Seth Stohs

With the offseason upon us, the Get To Know 'Em podcast returns. Tonight, we talk about Tommy John surgery with RHP Tyler Wells, and then talk about home runs, getting traded and getting The Call with OF Jaylin Davis.In 2018, RHP Tyler Wells was selected the Twins Daily Starting Pitcher of the Year. Unfortunately, his 2019 season was over before it began. He felt some elbow pain before spring training, tried to rehab, but in late May he had Tommy John surgery. We discussed the entire process from initial pain, to "the pop," the surgery and early stages of his rehab. Wells will be a frequent (bi-weekly) guest of the show, and we will keep updated with his progress. But he is also open to answering any questions you may have about Tommy John, pitching, and really anything you may want to know about the minor league life and experiences. The second guest of the podcast was OF Jaylin Davis. It's likely that Davis wasn't a household name to Twins fans, and maybe even Twins prospect fans, but his career trajectory took off in 2019. He began at AA Pensacola, jumped up to AAA Rochester and hit a combined 25 homers before the July 31st trade deadline. He was sent to the San Francisco Giants as part of the Sam Dyson trade. He reported to AAA Sacramento where he added another 10 home runs before being called up to the Giants in early September. We discussed his season, the power outburst, getting traded, getting called up and much, much more. Leave questions or comments below on this podcast. Send me names of people you would like to see interviewed. And send your questions for Tyler Wells as well. You can subscribe to the Get to Know 'Em podcast on iTunes. or follow Libsyn for new episodes here as well. PAST EPISODES Episode 1: Get to know Niko Guardado (Actor and son of Eddie Guardado) Episode 2: Get to know Pat Dean, Brent Rooker Episode 3: Get to know Royce Lewis, AJ Achter Episode 4: Get to know Devin Smeltzer Please share your thoughts in the comments below. Not registered? Click here to create an account. To stay up to date, follow Twins Daily on Twitter and Facebook. Click here to view the article

According to ESPN's Jeff Passan, the Miami Marlins are set to hire Twins hitting coach James Rowson. According to the Passan tweet, Rowson will be named the Marlins bench coach and offensive coordinator.Twins hitting coach James Rowson has earned a lot of praise for his work as the Twins hitting coach over the past few seasons. In particular, he led the 2019 Twins offense which set the all-time single-season home run record. The assumption as the season went on is that the Twins organization, specifically Rocco's Baldelli's coaching staff, could lose several key members during the offseson, and Rowson's name was often mentioned. Early on Thursday evening, Jeff Passan tweeted the news: He followed with a tweet to attempt to explain the role of "Offense Coordinator." So while the title is different, it is a role that he is quite familiar with. It certainly is a promotion for Rowson, but he was hired by the Twins in large part due to his work as a hitting coordinator with the Yankees and Cubs organizations. It is certainly a big loss for the Twins organization. He will not be easy to replace, but this front office has found lesser known names (like Rowson when he was hired) for several jobs already. One option may be assistant hitting coach Rudy Hernandez who has been in the organization nearly two decades and has a great working rapport with many of the Spanish-speaking hitters in the organization . Earlier this week, it was announced that Twins minor league hitting coordinator Peter Fatse had been named the assistant hitting coach of the Boston Red Sox. Fatse joined the Twins organization last offseason. He had replaced Rick Eckstein who became the hitting coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Please share your thoughts in the comments below. Not registered? Click here to create an account. To stay up to date, follow Twins Daily on Twitter and Facebook. Related Content: Will Minnesota Get Raided This Offseason? The Making of Max Power Let's Talk About Byron Buxton's Swing Click here to view the article

Talked to a lot of people in late April who had pushed Raley well ahead of Rooker in their eyes, people closer to it than me... on a number of levels. Now, Raley played alright in April. Rooker was off to a very bad start. Raley got hurt, and by mid-May Rooker was crushing the ball until his injury. So, I don't think from a prospect status they are too far apart, at least in the eyes of many... So, I think he's a 40-man add, but I don't think it's 100%

Yes, and also the Twins are happy to get him ABs at 3B and CF... No intent to play him at SS, but when he gets to spring training, he'll be at SS.

