January 14, 2010

Baseball America's Top 10 Twins Prospects

Baseball America released their Minnesota Twins Top 10 Prospect list for 2010 yesterday. Here's how it looks:

1. Aaron Hicks, of
2. Wilson Ramos, c
3. Kyle Gibson, rhp
4. Miguel Sano, ss/3b
5. Ben Revere, of
6. Danny Valencia, 3b
7. Carlos Gutierrez, rhp
8. Angel Morales, of
9. David Bromberg, rhp
10. Max Kepler, of

The most debatable prospect is probably Max Kepler, but Baseball America bought into the hype that there's meaning behind Kepler being the "toolsiest" player to ever come out of Europe. I understand that there is a lot of hype surrounding him, but I haven't been able to find enough reasoning to rate him near the top 10. To me, being the "toolsiest" player from Europe is like saying that you're the smartest cast member of "Jersey Shore." It just doesn't mean much. But I'm sure he has great potential and I look forward to him proving me wrong.

Besides Kepler, I don't really have any problem with the rest of the list. Andrew Kneeland of Twins Target doesn't agree with Carlos Gutierrez being ranked that high, and I don't completely disagree with him. But at the same time, I do think Gutierrez has the potential is about as good as anyone else's in the system, other than maybe Kyle Gibson.

Jorge Polanco, who signed with the Twins out of the Dominican Republic to a $750,000 signing bonus last summer, was ranked as being the "Best Defensive Infielder" in the system. It's obviously a tough pill to swallow knowing that a 16-year-old kid that hasn't played a game in the United States is the best defensive infielder in the system. I personally don't like the ranking, but that's not to say that I disagree with it. I'm sure he has great defense, but it says a lot about the current group of infielder's that are already in the system.

And in case you're wondering, Polanco did not make my 20010 Top 50 Twins Prospect list. He was on the cusp, and I ultimately decided to leave him off. But in case you're wondering, here's what I've heard about him:

He's a good defender, who shouldn't have a problem staying at shortstop. At the plate, he hits well from both sides of the plate with a solid line drive swing. He stays aggressive but overall, his offensive skills are raw.
And before you leave, make sure to check out these links:

Brian Pietrzak's 2010 Top 20 Twins Prospects can be read here, here, here, here and here.

Twinkie Town's 2010 Top 50 Prospect list is now up to 38. Click here to vote.

Andrew Kneeland's 2010 Top 50 Twins Prospect list is now complete. Click here to see it.

And finally, make sure to check out Chris Jaffe's guest post over at AaronGleeman.com. Jaffe gave an excerpt from his upcoming book, "Evaluating Baseball's Managers, 1876-2008." The excerpt contains the section dedicated to Tom Kelly.

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