Notes of spring: Twins’ Buxton, Berrios, Jay, Kepler, Burdi, Walker
By Sam Dykstra/MiLB.com
FORT MYERS, Fla. — For years, the Twins have possessed one of the game’s most promising farm systems. In 2015, they saw their labor bear some fruit as Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton made their Major League debuts during a campaign in which the big club beat expectations with an 83–79 record. The system remains top-heavy, with Buxton, Jose Berrios and Max Kepler likely headed to the big stage at various points this season. MiLB.com caught up with Twins director of player development Brad Steil to discuss some of the more prominent prospects in the system heading into 2016. Here are some snippets from that conversation:
On Byron Buxton dealing with the hype of being a top prospect: “It was kind of up-and-down with him in the Minor Leagues, just because of the injuries. He would get so frustrated being hurt because he wanted to be out there, helping the team. With Byron, I think he handles the hype by focusing more on the team and trying to win games than thinking about himself. So I think that’s helped him out. I think hearing the hype is going to affect anybody in that situation, but I think he’s done a good job of handling it.
On Jose Berrios’ durability after throwing 166 1/3 innings in 2015: “He’s a really good athlete. When you’re a really good athlete and flexible and agile, that’s going to help you a lot. The second thing is he works as hard or harder than anyone in the offseason to get ready. There’s nobody we have that’s going to be in better shape than him. He puts in the time in the offseason to stay healthy in the season. That’s what it comes down to. In the season, he’s on top of the maintenance stuff in order to get himself ready in between starts.
On how close to the Majors Berrios looked at the end of 2015: “He was very close. People were calling for him in the big leagues, among the fans and the media in Minnesota, really since the time we moved him up to Triple-A. At that point, he wasn’t really close to being ready. I think you saw what happened in the first month of Triple-A [5.60 ERA in three starts], and it took him about a month to get his feet under him and make adjustments. But I think in the final three weeks of Triple-A he pitched really well. By the end of the Triple-A season, he looked really close, and it probably just came down to his innings limit.
On what specifically made him look close to the Majors: Pitchability is a big part of it. He’s got stuff, so he could just go and throw his pitches, moreso in Double-A. In Triple-A, you’re dealing with veterans and a lot of guys who are smarter hitters and going to work the count more. So for him, it was knowing the right time to use his slider, his changeup, do all those things that you’re going to have to do in the big leagues. He’s got good stuff, but that’s not going to be enough up there.
On what they’ve seen in Max Kepler to think he can handle first base: He’s got pretty soft hands. He can move well for a bigger guy. He’s a good athlete for his size. He runs well, well enough to play center if you need him to do that. Basically, just his hands and his footwork.
On watching Kepler break out at the plate in 2015: Oh, it was a lot of fun for us to watch because first off, Max is just the nicest guy. To see some of the struggles he had gone through with the Miracle, you could tell he had a tough time. So he fought through that. Just to see he come back and have the season he did, we felt really good for him. We saw all the athletic ability and the tools come together finally. Chad Allen and Doug Mientkiewicz did a great job with him at the plate. That was really a big reason it came together for him. He really started being more aggressive and driving the ball to all fields and pulling the ball.
On why first-rounder Tyler Jay is going to be a starter, unlike in college, where he worked out of the bullpen: “Well, just his mix. I think he’s got enough athleticism, too, to say even though he’s not a big guy, he can hold up throwing a lot of pitches as a starter. But he’s got a four-pitch mix that might be the best package of pitches we have in our system. He can slow the ball down, which you don’t see a lot. He’s got a pretty good changeup and a strikeout-type slider. So, really, it’s that package of pitches that makes you think he can do that.”
On Nick Burdi’s stint in the Arizona Fall League, where he showed better control than during the regular season: “Well, to his credit, he came down here for a few days before the Fall League and worked with our pitching coordinator, and they worked on him getting more extension in his release. I think that really helped him with his command. He had struggled a little bit at the start at Double-A, went back to Fort Myers, was good again at Double-A and took it to another level in the Fall League. Along with the adjustments, I think the confidence he built up helped him there.”
On Alex Meyer’s role going forward: “We haven’t closed the door on him being a starter. Last year, the [move to the bullpen] was a product of the year he was having. It was our full intention that he was going to be a starter last year. He was one of the better starters in the International League in 2014 and, unfortunately, he just didn’t have a very good year last year. One of the things we did to get him out of that was put him in the ‘pen. Let him focus on shorter innings and also get a chance to go out there and get in the game more often. We’ll see how he does in big league camp, and if he ends up on the [Minor League] side, we’ll sit down with Alex and talk about how he’s feeling and make a decision. But there’s still a strong possibility that he ends up starting again in the Minor Leagues.”
On whether Adam Brett Walker’s approach leads to strikeouts: “I don’t think he’s overswinging at all. You do find that with some power guys. Sano does that some, where he’s overswinging, and that gets him into trouble with his strike-zone discipline. But I don’t think that’s the issue with Adam. I think it’s more his ability to recognize off-speed stuff and stay in the zone on fastballs and not chase down or up.”
