Seth Stohs

Yup, the transition has been rough for Buxton and Berrios (last year)... It went pretty well for Sano and Polanco. Of course, for all of them, there will continue to be ups and downs, but hopefully more ups!

Rain won the day at Target Field on Wednesday. All four Twins minor league affiliates played, and there were some wild games. There was a very impressive pitching performance, and there were some big offensive showings. Two hitters were a triple away from the cycle. However, we start today with a very sad news in the Twins minor league report. We learned today from the San Diego Tribune-Union that Henry Sanchez died due to synovial sarcoma, a rare form of cancer. Sanchez was a supplemental first-round pick of the Twins in 2005, known for his tremendous power. He struggled on and off the field and was let go shortly into the 2009 season.Find out everything and more that happened happened in the Twins system on Wednesday night, starting with the transactions of the day. TRANSACTIONS Check out the transactions through the minor league system on Wednesday: Chattanooga placed RHP Todd Van Steensel on the disabled list with a groin strain. Taking his place is RHP Alex Wimmers (who had been sent to extended spring training on Monday from Rochester).Because of the doubleheader Thursday, the Twins are able to call up a 26th man. That player will be RHP Drew Rucinski.RED WINGS REPORTRochester 8, Lehigh Valley 11 (11 innings) Box Score In his first four starts this season, lefty David Hurlbut gave up a total of four runs in 22.1 innings. He had his first clunker of 2017 on Wednesday night. He was charged with seven runs on nine hits (two homers) and a walk in just 3.2 innings. Alan Busenitz came on and was terrific. The hard-throwing right-hander gave up just one hit over 3.1 scoreless innings. He struck out five without issuing a walk. Michael Tonkin came in for the 8th inning, protecting a one-run lead. He gave up a solo homer to tie the game, but he then worked scoreless innings in the ninth and 10th innings. Kevin Chapman came in for the 11th frame. He gave up three runs (two earned) on three hits in the inning to take the loss. The offense provided plenty of support. Byungho Park went 3-4 with his fourth double. JB Shuck was 3-4 with a walk and his fifth double. John Ryan Murphy went 2-5 with his third homer, a three-run shot. Matt Hague and Daniel Palka each went 2-5 with a double. It was Palka’s fifth and Matt Hague’s third. In the bottom of the 10th, the Red Wings got to go through the Pat Venditte Experience. Venditte is the ambidextrous pitcher who has moved up and down from AAA to the big leagues the last few seasons. The bases were loaded, but John Ryan Murphy grounded into a double play to end the threat to end the game. For Lehigh Valley, old friend Pedro Florimon went 5-5 with a double and is hitting .349 on the season. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 6 Birmingham 8 Box Score It was an early start on Wednesday for the Lookouts. Their fifth and final game of a home series against Birmingham began at 11:15 local time. Following the game, the Lookouts headed to Biloxi for their next five-game series. Down 2-0 in the third inning, TJ White, Ryan Strausborger and Nick Gordon hit doubles to tie the score at two. Then in the bottom of the fourth inning, Levi Michael added a two-run homer to put the Lookouts on top. It was his first homer of the season. They added two more on an Edgar Corcino single. But that was it for the offense. In fact, after that fourth inning, they didn’t have another hit. The one base runner reached on a walk and was erased immediately by a double play. Felix Jorge was strong through six innings. He gave up an early two-run homer, but that was it. Until the seventh inning. He started the inning with a strikeout, but then he loaded the bases with a walk, a single and another walk. That’s when Mason Melotakis came in. Melotakis gave up a pinch-hit, grand slam and the game was tied. After recording the inning’s second out, he gave up a single which was followed by another home run. That gave the Kernels their 8-6 deficit that ended up being the final score. Melotakis worked a scoreless eighth frame. John Curtiss did pitch the ninth inning as well. He has now pitched 13 games this season, and in 14.2 innings, he is yet to allow a run. He has 19 strikeouts. However, he’s also given up nine walks to go with nine hits. TJ White was the lone Lookouts hitter with more than one hit. He went 2-4 with his first double. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 3, Clearwater 1 Box Score Complete games are a rarity in minor league baseball. Pitch counts are more tightly monitored, and especially in the lower levels, the pitchers are young and will be taken care of. However, on Wednesday night, lefty Lachlan Wells delivered a complete game in a Miracle win. Wells gave up a double to lead off the game. After a sacrifice bunt, the run scored on a ground ball. After that, it was eight straight shutout innings. In fact, only one more runner the whole game reached second base. He gave up the one run on four hits and two walks. He struck out four. Most important, he needed just 92 pitches (67 strikes) to complete the game and win his second game of the season and reduce his ERA to 3.51. No surprise. It was the first complete game of his career. Offensively, the Miracle offense waited an inning to do their scoring. In the bottom of the second inning, Daniel Kihle launched a three-run homer, his third of the season. That was it for the Miracle offense, at least in terms of runs scored. After hitting a walk-off home run the night before, Chris Paul added two hits on Wednesday. Rafael Valera walked twice. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 7, Peoria 4 Box Score It looked as if Wednesday’s Kernels game had the potential to be a long one. Through two innings, a combined ten runs had already been scored. However, just one more run was scored the rest of the game. The Kernels got a two-run homer from Lewin Diaz in the bottom of the first inning, his fifth of the season. Sean Poppen gave up three runs in the top of the second frame, but the Kernels put up a five-spot in the bottom of the second inning. Aaron Whitefield drove in a run with a single before Jermaine Palacios launched a three-run homer, his fourth of the year. Two batters later, Mitchell Kranson hit his third homer of the year, a solo shot. Palacios had been in a bit of a slump, seeing his average drop from .398 to .326 over the past 13 games during which he hit .196. However, on this day, he went 3-5 with his eighth double, fourth homer and he stole his sixth base. Mitchell Kranson went 3-4 with his 12th double and third home run. That’s two guys who ended the day a triple shy of the cycle. Brandon Lopez went 3-4 with his second double. Aaron Whitefield went 3-5. Ben Rortvedt went 2-4 in the game. Sean Poppen made the start. The right-hander from Harvard gave up three runs (two earned) on five hits and a walk in six innings. He struck out five. He has completed six innings in all seven of his starts this season. Zach Tillery came on for his first appearance of the year and in a year. He gave up a run on three walks in his inning. It was his first appearance since May 7, 2016, with the Kernels. He missed the year with a shoulder injury. Alex Robinson recorded his second save with two shutout innings. He struck out four. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Lachlan Wells, Ft. Myers Miracle Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Jermaine Palacios/Mitchell Kranson, Cedar Rapids Kernels THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Lehigh Valley @ Rochester (12:35 CST) - LHP Jason Wheeler Chattanooga @ Biloxi (6:35 CST) - RHP Fernando Romero Clearwater @ Ft. Myers (5:35 CST) - RHP Brady Anderson Cedar Rapids @ Wisconsin (6:35 CST) - LHP Domenic Carlini IV Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Wednesday’s games. Click here to view the article

