Matt Braun

Thank you for the helpful and insightful addition to the discussion

System overview: A lot changes in half a season. Royce Lewis finally departed the prospect list nearly 6 (six!) years after the team drafted him first overall in 2017. Edouard Julien and Louie Varland also lost their prospect status, weakening the high-end of the list despite a recent influx of incredible talent. Speaking of which… Walker Jenkins! The Twins actually did it; they eschewed their conservative desires and simply took the best player available at number 5: a sweet-swinging high-schooler who drew incredible reviews for his makeup. You could probably write a book with the superlative ink spilled about Jenkins over the past few days, but there's a good reason for that: he’s a stud. He immediately gives the team a fascinating, dynamic top three of Brooks Lee, Emmanuel Rodriguez, and himself. He hasn’t even been signed yet, so let’s not get carried away, but it’s certainly an exciting time for the Twins system. Which, I think, is the strongest it’s been in a few years. The team is now undeniably at the heart of the pitching movement, churning out and improving arms at a breakneck pace, making their pitching prospects that much more exciting. There are about four or five legitimately impressive arms in the system drafted in 2022, and with about 60 pitchers taken in this draft, a few more are certainly on their way. It’s madness. But it’s a good kind of madness. I’ve done something different with this list. As you’ll see, batters and pitchers are separated—something I’ve always felt should be done given the differences between the two. This is especially true these days, as any arm with one or two interesting characteristics is millimeters away from breaking out; hitters don’t currently enjoy such an advantage. Here’s the list: Hitters: Brooks Lee, 22, 5’11” / 205 - SS Now that Royce Lewis is finally no longer a prospect (for the first time since 2017!), Brooks Lee takes over as the best prospect in Minnesota’s system. There’s a lot to like in his tools; his defense isn’t consistently excellent at shortstop—he’s missing the kind of raw athletic force that, say, Carlos Correa possesses—but he’s nimble enough to make plenty of wow plays and could stick at the position in the majors. If not, he’ll be fine at third or second. The Twins appear dead-set on getting him reps here, as he’s barely started anywhere else in 2023. Offensively, he’ll likely hit, but his bat isn’t bulletproof. He doesn’t own any one overwhelming attribute, but he does most things pretty well and should never embarrass himself with poor swing decisions. Overall, he looks a lot like Marcus Semien with a little less pop—but I will warn that the lack of consistent game power is a concern. Really, though, most knocks feel like extreme nit-picking for a 22-year-old holding his own at AA in his first full year in organized ball. He’ll be fine and should join the Twins sometime in 2024. Emmanuel Rodriguez, 20, 5’10” / 210 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez is a lesson in two parts: one, that monthly stat-worrying over prospects is often foolish; and slack should be handed to players returning from major surgery. Rodriguez spent April and May striking out at Gallo-ian rates before deflating his whiffs to palatable levels; he’s punched out at a 25.5% clip since June started. And while that cutoff is as arbitrary as any, I think it’s clear that Rodriguez is far more comfortable at the plate these days than when the season started. He still has laughable power as his swing-as-hard-as-humanly-possible approach yields monster homers and titanic bullets shot all around the field, offering welts to fielders who stand in their way. The whiffs will probably always be present, though, as he has a habit of running deep counts. If he continues to evolve, he could be the toolsy stud center fielder of the future for the Twins. The bust potential is high, though. Walker Jenkins, 18, 6’3” / 190 - OF Surprise! After blowing smoke around Jacob Gonzalez for a few months, the Twins took the sane route and drafted an excellent high school prospect. I’ll repeat the common refrain here; Jenkins could have gone 1st in any normal draft, and the Twins are deeply fortunate to have such an impact talent in their farm system. It’s a little silly trying to rank recently-selected players alongside pros with hundreds of at-bats under their belt, but you have to put the guy somewhere, and I thought right behind Emmanuel Rodriguez was the best choice. I don’t really have a good reason for this choice; he can move up quickly with early success. ------------------------- Matt Wallner, 25, 6’5” / 220 - OF The man who just cannot find a roster spot. Matt Wallner is the antithesis of Max Kepler: he’s going to swing hard, clobber a lot of baseballs, and play bumbling, clumsy defense in right field. We’ve seen his style of play work at times, as apparent by his little MLB playing time this year, but his extreme contact deficiency will spell ugly hitting streaks, and I worry what major-league pitchers are going to do to him once they become comfortable. Still, he rakes. His max exit velocity is already elite, and it’s not impossible to imagine an Austin Riley-like metamorphosis from hulking slugger to well-rounded nuclear offensive force. Defensively, Wallner is going to cost the Twins runs. He may earn some back with his arm—a true bazooka that will vex greedy baserunners, or just keep them stationary in fear—but the dropoff from Kepler to Wallner will be obvious. Minnesota’s favor towards flyball pitchers, and their insistence on playing Kepler and Gallo may keep him hidden on the periphery longer than most have the stomach for. Tanner Schobel, 22, 5’9” / 170 - 2B/3B Tanner Schobel is something of a throwback to the 2000s Twins: a slick do-it-all infielder with above-average speed and a good chance at becoming a roughly 2 WAR player for more years than you realize. He’s even added more ISO (in a pitcher’s league!) as his extended play with Cedar Rapids has been powerful. The thump may not be a mirage; Schobel slugged .689 his sophomore season at Virginia Tech. He loads up like Eugenio Saurez, allowing the ball to travel a little further than most before the full power of his torque releases, usually in a punishing manner (to the ball). Defensively, Schobel has mostly split time between second and third—his two most natural positions. He could potentially play shortstop, but that position has seen a lot of Noah Miller and Jose Salas, making it difficult for Schobel to earn playing time there. Overall, Schobel fits a likeable infielder mold that many good-to-great players have thrived in. ------------------------- Yasser Mercedes, 18, 6’2” / 175 - OF An expensive international signing from a few years ago, Yasser Mercedes showcased a dynamic offensive profile in 2022 before completely falling off a cliff in his first taste of stateside ball. Was he a victim of untrustworthy DSL stats? Is this a fluke? It’s far too early to tell; for now he’ll stay stagnant in my prospect list. Austin Martin, 24, 6’0” / 185 - SS/OF Oh what a fall for Austin Martin. You know the story by now: his flaming college performance capitulated immediately after the Blue Jays drafted him, and now the Twins are looking to get him back in the groove. 