Seth Stohs

Yup.

he's yours...

You've got him...

He's yours...

The Adopt-A-Prospect Draft is now underway.

I'd also warn against this... Often guys are top prospects in part because of their age-to-level-of-competition. As much as some of the guys are very, very talented, there are going to be 21-22 year olds playing against 24-26 year olds with a lot of experience. So, lots of prospects at a level doesn't always translate to lots of wins. AT least not always early.

Round 1 Draft-Eligible Players, starting with Twins Daily's Top 20 prospects and a handful more: 1 - Fernando Romero - RHP - Chattanooga Lookouts 2 - Stephen Gonsalves - LHP - Chattanooga Lookouts 3 - Alex Kirilloff - OF - Extended Spring Training, out for the year 4 - Nick Gordon - SS - Chattanooga Lookouts 5 - Tyler Jay - LHP - Chattanooga Lookouts 6 - Wander Javier - SS - Extended Spring Training 7 - Adalberto Mejia - LHP - Minnesota Twins 8 - Kohl Stewart - RHP - Chattanooga Lookouts 9 - Travis Blankenhorn - IF - Cedar Rapids Kernels 10 - Lewin Diaz - 1B - Cedar Rapids Kernels 11 - Mitch Garver - C - Rochester Red Wings 12 - Felix Jorge - RHP - Chattanooga Lookouts 13 - JT Chargois - RHP - Rochester Red Wings 14 - Daniel Palka - OF - Rochester Red Wings 15 - LaMonte Wade - OF - Chattanooga Lookouts 16 - Zack Granite - OF - Rochester Red Wings 17 - Nick Burdi - RHP - Chattanooga Lookouts 18 - Engelb Vielma - SS - Chattanooga Lookouts 19 - Ben Rortvedt - C - Cedar Rapids Kernels 20 - Justin Haley - RHP - Minnesota Twins A couple more that I've seen in Top 20 lists or are near big-league ready... Luis Arraez - 2B - Ft. Myers Miracle Jake Reed - RHP - Rochester Red Wings Lachlan Wells - LHP - Ft. Myers Miracle Lewis Thorpe - LHP - Ft. Myers Miracle Tanner English - OF - Chattanooga Lookouts Mason Melotakis - LHP - Chattanooga Lookouts Trevor Hildenberger - RHP - Rochester Red Wings Aaron Slegers - RHP - Rochester Red Wings Niko Goodrum - IF/OF - Rochester Red Wings John Curtiss - RHP - Chattanooga Lookouts Alright, there are the 30 players eligible to be drafted in today's Adopt-A-Prospect Round 1. Again, it starts at 9:00... I will post "The Adopt-A-Prospect Draft is now underway." And then it's first-come, first-serve. Initial threads and posts can be started right after confirmation of adoptions.

Good morning... I'll start this thread with what I posted last night in the Adopt-A-Prospect Discussion thread, and in the second post, I'll share the names of the 30 players eligible to be selected in the first round, which again, starts at 9:00 a.m. central TODAY (Wednesday, April 5). This post talks about the expectations for a person who drafts in the Adopt-A-Prospect. It's a full-season thing. So, if you're going to adopt a player, be sure to commit the time it takes (which isn't terribly much, just means paying attention and doing some searches).

Nick Gordon isn't going to get huge, but he's plenty strong. He'll be fine. And he'll keep gaining size and experience. He has the ability to hit the ball a long ways. he's a pretty complete hitter too.

At 9:00 central time, the draft will begin. I'll post a list of 30-35 Twins prospects to be drafted in round 1. A Twins Daily reader will be able to draft one player in each round. Round 2 will be Thursday with a new group of prospects. Round 3 will be Friday... and we'll see where we are. If you are going to Adopt Prospects, you need to commit to updating the thread often. Obviously if a player is hurt, it's unlikely there will be much to update. However, if you draft a player, you should do the following: 1.) The first thing is to set up your Prospects's thread. The title should be Player Name - Adopt-A-Prospect 2017. That way it is identifiable. Within that initial thread, please provide a bunch of background on the player. Age, background, status, history, level, etc. You can add some stats. You can write what you want, but it should be a pretty thorough introduction to the player. 2.) Once that initial post is updated, your job is to keep the thread lively. Update it weekly or so with how the player is doing. If a player has a multi-hit game, or a home run, or something like that, post it. You can also do google searches for the player and see if you can find articles on them from their hometown newspaper or something like that. See if there is any fun YouTube video on the player. Stuff like that. Note that other people can post things on those sites if they find them as well. It's still a community thread, but you are in charge of your player's thread. Make sure it's fun! The Draft: Sometime tonight, I'll post the 30ish players who will be eligible to be drafted tomorrow. It'll be top prospects and guys we could see in the big leagues in 2017. At 9:00 central time on Wednesday. I'll start a new thread with those names and say something like "The Draft now begins." Once that happens, it's first-come, first-serve for the players. Then we'll regroup the next day, and so on.

