Seth Stohs

Despite the fact that the GCL Twins don’t play on Sundays, it was a very busy day in the Twins minor league system. AA Chattanooga finished their suspended game and played their regularly-scheduled game. Ft. Myers played two games against the Tebows, I mean, St. Lucie Mets. The Kernels had a quality prospect make his Midwest League debut. It was also the first day of the new International signing period. That means that the Twins (and all the other teams) could start signing 16-year-old international players. Most of the top names come from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. But players from Cuba, Australia and other countries will also be signed. While it was posted that the Twins have an agreement with SS Jelfry Marte, they are likely to sign another dozen or more kids from foreign countries. According to Ben Badler from Baseball America, the Twins are also the favorite to sign OFs Carlos Aguilar and Mauro Bonafacio. As for Sunday night, the Twins have not yet actually signed any of these players. That will happen over the course of the next week, and in some cases, over the coming months. Image courtesy of Seth Stohs, Twins Daily (photo of Jermaine Palacios, Brandon Lopez) Despite the fact that the GCL Twins don’t play on Sundays, it was a very busy day in the Twins minor league system. AA Chattanooga finished their suspended game and played their regularly-scheduled game. Ft. Myers played two games against the Tebows, I mean, St. Lucie Mets. The Kernels had a quality prospect make his Midwest League debut. It was also the first day of the new International signing period. That means that the Twins (and all the other teams) could start signing 16-year-old international players. Most of the top names come from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. But players from Cuba, Australia and other countries will also be signed. While it was posted that the Twins have an agreement with SS Jelfry Marte, they are likely to sign another dozen or more kids from foreign countries. According to Ben Badler from Baseball America, the Twins are also the favorite to sign OFs Carlos Aguilar and Mauro Bonafacio. As for Sunday night, the Twins have not yet actually signed any of these players. That will happen over the course of the next week, and in some cases, over the coming months. Find out everything and more that happened happened in the Twins system on Sunday, starting with the transactions of the day. OK, there was just one transaction. Felix Jorge was returned to Chattanooga following his MLB debut as the 26th man in the Twins doubleheader. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 0, Lehigh Valley 3 Box Score David Hurlbut put together another quality start, but the Red Wings offense was unable to score. The left-hander gave up three runs on eight hits over 7.2 innings. He struck out nine without issuing a walk. Alex Wimmers came on and struck out the one batter he faced. The Red Wings offense had just five hits in the game. Zack Granite went 2-4 and is now hitting .367. Mitch Garver - who played left field again - went 0-3 with a walk which ended his 15-game hitting streak. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 5, Mississippi 3 (completion of suspended game from Saturday) Box Score On Saturday, the Lookouts started their game, but after two innings, it was suspended by rain. They completed that game on Sunday. Fernando Romero started on Saturday and threw two scoreless innings. He gave up a hit, walked two and struck out three. Randy LeBlanc started when the game resumed on Sunday. He gave up four runs on five hits and two walks in 5.2 innings. He struck out five. Luke Bard picked up the save by recording the final four outs. He gave up three hits and walked one without allowing a run. He struck out two. Nick Gordon went 2-4 and drove in a run. Levi Michael went 1-3 with a two-run homer, his third of the season. Chattanooga 4, Mississippi 0 (regularly-scheduled games) Box Score In the regularly-scheduled, now-7-inning game, the Lookouts got some really good pitching. Ryan Eades made the start and threw three shutout innings. He didn’t give up a hit or issue a walk and struck out five. Alex Muren came on and also threw three shutout innings. He gave up four hits, and struck out one. Randy Rosario pitched a perfect ninth. Edgar Corcino led the offense with a 2-3 game. He stole his second base and scored two runs. They scored three runs in the 6th to solidify their lead. TJ White knocked a two-run double, his tenth of the year. Levi Michael followed with his ninth double to drive in White. MIRACLE MATTERS Game 1 - Ft. Myers 4, St. Lucie 5 Box Score Through the first four innings, Brady Anderson gave up only one run. However, he started the fifth by giving up three singles to load the bases. The bases were then unloaded with a grand slam. That certainly, and quickly, altered Anderson’s pitching line. He gave up five runs on eight hits and four