Seth Stohs

One of the Twins biggest issues in 2011 was the bullpen. It was really ugly most of the year. In the offseason, the Twins lost Joe Nathan to free agency. They brought back Matt Capps, hoping that the toughness he exhibited by wanting to come back after a brutal 2011 will translate into improved performance in 2012. Glen Perkins went from the guy most fans wanted released last spring training to one of the best left-handed relievers in baseball. Download attachment: KyleWaldrop2.jpg The Twins locked him up through the 2015 season with his recent contract extension. Anthony Swarzak is out of options this year and showed in 2011 that he can and will pitch in long relief, as a spot starter or whatever role he is asked. Brian Duensing moves back to the bullpen where his ability to get left-handed hitters out should again thrive. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]Those four (Capps, Perkins, Swarzak and Duensing) went into spring training as givens to make the Twins Opening Day roster. After that, there are three remaining spots in the bullpen to fill, and three question marks. I’m the first one to say that spring training statistics mean very little. However, that is only true for the “givens.” When there are potentially three open positions in a bullpen, spring statistics tend to be pretty important. The vast multitude of bullpen arms that the Twins brought in to camp are trying to make a good impression. Just twelve games into spring training, it is far too early to generate any certainties. However, for the most part, the Twins relief pitching has been pretty solid. There are a couple of guys whose position may have dropped a little bit in the eyes of the Twins decision-makers, but even they will likely get another two weeks to turn things around. There have been a lot of pitchers who have made an early impression for the Twins in camp. Kyle Waldrop – Something that fellow TwinsCentrician Parker Hageman tweeted last night jumped out at me. He wrote that Waldrop releases the ball at 6’8” and it hits the plate at just 2’2”. That is some incredible sink, and that is why he has had a 60% ground ball rate. So far in camp, he has given up no runs on two hits in three innings. He has walked none and struck out three. Matt Maloney – When Bill Smith claimed the lefty after the Reds had released him, he was roundly criticized. Most who criticized the move now believe that he should be the Twins third left-hander in the bullpen. And they’re probably right. In 5.1 innings, he has not given up a run. He has given up three hits, walked one and struck out eight. Jared Burton – The Twins quickly signed Burton to a minor league contract. He was hurt most of the last two years, but he was a very good setup man many for a couple of years before that thanks to a terrific cutter. In four innings this spring, he is yet to give up a hit. He’s walked one and struck out four. Jeff Manship – Many forget that Manship made the opening day roster a year ago, but just five outings into the season, it was clear that he wasn’t right. He was sent to Rochester and went on the disabled list for most of the season with a couple of separate injuries. He has made an adjustment to his slider which should mean more strikeouts. He gave up a home run to David Ortiz in his first inning, but that is the only run he has given up in 4.1 innings. In fact, he’s given up just one other hit, walked none and struck out six. Casey Fien – Another minor league free agent signed by the Twins with big league experience (2009-2010 with Tigers), Fien has been good this spring. In 3.1 innings, he is yet to give up a hit or a run. He’s walked one and struck out three. Brendan Wise – Another minor league free agent from the Tigers, Wise has ERAs of 1.87 and 2.83 in AAA. The Australian gets a ton of movement by throwing from a three-quarter arm slot. In three innings, he has given up one hit, walked none and struck out none. Carlos Gutierrez – The former first round pick had a bad outing in the team’s very first scrimmage. The manager called him out. Since then, he has been terrific, aggressively going after opposing hitters. In three innings, he’s given up only an unearned run on two hits and a walk. He has struck out four. Those seven pitchers are off to a good start and are making strong impressions. However, if any of them have a game in which they give up three runs in one inning (something relievers tend to do a time or three a year), their spring ERAs jump up to around 5.00. That’s why any time you’re looking at such a small sample size, you have to take it for what it is worth. Those seven pitchers are not the only pitchers in the equation: Terry Doyle - The Twins Rule 5 draft pick has certainly had ups and downs in his few spring outings. He has been good, and he had a start last week in which he got hit very hard. The 26-year-old must be offered back to the White Sox. It’s far too early to tell which direction the Twins are leaning with him. Jeff Gray – He is on the 40-man roster, and yet he has only pitched in two innings over two games so far. He has given up two unearned runs on two hits and two walks without striking anyone out. Alex Burnett – Gardy and Rick Anderson really believe in Burnett, and for good reason. There is no questioning his stuff. Simply, he was not given time to develop in Rochester, and I think it would be great for Burnett (and Lester Oliveros who has given up one run on four hits in three innings while striking out four and walking none) to spend a couple of months improving themselves in Rochester. Burnett has thrown 2.2 innings this spring and given up five runs on eight hits and two walks. It isn’t as if it is just one bad outing; he has struggled each time he has taken the mound. Jason Bulger – It’s been a rough spring for Bulger. In his first outing, he walked four before throwing a strike that Lars Anderson hit for a grand slam. He struggled again in his second outing but had a good third outing. The 33-year-old has spent parts of the last six seasons with the Angels, so it isn’t as it he has just completely forgotten to pitch. But nine runs on six hits and five walks in just two innings is cause for alarm. There are three open spots, it appears, in the Twins bullpen. There is one spot (Joel Zumaya’s) on the 40-man roster. Fortunately Ron Gardenhire, Rick Anderson and Terry Ryan have two more weeks to determine who will head north to start the season. A lot can change. Some of these pitchers may start getting into game situations against starters rather than against hitters wearing numbers set aside for wide receivers or offensive tackles. The bullpen remains the most intriguing part of Twins spring training. How will it play out? ~~~~ At Twins Daily, there is a lot going on. John wrote his thoughts on some of the bullpen pitchers making an impression. Nick continued his Twins position analysis by looking at Jamey Carroll and the shortstops. Left-hander Ryan O’Rourke writes about the first week at minor league camp. Parker asked what Alexi Casilla can do in 2012. Seth asked if there is any way that Brian Dozier can make the opening day roster. Troy Larson asked when fans get excited about the upcoming season. Shanewahl wrote about the rise and ‘fall’ of Aaron Hicks. Twins Fan from Afar asked if the Twins need to hire a sports psychologist. In the Forums, there are a lot of great discussions being generated. Be sure to vote for and discuss the preseason AL Central third basemen. On the Farm includes discussion about the two Twins minor leaguers suspended 50 games each for testing positive for a banned substance. Click here to view the article

The Twins needed 15 innings and six relievers to work nine scoreless innings, but a Denard Span two-out single gave the Twins a 5-4 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. The hit was Denard Span’s fourth of the game. Jamey Carroll also had four hits to raise his batting average to .259. Joe Mauer was 3-4 but had to leave the game after an RBI single tied the game at four in the 7th inning. He cleared his hamstring able to play before the game, but after a collision with Rickie Weeks at home, he was clearly affected by a leg/quad contusion. He had two RBI hits after that, but could not run at all. Justin Morneau and Brian Dozier each had two hits in the game. Ben Revere had two hits and at least three terrific plays on defense. Trevor Plouffe was 2-5 and walked two more times. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Nick Blackburn gave up four runs in six innings, the big blow was a three-run homer off the bat of Corey Hart. The big story in this game was the bullpen. Alex Burnett pitched the 7th. Jared Burton pitched the 8th. Glen Perkins pitched the ninth and tenth. He was playing the role of closer with Matt Capps unable to pitch. Brian Duensing pitched a scoreless inning, and he likely would have gone longer, but there was a 42 minute rain delay. Jeff Gray came in and provided three innings of scoreless baseball. Anthony Swarzak was not supposed to pitch, but he was given the 15th inning and did not allow a run and got the win. The Twins have Monday off before starting a stretch of six inter-league home games (in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati). Enough about the big league club. Here is a look at the Twins minor league scores and highlights from Sunday: ROCHESTER 7, LOUISVILLE 4 The Red Wings got off to a great start in this game. In the first inning, with two runners on, Matt Carson hit a three-run homer. Clete Thomas came up next and hit his fourth homer of the year. Carson came up in the 6th inning and hit another homer, his fourth of the year. In all, Carson was 3-4 and drove in four runs. He also stole his sixth base of the season. Rene Rivera was 3-4 with his fifth double. Pedro Florimon went 2-4 with his fourth double. Sam Deduno made his second start since his return from injury. He went 3.2 innings and gave up one run on two hits. He walked four and struck out six. Casey Fien went 2.1 scoreless, hitless innings, striking out two. Deolis Guerra gave up three runs on five hits and a walk in 1.1 innings. He struck out two. (Guerra has given up two or more runs in five of his past seven experience.) Kyle Waldrop got the save by recording the final five outs. NEW BRITAIN 3, ERIE 4 The Rock Cats made a last-inning comeback, but it fell just short. Down 4-1 in the 9th with the bases loaded, Nate Hanson was hit by a pitch. The next batter was Chris Herrmann who hit a sacrifice fly to cut the Erie lead to one, but the next batter grounded out to end the game. Andrew Albers made the start and gave up four runs on nine hits in six innings. He walked none and struck out four. Bobby Lanigan struck out two in two perfect innings. Bruce Pugh struck out one in a perfect ninth. Nate Hanson went 2-4 with his first home run in addition to his RBI hit-by-pitch. James Beresford went 2-4. Estarlin de Los Santos went 1-3 with a walk. FT. MYERS – All Star Break The Miracle will return to game action on Monday in Jupiter. BELOIT 2, BURLINGTON 6 This game was tied at two going into the eighth inning. Unfortunately, Burlington scored four runs after that point. Matt Summers gave up four runs on eight hits and two walks in 7.1 innings. He struck out two. Ryan O’Rourke came in and gave up two runs on two hits in 1.2 innings. He walked none and struck out four. The Snappers offense managed just five hits in this game. Nate Roberts drove in both runs. The top six hitters in the lineup combined to go 1-22 while the bottom three hitters went 4-9. JD Williams went 2-3 with his 12th double. Steve Liddle hit his first double since returning to the lineup. On the other side, Miguel Sano went 0-4 with four more strikeouts. --- Players of the Day for Sunday, June 17, 2012 Hitter of the Day – Matt Carson Download attachment: Matt Carson.jpg Pitcher of the Day – Casey Fien Download attachment: Casey Fien.jpg --- A Look Ahead – Monday, June 18, 2012 Schedule Rochester @ Indianapolis – TBD New Britain – No Game Scheduled Ft. Myers @ Jupiter - TBD Beloit – All Star Break GCL Twins @ GCL Orioles – RHP Kuo Hua Lo --- If you have any questions or comments on the Twins minor league system, players, teams, etc., leave them in the Comments and I’ll try to answer them! Click here to view the article

Following the Twins selection of RHP Kohl Stewart, he called in and talked with the media for a while. It was interesting to hear him talk about the draft. For so long, we have heard that he had this strong commitment to Texas A&M where he had a full scholarship to play both football and baseball. Listening to his responses tells me there is no question that, not only will he sign, but he could sign quickly. How did Stewart find out he was drafted? His parents had 75-100 friends and family at their home, a big rain storm came down and temporarily knocked out their satellite. He had to scramble and found that he had been drafted by the Twins on his cell phone.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Below are some quotes from the 18-year-old prep from Texas: Regarding whether or not he’ll sign with the Twins: Honestly, the Twins picked me, and they expect me to sign. I’m not going to say for sure, but I am looking forward to joining the Twins organization. Why I think that Stewart could sign relatively quickly: I’ll definitely be in touch with Couch (Kevin) Sumlin in the next couple of days or whatever it ends up being. I don’t want to say anything, pull anybody any way, but I look forward to being a Twin. (Side Note – Texas A&A football coach Kevin Sumlin was a wide receivers coach and a quarterbacks coach at the University of Minnesota in the mid-90s.) His thoughts on the Twins organization and potentially being a part of it: I think that there is extreme loyalty within that organization. I think that they’re committed to winning. They’re looking for ways for the organization to reach the World Series. I’m committed to being part of that organization and work my way up, grind it out until my name is called. And hopefully, one day I hope I can help the Minnesota Twins become one of the winningest organizations in the league. Was he surprised to be drafted by the Twins? I definitely thought that the Twins were the best bet for me. A lot of the communication went through my advisers They obviously relayed that information to me. I definitely believe that this is where I was headed. I’m extremely excited about it, and surely blessed to have this opportunity to be a part of their organization and help them win. His thoughts on playing football and now potentially just playing baseball (also, the comment that makes me most excited about how good Stewart could be): I don’t ever bore. There’s always something for me to be working. Football has always taken rank over baseball, especially in high school with it being so demanding and such a big deal here in Texas. I look forward to being able to just sit down and work on baseball for once. I’ve never been able to do that. I really didn’t start pitching at the level I have been pitching at until high school and then football came again and took away from that. So I’m really looking forward to being able to really focus on one thing and focus on that for a long period of time. I can’t wait to see how the Twins can help me and see how much I can grow. What pitches he throws and what he’s working on (and the information that makes me possibly even more excited about how good Stewart could be)? (I) throw a fastball. This year I threw a slider, a curveball and a changeup. My fastball? There are days where you’re not going to have that pitch, but my fastball is a very comfortable pitch for me. I like to use both sides of the plate and work off my fastball. My slider is probably my second best pitch, with my curveball and changeup. I’m really comfortable throwing any pitch at any count. There are a lot of things I need to develop. I need to work on throwing my slider inside to righties. Sometimes I let it get away, throw it too hard and it will go away to righties. My slider is more effective right now, just because I started throwing my curveball just this year. My changeup has definitely come around. I’ve thrown that a lot more in the last year. And, I even have a little bit of a sinker just to give me something else to go hard in in righties. The sinker has kind of come to fruition, just in the last couple of weeks, just throwing bullpens and messing around with some things. I’m kind of always open to different things and working on different pitches. Always having those different kinds of things to always fall back upon if something else isn’t working. It was exciting to hear from a young man who is clearly very excited to be drafted high by the Twins, and a guy who has confidence, stuff and charisma. He’s got plenty of developing to do, but he has the potential to be the 2013 pick that has the biggest impact. View full article

