Seth Stohs

Any mention of Berrios starting on Thursday was purely speculation.

curt1965 - JO Berrios Steve Lein - Nick Burdi Hrbowski - Byron Buxton Peanutsfromheaven - JT Chargois JunkWaxTwins - Ryan Eades tyomoth - Mitch Garver MinnFan4Life - Stephen Gonsalves lightfoot789 - Niko Goodrum RollingOaks - Nick Gordon gunnarthor - Travis Harrison nicksaviking - Dalton Hicks JaleelWhiteFanClub - Chih-Wei Hu Joe Mulligan - Trevor May markos - Alex Meyer teekz - Levi Michael TJG - Max Murphy scottz - Greg Peavey milldaddy35 - Jorge Polanco bulldozier14 - Eddie Rosario nytwinsfan - Miguel Sano Dance with Disco Dan - Kohl Stewart Stringer Bell - Alex Swim nate10s - Stuart Turner Shane Wahl - Adam Brett Walker

The Twins gave their fans little to cheer about in their three-game, season-opening series in Detroit. Hopefully that changes this weekend. In the meantime, Thursday was minor league Opening Day, so the Twins four, full-season affiliates played in their first games of the year. Ironically, all four affiliates began their season on the road. The Twins have a new affiliate this year in Chattanooga, Tennessee. We need a new header for the Lookouts section. I have a couple of options there tonight, but if you would like to vote for one of them or offer up another suggestion, we’ll have one for that section soon. Until then, be sure to make Twins Daily your daily stop for Twins minor league coverage. Every day throughout the season, we’ll provide our readers with scores and highlights from each game.Remember also that there are plenty of Twins minor leaguers available in this year’s Adopt-A-Prospect. As of Friday morning at 9:00 central time, you can adopt a second prospect, if you haven’t already adopted a first prospect. Let’s get to today’s report. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 6, Buffalo 3 Box Score The Rochester Red Wings began their 2015 season by heading west to Buffalo. They saw some familiar faces and came away with a win. The starter for the Bisons was former Twins pitcher Andrew Albers. The Wings touched up Albers for four runs on eight hits and two walks in 4.2 innings. Bobby Korecky pitched the ninth inning for Buffalo and gave up two runs on two hits and a walk. At the plate, Chris Colabello batted fourth and went 0-3 with a walk. Much of the offense came from the bats of Aaron Hicks and Brock Peterson. Hicks led off and went 2 for 3 with two walks and a home run. He also made a sprawled-out, diving catch early in the game. Brock Peterson batted cleanup. He went 3 for 4 with a walk, a home run and three RBI. Reynaldo Rodriguez also added two hits. Josmil Pinto added a double. Alex Meyer got the win for the Red Wings on Opening Day, though he would likely tell you it wasn’t his finest outing. The right-hander went five innings and gave up three earned runs on four hits and six walks. He struck out three batters, but clearly, his control was not where it needs to be. Just 44 of his 87 pitches were strikes. He left the game after the first two batters of the 6th inning reached against him. Logan Darnell came on and allowed both runs to score, but he maintained a 4-3 lead. AJ Achter was perfect for the seventh and eighth innings. Michael Tonkin got the save. He struck out two and walked one in the ninth inning. LOOKOUTS LOOK-INS or CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 3, Montgomery 4 Box Score This was a solid performance for the Lookouts right up until the bottom of the ninth inning. They entered the inning with a 3-0 lead thanks to an insurance, solo home run by Miguel Sano. Nick Burdi came on for the save opportunity. Unfortunately, that’s when things got weird. Burdi walked the first two batters before giving up a single to load the bases. There was hope when Burdi struck out the next two batters. However, he walked the next two men and the lead was cut to 3-2. Cole Johnson was summoned from the bullpen. He gave up a bloop single to center field. Byron Buxton came up throwing, but the winning run scored just ahead of his throw. A 3-0 lead became a 4-3 loss in a hurry. Pitching wins, right? Well, usually, and if that’s true, then Tyler Duffey did a great job of giving his team a good chance to win on Thursday night. The right-hander, who ended the 2014 season with three starts in Rochester, went the first 6.2 innings for the Lookouts. He gave up no runs on four hits. He walked just one and struck out ten batters. Duffey left the game with a runner on third base and two outs. Lefty