Twinkie Town 2011 Top 50...Prospect #22!
by roger13 on Jan 4, 2011 4:21 PM EST
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PrintWith 77 of 253 votes (30%), Trevor Plouffe moves up one spot from last year as our Twenty-First ranked prospect. Anthony Slama was twenty votes back with B. J. Hermsen nine votes behind Slama.
Cesar Ciurcina didn't collect two percent of the votes and will be dropped from the next round. Added will be Nikko Goodrum and Dakota Watts. Goodrum, who was the Twins second round pick last year, is a tremendous athlete who struggled in his adjustment to professional baseball, hitting .161/.219/.195 for the GCL Twins. On a positive note, Seth Stohs and others have reported that he was very good in the Fall Instructional League. Watts was the Twins sixteenth round pick in 2009 out of Cal State, Stanislaus. Watts began his year in Beloit with a stop in Ft. Myers before making a couple late season appearances in New Britain. Watts had a combined 6-3 record, 3.10 ERA and 89 strikeouts in 81.1 innings with 44 walks.
Voting for this round will remain open until 3pm, Wednesday, January 5th. Please continue to comment on why you voted for certain players and who you would like to see added. Also, let me know what your thoughts are on two high picks from 2009, Matt Bashore and Ben Tootle. Both were considered top prospects when drafted, however, missed most of 2009 and all of 2010 with injuries. Should they be included at some point?
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Yeah
But I was kicking around Hughes, too. I think both will play in the majors some next season.
went with Diamond again
Baseball reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be again.-Terence Mann/James Earl Jones in FoD
I'd be voting for Bashore if he was on the board
Tootle is up there with Watts in my book.
To me, Goodrum is the best guy on the board right now.
"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot
Bashore = Dean + injury
I would still have Bashore and Tootle but not until the 40’s.
Bashore was rated much higher than Dean on draft day
Bashore was pick #46, Dean was pick #102. But I see your point. I’d vote for Dean next. Still Bashore should be added soon.
"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot
In the grand scheme of things 46=102
It depends on how deep the draft is. 2nd and 3rd rounders make the majors at about the same rate. Dean impressed in his debut suggesting he was picked a little low.
You might be right
I haven’t done a detailed analysis of relative draft depth. They came from comparable college competition. Dean should be higher on our list.
"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot
I think we're at the point were
none of these guy are a sure thing to make it passed AAAA to the Bigs. Went with Hughes again, I still think his bat will get him 250 at bats or more. I do think he can play 2B, but will Gardy play a bat over a glove at 2B?
Not with Nishi switch hitting ahead of him
"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot
I'm thinking Nishi will play SS, not Casilla
If that happens and Nishi bats Second. Then Casilla will be batting 9th at 2B, if thats the case then I’d get Hughes’s bat in the line up more often.
by b1 on Jan 4, 2011 8:38 PM EST up reply actions
I don't think Nishi has the arm for short
Casilla’s arm is stronger. But if what you say is true, I could see a greater role for Hughes at 2B.
"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot
I know its never a sure thing with pitchers
but I think both Dean and Diamond pitch in the big leagues, Diamond this year and Dean probably next year.
On Tootle and Bashore
looks like they fit in with Shooter, Untill they show up to the field, I can’t put them in the top 50. It’s not like there’re going to shoot up the ladder in one year. Next Year maybe?
I think it's different
Shooter has been pitching and healthy the last three years. He’s just been wild beyond anything we’ve ever seen in Twins Territory. Bashore and Tootle have been hurt. But, when healthy, they were top prospects.
I put them in the same class as Sano last year. Not that they’re at his level, but just because he hadn’t had a chance yet didn’t mean we wouldn’t rank him. In fact, he ranked #1.
"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot
The point with Tootle and Bashore
we don’t know how the injuries will effect them, so its kind of hard to rank them. Sano was healthy and ready to play. As far as Hunt, my point was he had talent and was never able to live up to it. Tootle and Bashore have talent but the injuries might stop them. Sorry if I get to short with the thoughts. I know what I ment. It just is some time hard to make my point clear in type!
by b1 on Jan 4, 2011 9:17 PM EST up reply actions
I get it
I just disagree. Bashore had TJ surgery, so the odds are, he’ll come back in a couple of years around the level he was at when drafted, which would rank as the top left hander in the system (way ahead of Diamond, Dean or Robertson) and a top 10 pitcher overall.
I don’t know the extent of Tootle’s injury (Lil’ hep Roger?), but if he returns to the form he displayed in the Cape Cod League the year before he was drafted, he’d be right up there with Watts at least, if not Bullock.
I’d much rather vote for a guy like Bashore or Tootle than someone like Slama, He’s 28, already reached his peak before he made it to the majors, and his peak is about AAAA level. I suppose it’s inevitable he gets votes. And he’ll probably get votes next year since I don’t see him getting enough service time to erase his rookie stats after 2011.
"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot
So that's a long road back
Maybe he’s pout of the top 40 based on that. That’s what Matt Fox had and he’s a fringe prospect now.
