Seth Stohs

They've just done a really nice job of drafting pitchers in the 5th -20th rounds in the drafts, at least going back to Ober in 2017, Funderburk in 2018, Varland in 2019, Festa and Ohl in 2021. Lewis, Culpepper, Morris, Jones, and others in 2022. And I hear really good things about 2023 guys like Paulshawn Pasqualotto, Ty Langenburg, and a few others. They've done a nice job of taking something in each and building upon it. Whether they are starters or become relievers, if they get to the big leagues, it's a huge success for Player Development. In reality, if they get to Triple-A, it's a success.

I asked Dinkelman after the game yesterday. He's played 1B and 3B in the two games I've been at. Not sure he's really had to make plays in either game. Dinkelman saw him in spring training and feels comfortable with him in either spot. My observation from pregame is that he's definitely athletic enough to play 3B, and he has a very strong arm. Dinkelman must have hit him 30-40 extra ground balls during BP and he looked fine. He looks fine at first too, but it's hard to see how that translates.

He is set to start on Sunday (vs Rhett Lowder) for the Kernels. Talked to him a bit yesterday. He needed a few days in his buildup, so his season starts a week later. Nothing to worry about. Same thing, I understand, with Cory Lewis in Wichita. Fell a little behind (weather it was soreness, missed a few days, whatever the reason) this spring and they aren't rushing him.

I was just going by the scoreboard. I actually didn't see anything lower than 95 on there, but first start, early season, I figure it may drop a little bit over the season, over a few starts. But, impressive nonetheless. Also, Calvin (radio/streaming voice of Kernels) has access to statcast data instantly, so what he's saying is based on that, not the scoreboard.

The reason is because there is a second article. As the note says by the Players of the Day header, the Kernels will get their own. Article just published.