walks in four innings. Jonny Drozd came on and gave up a hit and two walks but no runs over two innings. David Fischer worked a scoreless seventh frame. The Miracle started slow and made a comeback in the seventh that fell just shy. In that inning, Brandon Lopez and Jermaine Palacios had RBI singles to cut the lead to one, but the team could not get one more hit to extend the game. Lopez went 2-3 with a walk and has hit .438 in his first five games with the Miracle. With a 3-4, Palacios is now hitting .407 through his first seven games since joining the team. Max Murphy went 2-4. Sean Miller was 1-2 with a walk and his second stolen base. Game 2 - Ft. Myers 12, St. Lucie 1 Box Score Playing a mid-afternoon doubleheader in early July in Ft. Myers is not advised. With that heat and humidity, it can be difficult. After a close first game, the Miracle were able to put a strong offensive performance together for a big win. Nearly everyone in the offense contributed in some way. Brandon Lopez stayed hot. He went 3-5 in game two and is now at .476 in six games. Shane Kennedy went 3-3 with a walk and his second triple. Max Murphy went 2-5 with his 16th double. Nelson Molina went 2-4. Tanner English was 1-2 with two walks and his eighth double. Jermaine Palacios hit his second double and drove in three runs. Zander Wiel hit his seventh home run. Anthony McIver made another start and did well again. He gave up one run on five hits and two walks in five innings. He struck out three. Keaton Steele gave up two hits and a walk over two scoreless innings. Lopez has enjoyed his time in Ft. Myers and appreciates the coaching he's received. "The adjustment has been easy really thanks to the coaching staff and my teammates. It's a fun group of guys that love to go out there have fun and at the same time get better doing it. Since I got up here I've been working with Doug (Mientkiewicz) and Sing (hitting coach Steve Singleton) in cages on a few things with my swing and I've definitely felt more comfortable in games at the plate." KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 3, Clinton 0 Box Score The Kernels made another commuter trip to Clinton and drove home with a nice, clean win. Griffin Jax was terrific in his first Midwest League start. The right-hander drafted a year ago from Air Force worked seven shutout innings. He walked one and struck out four. Jax was happy with his performance following the game. He said, “I was able to establish my fastball to both sides of the plate for the most part. Our report on them was that they had trouble with the fastball, so that was the game plan moving forward. I had some early-game nerves but after the first inning I settled in.” Jeff Johnson from The Gazette posted the following on Saturday night regarding Jax. https://twitter.com/jeje66/status/881240179272540160 Assume he does have a 60-day leave, and that he’s been at extended spring training and made a start in Elizabethton, he should be able to spend four to five weeks with the Kernels. Logan Lombana worked a scoreless eighth inning. Hector Lujan recorded his seventh save of the season. The Kernels scored one run in each of the first three innings. In the first, Travis Blankenhorn hit a two-out double and scored on a Lewin Diaz single. The in the second, Andre Jernigan walked and scored on a Lean Marrero double, his first since joining the Kernels a week ago. In the third, Aaron Whitefield hit his ninth home run of the season. E-TWINS E-NOTES Elizabethton 1, Danville 7 Box Score The E-Twins played an afternoon game in Danville on Sunday. It was a good game until a five-run bottom of the eighth gave Danville a big win. Charlie Barnes made his second start. In 3.1 innings, he gave up one run on five hits and two walks. He struck out five. Chris Broussard worked 3.2 scoreless innings, but he was able to get just one out in the bottom of the eighth. He was charged with four runs on six hits and a walk. Jared Finkel came on and got the final two outs, though he was charged with two runs (one earned) in that inning as well. The E-Twins managed just three hits in the game. Wander Javier had two of them including his fourth double. He stole his second base as well. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Twins Box Score There are no Gulf Coast League games on Sundays (with some exceptions). TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Griffin Jax, Cedar Rapids Kernels Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Brandon Lopez, Ft. Myers Miracle MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Lehigh Valley (6:05 CST) - RHP Aaron Slegers Chattanooga @ Mississippi (6:00 CST) - LHP Matt Tracy St. Lucie @ Ft. Myers (6:05 CST) - RHP Cody Stashak Cedar Rapids @ Clinton (6:30 CST) - LHP Anthony Marzi Elizabethton @ Danville (6:00 CST) - RHP Edwar Colina GCL Twins @ GCL Rays (11:00 am CST) - RHP Brusdar Graterol Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Sunday’s games. View full article

