Puckett’s Pond Top 20 Minnesota Twins Prospects: Others To Know
The Puckett’s Pond staff put together a Minnesota Twins Top 20 midseason list. Who came out on top?
The top Minnesota Twins prospect is something for debate among many fans, and at Puckett’s Pond, we want to foster those conversations that happen among fans, so we have them among our staff. We recently put together a number of prospect lists, and the aggregated top 20 prospects when you put all those lists together will be presented over the next few days.
Today, before we get into who is ranked where within the top 20, we’ll take a look at the guys who aren’t in the top 20, but that are guys that fans should be tracking when they check out the minor league box scores on milb.com or look at milb.tv to watch the top prospects in the system.
We’ll start with the hitters to watch in the upper minors:
Upper Minors Hitters
Edgar Corcino, OF, Rochester – Signed out of independent ball in 2015 after struggling in the Tigers system, Corcino is a defense-first outfielder without a ton of power or speed, but he has good contact skills and doesn’t strike out heavily. Great arm in the outfield could lead to solid 4th OF.
Zack Granite, OF, Minnesota – Up in the majors right now after a season for Rochester where he was having a huge season, hitting .360/.412/.492. Extremely fast with good zone judgement. Granite likely profiles more as a speedy bench outfielder, but if his contact skills stepping forward this year are real, he could be very valuable.
Daniel Palka, OF, Rochester – Acquired last season for backup catcher Chris Herrmann, Palka has light-tower power, but is really a DH defensively and his contact skills and zone recognition are questionable. He’s fought injuries this year, but hit 34 combined home runs between AA/AAA last season.
Jonathan Rodriguez, 1B, Chattanooga – Signed as a minor league free agent this season, Rodriguez has been a big time hitter for the Lookouts this year, with a .313/.407/.498 line.
Engelb Vielma, SS, Rochester – Signed out of Venezuela, Vielma has always been a defensive wizard, but his bat is still not consistent, but the glove is so good that he could work himself to a bench role as a defensive replacement in the infield.
LaMonte Wade, OF, Chattanooga – A 9th round pick out of Maryland in 2015, Wade has moved quickly up through the system, as he has tremendous zone recognition and good gap power. If he can stay healthy, he could be a valuable bench piece at the least, but could be much more with good gap power and average speed.