In the third installment of my conversation with ESPN’s Keith Law, he and I discuss the Twins minor league system. Law’s work in scouting as well as his knowledge of analytics make him a very good resource for this topic. He posts his Top 100 Prospect reports, and as we’ll mention a little later, he came out with this Top 25 Under 25 rankings. Of course, we also want to remind you that Keith Law will be participating in a book reading, baseball discussion and signing at Moon Palace Books in Southeast Minneapolis Thursday night at 6:30. If you are able to go, you will want to. And, if you haven’t already, be sure to pick up your copy of Law’s recently-released book, Smart Baseball. In Part 1, Law discussed his book, why he wrote it, the process, and some of his thoughts on the analytics of the game today. Part 2 with Law was a discussion of Derek Falvey and the 2017 Twins, specifically the youth of the Twins roster. He noted that regardless of the win-loss record at the end of the year, it is most important that the right players are playing, getting innings and at-bats. He specifically talked of the patience shown with Byron Buxton and how we all hope that he takes off soon offensively.This week, Law posted his Top 25 Under 25 at ESPN.com. Two members of the Minnesota Twins organization appear, Byron Buxton (#8) and Miguel Sano (#21). In addition to those two, Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco, Jose Berrios and Eddie Rosario are 25 and under and getting the most reps at their positions (obviously Berrios will only pitch every fifth day). Adalberto Mejia may soon be back. The future is exciting as these guys continue to get playing time. There is reason for optimism in the minor leagues too. Although Nick Gordon is really the only consensus Top 100 prospect in the organization, that is not necessarily an indication of a weak system, especially with that young core in the big leagues. According to Law, “There are plenty of guys in the system that aren’t Top 100, but they may be in the next 50. They are prospects of value. They will be effective major leaguers in some role.” The key for fans is not to put too much stake in whether a guy is a Top 100 player. The Twins have had Top 100 prospects. Each of those “core” players mentioned above has appeared in Top 100 lists. Nick Gordon could be added to that core group. But just because a player isn’t a Top 100 guy doesn’t mean he can’t be a solid major league player in a role. Who knows? Several stars never appeared on Top 100 lists. Brian Dozier never did. Law noted, “A lot of people get hung up on the Top 100/Non-Top 100 distinction. I try to emphasize this every year because I get the same reactions every year. Just because I don’t put a guy in my Top 100 doesn’t mean I don’t think they’re any good players or won’t be any good players. Plenty of great big leaguers have not been on my Top 100. Paul Goldschmidt was on nobody’s top 100 ever, ever. He’s turned out OK.” We talked about a few players in our brief conversation. “Tyler Jay, I really wish they hadn’t moved him to the bullpen, but OK. If that’s going to be his role, it’s going to be his role. Stephen Gonsalves. These guys are going to be big leaguers, as long as they stay healthy, they’ll be good big leaguers.” He continued, “There are guys like Lewis Thorpe somewhere out in the ether. Lewin Diaz, there’s value there. Travis Blankenhorn. I saw him one game in spring training. He’s pretty exciting. I’d like to see a full season of good contact rates and consistent performance, but he could be really good. For a big guy, he is big, that’s a big person, he moved really well at third base. He got off his feet fine, he’s got plenty of arm. It was good. And the contact was impressive.” Of course, Law also acknowledged the elephant in the room as it relates to Twins minor leaguers and their adjustment to the big leagues. Jeff Pickler was brought in as a new Twins coach this year, and part of his responsibility is to work on players' transitions from the minor leagues to the major leagues. “A lot of those guys haven’t gotten over the developmental hump. And that’s probably a whole other conversation, why they haven’t gotten guys over that hump, but there’s talent in the system. I think they’ve drafted OK, they just haven’t been able to convert enough of those guys into the big leaguers commensurate with the expectations of where they were drafted.” Speaking of the draft, the Twins have a great opportunity in another month when they will have the #1 overall pick in the draft. That is what we will discuss in Part 4 of our conversation with ESPN’s Keith Law. If you have a chance, pick up his new book Smart Baseball and meet Law at Moon Palace Books on Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. Click here to view the article