#VoteKintzler

On Sunday night, 2017 MLB All-Stars were named. The Minnesota Twins will be represented by two players. Ervin Santana and Miguel Sano will head to Miami next week as All Stars. Image courtesy of Kevin Jairaj, USA Today On Sunday night, 2017 MLB All-Stars were named. The Minnesota Twins will be represented by two players. Ervin Santana and Miguel Sano will head to Miami next week as All Stars. Miguel Sano had been leading fan voting until the final week when Cleveland's Jose Ramirez (and Toronto's Josh Donaldson) passed him. Some are demanding a recount. Nevertheless, Sano will be going to Miami as a reserve. Ervin Santana has had a difficult month of June, but he was quite deserving of being named an All-Star. He has the league's fourth lowest ERA (3.07), fifth lowest WHIP (1.09), and the second lowest batting average against (.204). Sano will also participate in the Home Run Derby. View full article

Absolutely. If I were in charge of scouting, I don't know that I'd draft anything but shortstops and centerfielders (and pitchers and catchers) out of high school or international free agency.

His best skill is knowing the strike zone pretty well. He isn't strong defensively in the outfield, probably best as a DH. He doesn't have a lot of power. He's not real fast. And, he hasn't hit for a lot of average in the past. He's kind of just a real solid player who doesn't have the flashy tools to fit into the "prospect" rankings... which doesn't mean he can't get to the big leagues.

Chattanooga RP Alex Muren had the surgery last April. Kyle Waldrop had it back in his playing career. Rochester RP John Curtiss had it in college. Certainly not the numbers compared to Tommy John, but there's no reason to think players can't come back.

He had a fantastic June...

Or, Busenitz was unable to pitch on Saturday and probably Sunday after working 2.2 innings on Friday night.

The 40-man decision shouldn't be impacted in the least by whether he ends the season in Ft. Myers or Chattanooga.

I'm a pro-Tebow guy... Dude wants to play baseball. He doesn't want to say What If in five years. The Mets gave him an opportunity. He's working hard. He's going for it. I hope he makes it. People were whining about him not earning the promotion. Maybe true, but he's 29... the Mets aren't going to go one year at a time with him. I think they're wise to push him. I guess they could call up someone from Elizabethton to Cedar Rapids to pitch... but then they'd have to sign someone to play in E-Town. Bringing in players isn't a bad thing. Who in E-Town is screaming to move up to Cedar Rapids? Charlie Barnes will probably get there soon. Griffin Jax is moving up there today. With Poppen moving up to Ft. Myers and Wells on the DL, they need arms.

