Twins in the Arizona Fall League

The Twins announced seven players will play in the Arizona Fall League. This is a development league for top prospects giving players a chance to test themselves against better competition. Those assigned are not always a teams best prospects since playing time is limited and many players, pitchers in particular, may take the fall off after instructional league. In general, the league is a hitters league with teams not willing to risk their best pitchers with some other organization's manager and/or pitching coach.

Here are the Twins players with their age:

Rene Tosoni - 23
Chris Parmelee - 21
Steve Singleton - 24

Steve Hirschfield - 24
Mike McCardell - 24
Alex Burnett - 22
Spencer Steedley -24

My first reaction, without looking at their ages,  was that this was a younger group than the Twins normally send. But looking at the Mesa Solar Sox roster the Twins players are not really young for the league. Singleton is the oldest player on the Solar Sox, Tosoni is the third oldest and  there are a half-dozen position players younger than Parmelee. On the pitching side Alex Burnett is the second youngest pitcher on the team by only a month, but Hirschfield, McCardell and Steedley are all average age or older.

So what looks like a young crew based on the levels they played at this year, on closer inspection of their ages looks about normal . This appears to be an effort to jump-start some players who have not moved that quickly through the Twins system. That is not to suggest that these guys are old for their level, but for "top prospects" they aren't all that advanced either.