Matt Braun

TRANSACTIONS -RHP Melvi Acosta promoted from A+ Fort Myers to AA Pensacola -RHP Randy Dobnak promoted from AA Pensacola to AAA Rochester -INF Wander Javier activated for A Cedar Rapids Injuries: https://twitter.com/DanHayesMLB/status/1132354488663183360 https://twitter.com/DanHayesMLB/status/1132354794339872769 https://twitter.com/DanHayesMLB/status/1132356067210518528 https://twitter.com/SethTweets/status/1132471728939180036 RED WINGS REPORT Suspended vs Pawtucket The Red Wings got out to a quick 6-1 lead vs Pawtucket in support of Randy Dobnak’s first AAA start before the rain came in and forced a suspension in the bottom of the second. The game will be made up as a doubleheader tomorrow and the first game will continue as normal as a nine inning game while the second game will be a seven inning affair. The Red Wings were wearing Hustlers jerseys which became a feature on ESPN and the clip can be found here: https://vimeo.com/338423235 BLUE WAHOO BITES Pensacola 1, Tennessee 5 Box Score Melvi Acosta: 4 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 70.8% strikes (46 of 65 pitches) HR: Travis Blankenhorn (7) Multi-hit games: Alex Kirilloff (2-for-4), Ernie De La Trinidad (2-for-3) The Blue Wahoos could not get much going offensively outside of a leadoff home run from Travis Blankenhorn and fell to the Tennessee Smokies. The only other extra-base hit was a double from Jaylin Davis. After Melvi Acosta made his AA debut by throwing four innings to start the game, Adam Bray came in and continued his excellent season by firing off four scoreless innings that came with three punch outs and just one hit. Alex Kirilloff had a multi-hit game which was good to see, hopefully he’ll be back doing Alex Kirilloff things very soon. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 2, Daytona 0 Box Score Jordan Balazovic: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 66.3 % strikes (59 of 89 pitches) HR: Lewin Diaz (9) Multi-hit games: Lewin Diaz (2-for-4, HR, R, RBI), Aaron Whitefield (2-for-3, R, BB) Two weeks ago when I last wrote one of these, I typed in that Lewin Diaz had hit his third homer of the season, today he hit his ninth, that is quite the progression and it is great to see. In fact, Diaz tied the Miracle record for home runs hit in a single month. https://twitter.com/AndrewBern12/status/1132452002062118912 Jordan Balazovic took the mound for his fourth A+ start and the Daytona hitters most likely did not sleep the night before in terror of who was waiting for them on the mound today. The good news for Daytona is that they only struck out three times against him but the bad news is that they forgot to score and so Balazovic ended with seven shutout innings. Anthony Vizcaya took over after Balazovic and finished off the game with a pair of scoreless and hitless innings that came with two punch outs and it put a nice bow tie on the shutout for the Miracle pitching. Earlier on Saturday, the FSL All-Star rosters were announced and the Miracle had eight selections-the highest for any team in the FSL. Those players can be found here: https://twitter.com/Brandon_Warne/status/1132330902317674496 KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 9, Peoria 8 Box Score Cole Sands: 5 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 64.8% strikes (59 of 91 pitches) HR: Gilberto Celestino (2), Ben Rodriguez (3) Multi-hit games: Jared Akins (2-for-5, 2 2B, 2 R), Gilberto Celestino (3-for-5, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI), Andrew Bechtold (3-for-3, R, RBI, BB), Gabe Snyder (2-for-3, 2 RBI, BB) Wander Javier made his 2019 professional debut along with his first game above of rookie ball today in the Kernels game vs the Chiefs. He started his day out with a HBP (stop hitting him please) and finished his day without a hit. The Kernels offense was popping all day as only three innings ended without the Kernels offense scoring a run and six different players collected at least one RBI in the game. The Kernels headed into the bottom of the eighth down a run but knotted the game at eight thanks to a Gilberto Celestino single before Ben Rodriguez launched the walk-off homer in the ninth to give the Kernels the win. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Jordan Balazovic Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Gilberto Celestino PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 - Royce Lewis (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-4, K #2 - Alex Kirilloff (Pensacola) - 2-for-4, K #3 - Brusdar Graterol (Pensacola) - Injured list #4 - Trevor Larnach (Ft. Myers) - 1-for-4, 3 K #5 - Wander Javier (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, R, 2 K #6 - Brent Rooker (Rochester) - 0-for-3, 3 K #7 - Jhoan Duran (Ft. Myers) - Suspended game #8 - Lewis Thorpe (Rochester) - Did not pitch #9 - Blayne Enlow (Cedar Rapids) - Did not pitch #10 - Akil Baddoo (Ft. Myers) - Tommy John surgery #11 - Nick Gordon (Rochester) - Suspended game #12 - Stephen Gonsalves (Rochester) - No IL yet but needs rest #13 - Ryan Jeffers (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-4, 2K #14 - Ben Rortvedt (Pensacola) - Did not play #15 - Yunior Severino (Cedar Rapids) - Injured list #16 - Gilberto Celestino (Cedar Rapids) - 3-for-5, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, K #17 - Zack Littell (Rochester) - With the Twins-did not pitch #18 - LaMonte Wade (Rochester) - Did not play #19 - Jorge Alcala (Pensacola) - Did not pitch #20 - Jose Miranda (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-4, K SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Pawtucket @ Rochester Game 1: (4:05 P.M. Game 2 will start 30 minutes after the conclusion of game 1) Pensacola @ Tennessee (1:00 P.M.) Fort Myers @ Daytona (5: 35 P.M.) - RHP Jhoan Duran Peoria @ Cedar Rapids (2:05 P.M.) - RHP Josh Winder Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Saturday’s games.

