In another runoff, Trevor Plouffe took an early commanding lead and led all the way.  With 74% of the 89 votes cast, Trevor Plouffe is Twinkie Towns 23rd prospect.  Tom Stuifbergen tallied 23 votes to rank as our 24th prospect.  Congratulations to Trevor and Tom.

We will have only three holdovers in the next round, Rob Delaney, Michael McCardell and Danny Rams.  Three of the five new prospects in this round are members of the Twins 40-man roster, Loek Van Mil, Luke Hughes and Estarlin De Los Santos.  Also included in this round will be starter Steven Hirschfield and short reliever Ben Tootle.

Loek Van Mil is a 25 year old reliever who is best known for his height, all 7'1".  A native of Holland, Van Mil was a raw prospect when signed by the Twins. He had an excellent 2009 season beginning in Ft. Myers where he had a 2.86 ERA in 34.2 innings with 23K/17BB.  Van Mil moved up to AA later in the season, where he appeared in 8 games with a 2.45 ERA and 5K/6BB in 7.1 innings.  Luke Hughes, 25, battled injuries this past season, which began in Rochester where he hit .259/.344..481 in 135 at bats with 6 home runs.  When he returned to the active list, Danny Valencia was in the middle of his hot streak at Rochester so the Twins assigned Hughes to New Britain.  He finished his season hitting .250/.320/.445 in 200 at bats with another 6 home runs for the Rock Cats.  Estarlin De Los Santos, 22, was a surprise addition to the Twins 40-man roster this year, which tells us that they are higher on him than several other infielders currently at higher levels in the organization.  De Los Santos hit .290/.330/.397 in 262 at bats at Ft. Myers in a year shortened by injuries.

Steven Hirschfield was one of the top starters for the Hi-A Miracle as well as the entire FSL.  Hirschfield, who turned 24 shortly after the season ended, had the FSL's second best ERA (2.23) and best WHIP (1.06) to go with 86K/31BB in 117.0 innings with a 7-7 record.   Ben Tootle is a 21 year old who was the Twins 3rd round pick this past summer.  Tootle is a short reliever with the ability to throw the ball very hard, which is why many fans are excited about his potential.  Unfortunately, Tootle appeared in only 6.1 innings at Elizabethton where he had a 0.00 ERA with 1K/2BB.

Your comments regarding future additions to the voting are appreciated. 

The Top 23 prospects in the Twins system according to the voters of Twinkie Town are: 1) Miguel Jean; 2) Aaron Hicks; 3) Wilson Ramos; 4) Kyle Gibson; 5) Ben Revere; 6) Danny Valencia; 7) Angel Morales; 8) David Bromberg; 9) Rene Tosoni; 10) Deolis Guerra; 11) Chris Parmelee; 12) Anthony Slama; 13) Max Kepler-Rozvcki; 14-tie) Carlos Gutierrez and Adrian Salcedo; 16) Joe Benson; 17) Alex Burnett; 18) Jeff Manship; 19) B. J. Hermsen; 20) Tyler Robertson; 21) Bily Bullock; 22) Trevor Plouffe; and 23) Tom Stuifbergen.