Seth Stohs

The Twins got a nice 2-1, 10-inning win in Chicago against the White Sox. Eduardo Escobar, who came to the Twins last July from the South Siders, beat out an infield single to shortstop. Ryan Doumit advanced to third base and then went home when Jeff Keppinger was unable to cleanly catch the one-hop throw from Alexei Ramirez. Finally, Glen Perkins came on to record the save. There were also a couple of one-run games in the Twins farm system. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]A big home run helped Rochester to a win, giving them their first back-to-back wins of the season. The Ft. Myers Miracle also played an entertaining one-run game, but you’ll have to keep reading to see whether or not they won. Byron Buxton’s batting average dropped to .420, but how did the Kernels play? Were the Rock Cats able to bounce back from a big loss a night earlier? Check down below, and please feel free to discuss. Rochester Red Wings 5, Pawtucket Red Sox 4 Box Score It was a back-and-forth game on Saturday afternoon between these two teams. Fortunately, the Red Wings managed to score last on Chris Colabello’s sixth home run of the season. Colabello went 2-4 with that organization-leading sixth home run. Clete Thomas went 2-3 with a walk. Joe Benson was 2-4. Andrew Albers started and really struggled. Typically an aggressive control pitcher, Albers walked three in just two innings. He gave up three runs on four hits and struck out just one. Caleb Thielbar came on pitched well. The lefty gave up two hits and a walk in three scoreless frames. He struck out three. Shairon Martis gave up a solo home run. He gave up just that one run on three hits and a walk in two innings. Tim Wood’s rehab stint continued with his first appearance in Rochester. He had been the International League Relief Pitcher of the Year in 2012 and struck out two on this day. Anthony Slama came in for the ninth and went 1, 2, 3 for his second save of the year. New Britain Rock Cats 1, Portland Sea Dogs 7 Box Score After losing 12-1 on Friday night, it was important for the Rock Cats to get off to a fast start on Saturday afternoon. Danny Santana led off the game with his second triple. James Beresford drove him in with a sacrifice fly. That was about it for the Rock Cats offense. Santana was 2-4. Reynaldo Rodriguez hit his sixth double. Danny Ortiz hit his seventh double. Logan Darnell started for New Britain. The left-hander gave up five runs (3 earned) on seven hits and two walks. In five innings, he struck out six. AJ Achter gave up two runs on four hits and two walks in his 1.2 innings. He struck out two. Aaron Thompson came on and gave up two hits but no runs in 1.1 innings. Ft. Myers Miracle 5, St. Lucie Mets 6 Box Score So Close! On Saturday night, Ft. Myers was inches away from a Miracle win in St. Lucie. Down 6-2 going into the ninth frame, Eddie Rosario singled. Then three straight Miracle hitters walked which cut the lead to 6-3. Another reliever came on and gave up a single to Kennys Vargas to cut the lead to 6-4. Eight and nine hitters, Lance Ray and Andy Leer, struck out. That brought up AJ Pettersen. Pettersen hit a hard ground ball off of a diving first baseman. The single scored one run. However, pinch runner Stephen Wickens attempted to score from second on the play but was thrown out at the plate. The Miracle were that close to keeping the game going, but unfortunately, they fall to 14-2 with the 6-5 loss. Tom Stuifbergen started and gave up just one run through the first six innings. In the bottom of the 7th, a one-out single was followed by a controversial hit batter. The Miracle believed that the ball hit the batter’s bat. With the runner attempting to steal third, the next batter grounded to third base, but Miguel Sano committed his fourth error of the year which loaded the bases. TJ Rivera then hit a bases-clearing double that opened up the game. That was the end of the line for Stuifbergen. In total, he went 6.1 innings and gave up five runs (3 earned) on seven hits. He walked none and struck out five. Adrian Salcedo came in and gave up a run on three hits in 1.2 innings. Miguel Sano went 2-3 with a walk and his fifth double. photo to the right is courtesy of Cedar Rapids Kernels Facebook page. Be sure to "Like" it. Cedar Rapids Kernels 11, Peoria Chiefs 2 Box Score If you can put up crooked numbers on the scoreboard, it’s always a good thing. The Red Wings scored six runs in the first inning and another five runs in the fourth inning to jump out to a huge lead. The Kernels collected 17 hits in the game. Drew Leachman led the offense with a 4-5 day. He was playing for just the fourth time on the season and came into the game hitting .142 (2-14). He now is hitting .316 after missing almost two weeks with a shoulder injury. Niko Goodrum went 2-4 with two walks and had two RBI. Romy Jimenez went 2-4 with his second double and four RBI. He had a bases-clearing double in the first inning. Jhonatan Arias went 2-5, his first two hits of the season. Travis Harrison was 2-4 with a walk. Adam Walker was 2-4. Jorge Polanco was 2-6. Byron Buxton’s batting average dropped to .420 with an 0-4 game. He did, however, walk twice in the long first inning. Lefty Mason Melotakis started and gave up one run on four hits. Unfortunately with the run support he got, Melotakis was only able to go 3.1 innings, in part because of four walks. Steve Gruver came on for an “easy” “Win” but pitched well. The southpaw gave up one run on four hits in 4.2 innings. He walked none and struck out four. Tyler Jones pitched the ninth inning and gave up a hit, but no runs. Please feel free to comment or ask questions below. View full article

As has been the case throughout most of the first two months of the 2013 season, the excitement tonight in the Twins minor league system came from the bottom two levels. The Ft. Myers Miracle and Cedar Rapids Kernels combined to score 28 runs. One prospect drilled two home runs in a game. Vance Worley made his second start with Rochester. Was he able to duplicate he quality of his first game? And which Alex Meyer showed up on Saturday?[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] The Twins minor leagues have had quite a few walk-off wins already this year. It was also fun watching the big league club get a walk-off win Saturday afternoon. With that, check out what happened in the Twins minor league system on Saturday, including the Dominican Summer League opener: Rochester Red Wings 3, Charlotte Knights 4 Box Score Vance Worley took the mound for his second Red Wings start. His first was a complete game shutout. His second- not so much. He gave up a first inning run. Then he gave up three runs in the second. Not a good start, but he did go on to throw five shutout innings. Overall, he gave up four runs on ten hits and a walk in seven innings. He struck out seven. Luis Perdomo struck out one in a scoreless ninth inning. The Red Wings had plenty of scoring opportunities. They had eight hits and they also walked 12 times. Somehow they managed to score just three runs. Antoan Richardson led off and went 1-2 with three walks and his fifth stolen base. Oswaldo Arcia was 1-2 with three walks. His sixth Red Wings home run came in the ninth inning and cut the deficit to one. Jeff Clement was 2-4. New Britain Rock Cats 4, Bowie Baysox 3 Box Score Alex Meyer has been, at times solid, but quite inconsistent for the Rock Cats this season. On this evening he was terrific. The lanky right-handed starter went 6.1 innings. He gave up one run on two hits and two walks. He struck out a season-high ten. Blake Martin came on and gave up two runs on two hits and two walks. AJ Achter came on and got the final five outs for his third save. He gave up two hits and a walk but no runs. James Beresford led the way offensively by going 3-4 with his fifth stolen base. He’s now hitting .338 and inexplicably remaining in AA. Danny Ortiz was 2-4. Danny Santana was very good in May and, in the first game in June, went 2-4 with his 10th and 11th stolen bases. Nate Hanson and Curt Smith each doubled. Ft. Myers Miracle 13, Palm Beach Cardinals 4 Box Score The Miracle offense exploded in this game. Angel Morales is also inexplicably still in Ft. Myers. It’s his third season with the Miracle and he had a terrific month of May. In this game he was 3-4 with two doubles. Kennys Vargas was 3-6. Eddie Rosario went 3-5 with his fifth triple. Andy Leer went 2-4 with two walks and his fourth home run. Aderlin Mejia was 2-5 with a walk. Jhon Goncalves went 2-6. Tom Stuifbergen was the recipient of the run support. The Dutch right-hander went six innings. He gave up three runs on seven hits. He walked none and struck out three. Chad Rodgers threw two shutout innings. He gave up two hits, walked two and struck out one. Nelvin Fuentes gave up a run on a hit in an inning. Cedar Rapids Kernels 15, Kane County 2 Box Score Byron Buxton was given a rare night off, and the Kernels’ bats took off. Fifteen runs on fifteen hits and nine walks make for a pretty good day. Dalton Hicks led the way. The burly first baseman went 3-4 with a walk, his sixth and seventh homers and four RBI. Tyler Grimes went 3-3 with two walks and a triple. Jeremias Pineda went 2-3 with two walks and his first home run. JD Williams and Niko Goodrum were each 2-5 with a walk and a double. Jorge Polanco and Adam Walker each added a double. Photo by Rinaldi Photos Lefty Brett Lee was appreciative of the run support, though he needed not much of it. He gave up two runs (1 earned) on seven hits and two walks in seven innings. He struck out four. Finishing the game, Manuel Soliman struck out four in two perfect innings. DSL Twins 5, DSL Orioles 6 Box Score This was opening day in the Dominican Summer League. The Twins squad used seven pitchers to get through nine innings. Onesimo Hernandez gave up one run on four hits (and a hit batter) in three innings. He struck out thre. Carlos Aponte gave up two runs on two hits and a hit batter in one inning. Sebastian Perez gave up one run on two hits in two innings. Robener Cabrera gave up an unearned run on one hit and a walk in one innings. Johan Quezada walked two and struck out two in one scoreless inning. Rendis Reyes got two outs, though he gave up one run on two walks. Ezequiel Zarzuela got the final out. The offense was led by 17-year-old catcher Rainis Silva who went 2-4. Rafael Valera and Carlos Martinez each doubled. Please feel free to comment or ask questions below. View full article

Tuesday marked the beginning of playoff season in full-season minor league baseball. Game 1's were played in the Florida State League, including the Ft. Myers Miracle. On Wednesday, Rochester and Cedar Rapids will begin their second seasons. Ft. Myers Miracle 0, Charlotte Stone Crabs 1 The Miracle had the best overall record in the Florida State League in 2013, and yet, after game one in the playoffs, they are on the brink of elimination. Remember, this is a best of three series. It takes just two wins to win the series. Of course, the Miracle will need to hold court at home to advance to the next round. Game one was played in Charlotte. The series will shift to Ft. Myers for games two and three. For Matt Summers, he saw several nights like this in the regular season. Despite leading the Florida State League in ERA and WHIP, he had a record of just 6-5. He was quite good. The right-hander went six innings and gave up just one run. He allowed five hits, walked one and struck out four. Tyler Duffey came on and threw the final two innings, giving up one hit and striking out one. Unfortunately, the Miracle managed just three hits in the game. The three batters at the top of the lineup (AJ Pettersen, Stephen Wickens and Byron Buxton) each had one single. Download attachment: Matt Summers 2.JPG What's Next? As previously stated, the Miracle series will now head to Ft. Myers for Game 2 on Wednesday night. Lefty Taylor Rogers will get the start for the Miracle in a must-win game. In Rochester, the Red Wings will open up game 1 of their best of five series against Pawtucket (the Red Sox AAA affiliate). The Twins will send Cole De Vries to the mound. In yesterday's playoff preview, I mentioned that Dakota Watts had been promoted to the Red Wings for the playoffs. It was learned on Tuesday morning that Trevor May will also join the Red Wings. Cedar Rapids will be playing in Davenport on Wednesday night against the Quad Cities River Bandits. Left Brett Lee will be the game 1 starter. Awards Eduardo Escobar was named the International League Batter of the Week. The Red Wings shortstop had a huge game on Monday for the, collecting three doubles, a homer and five RBI. He has also hit .307 in his 43 total games for the team. Tim Shibuya threw a complete game shutout for the Cedar Rapids Kernels. On Tuesday, he was named the Midwest League Pitcher of the Week. He's been tremendous since coming back from his shoulder injury. With the Kernels, he is now 4-0 with a 0.96 ERA. He will get the nod in Game 2. Coming Soon... We will continue our playoff coverage as long as there is a Twins affiliate in the playoffs. There will also be a lot of minor league, season-ending coverage in the next week. As always, if you have questions, please feel free to let me know. Click here to view the article

Just for fun, let’s imagine that you have worked for a company for more than 25 years. Imagine you have been in a very important position within that company for a dozen years. You’ve given your heart and soul, worked hard and dedicated your energies to that company. You may not be the perfect employee. Frankly, for your job, there is no such thing as perfect. However, it’s not an easy job, dealing with personalities and performances of others. Download attachment: Gardenhire_Anderson_Looking_US_720.jpg Imagine now that the last three or four projects that you were in charge of had not gone as planned. Though the expectations of some were that the projects would be simple, each had unforeseen challenges. You did your job in the right ways, continued to work hard, continued to work with your teams. You performed your job and did all the necessary work, but the projects were not seen as successes. How would you want your boss and his or her superiors to respond? Well, there are two options, aren’t there? Option 1 – They could decide to terminate your employment or push you to a different area of the company. That’s probably the easier choice. Option 2 – Despite the loud voices to the contrary, your boss can stand up for you and talk about how the whole team, the whole organization is responsible and accountable. The boss can ask you to work on certain things, and maybe look in the mirror at areas you can improve, in an attempt to improve the overall performance. The boss can stand behind you to his or her superiors because there have been many successes along the way, big and small. With Monday’s decision to retain the services of Manager Ron Gardenhire for the next two seasons, GM Terry Ryan chose for Option #2, and my personal opinion is that it is the right decision. Ron Gardenhire is not without faults. There are times I may question some in-game decisions, or why he chooses to call out a young player through the media, but overall, Gardenhire has proven himself on the field. He and his coaching staff also put in their work and their time, all in the effort of making players better every day. There have been several successes, and like all walks of life, there are plenty of mistakes. The Twins lost 96 games in 2013, the third straight season they have lost at least that many games. The number of managers who have kept their job after three straight 90-loss seasons is very low. However, one such example of this is the Twins, and it was Tom Kelly. It should surprise no one that the organization wants to remain loyal and wants to build from within. In early September, the Twins found themselves with a 61-77 record. They proceeded to lose 14 of their final 19 games to end the year at 66-96. Of course, Justin Morneau had been traded and Joe Mauer missed the final six weeks with his concussion. “The players want Gardy to come back.” To nobody's surprise, players were quoted over the weekend that they wanted Ron Gardenhire to return and spoke glowingly about his managerial style and how hard he worked. Listening to the quotes of players who are loyal to their manager is definitely not something the GM should base his decision on. However, the only thing worse than making a move to appease the players is to make a move to appease the fans. Fans want wins, and that’s what everybody wants. There’s nothing wrong with that. The GM's job is to find ways to win as quickly as possible while also looking out for the long-term future of the product on the field. The idea of making a change just to make a change is obviously not smart. Consider this. A year ago, fans were screaming for Joe Vavra to lose the hitting coach duties so Tom Brunansky could take over. How well did that turn out for the Twins in 2013, a Twins team that struck out the third most times by a team in baseball history? Many will choose to look at the last three seasons. It’s also hard to ignore his first nine seasons. In that time, he had six division titles, and a second place finish (after losing a Game 163). Just once in his first nine seasons did the Twins have a sub-.500 record. Some choose to look at the Twins playoff record, and I understand that. However, what happens over a 162 game sample size is a more reliable indicator than a five game sample any day. Manager of the Year voting is always an interesting endeavor. However, he won the award in 2010 after finishing second in voting five times previously. The respect that Gardenhire has in the baseball industry is great. So, how much credit and how much blame should a manager get? The Cleveland Indians won more than 20 games more in 2013 than in 2012. Terry Francona took over for Manny Acta. The difference, however, was that Francona inherited a rotation in which four starters were able to strike out over eight batters per nine innings. They had a lineup of veterans that was supplemented with free agents Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn. Ron Gardenhire worked with a starting staff that seemed allergic to missing bats. Remember: Ron Gardenhire could have been a free agent manager on Monday. He could have had his choice of open jobs in the coming weeks. I appreciate that he wants to stay here. As he said, he wants to be part of the answer for turning this around. He is going to need help from the front office to make that happen. Despite being 102 games below over the last three years, Gardenhire is still 51 games over .500 for his 12-year career. He has not forgotten how to manage, and he has the respect of his players. Brian Dozier and several bullpen arms took strides forward, and Joe Mauer and Glen Perkins played at their All-Star levels. Kyle Gibson, Oswaldo Arcia, Aaron Hicks, Josmil Pinto, Caleb Thielbar, Ryan Pressly and Michael Tonkin came up, took some lumps, gained some experience, and should be better for it. In 2014, Twins fans should see the debuts of Miguel Sano, Eddie Rosario, Alex Meyer, Trevor May, likely Byron Buxton, and maybe Danny Santana. Those guys will also likely take some lumps, so 2014 should again be a rebuilding year. The front office and the scouting staff have put together some great minor league talent that will be another year closer in 2014, but for the team to take a major step forward, starting in 2014, the front office will have to acquire some veterans that can be counted on. Also, Josh Willingham and Ryan Doumit, if around, will have to be better. It's going to be 2015 before we see just how good this team can be. The youth and hopefully some complementary veterans will help. And Ron Gardenhire is the right guy to get this team back to contention. I can see Gardenhire doing just like his predecessor, Tom Kelly. After Kelly led the Twins to four straight 90+ loss seasons, he went with a youthful group that, in 2001, competed into the second half of the season. That’s what I can see happening in 2015. Should that happen, I can see Gardenhire saying, "OK, this team is back to where it should be" and turning it over to the next manager who will lead the way for the next decade or more. Click here to view the article

