Seth Stohs

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.

I think one or two of them will get up there about midseason. Sure, a couple of the FM pitchers may be better than a couple of the Chattanooga starters, but more important than just getting them there is making sure they're ready when the get there.

A good article and video interview with Gardenhire on his role and more: http://www.news-press.com/videos/sports/2016/04/19/83266854/

There are not a ton of hitting prospects in the system right now. Most of them are with the Twins at this point.

Nothing wrong with depth at all, but to get something (Jepsen) they had to give up something (Hu, Tapia). I hated the trade at the time too. I know my tweet when I was sitting in a Chipotle and read the news was not very positive. Ha!

And Santana, Hughes, Nolasco, Gibson, Tommy Milone, Tyler Duffey... And prospect-wise, he'd be behind Gonsalves, Stewart and Jay.

They're both at EST. I did have two people tell me that Cabbage hit his first EST home run yesterday.