Top 50 prospects

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Keith Law's list of the top 50 prospects is out and the Twins have 5 players on the list:

Buxton- #1
Sano -#4
Stewart-#30
Meyer-#38
Rosario-#41

This is incredible to have so many top prospects and is a great tribute to our drafting and Latin American scouting. Stewart's fastball has been clocked at 96MPH even though they say he hasn't learned to completely engage his lower body yet. Law says Buxton looks like a future top 5 player in the game. Rosario will likely never be a superstar, but has shown consistency and competency at every level, which makes him the surest thing in this group of 5.

No other team has anything close to this bright of a future. If the front office can open their pocketbooks and add one good free agent pitcher, this team could be very good for several years.

[caDustymn [enjin:6596349]]

thanks for posting this-I was wondering who was on it. It's going to be very interesting to see if Sano stays at 3B or moves to 1B. Hopefully in a year or two he will be just as good defensively as Plouffe. Sounds like he has a good arm-be nice not to waste it at 1B. Stewart- anyone that throws 96 without proper mechanics is quite intriguing. Let's hope he learns how to pitch and develops an above average secondary pitch. You're right on with Rosario as well-nothing about him superstar-ish but should be very solid for 5+ years.

[JDvikes [enjin:6536888]]

Having the two in the top 5 alone is impressive not to mention the other 3 lol.

[Jakapoo [enjin:6588675]]

I love the future for the Twins! :thumb: I am pretty excited for baseball in three years.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Let's not forget about J.O. Berrios either lol. That guy's looking like front of the rotation material.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

This might be a good thread to occasionally post updates on our top recruits. It's fun to think about the rosy future of this franchise, but recently things haven't been as encouraging. Buxton had an 0-5 with 4 k's on Saturday night, and his average has dropped to .262. Sano continues to show good power, but his average is lingering around the Mendoza line. I'm still brimming with optimism, as are the national baseball writers, but our phenoms are in a little bit of a slump right now.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Sano hasn't done as well as I wish he would have, but it would have been unreal had he kept up his ridiculous production. In Double-A, he's hitting .243 (.351 OBP) with 11 homers and 35 RBIs in 42 games. Like I said, it could be better of course, but I don't think there's much reason for caution. He's started to heat up lately. Went 3-5 with a 1B, 2B and HR last night. His last 6-7 games have been good for the most part. We'll check on this in a couple weeks. For his 2013 as a whole, his stat line is as so: .295/.394/.618, 27 HRs, 83 RBIs and 23 2Bs in only 98 games. YIKES!

Buxton's transition to High Single-A has been pretty good. .277/.349/.462 with 2 2Bs, 5 3Bs and 4 HRs. Also has 16 RBIs and is 8-11 on SB attempts. This needs to be included, but Buxton did have a toe nail injury that he was supposedly playing through before just recently having to sit out. Nothing serious, pretty routine procedure. Apparently he got the injury from a foul tip off his foot. I'd expect him to get some kind of foot guard now. As a collective 2013 campaign, Buxton is as advertised: a future superstar. .320/.405/.528, 17 2Bs, 15 3Bs, 12 HRs, 71 RBIs and 40 SBs (14 CS).

As far as our top two prospects go, I'm quite pleased with their 2013 years and can't wait to see how they finish their seasons out.

[caDustymn [enjin:6596349]]

Walker, Vargas, Santana, Pinto-all having great years too. Do you guys think they put Buxton up with Sano or bring Walker up before year's end?

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Walker has nothing more to prove at low A, and I agree with dusty the Twins should move him up. But Cedar Rapids is in a pennant race and Walker is carrying them offensively, so I think he stays.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I am becoming increasingly alarmed by Miguel Sano's inability to hit consistently in AA. He now has enough at bats at AA (202) to evaluate how he has handles the jump, and the stats aren't very good. After hitting .330 in 206 ABs the first half of the season in A+ ball, his average at AA is still down at .233. Even more concerning are his 69 K's in 202 ABs, meaning he strikes out more than once every three at bats. In his last 15 games he has K'd in every game but one, and he has nine strike outs in his last 4 games.

Although I haven't seen him playing live, I do read a lot about him, and it seems that most of his swinging strikes are on pitches out of the zone. This is either because of poor recognition, or a disdain for walks and a belief that he can hit anything. The pitching gets tougher and smarter as a player moves up in an organization, generally due to command and location than due to the overpowering nature of the pitchers' stuff. And in his first 200 at bats at AA, Sano has shown that he is not prepared to hit smart pitching.

Sano is still young and, on the positive side, his HR numbers at AA are still very good, homering once every 13 ABs. But with the reputation and potential Sano has, I'm not satisfied with him being Mark Reynolds, and unfortunately that is who he is projecting to be right now.

What can the Twins do? They need to get his head screwed on right. So many Twins fans want to see Miguel up in the bigs as soon as possible, but I would rather see the Twins show some tough love and tell him that he is not going to be promoted to AAA until he improves his hitting approach. They need to tell him that 28 walks in 202 at bats is unacceptable for a batter who is not seeing many strikes. They need to tell him that his ticket to AAA and eventually the bigs is no longer home runs, but rather a dramatic improvement in his strike out and walk rates. If he continues to swing and miss at pitches out of the zone, he might as well start looking for a longer lease in New Britain. Sano seems to me to be the kind of cocky kid who falls in love with the long home run to the detriment of everything else. I think the Twins need to get much tougher with him and demand more plate discipline.

By the way, I am not a proponent of the "Twins way" of hitting. There are certain hitters, like David Ortiz, who are not made to take the pitch the other way and make productive outs. Players like Ortiz and Sano should be swinging for the fences on every strike they see. But that's the key...every "strike" they see. If Sano learns plate discipline and begins talking the walks the pitchers are offering, eventually he will start seeing more strikes and his HR numbers might even go up.

It's a critical time in this potential superstar's development, and we as fans should be clamoring for him to start hitting smarter rather than clamoring for the Twins to promote him.