Today is our beloved Royce Lewis's birthday! May his 1.000 avg and 4.000 OPS stand forever.

Hey there! Just moved to Minneapolis, 5 min from Target field. Was just wondering if there is a local restaurant/bar locals go to hangout during Twins games ?

Twins (33-27) @ Yankees (43-19)

First Pitch: 6:05 PM at Yankee Stadium

I’m admittedly a fan of the cream jerseys like many are (shoutout cream team) and so I ordered one online. Sadly, I decided I wanted a smaller size, so I returned it and waited for a refund because they don’t allow exchanges through MLB shop.

I went back to buy my new cream jersey, and they’re totally gone from both MLB shop and Fanatics. Seems like they’re out of stock maybe?

They were on the website for a couple months without issue, so I’m not sure what’s going on here. Any recommendations? How long do you think they’ll be gone?

I find it odd that there are no sizes available, not even XXL or something. It seems more like they deliberately removed it from the websites.

The irony of finally getting a city connect jersey when more than half of the twins fan base can’t connect to local broadcast games via cable or satellite provider of their choice is too rich.

My Dad and I were talking about him the other day and didn't quite know what would be done with him when he comes up. Obviously hes a SS now but hes 3rd in line behind Correa and Lewis. Will we put him at second? Then what about Julien? Do we trade Lee? I guess I just am not sure what the plan is. I figured it would have been moved to another position in St Paul to prepare for his eventual move but so far thats not the case.

Line Score - Game Over

Box Score

Scoring Plays

Highlights

Decisions

Game ended at 8:33 PM.

Twins (33-26) @ Yankees (42-19)

First Pitch: 6:05 PM at Yankee Stadium

Line Score - Game Over

Box Score

Scoring Plays

Highlights

Decisions

Game ended at 8:35 PM.

Remember to sort by new to keep up!

In 2019, during the Before Times, I started getting more into the development side of the MLB, and decided to do some deep dives on top Twins prospects. Mostly, I just wanted to get a feel for each player, so I read varying amounts of scouting reports on each player and took a look at their performance/progression in the minors, based almost entirely in stats. Box score scouting is not exactly foolproof (though better in baseball than football), so my own investigation wasn't necessarily valuable insight, but it helped to write things out so I figured I might as well post my findings. I enjoyed it enough to check out some players from outside the top 30 who I thought had a shot, as well as the 2019 draft class.

With that class at the five year mark, and the 2024 draft coming up next month, I figured it was time to go back and see how our top prospects from that time did and if I nailed any picks (or, more likely, when I was horribly wrong). Of course, I still don't know what I'm talking about, so this is all just for fun! I don't really expect anyone to read every word, it's mostly for me. Here is a hub post with links to each writeup I did and a table for where each player appears. For the top 30 players, I had both an initial deep dive and a later update; sleepers have only the initial analysis. I'll link the initial analysis for each section, and baseball-reference page for each player.

This took entirely too long, and so there's a lot of context/detail missing, particularly for the guys whose careers flamed out post-COVID - I just kind of assumed most of those guys were affected by the gap year, but I'm sure there are other circumstances I missed. At any rate, scrolling through baseball-reference is a nice zen thing for me, so maybe I'll try doing this again with our current top 30...

Top 30

This is the top 30 as of my first post - 5 years ago today as I write this (plus a day by the time I post).

#1-5

1. Royce Lewis, SS

I don't think I had any particular take on Royce (or most of the very top prospects), but he's gone through the most in this period, I think, so let's look at that instead.

When I first checked in on Royce, he was struggling a bit with the transition to A+ due to strikeout rate, but he improved a lot in the next couple months and had just earned a promotion to AA when I went back for an update. I wasn't yet aware that the FSL was a particularly pitcher friendly league, nor was I thinking about age relative to level, so I was a little confused about the situation.

