Twins Fan From Afar

Pretty awesome, guys. Well done.

Thanks, error fixed! I have a small ticket plan, and as a result of my work with this website can access the pressbox and players. I hold out hope for May. 80% of his start was fantastic tonight. He does have kind of a funky delivery, though.

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In the nightcap it wasn't just Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario that I was excited to see. This was also my first time seeing righty Trevor May in person. May consistently hit 93 with his fastball in the 1st inning, and was moving it in and out pretty effectively. Same control problems we have all heard about, though. Had a 4-pitch walk and a wild pitch in the first inning. 20 pitches to get out of it. The second inning, though, was much better -- 14 pitches 1-2-3. Ironically, former Twins' farmhand David Bromberg got the start for the Altoona Curve. He pitched very, very well tonight. The Twins' big prospects: Rosario walked in his first at-bat. Sano K'd mightily. Morales -- who shouldn't be forgotten -- also struck out swinging. Control issues came back in 3rd inning for May. He walked leadoff batter, and took 13 total pitches to record an out (swinging strikeout). But then May came back with a convincing strikeout. He started off the next hitter with 3 balls before giving up a well struck homer to left-center. With May, it's not just the walks -- it's the extra pitches the walks and control problems generate. One positive: I like May's curve. Another: he was still throwing the fastball 93 in the 6th inning just about 90 pitches into his outing. In Rosario's second at-bat, he really turned on a 1-1 offering for a hard single to right. It was a quick, decisive and powerful swing. Sano's second at bat: worked a 3-1 count, got a pitch to hit, and again just missed it. Another high sacrifice fly just shy of the warning track, to put the Cats on the board. Morales second at-bat: half-swing strikeout. Not a good at-bat. Rosario's third at-bat, half-swinging strikeout. He did take a vicious cut on a fastball earlier in the at-bat. I can definitely see where the power comes from. Rosario made a great play at second -- picking a low throw from C Kyle Knudson and applying the tag just in time. Definitely an average to above-average play. The the kind of thing that makes a manager curse: Trevor May immediately walks that batter with 2 outs. All in all, May had a decent start. 6 and 1/3 innings, charged with 3 earned runs. The control problems were on display, but so was his strikeout potential. 8 Ks and 3 walks; 106 pitches; 62 for strikes. The players were pretty tired after the doubleheader, and the locker room was already clearing out. There was one guy at his locker, eating a plate of food in silence. It was Sano. I asked for just a moment of his time. Clearly Sano was tired from a whirlwind few days, but obliged. No translator, either! Regarding his 2 sacrifice flies tonight, Sano admitted that "when [he] hit them, [he] thought they were home runs," but he was just "a little under" the ball. On his call-up: "I was so happy, I have been working so hard." Describing the moment he was called up, Sano told me: "[Doug] Mientkiewicz said 'Sano, Rosario, Morales come here. You're ready to be promoted to Double-A.'" Regarding his defense, at third base, Sano confirmed that he is "totally comfortable there." And again, he looked very comfortable fielding tonight. All in all, it was 2 Rock Cats losses, but solid offensive and defensive performances from Sano and Rosario. More notes forthcoming, but it's been a long night of baseball.

In the nightcap it wasn't just Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario that I was excited to see. This was also my first time seeing righty Trevor May in person. May consistently hit 93 with his fastball in the 1st inning, and was moving it in and out pretty effectively. Same control problems we have all heard about, though. Had a 4-pitch walk and a wild pitch in the first inning. 20 pitches to get out of it. The second inning, though, was much better -- 14 pitches 1-2-3. Ironically, former Twins' farmhand David Bromberg got the start for the Altoona Curve. He pitched very, very well tonight. The Twins' big prospects: Rosario walked in his first at-bat. Sano K'd mightily. Morales -- who shouldn't be forgotten -- also struck out swinging. Control issues came back in 3rd inning for May. He walked leadoff batter, and took 13 total pitches to record an out (swinging strikeout). But then May came back with a convincing strikeout. He started off the next hitter with 3 balls before giving up a well struck homer to left-center. With May, it's not just the walks -- it's the extra pitches the walks and control problems generate. One positive: I like May's curve. Another: he was still throwing the fastball 93 in the 6th inning just about 90 pitches into his outing. In Rosario's second at-bat, he really turned on a 1-1 offering for a hard single to right. It was a quick, decisive and powerful swing. Sano's second at bat: worked a 3-1 count, got a pitch to hit, and again just missed it. Another high sacrifice fly just shy of the warning track, to put the Cats on the board. Morales second at-bat: half-swing strikeout. Not a good at-bat. Rosario's third at-bat, half-swinging strikeout. He did take a vicious cut on a fastball earlier in the at-bat. I can definitely see where the power comes from. Rosario made a great play at second -- picking a low throw from C Kyle Knudson and applying the tag just in time. Definitely an average to above-average play. The the kind of thing that makes a manager curse: Trevor May immediately walks that batter with 2 outs. All in all, May had a decent start. 6 and 1/3 innings, charged with 3 earned runs. The control problems were on display, but so was his strikeout potential. 8 Ks and 3 walks; 106 pitches; 62 for strikes. The players were pretty tired after the doubleheader, and the locker room was already clearing out. There was one guy at his locker, eating a plate of food in silence. It was Sano. I asked for just a moment of his time. Clearly Sano was tired from a whirlwind few days, but obliged. No translator, either! Regarding his 2 sacrifice flies tonight, Sano admitted that "when [he] hit them, [he] thought they were home runs," but he was just "a little under" the ball. On his call-up: "I was so happy, I have been working so hard." Describing the moment he was called up, Sano told me: "[Doug] Mientkiewicz said 'Sano, Rosario, Morales come here. You're ready to be promoted to Double-A.'" Regarding his defense, at third base, Sano confirmed that he is "totally comfortable there." And again, he looked very comfortable fielding tonight. All in all, it was 2 Rock Cats losses, but solid offensive and defensive performances from Sano and Rosario. More notes forthcoming, but it's been a long night of baseball.

