Seth Stohs

We hear so much about tall pitchers and release points, but Aaron Slegers is 6-10 and was top 3 in the organization in BB/9 before this 0 walk outing.

The shortstops would be nice, but Tate kind of scares me as high as six.

I don't think anyone thinks Milone is suddenly going to be something different or significantly better than ever. However, he's not a AAA pitcher and he's not a AAAA pitcher. He's an MLB pitcher, a back of the rotation guy, probably a #4. Depth is good.

1.) yes, it has. Though when he's been healthy for a decent amount of time in the past, he has produced. He's been terrific. 2.) I don't know. He's certainly moved up, but I don't know that he'd be on any Top 30 lists. 3.) Yes. 4.) College reliever from UC-Berkeley. Throws low-to-mid 90s from a 3/4 arm angle. Gets good movement.

When HE chooses to. I always called him just Adam Walker, but tnhe I decided to ask him. He said he didn't really care too much but he definitely preferred Adam Brett Walker. So, until he tells me differently, I'll go with that.

Great insight. People definitely are aware of the big two, but we try to tout all of the minor leaguers. And I love that idea a midseason "All Twins Prospects game!"

Here is a link to Patrick Reusse's show page. Hour 2 on Friday, he chatted with Doug Mientkiewicz for 15 minutes. Quite a bit on Kepler, Buxton, Sano, Walker, Berrios and more. Great stuff. Gave Chad Allen a lot of credit.