My connections to Kepler run a bit deeper too. My last name implies a strong German heritage (Braun means “brown” in German), so naturally I stuck to Kepler. Of course, the similarities pretty much end there as he can hit major league pitching and my baseball career ended once the breaking balls were introduced to me. Anyways, Kepler ended that year with a modest 93 wRC+ and a 1.3 fWAR over 113 games. Passable numbers for sure, but the potential for Max seemed higher thanks to his top prospect status, great athleticism, and low BABIP which seemed to be signs that a breakout season was coming soon. Kepler put up the same wRC+ in 2017, a somewhat baffling occurrence as a breakout seemed all but inevitable that year. Of course, there is always next year and the Kepler celebrations were paused until 2018 where he hit for a wRC+ of … 97. Scientists and baseball writers were bewildered as his walk rate jumped 3.3% while his strikeout rate dropped 4.4%, both things that would suggest a breakthrough, yet it didn’t quite occur. Kepler’s defensive numbers were better in 2018 so his fWAR jumped from 1.4 to 2.6, but this was not quite the way everyone wanted Kepler to improve. Between his start in 2016 and the end of the 2018 season, Kepler’s BABIP (batting average on balls in play) sat at an astonishingly low .257. Among those with 1500+ plate appearances in that time period, he comes in with the fifth-lowest BABIP in all of baseball. Some of the names that come in around him are Todd Frazier, Jose Bautista, Albert Pujols, Carlos Santana, Maikel Franco, Curtis Granderson, and Salvador Perez. There’s a general theme here of slow, lethargic and (mostly) guys who would no longer be considered “athletic” by MLB standards. But then there’s Kepler, who BaseballSavant has in the 59th percentile for sprint speed, an above average level. Why his BABIP is so low remains beyond me as looking into his batted ball profile leaves me even more confused than before. His soft/med/hard hit % slash line is almost identical to George Springer from 2016-2018, yet Springer holds a BABIP .049 points above him. His pull/center/oppo % slash line resembles Victor Martinez’s from 2016-2018, yet even old man V-Mart was able to put up a .281 BABIP. And to top it all off, his FB/GB/LD % slash line over 2016-2018 matches up well with Rougned Odor, yet the small stink was able to out BABIP him by .017 points. Now, every player has a BABIP that is unique to them and their batted-ball profile. Some can hold higher numbers than others while some just naturally have lower ball in play ability, but Kepler’s BABIP will always remain perplexing to me, what is making it so that this guy cannot get a hit to save his life? But enough about the past, we can’t change it anyways. What about Kepler so far this year? Well thank you so much for asking, Kepler is holding a respectable 118 wRC+ in 2019 as he continues to usually bat lead off in an extremely potent Twins lineup. His average exit velocity of 91.4 MPH is higher than his career average of 89.2 and the MLB average of 87.4. What is probably the least shocking about a hitter in 2019 is that he also now has a career high pull rate of 56.2% which is 11.4% higher than his average and his average launch angle is currently 15.7 degrees, a number that is actually lower than his 2018 launch angle average, but a mark that is above the MLB average of 11.0 degrees. Or, to put it simply, he’s pulling the ball in the air more, which is a good thing. Oh and by the way, he’s also swinging way more than usual, which is probably a good thing for him. His swing rate is at 51.9%, a number that would place him in the top 20 of qualified free swingers in baseball last year and is also 9.3% higher than his swing rate last year. The return is that his walk rate is slightly down (but still great) while his K rate is slightly up (but still very manageable) yet because he’s hitting the ball hard I don’t think he or the Twins care too much. At the start of spring training, the Twins inked Kepler to a five-year, $35 million extension that would make him a free agent in 2025. The deal basically ensured that Kepler would be paid a guaranteed amount of life-altering money while the Twins hedged their bets that the still young Kepler could break through and make a $7 million AAV deal look like a steal. And even if he never improved over his 2018 self, $7 million a year for a solid OFer is still pocket change. The next major sign of confidence has come in his nearly daily placing at the very top of the Twins lineup, a move that has been questioned less and less as the year has started but was a somewhat puzzling play when it was first announced. Nonetheless, the budding star (and yes, I do mean star) has started to flash the offensive capabilities that the Twins believed he had in him thanks to some changes in his approach at the plate and if he holds it over a full season with his 2018 level of defense, you are looking at a legitimate top-five right fielder in all of MLB.

TRANSACTIONS INF Miguel Sanó transferred from AA to AAA for his MLB rehab assignment RHP Kohl Stewart recalled by Minnesota RHP Tyler Duffey recalled by Minnesota (26th man for the DH) Update: Following the game, Stewart and Fernando Romero were optioned to Rochester. Martine Perez was actvated from the paternity list. Willians Astudillo will be activated from the Injured List on Sunday morning. Also, as the 26th man, Tyler Duffey was sent back to Rochester, as well. RED WINGS REPORT Red Wings 0, Durham 1 Box Score Devin Smeltzer: 8 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 68% strikes (68 of 100 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: None The talk so far about AAA has been the offensive explosion that seems to have come as a result of the MLB ball being implemented at the AAA level. Evidently, no one told Devin Smeltzer that this is an offense-heavy environment because he fired off eight impressive shutout innings to continue his absolute tear through the minors to start the season. So far, he has surrendered just two earned runs through his forty-five innings of work at AA and AAA combined. He may be at the majors sooner rather than later if this keeps up. Unfortunately for the Red Wings, the Bulls pitching was just as good and were able to hold the Red Wings to two hits on the day. Old friend Oliver Drake served as the opener for Durham (they are the affiliate for the Rays after all, they have to get crafty somewhere) and in total, all but two outs thrown by the Bulls came from pitchers with major league experience. Miguel Sanó went 0-for-4 with 3 strikeouts in his first AAA rehab game but played some nifty defense in the process. https://twitter.com/MorrieSilver8/status/1127366401805770753 https://twitter.com/RocRedWings/status/1127324773602795525 BLUE WAHOO BITES Pensacola 1, Chattanooga 5 (5 innings, ended due to rain) Box Score Sean Poppen: 3 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 49.2% strikes (29 of 59 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: None While the Miracle had to finish game that started the day before due to rain, the Blue Wahoos saw their game cut short for the same reason. Someone needs to find whatever voodoo doll or prayer would finally allow the teams to play games without unnecessary comments from Mother Nature. No Blue Wahoos hitter reached base twice, but Jordan Gore was the only one who saw more than two plate appearances in the game. Despite only playing five innings, the basepaths were an active highway as there were five stolen base attempts combined in the game. The Blue Wahoos only attempt was unsuccessful while the Lookouts were successful on three with a single caught stealing. MIRACLE MATTERS Game one: Ft. Myers 2, Tampa 5 (continued from yesterday, 