2022 was almost a complete loss, but Martin flashed life in September, and had a respectable enough AFL to soften his fall from grace. Frustratingly, an injury knocked Martin out of commission until a few days ago, when he finally popped back up on the Saints’ roster. A strong showing could earn him a quick promotion, as Royce Lewis is currently on the mend well until August; José Miranda took his place but could be shuffled if his bat doesn’t turn around. Hopefully Martin finds the minimum power needed to become a quality major-league bat, because his potential is of a classic two-hole batter, slashing hits across the field while stealing at whim. Luke Keaschall, 20, 6’1” / 190 - INF The Twins selected Luke Keaschall—an infielder out of Arizona State—with their second-round pick in 2023. Plenty of excellent alumnus call that college home, and Keaschall could join them soon, as he absolutely smoked PAC-12 pitching with a .353/.443/.725 slashline. We’ll understand Keaschall more as a prospect in time, so consider this ranking very loose; he could move up or down easily. Noah Miller, 20, 5’11” / 190 - SS Alright, I was probably wrong about Noah Miller. I grasped tightly onto his excellent strikeout-to-walk rate in 2022, but now that has evaporated, leaving a powerless, on-base-less profile only buoyed by his excellent shortstop defense. He added a tinge of power in 2023, upping his ISO almost .030 points up to .094, but that hasn’t been enough to save his hitting, and infielders who hit like this need a legendary glove to stick around in MLB for any serious period of time. Noah Cardenas, 23, 5’11” / 195 - C/1B I still cannot fathom why Noah Cardenas is not more well-received as a prospect. He’s hitting for a 129 wRC+ with the Kernels—as a catcher, mind you—after crushing A ball with similar vigor. His pop is more in doubles than homers, but he can take a walk like no one’s business, and that kind of plate control should translate well as he progresses up through the minors. The bugaboo: his defense. The Twins know this, and often spell time at 1st and DH (although Andrew Cossetti’s presence feeds into this decision as well). We don’t have public catching defensive metrics, but Eric Longenhagen rated him a 30-grade defender, and I’m willing to believe in his assessment. Still, the Twins were able to turn Mitch Garver into a workable defensive catcher—and Ryan Jeffers wasn’t a lock to stay at catcher either—so it’s very possible that Cardenas follows those two and blossoms into an everyday player. Danny De Andrade, 19, 5’11” / 190 - SS We’re finally seeing Danny De Andrade playing in full-season ball and the results have been… whelming. He’s walked a fair amount, but the power is merely ok, and he’s probably not going to play shortstop long-term. Still, this is a 19-year-old; picking on him too much seems like an unwise decision. He should rise up this list further with time. Jose Salas, 20, 6’0” / 191 - INF At this point, it’s unclear what Jose Salas does well. He’s in the middle of a dreadful repetition of A+ ball in which his slashline is so porous that I don’t even want to type it out. You don’t need to look it up; it’s bad. Normally this kind of performance would take a player completely off the list, but prospect evaluators swore he was around a 45 FV player coming into the year, and I’ll offer some slack in this regard. It won’t last long unless something changes quickly. Kala’i Rosario, 21, 6’0” / 205 - OF It’s been an impressive rebound for Kala’i Rosario, who wandered the prospect desert after being selected in the 2020 draft. Once a pure power threat, Rosario has improved in each stat of his triple slash-line, giving him a mean offensive profile that Midwest pitchers haven’t figured out yet. He even sliced a few points off his strikeout rate. Yet the hit tool remains shaky. There are major leaguers who can make it work with a swing-hard-and-maybe-something-good-will-happen approach, but it’s a wasteland of batters who pitchers figured out quickly; whether Rosario is any different will be seen shortly. He should see a promotion to AA soon, and his immense power could carry him to the majors. ------------------------- Andrew Cossetti, 23, 5’10” / 215 - C/1B Andrew Cossetti mashed A-ball with a hilarious .330/.462/.607 slashline before the Twins showed mercy on poor Florida State League arms, sending the menace to Cedar Rapids. His offense has cooled, but he still settled into a firmly above-average performance—especially for a catcher holding a .262 BABIP. He often spends time at 1st also, perhaps signalling Minnesota’s thoughts on his ability to stick as a backstop, but the bat may be real, and that’s enough to make Cossetti an exciting name to watch. Jose Rodriguez, 18, 6’2” / 196 - OF Jose Rodriguez popped 13 homers in an impressive somehow-young-for-the-level DSL debut and is now hitting for a 93 wRC+ with the FCL Twins. Like Mercedes, the question regarding untrustworthy DSL numbers exists here, but I’ll give Rodriguez some benefit of the doubt considering his absurd youth and small sample of plate appearances at his new level. Yunior Severino, 23, 6’0” / 189 - 2B/3B This is now the third season in a row that Yunior Severino has mashed the ball; his profile still scares the crap out of me. He makes his bread with power and walks, but the walks have dropped off since he reached AA, and we’re left with a high ISO/high BABIP batting line that, to me, seems unsustainable outside the Texas League. Maybe that’s unfair, but there’s also probably a reason the team has been slow to send him to AAA. DaShawn Kiersey Jr., 26, 6’0” / 195 - OF Is this a toolsy outfielder finally breaking out, or an old-for-the-level batter picking on pitchers who don’t know any better? Who knows—and the truth probably lies outside my black-and-white dichotomy—but, there’s no way to say it any other way: DaShawn Kiersey Jr. is raking. His season under-the-hood looks largely the same as 2022, save for a nearly .040 point bump in ISO, but Kiersey Jr. has already clobbered nine homers; it took him three minor league seasons after being drafted to hit his first longball. Throw in game-altering stolen base potential, and Kiersey Jr. is a compelling late-breakout outfielder who’ll need to claw past some other uber-talented players if he ever sees the majors. He’s blistered the ball since June started, turning in a .347/.407/.579 slash with seven steals. Ben Ross, 22, 6’0” / 180 - INF If you want a guy who can rake across the field, Ben Ross is your guy. He’s bopped 13 homers in a notorious pitchers league, all while playing at 1st base, shortstop, 3rd base, left field, center field, and right field (he played second last year, but not this year). Whether he’s adept at all these positions or merely a warm body capable of moonlighting at them will be seen, but the profile is certainly fascinating. He could probably catch if need be. Misael Urbina, 21, 5’10” / 190 - OF Misael Urbina is continuing his every-other-year pattern of not hitting. It appeared he bounced back nicely after a truly awful 2021 season, but not one number of his A+ slashline starts with a “.3” and, yeah, that’s not gonna play. The talent is still evident, but smooth sailing it has not been, and I worry that Urbina is not going to live up to the promise he showed in 2019. Aaron Sabato, 24, 6’2” / 230 - 1B It’s been a molasses-slow movement through the system for the 2020 1st-round selection. He hasn’t lived up to the hype he saw out of college, but—somehow—he’s dutifully earned promotions and usually turns in above-average performances after becoming acclimated to his competition. That’s not what you want from a 1st-round pick, but there’s still a very real chance Sabato can contribute to the major-league team. Pitchers: Marco Raya, 20, 6’0” / 170 - RHP The recently promoted Marco Raya represents Minnesota’s best shot at a top-of-the-rotation arm. That isn’t to say that he’s a lock to dominate—and, indeed, undervalued arms like Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober have proven that the best MLB pitchers aren’t always the well-known guys—but, if anyone here is a betting man, Raya would be the favored horse. He attacks batters with an ideal vertical fastball and a pair of devastating breaking balls, known to bring hitters to their knees if they swing improperly. Despite being over three years younger than the average competition at A+ ball, Raya smoked hitters, punching out nearly 30% of batters faced while chopping two percentage points off his walk rate from last year. It’s difficult to parse whether this was Raya just being plain better than these hitters, as the Twins capped his innings total in his starts at four, but the numbers are hard to ignore, and the team may be off-setting their conservatism with an aggressive promotion to the Wind Surge. The Texas League is known for hitting; good luck to Raya with his new competition. David Festa, 23, 6’6” / 185 - RHP There’s a strong argument for David Festa as the better pitching prospect, and, in the end, Raya won by a sliver. This is no knock on Festa; the Seton Hall product followed a now well-paved road set by the Falvey Twins, as he almost immediately enjoyed and