Minnesota Twins Prospect Vote: Round 6

Aaron Hicks has been awarded Twinkie Town's fifth place spot on the 2013 community prospect list, beating the field decisively. He garnered nearly four times as many votes as the second place finisher which, not surprisingly, is a cue to the opening of the field. This week we're adding three new names to the prospect ballot as we vote for the organization's number six prospect.

Kyle Gibson, RHP
2013 Age: 25
2012 Top Level: Rochester, 6.2 IP (Triple-A)

Gibson missed a vast majority of 2012 due to recovery and rehab after 2011's Tommy John surgery, throwing 21.2 innings between the GCL Twins and Fort Myers before making two starts for the Red Wings at the end of the season. He also had a decent performance in the Winter League before a couple of less impressive outings at the end. He's expected to contribute to the Major League team in 2013, although his innings may be limited this season, leading some to believe he may start the year as a reliever before moving into the rotation later in the year.

Eddie Rosario, 2B/OF
2013 Age: 21
2012 Top Level: Beloit, 429 PA (Single-A)

Considering he missed time after getting hit in the face with a baseball and still returned to finish the season, I think it's safe to say that Rosario is still the Twins' greatest hope of having a player who can hit and play the middle infield at the same time. He's flying under the radar in a lot of the mainstream prospect listings, but there's no denying he's performed to this point. His ETA is sometime in 2015.

J.O. Berrios, RHP
2013 Age: 19
2012 Top Level: Elizabethton, 14 IP (Rookie)

Picked 32nd overall by the Twins in 2012's June draft, Berrios is quite possibly the most promising arm in the Minnesota farm system. If not the most promising, then maybe the most exciting. At his age he is very polished and is expected to move quickly provided he stays healthy and continues to post strong numbers. Experts do project him as a power reliever, but the Twins will try him as a starter to see what they can get from him.

Trevor May, RHP
2013 Age: 23
2012 Top Level: Reading, 149.2 IP (Double-A)

One of two pitchers coming back to Minnesota in return for Ben Revere, May was ranked by Baseball America as the #69 prospect in the game going into 2012. His stock has fallen slightly, thanks to a bit of a rough go-round in his first stint at Double-A last season and some trouble with his command. Still, he was the top prospect in the Philadelphia system last season and SB Nation's John Sickels had him rated as a B+ prospect (the same grade he's given to Alex Meyer, Byron Buxton and Oswaldo Arcia this year). It's times like this, when we're voting for the Twins' #6 prospect and a guy like this probably won't win, when I realize that this team is actually pretty deep in prospect talent right now.

Max Kepler, OF
2013 Age: 20
2012 Top Level: Elizabethton, 269 PA (Rookie)

After two seasons adjusting to professional baseball as a raw talent, Kepler broke out last season with a .297/.387/.539 triple slash in Elizabethton. Still just 20 years old this season, this is a telling season in terms of whether the things he learned last season can stick and will help him adjust as he truly starts to move through the system. He's still a few years away but there's a whole lot of talent here.

Travis Harrison, 3B
2013 Age: 20
2012 Top Level: Elizabethton, 253 PA (Rookie)

It seems like people don't think Harrison will stick at third base, which is something we're used to hearing from Sano oracles as well. Reports on Harrison haven't been entirely glowing to this point, but when a guy hits .301/.383/.461 as a 19-year old in his first shot at professional baseball he gets really hard to ignore. Considering he's probably the seventh-best position player in the system, and considering how far away he is from the Majors, there's no pressure on Harrison and the Twins will be able to move him along at their own pace. I'm excited to see how he hits out of Rookie ball.