Article: Twins Minor League Report (9/8): Ft. Myers Wins Florida State League Championship

[Seth Stohs]

Game 4 had to wait one extra day due to rain in Daytona on Sunday night, but on Monday the Miracle and Cubs were back in action. What a game it was, as extra innings were needed to determine a winner! The Miracle won their first Florida State League title. Keep reading to find out which players were able to play the role of hero in such a big game.MIRACLE MATTERS

Game 4 – Ft. Myers 4, Daytona 2 (11 innings)

Box Score

 

For the first time in team history, the Ft. Myers Miracle are the champions of the Florida State League. It did not come easily as the team had to work a little overtime to accomplish the feat!

 

In the top of the first inning, Aderlin Mejia led off and advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Niko Goodrum. He moved up to third base on a wild pitch. Travis Harrison hit a sacrifice fly to give the Miracle a 1-0 lead.

 

In the fourth inning, Stuart Turner led off with a single. He advanced to second on a wild pitch and then to third on an infield single by Max Kepler. Tyler Grimes came up and hit a double down the left field line to give the Miracle a 2-0 lead.

 

DJ Baxendale started and did not allow a run in the first three innings. However, the Daytona Cubs scored an unearned run in the bottom of the fourth and another unearned run in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game at two.

 

That is where the score remained until the 11^th inning. Adam Walker led off with an opposite field double. After Tyler Grimes popped up a bunt attempt, Jason Kanzler came to the plate and unloaded a long home run over the left field wall. The blast gave the Miracle a 4-2 lead. It was a lead that would be held by Zack Jones in the bottom of the 11^th frame.

 

Jason Kanzler photo by Linwood Ferguson, Ft. Myers Miracle

Baxendale started and gave up only the two unearned runs on six hits over 5.2 innings. He walked three and struck out seven. Brandon Peterson came on and got out of the sixth and worked a 1-2-3 seventh. Nick Burdi got out all six batters he faced, four of them on strikeouts. DJ Johnson was hitting 95 when he pitched the 10^th inning. He gave up one hit and struck out two. With the lead, Zack Jones was brought in for the 11^th and pitched a 1-2-3 inning for the save, wrapping up the championship.

 

Aderlin Mejia did a great job as a leadoff man. He went 2-3 with two walks. Tyler Grimes also had two hits including his RBI double. Max Kepler went 2-4.

 

But the offensive hero on this night was Jason Kanzler. He was just 1-5 in the game and struck out twice, but there was no bigger hit than his 11^th inning home run that gave the Miracle the lead.

 

Several of these Miracle players were on the Appalachian League championship team in 2012 as well as being a part of the terrific team in Cedar Rapids a year ago. This team has a culture of winning.

 

Congratulations to Doug Mientkiewicz, pitching coach Gary Lucas, hitting coach Jim Dwyer, all the players and any of the players who spent time with the Miracle in 2014. That was a pretty impressive, talented group of players.

 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

 

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Nick Burdi, Ft. Myers Miracle

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Jason Kanzler, Ft. Myers Miracle

 

 

Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Miracle game and season.

 

Click here to view the article

[Squirrel]

Fantastic news!  Congrats to the Miracle!

[lightfoot789]

What a crew.  Congrats to the Miracle and the coaching staff.  2 Championships and the best record in baseball the year they missed out. What a Crew

 Can't wait for 2015.

[jokin]

I've said it before, but it bears repeating.... the core of this Miracle group is due for promotion to AA in 2015, and joining them, at least to start out the season, will likely be Sano, Buxton and Polanco.  This promises to be a ridiculously good lineup for AA, with a possible scenario of legit major-league-starter prospects at every position in the field, and a relief pitcher crew that very well may be the best in all of the minor leagues at any level (and you might even see Reed added to this group- he seems way advanced for A-level ball!).  And AA is the level where players are literally a phone call away from moving to the Twins, finally! Congratulations, guys.

[Seth Stohs]

C: Stuart Turner

1B: Dalton Hicks/Mike Gonzales

2B: Eddie Rosario

SS: Jorge Polanco, Aderlin Mejia

3B: Miguel Sano, Niko Goodrum

LF: Travis Harrison

CF: Byron Buxton

RF: Adam Walker

 

By midseason, with promotions, guys like Kanzler and Garver could be there too.