7 innings) Box Score Tyler Watson: 4 ⅔ IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, 61.7% strikes (58 of 94 pitches) HR: Lewin Diaz (3), Ryan Costello (4) Multi-hit games: Akil Baddoo (2-for-4), Royce Lewis (2-for-4, 2B) This game was suspended yesterday due to heavy rain because Mother Nature’s wrath on the Twins minor league teams refuses to end. Because of this, they started in the bottom of the fifth inning and would play until the end of the seventh. Fort Myers flexed their muscles as Lewin Diaz launched another home run and Ryan Costello decided to join in on the fun and hit his own homer in the fifth. Royce Lewis added another multi-hit game to his season total, a good sign as he struggled to start the year but appears to be turning it around. More strong hitting performances will punch his ticket to Pensacola eventually. There were no runs scored today after play was resumed and despite out hitting the Tarpons, the Miracle eventually lost. https://twitter.com/MiracleBaseball/status/1126956368462741505 https://twitter.com/MiracleBaseball/status/1126951322794778624 Game two: Ft. Myers 3, Tampa 4 (7 innings) Box Score Charlie Barnes: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 53.3% strikes (8 of 15 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games:Jose Miranda (2-for-4, RBI), Ryan Jeffers (2-for-3, R, BB), Trey Cabbage (2-for-3, 2B, RBI) The second game of the doubleheader proved to be quite the match as it came down to the wire in the bottom of the seventh. The Miracle were able to put up some runs in the sixth thanks to an RBI double from Trey Cabbage and some wild pitch shenanigans. A Jose Miranda single in the seventh plated Royce Lewis and brought the game within a run, but Lewin Diaz and Ryan Jeffers both flew out to end the game. The Miracle ran with somewhat of a bullpen game as Charlie Barnes only went for an inning before Hector Lujan, Joe Record, and Johan Quezada combined afterwards to end the game. Trey Cabbage continued to sting the ball as his 2-for-3 effort raised his A+ average to .350 and his OPS to .909 (that’s high-A average to be clear, but a .350 is also worth an A plus so I guess it works). The Miracle out-hit the Tarpons again but the team went 2-for-14 with RISP and that proved to be part of their downfall for the game. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 4, West Michigan 7 Box Score Cole Sands: 5 ⅓ IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 65.0% strikes (63 of 97 pitches) HR: Gabe Snyder (2) Multi-hit games: Gabe Snyder (2-for-5, HR, R, RBI), Yeltsin Encarnacion (2-for-4, RBI) A game that was played in full without any rain interference? I didn’t know that was allowed. Anyways, despite getting hit for four runs in his start, Cole Sands was encouraging by punching out eight hitters while only walking a single batter, some better luck will result in a cleaner line eventually. Gabe Snyder hit his second homer of the season and is now holding an OPS of .930 at A ball. Some more games like the one today will put his name in the conversation for a promotion. The Kernels as a whole struck out fourteen Whitecaps despite only throwing eight innings today, an impressive total indeed. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Devin Smeltzer Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Gabe Snyder PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 - Royce Lewis (Ft. Myers) - 3-for-8, 2 2B, R, 2 K (2 games) #2 - Alex Kirilloff (Pensacola) - 0-for-2 #3 - Brusdar Graterol (Pensacola) - Did not pitch #4 - Trevor Larnach (Ft. Myers) - 1-for-5, 2B, 3 BB (2 games) #5 - Wander Javier (EST) - Season has not started #6 - Brent Rooker (Rochester) - 0-for-3, 3 K #7 - Jhoan Duran (Ft. Myers) - Did not pitch #8 - Lewis Thorpe (Rochester) - Did not pitch #9 - Blayne Enlow (Cedar Rapids) - Did not pitch #10 - Akil Baddoo (Ft. Myers) - 2-for-7, BB, 3 K (2 games) #11 - Nick Gordon (Rochester) - 1-for-4, 2 K #12 - Stephen Gonsalves (Rochester) - Injured list #13 - Ryan Jeffers (Ft. Myers) - 2-for-3, R, BB #14 - Ben Rortvedt (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-3 #15 - Yunior Severino (Cedar Rapids) - Injured list #16 - Gilberto Celestino (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-3, R, BB #17 - Zack Littell (Rochester) - Did not pitch #18 - LaMonte Wade (Rochester) - 0-for-4, K #19 - Jorge Alcala (Pensacola) - Did not pitch #20 - Jose Miranda (Ft. Myers) - 2-for-6, RBI, K (2 games) SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Durham @ Rochester (12:05 P.M.) - Pensacola @ Chattanooga (1:15 P.M.) - RHP Jorge Alcala (The other leagues are off for Mother’s Day, which is in fact tomorrow) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Saturday’s games.

TRANSACTIONS RHP D.J. Baxendale reinstated from the injured list INF Adam Rosales traded to the Cleveland Indians for cash considerations RED WINGS REPORT Red Wings 10, Pawtucket 8 Box Score Lewis Thorpe: 1 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 65% strikes (26 of 40 pitches) HR: Brent Rooker (5) Multi-hit games: Nick Gordon (2-for-5, 2 R, 2 RBI), LaMonte Wade (2-for-3, R, RBI, 2 BB), Luke Raley (3-for-6, 2 R,), Zander Wiel (2-for-5, R), Jordany Valdespin (3-for-5, R, 3 RBI), Drew Maggi (2-for-5, R, RBI) Lewis Thorpe ran into trouble in the first inning and was forced to throw 40 pitches. Because of the Twins 35 pitch in an inning limit, Thorpe was forced to leave the game after the first inning. Despite being down in a hole early, the Red Wings offense took action by scoring seven unanswered runs during the second through fourth innings. Going into the ninth knotted at eight a piece, Drew Maggi hit a leadoff double which was backed up by a Nick Gordon double immediately after which gave the Red Wings the lead. Two wild pitches from Jenrry Mejia allowed Gordon to move to third and then subsequently score to give the Red Wings a 10-8 lead. Despite only getting one inning from the starter, the Red Wings bullpen, made up of efforts from D.J. Baxendale, Austin Adams, Andrew Vasquez, and Preston Guilmet, was able to fire off eight innings of two-run ball that came with 11 punchouts and probably a solid pat on the back from the manager. BLUE WAHOO BITES Pensacola 11, Biloxi 2 Box Score Randy Dobnak: 4 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO, 63.6% strikes (49 of 77 pitches) HR: Travis Blankenhorn (2), Mitchell Kranson (3) Multi-hit games: Luis Arraez (2-for-4, 3 R, RBI, BB), Alex Kirilloff (2-for-4, 2 RBI, BB) The Blue Wahoos had already made their mark by having some ridiculously good starting pitching, but now they have a hot Luis Arraez and Travis Blankenhorn, a healthy Alex Kirilloff, and backup from another up-and-coming hotshot named Miguel Sano. Good luck trying to beat that. Randy Dobnak had a solid Double-A debut outing and he would have gotten the win had he reached the five-inning mark but that honor went to Adam Bray who fired off a pair of scoreless innings to continue his absolute tear so far this year. Tyler Jay finished off the game with three scoreless innings of his own. The Blue Wahoos bats were at it all game as they scored in every inning except for the fourth and eight where they finally decided to show a bit of mercy to the Shuckers. Miguel Sano went 0-for-2 with a walk and two strikeouts along with a sacrifice fly in the fifth and he also apparently hit an absolutely monster foul ball home run. Also of note, Alex Kirilloff made his start at first base, something he had not done in his professional career yet. The Twins had talked about getting him playing there in anticipation of whenever he joins the major league club as the Twins outfield is currently pretty set in stone. https://twitter.com/billvilonaPNJ/status/1124832775788486656 https://twitter.com/billvilonaPNJ/status/1124839813667016704 