Minnesota Twins: 6 Twins prospects crack Baseball America’s Top 100 list
By Chris Schad
The Minnesota Twins continue to have a bright future with six prospects cracking Baseball America’s top 100 prospect list for the 2020 season.
The Minnesota Twins future continues to look bright and as several prospects are making their way through the organization, media outlets are beginning to take notice of what front office duo Derek Falvey and Thad Levine are beginning to put together.
That includes Baseball America, who dropped their Top 100 Prospects for the 2020 season on Wednesday and saw six Twins prospects make the cut. The Twins representation of Royce Lewis, Alex Kirilloff, Brusdar Graterol, Trevor Larnach, Jhoan Duran and Jordan Balazovic was tied with the San Diego Padres for the second-largest turnout on the list and one behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, who had seven prospects make the cut.
Leading the way for the Twins is shortstop Royce Lewis (No. 26), who had a turbulent 2019 season. After dealing with a couple of injuries to start his campaign, Lewis struggled in the minor leagues offensively before turning it around with a strong performance in the Arizona Fall League.
The Twins also had a pair of outfielders that are trying to push their way through a talented crop to get to the major league level. Kirilloff (No. 31) dropped 11 spots from his final ranking in 2019 but started to turn things on after recovering from an early-season wrist injury. Larnach (No. 45) wasn’t far behind as his first full season ended at Double-A Pensacola.
For those who have been clamoring for pitching, the Twins have plenty of high-end prospects, but Baseball America suggests their major league closeup may have to wait until 2021. Graterol led the Twins in the pitching department and even made a cameo during the Twins run to the American League Central title last fall, but his immediate future appears to be in the bullpen for the time being.
Behind Graterol are another pair of players who will be fun to watch at Pensacola with Balazovic (No. 95) and Duran (No. 96) looking to build off breakout 2019 seasons.
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While a strong number of top prospects doesn’t always guarantee success at the major league level, it doesn’t hurt for a team that has big aspirations have reinforcements (or assets for trade) in their organization. 2020 will be a big year for all of these prospects and a large contingent on this list represents a great start.