sustained a four-tick velocity bump. The strikeouts soon came. With effective offerings in his sharp slider and surprisingly effective changeup (surprising only in that every pitching prospect has a “developing” cambio), Festa has impressive peripherals at AA, even if the walks have trended up with subsequent promotions. He was recently added to the Futures Game roster, and could see time with the Twins in 2024 if the current glut of 40-man options prove insufficient. ------------------------- Connor Prielipp, 22, 6’2” / 210 - LHP Almost a year after the Twins selected him, Connor Prielipp remains a mystery. He made exactly one start for the Kernels before hitting the IL, shuttled off to the grand nothingness that is the Twins’ prospect injury list, only evident through occasional tweets and whispers. The team finally ended his season, giving us 1 (one) start and no new knowledge on what Prielipp could become. It’s frustrating given Prielipp’s potentially dominant slider; a healthy Prielipp could easily be one of the best prospects in Minnesota’s system, but he can now only claim a combined 34 ⅔ innings between his time at Alabama and in pro ball. What will eventually become of the 22-year-old is just as unclear as when the Twins drafted him in 2022. Charlee Soto, 17, 6’5” / 197 - RHP If you built a pitcher in a lab, this is what he would look like—6 foot 5 inches with a big fastball and yeah, you get the idea. Eric Longenhagen at Fangraphs described his heater as sink-oriented, which does differentiate him from your typical ride/carry guy so coveted by MLB teams these days. Like Walker, ranking Soto is a fool’s errand. He’s even younger than your typical high schooler at 17, and I doubt we’ll understand Soto more as a prospect for at least a few years. ------------------------- Simeon Woods Richardson, 22, 6’3” / 210 - RHP Disastrous. Following a minor stabilizing season at AA and AAA last year, Simeon Woods Richardson is imploding in 2023. His K-BB% is 3.7%, far far far below the ground level acceptable for even a below-average major-league arm. This is nothing like the pitcher the Twins expected to receive in 2021—and he’s so far removed from his performance at any part of his minor league career that an injury is the only real explanation for his troubles. Minnesota pulled this same thing with Jordan Balazovic in 2022, allowing him to take drastic lumps while recovering from an injury, but at least Balazovic still had the Ks; Woods Richardson has nothing. With other arms clearly ahead of him in the depth chart, Woods Richardson’s path to the majors appears blocked, or at least heavily guarded. Jordan Balazovic, 24, 6’5” / 215 - RHP I think Jordan Balazvoic has been ranked differently in each list I’ve made, and I don’t think that’s a good thing. He has rebounded nicely from his putrid 2022 season, and parlayed a strikeout/walk oriented AAA performance into… a BABIP-aided 1.80 ERA over 10 major-league innings. No, I don’t get it either. There’s legitimate upside, though, with Balazovic’s killer vertical fastball/curve approach that could transform him into the new Griffin Jax. That may be a disappointment from the height of his prospect days in 2018 and 2019, but Jax is a valuable piece on the Twins; hopefully Balazovic will be as well. Blayne Enlow, 24, 6’3” / 170 (doubtful, but it’s what Fangraphs says) - RHP Risen from prospect ashes like the phoenix of old, Blayne Enlow might actually be a major-league arm. After being DFA’d and left out to dry last year, Enlow remained a Twin, crushing AA while halving his walk rate and adding a few more strikeouts to the mix. The promotion to AAA came soon. His time with the Saints hasn’t been as fruitful, but 17 ⅓ innings is a small sample, and I’m willing to bet on a future where Enlow can find an effective role in the majors. Brent Headrick, 25, 6’6” / 235 - LHP I still don’t really know what to make of Brent Headrick. He has a tremendous and a disastrous fastball, leading me to believe that he’s going to be a reliever long-term, not a starter. His height, odd arm action, and command should secure him a spot on the team in some capacity, but that fastball problem is dire, and it may not be easy to fix. Headrick gets a leg-up on other, similar pitchers because of his major-league readiness. Cory Lewis, 22, 6’5” / 220 - RHP One of Minnesota’s many interesting pitchers from the 2022 draft, Cory Lewis has been a buzzsaw. There’s nothing overwhelming about his profile, but he can command the hell out of his fastball and slider while occasionally tossing in a knuckleball, just for fun. Lewis’ ordinary draft stock, and his status as a developed college arm makes it difficult to decipher his undeniable dominance; I’ll keep him here for now—right in the middle of the pitcher melee that separates the best pitching prospects in the system from the rest of the herd. This is not a slight. Minnesota has proven wise in turning arms like Lewis into quality major leaguers, so this isn’t your normal piece of the scrap pile of young pitchers. Andrew Morris, 21, 6’0” / 195 - RHP Andrew Morris hasn’t been as overwhelming as his 2022 draftee peers, but he owns a potential outlier offering, and that buoys his profile while making him a real prospect. The pitch? A carry-monster fastball that usually sits in the lower 90s but can scratch 95—something that Bryce Miller has proven can dominate by itself. Throw in a solid slider, and Morris could easily be yet another college breakout arm for the Twins. Zebby Matthews, 23, 6’5” / 225 - RHP Zebby Matthews tore up the Florida State League with Maddux-like dominance, creating an air of excitement around the Western Carolina University product, before a promotion to Cedar Rapids shot that down. His xFIP is still fine, but his strikeout rate plummeted. The rest of the season will tell us who the real Matthews is. There’s still a lot to like in his profile; he throws six legitimate pitches with good control, and that alone could carry him to the majors. The cutter appears to be the critical offering. C.J. Culpepper, 21, 6’3” / 193 - RHP You could basically copy/paste the previous sentiments regarding A-ball dominance. C.J. Culpepper—no relation to Daunte, trust me—earned the second-highest signing bonus of any California Baptist University player ever (name me the two MLB players from that college without looking it up and I’ll give you five dollars) and almost immediately crushed his competition with the Mighty Mussels. A promotion to Cedar Rapids cooled his stats (in only two starts), so, again, Culpepper’s prospect status is unclear. Still, a 27.9 K% cannot be ignored, and Culpepper soon could rise further up this list with more impressive starts. ------------------------- Alejandro Hidalgo, 20, 6’1” / 160 - RHP I haven’t seen many pitchers like Alejandro Hidalgo. His command is either fine—with maybe a walk or two here or there—or it’s disastrous, completely wiping out his outing with four, five, six walks over a shockingly low inning total. When he’s on, he has a devastating fastball/changeup combo and looks lethal; when he’s not, duck. Ronny Henriquez, 23, 5’10” / 155 - RHP Entering the season as a dark-horse, hipster pick to carry important major-league frames, Ronny Henriquez has stumbled through a difficult season. An elbow injury was the first culprit, then he walked everyone and their mother at AAA, and a recent oblique strain knocked him out of commission for two weeks. He’s only allowed one run since returning, but the walks are still uncharacteristically overwhelming; he’ll need to fix that issue before he can rebound on this list. Matt Canterino, 25, 6’2” / 222 - RHP Matt Canterino has not thrown a competitive pitch in over a year. Given his injuries and missing innings, it would be a miracle for Canterino to become an effective starter; the bullpen is his likely future home. If shorter bursts can keep him healthy, he could dominate in that role. Kyle Jones, 23, 6’1” / 200 - RHP Yet another 2022 draft pitcher, Jones isn’t quite the strikeout artist seen in his peers, but he acquires groundballs at a hefty rate while keeping his whiffs and walks around league average. This looks like a vanilla, but safe profile that could earn him under-the-radar promotions to the system’s higher levels.

