Seth Stohs

i don't remember reading that... They definitely have a lot of veterans though.

I'd add LaMonte Wade to that as well. He's been the Lookouts catalyst. All three were there last year, and there's little reason to keep them there for long, unless the plan is to call them up directly from AA. I think all three would benefit from some time in AAA. I''d also add that making promotions for non-injury reasons less than a month into a season probably doesn't make much sense either. I mean, Travis Blankenhorn started out really hot for the first week of the season and people were already clamoring for him to move up to AA... Two weeks later, he's hitting about .250 and we realize that it's not smart to jump to promotions too quickly. That said, it's a little different when the guys mentioned already spent a full season at a level.

Dude is 23 and the 4th youngest player on the Chattanooga roster. Age-to-level doesn't' apply (as much) when the guy was drafted 10 months ago and is already in AA. That said, the lack of walks is a bit alarming and the strikeouts are as well. 80 plate appearances is way too soon to worry, but it is all noteworthy. He started out slow at each level and then figured it out. Tommy Watkins continues to play him most every day and bat him second, so he'll get the chances to keep working through it. Everyone says that AA is the biggest leap in the minor leagues.

I'm as guilty as anyone. I bashed the move at the time, ,just based on who the Twins lost in the Rule 5 and who they added. Kinley had little success in the minor leagues up to this point,, regardless of obviously having a huge arm and a good slider and being durable. That said, stepping back a bit, there are a few things to note: 1.) Decisions on who to protect from the Rule 5 draft are independent of the decision of who to pick in the Rule 5 draft. They happen at different times and they don't know who other teams will leave unprotected. 2.) The Twins clearly made starting pitching their focus in terms of protecting guys. They protected Gonsalves, Littell and Thorpe, and I think we're all on board with those guys. 3.) We also have to remember that guys who get protected in November can't be removed from the 40-man roster until sometime in spring training. So, if they had added more, they would have had to drop other guys that they may have preferred to keep on the roster. So, they made choices, knowing there was the possibility of losing guys. But, another factor in that is whether those guys would be able to stick on the other team's 40-man roster. Bard's already off of the Angels 40-man. Man, it would be nice to bring him back to Rochester. 4.) I think the Chargois decision, while I don't think I get the full picture of it, was made early enough in spring training that it really wasn't even related to Kinley... though I know some want to play it that way. Chargois was clearly behind several others including Hildenberger, Busenitz, Curtiss and others. And, I still contend that there may have been more to that decision than baseball. That may have been a case where a change of scenery was good for both sides. 5.) Rule 5 picks can be a good thing, even for a winning team. It doesn't hurt to have a bullpen guy hidden if two things are done. First, the rest of the bullpen has to be doing its job so that the Rule 5 guy doesn't have to pitch in key situations. And, the Rule 5 guy has to be able to work an inning or two in a blowout situation. To this point, Kinley hasn't been able to show even that. So at the end of the day, I definitely don't consider taking a shot on a guy with a big arm a bad decision at all. Like most Rule 5 guys, you take a shot on a relatively inexpensive way to acquire some talent and you find out. At this point, or whenever, I'm' fine with that experiment ending and moving forward.

Yeah, ,they'd have to put him through waivers and see if he clears. If he does, he needs to be offered back to the Marlins for $50K or in a trade for a player. I don't have a problem with them keeping him in the organization. Clearly he's got a ton of talent. But age and minor league track record indicate that it may never happen.

They're incredible... just like the facilities in Ft. Myers. They shared the costs of the $17 million facilities with the Pirates. I think there are pictures somewhere in the forums from 14-18 months ago when it opened.

Extended Spring Training and Rehabbing players can stay at the Twins academy on site. It's right next to the GCL field. The academy provides meals. It's basically a hotel or a condo. It's got meeting rooms, video rooms, an area with games (pool tables, etc.). It's like a college dorm with more. Good question on the restrictions. I don't think there are, but I can't say that with certainty. Remember that their new Dominican academy is also full of players from Dominican, Venezuela, etc.

I don't know about "typical" but from following Red Wings box scores and some other AAA teams as well, it's normal for most of the team to be comprised of older players. Maybe a prospect or two sprinkled in.