The Kernels showed off their bats and their pitching on Wednesday night to record their first win of the young season. There were several interesting aspects to the game that it warranted its own article. Seth is in Iowa covering the Kernels for a couple of days and filed the following. So, be sure to read this in conjunction with the regular minor-league report today. Image courtesy of Seth Stohs, Twins Daily If you’re looking for the rest of today’s minor league report, click here. However, the Kernels first win of the season provided lots of postgame conversation, and I thought enough to add this Kernels report separately. Click here for the remainder of today's minor league report. First, just a reminder that Cedar Rapids is around four to five hours from the Twin Cities, depending upon your starting point. It’s a pretty quick drive. If you haven’t previously attended a Kernels game, consider it. It’s a fun atmosphere. It is some quality baseball. You can see several future Twins. Of note, since the Kernels became an affiliate of the Twins in 2013, 75 former Kernels have reached the big leagues. You truly are seeing (at least part of) the Twins future. I also recommend Haciendo, Nachos and Spanish Rice!! And, if you’re there on a nice night, head down the left field line and get a frozen hot chocolate from Toms (Frozen Treats, maybe. I don’t remember the full name, but you’ll find it!). The Kernels came into Wednesday night’s game against Dayton having started the season with two losses in Beloit, a loss for their home opener, and really wanted to get the first win. A really solid combination of hitting and pitching (and an all-important mound visit) helped the team to their first win of the year. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 11, Dayton 2 Box Score The Kernels got a clutch start from Zebby Matthews, and Rubel Cespedes led an impressive offensive display on their way to an impressive win over the loaded Dayton lineup. We have to start with Rubel Cespedes. In the first inning, he drove in Ricardo Olivar with a single. He did the exact same thing in the third inning. In the bottom of the seventh inning, he crushed a long, three-run homer that scored Olivar and Danny De Andrade. In the bottom of the eighth, he came up one more time and drove in Luke Keaschall and Olivar on a single to right field. On the day, he went 4-for-5 with his second homer and seven RBI. His season line currently shows a .636 batting average with a 1.940 OPS. After the game, he said (via translator and co-pitching coach AJ Angulo), “We have a plan. We work in the cage, and we’ve executed the plan in the game. That’s why I’m getting good results.” Regarding the three-run blast, Cespedes noted, “I’m just looking for the ball and reacting to it. I’m executing the plan. I’m sticking to the plan and executing my plan.” He came to the plate with runners in scoring position in four at-bats and came through each time. “Same mentality. It fires me up, having runners on, so I can help the team win. At the end of the day, if we keep bringing runs in, we will have success and we’re going to win ball games.” data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw== His manager Brian Dinkelman, who once had a four-hit game in the big leagues, said, “Four-hit games are hard to come by and to have a three-run homer on top of it also. Really good game from Cespy tonight. He’s been swinging the bat really well the first four games already.” Dinkelman moved Cespedes from the seven spot on Tuesday night to the five-spot in the lineup on Wednesday night. “You kind of play around with the lineup a little bit and see what blends well. He's been swinging the bat as well as anybody so try to get him more toward the top of the lineup, get his at-bats, hopefully with runners on base, and it paid off tonight.” On his first post-teen day, the now-20-year-old Danny De Andrade went 3-for-4. Following Tuesday’s game, the manager said that most days he will find himself somewhere in the middle of the Kernels’ lineup. I asked him if he plans on playing him at shortstop everyday too. The response? “He’s going to play the majority of his games at shortstop, but I think we’re going to try to get him some action at second and third also. You never know. You get to the big leagues and they already have someone there that’s the everyday shortstop. We want you to go play second base. I think it’s good in the minor leagues to get some exposure to different positions, just so you have some awareness and understanding of each position. If you do make the big leagues, you’re not caught off guard having not played there before and not know what to do. This is the time for them to learn other positions too in case that opportunities comes.” Olivar went 2-for-3 with two walks and a double. He scored four runs. And, he did a nice job in left field on Wednesday after playing behind the plate on Tuesday. Luke Keaschall was robbed of a hit in his first at-bat on a bad call at first base. However, he ended the night 2-for-4 with a walk. Dinkelman says he “has a good approach at the plate. Good understanding of the strike zone. Has some thump in his bat when he gets into a ball. He can run. Defensively, he’ll continue to work at second base, throwing and stuff like that.” Keoni Cavaco had a single and a double in four at-bats. I told him before the game that I felt a three-hit game for him. When we reconvened after the game, we both agreed that two hits was just fine on this night. Zebby Matthews was Terrific on the Mound It may not be evident from the final score, but this was a really tightly contested ballgame until the Kernels scored five runs in the seventh and three more in the eighth frame. Zebby Matthews took the mound for his first start of the season and looked really good. Let’s start with the stat line. Over five innings, he gave up just one run on four hits. He walked none and struck out eight batters. If that’s all I wrote, the report would be very positive. His catcher, Nate Baez, said, “Zebby is really good at just pounding the zone and attacking hitters. We just stuck with our plan and trusted what he had and his stuff. It was just working today.” Next, let's look at the scouting report. Matthews is known for filling the strike zone, not walking anyone. When drafted, he was touching 90, maybe 91 on occasion. On this night, he was sitting 93-96, and he hit 97 mph a couple of times. And, he has done that without losing control or command of the strike zone. His secondary stuff looked really good as well and he got a lot of swings and misses. This year, he also is throwing a cutter with higher vertical break in the 90-92 range. He is going with a more-traditional slider (as opposed to the sweeper). He's got a changeup that is thrown in the low-80s to keep hitters off balance. And, he's got a nice curveball that he continues to work on to try to throw it a little harder. Matthews said that adding velocity has been a goal, something he has worked hard to do. “It’s a part of the process. I think every pitcher wants to throw harder. I give props to the coaches and all of the player development staff. They do a really good job of keeping us, giving us goals to reach. They do a really good job of helping us get there.” Dinkelman noted, “Last year, we put him in the ‘pen at the end of the season. He was 94, 96, whatever. Throws strikes, and he got some swing-and-miss tonight with eight strikeouts. It was a good outing for him.” One Fantastic Mound Visit One more piece to the Zebby Matthews “puzzle” on this evening isn’t necessarily something that’s measurable, but you sure do notice when you see it. In the fourth inning, the Kernels held a 2-0 lead with one out. Suddenly, Dayton knocked three straight singles. Was their vaunted lineup about to put up a crooked number? Co-pitching coach Jonas Lovin and catcher Nate Baez walked out to the mound. It was a fairly extended trip to the mound, but when Lovin got back to the dugout, and Baez returned to the plate, Matthews had found a new level. He proceeded to strike out the next two batters, leaving two runners stranded. His competitive nature showed up and he played the role of bulldog. Baez said, “We just slowed him down a bit, let him catch his breath, and then just had him stick with his plan.” Matthews said, “It just gave me a breather. I had given up three singles in a row. With that many consecutive at-bats, they gave me a breather, helped me re-focus. Reminded me to stick to the game plan.” Lovin added a little more detail to the conversation. “I told him I love that he works fast, but in this situation, take a second to catch your breath because he looked rushed. And, then I gave him the scouting report on the next two hitters, and he did the rest.” Dinkelman summarized, “That was a big swing in the game to keep us ahead after they got three straight runners on. Good job by Zebby to get us through five innings.” Matthews came back out for the fifth and had a perfect inning. He had two strikeouts, and his night ended with a web gem from left fielder Ricardo Olivar. Matthews noted, “The only thing I want to do is go deep into starts and give my team a chance to win. I just go out there and do my job” You can see all eight strikeouts and Olivar’s catch here: data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw== AJ Labas came in. He was charged with an unearned run over 1 2/3 innings. He had three strikeouts. Then Ricardo Velez entered the game. He gave up a couple of hits, but no runs. He struck out three batters. Miguelangel Boadas struck out two batters in a scoreless ninth. ‘ The Kernels pitching staff finished the night with 16 strikeouts and they didn’t walk a single batter. While this type of result is always the goal, it isn't normal. Lovin added, "Control and command is a massive part of our minor-league development. Punch guys out, limit damage, and don't give free passes. Throw nasty stuff in the zone." Of course, that's easier said than done. Dinkelman was clearly happy after the game to have that first Win. “Like hitters, you always want to get that first hit and settle in and get going. We’ve had that with a lot of guys. I think, hopefully now, everybody settles in and feels better about themselves and continue that going forward.” Please feel free to ask questions about the Kernels and their roster. I've seen two games now, so the sample size is quite small. However, first impressions are sometimes interesting. I will be at Thursday night's Kernels' game before leaving Cedar Rapids. View full article

