Search the Community

Last season the Minnesota Twins saw Jose Miranda put up one of the best seasons in prospect history. He terrorized Double-A pitching, earned a promotion to Triple-A, and then kept doing it. The former second round pick may still be flying under the radar despite the season he’s having in 2022. People started to take notice of Jose Miranda last season after he combined to post a .973 OPS between Double and Triple-A. The 127 were played between the ages of 22 and 23, and while he was a former 2nd round pick, Miranda had never received top 100 prospect consideration. Coming into 2022, Miranda made both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline’s top 100 lists. He was snubbed by Baseball Prospectus, and still largely looked at as a fringe contributor to those lists. Miranda didn’t do himself a ton of favors early this year. He posted just a .737 OPS in his first 21 games with the Saints, but then opportunity presented itself. Called up on April 2, Miranda made his big league debut. 19 games in with the Twins, he was optioned back to Triple-A after compiling a .484 OPS and 14/2 K/BB. Once Royce Lewis went down with a season-ending injury though, Miranda never set foot at CHS Field. Back in the lineup for Minnesota on May 30, he has undergone what may be the most impressive rookie season in franchise history. Over a period of 69 games, Miranda has routinely seen time at first base, third base, and designated hitter. He has batted anywhere from the top of the lineup to the bottom, and he’s tallied a ridiculous .838 OPS. He’s carried a .302 average and .346 on-base percentage while swatting 12 home runs and leading the club in runs batted in. Despite a terrible first month, he’s still managed to pull off a 120 OPS+ to date. Maybe it’s because teammate Jhoan Duran has a triple-digit fastball and has carried the Twins bullpen, or maybe it’s because Minnesota remains flyover country, but it seems the performance has continued to go unnoticed nationally. Miranda turned 24 years old earlier this season and is still figuring things out as a Major League ballplayer. He has had to face pitchers multiple times, and work as the league, or more specifically the division, has adjusted to him. It’s fair to note that Miranda is thwarted in overall value by analytical metrics such as fWAR. His total this season is 1.1, That puts him in a tie for 14th and well off the league-leading 3.6 pace set by Baltimore Orioles, Adley Rutschman. Much of this is derived from his defensive acumen. At first base, it’s been easy to see Miranda is stretched. He’s been worth -3 defensive runs saved in just over 380 innings, and only worth one defensive run saved in 216 innings at the hot corner. The Statcast metric, outs above average, doesn’t like him either. Throw in the double-digit starts at designated hitter and you now have a clearer picture. None of this is to downplay what has taken place. Miranda spent the first month of the season playing at Triple-A. He spent the next month being unproductive, and frankly, terrible. From there, he’s been among the better players in the Major Leagues, rookie or otherwise. Duran has helped to steal some of the spotlight, but Minnesota hasn’t experienced this level of play from a hitter in their debut season for a long time. If you’re watching Twins games on a daily basis and enjoying Miranda’s heroics, then you’ve appreciated the greater body of work. If you’re watching him play defense and catching an at-bat at a time, you’ve probably missed it. I don’t think it’s sugarcoating it though, to call this one of the best rookie seasons Twins fans have ever seen. View full article

Day number one of the 2019 MLB Draft is finally here, and it will feature Rounds 1 and 2 along with Competitive Balance Round A sandwiched between the first two rounds, along with Competitive Balance Round B which comes after the second round. On the night the Twins will have three picks at numbers 13, 39 and 54 overall. This is a great opportunity for the Twins to add even more talent to an already deep farm system.Be Sure To Refresh the Page as We Will Be Making Updating Throughout the Night The draft itself will be available to watch on MLB Network or can be streamed on MLB.com starting at 6:00 pm CT on Monday night. The draft will continue for the rest of the week with rounds 3 through 10 taking place on Tuesday, and rounds 11 through 40 taking place on Wednesday. If you want to learn more about the players that the Twins could be selecting with their three picks tonight, I would recommend you check out some of the pre-draft coverage that has been posted on Twins Daily over the past couple of weeks. Twins Daily Staff Predictions for the Twins First Round Pick Twins Daily 2019 MLB Draft Top 50 Prospects: 1-10 Twins Daily 2019 MLB Draft Top 50 Prospects: 11-20 Twins Daily 2019 MLB Draft Top 50 Prospects: 21-30 Twins Daily 2019 MLB Draft Top 50 Prospects: 31-40 Twins Daily 2019 MLB Draft Top 50 Prospects: 