Breek and Cruz will report to EST in another week or so. Rimmel will report to EST in June.

Who would you vote for as Hitter of the Day? Four pretty strong choices.

Updated... thank you!

Marrero, Baez, and Akins are mentioned... I missed on Record. He's recovering from Tommy John. Same as De Jesus who had surgery last year about this time. Should have mentioned them. I'll look into Rimmel and Breek and see if I can get any updated on Record and De Jesus.

Yes, I realize this... but I figure they have their own WBC team, so I could note them.

I updated that Kernels score. Thanks!! Regarding Cronin... I can't remember exactly, but my memory is telling me that if he is related, it's quite distant. Baxendale's been solid in the bullpen and as a spot starter. The fact that he was sent down to Chattanooga at the end of last season speaks a bit about his role in the organization. But, he's pitched well enough that if the Twins are ever again in need of a guy that can come up and work 3-4 innings out of the bullpen, and a guy that they could DFA the next day and probably clear, Baxendale could be that guy. That sounds negative, I'm sure... but he's a guy they call over in spring, and he's got a good slider. He could be OK for a game or three. I wouldn't count him out.

No question he's got the power. He can drive the ball and he can hit it a long ways...

It is... He played baseball minimally at Notre Dame. The Angels drafted him later on because of his athleticism and bloodlines. He's a little older because of the football, but that shouldn't matter at all since he's just so raw in terms of baseball. I think even after last night, he's hitting like .180. But clearly the talent is there.

Yeah, I don't think he was limited in any way this spring.

No. They are a typical AAA team right now. Granite and Cave are the only "Prospects" among hitters. For pitchers, it's Romero and Slegers, maybe Enns, Reed when healthy. They are definitely a normal AAA team right now. Nick Buss is a professional hitter. Gregorio Petit's solid. The others, like Stassi, Featherston, Wilson, are just veteran fillers who could come up if there is a short-term need and then be DFAd when not needed and likely clear and go back to Rochester. Vargas probably fits into that category as well.