My ballot: 1) Polanco 2) Kepler 3) Cruz 4) Garver 5) Rogers 6) Sano

That was definitely something I considered. But I chose to "judge" each player by the role in which he pitched. So basically it was (for me) was Berrios a better starter, or was Rogers a better late-inning reliever, and because of that, I went with Rogers.

This is really good... I really enjoyed reading this. Thank you!

For most of the past decade, the Minnesota Twins have had one of the worst pitching staffs in baseball. Pick a meaningful statistic for pitchers and you would find the Twins usually at or very near the bottom of the rankings. That changed in 2019 when the Twins had one of the top five or six pitching staffs in the American League. The Twins' 4.18 ERA ranked eighth in MLB and fifth in the American League. Their 1.30 WHIP ranked 12th in the big leagues and sixth in the AL. Their 9.0 K/9 ranked 12th in MLB and fifth in the AL, and they did so while walking just 2.8/9 innings, second best in baseball. Baseball Reference’s Wins Above for All Pitchers ranks the Twins sixth in MLB, fourth in the league. The Twins had two All-Star starting pitchers (Berrios and Odorizzi), and a third starter (Pineda) who was arguably their best starting pitcher option when he was suspended. The team’s bullpen came on strong over the season’s final two month.Frankly, it was nice to see this year’s Twins Daily Pitcher of the Year ballots listing several viable candidates. The vote was close, but the 2019 Twins Pitcher of the Year is closer Taylor Rogers.Over the past couple of days, we have handed out the Twins Daily Awards for Twins Rookie of the Year (Luis Arraez) and Twins Most Improved Player (Mitch Garver). While there were solid candidate in each category, today’s Pitcher of the Year vote was much closer with votes cast for multiple pitchers. Taylor Rogers doesn’t have the typical background story for a Pitcher of the Year candidate. He was the Twins 11th-round draft pick back in 2012 out of Kentucky. The lanky lefty began his career as a starting pitcher and in 2013 was the Twins Daily Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Year. He moved up one level, as a starter, each season. In the first week of the 2016 season, Twins closer Glen Perkins got hurt. Taylor Rogers was recalled and worked out of the bullpen. Gradually he seemed to get more comfortable with the role, both on the mound and in his preparation for the job each day. He began getting more high-leverage opportunities in 2017. And frankly, over the last two seasons, he has been one of the top four left-handed relief pitchers in baseball. The names that you can put with or even ahead of Rogers might be Josh Hader, Aroldis Chapman and Felipe Vasquez. That’s it. Heading into the 2019 season, Rogers knew that he had a role as a late-inning reliever for the Twins. He