Seth Stohs

He's so young (along with Arraez, who is batting 9th today) that maybe Jake just wants to kind of keep the pressure low on them and let them mix in. Also, how they were performing late in spring training might come into play too.

I can't pretend to know enough about diabetes to know the answer to that. Others might. It may factor in. I'd think along with the heat and humidity in Ft. Myers, maybe it could be tough. But I did hear that the mechanics played a large role in the inconsistency.

That's why I think it is good that he stayed with the Miracle. Continuing to work on things while moving up doesn't always work. Being able to stay at a level and experience those successes rather than always being over your head has value. I hope he can be more consistent with everything.

I agree. It's a well put together roster.

Correct.. thank you!

Didn't realize Van Mil got hit on a line drive. That looked painful! Pat Dean was terrific through 5 innings in the 2nd game, but the 6th inning was not good.

He looked good during spring training when I was there. But he has the last couple of years too. It'll be about mechanics for him, I think because the stuff has always been pretty impressive.

That's way too much detail, but I'll give you what I know. 6 swinging strike threes, and 1 called. No idea what his net velocity was last year or how to find that. I know that I was told there were some games he was 94-96 and other games he was 89-91. And there were some games where, from inning to inning, you might see either one. His mechanics were not good or consistent last year. Hopefully he's cleaned that up and can be more consistent with the velocity and the rest of his stuff. Per Jeremy Nygaard, who I know listened for a couple of innings, mentioned on twitter that he was really mixing it up well and had velocities all over the board. Very nice first outing.

See the Saturday Matchups at the end of the article. He was supposed to start the Home Opener on Saturday... they postponed their game for tomorrow already, so he's starting their opener on Sunday now.

