Top 10 Prospects of 2002 Reviewed

Here is Baseball America's Top Ten after the 2001 season:

2002
1) Joe Mauer
2) Justin Morneau
3) Michael Cuddyer
4) Michael Restovich
5) Adam Johnson
6) Brad Thomas
7) Juan Rincon
8) Rob Bowen
9) Matt Kinney
10)Sandy Tejada

Here is an alternative top ten based on players' performance at the major league level:

1) Joe Mauer
2) Justin Morneau
3) Michael Cuddyer
4) Jason Kubel
5) Juan Rincon
6) Grant Balfour
7) Matt Kinney
8) Bobby Kielty
9) Lew Ford
10) Dustin Mohr

Others considered: Jose Morales, Rob Bowen, Brad Thomas, Mike Ryan , Terry Tiffee

Misses: Bowen, Thomas, Johnson, Restovich, Tejada
Missed: Kubel, Ford, Mohr, Kielty , Balfour

A short summary of this is that Baseball America got the top 3, plus Rincon and Kinney. Kinney really had only one good year and that was with Milwaukie. That said, their only real "missed" players were Kubel and Balfour. Kielty, Mohr and Ford are on the list only because the Twins minor leagues were pretty barren. That isn't really surprising given the young players they had at the major league level. Even the "old" guys, like Lawton, Radke, Koskie and Mientkiewicz, were still under 3o.

Here is a list of most of the young players who eventually appeared in the big leagues who played in the Twins system that year and still had their rookie eligibility. Players over 26 were left off:

Edmonton
John Barnes
Bobby Kielty
Mike Ryan
Todd Sears
Grant Balfour
Adam Johnson
Matt Kinney


New Britain
Michael Cuddyer
Lew Ford
Dustin Mohr
Justin Morneau
Michael Restovich
Grant Balfour
Lew Frederick
Juan Rincon
Saul Rivera
Brad Thomas

Fort Myers
Luis Rodriguez
Juan Padilla
Benj Sampson


Quad Cities
Rob Bowen
Luiz Maza
Josh Rabe
Terry Tiffee
Willy Eyre
Brian Wolf


Elizabethton
Joe Mauer
Trent Oeltjen
Travis Bowyer
Kevin Cameron
JD Durbin

Gulf Coast
Jason Kubel
Jose Morales
Saul Rivera