had earned that. But early in the season, it was Blake Parker often getting save opportunities. Trevor May and Trevor Hildenberger also recorded a save or two in the season’s first month. Rogers was used anytime from the seventh inning on. Sometimes he would get a couple of outs, and sometimes he would work a couple of innings. Over the course of the summer, Rogers became the team’s most reliable reliever. At some points in the season, he was their only reliable reliever. He was often tasked with getting more than three outs to record saves, something we just haven’t seen much of in the last two decades of Twins baseball. Sure, he had a couple of hiccups throughout the long season, as all great relievers do. However, after the trade deadline, the rest of the bullpen really took off and allowed Rogers to get more regular rest. In the season’s final weekend, Rogers notched his milestone 30th save of the season. WHAT CHANGED? In researching Taylor Rogers’ 2019 stats and comparing them to his 2018 stats, one thing is clear… I think we may have overlooked just how good Taylor Rogers was in 2018, and 2017 too, for that matter. His ERA dropped from 2.63 to 2.61. His WAR increased from 1.9 to 2.1 over the past two seasons. However, fans who watched most Twins games noticed that he had become much more dominant, more aggressive (increased his first-pitch strikes percentage to 68%). He was able to get ahead and quickly dispatch of batters, either by strikeout or weak contact.There may be some numbers that illustrate that as well. First, Rogers increased his strikeout rate while reducing his walk. Both improvements were significant. His strikeout rate increased from 9.9 K/9 in 2018 to 11.7 K/9 in 2019. That speaks to his dominance, but to me, his ability to get those additional strikeouts while decreasing his walks from 2.1 BB/9 to just 1.4 BB/9 speaks to the sharpness of his stuff. Taylor Rogers really changed his approach on the mound in 2019.He threw a few fewer fastballs (53% to 50%), but his average fastball velocity jumped from 93.4 mph to 94.8 mph. In 2018, he threw 33.4% curveballs and just 12.4% sliders. In 2019, he went almost exclusively to the slider. He threw 45.5% sliders and just 4.1% curveballs. And that slider was a dominant pitch to both left-handers and right-handers. While his swinging strike rates stayed about the same, his Line Drive Percentage decreased which led to a big increase in Ground Ball Percentage. Rogers didn’t just come in to start clean innings. He was often called in to tough situations where his stuff really played well. In 2019, his Left On Base Percentage was an incredible 86.2%, up from 74.8% in 2018. All told, Taylor Rogers’ 2019 season was about as dominant as anyone could have hoped. LOOKING FORWARD Rogers will turn 29-years-old in December. He earned $1.53 million