It was the first Friday night in the Minor League schedule. At the end of the day, despite a couple of questionable weather situations, all four Twins full-season affiliates have completed two games. All four starting pitchers went at least five innings, and three of the starters had more than a strikeout per inning. Not a ton of offense in any of the games, but enough to get a couple of wins.Any feedback would be welcomed on these reports, positive or negative. What do you enjoy, and what would you like to see more of (or any of). RED WINGS REPORT Game 1 - Rochester 3, Scranton/Wilkes Barre 0 (Completion of Suspended Game) Box Score The teams got through four innings on Thursday’s opening night, but that was it. On Friday afternoon, Brandon Kintzler replaced Tyler Duffey who had thrown four shutout innings. Kintzler threw two scoreless innings, striking out four and giving up just one hit. Taylor Rogers went the next two innings. He gave up a walk and a hit, but no runs and struck out one. JR Graham pitched a scoreless ninth, striking out one, for his first save. Jorge Polanco led the way going 3-4 with two triples. He scored twice thanks to Max Kepler. First, Kepler grounded out to score Polanco with the team’s first run of the season. Later, Kepler knocked a sacrifice fly to score Polanco with the second run. Kepler was 1-3 with two RBI. His hit was a single to left. Adam Brett Walker provided the power for the third run with his first AAA home run. He was 1-3 with a walk and two strikeouts. Kennys Vargas went 2-3. Game 2 - Rochester 2, Scranton/Wilkes Barre 7 (Regularly-Scheduled Game) Box Score Pat Dean was terrific through five innings. He started the sixth inning and gave up a single and a double before being replaced by Loek Van Mil. Van Mil allowed both runners to score, then gave up four more hits and they all scored (3 earned). He also walked one. Dan Runzler came on and threw a wild pitch to score one more before getting the final out of the bottom of the 6th inning. The six-run inning was too much to overcome. Through five innings, Dean had given up just an unearned run on two hits and a walk. He struck out six. However, because of the 6th inning, his final line is three runs (2 earned) on four hits and a walk in five innings. Five errors by the Red Wings certainly didn’t help the cause in this game. Jorge Polanco, playing second base again, had two of the errors. Juan Centeno gave the Red Wings a 2-0 lead in the second inning with a single. He was 1-2 with a walk and a stolen base. Buck Britton went 2-3 with a double. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 2, Biloxi 6 Box Score Biloxi knocked three home runs in this game to even the series at one game a piece. Two of the homers came later to give them some breathing room. However, the first homer came in the first. DJ Baxendale was on the mound. He got the first batter out but then gave up back-to-back doubles before prospect Jacob Nottingham hit a home run to give them a 3-0 lead. After that, Baxendale was terrific. Following the home run, he faced 17 more batters. He gave up just three singles and two of them were erased with double plays by the next batter. So Baxendale ended with a quality start. He completed six innings and was charged with three runs on six hits. He walked none and struck out five. He was replaced by lefty Mason Melotakis who threw his first game in about 20 months after Tommy John surgery. He gave up a solo home run in the 7th to make it 4-2. Jake Reed got the eighth inning. He got the first two batters out quickly, one on a strikeout. He then gave up a single and a long home run to make the score 6-2. He ended the inning with a second strikeout. The Miracle offense wasn’t able to do much. In fact, through five innings against former Twins draft pick Javi Salas (38th round, 2013, went back to Miami for senior season) the only base runner was Stuart Turner who was hit by a pitch. In the 6th, Turner got the team’s first hit, a double (his second in as many games). He moved to third on a bunt and scored on a Zach Granite ground out. An inning later, Mitch Garver cut the deficit to 3-2 with his first home run of the season. Turner and Garver have each started one game at DH and one game behind the plate. Turner is hitting .500 (2-4 with a walk and a HBP) so far with two doubles. Garver is 2-7 with the home run. Daniel Palka was again not in the starting lineup. He did pinch hit for Turner in the 7th inning and popped out. The Lookouts 3-5 hitters went 0-12 in this game with eight strikeouts. It was a theme as the Lookouts struck out 13 times in the game without drawing a walk. That doesn’t work often when recording just four hits. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 3, Bradenton 2 Box Score The story of this game was definitely the performance of Kohl Stewart. The former #1 pick made his first start of the year. He gave up two runs on four hits and a walk in six innings. He struck out seven. He gave up a two-run homer in the fifth inning. According to Miracle play-by-play man Brice Zimmerman, Stewart’s fastball was sitting 94-96 mph and hit 97 at times. Stewart was replaced in the 7th inning by lefty Luke Westphal who struck out two (and walked one) in the inning. Because the Miracle took the lead after his inning, he gets credit for the win. Yorman Landa came on for the 8th frame. He gave up no runs on one hit. He struck out one to help get out of the inning despite his own error. Down 2-0 going into the sixth, the Miracle got on the board in the 6th. Ryan Walker led off with a walk. With one out, Nick Gordon singled. An error on the center fielder allowed Walker to score. In the 7th inning, Trey Vavra was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. He went to third on a single by Logan Wade. A single by Alex Real scored Vavra. Chad Christensen bunted the runners to second and third. Following a pitching change, Ryan Walker came through with an RBI single to put the Miracle up 4-3. Trevor Hildenberger, our choice for Twins Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Year in 2015, came on to protect a one-run lead. The first batter hit a slow roller to third but the runner was safe at first. Hildenberger struck out the next two batters before another slow hopper to the right side resulted in another infield hit. With two on and two outs, Hildenberger got the final out on a fly ball to Tanner English in center. Ryan Walker went 2-2 with a walk and that game-winning RBI. Alex Real went 2-3. Nick Gordon went 1-4, and Trey Vavra was 1-3 with a hit by pitch. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 6, Quad Cities 2 Box Score It was cold in Cedar Rapids on Friday night. Late in the game, the temp dropped to 32 degrees. Earlier in the game, there were snow flurries flying. They got the game in and the Kernels found a way to get their second win in as many chances. Andro Cutura got things going right. He struck out three in the first inning. Through four shutout innings, he had seven strikeouts. He gave up two runs in the fifth, but ended the inning with his eighth strikeout and five complete innings. CK Irby struck out two over two scoreless innings. Brainerd native (and Mayville State grad) Nick Anderson struck out two over two scoreless innings to end it. In the 2nd inning, Max Murphy led off with a single and advanced to third on a Zander Wiel double. JJ Fernandez hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Murphy. It was deep enough to allow Wiel to advance to third base. He then scored on a wild pitch. An inning later, Rafael Valera led off with a triple. A couple of batters later, Max Murphy tripled him in. Murphy then scored on a Wiel sacrifice fly. The Kernels scored two more late in the game thanks to four wild pitches to make it 6-2. Murphy went 2-4 with the triple. Wiel was 1-2 with a walk, a double and the sacrifice fly. LaMonte Wade was 1-3 with a walk. Chris Paul walked twice. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Kohl Stewart, Ft. Myers Miracle Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Ryan Walker, Ft. Myers Miracle SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS The Rochester Red Wings announced on Friday that Saturday’s home opener has been postponed and will be played at a later date. The Red Wings new home opener will be played on Sunday with Jose Berrios on the mound. Chattanooga @ Biloxi (7:10 CST) – LHP David Hurlbut Bradenton @ Ft. Myers (5:30 CST) – LHP Tyler Jay Cedar Rapids @ Quad Cities (1:15 CST) – RHP Sam Gibbons Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Friday games. Click here to view the article

Definitely not as many hitting prospects as in upper levels, but plenty worth watching. Thanks Roger! Hope you're well!