https://twitter.com/billvilonaPNJ/status/1124853320458428417 MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 7, Palm Beach 5 Box Score (https://www.milb.com/gameday/miracle-vs-cardinals/2019/05/04/572995#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=box,game=572995) Charlie Barnes: 5 1/3 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, 66% strikes (62 of 94 pitches) HR: Lewin Diaz (1), Aaron Whitefield (2) Multi-hit games: Royce Lewis (2-for-4, R, BB), Trevor Larnach (3-for-5, 2 R, RBI), Lewin Diaz (2-for-3, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB) Another Saturday start for Charlie Barnes, I believe this is now the third time that I have written about a game that he started this year so far, this is frankly bordering on stalking and I am going to have to ask him to pick a different day to start (I’m kidding of course. I’ll write about Charlie with glee.) Anyways, the Miracle played quite the thriller of a game this Saturday. The scoring was kicked off early by the Cardinals as they put a run across in both the first, second, and fourth innings respectively. Luckily for the Miracle, Aaron Whitefield hates baseballs as much as he hates three-run deficits, so he launched his second homer of the year in the fifth inning to make it a 3-1 game. The Cardinals answered back with two more runs in the sixth, but it could have been worse had Trevor Larnach not gunned down the hopeful third run at the plate to keep the score 5-1. The Miracle scratched two runs together in the eighth thanks to some wild pitch and passed ball shenanigans to make the game a close 5-3 affair. The top of the ninth started with a Ryan Costello single but unfortunately, the next two batters would get out. Now with two outs in the ninth, Royce Lewis would work a walk to move Costello to second. Trevor Larnach then would single him home to make it just a one-run game. Now facing a chance to tie the game, Lewin Diaz decided to give the Miracle the lead outright as he blasted a heroic three-run homer to give the Miracle a 7-5 lead that they would not relinquish. https://twitter.com/MiracleBaseball/status/1124834090337951746 KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 2, Dayton 4 Box Score (https://www.milb.com/gameday/dragons-vs-kernels/2019/05/04/577193#game_state=final,game_tab=,game=577193) Tyler Palm: 4 2/3 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, 73.2% strikes (41 of 56 pitches) HR: Jacob Pearson (2) Multi-hit games: Andrew Bechtold (2-for-3, RBI, BB) Donning some awesome Yoda jerseys, the Kernels took on the Dragons in a game that ended in the same way that an actual fight between a dragon and a kernel of corn would end. https://twitter.com/MiLBPromos/status/1124781257077022721 Despite giving up four runs, Kernels pitchers combined for 15 strikeouts, a number that gave them the higher ground over the Dragon’s pitchers who could only muster eight. Kernels pitchers also only surrendered four hits total in the game, but the Dragons were opportunistic as they took advantage of an error in the fourth and a balk in the fifth to help with their scoring. Jacob Pearson had a big day offensively as he blasted his second homer of the year and walked twice along with scoring both of the runs for the Kernels. Hopefully this game will be the launching point of his season and he starts to improve his .503 OPS on the year. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Tyler Palm Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Trevor Larnach 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, K #2 - Alex Kirilloff (Pensacola) - 2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI, BB, K #3 - Brusdar Graterol (Pensacola) - Did not pitch #4 - Trevor Larnach (Ft. Myers) - 3-for-5, 2 R, RBI, K #5 - Wander Javier (EST) - Season has not started #6 - Brent Rooker (Rochester) - 1-for-6, HR, R, 2 RBI, 2 K #7 - Jhoan Duran (Ft. Myers) - Did not pitch #8 - Lewis Thorpe (Rochester) - 1 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 0 K #9 - Blayne Enlow (Cedar Rapids) - Did not pitch #10 - Akil Baddoo (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-5, 3 K #11 - Nick Gordon (Rochester) - 2-for-5, 2 2B, 2 R, RBI #12 - Stephen Gonsalves (Rochester) - Injured list #13 - Ryan Jeffers (Ft. Myers) - 1-for-4, 2 K #14 - Ben Rortvedt (Ft. Myers) - 1-for-4 #15 - Yunior Severino (Cedar Rapids) - Injured list #16 - Gilberto Celestino (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4 #17 - Zack Littell (Rochester) - Did not pitch #18 - LaMonte Wade (Rochester) - 2-for-3, R, RBI, 2 BB #19 - Jorge Alcala (Pensacola) - Did not pitch #20 - Jose Miranda (Ft. Myers) - Did not play SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Pawtucket (12:00 P.M.) - RHP Kohl Stewart Biloxi @ Pensacola (1:05 P.M.) - RHP Griffin Jax Fort Myers @ Palm Beach (12:00 P.M.) - RHP Jordan Balazovic Dayton @ Cedar Rapids (2:05 P.M.) - RHP Cole Sands Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Saturday’s games.

TRANSACTIONS -RHP Tanner Howell promoted from Rookie Ball Elizabethton to A+ Fort Myers -RHP Kohl Stewart activated at AAA after being optioned on 4/25 -RHP D.J. Baxendale placed on the injured list at AAA with a left ankle sprain RED WINGS REPORT Postponed, game to be made up as a doubleheader on May 24th. There is more regarding the Red Wings, however. They were recently featured on ESPN for their upcoming “Deaf Culture Day” at the ballpark. The video clip of the segment can be found below: https://vimeo.com/332834920 BLUE WAHOO BITES Pensacola 4, Jackson 3 Box Score Brusdar Graterol: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 64% strikes (57 of 89 pitches) HR: Caleb Hamilton (2) Multi-hit games: Luis Arraez (2-for-4, R, 2 RBI), Caleb Hamilton (2-for-3, 2 R, RBI) The Twins top pitching prospect, Brusdar Graterol, had a solid start for the Blue Wahoos as he went 5 innings with just two runs given up. Although knowing how well the Blue Wahoos starters have done so far this year, this may have actually raised their average starting ERA, which is no slight toward Graterol. Actually, let me self-promote some of the numbers I dug up the other day regarding a few of their starters: https://twitter.com/matthew_btwins/status/1121481687798439936 Anyway, the Blue Wahoos wasted no time getting the game going as Ernie De La Trinidad singled home Luis Arraez in the first inning to take a quick lead. Caleb Hamilton wasn’t a fan of only winning by one so he launched a solo shot in the third to double the lead. The Generals answered in the fourth with a few doubles that knotted the game at two. Luis Arraez broke through in the seventh as his clutch two-run double gave the Blue Wahoos a lead which the Generals could not overcome. Dusten Knight recorded the old school three-inning save that most likely was concluded with a backflip (video unfortunately not included). MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 8, Palm Beach 4 Box Score Charlie Barnes: 5 2/3 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 64% strikes (57 of 89 pitches, literally the exact same as Graterol, freaky) HR: Rortvedt (2) Multi-hit games: Akil Baddoo (2-for-5, R), Royce Lewis (2-for-5, RBI), Jose Miranda (2-for-5, R, RBI), Ryan Jeffers (2-for-4, R), Ryan Costello (2-for-4, R, RBI) After a rough last outing, Charlie Barnes probably would have loved nothing more than a great start to wash out the taste of his outing last week. Luckily, he got just that, as he fired off 5 2/3 excellent shutout innings against the Cardinals. A third inning Royce Lewis single kicked off the scoring and a fourth inning Ryan Costello single added another run to said lead. The score stayed 2-0 until the big bat* of Ben Rortvedt stepped up to the plate in the sixth with two men on and when his at-bat was over, the lead turned into five thanks to his three-run bomb. *Ben Rortvedt’s bat is most likely a normal sized one as he would be cheating if he used a larger than allowed bat. The Miracle were able to plate a few more runs in that inning due to an assortment of hits and finally, the inning ended with an 8-0 advantage favoring the Miracle. The ending havoc resulted in each Miracle batter either having a run scored or an RBI. The Cardinals answered with four runs in the eighth inning, but it was not enough to top the Miracle as Melvi Acosta slammed the door shut with 1 2/3 shutout innings to end the game Now, be blessed by the Miracle gif game: https://twitter.com/MiracleBaseball/status/1122289201343418369 KERNELS NUGGETS Postponed, game to be made up as a doubleheader tomorrow. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Charlie Barnes Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Luis Arraez PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 - Royce Lewis (Ft. Myers) - 2-for-5, RBI #2 - Alex Kirilloff (Pensacola) - Injured list #3 - Brusdar Graterol (Pensacola) - 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K #4 - Trevor Larnach (Ft. Myers) - 1-for-5, RBI, 2 K #5 - Wander Javier (EST) - Season has not started #6 - Brent Rooker (Rochester) - Postponed #7 - Jhoan Duran (Ft. Myers) - Did not pitch #8 - Lewis Thorpe (Rochester) - Postponed #9 - Blayne Enlow (Cedar Rapids) - Postponed #10 - Akil Baddoo (Ft. Myers) - 2-for-5, 2B, 3B, R, 3 K #11 - Nick Gordon (Rochester) - Injured list #12 - Stephen Gonsalves (Rochester) - Injured list #13 - Ryan Jeffers (Ft. Myers) - 2-for-4, R, 2 K #14 - Ben Rortvedt (Ft. Myers) - 1-for-3, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB, K #15 - Yunior Severino (Cedar Rapids) - Injured list #16 - Gilberto Celestino (Cedar Rapids) - Postponed #17 - Zack Littell (Rochester) - Postponed #18 - LaMonte Wade (Rochester) - Postponed #19 - Jorge Alcala (Pensacola) - Did not pitch #20 - Jose Miranda (Ft. Myers) - 2-for-5, R, RBI SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Pawtucket @ Rochester (12:05 P.M.) - LHP Justin Nicolino Pensacola @ Jackson (2:05 P.M.) - LHP Devin Smeltzer Palm Beach @ Fort Myers (12:00 P.M.) - RHP Randy Dobnak Cedar Rapids @ Kane County (G1) (1:00 P.M.) - RHP Cole Sands Cedar Rapids @ Kane County (G2) (~30 minutes after G1) - RHP Josh Winder Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Saturday’s games.

TRANSACTIONS -OF Mark Contreras tranferred from AA Pensacola to A+ Fort Myers -RHP Jacob Blank transferred from A+ Fort Myers to Rookie ball Elizabethton RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 8, Lehigh Valley 13 Box Score Chase De Jong: 2.0 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 52.1% strikes (38 of 73 pitches) HR: John Andreoli (2) Multi-hit games: John Andreoli (2-for-4, R, RBI), LaMonte Wade (2-for-5, 2 R), Luke Raley (2-for-4, R, 2 RBI), Randy César (3-for-4, 2 R, 2 RBI) Another Saturday, another day where Chase De Jong started against the IronPigs and I got to write about it. In relief of De Jong after his two innings of work, Jake Reed fired off three excellent innings with only one earned run and six strikeouts. Now it only seems like a matter of if, not when Reed shows up on the Twins sometime this season. The offense was able to put up eight runs thanks in part to a John Andreoli blast and two doubles from Randy César that buffed up his RBI totals. While the eight runs were great, it was just not quite enough to match the IronPigs offense and the Red Wings dropped the game in the end. BLUE WAHOO BITES Pensacola 5, Mobile 0 Box Score Sean Poppen: 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 11 K, 64.6% strikes (51 of 79 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: Jaylin Davis (2-for-3, R), Tanner English (2-for-2, 3 R, 2 RBI), Ernie De La Trinidad (3-for-4, RBI) Pensacola yet again got another great start from their starting pitcher, this time from the owner of one of my favorite names in the Twins system, Sean Poppen. Poppen was relieved after five innings by Jovani Moran who was relieved after two innings by Cody Stashak who fired off two innings of his own, with the carnage totaling 18 total strikeouts for Blue Wahoos pitching. The Blue Wahoos scraped together five assorted runs throughout the game from a myriad of singles (both of the infield and outfield variety) in support of the excellent pitching and it was enough to beat the BayBears pretty handily. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 2, Charlotte 7 Box Score Charlie Barnes: 1 2/3 IP, 7 H, 7 ER, 5 BB, 0 K, 55.2% strikes (32 of 58 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: Royce Lewis (2-for-5), Lewin Diaz (2-for-4, RBI), Travis Blankenhorn (2-for-3, R, BB), Michael Helman (2-for-4) Charlie Barnes went 1 2/3 innings and surrendered seven runs with five walks against the Charlotte Stone Crabs. Tom Hackimer came in and did fine work by striking out five over 2 1/3 innings without allowing a hit or a walk. Relievers Alex Phillips and Anthony Vizcaya followed suit with a combined five innings of work that came with six punchouts and only three hits. The Miracle bullpen in total fired off 7 1/3 innings with 11 punchouts and just three hits. The two runs for the Miracle came from a fourth inning Lewin Diaz single and a ninth inning sacrifice fly from Ryan Costello. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 4, Beloit 5 Box Score Josh Winder: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 70.1% strikes (54 of 77 pitches) HR: Chris Williams (3) Multi-hit games: Andrew Bechtold (2-for-4, R) The Kernels went for the series sweep against the Beloit Snappers but came up just a bit short and had to settle for taking two of three instead. The scoring started in the bottom of the first when Chris Williams made another deposit into his charity fund that gives home run balls to lucky fans in the outfield stands, his two-run shot was his second homer in as many days. The Snappers responded by scoring the next five runs of the game with the earned runs being split between Kernels starter Josh Winder and reliever Tyler Palm. The Kernels were able to answer back in the seventh with runs coming from a Michael Davis double and a Gabriel Maciel single but the inning ended with the Kernels trailing by a run and the game would end in the same fashion. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Sean Poppen Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Randy César PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 - Royce Lewis (Ft. Myers) - 2-for-5, K #2 - Alex Kirilloff (Pensacola) - Injured list #3 - Brusdar Graterol (Pensacola) - Did not pitch #4 - Trevor Larnach (Ft. Myers) - 1-for-4, R, K #5 - Wander Javier (EST) - Season has not started #6 - Brent Rooker (Rochester) - Did not play #7 - Jhoan Duran (Ft. Myers) - Did not pitch #8 - Lewis Thorpe (Rochester) - Did not pitch #9 - Blayne Enlow (Cedar Rapids) - Did not pitch #10 - Akil Baddoo (Ft. Myers) - 1-for-5, K #11 - Nick Gordon (Rochester) - Injured list #12 - Stephen Gonsalves (Rochester) - Injured list #13 - Ryan Jeffers (Ft. Myers) - 1-for-4, 2 K #14 - Ben Rortvedt (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-3, BB #15 - Yunior Severino (Cedar Rapids) - Injured list #16 - Gilberto Celestino (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-2, K #17 - Zack Littell (Rochester) - Did not pitch #18 - LaMonte Wade (Rochester) - 2-for-5, #19 - Jorge Alcala (Pensacola) - Did not pitch #20 - Jose Miranda (Ft. Myers) - Did not play SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Mobile @ Pensacola (5:05 P.M.) - RHP Jorge Alcala (Most other leagues are off for Easter Sunday) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Saturday’s games.

