Seth Stohs

I'd be surprised to see Smeltzer out of gate. Shocked actually. I don't go to road games, so I didn't see Jax in person. Duran will start in Pensacola. He wasn't there very long last year. They'll keep him starting as long as they can.

Yeah, no reason to even worry about his stats yet. He's a long-time veteran. He should get right up to the end to make that decision. And that decision is basically ... is he what he was in 2019... or is he what he was for a long time before that.

He does... and it's right before the season starts... I would assume he would elect to become a free agent.

Thorpe is back in camp, though he's clearly behind the competition for that spot at this point.

In a battle of AL Central foes, the Twins topped Ron Gardenhire, Kennys Vargas and the Detroit Tigers. Randy Dobnak looked impressive. Maybe too impressive? Marwin Gonzalez had an impressive spring debut. Edwar Colina hitting 100. More notes from today at Hammond Stadium.There is a competition for the Twins fifth starter job, and on Tuesday at Hammond Stadium, Randy Dobnak made another strong case for himself. The right-hander worked the first three innings and needed just 31 pitches. He gave up one hit - an infield single down the third base line. He didn’t walk anyone and struck out two batters. In spring, it’s about getting guys their work. Tyler Clippard came in for the fourth inning, and Randy Dobnak went down to the bullpen. “I threw 25 pitches in the bullpen.” Dobnak continued, “I don't know what the goal was, but I think it was like 55-60, plus all the warmups.” Rocco Baldelli said after the game that Dobnak pitched great. “he threw the ball very well. I think that he was doing everything he wanted to do out there. He spun the ball well. He got some swings and misses. He found himself in a very good place. So good, in fact, that he found himself throwing some extra pitches in the bullpen. But we're going to take that.” One inquisitive writer asked the manager after the game if it was almost tougher to evaluate Dobnak’s performance because it was so efficient. Baldelli noted, “I think there are times in spring training that you do almost hope that your pitchers get stressed. You want them to go out there and throw more pitches than they planned on, more pitches per inning than they planned on. You want there to be some runners on base. You want them to go back up a few bases. These things are going to happen during the season. Just to prepare them, I think it does help. You can never complain about an outing like that. He threw the ball very well. ” For Dobnak’s part, he’s not worrying about being too good this spring or too efficient. He said, “Still trying to work on some pitches here and there, but i'm still competing for a spot.” Dobnak is still working on things: “Today I was trying to get more depth on my slider. I've been working on that lately.” He added,“The changeup’s been working pretty well for me. Threw a few today that were pretty nice. I'm pleased with that. Next step will be the slider. Then I'll work on the sinker.” He was also excited to find himself with a defense filled with regulars. “Yeah. They're good. I get a lot of ground balls, so having the infield out there is nice to have. Marwin made a nice play in the first inning. Donaldson made a nice play. Polanco made a nice play. So, it's nice to have them out there.” In the first inning, Marwin Gonzalez made a diving play. In the second inning, Jorge Polanco made a nice play on a slow roller in the hole to his right. The next batter hit a ball to Josh Donaldson’s left. Donaldson made a tough play look easy. Dobnak finds himself in competition with veteran Jhoulys Chacin and fellow 2019 debuters Devin Smeltzer and Lewis Thorpe. Camp is nearly half over, how do you think the fifth starting job is shaping up? Marwin Gonzalez Debuts There were no boos (at least none that were noticeable) when Marwin Gonzalez’s name was announced in the starting lineup or when he came to the plate for his two at-bats. The versatile, everyday player made his first appearance this spring. He had knee surgery in October and did very little for about two months. He began with light workouts in December. Colina Impressive Edwar Colina threw a scoreless ninth inning. He was hitting 99 with regularity and the scoreboard did show 100 mph on one pitch. He also showed a good, sharp slider at 85-87. The final batter hit a line drive back at him that hit him in the foot and bounced toward first base. He collected himself, ran to first and the final out was recorded. Following the game, he said he was just fine. Nick Gordon Update The Twins have a complete day off on Wednesday. Baldelli said a couple of players will just play some catch, but the team will not be working out at all. Nick Gordon is expected to play when the Twins return to action on Thursday. Baldelli noted, “He's cleared. He's ready to go.” Any questions, feel free to ask. Click here to view the article

Good question... I'll have to ask tomorrow... He's around.

