ashbury

Benjamin T. Rortvedt September 25, 1997 (Age: 20 this season) Birthplace: Verona, WI Signed via amateur draft in 2016, 2nd round (56th overall, $900,000 bonus) Height: 5-10 Weight: 190 Position: Catcher Throws: Right Bats: Left Stats at baseball-reference.com Ben, ranked the #24 prospect at mlb.com and #16 here at Twins Daily, starts the 2018 campaign at Cedar Rapids. This is a return engagement, prompted by a disappointing year at the plate in 2017. He batted only .224, with a smattering of walks and only 4 HR to compensate. However, the aggregate line disguises that he made apparent strides during the second half, batting .273 (with all of his HR), from June onward. Behind the plate, there were no complaints, and if his bat were ready he could conceivably finish the polishing-portion of his training on defense at the major league level. A mid-season promotion to high-A Ft Myers would hardly be surprising if he resumes his production this spring in Iowa. He will still be among the youngest players on his team. Not that Ben would ever be complacent, but he does need to be aware that David Banuelos, whom the Twins acquired during their wheeling and dealing last autumn, is also highly regarded, is merely one year older, and will share the catching duties at Cedar Rapids to begin the season. I'm sure it will be a friendly rivalry that benefits both players. Maybe they'll be the eventual catching tandem (lefty/righty) with the big club in a couple of years! For more details on Rortvedt's background, rather than repeat what I wrote last year I will just refer you there. Good luck, Ben! TD Player Summary 2018 TD Player Summary 2017

Wasn't "dodging a bullet" right here in this thread, but regarding Jose De Leon? Is there some other reference you have in mind? Why conflate two pitchers?

True story. I have both Michigan and Villanova in my pool. Trouble is, the pool I'm in doesn't do full brackets: you pick some teams you think will win, and you pick some teams you think will make an early exit. Michigan is in my latter group, and the point system is multiplied by the seed number, so I desperately need 'Nova to win. Fortunately I also had Loyola in my winner's group, so I collected boo-coo points off of their 11th seeding during their run, and I did well with Arizona/Xavier/Auburn bowing out, but Michigan is now primed to cancel that good fortune with boo-coo negative points due to extra multipliers for reaching and then winning the final game. I did the same thing with Florida in 2006 - I should vow never to pick a 3-seed again. Anyway, I'm one of the few with both teams as picks in this game. True story. Gee whiz. I am completely aware and I've only known you for, what, five?

How can there be any any two-run blasts when the bases are always empty because the last guy just went yard?

Moderator's note: Off-topic posts have been removed. Please start again the discussion about scheduling ramifications and contingency planning. Discussions of global warming, or the decisions that led to Target Field, can be re-litigated in other threads.

I had never heard of him before. Thanks for the best YouTube search I've done in the past fifteen minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lft_N1Rv8eA

Moderator's note: Following up on Carole's warning... I've had to remove a couple of posts that contributed nothing to the thread but snark. If you disagree with someone's take, find a way to legitimately rebut it, or just move on.

I haven't seen much of Franco and what I've seen has seemed self-indulgent, but this was the role he was born to play. It was the movie I went to see the last time Mrs Ash went out of town, because I knew she would detest it. She'll be away on business again soon - I need to scan the Coming Attractions list.

Biiiiig chicken dinnah!

Ummmm... April Fool?

The shift giveth, the shift taketh away.

Escobar for the nice long run and catch!

Yes. That is how MLB works.

You can't stop Ryan LaMarre. You can only hope to contain him.

Have I ever mentioned, I like this guy? He gets it. If only the site provided me an easy way to express that with just a click of a button.

Luckily for snepp, reading comprehension was not on the list of required skills, when TD placed that want ad for moderators.

Memo to opposing batters: you probably want to be on the lookout for Uncle Charlie on the first pitch. Not that you can hit it, but you can look out for it.

Well, poop.

C'mon, Garver. Join the fun. Don't go ofer.

Sí.

Consider it shot.

Mancini ran a long long time, but still wasn't even very close to the foul line for that fly. Other teams have their Grossmen too, it seems.

I will just have to let you wonder whether that remark deserves a Like or not, then.

Six innings of shutout ball from the starters? Ya think???

He's an admin, not a miracle worker.