The Minnesota Twins minor league affiliates have all reached the 40-game plateau this week. Their seasons are nearly 30% complete. Each week, we have been posting the Twins Minor League Leader Board in the Saturday morning Minor League Report. This week, we’re going to post it on its own and see how it goes. Each week, we look at a variety of statistics to recognize the Twins minor leaguers who have performed well in 2015. We will start with the hitters and then look at both the starting pitchers and bullpen arms. These lists are fun because sometimes players emerge as guys that you will want to start paying attention to. In the below lists, we are starting to see more of the big-name prospects showing up, which is also a good thing.For most statistical categories, we’ll look at the top 5 players, though some leeway is given in the event of ties (or just common sense). For hitters, I am using 130 plate appearances as the cut off for BA, OBP, SLG and OPS. For pitchers, we’ll look at ERA, WHIP, K/9 and BB/9. I am using 32.0 innings as the cutoff for starters and 14.0 innings as the cutoff for relief pitchers. Here is the Minnesota Twins Minor League Leader Board through games played on Friday, May 22. HITTERS Let’s start with the hitters. When we ran these leader boards after two, three or four weeks, there were several surprising names on these lists. There is a lot of randomness to small sample size. However, now we are to the point where most regulars have between 150 and 170 plate appearances. Not a huge sample, but again, about 30% of their season. Some of those early-season names have remained. Plate Appearances: Niko Goodrum (190), Byron Buxton (184), Zach Granite (183), Miguel Sano/Max Murphy (170). Batting Average: Trey Vavra (.345), James Beresford (.344), Alex Swim (.338), Max Kepler (.336), Zach Granite (.320) On-Base Percentage: Zach Granite (.413), Trey Vavra (.401), Max Kepler (.381), James Beresford (.380), Travis Harrison (.373) Isolated Discipline: Tanner English (.130), Mitch Garver (.128), Miguel Sano (.108), Niko Goodrum (.103), Travis Harrison (.097) (I like this statistic because it’s easy to calculate, but it also shows which hitters are not as reliant on getting hits to get on base. It is simply (OBP-BA). A guy can have a low batting average, but he can still have value if he’s getting on base at a good percentage. Kernels center fielder Tanner English is hitting just .220, but he is on base 35% of the time thanks to a good eye at the plate. Miguel Sano gets on base because a lot of pitchers don’t want to throw him any more strikes than they have to.) Slugging Percentage: Trey Vavra (.545), Adam Brett Walker (.533), Max Kepler (.520), Byron Buxton (.497), Miguel Sano (.472) Isolated Power (IsoP): Adam Brett Walker (.286), Byron Buxton (.240), Miguel Sano (.233), Trey Vavra/Danny Ortiz (.200) (Like Isolated Discipline, Isolate Power is easy to calculate. It is just (SLG-BA). In other words, how many extra base hits is the player getting? How much power is he showing? Again, it’s showing that a player can be valuable even if he doesn't hit for high average. No surprise at all with who is on top of this list, is it? Lots of home runs, doubles and triples on that list.) OPS: Trey Vavra (.946), Max Kepler (.901), Adam Brett Walker (.830), Miguel Sano (.819), Byron Buxton (.807) Hits: Alex Swim (51), Trey Vavra (.50), Zach Granite (49), Jorge Polanco (47), James Beresford (44) 2B: Travis Harrison (15), Max Kepler (13), Aaron Hicks/Chad Christensen (10), 4 tied with 9. 3B: Byron Buxton (10), Aaron Hicks (4), Levi Michael/Max Murphy/Tanner English/TJ White (3) HR: Adam Brett Walker (11), Miguel Sano (8), Trey Vavra/Danny Ortiz (6), Byron Buxton/Brock Peterson (5) Runs: Byron Buxton (31), Miguel Sano/Zach Granite (29), Adam Brett Walker/Travis Harrison (27), Nick Gordon (26) RBI: Byron Buxton (33), Adam Brett Walker (32), Trey Vavra/Danny Ortiz (27), Miguel Sano/Zack Larson (24) SB: Tanner English/Zach Granite (13), Byron Buxton (12), Jason Kanzler/Engelb Vielma (10). STARTING PITCHERS (>32 IP) Innings: Taylor Rogers (55.0), Pat Dean (54.2), Tyler Duffey (52.2), JO Berrios (50.0), DJ Baxendale/Jason Wheeler (47.0) ERA: Chih-Wei Hu (1.10), Stephen Gonsalves (1.50), Felix Jorge (2.13), Brett Lee (2.14), Mat Batts (2.21) WHIP: Stephen Gonsalves (0.81), Chih-Wei Hu (0.85), Felix Jorge (0.95), Mat Batts (1.03), Tyler Duffey (1.10) K/9: Stephen Gonsalves (11.6), JO Berrios (10.4), Mat Batts (9.7), Alex Meyer (9.4), Chih-Wei Hu/Tyler Duffey (9.2) BB/9: Greg Peavey (1.5), Pat Dean (1.6), John Curtiss (1.7), Aaron Slegers (1.8), Felix Jorge (1.9) Strikeouts: JO Berrios (58), Tyler Duffey/Stephen Gonsalves (54), Mat Batts/Taylor Rogers (44), Chih-Wei Hu 42) RELIEF PITCHERS (>14 IP, Innings: Zach Tillery (27.1), Todd Van Steensel (26.0), Alex Muren (25.2), Brandon Peterson/Randy LeBlanc (23.0) ERA: Trevor Hildenberger (0.40), Cameron Booser (0.93), Brandon Peterson (1.17), Madison Boer (1.40), Lester Oliveros (1.86) WHIP: Trevor Hildenberger (0.49), AJ Achter (0.63), Zach Tillery (0.81), Madison Boer (0.90), Tim Shibuya (0.92), Zack Jones (0.93) K/9: Cameron Booser (15.4), Zack Jones (14.1), Lester Oliveros (14.0), Todd Van Steensel (13.8), Brandon Peterson (13.3) BB/9: Trevor Hildenberger (1.2), Zack Jones (1.3), Tim Shibuya (1.7), Jake Reed (2.1), Cole Johnson (2.2) Saves: Zack Jones (6), AJ Achter/Michael Tonkin (5), Cameron Booser/Trevor Hildenberger/Todd Van Steensel (4) There you have it. The Twins Minor League Leader Board through Friday, May 22. What do you think? What surprises you? Click here to view the article

We're all guilty of it at the beginning of the season. We make a ton out of a guy hitting .150 on April 15th, not remembering that he's 3-20 and a 4-5 day has him hitting .350. Peavey was off to a very slow start. He was getting crushed. I probably would have removed him from the rotation or dropped him, and he'd been terrific the last 3-4 starts. They're all case-by-case. The big thing is that they just have to do what they think is best for each player and each situation.