MVP: Buxton POY: Santana Reliever: Pressly ROY: Mejia

My guess is the front office, and guys like Jeff Pickler, are dictating to Jake Mauer how to allocate SS/2B playing time to Vielma and Gordon. My guess is that Gordon will get probably 55-60% of the starts at shortstop with Vielma getting most of the starts at 2B. If they can play one, they can play the other, so just keeping both fresh at both spots is what's important. What'll be interesting to me is the 3B playing time... Gamache, White, Walker and Michael will all see time there. Walker can play all three infield spots. White has played some 1B. Michael can play all three, but obviously best at 2B. So, I'm curious. Some of them will get a little OF time too, probably. Then again, with Harrison, Wade, English and Corcino, they all will play most every day and take the DH spot.

We'll have Round 1 of the Adopt-A-Prospect Draft tomorrow morning. More details to come...

Sure, we can do 40 on Day 1 and play the next days by ear.

To make too much of any one game is silly. We all know it’s just one game. One out of 162. Despite that knowledge, on several levels, the Twins 7-1 win on Opening Day against the Kansas City Royals felt important. It felt important on a number of levels. Let us count the ways. Image courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn, USA Today To make too much of any one game is silly. We all know it’s just one game. One out of 162. Despite that knowledge, on several levels, the Twins 7-1 win on Opening Day against the Kansas City Royals felt important. It felt important on a number of levels. Let us count the ways. While no one will say it, it was clear in spring training that the Twins wanted to get off to a good start in 2017. That showed in their Opening Day roster configuration. It was an early pitcher's duel, but it was an important game for the Twins to try to find a way to win. And they did. First of all, it was Opening Day. Opening Day is always special and deserves to be treated as such. We’ve been waiting since last September for “real” baseball games. Baseball is back, so there should be renewed hope and optimism. Joe Mauer started on Opening Day for the 13th time in his career, tying Harmon Killebrew with the most in team history. He batted fourth, something that he has been doing the last couple of weeks in spring training. Paul Molitor announced on Sunday that he planned to start all four left-handed hitters despite talented left-hander Danny Duffy starting for the Royals. Why? Right or wrong, you just start your regulars on Opening Day, unless you have a predetermined platoon. That made for quite the challenge because Duffy was on his game. He was good. The lineup will likely be different against lefties going forward, and that will be fun to see, but for this game, it worked. The Twins hadn’t won an Opening Day game since Livan Hernandez led them to a win in 2008. That’s eight straight Opening Day losses. All of those seasons, it was “just one game” too, but it’s always nice to get off to a good start and set a tone the first game. But it’s just another negative statistic that ends. It is also nice to get a nice win in front of the home crowd. 39,165 fans came out to Target Field in large part because it was Opening Day. While there will be a severe drop in attendance when the Twins take the field again on Wednesday against the Royals, seeing the team win and put up some runs will hopefully create some excitement and encourage fans to come back. Despite 17 Quality Starts in 2016, Ervin Santana went just 7-11 a year ago. He rarely gave up many runs, but either the offense wouldn’t score for him or the bullpen blew small leads. That’s how the game looked to be going again on Monday. When Santana walked off the mound, having struck out three in the top of the 7th inning, the score was tied 1-1. Lefty Matt Strahm, the West Fargo native who gave up just three earned runs in 22 innings late last year, came in. Jorge Polanco blooped a single just outside the infield. Max Kepler beat out a bunt (after review). Eddie Rosario laid down a very nice sacrifice bunt. Brian Dozier was intentionally walked, without being pitched to, something we’ll have to get used to. Robbie Grossman walked in a run. Peter Moylan was brought in and got Byron Buxton to strike out for the second out of the inning. Another pitching change and lefty Travis Wood came in. Joe Mauer walked in another run to make it 3-1. Miguel Sano walked to make it 4-1. Jason Castro slapped a single to left to drive in Grossman and Mauer and make it 6-1. Jorge Polanco hit his second single of the inning. This one drove in the Twins seventh run. Not one hard hit ball. But that’s OK. We’ll take that as Twins fans. They showed a good approach. They showed patience at the plate. They didn’t try to do too much. They took what they were given and came through against the Royals bullpen. Fun fact… after posting a 1.23 ERA in 22 innings last year for the Royals, Matt Strahm starts his 2017 season with a 108.00 ERA after today’s outing. Note that he is going to be just fine. His stuff is electric, and it’s not like the Twins hit him. We know that individual pitcher Wins are an overrated stat, but it is a stat that people pay attention to. Ervin Santana pitched