The Mighty Mussels made a valiant comeback only to give up their lead late. The Saints fell to a veteran starter who is off to a great start and a power-hitting rehabber. Wichita got rained out. Here is the primary Minor League Report for Wednesday. There will be a Kernels-only report as well, filled with quotes after their first win of the season. Image courtesy of William Parmeter (photo of Maddux Houghton going through the line on Opening Day). Please note that today's Minor League Report is actually split into two reports. Below, you will find most of the information you would expect. However, since I am in Cedar Rapids, and the Kernels won their first game, and there is a lot to write about that game, I am going to do a separate Kernels report. Please check that out. It will be available soon. We are still incredibly early in the season. Over the rest of the week, there will be several pitchers making their first starts of the season for their Twins’ affiliate, but there are already lots of storylines to follow. While we don’t really have any reason to look at the standings for a couple of months, I’ll include it anyway. Minnesota Twins: 4-6 St. Paul Saints: 5-5 Wichita Wind Surge: 1-3 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 1-3 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 3-2 Let’s get to the report. As always, please feel free to discuss and ask questions. TRANSACTIONS Wichita placed RHP Cody Laweryson on the 7-Day Injured List. In a surprise move, RHP Jace Stoffal, the team’s eighth-round pick in 2023 from Oregon, officially retired on Tuesday. In recent days, catchers Duncan Hewitt and Frank Nigro were released by the Twins. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 1, Iowa 4 Box Score 29-year-old lefty Thomas Pannone made his third start of the season for the Iowa Cubs. In his first start, he gave up two hits over five scoreless innings. In his second start, he gave up two hits over 5 2/3 scoreless innings. So maybe the Saints shouldn’t feel too bad about scoring just one run on three hits and two walks against Pannone. Powerful Patrick Wisdom provided the offense the Cubs’ needed to take down the Saints. Wisdom hit a deep fly ball to right-center field that landed beyond the fence. Jake Slaughter and Ali Sanchez scored in front of the rehabbing-big leaguer. Wisdom is currently on the Cubs’ Injured List. Over the past three years with Chicago, he has hit a combined 76 home runs. Until that point, Randy Dobnak was very good again. However, his final line shows three runs allowed on five hits. He walked one and struck out seven batters. Matt Bowman struck out three batters over 1 2/3 scoreless innings. Diego Castillo came on and gave up one run on two hits over 1 2/3 innings. He gave up a solo home to Cubs powerful outfield prospect Alexander Canario. Ryan Jensen came in for the ninth inning and struck out three batters. The Saints had just six hits in the game. Chris Williams led the way with two hits including his second double. Michael Helman hit his first double of the season. Helman scored the team’s lone run in the sixth inning on a Yunior Severino single. The game began 32 minutes late due to a rain delay, but it finished in two hours and 43 minutes. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita, Springfield (Postponed) Box Score The game was postponed due to inclement weather. It will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Friday. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 11, Dayton 2 Box Score It was a terrific night in Cedar Rapids for the Kernels. The bats showed up. The pitching was fantastic. I talked to quite a few people. So, I decided to create a separate article for the Kernels report. Be sure to check that out right here. Lots of quotes from the likes of Brian Dinkelman, Zebby Matthews, Rubel Cespedes, Nate Baez, and more. Click here for the Kernels Report: Rubel Cespedes and Zebby Matthews Lead Kernels to Season's First Win. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 7, Clearwater 8 Box Score It was a back-and-forth game in Clearwater on Wednesday night. The Threshers grabbed two in the bottom of the third. The Mussels responded with one in the fourth. Clearwater added three in the bottom of the fifth frame. All five runs were charged to starting pitcher Ty Langenberg. The 2023 draft pick from the University of Iowa gave up five runs on nine hits in five innings. He walked none but struck out, you guessed it, five batters. Spending the past couple of days in Cedar Rapids, there are some Kernels fans who are eager to see Langenberg move up to High-A. I would suspect it won’t take more than about a half-season. Lefty Wilker Reyes came on and struck out three batters over two scoreless innings. That allowed the Mussels to show off their muscles. Maddux Houghton’s first homer of the season drove in Yohander Martinez and Angel Del Rosario to cut the deficit to 5-4. With Byron Chourio on base, Brandon Winokur’s first home run put the Mussels ahead 6-5. The Mussels added another run in the eighth inning on a Houghton ground out. Up by two, Brian Meyer turned to Xander Hamilton for the bottom of the eighth. Unfortunately, he gave up three runs on two hits and a walk in the inning. The Mussels went quietly in the top of the ninth. Eight of the nine Mussels hitters had at least one hit. Rayne Doncon went hitless, but he walked twice. Del Rosario and Houghton, the team’s eight and nine hitters in this game, each went 2-for-4. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY (The Kernels will get their own, though both awards would certainly belong to Kernels on a normal report.) Hitter of the Day – Maddux Houghton (Fort Myers) - 2-for-4, HR(1), R, 4 RBI, Pitcher of the Day – Ryan Jensen (St. Paul) - 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on the new Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Wednesday. #4 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – 0-for-5 #7 – Austin Martin (Minnesota) – 0-for-2, BB (played CF) #10 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – 1-for-4, HR(1), 2 RBI, 3 K (played 3B) #12 – Luke Keaschall (Cedar Rapids) – 2-for-4, 2B(1), BB, 2 R, RBI, 1 BB (DHd) #15 – Danny De Andrade (Cedar Rapids) – 3-for-4, HBP, R, RBI, SB(1). #16 – Yunior Severino (St. Paul) – 1-for-3, BB, RBI, K (played 3B) #19 – Ricardo Olivar (Cedar Rapids) – 2-for-3, 2B(1), 4 R, 2 BB, K (played LF) THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE AND PITCHING PROBABLES Iowa @ St. Paul (6:37 PM CST) - RHP David Festa (0-0, 1.59 ERA) Wichita @ Springfield (6:35 PM CST) - LHP Jarret Whorff (First Start), facing Tink Hence. Dayton @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CST) - RHP Andrew Morris (First Start) Fort Myers @ Clearwater (5:30 PM CST) - Ross Dunn (0-0, 2.25 ERA) Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Wednesday’s games or any other Twins minor league topics! View full article

Nope, didn't airmail either of them. You could argue on the third one that he just should have thrown it in to second base, but I thought he had a reasonable chance at getting the guy at third. The throw was down (cut-off man level), and it just got by the third baseman. I haven't seen a replay to see if maybe the runner deflected it.

From Dinkelman: "A couple were tough. The first one, on the throw in, it got away from the cutoff man and past the pitcher. That's a tough one. He kept the ball down. Dropped the fly ball, not sure what happened there. The last one kind of skipped by third. Decent throw to third and it skipped by Salas and the guy advanced a base. Tough night for him out there." He continued, "We'll keep putting him out there, let him learn from it. You learn from your experiences in the game, and hopefully he'll learn from tonight." My perspective... The two on throws were tough. I agree with Dinkelman on those. If you watch them, the throws were solid, but just not handled by the person they were thrown to. Those go to the thrower, even though the throw isn't bad. The dropped fly ball. My assumption is that he lost it right toward the end in the sun. I saw a photo later that shows he was there, looking right up at it, but had already closed the glove (but the ball was about a foot above it). He does have a really strong arm. Not saying he's a great outfielder, but I don't personally think there is a lot to worry about with this.

