Seth Stohs

He was, and he earned his demotion... and now he has spent 6-7 weeks taking what he learned, and now it is time to bring him back and let him pitch...

http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/midseason-update-2016-minnesota-twins/#VttikwVBTdmW32Br.97 Baseball America update its Minnesota Twins prospect rankings. 1.) Jose Berrios (1) 2.) Nick Gordon (3) 3.) Tyler Jay (2) 4.) Jorge Polanco (5) 5.) Stephen Gonsalves (4) 6.) Kohl Stewart (8) 7.) Felix Jorge (9) 8.) Fernando Romero (6) 9.) JT Chargois (7) 10.) Travis Blankenhorn (24) They also have updated their 2019 roster/lineup, and it's interesting that they have changed the catcher to Mitch Garver. In parentheses, you'll find my rankings at midseason (from early June, pre-draft), adjusted to point out that Max Kepler has graduated in the middle. (I had ranked him #1, so basically everyone moved up one spot). I think it's fair to note that Blankenhorn is the one player where we are vastly different. Of course, he has hit 6 homers in Elizabethton since I wrote mine, so he would likely be higher than 24 now, but not quite to the top ten. Discuss the Baseball America rankings here.

Did I read or hear somewhere that Suzuki isn't using the Axe Bat anymore? Or maybe he's going back and forth?

Placed on the DL today with a fractured hand. Was hit by a pitch on Saturday night.

Twins minor league player of the week and a couple more extra base hits today.

Single-A Cedar Rapids infielder Zander Wiel is the Twins minor league Player of the Week...Wiel appeared in five games for the Kernels, hitting .444 (8-for-18) with one double, three home runs, 12 RBI, four walks and six runs scored...in 83 games for the Kernels this season, he is hitting .246 (80-for-325) with 18 doubles, five triples, 10 home runs, 51 RBI and 43 runs scored...the Tennessee native was drafted by the Twins in the 12th round of the 2015 First-Year Player Draft out of Vanderbilt University.

Giolito and Urias both were sent down to the minor leagues around the All Star break. That's a pretty normal thing for teams to with with pitching prospects in similar situations. The idea is they can keep them on a consistent schedule.

For each of those reasons I agree with you. I would have Chargois up with the Twins now (or very soon), and I'd move Hildenberger up to AAA. But yeah, unless you really believe Hildenberger is going to be ready opening day 2017, there's no reason to use up a 40-man roster spot at this time. And note... he may be ready, and I'm certain he'll go to spring training next year as a non-roster guy (if he's not added this year) and be given a real chance.

I'ts interesting how well he's played. When you watch him, there are good and bad. The good... he's got a great eye, works hard and grinds out at bats. Has a little bit of pop. Works really hard. The non-good... he's not a great athlete right now. He's not real, real fast. His SB rate is as much about speed as it is about base running ability. He's not a bad base runner.

good slider too.

Jermaine Palacios was hit by a pitch last night. He fractured his hand and will be placed on the Disabled List. Chris Ibarra comes off the DL.

