Twelve more spots to go!!!" Twinkie Town Farm ReportSatire Cal Ripken Jersey , Irreverence, & Other HumorGame RecapsTwinkie Town Prospect Vote 2019: Round 18New,31commentsTwelve more spots to go!!!ESTShareTweetShareShareTwinkie Town Prospect Vote 2019: Round 18Catching prospect Ben Rortvedt makes our list at slot seventeen. The Twins have a pair of closely rated future catching prospects in Rortvedt and Jeffers. It will be interesting to see what order we put them in next offseason.2019 Twinkie Town Prospect Voting ResultsRoyce Lewis 52% (Kirilloff 44%, Graterol 4%)Alex Kirilloff 90% (Graterol 4%, Gordon 4%, Larnach 2%)Brusdar Graterol 56% (Gordon 19%, Larnach 12%, Thorpe 8%, Gonsalves 5%)Trevor Larnach 42% (Thorpe 25%, Gordon 21%, Gonsalves 12%)Lewis Thorpe 31% (Gordon 30%, Rooker 14%, Javier 13%, Gonsalves 11%)Nick Gordon 39% (Rooker 20%, Gonsalves 18%, Javier 17%, Alcala 5%)Stephen Gonsalves 35% (Rooker 28%, Javier 28%, Alcala 5%, Baddoo 4%)Brent Rooker 43% (Javier 41%, Baddoo 6%, Enlow 6% http://www.oriolesfanproshop.com/authentic-j.j.-hardy-jersey , Alcala 4%)Wander Javier 70% (Baddoo 12%, Enlow 7%, Alcala 7%, Duran 4%)Jorge Alcala 32% (Baddoo 28%, Enlow 23%, Duran 14%, Celestino 3%)Jhoan Duran 39% (Enlow 31%, Baddoo 25%, Severino 3%, Celestino 2%)Zack Littell 56% (Enlow 28%, Baddoo 11%, Severino 2%, Celestino 2%)Blayne Enlow 50% (Baddoo 33%, Balazovic 10%, Severino 4%, Celestino 3%)Akil Baddoo 54% (Balazovic 13%, Jeffers 12%, Rortvedt 11%, Severino 8%, Celestino 4%)Ryan Jeffers 34% (Balazovic 31%, Severino 12%, Rortvedt 12% Jim Palmer Jersey , Celestino 10%)Jordan Balazovic 63% (Rortvedt 13%, Severino 11%, Celestino 10%, Urbina 3%)Ben Rortvedt 33% (Severino 23%, Celestino 20%, Wells 17%, Urbina 6%)I am replacing Rortvedt with another prospect who plays a defense-first position.Gilberto Celestino, CF2019 Age: 202018 High Level: Corpus Christi (AA)Gilberto Celestino was signed as an international free agent by the Houston Astros for a $2.5M bonus in 2015. He ranked as the #7 international prospect that signing period. As an outfielder who throws left and bats right, a combination that worked mainly for Rickey Henderson, he is a rarity. He runs fast and throws hard which has helped him build an excellent reputation as an outfielder. He also does well on the basepaths stealing 22 bases while only being caught once in 2018. His minor league experience is rather unusual. After hitting .268/.331/.379 as an 18 year old in the Appalachian League the Astros promoted him to the New York - Penn league in 2018. He hit .323/.387/.480 for the Tri-City Valley Cats. Don’t let his brief stint beginning the season at Double-A Corpus Christi fool you, he only had 8 at-bats before he was moved to a lower level team. Celestino was acquired along with Alcala last summer in return for reliever Ryan Pressly. After he was acquired by the Twins he was sent back to the Appalachian League to play with the Elizabethton Twins instead of assigning him to Cedar Rapids. He finished the season hitting .266/.308/.349 which was a downgrade from his past performance in the same league. He has tremendous tools and should be a plus defender but needs to work on his consistency at the plate. Expect to see him playing for Cedar Rapids this summer.Yunior Severino, 2B2019 Age: 192018 High Level: Elizabethton (Rookie)Yunior Severino was part of the Braves high profile class of international free agent signings headed by Kevin Maitan in 2016. Unfortunately for the Braves those signings became even more high profile when MLB voided the signings and made most of the players free agents again last winter. Severino originally signed a $1.9M contract with the Braves and he gets to keep all of that money. The Twins were able to sign him for $2.5M so the young man has done quite well already. Severino is a switch hitting second baseman from the Dominican Republic. He was promoted after 10 games from the Braves’ Dominican Rookie team to the GCL team and hit .286/.345/.444 in his debut. Scouts believe he has power and he has shown it, albeit inconsistently. He is considered a bat-first infielder who is learning how to play 2B and some scouts think he may need to move to 3B or 1B if he grows significantly. Severino stayed in extended spring training working on fundamentals until Elizabethton started their season last summer. He hit .263/.321/.424 and started off hot but faded as the season went on. His fielding at 2B was solid but he struggled in a few games at SS. As a switch hitter he will be taking lots of extra batting practice to improve on his offense in 2019.Misael Urbina, OF2019 Age: 172018 High Level: Did not play professionallyMisael “Misa” Urbina was the top international free agent signed by the Twins last summer costing them a $2.75M bonus with an additional $300k for college. He ranked #5 among international free agents who were available in the 2018 signing period. He comes to the Twins from Venezuela where he has been participating in the Venezuelan Winter League development program for young players. This has allowed him to play against players with professional experience. Scouts like his hit tool and his plus speed. He is considered an advanced defender in the