Pineda is here. He looks the same... He's just throwing some bullpens.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone... if there are certain players you have questions about, feel free to ask. If there are players you'd like to see profiled, please let me know.

Twins minor league camp doesn’t officially start until the middle of this coming week, but I have spent parts of the past three days down on the minor league fields. Here are a handful of notes.First and foremost, the Twins minor league academy has been a tremendous success for a number of reasons: First, they have been able to conduct camps throughout the offseason. In the fall, there are camps for position players to work on their speed and agility or other specific areas of their game. In January, there are pitch camps for control or velocity. Rehabbing players are also there a lot in the offseason. They are able to do that because there is comfortable lodging for the players without sending them to a hotel. And the players are taking advantage of it. Also, players have been coming to Ft. Myers well before spring training. By the first week in January, minor leaguers start to arrive. In fact, I was told by several people that only three or four of the minor leaguers have not already shown up to camp despite the fact that the official report day is still three or four days away. That is incredible. And the players are coming into camp in really good shape and ready to go. While the practices aren’t official, there is a real level of formality to it. Coaches are assigned. Conditioning is done. Stretching. Base running. Bullpens. Batting practice. Grounders are being taken and fly balls are being caught. It’s as if practice had already started. The only difference is they aren’t wearing uniforms. They’re dressed in warmup attire, which is really creating issues for me in identifying most of the new players. I’ll adjust, don’t worry. Anyway, what is impressive is that they aren’t just in early spring mode. They’re working on things. Infield coordinator Billy Boyer is working with the infielders on specific things, on taking grounders or throws to the bases from various positions, simulating their shift positions. Hitters aren’t just taking batting practice and crushing fastballs. They are already hitting nasty sliders off of the pitching machine. Pitchers are working on location and their pitches, but they’re doing it in a fun, competitive mode. For instance, here is a video of Blayne Enlow and Jordan Balazovic. They go back and forth and simulate an 0-2 count on a hitter. What will they throw? What will the location be? But following that interview, I walked to Bill Smith Field. That is the field behind the academy where the GCL Twins play. As I was approaching the field, I heard hollering. And then I see a ball launched out of the park. And then another ball well beyond the fence in left center field. That’s when I realized who was hitting in the cage. It was Twins 2019 first-round pick Keoni Cavaco. For good measure, he hit the next ball even further. I had also seen him the day before fielding ground balls at shortstop. Very impressive defensively. And he is a big, strong kid. He has the hands and speed for shortstop, but he’s got the size to be a third baseman. Definitely one to watch progress. After his round of batting practice. He and fellow young prospect Jesus Feliz posed for a photo. Speaking of top picks, it was great to watch Forest Lake’s own Matt Wallner take some batting practice. The young man is impressive. He’s tall and strong, and he can hit the ball a long way. In just observing, he appeared to be very coachable as well. Later, he came up and introduced himself and it was a Minnesota Nice conversation. It was good to see Taylor Grzelakowski on the field and healthy. He had a tough year last year in Pensacola. He played through a lot of pain before finally having a second ankle surgery in June. He said that his offseason and rest really helped it recover. I tell you what, there are a lot of great stories to be told on the minor league side of the complex. Hopefully I can get to some of them. One name in camp that Twins fans will find interesting. Levi Michael is back in the organization. The 2010 first-round pick spent seven seasons in the Twins organization. He split time between AA and AAA with the Mets in 2018 and did the same in the Giants system in 2019. Alright, I’m sure there is more and there will continue to be more. But feel free to ask questions and I’ll try to answer, or I’ll try to watch that player/those players more closely. Click here to view the article

He's there. Saw him the last couple of mornings. Looks good. The goal is still for him to be ready for opening day.

