Seth Stohs

After chatting with Twins Minor League Hitter of the Year Jose Miranda yesterday. Seth chats with Twins Daily's Short-Season Minor League Hitter of the Year Kala'i Rosario on an all-new Twins Spotlight tonight. We'll talk to the Twins' 2020 5th round draft pick from his home in Hawaii about his debut season in the FCL. Join us live tonight at 6:00 pm (central) and send us your questions on the Twins Daily social media platforms, Twitter, Facebook or YouTube pages. The 2020 draft was different than it had been before. There were just five rounds due to the COVID pandemic. When the Twins called their fifth-round pick, they went with a high school power-hitting outfielder from Hawaii named Kala'i Rosario. Legendary Twins scout John Leavitt covers southern California, but he also gets the opportunity to cover Hawaii. He saw Rosario before the season was shut down in 2020, but he had seen him other times previously. Rosario had some of the highest Exit Velocity readings at Perfect Game events, and he beat Red Sox pick Blaze Jordan in the home run derby at the Area Code games as well. He reportedly hit one ball 440 feet. In 2021, he played in 51 games for the FCL Twins. He hit .277/.341/.452 (.793) with 10 doubles, four triples, five homers and 40 RBI. He was named the Twins Daily Short-Season Minor League Hitter of the Year, and was just named to the Florida Complex League All-Star team. Join us on your lunch break as we go live at 6:00 pm central time. You can then participate by sending your questions. We'll cover a ton of topics over about 20-25 minutes. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Please watch LIVE Tuesday at 6:00 pm (central time) on the Twins Daily Twitter, Facebook or YouTube pages live. Also feel free to ask questions in the comments below or on those platforms during the show and we'll ask them. Subscribe to the Twins Daily podcast on Libsyn, Apple iTunes or anywhere you download podcasts. Here is the YouTube link where you can watch the show live, or later. For more on Kala'i Rosario: Follow him on Instagram at @kalai25. Follow him on Twitter at @KalaiRosario. Click here for Twins Daily articles on Kala'i Rosario. Previous Episodes Click here to see more previous episodes of Twins Spotlight. Episode 36: Jose Miranda View full article

It's the offseason and with it comes the return of Twins Spotlight. Season (or offseason) 2 begins today. Seth chats with Twins Minor League Player of the Year Jose Miranda. We'll talk about his remarkable season between the Wichita Wind Surge and the St. Paul Saints. Join us live and send us your questions on the Twins Daily social media platforms, Twitter, Facebook or YouTube pages. Jose Miranda has been a very intriguing Twins prospect since being drafted in the 2nd round of the 2016 MLB draft out of Puerto Rico. He always had immense potential with the bat, but the numbers hadn't quite shown up yet. In 2021, Miranda broke out in a way that we rarely see from a prospect. After a strong showing in the Puerto Rican Winter League and Caribbean Series, Miranda was invited to Twins big-league spring training. He began the season by playing 47 games with the Double-A Wichita Wind Surge. He hit .345/.408/.588 (.996) with eight doubles and 13 home runs. He was promoted to Triple-A St. Paul in early July and in his first game, he launched three home runs. In 80 games with the Saints, he hit .343/.397/.563 (.960) with 24 doubles and 17 home runs. For dramatic effect, let's take a look at his overall numbers too. He hit an impressive .343/.401/.572 (.973) with 32 doubles, 30 home runs and 94 RBI. He performed with the bat while playing all around the infield. He played 54 games at third base, 34 games at second base, and 28 games at first base. In Wichita, he made a couple of starts and shortstop, and in St. Paul, he made three starts in left field. Miranda has found himself with several accolades already this season including the Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Year Award, the Twins Sherry Robertson Minor League Best Player Award, and MLB Pipeline had him on their first-team all prospect team. Join us on your lunch break as we go live at 12:30 pm central time. You can then participate by sending your questions. We'll cover a ton of topics over about 20-25 minutes. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Please watch LIVE Monday at 12:30 pm (central time) on the Twins Daily Twitter, Facebook or YouTube pages live. Also feel free to ask questions in the comments below or on those platforms during the show and we'll ask them. Subscribe to the Twins Daily podcast on Libsyn, Apple iTunes or anywhere you download podcasts. For more on Jose Miranda : Follow Jose on Instagram at @jfmp_. Follow Jose on Twitter at @Franki2998. Click here for dozens of Twins Daily articles on Jose Miranda. Previous Episodes Click here to see more previous episodes of Twins Spotlight. View full article

Lawerson was a 2019 draft pick out of Maine... He won't be eligible until after 2022.

