Puckett’s Pond Minnesota Twins Top 20 Prospects: 1-5

5. Lewin Diaz, 1B, 20 years old

Just watch that video. Think back to the late 1990s/early 2000s. Tell me you don’t see the spitting image of the swing of a certain former Twins 1B/DH that moved on to Boston and had a Hall of Fame career?

In all seriousness, watching Diaz’s swing, it is surprising that he hasn’t had more success to this point. The Twins signed him out of the Dominican Republic in July of 2013 for $1.4M. He did struggle in his first two years in the org, but last season, he paired with Alex Kirilloff for a big year in Elizabethton in his second year at the level.

This year, Diaz is showing very well with his big swing, but he has struggled with a very inconsistent lineup around him. One of the incredibly impressive things with Diaz is that even with that big swing, he is able to keep his strikeout rate around 15%, which is incredibly low for a power hitter.

On the season, Diaz has hit .276/.314/.446 with 26 doubles and 10 home runs.