Wednesday,
February 17, 2010
Twins Minor
League Draft
Before we start, be sure to listen in to last nights SethSpeaks.net Weekly Minnesota Twins
Podcast. Guests were Steve Singleton,
Bruce Pugh and John Meyer (TwinsMVB.com).
A little over a week ago, I
brought together some of the Twins bloggers/writers who I think are very
knowledgeable of the Twins farm system, and we conducted a 22 round Twins minor
league draft. I know many of you compete in fantasy baseball, and what we did
was very similar. The difference was that our pool of draft-able players was
the Twins minor league system. Any players who have not lost their rookie
eligibility were able to be drafted. Along with me, there were three other
Twins bloggers. Roger Dehring writes a minor
league update each week at Twinkie
Town and covers the minors very well. Josh Johnson from Joshs Thoughts is nearing the
end of his Top 50 Twins Prospects series and wrote an article on the Twins
international signings for the Maple Street Press/ TwinsCentric Twins 2010 Annual. Travis Aune of
Travis Twins Talk has a ton
of minor league information on his site throughout the summer and has added
minor leaguers to his weekly
Minnesota Sports podcast. Each team must draft a C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, CI,
MI, 4 OF, EX, 5 SP, CL, 4 BP. I asked each of the
participants to jot down a sentence or two on each of their picks, as they were
making them. Hopefully this is something that you enjoy. We tried this idea almost five years ago,
and it was fun to look back at our teams and see how we did and remember some
of the drafted names.
Today, I will be postings the
results of the first eight rounds (32 picks) of the draft. Ill be back tomorrow with the eight more rounds. So, here we go:
THE
DRAFT (Rounds 1-8)
Round 1 1st Overall Roger - C Wilson Ramos
(I
chose the player who in my opinion is the top prospect in the organization and
the closest of all top prospects to contributing to the Twins, catcher, Wilson
Ramos.)
Round 1 2nd Overall Seth - OF Aaron Hicks
(This was kind of a no-brainer. Hicks is
easily the top prospect in the organization.)
Round 1 3rd Overall Josh - OF - Ben Revere
(With both Aaron Hicks and Wilson Ramos gone, and knowing that I wanted to focus on offense
early, it was an easy choice picking Ben
Revere. The Twins have a lot of depth in pitching and outfield, which made
me consider Miguel Sano, but
Round 1 4th Overall Travis - SS Miguel Sano
(I am very excited to
get him in the draft. I think that the
sky is the limit for this young hitter. I have heard comparisons to a young
Alex Rodriguez and that may be premature for a 16 year old, but I think the
future is bright for him.)
Round 2 5th
Overall Travis - RHP Kyle
Gibson
(The Twins were very
lucky to get him in the draft this year. He has the potential to be a number
one starter for the Twins. He will likely start in
Fort Myers but likely skyrocket through system.)
Round 2 6th
Overall Josh - RHP - David
Bromberg
(There's no denying
Bromberg's productivity. Over the last two years, he's struck out 325 batters
while posting a 3.29 ERA. He has some control problems and is more likely a #3
starter than a #1, but I'll try making that up with later picks. I also
considered Danny Valencia, and I
will probably regret my decision to not take him. But I'll try to nab Luke
Hughes sometime in the next few rounds.)
Round 2 7th
Overall Seth - 3B Danny Valencia
(It was him or Angel Morales. Figured there are more OF and
Valencia is close to the big leagues.)
Round 2 8th
Overall Roger - OF
Angel Morales
(I selected the player who I feel has as much
upside as any player in the organization. Based upon the last half of his
season at Beloit and the improvement he made in the Puerto Rico Winter League, Angel
Morales could be an early favorite to be the organization's 2010
Player of the Year! Had my second selection been second rather than
eighth, it is likely I would have also taken Morales with that pick.)
Round 3 9th
Overall Roger - RHP Adrian Salcedo
(With my
next choice I selected Adrian Salcedo.
Salcedo is one of the few pitchers in the
organization with an upside as a Number 1 starter.)
Round 3 10th
Overall Seth - OF Rene Tosoni
(Was really hoping Roger would leave either Morales or Salcedo for me. Lots of pitchers left, so now I'll grab my
2nd OF, and Tosoni's pretty strong.)
Round 3 11th
Overall Josh - OF Joe Benson
(I wanted to take
someone I felt was going to have a great year, so it was an easy choice to pick
Joe Benson. I lucked out that Seth
took Rene Tosoni
which made my decision easy (it would have come down between the two of them).
I also considered drafting Chris Parmelee, but I hope to get Erik Lis as my first baseman later in the
draft. I don't view Parmelee as a viable outfielder
when guys like Oswaldo Arcia and Max Kepler-Rozycki
won't be taken until later and are much better defensively.)
Round 3 12th
Overall Travis - RHP Jeff Manship
(He got a feel of the
big leagues last year, probably a little before he was ready. He showed the
moxie that you are hoping to see out of a pitcher. His curveball is very good right now and next
time he comes up, it is going to be to stay.)
Round 4 13th
Overall Travis - 1B Chris Parmelee
(I was really hoping
he would last to me because I am very high on this young guy. He reminds me of a young Adam Dunn in that he
is a high on base percentage guy with unbelievable power. I think going forward
he is going to put up massive numbers.)
Round 4 14th Overall Josh - C Danny Rams
(After Wilson Ramos, Danny Rams is the best catching prospect in the Twins system. He
has great power potential which will be great to have in the middle-of
the-order. I probably could have tried waiting for Chris Herrmann later in the draft, but I like Rams upside. I also
considered drafting Carlos Gutierrez.)
