Matt Braun

TRANSACTIONS LHP Ian Krol placed on the restricted list at AAA Rochester LHP Ryan O’ Rourke signed and assigned to AAA Rochester CF Ian Miller acquired from the Mariners and assigned to AAA Rochester RHP Trevor Hildenberger sent to GCL Twins on a rehab assignment LHP Stephen Gonsalves sent to GCL Twins on a rehab assignment 3B Jake Hirabayashi assigned to GCL Twins CF DaShawn Kiersey activated from the IL at A Cedar Rapids SS Ricky De La Torre assigned to Elizabethton from A Cedar Rapids RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 6, Louisville 5 (10 innings) Box Score Charlie Barnes: 4 ⅓ IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 5 BB, 5 K HR: None Multi-hit games: Wilin Rosario (2-for-4, 2B, 2 R), Alejandro De Aza (2-for-4, 3B, 5 RBI) The Red Wings won a wild extra-innings affair this Saturday. Charlie Barnes made his AAA debut and had a rough go of it as he gave up four runs while striking out as many as he walked. Hopefully it gets better for Barnes as he continues to pitch at AAA. Ryan O’ Rourke made his Rochester debut and his first game back for the Twins organization since October 2nd 2016. It was an interesting outing as he got out of a bases-loaded situation with one out in the ninth and then stranded two more runners in the 10th. He walked three and struck out one. Alejandro De Aza was the backbone of the offense as he had a two-run single in the first, a two-run triple in the sixth, and the bases-loaded walk to walk it off in the 10th, giving him an impressive five RBIs on the night and a terrible “walk-off” joke that I refuse to make. BLUE WAHOO BITES Pensacola 8, Mobile 5 Box Score Gabriel Moya: 2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K HR: None Multi-hit games: Royce Lewis (2-for-5, 2 2B, R, RBI), Jimmy Kerrigan (2-for-4, 2 R), Mark Contreras (2-for-3, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI) The Blue Wahoos ran a bullpen game this Saturday to the win. In total, five Blue Wahoos pitchers combined to strike out fifteen without giving up a walk, an impressive feat. After the fourth inning, they only gave up three hits in total while striking out seven. Royce Lewis had a double double as the Blue Wahoos continue to experiment with Alex Kirilloff hitting leadoff with Lewis second instead of the other way around when Lewis was first promoted. Kirilloff also had the impressive zero hits yet two RBIs performance, whatever works my man. This was partly because the bottom of the order did a good job setting the table as Ryan Costello, Jimmy Kerrigan, and Mark Contreras all had two runs scored despite being the 6-7-8 hitters respectively. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 9, Jupiter 2 Box Score Blayne Enlow: 6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K HR: Jose Miranda 2 (8), Trey Cabbage (7) Multi-hit games: Gabriel Maciel (2-for-5, 2B, R), Jose Miranda (2-for-4, 2 HR, 2 R, 4 RBI), Trey Cabbage (2-for-4, HR, R, RBI), Andrew Bechtold (2-for-4, 2B, 2 R), Ernie De La Trinidad (2-for-4, 3B, R, 2 RBI), David Banuelos (2-for-4, 2 RBI) The Miracle cared not for this writer having to put in who all had a multi-hit effort as they hit all over the place this Saturday. Jose Miranda was the leader of the charge as he blasted two home runs for the first multi-homer game of his professional career. Trey Cabbage didn’t want him to feel left out so he also hit a home run so Miranda didn’t feel bad. Blayne Enlow had a good start as he allowed just one earned run over his six innings of work, showing that offense isn’t the only reason to come and watch the game! David Banuelos had a multi-hit game but proved that the base paths matter too as he stole his first base of the year but was also picked off... what goes around can come around I suppose. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 5, Beloit 4 Box Score Tyler Palm: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K HR: None Multi-hit games: Gilberto Celestino (5-for-5, 2B, R), Daniel Ozoria (2-for-4) It was quite the exciting win for Cedar Rapids. Gilberto Celestino continued to flat-out rake as he was a perfect 5-for-5 and became the first Kernel to have a five hit game since Jermaine Palacios in 2017. https://twitter.com/TheKleinhans/status/1160380760928456704 Tyler Palm allowed just one earned run over his six innings of work as he attempted to make choosing between him and Enlow for pitcher of the day a difficult decision. The Kernels were down by a run headed into the bottom of the seventh but a wild pitch, a Yunior Severino single, and an Albee Weiss single plated five and gave the Kernels the lead. Brian Rapp pitched the last three innings to end the game after Palm went six and despite giving up a pair of runs, the lead stayed and Rapp was credited with the win. E-Town E-Notes Elizabethton 13, Johnson City 7 Box Score Tyler Benninghoff: 4 ⅓ IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 6 BB, 4 K HR: Parker Phillips (3), Matt Wallner (5) Multi-hit games: Willie Joe Garry Jr. (2-for-5, R, 2 RBI), Matt Wallner (2-for-5, HR, 3 R, RBI), Parker Phillips (2-for-3, HR, 4 R, 2 RBI), Seth Gray (3-for-3, 2 2B, R), Trevor Jensen (2-for-5, R, RBI) The offense headed by a few 2019 draft picks took hold for Elizabethton as they put up an organizational-high thirteen runs (for the day that is). The end total was thirteen hits along with seven walks that allowed seven different batters to collect an RBI. It’s also pretty rare to see someone score three times and not lead the team that game as Matt Wallner was outscored by Parker Phillips who touched home plate on four different occasions. In a game like this, there isn’t much on the pitching side of things but one of my favorite, Ryan Shreve, pitched in relief and he picked up five strikeouts in his outing. Coming into the game, the 2019 draft pick had a 12.44 K/9, so he is no stranger to punching tickets. GCL Twins Takes Game one: GCL Twins 0, GCL Red Sox 2 (7 innings) Box Score Stephen Gonsalves: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K HR: None Multi-hit games: Alec Craig (2-for-4) Would you look at that! Stephen Gonsalves started his rehab assignment and pitched for the first time in a few months. He gave up a homer but just the fact that he’s back to throwing in a professional game is a good reason to be excited. And it didn’t end there for rehabbing pitchers as Trevor Hildenberger relieved Gonsalves and threw a scoreless inning. It really is great to see both pitchers back on the mound after being out for a while. Unfortunately, the feel-goodness pretty much ends there as the GCL Twins were unable to put much together offensively and were shut out in the loss. They collected just four hits and all of them were singles. Game two: GCL Twins 11, GCL Red Sox 5 (7 innings) Box Score Steve Theetge: ⅔ IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K HR: Francisco Martinez (3) Multi-hit games: Jeferson Morales (3-for-5, 3B, R, RBI), Victor Heredia (3-for-4, 3 