Seth's Minor League Draft

Several years ago, Seth Stohs arranged a draft that three of us participated in by drafting a team from the minor league system.  Seth arranged for us to do it again over the weekend, when four of us completed a draft of 22 players.  Seth asked that we publish our teams on our respective sites, which follows with a brief discussion of each selection:

Starting Pitchers (5):  Adrian Salcedo, B. J. Hermsen, Michael McCardell, Brad Tippett and Cesar Ciurcina

Closer (1):  Alex Burnett

Relief Pitchers (4):  Ben Tootle, Matt Tone, Spencer Steedley and Michael Tarsi

Catchers (1+1extra player):  Wilson Ramos and Alan de San Miguel

First Base (2):  Brock Peterson and Whit Robbins

Second Base (1):  Brian Dinkelman

Shortstop (2):  Trevor Plouffe and Daniel Santana

Third Base (1):  Wander Guillen

Outfield (4):  Juan Portes, Brian Roberts, Angel Morales and Mark Dolenc

Seth did a blind drawing for draft order with the person drafting first in the first round picking last in the second round.  I was awarded the first overall selection:

Round 1:  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 2:  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:  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 4:  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:  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 6:  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:  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 8:  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.

Round 9:  I may have overreached with the selection of my third baseman, Wander Guillen, who was leading the DSL Twins in hitting and OBP at the age of 16!

Round 10:  I went back to the DSL with my tenth pick to close out my starting rotation with Cesar Ciurcina.  Although he is a bit older, Ciurcina had numbers similar last summer to those put up by Salcedo the previous year.  Is Ciurcina as good as Salcedo?  We will know more about him after this season when we see him in the GCL.

Round 11:  I went back to the infield and took a young man who has been one of the better hitters every step of his career, Brian Dinkelman.  Dinkelman's best position appears to be second base.  Is he good enough defensively to earn a spot with the Twins in the next 16 months?

Round 12:  I needed to fill in the balance of my outfield and was elated that spring training invitee Juan Portes was still available.  A very raw prospect when drafted in 2004, Portes had a break out year last summer when he led the Rock Cats in hitting.  Does he have enough power to make it to the Twins as a corner outfielder appears to be the biggest question.

Round 13:  I filled out my infield with the best story in the organization the last several years, former 49th round pick Brock Peterson.

Round 14:  Seth again picked the player I was looking at for my next pick when he selected Edgar Ibarra, although he took him as a starter and I was looking at him in long relief.  With Ibarra gone, I went back to the outfield and selected Brandon Roberts who will be my center fielder and lead off hitter.

Round 15:  I followed with the selection of a high ceiling, hard throwing short reliever, Ben Tootle.  Assuming his arm problems of last summer are behind him, Tootle could be on a fast track towards Minnesota.

Round 16:  I filled my reserve corner infield spot with the selection of Rochester/New Britain first baseman Whit Robbins. 

Round 17:  I debated between two excellent young lefty relievers and decided to go with the more experienced, Matt Tone.  I was hoping that Lobanov could slide through another six picks, however, Seth picked him with the next pick.

Round 18:  I believe that one of the better middle infield prospects in the organization is Daniel Santana.  He was one of the better hitters for the GCL Twins last simmer, while showing excellent speed with 11 stolen bases in only 12 attempts. 

Round 19:  I then went back to a veteran of last year's Arizona Fall League to pick up another top reliever for my bullpen, Spencer Steedley. 

Round 20:  I closed out my outfield with a player I was looking to take for about five rounds, Mark Dolenc.  Without a lot of publicity, Dolenc was one of the better outfielders in the organization last summer when he hit .288/.332/.392 for Ft. Myers.  He also had 27 stolen bases in 33 attempts, which is a better stolen base success rate than either Revere or Benson. 

Round 21:  With Seth picking one spot ahead of my 20th pick, he again picked the player I was eyeing for one of these two picks, Bruce Pugh.  With Pugh gone, I closed out my bullpen with a big left handed long reliever/starter, Michael Tarsi. 

Round 22:  With the final selection in the Seth Stohs 2010 draft, I selected my extra player/back up catcher.  It seems like Alan de San Miguel has been around for forever.  But he didn't turn 22 until last week, thus, is very young for someone who played on all four full-service teams last year.  An excellent defensive catcher who has never hit for a high average, de San Miguel had his best season at the plate last year.  At his age, should he continue to improve with his bat again this year his future will also continue to brighten.

That's it for my team in Seth's hypothetical tourney.  For more information on all four teams, please go to Seth's site.  If someone knows how to link to it, please help me out with that.