very, very well, and he was rewarded with a Win. It should also be noted that Danny Duffy is tremendous and equally deserving of a Win (though he only went six innings, instead of seven like Santana). He throws a good fastball in the 92-94 mph range. However, it’s his changeup that could push him into the elite category. He’s got a really good curveball too but it’s his changeup that earned him the five year, $65 million contract extension. Matt Belisle came on for the eighth and went 1-2-3 in his Twins debut. Brandon Kintzler came on for the ninth and got a double play ball and a groundout to end the game. Ervin Santana gets the Win. The Offense showed up late. The bullpen did not have to be extended. Jason Castro went 2-3 in his Twins debut, slapping two singles to left field, the second obviously being a huge one. It’s always nice to get off to a good start with a new team. In 2015, the Twins went 0-3 to start the season and were outscored 22-1 in those games in Detroit. They won just one of their first seven games. Obviously they didn’t want to start 0-9 like they did in 2016 either. Of course, winning game one doesn’t mean they won’t be 1-9 after ten games, but getting that first win should help the Twins relax as they go into the rest of the series. While he went 0-5 with three strikeouts in the season opener, Byron Buxton showed off his defensive prowess. Not once, but twice. He made two diving catches. The first was on a low liner off the bat of Alex Gordon. Buxton dove forward to make the inning-ending catch. A couple of innings later, he actually took a mis-step. He took one step back on a short fly ball. As he reversed direction and headed in, he nearly slipped. But then his speed took over, and he outran the ball, leaping forward to make another great catch. Patience will need to be used with Buxton’s bat. He won’t hit like he did in September all the time, but hopefully they’ll keep him in the #3 spot in the lineup and let him play. Let’s talk a little more about the defense. The outfield is going to be terrific. Buxton made two diving catches, and he’s flanked by Eddie Rosario and Max Kepler who each have good range and strong arms too. Brian Dozier made a couple of very nice plays at second base, including a glove-flip to first base to get Raul Mondesi, Jr. by a step on a nice bunt attempt. The question marks on defense are on the left side of the infield. Miguel Sano made two or three routine plays at third base, and he caught back-to-back high pop ups. Routine for most, though he had some issues with that last year, in Rochester and with the Twins. Jorge Polanco had a good day at shortstop. He was involved in a couple of big double plays, and he made the plays he needed to. As we’ve noted all along, if those two can make those routine plays most of the time, the Twins will be just fine. Robbie Grossman had a two-true outcomes game today. A three-true outcomes player is a guy who hits a lot of home runs, walks, and strikes out a lot. On Opening Day, Grossman went 0-3 with three strikeouts and two walks. Miguel Sano really struggled early in spring training, striking out a ton. Late in camp, he started making some hard contact. In Game 1, he made some really hard contact on a Danny Duffy fastball, crushing it into the left field seats. He also showed a much better eye at the plate too, which is encouraging. How good was it to see Rick Stelmaszek throw out the first pitch? The former Twins coach (for 32 years) has been battling pancreatic cancer. But it was clear how much he was respected when you saw how many former players showed up to be on the field with him. On the field included former Twins manager Ron Gardenhire who will have surgery due to his prostate cancer and then begin treatments. Gardenhire was on the field with his new club, the Diamondbacks, on Sunday in their season opener. However, thanks to early-season scheduling, he was able to make the trip. Also, recently-retired former Twins catcher AJ Pierzynski, who also just signed to continue to work as an analyst for Fox Sports, was also on the field. So was still-unsigned Justin Morneau. It was a great moment. Yes, it was just one game. There are 161 left, but it was really nice for the Twins (and their fans) to get a win in their opener. At the very least, they don’t have to wait a couple of days to try to pick up that first win. My sense in Ft. Myers, and even moreso after seeing the Opening Day roster choices, was the the Twins really don’t want to get off to a bad start. Winning Game 1 felt more important than usual. While it really wasn’t, and no one would say that it was, it really had a different feel than many Opening Days. It’s important not to make too much of it, but it’s OK to find the positives in it. And hopefully the start of Ervin Santana will propel the rest of the rotation to want to put up strong numbers in their first starts. And hopefully putting a seven spot on the scoreboard will help relax the hitters a bit. It was a nice win to hopefully build upon. And hopefully the fans can turn their negativity into some positivity. OK, that’ll take a few more than one win, I’m sure… But you can’t win two games until you’ve won one. The Twins have won one, so now they can go after win #2. View full article