in his Super-2 arbitration season. He will have three more seasons of arbitration. He should get quite a raise in 2020. I would think a four-year contract could be discussed during the offseason. OTHER CANDIDATES As noted above, Jose Berrios and Jake Odorizzi were both All-Stars in 2019. Odorizzi went 15-7 with a 3.51 ERA in 30 starts and 159 innings. Berrios was 14-8 with a 3.68 ERA in 32 starts and 200 1/3 innings. Michael Pineda went 11-8 with a 4.01 ERA in 26 starts in 146 innings. When he was suspended in early September, it could have been argued that he was the Twins top starting pitcher. Tyler Duffey began the 2019 season in Rochester. He worked 57 2/3 innings over 58 games and struck out 82 batters (12.8 K/9). He posted a 2.50 ERA with a 1.01 ERA and ended the season with 21 scoreless innings. Trevor May struck out 79 batters over 62 1/3 innings with a 2.94 ERA. THE BALLOTS Here’s a look at the ballots from our 18 voters. Seth Stohs: 1) Taylor Rogers, 2) Jose Berrios, 3) Jake Odorizzi, 4) Michael Pineda Nick Nelson: 1) Jose Berrios, 2) Jake Odorizzi, 3) Taylor Rogers, 4) Tyler Duffey John Bonnes: 1) Taylor Rogers, 2) Jose Berrios, 3) Jake Odorizzi, 4) Tyler Duffey Tom Froemming: 1) Jose Berrios, 2) Jake Odorizzi, 3) Michael Pineda, 4) Taylor Rogers Cody Christie: 1) Jose Berrios, 2) Jake Odorizzi, 3) Taylor Rogers, 4) Michael Pineda Ted Schwerzler: 1) Taylor Rogers, 2) Tyler Duffey, 3) Jake Odorizzi, 4) Jose Berrios Steve Lein: 1) Jose Berrios, 2) Taylor Rogers, 3) Jake Odorizzi, 4) Michael Pineda S.D. Buhr: 1) Jake Odorizzi, 2) Taylor Rogers, 3) Jose Berrios, 4) Tyler Duffey Matt Braun: 1) Jose Berrios, 2) Taylor Rogers, 3) Michael Pineda, 4) Jake Odorizzi Cooper Carlson: 1) Taylor Rogers 2) Tyler Duffey, 3) Jose Berrios, 4) Jake Odorizzi Andrew Thares: 1) Taylor Rogers, 2) Jose Berrios, 3) Jake Odorizzi, 4) Tyler Duffey JD Cameron: 1) Jose Berrios, 2) Taylor Rogers, 3) Jake Odorizzi, 4) Tyler Duffey Matt Lenz: 1) Taylor Rogers, 2) Tyler Duffey, 3) Trevor May, 4) Michael Pineda Nash Walker: 1) Taylor Rogers, 2) Jake Odorizzi, 3) Jose Berrios, 4) Tyler Duffey Patrick Wozniak: 1) Jose Berrios, 2) Jake Odorizzi, 3) Taylor Rogers, 4) Michael Pineda Thieres Rabelo: 1) Taylor Rogers, 2) Jose Berrios, 3) Tyler Duffey, 4) Jake Odorizzi Sabir Aden: 1) Taylor Rogers, 2) Jake Odorizzi, 3) Jose Berrios, 4) Tyler Duffey AJ Condon: 1) Taylor Rogers, 2) Tyler Duffey, 3) Jose Berrios, 4.) Jake Odorizzi POINTS Taylor Rogers 59 Jose Berrios 51 Jake Odorizzi 38 Tyler Duffey 21 Michael Pineda 9 Trevor May 2 PREVIOUS PITCHER OF THE YEAR WINNERS 2015: Kyle Gibson 2016: Ervin Santana 2017: Ervin Santana 2018: Jose Berrios OTHER 2019 AWARD WINNERS Rookie of the Year: Luis Arraez Most Improved: Mitch Garver Pitcher of the Year: Taylor Rogers Most Valuable Player: Coming tomorrow Click here to view the article

