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This is the first part in one I envision being a three part examination of the Twins bullpen. In Part I, I will look at the 2015 Twins bullpen as a whole, and compare it to the other bullpens in MLB. In Parts II and III, I will look at the performance of the individual members of the Twins bullpen and then at several players in the upper levels of the Twins minor league system who could be viable replacement options. There are two main features of the Twins’ bullpen so far in 2015: it’s bad, a
Feel free to ask any questions. I have been working on this for awhile, and here is my completed list, but this order should move around for the next two weeks: 1. Brendan Rodgers, Lake Mary High School (Florida), SS 2. Dansby Swanson, Vanderbilt, SS 3. Dillon Tate, UC Santa Barbara, RHP 4. Alex Bregman, Louisiana State, SS/2B 5. Tyler Jay, Illinois, LHP 6. Kyle Tucker, Plant High School (Florida), OF 7. Brady Aiken, IGM Academy (Florida), LHP 8. Daz Cameron, Eagle’s Landing Christian Academ
All four of the Minnesota Twins affiliates were in action on Sunday afternoon, and along with Major League team, the organization had an undefeated day. In Rochester, a certain starting pitcher continued his run of AAA dominance, top prospects began and ended the scoring for Chattanooga, Fort Myers got a complete game shutout effort on the hill, and the Cedar Rapids lineup knocked the Twins’ former affiliate around their old ball park. Read on to find out who did what and where in Sunday’s M
http://www.stlsportspage.com/Portals/0/Images/2014%20Local%20College/jon%20harris%20main%205-7-15.jpg Jon Harris is a 6'4", 190 pound right handed pitcher for Missouri State who was selected by the Blue Jays in the 2012 draft, but did not sign. Harris has a four pitch mix, including a fastball, curveball, slider, and changeup. Harris' delivery is a good, strong, repeatable one that draws rave reviews from some scouts, and keeps a good rhythm throughout the game. Harris' stock has soared this s
I like doing prospect lists sometime after the draft and after some rookie ball has been played. In part because it's a bit of a slow time of the year in the minor league forums and in the last few years, it's been relatively slow in the major league forums. This is a link to my top 25 from last season. Most of these guys are still in the system, and that has a lot to do with the fact that they were mostly excelling at the lower levels. That has changed with a lot of guys showing good results in
http://provationsgroup.org/ftpfiles/louisville/Baseball/2015%20Louisville%20Baseball%20Media%20Guide%20Final%20Files/Header%20Photos/Funkhouser-3.jpeg Kyle Funkhouser is a 6'2", 218 pound right handed pitcher for University of Louisville who was undrafted out of high school. Funkhouser usually throws three pitches, a fastball, slider, and changeup, but has thrown a curveball at times. The biggest worries about Funkhouser are his inability to command his pitches, and not having a great secondar
With the first quarter of the 2015 Major League Baseball season in the books, we are provided a great opportunity to take a look at how the season is shaping up. Considering the projections that were made coming into the year, it's a good time to see how things stand, and take note of some adjustments that may shake out as the season draws on. Keeping the focus on the AL Central, namely the Twins, let's take a look at the division first. Going into the year I had a hard time believing that any t
http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/3f894c2d87d7cbb17f0c291318475ce0cf011b26/c=127-0-2233-1581&r=x404&c=534x401/local/-/media/Nashville/Nashville/2014/06/23/1403538632000-buehler.jpeg Walker Buehler is a 6'1", 160 pound right handed pitcher for Vanderbilt University who was drafted in the 14th round of the 2012 MLB Rule 4 draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates, but went on to pitch for the Commodores. Buehler has four pitches, a good fastball, curveball, slider and change, giving him a nice reper
The Minnesota Twins are set to kick off a three game series with the Southsiders over the weekend. With the White Sox welcoming the Twins into town, Minnesota is set to do battle with an AL Central opponent for the first time in just over a week. On the season, the Twins are 5-2 against Chicago, including a four game sweep. This time around however, a few key opportunities will present themselves. As things stand currently, the Twins are 23-17 holding down the third spot in the AL Central. The
The Cedar Rapids Kernels passed the midpoint of the first half of their 2015 season over the past weekend, making it an appropriate time to get manager Jake Mauer’s assessment of how their season is progressing. There’s not a lot for the manager to complain loudly about, with his team vying for the second best record in the entire Midwest League. Then again, his guys have consistently remained several games behind Western Division leading Quad Cities in the standings, so there’s certainly room
http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/College+World+Series+Vanderbilt+v+Virginia+3IMhWWkMDVMl.jpg Carson Fulmer is a 5'11", 195 pound right-handed pitcher for the Vanderbilt Commodores who was drafted by the Red Sox in the 15th round of the 2012 amateur draft, but chose to attend college. Fulmer throws a fastball that can reach the high nineties, a nasty curveball, and a changeup. Fulmer has some effort in his delivery, but he is very athletic, so he can maintain velocity throughout his starts, m
In the dead of the Pittsburgh night, late in the game (the top of the 13th inning to be exact), Joe Mauer did something that he has abandoned since August 17, 2014. With Antonio Bastardo on the mound, Mauer deposited a pitch over the right-centerfield wall at PNC Bank stadium. The Twins went on to win the game by a tally of 4-3. The home run was the shot that lifted Minnesota over the Pirates, but for Joe, it really doesn't matter. The home run off of Bastardo ended a 286 at bat drought for Maue
