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Puckett’s Pond’s Minnesota Twins Top-40 prospects: #16-20

By Nate Palmer

BALTIMORE, MD - AUGUST 20: A Minnesota Twins cap and glove in the dug out before a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards at on August 20, 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE, MD - AUGUST 20: A Minnesota Twins cap and glove in the dug out before a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards at on August 20, 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /
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No. 19 Gabriel Maciel, OF, Cedar Rapids Kernels

Nate’s Rank: 17, Gary’s Rank: 20

At the next spot on our rankings, we run into the outfielder who was the highest ranked prospect coming over from the Arizona Diamondbacks in the trade for Eduardo Escobar. That is 19-year-old outfielder Gabriel Maciel. The Diamondbacks signed Maciel out of his native Brazil and he has performed well early in his professional baseball career.

In 2017, his second year as a pro baseball player, Maciel played in the rookie-ball Pioneer League where he hit .323/.389/.438 with a .827 OPS and added 14 doubles and nine stolen bases. That performance in 2017 earned Maciel the promotion to Single-A Kane County where he was hitting .287/.362/.333 with 10 doubles and 16 stolen bases before being traded to the Twins.

Since the trade, he has seen a dip in production as a member for the Kernels. Maciel in his 21 games in the Twins organization has hit .256/.307/.402 with two doubles and two stolen bases. Maciel will rely most heavily on two skills as he looks to climb up the minors and reach the major leagues someday. Those are his speed and his defense. Before this season, MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo gave Maciel the honor of having the best tool grades in both running (65 grade) and defense (60 grade) in the Diamondbacks system.

It is that combination of skills in addition to his past proven ability to get on base that could turn Maciel into a good leadoff hitter and center fielder in the majors. One of the negatives on Maciel right now is even though he is fast, he needs to learn how to use his speed better. That can be seen in his stat line for this season. While he has stolen 16 bases he has also been caught stealing seven times. It will be interesting to see how his skills come together as Maciel matures.

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