Every year, every MLB team fills out their 40 man roster. As that is happening, they are also adding minor league free agents and offering them nothing more than an invitation to big league spring training. That is enough to be seen, to get an opportunity. Generally speaking, news of these minor league signings is treated fairly ho-hum. However, the last few years, the Minnesota Twins have done a great job of adding veteran minor league talent. Usually, those players are guys who help the AA and AAA rosters by providing experience and to fill gaps in the minor league system. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] However, the Twins have had much success in recent years in the free agency realm. Consider in 2011, the Twins signed Caleb Thielbar as a minor league free agent in August. The story has become famous, but right before spring training that year, the Twins signed Andrew Albers. The Twins had a tremendous year of minor league signings prior to the 2012 season. Sure, there were a couple that didn't make it, but the Twins front office deserves credit for targeting some very good players. Here's a look at the Twins minor league signings for 2012: No Time With Twins Steve Pearce - The 1B/OF signed with the Twins, but he spent most of that spring training hurt and was let go before the end of spring training. He went on to spend time in the big leagues with the Orioles, Astros and Yankees. Brendan Wise - The right-handed pitcher from Australia had been terrific in AAA for the Tigers the two previous seasons, but he struggled with Rochester. JR Towles - The catcher who was a former top prospect caused some excitement when the Twins signed him. However, he did very little in AAA and was hurt for a large part of the season. Luke French - The former big league southpaw signed with the Twins and was tremendous early in New Britain. However, he was pretty poor in AAA and went back to the Rock Cats. Cups of Coffee Matt Carson - The 30+ outfielder had spent time in the big leagues with the A's. He was a very solid performer for the Red Wings, and when he was called up to the Twins late in the season, he got 66 at bats. Luis Perdomo - He had spent time with the Padres in 2009 and 2010. He was terrific for New Britain and Rochester in 2012 and earned his promotion to the Twins. However, with the Twins he had no control. He resigned with the Twins this spring but has been inconsistent in the Red Wings bullpen. Sean Burroughs - The former Little League World Series hero signed a minor league deal with the Twins and made the Opening Day roster. He got just 18 plate appearances before being DFAd and sent to Rochester where he spent he rest of the season. Wilkin Ramirez - The Twins actually signed Ramirez before the 2012 season. The former top prospect of the Tigers had spent big league time with Detroit and Atlanta. An injury in spring training meant his season started late, but he showed good power when healthy. This spring, he made the Twins roster out of spring training as an extra outfielder. He missed about two months due to a concussion and has just returned to the Twins. Chris Colabello - The story is well known. The Twins signed Colabello out of the Can-Am League before the 2012 season, and he hit well in New Britain. This spring, he played in the WBC and went to big league camp. He put up incredible numbers in Rochester this season and has been recalled to the Twins several times this season. Can he be part of the future? That will be determined, likely, over the next two months. Majors Contributors PJ Walters - He was signed by the Twins before the 2012 season. The former prospect pitched well enough in the spring and then in Rochester to get a call up. He pitched well until he was injured and then struggled in his return. The same thing happened this year. He went to Rochester and was summoned back to the Twins. In total, he has made 20 starts and pitched 101 innings for the Twins in the past two seasons. Sam Deduno - The enigmatic right-hander had spent time with the Rockies and the Padres in 2010 and 2011, respectively, before the Twins signed him before the 2012 season. Control had plagued him, but he pitched well enough, and the Twins' need was big enough that he got an opportunity. The Twins DFAd him after the season, but then resigned him to a minor league deal. This spring, he was a WBC hero for the Dominican Republic. Unfortunately, he was injured and started the season late. Once he started pitching, it didn't take long for him to get moved up to the Twins. He has gone from walking 6.0 per nine to just 3.4 per nine. He has reduced his HR rate from 1.1 to 0.5. He is looking like a long-term middle of the rotation type. He's now made 29 starts for the Twins and worked 167 innings. Jared Burton - Burton was a very good reliever for the Reds when he was healthy. After missing the majority of two seasons, the Twins signed him to a minor league season. Last year, he was so good in a set up role that the Twins signed him to a two year extension. Although he struggled for a few weeks this season, he has again been very good. He has now pitched in 113 innings in 118 games for the Twins. Casey Fien - Fien had spent time with the Tigers before signing as a minor league free agent before the 2012 season. Though he started off slow at Rochester, he came on very strong for the Red Wings. He was promoted to the Twins and ever since he has been one of the best relievers in the league. In 90 games and 84.1 innings, he has posted a 2.56 ERA and a 0.90 WHIP. Download attachment: Jared Burton 600.jpg I'd say that was a pretty strong minor league free agent class. The 2012 class includes Twins infielder Doug Bernier. At Rochester, Jeff Clement has hit in the middle of the order and Antoan Richardson has been a terrific leadoff hitter. Also consider that Josmil Pinto, Deibinson Romero and Edgar Ibarra all had the opportunity to become free agents last winter but chose to stay with the Twins. Obviously it is not an ideal situation to get so much big league playing time from free minor league free agents. Having three players with ties to independent league, along with a 33-year-old journeyman, and several DFA claims that have played a lot. However, these often are the best stories in baseball as we have seen with Albers, Colabello, Thielbar and others. However, minor league free agency can be an important part of roster building for major league teams. It is one area where the Twins have been quite successful. Click here to view the article

As I'm sitting here on an airplane, I thought it would be cool to write up a blog from like 34,000 feet. Yes, I paid for the wireless, but I don't care. After 90 minute delay in Hartford, we landed in Philadelphia about 15 minutes before the "On Time" flight was to take off for Minneapolis. We immediately boarded, but thanks to storms and delays, we were on the runway for two hours and 15 minutes, the time the flight is supposed to take. Oh well. Makes me realize that on-time departures are vastly under-rated. That got me to thinking that there are at least a handful of Minnesota Twins minor leaguers that we overlook and should recognize. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]Most of these names won't be found on most prospect lists. Here are a few of them: JD Williams - A tenth round pick out of high school in 2010, he has slowly worked his way up to Ft. Myers. He began this season by repeating at Cedar Rapids, which proved to be beneficial for the toolsy outfielder. Coming in to play on Wednesday, Williams was hitting a combined .265/.375/.410 (.786) with 17 doubles six triples and nine home runs. He has stolen 26 bases and improved his defense. As you can see, he is an on-base machine, but the hit tool has made great strides this season as well. Download attachment: JD Williams.jpg Photo by Rinaldi Photos James Beresford - He has been in the Twins farm system for a long time. In fact, he tested minor league free agency this past winter, but he chose to remain with the Twins. We know he won't hit for much power, but he has hit .306/.365/.339 (.704) this season between AA and AAA. All the while, he remains one of, if not the, best defensive shortstops in the organization. Although not likely, it'd be great to see the Australian get a cup of coffee with the Twins in September. Deibinson Romero - You can't help but wonder what would have happened if not for the visa issues that kept Romero in the Dominican Republic throughout spring training. He was coming off of a nice season at AA and had a major league invite. He has played well since going to Rochester about a month into the season. He has hit .278/.379/.456 (.836) with 16 doubles and 13 home runs. He's an adequate defender at third base who walks and shows some power in the upper levels. Zach Larson - The Twins 19th round pick a year ago, the Twins went well over slot to sign him. He began this season crushing GCL pitching and has recently been promoted to Elizabethton where he has hit well. He can hit. He may not run great and have a rocket for an arm, but his bat makes him one to consider and find out more about and then watch going forward. Tyler Grimes - The former 5th round pick struggled last year in the field and with the bat for Beloit. This year, he had to learn a new position (catcher) on the fly. He has one of the strongest arms you'll find behind the plate, and despite being new to it, he has thrown out a strong percentage of would-be base stealers. He's hitting just .245, but has a .370 on base percentage. He's not real big, but he can pack some punch into the ball at times. He's had a very solid year as he's made the transition and it will be interesting to see how he progresses. So, there you have it, five prospects that aren't going to rank real highly on any Top 10 or Top 20 list. In fact, I believe that none of them were even on my Top 50 list before the season. However, that does not mean that they can't surface in the big leagues in some role, even a utility capacity. If nothing else, they do deserve to be noticed. Click here to view the article

Yeah. I mean, I find this stuff fascinating. Clearly these guys all have plans and goals and work on certain things. I liked this part: It speaks into the types of things that they want to see - that we can't see/read in box scores and stat lines - before a player is promoted.

It is a rarity when the Minnesota Twins get a win because of a home run. That was the case though for the hometown nine Thursday night. It was a rarity that occurred several times down through the Twins farm system as there were several big home runs. The Twins got four homers in their win over the Brewers. The Red Wings hit four home runs in their game. The Miracle got three home runs, including a huge, late-inning one. The Kernels had a significant home run in each game of their double header. Of course, you’re going to have to keep reading to find out the specifics. Check out what happened in the Twins minor league system on Thursday:[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Rochester Red Wings 13, Lehigh Valley IronPigs 10 Box Score In his most recent starts, Kyle Gibson had done something that he had not done to that point. He put together two straight good starts. Could he make it a third? Well, he did extend his scoreless innings streak to 20 but after that, the wheels fell off. He gave up three runs in the third inning, and by the time his afternoon was over, he had given up six earned runs on eight hits in six innings. He walked two and struck out six. Aaron Thompson got three outs. Anthony Slama’s 2013 struggles continued. He recorded just one out in the eighth inning and was charged with four runs (3 earned) on three hits and a hit batter. His season ERA is now 17.28. Michael Tonkin came on to make his AAA debut. He threw two pitches and gave up a two-run single before being replaced by Tyler Robertson who got the final two outs of the inning. Shairon Martis came on and gave up one hit in a scoreless inning. Fortunately, the Red Wing bats showed up on this day. Oswaldo Arcia ended an 0-14 stretch since his return to Rochester. He went 4-5 with his third double and fourth home run. Dan Rohlfing went 3-4 (and is now hitting .800 in his two AAA games!). Eric Fryer went 2-3 with two walks. Like the Twins, the Red Wings hit four home runs in this game. Along with Arcia, Clete Thomas (9th), Jeff Clement (7th) and Deibinson Romero (1st) each homered. New Britain Rock Cats 2, Richmond Squirrels 1 Box Score This game took less time than a Cedar Rapids rain delay tonight. The pitchers' duel was completed in two hours and 21 minutes. Pat Dean started and gave up one run on five hits in seven innings. He walked none and struck out three. Blake Martin struck out two in the 8th inning. AJ Achter came on for the 9th frame. He gave up two hits but no runs to record his second save. There was very little offense in this one. The Rock Cats had six hits. However, Danny Ortiz went 2-3 and drove in both runs. Ft. Myers Miracle 7, Bradenton Marauders 4 Box Score The Miracle continue finding ways to win. This was yet another come-from-behind win. Jason Wheeler got the start. The lefty gave up four runs (2 earned) on six hits. In seven innings, he walked two and struck out four. Ryan O’Rourke is back from the DL and continues to play the role of Vulture. He came into the game with the team down a run. Immediately the Miracle came back. He threw two scoreless innings and improved his record to 5-0. Eddie Rosario went 2-4 with his 12th double. Angel Morales hit his fifth homer. Levi Michael hit his second homer. Down 4-3 going into the bottom of the 8th inning, the Miracle scored four runs that inning. The big blow was a three-run blast by Kennys Vargas. Vargas was 2-4 in the game and the Miracle are now 38-14. Looking at the box score, Miguel Sano was removed from the game and replaced by Stephen Wickens. Announcer Brice Zimmerman suspects it was because after the ball got away from the catcher after his second strikeout, Sano did not run down the line. This is similar to the reason Eddie Rosario was benched about a week ago. Doug Mientkiewicz and the Twins are (and should be) sticklers for doing things right, whether you are a star or not. It will be interesting to see if Sano plays on Friday. Game 1 - Cedar Rapids Kernels 5, Clinton LumberKings 3 Box Score This was a comeback game in a couple of ways. First, after four innings, this game had a significant rain delay. Nearly three hours later, the teams returned to the field. Tyler Duffey threw four shutout innings before the delay. He had given up five hits, walked none and struck out five. When the game resumed, Steve Gruver came on. He gave up three runs on five hits and a walk in 1.1 innings. He left the game with runners on and the team down 3-2. Alex Muren came on and threw one pitch. That was all he needed to get a ground ball double play. In the bottom of the 6th, Tyler Grimes launched a three-run homer to give the Kernels the lead. The timing made Muren a winner with that one pitch. David Hulbut relieved in the 7th to get the save. Byron Buxton went 2-3 with a walk and his 24th stolen base and was thrown out for the ninth time. Adam Walker added his fifth triple. Photo by Rinaldi Photos Game 2 - Cedar Rapids Kernels 3, Clinton LumberKings 2 Box Score Hein Robb had to wait through that extended first game to make his Midwest League debut. The southpaw from South Africa went the first three innings. He gave up two runs on four hits and a walk. He was replaced by Tyler Jones who gave up a hit and three walks in two scoreless innings. Josue Montanez worked the final two innings and recorded a strikeout to end the game. Dalton Hicks hit a double and twice drove in Byron Buxton. However, it was yet another big home run that was the difference-maker. This time, it was Travis Harrison. The third baseman hit a deep home run to center field in the fourth inning to give the Kernels the 3-2 lead that they were able to hold on to. It was Harrison’s ninth home run of the year. The Kernels are now 33-19 after the double-header sweep. Please feel free to comment or ask questions below. View full article