Throughout the offseason, Terry Ryan has continued to say that he is looking for a third baseman to provide competition for Trevor Plouffe. He says that Plouffe will go into spring training as the Twins starting third baseman. However, as the Twins media contingent in Nashville last night met with the Twins GM, it became clear that he will bring in a quality third baseman, and maybe even this week. As Nick wrote yesterday, when Terry Ryan says something over and over, it generally is true. Initial response by Twins fans (myself included) was that, with all of the Twins pitching needs and maybe needs in the middle infield, why would third base be such a focal point?[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Download attachment: TrevorPlouffeHR.jpg Plouffe’s 24 home runs in 2012 was the most by a Twins third baseman since Corey Koskie hit 25 homers in 2004, his final season with the team. It is also hard for Twins fans to forget how Plouffe hit in June and July. In 26 games in June, he hit .327/.391/.735 (1.126) with seven doubles and 11 home runs. In 16 games in July, he hit .302/.343/.476 (.819) with three more homers. It was at that point, in mid-July that Plouffe hurt his thumb, and although initial reports said he would be day-to-day, he missed a month, and when he returned, he hit like he did in April and May. That’s the part that we might forget. In April, Plouffe hit .121/.274/.242 (.517). In May, he hit .185/.254/.400 (.654). In August, he hit .161/.232/.226 (.458). In September, he hit .218/.269/.416 (.684), although he did add four home runs. At the end of the day, er… season, Trevor Plouffe hit .235/.301/.455 (.756) in 119 games. Combined in 2010 and 2011 (103 games), he had hit .226/.286/.382 (.668). Plouffe has been willing to play all over the field. He went to spring training, and started the season, as an outfielder. However, when the Twins DFAd Luke Hughes in April and then optioned Danny Valencia to Rochester in May, Plouffe took over at third base. Initially, he looked quite good at the position. However, in 95 games at the position, he made 14 errors and had a .935 fielding percentage. However, after his return from injury, it appeared that his range, particularly to his right, decreased. If you like UZR, he posted a -6.8 UZR at third base. For all of the struggles, that hot stretch in June and July is encouraging and exciting. Still just 26 years old, Plouffe still has a chance to improve. With so much of Plouffe’s 2012 offensive success coming in about a six week time frame, and struggles with the bat most of the other four months, it’s understandable that Ryan and all of the Twins decision-makers would not be sure what to make of Plouffe’s season or his long-term potential. Ryan has also commented that he isn’t just looking for any third baseman. He wants a third baseman who could be a starter. So, who are the options? Kevin Youklis would seem to be too high-priced to be competition and a backup. Scott Rolen could retire or would stay close to the Reds. Eric Chavez wants t keep playing, but we have to assume he’ll want to play on a contender. Here are some possibilities: Placido Polanco – His numbers have steadily declined the last couple of seasons with the Phillies. He also has not been able to stay on the field consistently. He could play third base while at the same time being a backup option at second base. Brandon Inge – Ron Gardenhire gushed about Inge when the Tigers released him last year during the middle of the season. Solid defensively at third base, he has shown power in the past. When he signed with the A’s, he had some big hits right away, and then was hurt again. Inge could also play some second base and in a pinch, I guess he could go behind the plate. Chone Figgins – He got the big contract from the Mariners three years ago, and has gone from big free agent acquisition, to bust, to utility, to hardly-plays-at all, to the Mariners paying him a lot of money in 2013 NOT to play with them. However, he can play third base, second base and likely some in the outfield. He still has speed. I’m sure he would like an opportunity to get into a nice role and show teams he still has something left. Jack Hannahan – The former Gophers infielder will turn 33 years old in March. Cleveland non-tendered him last week, making him a free agent. He has played 110 and 105 games for the Tribe the past two seasons. Combined, he hit .247/.323/.366 (.688) with 32 doubles, 12 homers and 69 RBI. Certainly not great numbers, but decent for a backup. In 451 games as a big league third baseman in his career, he has a .968 fielding percentage. Last year, that number dropped to .949 (although it was .983 in 2011). In 2011, his UZR was 8.7. In 2012, his UZR was -3.9. Ryan hinted to reporters that the Twins could sign someone for the position this week in Nashville. A case could be made for each of these players, although the assumption (by me) is that Hannahan just makes the most sense. Another local guy who, other than last year, has provided really solid defense at the hot corner. As a left-handed hitter, he could platoon (in theory) with Plouffe if it came to that. He could be an everyday player for a period of time if necessary. And, frankly, he should be available on a minor league deal at around $1 million if he makes the team. A year ago, a 23-year-old Eduardo Escobar was the White Sox opening day utility infielder. He would come in to play third base in late innings. It was more the case later in the season when the Sox acquired Kevin Youklis. They would move Youklis to first base in the late innings and take out Paul Konerko or Adam Dunn (whichever was playing first base). Escobar came to the Twins in the Francisco Liriano deal and can play all three infield positions well. He is very much similar to Twins utility infielders of the past. However, the Twins typically have two backups in the infield, so that may factor in as well. So, what do you think? How much value do you put into Trevor Plouffe’s six-week power binge as it relates to his future? Can he be an .800+ OPS third baseman? Can he make the necessary defensive plays at the hot corner? Do the Twins need to bring in someone as competition who will all but be ensured a big league job? Should third base be getting this much attention when pitching remains a black hole for the Twins? Click here to view the article

Sometimes a team needs just one bad inning to lose a ball game. The Twins had two (really) bad innings in a 10-2 loss to the cross-town Red Sox. Jason Marquis made the start for the Twins and struck out two in a scoreless first inning. He came back out for the second frame and things did not go well at all. Marquis gave up four runs on three hits, a couple of walks and three wild pitches. The pace of the game slowed dramatically that second inning. Jeff Manship came in and quickly recorded the final out of the 2nd inning. He pitched a quick third inning as well, although he did give up a long home run to former Twin David Ortiz, who was playing 1B for the Red Sox. Liam Hendriks pitched very well. He struck out three in two scoreless innings. Carlos Gutierrez came in and quickly struck out two in his inning. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Then came the 7th inning. Deolis Guerra came in and really struggled. He fell behind most hitters and paid for it. He gave up five runs on four hits and a walk. Biggest hit was a 3-run homer off the bat of prospect Dan Butler. Brendan Wise came in and threw a perfect 8th inning. Tyler Robertson gave up a leadoff single but struck out two in a scoreless ninth. Offensively, the Twins managed seven hits. Joe Mauer had two of them, a solid single to left field on a fastball and a line drive single to right on a slow curveball. Denard Span was 1-2 with a walk. Josh Willingham was 1-1 with a walk and was hit by a pitch. The positive story of the game, in my mind, was the performance of righty Carlos Gutierrez. He must have taken manager Ron Gardenhire’s post scrimmage comments last Thursday to heart. Recall that Gutierrez walked three batters and then gave up a double before the inning was called of without recording a third out. In this appearance, Gutierrez was very aggressive. He threw hard, but he threw a lot of strikes. What he found was that the movement and velocity on his pitches made the ball hard to hit. He struck out two batters and just looked incredibly impressive. Download attachment: Gutierrez2.jpg (photo courtesy Jim Crikket) Other highlights including the pitching of Australians Liam Hendriks and Brendan Wise. Hendriks is the Twins top pitching prospect. We saw him in September last year. He showed good control and movement on his pitches. Brendan Wise is a 26-year-old minor league free agent who is yet to reach the major leagues. He profiles similarly to Kyle Waldrop in that he is a ground ball machine. We saw that tonight with two weak groundballs. I hope he is given a legitimate opportunity to make the Twins roster in 2012 after posting ERAs of 2.08 and 1.90 the last two seasons with the Tigers’ AAA affiliate in Toledo. The Twins will return to the field at noon on Tuesday. Click here to view the article

The voting for preseason AL Central catcher will continue for another day, but let's get the discussion going on "Which AL Central First Baseman will be the best in 2012?" Vote now and comment your rankings. The First Basemen (2011 stats) Minnesota Twins - Justin Morneau - .227/.285/.333 (.618) with 16-2B, 4-HR, 30 RBI Chicago White Sox - Paul Konerko - .300/.388/.517 (.906) with 25-2B, 31-HR, 105 RBI Cleveland Indians - Casey Kotchman - .306/.378/.422 (.800) with 24-2B, 2-3B, 10-HR, 48 RBI Detroit Tigers - Prince Fielder - .299/.415/.566 (.981) with 36-2B, 1-3B, 38-HR, 120 RBI Kansas City Royals - Eric Hosmer - .293/.334/.465 (.799) with 27-2B, 3-3B, 19-HR, 78 RBI[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] SUMMARY It has been a rough year and a half for the Twins first baseman. Morneau has played in four All Star games, won the 2006 MVP and finished 2nd in 2010. But since getting kneed in the head by John McDonald in July of 2010, he has not been himself. Can he be again? We (Twins fans) sure hope so, but no one knows. He will turn 31 years old in May. 36-year-old Konerko is a guy who people keep thinking will drop off in his production, and then he put up another .900+ OPS season in 2011 despite fighting an injury most of the second half of the season. He also didn't get the kind of protection last year that most thought he would. Consider what numbers he could put up if Adam Dunn comes back with a solid season. Casey Kotchman was the 13th overall pick in 2001 out of high school. He is just 29 years old and hit well for the Rays in 2011. Cleveland will be his sixth team since 2008, and he is again on a one year contract. Eric Hosmer was the third overall pick in 2008 out of high school, so he will be just 22 years old throughout the 2012 season. He finished third place in AL Rookie of the Year voting last year with an impressive debut season. Can he fight off a sophomore slump and improve upon hi first year numbers? The Tigers surprised many in the baseball world by signing free agent Prince Fielder to a monster, nine-year, $214 million contract. He can flat-out hit, and no one seems worried about the 27 year old for the next couple of years. He has played in no less than 157 games in his full, big league seasons. He has finished in the Top 5 in NL MVP voting three times. He has even won two Silver Slugger Awards in a league that included Albert Pujols. However, switching leagues does often impact a player's numbers in year one. There is the information, now it is time to vote. Who will be the best first baseman in the AL Central in 2012? My choice? Download attachment: PrinceFielder.jpg Click here to view the article