I always roll my eyes at the “big projectable high school arm with velo,” but this kid can’t even vote, so I’ll tame my passive aggression. Hope the Twins can develop him well!

He's slashing .323/.447/.581 since the start of June. That's pretty damn good, alright.

Added. I appreciate hearing feedback, and I'll add player names in the future!

It's always a good day when multiple batters with three-hit games couldn't take home Hitter of the Day honors. Image courtesy of Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports (Image is of David Festa) TRANSACTIONS None Futures Game Buried somewhere deep beneath the streaming super highway, MLB’s yearly Futures Game played out, with the NL team handily beating the AL team 5-0. More important to us Twins fans: RHP David Festa pitched a scoreless inning with one hit and a strikeout of Milwaukee uber-prospect Jackson Chourio on three-straight sliders. He touched 97.6 MPH with his fastball. Saints Sentinel St. Paul 5, Iowa 2 Box Score Brent Headrick: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K HR: Anthony Prato (4), Chris Williams (16) Multi-hit games: None A breakout seventh inning led the Saints to victory on Saturday. It wasn’t working. No matter the start, and no matter the strategy, Simeon Woods Richardson couldn’t get anyone out. The top prospect entered the weekend with a 7.27 ERA on the year at AAA—and had peripherals unable to offer him any comfort. The Saints offered a solution: Brent Headrick would start the game—acquiring as many outs as he could—allowing Woods Richardson to enter facing a Cubs lineup tuned into a left-hander. It worked. Not only did Headrick crush his outing, Woods Richardson had one of his finest performances all year, punching out seven batters over five innings of work with a lone homer as his only blemish. This may be the blueprint needed for the talented youngster. The bats, while not overwhelming, were well-coordinated, leading to five runs off of six hits—more than enough to best the Cubs. Austin Martin plated the first run with a double into the right-center gap, marking St. Paul’s only score until the third act. Patience begat rewards, with an Anthony Prato moonshot finally breaking the stalemate. And fruit continued to bear, turning a 3-1 advantage into a 5-1 lead after Chris Williams cracked a homer out to the right-center power alley. The Cubs played feisty to end the game, scoring a second time to bring the game within three. With two runners on, Josh Winder snapped off a high curve—thought too high by the home plate ump. Williams, the catcher, disagreed. He quickly called for a challenge, and the robots agreed with his assessment, ending the game on a call overturned. Of course, one could opine about the minors having a better strike/ball system than MLB, but that’s better saved for later. The best Cubs prospect in Saturday’s game was Chase Strumpf. Ranked 23rd in the system by MLB.com, Strumpf struck out three times and committed an error. (Strumpf was the shortstop at JSerra High School which is why Royce Lewis played third base his first three years of varsity baseball.) Wind Surge Wisdom Wichita 4, Tulsa 3 Box Score Travis Adams: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 K HR: Seth Gray (5), Aaron Sabato (5), Alerick Soularie (6) Multi-hit games: DaShawn Keirsey Jr. (3-for-5, 2B) The Wind Surge came back late to win on Saturday. Travis Adams was fine—maybe not great—over his five innings of work, allowing three runs against a surprisingly disappointing Drillers lineup. The 23-year-old started the season poorly, but now has back-to-back five inning starts with one and three runs allowed respectively. His bullpen had his back as well, as Regi Grace and Alex Scherff combined to toss four scoreless frames, carrying Wichita to the finish line as their bats came alive to win it. First it was Seth Gray—sudden and violent—blasting a ball over the centerfield wall to start the scoring, then Aaron Sabato shot one the other way to tie the game at two; Alerick Soularie’s skyscraper gave Wichita the lead for good. DaShawn Keirsey Jr. collected three hits and stole his 28th base of the season. The Drillers are led by Diego Cartaya, the Dodgers next big catcher in their efficient development system. He singled and walked in four trips to the plate. Kernels Nuggets Cedar Rapids 6, Quad Cities 8 Box Score Cory Lewis: 3 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K HR: Tanner Schobel (14), Noah Miller (3) Multi-hit games: Ben Ross (3-for-4, 2B, 3 R), Noah Miller (2-for-4, HR, R, 4 RBI), Noah Cardenas (2-for-5) The Kernels scored four in the 1st, but couldn’t hold on in a thriller. It was an ambush. Tanner Schobel blasted a fastball 420 feet away into centerfield, surging ahead to first place on the Midwest League homer leaderboard. A few batters later, Noah Miller became the one jogging safely around the bases—and his homer plated three runners, leading to a commanding 4-0 advantage. Unfortunately, Cory Lewis wasn’t sharp. The typically tough righty mis-fired and battled, leading to an inflated pitch count as the River Bandits spit on obvious balls and waited out hittable strikes. He was out after three. Malik Barrington held down the fort for two frames, handing the game off to Alejandro Hidalgo. His Mr. Hyde appeared. A laborious sixth shifted favor towards the River Bandits; a two-run seventh ended the game for good. While Cedar Rapids scored twice after their initial outburst, their bats couldn’t break through to save their lost lead, and the Kernels ended up falling with a bases-loaded groundout in the 9th. Gavin Cross—Kansas City’s best prospect—singled once and plated two runs. Mussel Matters Wet playing conditions ended this game before it began, and the Mussels will play a double-header on Sunday. Complex Chronicles The FCL Twins did not play on Saturday. Dominican Dailies DSL Twins 10, DSL Rockies 11 (10 Innings) Box Score Miguel Cordero: 3 1/3 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 3 K HR: Carlos Silva (1) Multi-hit games: Dameury Pena (2-for-4, 2 R, RBI), Moises Lopez (3-for-4, 2B, 3B, R, 4 RBI), Carlos Silva (2-for-4, HR, 2B, R, 2 RBI) The DSL Twins lost a classic, sloppy DSL game on Saturday. These things happen when your starting pitcher is 16-years-old (born in 2006; hope that doesn’t ruin your Sunday). Miguel Cordero peppered the plate, making judicial use of his allotted targets to fire off four walks and five runs allowed. In his defense, his defense failed him for a few of those runs. Also in his defense, he’s two years away from being legally allowed to vote. The DSL Twins offense was prolific, plating 10 runs off of eight hits and seven walks, leaving just five men on base. Dameury Pena, Moises Lopez, and Carlos Silva (not that one) were your stars: the trio combined for seven knocks—with four going for extra-bases. Lopez served as a complex hero, though, as he drove in four runs and gave a few back with a pair of errors. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Simeon Woods Richardson Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Carlos Silva PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Cedar Rapids) - 1-5 #4 - Edouard Julien (Minnesota) - 2-4, 2B, R #7 - Simeon Woods Richardson (St. Paul) - 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K #8 - David Festa (Wichita) - 1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K (Futures Game) #9 - Matt Wallner (St. Paul) - 1-5, RBI #11 - Austin Martin (St. Paul) - 1-5, 2B, RBI, K #13 - Noah Miller (Cedar Rapids) - 2-4, HR, R, 4 RBI, K #15 - Brent Headrick (St. Paul) - 2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul @ Iowa (1:08 PM) - RHP Louie Varland Wichita @ Tulsa (1:05 PM) - LHP Aaron Rozek Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (1:05 PM) - LHP Christian MacLeod Fort Myers @ Tampa (10:00 AM) - RHP Jose Olivares Fort Myers @ Tampa (30 minutes later) View full article

