What to know about Twins' top prospects at High-A Cedar Rapids

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CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- With the recent promotion of Riley Quick from Single-A Fort Myers to High-A Cedar Rapids, there’s a clear second-most stacked roster in the Twins’ system. Five of Minnesota’s top 11 prospects are now Kernels.

It seemed like a good time to make the four-hour drive to Iowa to see them play. So while I’m watching some of these youngsters and doing some reporting for stories you’ll see over the coming days and weeks, I took a few questions about the Minor Leagues and prospects on Bluesky.

From ericinmadison: Anyone in particular you went to see in Cedar Rapids?

Quick’s promotion was sort of what prodded me to plan the trip, but there are quite a few guys worth seeing. Dasan Hill is very exciting, Eduardo Tait is a guy that evaluators love and Marek Houston was the team’s first-round pick last year.

And beyond those names at the top of the prospect list, there are other intriguing players here. Brandon Winokur has yet to find offensive consistency, but has tools for days. Khadim Diaw has shown real on-base ability while splitting time between center field and catcher. It’s a fun and interesting group.

From mlutha: Hey Matthew, what is it about Tait that the organization loves?

And from warrencb11: What's the buzz on Eduardo Tait and how he's getting along down there?

The first one is very easy to answer: he’s a catcher with power. More specifically, he’s a 19-year-old catcher holding his own in High-A that has a .460 career slugging percentage. That will get anyone excited.

As for how it’s going now, he’s holding steady but hasn’t really exploded yet. Tait is working on refining his receiving and his throwing accuracy, as well as mastering the strike zone as a hitter. He got out to a hot start at the plate, but has cooled off lately until hitting an absolute monster shot as I was writing this.

But, again, see above: he’s 19, and he’s in High-A. There aren’t a lot of guys who are even decent at that age at that level. There’s a lot of refinement yet to be done in Tait’s game, but he also has plenty of time to do it.

From baseballandcats: How is Houston looking defensively? Is he living up to the hype with the glove?

Much to my disappointment, Houston started at designated hitter tonight, rather than shortstop. But I’ve talked to a few people here already, and everything I’ve heard is that he’s legitimately a very good shortstop, one of very few true shortstops in the system. He’s not super toolsy, but he's just smooth, solid and composed.

The question is on the other side of the ball. He’s shown some encouraging performance early this year, but there remain concerns as to whether he’s going to hit enough to be a regular in the big leagues.

From wxdave: What is the game experience there? Fun enough for a road trip from the greater St. Cloud area?

I’m really enjoying it. It’s not super zany, not gimmicky, just a ballpark. But it’s a good, classic ballpark. I think the way I’d describe it is it's timeless in a really good way. It’s a relatively new park (built in 2001) that has some feel of a much older one, but you could’ve also convinced me it was an old park that had been nicely renovated. If that makes sense. Anyway, good atmosphere, good ballpark, nothing fancy or cutesy.