ESPN’s Keith Law will be at Moon Palace Books in Minneapolis at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday night. He’ll be part of a reading, discussion and signing his new book, Smart Baseball. We discussed the book with Law previously, but he was kind enough to discuss some Twins topics as well. We’ll share some of those thoughts in the next day or so. In this installment, Law discussed his thoughts on the quality start of the 2017 Twins season, and what he believes Derek Falvey’s needs might be.The Twins are off to a solid start this season. Entering play on Wednesday, the team is 19-16 and remains a ½ game ahead of Cleveland in the AL Central (admittedly with 127 more games to play). So, I asked Keith Law what his thoughts are on the Twins start and the team’s new front office regime. How would Derek Falvey and Thad Levine rank according to other front office leaders? Can we tell anything yet? According to Law, “I would say it’s probably too early.” The reality is that the Twins were a ways behind most of the competition when it comes to analytical staffing and such. They’ve come into the system that, despite all the great work from Jack Goin and his group, had some catching up to do. “They're certainly behind in terms of time. They were one of the last two teams to fully commit to having an analytics presence in the front office in terms of an actual department. I think everybody had one or two guys who were there to do numbers, even the Diamondbacks did. Dave Stewart would apparently say hi to them every once in awhile, and that would be the extent of it.” Yes, that one literally made me laugh out loud over the phone. Law continued, “(The Diamondbacks) have an analytics department. The Twins have an analytic department.” While the Twins did little in the offseason as far as on the field, Falvey talked a lot about building up the infrastructure of the organization. That can be done in all the departments, but especially in the analytics area. That comes with challenges that most fans probably never even thought of. “When I spoke to Matt Klentak of the Phillies while researching the book, he talked about the first year of having an analytics department was just set up, building the architecture to handle things like Statcast data to be able to integrate analytics output with the scouting department’s output. Obviously scouting reports are in a system somewhere. Well, that system has to be able to talk to the stats system. Once he said it, I thought it was obvious, but I’d never taken the time to think that this is months of work, not to mention a lot of money, to set up all the software and hardware required to handle this job. If Derek Falvey walked in and they had nothing in place - the Twins had a couple of people doing stuff, they didn’t have a full-fledged department with a budget committed to this - there probably had to be a point where they had to say, ‘What do we have to buy? We need servers and architecture, physical and software to be able to do this.’ And it takes so much time. If I was in Falvey’s shoes right now, that would be one of the things keeping me up at night. We’re just behind because they started last.” The Twins added a couple of veteran catchers who scored well in terms of defensive value and leadership in Jason Castro and Chris Gimenez. A few other small moves were made, but for the most part, there were not a lot of player personnel changes. So what are Keith Law’s thoughts on the Twins 2017 season? “They’ve still been outscored on the season (fact check: Twins have scored 158 runs, allowed 165 runs). I’m expecting them to finish below .500 on the season. Improving the situation behind the plate was critical. It took a lot of people by surprise that they chose to make that investment. But once you look at the players involved, who they got and who they replaced, and what the actual impact could be of having a good framer, a better game-caller back there. They’re going to ask him (Castro) to work with some young pitchers now and in the future. There’s some pretty clear value there.” But what else should the Twins do as the 2017 season plays out? “I would be fine with them not playing great the rest of the year if that’s because they are playing the right players. Remember two weeks into the season people were writing post mortems for Byron Buxton? I think they gave him one day off at one point, and whatever they did, whatever they said to him, whatever he’s decided to do himself, he’s looked pretty darn good these last three weeks or so. I was going through his game logs, and if you cut off at the day off, and I think he’s had exactly 50 plate appearances since then, that player with plus, elite level defense in center, is a star.” Law continued, “They could have just given up. I think a lot of organizations would have said, ‘Oh no, we rushed him. Let’s get him back to AAA. Maybe we need to bench him.’ They didn’t panic, and that’s a recognition too.” Under Derek Falvey and Thad Levine, Law sees a plan. “This organization is now building, and it’s going to take some time, but there is a lot of young talent in this system. I’m glad now you’ve got a situation that’s probably from ownership on down that’s willing to be patient too. And if that means you’re going to wait on a Byron Buxton a little bit longer, that’s OK. That’s how you run a team that's trying to build for the long term as opposed to having it both ways. I do think they got a little too much in that mode the last maybe two years or so.” The Twins do have a young team. Six of their regulars are 25 or under. Jose Berrios is now up, and Adalberto Mejia is likely to return this weekend to join Ervin Santana in the rotation. Keith Law finds that very important for a building team and illustrated with an example of the opposite. “The fact that the major league team is young is extremely important. I was doing a bit on a Bay Area radio station yesterday. They pointed out that the A’s are supposed to be a young team, but I look at their roster and they’re really not very young. He was right. They have two regular position players out of nine that are under 30. And Khris Davis is 29 years old. That team is not young. They may be unknown, but they are not young. And, the Twins obviously are saying they’re young, and they are absolutely young ,and they are giving the playing time to young players.” In past years, as the team waited for the Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco, Jose Berrios group to get to the big leagues and take their lumps, the Twins had a lot of stop gap veteran-type players. They were building toward becoming a young team by being a little bit older. At the same time, it was clear that the plan was to bring those guys up when they were ready. As a reminder, ESPN’s Keith Law will be at Moon Palace Books in Minneapolis at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday night. If you can make it, you'll have a great time. We’ll continue our conversation with Keith Law in one or two more installments. We’ll get his thoughts on the Twins farm system as well as his thoughts and philosophies on what the Twins should do as they think about the #1 pick in June’s draft. Click here to view the article

I'd also add that we shouldn't give up on the power potential either. I'm not saying a 20+ HR guy, but he is strong and can turn on a ball sometime.

