Seth Stohs

And here is the Twins Almanac for the week of April 24th through April 30th. This week in Twins history Paul Molitor and Greg Myers each collected 5 RBI sas the Twins scored a team record 24 runs. Scott Erickson pitched the third no-hitter in Twins history. Camilo Pascual hit his second career grand slam. Harmon Killebrew hit both his first home run as a Twin and his 400th career home run this week in history. Mickey Hatcher tied Tony Oliva’s club record for consecutive hits. And Luke Hughes became the fifth Twin to homer in his first career at-bat. April 24, 1996 5 RBI Game for Both Molitor and Myers Paul Molitor was responsible for 10 of the record 24 runs the Twins scored in a 24-11 win at Tiger Stadium. Molitor went 2-for-5 with a walk, 5 RBIs and 5 runs scored (he reached on two fielder’s choices). Catcher Greg Myers went 5-for-6 with 5 RBIs and 3 runs scored. The Twins jumped out to a 6-1 lead after two innings, but had used three pitchers by the end of the third and trailed 10-7 at the end of four innings. But the Twins kept adding on, outscoring the Tigers 17-1 over the final five innings. They scored in every inning but the fourth, never scoring more than 5 runs in an inning, which they did in the eighth. http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w413/mjohnso9/20160423_080543_zpsyfgsqcho.jpg April 25, 1961 Fred Bruckbauer Has Career ERA of Infinity With the Twins already trailing 7-2 in Kansas City after three innings, Fred Bruckbauer, a 22-year-old New Ulm native and alumnus of St. Mary’s High School (Sleepy Eye, MN) and the U of M, made his major league debut, coming in to pitch to the Athletics in the bottom of the fourth. Bruckbauer gave up 3 runs on 3 hits and a walk before being pulled without recording an out. Unfortunately, this was Bruckbauer’s one and only big league appearance. Since he never recorded an out, his ERA is infinity. The Twins went on to lose the game 20-2. April 26, 1986 Dome Roof Deflates, Twins Lead Collapses The Twins led the California Angels 5-1 in the bottom of the eighth on a stormy night in Minneapolis when a tear caused the Metrodome roof to deflate. The L.A. Times described the scene, with “80-m.p.h. winds tearing holes in the fiberglass dome and whipping through the stadium, sending speakers and light standards swaying on their cables like yo-yos in a wind tunnel… Above the third base line, a geyser of water shot through a drainage hole in the roof, dousing a handful of spectators.” The roof was re-inflated and, remarkably, the game was only delayed nine minutes. The Twins went on to score once more in the eighth, with Mickey Hatcher driving in Steve Lombardozzi with a sacrifice fly. With a 6-1 lead in the ninth, starting pitcher Frank Viola gave up a leadoff double to Brian Downing and a two-run home run to George Hendrick before being relieved by closer Ron Davis with the Twins still up 6-3. Davis gave up a single and a two-run home runs to the first two men he faced. With one out he walked pinch-hitter Reggie Jackson, representing the tying run. After striking out Bobby Grich for the second out, Ron Davis gave up a go-ahead, two-run homer to Wally Joyner, who had made his major league debut less than three weeks earlier. Tom Brunansky, Roy Smalley and Gary Gaetti went down in order in the bottom of the ninth and the Twins lost 7-6. http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w413/mjohnso9/20160423_082732_zpsxvhqgjiz.jpg April 27, 1965 Camilo Pascual Hits Second Career Grand Slam Camilo Pascual allowed just 1 run on 2 hits in an 11-1 Twins win on the road in Cleveland. With the Twins already leading 3-0 with two out in the first inning, Pascual hit his second career grand slam, the only grand slam by a pitcher in Twins history. Pascual hit his first grand slam in the Senators’ final season in Washington, on August 14, 1960 in a 5-4 win in the first game of a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium. The