In his second start, Jose Berrios worked three scoreless innings. On a cold night in Ft. Myers, the Twins bats were also kept quiet. The Twins lost 2-0 to give former bench coach Derek Shelton his first managerial win.The Twins were ready for Derek Shelton to return to Hammond Stadium. When the Twins were done with batting practice, the Pittsburgh Pirates came onto the field for their pregame work. When Shelton came out, he was met in the middle of the infield by a large contingent of Twins, starting with Rocco Baldelli. Derek Falvey wished him well. Shelton was given hugs by many Twins personnel. In addition, there were a few photos put into a slide show format on the stadiums video board. In addition, several chatted with Rick Eckstein, the Pirates hitting coach. He was the Twins minor league hitting coordinator in 2018 before getting the Pirates job before the 2019 season. Even after the Pirates made a change with their manager, Eckstein retained his job. Jose Berrios started and threw three scoreless innings. He gave up one hit, walked two and struck out two batters. It took him a little to get going at the beginning. "I tried to do the same thing I did last time. Throwing my four-seam fastball. Using the changeup, too. Trying to throw good changeups. But in the beginning, the first inning, I had issues with the grip because of the weather. Because I was thinking about it, I was being too fast with my first side. But other than that, I felt good about the outing." In addition, Berrios was working on a couple of things. "Yeah. I threw a couple of fastballs well, running up. That's something we've been practicing so far in spring training." He is also working on a spiked curveball, the more 12-6 variety, to go with his sweeping slider. It's something that his manager thinks will really help him, especially working in concert with his elevated fastball. Said Baldelli, "Being able to use those pitches off of each other, I think, is certainly a trick that Jose is aware of, and he's used, but I think he's still perfecting that kind of stuff and gaining even more feel for it. He can definitely sweep that breaking ball across the zone and that can be effective for some hitters, but if he can also be able to spin it up and down. We're talking slight adjustments here, but if he can do some different things with the breaking ball, that can come in in a useful way." Berrios said that he spent some time with Alex Avila after his outing. "After our outing, we talked and obviously, it's the first time we've played together. He said, 'The more I know you, the more comfortable it will be for me.' Today, I think we did great work." Asked if he and his staff has strategically aligned pitchers and catchers who have not worked with each other to work with each other early in camp, Baldelli said, "Yes. It doesn't always work out [perfectly where you get to match everybody up with exactly who you want them to work with. But I think it is important. know Wes and Mac and Bill also think it is important. We will ty to get Alex out there with as many of our pitchers as we possibly can throughout the spring. Hopefully he sees everyone. Hopefully he will see most of them multiple times. And the same with Bailey and Kenta with all of our guys, just trying to get feel for all these guys. It starts in the bullpens early on in camp and goes into live b.p. then obviously real games The more they can work together the better off we are going to be once the season starts." Littell Velocity Do Hyoung Park from twinsbaseball.com chatted with Zack Littell about his bullpen role. He told pitching coach Wes Johnson that he wants to hit 100 mph. Littell has really taken to the bullpen role. On Saturday night, he tossed two scoreless innings and struck out three. Nelson Cruz(es) Several of the players kids were in the clubhouse before the game on Saturday night. Nelson Cruz's son - also Nelson - was pretty involved in the night. When the Twins were taking infield practice, he was in line with the other Twins third basemen and fielded grounders and made the throws to (or most of the way to) second or first base. Whatever the other guys were doing. They stood together for the national anthem, and Nelson (the younger) got to spend time as a bat boy. Notes Rocco Baldelli did say that Jorge Polanco is expected to start at DH on Sunday afternoon. It will mark his first game of the spring. Marwin Gonzalez is expected to make his first appearance this week as well. Please feel free to ask questions. I've done several interviews and I have several more planned. They definitely won't all be published by the time I leave here next week. One thing is for sure. We will have a lot of pictures to use with the Twins Daily articles. Be sure to follow Twins Daily on Twitter. Click here to view the article