Did Zac Gallen pitch the next day? Did Randy Arozarena play in the outfield? Inquiring minds want to know... I want to know.

The Twins played their home opener at Target Field on Thursday afternoon. A couple of hours beforehand, Dick Bremer was honored for his 40 seasons of being the voice of the Twins on TV in a small ceremony in the press box. The Twins home television booth will forever be called the Dick Bremer TV Booth. Image courtesy of Seth Stohs, Twins Daily Let’s start this with a little bit of trivia, courtesy of Dick Bremer himself. Over his 40 seasons of calling play-by-play for Twins games, he worked with five Hall of Famers (so far!). Can you name all five of them? (Answers below). During the offseason, we learned that Dick Bremer’s time as the Twins play-by-play voice on TV was over. Cory Provus would be taking over that role after more than a decade in the Twins radio booth. Twins President Dave St. Peter began a small ceremony by welcoming Bremer and his family; his wife, daughter Hannah and son Erik. “The Twins organization feels incredibly grateful for Dick. For not just what he did in the television booth, calling action night after night, day after day, but for the way he handled things out of the booth as an ambassador for this franchise. It’s hard to imagine there’s any broadcaster we have had that worked more tirelessly on behalf of the organization to preach the gospel of Twins baseball than Dick Bremer. And for that today we are really thrilled to have the opportunity to pay tribute and to honor him.” This offseason was the first that Bremer did not participate in the Twins winter caravan. He kept busy, to be sure. He had previously been the host of the Twins Diamond Awards. Instead of hosting the great event this year, he was honored with the Herb Carneal Lifetime Achievement Award. In my opinion, Bremer’s biggest strength as the play-by-play voice on TV was his ability to work with his color analyst. There is no bigger Twins fan. Bremer knows the history of the Twins. He understands the changes that have happened in the game. He understands game situations. But what he did was let the analyst play the role of “star.” Bremer set up his analysts very well and let them share their insights from their time on the field. As our trivia question says, Bremer worked with five Hall of Famers, He is arguably Tommy John’s biggest supporter for Hall of Fame consideration. He has worked with All Stars and many great players. In a small media scrum after the formal ceremony, he said “I’ll take that team of players that I was blessed to work with. I’ll take on the Rangers. I’ll beat the Yankees.” One of those players that he worked with the past couple of years is former AL MVP Justin Morneau. The powerful Canadian has become a very good, trusted analyst with the help of Bremer. Morneau held back tears as he spoke of and to Bremer during the ceremony. “You taught us what it meant to love our jobs, to take pride in doing our jobs, to be neutral but understand that we are all fans of the Twins. I don’t know if there is any bigger fan in Twins Territory than you.” It was at that time the St. Peter and Morneau unveiled a gift for his years of service and gnarly 5,000 games called. The Twins also made a contribution in Bremer’s name to “Dumont Baseball.” Finally, they announced that the TV booth would now be called the Dick Bremer Television Booth. Bremer then stood in front of the small crowd of TV cameras and media. His voice cracked as he said, “I really appreciate that gesture. To have that carry my name means an awful lot.” While you can see and hear how much he enjoyed calling the game. It is when he talks about his family that you realize how fortunate he realizes he is. His wife was there, as was his daughter Hannah. It was also great to see his son Erik was able to be there. Erik Bremer is carving his own path in the play-by-play world. He is the voice of the Pensacola Ice Flyers in the winter months, and he is in his third season as the voice of the Pensacola Blue Wahoos of the Southern League. In college he worked games in the Cape Cod League. In 2017, he worked for the Biloxi Shuckers (AA). In 2018, he called games for Triple-A Colorado Springs. In 2019, he was out east with High-A Potomac. After the lost Covid season, he spent the 2021 season with Fredericksburg. He also spent a couple of winters calling Brisbane Bandits games in the Australian Baseball League. I joked with him about being allowed time off to come to this event. He said he wasn’t going to miss it. He also noted that he had a 5:00 am flight on Friday morning to get back to Pensacola for their Friday night Opening Day game. Since the announcement that his dad would no longer call Twins games on TV, he has been given example after example by fans and media types of what his dad meant. He said, “It’s affirming what I think most of us have known all along; the unique and special connection he has with the fans and this community and to baseball fans in the upper Midwest.” Are their characteristics of his dad’s broadcast style or personality that he has tried to emulate in his own career? “I grew up listening to him. So I think on a subconscious level I take a little bit after his style. But I think more than anything, his ability to meet the moment without making it about himself is something I’ve really admired and I’ve tried to carry forward. Serving the audience and serving the team above yourself is the way to find a long career in this industry. That he has been able to do this for 40 years with the same team speaks to his ability to do that.” Of course, Erik Bremer has a unique perspective on Dick Bremer. As his son, he gets to see him at home. However, Erik noted, “His on-air style is so welcoming and warm, and so natural. I can speak with authority on this. He is the same person off the air as he is on the air.” Interviewer (me) rudely cuts in, asking, “Same voice and everything?” And Erik smiles and continues, “Same voice and everything. The fact that he is so authentic… I think that is something that viewers sensed over the years. They got a sense that they knew him. If you’re not yourself on the air, eventually people are going to find out. So, the fact that he remained himself, resolute in that while still adapting to the changing times is something I really admire about him.” I think that rings true, especially if you’ve been near him during a winter caravan stop in a small town. People believe they know Dick Bremer because he has been a consistent, soothing voice that they can rely on. Another one of those great players that Bremer called a partner (among other things) is Bert Blyleven. Bremer noted that the Hall of Fame pitcher and World Series champion sent him a text message early Thursday that just said, “Congratulations, and don’t bounce it.” Bremer told media members after the ceremony that he will continue to be active with the Twins, though he doesn’t know just how much time he’ll be at the ballpark. He said it will depend on weather, and if a golf course beckons. He joked, “ I’ve been told that it’s possible in Minnesota without having to drill a hole first.” Bremer has not had a chance to do a lot of summer fishing over the years and looks forward to that. However, he also broke the news that he will be returning to the diamond, playing Senior Baseball League games on Wednesdays, and double-headers on Sunday afternoons. He says that most great players he worked with, like Killebrew, Blyleven and most recently Morneau had great playing careers and then great broadcasting careers. “I’m going to try to do it in reverse. I did my 40 years broadcasting, and now my goal is to be the oldest American League rookie of the year, at 68.” When he said he might pitch, a writer came back with “Then you can become the first broadcaster in history to have worked with Tommy John and then had the Tommy John surgery.” Ah, retirement goals. Which brings us back to Twins Opening Day. Bremer was honored pregame with a nice video on the huge screens of the stadium. He was then set to make the first pitch. With his family, and over 35,000 people watching, Bremer walked to the mound. Then to the surprise of many, Joe Mauer made his way to home plate. Bremer’s first pitch would be caught by Hall of Famer Joe Mauer. And with all the hoopla, and all the emotion of the day, Bremer stepped toward home and launched his pitch. I believe it was a sinker. I mean, gravity pushed it down as it made its way to the plate. It was a very borderline strike, but most important, Mauer caught it. Bremer did not bounce it. The Twins lost the game 4-2, and it’s very much possible that the highlight of Opening Day might have been that first pitch. Dick Bremer didn’t bounce it. Join me in a left-hand toast to Dick Bremer. Trivia Answer: I dropped several names and clues throughout the article, but Dick Bremer worked with five Hall of Famers. He worked with Harmon Killebrew, Bert Blyleven, Jack Morris, Paul Molitor, and Jim Kaat. View full article

