As far as I can tell, thanks to Baseball Prospectus and FantasyRundown.com, these are the Twins prospects that appeared SOMEWHERE on a prospect ranking list. *
| FIRST | LAST | POS |
| Oswaldo | Arcia | OF |
| Luke | Bard | RHP |
| Joe | Benson | OF |
| J.O. | Berrios | RHP |
| Byron | Buxton | OF |
| J.T. | Chargois | RHP |
| Kyle | Gibson | RHP |
| Deolis | Guerra | RHP |
| Carlos | Gutierrez | RHP |
| Chris | Herrmann | C |
| Aaron | Hicks | OF |
| Max | Kepler-Rozycki | OF |
| Trevor | May | RHP |
| Mason | Melotakis | LHP |
| Alex | Meyer | RHP |
| Levi | Michael | 2B |
| Angel | Morales | OF |
| Jeremias | Pineda | OF |
| Tyler | Robertson | LHP |
| Eddie | Rosario | OF |
| Miguel | Sano | 3B |
| Daniel | Santana | SS |
| Alex | Wimmers | RHP |
That is a list of 23 players, I would feel comfortable considering these the 23 best Twins prospects in the Twins system. Of these 23 players, six appear more frequently on lists, and higher up on lists, than any of the others: Oswaldo Arcia, Byron Buxton, Kyle Gibson, Aaron Hicks, Alex Meyer, and Miguel Sano. No real surprise there, these are the six players that both Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus included in their recent Top 100 (101 for BP) lists. Paul and I talked about those players at some length in the recent episode of Talk to Contact, and compared where each of those two sites had the players listed. If you have a copy of Seth Stoh’s Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook 2013 you can find several additional prospect lists in there. Again, the same six names generally top those prospect lists in some order, with Buxton and Sano at the top, and the other four usually clumped together.
The other names on the list, I think, then are much more interesting, as they are less likely to have drool all over them from prospect hungry Twins fans looking toward the not-to-distant future when the Twins might not be terrible again. Of the 17 other players included on FantasyRundown.com’s list, the most recognizable names are probably Trevor May, Eddie Rosario, J.O. Berios, and Max Kepler. Those four players will usually round out the Top 10 lists for most Twins prospects, and in fact, in the Top 15 Twins Prospect list that Fangraphs released yesterday, three of those four appeared in their top 10. Trevor May was the one on the outside (12), and in his place in the top 10 was middle infielder Jorge Polanco, who is not even listed above, and has yet to play full-season baseball for the Twins. Eventually the list over at BP will be updated and the Fangraphs rankings will be included and not only will Jorge Polanco be added, but Travis Harrison, a promising third basemen who also has yet to play full-season ball will be on the list as well.
Get to know some of the names on this list, they’ll be a big part of the Twins future, and when you get tired of watching the Twins lose in 2013, you can follow these players through the Minor Leagues.
*The following prospect lists were used in compiling the list of Twins prospects listed above:
| Baseball America – Long-term Rankings |
| SeedlingstoStars.com – Long-term Rankings |
| Scout.com – Long-term Rankings |
| TopProspectAlert.com – Long-term Rankings |
| BaseballProspectus.com – Long-term Rankings |
| FanGraphs.com – Long-term Rankings |
| ScoutingBook.com – Long-term Rankings updated as of 02/06/13 |
| ProjectProspect.com – Long-term Rankings |
| BaseballInstinct.com – Long-term Rankings |
| ESPN.com’s Keith Law – Long-term Rankings |
| Prospect361.com – Long-term Rankings |
| TheBaseballHaven.MLBlogs.com – Long-term Rankings |
| BullpenBanter.com – Long-term Rankings |
| MLB.com – Long-term Rankings |
| DeepLeagues.com – Long-term Rankings |
| ThroughtheFenceBaseball.com – Long-term Rankings |
| TheDynastyGuru.com – Top 150 Dynasty Lge Fantasy Prospects |
| Prospect361.com – Top 100 Longterm Fantasy Prospects |
| CBSSports.com – Top 100 Longterm Fantasy Prospects |
| ProjectProspect.com – Longterm Fantasy Rankings |
| Rotoprofessor.com – 2013 Fantasy Prospects |
| Razzball.com – 2013 Fantasy Prospects |
The problem with a list of 23 top prospects is that there aren’t usually more than about 10 guys in the system that will make significant contributions at the major league level. I do a comparison every year between Baseball America’s top ten from a decade ago with a top ten based on actual results 10 years later. Those actual lists included players like Lew Ford, Dustin Mohr and Chad Moeller.
Usually about half the Baseball America list don’t make the actual result list. But some of the players that make the actual list, like Dustin Mohr, would probably not have been on anyone’s top 50 list some years either. And the failure rate among young prospects in rookie and low A ball is very high. They are almost all on the list because their tools offer a very high ceiling. They are at A ball and below because their baseball skills are a long way behind their tools. They all have flaws in their game and some of them will never smooth those out. Projecting them as the core of a future major league team is getting way ahead of the game.
TT,
I understand that prospect lists don’t include every player that eventually puts on a MLB uniform, and I don’t think they’re set up to do that, they’re just listing the players most likely to show up, and even then, things happen, people make mistakes, and players get injured or just never reach their full potential.
Instead, what I’m hoping to show here is a list of players fans can get excited about in 2013, even if the Twins are bad. Something extra to watch for during the season when the Twins are more than likely going to flirt with 90 more losses.
It is Spring Training, it is a time for hope, and if you can’t hope for prospects, what can you hope for?