Homers were a big part of the Twins spring training story on Friday afternoon at Hammond Stadium. Homer Bailey made his first appearance in a Twins uniform. Alex Kirilloff’s seventh inning, two-run homer gave the Twins a little insurance.Homer Bailey signed a one-year deal with the Twins around the holidays. On Friday, he made his first appearance of spring. He worked two innings. He didn’t allow a run. He got two quick outs in the top of the first inning. JD Martinez hit a fly ball to right center. Bailey started walking off the field, thinking the inning was over. But the wind was blowing hard from left to right and the ball just kept going. LaMonte Wade leapt at the wall and robbed a home run. However, when his arm hit the wall, the ball trickled away. Martinez ended up on third base. But soon after, Bailey got a lazy fly ball to center for the third out. “I was actually walking off the mound, thinking it was a right-center gap, guy’s going to catch it on the run, inning over. Then you look the flag pole you see everything was drifting off to right field quite a bit. Big deal.” He continued, “I say ‘Big Deal, but if the next guy gets a single, I’m (upset) about it.” Baldelli,”He's a pretty gifted young hitter. This is a guy that's always had good at- bats, can find the barrel on different pitches in the zone. He can do some pretty nifty things the way he attacks the ball. He would have what you probably call the opposite of a grooved swing. He can do different things, and find different angles, and find the barrel. So, he hit that one really well. We were just talking about him a little bit in the dugout right as he was taking the swing, and we saw it. Got a chance to see it live. Really nice.“ On Saturday night, the Pirates come to Hammond Stadium to play the Twins. Baldelli said that Kirilloff is scheduled to play against his hometown team. “That's always fun, anytime anyone gets a chance to play...and the game's probably on, really all the games are on TV now. For a while, it was when you played the team from the hometown, that's when everyone got a chance to see you play, everyone from back home. So that's always a fun thing.” Nick Gordon Update Nick Gordon is yet to play in spring training games. He is working and at the ballpark each day. He is experiencing a gastrointestinal issue again this spring. Baldelli said after the game, “I can’t tell you that it’s the exact same issue but the way that it’s probably affecting him is probably somewhat similar.” “He’s been regaining strength and trying to gain some weight and start to feel better before he starts getting back to full baseball activities. So I can’t tell you that he’s fully there yet. We’re not pushing him to get him out on the field as fast as possible. It’s February. There’s no rush to really get him out there until he feels 100 percent and his body’s functioning right.” It’s really unfortunate for Gordon because there is no doubt he would be getting a lot of playing time this spring. Josh Donaldson Talking Shop Josh Donaldson went 1-for-3 on Friday. It was his first hit of the spring. He hit a double to the right-center field gap. So if you were worried about him not ever getting a hit during his career with the Twins, you can sigh a deep breath. Today was my first full day in Ft. Myers and at spring training, so I am last to this. However, what was really impressive to me, a half-hour after the game, we left the manager’s office and into the clubhouse. At a table, Donaldson was holding court with three Twins minor leaguers, talking hitting. Now I didn’t stand there and observe, but in the six seconds that I did see, all three players were glued to his every word. Click here to view the article

It was the thing that frustrated fans early in the careers of Torii Hunter and Michael Cuddyer too.

I saw you promoting this this morning, Ted... gotta admit, I assumed that you were going to write about May and Duffey... I like Littell a lot, but does this mean you already think Duffey is there?

If there was an injury the first half of the season, he would be the guy called up. Jeffers and Rortvedt need time. Telis hit .330 last year in AAA and has played in parts of 5 seasons in the big leagues. He's nice insurance. Well, depending on how long the catcher was out. If it was really short-term, they could get by with Astudillo as the #2.

Watching Killer in Plain Sight on Hulu right now (tonight)... solid crime show. Watched seasons 1, 2, 5 and 6 of Who's the Boss on Roku Channel. party of five, of course... and all-new season of The Walking Dead started last night.

Takeaways... 1.) watching spring training is the best! 2.) Watching prospects play is awesome, especially when the announcers aren't sure who they are (but you have a Twins Prospect Handbook so you know who they are). 3.) Nothing on the field can be taken away from 3 games though...

Keep playing him at AAA, and if an opportunity arises, consider him. He's got things to work on.

