Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Tuesday, March 17th

Today the Twins faced the Red Sox in the usual St. Patricks Day game. The Red Sox got the better of the Twins 9-5 as our pitchers continue to struggle lately. There were some good things and a few things that they need to improve on.
  • Alexi Casilla and Denard Span continue to hit the cover off the ball. Casilla went 4-4 to raise his average to .438 this spring and appears ready for the season. Denard Span had 2 more hits along with his 1st homerun of the spring. He has had 4 hits the last 2 days and appears to be shaking off a slow start this spring.
  • Justin Mourneau and Joe Crede continue to struggle at the plate as they combined to go 0-7 at the plate. I'm not that worried about either guy. Mourneau because you know what your going to get out of him. With Crede everyone acts like the sky is falling because he has not had a good spring. I totally disagree because he appears healthy and you have to remember that he missed the 2nd half last year so its going to take time to get his timing down.
  • Scott Baker and Matt Guerrier got shelled giving up a combined 4 homeruns. With Baker im not worried at all because like Bert Blyleven Baker gives up alot of homeruns. Look at last year he gave up 20 homeruns in 173 innings. He is battling through a dead arm period and will pick it up. Im a little more concerned with Guerrier considering how he finished last year. When he is right he is a very solid pitcher, but when he is off a little bit he is meat. Overall I am happy with the spring the Twins pitchers have had.
  • Brian Duensing threw 2 shutout innings in relief and has only given up 1 run all spring. I am going to start lobbying for the Twins to keep him as the second lefty along with Craig Breslow.
  • Tommorrow the Twins travel to Bradenton to take on the Pirates with Francisco Liriano getting the start for the Twins. Gametime is at 12:05 with the Twins hoping to get back on track

Continued prospects 31-40

38. Yohan Pino- He is another guy who is a high effort guy who does not have alot of upside. He is a solid AA starter, but I think when he gets challenged at AAA he will really struggle. Last year at AA 7-7 with a 4.54era. The real problem for Yohan last year was injuries when he was hurt on 2 different occasions. The test for him this year is staying healthy to make 30+ starts and see what happens.
2009: Starter/Reliever for New Britain

39. Jonathon Waltenbury- I was really impressed with him at E-town last year. He hit 10 homeruns and hit .319. He has very good extrabase power and could develop really good power because he is only 21 years old. I look for him to be challenged at Beloit this season.
2009: 1st baseman for Beloit

40. Brock Peterson- Basically what you see is what your going to get with Brock. He is a very solid prospect that like Brian Duensing is a AAAA player. He is probably ready for a bench spot with the Twins just not really ready for that yet. Last year in between AA and AAA he hit 16 homeruns. Will spend another season in Rochester this year and if injury could make debut with Twins this year.
2009: 1st baseman for Rochester

Prospects 31-40

I will be continuing my top 50 prospects today with prospects 31-40. Let me know what you think.

31. Brian Duensing- I really like him as a prospect. He probably does not have as big of an upside as other prospects. With Brian it is what you see is what you get. He is a solid prospect who really is a AAAA prospect. Probably ready for the challenge of the Major Leagues, but probably not ready for it. Last year he went 5-11 with a 4.28era, but he was better than that he just had a bad inning in most starts.
2009: Starter for Rochester

32. Steve Tolleson- Steve is a very interesting prospect because he does everything pretty well, but none of them exceptional. He can play many different positions including short,third,2nd and the outfield. He hit .300 with 28 doubles and stole 12 bases. I think he has a chance to be a utility guy for the Twins in the future, but I wouldn't look for him to be a starter.
2009: Starter at Short in AA and then move up to AAA after a month or so.

33. Steve Singelton- Steve is a very good prospect that alot like Steve Tolleson has a chance to be a utility guy for the Twins in a few years. Last year Steve split the season between Beloit and Fort Myers. He put up good numbers at both spots last year. He hit .295 with 18 extra base hits. I look for him to spend the year playing 2nd base for Fort Myers.
2009: 2nd base for Fort Myers

34. Daniel Ortiz- He is another young prospect we do not have a very big sample size of yet. He was a 4th round draft pick last year out of Puerto Rico. He is termed a "5 tool prospect". Last year he hit .272 with 11 doubles and 2 homerun. Of course its too early to tell how good he is going to be, but he is worth keeping yoru eye on.
2009: Start in extended spring training and then spend year in Elizabethton.

35. Cole Devries- If you base it on results Cole would be much higher on the prospect list. The reason he is lower is he does not have a very big ceiling. What you see from Cole is what your going to get I don't see alot of improvement out of him. Last year he put up very good numbers at Fort Myers going 10-9 with a 2.93 era. He is a high effort guy and probably an overacheiver who when he sees better competition will start to struggle.
2009: Starter for New Britain

36. Jay Rainville- Jay is the opposite of Cole Devries in that he has a high ceiling that really underacheived last year. He started in AA and got demoted to Fort Myers for a while before going back up to New Britain. He has all the tools, but he really did not put it together last year. If he can get some of his velocity back and be more consistant he could skyrocket up the prospect list.
2009: Starter for New Britain

37. Juan Portes- I don't really know what to say about Juan. He has talent, but he really doesn't do anything exceptional. He is a solid prospect without a position. He played outfield and 3rd base primarily last year. He hit .270 with 12 homeruns and 54 last year in his 2nd consecutive year at Fort Myers. It will be interesting to see how he does against better competition.
2009: outfielder for New Britain.