New Britain only amassed 3 hits in the first of two 7-inning contests tonight, but to be completely honest, that wasn't the main -- or perhaps even secondary -- story. No, make no mistake, fans and reporters (including this fan/reporter) were here to see Miguel Sano, Eddie Rosario, and Angel Morales, the newest additions to the Rock Cats. I was fortunate to be in attendance, to take a few pictures, and even awful video, of the debuts. [TABLE=class: tr-caption-container] [TD=align: center]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n1M9A5gvsug/UbkKbZgOh2I/AAAAAAAAAi0/Tj6D4qelVDo/s320/IMAG0464.jpg[/TD] [TD=class: tr-caption, align: center]Miguel Sano (#24), nicknamed "Boacton," warming up[/TD] [/TABLE] One interesting item: the home plate umpire wore a camera on his facemask for the first part of the game. This was in connection with the documentary being filmed about Sano, The Miguel Sano Story. Here's some more information on that. I loved the first documentary, Ballplayer: Pelotero, and it's pretty cool that the sequel is (partly) being filmed right here. I suspect, though, that the filmmakers hope that the end of the documentary takes place a little west of Connecticut. My biggest takeaway from the first game: Sano's defense looked good. The arm got the job done. Sano had to come in on a bunt early on and made a nice play, and he snagged a hard grounder right after (he actually took a few steps back to third base in a decent attempt to catch the runner on third, who had just broken home). At no point was there any awkward footwork or anything that would suggest that Sano was uncomfortable at that position. To be sure, he wasn't tested with a diving play, and didn't have to barehand a ball in this first game, but he looked good. Solid. At bat, he was decent. He wasn't challenged in his first plate appearance, which ended in a 5-pitch walk. He was, however, thrown out stealing second. Don't forget -- Sano does have some speed (he stole 9 bases with Ft. Myers this spring). In his second at-bat he grounded rather routinely to third base. His final at-bat was probably the best. He was just under a fly ball, which went for a sac fly. He didn't "connect" with the pitch, yet it ended up just shy of the warning track. You can check out awful videos of Sano's at-bats here. Again, the videos are jittery. I took them with my phone. I'll get better, maybe. I thought Rosario played well, also. He took a 4-pitch walk in his first at-bat, hit a sinking liner to center in his second at-bat (that took a decent play from the centerfielder), and singled with a grounder up the middle in his final at-bat. No big defensive challenges that I recall. Angel Morales batted 9th in the order. He struck out in his first at-bat, grounded out to second in his second at-bat, and grounded to short in his final trip to the plate. General thoughts: Rosario has a compact swing, and is not a huge guy, but you can see where the power comes from. For lack of a better word, he is coiled when he bats. I'm excited to watch him hit. Wow, Sano is huge. Look at that picture of him compared to the other professional athletes next to him. I think Sano is used to getting pitched around. The difference between High-A pitching and AA pitching is significant. Let's see Sano gets tons of pitches to hit early on, or if pitchers try to paint the corners when he bats. Game 2 is just about to start. Let's see what happens. Expect more tweets, more awful videos, and another recap.