Struggled with control and keeping the ball in the ballpark. By the way, today he was assigned to Chattanooga.

Two homers to dead center and one to the right of center a bit... Impressive! http://www.milb.com/multimedia/vpp.jsp?sid=milb&content_id=1397259783 Turley might have made some changes since the Yankees released him a few years ago. Maybe a new pitch or better control or stuff from working in the indy leagues. Mejia... I mean, I know he wasn't hurt... As I said on Twitter last night, let the speculation. Because of that, I'll be very surprised if he doesn't start for the Twins on Saturday.

I don't think there's any question about that... Not sure that means a lot, but it is a fact.

Most of the Twins Daily readership is fully aware of the name Keith Law. He is the senior baseball writer at ESPN and can also often be seen on TV. His ESPN Insider articles often create some great discussion in our forums. On Thursday night in Minneapolis, you have the opportunity to rub elbows with and listen to baseball talk from Keith Law. You can even get a copy of his new book, Smart Baseball, signed.Keith Law will be one of three baseball authors on Thursday night at Moon Palace Books (3260 South Minnehaha Avenue) in Minneapolis. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. Law will be joined by Michael Fallon (author of Dodgerland: Decadent Los Angeles and the 1977-1978 Dodgers), and Peter Schilling Jr. (author of the novel The End of Baseball). I started the conversation with Keith Law by reading the full title of his book. "Smart Baseball: The Story Behind the Old Stats That Are Ruining the Game, the New Ones That Are Running It, and the Right Way to Think About Baseball.” My first question? “Can we just call it Smart Baseball for the rest of this interview?” “You can stick with that.” Uffdah! So why did Law write this book at this time? In his role on ESPN and through social media, he receives a ton of questions, and this book is a great way for him to answer many of them. “Readers had been asking me for years to recommend a book like this. What can I read to understand these new stats, to get up to speed on SABRmetrics?” Law continued, “There was never a book written for the lay audience that explains this stuff in plain English, without a lot of math or charts. I didn’t want to assume anything on the part of the reader. It doesn’t matter if you come into this with limited math or baseball background, you should be able to follow the stuff I’m saying.” The book itself came together quite quickly, however. “For years, the questions just kept coming. In the summer of 2015, I decided to put together a pitch and was very lucky. We put it out there, and Harper Collins bought it almost immediately. I started writing in March of 2016, wrote the last new content before the editing process between the Winter Meetings and Christmas of 2016. Then we put it to bed around Valentine’s Day this year, and two months later, it’s out.” The release of the book has made life pretty interesting for Law. Never a dull moment. “It’s go-go-go-go-go. Stop! Nothing for eight weeks, and then the book comes out and your life is never your own. The two weeks around the actual release was absolute insanity.” In fact, on Tuesday night, he was at an event in Atlanta. He will get to spend one day with his family before heading to Minneapolis for Thursday’s event at Moon Palace Books. So why Minnesota? How did this event come together? Well, based on his reasoning for writing the book, it came down to being asked a question by one of his readers. Law explains, “A reader of mine reached out on Facebook and said, ‘Come to Minnesota and do a signing.’ I said, ‘If you’ve got a book store there that does signings and is interested, I always have reasons to come to Minnesota for work anyway. Have the bookstore contact the publicist.’ “Linus” is the reader’s name. He made this happen. He got on the book store and stayed with them and kept in touch with me. They reached out, got everything arranged, found a date that worked for everybody. Moon Palace did a lot of work too. They got two other authors that will be there as well.” It should be a very fun event for any baseball fan, particularly fans of analytics, history and other baseball topics. The response to Smart Baseball has generally been very positive. “I know so many people in the industry at this point. People have reached out and told me they would recommend it to fans.” He noted specifically that Susan Slusser, beat writer for the Oakland A’s reached out and told him and said now she has a book to suggest for people who ask the question, ‘Are there any books you would recommend to help explain these statistics? Law noted, “That’s what we’re trying to do with the book.” While Law is well versed in the analytic part of the game, he also has a lot of experience as a scout and bringing the two together is an important piece for any front office. “I try to (blend stats and scouting). I don’t think you can discuss players without doing both. I think the blend varies by level.” Statistical analysis in baseball is certainly not new. Going back to the first box scores in the late 1800s, statistics have been a big deal in the game. Bill James is often considered the pioneer of advanced statistics. Moneyball, the book, is less than 15 years old. Law said that Moneyball played a role, but there were certainly other reasons that analytics took off in baseball, and probably one was more important than the rest. “Everyone says the publication of Moneyball was the big