With all due respect, Nick, the Twins are not trading for Juan Soto. Image courtesy of Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports OF Tommy Pham, 35-Mets If you missed it, Mets owner Steve Cohen hosted a unique, and somewhat strange press conference in which he processed his team’s weak play with a shrug while admitting that he’s willing to deal pieces to gain prospects. The Twins don’t need Max Scherzer or Justin Verlander—and Pete Alonso is also a pipe dream—but Tommy Pham could be a wise addition. At 35-years-old on a one-year deal, Pham seems like a logical trade chip—and Minnesota should be in. His Baseball Savant profile is as red as the South, as he’s been able smoke fastballs and breaking balls alike, showcasing a rare dynamic hitting ability that made him so coveted a few years back. His glove isn’t great, but who cares. The only issue is the hulking elephant unable to wallflower his way around the room—Joey Gallo. The Twins would likely need to cut bait with him to create space for Pham, and whether they will admit defeat and do so is unclear. RHP Hunter Harvey, 28-Nationals Hunter Harvey looks like someone retrofitted Rod Beck to modern times. He throws gas, almost touching 99 on his average heater while yoinking hitters with an effective split and a slider that’s death to righties. This one isn’t complicated: Brock Stewart’s elbow issues softened a bullpen already lacking a little in depth, and the Twins will need to avoid “Jovani Moran on the mound needing multiple outs against a good team” as much as they can. The only issue is that everyone will probably look to Harvey—what other arm does Washington have—which will inflate his price. RHP Mark Leiter Jr. 32.-Cubs Another reliever, Mark Leiter Jr. is throwing splitters 35% of the time with the Cubs, and he is dominating. His ERA is fine, but his peripherals are mouth-watering—and his style of pitching as a reverse-split lefty-killer could help aid the Twins as they search for Caleb Thielbar’s health and Moran’s control. If neither of those come to pass, Leiter Jr. should be a cheap-ish lefty neutralizer just entering arbitration. RHP Chris Martin, 37-Red Sox There’s something hilarious about a team playing just about as well as the Twins having to sell; should have made your home in an easier division, Boston. Anyways, Martin is on what feels like his hundredth year of solid relief work, as the veteran holds a 1.67 ERA and good peripherals. Not 1.67 ERA peripherals, but good enough. He’s actually found a touch more velo this season, and while the strikeouts are down, his under-the-hood numbers don’t appear strange. Martin is no rental as well; he would be a Twin in 2024 as well if they consummate a trade for him. DH/1B Justin Turner, 38-Red Sox Did you know that Justin Turner was an Oriole way back in 2009? He’s famously the Met Who Couldn’t Hit turned The Dodger Who Could Do Nothing But, and 2023 so far has been yet again consistent—almost boringly so—with a healthy 121 wRC+. Considering Royce Lewis’ injury and José Miranda’s refusal to hit, waiting on the baseball gods to alter their favor may be unwise; Turner could be the name they look to for lineup beefing. He’s not much of a fielder anymore, making Byron Buxton’s permanent residence at the DH slot a tough road block, but few bats available at the deadline could provide more punch. I think if there were any lessons learned from this exercise, it’s that the extra wild card slots have made it more difficult on the buyers, as mediocre teams may buy into their glory, and close up business. Important pieces are no longer free to deal for. There will be surprises—that will never fully go away—but it’ll be hard to dig through and uncover players who can help the Twins going forward. View full article