RBI), Jesus Feliz (2-for-5, R), Francisco Martinez (2-for-4, HR, 2 R, RBI), Bryson Gandy (2-for-3, 2B, 2 R, RBI) Well it seems like the offense was feeling much better in this game as game two of the doubleheader saw eleven runs scored over just seven innings of play. This came with fourteen hits and as many extra-base hits as the previous game had hits for the GCL Twins (4). Steve Theetge started the game and was removed for Anthony Escobar after getting two outs. Escobar got thirteen outs in relief while only giving up a single run and striking out three. Somewhat notable is that Keoni Cavaco was absent from the lineup in both games but this isn’t uncommon as he could either just be resting or focusing on other aspects of professional baseball on Saturday (i.e. workouts). TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Blayne Enlow Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Gilberto Celestino and Jose Miranda (I couldn’t pick) PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 - Royce Lewis (Pensacola) - 2-for-5, 2 2B, RBI, K #2 - Alex Kirilloff (Pensacola) - 0-for-4, 2 RBI #3 - Brusdar Graterol (Pensacola) - Did not pitch #4 - Trevor Larnach (Pensacola) - 1-for-4, R, BB, K #5 - Wander Javier (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-5, 2 K #6 - Jordan Balazovic (Ft. Myers) - Did not pitch #7 - Keoni Cavaco (GCL Twins) - Did not play #8 - Brent Rooker (Rochester) - Injured list #9 - Jhoan Duran (Pensacola) - Did not pitch #10 - Blayne Enlow (Ft. Myers) - 6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K #11 - Lewis Thorpe (Rochester) - Did not pitch #12 - Nick Gordon (Rochester) - Did not play #13 - Ryan Jeffers (Pensacola) - 1-for-4, BB, K #14 - Luis Arraez (Twins) - Did not play #15 - Matt Wallner (Elizabethton) - 2-for-5, HR, 3 R, RBI, 2 K #16 - Ben Rortvedt (Pensacola) - Did not play #17 - Akil Baddoo (Ft. Myers) - Out for year with Tommy John surgery #18 - Jorge Alcala (Pensacola) - Did not pitch #19 - Misael Urbina (DSL Twins) - 0-for-4 #20 - Travis Blankenhorn (Pensacola) - 0-for-5 SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Louisville @ Rochester (12:05 P.M.) - RHP Sean Poppen Pensacola @ Mobile (2:05 P.M.) - TBD Jupiter @ Fort Myers (10:00 A.M.) - LHP Lachlan Wells Beloit @ Cedar Rapids (2:05 P.M.) - RHP Andrew Cabezas Pulaski @ Elizabethton (4:00 P.M.) - RHP Ben Gross Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Saturday’s games.

Brief Overview: You know about Cleveland right? The team that looked to be dead in the water in May has risen from the ashes and has been one of the hottest teams in all of baseball since June. The offense has found its form and the starting pitching has performed well in the absence of Corey Kluber, Carlos Carraso, and Danny Salazar’s velocity. The result has been an almost unbelievable tear that has placed them just two games behind the Twins for 1st in the division. What They Do Well: Hit, unfortunately. Since the beginning of June, their team wRC+ is 108 which is seventh in MLB and just five ticks behind the Twins’ mark of 113 over the same time period. The difference is very similar to Twins Robbie Grossman (112) and Twins Jason Kubel (107) and in related news, Robbie Grossman’s Twins wRC+ is much higher than I thought it was, huh. Anyway, this is quite the development for Cleveland as up until June 1st, their team wRC+ was 78, good for the fifth lowest in MLB and tied for Brendan Harris’ Twins wRC+ of the same number. Despite being due for regression for about two months now, their bullpen is still the best in baseball by ERA as their 3.29 mark is about as far away from the second place team as the second place team is from the 10th place team (.43 away from second, the second-place team is .42 away from 10th). I say they are due for regression as their team xFIP is only 13th in baseball (remember that xFIP adjusts for home run rate) and their team left on base % (LOB %) is the highest in MLB, suggesting that have either found the secret to holding runners on base (unlikely) or are due to allow some of those base-runners to cross the plate (pretty please). What They Do Not Do Well: I really wish this section was a bit longer, but the truth is that there isn’t a whole lot they do poorly now that their offense has gotten its crap together. The current front of their starting staff is hard to match as Shane Bieber has developed into a true ace as he has already accrued 4.2 fWAR and Mike Clevinger has done very well so far despite some injuries as his fWAR sits at 1.7 already despite having only 55 2/3 innings pitched. The names currently behind them get a little suspicious however as they have Adam Plutko (5.85 FIP), Zach Plesac (4.95 FIP), and Aaron Civale (just 12 major league innings) making up the rest of the rotation as their other arms are on the mend. Those guys will be prime candidates to attack this series and Plutko and Civale are both set to face the Twins. Also going off the back-end of things, which is an awfully strange segue, the end of their lineup isn’t exactly the most inspiring. Currently, Fangraphs projects their typical 7-8-9 hitters to be Jason Kipnis, Roberto Pérez, and Tyler Naquin. Kipnis is holding a wRC+ of 87 on the year but has hit to the tune of a 118 mark since the All-Star break. Pérez is holding a wRC+ of 101 on the year but has hit to an ice-cold mark of 35 since the break. Naquin is at a perfectly even 100 wRC+ mark but has hit to a mark of 146 since the break thanks to a massive BABIP of .444. Basically, the questions here will be whether Kipnis finally found his stroke again, whether Pérez actually made tangible changes or was just getting lucky, and when will the BABIP gods no longer find favor with Naquin. The answers to each question will make or break the lineup depth for the Indians. Individuals Of Note: The Indians made a shocking trade before the deadline when they dealt Trevor Bauer to the Reds in a three-team trade that netted them Yasiel Puig and Franmil Reyes among other players. Despite pimping Bauer out all off-season, I really didn’t think they would trade him but they did so from a position of strength in order to improve some positions of weakness. Puig and Reyes are the big, immediate impacts as the Indians lacked strength in their OF offense and both fill those roles nicely. Puig was actually struggling in Cincinnati before the trade and was probably better at getting into fights than hitting as his wRC+ on the year stands at a below average 96 mark. This is partly because Great American Ballpark is hilariously unbalanced towards hitters and wRC+ adjusts for park but Puig hit at a 123 mark in 2018 so him improving would not be entirely surprising. Franmil Reyes is a bit more interesting in my eyes as he has hit at a 117 wRC+ mark over 191 career games so far and at 6’ 5” and 275 pounds, he is built to play defensive tackle and hit absolute tanks. His numbers in 2019 have dropped a touch despite an ISO jump thanks to some BABIP