Bechtold just looking to be more versatile. If he can be Astudillo-like defensively, he could add 3rd catcher to 1B/3B option. @Steve Lein will be providing weekly AFL reports.

Wednesday is Opening Day in the Arizona Fall League. After a year without it, six teams will begin their six-week season. The Twins have sent seven players and one coach to play for the Scottsdale Scorpions. Learn a little more about each and what they want to get out of their time in the AFL. The Scottsdale Scorpions team contains seven players from the Twins, Giants, “Guardians,” Rays, and Red Sox. As was announced just last week, the Twins are sending four pitchers and three position players. Right-hander Cody Laweryson and lefties Kody Funderburk, Zach Featherstone, and Evan Sisk will get some extra innings on the mound. Outfielder Matt Wallner, infielder Andrew Bechtold, and utility man Michael Helman will get more opportunities at the plate and in the field. For the Twins representatives, it is their first time playing in the league. Most of them hadn’t even been to Arizona for the Fall League as a fan. The lone exception is Kody Funderburk, who grew up in Mesa, Arizona, and frequented the ballparks in the Fall. The southpaw was a two-way player at Dallas Baptist, but he has been solely a pitcher since joining the Twins as their 15th round draft pick in 2018. He began this season at High-A Cedar Rapids, where he made ten starts and was 1-3 with a 3.18 ERA. In 45 1/3 innings, he had 59 strikeouts. He moved up to Double-A Wichita, and all seven of his appearances came out of the bullpen. He posted a 1.25 ERA and had 23 strikeouts in 21 2/3 innings. Ryan Smith has earned praise for his terrific work as the hitting coach of the Wichita Wind Surge, the same role he will have for Scottsdale. Smith noted, “Prior to last week, I had never been in Arizona!” The Twins prospects finished the season in either Cedar Rapids or Wichita. Both teams made the playoffs. They got a couple of weeks off before heading to Arizona for a week of practice. Each player has things they want to work on during their time in the Fall League. Likewise, Smith intends to continue to improve himself during his time there. He said, “ I’d like to continue to sharpen my communication (and Spanish-speaking) skills with this new group of players.” For Evan Sisk, the Fall League provides him with an opportunity to work on pitches and such. He came to the Twins at the trade deadline from the Cardinals in the J.A. Happ trade and spent the final two months working in the Wind Surge bullpen. He will also get to know these Twins teammates better. Minnesota native Matt Wallner missed about two months of the 2021 season because of a broken hamate bone. This time will allow him to get some of those missed at-bats back. He noted, “Working on seeing and being more comfortable against the better arms in this league.” Kernels starter Cody Laweryson missed time early in the season. His season began in June, and he made 14 starts. In 58 2/3 innings, he had 73 strikeouts. For him, it is mainly about working on his confidence. “My biggest thing to work on is keeping my confidence high no matter how my outings are going.” Like Funderburk, Zach Featherstone was a two-way player in college. The Twins drafted him in the 12th round of the 2016 draft as a first baseman/outfielder. He spent that first year in the organization as a hitter. However, he quickly moved to the mound. Unfortunately, after just a handful of innings in 2017, he had Tommy John surgery. He missed the 2018 and 2019 seasons. He was ready for a rehab appearance when a hurricane shut down the GCL season. Like others, he did not pitch in 2020. So you can imagine what it meant for him to get back on the mound for the Cedar Rapids Kernels in 2021. And he was terrific. By season’s end, he was the Kernels closer, and his pitches were much sharper. He noted, “I’m going to be working on getting ahead of hitters more often, attacking the strike zone with all three of my pitches.” Featherstone throws a low-to-mid-90s fastball, a curveball, and a slider that can be devastating at