Seth Stohs

Three new articles on Wild Xtra today. Check them out and add some comments.

11 All-Star appearances. 573 home runs. An American League MVP. Enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Harmon Killebrew was an all-time great on the baseball field. Yet most people who met the man said that his on-field accomplishments pale in comparison to the man he was off the baseball field and in his community. When Killebrew passed away, the Minnesota Twins announced that one player from each of their four full-season affiliates would be the recipient of the Harmon Killebrew Award for community service. At the time, Twins Minor League Director Brad Steil said, “In partnership with our minor league affiliates, we encourage our players to be active in their community and emphasize the importance of having a positive impact in society beyond the playing field. In the minor leagues, our players take part in all kinds of activities, including school reading programs, hospital visits, working with disabled youth, and youth baseball clinics. These experiences help our players understand responsibility, compassion, and giving back. Ultimately it helps them mature and grow as people.” The 2016 Harmon Killebrew Award recipient for Cedar Rapids is Nelson Molina.Throughout the week, we’ll write about the winners for the Twins other affiliates. Cedar Rapids Kernels: Nelson Molina Ft. Myers Miracle: Chattanooga Lookouts: Rochester Red Wings:Nelson Molina began the 2016 season in extended spring training. However, before the end of April, he was playing for the Cedar Rapids Kernels. He had a very nice season and was arguably one of the most improved prospects in the Twins system. ----------------------------- For more information on Nelson Molina, Get To Know Him in this article from May. ----------------------------- In 94 games for the Kernels, he hit .300/.374/.381 (.755) with 15 doubles, three triples and two home runs. He primarily played third base. Due to injuries, he played his natural position, shortstop, during the Kernels playoff run. At season’s end, Twins Daily named him as a Twins Minor League All-Star. Of his 2016 season, Molina said, “ I feel great. I feel really happy about it. I worked really hard in the past offseason to prepare myself physically and mentally to have a great season and accomplish all the goals. Also the opportunity of helping my team to make the playoffs and have a great season as a group, it's an amazing feeling. We became a family during the year.” He was equally impressive off the field with the Kernels, and for it he was recognized as the Kernels recipient of the Killebrew Award for Community Service. Ryne George is the Kernels’ Community Relations Manager. He said, “Player appearances were evenly spread out this year for the Cedar Rapids Kernels players so at first it was a little tough to choose the Harmon Killebrew Award winner out of a great group of guys. Looking back through the over 40 player appearances we did this year, Nelson Molina kept standing out to me.” On a board in the Kernels clubhouse, there is a sign-up sheet where players are able to volunteer to go to schools and read with kids. Every time I have been there, the list has been filled. George continued, “In his first two days of being in Cedar Rapids Nelson volunteered to go along with me to visit two schools for our Summer Reading Program. English is not his first language so to volunteer to stand in front of 400 kids, talk to the kids about the importance of reading and then to read a goofy book showed me that Nelson loved giving back to the community.” Molina really relishes the opportunities to work in the communities, especially with kids. He said, “To win the Harmon Killebrew Award for community service means a lot to me because I always love to help the people one way or the other. It is something that I’ve liked to do since I was a child. Now I have the opportunity to do community service with the Twins organization. I really enjoy it a lot, so to be recognized for doing that is really special for me.” Molina was quite active. “In Cedar Rapids this year, I did different types of outings like visiting different schools and read books to the kids, visit summer camps, and play different sports with the kids. We do baseball clinics at the stadium with a lot of kids, teaching them the primary things about baseball. I also went to talk to a softball team about the game, discipline and the importance of chemistry in a team.” That was an event that stood out to George too. “My favorite appearance Nelson did was his visit to a girls softball team with ages ranging from 8 to 14 years old. He is very active in youth baseball back in his home country of Puerto Rico and even sponsors a club! I knew he would be a great influence on the girls, and he did not disappoint. Nelson met with the team and talked to them about leadership, teamwork, the importance of practice and how that translates into the real world outside of sports. After the appearance, I heard nothing but great things from the parents and coaches from the softball club. The girls really took what Nelson talked about to heart and it really brought that team together.” While Molina was drafted by the Twins two years after Harmon Killebrew passed away, he knows how important Killebrew is in the Twins history. Molina hopes to build off of a solid 2016 season. “In this offseason, I’ve got a really good plan to get myself bigger and stronger and gain speed. I also am going to play winter ball to get more experience as a ball player." George concluded with the following, “It was a pleasure to work with Nelson this year and I wish him the best of luck in his career. He has a bright future on and off the field!” Click here to view the article

How he performs in the AFL won't answer that.

