Thrylos

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- Today it was Minnesota Day at Hammond Stadium, which apparently means that a whole bunch of people get early at the ballpark to tailgate at the parking lot and is a pain to find parking spots. I arrived just in time for the two intrasquad games (AAA vs AA) and (A+ vs A) at Fields number 2 and 3. Aaron Hicks was hitting for the AA team and Pedro Florimon was playing for the AAA team, so that is where I exclusively spent my time before I was headed to the ballpark for the Twins and Marlins game. Alex Meyer was pitching and he was practically unhittable and a strike out machine, other than a long home run by Mike Gonzalez who looks in shape this season and will likely split the 1B/DH duties with Kennys Vargas in New Britain. I am not going to give a scouting report on Meyer, it is unnecessary, but he was on top of his game and hitting his spots with ease. I have not noticed before, but he does this weird thing with his mouth when he pitches: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3798/13202258975_13733a8555_z.jpg Aaron Hicks did not play at the field but was the second batter in every inning for the AA squad and did nothing in 3 innings against Alex Meyer. However, when he was replaced in the fourth, Hicks hit a long home run in dead center off Yohan Pino. Pino was not quite as good as I remember him to be, his control was just not there. http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3692/13202410003_9f0ae157f5_z.jpg Speaking of not good, BJ Hermsen started for the AA team and he was, well, not good. It was amazing that he has been the Twins' minor league pitcher of the year in the past as well as having a spot on the 40-man roster. I am not sure what has happened to him, but it is not pretty. He was hit hard by every Rochester player, allowing multiple home runs and extra base hits. Even Pedro Florimon hit a triple off him in one plate appearance and struck out (a feat by itself because Hermsen struck out 3.7 AA hitters per 9 innings last season) in another. http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2791/13202269605_990e787851_z.jpg And if you are a major leaguer, this is how you go from the back fields to Hammond Stadium: http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2849/13202271055_90f257ba1d_z.jpg Some additional tidbits from the intrasquad game: Evan Bigley played CF for Rochester today. With Mastroianni back there tomorrow, I do not think that this will be a common sighting. Bigley was fine at the field and made a couple good catches and looked good at the plate as well. I think that this is a make or break season for him. This off-season the Twins picked up 28 year old CJ Ziegler, the Independent American Association MVP (.318/.408/.645 with 30 HRs and 99 RBI in 100 games,) hoping it will be Chris Colabello's second coming. Ziegler is listed at 6'5", 245 lbs, but he is a much bigger man. This of a righty Jim Thome. It will be interesting to see how he does in Rochester http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3724/13203387384_3019744e17_z.jpg Cole Johnson came to relieve BJ Hermsen and I think that he might be a sleeper. Very lanky righty with easy delivery, throwing almost side arm and good movement. Not a mph guy, but good solid stuff and looks like he got a good feel for pitching. He struck out 11 per 9 innings last season in AA, so he might be doing something right. The 44th round pick from Notre Dame in 2011 has been flying under the radar so far, but he might be someone to pay attention to this season. Back at the Hammond Stadium the Twins hosted the Marlins, which resulted in a pitching matchup between a former Twins Ace http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2681/13202272775_1b17fb65c1_z.jpg and the current Twins' Ace. http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2820/13202408363_1285a2225c_z.jpg It was a pitching duel through five with each of the starters giving one run a piece and each of the starters topping out at 92 mph (which is quite a feat for Slowey.) Ricky Nolasco was very impressive in that he has a repertoire of 5 (or so) pitches and he is throwing them any time in the count. His change up (79-81) was particularly impressive today. He will be the Twins' opening day starter and I predict a great season for him. Both Jasons (Kubel and Bartlett) reached base today (a rarity for these guys) on walks. Despite Twins' fans rooting for them to make the team, I think that their best days are well behind them and that they are not major league caliber players at this point. Aaron Hicks came in for Alex Presley and had a nice double. At this point, I think that it is not even close between these two. In addition to Presley having an anemic bat this Spring and misjudging balls at the outfield, at one point in a single at mid-depth, he bounced the throw to the cutoff man. An arm reminiscent of Ben Revere. Speaking of feats, at some point Josh Willingham hit a strong liner that hugged the right field line. I was thinking triple all the way as soon as it left his bat, but he managed to get thrown out at second base. Unacceptable at pro ball. Maybe the thing in his back pocket was weighing him down... http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3794/13202593044_2a6c27d43f_z.jpg Tomorrow the Twins are playing the Orioles in Sarasota and it will be a full day of minor league coverage from Fort Myers for me.