He's a legend in Cedar Rapids and New Britain and Rochester and Ft. Myers... Ha!

After winning the Southern League championship in 2015, the Chattanooga Lookouts went 75-65 in 2016 and just missed the playoffs. This roster is filled with several of the Twins top pitching prospects, guys who could help the Twins within the next two seasons, maybe as early as late 2017. But there are also some really good hitting prospects on this roster. The 2017 season should be another exciting one for the Lookouts and their fans. This is where you'll find many of the top prospects! Image courtesy of Seth Stohs (Top L to R: Fernando Romero, Nick Gordon, Felix Jorge, Bottom L to R: LaMonte Wade, Kohl Stewart, Engelb Vielma) After winning the Southern League championship in 2015, the Chattanooga Lookouts went 75-65 in 2016 and just missed the playoffs. This roster is filled with several of the Twins top pitching prospects, guys who could help the Twins within the next two seasons, maybe as early as late 2017. But there are also some really good hitting prospects on this roster. The 2017 season should be another exciting one for the Lookouts and their fans. This is where you'll find many of the top prospects! Today we look at the Chattanooga Lookouts players and coaching staff. We try to figure out a solid everyday lineup, and discuss the top prospects. Feel free to share any thoughts you may have on the team or roster, and ask as many questions as you would like. COACHING STAFF Doug Mientkiewicz managed the Lookouts the last two seasons. He led the team to a 151-126 record and that 2015 championship. He returns to Ft. Myers, and Jake Mauer takes over the Lookouts as manager. Mauer has experienced a lot of success. This will be his tenth season as a manager in the Twins minor league system. His overall record is 504-441. He managed in the GCL and at Ft. Myers before taking over the Cedar Rapids Kernels in 2013. In his four seasons there, he went 308-248 and led the team to the playoffs all four seasons. Ivan Arteaga begins his second season as the Lookouts pitching coach. He began his coaching career with the Twins in 2001 for the Venezuelan Winter League. He’s been a pitching coach at nearly every level of the minor leagues. Javier Valentin takes over for Tommy Watkins as the hitting coach of the Lookouts. Valentin has been a coach in the GCL the last two years after spending ten seasons in the big leagues, three with the Twins. ROSTER 15 of the 2 players mentioned below in the roster spent at least some time with the Lookouts in 2017. Three players are on the 40-man roster (Engelb Vielma, Felix Jorge and Fernando Romero). One player has spent some time in the big leagues. Paul Clemens has spent time in the big leagues three of the last four season (2013-14 with the Astros, 2016 with the Padres). He signed with the Twins last week and will get some innings for the Lookouts before moving up to the Red Wings. HITTERS C: Dan Rohlfing, Jose Gonzalez IF: Jonathan Rodriguez, Nick Gordon, Levi Michael, Engelb Vielma, Ryan Walker, Dan Gamache, TJ White OF: Edgar Corcino, Tanner English, Travis Harrison, LaMonte Wade PITCHERS SP: Felix Jorge, Fernando Romero, Kohl Stewart, Matt Tracy, Nik Turley, Stephen Gonsalves (DL) RP: Luke Bard, Nick Burdi, Paul Clemens, John Curtiss, Ryan Eades, Raul Fernandez, Mason Melotakis, Tyler Jay (DL), POTENTIAL LINEUP LF - LaMonte Wade CF - Tanner English SS - Nick Gordon DH - Travis Harrison 1B - Jonathan Rodriguez RF - Edgar Corcino C - Dan Rohlfing 2B - Engelb VIelma 3B - Ryan Walker TOP PROSPECTS Fernando Romero - Has perhaps the best stuff, a 98 mph fastball and a slider near 90. Stephen Gonsalves - Most polished pitching prospect with a solid, four-pitch mix. Good showing in big league camp until shoulder soreness. Working in Ft. Myers to stretch out. Nick Gordon - Strong showing in the Arizona Fall League last year earned him an invite to big league camp. Continues to grow. Will play shortstop and second base. Tyler Jay - Moved to the bullpen this spring, where his stuff will play up, and he could move quickly. Out early with biceps tendinitis. Kohl Stewart - Former top pick, Stewart has good stuff, has put up strong numbers, but needs to find a way to miss more bats (rather than just get weak contact). Felix Jorge - Most consistent starting pitcher the last three seasons, Jorge has progressed by attacking the strike zone with three good pitches, and a fastball at 91-94. LaMonte Wade - One of the best plate approaches in the system, Wade should start developing some power if he can stay healthy in 2017. Engelb Vielma - The top defensive infielder in the Twins system, he will likely spend time at shortstop and second base. He has little power but has hit for average. STORIES TO WATCH Nick Gordon and Engelb Vielma are both starting the season here. It will be interesting to see how Jake Mauer allocates the playing time between the two, at shortstop and second. Paul Molitor would like to see Gordon get more time at second base this year, obviously, it makes him a possible call up in two spots. Most admit that Vielma is the better defensive player, and Molitor called Gordon one of the better hitting prospects. Will be fun to follow. Twins Daily’s #1 and #2 prospects, Fernando Romero and Stephen Gonsalves, will be pitching on this staff. But Kohl Stewart and Felix Jorge will want to keep their names in the prospect circles too. All four can be big league pitchers, so how will each fare? Tyler Jay made the move to the bullpen. He will begin the season on the Disabled List with biceps tendinitis which will likely have him out a few weeks. Levi Michael and Travis Harrison were first round picks of the Twins in 2011, Michael out of college and Harrison out of high school. They can become free agents at the end of the season, so it will be interesting to see how they progress this year. Dan Rohlfing and Jose Gonzalez are minor league veterans. Both are considered very good behind the plate. They will be tasked with working with this talented pitching staff, yet each of them still have big league aspirations. That bullpen is full of very, very hard throwers, headlined by Nick Burdi. The Louisville product would like to move past an injury-plagues 2016 and could advance quickly. But Bard, Curtiss, Jay, and Melotakis all sit in the mid-90s as well. Please feel free to discuss this roster. Ask lots of questions and check back often. What stories will you be following? View full article