I understand what you're saying, but with the draft, it's different. Because of the slotting of the first ten rounds, teams often strategize in the 7-10 rounds, senior signs, etc. That's one possibility. Another possibility is that the Twins were the one team willing to pay 3rd round money. They obviously really liked him to go over slot by 4x. I really like this signing for upside. Fits the strategy in drafting Kirilloff, Rortvedt, Miranda, Bolazovic and Benninghoff. Upside!

Correct... this happens quite a bit now. Lucas Giolito was still a 1st round pick out of high school after having TJ. Brady Aiken had TJ before the draft, knowing he wasn't going to pitch for a year. Cleveland took him in the 1st round.

Today, I’m excited to post another Q&A with a Minnesota Twins prospect. Tyler Benninghoff was the Twins 11th-round draft pick in June out of high school in Kansas. He signed fairly quickly for well over slot. You see, many projected him to be drafted in the top three rounds, if healthy. When the Twins announced the signing, they also announced that he was going to have Tommy John surgery. He had the surgery in late June with Dr. James Andrews performing the procedure. Benninghoff got to spend a little time at home after surgery but soon went to Ft. Myers to begin his rehab. He’ll be spending a lot of time in Ft. Myers the next 12-18 months.Recently, Seth was able to catch up with the talented right-hander. Below you will find his responses. Seth Stohs (SS): Growing up in Kansas, which was your favorite team to follow? Who were some of your favorite players? Tyler Benninghoff (TB): My favorite team to watch growing up was the Royals, and my favorite player has to be Alex Gordon. SS: What were some of the better memories of your high school baseball career? Did you play other sports or were you involved in other activities? TB: Some of the better memories from high school ball would include playing with my brother sophomore year. I did play football all four years and played basketball as well. SS: What was the recruitment process like for you in high school? Was it a process you enjoyed? TB: The recruitment process was definitely enjoyable, getting to go on visits to great schools like Oklahoma, Mississippi State, and Arkansas. SS: You committed to Arkansas. How difficult was the decision to sign with the Twins as opposed to going to college? What were some of the determining factors? TB: The decision was a difficult one especially having my brother at Arkansas. However, the opportunity at hand was too great to pass up and the decision was made between my family and I based on the fact I had the best opportunity to rehab and develop as a baseball player with the Twins. SS: Did you have the chance to speak with many scouts before the draft? What was your interaction with the Twins? TB: I had been in contact with Mr. Mike Ruth and he was fully aware of my situation and had said the Twins were still interested and after some negotiations we came to terms we all agreed on. SS: The Twins took you in the 11th round. What was your draft-following experience? How did you find out that you had been drafted? How busy was your phone at that moment? TB: My draft-following experience was very interesting considering I found out I had been drafted while at Premier Baseball doing some work on my arm. Following that, I received a bunch of congratulatory texts and phone calls from friends and family. SS: What has the adjustment like for you, from the high school game to the professional game, both on and off the field? TB: The biggest adjustment I have had to make so far is figuring out how to keep my body healthy and ready to work out or condition every day. SS:At what point during your season did you realize that something wasn’t right with your elbow? How difficult were the discussions and your eventual decision to have Tommy John surgery? TB: I had injured my arm throwing before the season. I had known immediately something was wrong with my arm, but I wanted to exhaust every possibility before getting Tommy John. Eventually that's what it came to, and I was at peace with that. SS: What have the last few months been like for you in terms of getting to Ft. Myers and your rehab process? TB: The last few month have been exactly what I expected and wanted, I get to do my rehab and work out every day and so far it's been great. SS: How would you describe yourself as a pitcher? What pitches do you throw? TB: I would say my best ability is my pitch ability. I throw a fastball, curveball, and a change-up. SS: What are the areas of your game that you would like to spend time working to improve? TB: Areas I want to work on are increasing my velocity and developing a true slider. SS: What do you have planned for the offseason? Are you going to spend most of your time in Ft. Myers? TB: I am going to be here rehabbing in Ft. Myers and will be here most of the time, but get to go home for Thanksgiving and Christmas. SS: Who are some of the people who have helped you get to this point in your career? TB: There have been many people especially my family most importantly, and other important people like Jeremy Jones, Mark Goodwin, Casey Shaw, Keith Picht, Rob Jackson and many more. SS: Favorite Baseball movie? TB: Bull Durham. Thank you very much to Tyler Benninghoff for taking time to answer our questions. Feel free to send in your questions and comments. Click here to view the article

They are going to be a blast to follow this year!