Saturday was a big day in the Twins organization as Torii Hunter was inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame. I mentioned in an article a few weeks ago that the guys we are writing about in these daily reports are striving to reach the big leagues. Do you ever wonder if any of the players currently in the Twins minor leagues will play well enough to go into the Twins Hall of Fame? Well, we’ll need to revisit this in about 25 years to find out. On the field, the Twins affiliates had two extra-innings games. One team knocked out 23 hits. There were more multi-hit games and even a multi-home run game. One team threw a shutout, and we saw a bit of Palka Power again. Image courtesy of Seth Stohs (photo of Zander Wiel) Saturday was a big day in the Twins organization as Torii Hunter was inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame. I mentioned in an article a few weeks ago that the guys we are writing about in these daily reports are striving to reach the big leagues. Do you ever wonder if any of the players currently in the Twins minor leagues will play well enough to go into the Twins Hall of Fame? Well, we’ll need to revisit this in about 25 years to find out. On the field, the Twins affiliates had two extra-innings games. One team knocked out 23 hits. There were more multi-hit games and even a multi-home run game. One team threw a shutout, and we saw a bit of Palka Power again. For more information on the Twins minor leagues, please continue reading. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 4, Norfolk 0 Box Score A couple of big hits and some terrific pitching was the recipe for a Red Wings win on Saturday night. Andrew Albers started and worked six shutout innings. He gave up eight hits, walked two and struck out two. DJ Baxendale worked two scoreless innings, striking out one. He has now thrown 10.1 scoreless innings out of the Red Wings bullpen. Ryan O’Rourke struck out one in a scoreless ninth. Carlos Paulino led the way. He went 2-3 and had a two-run single. Daniel Palka added his third Red Wings homer. Wilfredo Tovar (17) and Tommy Field (8) each added a double. Byung Ho Park went 1-2 and was hit by a pitch. https://twitter.com/RocRedWings/status/754464186659319808 CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 8, Mobile 7 Box Score With the Lookouts down a run going into the 7th inning, Shannon Wilkerson came up and doubled, driving in the tying and go-ahead runs. They were able to hold on for the win. Tyler Jay made his second start for the Lookouts. He gave up five runs (four earned) on four hits over five innings. He walked three and struck out four. Mason Melotakis came on and gave up a run in his inning. Zack Jones worked two innings and recorded four strikeouts. He gave up his first run of the season with the Lookouts. WIth the lead back, it was Trevor Hildenberger who threw the final inning to record his 15th save. He gave up a hit and struck out two in his scoreless inning. Did you ever wonder how Jeremy Nygaard feels about what should be done with Hildenberger? https://twitter.com/jeremynygaard/status/754508423102865408 Dalton Hicks went 3-5 with two RBI. Zach Granite went 2-5 with his 10th double. Niko Goodrum went 2-4. Ryan Walker went 1-3 with a walk and his eighth stolen base. Mitch Garver led the way again. He went 1-2 and was hit by a pitch, walked and hit a big three-run homer in the first inning. It was his ninth homer of the year. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 2, Tampa 1 (13 innings) Box Score Down 1-0 in the 8th, TJ White launched his fifth home run of the year to tie the game. In the 13th, the Miracle scored on an error and held on for the win. Sam Clay started for the Miracle. He gave up no runs on three hits over five innings. He struck out five. The only problem was that he also walked seven batters and just 43 of his 85 pitches were strikes. John Curtiss came on and gave up an unearned run over his two innings. He struck out two. Todd Van Steensel pitched a scoreless inning. Yorman Landa struck out two over two scoreless innings. Michael Theofanopoulos worked three shutout innings. He gave up two hits, walked two (one intentional) and struck out five to gain the Win. Joe Maloney went 3-6 with his fifth and sixth doubles for the Miracle. Nick Gordon extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a 2-5 game and his average is now at .304. Tanner Witt went 2-6. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 13, Ft. Wayne 10 (10 innings) Box Score This game definitely started out poorly for the Kernels, but with a big comeback and a lot of hits they put together another win. The Kernels were down 6-0 after two innings and 8-1 after four innings, so it was quite improbable. Sam Gibbons is back in the rotation, though on this night it did not go well. He gave up eight runs (five earned) on six hits in just four innings. Three of the hits left the ballpark. He also walked two and struck two out. Kuo Hua Lo came on and threw three scoreless innings. He gave up one hit, walked two and struck out two. Tom Hackimer was charged with two unearned runs over his two innings. He struck out four and got credit for the win. With the lead in the 10th, Williams Ramirez came on and struck out two in a perfect inning for the save. The Kernels accumulated 23 hits in this game. 2016 draft pick Casey Scoggins went 4-7 with his fourth double, three RBI and his first stolen base. Rainis Silva went 4-6. Nelson Molina entered the game after Jermaine Palacios left after being hit by a pitch. Molina went 3-4 with a triple and four RBI. He also stole his fourth base. Luis Arraez had yet another multi-hit game, his 32nd of the year. He was 3-6 with a walk. It was his tenth game with at least three hits. He also stole his first base of the season. Zander Wiel was 3-7. He hit his 18th double as well as his ninth and tenth home runs. Chris Cavaness added two hits as well. E-TWINS E-NOTES Elizabethton 1, Princeton 5 Box Score Ryan Mason made another start for the Twins. He threw four shutout innings. He allowed two hits, walked one and struck out three. Alex Schik came on and gave up three runs on five hits over three innings. He struck out five without issuing a walk. Hector Lujan gave up two runs (one earned) on three hits in the eighth inning. He struck out two. Brandon Lopez was hit by a pitch to start the game. He left the game and was replaced by Ariel Montesino who went 2-3. Alex Kirilloff went 2-4 with his sixth double. Roberto Gonzalez was 2-4 with his first triple. He drove in the lone run for the Twins. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Twins 2, GCL Red Sox 4 Box Score The Twins got a great start but the offense just wasn’t able to come through. Brady Anderson, the non-drafted free agent from Florida Gulf Coast, gave up just one hit over the first five innings. He walked none and struck out three. Next, 2016 draft pick Matt Jones came in for his professional debut. He walked both batters he faced before being removed. Zach Strecker came in and both inherited runners scored. He gave up four hits and two more runs in the inning. Two of the outs came on strikeout. Garrett Kelly pitched the final two innings. He gave up a hit and walked two over two scoreless innings. He struck out three. Jorge Munoz led the offense. He went 2-3 with a walk and his third double. Jorge Andrade added his third double. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Brian Anderson, GCL Twins Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Zander Wiel, Cedar Rapids Kernels SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Norfolk @ Rochester (12:35 CST) - RHP Jose Berrios Mobile @ Chattanooga (1:15 CST) - RHP Felix Jorge Lakeland @ Ft. Myers (3:05 CST) - RHP Fernando Romero Cedar Rapids @ Ft. Wayne (12:05 CST) – RHP Eduardo del Rosario Elizabethton @ Princeton (4:00 CST) - RHP Sean Poppen GCL Twins - No Game Scheduled Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Saturday's games. View full article

