Puckett’s Pond’s Minnesota Twins 2018 Top-40 prospects: 26-30

The Minnesota Twins have an exciting farm system. Here is our top 40 ranking of the Twins prospects as we continue onto prospects numbers 26-30.

The Minnesota Twins have had a disappointing 2018 season. Out of survival, we as fans have to find something to root for when our teams are not performing well. Which causes us to often then turn our attention to what is next for our favorite team, for baseball that means the prospects in the minors. That special attention gives added intrigue to this series which takes a unique look at the Twins current crop of prospects as we at Puckett’s Pond put on our talent evaluating caps to rank the Twins prospects.

What else makes this not only an intriguing but also an exciting group to rank is that the Twins have made several additions to their prospect ranks during their sell-off at the trade deadline. All those new faces are players we haven’t gotten much of a look and learning about those new players can always be a fun exercise as well.

This list is a group effort by several writers here at Puckett’s Pond. Know that we each have our own opinion on players but have put our rankings together to compile this list. Some or all of us will have ranked certain players in a much different place than where they will land on this ranking. That is just how this sort of exercise works.

With that here is the first instalment of our rankings as we look at what is now often regarded as a top-10 farm system in baseball. We have already covered prospects numbers 31-35 and 36-40. Here are numbers 26-30 of the Puckett’s Pond prospect rankings.

No. 30 Griffin Jax, RHP, Fort Myers Miracle

Nate’s Rank: 33, Gary’s Rank: 31

Many fans likely learned first about Griffin Jax more because of his off the field service to our country than his on the field baseball contributions. That is to change soon as he is beginning to make his mark on the Twins minor league system now that he has been able to get some regular games in.

The Twins drafted Jax in the 3rd round of the 2016 draft out of the United States Air Force Academy. It was a bit of a surprise to see Jax drafted that early as major league teams liked Jax’s talent, but were concerned about how is military commitment might affect his ability to work on baseball.

The right-handed Jax, has worked primarily as a starter in his three seasons connected with the Twins. 2018 has been the season where he been able to get the most work on a minor league mound as he has qualified for the World Class Athlete Program as he fulfils his Air Force duties. In 2017 as a member of the Cedar Rapids Kernels, Jax started 4 games and tossed 26.1 innings while holding a 2.39 ERA and 0.987 WHIP. This season Jax has climbed the ladder to Fort Myers where he has started 11 games, tossed 74.0 innings, holds a 3.16 ERA and 1.108 WHIP.

Jax’s mid-90’s fastball is his best pitch. He has also employed a curveball, changeup, and slider to compliment it. There is nothing fancy about Jax’s approach but as Benjamin Chase points out he his simply consistent and disciplined in his approach on the mound. Jax may not be a top line starter but could certainly develop into a mid to back-end of the rotation starter for the Twins after some years of development.

No. 29 Landon Leach, RHP, GCL Twins

Nate’s Ranking: 42, Gary’s Ranking: 21

With their second round selection in the 2017 MLB draft the Twins made right-handed pitcher Landon Leach the first player selected out of Canada in last year’s draft. The more you look at Leach as a prospect the more and more you can see the things that the Twins liked enough in Leach to take him in the second round.

Leach has a lot of growing yet to do as a pitcher as he is really only in his third year as a pitcher. His time on the baseball field had previously been spent crouched as a catcher receiving from pitchers such as himself. Leach has made the transition look almost seamless as he works with a two and four-seam fastball as well as a change-up and slider. He can even ramp his fastball up to 96 mph.

Barely into his development as a professional pitcher, Leach has yielded some positive results in his only 32.0 innings pitched since being drafted. In 2017, the right hander was able to throw 13.1 innings in 5 games and two of them starts. He walked away with a 3.38 ERA, 10 strikeouts, and six walks. So far in 2018 Leach has added 18.2 innings in six starts and has recorded an improved 2.41 ERA, 14 strikeouts, and 9 walks.

At only 19-years-old, we won’t see Leach for a while in a Twins uniform. He is the type of prospect that if we follow his path with patient expectations we may be very glad the Twins chose to use their second round draft pick on him.

No. 28 Luis Rijo, RHP, Elizabethton Twins

Nate’s Rank: 31, Gary’s Rank: 28

The Minnesota Twins just recently brought Luis Rijo into their farm system as he was included in the package alongside Tyler Austin that the Twins received in return for starting pitcher Lance Lynn. It feels like the second trade in less than a year that the Twins have completed with the New York Yankees where the Twins may have been able to take full advantage of the Yankees having a surplus of good players that occupy the same position in their organization. The trade for Jake Cave being the other.

Rijo came to the Yankees as an international free agent in 2015. The right-hander is still very young at only 19-years-old but has the markers of a pitcher who could develop into a quality option in a major league rotation. As evaluated by 2080 baseball, Rijo has a fastball that sits 92-93 mph and a power curveball which breaks with sharp action at 75-76 mph. If Rijo wants to be a quality major league pitcher he will have to develop a better third pitch, right now that is his low-80s changeup.

Rijo has pitched across three levels of the minors this season. He has pitched at both Single-A levels while with the Yankees but has spent most of his time in the Rookie ball Appalachian League where he starts his Twins career. In total Rijo has pitched 49.1 innings in 2018 and holds a 2.19 ERA, 1.115 WHIP, and has 38 strikeouts and six walks. In two starts with Elizabethton, Rijo has gone 10.1 innings and has allowed five unearned runs in one bad outing.

Rijo is another arm that may never develop into an ace level pitcher but has the opportunity to develop into another solid mid to back-end of the rotation arm. He is another piece in the pitching depth the Twins front office has clearly focused on building up.

No. 26 Jose Miranda, 2B/3B, Fort Myers Miracle

Nate’s Rank: 30, Gary’s Rank: 19

The Twins drafted then shortstop prospect Jose Miranda out of Puerto Rico with their 2nd round selection in the 2016 MLB draft. At the time of the draft, Miranda was considered one of the top shortstop prospects coming out in his class. There was always the thought that Miranda may end up at another position such as third base. Having Royce Lewis in your system and on your team has helped Miranda start that venture outside of shortstop pretty early.

Miranda spent the first part of his 2018 with the Cedar Rapids Kernels. While in Iowa Miranda spent most of his time at second base but also did spend some time playing both positions on the left side of the infield. After a very good 2017 where he slashed, .283/.340/.484 with Elizabethton, Miranda struggled to start 2018. He would rebound and hit .277/.326/.434 and hit 22 doubles and 13 home runs in 104 games with the Kernels before earning a promotion to Fort Myers.

12 games in since moving to Fort Myers, Miranda has hit .255/.340/.426 and has added two doubles and two home runs to his line. Early on in Fort Myers as he has rejoined Lewis in the infield, Miranda has been playing primarily as a third baseman. While Lewis has always been praised for his athletic ability, Miranda isn’t praised for his athleticism in the same way but evaluators have always recognized the infielder’s ability to play good defense and swing a good bat.

Miranda joins the list of very good infielders to call the Twins farm system home. He will have some time to continue and develop as a hitter before we have to worry about him potentially being blocked out of the major leagues by current Twins players or fellow minor league players.