At least that's the last of needing to ask around for an Apple TV login. Image courtesy of Matt Blewett-USA TODAY Sports Box Score Bailey Ober: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K Home Runs: None Bottom 3 WPA: Jhoan Duran (-.287), Max Kepler (-.150), Carlos Correa (-.149) Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) It was Bailey Ober’s third time on Apple TV this year; he knew what he had to do. Facing Cole Irvin and an Orioles team fresh off bopping the Yankees, Ober needed to be sharp, accurate. This young Baltimore lineup is capable of crushing anyone—and their seemingly endless supply of talented bats, constantly refreshing and bolstering the position player pool makes them a tough beat. How did it go? Early? Slow. Michael A. Taylor started the game with a diving catch before Ober and Christian Vázquez combined for a strike-em-out-throw-em-out double play to end the frame. The game was in swing. And it seemed that the Twins would have the upper-hand. Irvin’s pitching line from his previous rendezvous with Minnesota appears clean, but the batted ball data reveals a shellacking unseen and unfounded; the Twins creamed nine hard-hit balls off the lefty with just one run scored. But it was a fresh day, and Irvin found what he didn’t have on Sunday. He was excellent. Minnesota’s batters guessed wrong all night. Three hits—one cheesy; the other a little less so; one a solidly struck double—served as the lone damage Irvin felt, as he struck out four batters over 6 ⅓ innings with no runs scored while he stood on the mound. He wasn’t alone in his effort, though, as Cedric Mullins stole a three-run homer from Byron Buxton that surely would have changed the game’s complexion—and the shade of purple this prose would be written with. It proved a turning point. Anthony Santander smoked a double beyond Donovan Solano, leading Ryan O’Hearn to shoot a single to left, placing runners on the corners with no one out. Mullins—of course—flew a ball deep enough out to right field to score the first run of the game. Ober was a little off his game, walking more than you would expect; perhaps striking out a few less, but the single run was more than Irvin allowed, so Ober could do nothing but watch and hope alongside the fans. Things turned almost immediately; the Twins tied the game four pitches after Irvin left as the Mahtomedi native, Mike Baumann, served up a single to Willi Castro, allowing Kyle Farmer to score with some wise baserunning. So began the late-game, bullpen-ing and lineup shuffling present in a close game like this. Relievers entered, acquiring as many outs as they could, battling starters and pinch-hitters alike in a race to score first before the last out of the ninth. Baltimore nearly had their rally, but a double play lineout picking off a greedy Gunnar Henderson ended that dream before it could start. The game stayed in its Cold War state until extra-innings, when a stretched-out Jhoan Duran finally cracked. His ninth was dominant—a pair of strikeouts; a controversial running lane violation—but his 10th was weak, leading to two runs to score off him as the Twins were now suddenly playing from behind again. Félix Bautista experienced no such issues, and he blew away Minnesota to end the game. Notes: The Twins earned two Statcast "Barrels" on Friday; one from Buxton on his robbed homer, and another from Farmer on his opposite-field double off Irvin. The outing was Ober's ninth quality start of the season. Willi Castro's 19th stolen base moved him into a tie at 7th place amongst AL base stealers, one away from the top five and 24 (!!!) away from the leader, Esteury Ruiz. Griffin Jax has not allowed an earned run since May 19th. Post-Game Interview: What’s Next? The Twins and Orioles will play the second game of the series on Saturday with first pitch coming at 1:10 PM; Sonny Gray will pitch opposite of former Twins farmhand, Tyler Wells. Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet View full article

Whatever they talked about it, it sure worked. Image courtesy of © Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports Box Score Pablo López: 6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K Home Runs: Joey Gallo (14), Max Kepler (11), Byron Buxton (14) Top 3 WPA: Pablo López (.144), Joey Gallo (.111), Royce Lewis (.096) Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) The infamous players' meeting—was all anyone could talk about. No one knows what precisely the hitters told each other beyond that Kyle Farmer offered incentives to his fellow batters and that—perhaps, hopefully—the bats would forget their previous struggles and embrace the endless future and its potential success. It seemed to work early. Carlos Correa smashed a single up the middle, and Alex Kirilloff lined a hit into right to brew early trouble for Baltimore starter Dean Kremer. It was too much. Joey Gallo adjusted, fouling off a tough cutter to find his bread and butter: a middle-middle fastball soon to be a souvenir for the Orioles faithful. Kepler made his adjustment, pulverizing a cement mixer well enough into right field in his mind to drop the bat with some swagger out of the box. And Byron Buxton adjusted, eschewing the puzzling left-handed troubles that have plagued the organization since Nelson Cruz became a Ray with a three-run homer that knocked the monkey entirely off Minnesota's back. Pablo López made his adjustment… in an atypical manner. Rather than dominate with an incredible strikeout-to-walk rate—and far too many runs—López walked three with just six strikeouts but only one earned run. He wobbled early, allowing baserunners when the game was fresh and still un-won, before settling in and cruising through Baltimore's lineup; a cheeky Adley Rutchsman solo shot was his lone error. His hat may have been thoroughly drenched in sweat, but his start was an easy success against a solid lineup. Immediate offensive excitement gave way to typical, atrophying scoring; the Twins didn't score following the 4th inning as the team sat on their comfortable lead, waiting out Baltimore's outs until the team could claim victory. And so they did. Jovani Moran, Emilio Pagán, and Jordan Balazovic continued the pitching effort, handing Minnesota a trio of scoreless frames to end the game decidedly in their favor. Notes: Pablo López earned 14 swings-and-misses on Friday. The Twins earned four Statcast "Barrels" on Friday—one from Byron Buxton, Max Kepler, Joey Gallo, and Kyle Farmer. Post-Game Interview: What’s Next? Minnesota and Baltimore will play the second game of the series on Saturday; Bailey Ober is set to face off against Kyle Bradish with first pitch at 12:05 PM. Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet View full article

All I know is, in the off-season, the Twins need to swipe a few of Atlantas hitting coaches or coordinators; I’ve never seen a group of hitters so dynamic.

This was a great Pablo López article that may accidentally be a “why is the twins defense so bad again?” piece.

That Kernels rotation is looking incredible these days. Not sure if there’s a real weakness.

That was 1 (one) outing. I do believe that every reliever in baseball has an outing like that you could point to; Pagán isn’t unique in that regards.

I agree that the emotional aspect is overblown, but I can’t agree that he is “valuable” in a role that—for the most part—only sees him enter in games the team is already losing. That’s a human white flag. Only five times this year has the team brought him in when the score was tied or when the team was up by two or fewer runs. That’s a lot of mop-up duty just about any half-decent reliever could do.