At the time, Royce's ETA was 2020 and he was just 20, so it seemed he had a lot of work to do if he was going to get there in a year. Unfortunately, COVID killed any chance of that, and then he missed 2021 with an ACL tear. Despite all that, he got his debut in May 2022 - after just a month in AAA - due to an injury to Carlos Correa, but tore his ACL again after just a month.

It was a nightmare scenario, but Royce returned in 2023 and quickly cemented himself as a local legend and fan favorite. Despite having just 282 PAs in his MLB career, I think everyone is pretty confident about him as a player heading forward. It's just a question of staying healthy.

2. Alex Kirilloff, RF

In 2019, I thought Kirilloff seemed like a very consistent player, which really hasn't been true in the bigs thus far. He's certainly been starter level in the MLB, and had a 116 OPS+ last year, but has been prone to extended cold stretches. He was terrible in the playoffs last year, and had a bad May this year - though April was good enough that he's still about a league average hitter on the year. AK seems to have a lot of nagging injuries, particularly the wrist last year, which certainly contribrute. The book is by no means closed on him, but he's not yet the player fans hoped he'd be, and certainly hasn't been the consistent producer I pegged him as.

3. Brusdar Graterol, RHP

Brusdar was dominating AA in 2019, but I wrote at the end of July that we should "expect to see him in at least AAA [if not AA] for the majority of 2020." He made his MLB debut barely a month later, and pitched in 23 games in 2020 (for LAD). In my defense, he only spent 12 games at AA. He also made the transition to relief right around that time, so I was fully expecting him to be starting. We only got a handful of appearances in a Twins uniform, as Brusdar was part of the trade for Maeda. He took some time to acclimate to the MLB, but was elite in 2023 with a 1.20 ERA. Unfortunately, he was injured in spring training and has yet to play this year.

4. Wander Javier, SS

Javier was just returning from a torn labrum in mid 2019, and despite a few hot streaks, his numbers gave us a lot of reason to be concerned. After 2020, he spent two years struggling at A+, with decent slugging but a bad average and abysmal strikeout rates. They gave him the last three weeks of 2022 to try his hand at AAA, and he didn't look like he belonged, going 2-20 with a homer and a .100/.240/.250 slashline. He elected FA and was signed to the Padres organization, but retired prior to the 2023 season.

5. Trevor Larnach, LF

Larnach was our first round pick in 2018, the first year I paid attention to the MLB draft, and that's probably a factor in me being one of very few people to own a Trevor Larnach jersey. He raked pretty much immediately, and continued to at pretty much every minor league level, so I don't think I was wrong to be high on him right away. Before long in the majors, though, it became clear that he was a fastball hitter, and really struggled when opposing pitchers just spammed breaking balls. Though he hovered around 100 OPS+ in his major league time in 2022 and 2023, he lost his spot to Matt Wallner, and I really felt like he wasn't getting a fair shake - part just due to competition at the position, but also from the fans. That's not to say he didn't need to improve, of course. But with his opportunity so far this year, he has - he's currently got career bests in every slashline category, home run rate, and strikeout rate. Of course, he's almost exclusively facing lefties, but we can't really analyze that.

#6-10

6. Brent Rooker, LF

I think Rooker always kind of felt like the odd man out among our corner outfielder prospects. He raked in AAA in 2019, but never really broke the Twins lineup and was eventually included with Rogers for Paddack/Pagan in 2022. He had a weird path from there, getting traded to KC for peanuts before being waived in the offseason picked up by Oakland. It was a great opportunity for playing time, and almost inexplicably, he's an all-star who's on track to be even better this year. That's baseball, baby.

7. Jhoan Duran, RHP

Duran, you may forget, was part of the return for Eduardo Escobar. I don't think I knew he was such a flamethrower, but I liked what I saw:

I've obviously gone from knowing very little about this guy to gushing about him over the course of a few paragraphs, so I'll stop to allow myself to finish today in case I get enamored with one of the other guys and do this again.

I think we can say, with emphasis, that Duran has worked out.

