Seth Stohs

I me him last year in Cedar Rapids and did an interview with him. He's an intimidating tough, big and strong, huge arms. But he ends up being one of the best interviews and a really good person. It was nice to get to spring training this year and catch up with him a little bit too. As important in the baseball light, he is really good. It took an injury for him to move up to Chattanooga this quick and we'll see if he stays there. I know that Goodrum is likely out for a couple of months, so he could stick even after Vielma comes back. If he keeps hitting AA pitching, he just might.

They will stay with a 6-man rotation all year. If one of them gets promoted they'll call up someone else to be in the 6-man rotation. Same with Cedar Rapids. It's all about limiting innings with younger pitchers.

Oops... forgot to update the score... it's right now.

Tough questions: Regarding Trey Vavra... a few things, based on where he was drafted, one could conclude that he's not a prospect. Based on prospect rankings, he's not really a prospect. Based on tool set, I don't think he'd be a big prospect as none of his tools are elite. One thing I would note is that he can hit. I enjoy going to Cedar Rapids and to Ft. Myers in spring training to be able to make my own notes. In doing that, I would argue that Trey puts together some of the most professional at bats I've seen in the 6-7 years of doing that. He's got really good intangibles beyond the "coach dad" thing. So, is hie a "legit prospect?" I mean, he won't be on my Top 30 list (most likely), but I wouldn't put it past him to get to the big leagues as pinch hitter, versatile type. Regarding Arraez, I think he fits more into the "legit prospect" category. He wasn't in my Top 30, but he would have been close. He's very young for the level of competition. Although he only played in one of the Kernels first four games (game 3), he has been in the lineup every day since. Why? Because he's hit. He's not the hitter or prospect that Palacios is, yet. But he's off to a terrific start. He isn't a very big kid, so I wouldn't expect him to end with too many more home runs. He's a good leadoff type of hitter, takes pitches, willing to walk some. Defensively probably limited to 2B. As for my thinking that he is just there for experience until the E-Twins season starts... I think I made that comment sometime in those first four games. It doesn't make sense to have a 19 year old (just turned 19 last week) sitting all year. But he can learn a lot from Jake and Dinkelman too. If he keeps hitting and leading off, he's going to stick around.

Right now, service time isn't the issue with Berrios. The issue has been command. It's been better, and he's close. But as you said, with Meyer there (and maybe continuing to pitch well as a starter) and Duffey (who will pitch better), there is some reason for optimism.

I noticed... Sam Clay has 11 scoreless innings. Alex Meyer has 10.1 scoreless innings. Stephen Gonsalves gave up 3 runs in his first inning... since then he's thrown 11 scoreless innings. Regarding Berrios and Duffey - this is why we have to go with the Small Sample Size note... Cutura is interesting. He was good in E-Town last year... He was #7 draft pick, so there's certainly something there.