http://web.usabaseball.com/assets/images/9/7/0/122694970/cuts/JayGSAMW_mtgh1xoi_l0cm9a6e.jpg Tyler Jay is a 6'1", 175 pound left-handed pitcher for the University of Illinois who went undrafted out of high school, but made a huge jump during his sophomore year. Jay has an electric arm, usually sitting around 95 mph, but can get it up to 98 frequently, and he also throws a slider, curve, and change. Although he is a power pitcher, he does not use a ton of effort in his delivery, using his athle
As of May 20, the Minnesota Twins have played 39 games and have compiled a 22-17 record. After being picked by many to finish last in the AL Central, and even lose 90 games for a 5th straight year by some, Minnesota has done nothing but surpass expectations. Sitting third in the AL Central, the Twins offense has once again been one of the best in the big leagues (currently 6th in runs scored). While starting pitching has been better than in recent years, it is one man in the bullpen that may be
I tend to spend my mornings with four things: a bowl of cereal, a cup of tea at hand, my MLB At Bat app and a folded over copy of The Economist magazine. As I gorge on both carbs and information, I'm happy to know that the Twins have room to grow and that seemingly every night someone out does themselves (even if someone else does worse). But I'm also happy to balance the Twins in one corner of my mind and world events (like Greek debt defaults and Indian corruption trials) are squarely in ano
http://cdn.baseballamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Mike-Nikorak-2015-mj.jpg Mike Nikorak is a right handed pitcher out of Stroudsburg High School (Pennsylvania) who has risen steadily since last summer. Nikorak is a power pitcher who can hit 98 mph, but usually sits in the low-mid nineties, and also throws a curveball and changeup. He repeats his delivery well, and is one of the better athletes in this year's draft class, so he should be able to remain a starting pitcher. Nikorak is com
Max Kepler has been featured up and down Twins prospect lists since the Twins signed him as a teenager out of Europe. The list of successful major league players born in Europe is small but there's always been a little something extra with Kepler. His parents were both professional dancers so he's got a strong athletic background. Minnesota took it slow with Kepler allowing him to play three years in the rookie leagues. Over the last two seasons, he has worked through both Low-A and High-A and
Kyle Gibson is elite...when it comes to ground ball pitchers. And that's a good thing. According to Baseball Nation, a ground ball pitcher is a type of pitcher that has a tendency to induce ground balls from opposing batters. The average ground ball pitcher has a ground ball rate of at least 50% with extreme ground ball pitchers maintaining a ground ball rate of around 55%. In his brief MLB career, Gibson has consistently proven he is a top 20 pitcher at inducing ground balls. Gibson had a
This isn’t exactly the blueprint that we had in mind, going out and signing a guy to $55 million. The ideal is to have them keep coming through the system. – Twins GM Terry Ryan after signing Ervin Santana, 12/15/14 Minnesota Twins general manager Terry Ryan said some intriguing things this offseason, chief among them were: 1) That he wants to make the playoffs this year (“I’m trying to be realistic. Our expectations in that clubhouse should be to make the postseason.” — Nov. 11). 2) That th
For the first time in the 2015 Major League Baseball season, and also coincidentally the first time in Paul Molitor's managerial career, the Minnesota Twins will face off against a National League opponent. With that comes the challenges of managing around not having the designated hitter at your disposal. However silly I believe that to be (and I do think it's silly), Molitor may have the deck stacked against him. Now full disclosure, we aren't talking about Dan Jennings, Jeffrey Loria, and the
http://collegebaseballcentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Michael-Matuella-620x400.jpg Michael Matuella is a right handed pitcher for Duke University who was undrafted out of high school. He has a four pitch mix, including a 93-97 mph fastball, a curve, slider, and changeup. He has a good, repeatable delivery, and his 6'7" frame gives him a good plane and angle, making his delivery hard to get a good read on. Matuella would likely have been a top five pick, but he suffered from Tommy John ear
This post isn't approved for general viewing, but since I did spend some time and thought composing it and trying to impart serious intent, I feel it does relate some more pretty cogent facts to the debate on the "Nunez back/Vargas optioned to AAA" thread. I thought that a blog-piece might be just the place for it. This post was made in response to a poster that felt that those opposed to the Vargas demotion were "shading" the truth of what the Twins brass was thinking on the matter, that Bern
The year was 2011, and the Minnesota Twins had two players competing for one spot at the hot corner. One was a 19th round draft pick and coming off of a season that had him in the running for Rookie of the Year honors. The other was a first round draft pick that had just experienced his first cup of coffee. At the end of the year though, and into the future, it was the first round draft pick that would take over. Trevor Plouffe grabbed the role from Danny Valencia, and he hasn't looked back. Of
The 23-year-old from Cuba has just completed his first big-league inning. After a single, he got a double play. Walked Juan Soto but then got a fly out. Hit 98.4 mph with his second pitch.
I am not a follower of Donald Trump. I have participated in several no kings rallies and am disgusted with what he and his followers have done to our country and the world. I would like to know what most Brazilians feel about the United States now and about the folks our citizens have elected to represent us.
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hello Seth......you'll wanna correct the date in headline of today's minor league report. :-) Brad· 0 replies
I am not a follower of Donald Trump. I have participated in several no kings rallies and am disgusted with what he and his followers have done to our country and the world. I would like to know what most Brazilians feel about the United States now and about the folks our citizens have elected to represent us.· 1 reply
