Seth Stohs

He's been through a lot, so he's a little order. Tommy John was a big thing. Having the control issues for half of a season was a big thing. He's overcome a lot, and I would be thrilled if he got a chance. I definitely believe he's got a realistic shot at a September call up, especially if he continues pitching well like this most times out.

He was 20-something round pick just one year ago. He went to college for 4-5 years. He's not Nick Burdi or Jake Reed. He'll move up, and he deserves to. But he's not someone we need to worry about age-to-level with. They have years before they need to make a decision on him. He's got a chance to be a 6th-7th inning guy. I don't care if he gets up at 25 or 28. Doesn't matter at all.

The Lookouts had a couple of great performances on Friday night. A night after clinching a playoff spot, they continued their winning ways thanks in large part to a couple of first-round draft picks. Check out everything that happened on Friday night in the Twins minor league system including a very special night in Rochester.RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 7, Louisville 3 Box Score Rochester scored two runs in the fifth inning to take a 2-1 lead in this game. Unfortunately, they gave up two runs in the top of the seventh frame. However, a five-run bottom of the seventh gave them a lead that they were able to hold on to. Taylor Rogers made the start. Through six innings, Rogers gave up one run. In the top of the seventh inning, he gave up two singles. After a sacrifice bunt advanced the runners, Rogers was replaced by lefty Logan Darnell. Darnell gave up two straight singles, allowing both runners to score before he was replaced by Mark Hamburger. The right-hander got the next two batters out to keep the deficit at 3-2. He worked another scoreless inning as well. After the Red Wings reclaimed the lead, AJ Achter pitched a scoreless ninth. The Red Wings got a lot of production from their top two hitters. Leadoff man Danny Santana went 3-4 with a walk and his fourth double. James Beresford was 3-5. He had the first three Red Wings RBIs. But the big hit in the team’s five-run seventh came off the bat of Danny Ortiz. He hit a bases-clearing triple (his third of the year) to give the Red Wings the lead and some insurance. Doug Bernier was 1-1 with three walks in the game. On the other side of things, Oswaldo Arcia went 0-4 with three strikeouts. It may have been a tough outing for Logan Darnell, but it was a good night for the left-hander. He was the Red Wings recipient of the Harmon Killebrew Award in 2014. He has continued to help in the community. On Friday night, he helped organize an Alzheimer's awareness night in Rochester. Darnell's mother was diagnosed with the disease a couple of years ago. Players wore special jerseys that were auctioned. Two season ticket holders bid $650 for Darnell's jersey. They then gave it to the Darnell family and made the $650 a donation. Alex Meyer's jersey went for $500. In all, they raised over $7,000 for Alzheimer's awareness in Rochester. If anyone is interested in donating, click here. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 3, Jacksonville 2 Box Score A night after clinching the first half North Division title in the Southern League on Thursday night, the Lookouts returned on Friday and continued their winning ways. There were two primary stories in this game, and both involved former Twins first-round draft picks. Let’s start on the mound. Alex Wimmers made the start and threw seven shutout innings. He gave up three hits and walked two, but he also struck out 11 batters. He needed just 96 pitches, and 67 of them were strikes. An observer at the game reported afterwards, “Did you see Wimmers tonight? He was outstanding! (The Jacksonville hitters) could not do much. If it wasn’t for having a big leaguer (Michael Morse had two hits) in the lineup, they would have only had maybe one hit through six innings.” In Wimmers’ past three starts, he has thrown 21.2 innings without allowing an earned run. He has given up just eight hits, walked seven and struck out 23. Overall, he is now 5-1 with a 4.31 ERA for the Lookouts this season. Minnesota native Madison Boer came on and finished the final two innings. He gave up two runs on three hits, but was able to record his first save with the Lookouts. 2011 top pick Levi Michael returned to the field for the first time since injuring his ankle on May 4. He had singles in his first two at-bats, which were followed by a walk. He was 2-4 with that walk and he also stole two bases. Miguel Sano went 2-4 with his eighth double. Max Kepler had just one hit, but it was his eighth triple of the season. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers Box Score The Miracle and the rest of the Florida State League are on their All-Star break. The Miracle will be represented by Chih-Wei Hu, Alex Swim, Todd Van Steensel, and Ryan Eades. JT Chargois and Brandon Peterson had been named to the All-Star team, but were promoted to Chattanooga. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 1, Clinton 4 Box Score According to Jeff Johnson of The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, manager Jake Mauer was pretty vocal about his team’s lack of offense following Thursday’s game. He said, “We’re going to have to get creative and figure out a way to reach them, or we’re going to have to get new guys. It’s one of the two. It sounds harsh, but that’s the nature of the beast." The Kernels had eight hits on Friday night, but they were only able to muster one run in the game. Brett Doe led the way. He went 2-3. Zack Larson drove in the lone Kernels run. This is the second time already this season that Mauer has gone public with his disappointment in some of the Kernels hitters. Zach Tillery made the start. He gave up two runs on three hits in five innings. He walked three and struck out five. Jose Velez gave up two runs on four hits in his two innings. He struck out two. Luke Bard walked one and struck out one in his scoreless inning. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Alex Wimmers, Chattanooga Lookouts Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Danny Santana, Rochester Red Wings SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Louisville @ Rochester (6:05 CST) – RHP Ervin Santana Jacksonville @ Chattanooga (6:15 CST) – RHP JO Berrios Ft. Myers – Florida State League All Star Game Cedar Rapids @ Clinton (6:30 CST) – RHP Sam Gibbons Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Friday games. Remember to check back on Saturday morning for the updated minor league statistical leaderboard. Click here to view the article

