Seth Stohs

Jose Mijares is one of the most recent. Of course, Jorge Polanco came straight from High-A Ft. Myers.

Yeah, he spoke of process a few times over results. Makes a lot of sense, and it's clearly something being preached.

Regarding Wade's defense.... I'd put it as similar to Kepler (which is anything but bad)... He can play CF, and played there mostly in 2016. But he's more of a corner guy. Average arm.

I think both of those were question marks (in terms of pitching in MLB) coming into the season, so I would agree that this makes it quite a bit less likely.

Yup, lots of walks so far.

LaMonte Wade at AA this season. 1st 10 G: .103/.229/.103 (.332) Past 19 G: .442/.581/.712 (1.293) Total 29 G: .321/.468/.494 (.962) 24 BB, 15 K

Cedar Rapids played at 2:00 on Sunday. They signed autographs after the game, and they were scheduled to leave Cedar Rapids at 6:00 p.m... and arrive in Dayton at 4:00 a.m. Those Eastern Division trips can be brutal. As I told some of the players, it's the glamorous life of professional baseball!

Nice of you to say... Thank you!

As you recall, last Thursday, I had the opportunity to interview Lake County (Cleveland Low-A affiliate) left-handed pitcher Juan Hillman about the start to his young career and his relationship with top Twins prospect Nick Gordon (The article was posted yesterday here). That same day, I was also able to interview another Lake County left-handed starting pitcher about his early career and his relationship with another top Twins prospect. Let’s get to know a little more about Brady Aiken and Twins prospect Stephen Gonsalves.As you recall, lefty Brady Aiken was the #1 overall pick in the 2014 draft, but he chose not to sign with the Houston Astros. In 2015, he fell to Cleveland with the #17 overall pick. However, he had undergone Tommy John surgery several months earlier. As he recalls, he talked to a lot of Cleveland executives, including current Twins Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey, upon being drafted. “Obviously there are a few teams you’re talking to, and you have a general idea of where you’re going to go in the draft. I talked to, from the Indians, a lot of people .I did speak with him (Falvey) a bit. I talked with pitching coordinators. Especially with where I got drafted, it was more the rehab side of it because I’d had surgery and I was coming into the Cleveland organization going straight into rehab. I talked a lot to some front office guys about the rehab side of it, and what would happen if I got drafted by them. Where I would go? What would happen and what that process would be like?” In 2016, he worked a combined 46.1 innings between the organization’s rookie league and short-season affiliates. So 2017 is his first full season of pitching. Although he’s off to an 0-4 start for Lake County, he feels good about where he is at so far in the process. “I’m doing good. Surgery was a couple of years ago, so that’s kind of behind me. Health-wise, I’m doing good. Looking forward to this year. It's been a good year so far, but I’ll just continue to keep working.” Looking back to his high school days, a smile crossed Aiken’s face as he discussed the incredible talent that they had. He went to high school at Cathedral Catholic High School in San Diego. Aiken was a year behind to Twins pitching prospect Stephen Gonsalves and 2016 Twins draft pick Alex Schick (who is currently on the Kernels disabled list with elbow inflammation). Can you imagine a high school team that has produced three professional pitchers? How could they lose? “Our team… my junior year, we had nine guys who were committed to D1 schools, and they were high-level D1 schools too. It was pretty awesome! There was a guy who