St. Paul had more multi-hit batters than not; don't ask about the rest of the farm. TRANSACTIONS OF Kyle Garlick cleared waivers and returned to the Saints. INF Michael Helman transferred to 60-day IL (left shoulder dislocation) RHP Alex Scherff transferred to AA Wichita Saints Sentinel St. Paul 7, Toledo 5 Box Score Aaron Sanchez: 4 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 4 K HR: None Multi-hit games: Andrew Stevenson (3-for-4, 3B, 2 R, RBI, BB), Jose Miranda (2-for-5, 2B, R), Matt Wallner (2-for-4, 2B, R, 3 RBI, BB), Andrew Bechtold (2-for-4, 2 2B, R, 2 RBI), Jair Camargo (2-for-4, 2B) The Saints stomped 14 hits on the Mud Hens, besting Toledo in an offensive flurry. It didn’t appear that St. Paul’s bats were set to thrive like this. The early goings were rusty, slow. They mustered one run before the fifth before finally breaking through on a two-run knock by Matt Wallner (who also doubled and walked—mentioned for no particular reason). The seventh inning proved to be the critical frame; neither Anthony Misiewicz or old friend Matt Wisler could halt St. Paul’s bats from knocking around a trio of extra-base hits. They ended up scoring four—just enough to win the game. Aaron Sanchez was Aaron Sanchez, necessitating St. Paul’s multi-inning specialists to cover a significant innings total to win the game. They did. Josh Winder, Oliver Ortega, and Patrick Murphy combined to allow one run in the following five frames; Winder was especially crucial, striking out three over two scoreless innings. The Saints turned three double plays on Saturday. Gilberto Celestino stole his second base of the season; he stole five bases in 2022. Justyn-Henry Malloy is Detroit's seventh-best prospect and he singled in five trips to the plate. Wind Surge Wisdom Wichita 4, Arkansas 7 Box Score Jose Bravo: 4 2/3 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 3 K HR: David Bañuelos (5) Multi-hit games: None A middle-inning streak of bleeding runs cost Wichita the game on Saturday. There’s nothing wrong with allowing runs in back-to-back innings; doing so in five straight frames is a cause for concern, though. Starter Jose Bravo and reliever Hunter McMahon couldn’t find the cure for their ails, finding Arkansas capable of ambushing them with no outs and two outs all the same. Wichita’s bats held steady for a little while but could not match their opponents’ outburst. A David Bañuelos bomb followed by a Brooks Lee RBI single in the third knotted the game, but that was close as they would get in Saturday’s affair; Arkansas’ pitchers were simply too good. Even their fourth and final run came via an error. Lee was characteristically inconsistent in the field, committing his 11th error of the season while also turning in a doozy of a defensive gem with this spinning throw: Hopefully the good continues to overtake the bad with him. Yoyner Fajardo swiped his 20th base on Saturday. Jonatan Clase—Seattle's 11th-best prospect—struck out in a pinch-hitting appearance. Kernels Nuggets Cedar Rapids’ game was suspended in the third inning and will be continued on Sunday. Mussel Matters Fort Myers 7, Tampa 9 Box Score Develson Aria: 2 1/3 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K HR: Danny De Andrade (5), Rafael Cruz (4) Multi-hit games: Danny De Andrade (2-for-5, HR, 2 R, RBI), Rafael Cruz (2-for-5, HR, 2B, R, 2 RBI), Mikey Perez (3-for-4, 2 R, BB) An eighth-inning blowup soiled a potential victory for the Mighty Mussels. It was an offensive display of immense strength; Danny De Andrade and Rafael Cruz spent the first-half of the game flexing their muscles with a pair of solo homers—and an RBI double by Cruz that gave Fort Myers the lead. It wouldn’t last, though. Starter Develson Aria was deeply inefficient, requiring far too early bullpen support. The first arm—Jarret Whorff—did his job marvelously, striking out four over 3 2/3 scoreless innings to hand the rest of his reliever brothers a great chance at keeping the game in hand. They didn’t. Zach Veen and A.J. Labas allowed multiple runs to score on each of their watches, giving Tampa their late victory. Mikey Perez netted three hits in the game and stole his 19th base of the season for good measure. New York’s 19th-best prospect, outfielder Anthony Hall, homered and singled, raking in four RBIs on the night. Complex Chronicles The FCL Twins did not play on Saturday. Dominican Dailies DSL Twins 5, DSL Angels 9 (10 Innings) Box Score Jose Vasquez: 4 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 6 K HR: None Multi-hit games: Dameury Pena (2-for-3), Ricardo Pena (2-for-5, 2 RBI), Ewing Matos (2-for-4) The DSL Twins played a typical low-scoring affair on Saturday before radically altering course, leading to 10 total 10th-inning runs. 21-year-old Yency De Jesus carried the torch on the mound, tossing five nearly spotless frames with four strikeouts to deliver his team into extras with ease. It was an adventurous day on the bases for Ewing Matos; the right fielder stole a base but was picked off twice, likely in moments of extreme anticipation for his next steal. Perhaps only Ricardo Pena could claim a more frustrating day on the field as the catcher made two throwing errors and allowed a pair of pitches to reach the backstop on his watch. Still, this is the DSL, and these mistakes are bound to happen as the players learn the more precise nuances of the game; they’ll get better eventually. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Yency De Jesus Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Rafael Cruz PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 - Brooks Lee (Wichita) - 1-4, RBI #2 - Royce Lewis (Minnesota) - 1-4, K #4 - Edouard Julien (Minnesota) - 0-5, 3 K #9 - Matt Wallner (St. Paul) - 2-for-4, 2B, R, 3 RBI, BB, K #14 - Jordan Balazovic (Minnesota) - ⅔ IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K #19 - Yunior Severino (Wichita) - 0-4, 4 K SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul @ Toledo (3:05 PM) - LHP Dallas Keuchel Arkansas @ Wichita (1:05 PM) - RHP Travis Adams Beloit @ Cedar Rapids (1:05 PM) - RHP Mike Paredes Fort Myers @ Tampa (11:00 AM) - RHP C.J. Culpepper View full article

