Twins Prospects Highlight FanGraphs Top 200
Yesterday, FanGraphs put out a pretty ugly-looking top 10 list featuring the worst transactions of the offseason. While author David Cameron looked pretty lost regarding the inclusion of Ervin Santana on the list, the site righted the ship today with the announcement of the top 200 prospects list.
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As prospects lists have done pretty much all offseason, FanGraphs latest list highlights plenty of Twins up and coming talent. With the usual suspects making the list, the positioning is a little different considering FanGraphs affinity for all things sabermetrics.
Take a look at where the Twins fall and what FanGraphs thinks of each prospect.
2. Byron Buxton
Buxton was the consensus top prospect in the game last year, but had a mix of freak and regular injuries that limited him to under 200 plate appearances, including the Arizona Fall League. You can mostly throw out his mediocre-for-Buxton numbers from this year, because the tools are still there, which puts in context how good he was in 2013. He hit above league average at High-A at age 20 and it was seen as a disappointment; if he can stay healthy and perform like healthy he did, he could be a dynamic All-Star talent as soon as 2015′s stretch run, but more likely in 2016.
15. Miguel Sano
Sano missed all of 2014 with Tommy John surgery but was fully ready to play this winter. He had a very high profile July 2nd signing process, complete with a controversial documentary, accusations of falsifying his age, bone scans and a surprise late entrant scooping up the player. Sano was seen as a once-in-a-generation talent with 80 raw power and the ability to stay in the infield to go with an advanced feel for hitting. That’s all still true, but Sano has added a lot of strength — he’s at least 6-foot-4, 240 lbs. now and likely will get even bigger. As such, most scouts now assume he’ll end up at first base in a few years. He’ll head to Double-A or Triple-A to start 2015 and should get a big league look late in the season if he proves everything is fully back.
24. Jose Berrios
Berrios may not be big at 6-foot-0/190 pounds, but scouts rave about his athleticism, makeup and work ethic. His velocity has slowly improved since high school in Puerto Rico and now sits at 93-96, hitting 98 mph. There isn’t a ton of plane or life to the pitch, but his clean arm action and deceptively easy delivery helps the heater sneak up on hitters. Berrios calls his breaking pitches a slow and fast curveball, but the fast one plays like a slider and both are above average; scouts will call one or the other plus depending on the day, but the slower curve gets the better grade more often. His changeup is above average and may be plus one day, helping to keep hitters off his fastball. One scout compared him to Javier Vazquez and he should get a big league look at some point in 2015.
71. Alex Meyer
The 6-foot-9/220 monster sat 98-100 mph for two innings in the linked video in last year’s Arizona Fall League debut. He surprised some scouts by lasting the whole season in the rotation at Triple-A this year, throwing 130.1 innings with lesser but still elite stuff, sitting 93-98 with plus life and the knockout slider. Meyer’s changeup has improved and flashes solid-average while his huge frame and long limbs give him trouble commanding his pitches and repeating his delivery. Most scouts think he ends up as a shutdown closer, but the Twins are trying to make him a starter and there’s still a chance Meyer gets there. If he can tone everything down to where it’s repeatable, the upside is probably a #3 starter but this seems destined for the bullpen at some point, with a 2015 big league look likely once a spot opens up.
Credit: MiLB.com
72. Nick Gordon
Nick is the son of Tom Gordon and the brother of Marlins 2B Dee Gordon, so the bloodlines are good and when Nick was a high school sophomore, his senior teammates were first rounders RF Jesse Winker and RHP Walker Weickel. Combine that with the fact that Nick was noticeable as a top prospect in his class as early as his freshman year and he seemed to be at every major showcase or tournament his entire prep career and it’s easy to see why scout were comfortable with him by draft time. Between October and January showcases, Gordon appeared to put on about 10 pounds and mature physically, turning him from a late first rounder into the 5th overall pick. He doesn’t have flashy tools other than his plus arm that allowed him to hit 95 mph on the mound, so there isn’t much margin for error, but Gordon has excellent feel for the game, helped by working with Barry Larkin during earlier this year.
Credit: mwltraveler.com
73. Kohl Stewart
Stewart was the 4th overall pick in 2013 as an athletic righty that flashed plus stuff at times and was also a four star quarterback recruit committed to Texas A&M. He’s had some ups and down in pro ball with his stuff varying from game-to-game, but he’s still relatively new to the mound and arm speed variations are normal for young arms with limited experience.
108. Jorge Polanco
Scouts seem to slightly prefer Polanco to Herrera, as both are basically big league ready second basemen with similar tools, so they’re easy to compare. The separator is that Polanco can play shortstop if needed, so if the bat doesn’t play as much as expected, he can be a true utility player. Both have advanced bats and below average game power, so it’s basically a coin flip, but Polanco gives more defensive versatility with the same overall tools while Herrera has a better offensive track record.
Credit: TwinsDaily.com
143+ Lewis Thorpe
With numerical values become pretty convoluted at this point, FanGraphs lumps the rest into the same grouping. The left-handed hurler from Australia is the only Twins player making this designation.
Minnesota is well represented on the top 200 list by boasting eight prospects. Voide of the list are names like Nick Burdi, Jake Reed, and Eddie Rosario. All young prospects that could make their major league debut during the 2015 season, it’s safe to say this is yet another list that highlights the strength of the Twins system.
Next: Puckett's Pond Top 15 Prospects