Seth Stohs

This is where I'll disagree a little. Just because we never see his emotions does not mean he doesn't have tremendous drive and passion. It doesn't mean he doesn't care. For some, being able to control one's emotions helps make them great. I'd have to think that's part of why his career numbers in "clutch" situations, late in close games, runners in scoring position, are better than his overall numbers. Because he can stay calm when others might try to do too much. I just don't think the fact that he doesn't outwardly show fire means that he doesn't have tremendous passion for the game.

I can't help but wonder how things for the Twins and Mauer's career perception would be different if his RBI double in the playoffs had been accurately called fair.

There is no doubt in any Twins fan’s mind that Rod Carew is one of, if not the greatest players in team history. He is beloved by Twins fans who may or may not even remember his playing career which ended (and not prettyily) with the Twins after the 1978 season, nearly 40 years ago. Now consider this. In his 12 seasons in a Twins uniform, his on-base percentage was .393. His slugging percentage was .448. His OPS was .841. Now consider, Joe Mauer career numbers in a Twins uniform include a .393 on-base percentage, a .447 slugging percentage and an OPS of .840. Now, not even I will tell you that Joe Mauer’s Twins career has been as great as Carew’s. Carew was an All-Star all 12 of those seasons. Mauer has participated in six. Mauer has won three batting titles. No catcher had a batting championship in about 55 years when Mauer did it the first time, and no American League catcher had ever done it. Carew won so many American League batting titles that Major League Baseball announced at this year’s All-Star Game that all AL batting champions going forward will win the Rod Carew Award. No, I won’t tell you that Joe Mauer is the greatest player in Twins history. There’s no reason to make such claims. What I think the numbers below will illustrate for you is that he is, without a doubt, one of the top five hitters in Minnesota Twins history. (In fact, I wouldn’t rank him lower than fourth if I were asked to.)Below is where Joe Mauer ranks in most offensive statistics in his career with the Twins. Obviously there have been a lot of really good players, and there have been Hall of Fame caliber players. To be an all-time great for a team, obviously longevity plays a huge role. There aren’t a lot of players who have played 12 years in the big leagues with the same organization anymore. It seems that with greatness these days, players are expected to be more. Mauer is expected to keep hitting .330 every season despite the fact that he is now 33-years-old and caught for the first 14 seasons of his professional career (not to mention the years of amateur ball). People seem to forget the fact that when he suffered his season-ending concussion late in the 2013 season, he was hitting .324/.404/.476 (.880) which as 42% better than the average player by OPS+. BC (Before Concussion): .323/.405/.468 (.873) - 135 OPS+ AC (After Concussion): .272/.356/.385 (.741) - 105 OPS+ WHERE JOE MAUER RANKS IN MINNESOTA TWINS HISTORY? Games Played: 1,573 - #6 in Twins history As you would expect, Harmon Killebrew (1,939) leads the way with Kirby Puckett (1,783) about a season behind. Next up for Mauer is Rob Carew (1,635). By the end of his current contract, Mauer should have played around 1,900 games and in clear sight of Killebrew’s top spot. WAR (Wins Above Replacement): #4 in Twins history Rod Carew has a big advantage in this one, sitting at 63.7 for his Twins career. Harmon Killebrew was at 53.7, and Kirby Puckett was at 50.9. By Baseball-Reference, Mauer has been worth about 2.4 WAR in 2016. He’s not going to catch Carew, but with two more seasons like 2016, he’ll easily pass Puckett and Killebrew in the Twins rankings. Runs Scored: 879 - #5 in Twins history Kirby Puckett tops the list at 1,071. Harmon Killebrew is #2 at 1047. Next up for Mauer on this list is Kent Hrbek and 903. By the end of the two years left on his current contract, he should have passed a thousand runs scored and be right on the tail of Killebrew. Hits: 1,814 - #4 in Twins history Kirby Puckett leads the way with 2,304 hits. Second is Rod Carew at 2,085. Next on the list for Mauer is Tony Oliva, whom he should pass around the All-Star break next year. He will likely pass Carew by the end of the 2018 season as well. Doubles: 360 - #2 in Twins history Only Kirby Puckett has more doubles in Twins history. He hit 414 doubles in his career. Though inexplicably he has hit fewer doubles this season, Mauer is typically good for 30+ doubles a year. If he can reach that number the next two seasons, he’ll likely be atop this category by the end of 2018 too. Triples: 28 - #13 in Twins history Rod Carew tops this list by a bunch with 90. Next up for Mauer will be John Castino at 34. Unlikely he’ll do that, though triples are a bit random. Home Runs: 129 - #12 in Twins history Obviously Harmon Killebrew tops this category with 475 homers. Kent Hrbek is well behind at 293. Eight players in Twins history have hit over 200 homers in a Twins uniform. Mauer isn’t going to get there, but it’s possible he jumps into ninth place. With 34 homers, he can pass his current hitting coach, Tom Brunansky, who hit 163 homers in his six seasons with the Twins. Next for Mauer are Jacque Jones (132) and Michael Cuddyer (141). RBI: 800 - #6 in Twins history On Tuesday