now plays for the Reds who had Tommy John. Stephen’s with the Twins. Schick is with the Twins. I’m sure I’m missing some right now, but I know there’s a bunch of guys in college who are still playing and doing well.” He continued, “It was pretty cool. We were pretty good, and like you said, we had really good pitching and really good hitting. We’d play three or four games a week. Stephen would throw one. I would throw another, and Schick would throw another. And we had a guy, Andrew Wright, who would throw another one. It was that kind of rotation. If we had more games in a week, we had another guy who’s at Irvine that would throw. So it was pretty crazy how much talent we had at one school.” Aiken still heads back to San Diego during the offseason and hangs out with Stephen Gonsalves. “We are pretty good buddies. We talk pretty often. He’s one of my good friends from back home. I always see him in the offseason. We always spend time together.” But Aiken also has seen how Gonsalves has improved on the baseball diamond since the two led their high school team on the field. “From high school, the one thing that’s been big, from the changes he’s made… the command is there. He’s always been one who knows the game and is ahead of the game mentally, and that’s something that you can see paying off for him now. Working on some pitches. I know he didn’t throw a curveball or a slider in high school and I know he has one now. His command is really good. His mental side of the game is really good. He knows what he wants to do, and that’s what he does. It works for him.” Despite the fact that Gonsalves, the Twins (and Twins Daily) minor league pitcher of the year in 2016, has not pitched yet in 2017, Aiken thinks that there is a chance Twins fans will see him pitching at Target Field in the near future. “I know he’s in a really good spot right now, and I wouldn't be surprised if he’s up with the big squad by the end of this year, or maybe even next year.” However, asked which of the two is the better golfer, Aiken chuckled and gave it some deep thought. “I know he’ll find this somewhere, but I’m a better golfer than he is. He’d like to think otherwise, but we played many times together in the offseason. I’ll beat him. He’ll beat me. It’s a pretty good matchup, but I’d say I’m better than him.” Competition is a good thing, right? Back to Brady Aiken. What are his goals for the remainder of the 2017 season? “For me, it’s kind of a personal thing. This is my first full season. Not really thinking about where I want to be at the end of the year. Just kind of focusing on what I want to do now. Maintaining health is most important, obviously. So maintaining the health and growing every day. I’ve kind of been working on some mechanical things with my coaches. Just trying to lock that in. Make sure I can be repeatable and stuff like that. Go out there and compete on a daily basis.” Aiken is off to a slow start, He did not pitch against the Kernels. He missed them by one day as he was the Lake County starter in their Friday night game at Quad Cities. He’s struggled with control, but it is likely just a matter of time before he takes off and returns to the status of one of baseball’s best starting pitcher prospects. Gonsalves should return to the Lookouts rotation in about two or three weeks and will likely soon reclaim his spot as a top Twins starting pitching prospect. Can you imagine that high school team at Cathedral Catholic? Two top left-handed pitching prospects who were on the same high school team! How fun would that have been to watch? How fun for those who did watch them to see them both making their climb up the minor league systems toward the big leagues! Click here to view the article

