CHICAGO - APRIL 09: A bat, glove and ball rest on the field before the Chicago Cubs' home opening game against the Houston Astros on April 9, 2007 at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
CHICAGO – APRIL 09: A bat, glove and ball rest on the field before the Chicago Cubs’ home opening game against the Houston Astros on April 9, 2007 at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /
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.
While we may not all have agreed on which player goes where, these players that made these lists were the guys who were aggregated into these spots based on their placements on the various lists from writers here at Puckett’s Pond. Your list may be different, and we certainly encourage your takes in the comments section below!
In the midst of trade season, the Twins could move prospects from this list or add prospects that would qualify from this list, depending on the deal that presents itself. However, we decided to make this list at this point in time and will likely wait until the offseason to revisit the list again.
Monday, we started out with a listing of all the minor leaguers to know that didn’t make the top 20. Tuesday, the list started with #16-20. Today, we’ll crack into the top 15 prospects.
We’ll start with the #15 player on our list for today’s installment:
15. Tyler Jay, LHP, 23 years old
Jay was a reliever for his first two years at Illinois and considered a likely 4th or 5th round talent purely out of the bullpen for the Illini before moving to the rotation in 2015 and jumping up draft boards to become the #5 overall pick to the Minnesota Twins.
Jay is a power-throwing lefty with a fastball that can hit 97 and sits in the 91-94 range as a starter. He also has a slider that is a plus pitch that played down significantly as a starter, but showed a lot more bite as a reliever in college and in short stints with the Twins.
The decision was made over the offseason to move Jay to the bullpen on a full-time basis, which could seem like a failed #5 overall pick until you consider the way that relievers are valued in the current game, especially those with Jay’s dynamite stuff that could work in multiple innings, a la Andrew Miller with the Indians in 2016.
While moving to the bullpen, Jay struggled with soreness that was eventually diagnosed at the beginning of the month as Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. Jay will have surgery and miss the rest of 2017. Hopefully he can get back on the hill in 2018 and join the bullpen as a dynamic arm out of the bullpen.
14. Lewis Thorpe, LHP, 21 years old
The Twins have done as well on the Australian continent as any team in baseball, and Thorpe is absolutely one of the jewels of the team’s prospects from that island continent.
The performance of Thorpe in the GCL and with Cedar Rapids was so dominant in 2013 and 2014 that he was ranked the #101 and #91 prospect with Baseball Prospectus, respectively, after those seasons. He posted a 2.05 ERA over 44 innings in 2013 with an insane 6/64 BB/K ratio before following up at age 18 in full season ball throwing 71 2/3 innings with a 36/80 BB/K ratio and a 3.52 ERA.
Unfortunately, Thorpe suffered a torn elbow ligament and missed the 2015 and 2016 season as he fully healed from the elbow injury and dealt with mono. While it seems like a lot of time lost for a 21 year-old, he is just that – 21 years old.
At his best, Thorpe sits in the low-90s with his fastball, touching mid-90s with elite movement, mixing it with a heavy sinking change that is effective against hitters on both sides of the plate. He utilizes a curve and a slider that both flash above average quality, but he’s still getting the feel back for them at this time.
Thorpe has come back this season and shown a lot of the excellence that made him such a highly regarded prospect in high-A this season, throwing 36 1/3 innings, with a 2.72 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, and a 17/40 BB/K ratio.
13. Jaylin Davis, OF, 23 years old
A late round flyer that’s made good, Davis was selected in the 24th round of the 2015 draft from Appalachian State. He was a top 10 round talent, but he had torn his labrum in his shoulder making a dive after a ball in his draft season, ending his year and plummeting his draft stock.
The Twins have been patient with Davis, allowing him to ease into action with advanced rookie Elizabethton for a dozen games before bumping up to low-A Cedar Rapids. Davis played about half of the games in the outfield, spending the rest of the time at DH. Overall, he hit .255/.341/.523 with 14 doubles and 16 home runs, posting a 9.3% walk rate and a 32.2% strikeout rate.
Davis opened 2017 with Cedar Rapids and was crushing the ball before being bumped up to high-A Fort Myers in the Florida State League. His overall line on the year is .258/.307/.459 with 17 doubles, 5 triples, 13 home runs, and 9 stolen bases. His patience at the plate has taken a step backward, however, as he walked 5.6% of the time and struck out 29.1%.
Davis is a very impressive athlete on the field, with the ability to cover ground at full speed well enough that he could pass in center field, but he plays a very good defensive right field due to his range. Davis’ plus throwing arm has also come back at full health, and he’s showing it off this year, with 14 outfield assists this year.
Davis does take a big swing, and his strikeout rate is something to monitor as he moves toward the big leagues, but his level of athleticism and raw power is tough to compare to within the system.
12. Brent Rooker, OF, 22 years old
The Twins certainly like what they saw in Rooker, drafting him in the 38th round last season before picking Rooker in the competitive balance A round this year in the draft, 35th overall in the entire draft.
Rooker had one of the most impressive college seasons in recent memory, hitting .387/.495/.810 with 30 doubles, 23 home runs, and 18 stolen bases in arguably the most competitive conference in college baseball in the SEC. There were concerns about Rooker’s strikeout rate, as he did strikeout in roughly 26.5% of his collegiate plate appearances, which is a very high rate for an elite prospect.
Rooker earned a promotion to high-A Fort Myers with his play with Elizabethton already, as he hit .282/.364/.588 with 5 doubles, 7 home runs, and 2 steals in 22 games with an 11.1% walk rate and a 21.2% strikeout rate.
He should move quickly as long as he can show he is an adequate defender in the outfield.
11. Mitch Garver, C, 26 years old
Garver was a 9th round selection out of New Mexico in the 2013 draft. He’s developed at the pace that you’d expect with a college draftee in college, though his bat has always played well at every level.
Garver caught plenty of national attention last year when he spent his season between AA and AAA, hitting .270/.342/.422 with 30 doubles and 12 home runs while also showing the ability to receive well behind the plate, if not be a dynamic thrower from behind the plate.
Without a plus arm behind the plate, Garver has worked to improve his footwork and his game calling to set himself up to continue catching around 1/3 of all runners attempting to steal against him.
While not one of the elite prospects in the game, Garver has moved into the realm of the top catching prospects in the game. After a survey of a number of industry people, Call To The Pen had Garver ranked as the #9 catching prospect in the entire game.
Tomorrow, we break into the top 10 on the list. Who are your guesses for who makes the top 10? Who hasn’t been on the list yet that you think should be? Comment below!