It’s almost like they know. Coming into Friday, Miguel Sano had 20 home runs this season. Chris Colabello had 18. In his first two at-bats on Friday, Colabello homered, catching up to Sano. But it wasn’t long before Sano hit his 21st. Then, a little more than an hour later, Sano hit his 22nd homer of the year. (It’s almost like last year when Trevor Plouffe and Josh Willingham seemed to so frequently homer on the same day.) The two are easily the top home run hitters in the organization. The next highest home run hitters in the organization are Cedar Rapids third baseman Travis Harrison, who hit his thirteenth home run tonight, and Ft. Myers first baseman Kennys Vargas, also with thirteen. Check out what happened in the Twins farm system on Friday:[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Rochester Red Wings 2, Indianapolis Indians 4 Box Score Andrew Albers was back on the mound for the Red Wings. The Canadian left-hander gave up four runs in six innings. He gave up eight hits, three of them home runs. He walked one and struck out four. Aaron Thompson came on and struck out one over two scoreless innings in relief. The offense managed just four hits in the game. Chris Colabello went 2-4 with his 19th and 20th home runs of the season. He is now hitting .367 with an OPS right around 1.100. The thing that impressed me most about Colabello is that he talks a lot about only being able to control what he can control. And he lives that thinking. That’s the thought-process he needed when he wasn’t given an opportunity in affiliated ball. It’s what he had to think in AA, and in his first big league spring training, and in the WBC, and when he was sent AAA. And, it is likely why he has maintained this performance throughout the season despite numbers that should have him in the big leagues now. New Britain Rock Cats 5, Reading Fightin Phils 6 Box Score So, it didn’t take Miguel Sano too long to figure out Eastern League pitching. Yes, he got off to a slow start, but his power numbers have been tremendous and, despite a loss in this game, he showed his power here. The Rock Cats had just five hits; three came off of the bat of Miguel Sano. In the bottom of the fourth, he hit a long, two-run home run. In the bottom of the ninth, he came to the plate with two runners on base and the Rock Cats down by four. His second homer of the day, sixth home run with the Rock Cats and 22nd home run of his season, cut the deficit to just one, but that was all the team could muster. Sano drove in all five runs. The one time he made out, the centerfielder made a catch at the wall. Of his 13 AA hits, Sano has six home runs, two triples, one double and four singles. Video of the second home run from Twins Fan from Afar (video of the 1st will be in the comments): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMmmGqKjrvE Trevor May made the start and gave up a home run on the first pitch. In all, he went five innings and gave up four runs on five hits and a walk. He struck out six. Dan Turpen came on and struck out three in two scoreless innings. Bruce Pugh came off of the disabled list. He gave up a solo home run, but that was the only blemish in the inning. AJ Achter pitched the ninth and gave up one run on three hits and a walk. Ft. Myers Miracle, Jupiter Hammerheads (Suspended in 3rd) This game was suspended due to rain with one out in the bottom of the third inning. It will be resumed when the Miracle next heads to Jupiter, which will be in mid-August. Manuel Soliman had given up three hits and two walks but no runs in 2.1 innings when the game was called. He had struck out four. Cedar Rapids Kernels 7, Burlington Bees 1 Box Score The streak continues for the Cedar Rapids Kernels. They are now 8-0 since the All-Star break. They got off to a fast start and kept the lead. In the first inning, Travis Harrison hit a two-run double. Adam Walker soon followed with a two-run homer to make it 4-0. In the second innings, Harrison hit a two-run homer. Harrison was 2-4 with his 23rd double, his 13th homer and four RBI. Walker was 2-3 with a walk and the homer was his 12th of the season. JD Williams was 2-4 with his 14th stolen base. Jeremias Pineda went 2-3. Niko Goodrum (16th two bagger), Dalton Hicks (26th) and Jhonatan Arias (3rd) each doubled. It was not just about the hitting on this night. Josue Montanez was terrific in the start. The young left gave up two hits in five shutout innings. He walked none and struck out four. Hudson Boyd made his first appearance out of the bullpen. He gave up an unearned run on two hits and a walk in two innings, striking out three. Madison Boer was activated from the DL and sent to the Kernels. He had broken his hand (left-hand) and had made a couple appearances with the GCL Twins. He gave up two hits, but no runs, in his inning. Steven Gruver came on and struck out two in a perfect ninth. Mike Pelfrey will be making a rehab start for the Cedar Rapids Kernels on Monday. Elizabethton Twins 8, Princeton Rays 0 Box Score This was a pitcher’s duel until the E-Twins scored seven runs in the bottom of the 8th inning to finish an 8-0 win. The E-Twins got on the scoreboard just an inning earlier when shortstop Ryan Walker hit his first professional home run. The big hits in the eighth inning were two-run doubles off the bats of Rory Rhodes and Javier Pimentel. Walker, Pimentel and catcher Mitch Garver each went 2-4. Yorman Landa was again terrific in the start. The young right-hander threw five shutout innings. He gave up just one hit, walked one and struck out eight. So, in his first two starts, he has thrown ten innings, walked two and struck out 15! Brian Gilbert made his Twins debut with a scoreless sixth frame. He struck out one. Kuo Hua Lo gave up one hit and one walk, but no runs, in two innings. He struck out two. Brandon Peterson struck out two in a scoreless ninth frame. GCL Twins 5, GCL Red Sox 2 Box Score Nick Blackburn returned to the mound in a game for the first time since 2012. The right-hander has been rehabbing all season. In October, he had bone chips removed from his elbow. Then in January, he had wrist surgery. On Friday afternoon, he made a start for the GCL Twins. He went four shutout innings. He gave up two hits, walked none and struck out four. He was replaced by Damian Defrank who worked the next four innings, giving up two runs on four hits. He struck out one and walked none. Miguel Gonzalez came on for the ninth and recorded his second save. He gave up one hit and struck out one. Jorge Fernandez led the offense. He went 3-4 with his first double. Jason Kanzler went 2-4 and stole his second base. Lance Ray’s rehab continued and he had a two-run double. Please feel free to comment or ask questions below. View full article

It's been about six weeks since we last updated which people in the Minnesota Twins organization are on Twitter. Since that time, several players have started tweeting while other players are new to the organization. This list does include several of the Twins 2013 draft picks. If they choose not to sign, they will be removed from the list, of course. Twitter is a great way to interact with players and with your favorite Twins bloggers. Be sure to follow the following Twins Daily writers on Twitter: @TwinsDaily, John @TwinsGeek, Parker @OverTheBaggy, Nick @nnelson9, Seth @SethTweets, and Brock @rocketpig76. If we're missing someone, please let us know. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Download attachment: Twitter.jpg [TABLE=width: 577] First Name Last Name Twitter 6/16 Update 5/9 Update 6 wk change AJ Achter @ajachter35 528 491[TD=align: right]7.5%[/TD] Bo Altobelli @BoAltobelli 156 148[TD=align: right]5.4%[/TD] Oswaldo Arcia @arciaoswaldo 1,020 718[TD=align: right]42.1%[/TD] Ivan Arteaga @IvanArteaga 75,365 70,737[TD=align: right]6.5%[/TD] Tim Atherton @TimAtherton89 235 226[TD=align: right]4.0%[/TD] Luke Bard @Luke_Bard 1,002 1,007[TD=align: right]-0.5%[/TD] DJ Baxendale @DBax24 4,441 4,173[TD=align: right]6.4%[/TD] James Beresford @JamesBeresford2 1,055 943[TD=align: right]11.9%[/TD] Doug Bernier @dougbernier 218 215[TD=align: right]1.4%[/TD] J.O. Berrios @JOlaMaquina 977 868[TD=align: right]12.6%[/TD] Evan Bigley @Bigley3 641 626[TD=align: right]2.4%[/TD] Brandon Bixler @BrandonBixler 295 [/TD] AJ Bogucki @AJBogucki31 449 Hudson Boyd @boyd_hudson 435 355[TD=align: right]22.5% Joshua Burris @Josh_Burris_ 206 197[TD=align: right]4.6%[/TD] Drew Butera @DrewButera 16,501 16,094[TD=align: right]2.5%[/TD] Byron Buxton @OfficialBuck103 4,057 1,822[TD=align: right]122.7%[/TD] Chris Colabello @CC20rake 2,004 1,268[TD=align: right]58.0%[/TD] Logan Darnell @ldarnell15 221 162[TD=align: right]36.4%[/TD] Pat Dean @PDean15 370 355[TD=align: right]4.2%[/TD] Dustin DeMuth @_doubled16 298 [/TD] Scott Diamond @Scott_Diamond58 15,157 14,160[TD=align: right]7.0% Brian Dinkelman @BrDink 1,719 1,686[TD=align: right]2.0%[/TD] Brian Dozier @BrianDozier 12,668 11,453[TD=align: right]10.6%[/TD] Brian Duensing @BrianDuensing52 15,565 14,780[TD=align: right]5.3%[/TD] Tyler Duffey @TheDoof13 229 194[TD=align: right]18.0%[/TD] Ryan Eades @R_Eades37 4,348 [/TD] Eduardo Escobar @escobarmaracay 1,004 653[TD=align: right]53.8% Eric Farris @eRoc86 3,037 [/TD] Andrew Ferreira @Get_Meaty 4,612 4,804[TD=align: right]-4.0% Dallas Gallant @DGallant18 412 385[TD=align: right]7.0%[/TD] Mitchell Garver @MitchGarver 665 [/TD] Kyle Gibson @KGib44 7,697 7,181[TD=align: right]7.2% Jhonathan Goncalves @jhong1305 112 105[TD=align: right]6.7%[/TD] Niko Goodrum @NikoGoodrumTC 551 415[TD=align: right]32.8%[/TD] Steven Gruver @sgruv30 95 83[TD=align: right]14.5%[/TD] Deolis Guerra @deolisguerra 2,080 1,791[TD=align: right]16.1%[/TD] Bryan Haar @BryanHaar24 154 134[TD=align: right]14.9%[/TD] Nate Hanson @NHans12 463 440[TD=align: right]5.2%[/TD] Matt Hauser @mhauser_17 292 268[TD=align: right]9.0%[/TD] Ryan Halstead @ryhalstead 332 [/TD] BJ Hermsen @BJHermsen12 1,482 1,426[TD=align: right]3.9% DJ Hicks @DHicksMTB 949 845[TD=align: right]12.3%[/TD] Aaron Hicks @AaronHicks31 14,260 11,307[TD=align: right]26.1%[/TD] Trent Higginbotham @trenthigg 180 168[TD=align: right]7.1%[/TD] David Hurlbut @leftydh1989 104 88[TD=align: right]18.2%[/TD] Will Hurt @Will_Hurt 646 647[TD=align: right]-0.2%[/TD] CK Irby @ckirbythe3 629 [/TD] Tyler Jones @TmfJones 36 36[TD=align: right]0.0% Zack Jones @Jack_Zones04 432 409[TD=align: right]5.6%[/TD] Jason Kanzler @JasonKanzler 121 [/TD] Max Kepler @kepleroni 402 330[TD=align: right]21.8% Kyle Knudson @KKnudson6 462 438[TD=align: right]5.5%[/TD] Matt Koch @M_Koch4 68 60[TD=align: right]13.3%[/TD] Bobby Lanigan @BobbyLanigan 504 487[TD=align: right]3.5%[/TD] Andy Leer @andyleer12 135 123[TD=align: right]9.8%[/TD] Austin Malinowski @AJMalinowski24 369 353[TD=align: right]4.5%[/TD] Trevor May @TrevMay54 5,944 5,727[TD=align: right]3.8%[/TD] Trevor May (MAZR) @TrevorMAZR 234 238[TD=align: right]-1.7%[/TD] Chris Mazza @ChrisMazza10 255 241[TD=align: right]5.8%[/TD] Tanner Mendonca @TanTheMan13 393 [/TD] Kaleb Merck @TwinsMerckin 323 316[TD=align: right]2.2% Alex Meyer @Meyer17A 5,000 4,731[TD=align: right]5.7%[/TD] Levi Michael @LeviMichael9 319 303[TD=align: right]5.3%[/TD] Ethan Mildren @EMildren4040 398 [/TD] Angel Morales @AngelMorales24 338 296[TD=align: right]14.2% Miguel Munoz @mikemunoz59 139 131[TD=align: right]6.1%[/TD] Jonathan Murphy @JMurph6 269 259[TD=align: right]3.9%[/TD] Brian Navarretto @Brian_Navarrero 66 [/TD] Lester Oliveros @lesteroliveros 1,984 1,945[TD=align: right]2.0% Ryan O'Rourke @RyanO_Rourke 594 581[TD=align: right]2.2%[/TD] Chris Parmelee @CParms27 7,346 5,933[TD=align: right]23.8%[/TD] Derrick Penilla @leftywayz 21 [/TD] Glen Perkins @glen_perkins 19,646 18,130[TD=align: right]8.4% Brandon Peterson @Bpeterson_12 276 [/TD] AJ Pettersen @apettersen1 791 761[TD=align: right]3.9% Chris Pettit @cpettit815 1,491 [/TD] Trevor Plouffe @TPlouffe24 26,041 24,333[TD=align: right]7.0% Jorge Polanco @Jorge_Polanco1 116 [/TD] Christian Powell @BooPowell20 429 Ryan Pressly @pressly_ryan 1,097 738[TD=align: right]48.6% Jake Proctor @JProc23 1,202 1,192[TD=align: right]0.8%[/TD] Bruce Pugh @brucepugh55 85 79[TD=align: right]7.6%[/TD] Michael Quesada @KSada55 191 154[TD=align: right]24.0%[/TD] Antoan Richardson @ARichardson242 304 260[TD=align: right]16.9%[/TD] Chad Rodgers @CMRodg 228 215[TD=align: right]6.0%[/TD] Dereck Rodriguez @DereckRodRF3 329 331[TD=align: right]-0.6%[/TD] Josh Roenicke @JroPrimetime 1,651 [/TD] Taylor Rogers @trogers34 313 286[TD=align: right]9.4% Dan Rohlfing @DanRohlfing 930 810[TD=align: right]14.8%[/TD] Miguel Sano @SanoMiguel 3,451 2,001[TD=align: right]72.5%[/TD] Danny Santana @bigmen07 94 73[TD=align: right]28.8%[/TD] Bryan Santy @BKSanty41 179 167[TD=align: right]7.2%[/TD] Steven Sensley @steven_sensley 182 [/TD] Logan Shore @LoganShore 1,014 Aaron Slegers @Aslegers 520 Markus Solbach @MSolbach23 57 58[TD=align: right]-1.7% Manuel Soliman @Soliman30 594 561[TD=align: right]5.9%[/TD] Kohl Stewart @KohlStewart1 5,581 [/TD] Tom Stuifbergen @TomStuifbergen 752 727[TD=align: right]3.4% Anthony Swarzak @ASwarzak51 8,631 8,038[TD=align: right]7.4%[/TD] Lewis Thorpe @LewisT18 158 [/TD] Matt Tomshaw @matthewJTomshaw 237 215[TD=align: right]10.2% Michael Tonkin @mtonkin37 270 231[TD=align: right]16.9%[/TD] Stuart Turner @sturn26 1,219 [/TD] Daniel Turpen @DdTuRpEn 147 149[TD=align: right]-1.3% Kennys Vargas @kennysvargas 38 33[TD=align: right]15.2%[/TD] Tanner Vavra @tvavs5 401 [/TD] Adam Walker @walkoff28 743 601[TD=align: right]23.6% PJ Walters @PJWalters39 2,851 2,514[TD=align: right]13.4%[/TD] Tommy Watkins @TommyWatkins 1,559 1,507[TD=align: right]3.5%[/TD] Dakota Watts @watts_22 893 872[TD=align: right]2.4%[/TD] Jason Wheeler @Lil_Wheels 189 178[TD=align: right]6.2%[/TD] Stephen Wickens @wicks1221 131 126[TD=align: right]4.0%[/TD] Corey Williams @coreyw24 339 336[TD=align: right]0.9%[/TD] Jared Wilson @DubsDeuces 108 [/TD] Alex Wimmers @AlexWimmers21 1,385 1,341[TD=align: right]3.3% Tim Wood @The_Woodpile 863 850[TD=align: right]1.5%[/TD] Vance Worley @VANIMAL_49 54,340 54,382[TD=align: right]-0.1%[/TD] [/TD] FRONT OFFICE First Name Last Name Twitter 6/16 Update 5/9 Update Minnesota Twins @twins 158,089 Dave St. Peter @TwinsPrez 16,606 15,990[TD=align: right]3.9% Dustin Morse @Twins_morsecode 11,077 10,834[TD=align: right]2.2%[/TD] Mike Herman @HermTT 2,266 2,231[TD=align: right]1.6%[/TD] Mitch Hestad @mitchhestad 123 [/TD] Jack Goin @jdgoin 364 Bryan Donaldson @MNCommunityGuy 1,559 1,529[TD=align: right]2.0% Andrew Heydt @AndrewHeydt 473 461[TD=align: right]2.6%[/TD] Mike Kennedy @TwinsPRMachine 509 457[TD=align: right]11.4%[/TD] Brace Hemmelgarn @bracehemmelgarn 1,279 1,166[TD=align: right]9.7%[/TD] TC Bear @TC_00 10,851 10,052[TD=align: right]7.9%[/TD] [/TD] Twins Daily 6/16 Update 5/9 Update Twins Daily @TwinsDaily 2,651 2,279[TD=align: right]16.3% John Bonnes @TwinsGeek 5,598 5,334[TD=align: right]4.9%[/TD] Seth Stohs @SethTweets 5,246 4,984[TD=align: right]5.3%[/TD] Nick Nelson @Nnelson9 2,809 2,703[TD=align: right]3.9%[/TD] Parker Hageman @OverTheBaggy 3,463 3,165[TD=align: right]9.4%[/TD] Brock Beauchamp @rocketpig76 77 75[TD=align: right]2.7%[/TD] [/TD] Jeremy Nygaard @JeremyNygaard 481 316[TD=align: right]52.2% Cody Christie @NoDakTwinsFan 883 852[TD=align: right]3.6%[/TD] [/TD] Minor Leagues 6/16 Update 5/9 Update Rochester Red Wings @RocRedWings 6,204 5,717[TD=align: right]8.5% Josh Whetzel @JoshWhetzel 1,060 1,013[TD=align: right]4.6%[/TD] Morrie Silver @MorrieSilver8 319 298[TD=align: right]7.0%[/TD] Jim Mandelaro @JMand1 1,164 1,116[TD=align: right]4.3%[/TD] Christopher Fee @CJFee 181 148[TD=align: right]22.3%[/TD] [/TD] New Britain Rock Cats @RockCats 5,705 5,275[TD=align: right]8.2% Ken Lipshez @KenLip1 109 110[TD=align: right]-0.9%[/TD] Jeff Dooley @Jdooleysports 349 287[TD=align: right]21.6%[/TD] [/TD] @Mnfanfromafar 515 319[TD=align: right]61.4% [/TD] Ft. Myers Miracle @MiracleBaseball 5,965 5,606[TD=align: right]6.4% Bryce Zimmerman @ZimMiracle 462 414[TD=align: right]11.6%[/TD] Steve Gliner @stevieGFTM 398 389[TD=align: right]2.3%[/TD] Adam MacDonald @AdamMacMiracle 83 74[TD=align: right]12.2%[/TD] David Dorsey @DavidADorsey 1,137 1,108[TD=align: right]2.6%[/TD] [/TD] Cedar Rapids Kernels @CRKernels 4,531 3,816[TD=align: right]18.7% Morgan Hawk @Morgan_Hawk 351 337[TD=align: right]4.2%[/TD] Matt Cozzi @matt_cozzi 867 [/TD] Jim Crikket @JimCrikket 476 396[TD=align: right]20.2% Jeff Johnson @jeje66 1,112 1,044[TD=align: right]6.5%[/TD] Metro Sports Report @metrosportsrept 814 757[TD=align: right]7.5%[/TD] Andrew Pantini @stadium65 99 88[TD=align: right]12.5%[/TD] Brandon Clemens @brandonclemens 284 262[TD=align: right]8.4%[/TD] [/TD] Elizabethton Twins @ETownTwins 704 647[TD=align: right]8.8% [/TABLE] Click here to view the article