June is always an interesting month in a minor league system. There is the draft, and the organization brings in 25-30 players. The short-season leagues get started. There are All-Star games at each level but AAA, so the month is disjointed for many. And yet, as I researched, looking for the top hitters for the month, there were a tremendous number of hitters who had great success. There are guys with OPS near .900 that are “just” honorable mentions. A guy with an OBP over .500 “only” received mention. It’s hard to image, but there were three hitters with OPS over 1.000 for the month and still the choice for Twins Minor League Hitter of the Month was pretty easy. Image courtesy of Stephen Pellegrino (photo of Zack Granite) June is always an interesting month in a minor league system. There is the draft, and the organization brings in 25-30 players. The short-season leagues get started. There are All-Star games at each level but AAA, so the month is disjointed for many. And yet, as I researched, looking for the top hitters for the month, there were a tremendous number of hitters who had great success. There are guys with OPS near .900 that are “just” honorable mentions. A guy with an OBP over .500 “only” received mention. It’s hard to image, but there were three hitters with OPS over 1.000 for the month and still the choice for Twins Minor League Hitter of the Month was pretty easy. Pitching wins, but only if the hitters score enough runs in that game. Let’s take a look at the Top 5 hitters of the month, but first here are some players deserving of honorable mention. HONORABLE MENTION Mitch Garver - Rochester - 23 G, 29-94, .309/.371/.521 (.893) with eight doubles, four homers, 12 RBI. Nick Gordon - Chattanooga - 22 G, 31-99, .313/.382/.465 (.846) with seven doubles, one triple, two homers, 16 RBI. Brandon Lopez - Cedar Rapids/Ft. Myers - 20 G, 25-67, .373/.427/.433 (.860) with two triples, and nine RBI. Alex Perez - Ft. Myers/Chattanooga - 19 G, 21-55, .382/.507/.418 (.925) with two doubles and four RBI. Ben Rortvedt - Cedar Rapids - 17 G, 21-62, .339/.423/.516 (.939) with five doubles, two homers and 12 RBI THE TOP FIVE HITTERS Number 5 – Chattanooga - TJ White - 24 G, .297/.385/.527 (.912). 27-91 with seven doubles, one triple, four home runs and 17 RBI. White returned to the Lookouts lineup in mid-May after starting the season on the disabled list. He made a few mechanical alterations to his swing. He’s come back strong to this point. In June, he hit very well, hitting liners all over the part. He has shown even more power than he has in past years as well. White went to high school in Las Vegas where he was a teammate of Joey Gallo of the Rangers. They played against Kris Bryant and Bryce Harper. White stayed home for college, attending UNLV. The Twins made him their 19th round pick in the 2014 draft. He’s gradually moved up the ladder, reaching Chattanooga early in the 2016 season as an injury replacement. Reports indicate that his third base defense has improved as wellNumber 4 – Cedar Rapids/Ft. Myers – SS Jermaine Palacios - .353/.391/.565 (.956). 30-85 with four doubles, one triple, four home runs and 13 RBI. What a year it has been for Jermaine Palacios. Just under a year ago, a frustrating season in Cedar Rapids came to an end when he was hit in the wrist by a pitch. He returned to the Midwest League this season, still just 20 until recently, and has been on fire. He hit .400 in April, slowed down some in May, but he took off again in June. While he showed in the rookie leagues in 2015 what he could do, this year’s success comes as some surprise. He has never shown the kind of power he displayed in the first half of the Kernels, hitting 11 homers. He was promoted to the Miracle following the Midwest League All-Star Game. He’s hit .348 over his first six games.Number 3 - Ft. Myers – OF Max Murphy - .388/.464/.541 (1.005) 33-85 with five doubles, one triple, two homers and 12 RBI. Murphy began this season hitting down in the Miracle lineup. But in mid-May, he started hitting well and getting on base. He was moved to the leadoff position and he’s been very good since. As you can see, in June, he hit for average, took a lot of walks (and was hit a bit) and showed some extra-base power. Murphy was the Twins ninth-round draft pick in 2014 out of Bradley University. He played his high school ball at Robbinsdale Cooper in New Hope, Minnesota.Number 2 - Cedar Rapids – 3B Travis Blankenhorn - .309/.430/.619 (1.048), 30-97 with four doubles, seven triples, four homers and 19 RBI. Blankenhorn is used to having big June’s. Last year, he started very quickly in Elizabethton and earned a promotion to Cedar Rapids. That’s where he is this year. He began the year really hot for two weeks, but struggled for about a month. In June, he turned things around. He has always had a good eye and a willingness to take walks. That will benefit him going forward. However, he really showed some good power and speed in June. 15 extra base hits are impressive, but seven of them were triples. Of course, most will remember his eventual game-winning steal of home as the Kernels really needed a win to secure a playoff berth.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYaderxkndI And the Twins Minor League Hitter of the Month is: Rochester – OF Zack Granite - .470/.527/.667 (1.193), 55-117 with 11 doubles, three triple, two homers and 12 RBI. What a month! Even the International League didn’t have to wait to name Zack Granite their player of the month. I’ve been writing about Twins minor leaguers for more than a dozen years, and I can’t remember seeing a guy have a month like Granite just did. He hit .470! Granite started the month with a 17-game hitting streak, had that streak snapped, and then ended the month with an 11-game hitting streak. Putting that all together, he hit in 28 out of his 29 games in June. He had 20 multi-hit games. It’s been an interesting past year for Granite. Last year, he was likely heading to Ft. Myers to start the season, but an injury to the likely Lookouts centerfielder meant Granite started in Chattanooga. He stayed there all year and earned the Twins Minor League Player of the Year award. In November, he was added to the 40-man roster which meant he was going to his first major league spring training with the Twins. Paul Molitor raved about him throughout spring training. When he was sent down to minor league camp, Molitor said, “I like Zack a lot. I like how he prepares. I like how he competes. It was good to watch him play. He got into actually a lot of games. Made an impression almost every day he played in some capacity.” Granite enjoyed the experience and took a lot from it. He told Twins Daily on Saturday, “Big league camp was a lot of fun and a good learning experience for me. It was cool to see how guys go about their business and talking to guys about their approach and working with guys like Torii Hunter and (Michael) Cuddyer.” Unfortunately, on the final day of spring training, he pulled a muscle in his side. It cost him a month. He played five games for Ft. Myers before joining the Rochester Red Wings on May 7th. He had two hits that game. He struggled a bit in May, relatively. He was coming back from injury and playing at a new level. And then came June. Granite just takes it all in stride. “I'm just trying to keep things simple and get a good pitch to hit, if I start to think too much then I start worrying about things I shouldn't be thinking about.” When asked if he’s given much thought to possibly being called up soon, and what it would me, he said, “That's something I can't control. I can't waste my time thinking about things I can't control. I just have to do my job and let the people in charge make the decision. My job is simple. Just play the game. If it happens it happens. But I'm going to go out and have fun playing the game.” Fair to say that Granite had a lot of fun playing the game in June!Congratulations to the June Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Month for 2017, Rochester Red Wings outfielder Zack Granite. View full article

