Seth Stohs

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.

I believe he got sent back down this morning too. Not sure what the White Sox were thinking with him, or what they're thinking with Zach Burdi either.

Some have mentioned Wade and AJ Murray, good choices... I avoided 2015 draft picks just because we don't have an real track record to determine a good level of expectation. I went with guys who have been in the system longer... I guess an exception would be Arraez who just came to the States last year in the GCL.

They protected Kepler and Polanco after their year in Cedar Rapids... and back in the day, they protected Deibinson Romero after a year in Beloit.

Correct, and that was before the rule changed and teams got one more year to evaluate their players.

That, and the fact that he was made a pitcher at like 17 or 18, so he's had a lot of growth to do since signing. But yes, he's a bit old for the level.

I might have been slow-playing it when I said he should be in everyone's top five Twins prospects this year...

All good picks... Wimmers was alright in the bullpen in Chattanooga, but he's been better than expected in Rochester. In fact, he's been pretty good. Ramirez was our pick for TD Short-Season pitcher of the year, so I'm not surprised he's succeeded, though I didn't know as much about him as I do now. He's impressive. Rodriguez was the Appy League Pitcher of the Year. HE was really bad for two months, but he's been tremendous for the last two months. IF this was a list of overcoming poor 2016 starts, Rodriguez would be at the top of my list.

Strong list, and I really like the Matt Lawton comp for LaMonte Wade. Lawton was an on-base machine before that became cool. Some of my list was more about surprise, but you make a good case for your guys too. I expected Ynoa to come over and be solid. I expected Palka to hit for a bunch of power. Both have been better than I expected, but not surprisingly so.