shift. That definitely raised the awareness in other front offices and among ownership groups. But I think just as much of a spur was with the Red Sox. When Theo Epstein took over, he was extremely public in his embrace of analytics. And then they won two World Series in the next five seasons. That has an effect. To have an old, old franchise, with plenty of money say we’re going to use this stuff and then go out and execute and build a world-class baseball operations department.” Law continued, speaking to the effect it had on other organizations. “I think that was just as much of a spur to every other team, that we have to at least consider this. This has to be part of our thought process. It took a long time for all 30 teams to get there, as you well know. But we’re there now. Everyone is doing it. Everyone at least has some sort of in-house analytics department. They're collecting data, the torrent of StatCast data right now. I don’t know that we know what that all means.” The industry had shifted. There has been a lot of change in the game and how it is analyzed and evaluated. But what’s next? What will the next big area of analytics be? According to Law, “The next advances are more likely to come out of Statcast information. Much of it may not be public, at least not at first. But when I spoke to executives for the last two chapters of my book - one is on Statcast specifically and the last is on what comes next - it was really about applications or insights from looking at Statcast data.” Law provided an example of what could come analytically, “Can we find that pitchers are fatigued in the data before they are actually hurt. His spin rate. His velocity is dropping. But he’s not hurt. He’s not reporting any soreness. But we can see his stuff is objectively not the same. That’s information that we simply never had before. I throw it out there in the book as a hypothetical, but if I could tell you that the Twins could save one DL stint for a starter every year using that data, what’s that worth to them? It’s probably worth seven figures a year.” So at this stage, we all realize that pitcher “wins” tend to be a pretty meaningless, overrated statistic. We understand better that batting average is not as important as on-base percentage. So when I asked Keith Law for an example of a stat that is ruining the game, he quickly responded. “‘Saves’ is the one that’s doing the most damage to the game. My guess is you know why. You could probably make the argument without reading the chapter in the book, and I’m guessing a lot of your readers too. If you watched the postseason last year, we know that too. Zach Britton not getting into the wild card game. You saw Andrew MIller being used very differently. People acted like Terry Francona’s usage of Andrew Miller was like Einstein discovering the theories of relativity. Teams used to do this all the time. I’m not taking any credit from Francona, but this is old and new. It’s new because it’s novel, but it’s not like no manager has ever done this before. Managers used to do this all the time before the save stat. So, that’s the one I always give when people ask me for a stat that’s really ruining the game of baseball. That’s the best general example.” There is another grouping of stats that Law mentions, “There’s a number of times in the book where I talk about the run expectancy table. In trying to allow readers, again without doing a lot of math, to get readers to understand the idea of tradeoffs. This idea that you’re going to try to steal second, but if you fail, there is a real cost here. So think about "What do I gain if I succeed?" What do I lose if I fail? I talk about bunts in that context. I talk about intentional walks in that context. That’s one where, it’s not so much a single stat that’s ruining the game but it’s an older way of thinking. The way that just thinks, "Well, I got the runner to second, that’s a good thing, right?" No… It’s not a good thing, but it took data to actually prove that to people.” And those examples let us know why this can be such an important book for baseball fans. We all have those friends that will say something like so-and-so wasn’t very good last year because he only hit .245, not noting that the same hitter got on base 35% of the time and hit 25 homers while playing Gold Glove caliber defense at an important defensive position. “We’re still fighting an uphill battle with the public. I think teams know this stuff if not all of it, but there’s still a big portion of baseball fandom that isn’t used to thinking about the game this way and I want to reach those people and reach them on their terms and in their language, not ours.” And now we have a book to help us with our arguments and increase the intelligent conversations with those friends. Smart Baseball is available in most bookstores and on the online bookstores. Pick up your copy(ies) today. ------------------------------------------------------------------- But for those of you near Minneapolis, consider joining Keith Law and several other Twins and baseball fans at 6:30 p.m. at Moon Palace Books in Minneapolis. You’ll be able to listen to some interesting baseball discussion, pick up some new reading material and ask Keith Law to sign your copy of Smart Baseball. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Over the next few days, I'll share more from my conversation with Keith Law on topics such as the new Twins regime, the Twins farm system and the upcoming MLB draft. Be sure to check back often. Click here to view the article