On Wednesday night, the Ft. Myers Miracle were swept out of the Florida State League playoffs by Charlotte. On Thursday night, the Cedar Rapids Kernels, the best team in the Midwest League in 2013, lost to the Quad Cities River Bandits for the second straight night to end their season. Such is the randomness of a best of three playoff series after a 140 game season. Rochester also lost on Pawtucket on Thursday night. The loss evened the series at a game a piece. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]That turns a best of five series into a best of three series. Unfortunately, after playing the first two games at home, the Red Wings will now head to Rhode Island for the rest of the series. Rochester Red Wings 2, Pawtucket Red Sox 7 Box Score The game started with two scoreless innings. However, Pawtucket got to PJ Walters for two runs in the third inning. That was followed by three unearned runs in the fourth inning. Logan Darnell came in and got the final out of the fourth inning, and then in the fifth inning gave up two unearned runs, though the error was his own. Walters was charged with the five runs (2 earned) in 3.2 innings. He gave up six hits, walked three and struck out two. Darnell gave up the two unearned runs on two hits in 2.1 innings. He didn't walk anyone and struck out four. Edgar Ibarra came on and gave up just one hit over two shutout innings. Shairon Martis struck out one in a 1-2-3 inning. Offensively, the Red Wings did little. They did score two runs off rehabbing starter Clay Buchholz. In fact, they had four hits and walked twice against the Red Sox starter. Unfortunately that was about it. They managed just three more hits the rest of the game. The Red Wings had seven hits in the game. Ray Olmedo had three of, and Eduardo Escobar had two more. What's Next? Lefty Pat Dean will take the mound in Pawtucket on Friday night opposite Steven Wright in Game 3. Cedar Rapids Kernels 2, Quad Cities River Bandits 4 Box Score Four batters into this game, things could not have been going any better for the Kernels. Right-hander Tim Shibuya struck out the side in the top of the 1st inning. Then, Jonathan Murphy led off the bottom of the 1st inning with a solo home run. It was all downhill from there, and the Kernels' season ended with an 88-52 record after being swept by the River Bandits. Download attachment: Jonathan Murphy CR.jpg Photo by SD Buhr Shibuya went the first six innings, but he was chanrged with four runs on nine hits. He walked two and struck out five. Mason Melotakis came on and threw two scoreless innings. Brian Gilbert threw a perfect ninth. Unfortunately, the Kernels were able to muster only four hits. Murphy's home run was one. The Kernels also had three doubles, one each by Michael Gonzales, Joel Licon and Jorge Polanco. Polanco scored the second run on a ground out by Max Kepler. The game wasn't without controversy. With a runner on in the 4th inning, Adam Walker blasted a ball down the left field line. The ball was called foul, though onlookers (including SD Buhr) are convinced the ball was well fair. A two-run homer in this two-run game proved pretty large! For at least two more days, we will have a Minor League Report. As long as the Rochester Red Wings are in the playoffs, we'll continue to post updates. When they're done, a lot of minor league coverage will be set into motion, so be sure to continue checking out Twins Daily for much more Twins minor league coverage throughout the offseason. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Seths Prospect Handbook.jpg Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook 2012 – Now Available as an e-book for $6.99 by clicking here. You can, of course, still get the print version for $13.99 by clicking here. Today, we will conclude our Organizational Depth Chart by looking at the Relief Pitchers. Frankly, it is kind of a mess thanks to about 89 minor league veterans brought in, so it will be interesting to see how that plays out. As I said on Monday, many starters will get time as a reliever, and vice versa. This is especially true in the lower levels of the minor leagues where innings limits are still so important. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] The Twins bullpen in 2011 was pretty much horrible. They had lost Jesse Crain and Matt Guerrier, both guys who had long been in the Twins bullpen. They also let Jon Rauch and Brian Fuentes, and Ron Mahay departed via free agency. Each made huge money for relievers in free agency. As I’ve said, I would have wanted to bring back Crain, but I definitely understood letting the others go. The Twins brought in some minor league free agents, but as they had done so many times before, they made the decision to build a bullpen from within. Needing two or three pitchers to step up, only Glen Perkins really stepped up throughout the season. Anthony Swarzak was a surprise success as well in long relief and as a spot starter. Joe Nathan struggled in his return. Matt Capps just struggled. Two pitchers that likely would have been counted on to perform, Jeff Manship and Anthony Slama were out most of the season with injuries. Had those two been healthy all season, it could have been a better situation. To the surprise of many, the Twins seem to have gone with much the same philosophy in 2012. Instead of going after retread relievers, they are choosing to believe in their in-house options. They brought back Capps, are taking a flyer on Joel Zumaya, and have invited a small village of minor league veteran pitchers with some big league experience. All in the attempt to hope that three or four of them step up. It’s a philosophy I completely agree with despite the fact that it went very wrong in 2011. Then again, pretty much everything went wrong for the Twins in 2011. Fortunately 2012 is a new year. You can clamor for guys like Dan Wheeler and Chad Qualls and Todd Coffey all you want. Or you can realize that they all struggled early in their careers and didn’t become big league regulars until late in their careers. They didn’t succeed in their first opportunities in the big leagues, and they have all had their struggles in the big leagues even after being given regular bullpen duties. So, although I am incredibly nervous about the Twins bullpen, and don’t have any idea how they will perform in 2012, I do think they have some talent, some young talent that should continue to get opportunities. That’s just smart. Relievers who are good year in and year out are a rarity. Are there a dozen in the entire big leagues that you could say have been lights out, have been difference-makers each of the past five seasons? (I’ll give you Mariano Rivera… you name another 10.) Because of that, bringing in 26-30 year olds with good arms and some measure of success makes a lot of sense to me. Below you will get a look at the names of many Twins minor league pitchers who will likely spend a lot of time in bullpens this upcoming season. I need to reiterate that these are just my thoughts. I have no insider information to know where players will be playing for certain in 2012. Obviously after spring training, some of these players will be let go. There will be Disabled List players, extended spring training and more. Minnesota Twins Matt Capps (RHP), Glen Perkins (LHP), Joel Zumaya (RHP), Brian Duensing (LHP), Alex Burnett (RHP), Anthony Swarzak (RHP), Jeff Gray (RHP), Terry Doyle (RHP-R5) Some Twins fans choose to say that Matt Capps has been pretty bad in two of the last three years. Since it’s less than two weeks before spring training, so I’ll say that he’s been really good in four of his last six seasons! If healthy, he’ll be solid at the end of games. I think Glen Perkins proved himself throughout the 2011 season to believe he can be a dominant lefty reliever again in 2012. Brian Duensing likely moves to the bullpen. He is one of baseball’s best at getting left-handed hitters out, but one of the worst at getting right-handers out. Joel Zumaya hasn’t pitched since 2010, and hasn’t pitched a full season since 2006, but I guess there is a chance he could be really good for half of the season! Anthony Swarzak is out of options and he really proved himself in long-relief and spot-starting last year. He could find himself being thrown into more high leverage situations in 2012. Alex Burnett has the arguably the best stuff in the bullpen and hopefully he will be able to put it all together. He won’t turn 25 until late July. If Terry Doyle pitches fairly well in spring training, I believe that he will make the team. If a starter is hurt, he could be the guy to make some starts early in the season, or he could be a long reliever. I also believe that Jeff Gray will make this roster as well. He is on the 40 man roster and out of options. Rochester Red Wings Anthony Slama (RHP), Carlos Gutierrez (RHP), Lester Oliveros (RHP), Cole DeVries (RHP), Deolis Guerra (RHP), Kyle Waldrop (RHP), Esmerling Vazquez (RHP), Tyler Robertson (LHP), Jared Burton (RHP), Jason Bulger (RHP), Samuel Deduno (RHP), Phil Dumatrait (LHP), Casey Fien (RHP), Luis Perdomo (RHP), Daryl Thompson (RHP), PJ Walters (RHP), Brendan Wise (RHP), Luke French (LHP), Brad Thompson (RHP), Matt Maloney (LHP) What a mess spring training will be? The Twins will have to play a few split-squad games to get all of these guys innings. Inexplicably, Anthony Slama has never been given a shot by the Twins despite 10.3 K/9 and a 2.59 ERA in 92 AAA appearances. I think Lester Oliveros has a chance to be pretty good but he needs more time. The Twins don’t need to rush him (like they did with Alex Burnett). The Twins claimed Vazquez from the Diamondbacks on the last day of the 2011 season. He’s a hard-thrower with control issues. The same can be said for Deduno and Perdomo. Kyle Waldrop finally got a shot with the Twins in September and he should be given a very legitimate opportunity to make the Twins opening day roster and get time throughout the season with the Twins. The two non-roster invites that have a legitimate chance of making the big league roster early in the season are Jared Burton and Jason Bulger. Each has had quite a bit of big league success. Burton has been hurt much of the past two seasons. Bulger spent a long time with the Angels. Phil Dumatrait got way too much time with the Twins last year. Carlos Gutierrez and Tyler Robertson were added to the 40 man roster this offseason. Gutierrez made the move to the bullpen last year and pitched pretty well until shoulder issues. Still walks too many though. Robertson was terrific in the second half of last season as the New Britain closer. The lefty may not throw hard, but he was quite successful in his first season in the bullpen. Cole DeVries had a tremendous 2011 including a very good performance in the hitting Arizona Fall League. Matt Maloney is on the 40 man roster. The left-hander was brought in before Terry Ryan was named GM, but as a former Reds pitcher, it is likely that he was recommended by Wayne Krivsky, which makes him intriguing. He is on the 40 man roster and out of options, but there is a chance he could go unclaimed. Non-roster invites Burton, Bulger, Deduno, Dumatrait, Fien, Perdomo, Walters, French and the two Thompsons all have spent some time in the big leagues. Liam Hendriks said in a recent podcast that Brendan Wise is similar to Kyle Waldrop in terms of ability to get a lot of ground balls. The Aussie has been very good in AAA the last two years. Finally, it is a huge year for Deolis Guerra. After being really bad as a starting pitcher, he moved to the New Britain bullpen last year and was incredible. Suddenly he had better control, gave up less hits and struck out more than a batter an inning. How will he perform in AAA in 2012? It will be interesting to watch. I suspect we will see him by season’s end. He has one option left. New Britain Rock Cats Matt Hauser (RHP), Andrew Albers (LHP), Brett Jacobson (RHP), Daniel Turpen (RHP), Tony Davis (LHP), Blake Martin (LHP), Cole Nelson (LHP), Spencer Steedley (LHP), Ricky Bowen (RHP), Jhon Garcia (RHP), Bruce Pugh (RHP), Dakota Watts (RHP), Steve Hirschfeld (RHP) Will any of the leftovers from the Twins minor league signings move down to AA? We shall see. Matt Hauser ended the 2011 season with one appearance with the Rock Cats. He is a hard-throwing right hander who I think will be a big breakout candidate in 2012. Andrew Albers was the story of the year in the Twins system last year and my choice for Twins Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Year. Brett Jacobson, Blake Martin and Spencer Steedley spent 2011 in New Britain, each splitting time between the rotation and the bullpen. Turpen came over from Colorado in the Kevin Slowey deal. He throws hard and side-arm but gets no strikeouts. Bruce Pugh and Dakota Watts both had disappointing 2011 seasons between Ft. Myers and New Britain. Each struggled in the Arizona Fall League. But each throws really hard and if they can find any measure of control, they are legit prospects. Hirschfeld was my choice for Twins minor league pitcher of the month in both April and May. He struggled in June and moved to the bullpen, which is likely where he’ll wind up. Tony Davis is not a big guy, but he throws left-handed and touches 94-95 mph. He missed about half of last season with a shoulder surgery. He will be ready for spring training. Cole Nelson is a Minnesota native who came over from Detroit in the Delmon Young trade. Ricky Bowen signed with the Twins in May and did a nice job pitching out of the Ft. Myers bullpen. Jhon Garcia throws hard and can pitch in any role in the bullpen and spot start. Ft. Myers Miracle Jose Gonzalez (LHP), Michael Tonkin (RHP), Clinton Dempster (RHP), Bart Carter (LHP), Nelvin Fuentes (LHP), Edgar Ibarra (LHP), Kane Holbrooks (RHP), Matt Schuld (RHP), Brad Stillings (RHP), Caleb Thielbar (LHP), Blayne Weller (RHP), Miguel Munoz (RHP) Jose Gonzalez was the closer in Beloit last year. He’ll likely continue in that role with the Miracle. He’s not tall and resembles Jose Mijares, but he throws hard and has a terrific slider. Michael Tonkin moved to the bullpen in 2011 and pitched very well. Dempster was terrific in the bullpen for Beloit but struggled upon his promotion to Ft. Myers. Carter dominated in Elizabethton and then pitched very well for the Snappers. A four year college guy, he should be pushed. Nelvin Fuentes has been pitching well for Puerto Rico in international competition. He has also steadily moved up the Twins system. The lefty works slow but he gets hitters out. Edgar Ibarra struggled in the Miracle rotation last year but finished strong in the bullpen. Kane Holbrooks had a tremendous 2010 season that saw him pitch well in Beloit, Ft. Myers and New Britain. 2011 was disappointing. He pitched well with no run support in April, but then he really struggled. He then missed the last couple of months. St. Thomas alum Matt Schuld pitched very well in Ft. Myers and then threw pretty well in New Britain. I only have him in Ft. Myers because of the numbers crunch at the higher levels. Caleb Thielbar became the first player the Twins signed from the St. Paul Saints and pitched in a few games for the Miracle. Blayne Weller pitched in the bullpen in Beloit although he ended the season pitching well as a starter. Miguel Munoz made his first start last year with the Miracle, hurt his elbow and then didn’t pitch again until late in the season. In his return to the Miracle, he re-aggravated the elbow injury and was shut down. Reports indicate that he did not have elbow surgery and rehabbed throughout the offseason. Beloit Snappers Corey Williams (LHP), Steve Evans (LHP), Steven Gruver (LHP), Jason Wheeler (LHP), David Hurlbut (LHP), Corey Kimes (LHP), Garrett Jewell (RHP), Cole Johnson (RHP), Tobias Streich (RHP), Jhonatan Arias (RHP). Corey Williams was the Twins 3rd round pick just a year ago. The lefty signed for nearly double the slot recommendation. But the Twins are quite excited about him. He’s another hard thrower, said to have nasty stuff and a strong mentality. Evans, Gruver, Hurlbut and Johnson were all 2011 draft picks out of college that pitched well at Elizabethton during the summer. Kimes pitched in just a couple of games before suffering from mono. Jason Wheeler was the team’s 8th round pick and signed at the deadline. He will debut in 2012. Tobias Streich and Jhonatan Arias were both strong-armed catchers without much bat. Last year at Instructs, the two were moved from behind the plate to the mound. The Twins have done this in the past with mixed results. Tim Lahey was drafted as a catcher, but a year later he moved to the mound, and although he didn’t get to the big leagues, he spent 3 years in AAA as a reliever. Danny Santiesteban was an outfielder with a bunch of tools in the lower levels of the Twins system for a few years. He was moved to the mound but was released soon after. (By the way, Santiesteban has been a hitting star for the Newark Bears of the independent leagues the last couple of years.) Elizabethton Twins Luis Nunez (LHP), Ricardo Arevalo (RHP), Nathan Fawbush (RHP), Tyler Herr (RHP), Gonzalo Sanudo (RHP), Markus Solbach (RHP) Luis Nunez went 5-0 with 5 saves and a 1.67 ERA in 16 relief appearances in the GCL. The 20-year-old lefty throws gas with decent (but improving) secondary stuff. He is certainly one to watch. Tyler Herr is a tall right-hander who showed improvement in his second year in the GCL. Arevalo has gone 0-11 with a 4.37 ERA in 25 games over the past two years in the GCL. Nathan Fawbush is another tall kid with a lot of talent, but he has missed time each of the past two seasons since the Twins drafted him. Sanudo signed with the Twins in 2011 and in 20.2 innings in the GCL, he walked seven and struck out 22. He just turned 20. Markus Solbach signed about this time last year from Germany, and he went 3-3 with a 1.91 ERA in 28.1 innings in the GCL. He also pitched well in the World Cup. GCL Twins Josh Burris (RHP), Josue Montanez (LHP), Gerardo Ramirez (RHP) The Twins signed Ramirez last year out of Mexico and threw 17.1 innings in the GCL. He just turned 18. Montanez just turned 20 years old. He signed with the Twins last year as their 15th round pick a year after being taken in the 25th round in 2010 by the Padres. His first outing didn’t go well, and then he was really good his next seven outings. Josh Burris signed very late with the Twins last year out of LSU-Eunice. Last year, he played some 2B and some in the outfield. He hit .273 with a triple and a homer and stole 13 bases. He also was a reliever who walked too many. However, he hits 94 mph on the radar gun and is best known for his great 12-6 curveball. TOP THREE (OR SO…) PROSPECTS Corey Williams, 2.) Matt Hauser, 3.) Lester Oliveros, 4.) Deolis Guerra, 5.) Carlos Gutierrez, 6.) Luis Nunez, 7.) Tyler Robertson, 8.) Dakota Watts, 9.) Bruce Pugh 10.) Steven EvansSUMMARY The Twins bullpen was really bad last year. I don’t think there is any way around that. Glen Perkins stepped up, and once he was called up, Anthony Swarzak pitched well. If the Twins have any hope at being successful in 2012, they are going to need a few more guys to really step up. Capps is going to have to be healthy and pitch well. Zumaya may have to be healthy and successful. Duensing will have to fill the role of lefty-reliever. They brought in a bunch of minor league veterans, and it would be great if one or two of them would step up and contribute when called upon. There are several Twins minor leaguers who deserve an opportunity to step up, guys like Waldrop, Gutierrez, DeVries and even Anthony Slama. The Twins have made an effort to bring in some strong arms, and in doing so have found guys who also walk a bunch. In recent drafts, the Twins have also added some power arms to mixed results. Guys like Matt Hauser and Tony Davis could move up. 2011 draft picks Corey Williams, Matt Summers, Madison Boer, Trent Higginbotham and Josh Burris throw hard. Oh, and remember a couple of years ago when the Twins had something like three or four left-handed relievers in their entire farm system? Now, it appears that each team may have three or four lefties! There is definitely some talent in the bullpen, some very strong arms. Of course, we also have to remember that many starting pitchers who have decent stuff and aren’t working out as starters could be moved to the bullpen as well. If you have any further questions, please feel free to e-mail me at sethspeaksnet@hotmail.com or leave your thoughts in the Comments Section! Click here to view the article