Fair points and concerns, but it's hard to say. I think that if all goes well, Buxton and Kepler will be the CF and RF for a long time. So, that leaves one outfield spot. Rosario is in the picture. Daniel Palka is finding his way into the discussion. And a lot of people are thinking Zach Granite is someone who could be added too. And, I didn't even mention Robbie Grossman. DH? Well, Vargas and Park are there now, and Mauer will still be around for two more years. And, I don't think any of that is a bad thing.

Thanks... gotta admit... deciding between Gonzalez, Zander Wiel and Adam Brett Walker wasn't easy.

I'm not a believer in clutch being a skill or something, but Walker definitely seems to come up big often... We've seen it over and over and over over the years. I think he'll get up here in September... but they already have Rosario, Grossman, Buxton and Kepler in the outfield, and Park will likely come up to DH, along with Vargas. So, he may not.

I've written that for the TD Minor League Player of the Month awards... RP would be Slama and/or Achter ,and there are several others that would be strongly considered for the others.

And Garver missed about a week with a concussion. The key is Garver is getting catcher time and also keep his bat in the middle of their order. He's been terrific the last six weeks.

E-Town hasn't done much the last 2-3 years really. But yeah, for awhile there they were in the playoffs every year. I think that team is definitely fully of prospects, but they're young. The three you mentioned have high upsides.