regression dropping his batting average and on base percentage, but at just 24-years-old, he could still figure some things out before reaching his full potential. Hey, remember that José Ramírez fella who inexplicably stopped hitting in the second half of 2018 and well into the first half of 2019? Yeah, well, it seems like he found it again as his wRC+ since the break is at 148, two ticks higher than both his 2017 and 2018 totals. The big drop for Ramírez this year has been because of a sudden lack of effectiveness against fastballs (28.9 and 38.3 pVAL against heaters in 2017 and 2018 respectively, -4.5 in 2019). If you don’t know what that is, it basically means that he went from murdering fastballs to being unable to hit them almost entirely. If he truly is back, then that could be a massive upgrade to the Indians and it would be very frightening for the Twins. Recent History: The Twins have played three series against the Indians and are 5-4 against them so far. This series will be the first one played at Target Field since the first series of the year in which the Twins took two of three. Recent Trajectories: The Twins are 10-6 over their last five series while the Indians are 11-5 over their last five series. Pitching Match-ups: Thursday: Gibson vs Clevinger Friday: Smeltzer vs Bieber Saturday: Odorizzi vs Plutko Sunday: Berríos vs Civale Ending Thoughts: The Twins get a chance to put an end to the Indians running right through each and every team they go up against by pulling a Thanos and doing the job themselves. A disheartening showing from the pitching staff in the previous Braves series throws some cold water on the hype that was gained after beating up some poor teams, so the Twins will have to start their own momentum here if they intend on doing something. I don’t need to tell you how important this series is as we all are aware that the end result could be as high as a six-game lead for the Twins or as low as a two-game lead for the Indians. Now, I have to gloat because I am a perfect 7-for-7 in my series predictions, leading me to believe that these are not predictions as much as they are me speaking the outcome into existence. The great news? I am calling that the Twins take three of four in the series, an outcome that everyone will love.

TRANSACTIONS SS Mike Miller signed and assigned to AAA Rochester LHP Lewis Thorpe optioned to AAA Rochester OF Jake Cave recalled by Minnesota RHP Zack Littell recalled by Minnesota RHP Williams Ramirez released by AA Pensacola 2B Yunior Severino activated from the 7-day IL for A Cedar Rapids RHP Matt Canterino promoted to A Cedar Rapids RHP Cody Laweryson assigned to Elizabethton Twins RHP Benjamin Dunn assigned to Elizabethton Twins RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 7, Pawtucket 4 Box Score Drew Hutchison: 5 ⅓ IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 64.8% strikes (59 of 91 pitches) HR: Brandon Barnes (25) Multi-hit games: Alejandro De Aza (2-for-4, 2B, 2 R, RBI), Ronald Torreyes (3-for-5, 2B, R, RBI) The Red Wings won a pretty clean game this Saturday. It was the new guys in the lineup who proved to be the major force as Mike Miller, Brandon Barnes, and Alejandro De Aza all had an extra-base hit and at least one run scored. Mike Miller is the newest of those guys and he made his Rochester debut with a double and a walk. If he continues to do this, they may start to really like him over there. Alejandro De Aza now has an OPS over 1.000 with the Red Wings so he seems ready in case the Twins (knock on wood) would ever need some more OF depth. Ryan Eades worked a great outing in relief of Hutchison as he got five outs with three coming via strikeout and just one hit allowed. All in all, Rochester pitching struck out ten without walking a single batter. BLUE WAHOO BITES Pensacola 3, Birmingham 1 Box Score Bryan Sammons: 6 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 5 BB, 6 K, 56% strikes (56 of 100 pitches) HR: Larnach (3), Costello (3) Multi-hit games: Ivan De Jesús Jr. (2-for-3, 2B) Bryan Sammons was very very good on Saturday, notably so with a pair of goose eggs in more than one stat up there. Unfortunately, the five walks inflated the pitch count so he could not go any deeper for the no-hitter. Gabriel Moya relieved Sammons and gave up the first hit for the Barons in the eighth off a cheeky infield pop-up that didn’t get any home cooking from the official scorer. Either way, the Blue Wahoos’ pitching allowed only a single run on the day. Trevor Larnach had been having a somewhat rough time recently in his first games at AA, but he hit his third home run at AA on Saturday and that had to have felt good. In fact, the first three Blue Wahoos’ hitters (Lewis, Kirilloff, and Larnach) all had a hit. What are we nicknaming this group? The trifecta? C(Rush)? Let us think about it at least. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 3, Lakeland 4 Box Score Blayne Enlow: 6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K HR: None Multi-hit games: Yeltsin Encarnacion (2-for-4, R) The Miracle lost a heartbreaker this Saturday. They got out to a lead first thanks to a Gabriel Maciel single in the third inning that scored Ernie De La Trinidad. Blayne Enlow was on the bump and he did the job as he went six innings with just one earned run. Normally I have the pitch count but MiLB.com has it that he threw forty-two pitches and well, I can tell you that that is not true. The Miracle added two more runs in the seventh off an Aaron Whitefield single to put the game at 3-1. Zach Neff working in his second inning in relief of Enlow in the eighth allowed four straight batters to reach and two runs to make it a 4-3 deficit. The Miracle could not recover. Aaron Whitefield had a good game as he reached base three times and knocked in a run. ( The second run that scored on his single was not counted as an RBI because that run scored on a throwing error.) He was also picked off once but I won’t dwell on the negative. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 3, Burlington 2 Box Score Matt Cantinero: 2 ⅔ IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, 47.7% strikes (31 of 65 pitches) HR: Wander Javier (7) Multi-hit games: Gilberto Celestino (2-for-4, R) Matt Cantinero made his Kernels debut and did not allow any hits or runs but fought his command as he failed to hit the 50% strike mark. I watched some of his start and it looked like he could not keep the breaking ball down specifically but this was most likely just nerves. Also, his delivery has more funk than a Red Hot Chili Peppers album from the 80’s. The Kernels only scored one time and it was from Wander Javier who blasted a three-run homer in the sixth inning to take the lead. It has not been the easiest of time for Wander at Cedar Rapids but the power is starting to flash as this was his second homer in nine games. Yunior Severino made his return to the Kernels’ lineup and he got a hit while striking out twice. E-Town E-Notes Elizabethton 9, Bristol 6 Box Score Ryley Widell: 4 ⅓ IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 K HR: Seth Gray (8) Multi-hit games: Seth Gray (2-for-5, HR, 2B, 1 R, 4 RBI), Anthony Prato (3-for-3, 2 R, RBI) Good pro tip: if you give up a lot of runs, make sure to score more runs. Thanks, I’ll be here all week. It was looking bleak for Elizabethton as they were down headed into the bottom of the ninth and there were some shenanigans regarding the sprinkler system: https://twitter.com/BadderUpSports/status/1157823463014502400 Anyway, it was a 6-4 game in favor of Bristol in the ninth before a Willie Joe Garry Jr. single scored a run to make it a little closer. DaShawn Keirsey walked to load the bases before Seth Gray hit a walk-off grand slam. That was Gray’s second extra- base hit of the day and he chose a great time to do it. https://twitter.com/ETwinsBaseball/status/1157839069256310785 GCL Twins Takes GCL Twins postponed The GCL Twins were postponed today so I have nothing to tell you here, move on. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Bryan Sammons Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Seth Gray PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 - Royce Lewis (Pensacola) - 1-for-4, 3B, R #2 - Alex Kirilloff (Pensacola) - 1-for-4 #3 - Brusdar Graterol (Pensacola) - IL #4 - Trevor Larnach (Pensacola) - 1-for-4, HR, R, RBI, 2 K #5 - Wander Javier (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-2, 2 R, 2 BB, K #6 - Jordan Balazovic (Ft. Myers) - Did not pitch #7 - Keoni Cavaco (GCL Twins) - Postponed #8 - Brent Rooker (Rochester) - Injured list #9 - Jhoan Duran (Pensacola) - Did not pitch #10 - Blayne Enlow (Ft. Myers) - 6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K #11 - Lewis Thorpe (Rochester) - Did not pitch #12 - Nick Gordon (Rochester) - Day to day #13 - Ryan Jeffers (Pensacola) - Did not play #14 - Luis Arraez (Twins) - Did not play #15 - Matt Wallner (Elizabethton) - 0-for-4, R, K #16 - Ben Rortvedt (Pensacola) - 1-for-3, BB #17 - Akil Baddoo (Ft. Myers) - Out for year with Tommy John surgery #18 - Jorge Alcala (Pensacola) - Did not pitch #19 - Misael Urbina (DSL Twins) - 0-for-4, R, BB #20 - Travis Blankenhorn (Pensacola) - IL SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Pawtucket (12:05 A.M.) - RHP Adam Bray Birmingham @ Pensacola (5:05 P.M.) - RHP Edwar Colina Fort Myers @ Lakeland (12:00 P.M.) - RHP Bailey Ober Burlington @ Cedar Rapids (2:05 P.M.) - RHP Tyler Palm Bristol @ Elizabethton (5:00 P.M.) - RHP Tyler Benninghoff Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Saturday’s games.

Brief Overview: Again, I previewed this team before (funny how division rivals work) and not much has changed for this squad except that they have gotten slightly worse after selling Homer Bailey, Jake Diekman, and Martín Maldonado. This is a team that wants to lose just as much as the Twins want to win and at 70 losses already, they are doing a fine job at that. Maybe the Twins can help them in their endeavors. What They Do Well: This team is still very fast! Despite the baseball meta shifting toward power and away from speed, the Royals stand as one of the few teams who refuse to evolve. They have swiped 91 bases and have four players with double-digit steals, a major difference in philosophy compared to the Twins who prefer smacking home runs and staying put (the Twins of course lead the league in homers but also are dead last in steals). Along with stealing, this team still plays excellent defense as their team defense rating on FanGraphs is the second highest in baseball and the highest in the AL. It shall be interesting to see if the Twins lose out on some scoring chances because of a nice diving catch or a well-played stop in the infield. Prepare to be annoyed. What They Do Not Do Well: How long do I have? Oh man… Well, this team is very poor in many ways. The first of which is that their starting pitching is the fifth lowest in MLB by fWAR. After trading Homer Bailey, only one of their starters has more than 1.0 fWAR (Brad Keller) and only two have tossed more than 100 innings so far this year. They have the fifth lowest starter K/9 in baseball but they make up for not being able to strike people out by walking them too much as their BB/9 is the seventh highest in baseball. They have decided to bring back the Mike-Montgomery-as-a-starter experiment and so far he has struck out just five in 11 1/3 innings. Amazing. On the hitting side of things, their 86 team wRC+ isn’t just Kurt Suzuki’s Twins wRC+, but also the fifth worst in baseball. Not being able to hit or get quality starting pitching is like trying to build a Lego house on a beach as a tsunami comes screaming in at you while you blissfully stay focused on your soon-to-be meaningless task. I suppose that makes the Twins the tsunami in this scenario which is kind of mean but hopefully not fully inaccurate. Individuals Of Note: I’m being somewhat mean so I’ll let up here. Their positional core of Whit Merrifield, Hunter Dozier, and Adalberto Mondesi is more than respectable as all have already reached the 2.0 fWAR mark this year. Although Mondesi has been on the IL since the middle of June and his status for the series is in question. Beyond them, they also have Jorge Soler who has put up a solid 116 wRC+ this year thanks in part to his 28 home runs. He represents their major power threat and will no doubt be in the middle of the lineup when he plays. They have also called up Bubba Starling somewhat recently and he is a very interesting player. Starling was the fifth overall pick in 2011 but saw his prospect status crater after he hit a wall at AA in 2015-2016. He stayed in the farm for much longer than he and the team anticipated, but now he is finally in the majors after years of waiting. His numbers so far are uninspiring, but he still holds some very interesting tools and is one of the few players whose athleticism could be compared to Byron Buxton with any hint of seriousness. On the pitching side of things, Brad Keller has been by far their best starting pitcher as he sits at the 1.7 fWAR mark. Despite striking out just 16.6% of batters, a number that even Pat Dean and his 16.7% Twins K rate scoffs at, Keller makes it work by getting an elite amount of ground balls as his 51.5% GB rate is the ninth highest among all qualified MLB starters. Ian Kennedy remains one of the very best relievers in baseball this year as he is eighth among all relievers in fWAR. It is somewhat surprising that basically no trade rumors came about focused on him but his contract probably discouraged some teams and so he remains a dominant force in the back-end of the Royals pen. Recent History: The Twins have played three series against the Royals this year and are 6-3 against them on the year. The Twins swept a two-game series in KC in April, then took two of three at home in June, and then split a four-game series in KC the same month. Recent Trajectories: The Twins are 8-8 over their last five series while the Royals are also 8-8. The Royals over that stretch swept the White Sox in a four-game series, took two on the road against the Braves, and also got swept in three at home against the Blue Jays, I have no clue what to make of that. Pitching Match-ups: Friday: Pérez vs Sparkman Saturday: Gibson vs Duffy Sunday: Odorizzi vs Keller Ending Thoughts: The Twins finally saw their schedule soften up a bit as they played the White Sox and the Marlins in back-to-back series and now they get another chance to pounce on a weak team. In my eyes, this team is on the verge of breaking out and getting back in the form we saw earlier in the year where they were taking care of teams with such a ruthless efficiency that hit-men around the globe nodded in approval. Now, before I predict what the series is, I must bring up the fact that I am a perfect 6-for-6 in my predictions so far, good thing I can use my clairvoyance for something as useful as this. The great news? I am feeling a sweep for the Twins as they take all three games against KC this weekend. You’re welcome.

TRANSACTIONS Twins acquired RHP Sergio Romo, RHP Chris Villamont and a PTBNL from the Marlins in exchange for 1B Lewin Diaz. OF Jake Cave optioned to AAA Rochester LHP Devin Smeltzer optioned to AAA Rochester RHP Cody Allen reinstated from the Temporary Inactive List LHP Gabriel Moya transferred to AA Pensacola OF Jimmy Kerrigan transferred to AA Pensacola RHP Dakota Chalmers returned to A+ Fort Myers from rehab assignment and activated OF Aaron Whitefield transferred to A+ Fort Myers from AA Pensacola 2B Yunior Severino sent to GCL Twins for rehab assignment 1B Taylor Grzelakowski sent to GCL Twins for rehab assignment SS Royce Lewis promoted to AA Pensacola https://twitter.com/morsecode/status/1155294494201470976 RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 6, Indianapolis 7 (10 innings) Box Score Kohl Stewart: 4 ⅔ IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 60.3% strikes (44 of 73 pitches) HR: Jaylin Davis (14), Drew Maggi (10) Multi-hit games: Jaylin Davis (2-for-5, HR, 2B, R, 2 RBI) The Red Wings lost an extra-innings affair this Saturday. It was another game that needed to be played so it was another game where Jaylin Davis hit a home run. This was his fourteenth homer in just his thirty-eighth game at AAA, that’s almost a sixty homer pace over a full season, ridiculous. This one was off top prospect Mitch Keller as well. https://twitter.com/RocRedWings/status/1155274333465522176 Cody Allen worked a pair of scoreless innings with two strikeouts, he may still be a potential cog in the Twins bullpen later in the season despite being passed up recently for other players. Jeremy Bleich made his Rochester debut and pitched a scoreless inning that came with two strikeouts. BLUE WAHOO BITES Pensacola 7, Jacksonville 1 Box Score Griffin Jax: 7 ⅓ IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, 65.5% strikes (57 of 87 pitches) HR: Mark Contreras (7), Jimmy Kerrigan (7), Ryan Jeffers (1), Ivan De Jesús Jr. (1) Multi-hit games: Ryan Jeffers (3-for-4, HR, 2 R, RBI), Jimmy Kerrigan (2-for-4, HR, 2B, R, RBI), The Blue Wahoos won a comfortable game this Saturday against the Jumbo Shrimp. Griffin Jax gave up a homer in the 1st inning but that was basically it as he silenced the Jumbo Shrimp offense the rest of the way. I watched some of the game and his command looked great while the slider was sharp, somehow he may be one of the more underrated arms in the Twins system which is wild to say about a guy with an ERA of 2.34 at AA. The Blue Wahoos offense refused to be shown up as they combined for four homers and seven runs in support of Jax. Ryan Jeffers was the biggest bat as he not only hit his first AA home run but also added a pair of singles for a nice three-hit performance. Andrew Vasquez came on in relief of Jax and ended the game without allowing a run, a good step in the right direction. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 4, Lakeland 3 Box Score Bailey Ober: 6 ⅓ IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, 70.5% strikes (62 of 88 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: Aaron Whitefield (2-for-4, RBI), Jacob Pearson (2-for-4, 2B, RBI), Andrew Bechtold (2-for-4, R, RBI), David Banuelos (2-for-4, 2B, R) The Miracle won a close game this Saturday. Bailey Ober made his first home start since being activated from the IL and he was dominant as he allowed no earned runs in his start while striking out nine. When he has been healthy, he has been impressive to watch. All of the damage offensively came in the middle and a bit lower down in the lineup as each batter 4-7 had a single RBI in a collective effort to put together the runs needed to win the game. Jacob Pearson was one of the batters with a multi-hit game and he now holds an OPS of .804 at A+ since being promoted, he also stole a base. In total, the Miracle pitchers struck out twelve Lakeland batters while only walking one. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 3, Clinton 0 Box Score Kai-Wei Teng: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 66.7% strikes (60 of 90 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: Spencer Steer (2-for-4, 2B, R, BB), Trevor Casanova (2-for-4, 2B, RBI), Alex Isola (2-for-4) Hey look, the Blue Wahoos were not the only Twins minor league team with a great pitching performance! Kai-Wei Teng was electric as he threw seven scoreless innings en route to probably his best performance to date. Spencer Steer continues to be otherworldly as he had yet another multi-hit effort. His OPS at Cedar Rapids now sits at 1.029 and honestly that might not even fully reflect how well he has done so far. In addition to the Kernels’ eight hits, they also walked six times, giving them an impressive fourteen times on base in the game. How do you win games? Well just put up offense and have a great start from your starter, seems simple enough, more teams should try this. E-Town E-Notes Elizabethton 0, Bristol 1 Box Score Prelander Berroa: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K HR: None Multi-hit games: Will Holland (2-for-3) The Elizabethton Twins lost a close game this Saturday. Elizabtheton’s hitters had just four hits total and none went for extra bases. They also struck out ten times and took no walks. Will Holland had the best game of any Elizabthton position player as he knocked two singles and stole a base. GCL Twins Takes GCL Twins 14, GCL Red Sox 13 (11 innings) Box Score Donny Breek: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K HR: None Multi-hit games: Jeferson Morales (2-for-3, 2B, 4 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB), Francisco Martinez (2-for-5, 3B, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB) The GCL Twins had one absolutely wild game against the GCL Red Sox that included twenty-five total hits in the game. Somehow, neither squad hit a homerun so it was all the balls in play that ended up doing the damage. Yunior Severino played in first game since April, he went 0-for-2 before being replaced but this is just the start of his rehab assignment so his playing time will be ramped up soon before hopefully joining the Cedar Rapids Kernels soon. Yennier Cano threw two perfect innings with a pair of strikeouts, a much better outing than his first GCL appearance a few days ago that was disastrous. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Kai-Wei Teng Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Ryan Jeffers PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 - Royce Lewis (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-4 #2 - Alex Kirilloff (Pensacola) - 0-for-5, K #3 - Brusdar Graterol (Pensacola) - IL #4 - Trevor Larnach (Pensacola) - 0-for-5, 3 K #5 - Wander Javier (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-2, 2 R, 2 BB, K #6 - Jordan Balazovic (Ft. Myers) - Did not pitch #7 - Keoni Cavaco (GCL Twins) - 0-for-3, BB, K #8 - Brent Rooker (Rochester) - Injured list #9 - Jhoan Duran (Pensacola) - Did not pitch #10 - Blayne Enlow (Ft. Myers) - Did not pitch #11 - Lewis Thorpe (Twins) - Did not pitch #12 - Nick Gordon (Rochester) - 1-for-5, 2B, R, 2 K #13 - Ryan Jeffers (Pensacola) - 3-for-4, HR, 2 R, RBI #14 - Luis Arraez (Twins) - Did not play #15 - Matt Wallner (Elizabethton) - 1-for-4, R, BB, 2 K #16 - Ben Rortvedt (Pensacola) - Did not play #17 - Akil Baddoo (Ft. Myers) - Out for year with Tommy John surgery #18 - Jorge Alcala (Pensacola) - Did not pitch #19 - Misael Urbina (DSL Twins) - 0-for-5, 2 K #20 - Travis Blankenhorn (Pensacola) - IL SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Indianapolis @ Rochester (12:05 A.M.) - RHP Randy Dobnak Pensacola @ Jacksonville (2:05 P.M.) - RHP Jhoan Duran Lakeland @ Fort Myers(12:00 P.M.) - LHP Lachlan Wells Clinton @ Cedar Rapids (2:05 P.M.) - RHP Austin Schulfer Elizabethton @ Bristol (5:00 P.M.) - LHP Ryley Widell Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Saturday’s games.

Brief Overview: I was never particularly high on the White Sox coming into the season or even when they were somewhat competent earlier in the season. This is a not good team that is slightly better than the dumpster fire Tigers and the hand-me-down Royals that excels at not being notable in many different ways. Earlier when I wrote about them they were at four games below .500 and they are now currently at 8 games below .500 coming into Wednesday’s action with a pythag W/L of 40-58 that says “you wish this was the worst”. What They Do Well: The White Sox still have defied the BABIP odds as their .319 mark is the second highest in baseball, just behind the yearly BABIP champs, the Rockies. Amazingly, this isn’t much of a drop from the .320 mark they had when I first wrote about them. Have they figured out the deep, dark secrets of BABIP? Probably not, but they will continue to ride the wave until otherwise. Maybe the Twins will be the shark that finally jumps that wave and goes all “Soul Surfer” on them but without the rehab or inspirational story. What helps them is that they have the third lowest fly ball % in baseball at 32.6% (the Twins are the 2nd highest at 39.6%) and in return they have the 2nd highest ground ball % at 47.3%. Fly balls carry the lowest BABIP of any batted ball type so by them mitigating their all balls, they have the capacity to hold a higher BABIP. This is not smart, however, as part of the reason why fly balls hold a low BABIP is because they tend to go over the wall for home runs and homers don’t count in BABIP but certainly do count in the box score. What They Do Not Do Well: Hit well! As a continuation of my last point, I’ll explain why the White Sox are doing it wrong. Their “keep it on the ground” method has lead to the third-lowest isolated power in baseball at .152 (Matt Lawton come on down) and a wRC+ of just 90. Of course I assume everyone here is aware of the “fly-ball revolution” or why hitting the ball in the air is advantageous so I’ll let you join in on making fun of a team still in the past. No one has ever hit a homer on a ground ball, true story. They also have the second-lowest BB% in baseball, ouch. Their starting rotation has been solidly below average as they are 21st in baseball by fWAR but it even worse by WPA as they are 24th in that stat. If you take away Lucas Giolito’s contributions then they would be the second-worst team by starting pitching WPA. Of course, you can’t actually do that but it does speak to how poor their starting pitching has been outside of Giolito. Individuals Of Note: Last time I highlighted Yoan Moncada, Tim Anderson, James McCann, and Lucas Giolito. All have still been great so I want to get a little creative here in who I highlight. A few weeks before this series the White Sox called up RHP Dylan Cease, a top pitching prospect who they received in the José Quintana trade a few years back. He has only thrown 16 innings so far and the strikeouts have been there so far (9.56 K/9) but so have the walks (5.06 BB/9). Top arms with all stuff and no command is a story as old as time and the White Sox have no need for winning games so they will allow him to work out the kinks in the majors unless he appears to be hilariously over matched. It looks like he’ll start on Friday. Beyond being cursed with an unfortunate name, Aaron Bummer also is a middle reliever on the White Sox, meaning that the disappearance of a man from Fargo might be more newsworthy than whatever Bummer does. This is unfair as Bummer has added two ticks to his fastball velocity this year and is now throwing 95.4 on average from the left side. His K% has gone up a few tenths of a percentage point and his GB% is a hilarious 68.5% which is only topped by Zack Britton among pitchers with at least 30 innings this year. To put it simply, you will either strike out or ground out against Bummer. Recent History: The Twins lost a three-game series 2-1 starting on June 28th at Chicago earlier this year but previously swept them at home in late May. Do the complicated math and that leaves you at 4-2 in favor of the Twins so far this year. Recent Trajectories: The Twins are 7-7 over their last five series while the White Sox are 4-10 over their last 5 series heading into Wednesday. Pitching Matchups: Thursday: Berríos vs Giolito Friday: Pineda vs Cease Saturday: Pérez vs Nova Sunday: Gibson vs Covey Ending Thoughts: The Twins haven’t played the most inspiring games recently but they played some really tough games against a good Oakland squad and an evil Yankees team. While the W/L remains a cold judge, it sure feels like they are on the verge of getting back in shape. A long series against a White Sox team that even Foreigner would describe as “Cold As Ice” could be what they need as they inch towards the trade deadline. So far I am a perfect five-for-five in my series predictions and I’m feeling a nice 3-1 series in favor of the Twins.