New Britain only amassed 3 hits in the first of two 7-inning contests tonight, but to be completely honest, that wasn't the main -- or perhaps even secondary -- story. No, make no mistake, fans and reporters (including this fan/reporter) were here to see Miguel Sano, Eddie Rosario, and Angel Morales, the newest additions to the Rock Cats. I was fortunate to be in attendance, to take a few pictures, and even awful video, of the debuts. [TABLE=class: tr-caption-container] [TD=align: center]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n1M9A5gvsug/UbkKbZgOh2I/AAAAAAAAAi0/Tj6D4qelVDo/s320/IMAG0464.jpg[/TD] [TD=class: tr-caption, align: center]Miguel Sano (#24), nicknamed "Boacton," warming up[/TD] [/TABLE] One interesting item: the home plate umpire wore a camera on his facemask for the first part of the game. This was in connection with the documentary being filmed about Sano, The Miguel Sano Story. Here's some more information on that. I loved the first documentary, Ballplayer: Pelotero, and it's pretty cool that the sequel is (partly) being filmed right here. I suspect, though, that the filmmakers hope that the end of the documentary takes place a little west of Connecticut. My biggest takeaway from the first game: Sano's defense looked good. The arm got the job done. Sano had to come in on a bunt early on and made a nice play, and he snagged a hard grounder right after (he actually took a few steps back to third base in a decent attempt to catch the runner on third, who had just broken home). At no point was there any awkward footwork or anything that would suggest that Sano was uncomfortable at that position. To be sure, he wasn't tested with a diving play, and didn't have to barehand a ball in this first game, but he looked good. Solid. At bat, he was decent. He wasn't challenged in his first plate appearance, which ended in a 5-pitch walk. He was, however, thrown out stealing second. Don't forget -- Sano does have some speed (he stole 9 bases with Ft. Myers this spring). In his second at-bat he grounded rather routinely to third base. His final at-bat was probably the best. He was just under a fly ball, which went for a sac fly. He didn't "connect" with the pitch, yet it ended up just shy of the warning track. You can check out awful videos of Sano's at-bats here. Again, the videos are jittery. I took them with my phone. I'll get better, maybe. I thought Rosario played well, also. He took a 4-pitch walk in his first at-bat, hit a sinking liner to center in his second at-bat (that took a decent play from the centerfielder), and singled with a grounder up the middle in his final at-bat. No big defensive challenges that I recall. Angel Morales batted 9th in the order. He struck out in his first at-bat, grounded out to second in his second at-bat, and grounded to short in his final trip to the plate. General thoughts: Rosario has a compact swing, and is not a huge guy, but you can see where the power comes from. For lack of a better word, he is coiled when he bats. I'm excited to watch him hit. Wow, Sano is huge. Look at that picture of him compared to the other professional athletes next to him. I think Sano is used to getting pitched around. The difference between High-A pitching and AA pitching is significant. Let's see Sano gets tons of pitches to hit early on, or if pitchers try to paint the corners when he bats. Game 2 is just about to start. Let's see what happens. Expect more tweets, more awful videos, and another recap.

I figure first base will be a default -- a converted corner outfielder, a converted third baseman, catcher, something like that. I hope the Twins don't draft or trade for a first baseman.

No offense taken! I just had a back-of-the-napkin idea and threw it up on paper. I did leave off first base. No idea who will be our everyday starter there. Any ideas?

Seth is right. "Rough" is the right word. Great arm, but inaccurate. Many fielding and throwing errors so far this season.

The goal wasn't so much to fill this post with stats and deep analysis on the guys I mentioned. Rather I was trying to take a really, really broad look at the system as it stands now, at the Twins' roster as it stands now, and then to note who could fill the various slots in a few years if they pan out. Not every post on TwinsDaily has to be filled with stats. And because prospecting is hardly a science, I figured this would just be a conversation-starter.

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Great stuff, JC.

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He's one of us. 31, a Hibbing Community College recruit. All-around good guy.