The Twins lost the second game of the Target Field series against the Brewers. Be sure to check out the article by Twins Daily’s Parker Hageman who was on the scene and filed a very nice story on the game. Starting on Tuesday, this Twins minor league report will be expanding. On Monday, the Twins Gulf Coast League team will be playing their first game. Will it be the professional debut of first round pick Byron Buxton? Late on Saturday night, the Elizabethton Twins players and coaches boarded a bus and started their trek to Tennessee. By the time you read this on Sunday morning, the bus may soon be arriving in Elizabethton after an estimated 13 hour drive. I believe I have the E-Twins roster and plan to write up a season preview for the team tomorrow. Here is a look at the Twins minor league scores and highlights from Saturday day:[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] ROCHESTER 5, LOUISVILLE 11 Unfortunately for the Red Wings, this game got out of control pretty quickly. Matt Maloney got the start. The lefty gave up nine runs (8 earned) on eight hits and three walks in 3.2 innings. Three of the hits went for home runs, including a homer by Corky Miller and a rehabbing Scott Rolen. Brendan Wise came in and gave up one run on four hits over the next 2.1 innings. Kyle Waldrop gave up one run on a hit and two walks in two innings. JR Towles led the offense by going 2-3 with a walk and his 12th double. Clete Thomas hit a two-run homer in the 9th, his fourth with the Red Wings. NEW BRITAIN 1, ERIE 4 BJ Hermsen was back on the mound for the Rock Cats on Saturday. The right-hander gave up four runs on seven hits and a walk in six innings. He struck out just one. Daniel Turpen came in and threw two scoreless innings. He gave up two hits and walked two batters, but he also struck out two. Luis Perdomo struck out one in a perfect ninth frame. Nate Hanson had another strong game. He was 2-4 with his tenth double. Rene Tosoni also had two hits. Chris Herrmann went 1-3 with a walk. FT. MYERS – All Star Game The midseason All Star game for the Florida State League was played on Saturday night. Josmil Pinto started at catcher for the south squad and batted seventh. He was 0-1 in his one plate appearance. Oswaldo Arcia entered the game as a replacement and went 0-2. Danny Santana played shortstop the last half of the game. He was 0-1 but walked once, scored two runs and stole two bases. Ricky Bowen came in to pitch the eighth inning and went 1-2-3. He was the winning pitcher in the game. BELOIT 3, BURLINGTON 11 Things definitely got started poorly for the Snappers in this game. Jason Wheeler was on the mound, and he gave up seven runs (just four earned) on seven this in five innings. He walked two and struck out three. He was hurt by errors, to be sure. Tim Shibuya came in and gave up two runs (1 earned) on three hits in two innings. Bart Carter gave up two runs on four hits in his inning. He struck out two. Clinton Dempster then pitched a perfect ninth inning. Adam Bryant led the offense. In four at bats, he had a single, his tenth double and his second triple of the season. On Sunday, the first 500 fans in Beloit will get a Miguel Sano Wobblehead! --- Players of the Day for Saturday, June 16, 2012 Hitter of the Day – Adam Bryant Download attachment: Adam Bryant.jpg Pitcher of the Day – Ricky Bowen Download attachment: Ricky Bowen.jpg --- A Look Ahead – Sunday, June 17, 2012 Schedule Rochester @ Indianapolis – RHP Sam Deduno New Britain vs Erie – LHP Andrew Albers Ft. Myers – All Star Break Beloit vs Burlington – RHP Matt Summers --- If you have any questions or comments on the Twins minor league system, players, teams, etc., leave them in the Comments and I’ll try to answer them! Click here to view the article

Over this past weekend, about 24,000 Twins fans made the trek to the Metrodome for Twins Fest. The annual event is a tremendous fund raiser for the Twins Community Fund, but it is also an opportunity for Twins fans to start getting themselves ready and excited about the upcoming season. It’s been a long offseason for Twins fans, so being able to enter the Dome and see many of their favorite current, former or future Twins can be a great experience for those that collect autographs or for those that just want to be surrounded by baseball. It is also an opportunity for players in the Twins organization to see their teammates from last year and meet players new to the organization. One of the new guys was hard-throwing Trevor May who came to the Twins organization in December from the Phillies in the Ben Revere trade.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] “It’s going to take me awhile to remember some names, but it’ll come, I guess.” May made the trip on Friday from Seattle, where he grew up a Mariners fan. When the 2008 fourth-round draft pick, it wasn’t an easy decision to sign with the Phillies. He was the valedictorian at his high school (Kelso HS in Kelso, Washington) and had a scholarship to Stanford. But after consulting with his family, he decided to sign. He quickly became one of the best prospects in the Phillies organization. Before the 2012 season, he was the team’s top prospect, according to Baseball America. In 2012, he struggled some in his first season at AA Reading. He went 10-13 with a 4.87 ERA and a 1.45 WHIP in 28 starts that covered 149.2 innings. However, he was inconsistent. In April, he went 5-0 with a 2.40 ERA. However, over the next three months, he went 3-8 with a 6.19 ERA. He ended the season by posting a 3.53 ERA in six August starts. How does he evaluate his season? “I started great. I stumbled a little bit. I look back at it as growing pains, and I thought I was a much better pitcher the end of the year. Even with the numbers at the beginning of the year, much better at the end than the beginning. All in all, it was a success. It might not have seemed that way on paper because the stumbling lasted a little longer than I would have liked. But I feel like I’m definitely closer to my goal than I was going into last year.” How did he feel about being traded? “It’s a cool thing, but it’s always a double-sided coin. Being traded, you have to leave all the guys you’ve played with for five years in the organization that drafted you. The game is a business. It’s kind of an honor to be traded for because someone must think highly of you and I’m excited to start in a Twins uniform.” May was added to the 40 man roster of the Phillies an offseason ago. That means that he will be going to Twins spring training in a couple of weeks in Ft. Myers. There, he will join (and be roommates with) Alex Meyer, the hard-throwing righty that the Twins acquired from the Nationals in the Denard Span trade. Regarding spring training, manager Ron Gardenhire will deliver a clear message to the two newcomers: “I just don’t want them to do too much. I really just want those young men to come in and grab the ball. That’s the first thing my pitching coach is going to tell them and I’m going to tell them, ‘You throw 95. Don’t try to throw 105. Come out. Relax. Do the work. Watch. Keep your eyes open. Keep your ears open. Keep your mouth shut. Pay attention to the veterans. Let them do their thing and learn.’ And then we’ll see at the end of spring training when I’m knocking on Terry (Ryan’s) door trying to keep both of them.” Clarity will be good as May isn’t quite sure what to expect from Twins training camp. “I don’t really know what to expect. I am kind of going in a bit blind, but I plan on being in the best shape I’ve ever been in and game-ready from day one. (I want to) show where I’m at, and all the progress I’ve made this offseason. I want to compete for a spot because that is what you’re there for. See where it goes from there.” Those of you that follow May on Twitter know that he also keeps himself busy in his free time by producing some of his own music and DJing under the name DJ Hey Beef. So, I had to ask him what turned out to be a simple question. Are you a baseball player who plays music, or are you a music guy who plays baseball? May left no question with his answer. “I’m a baseball guys that play music, let me make that very clear. People confuse that line a little bit. NO, I play music for pure fun. I’m not going on tour, or releasing an album or anything. I’d always been into music. I had obnoxious amounts of music on my ipod.” He has been able to turn a passion of his into a little side-job, “When you play ball and you’re not at the field, you have a lot of down time. I started to mess around with some programs and taught myself the last couple of years. Then I bought myself some equipment and then some more equipment. Then I got some gigs. Now I have some stuff I do very regularly in Seattle, just to make a little cash on the side. It’s fun.” He has changed his stage name to MAZR (a combination word combining his name with the word laser and then used some creative spelling). But make no mistake, May is a baseball player with the stuff to be very good at baseball. He throws a sinking four-seam fastball and a sinker. He also has a sharp 12-6 curveball and has made the circle changeup a strong part of his pitch repertoire. He is now working on a hard slider, as well. Who does he try to emulate as a pitcher? “I kind of emulate or think of myself similar to, and if I were as good as this person, I’d be doing pretty well, Matt Cain. Similar stuff. Similar velocities. Similar movement. I throw a big curveball. He doesn’t. But we’re pretty similar in kind of how we approach games. All I’ve got to do is get his command and I think I’ll be OK.” What does he know about the Twins? “(The) Twins have always been a great organization with a winning tradition. Maybe down a little the last couple of years, but I know that all the guys in the clubhouse have won, and are going to do it again. It’s definitely a great organization to be a part of.” He changed his stage name to get a fresh start. He also is getting a fresh start with the Twins and this spring he will be looking to make a name for himself. Twins Daily’s Seth Stohs was reporting from Twins Fest and able to talk to several players as well as the manager. Check back to Twins Daily throughout the week for more reports from Twins Fest. View full article

The Twins were pretty well dominated by the Red Sox on Tuesday night, losing 11-2. Nick Blackburn was crushed. Matt Maloney was crushed. The offense didn’t come through. There was even some bad defense. Its’ a good thing that there are plenty of positive things going on in the Twins farm system to give us positive stuff to talk about! Here is a look at the Twins minor league scores and highlights from Tuesday: [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] ROCHESTER, SYRACUSE The Red Wings were rained out on Tuesday night, but they still made some news. Tsuyoshi Nishioka was put on the 7-Day Disabled List with a high ankle sprain. Also, Ben Revere will be promoted to the Twins to take Josh Willingham’s place on the roster while the power hitter is gone on paternity leave. Best wishes to Josh and his wife Ginger! NEW BRITAIN 7, PORTLAND 6 Logan Darnell had a rough start and put the Rock Cats in a bad place early in the game. It took quite the comeback, but the team got a big, walk-off win in this one. Darnell started and gave up six runs on eight hits and four walks in just three innings. Lester Oliveros gave up a hit and a walk in his two scoreless innings. Brett Jacobson walked three in two scoreless innings. He struck out two. Deolis Guerra continues his mastery of the bullpen. He went two scoreless innings and struck out five. He is now 2-0 with an ERA at 0.74 ERA. Chris Herrmann led the offense by going 2-4 with a walk, his second home run, three runs scored and two RBI. Deibinson Romero was 2-5. Danny Lehmann was 2-4. The Rock Cats scored five runs in the bottom of the 7th inning to tie the game. Then with two runners on and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Nate Hanson hit a game-winnings, walk-off double. FT. MYERS MIRACLE 7, ST. LUCIE 1 BJ Hermsen finally was credited with his first win of the season. The righty gave up just one run on seven hits in five innings. He walked one and struck out two. Matt Hauser came in and struck out three in three scoreless innings. Ricky Bowen struck out two in a perfect ninth. Danny Santana went 3-5 with his third double. Levi Michael was 3-4 with a walk and his first triple. Angel Morales was 2-5 with his third double and forth stolen base. Michael Gonzales was 2-5 with his second home run in as many games. Josmil Pinto was 1-3 with a walk and three RBI. BELOIT 8, WEST MICHIGAN 0 The Snappers grabbed an early lead, but then they added five runs in the 7th inning to break away. Danny Ortiz led the offense. He was 3-5 with his third double and four RBI. He is now hitting .304. Eddie Rosario was 2-5 with his sixth double and is now hitting .324. Wang-Wei Lin was 2-3 with two walks and his second double. AJ Pettersen was 2-3 with a walk and his first stolen base. Tim Shibuya was the recipient of the great run support. He recorded his first win of the year. He went 5.2 innings and gave up no runs on eight hits. He walked one and struck out five. AJ Achter came into the game with two outs in the 6th inning and got the final out with the bases loaded via a strikeout. Achter reduced his ERA to 0.77 by throwing a scoreless 7th inning too. Nelvin Fuentes and Clint Dempster each pitched a scoreless inning. --- Players of the Day for Tuesday, April 24, 2012 Hitter of the Day – Danny Ortiz Download attachment: DannyOrtiz.jpg Pitcher of the Day – Tim Shibuya Download attachment: TimShibuya3.jpg --- A Look Ahead – Wednesday, April 25, 2012 Schedule Rochester vs Syracuse – RHP Daryl Thompson New Britain vs Portland – LHP Luke French Ft. Myers vs Palm Beach – RHP Adrian Salcedo Beloit vs Bowling Green – LHP Jason Wheeler --- If you have any questions or comments on the Twins minor league system, players, teams, etc., leave them in the Comments and I’ll try to answer them! Click here to view the article