41-50 While many of you have followed the MLB Draft for years and know what to expect going in, I am sure there are some that are not as familiar with the draft process and how it works. So, here is a brief breakdown of some of the things you need to know before the draft. The draft itself is made up of 40 rounds with a competitive balance round and a compensation round after both the first and second rounds. With the exception of the Competitive Balance picks, teams are not allowed to trade their draft picks. This means that that Twins, who have the 13th pick in the draft, will have the 13th pick in each subsequent round of the draft. Another wrinkle to the MLB Draft is that each team is awarded a certain amount of money (referred to as a bonus pool) that they can use to pay out as a signing bonus to their picks in the first ten rounds of the draft. A team’s total bonus pool is based on which picks they have in the first ten rounds, as each pick has a dollar value attached to it. Teams can spend above or below that value for each pick, but the total value spent must remain below the total allotted amount or they will be assigned a penalty. If a team fails to sign one of their picks in the first ten rounds, they lose the money that is attached to that pick. Also, if a team signs a player after round ten to a bonus of more than $125K, the extra amount comes out of their bonus pool. Here is a breakdown of each pick that the Twins have in the first ten rounds and the bonus pool money assigned to that pick. 1st Round: 13th Overall - $4,197,300 Comp Balance Round A: 39th Overall - $1,906,800 2nd Round: 54th Overall - $1,338,500 3rd Round: 90th Overall - $657,600 4th Round: 119th Overall - $483,000 5th Round: 149th Overall - $360,800 6th Round: 179th Overall - $274,800 7th Round: 209th Overall - $214,900 8th Round: 239th Overall - $173,000 9th Round: 269th Overall - $154,100 10th Round: 299th Overall - $145,000 Total Bonus Pool: $9,905,800 The Twins total bonus pool allotment is the 12th highest amount of any team in the draft and is up from the $5,933,000 they had in 2018, which ranked 26th. With more ammo to work with this year, it will be interesting to see how the Twins decide to attack the draft, as they can afford to be a little more aggressive than they were a year ago. Twins Selections 13th Overall - Keoni Cavaco | Eastlake HS (CA) | Pos: SS/3B Read More About Keoni Cavaco Here 39th Overall - Matt Wallner | Southern Miss | Pos: OF Read More About Matt Wallner Here 54th Overall - Matt Canterino | Rice | Pos: RHP Read More About Matt Canterino Here Twins Daily Top 5 Prospects Available (Live): 9. Matthew Allen | Seminole HS (FL) | Pos: RHP 29. Jack Leiter | Delbarton HS (NJ) | Pos: RHP 30. Maurice Hampton | Memphis University HS (TN) | Pos: OF 31. Tyler Callihan | Providence HS (FL) | Pos: 3B 33. Hunter Barco | Bolles HS (FL) | Pos: LHP MLB Draft 1st Round Selections: 1st Overall - Orioles | Adley Rutschman | Oregon State | Pos: C 2nd Overall - Royals | Bobby Witt Jr. | Colleyville Heritage HS (TX) | Pos: SS 3rd Overall - White Sox | Andrew Vaughn | Cal | Pos: 1B 4th Overall - Marlins | J.J. Bleday | Vanderbilt | Pos: OF 5th Overall - Tigers | Riley Greene | Hagerty HS (FL) | Pos: OF 6th Overall - Padres | C.J. Abrams | Blessed Trinity Catholic HS (GA) | Pos: SS 7th Overall - Reds | Nick Lodolo | TCU | Pos: LHP 8th Overall - Rangers | Josh Jung | Texas Tech | Pos: 3B 9th Overall - Braves | Shea Langeliers | Baylor | Pos: C 10th Overall - Giants | Hunter Bishop | Arizona State | Pos: OF 11th Overall - Blue Jays | Alek Manoah | West Virginia | Pos: RHP 12th Overall - Mets | Brett Baty | Lake Travis HS (TX) | Pos: 3B 13th Overall - Twins | Keoni Cavaco | Eastlake HS (CA) | Pos: SS/3B 14th Overall - Phillies | Bryson Stott | UNLV | Pos: SS 15th Overall - Angels | Will Wilson | N.C. State | Pos: SS 16th Overall - Diamondbacks | Corbin Carroll | Lakeside HS (WA) | Pos: OF 17th Overall - Nationals | Jackson Rutledge | San Jacinto JC | Pos: RHP 18th Overall - Pirates | Quinn Priester | Cary-Grove HS (IL) | Pos: RHP 19th Overall - Cardinals | Zack Thompson | Kentucky | Pos: LHP 20th Overall - Mariners | George Kirby | Elon | Pos: RHP 21st Overall - Braves | Braden Shewmake | Texas A&M | Pos: SS 22nd Overall - Rays | Greg Jones | UNC Wilmington | Pos: SS 23rd Overall - Rockies | Michael Toglia | UCLA | Pos: 1B 24th Overall - Indians | Daniel Espino | Georgia Premier Academy (GA) | Pos: RHP 25th Overall - Dodgers | Kody Hoese | Tulane | Pos: 3B 26th Overall - Diamondbacks | Blake Walston | New Hanover HS (NC) | Pos: LHP 27th Overall - Cubs | Ryan Jensen | Fresno State | Pos: RHP 28th Overall - Brewers | Ethan Small | Mississippi State | Pos: LHP 29th Overall - Athletics | Logan Davidson | Clemson | Pos: SS 30th Overall - Yankees | Anthony Volpe | Delbarton HS (NJ) | Pos: SS 31st Overall - Dodgers | Michael Busch | North Carolina | Pos: 2B 32nd Overall - Astros | Korey Lee | Califorina | Pos: C Click here to view the article