night, Mauer knocked in the 800th run of his career. He is the sixth player in Twins history to reach that number. Again, Killebrew leads the way with 1,325 RBI. Mauer should surpass Justin Morneau’s 860 next season. Walks: 811 - #3 in Twins history Surprise! It’s Harmon Killebrew leading the way in this category as well with 1,321 punch outs. Early next season, he will pass Kent Hrbek who walked 838 times in his Twins career. Intentional Walks: 137 - #2 in Twins history Mauer is just 15 intentional walks behind Killebrew’s 152. This statistic speaks to the respect that Mauer has around the league and with opposing managers. Even this year, there have been several times that Mauer has been walked to get to Miguel Sano. Strikeouts: 852 - #5 in Twins history You’ve got it! Killebrew leads this one by a wide margin too, with 1,314. Torii Hunter is #2 on the list with 975. Mauer will pass Gary Gaetti late this season or early next year, and he’s almost certain to pass both Puckett and Hunter before the end of his contract is up. Batting Average: .310 - #3 in Twins history (2,000+ PAs), #5 in Twins history (1,500 PAs) Carew leads this one by a healthy margin with a .334 career average. Next up is Kirby Puckett at .318. That is the same average as Lyman Bostock who didn’t reach 2,000 plate appearances with the Twins. Paul Molitor also didn’t reach 2,000 plate appearances, but he hit .312 over his three seasons with the Twins. Let’s hope that Mauer is able to keep his career average over .300. On-Base Percentage: .393 - #1 in Twins history (2,000+ PAs) Mauer is currently tied with Carew at .393. They are just ahead of Chuck Knoblauch’s .391 on-base percentage during his six seasons with the Twins. OPS: .840 - #5 in Twins history Killebrew tops the list at .901. Shane Mack’s underrated time with the Twins ranks second on the list at .854. Kent Hrbek ranks third at .848, and Rod Carew is at .841. So there you have it… a look at the raw numbers of Joe Mauer, with how they rank among Twins all-time leaders. In his 13 years in the big leagues, Mauer has some terrific overall numbers. His rate numbers have certainly taken a tumble the last few years, again, since the concussion. 2014 and 2015 were difficult, but 2016 has been a nice season for Mauer. No, not a .330 season, but a very solid season. Mauer is hitting .276/.376/.406 (.781) which equates to 13% above average (113 OPS+). HALL OF FAME? Yes, Joe Mauer will be inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame. He will also be the last player in Twins history to wear the #7. But is the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown still a possibility for Mauer. It’s never a real good reason to simply compare the numbers of any player against current Hall of Famers because there are certainly several Hall of Famers who, under today’s scrutiny,would likely not be inducted. But, just so you have it at your fingertips, here is a complete list of the 17 players in the Hall of Fame who played primarily at catcher: Johnny Bench. Yogi Berra. Roger Bresnahan. Roy Campanella. Gary Carter. Mickey Cochrane. Bill Dickey. Buck Ewing. Rick Ferrell. Carlton Fisk. Josh Gibson. Gabby Hartnett. Ernie Lombardi. Biz Mackey. Mike Piazza. Ray Schalk. Deacon White. Add Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez who should go into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot, though likely not for a couple of years. I feel like Mauer will likely be one of those guys who is on the ballot all ten years and then doesn’t get it. But I would be pleasantly surprised if he does. Like I said earlier. I get it. Mauer set the bar high when he came to the big leagues as a 20 year old in 2004. He set it high when he became the first American League catcher to win a batting title. And then he did it two more times. He set the bar high when he led the league in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS in 2009 when he won the AL MVP. People want to complain about the contract. He earned the contract. Get over it. People want to complain about him not catching. There isn’t a doctor who would support that idea. It won’t happen. Get over it. The doctors won’t support it because he had a brain injury. Its effects lasted a few years. He’s been durable the last few years, and he’s become a pretty good defensive first baseman through hard work. He’s been in the lineup most days. He doesn’t say the exciting things to the media. Oh well. He doesn’t pull the ball often enough. He doesn’t expand the strike zone. He takes too many first-pitch strikes. He doesn’t show enough fire. He should get thrown out of games more often. He may not be the perfect baseball player. He may not be what you picture for a great major league player. But, if you consider his position, his rankings in the organization’s history, and the respect that he has earned in the game of baseball, he’s had a pretty good career (note - ‘pretty good’ is low-balling it significantly). I get that the Twins haven’t been great the last several years. I get that Mauer’s career trajectory took a huge fall the day that that foul tip jarred his face mask. But of all of the things to complain about in 2016 for Twins fans, Joe Mauer (anything about Joe Mauer) should not be in the top 15-20 things. Maybe it's time for Twins fans to realize the greatness that we have had the opportunity to see the last 13 seasons so that kids wh will be our age in 40 years don't think more highly of Mauer than we do today. Click here to view the article