"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot
Diamond
is forever
This was a triumph
I'm making a note here - huge success
by what_would_gil_thorp_do on Jan 4, 2011 9:18 PM EST reply actions
Best available
Pitchers: Hermsen, Dean, Diamond, Ciurcina, Lanigan, Jacobson, Pugh, Holbrooks, Stuifbergen, Watts, Slama, Robertson, Tootle, Bashore, Osterbrock, Nelvin Fuentes, Tonkin, Logan Darnell, McCardell, Hirschfield, Hoey (it gets fuzzy after Diamond)
Bats: Roberts, Roberts
Gloves: Dozier, Goodrum, Hughes, Hidalgo, Singleton, Rams
Watts and Holbrooks
What I like about these guys are that they are late round picks competing with the top rounders.
Dean
I think he will go through the system quickly. I wouldnt be suprised to see him with the twins in late 2012 – in the bullpen
by clutterheart on Jan 5, 2011 6:06 AM EST via mobile reply actions
I was thinking the same thing
I asked a vote or two ago do you think Dean will jump Beloit and go right to Ft Myers. The one thing I’ve noticed is that some of the Collage Pitcher don’t get promoted quickly enough. So by the time the are 25 they are just getting to AAA. Wimmers is 6 month older then Dean and will start at AA and might make AAA by years end. If Dean startes at Beloit and moves to F.t Myers, he’s still a long way from the pros.
by b1 on Jan 5, 2011 7:44 AM EST up reply actions
I like Watts but,
should he be ahead of Diamond? Diamond is a LH pitcher that has a chance to start with the Twins in the Bull pen. Watts is just getting to AA and has a hand full of Relief pitcher in front of him (mostly Bullock and Gut ).
by b1 on Jan 5, 2011 7:48 AM EST up reply actions
Off topic
BBTF just posted Waters, Sansevere, Powers votes. All voted Morris and Blyleven. Do LEN and Joe C have BBWAA votes?
by AM. on Jan 5, 2011 7:43 AM EST via mobile reply actions
I think they should
If they have been active members of the BBWAA for ten years they get a vote. According to this:
http://www.bizofbaseball.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1765&Itemid=111
LEN got his badge in ‘93 and Christensen in ’97. I think they’ve both been active members continuously since then.
Yes
We’re looking at about 100+ more voters in this round than the previous round. My guess is they’re all Dakota Watts votes.
The internet is funny. My guess is Dakota Watts has 100+ Facebook friends. I like that this gets people to come to Twinkie Town. I don’t like that they just click and leave.
I'm very concerned
At this point I don’t think it really matters who votes for who seeing most of the players are C level prospects at best or are so far away who knows what will happen, but where are these votes coming from? Who the heck is Dakota Watts?
i'm very concerned response...
Watts is a twins prospect just like everyone else. this is supposed to be a blog about fans for all of the twins players. if you don’t know much about watts, maybe research him because he is a great player, topped out at 99 and finished in AA, doesn’t seem to far away to me.
I know who Dakota Watts is
I guess you completely missed what I was trying to get at. At this point it is what you value if that is upside, if it is how close to the bigs, or if it is pitching vs position players. Looking back at past votes there is no reason to think a player like Watts should have 60+ more votes then anyone else. The past 5 rounds the biggest difference between players has been about 20.
Well..
This blog and the votings are all fan based opinions. So they are all going to be different.
In reality the only thing that matters is where the twins project Watts to be, and what they think of him.
True
But if one fan, or a handful of fans, are voting multiple times for the same player then it screws things up. What’s the point of doing this if people are going to screw it up? I guess I better log-in/out 200 times and vote for Hughes seeing thats who I voted for. You seem to be ok with that.
You can’t just assume that people are voting multiple times, 150 votes isn’t thatmany. A person can easily have that many facebook friends, family, and fans.
A blog is for fans to get involved, and thats what is happening.
You can only vote once from a computer anyways.
You can vote as many times as you want from any computer.
You just need to clear your history and that has been noted by other people on this site. You really think that minor league players are calling up their friends to vote on this site? This is a great site and all but really?
The last five votes have been 262, 271, 290, 210, and 279. No player won by more then 20 votes. Now we have 417 votes with one player ahead by 70? You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to notice something is off.
You seem to be the expert..
I didn’t know that. Nor have I read that.
I’m sure watts didn’t have anyone vote for him,
But his friends, family, and fans probably did.
I’m a big fan of watts and have been ever since he was young. I know that once the word is spread for people to support him in his community and college areas they do.
It’s not that hard.
If you bloggers were so opposed to watts winning, why was he nominated?
I don't care who does or does not win at this point
Watts is just as good as anyone else on the list and I have no problem if you voted for him or not. I just don’t like the fact when the overall numbers are this off compared to the last few rounds.
Well,
when different people are nominated a different group of people are brought to the blog. that’s all it comes down to.
It doesn’t say you can’t vote if you’re not a frequent blogger for twinkietown.
What's the point then
Are we trying to evaluate talent or determine which prospect has the most Facebook friends?
People wouldn't vote if.