As I type this, the Twins and the Red Sox are sitting at 5-5 heading into the 8th inning. Who knows how long that game will go. All three Twins minor league games were in the Eastern time zone, so those games are all complete. Here is a look at the Twins minor league scores and highlights from Sunday: ROCHESTER RED WINGS Rochester residents were the recipient of three inches of snow when they woke up on Monday morning. Fortunately, the Red Wings did not have a scheduled game. Syracuse is scheduled to come to town on Tuesday. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] NEW BRITAIN 3, PORTLAND 5 Steve Hirschfeld started and gave up five runs on eight hits in 5.2 innings. He walked three and struck out three. Blake Martin, David Bromberg and Luis Perdomo went the final 3.1 innings, keeping the Rock Cats within striking distance. The Rock Cats offense just wasn’t able to put enough together. Estarlin de Los Santos went 2-5 with his second stolen base. Evan Bigley was also 2-5. Pedro Florimon was 1-2 with two walks. Chris Herrmann and Nate Hanson each hit a double. FT. MYERS MIRACLE 6, ST. LUCIE 10 Jhon Garcia was given a spot start for the Miracle, something he has done occasionally throughout his professional career. He gave up three runs (1 earned) on five hits. He walked none and struck out one. Miguel Munoz came in and made his first appearance of the season. He gave up three runs on four hits in just one inning. Edgar Ibarra then gave up four runs on six hits and two walks in just two innings. The Miracle bats showed up and showed plenty of power, but it just wasn’t enough in this game. Jairo Perez went 1-3 with a walk and his seventh double. Lance Ray was 1-3 with his third home run. Danny Santana hit his second home run. Michael Gonzales hit his first home run of the season. BELOIT 1, WEST MICHIGAN 6 The Snappers bats and gloves both didn’t appear to show up to the ball park on Monday night. The team committed five errors in this game. They only had six hits. Miguel Sano was 1-3 with a walk and his fourth double. Matt Koch also doubled. Steven Gruver started and gave up four runs (1 earned) on five hits in five innings. He struck out three. Michael Tonkin and Bart Carter each threw a scoreless inning. Corey Williams gave up two runs on two hits and a walk in his inning. He struck out three. --- Players of the Day for Monday, April 23, 2012 Hitter of the Day – Lance Ray Download attachment: LanceRay.jpg Pitcher of the Day – Jhon Garcia Download attachment: Jhon Garcia.jpg --- A Look Ahead – Tuesday, April 24, 2012 Schedule Rochester vs Syracuse – RHP Daryl Thompson New Britain vs Portland – LHP Logan Darnell Ft. Myers @ St. Lucie – RHP BJ Hermsen Beloit @ West Michigan – RHP Tim Shibuya --- If you have any questions or comments on the Twins minor league system, players, teams, etc., leave them in the Comments and I’ll try to answer them! Click here to view the article

The Twins and Red Sox are battling in a suddenly-close game in the late innings of the final game of what has been an immensely frustrating series for the Twins and their fans. Which is another good reason to follow the Twins minor league games. There’s always plenty of positive to be taken from the games, even if three of the four Twins affiliates lost. Here is a look at the Twins minor league scores and highlights from Wednesday: [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] ROCHESTER 5, SYRACUSE 10 The Red Wings hadn’t played for two days due to a scheduled day off and a rain-out, and it showed somewhat on Wednesday against the Nationals’ AAA affiliate. Daryl Thompson started and gave up four runs on five hits and four walks in five innings. He struck out four. Anthony Slama came in and struck out the side in the 6th and another in a scoreless 7th. Tyler Robertson had a rough one. He didn’t get anyone out and gave up four runs on three hits and a walk. Brendan Wise got out of the 7th and also pitched the eighth. He gave up two unearned runs on three hits in those two innings. Darin Mastroianni led the offense. He went 3-4 with a walk and stole two bases. Ray Chang was 2-4. Matt Carson went 1-3 with two walks. Aaron Bats got on three times via the walk. The Red Wings were especially hurt by the long ball. In this game, former big leaguers Mark Teahen and Jason Michaels each hit a grand slam. Bryce Harper was 1-3 with a walk and a, ahem… sacrifice bunt. The Twins did sign veteran Joe Thurstonand he reported to Rochester. You can also follow him on Twitter. NEW BRITAIN 3, PORTLAND 7 Luke French was back on the mound for the Rock Cats in a Wednesday morning game. The lefty went 6.1 innings and gave up two runs on seven hits. He walked none and struck out four. Daniel Turpen pitched well until the ninth. In all, he gave up four runs on six hits in 2.1 innings. He walked none and struck out three. Bobby Lanigan gave up an unearned run on one hit and got the final out. James Beresford went 2-3. Estarlin de Los Santos and Chris Colabello each hit a double. Nate Hanson walked twice. FT. MYERS MIRACLE 2, PALM BEACH 6 It’s been a struggle for the talented Adrian Salcedo this early season and his Wednesday start was very rough. In just 2.2 innings, he gave up six earned runs on five hits. Most concerning, he walked five batters which is alarming because he has always displayed very good control. Jose Gonzalez struck out two in 2.1 scoreless innings. Bruce Pugh struck out two in three scoreless, hitless innings. Caleb Thielbar pitched another scoreless inning. The Miracle managed just four hits in the game. Jairo Perez hit his second home run of the season. BELOIT 9, BOWLING GREEN 3 The Snappers returned home from West Michigan to take on Bowling Green on Wednesday night. The offense certainly showed up and scored nine runs. What is most impressive is that the offense scored nine runs despite the 3-4-5 hitters (Sano-Rosario-Ortiz) combining to go 1-11 in the game. Eight-hitter Jairo Rodriguez led the way. He went 3-4 with his third double and three RBI. Ninth hitter, AJ Pettersen, was 2-3 with his second double and two RBI. Lead-off man, Wang-Wei Lin, was 2-5 with his third double and two RBI. Adam Bryant (2nd hitter) drove in the other two runs. Tyler Grimes added a triple. Jason Wheeler improved to 2-0 with a Quality Start. He gave up three runs on 10 hits in six innings. He walked none and struck out two. Michael Tonkin was perfect for two innings. Corey Williams struck out two (and walked one) in a scoreless ninth. --- Players of the Day for Wednesday, April 25, 2012 Hitter of the Day – Jairo Rodriguez Download attachment: JairoRodriguez.jpg Pitcher of the Day – Bruce Pugh Download attachment: BrucePugh.jpg --- A Look Ahead – Thursday, April 26, 2012 Schedule Rochester vs Syracuse (DH) – RHP Cole DeVries, RHP Jeff Manshiop New Britain – No Game Scheduled, Travel Day Ft. Myers vs Palm Beach – RHP Marty Popham Beloit vs Bowling Green – RHP Matt Summers --- If you have any questions or comments on the Twins minor league system, players, teams, etc., leave them in the Comments and I’ll try to answer them! Click here to view the article

It’s been a busy week here at Twins Daily with a lot of draft coverage. Last Sunday, I posted my blog on Day 1 of my Territory Train trip. It included a bus ride through Iowa, and a ball game at the beautiful Modern Woodmen Park and a Snappers win. It’s a few days later, but here I will continue my log of events of the trip with the second day’s events. Day 2 began earlier than a typical Territory Train day does. We were on the bus outside our hotel in Moline, Illinois, and on the road by about 8:30 a.m. However, there were no complaints because the day was going to be full of some very fun events. We drove through northwest Illinois and found ourselves in Beloit, Wisconsin, which is just north of the Illinois/Wisconsin border, before 11:00 a.m. We were scheduled to eat lunch at a sports bar called Jerseys at 11:45 with several Snappers.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Scott Povolny (Territory Train owner) had worked with Snappers’ AJ Pettersen to set up the event, and it was very much successful. AJ and fellow former Gopher Kyle Knudson were there. Pitchers Tim Shibuya and Ryan O’Rourke showed up soon after. Outfielder Wang-Wei Lin arrived. Infielder/Outfielder Drew Leachman, who came to the Snappers in early May from Extended Spring Training, was there as well. Then hitting coach Tommy Watkins arrived. Download attachment: Seth and Tommy.jpg It was fun though because the players were all very nice and willing to answer questions, take pictures and sign autographs. The group filled up the outside patio at Jerseys, but it was such a nice day and such a nice, relaxed event. We were under the impression that the players may only have about 45 minutes to meet with us before they would need to leave to go to the ball park. Instead, the players and Watkins hung out with us for over two hours. What was really nice about that events was it made all of the players more real to the group. Obviously I have had several of them on my podcasts before, but to be in that interactive of an event allowed those on the trip to see the size, to ask questions, to see the people instead of just the players. Around 2:45, we left Jerseys and went to our hotel. Arrangements were made so that those who wanted to go to the ball park early for batting practice could. Normally, fans are not allowed into the stadium until one hour before game time. We were able to get in at about 4:15. I love watching batting practice and seeing infield/outfield work being done. Right when we got there, Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario were batting. Both hit a ton of line drives, and Sano blasted a couple that went over the scoreboard in left center field. Watkins was throwing BP and at the end of his last few rounds, he told Sano to bunt for a hit. Sano laid down two very good bunts and Watkins fielded them and tried to throw him out at first base. Clearly the group was having a lot of fun. Chrissy Scaffidi is the Snappers director of media and public relations. She let us in and then spent 15 minutes or so talking to us, and answering questions about the ballpark, about attendance and about the increased media requests that they are fielding due to Sano and Rosario. She even provided the group with a couple of media packets, information that media who covers the team gets to help with their stories. She was great and very much helpful to our group. On a personal level, she even helped me get a couple of copies of my Minnesota Twins prospect handbook signed by Sano and Rosario, who are both on the cover. Snappers manager Nelson Prada saw the book and asked for a copy and got one. Later, Chrissy introduced us to Matt Bosen. For several years, he had been part of the Snappers front office, most recently in charge of Merchandising. When long-time Snappers GM Jeff Vohs took another job in Beloit, Bosen took over as the team’s GM. He was kind enough to spend about 10-15 minutes talking to me and the group as well. It’s amazing how much responsibility he has making things run so smoothly for the Snappers and their games, but they also are in charge of running other events in the park (such as American Legion tournaments, high school games, etc.). They do an amazing job with a front office staff of six. About an hour before game time, I was walking around behind the stadium, jotting down the lineup. Watkins walked by and came over and asked if everything was going well, having a good time, talked about the lineup briefly. Minutes later, I heard a voice say my name from a bit away. I turned and saw a husband and wife that I had met a year ago there. They had spent time introducing themselves and their family to us last summer, and it was good to see them again. They are just a great family who this year decided that they would be a host family for a couple of players. We talked a little about how that was going and what went into their decision to offer their home like that. That night, we had Hog Heaven tickets. That is a great promotion by the Snappers in which fans can sit down the right-field line in a big picnic area. It is all-you-can eat and includes hamburgers, hot dogs, brats, chips, peanuts and more. It includes all-you-can drink pop or beer, and it goes all the way through the game. I believe the cost is just $25. I went out there and ate a bit before the game started, but we also were able to sit in the bleachers behind home plate, so I was there some. Early in the game, I stood behind the fence and took pictures and video of the players the first time through the lineup. Download attachment: Rosario ball.jpg (Rosario batting, Sano on deck) The game was another good one for the Snappers. The first three innings went quite quickly. Matt Summers was on the mound for the Snappers. AJ Pettersen informed us that Matt Miller would be on the mound for Wisconsin. Pettersen had faced the former Michigan Wolverine in Big 10 play during his career with the Gophers. Download attachment: Knudson Pettersen.jpg (Knudson batting, Pettersen on deck) Wisconsin got a 2-0 lead in the top of the 4th, but the Snappers came back with five runs in the bottom of the fourth. Wisconsin (the Timber Rattlers) came back with two unearned runs (thanks, in part, to a dropped pop up with two outs by Miguel Sano) in the top of the 5th. However, the Snappers came back with four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Wisconsin added a run in the top of the 6th off of Tim Atherton, but that was it for the scoring and the Snappers came away with a 9-5 win that put them into a tie with the Timber Rattlers at the top of the Midwest League Western Division. (Wisconsin would win the final two games of the series to regain a two-game lead in the division, which is the separation in the teams today.) I even got to spend an inning with Chrissy in the press box overlooking the park. Along with all of her other duties, she also is the public address announcer for the Snappers home games. Download attachment: seth press box.jpg (photo courtesy George Damian) Also, besides the normal mid-inning fun activities that the Snappers (and most minor league teams) do, the Inflatamaniacs made an appearance at Pohlman Stadium that night. It’s impossible to explain what they are in words, so here are a couple of pictures. Following the game, I talked a bit with Ryan O’Rourke and Wang-Wei Lin. AJ Achter talked briefly as he walked by toward the clubhouse. Also spent a couple of minutes talking to Pettersen. Download attachment: Inflate.jpg Download attachment: Inflate2.jpg I’m sure it won’t surprise you that I was the last one to the bus, but no one seemed too upset. Ha! On Sunday morning, things were much more casual. A little continental breakfast at the hotel. Listened to the Ron Gardenhire Show. The bus rolled out of our hotel in Jayneville, WI, which is about 15 miles north of Beloit, around 11 a.m. From there, it’s just a 5 hour drive on highway 94 back to the cities. We did stop in Thoma for some lunch. We got back to the Walmart in Woodbury at about 4:05 and said our good byes. The best part about the two Territory Train trips that I have been on is the relationships you develop. As I mentioned after the Detroit trip two years ago, people enter the bus on Friday in small groups, but when you leave the bus on Sunday afternoon, the group is really a group. So, I do want to take a moment to thank Scott Povolny for a great trip and for putting together a minor league trip this season. It was a great time. I want to remind those reading that he does have just a couple of openings remaining on his final trip of the year, to Kansas City in mid-July. If you’re interested, go to www.TerritoryTrain.com for more details. Download attachment: TerritoryTrainBand.jpg Finally, I do want people to consider a weekend trip to Beloit. I talked to two or three people at the game on Saturday night who had driven down to Beloit from the Twin Cities that morning and were planning to drive back after the game. It is about five hours each way, so I recommend looking at the Snappers schedule on their great website and find a weekend where they have a night game followed by a day game. Drive down early on the morning of the night game, check out that game, stay in a hotel in Beloit or Jaynesville, and then go to the afternoon game and drive back. For me, it gives an appreciation of how good many of these players are while at the same time seeing players in the very early stages of their development. I'm still planning another trip to Beloit at the end of June! Download attachment: Snappy.jpg I do plan to post one more short ‘report’ with some scouting reports on players I saw play for Beloit. Until then, let me know if you have any questions or comments. Click here to view the article