It was no surprise that the Twins needed to get an arm to Kansas City after Friday night’s 11 inning, seven hour (with rain and light delays). The specifics may have been a bit surprising. Adalberto Mejia was called up to the Twins, his first big league promotion. Kennys Vargas was the one optioned to Rochester where he’ll have to spend the next ten days. Because of a short start from lefty Hector Santiago, Mejia also made his major league debut with two outs in the fifth inning. He got a groundout to end that inning. He went another two innings and gave up two runs on five hits. Following the game, he was optioned back to Rochester. The Twins will promote another pitcher to take his spot before Sunday’s series finale.Because Mejia was promoted, Omar Bencomo was brought back to Rochester to make the Saturday start. The Red Wings also officially announced the signing of veteran Edward Mujica. Also, lefty Randy Rosario was promoted from Ft. Myers to the Chattanooga bullpen. That means that five of the six Miracle starters at the beginning of the season have now made it to Chattanooga. Let’s get to the Saturday game action: RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 1, Gwinnett 5 (7-Rain) Box Score Omar Bencomo was summoned back to the Red Wings pretty last minute to make this start. He went five innings, though he gave up five runs on nine hits and a walk. He struck out four. Rio Ruiz took him deep twice. Neil Ramirez got the final two outs of the sixth inning before the game was called due to rain. The Red Wings managed just six hits. Wilfredo Tovar went 1-2 with a walk and his 22nd double. He scored the lone run on a single off the bat of Adam Brett Walker. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 3, Montgomery 1 Box Score With Bencomo heading back to the Red Wings, Eades was back into the Lookouts rotation, at least for this start. He was tremendous. He gave up just one hit over six shutout innings. He walked one and struck out four. 51 of his 81 pitches were strikes. Zack Jones gave up a run on a hit in two innings. He walked two and struck out two. Raul Fernandez recorded his third save with a perfect ninth. TJ White had a strong game. The infielder went 3-4 with his fourth double and third triple. Stuart Turner was 2-4 with his 21st double. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 7, Jupiter 4 Box Score Before they batted, the Miracle were down 4-0, but they clawed their way back and scored seven unanswered runs to claim the win. It was a tough start for Sam Clay. The lefty gave up four runs on two hits and six walks in 4.2 innings. He gave up all four runs right away in the first inning. He struck out four. Luke Westphal came on and walked two and struck out two over 1.1 scoreless innings. Cam Booser struck out five of the six batters he faced in his two perfect innings. Nick Anderson recorded his seventh Miracle save with two strikeouts in a scoreless ninth. Down 4-0 before they batted, Tanner English and Joe Maloney each hit solo home runs. English was 2-5. The homer was his fourth. Maloney went 2-4 with his fourth homer. He drove in four runs in the game. Chris Ibarra went 2-5 with his third double. Trey Vavra went 2-3 with a walk. Daniel Kihle went 2-4. Nick Gordon added his 22nd double. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 7, Burlington 3 Box Score The Kernels scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to take the lead. They added three more insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth and earned the win. Tyler Beardsley started and gave up two runs on four hits over five innings. He walked one and struck out two. Michael Cederoth gave up a run on two hits and a walk over 2.1 innings. He struck out two. Max Cordy got the final two outs of the 8th inning, one on a strikeout. Tom Hakimer gave up a hit and hit a batter in a scoreless ninth inning. JJ Fernandez went 2-3 with his 24th double. Travis Blankenhorn went 2-4. Casey Scoggins went 2-4 with a walk. Brandon Lopez went 1-3 and walked twice. Nelson Molina contributed his 14th double. E-TWINS E-NOTES Elizabethton 2, Burlington 4 Box Score While the Kernels beat Burlington on Saturday night, the E-Twins dropped a game in Burlington. Random fun with minor league cities, of course. Miguel De Jesus started. He gave up three runs on three hits in five innings. He walked four and struck out six. Johan Quezada gave up a run on three hits over his two innings. Quin Grogan walked one and struck one out in his scoreless inning. The Twins managed just four hits in the game. Lewin Diaz was 1-3 with a walk and his 14th double. Alex Kirilloff was also 1-3 with a walk. Caleb Hamilton added his fifth double. Roberto Gonzalez doubled for the third time. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Twins 3, Red Sox 1 Box Score Jordan Balazovic put together the best start of his very young professional career on Saturday morning. The young Canadian threw six shutout innings to earn his second win. He gave up five hits, walked none and struck out two. Matz Schutt hit two and gave up a hit in a scoreless seventh inning. Juan Gamez made his second pitching appearance. In this one, he gave up a run on two hits and a walk in just two-thirds of an inning. Clark Beeker got the final out of the eighth and then pitched a scoreless ninth for his second GCL save. Juan Miranda went 2-3 with his seventh double. Lean Marrero was 2-4 with his third stolen base. Justin Hazard knocked his fifth double. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Ryan Eades, Chattanooga Lookouts Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – TJ White, Chattanooga Lookouts SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Gwinnett (1:05 CST) - LHP Nick Greenwood Montgomery @ Chattanooga (1:15 CST) - RHP Felix Jorge Jupiter @ Ft. Myers (3:05 CST) - RHP Keaton Steele Burlington @ Cedar Rapids (2:05 CST) – RHP Sam Gibbons Elizabethton @ Burlington (5:00 CST) - RHP Tyler Wells GCL Twins - No Game Scheduled Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Saturday's games. Click here to view the article