The Twins have a fairly veteran, proven roster as they head into the 2020 season. However, most seasons someone comes up during the season and unexpectedly contributes important at-bats or innings to the Twins. There’s no doubt that player was Luis Arraez in 2019. So who will be the choice in 2020?About a week ago, I posted a tweet asking people to tweet me their choice for Twins breakout player in 2020. I defined that as someone who has not yet established himself as a big leaguer. It’s a loose definition intentionally, but the general idea is someone who hasn’t played in the big leagues or has very limited time who becomes a key contributor for the Twins in 2020. I received about 50 responses to that tweet, and over 20 players were mentioned. Randy Dobnak, Lewis Thorpe and Ryan Jeffers were mentioned most frequently. Jake Cave was also mentioned a lot, though he’s got two half seasons of solid contribution to the Twins big league club under his belt. The funny thing is, at least in my opinion, that the player that I would pick was not mentioned by anyone. Not even once. That tells me that my choice certainly fits the category of being an unexpected contributor to the 2020 Twins. However, I expect that once he gets a shot, he has the ability to be really good. My choice is right-handed pitcher Sean Poppen. The Background Poppen, a Virginia native, was the Twins 19th-round draft pick in 2016 out of Harvard where he was a starter for four years. His majors? Chemistry, Physics and Engineering Studies. In other words, he’s smart. The Stats 2016: Elizabethton/Cedar Rapids: 12 G, 11 GS, 53.1 IP, 3-4, 2.70 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 4.1 BB/9, 9.6 K/9 2017: Cedar Rapids/Ft. Myers: 25 GS, 139.0 IP, 9-4, 3.17 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 1.6 BB/9, 7.9 K/9 2018: Ft. Myers/Chattanooga: 26 G, 20 GS, 127.2 IP, 6-9, 3.45 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 2.7 BB/9, 8.7 K/9 2019: Pensacola/Rochester: 20 G, 16 GS, 89.2 IP, 7-4, 4.01 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, 4.4 BB/9, 10.7 K/9 2019 Twins: 4 G, 0 GS, 8.1 IP, 0-0, 7.56 ERA, 1.80 WHIP, 5.4 BB/9, 9.7 K/9 The Stuff While the MLB stats don’t look that great, he provided the Twins with some innings when they needed them. He became part of that Rochester-to-Minnesota pipeline. In my opinion, Poppen passes the eye test in terms of stuff. First, his fastball is electric. When he was drafted, he was touching 91 mph at times. When I saw him in Cedar Rapids in 2017, I saw him hit 92 and 93 at times. With the Twins in 2019, he was 93 to 97 mph. And more important than just the velocity, he gets a ton of movement, arm-side run that darts in on a right-hander. In addition, he has a very sharp, mid-80s slider that he threw about 40% of the time. As much as his fastball darts in on a righty, his slider is sharp and darts away from a right-hander. If he is able to tunnel his pitches at all, the combination of those two pitches could be a nightmare for opposing hitters. Poppen also throws a changeup. If he is to progress as a starter, that will be a key pitch for him. It is low-to-mid 80s but it has been inconsistent at times. One thing that immediately impressed me the first time I saw him pitch was how quickly he was able to adjust within a game. The Role? That is the question, to be sure. Because of all of the Twins starting pitching depth, I think it would be difficult for Poppen to get an opportunity as a starter. (Berrios. Odorizzi. Maeda. Bailey. Chacin. Thorpe. Dobnak. Smeltzer. Pineda. Hill.) Right now Poppen likely finds himself behind all of those guys. As a four-year college player who has slowly developed and moved one level per season, he will turn 26 years old in mid-March. While I am generally one to advocate using pitchers as starters as long as possible, now might just be the time for Poppen to become a reliever. While he is a quality starting pitching prospect, he is a max effort pitcher who might just be better suited for shorter stints. While I think his dynamic stuff could make him a great one-inning guy, his ability to go three or four innings might be exactly what the 2020 Twins need. Concerns Poppen has never really worked out of the bullpen in pro ball. I think this is pretty minor in terms of concerns. Another concern could certainly be his command. With as much movement as he gets, being able to control, much less command, his pitches has to be a challenge. Big leaguers will make him throw strikes. Poppen was placed on the Rochester Injured List on August 13th because of a right elbow contusion. On September 1st, he was promoted to the Twins and placed on the 60-day injured list. The move allowed the Twins to add another player to their 40-man roster. However, Poppen appears to be 100% now. In fact, on Saturday, he struck out two batters over two perfect innings. Summary I don’t expect Sean Poppen to make the Twins Opening Day roster. However, I think he will get a shot at some point during the season to come up and work out of the bullpen. I think he’s got the kind of stuff that could make him a force out of the Twins bullpen. And just for fun... here is his bio in the 2020 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook. You can get your copies here. It's a great tool for Twins fans, especially during spring training when prospects play in big-league games. Prices have been dropped for both the paperback version and the electronic version (immediate download). What do you think of Sean Poppen as a 2020 Twins Breakout candidate? Click here to view the article

I don't like Chacin as a candidate because I feel like he was brought in to be the 5th starter, like it's his to lose... I think Blaine Hardy and Caleb Thielbar are the favorites in my opinion to make the roster.