LOUISVILLE, KY - OCTOBER 23: 2015 World Series bats of Daniel Murphy of the New York Mets lay on a rack ready to be shipped out at the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory on October 23, 2015 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KY – OCTOBER 23: 2015 World Series bats of Daniel Murphy of the New York Mets lay on a rack ready to be shipped out at the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory on October 23, 2015 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
Players that the Minnesota Twins should be looking at the rest of this season
The Minnesota Twins may still make a run this year as they’ve still got a quality team, especially a very good lineup that could run off a collection of wins, and their youth in bullpen arms and rotation arms could serve them well for a late-season run as well. However, there are a certain few players that should really be getting a look before the end of the season. These players are important to get a look at for Rule 5 draft reasons, options reasons, and 40-man roster reasons for 2017. We’ll have players that match those criteria and one that is outside of all of those that is a “bonus” player that would be good to see for the rest of the season as well.
We’ll start with one guy that could have a significant impact in 2017 right away:
Melotakis was part of the 40-man roster until early in the season when he was designated for assignment in order to sign Dillon Gee. Thankfully, he passed through waivers to allow the Twins to assign him to the minor leagues.
However, the Twins really don’t have another left-handed arm that’s close with the same type of raw stuff in the bullpen that Melotakis has. Melotakis missed roughly two full seasons due to elbow surgery, but he’s come back strong and threw well in 2016, especially in the Arizona Fall League.
Melotakis can throw a fastball that sits in the mid-90s, touching 97-98 at the top end, with some late sink. He pairs that pitch with an overhand spike curve that comes in 83-85 with tremendous direct break, not getting slurvy at all. He’ll also flash a change up to keep hitters really off base as well, but his two-pitch mix is plenty to be a significant bullpen weapon.
Obviously, the signs of Taylor Rogers‘ overuse this season have begun to show. Since July 20th, he’s posted a 27.00 ERA over 5 appearances that lasted 3 innings, allowing 10 runs (9 earned) on 7 hits, 4 walks, and 5 strikeouts. He’s given up 3 home runs in that time as well.
The only other lefty reliever on the 25-man roster currently is Buddy Boshers, though there are a couple of rehabbing or minor league lefty relievers on the 40-man roster. Getting Melotakis up will require removal of someone from the 40-man roster, but with his ability to be an impact arm in 2018 for the bullpen, getting him the experience now at the major league level should be worth that with plenty of arms that could be moved off the 40-man currently.
Overcoming the odds at every step, Mitch Garver was not drafted out of high school, went to the University of New Mexico and was the third catcher the Minnesota Twins drafted in the 2013 draft, when he was the 9th round draft pick of the Twins.
Yet, he’s moved up and past every other catcher within the Twins system to the guy who is on the cusp of the major leagues, hitting the ball with tremendous force at AAA and getting on base at a rate that would have him standing in the batter’s box in a major league stadium in most organizations.
However, the Twins signed a catcher this past offseason, Jason Castro, who is a defensive specialist at the position for $8M per season for 3 years. He’s only in the first year of that contract, likely with the Twins not expecting Garver to take this next step, but as he’s done throughout his career, he once again exceeded expectations.
Garver has significant power in his bat and a good eye at the plate. While his swing can get long, and he might not be a guy who hits .300 consistently, but he should provide a steady .250-.270 bat with good on base skills and power.
Garver is already on the 40-man roster and is 26 years old (not terribly crazy for a catcher to hit the majors in his mid-20s). He doesn’t have a ton of time left to really be a “prospect” anymore, so he should get a look to see what the Twins really have. If Castro needs to be an expensive mentor, then that’s not the worst thing in the world with a young pitching staff coming up as well, but Garver certainly needs to get some time.
There could be more names here as well, but some of the other names are hurt and these are really the top guys that have either a decision to be made this offseason about their Rule 5 eligibility or are forcing their way through performance.
Followers of the minor league system for some time have known about Jake Reed for a bit as he’s been on the Twins prospect radar for a few years after being drafted in the 5th round out of the University of Oregon in 2014. He moved quickly in his first two years, reaching AA by the end of his first full season, showing a big fastball and a devastating breaking ball that worked out of the back of the bullpen.
After an impressive 2016, when Reed put up a combined 3.57 ERA and 1.18 WHIP and struck out 72 over 70 2/3 relief innings between AA and AAA1, he was expected to be a strong candidate for the major league bullpen, but injuries delayed the start of his season. His 2017 has certainly shown that he’s ready, with a 1.73 ERA and 1.04 WHIP over 26 relief innings with AA and AAA now that he’s been healthy.