It's too early in the season to make any grand statements about statistics at this time, but here is our first edition of the Twins Minor League Leaderboard. We are here to recognize these minor league performers, and acknowledge that the guys listed below are off to a strong start.Most weeks, we plan to post a leaderboard of statistical leaders in the Twins farm system. Either Saturday or Sunday morning, we will post the hitting and pitching leaders throughout the system. For rate numbers, my hope is to try to be consistent and fair. My goal is to highlight players who have done well, so this is subject to change. I will look for a representative number of plate appearances or innings pitched. For this first report, three of the affiliates have played ten games while one has played nine games. For hitters, I will set the minimum at 24 plate appearances. For starting pitchers, I will put the minimum at 8.1 innings (just over 4 innings per start). For relievers, I’ll put the number at three innings to start with. Of course, as we get through more weeks, the sample sizes will increase and become more meaningful. However, there’s nothing wrong with noticing which minor leaguers have started out their 2016 seasons strong. THE HITTERS (Rate numbers- minimum 24 plate appearances) Plate Appearances - Leonardo Reginnato/LaMonte Wade (45), Chris Paul (43), Tanner English/Zach Granite (41), Nick Gordon/TJ White/Zander Wiel (40) Batting Average - LaMonte Wade (.417), Luis Arraez (.409), Nick Gordon (.385), Stuart Turner (.364), TJ White/Wilfredo Tovar (.333) On-Base Percentage - LaMonte Wade (.489), Stuart Turner (.481), Luis Arraez (.458), TJ White (.450), Nick Gordon (.400), Wilfredo Tovar (.385) Slugging Percentage - Luis Arraez (.727), LaMonte Wade (.694), Nick Gordon (.590), Jorge Polanco (.563), Dalton Hicks (.529), Stuart Turner/AJ Murray (.520) OPS - Luis Arraez (1.186), LaMonte Wade (1.183), Nick Gordon (.990), Stuart Turner (.981), Jorge Polanco (.877) Hits - LaMonte Wade/Nick Gordon (15), Chris Paul (12), TJ White (!1), Daniel Palka/Trey Vavra (10), 5 with 9. Doubles - LaMonte Wade (6), Nick Gordon (5), Daniel Palka/Stuart Turner/Joe Maloney (3), 5 with 2. Triples - Rafael Valera/Jorge Polanco (3) LaMonte Wade (2), 5 with 1. Home Runs - Dalton Hicks (3), Luis Arraez/AJ Murray (2), 10 with 1. Runs Scored - Rafael Valera (9), Chris Paul/Luis Arraez/Dalton Hicks (8), Tanner English (7), Nick Gordon/TJ White (6). RBI - Dalton Hicks/LaMonte Wade (8), Chris Paul/AJ Murray/Daniel Palka/Buck Britton (6), 3 with 5. THE STARTING PITCHERS (Rate number - minimum 8.1 innings) Innings Pitched: Pat Dean (13.0), Stephen Gonsalves/Kohl Stewart (12.0), DJ Baxendale/Sam Clay/Andro Cutura/RandyLeBlanc/Jason Wheeler (11.0) ERA: Sam Clay/Alex Meyer (0.00), Kohl Stewart (1.50), Jose Berrios (1.80), Tyler Duffey/Pat Dean (2.08), Stephen Gonsalves (2.25) WHIP: Kohl Stewart (0.58), Alex Meyer (0.77), Pat Dean (0.85), Stephen Gonsalves (0.92), Tyler Jay/Andro Cutura/Randy LeBlanc (1.00) K/9: Jose Berrios (11.7), Andro Cutura (11.5), Sam Clay (10.6), Alex Meyer (10.5), Tyler Jay (9.9), Kohl Stewart (9.8) BB/9: DJ Baxendale/Jason Wheeler (0.8), Pat Dean (1.4), Kohl Stewart (1.5), Alex Meyer (1.7), Stephen Gonsalves (2.2) K: Andro Cutura (14), Kohl Stewart/Sam Clay/Jose Berrios (13), Alex Meyer (12), Tyler Jay (11), Stephen Gonsalves (10) THE RELIEF PITCHERS (Rate numbers - minimum 3 innings zero starts) Innings Pitched: Marcus Walden (6.2), Jake Reed/Brandon Kintzler/CK Irby/Logan Lombana (6.0), Trevor Hildenberger/Brian Gilbert (5.2) ERA: CK Irby/Luke Westphal/Corey Williams/John Curtiss/Todd Van Steensel/JT Chargois/JR Graham (0.00), Trevor Hildenberger (1.69) WHIP: JT Chargois (0.00), John Curtiss (0.25), Luke Westphal (0.43), Marcus Walden (0.60), JR Graham (0.67), Cody Stashak (0.75) K/9: JT Chargois/John Curtiss (18.0), Luke Westphal (15.4), Mike Theofanopoulos (12.3), Mason Melotakis (12.0), Yorman Landa (10.8) BB/9: Alex Wimmers/Trevor Hildenberger/JT Chargois (0.0), Nick Anderson (1.8), Luke Westphal (1.9), Cody Stashak/John Curtiss (2.2) K: Luke Westphal/John Curtiss (8), CK Irby/Brandon Kintzler (7), Trevor Hildenberger/JT Chargois/Jake Reed (6) Saves: Trevor Hildenberger (3), JR Graham (2), 6 with 1. Click here to view the article

I don't see that as a negative at all. He's still well under the average age. Best thing for him. We complain about him not striking batters out and then about him not moving up fast enough. Let's let him repeat for a 1/2 season and see how that K rate is looking. Let's let him adjust at the appropriate pace.

