Ranking the Twins Top 30 Prospects: #22-#21

#22. Loek Van Mil, Pitcher – Van Mil is undoubtedly one of the most intriguing prospects not only in the Twins system, but also in the league as a whole.  Van Mil is just about as atypical a prospect as you find in the minor leagues: he was signed out of the Netherlands at the age of 20 and is over 7 feet tall.  The last three years have seen the Twins try to work with Van Mil to get him to reach his undeniable potential.  While he has progressed slowly, he proven himself at every level of the minors that he has reached thus far.  Van Mil has lights out stuff, but his size and inexperience contribute to random and severe bouts of wildness.  Despite his size, Van Mil has managed to work his way through the minors basically unnoticed, evidenced by his passing through the rule 5 draft in 2008.  2009 was his best year to date as he proved that he could consistently perform at the upper reaches of the minors, posting a 2.79 ERA across two levels.  Van Mil is likely to start 2010 at double A with promotions to triple A and the majors to come depending on his performance.  Twins’ management believes that Van Mil could ultimately be an important set-up man for them in the future as well as matchup hell for many major league hitters.

#21. Jeff Manship, Pitcher – Manship is a solid, yet unspectacular, pitching prospect that should have an impact on the Twins’ major league roster at some point in 2010.  He was selected in the 14th round of the 2006 draft out of Notre Dame.  Manship represents one of the few upper level pitching prospects in the Twins organization so he has added significance.  Manship lacks electric stuff and is not much of a strikeout pitcher, but he has been able to put up good numbers in the minors.  He started in double A, but was promoted to triple A and ultimately the majors during the season.  Despite decent numbers in the minors, a 3.86 ERA across two levels, Manship really struggled in his first taste of the major leagues.  In 11 games with the Twins, he had a 5.86 ERA, while allowing opposing hitters to bat .310 against him.  Manship has a dominant curveball, but lacks the complete repertoire to make it a true out pitch.  Going in to 2010, Manship will be in competition for the fifth rotation spot, but will realistically begin the year in triple A.  Given the injuries that the Twins’ rotation endured last season, don’t be surprised to see Manship up in Minnesota sooner in 2010 rather than later.