Plus fastball, plus curveball, and now plus changeup. that's pretty good.

Two weeks ago, I posted version 1.0 of the Roster Projections. As I sit in the Minneapolis airport, with just over an hour remaining before boarding, I thought version 2.0 would be good. I am excited to spend the next eight days in Ft. Myers and I definitely welcome and encourage people to send me questions or specifically any questions you would like me to ask players. Not a lot has changed in the two weeks as far as my projections. There may, in fact, be even more question marks. At this point, I don’t think any more players would be classified as a “given.” So, check out my new roster projection and thoughts, and then fill the comments with your thoughts. Download attachment: Chris Parmelee 4.jpeg The players in red are players that I believe are givens to make the roster (obviously pending injury). Those in black are potentially up for grabs. Catchers (2): Kurt Suzuki, Eric Fryer To this point, I don’t think the catcher situation is any more clear. Suzuki still appears to be the favorite to start, and he will certainly make the Opening Day roster. Josmil Pinto is now playing and appears to be healthy, so he’s back in the mix. With him being 25 already and the fact that a catcher is not going to play every day anyway, I could see a scenario in which he makes the team and catches two or three times a week and DHs once or twice as well. He certainly would, or at least could, be a solid bat off of the bench when he doesn’t play. At this point, I still think it more likely that Eric Fryer or Chris Herrmann head north as the backup. Herrmann is left-handed and has versatility. Fryer is right-handed and has played a bit of outfield in the minor leagues as well. Infielders (5): Joe Mauer, Brian Dozier, Trevor Plouffe, Pedro Florimon, Eduardo Escobar, No change here. The question seems to be whether or not Florimon will be ready for Opening Day. If he’s not, the question becomes what to do at shortstop and at utility infielder. We know that Escobar is out of options and is a given to make the roster. Would the Twins have him start if Florimon isn’t ready? If so, would they add Jason Bartlett, Doug Bernier or James Beresford to the 40 man roster for a couple weeks to serve as the utility infielder? I think if we know that it’s going to be a week or two that Florimon is out, the Twins would start the season with Danny Santana as their starting shortstop. He would know that no matter what, he would head down to Rochester when Florimon is ready to come off of the DL. He is on the 40 man roster, so that would be cleaner. Outfielders (6): Josh Willingham, Alex Presley, Oswaldo Arcia, Darin Mastroianni, Jason Kubel, Chris Parmelee I’m not changing my outfield projection at this point. Willingham remains the only given. I would like to think that Arcia is a given, but I just don’t know if that is true. I thought Jason Kubel was borderline given, based on him turning down an MLB deal with another team to sign a minor league deal with the Twins. However, as much as spring training numbers don’t mean a thing, he has looked lost at the plate to this point. Obviously a lot can change. My sense is that the centerfield decision is not as much of a given as I initially thought. I believe that Presley is the leading candidate, but I think that Aaron Hicks is going to get a real opportunity to win the job again. Presley is a given in that he is out of options and he would slot into the 4th outfielder job is he is not the starter. If Presley is the starter, Mastroianni likely remains the favorite to be the fourth outfielder although Wilkin Ramirez and Jermaine Mitchell are likely to stick in big league camp and be given plenty of opportunity to win a backup role. Chris Colabello would be a guy who would provide a lot of power from the right-side of the plate as you note that this is a left-handed heavy team. Chris Parmelee is out of options and is showing well in the early stages of big league camp. I think he’s nearly a given as well, but could he win the starting right field job from Arcia (which would push Arcia back to Rochester)? Starting Pitchers (5): Kevin Correia, Ricky Nolasco, Phil Hughes, Mike Pelfrey, Vance Worley No change at the top of the starting pitching ranks. The top four will be in the rotation to start the season, unless they are not healthy. The fifth starter job is still as much in the air as ever. Worley has been solid. Diamond had a good showing and then struggled on Monday night, though he didn’t get any defensive help. Deduno is working out of the bullpen to this point. He could be being eased back and monitored more closely after his shoulder surgery. Kyle Gibson has been good in his appearances. His wife will be having their first child in the next week, but he will continue to make his spring starts. I think he’s going to have to be a shut down pitcher to win a job, but I think he can be. Same thing with Alex Meyer, though based on his time missed a year ago, I think the odds are even less for him. Bullpen (7): Glen Perkins, Jared Burton, Brian Duensing, Casey Fien, Anthony Swarzak, Caleb Thielbar, Sam Deduno I believe that, barring injury or trade, the first five remain givens. The question becomes how the guys who are out of options affect the bullpen. As you can see, I now have Sam Deduno taking Ryan Pressly’s spot in the bullpen. He could pitch in long relief and Swarzak could be given some more high-leverage situations. I think that Caleb Thielbar will earn, or has earned, a job as well, but since he has two options remaining, he could be squeezed. I think that with all of the left-handers on the 40 man roster (plus Gilmartin and others), Diamond could be a trade candidate if the Twins can find a taker. What are your thoughts? What does your roster look like? Click here to view the article

Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook 2012 – Now Available as an e-book for $6.99 by clickinghere. You can, of course, still get the print version for $13.99 by clicking here. The procedure I had done yesterday kind of won last night, so I wasn’t able to finish the next installment of the Organizational Depth Chart, so that will return next week. I was, fortunately, able to watch the Diamond Awards live on FoxSportsNorth.com, and it was incredible. It’s such a nice event for such a great cause, but it also appears to be a fun event to be at. I would say that it is on my bucket list of baseball activities. Here are some of the highlights: Liam Hendriks and Brian Dozier accepted their awards for minor league pitcher and player of the year and did a good job in their comments.Ben Revere stole the show. He was so funny in his speech, and in his responses to questions from Dick Bremer. The best story (among many hilarious ones!) was about the triple during which he tripped and did a complete summersault. He said that his dad and his brother were at the game. They didn’t get to sleep until about 2:30 because, you see, his dad is a football coach, so they had to watch it on video several times and then do some running drills, and his dad brought cones, and… it was hilarious! Revere’s smile was in full effect!Tom Kelly went last and said there were benefits to being last. He kind of roasted most of the earlier presenters, which was hilarious. But when he was done, the surprise was on him. Dick Bremer told him to stay up on the stage and invited Dave St. Peter and Jim Pohlad to come up. St. Peter went on to talk about Kelly and said that September 8th will be Tom Kelly Day at Target Field. At that time, the Twins will retire Kelly’s #10. Kelly was clearly shaken. He didn’t know what to do. In fact, he quickly shook, Bremer’s hand and walked off the stage to a standing ovation. As the ovation dropped to a sitting ovation, the FSN cameras showed Kelly wiping away tears. Clearly, that was an incredible honor for him, and I am so glad that I got to see it.I’m sure it’ll appear on FSN on TV in the near future. It is something you will definitely want to watch. I am about to make my trek to the Twin Cities, to Twins Fest. I’ve been going now for about five years and always enjoy it. I plan to be at the Metrodome Friday night and Saturday throughout the day. Then a reminder, at about 7:30 on Saturday night, the TwinsCentric crew and several other of your favorite Twins writers and bloggers will be at Old Chicago in Roseville. So come on out. If you see me, please come and say hi. It’s fun to meet people there. I will try to have a few Prospect Handbooks with me. Hopefully I’ll see a bunch of them walking around the Dome. As I’ve pointed out, I believe 22 players in the book will be signing at Twins Fest this weekend, including Dozier and Hendriks on the cover. Twins Fest is what you make it. If you like spending money on autographs, it’s great. It’s a baseball card and memorabilia show. It’s a great place to people watch. I know people who could sit in the Dome’s bleachers and listen as the 1500 ESPN personalities interview Twins players, coaches, front office people and more. It really is a fun event. Here is a link to the Twins Fest page that includes a list of who will be signing and where, and much more. And, so that I can get on the road, I’m going to cut this off here and keep it all positive. I won’t even talk about Dan Wheeler signing a minor league deal with Cleveland, or Brad Lidge signing with the Nationals for $1 Million + incentives. Twins Fest weekend is a great way for baseball fans to start getting ready for the 2012 season. Spring Training is just around the corner, and that always brings hope and excitement. At least for me, it does. If you have any further questions, please feel free to e-mail me at sethspeaksnet@hotmail.com or leave your thoughts in the Comments Section! Click here to view the article

The Twins had another off day on Monday. Justin Morneau’s Casino Night was on Sunday night. On Monday night, many players worked the bar at Toby Keith’s for Hang with the Majors. These events and some that are less publicized are all a part of Hope Week in which the Twins are quite visible around the community, raising funds for the Twins Community Fund. The Twins do a lot of great things in communities around the state thanks to these types of events. They return to the field on Tuesday when they will take on Jim Thome and the Philadelphia Phillies for three games before the next Border Battle against the Brewers. Here is a look at the Twins minor league scores and highlights from Monday:[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] ROCHESTER 0, INDIANAPOLIS 16 I’m not sure how much you want to read about this game after just looking at the score in the heading. Matt Maloney started and went just two innings. He gave up six runs (4 earned) on five hits. He walked none and struck out none. Brendan Wise went the next three innings and gave up two runs on four hits. He walked two and struck out three. Casey Fien gave up two runs on three hits and (an intentional) walk. Lester Oliveros gave up five runs on three hits and two walks and he recorded just two outs (both on strikeouts). Tyler Robertson got the final four outs. He gave up one run on two hits. The Red Wings managed just four hits. Pedro Florimon had two of them. Wilkin Ramirez hit his fifth double. NEW BRITAIN The Rock Cats had a day off on Monday before starting a series at home against Akron. FT. MYERS 8, PALM BEACH 4 Tied 4-4 going into the 9th, the Miracle got RBI singles from Levi Michael and Danny Santana followed by Sacrifice Flies by Jairo Perez and Oswaldo Arcia. Santana led the offense by going 3-5 with three RBI. He is hitting .310. Danny Rams was 2-3 with his first and second doubles of the season. Jairo Perez had three RBI in the game, but he was also 2-4. Marty Popham started and gave up one run on seven hits in five innings. He walked one and struck out five. Edgar Ibarra came in and was charged with three unearned runs on one hit and one walk in two innings. He struck out three. Ricky Bowen walked three over the last two innings but did not allow a run, so he was credited with the win. BELOIT 7, WISCONSIN 8 For the second straight day, Timber Rattler shortstop Yadiel Rivera came to the plate with the score tied and the winning run on base. For the second straight day, Rivera came through for his team. In Monday afternoon’s series finale, the walk-off hit may not have been as dramatic as Sunday night’s three-run homer, but a walk-off single got the job done for Wisconsin. Jason Wheeler made the start for the Snappers. He gave up four runs on six hits in 5.2 innings. He walked none and struck out six. AJ Achter came in and gave up three runs on three hits and two walks in one inning. He struck out three. Corey Williams came in and gave up the final run. In 1.2 innings, he gave up the run on three hits and a walk. He struck out two. The Snappers grabbed the lead thanks to a six-run fifth inning. The key blow in that game came off the bat of Miguel Sano who hit his 15th home run of the season, a grand slam. He was 2-5 in the game. Jairo Rodriguez was 3-4. Nate Roberts was 3-5. Jhonathan Goncalves went 1-3 with a walk and his second home run. Matt Koch went 2-4. --- Players of the Day for Monday, June 11, 2012 Hitter of the Day – Miguel Sano Download attachment: MiguelSanoSlam.jpg (photo courtesy of Rinaldi Photos) Pitcher of the Day – Marty Popham Download attachment: MartyPopham.jpg --- A Look Ahead – Tuesday, June 12, 2012 Schedule Rochester @ Indianapolis – RHP Sam Deduno New Britain vs Akron – TBD Ft. Myers vs Bradenton – LHP Cole Nelson Beloit vs Peoria – RHP Matt Summers --- If you have any questions or comments on the Twins minor league system, players, teams, etc., leave them in the Comments and I’ll try to answer them! Click here to view the article

