The Twins have big holes in their minor-league system, no doubt. One thing really hurting them is their lack of major league ready position prospects. This has been well-documented.

Now, for some good news: They might have another star catcher on the horizon in 20-year-old Wilson Ramos.

I started paying attention to Ramos, when La Velle listed him at No. 8 on the season ending list of the Twins’ Top 10 prospects. The reviews keep getting better. The other day, a prominent agent compared Ramos to a young Pudge Rodriguez defensively.

Then, I found some eye-popping numbers from Ramos in the recently completed Parallel League in Venezuela. In 29 games, Ramos batted .410/.442/.886 with 13 home runs and 38 RBI. The Parallel League is the feeder league for the Venezuelan winter league, and the caliber is about that of rookie ball here in the States.

Anyway, after handling himself very well as a 19-year-old for Class A Beloit last summer, Ramos tore ligaments in his right thumb on Aug. 28, so he wasn’t available for the team’s playoff run. But it sounds like he’s got a good chance of starting this year at Class A Fort Myers.

For loyal readers who can remember my fixation with Jeff Manship last year, I think we’ve found the early favorite for my frequent in-season updates on a prominent prospect.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 16th, 2008 at 10:17 am and is filed under Down on the farm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.