Earlier this week, I handed out the “awards” for Twins minor league relief pitcher and starting pitcher of the month for May. Today, it’s time to recognize the hitters. You’ll certainly notice that I ranked a top 6 for the two pitching categories and yet, today, I rank just five hitters. I wanted to give six, but there were a lot of guys that were in the same range, and none quite made me say that he had to be added. Miguel Sano, for instance, had an 0-24 stretch and a 1-39 stretch, and yet, he posted a .791 OPS for the month due to six doubles and seven home runs. He may have been #6 despite a .233 batting average. Tyler Grimes and Adam Bryant of the Snappers also had very solid months of day. Here are my selections for the Top 5 Twins Minor League hitters in May: [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Number 5 – New Britain/Rochester – Wilkin Ramirez - (34-116) .293/.305/500 with six doubles, three triples, four home runs and 12 RBI. The Twins signed Wilkin Ramirez early in the offseason as a minor league free agent. He was once a top prospect in the Tigers organization and spent time in 2009 with the big league club. He also got time with the Atlanta Braves just last season. Ramirez began a rehab stint with Ft. Myers in late April and that continued in New Britain as the calendar changed to May. He hit .388 with three doubles, three triples and four home runs in just 11 games with the Rock Cats. He got off to a fast start with Rochester, but has really slumped of late. He has just three hits in his last 28 at bats. He is a rather free swinger which shows in his 3:34 walk to strikeout rate this season. Still just 26 years old, Ramirez does have some potential to help the Twins or other teams in the future. Number 4 – Beloit – Drew Leachman - (27-96) .281/.381/.396 with two doubles, 3 home runs and 12 RBI. Leachman started his June last night with a three-hit game at Quad Cities, a continuation of the solid hitting that he put forth throughout the month of May. Leachman was a late-round pick last year out of Division III Birmingham Southern. He began this season in the GCL, so he just made his Snappers debut in May. He quickly produced, showing power, and has been a regular in the lineup since, splitting time between the corner outfield positions and first base. Number 3 – Beloit – Jonathan Goncalves - (27-92) .293/.393/.402 with five doubles, one triple, one home run and 11 RBI. Goncalves has been in the organization for a long time. Two years ago, he was working in Extended Spring Training when there was an outfield shortage with the Ft. Myers Miracle. He has always been fast and had a very good glove, so he was promoted directly to the Miracle. It was supposed to be short-term, but he held his own and stayed the full season. He went back to the FSL last year and although the defense remained a constant, his bat really struggled. Late in the year, he was sent back to Beloit, where he should have been. He returns there this year and after a slow start, he has come on strong in May. He is not a small guy, built strong which explains the extra base hits. Number 2 - Rochester – Matt Carson - (27-92) .293/.393/.435 with eight doubles, one triple, one home run and nine RBI. Carson signed as a minor league free agent in the offseason. He has had a lot of AAA success, but has had just a few short cups of coffee in the big leagues. He has had several 25 homer seasons in recent years. At 30, people (myself included) wondered why the Twins signed Carson (and Ramirez) when the Rochester roster was to include Joe Benson and Rene Tosoni (and later included Ben Revere). But Carson has been the most consistent hitter in the Red Wings roster. In May, he produced ten extra base hits. If the Twins want someone to kind of take over in right field, or a right-handed pinch hitter, don’t be surprised if Carson gets an opportunity. The May Minnesota Twins Minor League Hitter of the Month is... Ft. Myers Miracle OF Oswaldo Arcia (29-109) .358/.388/.598 with ten doubles, one triple, four home runs and 18 RBI. In the offseason, the Twins added Arcia to the 40 man roster. He has made a name for himself with his bat. He was the Appy League Hitter of the year in 2010. He dominated for Beloit last April, and then after elbow surgery he was promoted to Ft. Myers. That’s where he returned in 2012. In April, he missed some time due to a leg injury, but in May, he has been tremendous. Sure, he is not a big fan of walking and probably strikes out too much. He also really struggles against left-handed pitching. However, against righties, he is incredible, and that really started to show again in May. He had many multi-hit games and the 15 extra base hits in the month. Oswaldo Arcia was the easy choice for Twins Minor League Hitter of the Month. Please feel free to discuss. Download attachment: OswaldoArcia.jpg Click here to view the article

The Trade Deadline is at 3:00 CST today. For the farm system, this could mean promotions or additions. Trevor May put himself back in line for a promotion with a tremendous performance for the Red Wings on Wednesday while Josmil Pinto homered in the game (video below). There were also a couple of walk-offs in the Twins farm system. Unfortunately, the parent club was unable to come up with a big hit and ended up falling to the Kansas City Royals 3-2. Here is the Minor League Report for Wednesday:RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 6, Lehigh Valley 8 Box Score Trevor May was finally able to stretch out. In fact, he recorded more outs on Wednesday afternoon than he had in the previous five weeks combined (due to being on the DL for a month and a couple of rainouts). He needed just 77 pitches to get through 6.2 scoreless innings. He gave up five hits, walked just one and struck out five. It will be interesting to see if he gets the call up now or gets one more start (to get to 100 pitches) before that move comes. When he left, the Red Wings had a 6-0 lead. Aaron Thompson got a strikeout to get out of that seventh inning. Things went downhill from there. Thompson pitched to four batters in the 8th inning and gave up two hits and two walks. All four came around to score. Michael Tonkin allowed two of Thompson’s runners to score and was charged with another run of his own on two hits before getting out of the 8th. AJ Achter came on for the ninth inning, trying to protect a one-run lead. He gave up three runs on four hits in the inning to take the loss. Offensively, the Red Wings were led by Deibinson Romero who went 2-4 with his eighth home run. It was the 27th straight game that he has reached base. Josmil Pinto hit his fifth home run and second in as many days. Pedro Florimon went 2-4. Doug Bernier hit his 19th double, and Chris Rahl hit his 16th double. ROCK CATS REVIEW New Britain 3, Trenton 2 (10 innings) Box Score Aaron Hicks had the Rock Cats lone hits in Tuesday night’s game. On Wednesday, he had two more hits, both doubles. Michael Gonzales went 2-4 and hit his first AA home run. Tony Thomas played left field. He had two outfield assists in this close game, including one at home plate. Jason Wheeler returned to the Rock Cats rotation after a one-start stint with the Red Wings. In 6.2 innings, he gave up one run on seven hits. He walked one and struck out four. Ryan O’Rourke finished off the 7th inning with a strikeout. Cole Johnson worked the next two innings and gave up one run on two hits. Mason Melotakis pitched a scoreless tenth frame for the save. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 7, Clearwater 8 Box Score The Miracle bats were shut down early, and the team got a tough start from a guy who has been one of their best starters all year. Tim Shibuya got the starting nod. He was charged with eight runs on nine hits and a walk in just three innings. He struck out two. BJ Hermsen came on and gave up a hit and a walk over three scoreless innings. Madison Boer threw two scoreless innings that were followed by a scoreless ninth inning by Tyler Jones. The Miracle attempted a comeback. They scored five runs in the seventh inning and another two in the eighth but fell a run shy. Byron Buxton went 2-4 with a walk. Adam Walker went 2-5. Max Kepler knocked his 11th double. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 3, Burlington 2 (11 innings) Box Score Ryan Walker went 3-6 in this game. His 11th inning, walk off single gave the Kernels a much-needed win. Michael Quesada went 2-4 with his ninth double in the game. Ryan Eades put together a very solid start. He gave up two runs on four hits (2 homers) in seven innings. He walked two and struck out three. Nick Burdi came on. He gave up three hits in two innings, but no runs in part because of five strikeouts. Dallas Gallant pitched the final two innings without giving up a run. He struck out five as well for the Win. E-TWINS E-NOTES Elizabethton 1, Greeneville 5 Box Score The E-Twins fell behind early and were unable to muster much offensive firepower. The team had just three hits and walked five times. Tyler Mautner hit his 11th double. Derrick Penilla started and gave up five runs on six hits and two walks in three innings. He struck out four. Sam Clay put in his best game of the season. The lefty gave up just one hit and walked one over three scoreless innings. He struck out three. Cameron Booser walked one and struck out one over two scoreless innings and struck out four. Kuo Hua Lo struck out two in a perfect inning. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Twins 2, GCL Rays 4 (14 innings) Box Score It was a long day for the GCL Twins, and unfortunately it ended as most of their games have this season, in a loss. Zach Tillery started and gave up two runs (1 earned) on three hits over five innings. He didn’t walk any and struck out five. Mike Theofanopoulus came on and gave up just one hit over three shutout innings. He struck out four. Miles Nordgren ate up the next 5.1 innings. He gave up two runs on four hits and a walk (intentional). Nordgren left the ballgame tied but with the bases loaded. Callan Pearce came on and walked the next two batters to allow two runs to score. Manuel Guzman led the offense. He went 3-5 with a walk and his second double. Joel Polanco had a walk and his fifth double. He also stole his fifth base. Amaurys Minier went 2-6. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Trevor May, Rochester Red Wings Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Ryan Walker, Cedar Rapids Kernels SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Lehigh Valley (6:05 CST) – Sean Gilmartin Erie @ New Britain (6:05 CST) – Tyler Duffey Clearwater @ Ft. Myers (6:05 CST) – Matt Tomshaw (vs Aaron Nola) Burlington @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 CST) – Chih-Wei Hu Elizabethton @ Kingsport (6:00 CST) – TBD GCL Twins @ GCL Rays (11:00am CST – TBD Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Wednesday games. Click here to view the article

It’s hard to ignore the numbers. They are pretty glaring. Overall this year, Minnesota Twins starter Mike Pelfrey is 3-6 with a 6.12 ERA in his first 13 starts. He’s allowing over 1.6 base runners per inning. It has been a tough go. In April, he posted a 7.66 ERA. In May, that number dropped to 5.90. Through two Quality Starts in June, he has posted a 4.05 ERA. The numbers are bad, but it seemed to me from watching that things weren’t quite as bad as they seemed. For instance, in his final two starts in May, he was good through five innings. On May 26, he had given up just two runs through five innings before giving up three in the sixth, giving him a final line of five runs in 5+ innings. On May 31, he threw five shutout innings before giving up three runs in the sixth.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] So, I looked into the Game Log and found that Pelfrey has been victimized by the big inning a lot. So far this season, he has given up five runs in an inning once. He has given up three runs in an inning six times. Five times, he has allowed two runs in an inning (but just once did that happen twice in one game). Combined, that is 33 runs of the 44 earned runs (and 46 unearned runs) he has allowed. 75% of his runs allowed have come during big innings. You often hear coaches or announcers say, “The team needs to put up a crooked number.” The goal for a pitcher is to give up no runs in an inning, but it’s not reasonable to expect him to do that all the time. If he can limit a team to just one run, rather than allowing a big inning, it most often won’t hurt too much. Pelfrey has thrown 64.2 innings this year. He has been removed from the game six times in the middle of an inning. So, he has pitched in a total of 68 innings. In 12 of those innings, he gave up more than one run. He has given up exactly one run 11 other times. That means that he has pitched a scoreless inning 45 times. He has given up zero or one run in 56 of those 68 innings in which he has pitched (82.4% of his innings). His ERA in those 56 innings is 1.76. However, he has given up 33 runs in those 12 multi-run innings and that’s how he still has an ERA over six through 13 starts. I’m not sitting here pretending that we can just forget about those 12 multi-run innings that Pelfrey (and Twins fans) have endured. He would be the first to tell you that he isn’t happy with his season to this point. (in fact, 1500espn’s Brandon Warne wrote a nice piece with some great quotes from Pelfrey himself on his season) But a deeper look tells us what has been the problem for Pelfrey. When he has given up runs, often, he is unable to stop the proverbial bleeding. More often than not (12 to 11), when he’s given up run, he’s allowed more than that one run. That, in my mind, has been the key to Pelfrey’s early-season struggles. And, if he is able to limit the damage in those big innings, we should see his ERA (and his pitch counts) drop more quickly. View full article