Seth, I was looking for you the past few days, but I did not see you. And I know what you look like

Cutting Santana by itself might have made sense if Bernier (who has been barely average) and Bartlett (who has been horrible) were already cut. Add the fact that Florimon cannot even make contact in live BP by an A-level pitcher, and this looks like they are handing Eduardo Escobar the starting SS job. Herrmann is not necessarily competing with Pinto as a catcher. I think that Pinto and Suzuki will be the catchers in a 50-50 arrangement. Herrmann is competing with Kubel, Parmelee, Colabello & co for a bench/DH/OF job. That would give Gardy his third catcher. Also surprised at Kris Johnson. He has been good this spring and I was thinking that he might have a chance at a pen role over someone like Thielbar. But I guess the Twins want to stress him as a starter for Rochester and this then makes sense to do now.

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This is not about Hicks feeling pressure or not. It is about the Twins winning. And they cannot win with the likes of Presley (who has been horrible this Spring both with the bat and the glove) and Mastroianni in starting roles. The Twins need Hicks to perform.

Might catch you tomorrow, but will be watching the Twins' game when Meyers is pitching

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- The (big) boys were out of town today and this left only the two A-level squads in action at the Lee County Sports Complex fields playing the A and Advanced A level Orioles' squads. One of the things that need to be noted, is that these squads do not see each other in regular season competition. The Twins' Advanced A team, the Fort Myers Miracle, is in the Florida State League, whereas the Orioles' Advance A team, the Frederick Keys, is in the Carolina League. The Twins' A team, the Cedar Rapids Kernels, is in the Midwest League and the O's A team, the Delmarva Shorebirds, is in the Southern Atlantic League. Even their higher level short season teams are in different leagues: The Elizabethton Twins are in the Rookie Appalachian League, whereas as the Aberdeen IronBirds are in the Short-Season A, New York-Pennsylvania League. So the players (and the coaches) are not really familiar with each other. Another fun thing about today was that there were 9 of my top 40 Twins' prospects playing today and at least 3 more players who will receive consideration for next season: Numbers 8 (Berrios), 10 (Gonsalves), 11 (Eades), 12 (Jorge), 13 (Harrison), 16 (Kepler), 18 (Walker), 24 (DJ Hicks) and 26 (Duffey.) Here is what I saw from them today: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3695/13177436535_d31d13bbae_z.jpg Jose Berrios, was on top of his game. He probably gained a couple on inches of height from last season and his fastball gained a few notches. He was throwing easy 94-96 mph four seamers, his curveball was its usual plus pitch (but probably the third best curve by a Twins' pitcher today; more on that later) and his changeup is improving. He struck out the side first inning and cruised afterwards. A solid pitcher for that number 8 ranking, who might move a bit higher if he shows some endurance and pitches a bunch of innings at Fort Myers this season. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7194/13177710964_681d1eb16c_z.jpg Stephen Gonsalves, my 10th ranked prospect, threw the single nastiest pitch on both fields today: His 12-6 slow 69-73 mph curveball is a devastating pitch. And coming from a tall lanky lefty who is all arms and lengths, is even more harder to hit. Solid 89-91 mph two seamer and a good high 70s changeup complement his offerings. I have Gonsalves ranked as the highest ranked LHP prospect in the Twins' system, and unless I get really flabbergasted by Luis Thorpe, it will still be the case. That curveball (or any plus plus secondary "out" pitch) is very hard to develop, while adding mph on one's fastball is easier. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7256/13177422415_6ab89bd344_z.jpg I admit that I also got a bit of heat when I ranked Ryan Eades as the Twins' 11th best prospect. And the reasons I did, are the same reasons that today I think that the ranking is pretty good: He is a very polished pitcher with at least 4 above average pitches: His bread and butter is a 89-92 mph two seamer with crazy movement. Think Deduno, but with better control. Today, the results were not good, because he had to throw it up the zone because the home plate umpire did not call the low strike at all, but this is a plus pitch at that level. Add above average to plus slow curve, cutter/slider and change, and you got a complete pitcher. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7077/13177704344_8de105fdd3_z.jpg Felix Jorge (my number 12 prospect) is a guy who a lot of people think that he is throwing high 90s heat because of the sound of the ball when it hits the glove, plus he has this nice frame and fluid delivery and looks like he can throw fast. Here is my mini scouting report in the prospect rankings (go to number 12.) His fastball touched 92 today, but it is a really heavy sinker. This guy is a warm killer. Great downward movement and good horizontal tailing. The breaking ball (called it a slurve back then, still stand with it) is tight. Second best breaking ball today. Very easy delivery. I think that the change up with improve, and I bet that he has a four-seamer in his back pocket. Really. http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2108/13177443575_f369d18d21_z.jpg Keeping with the pitchers and skipping up to number 26: It was good to see Tyler Duffey pitch and I have this feeling in the back of my head that he will be a reliever again. His fastball was up to 95; and this is about 4 mph more than his average last season. And that was a very effective pitch. He is also throwing a slider and change, which both are above average. As far as the position players go: These two guys (who were first and second on one of the most meaningless stats - RBIs - in the Twins' organization last season) look even bigger this season. Florida State League beware. http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3738/13177558073_8aa5964146_z.jpg http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3668/13177560143_b01f6f072c_o.jpg Travis Harrison is in incredible shape. The last couple seasons, he was the prototypical slow power hitter guy, even as a teenager, making people think that he is a corner OF/1B/DH type. This season the Fort Myers' (and likely New Britain) fans will be in for a treat. Today he legged out a triple, he has much better range at the field. A total delight to see. Dark horse to shoot up the prospect rankings big time. And he hit in the second hole tonight. Speaking of people who will shoot up the rankings (at least mine) here are 3: Engelb Vielma. This is the single one most unknown superstar in the making in the Twins' organization. He turned two unassisted double plays (one a line out/throw out the other a step on second throw at first) today and he made them seem so easy. Like it is an everyday kind of thing. Looks like his contact tool is getting better. He has crazy nutty speed and as a cutoff guy, he almost threw a guy out at third on a easy triple. Very strong arm. And he has room to grow. I think that he will move into second in my SS rankings after 6th overall ranked Jorge Polanco. http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3701/13177673914_d8502e87ee_z.jpg The other two guys are catchers who just look like ball players: Brian Navarreto (pictured below) and Mitch Garver. All of a sudden, I think that the Twins are alright in catcher depth in the organization. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7017/13177552423_6e4095c29d_z.jpg