According to the Twitter feed of the Atlanta Braves, the Minnesota Twins acquired right-handed pitcher Kevin Chapman in exchange for utility man Danny Santana.The Twins acknowledged the trade with a press release. The Twins designated Santana for assignment late last week, giving them ten days to work out a trade or place him on waivers. The 29-year-old Chapman has struggled early this season, posting a 7.71 ERA in 11.2 innings for Gwinnett, Atlanta's AAA team. He had spent parts of the previous four seasons with the Houston Astros. He had a 3-1 record with a 4.09 ERA in 55 big league innings over that time. In those 55 innings, he walked 31 and struck out 48. While Chapman is far from a prospect, the fact that Thad Levine was able to find a taker for the athletic Santana is great. The fact that Chapman is not on the 40-man roster is even better. Santana was one of the longest-tenured Twins players, having signed back in 2007 out of the Dominican Republic. He debuted for the Twins in 2014 and put up a terrific rookie season. He has not been able to replicate that success, however, in the two-plus seasons since. Santana was DFAd to make room for Ehire Adrianza. Also over the weekend, the Twins DFAd RH RP Michael Tonkin, giving them ten days to work out a trade for him or put him on waivers at some point. Click here to view the article

On Thursday night, the Cedar Rapids Kernels played their third and final game of a series against Lake County, Cleveland’s Low-A Midwest League affiliate. Before that game, I had the opportunity to interview a couple of their players who have ties to Minnesota Twins prospects. Tonight, let’s get to know a little bit about left-handed pitcher Juan Hillman. Juan Hillman was Cleveland’s second-round draft pick in 2015. The southpaw was a graduate of Olympia High School in Orlando. As you recall, the Twins first-round draft choice in 2014 was a shortstop out of Olympia, Nick Gordon.Hillman grew up in a large family, playing a lot of football. As a youngster, he went to visit his godfather, Tom Gordon. They were playing catch and the former All-Star saw that Hillman had a very strong throwing arm. He talked to him about playing baseball, and it was a decision that paid off for him. He moved in with the Gordon family and played his high school ball there. Of course, he was also a very good hitter in high school as well, something he acknowledges that he misses. “I do. Not going to lie, I miss hitting. Every day I want to take BP. But I can’t.” Hillman has moved up one level each year. He is off to a slow start so far this season, but he is choosing to trust the process rather than worry too much about the results. “I’m pretty fine where I’m at. Just sticking to my routines - day in, day out - and just making sure I go with it, no matter how outcomes come on the mound. I can’t change things up. It’s just a process I’ve got to trust. So far I’m trusting it and sticking to it.” Hillman has found Nick Gordon to be a great source for friendship and baseball discussion because he too has experienced ups and downs of minor league life. “He gave me good advice on what I need to do, what I need to focus on. Even though he’s over there, he pretty much knows things I’m going through. Like last year he told me he was off to a slow start, and he told me, Juan, you’re going through the same thing I was going through last year. Just stay positive and stay focused and you’ll overcome it.” The two have a strong bond from years of growing up together and similar experiences. “More of a friendship, but we do talk baseball every now and then. Lately it’s been more baseball, of course, because he sees that I’m going through some things right now. Just telling me that I need to read the batters’ swings and know which pitches to throw in certain counts, things like that.” Of course, there is some occasional, old-fashioned ribbing involved as well when two guys are as close as Juan Hillman and Nick Gordon. “We talk almost every day. I was actually on the phone with him today, talking about his home run (on Wednesday night). I was just joking around, asking him if he’s going to be a power hitter or a gap-to-gap hitter. Just always fun talk.” We learned earlier this year in an interview with Nick Gordon that he works out and gets instruction from Hall of Famer Barry Larkin. Others in their group include the likes of Francisco Lindor and Carlos Gonzalez. Juan Hillman is also there many days. “I know when they’re doing infield, I’m pretty much at first base. I like playing first base because I get to be an athlete a little bit, besides being on the mound. That’s it. I don’t take BP with them. I watch them. I’m the only one in the field shagging. It’s just fun being out there with those guys.” When asked what type of player he believes that Nick Gordon can become, Hillman was all smiles and focused on an intangible. “I’d say a leader on the team. That’s for sure. He’s mature, accountable. He’s a positive person, just wants the best for guys. As you can see, no matter how old he is compared to his teammates, he’s always trying to be that leader.” So back to Hillman, when he’s going good and pitching well, what is working? “If I’m doing good, I’ve got confidence out the roof. That’d be the main thing for me when I’m going good. Having the ability to throw any pitch in any count, that’s what I’m just trying to get back to. Right now, I’m off to a slow start, but I’m starting to get things figured out. Like I said I’m just trusting the process. It’s all I can do.” And his goals for the remainder of the season? “Just stick with my routine. Just make sure no matter what, at any point not get lackadaisical no matter how things are going. Stay healthy. Remain healthy as long as I can and try to get through this long season.” No matter how his season goes, he’s got a good friend and brother who's in Chattanooga ready to answer his calls. Click here to view the article

