Baseball America released its 2020 Top 100 MLB Prospects this week, and the Wahoos were well represented. The Twins had six players make the list this year, the third most in baseball, trailing only the Rays and the Dodgers, and all six contributed in Pensacola in 2019.#26 - Royce Lewis
Baseball America released its 2020 Top 100 MLB Prospects this week, and the Wahoos were well represented. The Twins had six players make the list this year, the third most in baseball, trailing only the Rays and the Dodgers, and all six contributed in Pensacola in 2019.
#26 - Royce Lewis (SS): Twins' #1 prospect entering 2019. Lewis joined the Wahoos on July 28th of last year, having already made a name for himself in the system as a five-tool threat. Lewis was a rare first overall draft pick out of high school, and had already played for Team USA twice before his professional career had begun. A career .266/.331/.409 hitter in the minor leagues, 2019 was a bit of a down year at the plate, but he showed a promising resurgence in the Arizona Fall League with tweaked mechanics, hitting .353/.411/.565 in 22 games for the Salt River Rafters. He is expected to start 2020 back in Pensacola.
#31 - Alex Kirilloff (OF): Twins' #2 prospect entering 2019. Kirilloff missed a chunk of the season with a wrist injury that dampened his left-handed power numbers, but still managed a solid season with the Wahoos, manning first base and right field for the majority of his playing time. The Twins' 2016 first rounder earned recognition around baseball with his 2018 season, split between Cedar Rapids and Fort Myers, which included a combined .348/.392/.578 slash line with 20 HR and 101 RBI in 130 games. Kirilloff is expected to earn a promotion to AAA-Rochester to start the 2020 season.
#45 - Trevor Larnach (OF): Twins' #5 prospect entering 2019. Another lefty power bat and first-round pick (2018, out of Oregon State), Larnach shined in his first full season and earned a promotion to Pensacola in July. He hit 13 home runs in 2019, accompanied by a .309/.384/.458 line between A+ and AA. As his pull-side power developed last season, his strikeout numbers spiked (124 in 127 games), but he still played well enough to be named both the Fort Myers Miracle team MVP and an MiLB Organizational All-Star. Larnach is expected to open the season with AAA-Rochester, but could be a factor in the Twins outfield by September.
#60 - Brusdar Graterol (P): Twins' #3 prospect entering 2019. He managed to have a somewhat meteoric rise in 2019, making his way from Pensacola all the way to Minnesota in time to toss a scoreless inning in the American League Division Series against the Yankees. Graterol is best known for his velocity (averaging 99 MPH on his fastball with the Twins), and has proven himself to be a weapon out of the bullpen, but he appeared mostly as a starter in 2019 with the Wahoos, posting a 1.89 ERA in nine starts, holding opponents to a .188 batting average. He should join the Twins again in 2020, but whether his future is in the rotation or out of the bullpen remains to be seen.
#95 - Jordan Balazovic (P): Twins' #4 prospect entering 2019. The 2016 fifth rounder flew under the radar in the Twins system until 2018, when he struck out 78 and walked just 17 in 61.2 innings. He backed up that performance in 2019, splitting the season between Cedar Rapids and Fort Myers, posting a combined 2.69 ERA with 129 strikeouts and a 0.98 WHIP in 93.2 innings. He managed to impress the Twins enough to earn a promotion in September to join the Wahoos' playoff run, in which he tossed 4.2 innings of three-hit, two-run baseball with seven strikeouts to keep Pensacola alive. He should join the Wahoos again in 2020.
#96 - Jhoan Duran (P): Twins' #9 prospect entering 2019, Duran was acquired from the Diamondbacks in the Eduardo Escobar deal in 2018. He almost matched his numbers from the previous season in 2019 with a 3.76 ERA and .230 opponent's batting average in 23 games, but lowered his WHIP to 1.19 and boosted his strikeout numbers. Now a member of the Twins' 40-man roster, Duran should re-join the Wahoos in 2020, but could move up quickly if his command continues to show improvement.