Download attachment: Perkins_Mauer_600-321.jpg On Thursday, the 2013 World Baseball Classic rosters were announced. The day began with MLB Network unveiling Team USA. In the afternoon, the rosters of the other participating countries were announced. Three years ago, Tom Stuifbergen became a household name for the team from The Netherlands when he, under the tutelage of Bert Blyleven, threw five shutout innings against the vaunted lineup of the Dominican Republic. He and several other Twins players (past, present and future) will be participating in this year’s tournament/exhibition. Before getting to those Twins related players, here is a rundown of where the games are taking place and which teams are involved. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Pool A will take place in Fukuoka, Japan. It will include teams from Japan, Brazil, Cuba and China. Pool B will be March 2-5 in Taichung, Taiwan. The teams participating there will be Chinese Taipei, The Netherlands, Korea, and Australia. Pool C will be played March 7-10 in San Juan Puerto Rico. Teams there will be Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Spain. Finally, Pool D will be held in Phoenix on March 7-10. Along with Team USA will be Canada, Mexico and Italy. As we knew previous, Minnesotans and Minnesota Twins, Joe Mauer and Glen Perkins will be on Team USA. As was reported here yesterday, Eddie Rosario will be part of a pretty impressive Puerto Rican outfield (Beltran, Rios, Pagan, Torres). As you read here earlier today, JO Berrios is also on the roster. So is former Twins LHP JC Romero. Team Australia is, as you would expect, full of players formerly in the Twins organization. The one current Twins player is infielder James Beresford. He is joined by former Twins Luke Hughes, Justin Huber and Brad Thomas. He’s also joined by former Twins farmhands Matt Williams, Brendan Wise, and Peter Moylan. Also, Ryan-Rowland Smith is on the roster. He was a Rule 5 pick of the Twins who was sent back to the Mariners. Liam Hendriks’ is not playing due to his elbow surgery in September. Jose Mijares will be playing for the team from Venezuela. Drew Butera will be on Team Italy. Former Twin infielder Nick Punto is also on the Italy roster, as is Twins minor leaguer Chris Colabello. What a 12-month period it has been for him! Former Twins first-round pick, Dan Serafini, is also on their roster. Team Canada will include 1B Justin Morneau. As we heard awhile ago, Scott Diamond is not playing due to his elbow surgery in December. However, minor league lefty Andrew Albers is on the roster. Former Twin Rene Tosoni will also be on the team. So will former RHP Jesse Crain. Ray Chang, from Kansas City and who has played in the Twins org the last two seasons, is again on Team China in the #WBC. Carlos Gomez will be on the Dominican Republic roster. Luis Ayala’s time with the Twins was short, and oh-so memorable. He’ll be on the team from Mexico. Finally, Tom Stuifbergen and Bert Blyleven will be reunited on the team from the Netherlands. Joining them will be tall RHP Loek Van Mil, a long-time Twins farmhand. Also, Twins minor leaguer Shairon Martis will be on the roster. Who knows who will win the baseball exhibition? The primary thing for me is that all of the Twins players come back healthy! Feel free to discuss. Click here to view the article

After weeks of writing about the MLB Draft, today is the day. Sometime shortly after 6:00 central time, the Houston Astros will make the first pick of the draft. The Twins will pick soon after. By night’s end, 73 picks will have been made. The Minnesota Twins will make two selections. By the end of Saturday, the Twins will have made 40. Over 1,200 players will have been drafted. That will be a lot of draft day stories, and that’s what this article is about. Below, you will find the draft day stories, in their words, of several players at various levels of the Twins' farm system. I asked two questions. What was their draft day like, and when they found they had been drafted by the Twins, what was their reaction?[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Niko Goodrum, Cedar Rapids Kernels, 2nd Round, 2010 I remember my computer freezing up, so I decided to go to my room and relax. While it was frozen, I had been selected in the second round, 71st overall. I received a phone call from my scout, Jack Powell, telling me Congrats. I asked him, “For what?” He said, “We gotchya man! We drafted you!” So, I sprinted back to my computer, and it had unfrozen perfectly to be playing my highlight video. It was a great day for me and my family. Words couldn’t express the amount of joy and happiness that went through my body. Dalton Hicks, Cedar Rapids Kernels, 17th Round, 2012 It obviously was great seeing my name, specifically called by the Twins. They were the team I wanted to get drafted by after hearing so many good things about the organization. Draft day, for me, was just another day. We had end-of-the-year meetings with our college coaches. I was on campus, about to meet with my coaches, when I got the call from my family. The first thing I did was go to the mall and buy a shirt that said “Big League Swag” on it. I saw it a month before and said, when I get drafted, I’m getting this shirt. I still have it hanging up! Alex Wimmers, New Britain Rock Cats, 1st Round, 2010 I remember when I was drafted, there were so many happy emotions going through my mind. I always wanted to play professional baseball, and in the big leagues. And, on that day, my dream came true. I couldn’t be happier that all my hard work and dedication paid off. As far as getting drafted by the Twins, I was super excited to be a part of a wonderful organization that has the reputation of not only winning, but winning the right way. It’s such an honor and a great feeling knowing how much they believe in me to help out and carry on the tradition. Tyler Duffey, Ft. Myers Miracle, 5th Round, 2012 I really had no expectations. I had heard from maybe one or two teams. I was actually taking a makeup test at school and heard my name come up. I was beyond exciting just to be picked, let alone in the 5th round, and I couldn’t wait to get started. (It was) definitely an emotional day, to say the least. Oh, and I hadn’t really heard from the Twins much, but I knew that had taken (JT) Chargois in the 2nd round. Matt Hauser, New Britain Rock Cats, 7th Round, 2010 Well I was actually still in San Diego packing my stuff up after finishing my senior baseball season. We had gotten back from the ASU regional, and I was hanging out with a lot of my teammates I wouldn't really be seeing much of. We had a good amount of guys that we knew were getting drafted. I think it turned out to be 10 or 11 my senior year. So we were just kind of hanging out, thinking about the last couple years, how close we all got, and how much life was about to change for most of us. I had a pretty good idea I was getting drafted in the 6 or 7 round by a couple of teams. So I was basically just waiting for those rounds to come along. But nothing really prepares you to hearing your name on the draft board. It's a pretty amazing experience. The Twins called me earlier in the 7th round and asked if I was ready to get my pro career started. I told them, of course. And once my name got called, it was just pretty crazy. All my buddies started yelling. It wasn't really real until that point. The Twins called me back. I talked to them. They told me they would call back in a couple of days, and to enjoy the next couple of days with my family. I talked to my mom, dad and had a lot of texts and calls from my buddies. It was just exciting. I had always wanted to play professional baseball. I was just happy to be able to have a shot at one day playing in the big leagues. Not many guys get that opportunity. It's a special feeling. It still is. Luke Bard, Cedar Rapids Kernels, 1st Round, 2012 The draft was a really exciting time and something I will never forget. It was great to be able to spend that special moment with the people closest to me. I was thrilled when I heard the Twins call my name. I had heard nothing but great things about the Twins, and could not wait to begin my professional career with such a great organization. Kyle Gibson, Rochester Red Wings, 1st Round, 2009 My draft day was a lot of fun! Had a lot of people over at the house just grilling out and having a good time hanging out with friends and family. With my arm injury still a recent happening, it offered a bit of uncertainty with what was going to happen during the draft. 2) As each pick went by it was creating more and more anxiousness at the party, but as soon as Mr. Selig announced my name, there was a loud cheering and yelling that still gives me chills thinking about today. For more from when Gibson was drafted by the Twins, Gibson joined me on a podcast in early July. Click here (and then fast forward to about the 3 minute mark). And, you may recall, he also called into my podcast less than 90 minutes before the signing deadline, right before he signed with Twins. Thanks again to those players for their thoughtful responses. Best wishes to all of the players that get selected. Good luck the Twins whose scouts have been working tirelessly in an attempt to find the best players and the diamonds in the rough. To the cross-checkers, and to Deron Johnson. Draft day is a fun day, and Twins Daily will be covering it extensively, as we have the past few weeks. Please feel free to comment. View full article

When the Twins long 2011 season came to an end, there were a lot of questions. Who would be back? Who would be healthy? However, in general, one of the players who was expected to remain with the Twins was Ben Revere. Throughout the offseason, it was just a given that, even thought he didn’t hit well in 2011, he improved his game in September and his range and speed made up for any other deficiencies. The biggest question early in the offseason was whether the Twins should have Revere play left field or center field with Denard Span playing the other position. The Twins talked about needing to improve defense throughout the offseason, and the thought of Revere and Span roaming left field and centerfield at Target Field was assumed to be part of that.Download attachment: RevereDemoted.jpg So, how did it get to the point where, last Saturday, the Twins announced Ben Revere was headed to Triple-A? How did Ben Revere get to Rochester? [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] OK, the literal answer is that he had a Sunday afternoon flight from Minneapolis to Rochester, NY. But I think we can all dig a little deeper than that. So many things have happened since then. Each of the following has had at least something to do with Ben Revere being back in AAA. Terry Ryan Reclaims Twins GM Job – When the news came that Bill Smith was losing the GM job and Terry Ryan was taking it back, Ryan did a lot of radio interviews. He was frequently asked about Denard Span and Ben Revere. When speaking of Span, he spoke glowingly about his defense, his arm, his approach at the plate, the pop in his bat, etc. When talking about Revere, it was quite clear that he felt that Revere was maybe a fourth outfielder and needed to improve. Cuddyer/Kubel Replaced by Willingham/Doumit – Although the Twins saved $21 million in this transition, they lose very little on the field. Denard Span is Healthy – Before the concussion issues last year, Denard Span was the top defensive center fielder in the league. He is also a tremendous lead-off hitter who gets on base at a great clip and has enough pop in his bat to accumulate a lot of extra base hits. Even at that point, as spring training began, the assumption was that Span and Revere would team up in left and center with Willingham covering the smaller right field. But a couple of things happened in spring that really reduced the likelihood of playing time for Ben Revere. Chris Parmelee’s Emergence – Parmelee had a strong second half in New Britain, a tremendous debut in September and a strong spring. It was clear that he had won a spot on the team. Justin Morneau as DH – With Parmelee able to play 1B and needing to play every day, it made it much easier to let Morneau get his confidence back as a full-time DH. HOWEVER… The Catchers Need to Play Elsewhere – Ryan Doumit was likely to be the Twins DH most days simply to get his bat in the lineup, but if Morneau is the DH, Doumit needs to play elsewhere. Joe Mauer will likely DH or play 1B when he doesn’t catch. That means that Chris Parmelee may need to play elsewhere. Doumit and Parmelee would not play well in left field but could hold their own in right field (and they got some time there in spring games). Gardenhire really likes Trevor Plouffe in right field. Willingham Feels More Comfortable in Left Field – As all of these things were pushing toward needing to find at bats for several players in right field, Revere included, Josh Willingham suddenly acknowledged that he felt more comfortable in left field. That made sense. I mean, that’s the primary position that he has played in his big league career. But, is it also possible that he moves to left and right field can be a place where Doumit, Plouffe and Parmelee can play? Claiming Clete Thomas – When the Twins had the opportunity to claim Clete Thomas, a guy they had drafted long ago out of high school, they jumped on it. With Thomas, they found a guy who can play all three outfield positions well, has a good arm, and has some power potential. Frankly, Revere's arm (even if it is stronger) is not strong enough for right field. In reality, this is good news for Ben Revere for a couple of reasons: Too Young to Sit – With all of the above bats (Doumit, Parmelee, Plouffe) to try to fit into right field and Span and Willingham in the lineup everyday, where were the at bats for the 23-year-old? In Rochester. Most are in agreement that Joe Benson, Brian Dozier and Chris Parmelee are guys who should be playing every day in Rochester instead of playing one to three times a week in Minnesota. Revere is younger than all three of them. Too Talented to Sit – If there is a belief that Ben Revere’s ceiling is that of a fourth outfielder, then playing three times or less a week is fine, regardless of the age. But how quickly do we forget that he has hit .325/.384/.406 in his minor league career. Although he hit an alarming .267/.310/.309 with the Twins in 480 plate appearances in 2011, it does not mean that is his ceiling. He has about 150 plate appearances in AAA, and there are things he can work on to improve and if there is a need with the Twins, he can come up and be more ready. In three games in Rochester this week, he has already played a game at all three outfield positions. He has made two or three diving catches already. He has also caught a ball in medium-deep centerfield and had a runner tag up and go to third on him. He is getting every day at bats as the team’s leadoff hitter. Instead of sitting on the pine with the Twins, he is getting better, and at the end of the day, that is in the best interest of Ben Revere and of the Minnesota Twins. Click here to view the article