Rain won the day in Rochester, pushing Jose Berrios back a day. Chattanooga was supposed to play two games on Saturday, but instead they played just one and will play two on Sunday. Steve Martin would appreciate a ‘wild and crazy’ game for Ft. Myers across the state in St. Lucie. And the Kernels took a frustrating loss against Ft. Wayne on Saturday night, but I had a terrific soft taco and some rice at the game! And, I took lots more pictures so again, be sure to “Like” Twins Daily on Facebook and Twitter as I’ll be adding several more photos. And be sure to check back at Twins Daily throughout the coming week as I’ve got some stories and interviews that should be quite interesting.Find out everything and more that happened happened in the Twins system on Saturday. Before diving into the minor league stuff, we veer off just a little. Following a bad Twins loss on Saturday, the Twins announced that Michael Tonkin had been designated for assignment. Now that that is complete, the question must become, who will the Twins add to the 40 man roster and the 25-man roster before tomorrow's game? Well, if the team is looking for a reliever, then the options would include DJ Baxendale, Trevor Hildenberger, Alex Wimmers, Alan Busenitz, and maybe even Nick Burdi. Of course, the team really doesn't have a long relief option should they need one, so it's also possible that the team could lean to a starting pitcher to be able to eat some innings in an emergency. If that's the case, then the Twins could call up Jason Wheeler, David Hurlbut, Nik Turley or even Aaron Slegers to fill that role short term. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester, Pawtucket Box Score Game postponed by rain. They will play a doubleheader on July 5th. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 5, Pensacola 1 Box Score The Lookouts had a nice offensive day on Saturday. Pitching is what wins, so we’ll start there. Lefty Matt Tracy gave up only an unearned run on three hits over six innings. He struck out four and issued no walks. Luke Bard came on and struck out three over two perfect innings. Mason Melotakis threw another scoreless inning, giving him 12.2 innings over 10 appearances without allowing a run. Edgar Corcino led the offense. The outfielder went 2-4 with a walk, his sixth double and two RBI. Tanner English also went 2-4. LaMonte Wade went 1-2 and walked three times. Engelb Vielma and Dan Rohlfing both walked twice. Nick Gordon had a big, two-run single as well. These teams were suppose to play a second game on Saturday, but the second was postponed. They will now play two games on Sunday. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 11, St. Lucie 10 Box Score It was a wild game in St. Lucie on Saturday night. The Miracle scored seven runs in the 3rd inning and led 9-1 after four innings. However, their pitchers allowed four runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings. Chris Anderson made another start. He gave up five runs on 13 hits and a walk in five innings. He struck out four. Anthony McIver started the sixth inning and recorded just one out. He gave up four runs (three earned) on three hits and two walks. Sam Clay stranded the two inherited runners in the sixth inning and went two more innings. He didn’t allow a run, a hit or walk a batter, and he struck out two. Jonny Drozd gave up a run on two hits and a walk in the ninth, but he recorded the save. Zander Wiel led the offense. The first baseman went 4-5 with his 11th double and two RBI. He also stole a base. Shane Kennedy was a triple shy of the cycle. He went 3-5 with his second double and second home run. Sean Miller went 2-5. Rafael Valera added a triple. Playing in front of his hometown family and friends, Casey Scoggins added a double. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 3, Ft. Wayne 4 Box Score It was a frustrating loss for the Kernels on Saturday night in front of over 3,000 fans at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium. The team had a series of miscues that cost them outs and therefore runs. Domenick Carlini started. The left-hander was charged with four runs (two earned) on five hits and two walks in 5.1 innings. He struck out six. Colton Davis came on and worked two scoreless innings, issuing one walk and recording one strike out. Manager Tommy Watkins thinks Davis can be good and can be a late-inning option for his team. “Yeah, he can (be a late inning guy). He hadn’t pitched in a few days, so we got him in earlier today. He can be really good.” Alex Robinson got the final five outs, and four of them came on strikeouts. His fastball was sitting 95-96 and touched 97 as well. He also has what can be a devastating slider. Control has been a problem for him in recent years, but the Twins have put a lot of time into helping him develop. He’s got great velocity! Regarding Robinson Watkins said, “He’s been very good at locating his fastball.” The Kernels had six hits in the game. They scored one run in three innings, but they were unable to sustain any big innings. Ariel Montesino went 2-4 including a line drive between the first and second basemen. He hustled out of the box and turned it into his third double. Of the hustle, Watkins said “I was pumped about that. I think that will hopefully get him going. He got off to a slow start.” Travis Blankenhorn kept hitting the ball hard and was rewarded with two hits. Jermaine Palacios added his sixth double. Watkins said, “Very good. We talked to him about not trying to get a hit on every pitch. Wait for his pitch and put a good swing on it instead of trying to make it happen. He’s been doing that a lot better the past couple of games, against a lefty no less.” Following Sunday's game, the players will remain on the field and sign autographs for a bit. However, they have quite the road trip ahead. On Sunday early evening, the Kernels will get on their bus and they should arrive in Dayton, Ohio, at approximately 4:00 a.m. Ah, the glamorous life of minor league baseball. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Matt Tracy, Chattanooga Lookouts Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Zander Wiel, Ft. Myers Miracle SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Buffalo (12:35 CST) - RHP Jose Berrios Pensacola @ Chattanooga (DH at 12:15 CST) - Randy LeBlanc, TBD Ft. Myers @ St. Lucie (12:00 CST) - RHP Dereck Rodriguez Lake County @ Cedar Rapids (2:05 CST) - RHP Clark Beeker Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Saturday night’s games. Click here to view the article

