Baseball America Top 100: 6 Minnesota Twins prospects that can make an impact in 2020
The Minnesota Twins have built one of the top farm systems in baseball, but how can that translate to their success in 2020?
Since General Manager Thad Levine and President of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey took over the Minnesota Twins, one of the top priorities has been building a foundation for this team to have long-term success. With some of the holdovers from the previous regime such as Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, and Alex Kirilloff in place, the Twins’ front office duo has surrounded that talent with even more pieces, resulting in six prospects landing on Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects list.
Prospects are great and build excitement for the future, but most Twins fans want to know how the team is going to do right now. After their 2019 season went down in flames during the postseason, the Twins have several needs on their pitching staff and in case of an injury, they’ll need players at the minor league level that can step in and help Minnesota avoid their second-half swoon from last July and August.
Despite what’s at the minor league level, the Twins are a good team. But the six prospects that landed on the preseason hype list should draw another level of excitement and if their time comes, it could mean that the future could be now in Minnesota.
Alex Kirilloff
Age: 22
Position: OF/1B
Level: Double-A
2019 Stats: 94 G, .283/.343/.413, 9 HR, 43 RBI, 18 2B, 2 3B, 7 SB
Baseball America Ranking: 31st
A quick look at Kirilloff’s 2019 would make some fans believe he was a disappointment once moving up to Double-A Pensacola. However, the adversity that Kirilloff fought through including a wrist injury in April and a second stint on the injured list in June, played a large part in his suppressed numbers and when he was fully healthy, he showed the offensive ability that has catapulted him to the top of several top prospect lists.
It took a while for Kirilloff to get going, but his performance down the stretch showed that he’s slowly getting ready for his major league closeup. In the month of August, Kirilloff hit .311/.351/.500 with 5 HR and 19 RBI as the Blue Wahoos made their playoff push in the Southern League.
While it was a 26 game sample size, those numbers were on par with a ballistic 2018 season in which he hit .348/.392/.578 with 20 HR and 101 RBI between Low-A Cedar Rapids and High-A Fort Myers. Kirilloff will still need to find where he’ll be playing once he gets to the majors (with a crowded outfield, first base is a possibility), but with a swing that reminded The Athletic’s Jim Bowden of former National League MVP Christian Yelich, his bat could be ready to play by the end of this season.
Royce Lewis
Age: 20
Position: SS/OF
Level: Double-A
2019 Stats: .236/.290/.371, 12 HR, 49 RBI, 26 2B, 4 3B, 22 SB
Baseball America Ranking: 26th
At this time last year, Lewis wasn’t just one of the top prospects in the game, he was a top 10 prospect and former No. 1 overall pick that looked to be skyrocketing toward Minnesota. Fast forward to today and many have questions about Lewis’ ability to hit at the major league level and wonder if he’ll be shifted to the outfield with the rise of Jorge Polanco.
Lewis’ 2019 wasn’t the way that anybody thought it would play out. After suffering an oblique injury in the early weeks of spring training, his season got off to a slow start and was noted more for a push-up incident on a ball he thought should have left the yard. Once old man baseball rules were enforced, Lewis couldn’t really get going until July, when he hit .266/.330/.457 with 4 HR, 12 RBI and earned a promotion from High-A Fort Myers to Double-A Pensacola.
Lewis didn’t perform well with the Blue Wahoos, but his optimism for this season came with an MVP performance in the Arizona Fall League (.353/.411/.565, 3 HR, 20 RBI) where he tore the cover off the ball for Salt Lake.
As a solid defender that can play multiple positions, the biggest question will be if Lewis’ fall league performance was an indicator of things to come at the plate. If they are, Lewis could be an enticing trade chip or push Jorge Polanco, who was one of the league’s worst defensive shortstops last season.
Trevor Larnach
Age: 22
Position: OF
Level: Double-A
2019 Stats: .309/.384/.458, 13 HR, 66 RBI, 30 2B, 1 3B, 4 SB
Baseball America ranking: 47th
The thing to remember about lists like this is that prospects can rise or fall in a heartbeat. Much like the Twins found out with Randy Dobnak (who started the year at High-A Fort Myers before finding himself starting in an ALDS game), Trevor Larnach could be a prospect that could make a quick rise after a tremendous first professional season.
When Larnach came to the Twins as the 20th overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft, he was a prospect that was just beginning to find his power stroke. After hitting three home runs in his first two collegiate seasons combined, Larnach exploded for 19 in his junior season before his first full professional season last year.