If Berrios was still a "prospect" he'd certainly still be the Twins #1 prospect.. I assume Ted would agree?

Unless he dominates, I'd give him the full season in AA. There's absolutely no rush, and it'd be wise not to rush him (in my opinion). He doesn't even have to be added to the 40 man roster until after 2017, and he's already at AA. He can develop at AA in 2017, and then he's got three option years, so even starting in 2018, there's no rush. He's too talented and they need to do what's best for him (which in turn is what's best for him), and I think that's not pushing too quickly.

In February of 2012, we merged four prominent Twins blogs into one. It was the start of Twins Daily. We are quite proud of the community of Twins fans that we have established here at Twins Daily. Our forums are busy, filled with generally intelligent, civilized discussion on Twins topics, positive, negative or informative. We encourage you to create your own blog on our site for more discussion. If you’re like us, you’re not just a Minnesota Twins fan. Many of you, presumably, are Minnesota sports fans. We have Monday morning quarterback tendencies and have all had our moments of Vikings disappointment. That’s true even if we were born since the last time the team lost a Super Bowl. Names like Herschel Walker, Mike Lynn, and Gary Anderson cause a reaction inside us. It is the same reaction many Minnesotans still get when they hear the names of Norm Green or Nick Leddy. Minnesota fans love Minnesota sports, at least a couple of them.Tonight, the Minnesota Wild will take the ice in St. Louis for their first game of the 2016-17 season. This should be an exciting season for the Wild. Last spring they fired Mike Yeo. He was replaced by Bruce Boudreau. The 2016-17 roster is a nice combination of veterans like Zach Parise, Ryan Suter and newcomer Eric Staal. They also have a group of 25-and-unders that remain exciting. Names like Mikael Granlund, Jason Zucker, Charlie Coyle, Erik Haula and Nino Neiderreiter need to take a step forward. Two years ago, we launched Wild Xtra with the same goals and the same mission as we have here at Twins Daily. We look to provide quality articles that provoke thought and discussion. We would love to have a intelligent, civil discussion. We want to encourage independent writers to create their own blogs on the site to share their thoughts on the club. The Minnesota Vikings are the NFL’s lone undefeated team as they enter their bye weekend. Even with injuries to their quarterback, future Hall of Fame running back, several offensive linemen and others, the team has played very well. The offense has been all right. The Vikings defense is elite, one of the best in the game. Vikings fans have had reason for optimism in various years over the last decade or so. This year is something different. There is a feeling that this defense can carry the team to the Super Bowl. There is a lot of season remaining for that to be the case, but the team and its players are certainly deserving of its accolades to this point. We launched Vikings Journal a little over two years ago. It has undergone several changes but there is a core of writers each week that provide content. As important, there is a community in the forums that civilly discuss the goings-on with the Vikings and the NFL. Twins Daily, Vikings Journal and Wild Xtra are tied together under the MinnCentric family. If you are registered at Twins Daily, you can use the same Username and Password on the Wild Xtra and Vikings Journal sites. That makes it easy to go from site to site and comment or blog. We would really like to help build those communities. Obviously we appreciate you spending some of your time each day reading and commenting at Twins Daily. But today we want to encourage you to take a couple of minutes of your time to visit Wild Xtra and Vikings Journal. Register your username and spend a few minutes reading the content, and commenting in the forums. Also, if you would like to express your thoughts on the Wild or the purple, start your own blogs. You can follow the MinnCentric sites on social media: Follow Twins Daily, Wild Xtra and Vikings Journalon Twitter. Like Twins Daily, Wild Xtra and Vikings Journal on Facebook. Give these sites a chance. We really appreciate all of your support despite the losing we have seen from the Twins over the last half-dozen seasons. The Minnesota Wild and Minnesota Vikings both have a good chance to make the playoffs and an opportunity to do some special things this season. Hop on the bandwagons and help us grow. Click here to view the article