People vote because they know he has talent. How many power arms do we have right now? Not many. Watts is a very talented power arm and has legit votes no doubt about it. Like posted below Seth rates him his #4 reliever.
Come on Slama!
I keep voting for him, as I think he is likely to be an impact arm in the Twins pen sometime soon. Do people not like him because his scope (as a late reliever) is more limited than a position player or starter?
I thought he would be higher but he keeps falling short.
It looks like this may finally be his spot (if the Dakota Watts ballot stuffers don’t have their way!)
Is it bad that I know virtually nothing about potential #22 TT prospect Dakota Watts?
Perhaps some of his MANY voters want to enlighten me? Hmmm… in the meantime, back to the internets for some research…
Watts
Watts has a huge fan base coming from a small community. News travels fast. Also watts is just an all around great ball player and deserves this 22nd spot beings he has one of the best fast balls in the organization.
Slama
He has averaged over 70 innings in relief the past 3 years, with under a 2.40 ERA and over 11K’s/9. I would like to see what would happen if he pitched early in the year for the Twins like Manship did last year. He had already pitched 65 innings before his call-up last year.
Last 5 votes
- had 387 votes, the Manuel Soliman debacle, before revoting at only have 279 votes
- had 210 votes
- had 290 votes
- had 271 votes
- had 262 votes
- now has 382 votes?
Something smells fishy! If you look all the way back you can see that we had constant 400+ votes during the early rounds but at the end of the teens it has dropped down to mid 200s. I guess people could just now be coming back to vote but I don’t see why they would.
Hmm the reply got changed
1.=#17, 2.=#18, 3.=#19, 4.=#20, 5.=#21, 6.=#22. Have no idea why it changed my numbers.
Very fishy
Make that 417 before 2:30 pm. No way those votes for Watts are legitimate. I’ve been reading the comments throughout the prospect countdown and I don’t recall people crying out for Dakota Watts to be placed on the list of eligibles.
Slama
Put Slamma up if need be. But then voting means nothing. Just because a player has a large fan base doesn’t make it cheating, but I can see on this blog that it does.
Twinkie Town should not have a status for people to vote if the bloggers are just going to assume it’s not legit when fans actually do vote.
I think the Watts vote is legit, FWIW
Seth came on the blog recently and said he was his fourth rated reliever in the system. Throws 100 MPH. If enough people read that and voted, it seems legit to me. Soliman’s was suspicious because he got a handful of votes one round and 200 the next.
I for one am happy Slama is not on the list yet. He’s the opposite of a top prospect in my book. I rate him in the low 40s.
"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot
You are wrong on Soliman
The first round he was introduced, round #17, was the round he got all those votes. Just like with Watts. I don’t remember reading a single person asking for either of them to be added to the list but the second they are they get 100+ votes.
I just don’t understand why we had such poor, in the 200’s, turn outs the last few rounds and now we magically have 400+ voters.
Once again, I don’t care if you voted for Watts are not because he is as good as anyone on the list, but things just don’t add up.
Yep
Regardless of how anyone feels about Slama, the Watts thing is a little suspicious. cmb0242 is right about the Soliman vote… the thrown-out vote was the first one in which he saw the eligible list, not the second one, just like the Watts vote. However, those in charge are able to see vote distribution and how those votes came in. If Watts legitimately deserved 161 votes from this blog community at this point without ever seeing the list before today, so be it. But then he probably should have been on the eligible list before today.
If the “word spread around his small town” argument is legitimate, then you have 100+ people who haven’t voted up to this point, and won’t vote again after today. That’s not a real accurate representation of the Twinkie Town blog community, as much as I want the Twinkie Town community to get as big as possible.
As with Soliman...
…Watts is deserving of this spot as Soliman was with round #17. Not being as aware of the internet world as many of the younger folks around here, I didn’t realize how facebook and other sites can get a lot of people excited and doing something as I suspect happened here and maybe with Soliman. We don’t limit the voting to registered voters of Twinkie Town and will live with a couple surprises every year. As for Soliman, there were a few people who I have great respect for suggesting that he should be included in the mid-to-late teens. This process isn’t perfect, but I know I am enjoying it.
Watts
I would have commented when I voted yesterday but I wasn’t an active voting member until today. I voted for Watts because he is a strong reliever/closer RHP, consistently throwing mid to upper 90’s , and has wicked ball movement with his slider. He advanced from Beloit to Ft. Myers to Great Britain in 2010. SethSpeaks.com had him as an honorable mention as the minor league pitcher of the year. He definitely deserves this honor.
by Shirley Anderson Hottinger on Jan 6, 2011 2:49 PM EST reply actions
I couldnt have said it any better:)
well deserved
New Britian..
Simple mistake which I’m sure everyone knew
i love that..
so many voters were involved in this round.
if it took watts to bring them here, fine.
WATTS
voted for dakota watts… he has one of the best fast balls i have ever seen. and 100 mph? come on, he deserves this. can you say next nolan ryan? Watts all the way!
by Sara-Marie Little on Jan 10, 2011 9:37 AM EST reply actions
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