The full-season minor league affiliates are full go. Weather caused many postponements. Rochester’s opening three-game series was snowed out. The Kernels played again on Friday after not playing for a week due to weather and the Beloit field. The Lookouts and the Miracle have been playing most days. However, there is another group of Twins minor leaguers that remain in Ft. Myers at Extended Spring Training. On Tuesday, the Twins' extended spring training team will take on a team from Baseball Canada. Image courtesy of Seth Stohs, Twins Daily (Top L to R: Wander Javier, Brusdar Graterol, Yunior Severino, Bottom L to R: Landon Leach, Jacob Pearson, Victor Tademo) The full-season minor league affiliates are full go. Weather caused many postponements. Rochester’s opening three-game series was snowed out. The Kernels played again on Friday after not playing for a week due to weather and the Beloit field. The Lookouts and the Miracle have been playing most days. However, there is another group of Twins minor leaguers that remain in Ft. Myers at Extended Spring Training. On Tuesday, the Twins' extended spring training team will take on a team from Baseball Canada. Players that didn’t make a full-season team’s Opening Day roster will remain, for an extended time, in spring training in Ft. Myers. They call this, creatively, extended spring training. These players will continue to work out, practice, play games against other teams five or six times a week, and generally just keep ready. Some are getting ready for when there is a need at Cedar Rapids or even Ft. Myers (such as Alex Robles, or Carlos Suniaga who has already moved up to the Miracle and then went to Cedar Rapids). Some are waiting for the short-season leagues to start in late June, and they head to Elizabethton, Tennessee, or remain in Ft. Myers and play in the GCL. Today we’ll take a quick look at the players who remain in Ft. Myers for extended spring training. Which do you think will surface in Cedar Rapids? Who are the prospects? There is a little bit of everything in this group. What do the guys do in extended spring training (EST)? It is very similar to regular spring training. Each morning there is a workout/practice. Approximately five days a week, they will play a game in the afternoon against EST teams of the Red Sox, Orioles or Rays. Most weeks, there will be one day where they will just practice and work out. They get Sundays off. You’ll see a lot of these guys go watch the Miracle games at night when they are at home. Players are able to take English and Spanish classes at the player academy. COACHING STAFFS Ray Smith will again be the manager of the Elizabethton Twins. It is his 32nd season with the Elizabethton Twins, and the 25th as manager. A few of the years he was a coach so that the Twins could have another manager work with and learn from him. He has a managerial record of 977-648. He has won seven Appalachian League titles, including the 2017 championship. He originally signed with the Twins in 1977, and he played in 83 big league games for the Twins between 1981 and 1983. His hitting coach for the 17th straight season by Jeff Reed. Reed was the Twins first round pick in 1980 and played in 93 games for the Twins from 1984 through 1986. The catcher went on to play a total of 17 seasons in the big leagues. Smith and Reed are not yet at EST. Luis Ramirez is back for his fourth season as the E-Twins pitching coach. He had coached in the GCL the two previous years. He also spent eight seasons as the Twins pitching coordinator in their Venezuelan Academy. Takashi Miyoshi was added as the fourth E-Twins coach. After a long playing career, he has been coaching in the independent leagues. After seven seasons of managing the GCL Twins (and EST), Ramon Borrego moved up to manager of the Ft. Myers Miracle. The Twins brought in Dan Ramsey who had been the coach at Whitworth University in Washington. He had led his team to the national Division III tournament three times. He is joined by two pitching coaches. Virgil Vasquez is in his fourth season on the job. He spent big league time with the Tigers and Pirates, and he played for the Twins AA and AAA teams in 2013 and 2014. Frank Jagoda joins the organization in 2018 as another pitching coach. He’s had a variety of roles in recent years including coaching at Patrick Henry Community College in Virginia and USA Baseball the last couple of summers. The Twins also hired a couple of new hitting coaches for the GCL. Luis Rodriguez originally signed as a player with the Twins in 1997. He worked his way up and spent time with the Twins for parts of 2005 through 2007. He spent parts of three more season in the big leagues. This is his first coaching opportunity. Also, Matt Borgschulte