Ryan O’Rourke was brought into the game to face a lefty, and as he did time and again in 2014, he struck out that batter. O’Rourke got one out in the 8th inning as well, also on a strikeout. That’s when Jake Reed came on. Stuart Turner threw out a would-be base stealer for the second out, and Reed got the third out himself, a strikeout on a nasty slider. That got the team to the ninth inning, and I don’t need to go through that again, do I? Of course, people want to talk about the potential of the Lookouts offense, too. Though it wasn’t a great offensive night for the team, Miguel Sano did hit his first home run of the season, a long blast over the wall. It was his first hit of the game. He had three strikeouts coming into that at-bat. There were a lot of strikeouts. Byron Buxton and Adam Brett Walker each struck out three times, and Mike Gonzales took the golden sombrero, with four strikeouts. On the positive side, Jorge Polanco and Dalton Hicks both had two hits. Hicks had a double and an RBI. Polanco had the other RBI. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 0, Charlotte 2 Box Score The Miracle made the trek north to Charlotte to open their season against the Stone Crabs. The team faced Rays starter Drew Smyly who is on a rehab assignment. Smyly set down the six Miracle batters he faced, and yet, he wasn’t even the best pitcher for the Stone Crabs in this one. Lefty Blake Snell was the Rays’ supplemental first-round pick in 2011 out of high school. He came on and struck out ten Miracle batters in six shutout, three-hit innings. Brad Schreiber (a one-time Twins draft pick – who didn’t sign) made things interesting in the ninth inning, but held the Miracle scoreless for the save. Kohl Stewart was awarded the Opening Day start for the Miracle. He came through with a quality start. The strong-armed right-hander worked six innings and gave up just two runs. He gave up five hits, walked four and struck out five. He had just one perfect inning. He was consistently hitting 94 and 95 mph. Luke Westphal made his affiliated baseball debut. The left-hander from LaCrosse who played independent ball the last two seasons before going to Australia to play this winter worked a perfect seventh inning, striking out one. Minnesotan Madison Boer also worked a perfect inning with a strikeout. Unfortunately, due to some impressive pitching, the Miracle bats were unable to put much together. Niko Goodrum led off. He had two hits in four at-bats. The rest of the lineup added just three more hits. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 7, Kane County 2 Box Score It may be hard to believe when you see that final score, but this was a pitcher’s duel for much of the game. Through four innings, the two teams combined for just one hit. The Kernels took the lead with three runs in the sixth inning and then broke things open with three more in the ninth. Mat Batts was tremendous on the mound, and Nick Gordon had an impressive Midwest League debut. Batts, the left-hander from UNC-Wilmington, gave up just one run on two hits and two walks in 5.2 innings. He struck out seven. At one point, he went 14 batters between base runners. Jared Wilson came on and got four outs without any further damage. Wilson is scheduled to start on Tuesday. Cameron Booser came on and threw two innings. He walked one and struck out one in the 8th inning. In the ninth, he gave up a run, though he also had to get four outs when a strikeout went to the backstop and the runner got on base. It is his first save. He struck out three in two innings. Nick Gordon made his Midwest League debut. He got on base his first two plate appearances, a walk and reached on an error. Soon after, he hit a triple down the right field line, and in the ninth, he singled in a run. He was 2-4 with a walk on the day. Zach Larson was 2-4, but he also got hit by a pitch. He stole two bases. Trey Vavra, Jhonatan Hinojosa and Brian Navarreto all went 2-4 as well. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Tyler Duffey, Chattanooga Lookouts Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Brock Peterson, Rochester Red Wings FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Buffalo (1:05 CST) – LHP Taylor Rogers Chattanooga @ Montgomery (7:05 CST) – RHP JO Berrios Charlotte @ Ft. Myers (6:05 CST) – RHP Aaron Slegers Cedar Rapids @ Kane County (6:30 CST) – RHP John Curtiss Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Thursday games. Click here to view the article