https://twitter.com/SethTweets/status/785969532829446144

In my opinion... Mauer shouldn't play more than 2 days in a row in 2017. They have to keep him as strong as they can, so more time off is what should happen. Molitor played him almost every day the first 2+ months of the season. He was performing, but then his legs left him... So yeah, I'd play Vargas at 1B against all left-handed pitching, and also against the occasional right-hander when the Twins see RHP often. The issue becomes Park. What if he's actually healthy this year coming out of spring training and can hit like most think he will. He should be playing a lot and fits into the 1B/DH situation.

What are we to make of the 2016 season of Kennys Vargas? In 47 games, he hit .230/.333/.500 (.833) with 11 doubles and ten home runs. The slugging first baseman/designated hitter will be out of options in 2017. Can he be an everyday big league player or will he need to fit into a role of some type? Let’s dig into some of his minor league and big league numbers to see what they might tell us. Let’s start by looking back a bit.The Twins signed the hefty slugger from Puerto Rico in 2009. He had not been selected in the first-year players draft, but the Twins had enough interest to sign him as a non-drafted free agent. He spent his 18- and 19-year-old seasons in the Gulf Coast League. He then spent a season in Elizabethton. Unfortunately, while playing for the E-Twins, he was suspended 50 games for using a performance enhancing drug. By the rules at the time, his fifty games only counted during the Elizabethton season. That meant in 2012, his season didn’t start until very late. He played just 44 games in Beloit. He spent 2013 in Ft. Myers and 2014 in New Britain, at least until the Twins called him up. He debuted August 1st, on his 24th birthday. He provided power that year and was the team’s Opening Day starter in 2015 but things went poorly. He was optioned twice, once to Rochester, and then once to Chattanooga where he was able to find his offense again. He spent most of 2016 in AAA, though he came up in early July and provided offense for a month. He struggled and a numbers situation (re: pitching issues) had him sent back to the Red Wings. He returned for September and the struggles continued. However, he did make a couple of significant improvements in his game in 2016 that are intriguing as we go forward. Let’s take a look at his numbers at each level of the minor leagues as well as each of his three big league seasons. Low A - 41 G, 186 PA - .318/.419/.610 (1.030) with 10 doubles, 11 homers High A - 125 G, 520 PA - .267/.344/.468 (.813) with 31 doubles, 19 homers AA - 132 G, 556 PA - .282/.376/.483 (.859) with 20 doubles, 24 homers AAA - 134 G, 553 PA - .246/.374/.438 (.812) with 22 doubles, 21 homers MLB - 158 G, 595 PA - .251/.309/.434 (.743) with 25 doubles, 24 homers While Vargas was never considered a prospect, he has always put up some intriguing numbers, He had 20-25 home runs potential. He took quality plate appearances and was willing to take walks. Some of the concerns were that he never really had a good glove at first base. He was very much one-dimensional and that one dimension wasn’t elite. Low A - BB% - 15.0%, K% - 22.0%, XBH% - 11.8% High A - BB% - 9.6%, K% - 20.2%, XBH% - 10.2% AA - BB% - 12.4%, K% - 18.0%, XBH% - 8.3% AAA - BB% - 16.6%, K% - 23.1%, XBH% - 8.0% MLB - BB% - 7.6%, K% - 29.2%, XBH% - 8.2% As you can see above, he has walked at every level, until he got to the big leagues. But the following chart will maybe shed some light on this. MLB Time Only 2014 - BB% - 5.1%, K% - 26.9%, XBH - 8.5% 2015 - BB% - 4.9%, K% - 29.3%, XBH - 4.9% 2016 - BB% - 13.6%, K% - 32.2%, XBH - 11.8% While the 2016 MLB sample size was smaller, he improved two things. First, he greatly improved his approach at the plate and willingness to walk. Over those first two big league seasons, he walked 21 times and struck out 117 times. While he struck out at a greater percentage in 2016, he showed much more power as well. Consider this: Vargas’ 11.8% extra-base hit percentage falls just behind Brian Dozier’s 11.9% in 2016. So clearly maintaining a nearly 12% extra base hit rate doesn’t seem realistic, but the 8% average that he’s had in the upper levels of the minor leagues would mean 40 extra base hits over 500 plate appearances. And if he can even walk 10% of his plate appearances, that would be 50 walks. I think a realistic season for Vargas, playing four to five games each week, would be .250/.325/.400 (.725) with about 22 doubles and 20 homers. It’s a solid season, but it’s certainly not what a team would want from a DH and part-time first baseman. So, let’s consider another set of details, his lefty-righty splits. In 2016: Vs RHP - 125 PA - .168/.280/.374 (.654) Vs LHP - 52 PA - .378/.462/.800 (1.262) Career: Vs RHP - 384 PA - .223/.281/.411 (.693) Vs LHP - 211 PA - .302/.360/.474 (.834) In other words, Kennys Vargas mashes against left-handed pitchers. The Twins have a left-handed hitting first baseman who needs days off. We saw that the last couple of the months of the season. Paul Molitor did not play Joe Mauer often against left-handed pitching. It’s a strategy that makes sense for all involved, for Mauer, for Vargas and for the team. Just a short paragraph on Vargas’s defense. It’s OK. It’s below average, but it’s OK enough to put out there a couple of times a week. It’s a clear step, or six, down from Joe Mauer’s first base defense, but again, it’s acceptable. Vargas had an encouraging 2016 season after a very disappointing 2015 in Minnesota and Rochester. He did in 2016 what he was asked to do when the Twins sent him down to the minors in 2015. He had a better approach at the plate, and hit for much more power. It was a big year for him, knowing he would be out of options in 2017. Vargas showed enough to be in the plans to get some playing time next year. Click here to view the article