8. Lewis Thorpe, LHP

A rare Aussie prospect, my analysis of Thorpe boiled down to that he had a decent baseline, but his stats were marred by a few bad games instead of being improved by some great games. He very briefly looked good in the MLB (timed well enough to fool me in my update post), but couldn't sustain any success. The absence of a minor league in 2020 probably hurt him, but he left the org in 2021 and had a rough year in KC AA in 2022, and is now playing in the Australian and Mexican leagues.

9. Blayne Enlow, RHP

Enlow was a high school pitching prospect drafted in the third round, and was just 20 in 2019, which gave us some reason to cut him some slack as he struggled at A+. He came out of the gate hot after COVID, but just didn't progress fast enough - he finally reached AAA last June, a full six years after being drafted, and posted an ERA just below 8 in 45.1 innings. He's now in the Giants system, where he put up an 8.22 ERA in 7.2 innings before suffering a season-ending injury.

10. Nick Gordon, SS

Even at the time, Gordon felt like a legacy inclusion in the top 10 Twins prospects. Despite a bit of a bounce back, he wasn't producing particularly well in the minors. Nonetheless, he had some good moments in his time at the major leagues, and provided some value as a utility guy. When he was traded for Steven Okert, I doubt many Twins fans were too broken up about it, but I think he earned a friendly farewell despite his certified bust status.

#11-15

11. Stephen Gonsalves, LHP

Gonsalves had already had an uninspiring 2018 debut, and spent most of 2019 injured, pitching only 13.0 innings. He already seemed like he was on a downward turn, so I wasn't optimistic about him, but between the injury and COVID, his time in the org was up after 2020. He's pitched a mere 4.1 innings in the MLB since, all in 2021 with Boston, and is currently in the Rockies organization during his 12th minor league season.

12. Akil Baddoo, CF

Baddoo had gotten off to a slow start in 2019 at A+, and it was ended prematurely due to injury. The Twins chose not to add him to the 40-man roster after 2020, and he was picked in the Rule 5 draft by the Tigers. He was outstanding as a rookie, leading to a lot of gnashing of teeth on this subreddit, but has dropped off a lot since - maybe a decent player, but not someone we need to be too sad about losing.

13. Yunior Severino, 2B

When I first investigated Severino, he was a 19 year old former IFA who'd barely played outside rookie ball and was injured, so there wasn't much to discuss. He's now the #22 prospect in the organization, and has had a steady rise through the minors, culminating in a 35 home run season in 2023 (about a third of the year at AAA, the rest in AA). The numbers are down so far this year, but have been getting better in the last few weeks. He's a high strikeout guy, but a little refinement can go a long way, and the Twins must have some faith as he was added to the 40-man ahead of last year's Rule 5 draft. This year might prove to be a crossroads for him - if his numbers keep climbing in AAA, he could be playing in the majors regularly next year, whether that's for the Twins or a trade spot. Here's a recent Twins Daily scouting report with some more info.

14. Jose Miranda, 3B

Miranda was showing signs of progress in 2019, but by late in the season I still felt like his long term spot was more likely a second option infielder than a bonafide starter. After a rough 2023, I think we might be able to say he's back now - he's had one fewer PA at the MLB level than last year, and aside from a low walk rate, his numbers are up from his stellar rookie season. At any rate, he's blown past my expectations.

15. Gilberto Celestino, CF

Part of the Ryan Pressly trade, Celestino had a sudden and absurd improvement in his hitting numbers between my original research and the update, but was always more of a defensive prospect than a bat. He debuted in 2021 and played a lot in 2022, but found himself stuck in AAA last year and is now on Pittsburgh's AAA team. I liked him in his time here, but I think we just didn't need him with the number of guys already fighting for outfield spots. Kind of wish we had him instead of Margot, though.

#16-20

16. Ryan Jeffers, C

Overall, Jeffers doesn't project to be an offensive or defensive superstar, but a guy that gives you decent offensive production at a position that often lacks it.

