During my morning search for Twins related content, I found this interesting video on the StarTribune website.  In a nutshell its an interview with Jerry White and each of the three centerfield candidates –  Carlos Gomez, Denard Span and Jason Pridie.

Check out the link here:  http://www.startribune.com/video/16538031.html

Since the trade that sent Johan Santana to the Mets, I have had the notion that Carlos Gomez was the heir apparent in the storied history of Twins centerfielders….  Puckett….Hunter…..Gomez.

I will admit that I have not spent much time doing any research on the candidates but I took it for face value that Gomez MUST be the guy.

So….its finally research time.  I’ll start with Gomez

Carlos Gomez  — Age 22

Last year Gomez spent a short stint with the Mets.  He played in 58 games and had a less than impressive line.  He batted .232 with an on base percentage of just .288.  His most impressive ability is his ability to steal bases.  He is touted as being the “fasted man in baseball” however his inability to get on base (which is fueled by his horrible strikeout to walk ratio - 27:8) puts a damper on the only attribute that he seems to offer right now.  Assuming that Gomez improves his OPS, he could easily get 25 stolen bases without tying his cleats.  Gardenhire seems to like his speed and continues to work him out at the first spot in the batting order.  He is in love with his speed and believes that he can be very valuable if he could just learn to bunt and hit the ball into the ground.  The biggest question is whether or not he can actually do that.  He’s very raw and he might have the tools to help the club out but with every triple he gets we might have to deal with him striking out with the bases loaded.

Denard Span — Age 24

Denard has been in the Twins organization for 5 years.  He has been a top 10 Twins prospect since his arrival to the organization back in 2003.  Scouts love his defensive abilities and his speed.  Many in the organization however have been down on his lack of progression and now many consider him to be a “bust”.  Denard has never spent time on the Twins squad and to date has had no major league atbats.  Denard was left off the squad during the September callups last year due to his ineffectiveness at the AAA level.  Gardenhire has currently been splitting time between Span and Gomez and the split-squad games during spring training this year. 

Jason Pridie  — Age 25

Jason might be the most polished of the three candidates.  He has been playing professional baseball for 5 years and has had the most success at the minor league level.  Like Denard Span, Jason has never had a major league at-bat.  The concensus of most media/baseball people is that Pridie is the long shot to make the group.  This has nothing to do with his abilities but more of the “flash” of Gomez and the tenure of Span with the Twins organization.  That being said, Gardy tends to lean towards guys like Pridie…..The hard working guy who will do the little things right.  Pridie possesses speed, is an excellent bunter and uses the whole field during his at-bats.  If the other two candidates falter or don’t give Gardy what he is looking for, he just may be the dark horse of the group.  I have heard some people talk of him as if he’s a “younger, faster” version of Aaron Rowand.  His power seems to be developing and his power numbers and on base percentage increased substantially last year when he was with Durham of the International League. 

Ultimately, Gardy will have a tough decision to make on who to keep and who should take the 300 yard walk across the parking lot to the Twins minor league complex.  So far, it has been a race and it appears that each player has something unique to bring to the Twins.