He is a guy that I feel good about making starts if the Twins were to make the playoffs. That's all that matters to me. Do I see him as an "Ace?" No. But he's clearly the Twins ace, and he's been a good pitcher for a decade, minus a couple of seasons...

Vielma was in Chattanooga all of last season and has been hitting well this year. Now they can both play more SS.

Was throwing 87-90 (touching 91, 92)... Of course, that doesn't mean he can't become the next Bumgarner or Buehle of Cliff Lee, velocity isn't mandatory, but I prefer the harder throwers at 1-1.

After last weekend - fair or not - I have pretty much zero interest in McKay with the 1.1 pick. I definitely understand the risks with Greene, but over the last two weeks, Kyle Wright has become the guy I would take. Potential to be an ace with much less risk than Greene. Maybe not quite the upside of Greene - due to throwing 96 instead of 102 - but much more likely to become a #2 pitcher that they need. And yet he still can be a #1 too.

One of my favorite people in the organization. He is an ambassador for baseball. The people in Cedar Rapids love him. Before a game I was at two weekends ago, the gates opened about an hour before game time. Watkins went up to the gates and welcomed fans as they walked in. It wasn't scheduled. He just does that sometimes (not all the time, but it was something we all noted in the press box). It's one example of who he is. For the most part, players love playing for him. His personality is infectious. He knows this game, the finer details. He expects players to work hard and do the little things, but he makes it fun, and that's important.