Seems like that should be 94 PITCHES... I'll make the correction. Thanks!

I remember that Kubel Grand Slam. It was hit so high, and came down just on the other side of the tarp in right. Big comeback, and it was awesome!

I know, right? But apparently the World All Stars seem to think they can beat the Globetrotters once and take over!

He was really bad at SS last year too. He's young. I actually thought he looked alright there this spring. The errors are obviously not ideal (neither is his sub-.200 average). We're not worried about the bat yet, so let's not jump overboard on the glove either. Sounds like an excuse, but guys from Latin America and from the southern half of hte US have never experienced weather like there was. It is an excuse, but it's also a legit thing. Have to adjust to so many things. At least a couple were throws. Also, the conditions of the GCL Twins field are pristine... Etown field known for being bad. Cedar Rapids has a very good grounds crew. The best field they'll play on is Hammond Stadium though.

Yup, he's had an oblique strain for 4-5 days. Hasn't played. Murphy is also getting a few at bats before joining the big league team. He's not there to play AAA. He's there to get himself ready for MLB.

The Twins won for the second straight day and at 2-9, they have the same record they had in 1991 through 11 games! In the minor leagues, the Cedar Rapids Kernels continue to play well. They were the lone Twins affiliate to win their game on Saturday, but there were several prospects with strong games. Check them out!I apologize for the lateness in this report today. On Saturday morning, I picked up my daughter and she and I went to Grand Forks to watch the Harlem Globetrotters take on the World All-Stars. You may be surprised to learn that the Globetrotters were able to come back in the final minute to win the game. For what it’s worth (this isn’t minor league related, so I apologize again), it was an amazing show for a dad and his nine-year-old daughter. We had a great time, but I got home late and couldn’t keep my eyes open. TRANSACTIONS On Saturday morning, the Twins officially announced that Ryan O’Rourke had been promoted to take Fernando Abad’s roster spot while he is on bereavement. Shannon Wilkerson was removed from the disabled list and returned to action with the Lookouts. Mike Strong was placed on the disabled list to make room. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 5, Lehigh Valley 8 Box Score The Red Wings offense was solid throughout the game, but some rough middle innings on the mound was their undoing in this game. Jose Berrios was back on the mound for his second start of the season. He needed 94 pitches (58 strikes) to get through five innings. He gave up just two runs (one earned) on three hits and three walks. He struck out four. Dan Runzler came in for the fourth inning. He gave up four runs (three earned) on four hits and a walk in the sixth. He struck out two. Brandon Kintzler gave up two runs on three hits over two innings. He struck out two. Kennys Vargas and James Beresford each went 2-4 with a double. Wilfredo Tovar hit his second double (and stole his second base). Jorge Polanco added his third triple. Buck Britton hit his first home run. David Murphy went 0-4 in his second Red Wings game. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 5, Jackson 9 Box Score It was a rough evening for Ryan Eades. He pitched a scoreless inning in the first, but he allowed multiple runs in each of the next three innings. In 3.2 innings, he gave up eight runs on 11 hits and a walk. He was replaced by Brett Lee who gave up a run on a hit and two walks in 1.1 innings. He struck out one.Marcus Walden, gave up no runs and no hits over two innings. He did walk a batter, hit one and struck out two. Corey Williams pitched a scoreless inning. He gave up a hit and walked two, but he also struck out two. Jake Reed struck out two in a perfect inning. After posting three hits on Friday night, TJ White went 2-4 with his first AA double and two RBI. Stuart Turner continued to perform at the plate. He went 1-2 with two walks and drove in two. Dalton Hicks went 1-3 with a walk. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 4, Daytona 6 Box Score The Miracle allowed runs in just two innings on Saturday, and yet the team was not able to come back from it. Logan Wade went 2-4. Tanner English hit his second double. Ryan Walker added his first triple. Keaton Steele gave up three runs on six hits and three walks in five innings. He struck out seven. All three runs came in the third inning. Brian Gilbert worked the next two innings. He gave up three runs on two hits and a walk. They all came in the seventh. Luke Westphal came on and struck out two in the eighth. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 7, Clinton 0 Box Score The Kernels grabbed a single run in the bottom of the first, added three more in the third and kept piling on runs. As important, three pitchers combined for a shutout. Luis Arraez did not homer in the first inning for the first time in three games. However, he did single and later scored on a triple from LaMonte Wade. Arraez went 3-5 with his first double. Wade went 2-2 with his sixth double and second triple. He also was hit by a pitch and hit a sacrifice fly. AJ Murray led the way. He went 3-4 with his second home run. Sean MIller added his first home run of the year. Sam Clay got the start on the mound. The southpaw gave up six hits walked one and hit one, but he did not allow a run in five innings. Logan Lombana maintained the shutout despite giving up two hits, walking one and hitting two batters over two innings. John Curtiss hit one, but struck out four, in two hitless, scoreless innings. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Sam Clay, Cedar Rapids Kernels Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – TJ White, Chattanooga Lookouts SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Lehigh Valley (12:35 CST) - LHP Logan Darnell Chattanooga @ Mississippi (5:00 CST) – LHP Jason Wheeler Ft. Myers @ Daytona (4:35 CST) – RHP Felix Jorge Clinton @ Cedar Rapids (2:05 CST) – RHP Dereck Rodriguez Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Saturday games. Click here to view the article