He doesn't play RF very well, so I don't think LF would go well. Then again, Kepler's best position might be LF. If he strikes out 36% in AAA, that's more than Buxton strikes out in AAA, so yeah, he would likely strike out 50% of the time in the big leagues... Maybe.

He's got some great stuff, and no one hits him hard, so I don't know. I really don't get it. I don't know why he doesn't miss more bats... Very curious to see how his career proceeds.

Where would he play? He's played pretty much only DH and RF in the minors. Kepler's in RF. Mauer's at 1B. Plenty of DH options. No reason for him to not play every day. He's doing just fine.

It was a big day in Rochester on Friday. Twins interim-GM Rob Antony has been in town to see and evaluate players. However, on Friday, he completed a trade, signed a minor league veteran, and was on hand to help the Red Wings announce a two-year extension to their current Player Development Contract with the Twins, keeping the Twins AAA affiliate in upstate New York through the 2018 season. Let’s start with the trade. Chris Cotillo was first to announce that the Twins had traded Red Wings left-handed reliever Sean Burnett to the Washington Nationals in exchange for a player to be named later, or cash. It’ll likely be a few dollars. Burnett, a former big league All-Star, came to the Twins after opting out of his Braves minor league deal. While he had a mid-June opt-out with the Twins, he stuck with the organization with the understanding that if another team offered him a big league opportunity, the Twins would accommodate it. The Nationals are going to send Burnett to their AAA affiliate in Syracuse, but he is going to be called up to the big league club for September. During the Red Wings game, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle beat writer Kevin Oklozija tweeted that veteran Edward Mujica was warming up in the Red Wings bullpen. He was throwing a side-session, having just arrived in Rochester that day. Mujica is a 32-year-old right-hander who was an All-Star in 2013 and has ten years of time in the big leagues. From an affiliate standpoint, arguably the biggest news of the day was that the Red Wings and Twins agreed to continue their player development contract two more years, through the 2018 season. Representatives from the Red Wings and the Twins were very happy about the news. Red Wings President, CEO and COO Naomi Silver said, ““The Twins have been an outstanding partner to the Red Wings. With a Major League affiliation, a Minor League club hopes for three important things: a competitive team, having future Major Leaguers and top draft picks being a part of that team, and a Big League team that values the importance of the Minor League system. The Twins have been great to us in each of these areas. They’ve regularly fielded winning teams here and we’ve seen a lot of great players come through Rochester. Every month someone from the Twins top management comes to town to see their players and to consult with field personnel and our front office. They rely on their Minor League system to develop young players, and we are the ones who benefit from that. We consider ourselves lucky that the Minnesota Twins respect and appreciate our organization and want to continue this affiliation.” Rob Antony noted, ““It’s been a tremendous partnership that we’ve had with Rochester. The biggest things you look for in an affiliate are A. you want good ownership, Rochester has that, B. you want good facilities, Rochester has that, and C. you want a good fan base and the fans in Rochester have been very supportive of this club.”The Red Wings also hosted several members of the Miracle on Ice, the 