Senators won the second game 6-3 in 15 innings. http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w413/mjohnso9/20160423_081710_zpshkyemg6k.jpg April 27, 1969 Killebrew’s 400th Home Run Harmon Killebrew hit his 400th career home run with two out in the top of the first inning of an afternoon game in Chicago. Down a run in the seventh, Rod Carew hit a two-run homer and pitcher Dave Boswell and the Twins went on to win 4-3. The top of the Twins lineup that day went Tovar, Carew, Killebrew, Oliva, Alison. All told, Killebrew hit 573 home runs, fifth most in baseball history at the time he retired, and still 11th all-time in 2016. He hit 84 home runs as a member of the Washington Senators, 14 as a Kansas City Royal in 1975 and 475 in a Twins uniform. http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w413/mjohnso9/20160423_082301_zpsolrsofse.jpg April 27, 1994 Scott Erickson No-Hitter Scott Erickson pitched the first no-hitter at the Metrodome, the third no-hitter in Twins history, and the first since Dean Chance threw one in the second game of a doubleheader in Cleveland in 1967. Erickson, who had led the American League with 20 wins and finished second in Cy Young voting in 1991, was coming off of a ‘93 season in which he led the league with 19 losses and 266 hits allowed. The Twins scored in each of the first four innings to lead the Milwaukee Brewers 5-0. Milwaukee’s first baserunner, John Jaha, reached on a hit-by-pitch leading off the 6th. With two out in the ninth, Erickson walked two batters before getting the dangerous Greg Vaughn to fly out to Alex Cole in left. Erickson struck out five Brewers, including the DH Greg Vaughn twice and former Twins catcher, Brian Harper. Kirby Puckett went 4-for-5 with an RBI. http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w413/mjohnso9/20160423_081915_zpsfqfpv7mp.jpg April 28, 1985 Mickey Hatcher Ties Tony O.’s Consecutive Hit Record Mickey Hatcher went 4-for-5 in a 10-1 Twins win over Oakland at the Metrodome. Having gone 5-for-5 the previous day, Hatcher’s 4 hits tied Tony Oliva’s 1967 team record of 9 consecutive hits. Todd Walker matched the feat in 1998. http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w413/mjohnso9/20160423_082146_zpsd7b72pmf.jpg April 28, 2010 Hughes Homers in First MLB At-Bat Leading off the top of the third with the Twins already up 2-1 on a Thome home run, Luke Hughes lifted Max Scherzer’s 2-2 pitch to right for an opposite field home run in his first major league at-bat. Hughes originally came up to bat in the second when Delmon Young was thrown out trying to steal third for the third out of the inning. The Tigers would come back and win the game 11-6. Six Twins have homered in their first major league at-bat: Rick Renick, Dave McKay, Gary Gaetti, Andre David, Hughes and Eddie Rosario. Between August 26th and September 20th, 1981, Kent Hrbek, Tim Laudner and Gary Gaetti each homered in their first major league game. April 29, 1962 Twins Hit Six Solo Home Runs In the second game of a doubleheader in Cleveland, the Twins hit six solo home runs, one each by Lenny Green, Don Mincher, Zoilo Versalles and Bill Tuttle, and two by Johnny Goryl. The Twins scored in each inning but the third and ninth and won the game 7-3. The Twins did not hit a home run in game one, winning 8-4. http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w413/mjohnso9/20160423_082822_zpsjbtlx94n.jpg April 30, 1961 Killebrew’s First HR as a Twin Trailing the White Sox 5-2 in the bottom of the 11th in Bloomington, Harmon Killebrew hit his first home run in a Twins uniform after having hit 84 as a Washington Senator. The White Sox held on to win 5-3 with Bob Shaw pitching all eleven innings. For the history of the Minnesota Twins, told one day at a time, follow @TwinsAlmanac on Twitter, and like The Twins Almanac on Facebook. For the stories of the Major Leaguers who grew up in Minnesota, follow @MajorMinnesota. Click here to view the article