Tommy Watkins has played the role of underdog since the Twins made him their 38th round draft pick in 1998 out of Riverdale High School in Ft. Myers. However, thanks to his hard work, attitude, attention to detail and drive, he lived his dream of playing in the big leagues, even if just for nine games before an injury ended his season prematurely. In 2010, Watkins began his second career when the Twins hired him as a minor league hitting coach In 2016, he moved up from Cedar Rapids to AA Chattanooga to be the Lookouts coach. However, in January, the Twins announced their coaching staff and long-time Twins minor league manager Jeff Smith was named the first base coach for the big league club. Doug Mientkiewicz wanted to be back in Ft. Myers to be nearer to his family, so he took Smith’s job as Miracle manager. Jake Mauer, who had spent the past four seasons as the Kernels manager, was moving up to Chattanooga to manage the Lookouts. The Cedar Rapids manager job was open, and Tommy Watkins had been waiting in the wings.As a player, Tommy Watkins was always viewed by many as a potential coach. While a player, Watkins’ focus was always on playing the game. However, somewhere in the deeper reaches of his mind, he knew what he wanted to do following his playing career. Yes he wanted to coach, but he also wanted more. “(I wanted to) coach, but I always wanted to manage.” So when he was offered the Kernels manager job, he quickly accepted. He believes that it was the right time. “I think this year was a good time for me to start. I don’t think I was anywhere near ready my first year as a coach, or my fourth or fifth. It’s getting to know the guys, and learning the ropes, and how to do things I think helped me for now.” To this point, Watkins has led his team to an impressive start. The Kernels enter play on Tuesday with a 20-15 record through their first 35 games. As he is prone to do, Watkins pushes the credit elsewhere. “Great group of guys. I think they all get along great together. I think they play hard. I think that’s one thing that I saw coming out of spring training, that these guys get along and I think they’re going to get after it every day. I think our record can be attributed to the effort they put in every day.” But there have been some moments of nervousness and trepidation. While he has been in and around the game of baseball and seen it from a variety of roles, the role of manager is different. “I think the biggest adjustment is just trying to be organized and get things planned every day, lineup. Trying to keep everybody in line.” Watkins admitted he was especially nervous the first game of the season. “I was panicking a little bit. I grabbed the lineup cards and things like that. I sent Jake (Mauer) and Doug (Mientkiewicz) a group text and asked, ‘What do I do with the lineup? Do I put first name? Last name?’ They both answered, and Doug said, ‘Hey, relax, you’ll be fine.” But Watkins has also been supported by the organization. They have people in place who can help him out. The weekend I was there, minor league pitching coordinator Eric Rasmussen was there. So was new Special Assistant for Baseball Operations LaTroy Hawkins. Twins Minor League Director Brad Steil was there. “I think a lot of people have been a big help. (Minor League Infield and Baserunning Coordinator) Sam Perlozzo’s been a big help, been in town. A couple of nights ago, there were some things going on and I was like, ‘Sam, you’ve got to stand next to me.’ He said ‘Yeah I should have been over there to bounce some things off of me, but he said when I’m here, these are your guys. I’m just here to watch’.” Sam Perlozzo standing alongside Watkins Perlozzo has been a baseball lifer. He’s coached in various levels in the Mets, Reds, Mariners, Phillies and Orioles organizations. He’s coached in the big leagues and for parts of three seasons he was the manager of the Baltimore Orioles. Having a resource like that available, in person or on the phone, can be very valuable. Watkins worked as the hitting coach for Jake Mauer in Cedar Rapids for several seasons. Last year, he worked with Doug Mientkiewicz in Chattanooga. He said that he has learned so much from each of them. “Both of those guys, they let their staffs work. Jake and Doug were both good about it, the hitters were mine, and the pitchers were the pitching coach’s. They both put their input in and helped out whenever they want or need to.” Watkins subscribes to that philosophy as well. Hitting coach Brian Dinkelman and Pitching coach JP Martinez are both back for their second seasons with the Kernels and third seasons as coaches in the organization. “The same thing goes here. I let Dink (Kernels second-year hitting coach Brian Dinkelman) and JP (Kernels second-year pitching coach JP Martinez) do their jobs. They’re real good at what they do. If I ever have anything to say, I run it across with them. They do a good job, so I try to let them work. Watkins coaching third base. For those that have seen Tommy Watkins working on the baseball field, whether as a player or as a coach or manager, it is clear that he truly loves the game. It shows. He has a lot of fun. He was nicknamed The Mayor when he played in Rochester. He was very popular during his years in New Britain. Wherever he’s been, he’s garnered fans and become popular with teammates. Back in 2003, the Ft. Myers Miracle even honored the hometown kid with a bobble butt promotion. No, really, a bobble butt. (See here) Watkins makes the long season for players fun. Two weekends ago, the team had some very early work on the field. They were doing bunting drills. The first group was some of the players less likely to bunt, and that went fairly quickly. The second group was more the speed guys who could use the bunt to benefit their games. Sam Perlozzo led the discussion, but Watkins and Dinkelman were very involved as well. Cones were set up down the third base line, indicating the ideal location for a bunt. Another set of cones formed a line from home plate to the edge of the grass/dirt in front of where a second baseman would play and starting past the pitcher’s mound. There were two teams and they had some scoring system based on how many they got within the designated goals. They were working, and they were being instructed, but they were doing it while having fun and being competitive. In fact, Watkins joined a group with Jermaine Palacios, Aaron Whitefield and Travis Blankenhorn, and they beat Brian Dinkelman’s group which included Christian Cavaness, Ariel Montesino and Brandon Lopez in what appeared to be a back-and-forth contest. Watkins coaching and participating in a bunting drill. It’s a long 140 game season with long bus rides, and Watkins continues to have fun with his job, even with the new role. “I don’t think my personality changes. I still try to be myself. We still have fun, but at the same time, when someone needs to be corrected, or you have to drop the hammer, you can’t be afraid to do it. I think I’ve done a pretty decent job of that. If I see something, I let them know. I try not to let anything slip.” As the Twins celebrate Hope Week this week in the Twin Cities, it’s a good reminder that Tommy Watkins does a ton of work in and around Ft. Myers throughout the offseason. Not only does he work out with rehabbing players or other minor leaguers in Ft. Myers in the offseason, but he takes groups to area hospitals and runs several camps for kids. It’s a great opportunity for the players to start giving back. It’s something that Watkins believes strongly in. This spring, he told me that they were making four to five hospital visits, at least, each week. But Watkins provides hope and lessons to all of the players he comes in contact with. Not only does he coach them up and work to instill the fundamentals of the game, but if they take the time to look up Watkins’ career, it should teach them about perseverance, believing in yourself and striving toward your goals. Watkins understands what the players are going through. He lived the life that they are living, and he reached that goal that each and every one of his players is striving for. He played in nine games in the major leagues, The Show. In fact, if not for an injury, he had kind of taken over as the Twins starting third baseman due to his .357 batting average. (Note, Brian Dinkelman also holds a career average of over .300 (.301, to be exact) in his 23 games with the Twins) Watkins signed as a late-round pick. He spent two seasons in the Gulf Coast League. He spent a year in Elizabethton. He spent a year in the Midwest League (Quad Cities). He spent two seasons with the Miracle. He spent 2004, 2005 and part of 2006 in New Britain before moving up to Rochester. A year later, mid-August 2007, Watkins got that surprise call. He was headed to the big leagues. He spent 2008 and 2009 in Rochester before hanging up the cleats. In 2010, he began his new career as a Twins hitting coach. And as was the case as a player, Watkins now has a goal of someday getting back to the major leagues as a coach, maybe even a manager. For now, he’s enjoying his role in the organization and working hard with his 2017 Cedar Rapids Kernels. “It’s been a lot of fun. It’s been a lot of new things. Just trying to get used to being in the role. It’s been a lot of fun though.” ------------------------------------------------------------------- Throughout the course of this season, the Cedar Rapids Kernels will have a camera crew following them at times. They are creating a documentary of their season. At least each month, there will be a new installment and some shorter videos as well. It should be a fun series to follow (so follow the Kernels on twitter to be updated). Here is the most recent installment. The crew mic'd up Tommy Watkins for a game against Lake County to find out what the manager talked about throughout the game. This is fun. Click here to view the article