comes to the Twins organization after coaching in the Cardinals system in 2017. ROSTER Catchers: Kerby Camacho, Andy Cosgrove, Yeremi De La Cruz, Robert Molina, Kidany Salva, Colton Waltner Infielders: Carson Crites, Ricky De La Torre, Wander Javier, Kolton Kendrick, Ariel Montesino, Emmanuel Morel, Robby Rinn, JJ Robinson, Yunior Severino, Victor Tademo Outfielders: Jared Akins, Matt Albanese, Jean-Carlos Arias (Called up to Cedar Rapids on Monday), Colton Burns, TJ Dixon, Edgar Herrera, Lean Marrero, Jacob Pearson Pitchers: Melvi Acosta, Dean Aldridge, Yancarlos Baez, Petru Balan, Jordan Balazovic, Tyler Benninghoff, Christian Broussard, Zack Featherstone, Juan Gamez, Pedro Garcia, David Gerics, Brusdar Graterol, Matt Jones, Tanner Kiest, Blair Lakso, Landon Leach, Andriu Marin, Michael Montero, Bailey Ober, Johan Quezada, Rickey Ramirez, Kai-Wei Teng,Ryley Widell. Adam Bray (Rehab) TOP PROSPECTS Wander Javier - Immensely talented, Javier will likely soon move up to Cedar Rapids after missing time with a shoulder injury. Javier has five-tool potential and could stick at shortstop. Twins Daily’s #6 Prospect. Brusdar Graterol - High upside right-hander, works into the upper-90s. 2017 was his first season back after Tommy John surgery. He will likely be pitching for Cedar Rapids by the time the short-seasons start. Twins Daily’s #9 Prospect. Yunior Severino - came to the Twins this offseason after MLB declared him-and other Braves prospects-free agents. Played last year in the GCL and should spend this summer playing in Elizabethton. Twins Daily’s #18 Prospect. Landon Leach - second-round pick in 2017 out of high school in Canada, Leach throws really hard, into the mid-90s.. He’s raw as he hasn’t been pitching for long, but he has a ton of potential. . Jacob Pearson - Pearson was the Angels third-round pick last year out of high school in Louisiana. The Angels needed international dollars in their attempt to sign Shohei Ohtani, so the Twins traded a million of international funds for Pearson. He’s an athletic outfielder with speed and some pop in his bat. Get to Know: Jacob Pearson. Victor Tademo - While Tademo hit just .199 last year in the GCL, he was one of its youngest players. He’s got the ability to play shortstop, though he’s already playing mostly third base. Michael Montero - At 17 years old, Montero debuted in 2017 in the DSL. In 58 innings, he walked 12 and struck out 64. A tall, right-hander, he is one to watch this season, likely in the GCL. Ricky De La Torre - A year ago, there was thought that De La Torre could be a first-round draft pick. The Twins drafted him in the sixth round out of school in Puerto Rico. A great athlete, De La Torre is another guy who could stick at shortstop. Tyler Benninghoff - Twins 11th-round pick in 2016 out of high school, he immediately had Tommy John surgery. He’s recently started throwing bullpens off a mound. Could possibly pitch very late in GCL season. STORIES TO WATCH How quickly will Brusdar Graterol and Wander Javier get to Cedar Rapids. Based on how many games the Kernels have already lost this season, it’s pretty clear that it was best to keep them both in Florida. Javier missed time in spring training with a shoulder injury, otherwise he likely would have started the year with the Kernels. Graterol will likely be on a fairly strict innings (and/or pitch) count in 2018. I would guess they will both be in Iowa by mid-May. It’s always interesting to see which players the team has move up from EST to the Miracle when they have a need. Already this year, RHP Carlos Suniaga has been up twice, and infielder Alex Robles has started the last two days for the Miracle. On Monday, outfielder Jean Carlos Arias moved up to Cedar Rapids. The Twins have always had players from around the globe. The current EST roster includes players from the following countries: Dominican Republic (9), Venezuela (7), Puerto Rico (4), Canada (3), and one each from Australia, Moldova and Taiwan. (Those numbers do not include players on the disabled list of full-season teams.) The oldest players on EST rosters are both first basemen. JJ Robinson, the Twins 33rd-round draft pick last year out of Lewis-Clark State, is 25 until mid-October. Robinson is six days older than Robbie Rinn who was acquired from the Royals during spring training. On the other end of the spectrum, Michael Montero is 18 years old, born just after New Years Day in 2000. He is about two months younger than Yunior Severino. Landon Leach, Victor Tademo and Ricky De La Torre were all born within a two-week period in July of 1999. Feel free to discuss the talent that the Twins have in Extended Spring Training. You can ask as many questions as you’d like and we’ll try to get them answered. View full article