35,595 Twins fans entered Target Field on Thursday afternoon for the Minnesota Twins Opening Day. Game time temp was 48 degrees. There was some breeze, but the game was played under blue skies in a picturesque ballpark. Unfortunately, the Twins inability to come up with the key hit at a key time meant fans left the stadium feeling a little gloomy. Image courtesy of Jordan Johnson-USA TODAY Sports Box Score SP: Pablo Lopez - 5.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K (95 pitches, 60 strikes (63.1%), 12 whiffs) Home Runs: Edouard Julien (1) Bottom 3 WPA: Byron Buxton (-0.198), Max Kepler (-0.170), Carlos Santana (-0.168) Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) Pablo Efficient Early With four members of the Twins bullpen on the injured list, it becomes more important for the Twins starters to try to work a little deeper in the games. Through three innings, Lopez needed a total of just 31 pitches, a tremendous per-inning average. He threw just seven pitches in the third inning after tossing just six pitches in the second inning. Twins Watch Chances Pass Them By The Twins often force pitchers to throw a lot of pitches. Tanner Bibee had thrown 58 pitches. They had Bibee on the ropes in the bottom of the second inning. Christian Vazquez reached on an error by Brayan Rocchio to load the bases with two outs. That brought Edouard Julien to the plate.After working the count from 1-2 to 3-2, Julien watched a slider down the middle of the plate go by. He immediately turned and walked back to the dugout.Target Field was frustrated. Seventh inning… he struck out looking. Tanner Bibee had two strikeouts in the second inning and struck out the side in the third frame. Guardians Get Pesky in Fourth In the fourth inning, Cleveland did what Cleveland does. They put the ball in play, not necessarily hard, but in that situation, they hit ‘em where the Twins hitters weren’t. They scored three runs in that inning without really hitting anything hard at all. This is what makes a game like this one frustrating. We know the stats. In general, the Guardians offense isn’t as strong as the Twins. The power or nothing approach generally leads to more runs scored over the course of a season. But on the days when the Twins do nothing, and the other team BABIPs one inning, it’s hard to watch. The “Nothing” of All or Nothing Julien wasn’t the lone Twins hitter to have a frustrating day, though striking out looking three times, twice in big situations, just doesn’t look good. As you saw in the lead information, the Twins #3 and #4 hitters (Byron Buxton and Max Kepler) led the way at the bottom of the Win Probability Added day. The veterans combined to go 0-for-8 with five strikeouts (all swinging, and equally productive). The Twins team had 15 total strikeouts in the game. Julien, Buxton and Kepler had eight of them. Willi Castro and Carlos Santana each struck out twice as well. In his third AB, Julien swung at a 3-1 pitch from Bibee and hit it into the left field bleachers. Correa is on Fire On the bright side, Carlos Correa is absolutely on fire. He lined a single to right at 98 mph in his first plate appearance. Next, he lined a 109 mph single to left. Later, he short-hopped the fence in left field on another drive well over 100 mph. With three hits on Thursday, he is now hitting .368 with a .994 OPS. I would guess that having no pain in his feet is quite helpful. Alex Kirilloff hit a triple off the wall in right-center field in his first at bat of the day. He went 1-for-4 in the game, but he has been great in the season’s first week. He is now hitting .409 with an 1.122 OPS. Summary: It’s probably not good when the highlight of the game was Joe Mauer being introduced to catch the game’s ceremonial first pitch from Dick Bremer. What’s Next? First, the team will likely go home, flush this loss, and just rest and relax. After being in Florida for spring training since February, and then heading to Kansas City and Milwaukee, most of the team got to their living quarters on Wednesday night for the first time. With the early start on Thursday for Opening Day, the players (and the traveling media!) are looking forward to Friday’s off day. First to relax, but also to situate their lives and their living arrangements. On Saturday, the Minnesota Twins will turn the ball over to Joe Ryan (1.69 ERA) for his second start of the season. Cleveland will counter with Carlos Carrasco (5.40 ERA). Both will be looking for their first win of the season. Postgame Interviews Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet SUN TUE WED THU FRI TOT Funderburk 34 0 0 39 0 73 Duarte 31 0 25 0 0 56 Sands 22 0 0 22 0 44 Alcala 0 39 0 0 0 39 Jackson 13 24 0 0 0 37 Okert 0 0 20 0 0 20 Jax 0 0 18 0 0 18 Stewart 0 0 17 0 0 17 View full article