curt1965 - JO Berrios Steve Lein - Nick Burdi Hrbowski - Byron Buxton Peanutsfromheaven - JT Chargois JunkWaxTwins - Ryan Eades tyomoth - Mitch Garver MinnFan4Life - Stephen Gonsalves lightfoot789 - Niko Goodrum RollingOaks - Nick Gordon gunnarthor - Travis Harrison JaleelWhiteFanClub - Chih-Wei Hu markos - Alex Meyer teekz - Levi Michael TJG - Max Murphy scottz - Greg Peavey milldaddy35 - Jorge Polanco bulldozier14 - Eddie Rosario nytwinsfan - Miguel Sano Dance with Disco Dan - Kohl Stewart Stringer Bell - Alex Swim nate10s - Stuart Turner Shane Wahl - Adam Brett Walker

yes.

He was, but now you've got him.

Update: curt1965 - JO Berrios Steve Lein - Nick Burdi Hrbowski - Byron Buxton JunkWaxTwins - Ryan Eades tyomoth - Mitch Garver MinnFan4Life - Stephen Gonsalves lightfoot789 - Niko Goodrum gunnarthor - Travis Harrison JaleelWhiteFanClub - Chih-Wei Hu markos - Alex Meyer teekz - Levi Michael scottz - Greg Peavey milldaddy35 - Jorge Polanco bulldozier14 - Eddie Rosario nytwinsfan - Miguel Sano Dance with Disco Dan - Kohl Stewart Stringer Bell - Alex Swim nate10s - Stuart Turner Shane Wahl - Adam Brett Walker

Let the Adoptions Begin!! (listed alphabetically by player) curt1965 - JO Berrios Steve Lein - Nick Burdi Hrbowski - Byron Buxton JunkWaxTwins - Ryan Eades tyomoth - Mitch Garver MinnFan4Life - Stephen Gonsalves lightfoot789 - Niko Goodrum gunnarthor - Travis Harrison markos - Alex Meyer teekz - Levi Michael milldaddy35 - Jorge Polanco bulldozier14 - Eddie Rosario nytwinsfan - Miguel Sano Dance with Disco Dan - Kohl Stewart nate10s - Stuart Turner Shane Wahl - Adam Brett Walker

Less than ONE hour until the players can be adopted. It will open up about 5-7 minutes early, so have your list of guys ready!