1980 Gold Medal hockey team from the USA. Hockey legend Dave Christian “threw out the first pitch” before the game by using his hockey stick to ‘shoot’ the ball to the catcher. The Red Wings wore red, white and blue uniforms with USA across the chest. E-TWINS E-NOTES Elizabethton 5, Burlington 4 Box Score This game went back and forth until the ninth inning. Tied at four, Ariel Montesino singled and was bunted over to second base. Shane Carrier came through with an RBI single to give them a lead they would hold on to. Montesino went 3-5 with his fourth stolen base. Carrier went 3-5 with his 13th double. Mitchell Kranson went 3-5 with his third home run. Andre Jernigan went 2-3 with a walk and his fifth double. Hank Morrison hit his second triple. (I won’t mention the other side of the ledger, but if I did, it might show that Amaurys Minier went 0-5 with five strikeouts). Jose Martinez started and went the first four innings. He gave up four runs on six hits and a walk. He struck out two. Alex Robinson struck out four over three scoreless innings. He gave up one hit and, most important, walked none. Austin Tribby has done a great job as a vulture for the E-Twins. He threw a scoreless eighth inning so when the E-Twins scored in the top of the ninth and held on for the win, Tribby improved to 5-0. Patrick McGuff picked up his seventh save for the E-Twins with a scoreless ninth. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Twins 4, Red Sox 5 Box Score While several of the Twins affiliates found a way to win a close game at the end, the opposite was true for the GCL Twins. They went into the bottom of the ninth holding a 4-3 lead and walked off the field with a 5-4 loss. Huascar Ynoa started. He gave up three runs on five hits in six innings. He walked one and struck out two. Garrett Kelly came on and threw two scoreless innings. Onas Farfan came on for the ninth. He’s been quite good this year, returning from Tommy John surgery. On this day he gave up two runs on three hits and a walk, and recorded just two outs to take the loss. The Twins had 11 hits on the day. Jose Miranda went 2-3 with two walks and a triple. Lean Marrero went 2-4 with his third double. Jhon Alvarez went 2-4. Brian Olson added his third double. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Kohl Stewart, Chattanooga Lookouts Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Nelson Molina, Cedar Rapids Kernels SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Gwinnett (6:05 CST) - LHP Adalberto Mejia Montgomery @ Chattanooga (6:15 CST) - RHP Omar Bencomo Jupiter @ Ft. Myers (5:05 CST) - LHP Sam Clay Burlington @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 CST) – Tyler Beardsley Elizabethton @ Burlington (6:00 CST) - RHP Miguel DeJesus GCL Red Sox @ GCL Twins (9:00 am CST) - TBD Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Friday's games. Click here to view the article

They probably don't. As Jeremy pointed out, there are six other guys that he would add to the 40 man first, and a guy like Turner could be added too. Busenitz was in AAA when the Twins acquired him, but they sent him to Chattanooga. I can't help but wonder if some of that was just to help him get acquainted with more players. Maybe not. I think Jones can be called up to AAA too. But I don't know what the plan/schedule is for him considering he missed all of spring training and the first couple of months of the season. I'm sure he's on a pretty strict throwing plan for this season. As we've seen with Chargois, the higher up the ladder they go, the harder it is to limit innings and such. But I can't explain why Jones isn't up at AAA.

I think that would be just fine...