back... And I don't know this, but the whole goal for 2016 for Melotakis is to make sure he gets through the year healthy. Melotakis has struggled some to start the season, shaking off rust... Could just be a good break for him. Or, maybe it's a sore back.

A week before the season, we learned the right-hander Nick Burdi had been shut down for a couple of weeks due to some tightness in his forearm. He has been on a throwing program since and over the last ten days has been pitching an inning at a time in extended spring training games. On Friday, he was activated and is now on the Lookouts roster. Continue on to read about the pitchers and the hitter highlights from Friday night.TRANSACTIONS On Friday, the Lookouts put LHP Mason Melotakis on the disabled list. Nick Burdi was activated. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 8, Buffalo 3 Box Score Adam Brett Walker missed just over a week with an oblique injury. It’s taken him a couple of days to get back to form, but on Friday, he broke out with his best game for the Red Wings. Walker helped the Wings get off to a hot start. They scored four runs in the first inning including two on Walker’s second home run of the year. Walker went 3-4 and added his second double as well. James Beresford got things going with an RBI double. He went 2-4, the double was his third and he had two RBIs. Juan Centeno and Buck Britton each went 2-4. Logan Darnell put together another strong start in front of Terry Ryan. The southpaw went the first six innings. He gave up one run on four hits. He walked two and struck out four. Dan Runzler came in and faced two batters to start the seventh inning. He hit one and gave up a hit. David Martinez got the team out of that mess, but he gave up two runs of his own over the next two innings. JR Graham struck out two in a perfect ninth frame. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 4, Birmingham 0 Box Score Jason Wheeler has certainly had some ups and downs the last couple of years, but on Friday night, he put together one of his best starts. He threw seven shutout innings. He gave up just four hits, walked one and struck out nine to improve to 1-1 with a 1.88 ERA. Marcus Walden came on for the final two innings. He maintained the shutout though he gave up a hit and walked one. He struck out two. Zach Granite led the way with two doubles in three at-bats. Shannon Wilkerson was 2-3 with a double. Dalton Hicks and Engelb Vielma were each 2-3. Hicks stole a base, his second of the year. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 2, Charlotte 4 Box Score On Friday, Keaton Steele went six innings in a game for the first time this year, but he got hit a little bit. In those six innings, he gave up four runs (three earned) on seven hits. He walked one, hit one and struck out four. Luke Westphal came on and pitched a scoreless inning with two strikeouts. He walked one, hit one and gave up a hit. Brian Gilbert struck out two over the final two innings. No surprise, but it was again Nick Gordon who led the offense. The Miracle mustered just six hits and Gordon had three of them and is back up to .349 after a mini-slump. Ryan Walker went 2-3. Trey Vavra added the lone extra base hit, his fourth double of the year. Quick Note - Danny Santana played his first rehab game for the Miracle. He started in center field and led off. He went 0-3 with two strikeouts. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 1, Clinton 5 Box Score After rain won the day on Thursday, the Kernels were back in action on Friday at Clinton. Sam Gibbons had an extra day of rest, but it wasn’t helpful. The right-hander from Australia went six innings, but he gave up five runs. He allowed eight hits, walked two and hit one. He did strike out three batters. CK Irby came on and threw another scoreless inning. He’s started the year with 7.2 shutout frames. Mike Theofanopoulos pitched a scoreless ninth despite a hit and a walk. The Kernels managed just five hits in the game. Manuel Guzman went 2-2 with a walk. LaMonte Wade went 2-4 and his now hitting .368. AJ Murray was 1-2 with a walk. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Jason Wheeler, Chattanooga Lookouts Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Adam Brett Walker, Rochester Red Wings SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Buffalo @ Rochester (12:35 CST) - RHP Tyler Duffey Birmingham @ Chattanooga (6:15 CST) – RHP DJ Baxendale Charlotte @ Ft. Myers (5:05 CST) – RHP Felix Jorge Cedar Rapids @ Clinton (DH @ 5:00 CST) – LHP Sam Clay, RHP Dereck Rodriguez Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Friday games. Click here to view the article

Palka has batted third in every game in which he has started. Maloney did the first two games when Palka was out. Maloney has been batting 6-7 since, most night.

He was sitting 93-95 the whole game. It's not like 94 came out of nowhere. Being able to maintain that velocity for that many pitches is a big deal. This is a process, so as others have said, being able to do this in start 3 is big. He's got four pitches and he's working on all of them while learning this new role. I think he's doing great, especially having started slow the last two games.

Second straight start that Jay struggled early and showed the fortitude to get through 5 innings. Pretty impressive this early. He's got a chance.

Yes, he is out of options.