TRANSACTIONS -OF Mark Contreras promoted from A+ Fort Myers to AA Pensacola. Jaylin Davis was placed on the Injured List. -RHP Jacob Blank promoted from rookie ball extended spring training to A+ Fort Myers RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 18, Lehigh Valley 20 (10 innings) Box Score Yes, you are reading that correctly, that is an 18 to 20 game that occurred today ... Chase De Jong: 3.2 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO, 63.8% strikes (46 of 72 pitches) HR: Ronald Torreyes (2), Zander Wiel 2 (2), Willin Rosario (3), Wynston Sawyer (1), Brent Rooker (3) Multi-hit games: John Andreoli (2-for-5, 2 2B), Willin Rosario (4-for-7, HR), Brent Rooker (3-for-6, HR), Wynston Sawyer (3-for-3, HR, 2 2B), Randy César (3-for-5), Zander Wiel (4-for-5, 2 HR, 2B) Truly, one only needs to take a glimpse at the box score to capture the essence of one of the more absurd baseball games to ever be played, not just including the minor leagues, but of all time. In total, the damage was a ridiculous 15 home runs combined between the two teams and 38 runs scored in 10 innings. The major league record for home runs in a game is 12 if you wanted a frame of reference. In a game where a “safe lead” would be considered outright laughable by those playing, over a full mile of home run distance was blasted out of Frontier Field. Those in a 10-mile radius of the stadium who enjoy the art of pitching keeled over left and right as homer after homer was launched in an attempt to confuse those whose job it is to observe the results and force those poor individuals to declare the box score to be broken. No pitcher who was forced into this onslaught left without scars as each pitcher gave up at least one unearned run and only the lucky Edubray Ramos was left without an earned run to his name. The “winner” of this game, Josh Martin, was touched for three runs over his two innings of work along with a blown save, a shining example of why pitching wins is a flawed stat. Red Wings starter Chase De Jong was tossed in the fourth inning along with manager Joel Skinner in what was probably an act of grace towards both individuals by the home plate umpire. Home runs by Zander Wiel and Ronald Torreyes in the bottom of the eighth inning gave the Red Wings a slim one-run lead heading into the ninth that was eliminated by a game-tying shot from Jan Hernandez. A 10th inning three-run home run by Sean Rodriguez would be the final blow needed to end the game as the Red Wings could only respond with a Willin Rosario RBI single in the bottom half of the inning. Here is video evidence of the carnage, avert your eyes pitching lovers: https://twitter.com/RocRedWings/status/1117198871707492353 BLUE WAHOO BITES Pensacola 0, Jacksonville 1 Box Score Griffin Jax: 6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 63.5% strikes (47 of 74 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: None Stop me if you have heard this already, but the Pensacola Blue Wahoos saw yet another strong start from one of their starting pitchers, this time from RHP Griffin Jax who threw six shutout innings. I’ll let the Blue Wahoos themselves tell you how electric their starting pitching has been so far: https://twitter.com/BlueWahoosBBall/status/1117237264076214272 The Blue Wahoos offense could not do much as they scattered three hits across the nine frames along with three walks that amounted to zero runs. An eighth inning RBI single by the Jumbo Shrimp proved to be the only run in the ballgame as both squads decided to be the exact opposite of the Red Wings game earlier. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 3, Clearwater 0 Box Score Bailey Ober: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 77.7% strikes (49 of 63 pitches) HR: Ryan Jeffers (1) Multi-hit games: Aaron Whitefield (2-for-4, 2B), Lewin Diaz (2-for-4) The Fort Myers Miracle secured an away series win against the Clearwater Threshers with a clean 3-0 shutout, their third shutout of the week. RHP Bailey Ober continued to dominate hitters as he threw six efficient shutout innings to go on top of the six shutout innings he threw in his last start, giving him a predictable ERA of 0.00 on the season. After a great 2018 season at A+ for Ober and now these two strong performances, maybe it is time to consider whether he should be in the top 20 prospects list. The game was a 0-0 stalemate until the top of the sixth inning when Aaron Whitefield hit a double and Royce Lewis thought that he too would like to be on second base, so he hit a double of his own, scoring Whitefield on the play. That run would have been all the Miracle needed to win, but such a future would be too boring for Ryan Jeffers, so when he stepped up to the plate in the seventh inning with Lewin Diaz at first base, he determined that a two-run home run now would be the best time for his first homer of the year, and so he made it be as he blasted a homer, giving the Miracle a 3-0 lead that would hold until the end of the game. Here’s Marshall Kelner on just how dominant the Miracle pitching was: https://twitter.com/MarshallKelner/status/1117231399352844288 https://twitter.com/MarshallKelner/status/1117233897165787136 KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 2, Burlington 1 Box Score Josh Winder: 5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, 64.0 % strikes (57 of 89 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: None The Kernels and Bees felt the cosmic shift that was the Red Wings and IronPigs game and decided to off-set it with a nice, close, low-scoring game that would cleanse the pallet of pitching lovers everywhere. Even the runs that were scored were done so in an unusual way with a second inning Kernels run coming from a wild pitch that scored Michael Davis and a seventh inning throwing error that scored Trey Cabbage. While the Bees might be upset at how these runs went down, at the end of the day, a run is a run and a win is a win. The Kernels pitching trio of Josh Winder, Brian Rapp, and Joe Record combined to strike out 15 total Bees while allowing only four hits, one of the extra-base variety. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Bailey Ober Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Zander Wiel (special shoutout to the rest of the Red Wings offense) PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 - Royce Lewis (Ft. Myers) - 1-for-3, BB, RBI #2 - Alex Kirilloff (Pensacola) - Injured list #3 - Brusdar Graterol (Pensacola) - Did not pitch #4 - Trevor Larnach (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-4, 2 K #5 - Wander Javier (EST) - Season has not started #6 - Brent Rooker (Rochester) - 3-for-6, 3 R, 3 RBI, BB, 3 K #7 - Jhoan Duran (Ft. Myers) - Did not pitch #8 - Lewis Thorpe (Rochester) - Did not pitch #9 - Blayne Enlow (Cedar Rapids) - Did not pitch #10 - Akil Baddoo (Ft. Myers) - Did not play #11 - Nick Gordon (Rochester) - Injured list #12 - Stephen Gonsalves (Rochester) - Injured list #13 - Ryan Jeffers (Ft. Myers) - 1-for-4, HR, R, 2 RBI, 2 K #14 - Ben Rortvedt (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-3, BB, 2 K #15 - Yunior Severino (Cedar Rapids) - Injured list #16 - Gilberto Celestino (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, K #17 - Zack Littell (Rochester) - Did not pitch #18 - LaMonte Wade (Rochester) - 0 for 3, K #19 - Jorge Alcala (Pensacola) - Did not pitch #20 - Jose Miranda (Ft. Myers) - 1-for-4, K SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Lehigh Valley @ Rochester (12:00 P.M. CST) - LHP Justin Nicolino Jacksonville @ Pensacola (1:05 P.M. CST) - RHP Andro Cutura Fort Myers @ Clearwater (12:00 P.M. CST) - LHP Charlie Barnes Burlington @ Cedar Rapids (2:05 P.M. CST) - RHP Andrew Cabezas Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Saturday’s games.