Several of the Twins 2016 draft picks, and a few undrafted free agents, have had very nice starts to their professional careers. Some in the GCL. Some in Elizabethton. And several have already spent time in Cedar Rapids. On Thursday night in Burlington, North Carolina, Patrick McGuff picked up his sixth save for the Elizabethton Twins. The right-hander was the Twins 36th-round pick in June out of Morehead State. He began his pro career in the Gulf Coast League where he threw 5.2 shutout innings. He gave up three hits, walked none and struck out nine. He was promoted to Elizabethton where his scoreless streak at the start of his career reached 15 innings. In total with the E-Twins, he has given up just two earned runs in 18.2 innings (0.82 ERA). He has walked seven and struck out 27.Recently, McGuff was kind enough to answer some of our questions about his two-month pro career and what led him to this point. Thank you Patrick, for your time and thought-filled responses. Seth Stohs (SS): Growing up in Ohio, what was your favorite team to follow? Who were some of your favorite players? Patrick McGuff (PM): Growing up around Cincinnati I was a huge Reds fan throughout my life. I always loved watching Ken Griffey Jr. play. He was definitely my favorite player. 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? PM: Some of the better memories of my high school baseball career came from being a younger guy on the varsity baseball team. I really enjoyed hanging out with the older guys as a freshman and sophomore on the varsity team and the guys really made me feel like I belonged. My junior and senior years were a blast too, I really enjoyed the staff there we always had a lot of fun. I also played basketball in high school up until my junior year when I decided to not play my senior year and focus on baseball. SS: What was the recruitment process like for you out of high school, and what was it about Sinclair that made you want to go there? PM: The recruitment process for me wasn’t very active in high school. I had no Division 1 offers. I had a lot of D2 and D3 offers to play as a position player but I felt my future was in pitching so I decided to go with the junior college route. I originally started at Wabash Valley College in IL my freshman year but decided to transfer to Sinclair for my sophomore season. Sinclair had a very good history of winning and sending guys to quality schools, Coach Dintaman is an incredible coach. I loved my time at Sinclair and would consider it to be one of the best baseball decisions in my career. SS: What were a couple of your highlights from your two college years at Morehead State? PM: Winning our conference tournament my junior year was a big highlight for my career at Morehead State. With that win it led us to a regional at Louisville which was also an incredible experience. I had a ton of fun that year and winning came so easy to our team it was extremely fun to watch and be a part of. A highlight from my senior year was for three of our guys to go in this past year’s draft. Matt Anderson (Pirates) and Tyler Keele (Diamondbacks) were some of my closest friends, and I was extremely happy all three of us got the opportunity to play at the next level. Morehead State was filled with many good memories. SS: Did you have the chance to speak with many scouts before the draft? Did you have any idea where in the draft you might be selected? What was your interaction with the Twins scout? PM: I didn’t have a whole lot of interaction with scouts until the end of the season. I started the year slow but finished very strong which put a good impression on a few scouts. I had an idea I would go late but honestly did not know if I would go at all. I filled out some paperwork for the scout that drafted me (Alan Sandberg) after I threw in our conference tournament but didn’t hear from him again until draft day. SS: The Twins took you in the 36th round. How did you find out that you had been drafted? How busy was your phone at that moment? PM: I found out I had been drafted from Alan giving me a call saying that he thought they were going to take me with their next pick. I was sitting on our couch at home with my mom and dad and we heard it over the radio broadcast of the draft and we went crazy. It was one of the happiest days of my life. After I had been drafted Alan called me back and my phone was going crazy. It was a good feeling and a good reminder of how much support I have throughout this journey. SS: What has the adjustment like for you, from the amateur/college game to the professional game, both on and off the field? PM: At first the adjustment was a little tough going into college. I was a little bit of a hot head in high school so realizing how much I represented on and off the field and how I need to present myself in a professional matter at all times was different. Luckily I had very good college coaches to guide me throughout the processes on and off the field. Coach McGuire at Morehead constantly preaches on how to be a professional on and off the field and I was lucky to have him guide me throughout the process. SS: You put up great numbers in five appearances in the GCL, and now have been very good in Elizabethton. You had the long 15 inning scoreless streak to start your pro career. Are you at all surprised to have experienced such success already, and what do you think has been the biggest reason for the success? PM: I have been very blessed to start my career with the success I have had. It was a good feeling to have and a feeling that I did belong in professional baseball. I believe my biggest reason for my success so far has been my aggressiveness at everyone I face. I pride myself in attacking the zone and being able to throw all four of my pitches for strikes. SS: At this very early stage in your career, what would you say are your biggest strengths? PM: I think my biggest strength is my mentality. I feel like I have a good mentality on going at every hitter and not allowing a free pass. Another strength is the ability to throw four pitches for strikes in any count. SS: What are the areas of your game that you would like to spend time working to improve? PM: I would definitely like to improve my velocity in the off season. Adding some more sharpness to a couple of my pitches will also definitely help me be a better pitcher. SS: Do you know if you’ll head to Instructs, or will you be going back to school in the offseason? What was your major in school? PM: I am heading back to school once the season is done. I was pursuing a health and physical education degree but I have changed my major to University Studies due to the fact I will graduate this December. SS: Who are some of the people who have helped you get to this point in your career? PM: My parents have definitely helped me get to this point in my career. They have been very supportive throughout my life and I could never thank them enough. Also coach McGuire at Morehead and Coach Dintaman at Sinclair, they were phenomenal coaches and I couldn’t have been in better hands throughout my college career. Another person is Alan Embree my summer pitching coach the past 2 summers, he helped me so much with my mentality and how to go about getting batters out. SS: Favorite baseball movie? PM: Definitely Bull Durham. Again, thank you to Patrick McGuff for taking time to answer our questions. Please feel free to ask any questions you would like in the comments. Click here to view the article

Was placed on the DL maybe a week ago.