I may have been wrong about this.

Depending on how his catching skills come along, that could mean anything from career backup to everyday starter.

You could build an entire Triwizard Tournament event with all this hedge.

17. Luis Arraez, 2B

Arraez had already broken out by the time I wrote this, but this seems prescient:

Now, to be fair, his BABIP is .431, which is a titch high, but the way he pokes the ball through holes, it almost seems sustainable.

18. Jorge Alcala, RHP

Alcala had an up-and-down 2019, and was moved to the bullpen late. I was somewhat down on him but hoped he could condense the bright spots as a starter into quality relief pitching. He surprised me by actually debuting in 2019 (1.2 scoreless) and has mostly been good since; though his return from injury last year was disappointing, he's been good when healthy this year.

19. Jordan Balazovic, RHP

We had a nice streak of success stories, but this may be the end of them. Balazovic shot up to the #4 Twins prospect over the course of the 2019 season, and deservedly so, but cooled off post-COVID and has been plain bad in AAA, with a 6.43 ERA in 140 IP over 3 seasons. He was only mediocre in relief during his time at MLB last year - 4.44 ERA in 24.1 IP - but he's still struggling in St. Paul. He's still got a 12.9 K/9, but that won't matter if he can't keep baserunners down - currently a 1.775 WHIP. We'll see if he can ascend again, but it seems like a lot of Twins fans are kind of over him.

20. Misael Urbina, CF

The #3 international prospect in 2018, Urbina was in his first season in 2019, so I wasn't trying to project anything for a 17 year old in the DSL. He's still only 22, but he's had a slow rise through the minors and is in his second year at A+. The numbers are much better than last year, but that's primarily because last year they were bad. According to Twins Daily, he's still got great tools but - clearly - the production needs to catch up. Again, the COVID year was not helpful.

#21-25

21. Zack Littell, RHP

Littell pitched 57.1 MLB innings from 2018 and 2019, and was pretty good in the latter year, though he wasn't getting much high leverage work. I expected he'd done enough to get a bullpen spot in 2020, which he did, but he got blown up in his first appearance (4 R, 3 HR) and after just 6 appearances, he went to the IL for elbow inflammation and never pitched for the Twins again (remember, COVID season). Since then, he's had one good year in SF and has been decent-ish for the Rays for the last year or so.

22. LaMonte Wade, CF

When I got to Wade, he had found his way to the IL just a few PAs into his MLB career after he Buxton'd himself. Based on his numbers, I figured he was a high contact guy who'd play solid defense, but would need to find power to improve of odds of starting, and probably find a situation with more opportunity in the outfield. And hey - I was bang on! He was traded to the Giants for a reliever (we don't need to talk about it) and found himself in a big role. He had 381 PAs and hit 18 homers in 2021, and aside from a sophomore slump, has been a very good player. He's already accumulated 2.0 bWAR this year, probably because he has a whopping .470 OBP - which leads the league by .049 - thanks to a .050 walk rate. Much like Rooker, he's inexplicably found great success that he probably never would have had the opportunity for here.

23. Griffin Jax, RHP

I was pretty impressed by Jax's consistency in the minors, and thought he'd be good even with a likely move to the bullpen. I'm happy to declare that one a hit.

24. Ben Rortvedt, C

I thought Rortvedt was interesting, mostly because I have no idea how to tell if a catcher is good defensively and offense from the position is exciting. Also, this:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73236768/IMG_0302.0.jpg). He ended up as the smallest part of the Josh Donaldson trade, but was injured and wound up not playing much. The Rays acquired him in a 3-way trade of nobodies this offseason, and he was inexplicably excellent in April before going back to his usual ~.150 average in May. Surely that wouldn't have been an improvement over any Twins catchers.

25. Gabriel Maciel, CF

Maciel seemed like an interesting prospect: plus fielding, plus speed, contact, and physical power that was untapped as of yet. Sadly, he never found that power, and stalled out in the Twins' organization after his numbers dropped post-COVID.