I didn't put them all in the same category of MLB player... I put them in a sentence of Twins HS hitting draft picks that have had solid MLB careers. And I should have put Plouffe in there. Revere's got 5-6 years of MLB service time. He fits the "had a solid MLB career" status. Waldrop, Rainville and Boyd were HS pitchers, and I noted that they haven't had much success in that type of draft pick. I certainly don't expect anything draft-related to be perfect...

I would say that Miguel Sano, Byron Buxton, Jose Berrios, Max Kepler... those are the guys with the 'star potential.' They are no longer on these lists, which automatically drops the overall rankings down. I believe Nick Gordon can be a potential All Star. Fernando Romero, Alex Kirilloff, Lewin Diaz, and Wander Javier have huge potential. They're just a ways off. Jay and Gonsalves can be 2/3 starters and there's a ton of value in that. Jay could be an elite reliever, and there's value in that. The Twins have done best when drafting high school athletes in the 1st round. Examples include Joe Mauer, Torii Hunter, Michael Cuddyer, Ben Revere, Denard Span, and hopefully Byron Buxton is in that category. (So, as you can imagine, I really liked the Kirilloff, Rortvedt, Baddoo and Miranda picks in 2016!) The college pitcher route hasn't gone as well, though outside of Adam Johnson, they haven't drafted any real high in the draft. Kyle Gibson and Alex Wimmers were drafted in the 20s. They haven't drafted many college hitters in the first round either. Levi Michael was drafted like 30th overall. It hasn't worked but it doesn't make it a bad strategy and the sample size is way too small. High school pitchers... Stewart is certainly a question mark at this point. But I think we all still believe in Berrios and he was a late first-round pick.

Very good point and question... I would think we'd be thrilled. Someone whose opinion I trust a ton on this kind of stuff told me that I ranked two guys took low... 1.) Kohl Stewart. 2.) Brusdar Graterol.

It's what I think most try to do. Consider ceiling and likelihood of reaching that ceiling and come up with the list.

I would say he's out of the Top 50... or I just missed his name and he maybe should be in the low 30s range probably.

Most of his errors came early, and he had a really bad week or two stretch right after the announcement of his brother's 50-game suspension. I don't want to say that this is the reason with certainty, but it has to have an effect. They're very close. Romero has the highest ceiling. Jay is very close... if he can be a starter., but there are questions there. Gonsalves has very good stuff... I don't want to minimize that at all.

No way does Ortiz win it... that would be sad... But yeah, I don't think Dozier is a given for the Silver Slugger... Altuve and Cano were both terrific too.