Kyle Gibson, David Bromberg and Drew Leachman will be guests on tonight's Twins Minor League Weekly show. The show will start at 10:00 central time, and you can listen live or download later through this link. Kyle Gibson is about two weeks away from throwing off of a mound for the first time in about 10 months. We'll get updated on how he is doing. David Bromberg had a frustrating 2011 season, and his 2012 season certainly didn't start out well. But since returning to a starting role, he has been one of the best starters in the Twins farm system. What made the difference? We'll find out![PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Drew Leachman was drafted by the Twins in 2011. He began this season in Extended Spring Training, but was promoted to Beloit a couple of weeks ago. Today, he hit his second double and third home run of his abbreviated season, helping the Beloit Snappers to a win. We'll learn about him, EST, and his time in Beloit. There could be more guests, and we'll talk about who is hot and who is not in the Twins farm system. So, be sure to join us live tonight at 10. If you can't, you'll definitely want to listen later. If you have any questions or comments for me or the guests, please feel free to ask them here, or in the chat room here, or via my twitter feed. I'll be sure to answer them. Download attachment: Kylegibson1.jpg Click here to view the article

Yesterday, we discussed the Minnesota Twins minor leaguers who were named the recipients of the Harmon Killebrew Awards for Community Service. Today, we continue our minor league award week by looking at the top starting pitchers in the Twins farm system in 2013. First, be sure to note that this is about 2013 performance. This is not a prospect ranking of any kind. In 2013, there were several very good starting pitchers in the Twins system. Several of the top prospects put up solid numbers, but will not be on this list.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Alex Meyer was pretty impressive in his New Britain starts, but he missed about two-and-a-half months. Trevor May was solid at times, but lacked consistency. Most of the names on this lists were not high-level prospects coming into the season. However, they each pitched well and deserve to be recognized. Their performances, in some cases, may also boost their prospect standing this offseason. To be clear, this is just my ranking, subject to debate. This list does include some starters with very good control this season. Unfortunately, as has been consistent in recent years, there are not many big strikeout numbers on this list, nor throughout the Twins farm system (exceptions really being Meyer and May). Later in the week, we’ll look at my choices for top reliever, hitter and manager. Today we discuss the top starting pitchers in the Twins minor league system. Feel free to debate them, or ask any questions: Starting Pitcher of the Year Honorable Mention: Mason Melotakis, Cedar Rapids (11-4, 3.16 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 3.2 BB/9, 6.8 K/9), Logan Darnell, New Britain/Rochester (10-10, 3.22 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 2.6 BB/9, 7.0 K/9), Tyler Duffey, Cedar Rapids/Ft. Myers (7-7, 3.64 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 1.7 BB/9, 6.8 K/9), DJ Baxendale, Ft. Myers/New Britain (12-7, 3.90 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 2.0 BB/9, 6.7 K/9) #5 – Matt Summers – Ft. Myers Miracle, New Britain Rock Cats (7-7, 3.09 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 142.2 IP, 125 H, 46 BB, 100 K) Summers was the Twins 4th round pick in 2011 out of UC-Irvine. Like most other college pitchers, he went to Elizabethton and dominated out of the bullpen. He went 9-4 in 18 starts in Beloit before finishing the season in Ft. Myers. In 2013, he made 21 starts for the Miracle and led the Florida State League starters in ERA (2.47) and WHIP (1.11). He had a couple short stints with the New Britain Rock Cats where he made five starts (and one relief appearance). He was the Game 1 starter for the Miracle in the playoffs. Of those on this top five list, his 142.2 innings is the most. Summers throws a fastball that hits 94, and he has a good curveball too. To this point, however, he has not been a strikeout pitcher. Like others on this list, he walks very few. At just 24, he should spend 2014 in New Britain. #4 – Kyle Gibson – Rochester Red Wings (7-5, 2.92 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 101.2 IP, 85 H, 33 BB, 87 K) Kyle Gibson was certainly the most talked about through most of the 2013 season. Having missed most of the 2012 season rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, there were plenty of questions on what would happen with the former first round pick. Could he make the Twins roster out of spring training? What would his innings limit be? How much time would he make in the minors before coming up? Early in the season, the Twins discussed the lack of consistency for Gibson’s first ten starts. It was true. He was tremendous in his even-numbered starts and really bad in the odd-numbered starts. At that point, he took the advice and found a way to be more consistent. On June 29, he made his major league debut. He went 2-4 with a 6.53 ERA in 51 innings, but he got the big league experience. He will learn from it. The 25-year-old has always had very good control and command of his pitches, and I would expect it to show more in 2014. #3 – Brett Lee – Cedar Rapids Kernels (8-4, 2.95 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 116 IP, 117 H, 26 BB, 89 K) When the Twins drafted Lee with their 10th round pick in the 2011 draft, it was the third time he had been selected in the draft. He signed on the last day that he could, so he did not pitch that year. Last year, he pitched primarily out of the Elizabethton bullpen. He went 4-0 with a 2.68 ERA over 43.2 innings. He walked just 12 and struck out 48. He began the 2013 season in the Cedar Rapids, six-man rotation, though he worked out of the bullpen a couple of times early due to weather. At one point in late June and early July, he worked eight or more innings in three out of four outings. He actually was shut down for two weeks, and his innings were monitored closely so he could pitch Game 1 for the Kernels in the playoffs. The left-hander has four good pitches including a fastball in the low-90s. He will advance to Ft. Myers to start the 2014 season, and it will be interesting to see if he starts or if he’ll see more time working out of the bullpen. #2 – Andrew Albers – Rochester Red Wings (11-5, 2.86 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 132.1 IP, 124 H, 32 BB, 116 K) The Andrew Albers story was incredible in 2011 when he was my choice for minor league relief pitcher of the year after the Twins signed him out of the Can-Am League and he pitched well in Ft. Myers and New Britain. The minor league portion of his story culminated in early August when he had his contract purchased and he made his major league debut. Adding to the mystique, Albers began his big league career with 18 scoreless innings. He has now made seven starts for the Twins and is 2-2 with a 3.35 ERA and has given up less than a base runner per inning. Albers began the season at the back end of the Rochester Red Wings starting rotation. The 27-year-old was clearly the team’s best, and most consistent starter throughout the season. Despite a fastball that tops out well below 90 mph, he led the International League in strikeouts when he was promoted to the Twins. As we have seen, he has impeccable control and needs it. A very strong case could be made for him being in the top spot in this category. Starting Pitcher of the Year – Taylor Rogers – Cedar Rapids Kernels/Ft. Myers Miracle (11-7, 2.88 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 140.2 IP, 133 H, 36 BB, 93 K) Download attachment: TaylorRogers2.jpg Photo by Linwood Ferguson/Ft. Myers Miracle Taylor Rogers began the 2013 season as the Opening Day starter for the Cedar Rapids Kernels. The Twins had made the left-hander their 11th round pick in 2012 out of the University of Kentucky, the same school that produced Logan Darnell and Andrew Albers, fellow left-handers in the Twins' system. He began his pro career with Elizabethton where he made six appearances before moving up to Beloit where he pitched five times out of the bullpen and made four starts. Combined, he worked 63.1 innings and posted a 2.27 ERA and struck out 10.5 per nine innings. With the Kernels, he pitched in just three games and posted a 7.80 ERA in ten innings. This year he was promoted to Ft. Myers in late April, and things couldn’t have gone much better for him than they did. With the Miracle, he went 11-6 with a 2.55 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. He led the league with three complete games and two shutouts. When the season ended, and the Miracle were in the playoffs, Rogers started Game 2. He threw nine shutout innings in the game. Unfortunately, the Miracle didn’t score and their season ended. Rogers has a very nice pitch mix. He throws a fastball that hits 91-92 mph, touching 93 on occasion. He has a terrific slider that really helps him against left-handers. He also has a changeup that can be very good at times. He should start the 2014 campaign in the New Britain Rock Cats rotation. Tomorrow, we’ll be back with more Twins minor league awards. Feel free to discuss. Click here to view the article

Yesterday we looked at the top hitters in the Twins system in May and today we’ll be taking a look at the top pitching performances of April. It will be separated into two blog postings, one for the relievers and this one for the starting pitchers. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] While the hitting leaders were primarily in the lower levels of the Twins farm system, there are a couple of starting pitchers that appear on today’s list that may not be too far from contributing to the Twins. With that, let's jump to the starting pitchers. Here are the Top 5 Starting Pitchers for April: Number 5 - Rochester – Kyle Gibson - 5 GS, 1-3, 3.33 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 27.0 IP, 21 H, 9 BB, 26 K Gibson’s return from Tommy John surgery has been filled with ups and some downs. He had one start in which he gave up five runs in 4.1 innings. It is a process, to be sure. However, the 25-year-old has been able to strike out nearly a batter per inning. The general belief is that he is getting close to being able to contribute to the Twins. Twins Director of Minor League Operations Brad Steil said, “Kyle is making good progress. He pitched into the 7th inning in his last outing, which was good to see.” Number 4 – New Britain – Alex Meyer - 5 GS, 2-1, 2.57 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 28.0 IP, 26 H, 11 BB, 34 K In Meyer’s most recent start, he gave up four runs in six innings, but all four runs came in the third inning. If we were nice and we could just pretend that one inning didn’t happen his ERA for the month would be 1.33. Certainly his walk total is a little high, but his strikeouts are encouraging, even exciting. Meyer is blessed with an upper-90s fastball, a hammer for a curveball, a sharp slider and an ever-improving change up. Still just 23 years old, Meyer could rise quickly. Number 3 – Ft. Myers – Tom Stuifbergen - 5 GS, 1-1, 2.60 ERA, 0.83 WHIP, 27.2 IP, 23 H, 0 BB, 18 K The 24 year-old is back with the Miracle for the third straight year. Stuifbergen doesn’t get a lot of strikeouts, but he also doesn't walk many. Zero walks in 27.2 innings?! He also doesn’t give up many home runs. He gave up two homers in his first start of the year and in 22.2 innings since has given up none. He has the pitches, he just needs the opportunity to advance. Steil said, “He just needs to keep doing what he’s doing and be ready when there’s an opportunity. When he’s pitching well, it’s usually because he’s changing speeds effectively and keeping hitters off balance.” Number 2 – Cedar Rapids – Tyler Duffey - 4 GS, 3-1, 2.60 ERA, 0.76 WHIP, 27.2 IP, 18 H, 3 BB, 21 K Last year the Twins used their fifth round pick on Duffey, a relief pitcher from Rice. As would be expected, he dominated the Appalachian League out of the bullpen. The Twins were committed to giving Duffey (and several other college relievers) an opportunity to start. Duffey got that opportunity, and he has made the best of it. In his first start of the season, he threw seven perfect innings for the Kernels, and two pitchers completed the no-hitter. With a six-man rotation and the weather issues this year, Duffey made just four starts in the month. He has shown impeccable control and a general ability to keep runners off base. He is efficient with his pitches and has been able to complete seven innings in three of his four starts. And the Twins Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Month is: Photo by Greg Wagner Ft. Myers – DJ Baxendale - 5 GS, 4-0, 1.84 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 29.1 IP, 21 H, 6 BB, 25 K Baxendale was the top starter of the Arkansas Razorbacks team that advanced to the College World Series. During that season he set the Arkansas record with 20 starts. He went 8-5 with a 3.11 ERA. The Twins were thrilled to use their 10th round pick on the right-hander as they believed he had the talent to be selected much earlier. He began his pro career with the Elizabethton Twins but quickly moved up to Beloit. Combined, he walked just two and struck out 31 in 18.2 innings. He pitched out of the bullpen primarily because of the 107 innings he threw during the college season. The plan was for him to move to a starter's role this season, but it was somewhat surprising that he began the season with the Miracle. However, as Steil said, the things he’s done so well in April are the things that got him pushed to Ft. Myers. “He’s been locating well, keeping hitters off balance by changing speeds and keeping the ball down. Along with (those things), just his maturity and poise on the mound.” Take a look at the numbers: 4-0 with a sub-2.00 ERA and a sub-1.00 WHIP. He has limited long balls and walks. The Miracle were 21-4 in April, and Baxendale was a big part of it. So, what does he throw? A scouting report will tell you that he throws both a 2-seam and a 4-seam fastball that range from 87 to 92 mph. He has a big bending curveball in the low 70s, with downward break, which makes it a pitch that induces ground balls. He also has a very good, late-breaking slider in the 78 to 82 mph range. He has terrific control of it and when he spots it on the outside corner he can get hitters to chase. He also has good arm speed and sink on his changeup. What would Baxendale himself say? “I throw a four-seam fastball, sinker, change-up, curve ball and slider. I try to use the slider and curveball both as strikeout pitches in order to keep the hitters guessing what pitch I will come with ahead in the count.” Baxendale has great command and makeup. He has the ability to move the ball around the strike zone very well. He can pitch to all zones of the plate, up and down, inside and out. He gets a lot of swings and misses outside of the zone, in part, because he hides the ball well. He is competitive and wants to win at everything. He has a knack of getting out of jams, and has grittiness and intensity on the mound. Baxendale credits his pitching coach and his control for his success so far this year. “The biggest key to my success so far is throwing low, quality strikes with all of my pitches. I’ve been working hard with pitching coach Ivan Arteaga to be able to consistently repeat my mechanics which improves my command and control of all pitches.” It’s also been about making adjustments to the professional game. Baxendale explained, “The biggest adjustment I’ve made so far in pro ball is to be efficient in my innings and keep the pitch count down. I’ve done this by pitching to contact, throwing the ball down in the zone and getting outs in early counts.” For Baxendale to continue to develop and rise through the Twins system, he may need to get a little bigger and strong. By adding some weight and strength, he would likely see a little increased velocity. But for now, Baxendale is happy to be part of this tremendous Miracle team. “Being part of a talented team is always fun. We are all really competitive so we want to win. It’s pretty special to be a part of a team that is as talented as we are because every game is fun to watch.” There were a lot of great hitting performances in April, but several pitchers threw the ball very well and were quite successful in the season’s opening month as well. DJ Baxendale is the choice for April Starting Pitcher of the Year, but Tyler Duffey, Tom Stuifbergen, Alex Meyer and Kyle Gibson all performed quite well during the month. We’ll be back tomorrow to discuss the Relief Pitcher of the Month. Please feel free to comment and ask questions. View full article