When the life blood of an organization with a strong belief in player development, it is crucial that players continue to develop, continue to improve. That improvement is needed to work through the minor league system, but it is especially important once a player gets to the big leagues. For the Twins to have improved from 78 wins to 101 wins, it required individual improvements from several players. There were many solid candidates for 2019 Twins' Most Improved Player, but ultimately the runaway choice was second-year backstop Mitch Garver.Yesterday, we handed out our award for the 2019 Twins Rookie of the Year to Luis Arraez. In 2018, that award was presented to catcher Mitch Garver. Garver is no stranger to Twins Daily awards. He was named our Minor League Hitter of the Year in 2014 and again in 2017. After posting an OPS over 1.000 as a junior at the University of New Mexico, Garver went undrafted. He returned to the Lobos and put up a second great season. The Twins used their ninth-round pick (260th overall) to select Garver, their third catcher selected in that 2014 draft. There were always concerns about his defensive abilities, but he worked hard and kept hitting. He earned his first big-league promotion in August of 2017. In 2018, he hit a solid .268/.335/.414 (.749) with 19 doubles, two triples and seven home runs in 335 plate appearances. It was a very solid season for a rookie who spent most of that season as the team’s backup catcher. Turns out, it was just a building block. Garver went to work. IMPROVEMENT AT THE PLATE In 2019, Mitch Garver went from a backup, part-time catcher role to being the must-play catcher late in the season and in the playoffs. Garver was given plenty of time off throughout the season. That is one potential reason for his improvement. Another reason might just be the confidence shown in him by new manager Rocco Baldelli. While Garver would typically hit near the bottom of the lineup in 2018, he was a middle-of-the-order bat much of 2019. In addition, Garver was usually in the leadoff spot against left-handed pitching. The results showed right away. He hit seven homers in 335 plate appearances in 2018. This year he hit his eighth home run on May 10th, within 75 plate appearances. I feel it important to point out that Garver had 359 plate appearances in 2019, just 24 more than he accumulated in 2018. He went from seven homers to 31 home runs. His batting average increased from .268 to .273, but his on-base percentage jumped from .335 to .365. His slugging percentage jumped from .414 to 630, and his OPS from .749 to .995. If you’re into wOBA, he went from .325 to .404. And, he did so while seeing his BABIP drop from .330 to .277 .In other words, it wasn’t based on luck at all. It was a concerted effort. In a post-game interview with Marney Gellner on FSN, Garver said, “It’s something that I wanted to do with this season. I want to be a force in the lineup.” He got more specific. He said he wanted to “focus on hitting it hard, pull side, in the air.” Well, he hit the ball hard. His Average Exit Velocity of 91.1 mph ranked behind only Miguel Sano (94.4 mph) and Nelson Cruz (93.7 mph) on the Twins roster. He was 13th in MLB in Barrels per Plate Appearance (4th on Twins). In 2018, he pulled the ball 38.8% of the time. In 2019, he pulled the ball 51.3% of the time. His Line Drive percentage dropped from 22.5% to 13.7% Meanwhile, he increased his Fly Ball percentage from 37.7% to 47.3% It’s fair to say that Garver gave his hitting philosophy a lot of thought, developed a plan and he not only stuck to it, but he succeeded with it. He succeeded with a season that should result in the American League Silver Slugger Award for catchers. IMPROVEMENT BEHIND THE PLATE It isn’t as easy to see, but as much as Garver improved at the plate, he took huge strides forward behind the plate as well. In 2018, according to FanGraphs, Garver’s DRS (Defensive Run Saves) was at -16.His FRM (Catcher Framing Runs Above Average) was at -9.2. Those are the kinds of numbers that create need for self-evaluation. Garver needed to improve, and he knew it. During spring training, Twins Daily talked to Garver, and he was very upfront about his need to improve on defense. Garver went to work with the help of Twins Minor League Catching Coordinator Tanner Swanson in the offseason. So, what did those defensive metrics look like in 2019? DRS: 0 FRM: 0.8 From those numbers, it is fair to say that Garver has made himself into an average defensive catcher. And while ‘average’ may not be exciting, when you consider how far he came in just one season, it