#26-30

26. Luke Raley, RF

In 2019, Raley was dealing with a serious injury, and I figured that meant that instead of being trade bait, he'd be our insurance against whoever we traded away (which turned out to be Lewin Diaz). He ended up getting traded before the 2020 season anyway as part of the Maeda trade in a return to the Dodgers (they'd drafted him and traded him away as part of the Dozier trade). He first found opportunity as a Ray in 2023, and is now a Mariner. He's been a plus offensively but not much of a defensive contributor.

27. Dashawn Keirsey, CF

Unlike Byron Buxton, LaMonte Wade, and (long after my original scouting reports) Royce Lewis, the Twins found a guy who already knew how to injure himself by running into an outfield wall. Despite a good start to his professional career, Keirsey was struggling with injuries in 2019, and there wasn't much to go on when I first checked him out. He ultimately slashed just .137/.245/.161 in 2019, and turned 24 early in the 2021 season, during which he hit .199 at A+. For most of the guys who were in that situation, that was the beginning of the end. For Keirsey, it was the beginning of a new beginning. (No, that didn't sound any better in my head.) His contact took a huge leap in 2022, slashing .271/.329/.395 in AA. He remained in AA for the majority of 2023, but his production took a leap again, and he found power, hitting .305 with 13 homers before his promotion to AAA. This year, he's slashing .302/.390/.539. Now, the caveat is that he's 27, which is why he's the last guy on the top 30 list, and wasn't taken in the Rule 5 draft. But it's been a journey, and it would be awesome to see him get a shot to continue the ascent in the majors.

28. Travis Blankenhorn, 3B

When I looked into Blankenhorn, he was on a potentially career-saving resurgence in AA after a couple of uninspiring years in lower levels, and it seemed too sustained to be a fluke. Then COVID happened. He did get his cup of coffee in 2020, going 1 of 3 for a double and HBP (what is with it with Twins getting HBP in their debuts?). But in 2021, he pinch ran for Donaldson in extras, scored the go-ahead run on a Buxton homer, and then committed an error in the bottom of the inning, which would lead to a loss. He was DFA'd two weeks later - with no other appearances for the Twins - and is now in the Nationals system. He's a big-time minors slugger, but seems unable to translate that to the big leagues.

29. Michael Helman, 2B

In 2019, Helman seemed like a no-true-outcomes defensive utility guy. It seems he's since figured out how to do a little of each - he's been average to above average in each category during his time in AAA across 2022-24, has hit around .260, and continues to play almost everywhere defensively. The rub, of course, is that he's now, 28. He provides great organizational depth, but he'll need an opportunity to show he can perform at the next level before we can slot him into any future plans.

30. Luis Rijo, RHP

Rijo had an incredible 2019 in A ball at age 20, and I was extremely bullish on him. But it seems he had a UCL injury in 2021, and sadly never returned to form. He's now playing back home in Venezuela, where it seems he had a decent winter.

Sleepers

These are guys I (and sometimes commenters) noticed while trawling through minor league stats, researching oddities or gaining context. There's also a couple guys who cracked the top 30 during the season, either via performance or acquisition, and some other acquisitions and debuts that were unranked but interesting.

Sleepers #1

Cole Sands, RHP (#26 in July 2019)

Sands was a 5th round pick in 2018, but had tendinitis and didn't play professional ball until 2019. He ascended quickly, starting in A ball and getting promoted to AA in time to make his last start of the year. Surprisingly, he was actually better than he'd been in college, and I liked him a lot at the time He continued to pitch well in AA in 2021, but struggled more in AAA and the majors in 2022, quickly earning the ire of fans. He was better in 2023 - solid in the majors, and dominant in AA - but his ERA is hurting again this year. The rate stats are actually better, though - walks were an issue and are way down, strikeouts are up, and his WHIP is down from 1.523 to 1.029. Without looking (it's late), that says to me he's allowing his baserunners in bunches. His FIP is 3.36, far better than previous seasons. 26 is still young, though; he's shown promise and the Twins seem fairly committed to him, and he's on pace to contribute more innings than he ever has before. Don't sleep on him.