I believe that the Midwest League All Star game is on Monday (or something like that), and I would assume that we'll see a few promotions. Hildenberger needs to be one of them.

such a great movie... I may have to watch all three tonight... after the game, of course.

Kepler is really smooth in the outfield. Arm is average in RF, but good for the other two spots. He won't be an MLB CF, but he can play the position well. He runs really well. I mean, he's got 7 triples and several stolen bases, so he could play CF. I do think over time, and as he gains more strength (which he will), LF would probably be his best position, but he'd have no problem in RF or any of those spots. I would add that if you've got Rosario, Buxton, Hicks (maybe a Hicks/Arcia platoon at some point), then playing Kepler at 1B is just what's best for the team. That's where his versatility is nice. If they have a need at 4 (and obviously DH would be a 5th) positions, he could be an option.

I posted this on the Twins Daily twitter feed early this morning: June Stats Max Kepler: .356/.451/.593 (1.044) with 3-2B, 4-3B, 1 HR, 11 RBI AB Walker: .338/.380/.738 (1.119) with 6-2B, 1-3B, 6 HR, 18 RBI

These rankings were arrived at a week ago. Kepler jumped about 5-6 spots to get to 9, but I was just mentioning this morning that if we all voted today, he could be as high as 4-5. I also think that he's likely to go to AAA, but if there was a need, he now joins Sano and Polanco as guys who could get called up at any time.

As we mentioned yesterday here at Twins Daily, we'll be having an event at CHS Field on July 3. I'm really looking forward to getting to the stadium that night. Should be a lot of fun!

I can't imagine a scenario where he wouldn't be.

The Lookouts just clinched a Southern League playoff berth last night, so I would expect it won't be long... though I also wouldn't be surprised if he comes straight up from AA too.

I'm good with trading Arcia, but not right now. He has no trade value.. Hopefully he can build some value up the rest of this season and have a strong September or something. Then they can actually maybe get something for him. He is out of options (so is Hicks) next year, so they'll have to make some big decisions on those guys. Also, they'll have to make 40-man roster decisions on Walker and Harrison (and maybe others). I doubt they'd add Ortiz, but I'm sure they'd be happy if he stayed around as a free agent again.

This is a tremendous article! Captures so much in it. Here are a couple of my thoughts for discussion: I don't know if he will for the rest of this year, but definitely the beyond. I don't know how much rope they'll give him in this first big league opportunity, but he's going to have to make some big-time offensive adjustments quickly to stick this year. Also, I get the idea behind Mauer to the Outfield, but I just can't see that. He is so stiff at 1B, I can't imagine him in the OF. It may be better than Willingham, but Rosario, Buxton and Hicks just sounds so much more appealing. That said, I get the thought that they need to make a spot for Sano. Also, Kepler is such a good corner outfielder that I think he should play out there if they did give up on Hicks as suggested. It's going to be interesting. It's funny how there seems to be this great depth right now, but somehow it always seems to become obvious when it needs to.

Short Answer: No. He's been unreal, and he's the focus of two more articles on Friday.

When I talked to Max for the May Hitter of the Month article, I asked him what he thought was his best position. He said, "Id put myself in one of the outfield corners." But he has the speed to be adequate in CF and obviously he can play 1B too. That might be his role in the big leagues, playing almost every day at 3-4 positions.

