…Thanks. My only comments would be whether or not Rams belongs on any list as his year at ETon was about as disappointing as Ladendorf in the GCL. We used to get great college pitchers in the second round…now we have back to back question marks. Also, Papason was again injured most of the year which limited him to only 36 at bats in ETon. I know he was the talk of spring training, one of these years hopefully he and Kelly will both be healthy. The only player that a lot of other sources have been talking about who is not on your list is ETon pitcher Bobby Lanigan. Love the explanations, especially our big first baseman from St. Maarten!

I have a question for anyone here about our minor league pitchers. I can read the numbers, and I hear hype around here and SethSpeaks, but I have a lot of trouble finding actual descriptions of the pitchers traits, especially the ones below AAA.

So my question: Besides statistics, what in your mind (CMath or anyone), differentiates Robertson, Gutierrez, Hunt, Manship, McCardell and Guerra? What in your mind, makes Robertson the highest upside? Is it velocity, mean breaking stuff, etc?

I guess that, especially with pitchers, it isn’t as clear from age and statistics how a player will translate to the next level. Clearly scouts consider how good the individual pitches are, but it is very hard to find good descriptions.

Why the love with him? His peripherals were no different from AA to AAA, yet he suddenly gets love? The man has forgotten how to strike people out. That’s a problem. I think he’s way to high. I’d also move tolleson way up on the list.

I can’t disagree with your list too much. I’d probably have Hughes a lot lower (I really see him as just a utility guy) and there’s a couple other disagreements here and there, but overall I really like your list.

I especially appreciate the fact that you have Ramos so high. I fully agree that C’s that put up his numbers are truly special. I think he’s one of the best prospects in all of baseball, personally.

“Trevor Plouffe, IF (Time is running out, could be just a utility player in the majors)”

I’m not sure how you classify a 22 year old who spent half a season at AAA as someone time is running out on?

Basically I see a guy a few years younger than his competition showing good pop in the high majors, but since the Twins somehow didn’t see fit to let him repeat a lower level, it makes it hard to gauge whether the patience he showed a few years ago was lost or simply a skill that hasn’t caught up to the level of competition he’s been exposed to.

I dunno, “time running out” sounds more like an epithet one would reserve for someone who has failed to display adequate skill against something closer to their own age level at least over a full season. I think it’s more accurate to just say that Plouffe projects as someone, somewhere in the wide chasm between a Luis Rivas and a JJ Hardy.

Also, do we trust Cliburn’s defensive placement as really all that indicative?

HAVE YOU SEEN WINFREE PLAY? YOU SAY HE IS NOT A PROSPECT. HE WAS THE TWINS MINOR LEAGUE PLAYER OF THE YEAR IN 2005. HE FINISHED 2ND IN HR’S AND RBI’S IN THE MINOR LEAGUES. AS FOR A POSITION, HE WAS SWITCHED TO OUT FIELD AND PLAYED 130 GAMES WITH 2 ERRORS. WHAT DOES HE HAVE TO DO.
HOW MUCH BASEBALL HAVE YOU PLAYED TO BE JUDGING PLAYERS?

RBI totals are not important

Error totals and games played are by themselves a worthless way to evaluate defense

You no more need to have been a player to perform this type of analysis than you need to be a gourmet chef to authoritively tell others that the shrimp was bad.

……getting a bit cold outside. After leading the organization with 101 rbi when Winfree was the Player of the Year in 2005 where he hit .294, he was unable to maintain that level of play as he moved up a level in 2006 and 2007. This season Winfree was very good at everything except his batting average….which did come up somewhat at the end of the year to .252/.319/.450. Winfree has consistantly been one of the top home run and rbi guys in the organization, again this year with 19 home runs and 87 rbi.

As one of the youngest players in New Britain, Winfree still may have a future role with the Twins. I suspect the disappointment many have with him dates back to his lack of follow through to his big 2005, in part due to his declining an assignment to the AFL, leaving the team for personal reasons, etc! But David is still very young and maybe beginning to mature as both a player and young man. I for one remain hopeful that the David Winfree of 2005 will return in 2009 at Rochester.

I’m still quite high on Winfree…
I agree that RBI are incredibly overrated, but at the same time, someone has to drive in runs, so it can’t just be completely ignored. He did cut down his strikeouts a little bit this year. The average isn’t there, and I’d like to see more walks, but he does have very good power, 2nd in the organization in HR this year. I’m not saying he’s top 10 or even top 20, but he is very young yet and will still be young for New Britain next year. I definitely wouldn’t give up on him.