was a huge improvement. Coupled with his offense, average defense makes Garver extremely valuable. Also something to consider, the bar for “average” is a moving target. Organizations much better understand the value of catcher defense. It has become more and more of a focus every year. In short, the “average” catcher has become a better catcher. So not only did Garver go from posting poor defensive metrics to average defensive metrics, but he moved up to the higher ‘average” level.And he did so without it effecting his throwing or blocking. DESIRE TO IMPROVE Garver has played with a chip on his shoulder going back to college when he was a walk-off. He wasn’t drafted after his junior year and became a “senior sign.” He was never considered a top prospect. People questioned his defense. And through it all, Garver was humble and kept on working. Late in the season at Target Field, Twins Daily asked Twins manager Rocco Baldelli about the improvement he's seen from Garver, particularly behind the plate. Baldelli said, “I think he’s coming into his own in a lot of ways.” The Twins rookie manager continued, “Experience matters behind the plate. It’s difficult to develop into a major-league player of any kind. There are challenges, but to develop into a major-league catcher. There are just so many more responsibilities that you have, and they're not even just personal responsibilities. You’re responsible for other people and what they’re doing out on the field. That’s tough for a lot of guys, but I think Mitch is certainly making huge strides in those areas. What we ask those guys to do behind the plate compared to what we ask everybody else to do, it’s kind of wild. Mitch has taken to it and he’s shown a very open willingness and desire to improve, whether it’s come to his flexibility and his body, or his receiving, or his game-calling, he spends a lot of time. He’s very diligent. I’ve been very happy with the work he’s put in this year. LOOKING FORWARD And as his college coach at New Mexico, Ray Birmingham, told us recently, that there just might be another level of improvement to come. “He has worked his butt off to get there, and he’s making an impact, and you haven’t seen the best of him yet. He’s sure of himself now. He’s sure that he can do this now, and he will only continue to get better.” OTHER CANDIDATES While Garver was the runaway winner, as you can see from the results below that there were several strong candidates. After three seasons with very similar numbers, Max Kepler knocked 36 home runs, easily his best season. Jorge Polanco went from a solid start to his career to an All-Star Game starter. Miguel Sano showed great improvement midseason. He was struggling immensely while working on his swing. It took about a week, but after that, he took off. Tyler Duffey had been frequently up and down from the big leagues to Rochester over recent seasons and even began 2019 at AAA. He became one of the best, most dominant set-up men in the game in the season’s second half. THE BALLOTS Here’s a look at the ballots from our 17 voters. Seth Stohs: 1) Mitch Garver, 2) Tyler Duffey, 3) Max Kepler Nick Nelson: 1) Mitch Garver, 2) Max Kepler, 3) Tyler Duffey John Bonnes: 1) Mitch Garver, 2) Miguel Sano, 3) Max Kepler Tom Froemming: 1) Mitch Garver, 2) Jorge Polanco, 3) Miguel Sano Cody Christie: 1) Mitch Garver, 2) Max Kepler, 3) Jorge Polanco Ted Schwerzler: 1) Miguel Sano, 2) Tyler Duffey, 3) Max Kepler Steve Lein: 1) Mitch Garver, 2) Tyler Duffey, 3) Miguel Sano S.D. Buhr: 1) Mitch Garver, 2) Max Kepler, 3) Jake Odorizzi Matt Braun: 1) Mitch Garver, 2) Tyler Duffey, 3) Miguel Sano Cooper Carlson: 1) Mitch Garver, 2) Tyler Duffey, 3) Max Kepler Andrew Thares: 1) Miguel Sano, 2) Tyler Duffey, 3) Jake Odorizzi JD Cameron: 1) Mitch Garver, 2) Max Kepler, 3) Jorge Polanco Matt Lenz: 1) Mitch Garver, 2) Jorge Polanco, 3) Max Kepler Nash Walker: 1) Jorge Polanco, 2) Miguel Sano, 3) Byron Buxton Patrick Wozniak: 1) Mitch Garver, 2) Max Kepler, 3) Tyler Duffey Thieres Rabelo: 1) Max Kepler, 2) Miguel Sano, 3) Jorge Polanco Sabir Aden: 1) Tyler Duffey, 2) Miguel Sano, 3) Mitch Garver AJ Condon: 1) Tyler Duffey, 2) Miguel Sano, 3) Max Kepler POINTS Mitch Garver: 38 Tyler Duffey: 20 Max Kepler: 19 Miguel Sano: 19 Jorge Polanco: 10 Jake Odorizzi: 2 Byron Buxton: 1 Do you agree with our pick? Who would be your choice for Most Improved Twin and why? How would your ballot look? Leave a comment and make your case. Previous Twins Most Improved Player Award Winners 2015: Aaron Hicks 2016: Brian Dozier 2017: Byron Buxton 2018: Kyle Gibson Click here to view the article