Six games in one night. That’s what happened in the Twins farm system on Friday night thanks to two rain-affected games on Thursday. The Red Wings, Lookouts and Kernels each played a game and got great offensive production in it. Some of the biggest prospects had big games again. And be sure to check out the minor league organization leader board here on Saturday morning!Continue to read for everything that happened in the Twins minor leagues on Friday night. Remember to check back on Saturday morning when I will update the Twins minor league leader board. TRANSACTIONS The lone transaction of the day came when the Rochester Red Wings announced that they had released 1B/DH Brock Peterson to make room for Tyler Duffey on the roster.Duffey will enter the Red Wings starting rotation. On Friday the team announced that Alex Meyer was being moved to the bullpen.RED WINGS REPORTGame 1 – Rochester 11, Norfolk 4 Box Score When the Twins sent Kennys Vargas down to Rochester after Sunday’s game, they said that he needed to drive the ball more and be more of a run producer to meet his potential. In his first game with the Red Wings, he had three hits. In this game, he homered in his first two at-bats, driving in four runs. Pretty solid run production! Everyone in the lineup contributed to this win. Norfolk started big league veteran Bud Norris. They were able to get to him, scoring nine runs on 12 hits and a walk in just 2.2 innings. All nine starters had at least one hit. Eric Farris went 3-5 with his first double, two RBIs and his third stolen base. James Beresford went 2-4 with his seventh double and two RBIs. Josmil Pinto was 2-4 with his seventh double and two RBIs. Ryan Wheeler went 2-4 with his second double. Danny Ortiz and Doug Bernier both went 2-4. Pat Dean made the start. He was charged with four runs (two earned) on seven hits in 6.2 innings. Ryan O’Rourke came in and after an RBI single, got a strikeout to end the game. Game 2 – Rochester 0, Norfolk 3 Box Score The Red Wings likely wish they could have used some of their Game 1 runs in Game 2, but that’s not how it works. In the second game, the Red Wings were shut out. They had just five hits in the seven-inning game. James Beresford went 2-3 to raise his average to .344. Taylor Rogers threw a complete, six-inning game for the Red Wings in the second game. He gave up three runs on nine hits. He did not walk or strikeout any batters. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Game 1 – Chattanooga 13, Mobile 2 (completion of suspended game) Box Score On Thursday night, the Lookouts game was delayed at the start. Then they played just over two innings before it was suspended by rain. The teams completed the game on Friday. The Lookouts lineup was pretty impressive as the game continued. Byron Buxton went 3-6 with his fifth double, league-leading 10th triple and four RBI. Max Kepler went 3-5 with his 10th and 11th doubles and three RBI. Adam Brett Walker was 3-5 with his league-leading 11th home run and four RBI. Mike Gonzales went 3-4. Stephen Wickens went 2-4 with a walk and his third double. Miguel Sano went 2-4 with a walk. Travis Harrison was 2-5 with his league-leading 15th double. On Thursday, Alex Wimmers had given up two hits over two shutout innings. When they started play again on Friday, Madison Boer took the mound. He threw three shutout innings and gave up two hits and walked two. Cole Johnson struck out four over two shutout innings. Dallas Gallant gave up two runs on one hit and two walks in his two innings. Game 2 - Chattanooga 2, Mobile 7 Box Score Like the Red Wings, the Lookouts bats were quieted in their second game of the night. They managed just four hits in the regularly-scheduled game. Stuart Turner hit his fifth double. Buxton, Kepler and Jorge Polanco each had a single. Buxton stole his 12th base, while Kepler stole his sixth. David Hurlbut likely envisioned his Double-A debut going a bit differently. In the first inning, he gave up six runs on seven hits. In the second inning, he gave up a solo homer. In his three innings, he gave up those seven runs on eight hits. He walked one and struck out three. Nick Burdi came on and gave up four hits over two scoreless innings. He did not issue a walk and struck out two. In fact, 24 of his 33 pitches were strikes. DJ Johnson worked a perfect sixth inning. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 1, Brevard County 2 Box Score With Hurlbut promoted, Luke Westphal returned to the rotation for a spot start. The lefty from Wisconsin gave up one run on three hits over three innings. He walked one and struck out three. Brian Gilbert came on and worked the next three innings. He gave up one run on one hit, he walked two and struck out four. Todd Van Steensel gave up four hits, but no runs, in two innings. He walked one and struck out four. Alex Muren struck out three in the ninth inning. The Miracle offense had six hits in the game. Alex Swim went 2-4 with his fourth double. He drove in the team’s lone run. His double scored Jason Kanzler who had singled and stolen second before it. Chad Christensen is now at .299 after a 2-4 night. Bryan Haar hit his eighth double. Kanzler stole his ninth and tenth bases. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 7, Beloit 3 Box Score The Kernels used some late-game offense to improve to 26-16. The game was tied 2-2 going into the eighth inning. The Kernels scored two runs in the top of the eighth and three runs in the top of the ninth. TJ White went 3-4 with his sixth double. Nick Gordon went 2-4 with a walk and his third double. Trey Vavra went 2-5. Vavra, Max Murphy and Zack Larson were the 3,4 and 5 hitters of the Kernels. Each of them had two RBI. Jared Wilson made the start for Cedar Rapids. He gave up two runs on four hits in five innings. He walked two and struck out three. Randy LeBlanc improved to 4-0 while reducing his ERA to 2.74 with three shutout innings. He walked two and struck out two. Luke Bard made his Kernels debut. He pitched just one inning and gave up one run on one hit. 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 – Kennys Vargas, Rochester Red Wings SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Norfolk (6:05 CST) – RHP Tyler Duffey Chattanooga @ Mobile (7:05 CST) – RHP JO Berrios Brevard County @ Ft. Myers (6:05 CST) – LHP Mat Batts Cedar Rapids @ Beloit (2:00 CST) – RHP Keaton Steele Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Friday games. Click here to view the article