 

SP: Berrios, Lee, Wheeler, Baxendale,  

RP: Zack Jones, Nick Burdi, Brandon Peterson, DJ Johnson, Todd Van Steensel, Tyler Jones

 

And I know I'm missing guys... but this is pretty impressive bunch.

[glunn]

Congratulations to the Miracle, and thanks to Seth for the article.

 

I look forward to seeing the prospect descriptions for these players in this winter's handbook.

[jokin]

C: Stuart Turner

1B: Dalton Hicks/Mike Gonzales

2B: Eddie Rosario

SS: Jorge Polanco, Aderlin Mejia

3B: Miguel Sano, Niko Goodrum

LF: Travis Harrison

CF: Byron Buxton

RF: Adam Walker

 

By midseason, with promotions, guys like Kanzler and Garver could be there too.

 

SP: Berrios, Lee, Wheeler, Baxendale,  

RP: Zack Jones, Nick Burdi, Brandon Peterson, DJ Johnson, Todd Van Steensel, Tyler Jones

 

And I know I'm missing guys... but this is pretty impressive bunch.

 

And with solid performances from three guys going to the AFL- 

 

1)  Max Kepler plays 1B/OF in place of Gonzalez and, 

2) Jake Reed joins the six you listed in the relief corps- that is a potentially unreal 7-man relief crew.

3) And I would assume Jason Adam would be the 5th starter?

[Paul Pleiss]

I mean, come on guys, no one even mentioned it  yet... JASON KANZLER'S MUSTACHE! It's championship caliber. No wonder this team won.

[Paul Pleiss]

Are all of those guys old enough to be drinking champaign? Did the Twins organization just provide alcohol to minors? Is there a law suit coming?

[TNTwinsFan]

Sparkling grape juice?

[lightfoot789]

C: Stuart Turner

1B: Dalton Hicks/Mike Gonzales

2B: Eddie Rosario

SS: Jorge Polanco, Aderlin Mejia

3B: Miguel Sano, Niko Goodrum

LF: Travis Harrison

CF: Byron Buxton

RF: Adam Walker

 

By midseason, with promotions, guys like Kanzler and Garver could be there too.

 

SP: Berrios, Lee, Wheeler, Baxendale,  

RP: Zack Jones, Nick Burdi, Brandon Peterson, DJ Johnson, Todd Van Steensel, Tyler Jones

 

And I know I'm missing guys... but this is pretty impressive bunch.

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I love the list and love the fact that Sano gets to play and know these guys on the way up too.  I must say - I would add Matt Tomshaw and Tim Shibuya for that 6 man Rotation and now your really looking nasty. 

[twinssouth]

Congrats to the Miracles and coaching staff and, they had to win all home playoff games at Jet Blue rather than Hammond. That's even more amazing. This is a talented bunch. I say bring them all up now, including Doug and lets see some Dougie ball.

[twinssouth]

Seth, what do we now, the Minors are done. Is there a Twins affiliate in Korea or some place we can follow. I need to find a withdrawal pill

[Badsmerf]

C: Stuart Turner

1B: Dalton Hicks/Mike Gonzales

2B: Eddie Rosario

SS: Jorge Polanco, Aderlin Mejia

3B: Miguel Sano, Niko Goodrum

LF: Travis Harrison

CF: Byron Buxton

RF: Adam Walker

 

By midseason, with promotions, guys like Kanzler and Garver could be there too.

 

SP: Berrios, Lee, Wheeler, Baxendale,  

RP: Zack Jones, Nick Burdi, Brandon Peterson, DJ Johnson, Todd Van Steensel, Tyler Jones

 

And I know I'm missing guys... but this is pretty impressive bunch.

That team.... would honestly compete with the Twins. Obviously the pitching for the Twins would be better, but that line-up is going to score a ton of runs. Should be fun watching those guys start out the year.

[Seth Stohs]

Seth, what do we now, the Minors are done. Is there a Twins affiliate in Korea or some place we can follow. I need to find a withdrawal pill

 

I posted that on Twitter last night... after the excitement of the Miracle winning, it it me that there would be no more minor league box scores for Twins affiliates until April. We'll have the Arizona Fall League and the winter leagues in Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Australia... but kind of sad!