Last year the Twins selected Tyler Jay, a college closer from the University of Illinois, with their first selection in the draft. Jay spent the rest of 2015 in the bullpen, but has been stretched out and is starting games for the Fort Myers Miracle. You will find more about his start below, but I wanted to lead with this gem from Seth Stohs, Sounds like Jay is having no problems maintaining his velocity late into his start.Transaction Report: The Chattanooga Lookouts activated shortstop Engelb Vielma from the disabled list and to make room for him on the roster catcher Carlos Paulino was promoted to the Rochester Red Wings. Continue reading to find out more details about Thursday in the Twins farm system: RED WINGS REPORT Pawtucket Paw Sox @ Rochester Box Score Jose Berrios had his best start of the season and helped the Red Wings snap a five-game losing streak. Berrios pitched 7.0 innings, gave up just two hits, walked only one and struck out seven. Berrios' ERA on the year is now just 1.06. Pitching like this, it cannot be much longer before Twins fans see Berrios in the big leagues. Berrios was finished after the seventh and Brandon Kintzler pitched 1.1 innings of shutout ball before handing things over to Taylor Rogers to finish off the game and preserve the shutout. Neither Kintzler or Rogers struck out a batter, nor walked one. The Red Wings only needed one run with the way the pitching staff shut down the Paw Sox, but the Wings put up five runs (three earned), for good measure. The Red Wings used a fairly balanced attack as every hitter had either or a hit or a walk, and seven of the nine hitters had either a run scored or an RBI. Kennys Vargas , who was 1-4 on the night with an RBI and a strikeout, hit a double. Vargas has a 16/4 strikeout-to-walk ratio right now, and is hitting just .184 with four extra-base hits all year, all doubles. John Hicks was 2-3 and scored a run on a solo home run. And Heiker Meneses was 1-4 with four strike outs but also recorded a triple. Final: Paw Sox 0, Red Wings 5 LOOKOUTS LOOK-IN Chattanooga @ Mississippi Braves Box Score Not to be totally outdone by Jose Berrios and Tyler Jay, Ryan Eades had a nice evening on Thursday night as well. Eades pitched five innings of one-run ball, struck out five, and gave up just four hits and one run. Despite giving up the one run, Eades was tagged with the loss as the Lookouts' bats were unable to make sense of Braves starter Brandon Barker. After Eades left the game down 1-0, Reliever Brett Lee gave up three runs in the sixth to put Chattanooga in a 4-0 hole with just nine outs left to play with. Brandon Peterson pitched the final two innings for the Lookouts, striking out one and facing the minimum in both the seventh and eighth innings. Two Lookouts hitters had multi-hit nights, Daniel Palka who was 2-3 with a walk, and Levi Michael, 2-3 with run scored. The freshly activated Engelb Vielma was 0-4 hitting in the ninth spot. None of the Lookouts seven hits were for extra bases and they managed just three walks against eleven strikeouts. Final: Lookouts 2, Braves 4 MIRACLE MATTERS Jupiter Hammerheads @ Fort Myers Box Score Despite throwing gas deep in his start against the Hammerheads, the Miracle's Tyler Jay's first inning sunk Fort Myers on Thursday night, losing the series in the process. Jay was tagged for three runs in the top of the first after a walk to the leadoff hitter and three straight singles to begin the game. Tyler Jay finished the game with 5.0 innings pitched, giving up five hits, three runs, three walks and he struck out six. Raul Fernandez pitched 2.0 innings of scoreless relief before turning things over to Luke Bard for the eighth, striking out two of the three hitters he faced. Todd Van Steensel pitched the ninth and gave up a leadoff walk and eventually balked in a run. The Miracle actually outhit the Hammerheads 9-7, but were just 1-9 with runners in scoring position, leaving nine men on base. Chris Paul was 3-5 with two doubles and an RBI to lead the Miracle attack. Trey Vavra, 2-4 with a run scored, was the only other Miracle hitter with multiple hits. Final: Hammerheads 4, Miracle 2 KERNELS KORNER Cedar Rapids @ Clinton LumberKings Postponed due to rain, the game will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Saturday. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day - Chris Paul - Fort Myers Miracle Pitcher of the Day - Jose Berrios - Rochester Red Wings FRIDAY'S PROBABLES Buffalo @ Rochester (5:35pm, MiLB.tv) - Chris Leroux vs. Logan Darnell (0-2, 6.17) Birmingham @ Chattanooga (6:15pm) - Tyler Danish vs. Jason Wheeler (0-1, 2.65) Charlotte @ Fort Myers (6:05pm) - Brent Honeywell vs. Keaton Steele (0-1, 2.53) Cedar Rapids @ Clinton (6:30pm) - Sam Gibbons (1-1, 4.66) vs. Nick Wells Please ask questions and discuss the Thursday games. -ERolf Click here to view the article