I'm obviously just guessing on this too, but... Mostly it's about ABs and innings... For Lewis, I'm sure they were thrilled to know that there were other SS on the Salt River offense because it's valuable to Lewis and the organization to get him some time around the field. For Raley, it was likely just about getting him ABs after missing May through August. Rortvedt missed time... and isn't playing a lot, but there's still value, I'm sure. For Chalmers, it's about getting some starts, some innings, and proving he can throw consistent strikes. There are guys who have been hurt and they have to make 40-man roster decisions on guys... all that factors in... plus, for pitchers, their in-season innings pitched.

I would tell you that. Ha! Especially with someone who is as great of an athlete as Lewis...

He's got a potentially really good changeup too. Maybe they can be creative with innings and such.

If they want Graterol to be a starter, long-term (and I believe they do), then he needs a third pitch (changeup). I think he can develop that, but I think he starts the season in Rochester... should, at least.

I would argue that the hitters' bats were just really good in that top of the first inning.

As of today, the Twins starting 5 is: Berrios Dobnak Smeltzer Thorpe Stewart I think there'll be some changes, but that's the starting point. Sign Odo and he slots in after Berrios and everyone slides down one and Stewart drops off the list (note, Stewart may or may not have another transaction just for him in the near future too). Then sign someone else and drop people down. Again, I'm fine with Dobnak, Thorpe or Smeltzer being 4 and 5 starters, but ideally the Twins go into spring training with those three fighting for the 5th starter job and the other two (and Graterol, maybe Gonsalves, guys like Duran, Colina, Balazovic in AA, and so on) working at Rochester as the 6th, 7th and 8th options. Just gives them so much more depth. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens.

Ummmm. absolutely Cron is better than Astudillo... No question about that.

I can understand questioning the Gibson decision. I had no problem with going to LIttell or Stashak. Hey, if they're on the roster, they need to be able to get outs. Littell just didn't, at all. He just didn't have it, and Rocco got him out quick. Duffey threw in a walk and the big double too, so you never know what happens if he just started that inning. And, Littell had given up one ER over his last 16 MLB outings (19 IP)... and some were against Cleveland and Washington and Boston, not just Detroit and Kansas City. Stashak's been really good too. Not tonight, but he's earned the opportunities. I don't get the Gibson decision, and he was obviously kept in too long after three walks, but I had no problem with the other two decisions. I mean, hey, they could have brought Romo in and he would have struck out the side, or hung a couple of sliders. No way to know. May could strike out the side, or serve up a few runs. You never know.

Correct... 2017 has nothing to do with 2019 has nothing to do with 2004 or 2010...

Cron definitely should have made his play. Sano's play was way harder. That's a double almost every time regardless of who's playing 3B, except maybe with Arenado.

On Friday morning, the Minnesota Twins announced their ALDS roster. There were some surprises. Luis Arraez is in. Ehire Adrianza is in. Martin Perez and Willians Astudillo are out. See below for more.Here is the roster that the Twins will take in to the Bronx starting tonight. 12 Pitchers Jose Berrios Randy Dobnak Tyler Duffey Kyle Gibson Brusdar Graterol Zack Littell Trevor May Jake Odorizzi Taylor Rogers Sergio Romo Devin Smeltzer Cody Stashak Some interesting choices. Devin Smeltzer over both Martin Perez and Lewis Thorpe. Just two lefties against a Yankees lineup that really has only Brett Gardner and Didi Gregorius from that side of the plate. The 21-year-old Brusdar Graterol makes it as well. No real surprises in this group. Could Gibson be the Game 4 starter, or will they use him out of the bullpen, in a long-relief role. 13 Hitters Catchers Jason Castro Mitch Garver No surprise with these two, though certainly Willians Astudillo had to be a consideration. Infielders Ehire Adrianza Luis Arraez CJ Cron Marwin Gonzalez Jorge Polanco Miguel Sano Jonathan Schoop Luis Arraez is on the roster, something that would have shocked us about four or five days ago. Just as surprising is that Ehire Adrianza is on the roster. He provides the team with a strong backup plan at shortstop should something happen to Jorge Polanco. Outfielders Jake Cave Max Kepler Eddie Rosario Max Kepler is officially on the roster, and hopefully he is nearly 100% Gonzalez is also likely to get some time in the Twins outfield throughout the series. Designated Hitter Nelson Cruz No question markes with the Twins DH! This is the Twins roster for the ALDS. If the Twins are fortunate enough to win the series, they will set a new roster for the ALCS, so just because a player isn't on this roster, he could be on the ALCS roster. Also, a reminder that if a player is injured, he can be removed from this roster and replaced by another player. The injured player would be out for the rest of the ALDS and not eligible to play in the ALCS. What do you think? How do you feel about this Twins roster? Click here to view the article