Things were pretty tough in the Twins farm system on Wednesday night. However, on Thursday, there were plenty of highlights for each of the four Twins affiliates. There were several great pitching performances. There were a lot of really strong hitting performances with multiple multi-hit games and some big home runs. One team ended one long streak, and another hopes to have started another long streak. A couple of bullpen arms continued their early-season dominance. One pitcher threw six one-hit innings. Another pitcher had a no-hitter through four innings. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Drew Leachman was removed from the Cedar Rapids Disabled List and returned to their lineup. Matt Tomshaw was put on the 7-Day DL for the Kernels. Josue Montanez was sent back to Extended Spring Training. Oh, and it has been verified that J. O. Berrios has been added to the Kernels roster. The Twins had an off day and flew to Chicago to start a weekend series. There is a lot of information today, plenty for those Adopt-A-Prospect forums! Rochester Red Wings 5, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 4 Box Score It has been a rough and disappointing start to the season for the Rochester Red Wings. Coming into the game, the team was 2-11 and had lost seven straight games. The offense had also not scored a run in 20 innings. The Red Wings got things going in the first inning and were able to hang on for the win. In the first inning, Eric Farris led off with a single. Chris Herrmann scored him on an opposite field double. Clete Thomas singled in Herrmann. Then Chris Colabello launched a towering, two-run blast, his fifth homer of the season. It gave the Red Wings a 4-0 lead before there was an out recorded. In the third inning, Chris Herrmann scored on a fielder’s choice by Colabello for the final run of the game for the Wings. Of course, the offense pretty much stopped after the first four batters. They had just two more hits the rest of the game. Herrmann was 2-3 with a walk and a double. Even Bigley, in his first game back with the Red Wings, went 1-2 with a walk. Virgil Vasquez started and went the first five innings. He gave up two runs (1 earned) on six hits. He walked two and struck out three. Daniel Turpen gave up three hits over the next 1.2 innings while striking out two. Tyler Robertson came on with runners on and two outs in the 7th. He notched a big strikeout. Luis Perdomo got his first save of the year. He went the final two innings, giving up two solo home runs, but got the final out of the Red Wings third win. New Britain Rock Cats 17, Portland Sea Dogs 1 Box Score The goal of any baseball team in any baseball game is to get some runs to support good pitching. Well, in this game, the offense was a bit extreme, and that’s a good thing, but it shouldn’t hide some pretty solid pitching too. 17 runs. 21 hits. 7 walks. The Rock Cats offense came to play. Antoan Richardson went 4-6 with a walk, his second double and his seventh stolen base. James Beresford went 3-3 with three walks and his, you guessed it, third stolen base. Curt Smith went 3-5 with his third double and first home run. Josmil Pinto went 3-6. Reynaldo Rodriguez walked and hit his fourth and fifth doubles. Danny Ortiz went 2-6 with his sixth double. Jhon Goncalves went 2-6 with his first double. All nine Rock Cats batters had at least one hit. Alex Meyer was a little wild but very effective. The lanky righty went the first six innings without giving up a run. He yielded up one hit, walked four and struck out five. Edgar Ibarra came on and worked the 7th and 8th innings. He gave up one run on two hits and two walks. Bobby Lanigan pitched a 1, 2, 3 ninth inning. Ft. Myers Miracle 11, St. Lucie Mets 8 Box Score After starting the season with 12 straight wins, the Miracle finally took their first loss of the 2013 season on Wednesday night. On Thursday, they traveled across the state to play the St. Lucie Mets looking to start a new streak. Thanks to their bats and tremendous bullpen work, the Miracle improved to 13-1 on the season. Things started out well for the Miracle. In the top of the first, AJ Pettersen led off with a double. He came around to score on Miguel Sano’s fifth home run of the year. Pettersen led the offense with three hits. He was 3-5 with his third double and his second stolen base. Sano was 2-4 with a walk and three RBI. Kyle Knudson went 2-5 with his second double. Down 7-6 in the 7th, Kennys Vargas knocked a two-run double to give the Miracle the lead and they didn’t look back. Vargas was 2-4 and the double was his fourth. Lance Ray went 2-3 with two walks and his third double. Madison Boer started and gave up seven runs on six hits and four walks in 2.1 innings. He struck out two. Nelvin Fuentes came on and gave up a run on two hits and a walk in 2.2 innings. He struck out three. Then in the fifth inning the dominant bullpen came in. Ryan O’Rourke has been the guy to come on in close games, often to see the Miracle take the lead. Reflecting this, O’Rourke's record improved to 4-0. He pitched two innings and struck out one. Zack Jones came on and recorded his fifth save by working the final two innings. He walked one and struck out three. Early in the season O’Rourke has pitched nine innings and given up no runs on two hits and a walk while striking out seven. Jones has thrown eight shutout innings. He has allowed one hit, walked two and struck out ten. Cedar Rapids Kernels 4, Peoria Chiefs 13 Box Score Things started out so well for the Kernels on this night, but it didn’t take long for things to completely turn around. The Kernels took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an Adam Walker RBI single. In the second, a Tyler Grimes triple was followed by JD Williams’ first home run of the year. Taylor Rogers started and through four innings he had given up no hits. However, things went sour in the fifth inning. Rogers gave up eight earned runs on seven hits and two walks in 4.1 innings. Manuel Soliman was called on and was hit for five runs (2 earned) on four hits and two walks. Chris Mazza came on and gave up two runs and struck out two in 2.1 scoreless innings. Byron Buxton went 2-4 with a walk and his fifth stolen base. Niko Goodrum went 2-4 with a walk and his fourth double. Dalton Hicks and Adam Walker were each 2-5 with an RBI. Please feel free to comment or ask questions below. View full article

The Twins announced, following the Sunday afternoon game in Detroit, that outfielder Wilkin Ramirez will be put on the 7-day disabled list, a result of his collision in left centerfield on Saturday afternoon. To fill the roster spot they have promoted catcher-outfielder Chris Herrmann. Herrmann has struggled in AAA. Through 38 games, he has hit .238/.311/.285 (.589) with five doubles and a triple. Although he has primarily caught, he continues to get time in left field. When he was in Ft. Myers, he got some time in centerfield, but that is hardly an ideal situation. This means that the Twins really do not have a backup behind Aaron Hicks in centerfield. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Interestingly, had this move been needed a day or two earlier, it likely would have been Joe Benson promoted, but he was lost on Saturday when he was claimed by the Rangers. Ramirez will likely undergo more testing and the team will evaluate him over the next seven days to determine his status. View full article

I’m known on Twitter for doing a lot of tweeting and retweeting. For those who are not on Twitter, it simply means that I tweet something that someone else already tweeted. I retweet Twins related articles and blogs or general comments that I tend to agree with. If you’re interested in following me on Twitter, you can click the “Follow” button here, or you can simply bookmark my twitter page and check it from time to time. Today, I wanted to go back to Saturday and blog many of my retweets from the week. Hopefully you enjoy the variety of topics! SATURDAY It was Saturday afternoon that I found out I had been included in Top Prospect Alert’s Top 50 Must-Follow Twitter Accounts. Quite an honor! You’ll want to check the link out just to see who else made the cut!Here is a nice article on Scott Diamond’s 2011 season and becoming the first player from Binghamton University to play in the big leagues.SUNDAY Puckett’s Pond continues its look at the Twins non roster invites by writing about OF Matt Carson.I exchanged a few tweets with Jon-Paul Morosi (from Fox Sports) And Seth Everett. My opinion is the Raines is an easy choice for Baseball’s Hall of Fame. To this point, voters don’t necessarily agree. Rained was overshadowed by Ricky Henderson as a leadoff hitter, and he was much more of a Hall of Famer than former Expos and recent Hall of Fame inductees Andre Dawson and Gary Carter.MONDAY NoDak Twins Fan blogged his first of a three part series on Justin Morneau.Todd Van Steensel wrote about his release by the Twins. More unfortunate, arguably, was the manner in which he found out. Sadly, I’ve heard a few other similar stories from former Twins minor leaguers.The Puckett’s Pond Non-Roster invite of this day was Ray Chang, who is from Kansas City. He was terrific last year until a broken fibula cost him two months of his season.Travis Aune and I co-hosted a special offseason Twins Minor League Weekly. We weren’t sure how much there would be to be said, but we went 90 minutes and filled the time fairly efficiently.Check out the new DiamondCentric t-shirt showing Timberwolves rookie sensation, Ricky Rubio!There were several tweets regarding Reds SS Barry Larkin entering the Hall of Fame. I was always a big Larkin fan, and I think it goes back to my baseball card collecting days. I thought his 1987 Topps and Donruss cards were so cool. It’s kind of how I became a big Roberto Alomar fan, because of his cool mustache thingy on his 1988 Donruss card! I thought Larkin was a definite Hall of Famer, and it was good to see him get such support from the voters too.Often I hear Twins fans frustrated by how slowly they perceive the Twins to be when promoting prospects. I think the opposite side of that spectrum is what the Mets did five years ago. Aaron Gleeman and I had a fun-filled exchange on Twitter after the Mets DFAd former huge prospect Fernando Martinez, the Mets top prospect at the time. (Aaron sent me a link to an article I wrote at that time.) In the Johan Santana trade, the Twins got the Mets #2 prospect according to Baseball America (Deolis Guerra), their #3 prospect (Carlos Gomez), their #4 prospect (Kevin Mulvey) and their #7 prospect (Philip Humber). That would be the equivalent of them trade Joe Benson, Eddie Rosario, Aaron Hicks and Kyle Gibson. At the time, Tyler Robertson was my #1 Twins prospect which indicated how much the Twins needed to restock their farm system. Guerra was clearly rushed by the Mets. Gomez was pushed to the big leagues far too fast. Mulvey went from being a 2nd round pick straight to AA. And Humber had Tommy John surgery.ManCenter.com posted its Top 10 Twins prospect list.TUESDAY Are you following the log entries of former Twin R.A. Dickey as he and Kevin Slowey are currently climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro?Check out this photo that the North Dakota Twins Fan is calling “Pot of Gold.”NoDak Twins fan posted Part 2 of his Morneau Chronicles series.Paul Boye (Phrontiersman) tweeted: “Greg Maddux should be the first unanimous Hall of Famer and I won’t hear otherwise.” I concur!John Manuel was in charge of putting together Baseball America’s Top 10 Twins Prospect list. 1500espn got their copy in the mail and posted the list.WEDNESDAY Here is the newest episode of Gleeman & The Geek.Puckett’s Pond Non-Roster invite of the day was Brian Dinkelman.NoDak Twins Fan posted Part 3 of his Morneau Chronicles.Some Twins fans are down on our favorite team and its minor league system, but hey, at least we aren’t White Sox fans!Knuckleballs’ Jim Crikket posted his Top 10 Twins Prospects list.Hudson Boyd, Dakota Watts, Kyle Gibson and David Bromberg joined former Twins 3B (and lifetime .357 big league hitter) Tommy Watkins for the Ft. Myers portion of the Twins Winter Caravan.Here’s a pretty cool Sports Illustrated picture of Kevin Garnett’s shoe tribute to Kirby Puckett after his death.Starting next week, the Twins Winter Caravan will begin throughout the Upper Midwest. Here is the list of locations, times and dates for the caravan. It’s a great time, so if you get a chance to go to one, be sure to do so.Twins International scout Howie Norsetter posted a tremendous response to an angry blog commenter regarding the Twins and their Australian signings. Well worth the read!! Upon reading this blog, Todd Van Steensel, who the Twins just released last week, tweeted to me, “I loved the Twins and had a great time there, had great coaches and made great friends, just wish it ended a little better.”Thrylos98 informed us that former Twins catcher Mike Redmond was promoted to Dunedin to manage the Blue Jays Hi-A affiliate in the Florida State League.THURSDAY North Dakota Twins fan wrote about the pursuit of a little white spherical object (sometimes referred to as a baseball.Brian Dozier was the subject of the Puckett’s Pond Non-Roster invite of the day.Baseball America’s Ben Badler informed us that the Twins signed Mauricio Silva, a 16-year-old right-handed pitcher from Venezuela, for $370,000. It makes me happy every time that I see the Twins sign one of the top 20 or 30 prospects from Latin America.Puckett’s Pond also posted several Thursday links.According to the Baseball Hall of Fame, it was 30 years ago (on Thursday) that the Twins drafted Kirby Puckett with the 3rd overall pick in the now-defunct January draft.Had a good Twitter discussion with FSN’s Robby Incmikoski. He posted a couple of pictures from the arena in Chicago and commented on Jordan’s 6 NBA titles and called him the best athlete ever. I said I thought that Bo Jackson was the best athlete. Others chimed in with discussion on how winning NBA titles has to do with being an athlete, and I think the word “athlete” refers to strength, speed, power, and everything that Bo Jackson was. I just wish the guy wouldn’t have had the hip injury because he was incredible. Few remember he had a 32 home run, 105 RBI season with the Royals. The man was amazing. As I tweeted, “Bo Jackson was 6-1 and 230+ pounds and ran a 4.2/40. He hit a bunch of HR before “the era”, had a big arm, knocked down LB and out-ran DBs.”Bob Nightengale tweeted that the Twins and Target Field will host the 2014 All-Star game. Later, Twins President Dave St. Peter tweeted that nothing was official yet.Phil Dumatrait, who spent much of 2011 with the Twins, is the non-roster invite of the day at Puckett’s Pond.FRIDAY Parker’s TwinsCentric blog of the day is titled Coffey is for (setting up for) closers.Nick’s Twins Blog discusses payroll.NoDak Twins Fan posted his Friday Links-n-Thinks.Aaron Gleeman posted, at Hardball Talk, that Johan Santana still isn’t sure when he’ll be able to pitch again despite having surgery 16 months ago.Joe Christensen wrote a very nice article on Dan Johnson, from Blaine, and his career which has been up and down but full of some big moments.Phil Mackey wrote about the Twins’ Pitch-to-Contact philosophy.If you’re heading down to Ft. Myers for spring training, tickets go on sale tomorrow morning.You can now vote for Prospect #29 in the Twinkie Town Community Top 50 Prospect voting!FINALLY – I’ll be editing the Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook 2012 all weekend, so look for much more order information on Monday! Twitter is awesome… Way better than Facebook, which I’m also on from time to time. If you’re interested, you can follow me at www.Twitter.com/SethTweets. If you have any questions, please let me know! Click here to view the article

It’s hard to believe that the month of May is already complete, and with it, it is time to announce the choices for Twins minor league hitter, starting pitcher and relief pitcher of the month. This month, we are going to start with the starting pitching. There were some very solid starting pitchers during the month of May. Instead of making four starts, as they did in April, they had to be good for five or six starts in May. Below, you will find my rankings of the Top 6 starting pitchers in the Twins farm system in the month of May. Be sure to vote for your choice in the comments. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] --- Number 6 - Beloit – Jason Wheeler - 5 GS, 3-1, 3.09 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 32.0 IP, 34 H, 5 BB, 22 K Wheeler, the Twins 8th round pick in 2011 out of Loyola Marymount, was on this list in April. Overall, the lefty is now 6-1 with a 2.75 ERA. In ten starts, he has given up more than three earned runs just once. In fact, he has given up three runs just once. Number 5 – Beloit – RHP Matt Summers - 6 GS, 3-1, 2.50 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 36.0 IP, 35 H, 10 BB, 24 K Summers was the Twins 4th round pick in 2011 out of UC-Irvine. The big right-hander had a rough April with the Snappers. He went 1-2 with a 6.64 ERA. However, in May, he warmed up with the weather. He walked the same number of batters in over 15 more innings while striking out 11 more. Number 4 – New Britain/Rochester – RHP David Bromberg - 5 GS, 3-1, 2.48 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 29.0 IP, 23 H, 12 BB, 28 K It’s been well documented. Bromberg’s 2011 was a lost season after having a line drive back at him break his forearm. He began this season in the Rock Cats bullpen and gave up nine runs in his first two innings. However, since May, Bromberg was spectacular. At one point, he threw 20 consecutive scoreless innings. The month ended with a start for the Rochester Red Wings. Number 3 – Rochester – RHP Liam Hendriks - 5 GS, 3-1, 2.93 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 30.2 IP, 22 H, 10 BB, 24 K Hendriks was sent back to Rochester after struggling with the Twins in April. He pitched great, and if not for a bad starting on Wednesday night (6 ER in 5 IP), he probably would be #1 on this list. Coming into the game on Wednesday, he was 3-0 with a 1.40 ERA and a 0.90 WHIP. The right-hander should get another month with the Red Wings and then potentially come back to the Twins in July. Number 2 – Ft. Myers – LHP Pat Dean - 6 GS, 4-0, 1.34 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 33.2 IP, 34 H, 6 BB, 16 K Dean got an extra start in May because he pitched just three innings before there was a rain delay one game, so he was able to come back on short rest. Although he strikes out very few, Dean doesn’t hurt himself with walks. The 2010 third round pick just turned 23. On the season, he’s 4-2 with a 2.70 ERA. He has just 30 strikeouts in 63.1 innings. And the Twins Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Month is: New Britain – BJ Hermsen - 6 GS, 3-1, 2.68 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 43.2 IP, 39 H, 2 BB, 23 K For the second straight month, BJ Hermsen is my choice for Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Month. Last month, he pitched for Ft. Myers. At the end of the month of April, he was promoted to AA New Britain, and he hasn’t missed a beat. What is remarkable is that he averaged almost 7.5 innings per start. He definitely is a pitch to contact pitcher, reliant upon a lot of movement and pinpoint control (note, two walks in 43.2 innings). Overall this year between the two stops, he is 4-1 with a 2.03 ERA in 66.2 innings. What do you think? I listed six pitchers here that pitched quite well in the month of May. There were actually a few other choices. Who would your choice be? How would you rank these guys (and feel free to include others)? Download attachment: BJHermsen.jpg Click here to view the article

