Minor Leagues

Before spring training, Twins Daily caught up with right-handed reliever Tom Hackimer for a Get to Know Him Q&A. He was preparing for the 2017 season, his first full-season as a professional. Hackimer had been the Twins 4th round pick after playing at St. John’s University in New York.

The 23-year-old is currently in Arizona representing the Twins in the Arizona Fall League where he has given up one run over four innings.

(This report includes the games played through 10/15)

Minnesota Twins prospects in the Arizona Fall League are playing on the roster of the Surprise Saguaros for the second season in a row, and in the first week of the season their squad managed a 2-3 record. They lost a couple of close games where they had chances to tie late, with Twins prospects doing their part, but teammates weren’t able to deliver the finishing blows.

Chris Paul racked up hits in two of his three games, and left-handed relievers Tyler Jay and Andrew Vasquez passed their first tests out in the desert. It’s actually kind of hard to believe what Vasquez did, but I’ll elaborate on that in his recap…

The Twins used their 32nd-round pick in 2015 to take a tall, left-handed pitcher out of Westmont College. While he was patiently worked with by the Twins early in his career, he has moved quickly in the last 12 months. He has become one of the most intriguing left-handed relievers in the Twins organization. I’ve seen him work in the bullpen in Ft. Myers, and I’ve seen him in games in Cedar Rapids. Catchers who are working with him often use the word “nasty” to describe his stuff.

My non-professional scouting opinion is that he has a good, heavy fastball. He’s tall and his motion makes it look as if he could be a bit wild, but he gets a lot of movement and generally throws a lot of strikes. He also has a really good slider. In 37 games and 58 innings between Cedar Rapids and Ft. Myers, he posted a 1.55 ERA and struck out 85 batters with just 21 walks.

Today starts the 2017 Arizona Fall League season. Each week throughout the Fall League, Steve Lein will post an update on each of the Twins prospects there.


As I watch my dad post picture after picture of himself trudging through the northern woods for grouse and sitting on the island of our northern lake waiting for ducks with the family lab Sage by his side, I’m reminded of how much I love the Fall season.

These are things I grew up doing with him, my brother, and our dogs, and has instilled a lifelong appreciation of this time of year and the colors that come with it. It is my favorite time of the year.

But October also holds a different feeling for a lot of sports fans, myself included, as it also means it is time for the MLB playoffs and the race for the pennant for their favorite team. While the Minnesota Twins finally made it back to the postseason this year, their early exit was a hard one to take until you realized what it meant for the future. That it is very bright for a young hitting core of Miguel Sano, Byron Buxton, Eddie Rosario, Jorge Polanco and Max Kepler.

All of these players spent some of their minor league development time playing baseball in the offseason. While Sano and Polanco spent this time in their home country of the Dominican Republic where they grew up not too far away from each other, Buxton, Rosario and Kepler all spent time in the Arizona Fall League, which kicks off today around 2:35PM CST.

The Minnesota Twins season came to an end on Tuesday night at the hands of the New York Yankees. Let me know if you've heard that one before. It was the Twins 13th straight postseason loss. Many of them have been to the Yankees and that trend continued despite the Twins seven-season hiatus from the playoffs.

The Twins' season came to an end. It was a tremendous turnaround and yet another loss to the hated Yankees leaves a bad taste in our mouths.

Harmon Killebrew leads the Minnesota Twins organization in several career statistics including games played, home runs, RBI, walks and OPS. He was also a leader off the field. When he passed away back in 2011, his off-field leadership and service was praised by the Twins and people around the game of baseball. The Twins initiated the Harmon Killebrew Award for Community Service given annually to one player from each of the four Twins minor league affiliates.

Today we highlight the 2017 Harmon Killebrew Award winner from the Chattanooga Lookouts, outfielder Travis Harrison.

Eight times in his Hall of Fame career Harmon Killebrew hit over 40 home runs. Six times he led his league in homers. He played on 11 All Star teams. However, it was off the field where Killebrew made a name for himself during and after his career. His kindness was evident during his career, and he worked tirelessly after his career as well to help those in need.

When Killebrew passed away in 2011, the Twins initiated the Harmon Killebrew Award for Community Service. Each of the Twins four full-season affiliates would have one recipient each year. Today, we will share the story of the Rochester Red Wings 2017 recipient, DJ Baxendale.