CEDAR RAPIDS - As you know I’ve been in Cedar Rapids since Thursday afternoon. As I sit in the press box, five hours before tonight’s game, I thought I’d post some things out of my minor league notebook. Some will be from conversations I’ve had here in Cedar Rapids. Others will be observations, and we’ll also get to an injury update. Having been here for two games (and pre-games), I’ve taken approximately 1,000 pictures so far. Most of them are at least fairly good pictures. But I’d encourage you to “Like” Twins Daily on Facebook where I’ve posted over 100 of them, some of the better ones. Others will be used in reports like this, and the minor league reports, throughout the season.I like to encourage fans of the Twins and minor league baseball to make the trek down to Cedar Rapids. From St. Paul, it takes about four hours to get here. Cedar Rapids has such a rich baseball history going back well over 100 years. You’ll want to spend some time in their ballpark gift shop which also holds the Cedar Rapids Baseball Hall of Fame. The ballpark is beautiful. They do a great job with fan interaction and giveaways. This morning, I spent about 18 minutes walking around the stadium and talking about Cedar Rapids. Take a few minutes to watch and listen to this Twitter Live/Periscope video from earlier today. KERNELS NOTES If you’re a prospect hound, it’s fun to see players before they become big leaguers. Think back to that 2013 Cedar Rapids team, the first year of its affiliate with the Minnesota Twins organization. Players from that team who are now members of the Minnesota Twins include Byron Buxton, Max Kepler, Tyler Duffey, Taylor Rogers, Jorge Polanco. Which players from this year’s Kernels roster will be future Minnesota Twins? Who knows? But it is likely at least two of them will, and maybe seven or eight of them. It’s fun to watch and see them at this level and try to project for yourself. On Thursday night, Tyler Wells started for the Kernels. At 6-7 and 255 pounds, he can be an intimidating guy on the mound. He throws a good fastball in the 91-94 mph range, and he’s got pretty good command of it. He also has a good slider and a mid-70s slow curve ball. He began the inning with five straight strikeouts. He gave up a couple of runs in the third inning, but two scored on a broken bat bloop double that Christian Cavaness dove and missed. I think he’s one to watch. On Friday night, Sean Poppen was on the mound. He got hit pretty hard in the first inning, but he settled in and held Ft. Wayne to four runs (three earned) over 6.1 innings. I asked him after the game what adjustments he made. He said, “I like to stick with the fastball, but they came out swinging. I wasn’t locating the ball where I should. The next innings, I started working a little more offspeed just to throw them off balance.” Poppen is a control guy, but he also hits 92-93 with his fastball. He is a Harvard guy and obviously smart in a classroom but also on the diamond. “You can’t really judge yourself on wins. You can do your job to get late in the game and get out with a lead, but after that you just have trust in your relievers, and most of the time they pull through. Most of the time we’ve been getting run support and sometimes it doesn’t happen. Today we got plenty of run support.” Tonight we’ll see lefty Domenick Carlini start for the Kernels, and it’ll be right-hander Clark Beeker for Sunday afternoon’s game. Andrew Vasquez came on in the sixth inning on Thursday. He is impressive .He’s a big man (6-6, 240), and he throws hard. He has good pop and hides the ball well and has a good slider. To my untrained eye, he looks like a guy who has a chance to keep moving up and being a good reliever. Tom Hackimer posted a 0.58 WHIP in April yet somehow he has already blown three saves. I wouldn't worry about that as he has some really good stuff, and that side-winding delivery will be able to throw off a lot of hitters. The Kernels have three catchers and yet it seems to really work out well. Ben Rortvedt is the 19-year-old high draft pick, so you know he’s going to play. While he hasn’t hit much yet, you can see he’s got a swing that over time will develop well. But behind the plate, he is really impressive. I like to watch catchers, and he just seems to have all the tools. While he’s still got room to grow and will continue to get better, he has the makings of a real fine defender. Let’s start with the arm. He has great throw and catch mechanics, and he threw some absolute ropes