Each year, I try to do a Minnesota Twins Top 52 Prospect list right before the draft. That way, we're looking at players who have (generally) been in the organization for at least a year. It can also give you a sense of which positions have some strength. Through nearly two months of the season, there have been several very impressive performances throughout the organization. Many of the top prospects are in the lower levels, but when you put together this list, you see that there are a few players mentioned in the upper levels too. I'll count down from 52 with brief comments on each, right up to the Top 2 prospects, and I have to say, it's still a very difficult decision. Who will I put at Number One?[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Aaron Hicks has 'graduated' from the "Prospect" lists as he is now over the 130 at bats mark. For pitchers, the limit is 50 innings. Let's get to the list: #52 - Caleb Thielbar - LH RP - Rochester/Minnesota - The Randolph native has been impressive in his debut. He throws hard and has three good pitches. He can be a solid big league reliever. #51 - Tyler Jones - RH RP - Cedar Rapids Kernels - Jones was a starter a year ago, but he's got the fastball and breaking pitch to be a very good reliever as well. He missed a few weeks with an injury. #50 - Madison Boer - RH RP - Ft. Myers Miracle - Yes, I am listing him as a reliever because I would be done with the starting experience for him. He's can reach into the upper-90s with his fastball out of the bullpen, so they need to go with that. That is, when he returns from his broken hand. #49 - Mike Kvasnicka - OF/C - Ft. Myers Miracle - The former Gopher came to the Twins from the Astros late in spring training and pretty much immediately broke his hamate bone. He'll be out a few more weeks. He didn't put up the numbers you would hope from a 1st round pick with the Astros, but he does have power. #48 - Jason Wheeler - LHP - Ft. Myers Miracle - Since signing with the Twins as an 8th round pick in 2011, he has gone 19-6 with a 3.62 ERA. The 6-8 lefty doesn't throw over 89 mph, but he has good control of multiple pitches. #47 - Kuo-hua Lo - RHP - Extended Spring Training - Lo signed from Taiwan and he has very good stuff. He can throw hard, has multiple pitches, good control and a knowledge of how to pitch. He should start for the Elizabethton Twins. #46 - Austin Malinowski - LHP - Extended Spring Training - The Minnesota native gave up a scholarship to the University of Arizona to sign with the Twins. He pitched well in the GCL last year and should be in the Elizabethton rotation. #45 - James Beresford - 2B/SS - New Britain Rock Cats - I have no idea why he is still in New Britain. Despite missing a couple of weeks with an injury, he is hitting over .330, and he is an elite defensive player around the infield. #44 - Felix Jorge - RHP - Extended Spring Training - Hard-throwing youngster has terrific stuff and should be in the rotation for the E-Twins. #43 - Angel Morales - OF - Ft. Myers Miracle - He seems to have figured things out with the Miracle, and though he can be a six-year minor league free agent after the season, he is still just 23 years old. He should move up to New Britain soon. #42 - Dan Rohlfing - C/OF - New Britain/Rochester - Last night, he homered in his first AAA game. Always seen as more of an organizational player, Rohlfing has worked hard and made himself into a future big leaguer because of his athleticism and versatility. #41 - Dalton Hicks - 1B - Cedar Rapids Kernels - Hicks is a large man with great power. Drafted in the 17th round last year, he has come up with some big hits in his two pro seasons. #40 - Tom Stuifbergen - RHP - Ft. Myers Miracle - "Stuif" is finally healthy and pitching well again this season. He has incredible control and works fast. It'd be nice to see more strikeouts, but has the pitches. #39 - BJ Hermsen - RHP - New Britain Rock Cats - The Twins minor league pitcher of the year a year ago, Hermsen has put up very good numbers at every level, despite low strikeout totals. He went to big league camp and unfortunately got hurt. He has struggled in his return and has moved now to the bullpen. He'll start again, and he'll be fine. #38 - Angel Mata - RHP - Extended Spring Training - Last year in Elizabethton, he made 13 starts. He threw 53.1 innings, gave up just 31 hits and struck out 55. Why is he not in Cedar Rapids? Well, he also walked 34. #37 - Randy Rosario - LHP - Extended Spring Training - Call me intrigued by left-handed pitchers who have been clocked at 95 mph. Rosario struck out 42 in 38.1 innings last year (And walked 19). #36 - Matt Summers - RHP - Ft. Myers Miracle - Still hasn't put up big numbers despite having very good stuff. Maybe he'll be a reliever down the line, where he might see those strikeout numbers increase. #35 - Aderlin Mejia - IF - Ft. Myers Miracle - He's been a story the last three weeks in Ft. Myers, hitting .400 and playing all over the field. He was just supposed to be with the team for a short period, but he's earned his way into the daily lineup. #34 - Nate Roberts - OF - Ft. Myers Miracle - He's an on-base machine and showed in the AFL just how good he can be at the top of an order. He just has to find a way to stay on the field and another offseason knee surgery has limited him to just one game this year. #33 - JT Chargois - RH RP - Extended Spring Training - Chargois throws incredibly hard and can be a late-inning reliever. He just has to get healthy. #32 - JD Williams - OF - Cedar Rapids Kernels - A tremendous athlete, the charismatic outfielder has done a great job of getting on base and even showing power to go with his great speed. #31 - Hudson Boyd - RHP - Cedar Rapids Kernels - The numbers don't show it yet, but Boyd does have a chance to be good. He has the pitches, a fastball up to 93, a very good curveball and a terrific changeup. He just needs to find consistency with each of those pitches. #30 - Levi Michael - IF - Ft. Myers Miracle - His season was delayed several weeks with another injury, and he hasn't hit much since his return. The positive is that a big percentage of his hits have gone for extra bases. #29 - Chris Herrmann - C/OF - Rochester/Minnesota - He struggled in his AAA debut the first month of the season, but he had been much better before his promotion. His value is that he is a solid offensive contributor with defensive versatility that includes improved abilities behind that plate. #28 - Logan Darnell - LHP - New Britain Rock Cats - Darnell seems to have taken that next step and is pitching very well. He's left-handed and knows how to pitch. #27 - Corey Williams - LH RP - Ft. Myers Miracle - The power lefty is off to a great start with the Miracle after a disappointing 2012 in Beloit (despite 17 saves). He's still not getting the strikeouts you'd like to see from someone with his stuff. #26 - Adrian Salcedo - RHP - Ft. Myers Miracle - He was a top ten Twins prospect until an injury-plagued 2012 season (elbow and shoulder). He struggled at the start of this season, but in the last month, he has reclaimed his stuff and, in my opinion, should return to starting soon. #25 - Luke Bard - RHP - Extended Spring Training - His season is yet to start due to some arm problems, but he can pitch. Whenever he does get on a mound, he has the stuff to be very good. #24 - Danny Ortiz - OF - New Britain Rock Cats - Arguably the most under-appreciated prospect in the organization. Maybe it's because there are so many outfielders, but Ortiz has put up the numbers, in AA and in Puerto Rico, to warrant a higher ranking. #23 - Mason Melotakis - LHP - Cedar Rapids Kernels - He has been OK so far as a starter for the Kernels. The numbers have been 'good.' Of course there is a lot more value if he can be a starter, but if he does move to the bullpen again, he can be a dominant reliever. #22 - Tyler Duffey - RHP - Cedar Rapids Kernels - Another college reliever turned starter, Duffey has pitched quite well to this point for the Kernels. He threw 7 perfect innings in his first start and has been good the rest of the way. #21 - DJ Baxendale - RHP - Ft. Myers/New Britain - The Twins 10th round pick a year ago had a rude awakening in his AA debut last night, but before that had thrown 31 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run. He can be a mid-rotation starter but it won't be overnight. #20 - Taylor Rogers - LHP - Cedar Rapids/Ft. Myers - 11th round pick a year ago, the lefty throws 91-92 mph with a very good slider. He just looks like a future starter and has the make up to be very good. #19 - Zack Jones - RH RP - Ft. Myers Miracle - 100. That says it all. OK, his fastball generally sits 96 to 98 mph, but when you can touch 100, that's impressive. He's working on the consistency of his slider, but when that comes, he could dominate. #18 - Michael Tonkin - RH RP - New Britain - After spending time as a starter, and maybe too much time in Beloit, he has skyrocketed the last 12 months because he has put it all together. A mid-90s fastball with good secondary pitches makes for an exciting late-inning option. (Jeremy Nygaard tweets this morning that Michael Tonkin has been promoted to AAA Rochester.) #17 - Danny Santana - SS - New Britain Rock Cats - April was not a good month for the talented shortstop. He didn't hit, and he committed a ton of errors. He now has 18 errors on the season, but most came in the first month. He has also hit very well in May. Now, he just needs to be consistent. #16 - Alex Wimmers - RHP - New Britain Rock Cats - the right-handed former first round pick is now throwing off of a mound in his return from Tommy John. He is about on the same schedule as Kyle Gibson was a year ago. If he can end the season making starts in New Britain, that would be great. He'll be added to the 40 man roster after the season. #15 - Niko Goodrum - SS - Cedar Rapids Kernels - Niko has amazing tools, but watching him play makes you really appreciate just how solid he is. He makes the routine plays. He hits well from both sides of the plate. He has range. He has a great arm. He needs time, but he has great upside. #14 - Max Kepler - OF - Extended Spring Training - There was a lot of excitement about Kepler coming into the season. Unfortunately, an arm injury has meant that he is yet to debut with the Kernels this year. He's got size and power and very good speed. He just needs to get on the field. #13 - Josmil Pinto - C - New Britain Rock Cats - OK, I give in. I have ranked him far too low for far too long. The guy can flat-out hit. He is OK behind the plate, but when you have a catcher that you also like to hit #3 and DH, you have something special. #12 - Adam Walker - OF - Cedar Rapids Kernels - Walker has shown a flair for the dramatic, with big, long home runs and some important grand slams. He needs to find more consistency, but he has so much talent and incredible power. He should move up to Ft. Myers. #11 - Trevor May - RHP - New Britain Rock Cats - May is back in the Eastern League and he's showing the talent he has. He's also continued to be inconsistent from start to start and his control has not been great. But he's still young,he puts in the work and I believe he'll be all right. #10 - Travis Harrison - 3B - Cedar Rapids Kernels - The supplemental first round pick in 2011 showed last year in E-Town that he can hit. This year, he has flashed some of the incredible power potential that he has. He has made improvements with the glove, but it is his power potential and youth makes him very exciting. #9 - Jorge Polanco - 2B/SS - Cedar Rapids Kernels - The slick-fielding, little middle infielder has grown up. He now has the size to put up some numbers with his bat too. He has a smooth swing from both sides of the plate with extra base pop. And, his glove is still terrific. #8 - Kennys Vargas - 1B - Ft. Myers Miracle - Baby Papi just keeps hitting for power. He's got 15 doubles and 10 home runs in the pitcher-friendly Florida State League. He's made improvements in his footwork at 1B as well. #7 - Kyle Gibson - RHP - Rochester Red Wings - Three out of four starts have been tremendous. If he can put up another good start tonight, we could see him in Minnesota as early as next week. Still just 25, Gibson has very good stuff, throws strikes, gets ground balls and has great makeup. He's going to be a good one. #6 - Eddie Rosario - 2B - Ft. Myers Miracle - No one questions his bat. He is going to hit. What people are most impressed by so far this year from Rosario is how well he has made the adjustment to second base. He has been very good defensively which shows that he's willing to do work. Still some maturity issues to work through, but he will. #5 - Jose (JO) Berrios - RHP - Cedar Rapids Kernels - A supplemental pick just a year ago, Berrios is very young. He now has 6 walks and 40 strikeouts in 33.1 innings with the Kernels. That's after he walked four and struck out 49 last year in the rookie leagues. He's got good stuff and a fastball that hits 94-95 mph. #4 - Alex Meyer - RHP - New Britain Rock Cats - The 23-year-old has been good in his adjustment to AA after just nine games in High-A a year ago. In 54.2 innings, he has struck out 54, but he has also walked 25. He hasn't walked hitters in the past, so hopefully that's just a mirage. But his four-pitch mix is special. He just needs some time. #3 - Oswaldo Arcia - OF - Rochester Red Wings - We all knew he could hit. We all know he's going to be a special hitter in the big leagues. Now we have seen a little glimpse of what he can be. He needed to go back down to Rochester as he has some adjusting to do, but he'll make those adjustments and be back in no time. #2 - Miguel Sano - Ft. Myers Miracle - It's really ridiculous to have Miguel Sano as the #2 prospect. In how many organizations would that be the case? Maybe three or four? In reality, I'm not even comfortable having him at #2. He is a Top 10 prospect in baseball and has put up incredible numbers, including power numbers, in Ft. Myers. All while improving his defense and stealing bases. He's so good. #1 - Byron Buxton - OF - Cedar Rapids Kernels - He has slumped in May and yet I still rank him (slightly) ahead of Miguel Sano. He's just such a great all-around talent. He does have power. His speed is elite. His defense is incredible, and he has a strong and accurate arm. He has great plate discipline and isn't afraid to hit with two strikes. He hits the ball to all fields. I don't know if there's anything he can't do. He just needs time and patience, but it'll be hard not to move him up the ladder pretty quickly. So there you have it. I hope you've enjoyed reading about 52 names in the Twins system. I did not include Amaurys (German) Minier, though he should start appearing in my lists following this season, especially if he spends time with the GCL Twins. What do you think? Who is too high? Who is too low? Who do you have questions about? Feel free to ask and I'll try to answer as many as I can throughout the day. View full article

