The Twins Top 30 prospects rankings are up now for Baseball America subscribers, with full scouting reports, BA grades and tools grade projections for all 30 players.
Through the process of narrowing the list down to a Top 30, there are other intriguing names who didn’t make the cut but are worth monitoring, with the potential to jump into the Top 30 in the future. Some of those are players who might be in the upper levels and could see big league time this year, though likely in a limited role, while others are lower-level players still in the complex leagues with more upside but plenty of risk.
Beyond the Top 30, these are 11 prospects to watch in Minnesota’s farm system.
Aaron Sabato, 1B. A massively-framed prep shortstop, Sabato moved to first base/DH immediately in college and settled in to do what he did best—hit. Sabato was a dominating slugger at North Carolina, but the Twins’ 2020 first-round pick has not carried that success to pro ball. He’s a career .209 hitter, albeit with solid on-base percentages and slugging numbers. Sabato hits the ball quite hard when he connects and he also draws walks. But that’s pretty much all he can do to help a team, which makes him a relatively limited player as a right-right first baseman. The problem is he’s struggled to make contact more than was expected. Sabato can be beaten by quality stuff in the zone, especially on the inner third. He has power but his selective approach makes him vulnerable to velocity. When he tries to catch up to fastballs, he ends up starting his swing early and then becomes vulnerable to offspeed. He does have a solid feel for the strike zone. When he does walk, Sabato is a base clogger as a 20 runner. He’s below-average at first base defensively.
Mark Contreras, OF. Contreras was a $10,000 senior sign in 2017 who failed to hit over .230 in his first two full seasons in the minors. But he found some power to go with what has always been a good glove, a plus arm and plus speed. He parlayed that into an MLB callup when the Twins were ravaged by injuries.
Kala’i Rosario, OF. One of the best prep prospects to come out of Hawaii in years, Rosario has plus-plus raw power which is turning into productive power already. But he’s going to have to cut down his 33% strikeout rate.
Andrew Morris, RHP. Morris impressed at Texas Tech as a starter with a lively 92-95 mph fastball and a big-breaking curveball. He’s most likely to eventually end up as a useful lower-leverage…
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