Which guys at Chattanooga are you certain area ready to move up right now and succeed in AAA? Like it/them or not, and they do need "placeholders", "Organizational" guys to play until guys are ready for the next level.

His OF glove is average or so.

Harrison played OF in high school, including CF, so my thinking is he would have been moved to OF at some point. He worked really hard during that year in Ft. Myers, but the decision was made. Heplayed a few games at 3B in Ft. Myers last year. No, his glove isn't better than Sano's at 3B.

In reality, you've got time on your hands with Jared Wilson too. He was only drafted in 2013, so there's no hurry with him at all. He was pitching last year, his first full season, out of the bullpen. They want to give him a chance to start, so no rush. That said, if he keeps it up, you need to move him. The question becomes what to do in Ft. Myers. We say/think that Gonsalves is ready to move up. We say/think that Hu is ready to move up. We say/think that Berrios is ready to move up. So, what do you do in Rochester? let's just, for the sake of argument, say that you take Pat Dean out of the rotation. Does he get released or go to the bullpen? If he goes to the bullpen, who gets taken out of the bullpen, released, demoted or DLd? For guys like Gonsalves, Hu and Berrios, they move them when they believe they're ready for that next level. Someone will get moved and that's just the way it is. But, to your point, it's definitely not as easy as just saying, "Move him up."

While I agree with this, I also would have told you that Brandon Wood would have been at least a league average DH when he was crushing minor league pitching too. I totally believe in Sano and think he'll be very good, but can't just assume that.

I definitely think people have pitched around Mauer a lot in those situations. And no, I don't want him reaching for pitches in those situations. That's what the pitchers and defense wants him to do.

I think that'll happen (at least with Lee) soon. He went back to Ft. Myers because of injury, similar to Hurbut. He's now made 3 straight terrific starts. Can't imagine it would be too long.

I wondered if they would just have him go to the bullpen, but he told me a few weeks ago that he was going up to 6 innings in EST games. It's really remarkable what he has been able to come back from. I hope he does well. One of the really good people.

I would hope no one would really think like that first paragraph. I know some are quick to write about it or talk about it on the radio, but I would hope even they wouldn't really think and believe it. Of course they use it, and of course they are smart enough to comprehend.

