS in MILB ball high A and above.  Most of the guys above him are older and some much older.  This also is just his first full year of pro ball. 

When you start looking at the numbers I don't think you realize just how good he is.  Wallner is older but his Numbers are elite for MiLB ball as well. Granted he is dropping like a stone at AAA right now but he was at the top with his OPS in AA.  Interestingly while a smaller sample size, Chris Williams is right up there as well.  Guys with .900 or above OPS's don't really grow on tree's.  I think what CES is doing is fairly unprecedented for a first year pro player especially one drafted in the 4th round. 

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

Beckham has a long MLB track record. He's not serviceable away from 3B and has nearly 2000 plate appearances where he's been league average. He's got like a .556 BABIP right now. If his K:BB ratio were reversed, I'd be inclined to agree with you because that would signal a change in Beckham's approach. Instead, it just seems like all the balls he's hitting have eyes.

To be honest, there's not much more a guy can do from a stats standpoint to have earned a chance, but at age 32, he had to know he was a long shot. It's just not a good decision organizationally to call him up, and I don't suspect any contender would be interested in a 32 year old scrub level veteran 3B, even if he is cheap.

Yeah I saw the .556 BABIP as well and I know it is not sustainable but the point remains even if it drops some.  He is seeing the ball well and hitting the ball well.  That is one of the most valuable skills in MLB.  You can't really have .400 BA and have a normalized BABIP of .300.  Players with higher batting averages are naturally going to have higher BABIPs.  Yet there is some skill in getting good contact and hitting it where they ain't.  Not .556 worth but even if that drops a ways he would still be a .300 hitter and he has some pop as well.

I get that he is apparently not a great defender but I think he could be serviceable at second and if his bat really is this good right now then DH wouldn't be a bad option for him either.  Not saying he would be worth a lot in trade but I think he could add value to a package for the right team.

3 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

I'm not sure any non contender wants Beckham. You'd have to find a contender that needs a second baseman and make a three way deal. 

or just trade him for the best prospect you can get and trade for pitching with what we already have.

Is there some kind of promise that he will get a shot at the full-time shortstop position next year?  I know it's a one year deal, but I wonder if that's a possibility?