2wins87

It's a very interesting idea. I wonder how much time they would want to spend trying to have their top pick catch when you would hope his bat would move quickly, and he also has enough speed to probably play a passable center and be plus in a corner. That said, turning him into a decent catcher would really maximize his value.

Yeah, the thing that keeps him on the "other guys to watch" list for me is the fact that they didn't seem overly eager to promote him quickly despite being a little old for single-A, and he hit some speed bumps once he got to high-A, getting hit hard a few times. Certainly with a mid 90's fastball, good control, and developing secondaries, there is no reason he can't make a big jump this year.

My impression from what I've read lately is that it's a very strong draft and the top is not set yet. Crews and Dollander came in as the most well regarded hitter and pitcher by the industry, but the talent of guys behind them is enough that they could easily be surpassed in a lot of draft rooms. It sounds like both Skenes and Waldrep are close enough to Dollander that it wouldn't be surprising at this point for one of them to end up in the top 4 (and Dollander potentially being available at #5). Bottom line, there is going to be someone really good available at #5.

I should add last year's 14th round pick Omari Daniel to that list too. His defense was apparently very well regarded for a high school SS, so if the bat develops, who knows?

So well timed

I mostly agree with this, but there are a couple international guys already in the org that have at least some shot as well. Maybe De Andrade or Bryan Acuna if they pan out well. Lewis or Lee only if something goes wrong with Correa forcing him off the position earlier than expected.

Writeup here No one really ranked outside the consensus that I see. They seem to like the young, high-variance international signings from the last few years. I liked this blurb from Prielipp's scouting report: Could have been reported elsewhere but I hadn't heard anything on his work in instructs. The velocity is encouraging; I don't think he had fully regained it in his pre-draft workouts. With such a limited track record to go on, I'm looking forward to seeing him in action this year.

It is weird how quickly everyone goes to the Marlins with the "M" logo. It's not even their current logo but the 2012-2019 ones that everyone is thinking of, and even then it doesn't really look the same besides the fact that it is a capital M. My mind immediately went there when I first saw it too, so there is obviously some Marlins brand association still at work. Maybe shows that the Marlins actually made a mistake going from a logo that everyone recognizes to something where no one knows what it looks like. Anyway, I agree that the TC is still the gold standard. I still have some nostalgia for the lowercase m ones but I'm not sure the new M isn't actually objectively better. I actually do like the new font on the jerseys. The new M hat has grown on me slightly and I think there is probably some tweak to the M+star layout that probably looks better but I'm not sure what it is

Maybe a more niche appeal of the pitch clock, but for me watching on MLB.tv and joining about 2 innings in, the 10-second skip ahead was great for cutting out most of the dead time between pitches. A couple guys were almost too quick with their pace, but generally I think there was about 12-15 seconds between pitches received by the catcher and around 25 seconds when there was a foul ball, so I could basically click from pitch to pitch while I caught up to the game. I think last year it might have been something like 20 between most pitches and 30 after foul balls

Probably where everyone is at by the end of spring training will play the biggest role. But all things being equal I would agree Gray based on veteran-ness and performance last year. If there is a rough 1-5 order I think they might continue with Lopez, Ryan, Mahle, and Maeda. Honestly all 5 of those guys probably have close to equal odds of being the Twins' best starter at the end of the year though (for better or worse).

First game on MLB.tv so I was happy to get to watch baseball again. Not too many regular/top prospects to watch but still had a few takeaways. Was trying to watch for Ryan's improved slider. The score box on the Philly broadcast called it a "slutter" which I think was uncalled for. I remember one nice whiff when he located it well down and away. I think there might have been one or two more, but he mostly got weak contact on it. Phillies didn't hit him hard but his command clearly wasn't there in his first ST start. Probably will get there by opening day. The highlight for me was Brent Headrick. Sat 92-94 with the FB doing a pretty good job of hitting his spot at the top of the zone. Ran it up to 95/96 a few times with 2 strikes. He had a sweeping curve working too. He finished Castellanos with two back-foot curves. First one buckled him a little bit as he managed to hold up, second one he swung right over the top. Shades of Taylor Rogers on that particular pitch to me. Overall he seemed to be in pretty good command of all of his pitches. I think the velocity was pretty on par with where he was midseason last year, but I'm not sure how often he was hitting 95 or 96. If he does that regularly this year I think he moves into the conversation as a top starting pitching prospect. Miranda didn't get too many pitches to hit but looked good in all 3 at bats. He seems ready for the WBC. Julien might have been jobbed by the ump on a few close pitches called for strikes (particularly in his first AB). It's going to be an adjustment for him facing pitchers that can live around the edges more reliably. Lee's right handed swing generates tons of contact and line drives. Not that he's impatient now, but he seems like a guy that can only benefit by increasing patience and making the pitchers come to him.

This is a weird way of looking at his season last year. He actually did have an ERA over 10 in April last year (which I think is fair to attribute partly to some rough luck). Getting his ERA down to where it was at the end of the year did require him to be pretty much dominant for most of the rest of the year (2.38 ERA from May on). Even with a few more home runs in May through September it would have been a very solid stretch of relief pitching.

If he continues to pitch well this year I'm guessing his arb number would be about $4 maybe $4.5 million next year as a 37 year old. Based on how the front office usually approaches the bullpen I would guess that will already be a close decision for them. He's been fun to root for though, so I'm hoping he has two more good years in him, giving him a good payday (by non professional athlete standards at least) before likely retirement.

With healthy legs he could hit 30+ HR and play plus defense at 2B. I'm not sure where his health will be at but I'm not assuming he won't be healthy, in which case it's very easy to envision a scenario where he's easily worth 2-3x his $10 million option. Maybe he's still trade bait in that scenario, but if they're contending and he's like their 3rd best position player no way he's moved before the deadline. And they'll have to get a very good offer for him in the off-season as well.

Edit: Oh, 2025 not 2024, so yeah Lee should easily have graduated. I do think the #5 pick this year is shaping up to be a very strong prospect and will have a good shot at #1 though. While I think Lee will still move quickly, I think him getting enough at bats/service time to graduate from the list this year is probably either very optimistic or pessimistic depending on what scenario you envision.