According to Chris Blessings, Paul Clemens left the game with a trainer... here's the tweet:

We are now about six weeks into the season. Statistics are starting to show meaning. At the same time, we’ve seen that batting average and other rate stats can still change quite a bit in just a week. But it is time for us to share the current Twins minor league statistical leaderboard. Below, you will find out which hitters and which pitchers are off to the best starts over a bit of an extended time to start the year. What do these statistics mean? Well, they may mean something different to different people. We aren’t factoring in age or level of competition. We’re simply highlighting the leaderboard and giving recognition to these young men. But first, let’s take a quick look at how the Twins’ affiliates currently stack up in their leagues. Rochester is 17-14. The Red Wings are 2.5 games back of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs in the International League North Division. They’re in third place in the division.In the first half, Chattanooga is 20-16. That puts them in third place 2.0 games behind Tennessee, and they are in third place in the division.Ft. Myers is the lone affiliate under. 500. They are 17-20 and in fourth place in their division, 7.0 games behind the division leader, Bradenton.Cedar Rapids is 20-15 to start the season. They are currently tied with Kane County (19-14) at the top of the Midwest League’s Western Division.With that, let’s look at the minor league statistical leader board (through games on Saturday, May 13). HITTERS (Rate numbers- minimum 89 plate appearances) Plate Appearances - Chris Paul (152), Nick Gordon (150), Zander Wiel (147), Jermaine Palacios/Jonathan Rodriguez (144), Max Murphy (142), Lewin Diaz (140), Engelb Vielma/Travis Blankenhorn (137) Batting Average - LaMonte Wade (.327), Nick Gordon/Jermaine Palacios (.321), Chris Paul (.317), Edgar Corcino (.298), Lewin Diaz (.293), Mitchell Kranson (.292), Aaron Whitefield (.289). On-Base Percentage - LaMonte Wade (.470), Nick Gordon (.387), Max Murphy (.373), Edgar Corcino (.364), Engelb Vielma (.363), Jermaine Palacios (.354), Mitchell Kranson (.353), Matt Hague (.344) Slugging Percentage - Aaron Whitefield (.509), Lewin Diaz (.504), LaMonte Wade (.495), Jermaine Palacios (.489), Zander Wiel (.474), Nick Gordon (.470), Mitchell Kranson (.462), Jonathan Rodriguez (.426) OPS - LaMonte Wade (.965), Nick Gordon (.857), Jermaine Palacios (.843), Aaron Whitefield (.831), Lewin Diaz (.825), Mitchell Kranson (.810), Zander Wiel (.793), Max Murphy (.772). Hits - Chris Paul (45), Jermaine Palacios (44), Nick Gordon (43), Lewin Diaz (39), Zander Wiel/Max Murphy/Jonathan Rodriguez/Edgar Corcino/Engelb Vielma (34). Doubles - Lewin Diaz (14), Zander Wiel (12), Mitchell Kranson (10), Jonathan Rodriguez/Tommy Field (9), Chris Paul/Nick Gordon (8), three with 7. Triples - Jermaine Palacios (5), Zander Wiel/Rafael Valera (4), Nick Gordon (3), seven with 2. Home Runs - Aaron Whitefield/Daniel Palka (5), Jaylin Davis/Lewin Diaz/Dan Rohlfing/Jonathan Rodriguez/LaMonte Wade (4), seven with 3. Runs Scored - LaMonte Wade (26), Jermaine Palacios (25), Jonathan Rodriguez (22), Max Murphy (20), Aaron Whitefield/Nick Gordon (18), Daniel Palka/Tommy Field (17), three with 16. RBI - Zander Wiel (23), Nick Gordon/Lewin Diaz (20), Jonathan Rodriguez/Engelb Vielma (18), Jermaine Palacios/Travis Blankenhorn (16), three with 15. SB - Zack Granite/Aaron Whitefield (7), Tanner English (6), Jermaine Palacios/Jaylin Davis/LaMonte Wade (5), three with 4. THE STARTING PITCHERS (Rate number - minimum 27.0 innings) Innings Pitched: Dereck Rodriguez (45.0), Jose Berrios (39.2), Sean Poppen (39.1), Clark Beeker (38.2), Fernando Romero (35.2), Randy LeBlanc (35.0), Aaron Slegers/Tyler Wells (34.0) ERA: Jose Berrios (1.13), David Hurlbut (1.59), Sean Poppen (2.29), Clark Beeker (2.56), Tyler Wells (2.65), Dereck Rodriguez (2.80), Randy LeBlanc (2.83), Felix Jorge (3.45). WHIP: Jose Berrios (0.81), Clark Beeker (1.01), Cody Stashak (1.03), Dereck Rodriguez (1.09), Sean Poppen (1.12), Tyler Beardsley (1.21), Jason Wheeler (1.312), Randy LeBlanc (1.314). K/9: Tyler Wells (11.9), Eduardo Del Rosario (11.2), David Fischer (10.0), Cody Stashak (9.0), Sean Poppen (8.9), Jose Berrios (8.8), Fernando Romero (8.3). BB/9: Cody Stashak (1.1), Clark Beeker (1.2), Dereck Rodriguez (1.4), Sean Poppen (1.6), Jose Berrios (1.8), Tyler Beardsley (1.9), Lachlan Wells (2.0), Aaron Slegers (2.1). K: Tyler Wells/Nik Turley (45), Sean Poppen/Jose Berrios (39), Eduardo Del Rosario (34), Fernando Romero (33), Cody Stashak/Dereck Rodriguez (32). Wins: Clark Beeker (5-1). THE RELIEF PITCHERS (Rate numbers - minimum 11.0 innings, and less than 2 starts) Innings Pitched: Brady Anderson (25.2), Randy Rosario (21.0), Anthony McIver (20.2), Sam Clay/Ryan Eades (20.1), Luke Bard (18.2), Williams Ramirez (18.0), Michael Theofanopoulos (17.2). ERA: John Curtiss (0.00), Nick Burdi (0.66), Mason Melotakis (1.17), Nick Anderson (1.26), Logan Lombana (1.59), Jonny Drozd (1.65), Hector Lujan (1.80), Andrew Vasquez (1.84). WHIP: Tom Hackimer (0.65), Mason Melotakis (0.72), Nick Burdi (0.73), Nick Anderson (0.77), DJ Baxendale (0.85), Alan Busenitz (0.95), Randy Rosario/Hector Lujan (1.00). K/9: Luke Bard (14.9), Andrew Vasquez (14.1), Alex Robinson (13.2), Nick Burdi (11.9), John Curtiss/Todd Van Steensel (11.7), Alan Busenitz (11.4), Williams Ramirez (10.5). BB/9: Tom Hackimer (0.5), Brady Anderson (1.1), Hector Lujan (1.2), Nick Anderson (1.3), DJ Baxendale (1.4), Jonny Drozd (2.2), Mason Melotakis (2.3), Alex Robinson (2.5). K: Luke Bard (31), Andrew Vasquez (23), Alex Robinson/Williams Ramirez (21), Michael Theofanopoulos/Todd Van Steensel/Sam Clay (20), Ryan Eades/Anthony McIver (19). Saves: John Curtiss (5), Tom Hackimer/Alex Wimmers (4), Mason Melotakis/Jonny Drozd/Max Cordy (3), Nick Anderson (2), 12 with 1. Feel free to ask questions about any of the players or teams. Click here to view the article

Clay's streak is impressive since his first outing of the year. Nick Anderson started his season with 13.1 scoreless innings, and that ended tonight. Good day for the Twins organization... And... I'm still waiting for Lewis Thorpe's return. He put on instagram that he was pitching on Thursday, but we shall see.

Everyone always told me that Wade wasn't a passive hitter and that despite not a lot of home runs early, he has tremendous power. When I talked to him last year, he talked about having a plan of attack in every plate appearance. But he's looking for specific things and if he doesn't get it, he is willing to wait. He has a first-pitch approach, and he has a two-strike approach. he's also really strong and when he looks for something and gets it and tries to turn on it and pull it, he can hit the ball a long ways. He's a very impressive young guy, and it's good to see him playing this well.