Baseball-Reference.

Kepler has been unbelievable since about 2 weeks after he came up to Chattanooga. He was player of the month for May (at Twins Daily, the Twins chose Trey Vavra, who was also terrific). He slowed a bit for a week or two in early June, but he has taken off again of late. Two straight 4-hit games will certainly help the numbers. But, he's got such a sweet swing and is a tremendous athlete.

In early February, we presented our Top 10 Minnesota Twins prospects. With the minor league seasons nearly half complete and the draft just completed, we thought it would be a good time to update our Top 10 lists. In the next two weeks, you’ll find that our rankings have changed in some ways. Some players have moved up. Others have struggled and moved down, or even out, of this list. Today, we start this series with a look at our choice for #10 Twins prospect, Alex Meyer.The Twins acquired the 6-9, hard-throwing right-hander in a November 2012 trade with the Washington Nationals. Denard Span went to the Nationals where, when healthy, he has been a force at the top of the team’s lineup. At the time, Meyer was viewed as a potential top of the rotation starter while many cautioned that he could wind up being a dominant reliever. Meyer’s career is at an interesting juncture right now. He is currently working out of the AAA Rochester bullpen after early-season struggles in the Red Wings starting rotation. It will be very interesting to see what the future holds for the obviously very talented flame-thrower. Alex Meyer - RHP Age: 25 (DOB: 1/3/90) 2015 Stats (AAA): 50.0 IP, 3-3, 5.76 ERA, 1.76 WHIP, 56/30 K/BB ETA: 2015 2014 Preseason Ranking: 3, 2015 Preseason Ranking: 5 What's To Like It has been a difficult 2015 season for Meyer so far and yet, everything that we have liked about him in the past continues to be true. The talent that made him a first-round pick in 2011 in still there. Even through his 2015 struggles, he has 56 strikeouts in 50 innings. He has the ability to miss bats. He does so with a strong pitch mix. His fastball continues to sit 95 to 96 and touches 99 at times. He still has a very good, power slider. What's Left To Work On He was very strong for Rochester in 2014, and even then, he walked 4.4 batters per nine innings. In 2015, he has walked 5.4 per nine innings. It doesn’t matter how hard you throw, that won’t lend to much big league success. In 2014 in AAA, he gave up just eight hits per nine innings. To this point in 2015, he has allowed 10.4 hits per nine innings. In my opinion, after his rough start, an effort was being made to throw more strikes. That led to more hits allowed. However, the strategy makes sense. Get back to throwing strikes, gain confidence in your control, and then start working in the other pitches and worry about hitting corners. I also believe that Meyer needs to work on his confidence. He had a tough couple of months leading up to spring training and then some tough times during spring training, on and off the field. He did lack confidence through his struggles, as most would. There have always been questions about his ability to start. His 130.1 innings in 2014 was his career high. Of his seven starts this season, he completed six innings just three times. He completed seven innings once, just the second time in his four minor league seasons. What's Next In mid-May, the Twins and Meyer made the decision for him to move to the bullpen. At the time, he was 2-3 with a 7.09 ERA. In 39.1 innings, he had allowed 51 hits, walked 24 and struck out 41. Opponents were hitting .325/.418/.427 (.845) off of him. In his six games since moving to the bullpen, he is 1-0 with a 0.84 ERA. In 10.2 innings, he has given up seven hits, walked six and struck out 15. Opponents have hit .184/.311/.237 (.548) against him. He pitched three innings in two of those six outings. So, what’s next? In reality, the Twins have two options with two different timelines: 1.) They can give him one more shot to be a starter. He has made some improvements and maybe he can take that success back to the starting role. If that is the plan, he will have to get several more starts and return to the type of dominance that he showed in Rochester in 2014. He could be a September call up. 2.) The other option is to let him continue in the bullpen, pitching either one inning at a time or in long relief. If that is the decision, he could be up with the Twins very quickly. I think he would just need a few more weeks of work, learning how to prepare for coming out of the bullpen. Of course, the Twins have to account for the return of Ervin Santana as well as find a way to get back to 12 pitchers, but I think that Meyer could be up within a month. The more likely path to success for Meyer is in the bullpen. In that role, he can develop over time into a strong back-of-the-bullpen option with his velocity. The 25-year-old was only added to the Twins 40-man roster last November, so 2015 is only his first of three option years. They can afford to be patient. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw him much sooner than that. What do you think is the best course of action for Alex Meyer and also for the Minnesota Twins? Click here to view the article

I'm including the guys they drafted as I do believe that speaks to talent evaluation. If they didn't sign and went to school or there was some other reason, was the player at least worth the hassle? As for Hicks (Parmelee and several others yet to come), they can certainly continue to move up this list. It's part of why I didn't include the guys from the last 5 drafts. To be fair to this point, they should be placed in the range of the guys that haven't made it yet. It doesn't make sense to put Byron Buxton at #5 (or wherever) when he has only played in 3-4 games.