One of the fun things about following the minor league season each year and over several years is to see which players take the biggest strides forward from year to year. That can mean different things to different people, of course. It not only can mean jumping up prospect rankings, but it could mean guys who needed to play well to remain in the organization for another year. For instance, a guy like Lachlan Wells was ranked in the high 30s or low 40s in many Top 50 Twins prospect lists. Now, he should be in most people’s Top 25 Twins prospects after pitching very well since his promotion to Cedar Rapids as a 19 year old.My focus is going to be on eight guys, four hitters and four pitchers, who have gone from relative unknowns before the season to guys who may find themselves in the Twins future. Please feel free to add other names to this list, guys who have taken a big step forward in 2016. FOUR HITTERS LUIS ARRAEZ - 19 - 2B As an 18 year old in the GCL last year, Arraez hit .306/.377/.388 (.765) with 15 doubles. It was a solid season and MiLB.com listed him as the second baseman on their Twins post-season all-star team. He played in the Venezuelan Winter League. My assumption was that he would spend the 2016 season in extended spring training before going to Elizabethton. Instead, he began the season in Cedar Rapids. He began the season playing one in three games. It took about a week for him to be in the lineup almost every day. He has just kept hitting. In fact, now he’s hitting third or fourth in the Kernels lineup every game. He hasn’t stopped hitting. He’s now hitting .344/.383/.450 (.833) with 27 doubles, three triples and three home runs. He doesn’t walk a lot, but he also doesn’t strike out often. Before the season, he would have ranked in the 40s in my prospect lists, and now he’s easily in the Top 25 prospects or so. ZACH GRANITE - 23 - OF Granite has always been thought of as a professional, top-of-the-order type of hitter. He had a difficult, injury-plagued 2014 season in Cedar Rapids and played in just 21 games. That’s where he started 2015, but he moved up to Ft. Myers on May 1st because he had a great month. He did all right at Ft. Myers, but he hit .249/.328/.304 (.632) with ten doubles, four triples and a home run. He began 2016 in AA Chattanooga, maybe due to injury to others, but he has been the team’s leadoff hitter from day one. He has hit .295/.351/.385 (.736) with 14 doubles, seven triples and four home runs. He leads the Southern League in stolen bases with 42. He has as many walks as strikeouts. He has put himself into consideration for a 40-man roster spot this offseason. NELSON MOLINA - 21 - IF Molina was the Twins 11th round pick in 2013 draft out of high school in Puerto Rico. He spent two years in the Gulf Coast League where he hit .110 and .243.Last year in Elizabethton, he hit .207. There are rules that say an organization can only have so many players in the rookie leagues for a fourth year, so this was an important year for Molina. He began the season in extended spring training, but the Kernels needed an infielder in late April so he was summoned to Iowa. I’ve always said, at 6-3 and 175 pounds, he looks the part. Molina looks like what you would envision a professional shortstop to look like. At the plate, he has a balanced stance with a nice swing. It just didn’t come together offensively for him in the rookie leagues. However, he has grown both in terms of strength and maturity, and he is seeing the benefits on the field. In 74 games with the Kernels, he is hitting .304/.378/.375 (.754) with 11 doubles, two triples and a home run. He’s still got room to grow, but experiencing the success has to be a huge boost in confidence. RYAN WALKER - 23 - IF He was the Twins 18th round pick in 2013 out of Texas-Arlington. He spent most of that year in E-Town, though he moved up to Cedar Rapids for a week or so at the end of the season. In 76 games in 2014 in Cedar Rapids, he hit .239/.296/.299 (.595). In 2015, he played 83 games in Ft. Myers and hit .269/.311/.312 (.623). He began this year in Ft. Myers and hit just .262 in 24 games before being promoted to AA Chattanooga. He’s played all three infield positions and hit .287/.357/.368 (.725). In talking to him before the season, he pointed out that he worked really hard to add a lot of weight in the offseason. He got up to 185 and hoped to maintain it throughout the season, something players struggle to do. He has always been above average defensively in the infield, but he has improved offensively as he has moved up to AA this year. FOUR PITCHERS DJ BAXENDALE - 25 - RHP Baxendale was the Twins 12th round pick in 2012 out of Arkansas. He’s primarily been a starter. He moved quickly from the Midwest League to the Florida State League. He moved quickly to AA, but he experienced a lot of struggles in AA the last coupele of seasons. This year, he made 14 starts for the Lookouts and went 6-7 with a 3.44 ERA and made the All-Star team. Immediately following the game, he moved up to AAA Rochester. He was put into the bullpen and has been very good since. He has a 1.61 ERA in 17 appearances for the Red Wings. His pitches work very well out of the bullpen. He can add a couple of ticks to his fastball, and his slider can be devastating. He can be a decent starter, but he has a chance to be a quality relief pitcher. SAM CLAY - 23 - LHP Clay was the Twins 4th round pick in 2014 out of Georgia Tech. He began last season in Cedar Rapids, but he really struggled. Through nine games and 18 innings pitched, he had 19 strikeouts but 18 walks. He was sent back to EST where he worked on his control as a starter. He ended the season with three appearances in Cedar Rapids. Clay was much improved when the 2016 season started. In 14 starts for the Kernels, he went 5-4 with a 3.39 ERA. He still is walking too many, but he is striking out over a batter per inning. After starting the All-Star Game in the Midwest League, he was promoted to Ft. Myers where he’s had some ups and downs, some good starts and some bad starts but he continues to get strikeouts. FERNANDO ROMERO - 21 - RHP Romero became a prospect in 2013 when he posted a 1.60 ERA in the Gulf Coast League as an 18-year-old. Reports had him throwing a fastball in the mid-90s. In 2014, he began in EST, but he was promoted to Cedar Rapids where he made three starts. Unfortunately, he experienced elbow pain and needed Tommy John. He had the surgery in 2014, and during his rehab in 2015, he needed knee surgery which cost him more time. This spring, he was hitting 94 and 95 consistently. In mid-May, he was sent back to Cedar Rapids. He needed just five starts before he was promoted to Ft. Myers where he posted a 2.39 ERA in nine starts (49 innings). His fastball is touching 97 and 98 mph with regularity. He’s got three quality pitches that have a chance to be plus pitches. He gets strikeouts. He has really good control. He was a Top 30 prospect coming into the season. He was my #7 Twins prospect at midseason, and he will most likely be a Top 5 Twins prospect following the season. JASON WHEELER - 25 - LHP Wheeler was the Twins eighth-round pick in 2011 out of Loyola-Marymount. He worked up the system, one year at a time. Following the 2014 season, the left-hander was added to the Twins 40 man roster. He began 2015 in Rochester, but when he was 1-7 with a 6.58 ERA in 15 starts before being sent back to Chattanooga. He went 4-3 with a 3.92 ERA with the Lookouts and was removed from the 40-man roster. After that, he was really good. In fact, he was the MVP of the Southern League Championship series. He began this season in AA, but after posting a 1.88 ERA in four starts, he moved up to Rochester. He has gone 9-4 with a 3.44 ERA and was the International League’s Starting Pitcher in the AAA All-Star Game. As frustrating as 2015 was for Wheeler, 2016 puts him back on the radar. He’s warranted consideration for a September call up. So there are eight players who have made the most out of their 2016 season and have taken a step forward in their careers. Not all of these guys will show up on Top 30 prospect lists, but they have had very strong seasons. Which prospects make your list? Click here to view the article