Yeah, there is. Was hoping people would update it, but it's a way down the line in the minor league forum now. These are always in the daily minor league report ,and all of these have been... but this place works too.

Very young... a rare kid who was able to play in the DSL while still just 16. So he, at 17, is very young for the GCL this year. He can hit though. Raw, but talented. He didn't get a big bonus to sign, but they were happy to get him.

I'm looking forward to it. He's intriguing. His ceiling is probably #3 starter. More likely he's a #4/5. He attacks the zone, 89-92. Has touched 94. Curveball. Changeup. He throws a lot of strikes, so he'll give up some hits. Not a lot of strikeouts. l Never know what will happen in one game... but I think it's a good move. He should head back to Chattanooga after the start... It'll be interesting to see whether he stays with the Lookouts the rest of the season, or moves up to Rochester. Either is justifiable.

The only thing that can slow down Red Wings outfielder Zack Granite is the weather. Rochester was rained out, but it was a full night in the Twins system. The Miracle and their fans at Hammond Stadium got to see the Tim Tebow Experience up close. And a remarkably unusual game. Lewis Thorpe was on the mound. Elizabethton also played a wild game in the Appy League. A 2015, 2016 and 2017 high-round draft pick each helped Elizabethton to an extra-innings win. A near cycle? So much in tonight’s Twins Minor League Report! Image courtesy of Seth Stohs, Twins Daily (photo of Jose Miranda, with insets of Lewis Thorpe and Jermaine Palacios) The only thing that can slow down Red Wings outfielder Zack Granite is the weather. Rochester was rained out, but it was a full night in the Twins system. The Miracle and their fans at Hammond Stadium got to see the Tim Tebow Experience up close. And a remarkably unusual game. Lewis Thorpe was on the mound. Elizabethton also played a wild game in the Appy League. A 2015, 2016 and 2017 high-round draft pick each helped Elizabethton to an extra-innings win. A near cycle? So much in tonight’s Twins Minor League Report! Find out everything and more that happened happened in the Twins system on Friday, starting with the transactions of the day. TRANSACTIONS There were a handful of transactions in the Twins system on Friday. Following the Twins loss in Kansas City, Alan Busenitz was optioned to Rochester. Ryan Pressly will return to the Twins. Felix Jorge, as we learned on Thursday, will be the 26th man and start the night game of the doubleheader. The Kernels need some starters, so on Friday, they announced the signing of lefty Anthony Marzi, a 24-year-old who has spent the last two year with the New Britain Bees of the independent Atlantic League. To make room for him, infielder Ariel Montesino was sent down to Elizabethton. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester , Lehigh Valley Box Score The Red Wings were postponed by rain for the 11th time this season. Which is crazy! These teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 5, Mississippi 3 Box Score Dereck Rodriguez was on the mound, and he was also on his game. Through six innings, he gave up just one run on three hits. The lone run came on a Ronald Acuna homer. He was charged with a couple more runs in the seventh before being replaced by Paul Clemens. Rodriguez’s final line was three earned runs on six hits over 6.2 innings. He walked one and struck out six. He credited pitching backwards as a part of his success on Friday night. “My offspeed was good. I was throwing it behind in the count in hitters counts. A team like this that like to swing a lot.” Clemens gave up two hits and a walk over 2.1 shutout innings. He struck out two and recorded his first save of the season. Jonathan Rodriguez went 1-3 with two walks and his ninth home run. It was his third home run in three games. LaMonte Wade went 2-4 with a walk and two runs driven in. Nick Gordon went 2-4, and he stole his eighth base. Edgar Corcino was 2-5. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 11, St. Lucie 0 Box Score If you were to only look at this score, you would likely believe that this was a blowout. In the end, I guess it was. However, when the Miracle came to bat in the bottom of the eighth inning, it was a 0-0 game. Eleven runs crossed the plate that half inning to give the final score. Justin Haley made the start for the Miracle. After one rehab appearance (Monday) in the GCL, Haley worked two innings for the Miracle. He gave up one hit, walked one and struck out two. Then regularly-scheduled starter Lewis Thorpe came on and threw 4.2 innings of shutout ball. Thorpe hasn’t worked much out of the bullpen in his career. He said, “it was different but I enjoyed the experience.” But Lewis threw the ball real well. He gave up two hits, walked three and struck out five (including a certain former Heisman Trophy winner twice). Regarding his success, he said, “I think spotting my fastball up tonight was really big.” Michael Theofanopoulos got four outs, two of them on strikeouts. His only blemish was a hit batter (a certain former NFL quarterback). Sam Clay got the final three outs. The bottom of the eighth was crazy, as you’ll see in the illustration below, but the Miracle found just about every way to score a run in that inning. Singles, doubles, bases-loaded walks, hit batters and a balk. Baseball is a funny game. But, whether you like it or not, Tim Tebow coming to Hammond Stadium was part of the game’s story. The Tim Tebow Effect is real. The Miracle have averaged 1,748 fans at home games to this point this year. On Friday night, 6,315 fans watched this game. Thorpe mentioned that he really enjoyed the opportunity to compete against Tebow. He said, “It was fun too see what Tebow had. He competes and that's all that matters. Wish him good luck in his career as a pro baseball player.” Tebow came into the game having played just three games in the Florida State