Terry Jorgensen was born on September 2, 1966, in Kewaunee, Wisconsin. After a stellar athletic career at Luxemburg-Casco High School, he stayed close to home and attended Division III powerhouse, the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. He helped the team to a national championship in 1985. In 1987, the 6-4 infielder was the second round draft pick of the Twins. He spent that summer with the Twins Low-A affiliate in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He hit .315 with 17 doubles and seven home runs in 67 games. The next season, he was pushed to Double-A Orlando. In 1988, he played in 135 games and hit .246 with 27 doubles and three home runs. He stayed there for the 1989 season. In 135 games, he hit .263 with 27 doubles, five triples, and 13 home runs. He also drove in 101 runs and nearly had as many walks as strikeouts. That earned him his first promotion to the big leagues. He had four hits in 23 at-bats. Then he had to show some patience. He spent the entire 1990 season in Triple-A Portland and hit 28 doubles and 10 homers. He spent the entire 1991 season with Portland and hit .298 with 29 doubles and 11 home runs. In 1992, he hit .294 with 32 doubles and 14 home runs. In September, he was again called up to the Twins. In his first game back (9/9), he went 2-for-4 with a double and a stolen base. In 22 games, he hit .310 with a double. In 1993, he played a career-high 59 games with the Twins and hit .224 with seven doubles and a home run. He joined the Marlines organization in 1994 and spent the season at Double-A. Then in 1995, he moved up to their Triple-A affiliate in Charlotte. In 1996, he played in 27 games for Green Bay in the independent Prairie League. In researching, I reached out to Jorgensen and learned the following. After pro ball, he went back to Oshkosh and received his bachelor's degree. He worked a few "odds and end jobs." After he graduated, he got a call from the principal of his hometown school, who asked if he was interested in teaching there because there was a Physical Education job open. He said/wrote, "Never thought I would return to the Luxemburg-Casco school district, but here I am, 26 years later." In his time there, he was the varsity baseball coach for 13 years. He also has been an assistant in a variety of sports including baseball, softball, boys and girls basketball, and golf. He no longer coaches so that he can watch his son and daughter play at the college level at their sports. He said that he is unlikely to coach again and is looking forward to retirement in a few years. View full player

