Twinkie Town 2012 Top 50.....Final Round!
by roger13 on Feb 10, 2012 11:15 AM EST
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PrintToday we will be voting for the last player to make our 2012 Top 50, which is perfect timing as I am about to leave on that long road trip home.
The players who won the four preliminary rounds are Jairo Perez, Javier Pimentel, Steve Hirschfeld and Luis Nunez. Considering this is the fiftieth top prospect, that is four excellent players from which we can choose.
Perez was one of the top hitters in the organization and the Midwest League at Beloit. Yes, he is older which is due to his missing all of 2010 following surgery. Pimentel is a shortstop who signed for about $700,000 a year ago, which is a lot of money for the Twins. In a move not often made by the Twins, they promoted him from the DSL Twins to the GCL Twins last summer when he was only 17 years old. Hirschfeld is a veteran minor league pitcher who was one of the most effective starters in the Eastern League last year. Although the Twins signed more than a dozen AAAA pitchers this winter, Hirschfeld is close and could work his way up to the Twins in the next year or two. Nunez returned to the GCL Twins last year where he was their closer. He was also very good and could become a very good short reliever over the next few years.
This round will remain open through tomorrow morning when my weekly Minor League Report will recap our 2012 Top 50. I hope you all enjoyed this process this winter. If you have any suggestions on how to make next year's better, please leave them in the comments.
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Pimentel? Really?
I didn’t realize he won that qualifier.
As far as I can tell, all he has is youth. If a kid can’t break a .600 OPS at 17 in the GCL, I don’t hold out much hope.
"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot
He had the most votes at the cutoff time...
…Vargas went ahead a couple votes over the next few days while A. J. hung within a couple votes of both. He is a year younger than Harrison and Boyd. He got similar money from the Twins. I will trust the Twins scouts which tells me if Harrison and Boyd are ranked in the Top 20, Pimentel should certainly be in our top 50.
I concur.
I think he’s similar to Max Kepler—his signing bonus was a tick lower and his age 17 GCL stats were a tick lower. Very different backgrounds, though. I’m going to assume Kepler spoke English when he came to America, and Germany is more similar to the U.S. It’s not fair of me to assume Pimental didn’t speak English or that he comes from an impoverished background, but…
I too made my first trip to Florida (from Idaho) at age 17. With my family. I stayed for a week and then went back to my junior year in high school. I think it says something about Pimental’s makeup and potential for him to get promoted so young.
Me too
Please tell me Pimentel is a better defender than Polanco. That is the only way I can see him having a future in the organization. His bat looks highly suspicious.
"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot
D
Pimentel primarily played 3B, I think. He’s a bigger guy, he’ll add some power. GCL numbers mean nothing to me. Pimentel’s got some tools! Obviously a lot of guys have tools when they’re 17, but he looked pretty solid to me. We’ll see.
Polanco is the strange one to me. He’s not a big guy. Good speed. Looks a lot like Danny Santana. Yet, if he’s so good defensively, why did he play so many other positions too? I’m not sure what to make of him.
Wow
numbers mean nothing to me
You must be the most intuitive prospect hound in the blogosphere. You live in Warroad, so presumably, you don’t get to a lot of minor league games. Yet you wrote the book in Twins prospects. Hmm.
"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot
GCL numbers mean almost nothing to me either
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/photo-logan-morrison-bryan-petersen-share-tub-drink-043548597.html
by SteveHoffmanSlowey on Feb 11, 2012 2:13 AM EST up reply actions
Don't exaggerate
Aaron Hicks had a .900 OPS as an 18 year old in the GCL. Keptler had a .689 OPS as a 17 year old in the GCL. Jorge Polanco had a .668 OPS as a 17 year old in the GCL. Pimentel had a .512 OPS as a 17 year old in the GCL. You can’t tell me there is no difference between those respective numbers.
At the very least, not breaking .600 in the GCL is a red flag. Relative to others in the four rounds of voting for #50, there were more than a dozen more deserving prospects.
"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot
between Nunez and Perez
for me
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/photo-logan-morrison-bryan-petersen-share-tub-drink-043548597.html
by SteveHoffmanSlowey on Feb 11, 2012 2:11 AM EST up reply actions
Roger, are you archiving these somewhere?
It would be interesting to be able look back 2-3 years and see how accurate our prospect list is.
I think this is only the second or third year doing it, tho. (?)
[#2 North Central] Minnesota RollerGirls (1-0) vs [#6 East] Montreal Roller Derby (0-0) - Sat 3/3/2012 in the Roy Wilkins Auditorium, St. Paul MN. mnrollergirls.com
Jairo
For about the 10th round in a row. I would say that all four deserve to be in the top 50, so I wouldn’t be upset with any of these guys making the cut.
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