TRANSACTIONS -Catcher Kyle Schmidt promoted from the GCL to Elizabethton. -GCL Twins activated Regi Grace from the IL. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 1, Gwinnett 5 Box Score D.J. Baxendale: 1 IP, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K (opener for Devin Smeltzer) HR: None Multi-hit games: None A quiet game from the Red Wings that ended in a loss to the Gwinnett Stripers. Devin Smeltzer was the primary pitcher (or bulk pitcher, whatever you prefer) after D.J. Baxendale and he gave up four runs over his four innings of work. He struck out none and walked two batters. Fernando Romero came on in relief of Smeltzer and fired off two scoreless innings while allowing just one hit, walking one and striking out four. The Red Wings offense was stagnant all game as they put together just four hits with none going for extra bases while striking out eleven times. A rare off day for a typically great offense that is missing Brent Rooker’s presence in the lineup. BLUE WAHOO BITES Pensacola postponed vs Mississippi The rain came in and made sure that no game would be played today which is great for my laziness but not great for the people who wanted a game to be played, shame. A doubleheader will be played tomorrow. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 5, Florida 0 Box Score Lachlan Wells: 6 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 72.9% strikes (62 of 85 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: Royce Lewis (2-for-4, R, BB), Jacob Pearson (2-for-4) The Miracle played a well-rounded game this Saturday that ended in a win. Lachlan Wells was dominant but so were Calvin Faucher and Zach Neff who each pitched scoreless outings in relief of Wells. Combined, they gave up just three hits, walked just one hitter, and struck out ten hitters. A well-pitched game indeed by the Miracle. The Miracle bats didn’t want the pitching to steal the thunder as they smacked eight hits and walked more than they struck out on their way to scoring five runs. Both Ryan Jeffers and David Banuelos had two-run doubles and Jose Miranda had an RBI single following Ryan Jeffers’ double in the first. That was all the scoring that was done but hey, why score runs you don’t need? Royce Lewis continued his hot streak by knocking a pair of singles and taking a walk, a good sign for the top prospect who has had to work through a tougher season than most anticipated. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 6, Fort Wayne 4 Box Score Kai-Wei Teng: 3 ⅔ IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 58.2% strikes (39 of 67 pitches) HR: Yeltsin Encarnacion (2) Multi-hit games: Spencer Steer (2-for-4, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI), Yeltsin Encarnacion (2-for-5, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI), Gilberto Celestino (3-for-5, 2 2B, RBI), Gabe Snyder (2-for-5), Daniel Ozoria (3-for-5) I made some snarky comment here about close games last week so the Kernels decided to spite me and actually have a close game, this one ended with another win for them so I guess we all can be happy. Spencer Steer has continued to just rake even after the promotion as his OPS with the Kernels is now .993 after another multi-hit game. Shoot, he might be major league ready already! Gilberto Celestino has also started to heat up recently as his OPS now sits at .680 after a slow start to the season. He had an OPS of .913 in July coming into the game and that will go up even higher thanks to his three-hit effort that came with a pair of doubles. Jose Ramirez relieved Teng and got ten outs without allowing a run. Rickey Ramirez received the save after he threw two scoreless innings that came with four strikeouts and just two hits. E-Town E-Notes Elizabethton 10, Bluefield 7 Box Score Prelander Berroa: 5 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K HR: Willie Joe Garry Jr. (2), Kidany Salva (1), Seth Gray (5) Multi-hit games: Willie Joe Garry Jr. (2-for-5, HR, 2B, 2 R, 4 RBI), Max Smith (2-for-5, 3B, 2B, R), Charles Mack (3-for-5, R, RBI) It was quite the offensive game as both teams dropped twelve hits and a combined seventeen runs. The difference, however, was that Bluefield foolishly had only one hit of the extra-base variety while the intelligent Elizabethton Twins had five including three home runs. All but one Elizabethton batter had a hit. Willie Joe Garry Jr. and Max Smith played the part of the bash brothers as they combined for four extra-base hits and would have had a combined cycle had either of them bothered to get a single. Oh well, their slugging percent thanks them anyway. There wasn’t much to talk about on the pitching side of things but Dylan Thomas had a scoreless outing that included four outs and three strikeouts. GCL Twins Takes GCL Twins 3, GCL Red Sox 5 Box Score Regi Grace: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K HR: None Multi-hit games: Jim Caceres (2-for-4) The GCL Twins struck out 14 GCL Red Sox hitters on Saturday. I feel like I have noted something similar for both the GCL Twins and Elizabethton Twins every week so be happy that the Twins are punching tickets and taking names in the early stages of development. The GCL offense was sporadic as only two hitters reached base multiple times and they only reached base nine times all day. The end result was three runs, all of which scored in the fourth inning. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Lachlan Wells Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Willie Joe Garry Jr. PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 - Royce Lewis (Ft. Myers) - 2-for-4, R, BB #2 - Alex Kirilloff (Pensacola) - Postponed game #3 - Brusdar Graterol (Pensacola) - Postponed game #4 - Trevor Larnach (Pensacola) - Postponed game #5 - Wander Javier (Cedar Rapids) - Did not play #6 - Jordan Balazovic (Ft. Myers) - Did not pitch #7 - Keoni Cavaco (GCL Twins) - 0-for-2, 2 BB #8 - Brent Rooker (Rochester) - Injured list #9 - Jhoan Duran (Ft. Myers) - Did not pitch #10 - Blayne Enlow (Ft. Myers) - Did not pitch #11 - Lewis Thorpe (Rochester) - Did not pitch #12 - Nick Gordon (Rochester) - Did not play #13 - Ryan Jeffers (Ft. Myers) - 1-for-5, 2B, R, 2 RBI, K #14 - Luis Arraez (Twins) - 0-for-3 #15 - Matt Wallner (Elizabethton) - 1-for-4, R, BB, 2 K #16 - Ben Rortvedt (Pensacola) - Postponed game #17 - Akil Baddoo (Ft. Myers) - Out for year with Tommy John surgery #18 - Jorge Alcala (Pensacola) - Postponed game #19 - Misael Urbina (DSL Twins) - 0-for-5 #20 - Travis Blankenhorn (Pensacola) - Postponed game SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Gwinnett (12:05 A.M.) - RHP Sean Poppen Pensacola @ Mississippi (5:05 P.M.) - RHP Jorge Alcala Fort Myers @ Florida (11:00 P.M.) - RHP Bailey Ober Cedar Rapids @ Fort Wayne (12:05 P.M.) - RHP Austin Schulfer Elizabethton @ Bluefield (4:30 P.M.) - TBD Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Saturday’s games.

