2011 Shadow Twins Farm System PRE-SEASON List in Review

Top 20 Shadow Twins Farm System in Review

Here is a look at how my Shadow Twins farm system, built over the years using the Shadow Draft and real Twins international signings, is doing this year. These are all the pre-season grades. Lawrie would be a Pure A at this point.

1) Brett Lawrie, 3B, Grade B+: .347/.415/.661 for Triple-A Las Vegas in the Blue Jays system, .327/.383/.600 in 16 major league games for the Jays. I sure wish the Real Twins had picked him instead of Aaron Hicks.

2) Jake Odorizzi, RHP, Grade B+:  Royals system in real life. 2.87 ERA with 103/22 K/BB in 78 innings for High-A Wilmington, 4.65 ERA with 39/18 K/BB and 10 homers allowed, 50 hits in 50 innings for Double-A Arkansas. Some rough moments in Double-A but coming along well overall.

3) Alex Wimmers, RHP, Grade B+: 5.48 ERA with 28/18 K/BB in 23 innings for High-A Fort Myers in real life, 18 hits. Mysterious command and health issues drop his stock but he's striking people out at least.

4) Miguel Sano, 3B, Grade B:  .276/.335/.599 with 16 homers, 19 walks, 68 strikeouts in 232 at-bats for rookie-level Elizabethton. Highly-intriguing power prospect in the real Twins system.

5) Liam Hendriks, RHP, Grade B:  Real Twins Australian signee, 2.70 ERA with 81/18 K/BB in 90 innings for Double-A New Britain, 6.11 ERA with 19/3 K/BB and 44 hits allowed for Triple-A Rochester. Typical Twins prospect with sharp command of decent stuff.

6) Jay Jackson, RHP, Grade B:  5.81 ERA with 78/43 K/BB in 129 innings for Triple-A Iowa in Cubs system, 162 hits. Has pitched better lately but I clearly overrated him and stuff quality has been up and down this year.

7) J.J. Hoover, RHP, Grade B-:  2.48 ERA with 86/28 K/BB in 87 innings for Double-A Mississippi in Braves system, 5.40 ERA with 19/8 K/BB in 12 innings for Triple-A Gwinnett. I would prefer to develop him as a workhorse starter but the Braves seem to like him in relief and don't care about my Shadow team.

8) Addison Reed, RHP, Grade B-:  1.36 ERA with 107/13 K/BB in 73 innings over four levels in the White Sox system, 41 hits allowed. Terrific season. As with Hoover, I wanted to develop him as a starter but real life has other ideas and I can't say I'm complaining at this point.

9) Zack Von Rosenberg, RHP, Grade B-:  5.76 ERA with 103/22 K/BB in 116 innings for Low-A West Virginia in the real life Pirates system, 134 hits and 18 homers. Good K/BB ratio, getting hurt by too many homers.

10) Eric Thames, OF, Grade B-: .352/.423/.610 for Las Vegas, .268/.316/.461 with eight homers, 15 walks, 58 strikeouts in 228 at-bats for the Blue Jays. I wish the Real Twins had him too.

11) Adrian Salcedo, RHP, Grade B-:  3.07 ERA with 86/25 K/BB in 129 innings, 126 hits for Beloit in the Real Twins system. Efficient strike-thrower.

12) Oswaldo Arcia, OF, Grade B-:  .296/.336/.551 with 11 homers, 15 walks, 61 strikeouts in 243 at-bats between Beloit and Fort Myers. Love the power, plate discipline is poor.

13) Max Kepler-Rozyki, OF, Grade B-:  .253/.333/.355 with 19 walks, 46 strikeouts in 166 at-bats for Elizabethton. I applaud the Twins for getting creative by signing a guy out of Germany, but he needs a lot of polish.

14) Jared Mitchell, OF, Grade C+:  .226/.310/.385 with nine homers, 13 steals, 50 walks, 168 strikeouts in 447 at-bats for High-A Winston-Salem in the White Sox system. I drafted Mitchell instead of Kyle Gibson in 2009. There have been second thoughts.

15) Wynn Pelzer, RHP, Grade C+: 4.00 ERA with 69/48 K/BB in 81 innings between Double-A Bowie and Triple-A Norfolk in Orioles system, 77 hits allowed. Live arm, could be a relief contributor if command allows.

16) Scott Barnes, LHP, Grade C+: 3.45 ERA with 107/36 K/BB in 99 innings for Double-A Akron and Triple-A Columbus in the Indians system. Having a fine year before he hurt his knee.

17) Lars Anderson, 1B, Grade C+: .259/.362/.416 with 13 homers, 72 walks, 108 strikeouts in 452 at-bats for Triple-A Pawtucket in real life. At this point it is hard to see him as a viable replacement for Justin Morneau in the Shadowverse.

18) David Bromberg, RHP, Grade C+: Injured most of the year, 6.08 ERA with 23/15 K/BB in 37 innings for New Britain.

19) Donn Roach, RHP, Grade C+: 3.52 ERA with 59/19 K/BB in 64 innings for Low-A Cedar Rapids in the Angels system, 67 hits, 3.64 GO/AO. This is another guy I shadowdrafted as a starter but who ended up relieving in real life. 

20) Manuel Soliman, RHP, Grade C+:  3.82 ERA with 111/46 K/BB in 125 innings for Beloit, 117 hits. Not a bad year but not a great one either.

21) Nate Roberts, OF, Grade C+:  Hitting .299/.440/.422 with 25 walks, 42 strikeouts, nine steals in 204 at-bats for Beloit. On-base skills strong but I thought he would hit for more power. A Real Twins pick I stuck with in the 2010 draft.

22) Eddie Rosario, OF, Grade C+: Another 2010 real life draft I stuck with. .310/.365/.598 with 21 walks, 16 homers, 56 strikeouts, 15 steals in 239 at-bats for Elizabethton. Impressive although he strikes out a bit much.

Grade C prospects in the Shadow System:

Matt Bashore, LHP; Michael Bowden, RHP; Erik Cordier, RHP; Erik Davis, RHP; Scott Diamond, LHP; Brian Dozier, SS; Mike Fiers, RHP; Brian Friday, SS; Conor Gillaspie, 3B; Niko Goodrum, SS;  Nevin Griffith, RHP;  Alex Koronis, RHP; Andrei Lobanov, LHP; Rob Musgrave, LHP; David Newmann, LHP; Josmil Pinto, C; Carlos Ramirez, C; Tyler Robertson, LHP; Josh Satin, 2B; Tom Shirley; LHP; Steve Singleton, SS; Tim Smith, OF; Tom Stuifbergen, RHP; Matt Torra, RHP; Rett Varner, RHP; Pat Venditte, SHP; Dakota Watts, RHP; Chase Whitley, RHP.

Overall a decent year for the Shadow Twins. Lawrie and Thames would sure look good in Minnesota uniforms. Some of the Grade C guys have done well.  I could use better right-handed pitching, but the real teams keep converting my guys into relievers.

The 2011 Shadow Draft adds three additional strong bats to the system with Mikie Mahtook, Brad Miller, and Travis Harrison. Madison Boer has been converted to relief (dammit!) and Deshorn Lake didn't sign, so it looks like I'm screwed again on the RHP starting pitching angle unless Brian Dupra and Colin Rea really develop. My shadow system is short on catching but I hope third round pick Nick Rickles will help fix that.