2011 Prospect Challenge
By Paul Pleiss
Last year my brother Eric (@ERolfPleiss) and I made a trip down to Ft. Myers to see the Twins play a couple games and get our eyes on some of the up and coming stars of the organization. A couple weeks before the trip we each purchased a copy of Seth Stohs’ (@SethTweets) prospect handbook to help acclimate ourselves with the guys who would be wearing the high numbers at Hammond Stadium. As we worked our way through 170 pages of prospect goodness we each found ourselves drawn to different players and we began exchanging phone calls, e-mails, texts and tweets about who we thought would be the next big thing in Minnesota.
After a few of these discussions we decided the only way to settle the debate was to put our predictions down on paper. The winner would be declared the Pleiss family prospect guru and would be entitled to a case of beer at the losers’ expense. The rules for the first year were pretty simple, each of us would choose a player for each position around the diamond along with three right-handed pitchers and three left-handed pitchers. One point would be scored for each of the chosen players who made their MLB debut within three years. Follow the post after the jump to see which players Eric and I choose with our 2011 selections…
2011 Prospect Challenge Selections:
@BaseballPirate | @ERolfPleiss | |
C | Alexander Soto | Danny Rams |
1B | Chris Parmelee | Chris Parmelee |
2B | Steve Singleton | Steve Singleton |
3B | Miguel Sano | James Beresford |
SS | Brian Dozier | Miguel Sano |
OF | Rene Tosoni | Brian Dinkleman |
OF | Joe Benson | Aaron Hicks |
OF | Angel Morales | Joe Benson |
RHP | Kyle Gibson | Kyle Gibson |
RHP | Tom Stuifbergen | Kyle Waldrop |
RHP | Liam Hendriks | Carlos Gutierrez |
LHP | Scott Diamond | Martire Garcia |
LHP | Dan Osterbrock | Dan Osterbrock |
LHP | Pat Dean | Tony Davis |
The Twins had eight rookies make their big league debuts in 2011, Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Rene Tosoni, Brian Dinkelman, Scott Diamond, Kyle Waldrop, Joe Benson, Chris Parmelee, and Liam Hendriks.
After the first year of competition the score sits at 4 for Eric and 5 for me. With two years left on this list, a lot could change. It will be interesting to see what happens with the young stars on the lists above. Some, like Steve Singleton, are no longer with the Twins, while others will miss the entire 2012 season (Kyle Gibson).
Check back to the pond next week to see who the Brothers Pleiss picked for 2012.