times. Michael Helman was drafted as a middle infielder in the 11th round of the 2018 draft out of Texas A&M. His power arrived in 2021. In 121 pro games between 2018 and 2019, he had 19 doubles and seven homers. In 111 games for the Kernels in 2021, he hit 21 doubles and 19 home runs. Helman did so while spending time playing all over the diamond. Having played one pro game in the outfield over his first two pro seasons, he played 42 games in left field, 27 games in right field, and 26 games in center field. He played 20 games in the middle infield. He pointed out, “I would like to become more of a complete player all around both on the offensive and defensive sides. I’m not sure if I’ll be playing more outfield or infield. I guess it just depends on where they want to work me in.” In the season’s first half, he split his time between first base and third base. After the Twins promoted Jose Miranda to St. Paul, Bechtold played more third base. In 99 games, he hit 23 doubles and 18 home runs. The day after the Wind Surge clinched a playoff spot, Bechtold played his first game as a catcher. It is something he had been working on for about a month. “I’m definitely going to be continuing to work on my catching. Catching for me was a project the last month or so of the season, and we put in a lot of work. I was able to catch in a game in Double-A this year because of how well the progression we were working on worked. I know catching is a valuable tool for me to have. I’m excited to continue to work on it and continue to get more experience. Along with catching, I want to continue to develop as much range as possible at third base and continue to fine-tune my approach at the plate.” The Arizona Fall League is something that baseball fans should include on their bucket list. And for players, the opportunity to play in the league is tremendous. The players should be excited about this opportunity, and they all are. Bechtold said, “I’m most looking forward to playing against guys you may not normally see, whether that’s because of the league they are in or level. I think the AFL is a great opportunity to see guys first-hand and see how you compare to some of the other organizations’ top talents. I think playing with high-caliber players for an extended period of time pushes you and forces you to play your best baseball, so I’m looking forward to that.” It is about testing yourself against prospects from around baseball. Featherstone said, “I’m looking forward to getting to compete against some of the best minor league competition from this year.” Laweryson explained, “I would say I’m most looking forward to the competition I’m going to face and the great players I’m going to be playing with.” Wallner echoed the sentiment, “ Looking forward to competing against upper-level competition that’s out here.” And so did Helman, “I’m looking forward to the opportunity to play against some great competition.” One of the great things about the Fall League and playing with coaches and players from other organizations is the chance to learn from others. Maybe try something that will click for them and help them achieve another level of success. Smith is undoubtedly looking forward to that. “I’m really looking forward to the collaboration with coaches and players from other organizations, as well as enjoying the great fall weather out in AZ. ” To summarize, Bechtold said, “I’ve heard a lot about it just being a baseball fan growing up, and I always knew it was something I would want to play in one day if given the opportunity. I think the Twins have a good group of guys here, so I’m excited to experience it with them and really take it all in and enjoy my time here.” In the past, I have chatted with players after the AFL season is complete to hear their experiences. Most are just thrilled to have had the opportunity to have met such great players and people from other organizations. It’s fun to see if they were able to accomplish some of the things they wanted to. Each week throughout the AFL season, Twins Daily will update how the Twins prospects have performed. View full article