We have viewed the Minnesota Twins depth at catcher, corner infield and middle infield in the last few days. Today, we continue this series by reviewing the outfielders in the organization. There are certainly some great names on the big league roster and through the system, especially in Chattanooga. What does it mean for the Twins 2015 draft, if anything?Have a look for yourself and let us know what you think. Minnesota Twins: Oswaldo Arcia (LF), Aaron Hicks (CF), Torii Hunter (RF), Eddie Rosario (OF), Shane Robinson (OF), Eduardo Escobar (LF), Jordan Schafer (OF) The current makeup of the Minnesota Twins outfield is certainly interesting. There is the veteran in Torii Hunter who, at 39, has been really good the last month. Aaron Hicks is finally back after starting the season with five strong weeks at Rochester. Eddie Rosario is another top ten prospect who is with the Twins. He hit the first pitch he saw in the big leagues out of the ballpark, but not surprisingly, he has struggled since. He’s still part of the future, but he needs time and patience. Oswaldo Arcia needs something. He’s still just 24, has 35 MLB home runs, but he has struggled and has not been able to stay healthy. Robinson and Schafer are ideally 4th or 5th outfielders. Escobar has been playing a lot of left field, for some reason. Rochester Red Wings: Danny Ortiz (LF), Eric Farris (CF), Wilkin Ramirez (RF), Reynaldo Rodriguez (OF) Ortiz is the young man in his group. He turned 25 in May. He spent half of the 2014 season in Rochester and was invited to big league camp. Eric Farris an infielder in the Brewers organization (he spent parts of two seasons in the big leagues), but when he came to the Twins a couple of years ago, he was pushed to the outfield, and he has performed well. Wilkin Ramirez and Reynaldo Rodriguez are also minor league veterans with pop in their bats. Rodriguez has played a lot of first base early this season. Chattanooga Lookouts: Adam Brett Walker (LF), Byron Buxton (CF), Travis Harrison (RF), Max Kepler (OF) This is a pretty talented group of outfielders, isn’t it? 23-year-old Walker leads the Southern League in home runs. He has led his league in that category each of the last two seasons. Byron Buxton is generally considered the best prospect in baseball. He has nine triples this year in less than 40 games. Though he’s struggled and been streaky this season, after missing so much of last season, his defense remains elite. Harrison leads the Southern League in doubles with 14 and has been a fixture in the middle of the lineup for the Lookouts. Kepler has been playing some first base, but can also play all three outfield spots. He has been on fire since just before the calendar turned to May. Ft. Myers Miracle: Zach Granite (LF), Jason Kanzler (CF), Chad Christensen (RF), Marcus Knecht (OF) Zach Granite was the Twins choice for minor league hitter of the month in April. He was promoted to the Miracle with the turn of the calendar and has continued to hit and be an on-base machine. Kanzler and Christensen are two of the most athletically-gifted players in the organization. They both have a terrific combination of power and speed. Knecht came to the Twins at the end of spring training after the Canadian spent the last few years in the Blue Jays organization. Cedar Rapids Kernels: Max Murphy (LF), Tanner English (CF), Zack Larson (RF), Trey Vavra (LF) This is another talented group of outfielders. Minnesota native Murphy was the team’s ninth-round pick a year ago out of Bradley. He was the Appy League player of the year last year despite being promoted to the Kernels halfway through the season. He got off to a slow start with the Kernels this year, but he has been hitting very well in May. English is another very good athlete. He’s not tall, but he can pack a punch with his bat. Defensively, he is tremendous and frequently shows great range. Larson is a very intriguing hitting prospect, though he has not yet put up numbers this year. He was with the Kernels last year, but a torn hamstring cost him most of the season. Vavra has played a lot of left field as well for the Kernels this year. Generally, one of these four has been a DH most games. Extended Spring Training: Dubal Baez, Edgar Corcino, Tyree Davis, Austin Diemer, Frank Encarnacion, Roberto Gonzalez, Amaurys Minier, Junior Amarante, Rowan Ebersonhn, Luis Martinez Minier is the big name in this group. He was signed as a third baseman, but one year into his pro career, he moved to the outfield. Really, he’s a DH, but he has a ton of power potential. Corcino, Davis and Gonzalez are three tremendous athletes, but yet still raw in their baseball skill. My guess is that Baez, Corcino, Diemer, Encarnacion and Minier will go to Elizabethton, though a couple of them could move up to Cedar Rapids if there is a need. Top 6 Prospects: 1.) Byron Buxton, 2.) Eddie Rosario, 3.) Max Kepler, 4.) Adam Brett Walker, 5.) Amaurys Minier, 6.) Travis Harrison The Draft: The Twins like their athletes. Walker was drafted in the third round after three years of college, but the others in my Top 6 prospect list were high school hitters or international signings. The Twins typically will draft some college relievers in later rounds but really like athletes. It’s a trend that has shown success in the last 25 years. Torii Hunter, Denard Span, Aaron Hicks and Ben Revere are all good examples of toolsy outfielders taken by the Twins and developed into baseball players. Revere was the most advanced offensively of the group, but each developed their athleticism into baseball skills. Byron Buxton continues that line. There are some interesting outfielders near the top of the draft. I can see the Twins taking a couple. Though this group of prospects is talented, and Hicks and Rosario are already in the big leagues and Buxton appears to be a future building block, depth is always good. Remember five years ago when the Twins (and their fans) thought they had a ton of outfield depth in the organization. It didn’t turn out so great for a couple of years. Hopefully the current group of outfield prospects will develop into strong major league players, but adding more talent is always a good thing. Click here to view the article

For me... before the season, I had Nick Gordon ranked 4th and Polanco 6th or 7th. Right now, I don't have an official ranking, but if I did, I think I would have Polanco 4 and Gordon at #5. Really like both of them. I think Polanco might be better right now than Santana. I think Gordon has a higher upside, but I think Polanco has a really high floor.

My bad on the Cedar Rapids score. Thanks for correcting it Kevin! There is another thread on Stauffer being activated from his DL stint.