475 of his 573 career home runs came while wearing a Minnesota Twins uniform. Harmon Killebrew had a major impact on many teams and many playoff teams. He also is well known for the impact that he had on people in the community. When the Hall of Famer passed away in 2011, the Minnesota Twins announced that they would award one player from each of their four full-season affiliates the Harmon Killebrew Award for Community Service. After writing about the Ft. Myers Miracle recipient yesterday, we today highlight the choice for the Cedar Rapids Kernels.

In 2011, Twins (and Baseball) Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew passed away. 573 career home runs, all but 14 with the Twins. He was inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame in 1984 and was an original Minnesota Twins Hall of Famer. When discussing or ranking the list of great Minnesota Twins in history, you don’t have to scroll down to find Harmon Killebrew’s name.

As great as he was on the baseball field, most who knew him will tell you that he was an even better man. Killebrew was tremendous in the community throughout his entire life. So, when he passed away, the Twins announced the Harmon Killebrew Award for community service. Each season, there would be one minor league player from each of the four full-season minor league affiliates. Over the next couple of days, we’ll highlight the four 2017 Killebrew Award winners.

Bottom of the ninth inning of a championship game. A runner on first base. Your team is down by one run. You step to the plate.

It’s a dream scenario we all have enacted in our minds at one time or another. Earlier this month, Chattanooga Lookouts first baseman Jonathan Rodriguez got to live that dream. He got a fastball up in the zone, and he launched it deep into the night, well beyond the fence in left-center field. Immediately, he raised his arms and walked toward first base. His teammates leapt out of the home dugout and raced to greet him when he arrived at home plate. The home run gave the Lookouts a 3-2 win in the game, and a 3-2 win in the series. It also gave them a share of the Southern League championship.

You see, the Southern League decided to cancel the championship series due to Hurricane Irma which affected people in Puerto Rico, Cuba and made landfall in Florida as well. While he was playing hero for Chattanooga, Rodriguez had family and friends back home in Puerto Rico dealing with the aftermath of the hurricane.

After the season, Rodriguez returned home to Puerto Rico and soon after Hurricane Maria arrived. It was bigger and badder than Irma and caused devastation throughout the entire island. Power was knocked out throughout the country and there is a good chance it won’t be returned for months. Jonathan Rodriguez is doing what he can to help the relief efforts.

While there are a lot of Hurricane relief efforts in Texas and Florida, let’s also remember that Puerto Rico is a US commonwealth. These are American citizens as well, and they need help. A lot of help. Yankees legend Jorge Posada wrote a heartfelt article for the Players Tribune, asking for a favor.

Eddie Rosario, Jose Berrios and Kennys Vargas are Twins players from Puerto Rico, but there are several Twins minor leaguers from the island nation. The Twins are scheduled to play two games against Cleveland next season in Puerto Rico, at Hiram Bithorn Stadium. The stadium suffered major damage in this hurricane.

So, as you read this, consider donating to Puerto Rico relief efforts if you are able.

The Minnesota Twins minor league season came to about ten days ago, but it was a successful season all around.

• The Rochester Red Wings won 80 games and lost a tie-breaker for the wild card spot in the International League playoffs.
• The Chattanooga Lookouts were the best team in the Southern League and shared the league’s championship due to Hurricane Irma.
• The Ft. Myers Miracle had a terrific second half to earn a playoff berth where they lost in the first round.
• The Cedar Rapids Kernels earned their playoff spot in the first half. They won their first playoff series before losing in Game 3 of the West Division championship. The team that beat them, Quad Cities, went on to win the Midwest League championship.
• The Elizabethton Twins won another Appalachian League title, and it appears they will remain a Twins affiliate for another five years (or more).
• The Gulf Coast League team won its division and lost in the GCL semifinals.
• The Dominican Summer League Twins also made the playoffs in 2017.

Last week, we announced our minor league awards:

• Short-Season Minor League Pitcher of the Year - Jovani Moran
• Short-Season Minor League Hitter of the Year - Akil Baddoo
• Twins Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Year - John Curtiss
• Twins Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Year - Stephen Gonsalves
• Twins Minor League Hitter of the Year - Mitch Garver

When your organization has as much success as the Minnesota Twins affiliates had during the 2017 season, there’s a good chance there were a lot of strong offensive performers at every level. That was certainly the case when going through the candidates for this award, as several names who had big seasons couldn’t crack the list.

Especially amazing when researching this, was the lineup of the 2017 Southern League Co-Champion Chattanooga Lookouts. Names from their roster litter the Southern League leader board for just about every offensive category.

But when it came down to it, there was one guy who stood out on almost everyone’s ballot, and he’s no stranger to this award having won it once already in his MiLB career.