Uffdah! After missing a lot of baseball due to postponements, Monday night was the first really busy night in the Twins farm system. Rochester played two games against Ronald Acuna, Jose Bautista and the Gwinnett Stripers. Chattanooga played two games in Jackson making up for their rain out on Sunday. The Miracle played. And Torii Hunter played two roles in Cedar Rapids on Monday night. Keep on reading for a bunch of transactions and stories and highlights and more. Image courtesy of Seth Stohs, Twins Daily (LaMonte Wade, Nick Gordon, Akil Baddoo) Uffdah! After missing a lot of baseball due to postponements, Monday night was the first really busy night in the Twins farm system. Rochester played two games against Ronald Acuna, Jose Bautista and the Gwinnett Stripers. Chattanooga played two games in Jackson making up for their rain out on Sunday. The Miracle played. And Torii Hunter played two roles in Cedar Rapids on Monday night. Keep on reading for a bunch of transactions and stories and highlights and more. There were several transactions and six games in the Twins minor league system on Monday night. Keep reading to find out more on the night in the Twins minor league system. And as always, please feel free to discuss and ask questions. TRANSACTIONS Following the Twins 14-1 loss on Monday night, the Twins optioned RH RP Alan Busenitz to Rochester. A corresponding move will be announced on Tuesday. (I don’t anticipate being terribly surprised… maybe has the same initials as Twins Daily, maybe?) LHP Gabriel Moya has now reported to Rochester. OF Aaron Whitefield was placed on the 7-Day disabled list in Ft. Myers. OF Mark Contreras has been promoted to Ft. Myers OF Jean Carlos Arias has been promoted to Cedar Rapids from extended spring training. RED WINGS REPORT Game 1 - Rochester 0, Gwinnett 1 Box Score Baseball’s #1 overall prospect Ronald Acuna started the season slow, but he’s been heating up. In this game in Rochester, he went 1-for-2 with a walk and three stolen bases. He also scored on a Tyler Flowers groundout in the fourth inning. Why do I mention that? Well, it was the lone run of the game. Dietrich Enns pitched much better in this start than he had in his first two starts, but he still fell to 0-3 on the season. He gave up just the one run on just two hits. He struck out four, but he was hurt by the four walks. As impressive as anything, he kept Braves minor leaguer - and long-time Twins killer - Jose Bautista in check. Bautista, who signed a minor league deal with the Braves late last week, went 0-for-3 with a strikeout. The Red Wings managed just three hits in the game. Nick Buss and Kennys Vargas were both 1-for-2 with a walk. Brock Stassi had the other base hit. Game 2 - Rochester 2, Gwinnett 1 Box Score The Red Wings had a bullpen game in the second game. DJ Baxendale made the start and threw the first four innings. He gave up two hits, but no runs, and struck out two. John Curtiss came on. He gave up one run on one hit and one walk. He struck out two. Next in was lefty Casey Crosby who was just activated from the disabled list. He gave up one hit and struck one out in a scoreless inning to record the save. https://twitter.com/JoshWhetzel/status/988589449058627584 Leonardo Reginnato led the offense. The infielder went 2-for-3 with a walk and his fifth double. Jermaine Curtis was 1-for-1, hit by a pitch, knocked his second double and stole his second base. Nick Buss walked twice. Also, Jose Bautista went 0-for-3 in the second game. 0-for-6 with two strikeouts on the day which made the Frontier Field fans happy. https://twitter.com/RocRedWings/status/988593224682999808 CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Game 1 - Chattanooga 0, Jackson 7 Box Score A year ago, Zack Littell went 19-1 between two levels and three teams. On Monday night, he made his fourth start of the 2018 season and is still looking for his first win and already has his second loss. In this game, he gave up six runs on seven hits and a walk in just 4 1/3 innings. He struck out four. Cody Stashak allowed an inherited runner to score and also one of his own. He recorded the final five outs. In the doubleheader-shortened seven inning game, the Lookouts did not record a hit until LaMonte Wade singled with two outs in the sixth inning. Wade also walked in the first inning so there was no concern regarding a perfect game. Nick Gordon added a seventh-inning double, his third of the season. Game 2 - Chattanooga 6, Jackson 7 Box Score In the second game, the Lookouts fell behind, put together a big comeback, twice took the lead and ended up one run short of a win. Ryan Eades started. He was charged with three unearned runs on four hits and a walk in four innings. He struck out seven. All three runs came in the first inning and were due, at least in part, to two passed balls. Anthony McIver came on and gave up two runs on three hits and a walk in his two innings struck out three. The Lookouts fell behind early, but in the sixth inning, they scored four runs to take a 5-4 lead. With two outs, Zander Wiel and Chris Paul had RBI singles before TJ White knocked a two-run double. The game was tied at five going into the seventh inning. LaMonte Wade came up with two outs. He singled. Brent Rooker doubled him to third, and then Nick Gordon’s single gave the Lookouts another one-run lead going into the bottom of the seventh. The Lookouts brought in Williams Ramirez who struck out the first batter he faced. However, he gave up three straight hits and two runs and the Lookouts took the loss. Wade went 2-for-4 with his second home run of the year. Nick Gordon was 3-for-4. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 3, Clearwater 5 Box Score Byron Buxton was originally in the lineup, batting second and in centerfield, but a couple of hours before the game, he was removed from the lineup. Here is Rhett Bollinger with the explanation: https://twitter.com/RhettBollinger/status/988553533929779201 Travis Blankenhorn got things going for the Miracle early with a two-run home run in the second inning. It was his second homer of the season. Sean Poppen got the start for the Miracle. He worked 4 2/3 scoreless innings. He gave up five hits, walked one and struck out five. Max Cordy came on and gave up four runs on five hits in just an inning. Logan Lombana finished the final 2 2/3 innings. He gave up a run on two hits. The Miracle tried to make a comeback in the ninth. Joe Cronin hit his fourth double with one out. Lewin Diaz tripled him in to cut the deficit to 5-3, but they were unable to keep the scoring going. Jimmy Kerrigan added his eighth double. Mark Contreras had a bunt single in three at-bats in his Florida State League debut. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 5, Burlington 13 Box Score Twins Hall of Famer Torii Hunter was in attendance at the Kernels game on Monday night. He was fulfilling two roles. Part of his job as a special assistant to baseball operations is to go to the Twins affiliates and work with players, talk to players, and in games, get in uniform and be an extra coach and an extra voice. https://twitter.com/JimCrikket/status/988593631668908032 However, he was also in attendance in his other, more important role. He was there as a father. While he was in the Kernels dugout, his son, Torii Hunter, Jr., was playing for Burlington. On this night, Junior went 2-for-4 with his first home run of the season and four RBI. https://twitter.com/JimCrikket/status/988573463228112896 As you can see from the score, it wasn’t a great game for the Kernels. Lefty Bryan Sammons started. He went the first 4 1/3 innings and gave up six runs (five earned) on eight hits. He struck out five without issuing a walk. Jovani Moran got the next five outs. He was charged with three runs on five hits and two walks in that time. He did record two strikeouts. Moises Gomez threw the next two innings. He gave up two runs on two hits and two walks. Guess how many strikeouts he had? Yup, two. Derek Molina worked the final inning. He gave up two runs on a hit and a walk. He also threw three wild pitches. The offense was carried, for the most part, by two hitters. Leadoff man, Akil Baddoo, went 4-for-5 in the game. Alex Kirilloff went 3-for-5 including a three-run homer, his third homer of the season. https://twitter.com/langetime/status/988601644370808832 STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Hitter of the Day: LaMonte Wade, Chattanooga Lookouts Twins Daily Pitcher of the Day: Dietrich Enns, Rochester Red Wings TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 - Royce Lewis (Cedar Rapids) - 1-5, R, RBI, K, SB(3) #3 - Nick Gordon (Chattanooga) - 4-7, 2B(3), R, RBI, 2 K, SB(3) #5 - Alex Kirilloff (Cedar Rapids) - 3-5, HR(3), 3 RBI, K #7 - Brent Rooker (Chattanooga) - 1-7, 2B(2), 4 K #10 - Akil Baddoo (Cedar Rapids) - 4-5, 2 R, RBI #11 - Zack Littell (Chattanooga) - 4.1 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 4 K #13 - Lewin Diaz (Ft. Myers) - 2-4, 3B(2), RBI, 2K #14 - LaMonte Wade (Chattanooga) - 3-6, BB, 2 R, RBI, HR(2), K #17 - Travis Blankenhorn (Ft. Myers) - 1-3, HR(2), 2 RBI, 2 K TUESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Gwinnett @ Rochester (5:35 CST) - RHP Myle Jaye Chattanooga @ Jackson (6:05 CST) - LHP Stephen Gonsalves Ft. Myers @ Clearwater (6:00 CST) - LHP Anthony Marzi Burlington @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 CST) - RHP Edwar Colina Please feel free to ask any questions about Monday’s full schedule of games, or ask any questions you may have. View full article

It was great at times... I watched most of it. When he threw it where he wanted,, it wasn't hittable. But,, he missed his spot on it quite a bit too. Here are some of the good ones! https://twitter.com/RocRedWings/status/988199203238182912

I did update the article a bit, adding that Tyler Jay was also taken off of the DL. On another note, Nelson Molina entered the Miracle game midway through Aaron Whitefield's second at bat. Whitefield had to leave the game with injury. I haven't been able to verify what that injury was yet. Not sure if it'll be a DL thing or not. Just worth noting.

Yeah, there's no reason to give up on Moya. However, it's also understandable why he was never a Top 20 prospect for the Diamondbacks and the Twins were able to acquire him for a AAA catcher. (By the way, I believe Murphy currently has three home runs for the Diamondbacks already this year)