Luis Arreaz topped our poll in round 28. He is on the 40 man roster so we will be watching his stats this summer to see if he can earn a September call up.

2019 Twinkie Town Community Prospect Vote Results

1. Royce Lewis 52% (Kirilloff 44%, Graterol 4%)
2. Alex Kirilloff 90% (Graterol 4%, Gordon 4%, Larnach 2%)
3. Brusdar Graterol 56% (Gordon 19%, Larnach 12%, Thorpe 8%, Gonsalves 5%)
4. Trevor Larnach 42% (Thorpe 25%, Gordon 21%, Gonsalves 12%)
5. Lewis Thorpe 31% (Gordon 30%, Rooker 14%, Javier 13%, Gonsalves 11%)
6. Nick Gordon 39% (Rooker 20%, Gonsalves 18%, Javier 17%, Alcala 5%)
7. Stephen Gonsalves 35% (Rooker 28%, Javier 28%, Alcala 5%, Baddoo 4%)
8. Brent Rooker 43% (Javier 41%, Baddoo 6%, Enlow 6%, Alcala 4%)
9. Wander Javier 70% (Baddoo 12%, Enlow 7%, Alcala 7%, Duran 4%)
10. Jorge Alcala 32% (Baddoo 28%, Enlow 23%, Duran 14%, Celestino 3%)
11. Jhoan Duran 39% (Enlow 31%, Baddoo 25%, Severino 3%, Celestino 2%)
12. Zack Littell 56% (Enlow 28%, Baddoo 11%, Severino 2%, Celestino 2%)
13. Blayne Enlow 50% (Baddoo 33%, Balazovic 10%, Severino 4%, Celestino 3%)
14. Akil Baddoo 54% (Balazovic 13%, Jeffers 12%, Rortvedt 11%, Severino 8%, Celestino 4%)
15. Ryan Jeffers 34% (Balazovic 31%, Severino 12%, Rortvedt 12%, Celestino 10%)
16. Jordan Balazovic 63% (Rortvedt 13%, Severino 11%, Celestino 10%, Urbina 3%)
17. Ben Rortvedt 33% (Severino 23%, Celestino 20%, Wells 17%, Urbina 6%)
18. Gilberto Celestino 36% (Severino 30%, Miranda 19%, Wells 11%, Urbina 4%)
19. LaMonte Wade 31% (Severino 30%, Miranda 22%, Wells 11%, Urbina 6%)
20. Kohl Stewart 30% (Severino 28%, Wells 21%, Miranda 16%, Urbina 6%)
21. Yunior Severino 40% (Miranda 21%, Arraez 15%, Wells 14%, Urbina 9%)
22. Jose Miranda 32% (Vasquez 31%, Urbina 14%, Wells 12%, Arraez 10%)
23. Luke Raley 33% (Vasquez 22%, Urbina 17%, Arraez 14%, Wells 13%)
24. Andrew Vasquez 32% (Urbina 24%, Wells 22%, Arraez 15%, Maciel 6%)
25. Tyler Wells 29% (Urbina 27%, Arraez 26%, Leach 14%, Maciel 4%)
26. Misael Urbina 35% (Arraez 30%, Leach 18%, Jax 12%, Maciel 5%)
27. Willians Astudillo 65% (Arraez 19%, Leach 10%, Jax 4%, Maciel 3%)
28. Luis Arraez 45% (Leach 29%, Moran 15%, Jax 7%, Maciel 4%)

I will replace a second baseman with another second baseman. This new infielder was a draft pick last summer who made a good first impression.

Gabriel Maciel, OF

2019 Age: 20

2018 High Level: Cedar Rapids (A)

Gabriel Maciel grew up playing soccer in Londrina, Brazil like most children in his country. He was introduced to the game of baseball at age 9 by Japanese immigrants and switched sports thereafter. He was part of the 18-under World Cup team for Brazil and was signed by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the summer of 2016. His athletic skills were far ahead of his baseball skills at the time due to his late start with the game and playing opportunities in a country where baseball is not the most popular sport. In fact, Maciel admitted he had never been taught to bunt or how to steal bases until he got to the United States. The Diamondbacks sent him to their rookie league team in Arizona where he hit .289/.341/.309 and then pushed him to their Pioneer League team in Missoula, Montana to end the season. In 2017 he returned to the Osprey, hit .323/.389/.438 and was named a Pioneer League All-Star. He received a promotion to Single-A Kane County in 2018 where he hit .287/.362/.333 before the Diamondbacks traded him to the Twins as part of the Eduardo Escobar deal. The Twins sent him to Cedar Rapids after the trade and he finished the season hitting .263/.302/.381 in 30 games. Maciel’s best tool is his speed and the switch-hitter has displayed good contact skills in his short career so far. He has shown very little power and he continues to need a lot of development in order to become a major leaguer.