Lots of Hall of Famers out there

I am going to write about today soon, but, yeah, Eades got hit around (I think they got 3 triples out of him) and I think part of the reason is that his two-seamer has a lot of movement and the home plate umpire refused to call the low strike (for anyone). Berrios indeed was throwing BBs out there 93-96 easy going. Gonsalves, Duffey and Jorge also pitched today as well. The Twins Director of Minor Leagues was in attendance for a brief time today and was amazing to see the kids quieting up when he arrived Now, my question is to you, Mr Hall: where were you today? Wish I knew, I'd say hi.

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Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- Second day of live coverage of the Twins Spring training from Fort Myers. Today there was mainly major league action and some minor league drills before the Miracle and Kernels games, with the Red Wings and Rock Cats squads traveling. As a reminder, you can find all Spring Training coverage here. On the single A Beloit side of things, there was a lot of fielding practice going on, including a lot of serious work with the pitchers. I think that these gentlemen might make a pretty mighty squad this coming season: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3817/13155470175_43444cd015_c.jpg On the field few paces west (Field 2) the high A squad was doing drills with Doug Mientkiewitz and company. This is more of a note to self, but this guy, is one to follow, especially after his lights out appearance at Elizabethton last season. Second tallest person in the Twins' system (Loek Van Mil now has replaced Tanaka in his previous team in Japan) and I think that his future is bright. http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3692/13155477975_efc6eb09d3_c.jpg And, yes, Hudson Boyd looks a lot slimmer and he ever volunteer to carry stuff around: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3833/13155478785_6bccbc667d_o.jpg Even this guy was practicing with the Miracle: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3723/13155476875_a5e52d6263_c.jpg And it was good to see him rip a couple and let them go. (This is Alex Wimmers, if you don't know.) He then joined a bunch of Red Wings' pitchers like Alex Meyers, Yohan Pino, Danny Turpen and company for a toss. The main affair at Hammond Stadium was a 2-2 a piece tie with Baltimore. Mike Pelfrey started and he pitched a fine 3 innings. A couple things to note (actually one) : Either he is working on a sinker (yes) or they calibrated the Hammond Stadium radar (yes too). He was tossing mainly two seamers with a couple of curves and splitters mixed in today and his two-seamers were sitting around 89-91 a good 4-5 mph below his usual four seamer velocity. Good to see Mattie Guerrier throw today, especially after Jared Burton, because he was so much better than Burton. Easy 92-93 mph, nice mechanics, I am not sure whether he should be regarded as a dark horse at this point. Give him a week or so of work and I suspect that he might make the team. Glen Perkins signed a contact extension and this was what he had to say: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3802/13155692973_5d4bfb0cfe_z.jpg The other half of the Twins' split squad punished the Yankees 7-2 up in Tampa today. Here are the newest Spring Training Dashboards reflecting both games today: (You can find all of the 2014 Spring Training dashboards here) : A reminder of the scoring system: For the pitchers, I quantify using a measurement created by Bill James more than a decade ago called " Game Score". It is calculated as follows: You start with 50 points for each pitcher. Add 1 point for each out. Add 1 point for each strikeout. Subtract 2 points for each hit. Subtract 4 points for each earned run. Subtract 2 points for each unearned run. Subtract 1 point for each walk. There is a point bonus for pitching more than 4 innings as well, adding 2 points for each IP after the 4th, but this is not too applicable here. Game Scored of 49-51 are "average" (yellow), everything higher than 51 "above average" (green), and everything below 49 "below average" (red). For position players, I devised a similar metric that goes like this: Start with 0 points (unlike the pitching Game Score that starts with 50) Add 1 point for each Run, RBI, 2B, SB, BB, and HBP recorded. Add 2.5 for each hit, 3 for each 3B and 4 for each HR. Subtract 1 for each CS and GIDP, subtract 1 for each error, for catchers add 1 for each CS Subtract 0.2 for each SO and 0.5 for each AB. Again, as in the Pitching Battle Dashboard, the Position Player Battle Dashboard is color-coded based on average, above average and below average performances, where: Average is Batting Game Score between 0 and 2 Above average is Batting Game Score higher than 2 Below average is Batting Game Score less than 0 Players on the 40-man roster are in bold. The ones without options are also underlined. Left-handed pitchers are in italics. Here is the Dashboard for the Twins' position players: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7362/13155492095_352c570fd9_o.png and for the pitchers: http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2753/13155781264_a62fe2f6fe.jpg

Yeah. Sulbaran is on double secret probation because he showed up pretty out of shape. He is taking part of conditioning drills now and pitching alone (like in this live batting practice I described.) You can look at him pitching in that shot up there. He is about 5'10" and 210ish. Mostly lower body, bit of belly. Not Mijares- or Silva- or Boof-like by any means...

was not gonna do that, but what the hey... That's what Glen Perkins is thinking about that extension (from yesterday) : http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3802/13155692973_5d4bfb0cfe_z.jpg

My take on this is here, and I still think that Diamond is the old man out...

I mentioned it in detail here too, but I saw Florimon take exclusive batting practice from Miguel Sulbaran (who also is not allowed to play, because he showed up really overweight and the Twins want him to lose weight and condition himself to start) and it was a sad sight. He faced around 30 pitches or so, he made contact on only 2 and neither left the cage. One hit the top and another the back. I doubt that he is going to be ready. He has major timing issues and it is expected. At this point, his bat is like Bartlett's and that against A-level instead of AAAA level competition that Bartlett is facing. I think that the possibility of the Twins to start with Santana or Escobar as their opening day SS is pretty big. I have not seen Florimon field yet, maybe in an hour or so

Zoilo Versalles

Good Stuff. He is a classy player whose head and heart are in the right places, even though he might never be a star. I can see him have a Jamey Carroll type of career. Good luck to him.

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He had one error. He bobbled the ball in a routine play.