TRANSACTIONS RHP Chase De Jong was added to the 40-man roster and selected from AAA, 1B/DH Tyler Austin was subsequently DFA’d to make room. https://twitter.com/DanHayesMLB/status/1114552537116499969 RED WINGS REPORT Game one: Rochester 3, Lehigh Valley 12 (7 innings) Box Score Lewis Thorpe: 4.0 IP, 10 H, 9 R, 2 BB, 4 K, 60.2% strikes (50 of 83 pitches) HR: Brent Rooker (1) Multi-hit games: Wynston Sawyer (2-for-3, 2B, 1 RBI) The Red Wings were rained out yesterday on their second scheduled game of the season, which is no fun. But that means that they got to play two games today, which is fun! RHP Chase De Jong was originally set to start the first game but was called up to the major league club so LHP Lewis Thorpe received the ball to start today’s game instead. Thorpe went four innings, surrendering 10 hits and nine earned runs with two walks and four strikeouts. Thorpe ran into trouble early as he gave up home runs to both Mitch Walding and Lane Adams in the first, putting the Red Wings in a deficit early. The Red Wings answered back in the next half inning as Brent Rooker took advantage of a Luke Raley walk before him and decided that now would be the best time to hit his first Rooker Rocket of the year, a two-run blast off IronPigs starter Jerad Eickhoff that cut the lead in half. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1114705247304388609 The rally stopped there as the Red Wings only added one more run in the seventh off a Wynston Sawyer double while the IronPigs piled on eight more runs along the course of the game to go on top of the four they scored in the first inning. Game Two: Rochester 1, Lehigh Valley 4 (7 innings) Box Score Austin Adams: 2.1 IP, 1 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 74.1% strikes (23 of 31 pitches) HR: Randy César Multi-hit games: None The Red Wings were put in what we like to call a “tough situation” as they needed to play a doubleheader and their original Game 1 starter, Chase De Jong, was called up by the Twins. So they were forced to move Lewis Thorpe up for Game 1 and use a bullpen game in Game 2. Austin Adams ate up innings to start and was followed by Fernando Romero and Preston Guilmet. Randy César scored the lone run for the Red Wings when he blasted a solo homer in the fifth inning off the IronPigs starter Enyel De Los Santos BLUE WAHOO BITES Pensacola 5, Mobile 0 Box Score Devin Smeltzer: 5.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K, 74.3% strikes (61 of 82 thrown) HR: Jimmy Kerrigan (2) Multi-hit games: Taylor Grzelakowski (2 for 5), Jimmy Kerrigan (2 for 4, RBI, R), Caleb Hamilton (2 for 4, R) The Pensacola Blue Wahoos continued their hot start to the season with a 5-0 victory over the Mobile BayBears that was spearheaded by another great starting pitching performance, this time from lefty Devin Smeltzer. Pensacola took Smeltzer to the old town road and rode him until they couldn’t no more (which happened to be after 5 2/3 innings). The result was a perfect game through five for Smeltzer and 5 2/3 innings of shutout ball for him overall. The scoring was kicked off in the third inning when Jordan Gore scored on an error and was added to in the fifth when Jimmy Kerrigan launched his second blast of the year. A Brian Schales single later in the inning would add two more and a Jaylin Davis single in the seventh would score what was the final run of the game. A combination of Adam Bray and Ryan Mason would finish what Smeltzer started and would give the Blue Wahoos a solid shutout on the day. Pensacola has now had a pretty absurd start to the season for their starting pitching which can pretty much be summed up by this: https://twitter.com/BlueWahoosBBall/status/1114713172076826630 MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 4, Charlotte 7 Box Score Tyler Watson: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 7 K, 64.3% strikes (47 of 73 pitches) HR: Aaron Whitefield (1) Multi-hit games: None The Fort Myers Miracle concluded their first series of the season: an away three-game series against the Charlotte Stone Crabs. LHP Tyler Watson and RHP Hector Lujan were the only two pitchers used for the Miracle as Lujan picked up after Watson’s five innings with three innings of his own. The Miracle put up four hits as a team but also walked nine times in the game as Michael Helman and Ben Rortvedt both had multi-walk games. Ryan Jeffers was the only starter who did not reach base. The LOBsters ended up being too much for the Miracle as they couldn’t take advantage of all the free passes, leading to 20 men left-on-base in today’s game. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 0, Wisconsin 2 Box Score Cole Sands: 5.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K, 61.7% strikes (50 of 81 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: Trey Cabbage (2-4) Runs were hard to come by in the opening matchup of a quick two-game series between the Kernels and the Timber Rattlers, much of this was due to the electric performance from Kernels starter Cole Sands. The righty Sands made his professional baseball debut today after being drafted in the fifth round out of Florida State in the 2018 MLB draft. Sands evidently had no trouble adjusting to pro ball as he mowed down the Timber Rattlers with ease, retiring the first 13 batters of the game leading to a final line in which he ended up striking out eight, walking just one, and not allowing a hit through five shutout innings. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1114718482913005568 The tall righty Tyler Palm relieved Sands in the sixth and gave up a single which was followed by a walk. After getting the next batter to fly out, a fielding error by third baseman Andrew Bechtold allowed the only two runs of the game to score (both of them unearned). Sands was equally matched by the Timber Rattler’s pitching as the Kernels lineup put together just four hits on the day along with one walk, all leading to no runs and a 2-0 loss. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher(s) of the Day – Cole Sands featuring Devin Smeltzer Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Jimmy Kerrigan PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 - Royce Lewis (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-4, BB, R, K #2 - Alex Kirilloff (Pensacola) - Injured list #3 - Brusdar Graterol (Pensacola) - Did not pitch #4 - Trevor Larnach (Ft. Myers) - 1-for-5, 2B, RBI, K #5 - Wander Javier (EST) - Season has not started #6 - Brent Rooker (Rochester) - 1-for-3, HR, R, 2 RBI, 2 K #7 - Jhoan Duran (Ft. Myers) - Did not pitch #8 - Lewis Thorpe (Rochester) - 4.0 IP, 10 H, 9 R, 2 BB, 4 K #9 - Blayne Enlow (Cedar Rapids) - Did not pitch #10 - Akil Baddoo (Ft. Myers) - Did not play #11 - Nick Gordon (Rochester) - Injured list #12 - Stephen Gonsalves (Rochester) - Injured list #13 - Ryan Jeffers (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-4, 2 K #14 - Ben Rortvedt (Ft. Myers) - 1-for-2, 2 BB, R, K #15 - Yunior Severino (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, K #16 - Gilberto Celestino (Cedar Rapids) - Did not play #17 - Zack Littell (Rochester) - Did not pitch #18 - LaMonte Wade (Rochester) - 0-for-3, K #19 - Jorge Alcala (Pensacola) - Did not pitch #20 - Jose Miranda (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-3, BB, R SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Lehigh Valley (12:35 P.M. CST) - RHP Zack Littell Pensacola @ Mobile (2:05 P.M. CST) - RHP Griffin Jax Dunedin @ Ft. Myers (11:30 A.M. CST) - RHP Bailey Ober Cedar Rapids @ Wisconsin (1:05 P.M. CST) - RHP Josh Winder Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Saturday’s games.