to second base to nab would-be base-stealers on Thursday night. As impressive, he really seems to relish the role of leader of the staff. After each inning, he walks in with his pitcher, and I saw them continuing to talk in the dugout. I wouldn’t worry about the offense, though I think that will come. Rortvedt is legit behind the plate. Mitchell Kranson caught on Friday night. He’s a hitter first. That’s not to say he’s not a good catcher. I thought he did real well behind the plate. He too communicated well and blocked a few balls in the dirt. His arm isn’t Rortvedt like, but he has a strong and generally accurate arm. But he can hit. While he hasn’t had a lot of hits in these two games, it’s clear that he has a great approach. He knows the strike zone, but he is incredibly aggressive when he gets a strike. He looks like he wants to damage the baseball, and he’s got good power. In college, Kranson played all over. One year he did catch over 40 games for Cal-Berkeley. Another year, he played mostly third base. He’s listed at 5-10, but he played a solid first base one year for the Bears. He even got time in the outfield. This past offseason, Kranson worked hard. He lost 25 pounds without losing any muscle through workouts and dietary changes. This spring he’s only caught four or five games. He’s played some first and some third, and he’s in the lineup almost every game because of his ability to hit. Caleb Hamilton is another catcher on the roster. He was drafted by the Twins out of Oregon State just last year. He had never caught until last fall at the instructional league. He talked a lot about how much he’s grown to enjoy the position. But he also has played around the diamond. On Friday night, he was at third base. He made a great diving play to his backhand side, near the third base line, Got up and threw a pea across the diamond for the out. He’s played some in the outfield (starting in left field tonight) and first base as well. In college, he played a lot in the middle infield. I tweeted that I talked to Lake County starting pitchers Juan Hillman and Brady Aiken on Thursday night because they both have connection with a couple of top Twins prospects (those stories coming this week). There was another connection. The primary catcher for Lake County was Logan Ice. He was the catcher at Oregon State for three years and the roommate of Caleb Hamilton. Travis Blankenhorn was hit by a pitch on Thursday night, a slider that seemed to just keep coming in on him. He went down. It hit him in the knee, but he was able to stay in the game. On Friday, he had the marks to show it, a huge black and blue bruise. On Friday, he was back in the lineup, though as the team’s DH. On Saturday, he returns to third base. He’s been slumping since early-season success, but on Saturday, he crushed the ball a few times, lining out to right once and having a ball caught at the wall. Lewin Diaz is a big man. He’s not swift, that’s for sure, but he is a very young developing player with a ton of potential. He’s listed at 6-3 and 254 pounds, and that would seem to be accurate. At first base, it’s a work-in-progress, though he does put in the work. He’s a pretty good athlete for his size too. Offensively, he has struggled to connect with some good fastballs, but in the two games, I think he’s got three doubles and a triple. Yes, a triple. I think he’s got a world of offensive potential. Brandon Lopez is a pretty solid all-around player. Drafted last year out of Miami, he has a real professional approach at the plate. He knows the strike zone and does a nice job. He also isn’t afraid to take a real big swing and has some pop. He played shortstop at Miami, but he’s played mostly at second base for the Kernels. That’s because Jermaine Palacios is back. After what had to be a frustrating 2016 season, he is off to a great start this year. He was the Twins Daily Hitter of the Month. Of course I got here on Thursday and his 15-game hitting streak came to an end. But he has stung the ball, and on Friday night, he had a bases-clearing double off the base of the wall in left center field. Defensively, he has looked real solid too. He just looks much more confident this year, or at least right now. I chatted for quite some time yesterday with Aaron Whitefield. It’s still amazing to me that he didn’t play any baseball until he was 17. Before then, it was just fast-pitch softball (and some other sports like soccer and Australian Rules Football). He is a great athlete, at 6-4 