Just two rounds after selecting Reed, the Minnesota Twins selected John Curtiss out of the University of Texas. He moved more slowly, initially working as a starter. He moved to the bullpen in 2016, and things drastically changed as he moved up both “A” levels in 2016, throwing 61 relief innings, striking out 85 batters. He went to the Arizona Fall League against some of the best prospects in the game and looked right at home, posting a 2.84 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, and struck out 18 over 12 2/3 innings.
Curtiss opened the year with AA Chattanooga this season, moving up to AAA after 20 appearances. Overall on the year, he’s put up an outstanding line of a 1.33 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, and a 19/57 BB/K ratio over 40 2/3 innings. He’s also been very comfortable as a closer, and many have pointed to Curtiss as a guy who has the mentality and “stuff” to be a future big league closer, a job that will be open for the 2018 Twins.
Luke Bard was drafted as a compensatory first round pick (42nd overall) in the 2012 draft out of Georgia Tech. Bard struggled with injury his first two seasons before undergoing elbow surgery that cost him all of the 2014 season and definitively ensured he would be a reliever, not a starter.
Bard has moved quickly as a reliever, impressing with dominant stuff that is incredibly difficult for opponents to square up, but this year, he’s taken things to another level, with a 2.31 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, and a 19/75 BB/K ratio over 50 2/3 innings at AA. Bard is eligible for the Rule 5 draft this season, and his explosive arm would be a likely pick in that draft if he’s left unprotected, so it could be a good thing for the Twins to see how he could handle the big league bullpen work.
A towering (6’10”) righty drafted out of Indiana in the 5th round of the 2013 draft, Slegers never really had a lot of development through high school and college due to growing at a rapid rate throughout high school and then dealing with adapting to a work load during college because of his lack of development in high school. His velocity varied strongly in college, throwing 95+ with bite at one point of his draft season, but by the time the Hoosiers were at the end of their season, Slegers was working with a fastball more in the low-90s.
As he’s developed with the Twins, he’s gained back some of that velocity, but he rarely reaches 95, working 91-93 primarily, with an occasional 94. His slider has improved quite a bit from his college days, as has his change, but coming from his high arm slot, Slegers doesn’t get a ton of movement on the ball, relying more on weak contact due to the extreme plane of the ball being near impossible to square up.
Slegers has never really overpowered minor league hitters, but he’s always been able to get deep into games with remarkably consistent mechanics for a guy of his height, keeping the ball around the zone and not allowing extra base runners.
Slegers has taken things up a notch this season, throwing 118 innings, with a 3.13 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, and a 25/85 BB/K ratio at AAA Rochester. With a decision on his Rule 5 eligibility to come and a need for an arm that can be sure to eat innings at the back of the rotation, Slegers could be a good guy to get some run at the end of 2017 to see how he could fit in 2018.
Dereck Rodriguez is probably best known for having a Hall of Fame father, catcher Ivan Rodriguez, recently inducted to the Hall. The Minnesota Twins drafted Dereck out of high school in the 6th round of the 2011 draft as an outfielder. He spent two seasons playing outfield, but he struggled to make contact, striking out in roughly 1/3 of his plate appearances.
Blessed with a tremendous throwing arm, the Twins converted Rodriguez to the mound in 2014, initially working him as a reliever as he built up arm strength, but finding that he was also blessed with excellent control of his pitches.
In 2015, his first full season starting on the mound, he jumped all the way to high-A, and in 2016, he returned there, though he struggled with seeing his stuff get hit around quite a bit at Cedar Rapids in 2016 before he was promoted.
This season, Rodriguez opened with high-A and he performed tremendously well before a promotion to the Chattanooga rotation, where he’s continued to throw well. Rodriguez’s approach is that of a power pitcher, pounding the zone with a mid-90s fastball and change as his two best pitches, with a slider and cutter that work well off of those to get weak contact.
Rodriguez has worked to distinguish his slider from his cutter to give him four distinct looks that would allow him to work as a starter, but his best future for the Twins could be as a power reliever out of the bullpen. Regardless of his future major league role, he’ll be eligible to be a minor league free agent this offseason, so he is a guy who would be wise to get some views on, even if it’s out of the bullpen.
The Chattanooga rotation has been productive all season and has led the team to the top first-half record in the Southern League, and the team finds themselves leading their division in the second half as well.
Jorge is currently on the 40-man roster. He took each rookie level one step at a time after signing in 2010. He had fallen a bit out of favor with fans and those who do prospecting as he was producing positive ERA results, but his strikeout rates were quite low for a guy with a mid-90s fastball. He’s continued to produce similarly with Chattanooga this year in AA, striking out 84 in 115 1/3 innings. He has come up for two major league starts as he’s currently on the 40-man roster, but to see whether he should continue as a starter or move to the bullpen, it would be good to work Jorge in the rotation at the major league level to see how he could handle that level.