Happy Minor League Opening Day!! Starting at 9 (central time), the 2015 Adopt-a-Prospect sign-up begins. It’s been a rough start to the Minnesota Twins season, with two losses at the hands of the Detroit Tigers by a combined score of 15-0. However, today, Alex Meyer will take the mound for the Rochester Red Wings. JO Berrios is expected to start for Chattanooga, and Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton are expected to be in the lineup behind him. Kohl Stewart is starting for Ft. Myers. Nick Gordon is making his full-season debut with Cedar Rapids.Today, Twins Daily’s Adopt-A-Prospect 2015 will start... at 9:00 a.m. CST. It is simple to adopt a Twins prospect. Just put the player’s name in this forum. If no one has already adopted that player, he's yours. The goal of this special forum is to highlight players throughout the Twins farm system. It’s a way to get to know them while recording their successes through the 2015 season. (As a reminder, on Friday at 9:00 a.m. CST, Twins Daily members can adopt a second player. A note will be made on this forum when that can happen.) Shortly before 9:00 a.m. CST this morning, I will post a message saying "Let the adoptions begin." Once that is there, you can start. I will try to post an update from time to time of who has been adopted by whom. Remember, any Twins minor leaguer can be drafted, players at Rochester, Chattanooga, Ft. Myers, Cedar Rapids, or at Extended Spring Training. Here are the Rules of Twins Daily Adopt-a-Prospect. I suppose for the literal out there, I should put out that you don't really get to Adopt them, like, legally. You just get to write about them on Twins Daily. Rules of Adopt-A-Prospect 2015: 1) Each Twins prospect can only be adopted once. It will be first-come, first-serve in a new thread here that will be opened at 9:00 a.m. CST on Thursday morning. On Friday morning at 9:00 a.m. CST, Twins Daily readers can “adopt” a second prospect. 2) Once you have confirmed that you have that player, you can post a thread. The title of the thread you start should just be that player's name, hyphen - 2015 (example - Miguel Sano - 2015). The first post must be an introduction of the player. The format of the post is up to the individual, but please be sure to get all the important information needed on the player. For example, Name, Position, Handedness, Drafted/Signed/Acquired (out of where/what round), Previous Stats, etc. Feel free to make it as detailed as you want and feel free to find video. (There are a lot of websites you could link to such as their Baseball-Reference, The Baseball Cube, First Inning, Fan Graphs, MiLB.com, affiliate’s websites, etc.) 3) After the initial post (and throughout the season), you MUST update the thread AT LEAST once every other week. If you fail to do this, the prospect can be taken away from you. [if a player is inactive due to injury or suspension, this requirement is waived.] If you would like to update more often, we certainly encourage that. Updates should, at least, include year-to-date numbers for the player. The more information given, however, the better. Brag up your prospect! 4) Do internet searches of your player to find newspaper articles from their hometown paper, or YouTube video or anything else you can find. 5) Any major event (i.e. promotion/demotion/trade/perfect game/multi- hit or HRs in a game...) must be reflected in the thread within a day of the event. Failure to update for this purpose may result in losing your adoptee. 6) If a player is placed on the 25-man roster, this is wonderful news and you can continue that player’s thread. Reward for your player getting to the big leagues is that you can adopt another prospect at that point. Even if the first player is eventually sent back to the minor leagues, you can maintain both prospect threads. 7) All other rules which are enforced on the main board will be enforced here. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask here. Click here to view the article

Scroll through the forum timeline. It's first-come, first-serve, so to speak. I just say that in case a couple of people are claiming a player at the same time.

I'm sure they'd be happy to get a #3 starter or two out of college relievers. Tyler Duffey is much more valuable as a #3/#4 starting pitcher, working 180 innings a season than he is as a reliever working 65 innings. For some organizations, Duffey would have a good chance of coming up in 2015. With the Twins, they may determine that with their depth, Duffey needs to go back to the bullpen. No harm done. In fact, he's probably a better pitcher because 1.) he's worked on his pitches, and 2.) he's worked into and out of many more situations as a starter than he will ever see in the bullpen, and that's good.

He had surgery last May 15th. Expects to be back on the mound in a game by mid-May. He said it was a 12-month surgery. Everything going well so far.

You've got nearly 36 hours to think about it... and about getting a second player on Day 2!

All three were top 30 type of prospects coming into the 2014 season, with Romero being top 15 in some rankings. Landa had a shoulder injury. He could be back in a month or two. Rosario had Tommy John surgery in late April, so he'll likely start getting some innings in June or so. Romero had Tommy John surgery in late June or early July, so I'd be surprised if he pitches much in 2015.