It’s been fairly easy to write the Twins minor league reports the past four or five days. Aside from the Ft. Myers Miracle, the other Twins affiliates have each missed games this week due to weather. The Cedar Rapids Kernels haven’t played since Monday. So, on a Saturday, it all came together. Four Twins affiliates played a total of six games. Rochester and Cedar Rapids played doubleheaders. The Twins nearly got no hit by Matt Harvey in their fifth straight loss to fall to 4-7 on the season. Wilkin Ramirez was put on the Paternity List following the game, so we’ll find out the corresponding move soon. Could the Miracle win their ninth straight game to start the season? Keep reading, and find out…[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Game 1 - Rochester Red Wings 1, Pawtucket Red Sox 7 Box Score The Red Wings managed just four hits in the first. Chris Colabello drove in the lone run. Chris Herrmann went 1-2 with a walk. Shairon Martis started and gave up one run on four hits in 3.2 innings. He walked four and struckout four. Tyler Robertson got the next three outs. He gave up no runs despite two hits and a walk allowed. Anthony Slama had a rough one and took the loss. In just 0.1 innings, he gave up four runs on two hits and two walks. Of his 18 pitches, just five of them were strikes. Caleb Thielbar got the final three outs, but not before giving up two runs on two hits. He did strikeout two. Game 2 - Rochester Red Wings 1, Pawtucket Red Sox 7 Box Score The Red Wings had just four hits in Game 1, and that was twice as many hits as they managed in Game 2. Eric Farris had a single. Chris Colabello launched his fourth home runs of the season. On the mound, veteran Virgil Vasquez gave up three runs on seven hits and a walk. In four innings, he struckout three. Bruce Pugh’s struggles continued. He gave up three runs on two hits and a walk in his inning. Michael O’Connor pitched the sixth frame and gave up one run on two hits. Andrew Albers is set to take the mound for the Red Wings on Sunday afternoon. New Britain Rock Cats 5, Portland Sea Dogs 6 (10 innings) Box Score Alex Meyer made his second start for the Rock Cats. He gave up a leadoff single and two, RBI doubles in the first innings before settling down. He gave up just those two runs on six hits and two walks in five innings. He struckout six. Bobby Lanigan came on and gave up one run on one walk in 1.2 innings. He struckout two. Jose Gonzalez walked the one batter he came in the face. Michael Tonkin came on and gave up two runs on three hits and a walk in 1.1 innings. Edgar Ibarra worked two innings and gave up the 10th inning run on three hits and two walks. He struckout three. Antoan Richardson went 2-4 with a walk. He stole his third and fourth bases. Nate Hanson went 2-4. Curt Smith was 2-5 with a double. Evan Bigley was 2-5. Blake Martin will take the ball for the Rock Cats on Sunday afternoon. Ft. Myers Miracle 8, Jupiter Hammerheads 7 Box Score With the win, the Miracle are now 9-0 and tied with the 1994 Miracle for the best start in franchise history. The team got plenty of offense led by centerfielder Angel Morales. He went 3-5 with his fifth and sixth doubles. Eddie Rosario was 2-5 with a stolen base. Kyle Knudson was 2-4 with his first double. Lance Ray and Miguel Sano each doubled. Kennys Vargas was 1-3 with two walks and a big, three-run home run. Madison Boer started and worked the first six innings. He gave up three runs on seven hits. He walked none and struckout three. Miguel Munoz made things close. He gave up four runs on four hits over two innings. Corey Williams worked a 1-2-3 ninths for his third save. DJ Baxendale will make his second Miracle start on Sunday. Game 1 - Cedar Rapids Kernels 4, Clinton LumberKings 3 Box Score Hudson Boyd was back on the mound for the Kernels as they returned to action against the LumberKings. The right-hander gave up three runs on four hits and a walk in five innings. Following the game, he tweeted me saying, “It felt good today. Let the athletes behind me do most of the work” That may be true, but he also struckout six. Brett Lee came on and gave up two hits but no runs in his inning. Chris Mazza recorded his second save. He gave up a walk in a scoreless seventh inning. Niko Goodrum hit his first two doubles of the season in this game. Dalton Hicks hit his fourth double. Jorge Polanco walked twice. Byron Buxton was 1-3 with a walk. Game 2 - Cedar Rapids Kernels 2, Clinton LumberKings 1 Box Score If fans wanted to see all the action of this double header, they could have watched the first game and just the first inning of the second game. In the top of the first, Dalton Hicks knocked in two runs with his fifth double. It scored Byron Buxton and Candido Pimentel. In the bottom of the first inning, Mason Melotakis gave up a leadoff home run. That was it for the scoring. Melotakis went the first five innings and gave up one run on three hits. He walked one and struckout seven. Steven Gruver gave up one hit and struckout four over the final two innings to record his first save. Pimentel went 1-2 with a walk and his second stolen base. JD Williams had a walk and stole his fifth base of the season. The Kernels are now 6-1 on the season. Tyler Duffey and David Hurlbut will pitch for the Kernels on Sunday afternoon. View full article

Download attachment: Thanksgiving-Thank-You.jpg It was about one year ago that John, Nick, Parker and myself started a string of communication around consolidating our sites to create a singular place for our Twins information. It took a lot of time and thought because it isn't as simple as it sounds, especially if you want it to meet certain expectations and goals. There were lots of drawings, and back-of-the-napkin designing by non-design folks. There were House Hunters Wants and Needs lists created to determine what we wanted from the site and the was absolutely necessary. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] The one absolute necessity in development was to create the forums. As TwinsCentric, one of the top goals was always to build a community of Twins fans and bloggers. We wanted to create a place where people could not only discuss our blog articles, but contribute their own topics into the forum. There is so much Twins news and content and discussion that we can't keep up with it all. If you see a good Twins article you want to link to, or you have had an ongoing debate with your buddy about a certain Twins topic, feel free to post them and let others weigh in. Not everyone is going to agree with your opinions, or my opinions, but we really want a place where we can all at least respect each others opinions and intelligently debate. For the most part, I think we have that here. Yes, the phrase "anyone can start a blog" stands true here at Twins Daily. And, in the psat year, several people have really stepped up and written some well-written, thought-provoking blogs, some of which were promoted to the front page. We definitely encourage others to not only read the Blogs but consider writing your own as well. As we celebrate Thanksgiving today with turkey and hopefully lots of family and friends, I just wanted to take a moment to wish all of the Twins Daily community/family a very Happy Thanksgiving! Thank you, Twins Daily community. We believe that you have helped us, in less than a year, become the premier destination for Twins articles, news and discussion. We hope we've earned that. Twins Daily readers and contributors deserve a ton of our thanks and gratitude today (and every day). You come to our site for the articles, but you stay for the conversation. In thanking you today though, I also want to present a couple of challenges to you today. If you enjoy what you read at Twins Daily, tell your Twins fan friends about this site. E-mail them the link. Hey, take a minute or two to update your facebook status to include the link to Twins Daily. Secondly, if you've been coming here for awhile, but have not participated in the Forums yet, make an effort over the weekend to post a new topic, something that's on your mind, something you think you'd like to have debated. I think you'll see how easy it is, but I also think you'll see how much fun the community aspect of this site can be. And, if you're more brave and ready, spend a little more time and start your Twins Daily blog. I think, with the Winter Meetings coming quickly and rumors all over the place, Twins Daily is the place to go for Twins fans wanting to join in on the conversation. Finally, I want to encourage you to let us know what you like or don't like about Twins Daily. Do you have any ideas that you think we should explore, anything that you think will help us be better? That's important information. We need that. We want that. If you don't want to post it here, please feel free to send me a Personal Message here, or e-mail me at (sethspeaksnet@hotmail.com). Once again, it's fun to think about what Twins Daily has become since we launched the day that Twins pitchers and catchers reported in mid-February. Consider where it has come from a year ago when it was just some guys' random drawings on napkins. For me, it gets me excited to think about where we can get to by spring training, or one year from now, or five years from now. We do know that we are very thankful to have added Brock to the Twins Daily mold because he will help us get there. I don't know where it will go... I do know that the Twins Daily family/community will be a big part of getting us there. So again, Happy Thanksgiving, and a very heartfelt and sincere thank you to all of you!! Click here to view the article

On Monday morning, the Minnesota Twins made several very telling roster decisions.The Twins optioned catcher Drew Butera. They also reassigned catcher Dan Rohlfing, infielders Ray Olmedo and Jeff Clement, and outfielder Brandon Boggs. The roster is now at 31. The news is good for outfielder Wilkin Ramirez.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] There is really just one more offensive, Opening Day roster spot that is up for grabs. Drew Butera had an option remaining, so he was sent to Rochester. This means that the Twins must be comfortable with Eduardo Escobar as an emergency catcher. More proof of that, the Twins also demoted Jeff Clement, who has not caught much in the last couple of years, but was drafted as a catcher. Dan Rohlfing was not going to make the roster, but he did have a very strong showing. Brandon Boggs was another possibility for the 25th man job. Earlier this morning, Ken Rosenthal tweeted that a lot of teams really would like Butera, but that the Twins prefer to stash him at Rochester for when needed. This basically means that Wilkin Ramirez will be the 25th man unless the Twins decide to go with 13 pitchers. Ramirez was once a prize prospect of the Detroit Tigers and has spent big league time with the Tigers and the Braves. He showed terrific power in Rochester last year and had a very strong big league camp. He will be the fifth outfielder, but primarily, he will be a pinch hitter. The moves really leave just a couple more roster decisions to be made. They are on the pitching side of things. There are 18 pitchers left in camp, but that includes Rafael Perez and Rich Harden, who have only pitched bullpens to this point. Tim Wood will begin on the Disabled List. Samuel Deduno also suffered a groin injury in the WBC championship game. We know that Glen Perkins, Jared Burton, Brian Duensing and Casey Fien are the givens. Rule 5 choice, Ryan Pressly, appears to be a lock as he has had a very good spring training. So, it really comes down to Alex Burnett, Tyler Robertson, Josh Roenicke and PJ Walters for two spots. Robertson would the the left-handed option, should they go that direction. He does have two options remaining. Alex Burnett really struggled this spring, and he has one option remaining. Josh Roenicke threw 80+ innings for the Rockies a year ago, and he is out of options. PJ Walters could be competing for the fifth starter job (unlikely) as well as a long-relief job, but he is on a minor league contract. Opening Day is one week away! We're getting close now! View full article

In recent days, we posted the choices for Minnesota Twins Minor League Starting Pitchers and Hitters for the month of July. Today, I present the top relief pitching performers for the month. There are a couple of guys at the top of this list that, if you argued the other should be #1, or vice versa, I wouldn’t have much of an argument. Two guys stand out on this list, but all five of them warrant recognition. Interestingly, the short-season teams played all July and they are represented on this list as well. A couple 2013 draft picks make an appearance. Here’s a look at the Top 5 relief pitching performers from July. Feel free to discuss below.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] --- Number 5 – GCL Twins – LHP Stephen Gonsalves – 5 G, 2 GS, 1-0, 0.63 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 14.1 IP, 8 H, 7 BB, 18 K Gonsalves was the Twins 4th round draft pick in June out of high school in San Diego. Already 19, the lefty pitched very well in his professional debut with the GCL Twins in his first month. In fact, he pitched well enough that he was just promoted to Elizabethton. At 6-5 and just 190 pounds, the Twins should be patient and let him grow. The Twins had to go a little over slot to get him signed, but he should prove to be worth it in time. Number 4 – Ft. Myers – RHP Adrian Salcedo - 6 G, 2-0, 0.75 ERA, 0.83 WHIP, 12.0 IP, 9 H, 1 BB, 7 K Salcedo was a Top 10 Twins prospect as recently as before the 2012 season. However, that season was lost because of both shoulder and elbow injuries. He spent most of the year, and the offseason, rehabbing. He has been brought back this year in the Ft. Myers bullpen. Overall, in 27 relief appearances this year, he is 5-1 with a 3.72 ERA. In 48.1 innings, he has given up 47 hits, walked just seven and struck out 48. Salcedo is 6-3 and 175 pounds. He is extremely athletic. It will be interesting to see if he gets another opportunity to start. Number 3 – Elizabethton – LHP Brandon Bixler - 6 G, 1-1, 0.73 ERA, 0.81 WHIP, 12.1 IP, 6 H, 4 BB, 18 K The 21-year-old Bixler was the Twins 16th round draft pick of the Twins this June out of Dunk City, Florida Gulf Coast University. This college season, he went 5-3 with a 4.14 ERA. He had 64 strikeouts in 50 innings. Over three college seasons, he struck out 156 batters over 128.2 innings. The left-hander is just 5-11 and 170 pounds, but he does throw hard. Bixler put up these terrific numbers in Elizabethton, and has now been promoted to Cedar Rapids where he has made one appearance in August. Number 2 – New Britain/Rochester – LHP Edgar Ibarra - 9 G, 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.44 WHIP, 11.2 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 11 K I saw Ibarra make a start for Beloit in 2010 and came away incredibly impressed. I saw a very good fastball that he worked inside and outside. I saw a tremendous changeup that he was able to spot. He also had a very good breaking ball that he threw at various speeds. All of his pitches moved. Then again, he never really put up great numbers as a starter. The following year in Ft. Myers, he made 16 starts and 16 relief appearances. He has not made any starts since. Today (8/4) marks two months since he last gave up a run. That covers 20 appearances and 25.2 innings. The left-hander touches 95, and I believe he has a very good chance of helping the Twins. His control has been good so far with the Red Wings, but over his career walks have been the biggest issue. Ibarra could have become a 6-year minor league free agent, but he quickly re-signed with the Twins. Don’t be surprised if the Twins don’t let him become a free agent at the end of this season and add him to the 40 man roster, either in September, or days after the World Series is complete. And the Twins Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Month is: Download attachment: Tyler Jones.jpg Photo by Cedar Rapids Kernels Cedar Rapids/Ft. Myers – RHP Tyler Jones - 8 G, 0-0, 7 Saves, 0.00 ERA, 0.45 WHIP, 11.0 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 17 K Jones, a 23-year-old Milwaukee native, was the Twins 11th round pick in 2011 out of LSU where he spent just one year. In 2012, he began the season at Extended Spring Training because, as he said to me earlier in the season, he was completely out of shape. He did make 16 starts with Beloit and posted a 4.67 ERA, but he had 102 strikeouts in 86.2 innings. This year, he got himself into tremendous shape, and also moved into the bullpen at Cedar Rapids. In doing so, he can now air-out his fastball. When I saw him a month ago, he ended a game with a strikeout on a 96 mph fastball. His slider is also much improved from when I saw him in 2012. He was tremendous in July, starting in Cedar Rapids and earning that promotion to Ft. Myers. Not only did he not give up any runs in July, but look at the walks and strikeouts per inning. Astounding. Jones is definitely one to watch! What do you think? Please feel free to discuss and ask questions. Click here to view the article