That's what happens when you turn the roster over to youth... Guys like Sano, Buxton, Kepler, Polanco, Rosario are going to play a lot, and guys like Dozier, Mauer and Castro will be in the lineup more often than not. AAA depth is just that, depth for injury. The hope is that the young guys, the next core, will take a step forward. There can be some relievers that could/should come up at some point when they proved themselves. Chargois, Reed, Hildenberger and others too should be up.

There'll likely be some DL'd guys... They always have this many on the tentative rosters. They'll make decisions before Thursday. Jake Reed is obviously going to start the season on the DL with his side injury. But Busenitz was headed for Chattanooga. I assume he took Reed's spot. I'm sure they'll have more on the DL.

I would think the catching would be pretty much 50/50... The difference is that when Garver isn't catching, they're likely to have him occasionally play some 1B or DH too. Hague has a brief time in the big leagues. He would be the definition of a replacement level player or a AAAA player.

Yeah, that seems strange, but frankly, the minor league coaches are at the ballpark from about noon to 11 or so at night. They are so focused on their players and those throughout the organization that they can't keep tabs on everything around the league. I don't even keep track of such things. Before the Twins signed him, I couldn't have told you who Paul Clemens was, much less who he played for and if he's got MLB time. Granted, I heard the news and I went to Baseball Reference.

He's earned it on and off the field. Great guy. Great in the community. And he knows the game. He's a baseball lifer. Players love him. He's intense. It's going to be fun to watch how he grows into this new role.

He's so little, so wiry... but he throws hard and has some really good stuff. He'll hopefully gain some weight/strength, but he's certainly one to watch.