[Seth Stohs]

Are all of those guys old enough to be drinking champaign? Did the Twins organization just provide alcohol to minors? Is there a law suit coming?

 

No worries... Only two 21 year olds on the team. The rest are older. Kepler and Burdi are the only 21 year olds. If Berrios would have stuck with the Miracle all season, he is only 20 until next May.

[Halsey Hall]

Way to go Miracle! Success breeds success.

[DJL44]

Everyone forgot Levi Michael at 2B.

[Seth Stohs]

Forgot Michael at 2B and Kepler at 4 OF spots and 1B... Top of head doesn't always work.  Just a lot of talent!

[jokin]

Forgot Michael at 2B and Kepler at 4 OF spots and 1B... Top of head doesn't always work.  Just a lot of talent!

 

I think there's a decent chance that Michael moves on up to Rochester to play 2nd, and possibly some SS if Florimon leaves the organization.

 

 

Regarding Kepler.....It was really a tale of two seasons for Max at Ft Myers.  Perhaps he was (finally) free of injuries, perhaps he altered his approach at the plate, or perhaps he's finally maturing, or maybe all three, as the contrast in these numbers is stark:

 

April 1-July 11:    K% 22.5%  OPS .622 ISO .099  wRC+ 80

 

July 13-Sep 8:     K% 11.0%  OPS .835 ISO .142 wRC+ 140

 

Max is on the (roster) clock,  I'd really like to think that July 13 was the jump-off point to the acceleration phase in his career trajectory.  I hope that both he and the club have the sense of urgency to build on these last 2 months and produce a very solid offseason, starting with the AFL, and looking to not be left behind the rest of the Miracle championship crew going into 2015.

[Monkeypaws]

It is a miracle!

[Shane Wahl]

I've said it before, but it bears repeating.... the core of this Miracle group is due for promotion to AA in 2015, and joining them, at least to start out the season, will likely be Sano, Buxton and Polanco.  This promises to be a ridiculously good lineup for AA, with a possible scenario of legit major-league-starter prospects at every position in the field, and a relief pitcher crew that very well may be the best in all of the minor leagues at any level (and you might even see Reed added to this group- he seems way advanced for A-level ball!).  And AA is the level where players are literally a phone call away from moving to the Twins, finally! Congratulations, guys.

 

When you put it that way, damn. AA is going to be interesting, at least through June.

[VeePee]

In a couple years, they may as well ditch the whole Minnesota team and put these guys in their place. Incredible talent as individuals, but together they are almost unstoppable.

[TRex]

It will be interesting to compare the (potential) 2015 Rock Cats with the 1999 Rock Cats that had at least 6 position players that not only went on to have MLB careers, but each played for at least 10 years!  This group includes: Torii Hunter, Doug Mientkiewicz, Jacque Jones, Cristian Guzman, AJ Peirzynski and Chad Moeller. Despite their lofty accomplishments, the only one of the bunch that was rated in the BA top-100 was Guzman at 68. There were several other position players that got cups of coffee in the show, as well as future coaches Chad Allen and Jeff Smith. The pitching corps was much less impressive, but still included 4 players with significant longevity: Mark Redman (10yr.), Mike Lincoln (9 yr.), Joe Mays (7yr.) and JC Romero (14 yr).

 

Let the eternal debate over ceiling vs. floor begin yet again!

Edited September 10, 2014 by TRex

[jokin]

It will be interesting to compare the (potential) 2015 Rock Cats with the 1999 Rock Cats that had at least 6 position players that not only went on to have MLB careers, but each played for at least 10 years!  This group includes: Torii Hunter, Doug Mientkiewicz, Jacque Jones, Cristian Guzman, AJ Peirzynski and Chad Moeller. Despite their lofty accomplishments, the only one of the bunch that was rated in the BA top-100 was Guzman at 68. There were several other position players that got cups of coffee in the show, as well as future coaches Chad Allen and Jeff Smith. The pitching corps was much less impressive, but still included 4 players with significant longevity: Mark Redman (10yr.), Mike Lincoln (9 yr.), Joe Mays (7yr.) and JC Romero (14 yr).

 

Let the eternal debate over ceiling vs. floor begin yet again!

 

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