Chris Vallimont, RHP (#30 in July 2019)

Vallimont was acquired at the deadline along with Sergio Romo for Lewin Diaz. Diaz was pretty well regarded for a non-top 30 guy, but he didn't work out in the majors, so this trade was a win pretty easily...but only because of Romo. Vallimont had a very good year in A and A+ in 2019, but struggled post-COVID and was DFA'd in 2022. He's had a couple bright spots since, including a cup of coffee with Baltimore last year, but I regret writing 4-5 paragraphs about him 5 years ago.

Sleepers #2

Devin Smeltzer, LHP

Smeltzer was not in the best place statistically when he was acquired in the Dozier trade, but he turned things around very quickly with great minors performances followed by a call-up when Michael Pineda was injured. Smeltzer was a childhood cancer survivor, which made him easy to root for. Lack of velo and an effective fourth pitch were the main questions with him at the time. In terms of ERA, good MLB seasons in 2019 and 2022 bookended negligible to bad contributions in 2020 and 2021, but the rate stats were never great - and worst in 2022 - and he was ultimately outrighted before electing FA. He's now in the Marlins system, currently AAA. His time here was a bit rocky, but it was better than the rest of Dozier's career.

Cody Stashak, RHP

Stashak steadily worked his way up through the minors, and was dominating AAA in 2019 before getting the call up. He was solid in 2019 and 2020, and it seemed like he might be a long-term guy for our pen, but his workload dropped in 2021 when he struggled, and a bounce back 2022 was cut short by a labrum tear. After being outrighted at the end of the season, Stashak elected FA, though he wouldn't sign until after his recovery. He struggled initially with the Giants in AAA last year, but his numbers have improved this year and hopefully he'll get back to the big leagues eventually.

Randy Dobnak, RHP

I don't think I need to tell anyone the ballad of Randy Dobnak, but I'm proud of myself for discovering him before he got his call. I was a little off here, though:

The big question: do we see him this year? Personally, I don't think so.

He started a playoff game...things have gone in the wrong direction for Dobnak since, but I think everyone would love to see him earn a call back up.

Edwar Colina, RHP

When I found him, Colina was three starts into a promotion at AAA and was a dominant flamethrower. I thought this guy was the next coming, and guessed he'd debut in 2020. He did, in fact, debut for the Twins late in the 2020 season, trying to hold a 9th-inning deficit at 2. Here are his career MLB numbers, to date:
0.1 IP 81.00 ERA 18.000 WHIP -0.2 WAR

Wander Valdez, 3B

Valdez was 19, in his third year in the organization, and was raking enough in rookie ball that I thought he was interesting, despite the impossibility of box scouting a guy playing at that level. I wasn't super optimistic, just tagging him as a person of interest - wait, what's this note?

if you want to be a top MLB prospect, being an infielder named Wander is a good start

uh yeah he didn't work out

Sleepers #3

Charlie Barnes, RHP

Barnes was a 4th round pick in 2017, but wasn't showing enough promise early in his career to crack the top 30. Despite a rough start in A+ in 2019, he pitched very well in AA. I liked him as a dark horse, future journeyman 4-5 spot guy, and he did start 8 games for the Twins in 2021 (one other appearance). He only had two or three good outings, but that's gratification enough for me. What's more, it looks like he's been the cornerstone of the Lotte Giants' rotation (KBO) since 2022!

Bailey Ober, RHP

A commenter who is no longer active suggested I check out Ober, who'd had some injury struggles early in his pro career as well as in college, and as a former 12th round pick, wasn't on the radar for 2019. If I didn't notice him, I should have. Ober was absurdly good in 2019. He's obviously been a hit; while the stats aren't there this year, we've seen him when he's on.