[TABLE=class: tr-caption-container, align: center] [/TD] [TD=class: tr-caption][ATTACH=CONFIG]4384[/ATTACH] Miguel Sano: Probably a cornerstone to the 2016 Twins [/TABLE] This year's Twins are better than the 2012 edition, who thankfully were better than the 2011 edition (well, it was hardly possible to be any worse). All signs indicate that the 2014 edition will continue on that track of improvement. The trend is slow. Painfully slow. But the direction is undoubtedly correct. I'm no expert on the Twins' minor leagues, or on prospecting in general. For the past couple seasons, though, I have seen guys come and go -- and sometimes come back again -- from New Britain. I've been fortunate to watch Joe Benson, Chris Parmelee, Aaron Hicks, Oswaldo Arcia, Chris Colabello, and even "new guys" like Alex Meyer and Trevor May. In the coming months, I'll watch Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario. In short, what I lack in expertise I make up in convenient geographical location. I've been thinking a lot recently about when the Twins can next win the AL Central -- not just "compete for it" -- and what their roster might look like. My best guess for the year is 2016, and what follows is a bunch of crazy roster projections. Keep in mind, many, many prospects don't pan out. Even guys that dominate all levels of the minors routinely fail when they get to the majors. Also keep in mind that my projections don't take into account front office moves that may (I'm cringing typing this) move a few of our best prospects in coming years. I hope Terry Ryan & Company are still in a mindset of collecting, not dealing, prospects, but you never know. With those caveats in mind, here's a position-by-position look at how the Twins are going to win the AL Central in 2016. Catcher: Joe Mauer: He's still under contract, still catching some, and is now playing some combination of first base/DH/right field in the 50 percent of games he doesn't catch. He can still hit .300, by the way, because he's awesome at the game of baseball and his knees are getting very routine rest. Josmil Pinto: I hope he continues to produce and grow as a catcher. There's no reason he can't be catching half the Twins' games in 2016 and batting .280 with some power while doing so. I've watched him play probably a dozen or so games, and he is a professional hitter. Chris Herrmann: He can, at the very least, be a third catcher/outfielder. I have every confidence that he can, in time, be a .270 hitter with a good eye at the plate. An all-star -- probably not. But an affordable back-up that can call a good game, absolutely. Third Base: Miguel Sano: He's not a gold glover, but we don't need that. He plays adequate defense and is a force to be reckoned with at the plate. As I'm writing this post, he was just promoted to AA New Britain, so rest assured the Twins are not going to let their top prospects languish in the minors. If Sano cannot hack it at third base, he can always play first. But here's a question -- when was the last time that you heard a legitimate source claim that Sano was a serious question at third? Probably the very beginning of this season or the end of last season. Clearly there has been improvement! Centerfield: Aaron Hicks. He will continue to improve, just as he did in 2012 with the Rock Cats, and just as he is slowly doing in Minnesota. Byron Buxton: He might be one of the top 2 prospects in baseball right now. It's crazy to type that, but legitimate writers claim that as the truth. Buxton has a long way to go before he pans out, but I have yet to read any report suggesting that he does not have the skill set to become a solid major league player. Corner Outfield: Oswaldo Arcia. He's already gotten a taste in Minnesota this year, and I was pretty impressed. Although he slumped at the end, he didn't look in over his head, and he demonstrated why he was named the Twins' minor league hitter of the year last season. He's good now, but he'll be great in a few years. Aaron Hicks: If Byron Buxton becomes the player we hope he becomes, he will eventually win the centerfield job, pushing Hicks to a corner position. Angel Morales: I honestly don't know much about him, but am looking forward to finding out more. He's 23 and now is in AA. Joe Mauer: The guy has a cannon, and is just an all-around great athlete. I predict he'll get a 20-30 games in left field or right field. Danny Ortiz: I've really like what I've seen from him in New Britain. I'm not sure what the scouting reports say, but I saw a good arm, and his batting stats have been impressive. Middle Infield: Eddie Rosario. Rosario is young, and is still learning to play second, but has demonstrated that he is up to the challenge. By the way, he's probably one of the best offensive second base prospects we have had since Chuck Knoblauch. As with Sano, the reports of Rosario's difficulty learning the position have subsided this season. Brian Dozier: 2013 is a little better than 2012. His glove is better, anyway. Will he get it together? Time will tell. In any event, if he does, he'll be an affordable option in 2016. Levi Michael: I have yet to see Michael play, so I'm hesitant to judge. I'd love to see him have a breakout second half of 2013 and turn some heads. James Beresford: He was just promoted to AAA today. Congratulations, James! He's not a first-tier prospect, but he has an excellent glove. Can he continue to hit .300? We'll see. Beresford, however, could be a great utility infielder, as shortstop is his natural position. If he was called up to the Twins today, the bat would be an issue, but I'd put his glove right up there with anyone in this organization. Pitching: In short, pick 5 starters from this list: Alex Meyer Trevor May J.R. Berrios Alex Wimmers Kohl Stweart Kyle Gibson Logan Darnell D.J. Baxendale Sam Deduno Scott Diamond Ryan Eades Now, add a bullpen out of guys that didn't quite make it. This list of players, of course, is conjecture. Archives of this post will live on in 2016, and some parts will undoubtedly be laughable. Others, however, I'm willing to bet will be very accurate. Here's the best part about this list: Every position player on it is home-grown. Every player on it will be under team control in 2016. In fact, with the exception of Joe Mauer's $23 million, there are few players on this list that would command more than a couple million dollars per season. In short, there's ample room to spend on free agents in an area of weakness. Otherwise stated, there's TONS of money on the table if the Twins want to add an extra power bat as a DH, a top-of-the-line shortstop, or an "ace pitcher" to lead our young rotation. The other reason that I listed 2016 as the year to win the AL Central is because of the learning curve of major league baseball. If we can learn anything from watching Aaron Hicks this season, it's that there is a gigantic difference from the minors to the majors. Sano, Rosario, and even Meyer might all have tough rookie seasons. Picking 2016 gives these young guys a chance to make it through the league a couple times, learn from mistakes, and learn to succeed. So you've heard it here first: Don't count on the Twins the next couple seasons, but by 2016 this is going to be a dominating team.