Happy Opening Day! Several Twins Daily writers and a community of readers from this site or Twitter made their predictions for the 2024 Minnesota Twins season. How will this version of the Twins do in the AL Central, and which players will help along the 162-game journey? At the end, be sure to add in your predictions in the comments. Image courtesy of William Parmeter Over the past week or so, we surveyed the Twins Daily writers for their predictions about the 2024 season. A similar survey was posted in the forums and promoted on Twitter. Here are the results. How many wins will the Twins have, and where will they place in the AL Central? Seventeen Twins Daily writers responded to our survey (though not necessarily to each question), while 111 Twins Daily readers and/or Twitter followers responded. The majority of the questions were related to the Twins' 2024 season. How many wins will the Twins have this season? Will they have any Silver Slugger or Gold Glove Award winners? Who will be their top hitters and pitchers? In this article, I will make my prediction and compare it to the Twins Daily writers, which will then be compared to the Twins Daily Community. It’ll be interesting to see how they compare. Your part in this is going to the comments and giving your answers so that - at least in theory - we can take a look at our predictions in October and see how we did. Let’s get started with some predictions for the Twins and the AL Central. Question 1: How many Wins will the Twins have in 2024? I decided to predict 85 wins for the 2024 Twins. Fifteen Twins Daily writers shared their predictions. The lowest came in at 83 wins. The highest prediction was 93 wins. On average, the Twins Daily writers predicted 88.6 Wins in 2024. On the public survey, I broke up the wins predictions into smaller categories. Just shy of 40% of the 111 Twins Daily readers and followers said the Twins will win between 86 and 89 games in 2024. 24% said ‘90 or more’ wins. 19.8% said 82-85 wins. So, combined, 83.8% of respondents think the Twins will finish with a record above .500. A year ago, the Twins Daily prediction was 87 wins for the 2023 Twins. The 2023 Twins won the division with a record of… 87-75. Having fun with math, I calculated that the overall average win prediction at Twins Daily is again 87 wins. Question 2: Where will the Twins finish in the American League Central in 2024? All 16 Twins Daily writers that responded to the survey believe that the Twins will win their second straight division crown in 2024. A robust 75.2% of the fan respondents agree that the Twins will win the division again. Sixteen of the 111 respondents (14.7%) predicted the Twins to finish in second, while 11 believe the Twins will finish in third place. There might be a bit of homerism in this one, at least in the percentages. That said, the Twins generally are believed to be the favorite to win the division. Question 3: Which team will win the AL Central in 2024? This is obviously a slightly different question than the previous question. Of course, with all 16 Twins Daily writers predicting the Twins to finish in first place atop the AL Central. How about the Twins Daily community? Again, 84 of the 111 respondents (75.7%) said the Twins will win the division. Thirteen respondents predicted that Cleveland will win the division, and 12 others predicted that the Tigers will win the division. The other two think that the Royals did enough to make up the 31 games they were behind the Twins in 2023. The Royals are much-improved, and they locked up one of baseball’s best players in the offseason, but that’s a big task. The Tigers have Skubal. They added Flaherty and Maeda. Casey Mize is coming back. They should be better. The most important thing: Zero people predicted the White Sox to win the AL Central, which is very important! Player Awards and Recognition Question 4: Will the Twins have any Silver Slugger Award winners for the 2024 season? If so, who? Nine of the 15 Twins Daily writers (60%) wrote that the Twins would not have a Silver Slugger winner. Forty-six of the 104 fan respondents (44.2%) agree that the Twins hitters will be shut out. Royce Lewis led the way among the writers, with three believing he’ll be the AL’s top-hitting third baseman. Edouard Julien got two votes. Byron Buxton, Carlos Correa and Ryan Jeffers each received one vote. Lewis led the way with 34 (of 104) saying he will beat out the likes of Rafael Devers, Jose Ramirez, and Alex Bregman for the AL Silver Slugger at third base. Ryan Jeffers had 18 people say that he could take the Silver Slugger for catcher away from Adley Rutschman or the veteran Salvador Perez. Edouard Julien is the third Twins player in double-digits with 16 people saying that he’ll top Marcus Semien. I mention those other names because it illustrates just how difficult winning a Silver Slugger can be. Others to receive votes include Byron Buxton (8), Carlos Correa (4), Matt Wallner (2), Max Kepler (1), and Alex Kirilloff (1). After that, several players received one or two votes. Jose Miranda came in third in voting by both groups. He's undoubtedly been crushing the ball this spring. Question 5: Will the Twins have Gold Glove Award winners for the 2024 season? If so, who? A minority (46.1%) of our fan respondents don't think the Twins will have any Gold Glove winners in 2024. Similarly, six of the 15 Twins Daily writers (40.0%) think the Twins will be shut out of the Gold Glove hardware. Twins fans and writers want to believe, and we are all incredibly excited to see a healthy Byron Buxton in center field. Five Twins Daily writers (33%) and 34 community respondents (32.7%) believe he will meet the innings requirements and play some great center field! Likewise, we all believe that Carlos Correa is past his plantar fasciitis and can regain some of the range and footwork that he simply was unable to do a year ago. 20% of Twins Daily writers and 24 community respondents (23.1%) believe he will win another Gold Glove. Max Kepler received eight votes between the two groups. Royce Lewis received three votes. Carlos Santana received two votes, and Bailey Ober, Pablo Lopez and Ryan Jeffers each got one vote. Question 6: Who will be the Twins' top rookie in 2024? He had a terrific showing in his second big-league spring training after reaching Triple-A in 2023. Brooks Lee was also this year’s Sire of Fort Myers! He also is being predicted on the Twins preseason Top Rookie. Seven of 15 writers thought that he would take this award. 47 of 110 community respondents (42.7%) foresee Lee as the 2024 top rookie. Among writers, Austin Martin received four votes. He finished second among community respondents with 20 votes (18.2%). He received one more vote than David Festa (17.3%). Simeon Woods Richardson showed well this spring, regaining confidence among many Twins fans. He received nine votes from the community. Others who received votes include Matt Canterino, Brent Headrick, Yunior Severino, and Kody Funderburk. 2024 Top Twins Rookie (Preseason): Brooks Lee Question 7: Who will be the Most Improved Twins player in 2024? This can be a very interesting category. "Most Improved" can mean something different to different people. Could it be a young player who just got a cup of coffee getting more opportunities? Could it be a player returning from injury or after a disappointing season? As I reviewed the Twins Daily writer ballots, the first eight I looked at were different, and by the end, 10 players' names were mentioned. Byron Buxton led the way with four votes, followed by Louie Varland and Christian Vazquez with two votes. On the other respondent ballots, Alex Kirilloff led the way with 25 votes. Byron Buxton was next in line with 20 votes. A close third was Carlos Correa with 17 votes. Christian Vazquez was the other player who hit double digits. He had 11 votes. Ryan Jeffers and Joe Ryan each had a half-dozen votes. In all, 18 different players received votes. I should also point out that two people said that no one would improve. In fact, one said, “Everybody regresses, window missed.” 2024 Most Improved Twins Player (Preseason): Alex Kirilloff. Question 8: Who will be the Twins' top starting pitcher in 2024? 14 of 16 Twins Daily writers (87.5%) selected the obvious choice, Pablo Lopez. He was also the choice a year ago, and he had a fantastic season. He made the All Star team and proved to be very Ace-like in the Twins postseason run. The other two votes - including mine - went to Bailey Ober. An even higher percentage of the community voted for Lopez. He received 104 of the 110 votes (93.7%). Bailey Ober got three votes. Joe Ryan got two. Louie Varland and Chris Paddack each received one vote. 2024 Twins Top Starting Pitcher (Preseason): Pablo Lopez Question 9: Who will be the Twins' top relief pitcher in 2024? Without an injury, the choice is pretty obvious. Most would vote for Jhoan Duran even though there are a couple more relievers that should be relied upon as well. However, Duran begins the season on the IL with an oblique injury. No, it’s not an arm injury, which is great, but after seeing the struggles Caleb Thielbar had in his return from an oblique injury, it’s hard to predict how long Duran will be out. Was that concern enough to alter the voting? Well, it certainly did with the Twins Daily writers. 10 of 16 writers (62.5%) said Griffin Jax will be the top reliever. Duran still received 31.3% (5 votes). Brock Stewart also received one vote. Would the Twins Daily community respondents react similarly? To some degree, yes. Jhoan Duran led the way with 47 votes (42.3%), but Jax received 44 votes (39.6%). After that, Stewart led the way with eight votes. Next was Kody Funderburk with four and Jorge Alcala with three. What does it mean? Nothing. It’s just a fun preseason prediction. But on another level, it tells us that most of the Twins community has a strong confidence in Griffin Jax being able to get the job done in whatever role he is presented. It also tells me that they really should be careful and patient with Duran because he is so good, so talented, and so important. Of course, the Twins brass knows that as well and having two (or more!) potentially dominant options late in the season will be really important. 2024 Twins Top Relief Pitcher (Preseason): Griffin Jax Question 10: Who will be the Twins' top hitter in 2024? 16 Twins Daily writers voted for this category. They provided just three names. Atop the list is Royce Lewis who received nine votes (56.3%). Edouard Julien received four votes, and Byron Buxton got three votes. The community provided a fairly similar result. Royce Lewis received 68 of the 111 votes (61.3%). Julien received 15 votes (13.5%), and Carlos Correa got 14 votes (12.6%). Buxton received just seven votes from the 111 respondents, the same number as the others who received at least one vote. 2024 Twins Top Hitter (Preseason): Royce Lewis. As the season begins today, please leave your predictions for these awards in the COMMENTS below, and discuss your thoughts on the players. Your Turn In the COMMENTS below, please let us know how you would vote for how the Twins will do in 2024, and which players will help lead the way. View full article

