Random thought based on two games...

HITTERS

*Miguel Sano has a long way to do. His bat's not ready. His glove's not ready. His head's not ready. Physically, he's a beast. He got one hit (a sharp grounder that slid under the third baseman's glove) in seven at bats. He struck out twice and looked susceptible to any ball that doesn't spin straight. He has time - and should be allowed it - to get that part of his game figured out. He did hit two flyballs that looked pretty routine, but ended up caught on the warning track. With the wind blowing in. Hard. Defensively, he shows flashes but also made a few routine mistakes - dropping a ball in a rundown, throwing to the wrong base to set up the rundown, failing to field a pretty routine grounder. He did some things well though too: fielding a weak roller to nail the runner at first, showing off his cannon arm.

*Eddie Rosario was 2-8 with a 2B and a 3B. He made a boneheaded move on the triple when the ball skipped past the 3B and was thrown out easily at home, for the first out of the inning. He gets his bat through the zone in a hurry. Defensively, he was solid. He made a good turn on a double-play. If I didn't know better, I'd say he's been playing there his whole life.

*JD Williams is fast. He DH'd and pinch ran, so I didn't get to see him in the field. But it was obvious the two times he reached base - an easy stolen base and, today before scoring the winning run, beating the throw to 3rd on a nearly-botched sacrifice. He's not Billy Hamilton-fast, but he's in the same category as Ben Revere.

*Daniel Ortiz is a good hitter. His opposite field home run was impressive.

*Tyler Grimes is a mess at shortstop. I hope he figures it out, his arm is stronger than Sano's.

*AJ Pettersen reminds me of Nick Punto. He battled in all of his at-bats and always seems to come out ahead. He's not a big guy, but I'm not going to count him out.

*Matt Koch hit the ball more squarely than any other Snapper this weekend. He only played Saturday, but the crack of the bat on the ball makes you look up if you're not paying attention.

PITCHERS

*Steven Gruver had a rough outing on Saturday. He didn't make it out of the 2nd and it looked like he was serving up batting practice. He seems to have a hard time consistently keeping the ball down.

*AJ Achter looked good in relief. He abandoned runners and struck a few out. I wouldn't be surprised if he was back in the rotation sometime this year, but again, he's excelled in relief, so maybe he stays there.

*Tim Shibuya was phenomenal. He pounded the lower half of the zone getting called strikes, but also missing bats. He seemed to tire towards the end of his outing, but he struck out 11 and was basically unhittable for five innings. If he continues to pitch like this, I would imagine he'll head to Fort Myers shortly.

*Michael Tonkin was better than his stats show. He broke the only two bats I saw broken on consecutive batters. One reaching on a bleeding grounder and the other hitting a ball to Sano that he just failed to field. So while the "blown save" and 3 hits doesn't look great, he'll continue to be a go-to-guy in the bullpen.

*Corey Williams came in a earned the win with a solid night. The lone hit he allowed actually hit Adam Bryant in the glove. He did fire a very wild pitch to the backstop. (I'll have more on him in the Adopt-A-Prospect forum later.)

OTHER TID-BITS

*Tom Kelly and Jim Rantz were sitting behind the plate. I don't know how Kelly sits still in the booth, he paced back and forth all game. He was mostly encouraging the hitters and pitchers, but got on Sano a little bit when he was misaligned and showed his frustration on Rosario's baserunning gaffe.

*Big thanks to Chrissy Scaffidi for helping me set up an interview with Corey Williams. I know she's busy with the Snappers and their site, but maybe we can talk her into contributing more to this site.

*If you head down, pick a time when it's not so stinking cold. It wasn't only cold, but windy too. But it was still fun to watch some future Twins.

Jeremy, I really enjoy this stuff! Thanks for sharing. People look at Sano's numbers and think he needs to be promoted. It's good to read what you said. Two years ago, I went there and watched Hicks. Many were saying he should have been promoted, and from what I saw, he was where he needs to be.

This is just great stuff... Look forward to your Corey Williams interview. Be sure to link here, if you can. Interesting guy, very smart. Very talented.

When I head to Beloit, I hope you'll be able to make it down too.

And Chrissy is awesome, but incredibly busy. She knows she's very welcome to do anything she likes here at Twins Daily!!

Good stuff, Jeremy!

Thanks guys!

I have the interview up on my adapt-a-prospect page.

I agree with your thoughts on Sano and I know there is a lot of talk about when he should be in Fort Meyers, next year at the earliest is my take. When I have seen him I wasn't alarmed with his fielding, I guess I was prepared for Delmon at third. I thought his instincts around the position were good, his hands seemed quick and soft, and his arm was plenty strong for 3rd base.

For a 18 year old in his first taste of A ball, and a Wisconsin "spring", I think he did enough to say the kid will be alright in the field. The bat will need to find the ball more and I think he is adjusting to the strike zone somewhat, he has taken a few called 3rd strikes at the games I have been at. He was faster then I anticipated and was pretty good on the bases. That being said he seems to have some mental lapses that anyone who has been or knows a 18 year old male understands. It is not constant or sustained, but you get the feeling that the mind might drift a bit here and there, any of us guys have that happen when we were that age or ask yourself about your son, what is he thinking about.

Rosario I thought was the second most impressive bat I have seen there, Danny Ortiz was actually swinging better then either Sano or Rosario, and he made me nervous at second. Not for the long haul as I thought he would improve and it sounds as if his athletic talent is catcing up with his inexperience at second base. That is good to hear.

Also good to hear about Shibuya, I have seen him once and it was not a great night for him. The K's are a plus, but he doesn't project to have those every night.

Thanks for the post. I can't wait to hear what others think about the Snappers this year.

Tyler Grimes, yup. Has some work to do. How did Lin look? He was really struggling when I saw him, sounds as if he picked it up when he got moved up in the order.

I think Lin - and really Pettersen and Bryant - provides some maturity and flexibility in the lineup. All three are guys that play hard, give good at-bats and (although I didn't see Pettersen in the field) are solid defenders. Lin didn't do anything great, but he played left and center and took a lot of pitches. We won't see any on Top 30 prospect lists, but those types of players are invaluable to the organization.

I saw Hicks his first and second year in Beloit and I thought he looked more advanced both times than Sano. This weekend, I was really hoping that I'd see a guy that didn't belong... but I didn't. The Twins will do what's best for him and it will be a couple of years before he's truly in the conversation.