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- I am on site at Fort Myers and this will be the first in a series of reports regarding the Twins' major and minor leaguers from the Lee County sports complex grounds. As a reminder, you can find all Spring Training coverage here. Miguel Sulbaran came to the Twins from the Dodgers in the Drew Butera trade last season and started four games for the Cedar Rapids Kernels, the Twins single A affiliate. Sulbaran did not make it to my top 40 off-season Twins' prospect list, but he made the cut in plenty lists, so I was intrigued to see him pitch for the first time, throwing live pitching practice to Pedro Florimon (mostly) and Nate Hanson. He is stockier than his listed 5'10", 185 lbs, with strong lower body. He has a good fastball in the low 90s with good pop. He threw a very good changeup, and an excellent curve, which had Florimon guessing. He also has a slider that is a cutter-like pitch. 30-40 live batting practice pitches are not a big sample size, but I think that the Twins have something here. On the other hand 30-40 pitches were plenty enough to see that Florimon is not even close. He made contact with only 2 balls, neither of which left the cage. The biggest issue is timing. I just cannot see how he can make the team with just 2 weeks left in Spring Training. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7350/13136375015_76fff1d022_c.jpg Today the Twins were hosting the Red Sox at Hammond Stadium and had another Spring Training attendance record with 92xx people. Phil Hughes was the starter for the Twins. He started the first inning throwing primarily his four-seamer that was sitting between 92-94 and touched 95. He also threw a few cutters at 88-91 and his curveball that was pretty much the story of his game. He is working on it this spring to replace his slider and it was the main pitch he threw his last 2 innings of work, along a few two-seamers and cutters and a couple of high 70s low 80s change ups. His curveball hit anywhere from 69-75 mph and he threw one for strikes (one of them caught David Ortiz looking at strike 3) as well as at the dirt. His appearance was much better than the results that were in part on a fielding error by Plouffe or a ground ball and on another on Mauer on a low pick off throw by Hughes (that one actually could have been on Hughes as well.) http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7422/13136473583_87a90eb494_z.jpg Hard to see Mauer at first base, but he was fine (other than that one play) http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3703/13136656044_c9936f7f8f_z.jpg Matt Hoffman pitched a couple of innings for the Twins and I think that he is in competition for a Lefty Spot in the pen. http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3773/13136710264_59187d50c5_c.jpg He really has 2 pitches now, a fastball that touched 89 and a breaking ball of sorts that was thrown around 80. That is somewhat of a slurve, but with more of a change up type of motion and I can see it raking havoc against left hand batters. Deduno has pitched for 3 innings and they were strong 3 innings. I could not believe that he would be ready this close to his shoulder surgery, but he threw really well. His fastball was as lively as ever from 88-92 and his control was better than I have seen from him before. I was really impressed today. http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3829/13136668904_470dc4a1a5_z.jpg Mike Tonkin finished the game for the Twins and he had a solid outing. One thing that might mean something or might not, is that his fastball was clocking from 91-94 (with the Hammond Stadium radar) with is a few ticks lower than his usual fastball. He is a candidate to break camp with the Twins this Spring http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3802/13136687924_93cedd3ba6_z.jpg I am not sure that any of these gentlemen, on the other hand, will be breaking camp with the Twins: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3707/13136632934_6ee12253ec_z.jpg And the reason I am saying this is that Hicks has been solid both with the bat and on the field, while Presley has been anaemic with the bat and error prone at the field and he has a long way to climb now to even reach the back up level, while Frier is probably fourth in the depth chart, behind Hermann, Pinto and Suzuki (alphabetically.) Chris Herrmann might have been the surprise of this spring, along with Danny Santana, and will be interesting to see these two guys up North. Chris Collabelo is another player who might be knocking at the door and this might mean bad news for Jason Kubel. There was a replay today on a disputed home run call, and I cannot believe how primitive looking the replay apparatus is: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-53tTpYiHiJ4/UyJOmR-xjII/AAAAAAAAAPE/793LhoLoUXU/s1600/P3130153.jpg All in all it was a good game. There was a questionable stop sign by the Twins third base coach, Joe Vavra, with 2 outs and down one at the eighth inning, but I guess coaches have Spring Training as well. Regardless, if the Twins are to climb off the 90 loss hole, they need to be more aggressive at every phase of the game including base running.

"Debby" or actually "Deiby" has been Romero's nickname throughout his pro career in the US. At this point Bartlett should be a mercy cut. I think that Colabello is fighting for Kubel's job. Add Escobar/Florimon, Parmelee and Suzuki/Pinto that that can just be the Twins' bench. Not too many options out there, esp for a second Utility job.

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Let me think: Kirby Puckett was great, Joe Di Maggio was great. Willie Mays was great. Torii Hunter was legit. Where does De Aza fit in that equation? He is Rich Beckeresque. And I'd love to hear how legit and great Rich Becker was...

+1. Check out how he has been doing this Spring on both sides of the ball (and on the bases as well.) He has been pretty atrocious. At this point, I'd rather see Mastroianni as the back up