League. He was 5-9 (.556) with a homer. He had two walks and struck out once. In this game, he was 0-2 with two strikeouts and was hit by a pitch. He also made this catch to rob Zander Wiel of an extra base hit. https://twitter.com/AMcDevittTV/status/880946472430313472 KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 6, Clinton 2 Box Score The Kernels took an early lead on Friday night in the fourth inning when Lewin Diaz hit his ninth homer and two batters later Hank Morrison added his second of the year. Of his homer, Morrison said, "I was looking for a fastball and he threw a hard slider inside that broke right over the middle and just put a good swing on it." Domenick Carlini was really good through the first five innings. He said after the game, “I think I kept them off balanced for the most part. I got away with some fastballs because they may not have been on time because of the quality offspeed pitches.” He has been working and talking a lot with Kernels’ pitching coach JP Martinez about putting hitters away. “We discussed getting to the kill counts (0-2,1-2) and putting them away when I have the chance. Too many times I can look back on the season and remember times when I didn't put guys away when I had the chance and it came back to bite me. So I tried to take advantage of those situations.” He ran into some trouble in the sixth. He got two outs, but gave up two runs in the inning. His final line was two runs on three hits over 5.2 innings. He walked three and struck out seven. Ryan Mason got the final out of the sixth inning, worked a clean seventh, and struck out two of the four batters he faced. Colton Davis struck out two over the final two innings. Diaz and Morrison were both 2-4 with a homer. Christian Cavaness went 2-5. Travis Blankenhorn’s 13th double drove in two. Caleb Hamilton went 1-3 with a walk. He also stole his first base. It was a nice win for a team that is still learning itself and coming together, according to Morrison. "It was very important just for the team morale. Winning was something the team did a lot of in the first half! Now that we have a bunch of new players. I think we are just as capable to do so, just have to come together as quick as possible!" E-TWINS E-NOTES Elizabethton 12, Kingsport 10 (12 innings) Box Score This was about as wild a game as you’ll see. It went back and forth, and needed some extra frames, but the E-Twins came out on top in the end. It looked a little questionable in the ninth. The Twins had a four-run lead, but they gave up four to send it to extra innings. According to Elizabethton left fielder (and third baseman) Trey Cabbage, "Good crowd tonight, so that always makes it fun, but our guys just love to go out and compete." In the top of the 12th, Andrew Bechtold gave the Twins an 11-10 lead, singling home Javier who was hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Next up was Jose Miranda who had a special night. He came into that at bat 4-6 and needing only a triple for the cycle. He almost got it. He drove in Bechtold and tried to turn it into a triple, but he was thrown out. The Twins were able to hold on to their lead in the bottom of the 12th to win the game. Jose Miranda certainly led the way. He went 5-7 with two doubles (three on season), a home run and four RBI. He was leading off. The Twins second hitter was Trey Cabbage. He also drove in four runs. He went 2-5 with a walk, and a big three-run homer. It was his second homer of the season. They had RBI opportunities because Andrew Bechtold had a breakout game batting ninth. He recorded his first three professional hits in a 3-5 night. He also walked and scored four runs. Rainis Silva had two hits. Wander Javier was 1-3 with two walks, a HBP and his third double. Cabbage takes a pretty simple approach with him to the plate for each plate appearance. "At the plate, I just try to do damage every time up to help us get into the best position to win." Along with his offense, Cabbage also threw out a base runner at the plate. It wasn’t all good news. Brent Rooker returned to the lineup after missing the previous three games. He went 0-6 with four strikeouts, the Golden Sombrero. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Twins 3, GCL Red Sox 0 Box Score In the bottom of the first inning, Akil Baddoo led off with a double. He scored when the next batter, Royce Lewis, knocked him in with a double. It was the second of the season for both of them. Two outs later, 17-year-old Victor Tademo hit his first home run of the season. That gives him the same number that he hit last season in 51 games in the Dominican Summer League. Later, Tademo added his first double of the season as well. That was it for the offense, so it’s a good thing they got some nice pitching performances. Vadim Balan has already thrown six innings over two appearances so far this year. On Friday, his younger brother Petru Balan made his first start as a pro, and it went well. The left-hander went the first four innings without giving up a run. He gave up two hits, walked one and struck out five. Jose Bermudez came on and struck out three over the next three scoreless innings. He gave up three hits and walked one. Lefty Matt Jones pitched for the first time this year. The 2016 draft pick recorded the save with two scoreless innings. He gave up two hits, walked one and struck out three. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Lewis Thorpe, Ft. Myers Miracle Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Jose Miranda, Elizabethton Twins SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Lehigh Valley (5:35 CST) - LHP David Hurlbut Chattanooga @ Mississippi (6:00 CST) - RHP Fernando Romero St. Lucie @ Ft. Myers (5:05 CST) - RHP Brady Anderson Cedar Rapids @ Clinton (6:30 CST) - RHP Clark Beeker Elizabethton @ Danville (6:00 CST) - TBD GCL Twins @ GCL Red Sox (9:00 am CST) - TBD Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Friday’s games. View full article