Round 4 15th Overall Seth - RHP Deolis Guerra
(I needed a pitcher at this point. Guerra
is only months older than BJ Hermsen, the other
consideration here, and four levels higher.)
Round 4 16th Overall Roger - RHP BJ Hermsen
(I
had my eye on Jeff Manship, however, he went a couple picks before my next
selection. Plan B was another young starter who could be as good as Salcedo, B. J. Hermsen.)
Round 5 17th Overall Roger - RHP Alex Burnett
(I then may have selected a pitcher higher
than one would normally take a reliever. I believe that Alex
Burnett is the Twins closer of the future (3-4 years from now) and
decided to not lose the best closer in the organization.)
Round 5 18th Overall Seth - CL Carlos Gutierrez
(Will he start or close? We shall see. Im sure hell start
2010 in the New Britain rotation ,but I actually think
Gutierrez might be the Twins next closer.)
Round 5 19th Overall Josh - LHP Tyler Robertson
(Seth stole my pick (Carlos Gutierrez) and after taking two
outfielders and a catcher, I wanted to grab another starting pitcher. Robertson
is a consistent pitcher and I still love his upside. He has an ugly deliver,
but hes performed well at each stop thus far. He too is viewed more as a #3
starter than a #2, but hopefully I'll grab a
high-upside/high-risk guy like Shooter
Hunt later in the draft.)
Round 5 20th Overall Travis - OF Max Kepler
(He is another young
kid with an unbelievable amount of potential, so I was glad he lasted to me. He
was called the top prospect ever to come out of Europe. I am excited to see him develop and see if he
can be as good as we hope he can be.)
Round 6 21st Overall Travis - RHP Billy Bullock
(I really believe that
we are looking at a future closer for the Twins. He has it all in that, he has mid 90s
velocity with other good secondary pitches.
If he continues to develop it wont be long until we see him coming out
in the 9th inning at Target Field.)
Round 6 22nd Overall Josh - RHP Anthony Slama
(I knew I wanted to take a closer with this pick and Anthony Slama was a no-brainer. I like Alex Burnett, a lot, but Roger already took him. I also like Bullock but Travis took him with the previous pick. Slama arguably has the best track record out of any Twins minor league reliever and has done most of his damage as a closer. He may not have a 96 mph fastball, but I think Slama is a great choice. If Slama werent available, I would have waited on a closer and picked Trevor Plouffe.)
Round 6 23rd Overall Seth - RHP Blayne Weller
(This is where it's going to start getting a little more
difficult, I think However, compare the numbers of Weller to the highly touted Salcedo and Hermsen sometime and
hes very close.)
Round 6 24th Overall Roger - RHP Michael McCardell
(My next selection is a young starter, Michael
McCardell. Take away his first
outing and he had excellent numbers in his first exposure to AA and
he may have been the Rock Cats top starter the last six weeks of the
season. McCardell will be a fine #1
starter for my staff.)
Round 7 25th Overall Roger - SS Trevor Plouffe
(With my pitching staff taking shape I went with
one of the Twins top middle infield prospects, Trevor Plouffe. Plouffe
has been in AAA for nearly two years, yet, will still be only 22
years old when this season begins.)
Round 7 26th Overall Seth - 2B Steve Singleton
(Geez, I've been telling people that I think he'll be
starting 2B in 2011, a 7th round pick is more than fair.)
Round 7 27th Overall Josh - 3B Luke Hughes
(I chose Luke Hughes out of desperation for a
third baseman, as there's not a lot in the cupboard after Valencia. I'm not
sold on either Ramon Santana or Reggie Williams as my starting third
baseman, and have no idea of what to make of Wander Guillen (will he/wont he repeat
DSL? And Im not a fan of his height). I will probably try to grab Williams as
my corner infielder later. Although I took Hughes when I maybe could have
waited another round or two, I feel comfortable with him in my lineup. I also
considered Tom Stuifbergen
with this pick.)
Round 7 28th Overall Travis - 2B Derek McCallum
(I was really hoping
that Steve Singleton would make it to me, but Derek McCallum is not a bad
consolation prize. The former Gopher had
a solid first year in the system, and I look forward to seeing how he does as
the difficulty increases.)
Round 8 29th Overall C Josmil Pinto
(Many can make a big
deal out his not ideal catching skills, however he is
a very young guy. Put that with his
massive power and hitting skills and look out we might have found another
quality hitter in the organization. Will
be interesting to see how he does in Full season play.)
Round 8 30th Overall RHP - Tom Stuifbergen
(Up to this point, Seth has stolen about four of my picks, so I thought I'd give him one back and take Tom Stuifbergen (who I know he's very high on). Ha! No, that actually has no effect on this pick. Stuifbergen is another middle-of-the-rotation starter who has impeccable control. He also has experience on a "big stage" which definitely helps since my team is going to the World Series! I also considered Oswaldo Arcia with this pick.)
Round 8 31st Overall RHP Santos Arias
(It was between Arias and Oswaldo
Arcia, who I think has terrific potential. Arias is further along and I compare him to Pedro Martinez in the
Prospect Handbook, so I think that's who I'll go with here.)
Round 8 32nd Overall RHP Brad Tippett
(I
was looking hard at two pitchers who were available as my next pick
was approaching, Santos Arias and Tom Stuifbergen. Unfortunately, they were both
taken with the two picks before me, so I went to the Beloit Snappers and
selected their top starter last summer, Brad Tippett.)
There you have our first
eight rounds of picks. Well be back tomorrow with
eight more rounds. Feel
free to leave
your comments here.