Baseball America’s top 10 Twins prospects for 2018

It’s that wonderful time of the year. You know what I’m talking about — prospect ranking time. While we here at Twinkie Town work on our own community prospect list (we’re voting on Round 6 now), Baseball America has released their own list of top ten prospects for the Minnesota Twins.

Mike Berardino had the honors this year for Baseball America, and here’s what he came up with:

1. Royce Lewis, SS
2. Wander Javier, SS
3. Alex Kirilloff, OF/1B
4. Stephen Gonsalves, LHP
5. Brusdar Graterol, RHP
6. Fernando Romero, RHP
7. Brent Rooker, OF/1B
8. Nick Gordon, SS/2B
9. Blayne Enlow, RHP
10. Tyler Jay, LHP

You can get more details and read the article (with a subscription) here.

The biggest thing that sticks out here is Nick Gordon. Last year, Baseball America rated Nick Gordon the number one prospect in the Twins’ system, and now he’s all the way at number eight. That’s quite the tumble. It’s worth nothing, however, last year’s rankings were written by Michael Lananna, not Berardino. When Berardino did BA’s rankings in 2016, he had Nick Gordon fourth behind only Byron Buxton, Jose Berrios, and Max Kepler.

So what happened? The most obvious reason for Gordon’s fall in the rankings is the fact he’s looking more like a second baseman than a shortstop at this point (despite what his brother Dee Gordon says). Indeed, Berardino listed Gordon as an “SS”in 2016, but not lists him as an “SS/2B”. There are some differences in opinion on this point, but it’s clear where Berardino stands.

Another reason for the fall is simply that the Twins have acquired better prospects. The Twins selected Royce Lewis as the number one overall pick in last year’s MLB Draft, and unsurprisingly he’s shot to the top of the prospect rankings. Brent Rooker was the Twins’ second pick in that draft (35th overall), and tore it up his first year in High-A Ft. Myers, hitting .280/.364/.552 with 11 home runs in 40 games. Both Wander Javier and Brusdar Graterol are still only 19 years old and still full of promise. It’s not too crazy to see how these guys have moved up past Nick Gordon, who’s still a highly rated prospect here, mind you.

Of course, these rankings are still just opinion, though they are Mike Berardino’s well-educated opinion. If you really want to pick Berardino’s brain about his rankings, you’re in luck! He’ll be holding a live chat today at 1:00 pm CT at Baseball America’s website (follow the link next to the “GOT QUESTIONS?” at the top of the page).

What do you think of the rankings? Is there anything you disagree with or would change?