Dakota Watts, a hard throwing short reliever won our Forty-First spot with 40 of 176 votes (22%). Lance Ray was second (29), Tim Shibuya third (28), Angel Mata fourth (25) and Jairo Perez fifth with 18 votes.
Dropped from the next round will be Jorge Polanco (11), Steve Hirschfeld (8), Bruce Pugh (3) and Kane Holbrooks (1). We will bring back Anderson Hidalgo, who always is one of the best hitting players on whatever team he is on. Also joining the voting for the first time are Michael Gonzalez, Bart Carter, Steven Evans and Javier Pimentel. Gonzalez is a big first baseman who hit .289 during his second year at Beloit. He also hit fifteen home runs after hitting thirteen a year earlier. Carter had an excellent 1.42 ERA in 12.2 innings at Elizabethton before posting a 3.13 ERA in 26.0 inning for the Snappers. Evans joined Elizabethton following the draft where he had a 3-1 record, 1.54 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 23.1 innings. Javier Pimentel, who was one of the Twins prize signings a year ago, moved up to the GCL Twins during the season after beginning his professional career in the DSL. Pimentel hit for only a .167 average in 102 at bats, however, he was only seventeen years old. The fact that the Twins moved him up at such a young age tells us what they think of his potential.
This round will remain open through noon, Monday, January 30th.