This is fantastic news. It's great that Eddie Rosario will get a chance everyday at New Britain, and James absolutely deserves a chance to hit against AAA pitching. I think people that haven't watched Beresford are going to be quite impressed with his glove. And if his at-bats in AAA are like they were this season in AA, he's going to turn a few heads.

Happy to!

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Well the big news of the day, of course, was the Twins selecting pitcher Kohl Stewart with the 4th overall pick in the amateur draft. Not surprisingly, all the MiLB experts at TwinsDaily are providing great draft coverage, so I'm pinch-hitting and piecing together the daily minor league report. Here's hoping that, in the coming couple years, we see Stewart's name popping up very often in this nightly report! It's fun to think about a rotation in, say, 2015 or 2016 that could feature Alex Meyer, Trevor May, Stewart, Kyle Gibson, and even Alex Wimmers. From where this organization was just a year ago (prospect-wise), it's tough not to be at least a little optimistic. Now to tonight's action: ROCHESTER 3 GWINNETT 11 Unlike in his previous start, Vance Worley was not very effective today. He lasted 3 innings and gave up 7 runs, but only 2 were earned. The big problem: he allowed 8 hits, including a home run, struck out 2 and walked 1. Blake Martin tossed 2 scoreless innings, before Anthony Slama came in and allowed 3 runs in 2 innings on 5 walks and a hit. Virgil Vasquez threw the final frame, allowing a run on 3 hits. The Red Wings had 10 hits tonight, just not enough runs. Eric Farris, Deibinson Romero and Brian Dinkelman all had 2 hits, and Oswaldo Arcia, Dan Rohlfing, Doug Bernier and Ray Olmedo each had 1 hit. Bernier tripled, and Romero doubled, incidentally. Here's the link to the box score. NEW BRITAIN 9 RICHMOND 4 Trevor May pitched well tonight. He went 6 innings and allowed only 1 run on 5 hits. The best part, though, is the 6 Ks and 2 walks. It's important that he limits the walks. AJ Achter tossed a scoreless 7th, before Cole Johnson ran into trouble in the 8th, allowing 3 runs on 2 hits and a walk. Daniel Turpen pitched a scoreless 9th. [ATTACH=CONFIG]4359[/ATTACH] The Rock Cats only amassed 5 hits tonight, but they made them count. TwinsDaily contributor, nice guy, and occasional pro ballplayer Adam Pettersen was 1-for-3 with a double, 2 RBIs and 2 walks. Danny Santana had a double and 2 RBIs in 5 at-bats. Nate Hanson, Daniel Ortiz and Kyle Knudson also had hits tonight. Here's the link to the box score. FT. MYERS --- CANCELLED There was a rumor floating around that Brevard County forfeited both games of this doubleheader because Miguel Sano is just too damn good, but apparently there was bad weather. CEDAR RAPIDS 5 QUAD CITIES 9 Well we learned that J.R. Berrios is human. Tonight, anyway. The young righty lasted only 3 and 1/3 innings, allowing 9 runs (6 earned) on 5 hits. He struck out 6, which is good, but walked 4, and also allowed a home run. But the home run was to last season's #1 overall pick Carlos Correa. Josue Montanez threw 2 and 2/3 scoreless innings, walking 2, striking out 1 and allowing 1 hit. Tyler Jones tossed 3 scoreless innings, striking out 3 and walking 2. A nice performance for him out of the bullpen. There just wasn't enough Kernels offense tonight. Dalton Hicks did his best, blasting 2 solo home runs, giving him 9 on the season. Travis Harrison and JD Williams doubled (Williams also had 2 singles and 2 RBIs). Candido Pimentel singled, and Jhonatan Arias had 2 hits. Jeremias Pineda tripled and scored a run, as well. Pimentel had a rough night in the field, committing 3 fielding errors. Here's the link to the box score. All 4 teams are back in action tomorrow night.