Dave Engle was born on November 30, 1956, in San Diego. His father and Hall of Famer Ted Williams were best friends, so Engle has all kinds of memories around sports or fishing or more (article/Q&A). In 1978, he was the third-round pick of the California Angels out of USC (Southern California). In college, he was a part of USC's national championship team in 1978. He was also part of the USC football team that was a championship in 1974. In February of 1979, he was traded to the Twins with Paul Hartzell, Brad Havens and Ken Landreaux in exchange for Rod Carew. Just two years later, on April 14, 1981, in Seattle, Engle came in as a pinch-hitter for Hosken Powell in the top of the 9th inning and walked. He stayed in the game and played right field in the bottom of the inning. He received rookie of the year votes in 1981. He was a part-time player in 1982. In 1983, he played in a career-high 120 games including behind the plate for the first time in his career. Engle was named to the 1984 All Star team. The Twins lone representative in that game was Engle. He didn't play in the game. By 1985, Engle was a part-time DH and catcher for the Twins. Mark Salas was the primary catcher, Jeff Reed got some time, and Tim Laudner continued to get a lot of time behind the plate too. In addition, he would lob the ball back to the pitchers, which gradually became a bigger and bigger issue. Engle said he had a shoulder problem, but tests showed nothing. Quote "Hopefully, it's just muscles in his shoulder and not a problem with his head," Twins manager Billy Gardner said at the time."" Before the 1986 season, he was traded to the Detroit Tigers in exchange for Chris Pittaro and Alejandro Sanchez. The Tigers released him in August. He signed a minor-league deal with the Expos... He played in 59 games as a bench player. He played 34 more games for the Expos in 1988 before they released him in July. He signed with the Brewers right before the season started. He was soon called up, got into 27 games, and was released in July. He got a little Triple-A time with the Rangers' affiliate in Oklahoma City. In 1991, he played in one game for the Astros Triple-A club in Tucson. Following his playing career, he went into coaching. In 1995, he became the manager of the Astros' High-A affiliate in Kissimmee, Florida. The following season, he managed Double-A Jackson to a .500 record (70-70). He returned to a managerial role in 1999 for the Mets' Low-A affiliate, Capital City. They went 83-58, and in 2000, he moved up to High-A St. Lucie where the team went 81-58. He has also done some scouting. Did you know? Dave Engle and Tom Brunansky are brothers-in-law. Engle was the Angels sixth-round pick in 1978. Brunansky was the Angels' first-round pick that same year. In 2014, the Star Tribune's Dennis Brackin wrote an article on Engle. At the time, he was a major-league scout with the Orioles. View full player

Twins minor-league pitcher Travis Adams is set to travel to Wichita to start the 2024 season. However, the starting pitching prospect recorded the save of a lifetime, literally, this week in Fort Myers. Image courtesy of WINK News (Fort Myers) For most of his baseball playing days, Travis Adams has been a starting pitcher. His goal most nights is to work five or six innings, hope the offense gives him some run support, and let the bullpen close the door. Maybe a closer even comes in and gets the save. Earlier this week, it was Adams who found himself in a save situation, and he came through with flying colors. Following a day at the ballpark, Adams was at his rental house, just relaxing and probably starting to think about the upcoming season and packing to head out to the Twins' Double-A outpost in Wichita. According to WINK news in Fort Myers, Adams heard a loud bang, and went into a friend's room to look out the window. The house across the street was on fire. Without hesitation, Adams ran out of the house. With the help of a couple other neighbors, they yelled to see if anyone was in the house. They pounded on the windows and doors, and a neighbor yelled, "Howard, your house is on fire, get out." However, Howard couldn't get out of the house by himself. "We couldn’t get in," Adams told reporters later. "And so I had to go around. And let’s see, there’s another door. And so there was a door on the side. So I end up like tearing a little bit little part of the fence down and get back there and we end up getting the door open and kind of moving some stuff out of the way of that door and getting him out. "My goal was just to help him out of the house, because I didn’t know how much of the house is on fire or, you know, what was on fire. I saw a big old blaze and fire and smoke coming from the house." They pulled the homeowner out of his house and got him to safety, as the Fort Myers Fire Department arrived on the scene. Adams told the reporters he's not a hero--that he "just tried to do as much as possible and did the right thing." The 24-year-old from Palm Springs, California, was the Twins' sixth-round draft pick in 2021 out of Sacramento State. With so many veterans signed to minor-league deals and heading to St. Paul, Adams will return to Wichita, where he spent the 2023 season. He made 25 starts and pitched 109 2/3 innings for the Wind Surge. Known for remarkable control, in his three college seasons, he had just 25 walks in 151 innings. Of course, he wasn't throwing quite as hard then or getting as much movement on his secondary pitches. Despite a 5.66 ERA last year, he is a very intriguing prospect because he's strong, he now touches 97 mph with the fastball, and with another year of seasoning, could potentially have three solid big-league pitches. And who knows. Maybe at some point he could end up in the bullpen. And at that point, he could record the first save of his career (zero in college, zero in pro ball). However, I think we can all agree, whether he wants to call himself a hero or not, that he recorded a pretty huge Save on Monday night in Fort Myers. For much more on Travis Adams (mostly baseball-related), click here to find articles he has been tagged in on Twins Daily. And he was a guest on Twins Spotlight early last March. You can watch that full episode here. View full article