Five prospects who the Twins should promote

We are a month and a half into the baseball season and the Minnesota Twins are a woeful 10-30, tied with the Atlanta Braves for the worst record in the league. Right now, most Twins fans should turn their attention to minor league baseball. There are a handful of minor leaguers in the Twins system who deserve a promotion. I tried to avoid players, especially younger ones, who have only been at their respective level for only this season. Here are my top five:

5. LaMonte Wade, OF, Cedar Rapids

Wade has been tearing it up in Cedar Rapids so far this year. After having just a .143 batting average in Cedar Rapids last season (granted, it was just a four game sample size), he is is hitting at a .325/.421/.472 clip this season. He has shown to have a very good eye at the plate, striking out 18 times in 123 official at-bats and has more walks (22) than he does strikeouts. The 2015 ninth round draft pick is also 22, so if the Maryland product keeps this up through the month of June, he is worthy of a promotion. His .893 OPS is also leading all of the Twins minor leaguers and his slugging percentage is third, only behind teammate A.J. Murray and top prospect Byron Buxton.

4. Randy LeBlanc, RHP, Cedar Rapids

LeBlanc has been nothing short of incredible for the Kernels this year. He has allowed four earned runs in 46 innings. Yes, four! That is good enough for a microscopic 0.78 ERA. He had a solid season for Cedar Rapids last year, going 9-5 with an ERA just north of 3.00, but he has been even better this season. Now, I would not call him a great prospect, considering he is already 24 and still in Low-A ball, but he absolutely deserves a promotion, especially when one of the Fort Myers pitchers is promoted within the next few months. His WHIP of 0.87 is second in the all of the Twins system and he has an opponents batting average of just .196. If he ever wants to sniff a chance at the majors, he needs to improve his strikeout total, as he just has 28 in his 46 innings. But with an ERA of less than 1, he needs a new challenge and will soon get it.


3. Stephen Gonsalves, LHP, Fort Myers

If anyone has been more impressive than LeBlanc this season, it has been Gonsalves. After dominating in Cedar Rapids early last season, Gonsalves was promoted to Fort Myers and pitched well, registering a 7-2 record with a 2.61 ERA. He has been nothing short of incredible this season, going 5-1 and having an ERA of 1.27 in seven starts. If you dig into his stats a little more, it makes it that much more impressive. He has a WHIP of 0.84, which is tops in all of the Twins system and an opposing batting average of .152. After a season-opening start in which he gave up three runs in six innings in a loss to Bradenton, the southpaw has only given up three runs total in his last six starts (36.2 innings). His K/9 from Cedar Rapids was unattainable in Fort Myers as he struck out 77 batters in just 55 innings, but this season's 8.02 K/9 in still very solid. If there is room in Chattanooga, Gonsalves will be promoted shortly.

2. Kohl Stewart, RHP, Fort Myers

Last year in his first season at high-A, Stewart pitched decent for Fort Myers, but still had a high opponents batting average and was still not striking very many out. A year ago, the 2013 first round pick struck out just 71 batters in 129.1 innings for just 4.94 strikeouts per nine innings. This year has been a complete turnaround. Not only has he had his way with opposing hitters, his strikeouts per nine innings rate is miles better than 2015. He has struck out 37 in 40.2 innings so far for an 8.19 K/9 to go along with his 3-1 record with a sparkling 1.77 ERA. His opponents batting average also stands out at .185 with a WHIP of 0.98. His major improvement from 2015 has earned him a promotion that will likely come this summer.

1. J.T. Chargois, RHP, Rochester

It is unfortunate that he has to settle for being on this list, considering he has done more than enough to be a part of the big league club. Chargois has been lights out for Chattanooga and Rochester this season. So far on the year, Chargois has pitched 17.1 innings split between the two teams and has allowed a total of two earned runs. In Rochester, he has pitched 5.2 scoreless innings and has allowed just two hits, while striking out an incredible 13. Obviously that won't hold up, but that is an eye-popping 20.65 strikeouts per nine innings. Even if you include his stint in Chattanooga this year, his K/9 is still 14.02. For a team that has a bullpen as bad as the Twins, there is no reason that Chargois should not be on the big league club and I have a feeling if he keeps it up, he will be sooner rather than later.