We know that Burdi is with Chattanooga right now, so he should be added to their roster soon. I'm thinking when Burdi is added, Chargois could move up to Rochester... or the Twins.

But those numbers (shutdown and meltdown) are only populated if a guy pitches to certain levels (good or bad). My chart shows every outing for the player. I think that's the main difference.

And that would probably be about the time he moves up.

Strong is already on the AA DL. Van Mil might be on Rochester's soon.

Probably not all that long. Terry Ryan is there. He got a behind-home plate view of it. He's throwing hard, he's throwing a lot of strikes, it sounds like his curveball is tremendous. It may depend on what they want to do with him. If they want him to keep starting and see what they have, have to let him make another 4-5 starts before considering bringing him up. If it'd be as a long reliever... probably any time.

The Twins - and I don' think any team - would just call up a guy from AA or AAA And put him right into the closer's role. That said, he could certainly come up and potentially work his way up the ladder in the bullpen fairly quickly.

He is very interesting. I saw him pitch a couple of times during spring training. I went behind home plate and saw him consistently hitting 94-95. I assume he's moved fully to the bullpen at this point, so that has the ability to keep increasing. He also has a couple of other solid pitches. So, I do think he's very intriguing for us to watch. Could move up to Ft. Myers quickly.

The Twins lost again on Wednesday night to fall to 4-11 on the still-young season. After starting 0-9, the team rattled off four straight wins before losing the last two days to Milwaukee. Just over a week ago, I wrote about the Twins bullpen failure during the first week of the season. Today, I am going to update you on how things have been going. It’s unfortunate that I didn’t do it a day earlier probably. And let’s be honest, the bullpen is not the only reason that the Twins are struggling. The offense has at least started hitting for some power of late, but there have been many missed opportunities. Defensively, the team is a mess. Adding to that, the team’s closer, top utility man, and third baseman/clean-up hitter are injured. But let’s get back to the bullpen. I wrote that it was unfortunate that I didn’t write this a day sooner. Why? Because last night, four Twins relievers entered the game and none of them really threw well. They certainly weren’t helped by their defense, but the results for each just isn’t where we, or they, would want them.But let’s take a step back first. I went into last week’s article wanting a stat that would tell me how often a relief pitcher came in and did his job.A simple, yes or no. Yes, there are similar stats such as FanGraphs' Shutdowns and Meltdowns. There may need to be an accounting for leverage. So, this isn’t a perfect stat, but what it does is says that when Paul Molitor calls a guy’s name, he did what was needed in that situation for the team. In theory, it may tell Molitor whether or not the pitcher should be relied upon. THE FIRST SEVEN Let’s start by looking back at the results we showed through seven games. This is through games played April 11. Glen Perkins was 0/2 (0%). Kevin Jepsen was ⅓ (33%) Trevor May was 0/3 (0%). Casey Fien was ⅓ (33%). Ryan Pressly was ¾ (75%) Michael Tonkin was 0/1 (0%) Fernando Abad was 3/3 (100%) Through seven games, the Twins bullpen combined to be 8/19 (42%) successful. I don’t know what a good number is, but I’m certain that 42% is not. We also know that there is enough track record in the above group to know that it wouldn’t stay that bad forever. Even with Perkins going to the disabled list, it couldn’t stay that bad… Or could it? THE NEXT SEVEN So, let’s look at how the bullpen performed games eight through 14. Was it any better? Kevin Jepsen was ¾ (75%). Trevor May was ⅔ (67%) Casey Fien was 2/2 (100%) Ryan Pressly was 3/3 (100%) Michael Tonkin was 3/3 (100%) Fernando Abad was 3/3 (100%) Taylor Rogers was 1/1 (100%) Ryan O’Rourke was 2/2 (100%) That certainly looks a lot better. In the second set of seven games, the Twins bullpen members were successful in 19 out of 21 opportunities. That’s 90.5% which I have to assume is very good. Of course, as I mentioned above, four pitchers who were at 100% in the second week threw in last night’s game and went 0/4. So, here is an update of how the Twins bullpen members have performed through the team’s first 15 games (includes Wednesday’s game too). THROUGH 15 GAMES Glen Perkins is 0/2 (0%) Kevin Jepsen is 4/7 (57.1%) Trevor May is 2/6 (33.3%) Casey Fien is 3/6 (50.0%) Ryan Pressly is 6/8 (75.0%) Michael Tonkin is ⅗ (60.0%) Fernando Abad is 6/6 (100%) Taylor Rogers is 1/1 (100%) Ryan O’Rourke is ⅔ (66.7%) Overall, the team is now 27/44 (61.4%). Again, there is no real context to that number, though I still have to believe that a “good” number should be around 75%, but it may be higher. If you want to factor in for leverage, clearly Perkins, Jepsen and May are being placed in the highest leverage situations, though we have seen Abad, Pressly and Fien in some as well. Last night, Michael Tonkin was placed in a bases-loaded, one out situation and it didn’t go well, but he was very successful when the Twins needed him to get Mike Trout and Albert Pujols out over the weekend. Meanwhile, JT Chargois is sitting in Chattanooga, dominating AA hitters. He has faced 15 batters so far. He’s given up no hits, no walks, hasn’t hit a batter. No base runners through five outings. He’s also struck out nine batters. Nick Burdi is back in Chattanooga looking to get his season started off right. There are some options. Bullpens, and relief pitchers, do have a tendency to be a bit streaky. It is rare to find relievers who are consistently good from year to year. Even within a season, it's normal to have good and bad stretches. It is going to be very interesting to see how this plays out over the season. Who will step up and be more consistent, and how long will Terry Ryan be patient with some of these pitchers? So, what do you think? Any further observations on the Twins bullpen? Do any of the numbers above surprise you? Click here to view the article