Anyone notice that Sano got hurt playing 3B a couple of years ago, and he was hurt as a DH last year... Players get hurt sometimes.

I think Punto would be much more appreciated on sites like this now than he was a 6-8 years ago. 1.) His defense was terrific and because of it, he was a positive bWAR player each season. 2.) In 2006, he was worth 3.7 WAR, and in 2008, he was worth 2.3 bWAR. The other years, he would have a .615-.650 OPS which wasn't terrible for his defense. He was a utility infielder, and the Twins knew it. But, due to some really bad play or injury at various positions (3B-Tony Batista, etc.), he had to play a lot more. And, even when he didn't hit, he took a ton of pitches and had a pretty solid IsoD most years.

I chatted with Stephen for awhile this morning. They went into the first inning with the plan of being aggressive. Problem was, so were the hitters. The two singles were seeing-eye singles through the infield. He said that the home run was just a really bad location on 1-2. Gonsalves is very smart, knows how to pitch and has good stuff... He's also accountable. Overall though, he should be real happy with his first outing.

Note - Despite milb.com saying yesterday Baxendale was placed on the DL, I just heard from someone who would know that he was not, and that he is pitching tonight (which is also what milb.com says).

Yup, he's scheduled to start their home opener. Also, separating Duffey and Berrios with a lefty in between just makes sense.

Javi Salas was the Twins 38th round pick in 2013 out of Miami. He went back for his senior season and was drafted in the 10th round by the Brewers the following year.

Which is why I put it as TBD... He was placed on the DL, according ot the league website, so I don't know what will happen. Maybe there was some mistake and he'll start. We shall see.

Those two are certainly hitters. No doubt about that.

Polanco... Terry Ryan told Patrick Reusse recently that Polanco would play all over the infield and maybe even some in the outfield in Rochester. He said Tovar will be the main shortstop. I think they've acknowledged that Polanco probably isn't a full-time shortstop. Burdi... that one's been talked about quite a bit. They shut him down in spring training for two weeks because he had some tightness in his forearm. He is throwing again. There doesn't seem to be a lot of concern about it, and yet, when someone throws that hard, it's definitely not natural. Palka... I was surprised too, and yet, they have good depth. Maloney batted third. Of that group, he was the hitter that jumped out most to me in the 7-8 days that I was there. But my suspicion is that they're going to rotate 4-5 guys between 4 positions (DH, LF, RF, 1B)... Palka will play most days. Fernandez ... he throws 96. They didn't sign him just to sign him. He's definitely intriguing. I'm surprised he's started way down in Ft. Myers though based on his time on 40 man rosters. Spent all of last year in AA. Guys become available as 6-year minor leaguers for a reason. That was Blyleven that said USC was Southern California, even though a few sentences later when they were reading his bio, it said he was from South Carolina. Unfortunately, but is what it is. He can play outfield defense. Very good speed, but gets good reads and has great closing speed. Fourth OF is the possibility because he hasn't hit much to this point. He's not a big guy, but he's built pretty strong, so I think he can hit more than he has.

I'm excited about these. Frankly, they are my favorite part of this site too, and they always create good discussions and questions. Jeremy, Cody, Steve and Eric will also get rolling on these starting Monday. They all do a terrific job.