outfield with the range for centerfield but his arm may keep him in left. He is very young so anything can happen but the Twins have done well with international free agents lately. He should make his professional debut this summer in a foreign rookie league but his Twins debut is unlikely before 2023.Tyler Wells, P2019 Age: 242018 High Level: Chattanooga (AA)Tyler Wells was the Twins 15th round selection in the 2016 draft from Cal State San Bernardino. He has steadily climbed the minor league ladder posting a great strikeout rate and decent walk rate while limiting home runs allowed. He has a pretty standard fastball, changeup and slider arsenal but uses his pitches effectively. At 6’8” 265lbs he has the frame of a starting pitcher. He had some biceps tendinitis in July of 2017 but has started healthy last spring at Fort Myers. He was promoted after 16 starts at Fort Myers (8.5 K/9, 1.8 BB/9, 2.91 RA) to Chattanooga where he continued to pitch well (10.7 K/9, 3.9 BB/9, 1.65 RA) in 32-2/3 innings. Wells is not a young prospect but he has performed admirably at every stop along the way. Expect him to start this year back in Double-A Pensacola with a goal of a promotion to Triple-A. He could pitch for the Twins as early as this September as he is a candidate to be added to the 40 man roster next winter.Jose Miranda, IF2019 Age: 212018 High Level: Fort Myers (A+)Puerto Rican Jose Miranda was the 73rd overall pick in the 2016 MLB draft. He made his debut with the GCL Twins and hit .227 while playing three infield positions. In 2017 the Twins sent him to Elizabethton and had him play mostly 2B because the team had Andrew Bechtold at 3B. Miranda improved at the plate in 2017 hitting .283/.340/.484 in 247 plate appearances. In 2018 he split time defensively between second base and third. He started the season at Cedar Rapids and hit .277/.326/.434 over 104 games. He earned a late season promotion to Fort Myers and initially struggled batting .216 in 27 games to end the season but he hit .400 with two home runs in the playoff serieshelping the Miracle win the Florida State League championship. His swing is designed to get the ball over the fence which shows in his 27 HR over the past two minor league seasons. Twins scouts have done well in Puerto Rico finding Jose Berrios, Kennys Vargas Mark Trumbo Jersey , and Eddie Rosario in recent years. Let’s hope they found another quality player in Jose Miranda. Finally, a team steps up at least somewhat."WhiteFanposts Fanshots Red Sox StoriesScheduleRosterStatsYahoo Red Sox NewsYahoo Red Sox Team PageYahoo Red Sox ReportYahoo Red Sox Depth ChartYahoo Red Sox TransactionsYahoo Red Sox PhotosOdds About Masthead Community Guidelines StubHub 鉁昅LB RoundupMLB Roundup 3/18: Blue Jays to increase minor-league pay scaleFinally, a team steps up at least somewhat.EDTShareTweetShareShareMLB Roundup 3/18: Blue Jays to increase minor-league pay scaleBob DeChiara-USA TODAY SportsBlue Jays increase minor-league payAmong all of the frustrations with the CBA, the slow winter and the general attitude towards winning (or lack thereof) being shown from many clubs around the majors, still the biggest knock against them has been the way they pay minor leaguers. This is a true injustice in baseball, with the league spending absurd amounts of money to lobby Congress and local legislatures in order to protect their right to pay these players less than a living wage. Many will point to the biggest names who receive huge signing bonuses, which fine. Someone who gets a couple million dollars out of college can probably afford to live for less than minimum wage. That being said, A) they still shouldn’t have to, as teams should be required to pay the minimum wage. That seems straightforward. More importantly, a lot more players make significantly less than that on their signing bonus, with a good number of them making around $10,000. Trying to live on less than the minimum wage for a four-year minor-league career simply isn’t possible for some of these guys. Even putting aside the moral need to increase the pay (which shouldn’t need to be done, of course), it makes sense from a business perspective to increase pay. Better compensated minor leaguers lead to healthier and happier minor leaguers, and in turn it means players more likely to make it to the big leagues.The issue has been that no team has been willing to step out of line with the rest of the league. There’s nothing in the rules stating that teams have to pay their minor leaguers so poorly, but nobody has bucked the trend. On Sunday, the Blue Jays announced they are taking a small step in the right direction. Ben Cherington’s new team has announced they’ll increase pay for all minor leaguers by 50 percent. Now, this is not a huge jump and a lot of players will still be making less than a living wage. More needs to be done. Still, this is an unprecedented step, and hopefully it will be the decision that needed to be made before the floodgates open. Something tells me the league office will fight teams trying to do more than this, but all it takes is one team realizing what needs to be done. Good on the Blue Jays for at least getting the movement started in the right direction.