Eight... I forgot that sentence, so I just added it. That's obviously a number a lot of Twins fans will be looking for. My bad!

Rochester and Chattanooga each played early afternoon games while Cedar Rapids and Ft. Myers played night games. The teams went 2-2. There were a couple of impressive streaks that came to an end in the Wednesday games. The Kernels tripled their pleasure. The Chattanooga and Cedar Rapids closers are strikeout machines. Check out how they each did in today’s Twins Minor League Report.TRANSACTIONS On Wednesday morning, the Cedar Rapids Kernels announced that RHP Zach Tillery was activated from the disabled list. RHP Miles Nordgren was sent back to extended spring training. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 0, Pawtucket 2 Box Score Red Wings starter Alex Meyer put up more zeroes. Unfortunately, so did the Red Wings offense. With Twins GM Terry Ryan in attendance, Alex Meyer put together another strong performance. He came into the game with 10.1 scoreless innings to start the season. He started this game with five scoreless innings. However, in the 6th inning his streak came to an end. In that inning, the first two batters singled. The second hit was a line drive off of Meyer’s right knee. Meyer stayed in the game. He got a fly out to left field, but the next batter, Sam Travis, hit a ball to left center field just beyond the outstretched glove of Adam Brett Walker. The double scored two runs and ended Meyer’s streak of scoreless innings at 15.2. Travis was thrown out at third on the relay from Walker to Beresford to Britton for the second out. Meyer ended the 6th inning with a strikeout. He stayed in and faced the minimum in the 7th inning too. Meyer completed seven inning for just the third time in his professional career. He gave up the two runs on five hits and two walks. He also struck out seven. David Martinez came on and threw two scoreless innings, striking out one. The Red Wings managed just four hits in the game. Darin Mastroianni walked twice. Buck Britton and John Hicks each had two hits. One of Hicks’ hits was a double. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 6, Mississippi 2 Box Score Aaron Slegers made six starts for the Lookouts at the end of the 2015 season. He went 1-4. On Wednesday, he won his first game of 2016 for Chattanooga. In seven innings, he gave up two runs on four hits and a walk. He struck out three. Alex Wimmers came on and worked a scoreless eighth inning. He struck out one. JT Chargois pitched the ninth and had another perfect inning. He struck out two. On the season, Chargois has faced 15 batters and retired them all, nine of them on strikeouts. Joe Maloney, who spent the last two seasons in independent ball (Indy League MVP in 2015), hit his first home run in affiliated ball since 2013. The homer gave the Lookouts a 1-0 lead in the 4th. Maloney ended the day 2-3 with two walks and the home run. Dalton Hicks had three singles in five at-bats. Leonardo Reginnato went 2-4. Zach Granite was 1-4 and walked twice. He stole four bases. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 3, Jupiter 4 Box Score As you saw above, Alex Meyer’s consecutive scoreless inning streak came to an end this afternoon at 15.2 innings. On Tuesday, Stephen Gonsalves’s streak of 15 consecutive scoreless innings came to an end. On Wednesday, Kohl Stewart entered the game with seven straight scoreless innings, and he added to that. Stewart began tonight with five shutout innings against Jupiter, pushing that scoreless string to 12 innings. However, his streak ended in the 6th inning. He got one out, but he yielded four singles to give up one run. However, he left with the bases loaded, but Luke Westphal came in and walked two before getting the final outs. Westphal went another inning. The Miracle tied the game, but Yorman Landa gave back that run in the 8th inning when he balked in a run. Brian Gilbert pitched a scoreless ninth. In other words, Kohl Stewart’s final line does not represent how well he pitched on Wednesday night. Stewart was charged with three runs on six hits and a walk over 5.1 innings. He struck out eight batters. Reports from the radio broadcast pointed out that his fastball was sitting 93-94 mph and he had a good curveball as well. Offensively, Trey Vavra led the way. He went 3-4 with his third double and his first home run. He drove in two of the Miracle runs. Nick Gordon drove in the other with a ground out. Alex Swim added his second double. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 6, Burlington 3 Box Score The Kernels have hit a lot of triples this season already. In fact, they tripled up on triples on Wednesday night with three of them. It was a triple that scored three runs that was the big play in this game. Andro Cutura started. He gave up three runs on five hits and two walks through five innings. He struck out four. Zack Tillery, just off the DL, gave up one hit and walked two but gave up no runs in his inning. Kuo Hua Lo walked two in his scoreless inning. Rafael Valera went 2-5 with his fourth triple. Sean Miller was 2-3 with his second double and a stolen base. Zander Wiel tripled. However, with the Kernels down 3-2 in the 7th, Max Murphy came to the plate with the bases loaded. He uncoiled a triple of his own to clear the bases and turn a one-run deficit into a two-run lead. In the ninth, LaMonte Wade hit his first home run of the year to give the final 6-3 score. John Curtiss pitched the final two innings. The 23-year-old walked one and struck out five batters. The hard-throwing right-hander now has struck out 13 batters in just 6.0 innings of work. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Alex Meyer, Rochester Red Wings Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Trey Vavra, Ft. Myers Miracle THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Pawtucket @ Rochester (10:05 am CST) - RHP Jose Berrios Chattanooga @ Mississippi (7:00 CST) – RHP Ryan Eades Jupiter @ Ft. Myers (6:05 CST) – LHP Tyler Jay Cedar Rapids @ Clinton (6:35 CST) – RHP Sam Gibbons Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Wednesday games. Click here to view the article

I agree... I do think that is the biggest jump in terms of whether a guy is a prospect or a suspect of the levels below it.

Nah... and that's fine. Got me... but Santana is a guy who most people in baseball saw great things from. It's why the Twins wouldn't dare DFA Santana.

I would agree with this... They are certainly all guys that need to be followed along with Tyler Jay and Felix Jorge...

Of course Mauer will go down and be known as a catcher... Consider Ernie Banks is still considered one of the best shortstops, but he played more games at 1B in his career. Mauer will always be known as a catcher. That's why I think there's still a good chance he gets into the Hall. If not, I think he'll be on the ballot every year, or should be. Never know with the voters though. I thought Lou Whitaker was a borderline Hall of Famer and he didn't get 5% in his first time on the ballot.