Two Twins who starred in winter ball

Deolis Guerra is the
sole remaining piece
from the Johan
Santana trade.

Baseball America has posted (subscribers only) a piece entitled "Ten Players Who Helped Their Stock in Winter Ball." Two of the 10 are Twins.

Eddie Rosario is No. 2 on the BA list (behind Cardinals mega-prospect Oscar Tavaras). BA notes that Rosario  hit .338/.386./.496 in 133 at bats for Mayaguez in his native Puerto Rico, second in the league in batting average and fourth in slugging percentage.

The concluding sentence:

Scouts have questions about whether Rosario has the defensive chops to play an up-the-middle position -- he played mostly right field in Puerto Rico -- but his hit tool is impressive.

Deolis Guerra was No. 10. The reliever (who lost his spot on the 40-man roster this winter but is a spring training invitee) struck out 31 while walking five in 25 innings for Navegantes in the Venezuelan League. A bad final outing bumped his ERA up to 3.81.

The concluding sentence:

The ceiling here is limited, but Guerra might not be a total bust after all.

I don't know that their good winter seasons change much for either. Rosario is still going to open 2013 in High A ball, and the Twins are still going to try to make him a second baseman. I expected Guerra to reach the majors last year, but he missed a good part of the season with injury. Now he's got more hurdles in his way, and even a strong spring training probably isn't going to get him on the Opening Day roster.