Seth Stohs

For nine years, Frank Jagoda coached college baseball. In five of those summers, he worked for USA Baseball events. In 2017, he was the pitching coach on USA Baseball’s 15U team, a team that won a gold medal in Columbia. In 2018, he was offered a job in the Twins organization and accepted it. “I was the rehab coordinator. Unfortunately we had way too many big leaguers down with me in Florida which means they weren’t helping the big league club. But when I wasn’t with them, I was with the GCL club. I went to probably 85-90% of their games.” In January, the Twins announced that Jagoda was going to be the fourth coach with Toby Gardenhire and the Ft. Myers Miracle. However, an opportunity to return to USA Baseball opened up. He talked it through with his wife, and it became clear that he had to pursue it. He was offered the USA Baseball 18U Director position. Along with that, he is responsible for the 16U and 17U developmental programs. He calls it a combination of being a GM and a farm director. (As an aside, there are five USA Baseball teams that travel internationally, 12U, 15U, 18U, College and Professional. Ages 13 and 14, and 16 and 17, there are developmental programs, similar to what you see in hockey.) “USA Baseball always been near and dear to me. USA Baseball, to me, is more than just a game. It’s something that means a lot to me for everything we organize and what it means to wear USA across your chest. Now I get the opportunity to do that every day at work. It’s something truly special to me and my family. That's really what it boils down to for me.” You can hear the conviction and the pride in his voice when Frank Jagoda talks about USA Baseball. And that’s why he is completely at peace and happy with what was a very difficult decision. “It was a very hard decision. I spent just over a year with the Minnesota Twins. (Twins Minor League Director) Jeremy Zoll gave me the opportunity of a lifetime, and I was around a great group of people, a great leadership group with the Twins. Very thankful for my time spent with them. Although it was short, it was very impactful on my career and on my life and on my family.” For one, Jagoda was able to move back to North Carolina. Cary, North Carolina, is the national training center for USA baseball. It is complete with a stadium and three back fields. “Real excited to be back and from a family aspect, very excited to be back in the Carolinas and excited about what we have going on and what we have in store.” What he has in store is a really busy summer. From August 30th through September 8th, USA Baseball will bring a squad of 20 players to Busan, South Korea for the 2019 WBSC World Cup. But before then, a lot of decisions have to be made. Approximately 80 players from around the country have been invited to participate in the PDP (Player Development Pipeline) League in Bradenton, Florida. The PDP lasts about 23 days at the IMG academy. And while players are ultimately trying to make the final 20-man roster, it is also a huge opportunity for these players to develop their games. Jagoda says that the players were invited “based on my knowledge of those kids, feedback from professional organizations, scouts, MLB front office personnel and other things.” By the way, two players from Minnesota have accepted their invitations to participate in the PDP League. We’ll talk more about them in coming days as part of this series on USA Baseball. Of the 80 in Bradenton, 40 kids will head to Cleveland to play in a exhibition game around All Star weekend. Then in early August, those 40 players, plus a few from the 17U developmental team, will head to Los Angeles for trials. In about a week, the group of 40-50 players will be pared down to the 20-player travel roster. The group will travel to Taiwan and play some international friendlies against Taiwan. It will allow the team to try to acclimate to the time zone, the weather, the food and more. Then from August 30th to September 8th, they will be in Busan, South Korea, trying to repeat as the World Cup champion. In fact, the USA team has won four straight World Cups (2012, 2013, 2015, 2017) and eight straight gold medals internationally since 2011. As Jagoda noted, “No pressure, right?” Jagoda will work with an experienced coaching staff in those efforts. Jack Leggett returns for his second straight season as manager of the 18U team. He spent 22 years (1994-2015) as the head coach at Clemson where he won 955 games and went to 21 NCAA tournaments and six trips to the College World Series. His pitching coach has quite the resume as well. Scott Bankhead played for Team USA in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. He was a first-round draft pick that year out of North Carolina and spent parts of 10 seasons in the big leagues. He now owns and operates the North Carolina Baseball Academy. This is his second season as the 18U pitching coach. Gregg Ritchie is back for his third straight year as the 18U hitting coach. He was the hitting coach of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2011 and 2012. Since then, he has led George Washington University. In addition, George Laird, who spent 13 years in the big leagues, is also on the coaching staff. Other former MLB players and coaches will help during the Player Development Pipeline League and at the LA Trials. And Frank Jagoda will lead the charge, and he is thrilled about the opportunity. He is also very thankful for his time with the Twins organization and their support. “The Minnesota Twins were very gracious in the process and were very very supportive, and I couldn’t thank them more for how they handled it.” In coming days, we will discuss USA Baseball further. We will highlight the Minnesota and the Minnesota Twins connections to USA Baseball, and we will highlight the player development side of USA Baseball.

