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. Wednesday brought #11-15. Today, we’ll crack into the top 10 prospects.
We’ll start with the #10 player on our list for today’s installment:
One of the most highly regarded arms in the entire 2013 draft, the Minnesota Twins selected the hard-throwing Texan righty with the 4th overall selection in that year’s draft. Stewart was a two-sport star in high school, with a likely role as the future quarterback of Texas A&M in hand if he had chosen football instead of baseball.
While Stewart has been able to reach high levels with his velocity, he has really focused on his four-seam and two-seam fastball too much in his development, and while both are excellent pitches, to excel in the major leagues, secondary pitches are not just a suggestion.
It’s not that Stewart has poor secondary pitches. His slider is not a pitch to generate strikeouts, but it has hard downward break that generates a ton of ground balls. His curve has the ability to become a strikeout pitch with more refinement, but he really hasn’t used it enough to have that comfort level with it. His change in the past has shown primary link to his two-seam fastball with good late sink on the change. I’ve noted this year in watching that he’s been getting some arm side run on his change at times, and it seems it’s when he’s working more with his four-seam fastball, so he may be using a second change grip, and when he is really using the change well, he can generate strikeouts with the change.
Stewart may reach the majors before he really has harnessed his stuff altogether, which could be an interesting situation. I remember listening to a great interview with John Smoltz where he discussed getting to the majors and trusting only his fastball at the time against major league hitters. He developed his secondary stuff as he took lumps against big league hitters.
Stewart has the arm and the raw stuff that could play in that way as well, but he has jumped forward so quickly in his development and still not truly “struggled”. Yes, the strikeout rates aren’t ideal, but he’s been able to pitch around that at every level so far. If he can make it to the majors still learning to pitch, that could be something that says a lot for the growth he could still have as a major league pitcher. In other words, hope is not entirely lost in Stewart, though he hasn’t exactly developed into a polished form of what he could be yet.
The frustration that many have with Stewart not generating strikeouts was often the chorus heard around Jorge as he was developing. Jorge has a lean build, though he has added strength to his frame such that he’s a certain starter and has the stamina physically to handle a starter’s workload.
Jorge’s primary pitch is his fastball, a pitch that he runs up to 95, but works mostly in the 91-93 range with late, short sink, which means it doesn’t usually miss a bat, but often misses the barrel, leading to weak contact from the hitter and lots of ground ball outs. His change has a heavier sink to it with a little wiggle as well, and he gets more swing and miss with the pitch. He uses a slider, a curve, and he’s even used a cutter this season, but none of the three is an above-average pitch on its own.
Where Jorge excels (and where he struggled in his last major league start) is in his location. He has excellent athleticism on the mound, and he repeats his delivery well, allowing him to produce excellent control, and more importantly, excellent command of his pitches. He was hit hard in the major leagues when he was still controlling the ball in the zone, but his command was off and he was putting the ball in the meat of the hitting zone for guys.
Jorge doesn’t have an “ace” upside, but he does have the ability to work as a #4 and eat up innings, which is a huge value to teams to keep bullpens fresh.
A newly-minted 21 year old (July 19th birthday), Palacios was originally signed by the Twins out of Venezuela in 2013. He made his pro debut in the Dominican Summer League, showing excellent baseball IQ on the bases and plate discipline, slashing .270/.404/.399 with 11 doubles, 6 triples, and 14 stolen bases.
The Twins brought him stateside in 2015, and Palacios hit so well in the Gulf Coast League that he forced a promotion to the Appy League with Elizabethton. Combined on the year, he hit .370/.398/.540, continuing to show excellent strike zone judgement, but beginning to fill into his frame and showing more power, as he hit 23 doubles, 4 triples, 3 home runs, and stole 9 bases.
Palacios’ 2016 was a lost season for him. He struggled through injury much of the year with Cedar Rapids, and when he was healthy, his swing wasn’t right, as he hit .222/.276/.287 with just 12 extra base hits in 71 games.
The Twins sent him back to Cedar Rapids to open the 2017 season, and Palacios responded well. He’s already been at Fort Myers since his promotion to high-A for over 100 plate appearances, and he’s hitting well at that level as well. On the season, Palacios is hitting .321/.360/.506 with 17 doubles, 6 triples, 12 home runs, and 14 stolen bases. One concerning point is the reduction in his walks, as he’s only walked 16 times in 378 plate appearances, though that has been his rate all along.
Palacios has a smooth line drive swing and a good ability to put the barrel on the ball. He’s also smooth in the field, although he doesn’t have plus speed, so he isn’t exactly going to flash huge range at short, but he handles the plays he gets to very well and has a fringe-plus arm at the position that could work well at 2B as well.
I wouldn’t seen Palacios as a 20 home run hitter in the majors most likely, but he could be a guy who scatters a bunch of extra base hits, puts a lot of balls into play, and plays an adequate shortstop or a very good second base.
To know how much the Twins love this kid, all you really need to know is that they paid Miguel Sano roughly $3M. Javier received a $4M signing bonus when the Twins signed him out of the Dominican Republic in 2015.
The Twins opened Javier in the Dominican Summer League last summer, and he showed in just 9 games that he was really a man among boys in the league, hitting .308/.400/.654 with 3 doubles and 2 home runs before a hamstring injury shortened his season.
Skipping him over the Gulf Coast League, the Twins put the 18 year-old shortstop into the advanced rookie Appy League to provide him with a challenge. While he’s not dominating like he did in the DSL, he’s certainly not in dire straights by any means. Javier is hitting .288/.373/.441 with 4 doubles, a triple, a home run, and 2 steals. The biggest concern is a 27% strikeout rate, which isn’t surprising in jumping a teen up a level.
Javier has been considered to have a future ability to have a plus contact and plus power tool to go along with a plus arm. His fielding needs some work, as he has the athleticism and arm to handle short, but his reads off the bat are sometimes lacking, and without elite speed, that hurts his ability to get to balls.
He’s definitely raw, but Javier is an elite talent that Twins fans should be very excited about.
Kirilloff was the Minnesota Twins first selection in the 2016 draft out of high school in Pennsylvania, selecting him 15th overall. With a polished bat and the background of a father who was his coach along the way, Kirilloff showed well with advanced rookie Elizabethton in 2016, hitting .306/.341/.454 with 7 home runs.
Kirilloff was prepared for his full season debut with Cedar Rapids in what would have been an even more impressive lineup with his presence, but he suffered an elbow injury before the season, requiring Tommy John surgery and effectively ending his 2017 season.
One positive is that the recovery rates for hitters on TJS are much better and more complete than those with pitchers, and Kirilloff should have a good mentor in the organization in Miguel Sano, who went through the same surgery.
Kirilloff has an excellent lefty swing that should allow for quality contact while also producing plus power. He’s mature physically already at 6’1″, 215 pounds, so there isn’t a lot of filling out of his frame to come either. Hopefully, we will get to see him with Cedar Rapids in 2018 and he can push up the ladder in a hurry!
Tomorrow, we break into the top 5 on the list. Who are your guesses for who makes the top 5? Who hasn’t been on the list yet that you think should be? Comment below!
