Twins land two players in ESPN's Top 100 ranking (and Royce Lewis wasn't one of them)
A pair of Twins have been named Top 100 players in the league.
One of the points of pride this winter for the Minnesota Twins has been how bright the future continues to look. A lack of dealmaking on the hot stove didn't do much to inspire a ton of hope among fans, but glancing at the team's list of top prospects resets some of the expectations.
Heading into a new season the Twins boast four prospects in the MLB Pipeline's Top 100 -- Walker Jenkins, Brooks Lee, Emmanuel Rodriguez, and Gabriel Gonzalez.
Three of those guys were already here, while Gonzalez was acquired as part of the Jorge Polanco trade with Seattle. Jenkins isn't going to be in the mix for a few seasons, while Lee has been getting hyped up and teased as potentially part of the plan as soon as this year.
Knowing those guys are on the horizon helped ease frustration over the team not spending much in free agency, but there's a lot to love about who is already on the roster. That's something ESPN's annual ranking of the top players in the league served as a reminder of.
Twins land two players in ESPN's Top 100 ranking
ESPN's Jesse Rogers ranked the Top 100 players in the league and two Twins ended up making the list. It would have been nice to see a few more names make an appearance, but the two guys who showed up are no-brainer options.
- No. 55 - Pablo Lopez
- No. 78 - Carlos Correa
Lopez lived up to sky-high expectations after being acquired from the Miami Marlins last January and seems to be the team's ace of the future. He's easily the best pitcher in the AL Central, receiving Cy Young votes last year after finishing the season 11-8 with a 3.66 ERA, 1.155 WHIP and 234 strikeouts in 194.5 innings of work.
This year ZiPS has Lopez projected for around the same production, including a 3.7 WAR which will come in handy.
Correa's season could be even better. He battled plantar fasciitis last year which has some folks sleeping on him being one of the best players in the league. He already looks as healthy as he's ever been with the Twins and ZiPS has him projected for a 4.0 WAR.
"You can bookmark Correa for a .250, 20-homer, 50-BB and 100-strikeout season as his hit total will go up in 2024, but his numbers won't get him to his third All-Star Game," Rogers wrote of Correa.
If that's the expectation for Correa then it's already a step up from his .230/.312/.399 slash line from last season. He slumped pretty hard in the middle of the summer, which contributed to what was the worst offensive season of his career, but that's not going to be the norm. Rogers has him improving ans ZiPS projects him to slash .262/.338/.433 with 21 home runs.
What's also notable are the names missing from this list. Royce Lewis, who lit up the league and stormed to prominance with a stellar rookie season, didn't make the cut. Neither did Edouard Julien, Jhoan Duran, or Byron Buxton; if those guys plus Lewis can live up to expectations then the Twins are going to be in a fantastic spot.
It's nice that Correa and Lopez got their dues as Top 100 players, but the Twins could have more than a few guys in next year's list if all goes well.
More Minnesota Twins news and rumors
feed