Find out everything that happened happened in the Twins system on Sunday, starting with the transactions of the day. TRANSACTIONS RHP Zack Weiss was activated from the Injured List. If you missed the late-Saturday night Twins transactions, here you go:v yler Duffey, the 26th man in the double header, was sent back to Rochester. Kohl Stewart was optioned to Rochester with Martin Perez coming back from the paternity list. Also, Willians Astudillo was activated from the Injured List and Romero was optioned to Rochester. AWARDS The Twins announced their weekly Hitter and Pitcher of the Week: Hitter of the Week: Trevor Larnach, Ft. Myers Miracle. It t was a big week for the Twins 2018 first-round draft pick out of Oregon State In six games, he hit .440 (11-for-25) with two double and two home runs, his first two of the season. Pitcher of the Week: Jordan Balazovic, Ft. Myers Miracle - Called up from Cedar Rapids, Balazovic made his first start for Ft. Myers… and threw seven perfect innings. He also had 10 strikeouts in the game. He was the Twins 5th round pick out of secondary school in Mississauga, Ontario, in 2016. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 6, Durham 4 Box Score The Red Wings were the only Twins affiliate to get their game in on Sunday. However, the weather was cold and drizzly throughout the game, so the Red Wings are actually treating the game like a rain check and allowing fans who were there to get another ticket later in the season. Very nice. Lewis Thorpe made the start for the Red Wings. He gave up three runs on five hits. He didn’t walk any batters and struck out seven. The three runs came on back-to-back home run balls. Things were interesting for the Red Wings offense right from the start. Nick Gordon doubled to lead off the winning, but a couple of pitches earlier, he may have tweaked a muscle. He left the game in the 3rd inning. Two batters later, LaMonte Wade took a called third strike and didn’t like it. He was ejected and replaced by John Andreoli. Luke Raley got the scoring started in the third inning. He singled in Miguel Sano to give the team a 1-0 lead. Durham got their three runs in the fourth inning. In the bottom of the fourth, MIguel Sano came up with the bases loaded and walked. That was followed by the fourth home run of the season for John Andreoli, a grand slam that gave the Wings a 6-3 lead. https://twitter.com/RocRedWings/status/1127648294103060482 Addison Reed came on for Thorpe in the eighth inning. He gave up one run on three hits, but he received some help from his defense. A two-out single would have scored a second run and cut the lead to one, but Brent Rooker charged and made a strong throw to the plate to get the third out. https://twitter.com/RocRedWings/status/1127675782279716864 (I watched that eighth inning. From reports I’ve heard, Reed is sitting 87-89 mph with the fastball, certainly not where it was while he was one of the better relievers in baseball. His slider actually didn’t look too bad. But he will need, likely, the full 30 days of rehab and then see where he is at. It’s possible that he could continue to rehab, or the optimist’s view would be that he finds that velocity and is able to be a late-inning cog for the Twins. That feels a little bit optimistic, even more me, at this point.) Preston Guilmet came on for the ninth inning. He allowed two base runners, but recorded a strikeout to end the game. Thorpe improved to 3-2 and Guilmet recorded his fourth save. BLUE WAHOO BITES Pensacola, Chattanooga Box Score Jorge Alcala was supposed to pitch for the Wahoos on Sunday, but instead he will make a start on Monday. In fact, the game was suspended due to poor weather and field conditions and a double header will be played on Monday. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers Box Score The Miracle did not have a game on the schedule for Mother’s Day. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids Box Score The Kernels did not have a game on the schedule for Mother’s Day. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day - Lewis Thorpe, Rochester Red Wings Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – John Andreoli, Rochester Red Wings PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 - Royce Lewis (Ft. Myers) - No Game Scheduled #2 - Alex Kirilloff (Pensacola) - Rained Out. #3 - Brusdar Graterol (Pensacola) - Rained Out. #4 - Trevor Larnach (Ft. Myers) - No Game Scheduled. #5 - Wander Javier (EST) - Injured, early May return #6 - Brent Rooker (Rochester) - 0-4, HBP, 2 K #7 - Jhoan Duran (Ft. Myers) - No Game Scheduled #8 - Lewis Thorpe (Rochester) - 7 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 7 K (100 pitches, 70 strikes) #9 - Blayne Enlow (Cedar Rapids) - No Game Scheduled #10 - Akil Baddoo (Ft. Myers) - No Game Scheduled #11 - Nick Gordon (Rochester) - No Game Scheduled #12 - Stephen Gonsalves (Rochester) - Injured List, late-May return possible #13 - Ryan Jeffers (Ft. Myers) - No Game Scheduled #14 - Ben Rortvedt (Ft. Myers) - No Game Scheduled #15 - Yunior Severino (Cedar Rapids) - Injured List #16 - Gilberto Celestino (Cedar Rapids) - No Game Scheduled #17 - Zack Littell (Rochester) - Did Not Pitch. #18 - LaMonte Wade (Rochester) - 0-1, K (ejected) #19 - Jorge Alcala (Pensacola) - Rained Out. Will Start Monday. #20 - Jose Miranda (Ft. Myers) - No Game Scheduled MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester - No Game Scheduled. Pensacola @ Chattanooga (DH @ 5:15 CST) - RHP Jorge Alcala (4-1, 4.81), RHP Brusdar Graterol (4-0, 1.91 ERA) Bradenton @ Ft. Myers (5:30 CST) - RHP Jordan Balazovic (1-0, 0.00 ERA) Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (DH @ 5:30 CST) - RHP Josh Winder (1-1, 2.45 ERA), RHP Austin Schulfer (3-1, 2.38 ERA) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Sunday’s games.