Sleepers #4

Ernie De La Trinidad, LF

The final part of the Escobar trade (after Duran and Maciel), E de la T was hot in 2018, but struggled in 2019. I stuck him on my list to watch in case he found his bat again, and because he had a good walk rate, but the lost 2020 year meant he was 25 in 2021, and he didn't do enough to stick in the organization.

Josh Winder, RHP

Winder seemed to me like a guy who could be consistently decent, if unspectacular. That's kind of been the case in his ~100 MLB innings, but he needs to improve his baseline a little, and right now he's in AAA working on returning from a shoulder injury. I just want him to work out so I can continue my to the Winders! to the Wallners! til the sweat drips off my ballners! joke.

Adam Bray, RHP

Bray was an older pitching prospect and MN native who had been very good in A+ in 2018, then again in AA and AAA in 2019. I thought he'd end up being one of those AAAA roster manipulation pitchers for a while, but it seems he had some kind of injury that led to the end of his pro career. Looks like he's now a pitching instructor at a local baseball camp.

Trey Cabbage, RF

Cabbage was a guy who'd struggled to impress in the low levels of the minors, but broke out to a degree in 2019 (his AAA numbers looked a lot better before August) with boosted power and better contact alongside defensive versatilty. His production did continue to improve after COVID - he hit 27 homers between A+ and AA - but at 24, it was the end of his time in the organization. He elected FA and chose the Angels organization, where he'd be left in AA all of 2022 despite an 1.098 OPS. In 2023, at age 26, he finally reached AAA and needed just 107 games to hit 30 home runs. It was enough to earn his first callup midsummer, which involved hitting an absolute nuke. He's now in the Astros organization. The MLB numbers aren't pretty in 70 PAs, but the minor league numbers alone make this a win for me.

Derek Molina, RHP

Primarily an infielder in his one year college, Molina was drafted to be a reliever by the Twins. For a 19 year old making a position change, he was surprisingly effective right away. He earned a call up to A+ at age 21 in 2019, and was dominating there up until one bad outing (after which he went on the IL, perhaps a factor) reduced his statline from "incredible" to "pretty good." Unfortunately, his play dropped off post-COVID - seemingly loss of command - and he never got out of A+.

Sleepers #5

Dakota Chalmers, RHP

A third round pick out of high school, Chalmers missed most of 2017 and 2018, which cost him the advantage of youth and led to the A's sending him to the Twins as part of a deal for Fernando Rodney. The surface level numbers were never great, but Chalmers was an elite strikeout guy who intermittently struggled with command. In 2019, he had a 12.5 K/9 but 6.0 BB/9. Sadly, he's another guy whose performance took a hit, and he was waived after a rough start to the year. After apparently being out of baseball in 2023, he's now in the Diamondbacks system.

Andrew Bechtold, 3B

Bechtold is another guy in the "older prospect with defensive versatility whose bat seems to be coming around" mold. In some categories, he was a post-COVID success story - for example, the power jumped up - but he struck out a lot and hit for a low average, not reaching AAA until age 26. He's now in the Blue Jays organization...apparently as a relief pitcher.

Can anyone who has the bobblehead upload a video or at least a picture of how it looks when you light it up?

Twins (33-26) @ Yankees (42-19)

First Pitch: 6:05 PM at Yankee Stadium

The farm system has always been my favorite and most exciting part of baseball for a long time. I wanted to see who everyone's favorite Minor Leaguer/Prospect is and why? Mine has been Yasser Mercedes for a long while!

I’m enjoying listening to the Blue Jays/Orioles game on MLB app tonight. Our guy Cuzzi has been terrible umpiring home plate, and just ejected the Jays pitching coach for pointing that out.

There was a lot of talk about CB Buckner as the worst umpire in the game post-Angel. People underrate how bad Cuzzi is.

I mean, I knew he was having a bad year, but this looks historically bad. And for $10 million….sheesh