That's exactly what it was, and whether it was literally 20 seconds of maybe a minute, it was quick because I believe that they also called a few other high-end high school pitchers to see if they would sign for the $1.4 million that Leach did. I don't know with 100% certainty that that is true, but that would be my guess. Jeremy often pointed out how much Sean Johnson and Derek Falvey liked the high-end high school pitchers in this draft, so they were able to use that method to get two of them.

Sure, he can be disappointed. No problem with that. He's also likely happy for Felix Jorge. I mean, there's probably many emotions in such a thing... but I don't think that the disappointment should get to any extent that it effects him, his mindset or his pitching. Disappointed is fine, but slighted - in my opinion of the definition - is a bit much...

chatted a bit with Tyler Wells this morning. He's hoping they get the results of the MRI back today.

His option was used when he was optioned from big league camp to minor league camp, so that counts for the full year. It isn't like an extra option.

I would hope not... They likely talked a lot about this. My guess is Ivan Arteaga and Jake Mauer were pretty much asked which one they should call up for a spot start, which one was most ready. Obviously there have been other evaluaters there as well. Romero shouldn't feel slighted at all. If he does, that says a lot more about him than anything else.

There's no reason that he shouldn't get to 130-140 innings this year. I think bringing him up to the bullpen now/soon wouldn't be right for his long-term. I would like to see this scenario play out when he gets to 130 innings or so though.