and 200 pounds. He can run and he’s got a lot of power. I’ll write up a story on him this week as well. Impressive young man, and he won’t turn 21 until September. As I’m typing this, it’s now 4 ½ hours before the game. The relievers are set up in two groups. JP Martinez is hitting ground balls for pitcher fielding practice to one group on the main field with minor league pitching coordinator Eric Rasmussen observing. Down the right field line, LaTroy Hawkins is working with another group of pitchers (looks like the starters maybe) on pick-off plays at second base. LaTroy Hawkins has been here since Wednesday, and today will be his last day before he heads back to Minneapolis for a while, but he will be back. The players seem to really enjoy it. I was told by one player that Hawkins had a session with the pitchers and catchers and just had the players feel free to ask him questions about anything. What an opportunity for these kids. Brian Dinkelman is back for his second season as the Kernels hitting coach. I learned last night that when he got the job last year, he and his family moved to Cedar Rapids, so he’s hear all year around. He is originally from a suburb just outside of St. Louis, so he was very excited last night watching the Blues hold on to a late lead and win their Stanley Cup series. Tommy Watkins is in his first year as manager, and he has this team playing very well right now. While there aren’t a lot of high-end prospects on this roster, they have a good team, and all reports are that Watkins is doing a terrific job. I’ll have a chance to go one-on-one with him later today to see how he’s enjoying this experience. Again, if you ever have a chance to get down to Cedar Rapids, try to do it. It’s definitely worth it. INJURY UPDATES I got some reports today on several Twins minor leaguers who are currently on the disabled list. Here’s the quick report: Stephen Gonsalves threw three innings on Thursday. He’s still getting stretched out and is expected to miss three more weeks. That is the same timeline projection for Tyler Jay. Jake Reed is starting a throwing program now and will likely be out about another month. Byungho Park is playing in extended spring training games now. Working his way back from thoracic outlet syndrome surgery, Alex Muren is still working his way back to where he was pre-injury, but he’s getting close. Lewis Thorpe is also continuing to work. He’s healthy but working to get back to where he was. Others who are currently playing in EST and could be back soon, pending roster developments or other moves include outfielder Ryan Strausborger, infielders TJ White and Brian Olson, catcher AJ Murray, and pitchers Cam Booser, Michael Cederoth and Zack Tillery. Henry Centeno is rehabbing his elbow. Yohan Pino is still getting stretched out. Nick Greenwood is supposed to throw an inning down in Ft. Myers today. Well, this is probably enough ready material for a Saturday afternoon. I’m going to go watch some more infielder/pitcher practice and some batting practice. Again be sure to follow me on Twitter, as well as the Twins Daily Twitter account. And “Like” Twins Daily on Facebook. Click here to view the article

Wells was impressive early with those 5 strikeouts. I talked to him a bit afterwards, and he was frustrated a bit by the bloops that led to the runs. But he pitched pretty well. He's got a chance to move up in time. That bottom of the 9th was crazy. Their pitcher was throwing 95-96, but to the first three batters, he couldn't find the strike zone. Then all of a sudden, he figured it out and became unhittable.. he also got some help from a big strike zone at the point...

All Southern League series are five-game series.There can be some distance between the cities, so lots of morning games. There have been several days off too.

There hasn't been much. He's in Ft. Myers, and that's really all we know.

Since Arraez is out for the year, I hope it's before that...

Updated... thank you!

It's kind of like why I picked Berrios over Turley for SP of the Month, because he had 13+ more innings than Turley. Garver had about half, or even a little less, of the plate appearances as the other position players. It's not necessarily fair to a catcher, since he and Murphy are essentially splitting time.

Yeah, I think last night was Granite's third game back, and he seems to be locked in. I wonder if they might send him to Chattanooga briefly too before getting him to Rochester. But yeah, still a lot of season left.