Littell was just acquired from the Yankees, and he will need to be protected in the Rule 5 draft. He was acquired by the Yankees from the Mariners this past offseason. He’s a guy with an upside of a high-end #3, low-end #2 that eats a ton of quality innings.
Romero very possibly has the highest upside of any pitcher in the entire Twins system, and he certainly does among the pitchers in the upper minors. He’s on an innings limit this season after missing 2015 with Tommy John surgery, but he could work out of the major league bullpen to get him a taste of the big leagues and prepare him to possibly compete for a rotation spot next spring.
Stewart is a guy who confuddles (yes, that’s my word) many Twins fans. He has the raw stuff that would make one think he could be a front line starter, but he’s never really had to refine his pitching skills, being able to truly work off of his two excellent fastballs and their movement as he’s progressed as he’s not gotten strikeouts with them, but he has had success getting hitters out consistently, allowing him to climb the ladder to AA already. He could be a guy who gets to the majors and learns to work with his secondary pitches at that level, something John Smoltz has discussed doing in his career, or he could be a guy who ends up never refining his secondaries and transitioning to a power reliever. Either way, the Twins should continue to challenge him as he needs truly to fail with the fastball-first approach before he’ll truly feel the need to refine his other pitches.
The guy who is often highest ranked among prospect sites among this list is Gonsalves, a lefty who has quality stuff, but is more of a #2/3 upside than elite ace type, but coming from the left side, he’s shown tremendous success at every level beyond his raw pitches, showing a mental approach of pitching advanced of his stuff, which should allow him to transition to the majors quite well when that time comes (hopefully early on in 2018).
Currently on the 40-man after being acquired from the New York Yankees in the Jaime Garcia trade, Enns was originally drafted by the Yankees out of Central Michigan University in the 19th round of the 2012 draft.
Enns had closed at Central Michigan, and the Yankees worked to stretch him out once they got him in their system, so Enns spent his first couple of seasons building up to start before then struggling with injury in 2014 and 2015. He was lights out once he got on the mound in 2015 for high-A Tampa, posting a 0.76 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, and 14/40 BB/K ratio over 47 1/3 innings.
In 2016, Enns split his season between AA and AAA, posting an incredible 1.73 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, and a 56/124 BB/K ratio over 135 innings.
Enns has battled injury this season, but in his time healthy, he’s posted a 2.10 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, and 12/51 BB/K ratio in 51 1/3 innings.
Enns doesn’t run a high-90s fastball, actually working more around 90, able to work to 92-93 with excellent movement on his fastball and his secondary offerings. He does struggle at times with control of his pitches due to that movement, and his eventual role may be in the bullpen, but as he’s already on the 40-man, he should be getting plenty of looks the rest of the season at the major league level, whether it’s as a starter, a swing man, or as a reliever.
The one “wild card” is a guy who was signed as a minor league free agent this past offseason by the Minnesota Twins after spending 8 years in the St. Louis Cardinals organization.
At 6’2″ and 250 pounds, you would imagine Jonathan Rodriguez to be a formidable power hitter, though he’s never posted above a .500 slugging percentage in his minor league career (posting exactly .500 with Batavia in the New York-Penn League in 2010). He’s hit 20 home runs just one time and while he’s exhibited a high walk rate, he’s struggled with his contact rate, hitting .309 in rookie ball in 2009, but never hitting even .290 at any level since.
The former 17th round selection out of JuCo in Florida shortened his lead to his swing this season, and he’s seen a tremendous result, with not only a career low ground ball rate (by almost 7%), but also a career high line drive rate, which has led to a career best season.
While the Twins do have ByungHo Park and Kennys Vargas that have been filtered between AAA and the major leagues all season, but Rodriguez’s significant right-handed power due to his swing change could be the type of career change in swing that allows Rodriguez to have a late-career explosion into a possible major league career, a la Edwin Encarnacion or Justin Smoak. He’s currently hitting .316/.417/.513 with 24 doubles, 15 home runs, and a 62/88 BB/K ratio over 420 plate appearances.
Rodriguez will be a minor league free agent this season again, and another team could see this improvement and give him a chance. It would be wise to see what the team has in Rodriguez before possibly losing him.
Obviously this is not a comprehensive list of the players who will be eligible for Rule 5 or minor league free agents. In fact, Seth Sohs put together a tremendous list of that over at Twins Daily. However, these are the guys that we would like to see up for the rest of this season so the Twins can know better how to address free agency and roster construction in 2018.
Anyone we missed? Who would you most like to see from this list? Comment below!!