Landon Leach, P

2019 Age: 19

2018 High Level: Gulf Coast Twins (Rookie)

The Twins selected Landon Leach with their third pick of the 2017 draft, 37th overall and the first Canadian selected. Leach is a tall (6’5”) young pitcher so he will inevitably be called “projectable”. He was converted from a catcher to pitcher at age 15 so he may be more of a project than others. However, the conversion may also have avoided some mileage on his young arm. The Toronto suburbs native pitched for the Canadian Junior National Team and was committed to pitch for the Texas Longhorns before deciding to become a Twin. Leach throws a 95 MPH fastball and has a developing breaking ball and changeup. The Twins sent him to rookie ball after signing and he pitched adequately in five games there. He came back to the GCL Twins in 2018 and pitched 20-2/3 innings with a 7.0 K/9, 4.4 BB/9 and 3.92 RA9 in seven games. Expect to see him at Elizabethton and/or Cedar Rapids this summer.

Griffin Jax, P

2019 Age: 24

2018 High Level: Fort Myers (A+)

The Twins selected Griffin Jax in the third round of the 2016 MLB draft from the Air Force Academy. He was named co-pitcher of the year for the Mountain West conference in his junior year. When Jax was drafted the Twins and Jax thought there was a chance that his military commitment could be served in the Air Force reserves and Jax could pitch for the Twins simultaneously. Unfortunately for the Twins, the military policy at that time required Jax to serve two years in active duty before he could start his athletic career. Jax had been able to pitch only 39-2/3 innings while on leave up until 2018 and showed a 90-93 MPH fastball, a decent slider and a changeup while avoiding walks (1.8 BB/9). In a positive turn for Jax, baseball was added to the 2020 Olympics. This allowed Jax to get a world class athlete exemption in April and pitch for Fort Myers in 2018. He put up unspectacular numbers for the Miracle last summer (6.8K/9, 1.5 BB/9, 4.52 RA9, 87.2IP) but was sent to the Arizona Fall League to help make up for lost time. His performance in the fall wasn’t much better but it allowed him to throw over 100 innings in 2018. No pitcher from the Air Force Academy has ever made the big leagues so I’m sure if Jax is successful he will have a large cheering section. In the meantime we will see if he can make the 2020 Olympic baseball team.

Jovani Moran, P

2019 Age: 22

2018 High Level: Fort Myers (A+)

In the seventh round of the 2015 MLB draft the Twins picked lefty Jovani Moran from the Carlos Beltran Baseball Academy in Puerto Rico. He pitched 6 games for the Gulf Coast Twins that summer, then had surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow that kept him out all of 2016. The Twins sent him to Elizabethton in 2017 and Moran was dominant out of the bullpen. He gave up only 2 runs in 24-2/3 innings while striking out 45 batters. Moran started the 2018 season in Cedar Rapids and pitched well (44-1/3 IP, 14.2 K/9, 5.5 BB/9, 2.23 RA9) despite starting the season with trouble finding the strike zone. He got his walks under control and earned a mid-season promotion to Fort Myers where he built on his success (31-2/3 IP, 10.5 K/9, 2.3 BB/9, 2.84 RA9). As a skinny lefty with swing-and-miss stuff his future is almost certainly in the bullpen but he showed he could handle multiple-inning outings last summer (37 G 76 IP) and get out both right-handed (.487 OPS against) and left-handed (.596 OPS against) batters. He should spend some time in Double-A Pensacola this summer and could move quickly if he continues to strike batters out.

Michael Helman, 2B

2019 Age: 23

2018 High Level: Cedar Rapids (A)

Michael Helman was the Twins 11th round pick in the 2018 MLB Draft from Texas A&M. Being overlooked is not a new phenomenon for Helman. After starring all over the diamond for Pius X High School in Lincoln, Nebraska (including two state championships and once runner-up) he was not recruited by big colleges and instead attended Hutchinson Community College. As a Blue Dragon he starred again and was named National Junior College Athletic Association player of the year. Despite this success he was overlooked in the draft and surprisingly not recruited by his hometown Nebraska team but continued his baseball journey with the Aggies. In his one season at Texas A&M he earned All-SEC Second Team and SEC All-Tournament team recognition while starting at second base. This performance was finally good enough to get him drafted but not until the 334th pick. The Twins spent a little extra ($220,000) to get Helman to forgo his senior year but he certainly did not get the same media attention as higher picks like Larnach and Jeffers. The Twins sent him to Elizabethton to adjust to hitting with a wood bat. In 12 games he hit .375/.435/.575 which showed he had adjusted just fine. The Twins promoted him to Cedar Rapids for the remainder of the season where he kept on hitting ending up with a .355/.398/.486 line in 27 games at that level. Expect him to move up to Fort Myers in 2019. If he keeps on producing at the plate he will not be overlooked much longer.