Today i am going to continue my series on the Depth of Twins minor league system one position at a time. Yesterday i started with the Catcher position and i hope everyone enjoyed it. Today i will move on to 1st base hope everyone enjoys.
Twins- Justin Mourneau- I really like Justin as a player and a leader for this organization. His power numbers are great he is the first person to hit 30 Hr's in back to back season's since Gary Gaetti did it in 1986-87 so thats quite the accomplishment. The thing people dont give him credit for though is his defense. It will never be confused with Doug Mientkiewicz's defense but there are not many people in history that are in that league,but he has improved it every year until now he is solid and doesnt hurt the Twins. I look for Justin to keep getting better and better. I see a 40 HR season in his future and he is one of the Cornerstone's of the Twins, so it was nice that they locked him up long term because in a few years what they paid him will be a discount. If he is able to stay healthy the sky is the limit for Justin Mourneau and i look for him to put up Killebrew type numbers and will be remembered as one of Minnesota Twins great icons.
Rochester
- Randy Ruiz- Randy has been a career minor leaguer who has jumped around quite a bit. The Twins are his 9th organization that he has been a part of and he is only 30 years old so that should tell you alot about him. The guy can hit a ton at the minor league level, but not enough to make it to the show. He was really impressive this spring with the Twins that if they need a hitter dont be surprised to see him up this year. However, I dont see alot of future for the guy he is a career minor league player and that is all he is going to be in my opinion.
New Britain
- Brock Peterson- Brock has been an interesting player for quite a while. He was drafted in the 49th round in '02 so you can tell the Twins did not expect a whole lot out of him, but he has outshined a lot of guys that the Twins were expecting more out of. He is a career .272 hitter with 64 HR's in 5 seasons so those are some decent stats. He is solid with the glove too so a promotion to AAA this season is not out of the question. The problem is i dont see him ever making it to the majors with Twins with Justin Mourneau standing in his way. Even without Mourneau, he is just a solid player not outstanding, but not terrible. If things go right for him i see him as a backup in the majors i just dont see that happening with the Twins.
Fort Myers
- Johnny Woodward- Johnny was a 3rd round pick of the Twins in the '04 draft and struggled a little early on, but he had an outstanding '07 season. He started out with Beloit where he hit 10hr's and 31 rbi's in only 66 games which earned him a promotion to Fort Myers where he did good there too. Right now he is splitting time with Whitney Robbins but i see Johnny getting most of the playing time as the season moves on. He does alot of things well, but the thing that really impressed me and jumped out at me when i looked at his stats is his eye. He had 58 BB's in only a 117 games which shows me that he has a good eye at a plate which is huge watching a player develop. It's still too early to see how he is going to develop, but you would hope he would develop a little more power as he goes along because thats what the Twins need is power off the bench. The bottom line is the future is bright for this kid so keep an eye on him.
Beloit
- Garrett Olson- The Snappers really dont have a true firstbasemen on their roster especially when Chris Parmalee got sent to the outfield so Garrett has been playing first base this season. To be all honest Garrett has really struggled with the snappers with a .219 average there last year. He is still really young though and could figure it out. I think its way to early to give up on the kid its just he needs to figure things out and the sooner the better.
As was the case with catcher the 1st base position starts and ends with Justin Mourneau thats why it was so important that they signed him long term. Brock Peterson and Johnny Woodward have some talent and are guys worth keeping your eyes on to see how they develop and if they can help the big club in a few years.
