Minnesota Sports Forum

#1 Buxton
Buxton is an outstanding athlete, like a 20-year-old Eric Davis with a grade-70 arm in center, among the fastest runners you will ever see on a baseball field and with the potential to grow into power in time. He's always had very quick wrists, but the Twins have done a great job of smoothing out Buxton's swing; he's more balanced through contact and already has more power because he keeps his back foot in contact with the ground so he gets more loft in his swing.

Buxton's instincts in the field were evident in high school, but he's proven to be a more advanced hitter than anyone anticipated, given his relatively advanced age for a high school draftee (more than 18 1/2 years old on draft day) and experience playing against mediocre prep competition in rural Georgia. He's comfortable running deep counts and recognizes balls and strikes well already, although his recognition of off-speed stuff lags a little behind that. This combination of quick-twitch actions with size and feel for the game is extremely unusual, something we see only once a decade or so.

Buxton could be the next 20-homer/50-stolen base player, with high averages and OBPs and great defense in center, which would make him a perennial MVP candidate for the Twins for years.

#8 Sano
Sano is the best pure offensive prospect in the minors, boasting 80-grade raw power and an easy swing that generates hard contact using his hips and legs, along with a history of making adjustments to his plan at the plate.

He reached Double-A at age 20 last year, and after a slow start there hit .258/.374/.609 after the Eastern League's All-Star Game. His power is slightly ahead of his ability to hit and make contact, but he has shown plenty of the latter skill, with strong walk rates since he reached full-season ball and the ability to pick up spin and changing speeds.

His defense is still the main question, as he's still rough at third base and that body is only going to get bigger as he gets into his 20s. Sano is also dealing with an elbow issue which shouldn't require Tommy John surgery, but the possibility he'll need that procedure remains on the table, and it would cost him a few hundred at-bats he needs and could prevent a late 2014 call-up.

If rehab alone does the trick, or a move to first base, Sano should be in the Twins' lineup on Opening Day of next year, on his way to 30- to 35-homer seasons with mid-.300 OBPs.

#49 Rosario
Rosario is a mix of positives and negatives, a player who can really hit and run but hasn't settled into any position yet and whose makeup remains a major question, especially after a failed drug test that led to a suspension for the first 50 games of 2014.

At the plate, he has quick, strong hands and a good approach that leads to lots of contact but not walks; he's an above-average runner but has little or no idea what to do with it, posting a 50 percent success (or failure) rate in base stealing for the second straight year. In the field, he's solid-average in center field and would probably be plus in a corner, but the Twins' surfeit of center fielders has led them to try Rosario at second base, where he's fringy if you like him and a lost cause if you don't.

Rumors about Rosario being less than a great kid have been around for a while, but the drug suspension, for a second failed test for a drug of abuse, is the only tangible evidence that's the case so far. He needed those at-bats, as it's most likely at this point that he ends up back in the outfield, probably in left where he'll have to continue to produce 35-40 doubles power with a high average; missing 50 games at second base doesn't help his cause to stay at that position, either.

#62 Meyer

When Meyer is on, he looks like a top-of-the-rotation guy, sitting in the upper 90s with sink and a slider sharp enough to sever someone's femoral artery on its way to the plate. He doesn't throw his changeup enough yet, and it's a grade-45 on bad days and a 50 (average) to 55 on good days, just something he needs to throw more and more to improve his feel for it, since his low-three-quarters arm slot gives left-handed hitters a nice long look at the ball out of his hand.

He is very lanky, and long-levered pitchers don't have a great history in MLB, as they often take more time to learn to repeat their deliveries and seem, anecdotally, to be injury-prone; only Randy Johnson and J.R. Richard have reached 20-plus WAR among pitchers 6-foot-8 or taller, and only Johnson has made 250 starts.

Meyer does have exceptional stuff, however, and there's not a lot of effort involved in him throwing 97 mph lawn darts, so there's cause to believe he can be a starter and potentially a No. 2 given enough time and patience.

#76
Stewart, a two-sport star who turned down a scholarship to play quarterback at Texas A&M to try his luck at baseball instead, was the fourth overall pick in the 2013 draft and the first high school player taken.

He is a great athlete with exceptional arm strength but has a long way to go to develop into a frontline starter because his delivery is so crude. He's up to 97 mph without a lot of effort, sitting at 92-94 with good downhill plane and a little arm-side run. His slider is his best pitch right now: 85-88 with good, late tilt, but his command of the pitch is below average, not where his command of his power 79-82 mph curveball is. He does throw a changeup, making him an unusual prep pitcher with the full four-pitch mix, and has good arm speed at 83-85 with no action.

Stewart's delivery doesn't reflect his athleticism, as his hips are stiff and he gets his pitching arm turned over late, drifting off the rubber rather than striding with more force. All of those factors mean he has ace stuff, with a chance for at least two plus-plus pitches and four that are average or better but lacks the command or control right now to put them to good use.

The Twins will likely spend a lot of time with Stewart this spring, working on making him into a pitcher rather than a thrower, so he might be a good five years away from the majors, though he is the system's most exciting pitching prospect.

Btw I don't like Keith law at all I think he phones in his job all the time but he has ranked as the number 2 best farm system behind the Astros. I'm just baffled on why he has Meyer so low.

thanks for posting this jester. interesting read. sounds like buxton and sano could very well be our next version of maurer and morneau. Hopefully this run goes better than the last.