The Twins fell for third straight time in Baltimore to start their season, but it was Opening Day in Minor League Baseball on Thursday. The Rochester Red Wings, Chattanooga Lookouts, Ft. Myers Miracle and Cedar Rapids all played their first game of the season on Thursday. It didn’t go well for two of the teams, but it was a great night in Iowa. Here is the first Minor League Report of the season, and you’ll have another one every day on this site for the next five months.Any feedback would be welcomed. What are the key things you'd like to see from these reports? What's included that's good, and what more would you like to read? TRANSACTIONS There were several pre-Opening Night transactions to get rosters where they needed to be. Rochester placed Infielder Stephen Wickens on the DL.Chattanooga placed pitchers Nick Burdi, DJ Baxendale and Jason Adam on the DL. Also hitters Niko Goodrum, Shannon Wilkerson and Jairo Rodriguez were placed on the DL. (UPDATE - Despite the milb.com site showing DJ Baxendale placed on the DL, he was not.)For the Miracle, Aderlin Mejia and Alex Muren were placed on the DL.Cedar Rapids placed Michael Cederoth, Cam Booser, Lewis Thorpe and Fernando Romero on the DL.RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 1, Scranton/Wilkes Barre 0 (SUSPENDED) Box Score This game was delayed a the start for over an hour, but they were able to get it started. They completed four innings before the rains came down again. Following a delay, the decision was made to suspend the game. It will start on Friday at 4:05 (Central Time) and they will complete this game. It will then be followed by a 7-inning game. Tyler Duffey started and gave up no runs over four innings. He gave up two hits, walked two and struck out three. 40 of his 56 pitchers were strikes. Jorge Polanco was 2-2 including a first-inning triple. Kepler drove him in with a ground out to second base. In Kepler’s second at-bat, he singled to left field, his first AAA hit. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 0, Biloxi 4 Box Score The last time the Lookouts played Biloxi, they were celebrating their Southern League championship. Jason Wheeler was named the series MVP. Wheeler was on the mound in this game as well. The tall left-hander gave up four runs (three earned) on seven hits. He walked one and struck out five. Three of the runs scored in the first inning. He was replaced by Marcus Walden who struck out two over two scoreless innings. Alex Wimmers pitched a scoreless ninth frame. The Lookouts offense emulated the Twins offense in their opening series against the Orioles. They managed just three hits in being shut out and struck out 11 times. Stuart Turner gave the Lookouts their first hit, a double, in the second inning. Travis Harrison walked twice. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 1, Bradenton 3 Box Score It’s not how you start, but how you finish that matters. In this game, Miracle Opening Night starter Stephen Gonsalves finished very strong, but it was the first inning that proved to matter most in the end result of this game. The southpaw from San Diego struggled early. In the first inning, he gave up two singles before allowing a three-run homer to Jordan Luplow. He was terrific after that. He gave up nothing over the final five innings and ended with a quality start. He went six innings and gave up just the three runs on six hits. He walked none and struck out six in the loss. The Miracle brought on some power arms after Gonsalves to finish out the game. Brian Gilbert gave up a hit and walked one in a scoreless seventh. He was hitting 94-95. Then Luke Bard pitched the 8th. It was his first appearance in a Miracle uniform since one inning in 2013. He was perfect and struck one out. He sat 94-95 and hit 97 once. Raul Fernandez came on for the ninth. He was a member of the 40 man rosters of the Rockies and White Sox the last two seasons. He pitched a 1-2-3 inning, much thanks to Tanner English who made an incredible running catch deep in the left-center field gap. Fernandez consistently hit 96 and threw a mid-80s slider. The Miracle were unable to get much offense going all game. Four of their five hits were from the bats of players in their first Florida State League game. Nick Gordon, Trey Vavra, Edgar Corcino and Tanner English each had one hit. English added two walks and stole his first base of the year. (English led the Twins minor leagues in 2015 with 37 stolen bases and was named the top defensive outfielder in the system.) Trey Vavra went 1-3 with a walk. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 12, Quad Cities 4 Box Score The Kernels hosted Quad Cities for Opening Night in Cedar Rapids. The River Bandits second and third hitters were 2015 first-round picks Kyle Tucker and Daz Cameron. On this night however, the Kernels dominated the game. Randy LeBlanc started. The righty from Tulane went the first five innings. He gave up one run on three hits. He walked two, hit one and struck out two. Michael Theofanopoulos walked two and struck out one in the sixth inning. Zack Tillery gave up one run on one hit and two walks over the next two innings. He struck out two. Kuo Hua Lo threw the ninth inning, and it didn’t go well for him. The 2015 Appy League reliever of the year struggled with his control. On the inning, he gave up two runs on four hits and a walk. The Kernels scored runs often, but a six-run eighth inning put this game well out of reach. Chris Paul led the offense. He went 3-4 with a walk and a bases-clearing triple in the eighth frame. AJ Murray had two hits including his first home run. Jermaine Palacios had two hits. Zander Wiel and LaMonte Wade each had two hits and a walk. Eight of the nine starters for the Kernels had at least one hit. Rafael Valera was the only one without a hit, and he walked twice. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Randy LeBlanc, Cedar Rapids Kernels Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Chris Paul, Cedar Rapids Kernels FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Norfolk (4:05 CST) – LHP Pat Dean will start the full game. TBD on the resumption of the suspended game. Chattanooga @ Mobile (7:05 CST) – RHP DJ Baxendale Bradenton @ Ft. Myers (6:05 CST) – RHP Kohl Stewart Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 CST) – RHP Andro Cutura Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Thursday games. Click here to view the article