Pretty much every team has two hitting coaches at this point.

On Wednesday, news broke that the Twins were reassigning hitting coach Edgar Varela and interim bench coach Kevin Morgan to player development positions. The two jobs need to be filled, along with the role that opened up when Bill Evers decided to retire. Someone had to be the scapegoat. Coming into the season, the Twins were expected to not only compete for a third straight AL Central division title but also to get some elusive playoff wins. There were legitimate World Series aspirations. Then came April. Things went bad, quick, and the Twins found themselves needing to win eight of their final 12 games just to avoid 90 losses. Regardless, the team finished in last place in the AL Central. The old saying goes, “You can’t fire all the players, so…” Well, someone had to be the scapegoat. On Wednesday, hitting coach Edgar Varela was that guy. Before spring training, it was announced that Bench Coach Mike Bell had been diagnosed with cancer and had surgery. Shortly before the season started, Bell passed away. The Twins didn’t immediately replace him with another bench coach, but Kevin Morgan eventually took on the job in the interim. He stayed in the role until the end of the season, but the assumption was that he would be reassigned at season’s end and the team would interview for the new bench coach. Morgan will be reassigned to player development. He had been hired as the Minor League Field Coordinator before the 2020 season. Presumably he’ll take on that role again, or something similar. Bill Evers is retiring, as we know. So, his role will also need to be filled. These two open positions are certainly not surprising. Back to co-hitting coach Edgar Varela, the team’s scapegoat for their disappointing 2021 season. After the Twins historic 2019 offensive season, then-hitting coach James Rowson became the Marlins offensive coordinator. Varela was hired as the hitting coach. In addition, the word “assistant’ was removed from assistant hitting coach Rudy Hernandez’s title. Hernandez was given credit by a lot of the players in 2019, and he will remain on the staff. Like Morgan, Varela came to the Twins organization recently. He became the minor league field coordinator before the 2019 season after several season as a coach in the Pirates organization. A year later, he was a big-league hitting coach. While the offense wasn’t great in 2021, it was not the biggest issue on the team. There were a lot of strikeouts. The batting average dropped some. While several hitters struggled, it was good to see Jorge Polanco and Mitch Garver return to 2019 form. It was good to see Miguel Sano make some midseason adjustments and took off in the second half. Here is how the Twins ranked among the 30 MLB teams in several offensive categories: Batting Average (.241): 17th On-Base Percentage (.314): 17th Slugging Percentage (.423): 9th PS (.738): 11th Doubles (271): 11th Home Runs (228): 5th Runs (729): 14th Walks (525): 17th Strikeouts (1,405): 14th To summarize, while the Twins offense wasn’t great, it was approximately league average, maybe slightly above. Meanwhile, the pitching staff crumbled. Jose Berrios was very good until traded in July. Taylor Rogers was an All Star and was terrific until injured in late July. However, Matt Shoemaker and J.A. Happ didn’t work as Twins starters and both were jettisoned. Michael Pineda missed time with injuries. Kenta Maeda needed Tommy John surgery. Even the second tier, the depth, was hurt. Randy Dobnak, Lewis Thorpe and Devin Smeltzer were all hurt most of the season. On the positive side, Bailey Ober, the team's top rookie, is clearly a great example of what the Twins pitcher development philosophy is; increased velocity and use the analytics to get increased missed bats. Here is where the Twins pitching staff ranked among the 30 MLB teams: ERA (4.83): 26th WHIP (1.32): 18th H/9 (8.8): 22nd BB/9 (3.1): 7th K/9 (8.4): 22nd HR/9 (1.5): 25th That’s not to say that pitching coach Wes Johnson should have been reassigned. He certainly built up enough equity over his first two seasons to get some leeway. The Twins pitching staff was a top ten staff the previous two seasons. 2022 Twins Coaching Staff Manager: Rocco Baldelli Bench Coach: Job Open Hitting Coach: Rudy Hernandez Hitting Coach: Job Open Pitching Coach: Wes Johnson Assistant Pitching Coach/Bullpen Coach: Pete Maki 1B Coach/Outfield Coach: Tommy Watkins 3B Coach/Infield Coach: Tony Diaz MLB Coach: Job Open And, with fewer limitations on MLB coaching staff, they could hire even more coaches. Listen, Edgar Varela probably didn’t deserve to get demoted, but to be fair, he wasn’t fired. The front office recognizes that he brings value to the organization and that value will be seen in the player development group. And the organization will look for a hitting coach that complements Rudy Hernandez. In his time with the Twins, Rocco Baldelli has been helped by strong bench coaches. In 2019, Derek Shelton was the runner-up for the managerial job and stuck around. He was very well respected and ended up getting the Pittsburgh Pirates manager job after the season. In 2020, Mike Bell was the bench coach after spending time in the Diamondbacks front office. He was already getting some managerial interviews last year. So will the Twins go with another baseball person without big-league managerial experience? Or, could someone like Jayce Tingler, who was just fired by the Padres, be an ideal candidate for the job? Bill Evers was the one coach on staff who worked with catchers, so it’s also likely that someone hired will be responsible for working with the backstops. It’s going to be an interesting offseason, and with these moves, it has begun. In addition, Edwar Colina was claimed off of waivers by the Texas Rangers. The hard-throwing righty had bone chips removed from his throwing elbow earlier this season and it was announced on Wednesday that he had a second procedure on his elbow recently. I have also heard that Andrew Albers has been DFAd. It’s also likely that several other Twins players have been, or will soon be, DFAd. The team had 49 players on the 40-man roster, with nine players on the 60-Day IL. They have a lot of roster management moves to make in the very near future. View full article

I would go with like a B or B-... I agree with the "Good" point. This team could have gone really bad, but I think Rocco's management of people is plus-plus, and that has to help over the course of a long season. To end the season strong after the trades, the injuries, the pitching issues, is pretty impressive. I was annoyed by the Maggi thing, but that isn't going to alter my grade. I actually like his bullpen usage. I think that he gives everybody opportunities is a good thing long-term, and also helps keep the regulars from being over-used. This year that didn't look great because some of the pitchers were just unable to perform. I think he stuck with Colome as closer at the beginning of the year an appropriate amount of time for a guy who had been very good for 8-9 years... but then he moved to Robles and Rogers.

The Twins aren't going to non-tender Buxton, so it really isn't a comparison. The lone comparison is that Ortiz missed a lot of time with knee issues. Simply, he would not have lasted playing on the Metrodome's artificial turf.

I think the Yankees and Dodgers win the Wild Card games. Rays over Yankees in four games. White Sox over Astros in five games. Brewers over Atlanta in four games. Giants over Dodgers in five games. Rays over White Sox in six games. Giants over Brewers in seven games. Rays over Giants in six games.