Brief Overview: The A’s came into the season fresh off a wild card loss and as usual, had a somewhat quiet off-season that was more shuffling cards than anything. Because they play in the AL West with the Astros, many wrote off a division title as impossible, but they currently are in striking distance of first place and now actually have a better run differential than the Astros (this could change if the Astros blow out the Angels this Wednesday night but you get the point). They are hot and they are ready to play any team in baseball. What They Do Well: This is an offense that refuses to strike out as their team K% is the third lowest in baseball at 20.0%. Legendary tweeter, Trevor Plouffe, struck out 20.0% of the time with the Twins for reference. As a whole, their offense is ninth in baseball with a Shannon Stewart wRC+ of 105 that has been a Michael Cuddyer 110 since the beginning of June. So this is an offense that does not strike out easily and will hit well. They also hold the second-best bullpen fWAR in baseball with a 4.4 mark. This comes from a 3.93 FIP that suggest that everything is fine but a 4.82 xFIP says otherwise. The difference is that xFIP is adjusted for home run per fly ball rate and Oakland’s bullpen’s HR/FB rate is at an astonishing low 9.3% (which is also Scott Baker’s HR/FB %). No other team in baseball has a number lower than 12.2% so either the Oakland relievers have found the secret for not giving up homers (unlikely) or there should be some regression coming in that field (oh, hell yes). What They Do Not Do Well: In an era of strikeouts, the Oakland A’s have been hipsters as their starting rotation holds the lowest team K/9 at a hilariously low 6.85 K/9. Freaking Jose Mijares had a higher K/9, what in the world. They also lost their best starter and strikeout artist in Frankie Montas thanks to an 80-game PED suspension, so expect their starting pitchers to be a rarely used frozen yogurt card and not punch out much. This also comes with the second lowest starting rotation BABIP and a FIP higher than their ERA, so there could be some regression ready for the Twins offense to take advantage of. That’s actually pretty much it, their rotation is a bit sketchy but they have a great offense and a (currently) pretty damn good bullpen, a well-rounded team indeed. Individuals Of Note: The best star who is not talked about enough, Matt Chapman, is on his way to having another elite season. Dating back to the beginning of 2018, only one 3rd baseman has more fWAR (Alex Bregman) and he ranks fifth in all of baseball with a 10.7 mark. This year, he has improved even more as he has struck out less, walked more, hit for a higher average, raised his OBP, and is hitting for a higher slugging %. Oh, and he still has elite defense, good lord what a player. Marcus Semien has quietly been one of the best shortstops in all of baseball this year as his 3.5 fWAR mark is only behind Xander Bogaerts for all full-time shortstops in baseball. Much like Chapman, Semien has improved in basically every facet of his offensive game while also putting up great defensive numbers, making the left side of Oakland’s infield pretty good. Now, you know there is a giant elephant in the room as I move to the pitching side of things. I don’t want to talk about it as much as you don’t want to read about it but they pay me the big bucks here at Twins Daily to deliver what needs to be heard. So with a heavy heart, I must talk about the fact that Liam “literally Liam Hendriks” Hendriks is having a great season where he participated in the All-Star game. He is second in all of baseball in reliever fWAR and his average fastball velocity is 95.8 (it never was above 92 for the Twins). He has been the best reliever in the Oakland pen which can only prove that we all know nothing and are frauds (but you already knew this). If you held a gun to my head and asked me to name three or more starters from the A’s, well first I would wonder why you are demanding such a specific thing from me, but ultimately I would probably accidentally say “Mark Mulder” and then not survive. So to aid you, the reader, in case you find yourself in this situation, let’s get to know Chris Bassitt. Bassitt is currently throwing harder than ever with an average fastball velo of 93.4 MPH and the result has been almost a full jump in K/9 (7.74 in 2018, 8.71 in 2019). His 3.98 ERA reflects his other positive movements but his FIP of 4.42 does suggest some regression. Bassitt is set to start one of the games this series so you can use this knowledge when he is on the mound. Recent History: The Twins played a three-game series in Oakland starting on July 2 and lost two of three. The lone win came in extra innings and Oakland solidly outplayed them then. Recent Trajectories: The Twins are just 6-8 over their last five series while the A’s are 12-3 over their last five series. Ending Thoughts: The Twins haven’t played well recently which I’m going to assume is something that everyone here knows, while the A’s have been absolutely on fire. Throw in the recent hot streak from the Indians, and this now becomes an important and difficult series for the Twins. They’ll need a split at the very worst to tread water and anything worse will put them in immediate danger of dropping out of first. I predict that they will split the series and I have been a perfect 4-for-4 in my predictions so far so you can take this to the bank.