3 prospects the Minnesota Twins can use as trade bait
By Eric Cole
Connor Prielipp
It probably looks strange to see a guy drafted just last year as potential trade bait, but hear us out. Prielipp was one of the favorites to go first overall in 2022 before he had to undergo Tommy John surgery. However, some impressive pre-draft workouts after his rehab had teams remembering just how good that fastball/slider could be and the Twins snatched him up in the second round on a bonus approaching $2 million.
However, Prielipp is already having elbow issues again and this is a guy that really needs to be able to throw his power slider to reach his ceiling. It is entirely possible that he will end up fine down the road, but the Twins are in a position to contend right now and an arm of Prielipp's potential is going to be VERY tantalizing for the types of teams that are going to be sellers at the deadline as they are going to wanting to stack up long-term assets.
Letting go of Prielipp allows the team to keep the other three pitching prospects in their top 10 while still being able to get a big trade done (although him being their most prominent lefty certainly stings a bit).
Austin Martin
Martin is a polarizing prospect because while his pure hitting ability and bat-to-ball skills are very high, he can't seem to stay healthy and where he fits defensively is pretty unclear. The bat is the selling point here, as he hits the ball to all fields and has hit for power in the past (there is cause for skepticism with the latter, though). Teams are also likely very familiar with the sort of impact he can have at the plate as he performed well in the Arizona Fall League.
The downsides are real enough to make it a fair debate as to whether or not the Twins would be selling too low on him. He is already recovering from a UCL sprain from this spring which doesn't help his value and again, there has been little in the way of progress when it comes to his defense at shortstop.
Minnesota doesn’t have a shortage of guys that are going to play up the middle right now and Martin's value seems better suited for a team that has some time to get him healthy and potentially play him at a position like second base that doesn't put as much emphasis on his arm.