More important, a couple of people, decision makers in the front office choose to say that they think he can get back to 2014 form. Whether that means he starts for the Twins or works out of the bullpen, letting him start in AAA is a good decision.

Pitched into the 7th.

It's from last night. And, that may be the case, but it worked last night, so we'll see if that's part of his issue or part of his answer...

Yes, this is the Twins Minor League Report but I think today we can start with a Major League Update. The Twins Won!! That may be the most important story, but down in Rochester, there was another very good and potentially very important story for the Twins. Right-hander Alex Meyer made his first start with the Miracle in almost a year. Nick Gordon had another big game and helped the Miracle to another win. It was a good night to be a Twins fan and a good night in the Twins system.TRANSACTIONS Fernando Abad left the team to be with his family at his grandmother’s funeral in the Dominican Republic. He was put on the Bereavement List. Ryan O’Rourke will likely be summoned from Rochester before Saturday’s game, assuming he gets to the Twin Cities in time. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 2, Buffalo 1 Box Score The story of the night, without question, was the performance of right-hander Alex Meyer. It was just under a year ago that Meyer - who was one of the International League’s top starting pitcher in 2014 - was moved to the bullpen to work on control and command. 2015 was a tough year for the hard-thrower, but when he was sent down from big league spring training the decision was made to give him another shot as a starter. Then weather postponements delayed his first start of the season, but he worked on Saturday in the Red Wings home opener and recorded the save with four shutout innings following Jose Berrios. On Friday night, he made his first start and it went quite well. The right-hander threw 6.1 innings of three-hit, shutout baseball. He struck out eight. Maybe the most important thing is that he walked zero. He also hit 99 mph on the radar gun a few times. He threw 87 pitches and 57 of them were strikes. It’s about as well as anyone could have hoped, and it’s certainly something he can build on. In his next start, he’ll be building upon 10.1 scoreless innings to start the year. He left the game and Ryan O’Rourke ran in to the mound. He threw just one pitch and got the batter to fly out to left field. Loek Van Mil came on to get the final out of the seventh inning. Van Mil gave up a hit to start the eighth inning, and JR Graham came in to replace him. Graham allowed the runner to score on a double but buckled down and got out of the inning with a 2-1 lead. In the ninth, he did not allow a run and recorded his second save. Jorge Polanco was batting third. With two outs in the first inning, Jorge Polanco hit a solo home run to give the Red Wings the lead. Newcomer David Murphy struck out in his first at-bat, but he hit singles off lefty Wade LeBlanc in his next two at-bats. Following one of his singles, John Hicks crushed a double off the wall in left field to advance Murphy to third base. Wilfredo Tovar came up and hit a slow bouncer down the third base line that hit the bag for a single and allowed the second run to score. Tovar was also 2-3 in the game. The Red Wings improved to 4-4 on the season. They’ll send Jose Berrios to the mound on Saturday night in Lehigh Valley where we assume Thrylos will be in attendance and provide us with a report. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 3, Jackson 6 Box Score Aaron Slegers struggled a bit early. The Lookouts fell behind and were unable to quite get back. The lanky right-hander went the first four innings. He gave up two runs on six hits. He walked three and struck out one. Alex Wimmers came on and gave up two runs on three hits over two innings. He struck out two. Mason Melotakis worked his third game and for the third time allowed at least one run. In this game, he gave up a run on four hits. Brandon Peterson came on and gave up one run on one hit and one walk over two innings. The Lookouts scored their first run on a ground out from Zach Granite. In the sixth inning, Dalton Hicks hit his team-leading third home runs of the season. Mitch Garver added his first double. The Lookouts are now 3-6 on the season. Ryan Eades will make his second start on Saturday. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 6, Daytona 5 (10 innings) Box Score The Miracle got ahead, then gave back the lead, but they found a way to get a win. Tyler Jay made his second start of the season. He allowed a solo home run in each of the first two innings, but he settled down after that. In total, he went five innings. He gave up two runs on three hits. He walked one and struck out four. 48 of his 73 pitches were strikes. Jay was replaced by Luke Bard who has been unhittable early this season. It wasn’t his best outing. He gave up two runs on two hits and a walk while striking out one. Todd Van Steensel gave up one hit in his scoreless innings. Yorman Landa struck out three in the eighth. He also pitched the ninth inning, looking for the save. Unfortunately, after getting the first two outs, he walked two and gave up a game-tying single before Tanner English threw out a runner at third to end the inning. When the Miracle grabbed the lead again in the 10th, Trevor Hildenberger came on and recorded his third save of the young season. He gave up a single but struck out two in the inning. Nick Gordon led the offense. He went 3-5 with a couple of big hits. His two-run homer in the eighth inning gave the Miracle the lead. He also led off the 10th inning with a double and scored on a double off the bat of Trey Vavra. Earlier in the game, Vavra singled to extend his hitting streak to eight games. It was his first multi-hit game. Tanner English extended his hitting streak to five games. He went 2-5 with his first double of the season. Logan Wade had a big RBI triple. Alex Swim added a double and Edgar Corcino walked twice. The Miracle improved to 6-3 on the season. Keaton Steele goes on Saturday. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 5, Clinton 11 Box Score For the second straight game, Luis Arraez led off the bottom of the Kernels first inning with a home run. It was his second home run of the season and the second home run of the 19-year-old’s professional career. He went 2-4 with a walk in the game. Zander Wiel went 1-3 with two walks. Max Murphy and LaMonte Wade each had a walk and a double. Sam Gibbons got off to a tough start. He gave up five runs in the first inning. He stayed in though and was charged with seven runs (four earned) on 11 hits and a walk in 4.2 innings. He struck out five. Mike Theofanopoulos came on and gave up four runs (three earned) on five hits and a walk in 1.2 innings. He struck out two. Kuo Hua Lo pitched well. He threw 2.2 scoreless innings and gave up three hits. Jermaine Palacios committed two more errors and has five on the season already. 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 – Nick Gordon, Ft. Myers Miracle SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Lehigh Valley (5:35 CST) - RHP Jose Berrios Jackson @ Chattanooga (6:15 CST) – RHP Ryan Eades Ft. Myers @ Daytona (6:05 CST) – RHP Keaton Steele Clinton @ Cedar Rapids (4:05 CST) – Sam Clay Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Friday games. Click here to view the article

Thought this was pretty interesting... and good... https://twitter.com/SethTweets/status/721039100292108288

http://www.captivephotons.com/Events/Miracle/Players/Kohl-Stewart/i-x2H9DtL/A Since that didn't work, click here: http://www.captivephotons.com/Events/Miracle/Players/Kohl-Stewart/i-x2H9DtL/A

Hurlbut isn't a strikeout guy. AA and AAA hitters aren't going to miss it. Hurlbut needs his control because those are good pitches in keeping the ball off of the meat of the opponent's bats, getting weak contact. He tops out at about 90-91, so he's not blowing anyone away.

Probably a 2B only. OK defense.