Corrected... meant 3rd "overall" pick... Yeah, the Twins have missed out on some guys, to be sure. But, obviously we're not looking at all teams. I'm guessing the Twins "success" rate over 50 drafts is pretty much in line with everybody else.

Yesterday, we began a series looking back and ranking the Minnesota Twins first-round picks all the way back to the first MLB draft in 1965. In Part 1 (31 through 53), there were a lot of interesting names, but very few who spent much time in the big leagues. Most from that list never made it to the big leagues. Today in Part 2 (21-30), we start to see some guys who may never have become stars, but did have roles on big league teams for a decent amount of time. You will recognize many of the names. A couple of these guys have a chance to continue to work their way up this list. If you want to look at the criteria was for being ranked or some of the background on this series, please click here to review.With that, here are my choices for 21-30: #30 – 1975 – Rick Sofield – SS A couple of weeks ago, we saw Rick Sofield coaching third base for the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 1975, he was the 13th overall pick in the draft out of high school in New Jersey. He played in 207 games for the Twins between 1979 and 1981. 130 of those games were in 1980. He played all three outfield positions. Combined, he hit .243/.293/.342 (.634) with 25 doubles and nine home runs. MLB WAR: -0.7. #29 – 2004 – Kyle Waldrop – RHP The Twins third first-round pick in 2004, a lanky right-hander from high school in Knoxville, Tennessee. Waldrop gradually worked his way up to Double-A before he needed shoulder surgery and missed the entire 2008 season. He returned as a bullpen arm and was successful. By the end of 2011, he earned a call up to the Twins. In 2012, he made the opening day roster and posted a 2.53 ERA. However, he fought more injuries including an elbow injury that led to Tommy John surgery. MLB WAR: 0.5 #28 – 2008 – Aaron Hicks – OF With the 14th pick in the 2008 draft, the Twins took Aaron Hicks out of high school in California. A great athlete, he was one of the Twins top prospects for several years. After struggling at some of the lower levels, Hicks put things together in 2012 in Double-A New Britain. He filled out the stat sheet, hitting .286/.384/.460 (.844) with 21 doubles, 11 triples, 13 homers and 32 stolen bases. That offseason, the Twins traded Denard Span and Ben Revere and Hicks won the centerfield job with a strong spring training in 2013. Unfortunately, he has yet to experience big league success. In parts of the past three seasons, he has hit .209/.293/.311 (.604) with 21 doubles and ten home runs. He is currently on the disabled list as Byron Buxton takes over in center field. MLB WAR: 0.9. #27 – 2006 – Chris Parmelee – OF/1B Parmelee was the 20th overall pick in the June, 2006 draft out of high school in California. The stocky hitter showed good power in the lower levels. He repeated in the Midwest League. He also repeated in New Britain. He posted an .801 OPS with the Rock Cats in 2011 and earned a September call up. He played in 21 games for the Twins and hit .355/.443/.592 (1.035 with six doubles and four home runs. Over the next three seasons with the Twins, he was unable to duplicate – or come anywhere near – those numbers. In 252 games, he hit .238/.304/.371 (.675). Parmelee became a free agent following the 2014 season and signed with the Orioles. Through 61 games with Norfolk (Triple-A), he was hitting .312/.381/.444 (.826) with 13 doubles and six homers. He was promoted to the Orioles on Tuesday and in his first game, he went 4-6 with two home runs. He was MLB WAR: 0.3 (could still increase) #26 – 1991 – Scott Stahoviak – 1B/3B Gary Gaetti left the Twins via free agency following the 1990 season. The Twins got a supplemental draft choice in 1991 and with the 27th overall pick, the Twins selected 1B/3B Scott Stahoviak out of Creighton University. The Twins had drafted him three years earlier out of high school in Illinois. He put up terrific minor league numbers before being called up to the Twins for 20 games in 1993. He played in 94 games for the Twins in 1995. His best year came in 1996 when he hit .284/.376/.469 (.845) in 130 games. He had 30 doubles and 13 home runs. The next year, he hit just .229/.301/.400 (.701) with 17 doubles and 10 homers in 91 games. He played in just nine games for the Twins in 1998 and that was it. MLB WAR: 1.0. #25 – 1965 – Eddie Leon – SS Eddie Leon was the ninth overall pick of the Twins in the first MLB draft in 1965. Unfortunately, he didn’t sign, choosing to stay at the University of Arizona. The next year, he was the third overall pick, by the Cubs, and again chose not to sign. In 1967, Cleveland made him their third round pick. He signed and debuted with the team in 1968. He went on to play in parts of eight seasons in the big leagues. In 1970, he played in 152 games. For his career, he hit .236/.296/.313 (.609) with 51 doubles, ten triples and 24 home runs. MLB WAR: (-1.1) #24 – 1987 – Willie Banks – RHP Banks was a highly-touted prep pitcher from New Jersey when the Twins made him the third overall pick of the 1987 draft. He dominated the lower levels of the minor leagues and was to Double-A by the time he was 20. He debuted with the Twins in 1991 with five games. He made 12 starts for the team in 1992. He went 11-12 with a 4.04 ERA in 30 starts in 1993. However, the Twins traded him to the Cubs following that season for Matt Walbeck and Dave Stevens. He spent time starting with the Dodgers and the Marlins, but after not playing in 1996, he returned as a bullpen arm. He spent over a year with the Yankees as well as time with the Diamondbacks. He resurfaced in the big leagues in 2001 and 2002 with the Red Sox. Overall, he went 33-39 with a 4.75 ERA over 610.1 big league innings. He spent a few seasons with Newark in the independent Atlantic League. MLB WAR: 1.1. #23 – 1991 – David McCarty – OF/1B McCarty was the Twins third overall pick in 1991 out of Stanford. He was thought to be an advanced bat who could move up quickly and take over for Kent Hrbek as the Twins first baseman for a long time. He made his Twins debut in 1993. In 98 games that year, he hit .214/.257/.286 with 15 doubles and two home runs. He played in just 69 more games for the Twins before being traded to Cincinnati in June of 1995 in exchange for lefty John Courtright who never posted an ERA below six in Double-A. McCarty stayed in the big leagues until 2005, a part-time player for the Giants, Mariners, Royals, Rays, A’s and Red Sox. He toyed with becoming a pitcher and got into just two games. He struck out four batters in 3.2 innings. MLB WAR: (-2.0) #22 – 1990 – Midre Cummings – OF The Twins got a supplemental first-round pick in 1990, 29th overall, for having lost Jeff Reardon to free agency. The Twins selected Miami prep outfielder Midre Cummings. He signed and hit .316 for the GCL Twins. In 1991, he hit .322 in the Midwest League. Following that season, the Twins traded him, along with Denny Neagle, to Pittsburgh in exchange for a season of John Smiley. Cummings debuted with the Pirates as a 21-year-old in 1993. He spent time in the big leagues, with five teams between then and 2001. He was primarily used as a pinch hitter and fourth outfielder through much of his career. After being released by the Red Sox late in spring training of 1999, the Twins signed him in mid-May. He played in 93 games for the Twins before they dealt him to Boston on August 31, 2000 for a minor leaguer. In 2001, he was on the Diamondbacks post-season roster and played in two games and scored two runs on the World Series championship team. He toiled in the minor leagues in 2002 and 2003, but he resurfaced with the Rays in 2004 and with the Orioles in 2005 before calling it a career. MLB WAR: 1.0. #21 – 2000 – Aaron Heilman – RHP The 2000 draft’s first round was not kind to the Twins. Adam Johnson was their first pick (at #2), and with the 31st pick, received as compensation for losing Mike Trombly to free agency, the Twins selected Heilman out of Notre Dame. He chose not to sign and was the 18th overall pick, by the Mets, in the 2001 draft. He debuted with the Mets in 2003 with 13 starts. He made just five starts for them in 2004. He made seven starts in 2005 before they shifted him to the bullpen where he worked in 46 games. He pitched in at least 70 games out of the bullpen for the next five years. He found a little bit of success which got him a nice free agent contract. He played for the Cubs and the Diamondbacks as well. MLB WAR: 1.8. So there you have it, Part 2 of my series on Twins first-round picks, ranking #21-30. We're starting to see some guys that maybe didn't (or haven't yet) distinguished themselves, but have spent a decent amount of time in the big leagues. Tomorrow, we'll continue the list with Part 3, which will be 11-20. Click here to view the article