It was a big day for offense in the Twins minor league games. There were 11 players who had multiple-hit games for Twins affiliates. There was a game-winning home run by a big prospect in one game. One player that didn’t even start for his team on Friday night ended up with four hits and raised his batting average by .115 points. The big first baseman in Cedar Rapids had two extra-base hits and half of his team’s RBI. Of course, it isn’t all positive.One team was on the opposite end of the spectrum. Wander Javier did not play again on Friday. The first time he hurt his hamstring, he missed 16 days before playing two games. He re-aggravated the hamstring and has now not played again for two weeks. Image courtesy of Seth Stohs (photos of Dereck Rodriguez, Roberto Gonzalez (top right), Zander Wiel (bottom right)) It was a big day for offense in the Twins minor league games. There were 11 players who had multiple-hit games for Twins affiliates. There was a game-winning home run by a big prospect in one game. One player that didn’t even start for his team on Friday night ended up with four hits and raised his batting average by .115 points. The big first baseman in Cedar Rapids had two extra-base hits and half of his team’s RBI. Of course, it isn’t all positive.One team was on the opposite end of the spectrum. Wander Javier did not play again on Friday. The first time he hurt his hamstring, he missed 16 days before playing two games. He re-aggravated the hamstring and has now not played again for two weeks. For the details of Friday in the Twins minor leagues, please continue reading. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 8, Norfolk 6 Box Score Adam Brett Walker came through in the clutch for the Red Wings again. With the score tied at 6-6 in the bottom of the 8th Byung Ho Park recorded his first AAA double. Walker came up and belted his 17th home run of the season. It gave the Red Wings the lead and made them a winner. Walker led the Red Wings offense. He went 2-3 with a walk and his second triple to go with the home run. Darin Mastroianni was in the leadoff spot. He went 2-4 with two doubles and drove in two runs. Wilfredo Tovar went 2-3 with his 16th double. Logan Schafer went 2-4. Logan Darnell made his first start of the second half. The lefty gave up four runs on eight hits and a walk over just 3.2 innings. He struck out two as his ERA jumped to 3.53. Nick Greenwood came in and gave up one run on three hits over the next 2.1 innings. Sean Burnett threw an inning. He gave up an unearned run on two hits. Buddy Boshers gave up a hit and walked a batter in 0.2 innings. Alex Wimmers got the final out of the eighth inning and then three outs in the ninth to pick up the win. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 2, Mobile 20 Box Score It happens to every team, and pretty much every year. Even the best teams have an absolute clunker. On Friday night, Chattanooga had one of those. Omar Bencomo made the start. He gave up five runs on seven hits and a walk in the first three innings. Ryan Eades came on, and he was charged with eight runs (six earned) on five hits and three walks. Luke Westphal came on and gave up seven runs (five earned) on eight hits and four walks. Jake Reed came on and got the final five outs, including two strikeouts. He gave up just one hit. The Lookouts didn’t have much offense either. They had just four hits. Dalton Hicks went 1-3 with a walk and his 20th double. Shannon Wilkerson went 1-3 with a walk and his eighth double. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 4, Tampa 3 (7 innings) Box Score The game was called on account of rain in the seventh inning. Fortunately, the Miracle were winning at the time. Randy LeBlanc had a quality start. He gave up three runs (two earned) on four hits over six innings. He walked one and struck out four. Offensively, the Miracle had just six hits. AJ Murray hit his sixth double. Joe Maloney drove in two runs with his fourth double. Logan Wade reached base twice without a hit. He walked and was hit by a pitch. He also stole a base. Nick Gordon added a single to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 6, Lake County 1 Box Score Dereck Rodriguez had another solid start, and in this one, he even got the win. He improved to 2-10. He had not been the winning pitcher in a game in two months. He gave up one run on six hits over the first six innings. He walked one and struck out four. Anthony McIver gave up one hit over two scoreless relief innings. Michael Cederoth got the final three outs to preserve the win. Zander Wiel led the Kernels offense. He went 2-3 with a walk, his 17th double and his eighth home run. The other three Kernels RBIs came from Luis Arraez who had an RBI in each of his first three plate appearances. Casey Scoggins led off and went 2-4 with a walk and his third double. Jermaine Palacios is now hitting .224 after going 2-3 with a walk and a hit-by-pitch in this game. Kevin Garcia went 2-4. E-TWINS E-NOTES Elizabethton 6, Danville 8 Box Score Roberto Gonzalez wasn’t even in the starting lineup on Friday night. For some reason (we’re looking into it), Luis Martinez left the game in the first inning and Gonzalez replaced him. He came into the game hitting just .111, but the powerful outfielder went 4-4 with two doubles and raised his average to .226. That’s the beauty of small sample sizes. Bryant Hayman had the big hit. He hit his first homer of the season and drove in three runs. Alex Kirilloff went 1-3 with a walk and his fifth double. Shane Carrier went 2-4. Tyler Wells made the start. He gave up four runs (two earned) on four hits over 3.2 innings. He walked three and struck out five. Quin Grogan came on and worked 2.1 hitless innings. He walked two and struck out three. Johan Quezada struggled. He gave up four runs (3 earned) on three hits and two walks and recorded just one out. Colton Davis got the final five outs, three of them on strikeouts. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Twins 0, GCL Red Sox 3 Box Score Huascar Ynoa started again for the GCL Twins on Friday. The young right-hander gave up three runs on five hits over four innings. All three runs came in the second inning. Ynoa walked three and struck out four. Moises Gomez came on and threw two scoreless innings. He is yet to give up an earned run (and allowed just one unearned run) in 11.1 innings this season. Callan Pearce ran his scoreless inning streak to 10 with two more scoreless innings. He struck out three. Daniel Martinez pitched a clean ninth inning. Lean Marrero went 2-4 in this game. Jhon Alvarez hit his first double. Twins 2016 second-round picks Jose Miranda and Ben Rortvedt each went 1-3 with a walk. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Dereck Rodriguez, Cedar Rapids Kernels Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Roberto Gonzalez, Elizabethton Twins SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Norfolk @ Rochester (5:05 CST) - LHP Andrew Albers Mobile @ Chattanooga (6:15 CST) - LHP Tyler Jay Ft. Myers @ Tampa (5:00 CST) - LHP Sam Clay Cedar Rapids @ Ft. Wayne (5:35 CST) – RHP Sam Gibbons Elizabethton @ Princeton (6:00 CST) - RHP Ryan Mason GCL Twins @ GCL Red Sox (9:00 am CST) - RHP Brady Anderson Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Friday's games. View full article

In my mind, he should... left-handed, 22 and hitting 96. I'd keep him on, but at the same time, it will depend on how many they prefer to add.

He got two games off and has been back in the lineup since. He had a sore hand, from various reports/quotes we've heard.

I think he has 10-12 errors by early May. I think he's been much improved defensively in the last 50-60 games. I'm not worried about his defense much at all. He'll hit for decent average, I think, and he's got an idea at the plate. Great swing, and I do think he'll add some power. Mostly double power, but I think he can hit 10+ in the big leagues once he's in it for a bit.

He was in my Top 30 in early June, and that was before he came up to Cedar Rapids and has pitched quite well. He's pretty much on the exact same timeline as Lewis Thorpe was, so many similarities. He's grown. He's like 6-0, maybe 6-1, 185 now. Fastball is low 90s, good mix, and smart... knows how to pitch. Not quite as much velo as Thorpe, but they're so similar.