Year 1: evaluation year. 2017 draft included Enlow (TJ), Leach (multiple injuries), Barnes (reached MLB), Sammons (in AAA), Ober (looks pretty good), Gore (has become intriguing as an arm). Year 2: started adding some technology. 2018 draft included Sands, Winder, Regi Grace (HS), Schulfer. Neff and Bentley look intriguing as lefty relievers. Year 3: 2019 they added pitching coordinators, another pitching coach at each level and more technology. 2019 draft included: Canterino, Gipson-Long, Headrick, Gross, Legumina, Laweryson, and Varland looks pretty good. Of course not all of these guys are going to make it to the big leagues, but note the strikeouts. Note the increased velocity. Year 4: 2020: Almost zero player development other than a few prospects at the alternate site. Everyone else was left to a couple of zoom calls with a coach/coordinator/trainer each week during the non-season. Year 5: 2021 - Return to the mound for these guys. There were concerns about innings and injuries, and that's proven true. I've had a couple of people tell me that lost season will affect things with pitching for a couple of years. Right or wrong, that is what it is. So yeah, it's hard to argue that they have brought a bunch of pitching to the organization. There were marginal prospects who the team has made into MLB talent, but most of them have been injured (Alcala, Thorpe, Smeltzer, Dobnak, Stashak, Barnes, Jax). Ober fit into that category too. Not a top prospect, missed time due to injury, didn't pitch at all in 2020... and he credits what they do with technology and analytics. So, my point isn't that they deserve an A+. They don't. For MLB play, free agent signings, etc., it is probably a D. But I think it's way too early to try to make too many big statements on their ability to develop pitching. We don't know yet, to be honest. But the "Missed Year" is absolutely a real narrative, and that was likely a factor in the injury narrative too.

No. He's way past it now, but we aren't going to update our rankings until later.

I wouldn't. These aren't prospect rankings and aren't intended to be. If they would have wanted to, they could have had Cade Povich pitch for two months in the FCL and he could have absolutely dominated. Those highly-ranked college arms get moved up to Low-A quickly and are on very strict innings/pitch counts. That said, at the time that these picks were made, Ynoa was the one that was a prospect at that time.

Williams started the season by going 5-for-50 at Cedar Rapids... then was promoted to AA Wichita and played pretty well, playing twice a week or so.

My guess is that Witt will win it, like you said, because of his name recognition and he had a great year too. So did Melendez. Miranda was named to the MLB Pipeline 1st team All Prospect team. Jovani Moran was named 2nd team.

My ballot: 1.) Rodriguez 2.) Baez 3.) Rosario

My ballot: 1.) Moran 2.) Gore 3.) Featherstone 4.) Bentley

He had 4-5 starts... Was great in them, but yeah...

Thanks for the kind words... Really appreciate that! @Steve Lein, @Ted Schwerzler, @David Youngs, @Allen Post, @Matt Braun, and @Nash Walker deserve credit for the daily minor league reports throughout the season. They aren't easy, and I am pretty proud of them, so these guys do a lot for them. Also, @Lucas Seehafer PT was the backup often and really helped out too! Glad you enjoyed, and look forward to your Wind Surge reports in future years!

Winder is, if healthy, and Duran and Balazovic and Sands are too... if healthy...

Just to keep the conversation going, I thought I'd post my rankings... of which I question almost immediately after saying it's final and if I didn't look, might be different today in some cases, but here is what I've got: 1.) Miranda - not much overthinking here... 2.) Julien - For it, it's that OBP, but he also showed pop in Cedar Rapids, stole some bases. 3.) Steer - Takes walks, I think at Cedar Rapids he had as many walks as strikeouts, and the power came on big time. 4.) Cabbage - The power arrived, and I saw some improvement in walks and strikeouts as he moved up to AA. 5.) Contreras - one of the biggest surprises of the season for me. After a tough 2019, a year missed, he moved up a level and had power and played so much better. 6.) Isola - Lots of walks. Lots of homers. And does a nice job behind the plate, and did just fine at 1B because they wanted to keep the bat in there. 7.) Severino - Moved up to CR and really came on. Season ended a little early, but he showed what he can be. 8.) Helman - Low BA, but he takes really good ABs, takes his walks, and the power was a big surprise, but he almost hit 20 homers, while mostly playing in the outfield.

For transparency, and to create discussion in the hopes others will give us their rankings here, here is my ranking: 1.) Varland - easy choice. 2.) Sands - I had to do a double-take at his numbers. For being a good (mid-teens) prospect, he didn't get talked about a lot! 3.) Winder - Until the injury, he was certainly the favorite. And, he might just be the top prospect. 4.) Gipson-Long - Those strikeouts are pretty impressive. 5.) Balazovic - ups and downs, but he is the top pitching prospect. 6.) Gross - Just solid, consistent, ate innings, had a good first full season.