For example, take the 2018 Mets who were 13-4 at one point last year before ending at 77-85. Or the Twins last year who were forced to miss a great number of games due to the weather which not only changed their in-game strategy but also led the team into a long rut of losses from which they never recovered. Or take the shining beacon of my example, Edwin Encarnacion who owns a career .740 OPS in March/April and a career OPS of .850. The point is that early season performance is not necessarily indicative of how a player will perform over the entire season. And in the age of hot takes and short leashes in the eye of public opinion, this can lead to premature reactions that call for the DFA-ing or benching of a specific player. Generally, we know which Twins players struggle to start and which players get off to hot starts, but there are quite a few new faces on the team this year most of whom we most likely have not watched before as much as the usual Twins regulars. So what I will do in this article is look at the new members of the 2019 Twins team and compare their March/April stats to their career stats so we can find out which player(s) we should be worried about if their performance during this time period this season does not match up with their career. The Newcomers C.J. Cron-March/April OPS of .671, career OPS of .772 C.J. Cron was an interesting addition to the Twins. After being DFA’d by the Rays despite having a good 2018 season, the Twins claimed Cron with the plan for him to replace Joe Mauer as the everyday first baseman. People were generally split into two camps; those who liked the adjustments he made in 2018 and were fans of the move, and those who saw “ex-Rays first baseman” and immediately had every Logan Morrison strikeout flash through their mind. By now, cooler heads have prevailed and Cron will start the season as the first baseman. Despite having a hot spring training, do not be surprised if Cron comes out of the gate a touch sluggish. While a .671 OPS is not terrible, it is a good .100 points below his average. But the calls for Tyler Austin to replace him will be premature as he most likely will be fine eventually. Cron evens this slow start out with a career OPS over .900 in both July and August. Nelson Cruz-March/April OPS of .900, career OPS of .860 One of the few signings in recent history that basically every Twins fan liked, Cruz brings a long history of hitting the crap out of the ball along with some veteran presence to a team that needs it. The new big bopper in the Twins lineup can just plain hit and the first part of the season is no exception here. In fact, he actually hits a touch better in the first month or so of the season compared to his career numbers. His worst month comes in June but even that comes out to a .815 OPS so expect Cruz to hit well no matter what month it is and keep a helmet on if you are seated in the left field bleachers because it could get messy out there. Jonathan Schoop-March/April OPS of .732, career OPS of .738 This was one of the few signings that my dad called, he had mentioned before that he wouldn’t be shocked if the Twins signed Schoop and just a few days later the Twins listened to him and scooped him up on a 1-year deal. Schoop is one of the many bounce-back candidates on the 2019 Twins and the team would be quite happy if he regained his 2017 form that put up a 5 rWAR season and garnered MVP votes. While I cannot guarantee that will happen, I can promise that Schoop should come out the gates hitting about in line with his career. Schoop’s worst month is in September/October where he owns a career OPS of just .609. Marwin Gonzalez-March/April OPS of .712, career OPS of .737 The man of an excellent beard and many positions was signed by the Twins after camp started to continue to be a useful utility player who has the ability to play wherever and whenever. His job to start the season will be that of Miguel Sano insurance as Sano will start the season on the IL. The news of this signing broke while I was walking to my lab in which I had to take a practical that did unspeakable things to me, but in my defense, my mind was elsewhere at the time as I was giddy that the Twins signed Marwin. Despite a brutal spring training, Marwin should hit relatively close to his career totals to begin and he does not have much fluctuation as far as his numbers go on a month-to-month basis. His lowest OPS is in August at a career .692 clip and his highest is in September/October at a .811 clip. Blake Parker-March/April ERA of 4.23, career ERA of 3.29 Blake Parker has a weird place in my family. We went to a minor league game a few years back where he gave up a game-tying homer in the ninth in a brutal game that we left after 12 innings. Of course, I thought nothing of it but then just a year or two later he’s making fools look silly for the Angels and I could barely believe that it was the same guy. The lone pure reliever whom the Twins signed to a major league deal this offseason is coming off a solid spring training but could possibly stumble a touch out of the gate. However, unlike the batters before who had large sample sizes to draw data from, Parker only has 27.2 career major league innings in March and April, so take this with a grain of salt. He does follow it up with a career ERA of 1.61 in May that comes with a K/9 of 12.2. Martin Perez-March/April ERA of 4.76, career ERA of 4.63 I remember when my phone buzzed for the notification that the Twins had signed Martin Perez after which followed about 10 minutes of questioning before hopping on Twitter to see that everyone else had similar thoughts regarding the signing. Most of them could be summarized by one word; “why?”. Perez had a horrendous 2018 and it seemed like a strange signing given the other starting pitching available. After the months went by, the Twins reasoning slowly seeped out: They thought that they could squeeze some extra velocity out of him and change his pitch usage a bit to become a deadly weapon in the rotation. His spring training numbers as the new Martin Perez were a mixed bag, but his velocity certainly was up as he mainly sat about 95 and would occasionally touch 97. Whether this translates to the regular season will be seen soon enough, but if he’s anything like the old Martin Perez, it could take him a little bit before he gets going.