Any thought of an adjustment period to professional ball was quickly dismissed as Larnach set foot in Fort Myers and immediately started raking. As the Florida State League Player of the Year, he was quickly shipped up to Pensacola where he put up even better power numbers, smacking seven homers in 43 games with the Blue Wahoos.
Larnach still strikes out at a high rate (124 K in 476 AB last season), but he also is patient, drawing 57 walks in those plate appearances. Perhaps an expectation of reaching the majors is out of the question, but if he hits like he did last year, he could be a late-season call-up that is a secret weapon for a postseason push.
Brusdar Graterol
Age: 21
Position: Pitcher
Level: MLB
2019 Stats: 1-1, 4.66 ERA, 9 2/3 IP, 10 K, 2 BB, 1.24 WHIP
Baseball America ranking: 60th
During the middle of last season, there was a buzz around right-handed pitcher Brusdar Graterol. The 21-year old had just gotten off the injured list with a shoulder impingement and was getting ready to make a couple of rehab starts in Gulf Coast League. Nothing to see here, right?
Over the next couple of months, that changed as Graterol used his fastball that topped out at 104 MPH to send his stock all the way to Minnesota, where he spent the month of September and October in the Twins bullpen. While the numbers weren’t perfect, the Twins clearly liked what they saw and recently hinted that Graterol will begin 2020 in the bullpen.
The decision to keep Graterol in the majors could pay off if he can make the full-time adjustment to Major League Baseball. By facing major league hitters, Graterol can gain experience and be stretched out if the Twins’ rotation falls apart in the same fashion it did in 2019.
While Graterol’s immediate future is as a reliever, he does have a spot in the Twins’ rotation of the future and with a steady mix of effective pitches, it’s possible he can have a major impact in 2020.
Jordan Balazovic
Age: 21
Position: Pitcher
Level: Double-A
2019 Stats: 8-5, 2.69 ERA, 19 G (18 GS), 93.2 IP, 129 K, 25 BB, 0.98 WHIP
Baseball America ranking: 95th
The final two players on this list are guys unlikely to reach Minnesota in 2020, but can still have an impact thanks to a strong minor league performance. The first is Jordan Balazovic, who was getting some love from Keith Law prior to the 2019 season but wasn’t a household name among Twins fans.
Then the 2019 season happened and Balazovic became one of the top prospects in the organization. Even after a promotion from Low-A Cedar Rapids after four starts, Balazovic showed plenty of enticing traits including a 4.57 K/BB ratio and 12.4 K/9 ratio. With a resume of dominance, it’s possible that Balazovic could take the next step to begin 2020 in Double-A Pensacola.
Naturally, the Twins have not been keen to rushing their pitchers through the organization, but as they showed with Graterol, they are willing to make exceptions. In a best-case scenario, Balazovic continues his effectiveness as he climbs up the ladder and could land in Triple-A Rochester by the end of this upcoming season.
Jhoan Duran
Age: 22
Position: Pitcher
Level: Double-A
2019 Stats: 5-12, 3.76 ERA, 23 G (22 GS), 115 IP, 136 K, 40 BB, 1.19 WHIP
The final player on the list is one that comes in the similar mold of last year’s minor league star, Brusdar Graterol. Acquired in the 2018 trade that sent Eduardo Escobar to Arizona, the Twins got a good piece in return by acquiring Jhoan Duran, who has begun to make waves in the Minnesota organization.
Like Graterol, Duran possesses a heavy fastball that has been clocked north of 100 MPH. He also has shown improvement in his control in recent years seeing his K/BB ratio go from 2.54 in the first half of 2018 with Kane County to 4.56 in his final seven starts at Double-A Pensacola last season.
While he also probably won’t wind up in Minnesota, he is beginning to have the look of a special pitcher as evidenced by his 14-strikeout performance against High-A Daytona on May 26. If there’s any more convincing, Twins catching prospect Ryan Jeffers had high regard for the right-hander in an interview with Puckett’s Pond contributor Otto Johnson.
“I’ve caught [Jhoan] Duran at three levels ever since he got traded here,” Jeffers said. “He’s fun to catch with electric stuff.”
Next. 6 Twins make Baseball America's Top 100 prospects list. dark
Could Duran be this year’s version of Graterol? Time will tell. But he’s part of a crop of Twins prospects who could have a major say on what happens in 2020.