As we have done here at Twins Daily each of the last three years, we will be hosting the Twins minor league Adopt-A-Prospect. The goal of this special forum is to highlight players throughout the Twins farm system. It’s a way to get to know them while recording their successes through the 2015 season. Starting at 9:00 a.m. Central Time on Thursday (April 9), minor league Opening Day, you will be able to “adopt” any Twins minor leaguer ( hasn't already been adopted). Those players can come from any of the four Twins full-season affiliates: Rochester, Chattanooga, Ft. Myers and Cedar Rapids. You can also adopt players who begin the season at extended spring training. Then at 9:00 a.m. Central Time on Friday, people can “adopt” a second Twins minor leaguer. Again, only those available.Here are the Rules of Adopt-A-Prospect 2015: (Note, the actual player adoption will be conducted in another thread, "SIGN UP FOR ADOPT A PROSPECT 2015", which will be located in this "Adopt a Prospect 2015" Forum.) Rules of Adopt-A-Prospect 2015: 1) Each Twins prospect can only be adopted once. It will be first-come, first-serve in a new thread here that will be opened at 9:00 a.m. CST on Thursday morning. On Friday morning at 9:00 a.m. CST, Twins Daily readers can “adopt” a second prospect. 2) Once you have confirmed that you have that player, you can post a thread. The title of the thread you start should just be that player's name, hyphen - 2015 (example - Miguel Sano - 2015). The first post must be an introduction of the player. The format of the post is up to the individual, but please be sure to get all the important information needed on the player. For example, Name, Position, Handedness, Drafted/Signed/Acquired (out of where/what round), Previous Stats, etc. Feel free to make it as detailed as you want and feel free to find video. (There are a lot of websites you could link to such as their Baseball-Reference, The Baseball Cube, First Inning, Fan Graphs, MiLB.com, affiliate’s websites, etc.) 3) After the initial post (and throughout the season), you MUST update the thread AT LEAST once every other week. If you fail to do this, the prospect can be taken away from you. [if a player is inactive due to injury or suspension, this requirement is waived.] If you would like to update more often, we certainly encourage that. Updates should, at least, include year-to-date numbers for the player. The more information given, however, the better. Brag up your prospect! 4) Do internet searches of your player to find newspaper articles from their hometown paper, or YouTube video or anything else you can find. 5) Any major event (i.e. promotion/demotion/trade/perfect game/multi- hit or HRs in a game...) must be reflected in the thread within a day of the event. Failure to update for this purpose may result in losing your adoptee. 6) If a player is placed on the 25-man roster, this is wonderful news and you can continue that player’s thread. Reward for your player getting to the big leagues is that you can adopt another prospect at that point. Even if the first player is eventually sent back to the minor leagues, you can maintain both prospect threads. 7) All other rules which are enforced on the main board will be enforced here. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask here. Click here to view the article

I think that's a lot of assumptions. We don't know. I don't know that Buxton woudl be better than Schafer right now. In fact, I don't think that would be the case right away. A big K guy like Sano who is just coming off of a missed season? I don't think he'd be better than Plouffe in 2015. Berrios? Meyer? Will they be better than Pelfrey and Nolasco? Probably. But not necessarily in 2015. Double-A is a TOUGH level. AAA is tough too. Let them go through the steps. Rosario hit .237 in AA last year and he hit .230-something in the spring... I don't think he'd be better than SChafer right now. Of course, I believe they will be better, but not yet.

I don't' think so. I mean, he only moved to the bullpen last year, so he's started most of the time. There's inherent risk with any pitcher, but I don't' think they're taking extra risk.

Part of that, of course, is because they have big thumpers in AA and up. That was a focus. The last couple of years, the focus has been on pitching (other than Gordon), so that's (part of) why the pitching is a bit ahead of the hitting (in terms of current prospect status).

I personally would move him from maybe 12 to 15, just because of uncertainty. But, of course, if things go well, there's no reason he won't be a top 10 guy a year after coming back again. For me, the guys I had right behind him, particularly Walker and Gonsalves, were close enough that this might move him down slightly.

It's a good point, but I also think that guys like Garver, Kanzler, Christensen and Haar shouldn't be overlooked in their 2nd full minor league seasons after being drafted as four-year college guys. Kanzler and Christensen are incredible, elite athletes. Garver is smart, can hit, hit with some power and do a nice job behind the plate. Haar has some good power and is also a pretty good athlete. I think Vielma and Kanzler's defense is worth watching. I think that a couple of the relievers should be up in AA except they pushed a couple of guys (Reed/Gallant) past Hi-A instead of being here. Also, the big arms drafted last year are getting their feet wet in Cedar Rapids but could be up by June also. And, frankly, if Cederoth was being groomed as a reliever, he'd probably be here too... That all said, there are some really, really good baseball players on this roster.

Ha! I'll be there in plenty of time... I hope!