Frazier helped Minnesota win it all in 1987 before becoming the color commentator for the Rockies for 17 seasons. Image courtesy of Thiéres Rabelo The game was well in hand. The Twins took a quick 1-0 advantage off a Greg Gagne homer, but Jim Lindeman almost immediately tied the match with a single in the bottom half of the frame. Then Tom Lawless hit the most infamous homer of his career, flipping his bat with the kind of swagger baseball would only begin to accept decades later, and the dam broke on the Twins. The inning drowned them. George Frazier finally entered in the seventh inning with a five-run deficit, struck out two over a pair of frames with a few fly balls along the way, and left the mound as one of the only successful Minnesota pitchers that night. No one knew it, but that would be Frazier’s final MLB career outing. Oklahoma-born and drafted, George Frazier journey-manned his way through a 10-year MLB career, evolving from back-end reliever on the pre-Herzog Cardinals, to stunning Yankee discovery, to 1981 World Series goat, to an often-traded commodity fortunate enough to latch onto the 1987 Twins for his last go-around in the majors. Typically traded for players more famous than himself—he left Cleveland with Rick Sutcliffe to join the Cubs; Joe Carter returned in the deal—Frazier worked to carve out his MLB career. 'I wasn't entitled to pitch in the 1981 World Series. I wasn't entitled to pitch in the 1987 World Series. It was a privilege I had an opportunity to do that, and I still feel that every day.' When much-maligned reliever Ron Davis was in the midst of a disastrous 1986 campaign, the Twins packaged him and Dewayne Coleman to acquire Frazier along with Ray Fontenot and Julius McDougal. McDougal never made the majors, and Fontenot’s MLB career quickly ended, but the trade accentuated the need for the Twins to fix their abysmal bullpen. Frazier helped, but major aid came in Minnesota signing Juan Berenguer and trading for Jeff Reardon—two arms critical to the World Series victory. "George was always a friendly face that came into the visiting clubhouse and came into the visitors' manager's office," [Rockies manager Bud] Black told MLB.com. "I always enjoyed my conversations with George. He'd come in, sit down on the chair, and we'd talk baseball. We were contemporaries, to a certain extent. Our timelines overlapped, and it was an easy conversation. It really was." Frazier’s Twins career was brief—he threw far more innings with the Yankees and Cubs—but he reliably gobbled up frames for a 1987 team desperate for any reliable arms. The same team that handed 42-year-old Steve Carlton 43 innings of work called on Frazier 54 times, often calling upon him in the eighth inning to keep the game close. He did just that, putting up the fourth-best ERA amongst the typical group of relievers Tom Kelly relied on that year. He was a true character—the kind of guy seemingly inevitably attracted to baseball. In an alleged meeting with then-commissioner Peter Ueberroth, he fought back against allegations that he used foreign substances, claiming that “[a]ll of the substances [he used] are made in the US." Following his playing career, Frazier tried his hand at broadcasting. Although he was known to be a wild quote, often speaking his mind when others would find such comments uncouth, Frazier latched on with the Colorado Rockies in 1998, becoming “a mainstay and the voice behind many classic calls on Rockies broadcasts,” as the official Rockies Twitter account wrote on June 19th. "I had more fun when I made $216.84 every two week in Class A ball and I didn't have to pay Uncle Sam $285,000 a year in taxes. ... The money's great, but all of it goes to my ex-wife [slight laugh], to be honest. She's driving a Mercedes and I'm driving a van, if that tells you anything." He provided color commentary on the TV broadcast through 2015, sitting front-row for a tremendous era of Rockies baseball, highlighted by the team’s magical 2007 run to the World Series. Frazier is survived by his sons, Matthew and Parker, the latter who was drafted in 2007 by the Rockies, and a daughter, Georgia, who was crowned Miss Oklahoma in 2015. ------------------------------------- Sources: B/R Bullpen - George Frazier. Gaydos, Ryan, World Series champ George Frazier dead at 68, FoxNews. Raskin, Alex, George Frazier, major league pitcher who played in the World Series for the Yankees and Twins, dies at 68 after battling undisclosed illness, DailyMail. Rockies, Twitter post, June 19th, 2023, 4:20 PM. Star Tribune Staff, George Frazier, member of Twins 1987 World Series championship team, dead at 68, StarTribune. View full article

The ghost of Billy Martin must have watched over Comerica on Friday. Image courtesy of © Lon Horwedel-USA TODAY Sports Box Score Kenta Maeda: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 K Home Runs: Royce Lewis (4), Max Kepler (10) Top 3 WPA: Kenta Maeda (.237), Max Kepler (.189), Brock Stewart (.078) Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) Kenta Maeda returned to a major-league mound for the first time since his disastrous—and hazardous—start against the Yankees on April 26th. The veteran righty served as a source of consternation and minor troubles, not necessarily in his potential addition to the pitching staff, but because every incumbent seemed well-entrenched. Then Louie Varland struggled. Now it’s up to Maeda to determine his fate. It started a little frustrating, which is really just par for the course in Minnesota this season. Two batters reached in the 1st, but a splitter vexed Kerry Carpenter—complete with the “why the hell did I swing at that” face most hitters make facing the pitch—and Javier Báez grounded into a double play; now the game could start. The Twins offensively faced off against the lefty Joey Wentz, who gave the team a shocking amount of trouble in his previous start—a six-inning, nine-strikeout performance just this past weekend. Royce Lewis quickly established that Friday’s tale would be a little different. He crushed a juicy fastball, pushing the boundaries of how high a homer can go with a 41-degree titanic blast expertly caught by someone holding a baby. Max Kepler—yes, that Max Kepler; yes, off a lefty; yes, after hitting two homers the previous week—then smoked a screaming liner off a lazy cutter, crushing the pitch 401 feet and just above the freshly-lowered homer boundary. Wentz wished it was last Saturday again. In an unusual turn of events, Rocco Baldelli made himself enemies with an umpire yet again, screaming at Lance Barrett for apparently allowing Wentz to pitch before coming set—a grievous sin. Indeed, Wentz toed the balk line with his glove movement. Barrett was satisfied; Baldelli disagreed. The ejection was the 15th in 623 games for the now-feisty Baldelli. The 2nd proved predictive in the game’s motion, but not immediately. Maeda punched out the side in the bottom of the frame, washing the events away with energy fueled with mightily missed hacks. And the rest of Maeda’s start played out in a similar fashion; Detroit could only total three hits and two walks off the veteran, and he returned the favor with interest in the form of eight strikeouts—the final punch-out especially sweet as he was able to convince Jayce Tingler to keep him in against Zach McKinstry. But chaos could only restrain itself for so long, and the 6th turned sour with angst. The Twins scored one more run—thank God for Detroit’s clumsy defense—but paid with two more ejections: the first, Michael A. Taylor for complaining about two walks stolen from him by Barrett; the second, assistant hitting coach Derek Shomon, because he woke up wanting to fight (or supported Taylor, whichever you want to believe). The calls were indeed bad, maybe not worse than the common ebbs and flows the strike zone experiences in any game, but for the same event to happen twice to one player, it’s understandable that he would show some emotions—and if Taylor is upset, then you seriously screwed up. So started the running of the bullpens. Jovani Moran allowed two runners to reach base before Tingler ended his show early, calling on Brock Stewart to save the Twins from themselves once more. He did. Mostly. One run did score, but a double play from the lethargic (respectfully) Miguel Cabrera ended the rally, and Stewart made up for the minor gaffe by punching out the side the next inning. Griffin Jax soon earned his bread, leaving the 9th to a familiar friend. Jhoan Duran made easy work of his first target before walking Matt Vierling, perhaps to add a tinge of drama. The great Cabrera fanned at a curve as devastating as any Duran has ever thrown before; the fireballer then somehow one-upped himself, catching Zack Short window-shopping at a nasty downer to conclude an emotional win. Notes: Kenta Maeda earned 11 swings-and-misses on Friday. Minnesota collected two Statcast "Barrels" in the game; one from Max Kepler and another from Kyle Farmer. Twins pitchers struck out 16 batters, the most for Minnesota in 2023 since they punched out 17 Astros on April 8th. Brock Stewart lowered his season ERA to 0.73. Post-Game Interview: What’s Next? The Twins and Tigers will play the second game of their weekend series on Saturday. A later affair, first pitch will exit Reese Olson’s right hand at 6:15 PM; Pablo López follows soon after. Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet View full article

Gotta love a game that can speak for itself. Go Twins!