The Twins announced Tuesday that they’ve signed first-round pick Keoni Cavaco. The deal will pay Cavaco $4.05MM according to Jim Callis of MLB.com, who first reported the signing (via Twitter). That comes in $192K under slot value for the No. 13 overall pick. Cavaco will head to the Twins’ Rookie-level affiliate in the Gulf Coast League, the team announced in today’s release.
An 18-year-old out of Eastlake High School in Chula Vista, Calif., Cavaco’s draft stock soared this spring. He wasn’t considered to be a first-round talent earlier in the year and was ranked a bit further down the board than the Twins’ selection. Fangraphs tabbed Cavaco as the draft’s No. 22 prospect, while MLB.com ranked him 28th and Baseball America ranked him 31st. Reports in the days leading up to the draft strongly tied Minnesota to Cavaco, though, and it’s highly unlikely that he’d have lasted to the Twins’ next pick.
Kiley McDaniel and Eric Longenhagen wrote that a growth spurt boosted Cavaco’s draft stock, adding that he has the “best frame” in the class and had grown into a considerable power surge. Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com wrote that Cavaco has potential plus power and could develop into a plus defender at third base, but he’s a work in progress both in the field and at the plate. He’s a high-risk, high-reward prospect who’ll add to a well-regarded Twins farm system that is headlined by 2017 No. 1 overall pick Royce Lewis.
The Twins have got a fantastic farm system! They like to draft out of Southern California. That is very smart of them.
The Twins have a middle of the road farm system.
Royce Lewis seems to have hit a major wall at A+. I expect him to fall out of the top 100 prospects this year.
Alex Kirilloff has been out almost all year with a mystery wrist injury and an even more mysterious undisclosed injury recently. He’s probably a top 50 prospect still, though and he can regain some momentum by coming back and finishing the season strong.
Brusdar Graterol has also seemingly hit a wall. He’s had the result in ERA, but he looks like a reliever to me at this point as he lacks a functional 3rd pitch offering and he hasn’t been able to maintain an impressive K rate at A+/AA. He won’t be in the top 100 after this year.
Luckily, Balazovic and Larnach have garnered a lot of attention and are dominating right now to help make up for the poor showings thus far from Lewis and Kirilloff, but with all top 3 prospects scuffling so far this year, it’s hard to label the system as “fantastic” or even “impressive” right now.
Played against him in travel ball. Great ballplayer with a great love for the game
Nice. Wonder who they use that extra slot money on? I like wallner their 2nd pick 1st round comp pick. Wallner, Larnach, Rooker very nice stable of power threats there. They’re gonna have to make a deal for an ace pitcher at some point if they really want to get to that championship level but they have the depth to be an attractive trade partner without a doubt! They’re in a good spot.
Because Berrios is just some chump #3 SP.
You skipped over the #2 spot and that’s exactly what Berrios almost certainly is at peak. His FIP is currently 3.71 and xFIP sits at 4.15. Berrios’ FIP is usually pretty close to his actual ERA and over the past 3 years (excluding the disaster of a first season) it’s ERA = 3.72, FIP = 3.85. Those just aren’t ace numbers.
Berrios has an outstanding work ethic by all accounts and it seems like he’s continually searching for a way to elevate his game, but he’s a 3 pitch pitcher and I don’t know of any aces who fit that model. In fact, a 3 pitch starter usually has a ceiling of a #3. Berrios is just that good with what he has to work with.
Over the past 3 years, Berrios ranks #33 of 87 qualified starters in ERA and FIP. Again, very valuable, but not ace-like.
@martras, Man am I glad I’m not a pessimist like you. Kinda sad.
At @Paul Molitor – glad I’m not delusional, though I’m sure it’s a fun place to live :)
@Clayton
What city is your college team in?