Comparing prospects to guys like Sano probably will reduce the number of guys that are prospects. Pretty sure no one is putting them in that category... and because of it, we get the upside and ceiling.

May to August 2017 depending on other factors.

After 2017.

I don't think Gonsalves gets called up in September. Not that he doesn't deserve it, but since he doesn't need to be added to the 40 man roster for another year, they can wait. If he was a guy who could make the starting rotation out of spring training, then you could. But they have enough starters they need to figure out futures for right now. Yes, I saw Arraez this spring and then again in late-May. I'll say this... he can hit. Good approach at the plate. Not big, and not really athletic, so I'm not sure the upside, but he can hit. Things are very quiet on Thorpe.

With the promotion of Jose Berrios to the Twins, we can debate who the top Twins prospect prospect is in the minor leagues. Nick wrote about the Pitching Pipeline, specifically those in the upper levels in his article yesterday. He wrote the following: “While Mejia is closest to the big leagues, he is not Minnesota's top pitching prospect. That honor, almost indisputably, goes to Gonsalves at this point.” While I would say that it remains disputable, there is no question that Gonsalves is pitching as well as anyone in minor league baseball right now. On Wednesday evening in Montgomery, Gonsalves left after six innings, having thrown six no-hit innings. You can find much more below on how good he’s been over his last eight Lookouts starts, but we caught up with the lanky lefty following his tremendous outing.According to Gonsalves, the key to his outing was his slider. “My slider was my go-to tonight. I threw it 22 times.” He used it to get strikeouts and when he was behind in the count “to get me back in the count.” While he likely would have loved to keep pitching, he knew that wasn’t going to happen. He didn’t lobby his manager, Doug Mientkiewicz, to stay in the game. “No, I didn’t. I looked at the scoreboard and joked it off.” In his previous start, Gonsalves gave up only an unearned run in a nine-inning complete game. He told milb.com that he wasn’t feeling good coming out of the bullpen at the start of that game. True to form, Gonsalves said that he still wasn’t at 100% on Wednesday night. “The changeup wasn’t there tonight, which is rare, but I was still able to mix it in. Fastball command hasn’t been there the last two games, but everything else was, so it’s been a battle.” If the recent performances of Stephen Gonsalves represent a battle, there are a lot of exciting days ahead for Gonsalves, the Twins and Twins fans! With that, let’s get to the Minor League Report for Wednesday, including more on Gonsalves’ terrific night and streak. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 3, Scranton/Wilkes Barre 4 Box Score This game was close throughout with all of the runs scored before the fifth inning, but the Red Wings were unable to get a win and fall to 68-57 on the season. Daniel Palka gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning when he connected for his 10th AAA home run. It was his 31st of the season. Andrew Albers was back on the mound for Rochester. He threw two scoreless innings before giving up two runs in the third and fourth innings. In all, he gave up the four runs on 11 hits and a walk in six innings. He struck out five. Jake Reed threw much better in his second AAA appearance than in his first. He faced four batters and got them all out, two on strikeouts. Sean Burnett got the final two outs. The other two runs the Red Wings scored came in the top of the fourth when Adam Brett Walker slugged a two-run homer. He now has 25 homers on the season. He knocked in Reynaldo Rodriguez, who had hit his seventh double of the year. James Beresford went 2-4. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 6, Montgomery 3 Box Score In his second AA start, Stephen Gonsalves gave up six earned runs in just 3.2 innings for the Lookouts. Since then, he has been remarkable. I’ll explain in more detail in just a moment, but on Wednesday night, it all came together. The southpaw started and threw six shutout innings. Not only that, he completed the six innings without giving up a hit. He walked two and struck out nine. Unfortunately, with 105 pitches, he was done after six innings. Alan Busenitz came on and gave up three runs on two hits, a hit batter and a walk in just one inning. Mason Melotakis came in to pitch the eighth inning. He threw one pitch, a strike, and then the rains came and the game was delayed. When things resumed, Zack Jones took over. He walked one and struck out four in two scoreless innings to record his first save of the year. His Lookouts ERA drops to just 1.46. Ryan Walker went 2-3 with a walk and his tenth double. TJ White was 2-3 with a walk, his third double and two RBIs. Niko Goodrum hit his sixth double while Edgar Corcino knocked his third AA double. Zach Granite stole his 44th bag. Now let’s get back to Gonsalves. In his eight starts since that clunker in his second AA game, Gonsalves has been one of the best pitchers in minor league baseball, not just in the Twins system. Here is how his numbers look in those eight starts: Gonsalves is 5-0 with a 0.71 ERA and a 0.86 WHIP. In 51 innings, he has given up just four earned runs. He has allowed 22 hits and walked 22 while striking out 58 batters. His K-rate since then is at 10.2 K/9 and his walk rate is 3.9 BB/9. In other words, he’s been incredible. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 3, St. Lucie 6 Box Score Miles Nordgren returned to the Miracle .He gave up six runs (four earned) on nine hits and two walks in 5.2 innings. He struck out five. John Curtiss gave up just one hit over the final 2.1 innings. He walked none and struck out three. Tanner English led the offense. The outfielder went 2-4 with his third triple and third home run. Daniel Kihle went 2-3. AJ Murray added his ninth double. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 4, Peoria 1 Box Score The Kernels got off to an early lead and it was more than enough for Eduardo Del Rosario on this night. The right-hander posted his best start of the year. He threw six shutout innings. He gave up four hits, walked one and struck out six. He improved to 5-2. Logan Lombana came on. He gave up one run on two hits and three walks in 1.1 innings. He struck out one. Anthony McIver picked up his eighth save by recording the final five outs. Three of the outs came on strikeouts. Kevin Garcia went 2-4 with his seventh double and an RBI. Luis Arraez with another multi-hit game. He went 2-4 and drove in a run. Nelson Molina added his 12th double. Zander Wiel hit his eighth triple. With his third straight multi-hit game, Luis Arraez is now hitting .347. In was his 98th game played this year, and he now has 43 multi-hit games. 2-hit games: 27 3-hit games: 12 4-hit games: 3 5-hit games: 1 E-TWINS E-NOTES Elizabethton Box Score The E-Twins had a rare off night. They return to action on Thursday. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Twins 2, GCL Rays 4 Box Score The Twins fell behind 2-0 after two innings. They managed to tie the score at two in the top of the seventh inning, but gave two runs right back in the bottom of the inning. That’s how the score stayed, and they fell 4-2. There wasn’t much offense for the Twins in the game. They managed just five hits. Zach Featherstone had two of them. Kidany Salva’s seventh-inning triple scored the Twins’ two runs. Lefty Taylor Clemensia started for the Twins. He gave up two runs (one earned) on two hits. He walked three and struck out three. He hurt himself a bit with two errors. Callan Pearce was charged with two runs on two hits. He walked one, hit one, and struck out one over his three innings. Pearce left the game with two runners on base, and both scored off of Onas Farfan who gave up one hit over 1.2 innings. He struck out two. Kolton Kendrick returned to the Twins lineup. He went 0-2 in his first game since mid-July. He had a bone bruise caused by being hit by a pitch. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day –Stephen Gonsalves, Chattanooga Lookouts (though Eduardo Del Rosario’s honorable mention is very well deserved) Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Tanner English, Ft. Myers Miracle THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Buffalo @ Rochester (6:05 CST) - LHP Jason Wheeler Montgomery @ Chattanooga (6:15 CST) - RHP Aaron Slegers (vs Chi-Wei Hu) Ft. Myers @ St. Lucie (5:30 CST) - RHP Fernando Romero Cedar Rapids @ Peoria (7:00 CST) – RHP Sean Poppen (1st MWL start) Elizabethton @ Burlington (6:00 CST) - TBD GCL Rays @ GCL Twins (DH @ 9:00 am CST) - TBD Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Wednesday's games. Click here to view the article

Brady Anderson was signed out of Florida Gulf Coast U right after the draft. I think this was just his third start for the Kernels.

Yeah, when I'm coming up with my Top Prospect rankings after the season, I'm going to go back and forth about 1000 times on who the Twins top pitching prospect is. Gonsalves has been terrific, minus some control issues. Jay has a higher upside, probably, but the transition to starter isn't going to make it easy. Romero has the highest ceiling, but he just has so few innings above the GCL that they need to be careful with him.

Yeah, he threw like 75 innings this year, so he got to the innings count they wanted him to get to as a starter. In my opinion, he had a very nice transition to pro baseball and to full-time starting. He struggled once he got to AA, but that could likely be attributed to the neck pain.