La Velle E. Neal III ranks the Twins Top 10 prospects
March 30, 2016 at 1:48AM
1. Byron Buxton, 22, OF (majors): Second-ranked prospect in all of baseball. Took lumps — figuratively and literally — after June call-up last season.
2. Jose Berrios, 21, RHP (AAA Rochester): Supremely confident and hard working, Berrios has three above-average pitches, fields well, holds runners on base.
3. Max Kepler, 23, OF (Rochester): Once patient to a fault, Kepler got aggressive last season at Class AA Chattanooga and surged as a prospect.
4. Nick Gordon, 20, SS (High-A Fort Myers): Batted .302 during the second half of last season. Physically, the No. 5 overall pick in the 2014 draft is starting to fill out.
5. Jorge Polanco, 22, SS (Rochester): Needs to work on his defense, particularly his throws, but he projects to be a good offensive player.
6. Tyler Jay, 21, LHP (Fort Myers): First-round pick last year throws hard and has good breaking pitches. Will convert to a starter in 2016.
7. Stephen Gonsalves, 21, LHP (Fort Myers): Has a good fastball and has tightened up his curveball. Needs to stay aggressive.
8. Kohl Stewart, 21, RHP (Fort Myers): No. 4 overall pick in the 2013 draft. The Twins hope this is the year his quality stuff translates into more strikeouts.
9. Nick Burdi, 23, RHP (Rochester): Big fastball (96-99 mph) and hard slider make him one of the top relief prospects in the game.
10. Lewis Thorpe, 20, LHP (Low-A Cedar Rapids): Back after Tommy John surgery, he has good sink on his fastball and has averaged 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings.
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The eight Twins headed for arbitration are Royce Lewis, Joe Ryan, Jhoan Duran, Bailey Ober, Ryan Jeffers, Willi Castro, Griffin Jax and Trevor Larnach.