The Twins got just one run off of Royals’ starter Luis Mendoza and found themselves down 4-1 going into the bottom of the ninth. Jonathan Broxton came in the Twins scored two off of him. They had the tying run at third base with two outs but were unable to score. The Twins lost 4-3. Saturday will be a long day as the Twins and Royals will play a double header with Game 1 at noon and Game 2 scheduled for 6 p.m. Here is a look at the Twins minor league scores and highlights from Friday:[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] ROCHESTER 5, LEHIGH VALLEY 6 (10 innings) The Red Wings had an early lead but the IronPigs scored three in the eighth to tie the game and send it to extra frames. It was just one extra frame as the IronPigs scored in the bottom of the 10th. Luke French started for the Red Wings and wen the first seven innings. He gave up two runs (1 earned) on five hits and four walks. He struckout five and left the game with a 5-2 lead. Casey Fien came in and gave up three runs (2 earned) on three hits and recorded just two outs in the 8th. Caleb Thielbar came in and walked two (one intentionally) in his scoreless frame. Luis Perdomo got the final out of the ninth and one out in the tenth. Unfortunately, he gave up the winning run on two tenth inning hits to take the loss. Sean Burroughs went 3-4 with his second stolen base. Clete Thomas was 2-4 with his 13th double and third stolen base. Brian Dinkelman went 2-5. NEW BRITAIN 8, TRENTON 4 New Britain got a big win in this game and won three out of four games from a team trying to move in front of them in the division race. The Rock Cats got five runs in the third inning to take a 7-0 lead and were able to hold on. The big blow in that big inning came off of the bat of James Beresford. The Aussie drilled a two-run double. Beresford was 2-4 in the game with three RBI. Estarlin de Los Santos was 2-4 with his fifth double. Chris Colabello went 2-4 with his first triple. Aaron Hicks went 3-5. Logan Darnell got the start and improved to 7-6. The lefty went the first six innings and gave up four runs on four hits and three walks. He struckout four. Shairon Martis came on and made his Rock Cats debut throwing a perfect inning. Daniel Turpen threw two shutout innings despite giving up a hit and three a walks. He also struckout three. FT. MYERS 5, CHARLOTTE 0 Matt Hauser made his second professional start, and he was terrific. He threw five shutout innings, and in fact, he had a no-hitter through four innings. He gave up two hits, walked one and struck out four. AJ Achter came in and struck out four in two perfect innings. Michael Tonkin gave up a hit and a walk, but no runs, in the final two innings. He struck out three. The Miracle offense helped Hauser out by giving him five first inning runs of support. Levi Michael and Kyle Knudson each went 2-4 with a double. It was Michael’s sixth double and Knudson’s fourth. Jairo Perez and Angel Morales were each 2-3. BELOIT 3, CLINTON 6 Seven Snappers batters had one hit a piece, but could not piece together enough runs to capture a win on this night. Steve Liddle was 1-3 with a walk and his first home run. Jhon Goncalves went 1-2 with two walks. Miguel Sano had an 0-fer and committed his 28th error. Steven Gruver started for the Snappers. The lefty gave up four runs (3 earned) on seven hits in five innings. He walked none and struck out just one. Tim Atherton dropped his ERA to 0.44 with three more shutout innings. He gave up just one hit, walked none and struck out four. Corey Williams gave up two runs on two hits and a walk in the ninth inning. ELIZABETHTON 1, PULASKI 9 2011 supplemental 1st round pick Hudson Boyd started for the E-Twins on Friday night. Through four innings, he had given up just one hit and no runs. In fact, he got the first two batters out in the fifth frame. However, a walk and a single were followed by fellow 2011 supplemental 1st round pick Travis Harrison’s seventh error at third base. It was followed by Jorge Polanco’s second error of the season. And the flood gates were opened. Boyd’s line score says that he gave up seven runs (ZERO earned) on four hits and two walks in 4.2 innings. He struck out three. Steve Evans came in and gave up one run on four hits and a walk in two innings. Kaleb Merck, the Twins 33rd round pick from Texas Christian made his professional debut. The right-hander faced five batters. He struck out four of them, but gave up a solo home run to the other. Zach Jones came on and struck out two in his inning. The E-Twins managed just four hits in this game. Jorge Polanco hit his third doubles. Stephen Wickens went 1-2 with a walk. GCL TWINS 2, GCL RED SOX 5 Dereck Rodriguez continues to hit well, but it wasn’t enough in this game. The outfielder went 2-4 with his third double and first home run of the short season. Jorge Fernandez went 3-4. Aderlin Mejia went 2-5 with his fourth double. Joel Licon was 2-5. Byron Buxton was 0-2, but he did walk two times. Randy Rosario got the starting nod on Friday. He gave up one run on one hit in 2.2 innings. He walked three and struck out four. Felix Jorge came on and gave up two runs (one earned) on four hits and three walks in two innings. He struck out three. J.O. Berrios gave up a run on two hits and a walk, but all three outs he recorded were strikeouts. Chris Mazza gave up only an unearned run on one hit in 2.1 innings. He struck out three. Markus Solbach pitched a 1-2-3 inning. --- Players of the Day for Friday, June 29, 2012 Pitcher of the Day – Matt Hauser Download attachment: MattHauserMug.jpg Hitter of the Day – Dereck Rodriguez Download attachment: DereckRodriguez.jpg --- A Look Ahead – Saturday, June 30, 2012 Schedule Rochester vs Empire Island – Jeff Manship New Britain vs Bowie – RHP Brett Jacobson Ft. Myers @ Charlotte – RHP Tom Stuifbergen Beloit vs Clinton – LHP Jason Wheeler Elizabethton vs Pulaski – RHP Ricardo Arevalo GCL Twins @ GCL Red Sox – TBD --- If you have any questions or comments on the Twins minor league system, players, teams, etc., leave them in the Comments and I’ll try to answer them! Click here to view the article

Jaynesville, WI - The Twins were in Cleveland on Saturday night and won 7-4. They jumped out to a 4-0 lead after one inning thanks to RBI singles by Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Trevor Plouffe. Cleveland clawed back with single runs in the first, third, fourth and fifth to tie the game. However, Plouffe’s sixth home run of the season made it 5-4 after six, and Mauer’s third home run, a two-run shot, gave the Twins their 7-4. PJ Walters started and his string of quality starts came to an end. He gave up four runs on eight hits and three walks in 4.1 innings. The bullpen did great again. Brian Duensing threw two perfect innings. Jared Burton came on and struck out the two batters he faced. Glen Perkins worked a perfect eighth inning, and Matt Capps struck out two in the 9th for his 11th save. It was a mixed bag of success in the Twins farm system on Saturday. Here is a look at the Twins minor league scores and highlights from Saturday:[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] GAME 1 - ROCHESTER 3, COLUMBUS 0 Luke French got the starting nod for the Red Wings. Despite five walks and three hits) in five innings, he did not allow a run. Lester Oliveros came in and recorded his second Red Wings save by striking out three in two perfect innings. There wasn’t a lot of offense, but just enough. Wilkin Ramirez was 2-3 with his fourth double and two RBI. Tsuyoshi Nishioka had the only other hit, his first double of the year. Chris Parmelee drove in the third run. GAME 2 - ROCHESTER 0, COLUMBUS 1 In the second game, it was David Bromberg making the start. The right-hander gave up one run on three hits. In three innings, he walked three and struck out five. Casey Fien then struck out three in two perfect innings. Although the Red Wings had eight hits in this game, they were unable to score a single run. Clete Thomas was 2-3 with his eighth double. Tsuyoshi Nishioka was also 2-3. NEW BRITAIN 3, HARRISBURG 4 The Rock Cats come back came up a run short on Saturday. Logan Darnell started and gave up four runs on ten hits in 6.2 innings. He struck out four and walked none. Brett Jacobson went 1.1 innings and gave up just one hit. Luis Perdomo pitched a scoreless ninth frame. The Rock Cats had eight hits. Deibinson Romero hit his sixth home run to cut the deficit in half. Aaron Hicks and Rene Tosoni were each 1-3 with a walk. FT. MYERS 5, DAYTONA 10 Pat Dean pitched so well for the Twins in May, but in his first June start, he gave up six runs on 13 hits and two walks in six innings. He struck out three. Ricky Bowen came in and gave up four runs (3 earned) on three hits and a walk in two innings. Then infielder Andy Leer came in to pitch the ninth inning and went 1-2-3. Oswaldo Arcia continues to swing a hot bat. In this game, he was 4-5 with his 14th double, his sixth home run and three RBI. He’s now hitting .328. Danny Santana is back up to .316 with a 3-5 day. Levi Michael was 2-5. Jairo Perez had a nice day as well. He was 2-3 with two walks. BELOIT 9, WISCONSIN 5 This game was scoreless until the fourth inning, and then the offenses took over. The Timber Rattlers scored two in the top of the fourth, and the Snappers responded with five runs in the fourth inning. Miguel Sano led off with a double to the gap. Drew Leachman singled to right. Jonathan Goncalves was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Then Matt Koch hit a two-run double which was followed by a two-run Kyle Knudson single. Later, Eddie Rosario singled in AJ Pettersen with the fifth run of the inning. Wisconsin came back with two runs in the top of the 5th inning off of starter Matt Summers. However, the Snappers responded with four more runs in the bottom of the 5th. Sano again led off the inning, this time in a line drive singled to left. Sano stole second, and Leachman singled to center. After a pitching change, Goncalves hit a smash down the 3B line that the third baseman dove and knocked down and got the force at second. Sano scored on the play. Goncalves stole second, his second steal of the game. Koch walked. After a balk put runners on second and third, Knudson was walked. AJ Pettersen came up and drilled a deep fly ball to left center to plate the next run. After Wang-Wei Line walked, Nate Roberts drilled a two-run single to center to give the Snappers a 9-4 lead. Tim Atherton came in for the sixth inning. He walked the first batter and gave up a bunt single to the next batter. It was the first hit he’s allowed (in 6 innings over 2 outings) since he was promoted to the Snappers a week earlier. He limited the damage to just one run in the inning, and that was it for the scoring. Summers started and got the win. He gave up four runs (2 earned, thanks to a dropped pop up by Sano) on five hits and three walks. He fanned four. Atherton gave up one run on three hits and a walk in two innings. He struck out five. Corey Williams pitched a scoreless eighth, and Michael Tonkin struck out two in a scoreless ninth. For much more on my trip to Beloit, check back to Twins Daily later. I’ll be posting a two-part log of the Territory Train trip to Quad Cities to see the Snappers play on Friday night, and then the trip to Beloit on Saturday which included lunch with several members of the Snappers team. Plus, I'm guessing you'll want to read my thoughts and scouting reports on various players on the roster, such as Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario, maybe? --- Players of the Day for Saturday, June 2, 2012 Hitter of the Day – Oswaldo Arcia Download attachment: ArciaMug.jpg Pitcher of the Day – Lester Oliveros Download attachment: Lester Oliveros 2.jpg --- A Look Ahead – Sunday, June 3, 2012 Schedule Rochester vs Columbus – Nick Blackburn New Britain vs Harrisburg – TBD Ft. Myers vs Daytona – RHP Madison Boer Beloit vs Kane County – RHP Tyler Jones --- If you have any questions or comments on the Twins minor league system, players, teams, etc., leave them in the Comments and I’ll try to answer them! Click here to view the article

Recently, I had the chance to chat with Gary Lucas, former big league pitcher and currently the pitching coach of the Ft. Myers Miracle. When asked to write about JO Berrios a few weeks ago, I thought Lucas would be the perfect person to talk to. The following gets into the mind of a man who have been in and around the game of baseball for a long time.Recently, I had the chance to chat with Gary Lucas, former big league pitcher and currently the pitching coach of the Ft. Myers Miracle. When asked to write about JO Berrios a few weeks ago, I thought Lucas would be the perfect person to talk to. The following gets into the mind of a man who have been in and around the game of baseball for a long time. Lucas is in his first year as the Miracle pitching coach. Last year, he was the pitching coach in Cedar Rapids. He has played a large role in the development of JO Berrios over these last two seasons. I talked to him before the Futures Game about the Twins pitching prospect. As a 19-year-old last year in Cedar Rapids, Berrios performed admirably. He went 7-7 with a 3.99 ERA. In 103.2 innings, he gave up 105 hits, walked 40 and struck out 100. This year, in 16 starts with the Miracle, he went 9-3 with a 1.96 ERA. In 96.1 innings, he gave up just 78 hits, walked just 23 and struck out 109. A significant, and dominating performance even before considering that he only turned 20 years old in late May. Lucas said there are many reasons for the improvement in Berrios’s performance including his maturity and what he learned last year. However, he highlighted a couple of specific things that he has worked on. “For the last month, he was pitching, for the most part, on four days’ rest. We've had a six man rotation here. I just thought a little less rest helped him to go out there on a more regular basis and have a more regular schedule and he didn't miss too many starts. I think it allowed him to get into a groove. I think the six man rotation is fine, and there are certainly some great reasons for it. I just think in his case, he had a little better feel for all his pitches when he was pitching a little more often.” Lucas continued, “So often, if you have a six man rotation between rain outs and off days, it could be seven days before you pitch. Now a lot of college guys are used to that, when they only pitch once a week, but for Jose being so young in the development stage, I think he reaped the benefit of working more often. We watched his workload in between starts and certainly tried to work on some things to better himself, but I just thought that was one of the major reasons.” There was obviously more to it than just pitching on a regular basis. Lucas also says that it was usage and confidence in another pitch. “The second reason I think that he progressed so well is he committed to using his changeup a little bit more. I think we've got a kid that mixed his pitches really well. He probably threw 60-to-70 percent fastballs most of the time in his starts. He probably threw 15-to-20 percent curveballs and 15-to-20 percent changeups, and it got to the point where the changeup wasn't just to get them off his fastball, it was an out pitch. He got a lot of swing and misses on all three, but I noticed he was getting a lot of swing and misses on his changeup in two-strike situation.” So, is the success of the changeup due to deception or movement? “This kid has some savvy. I noticed to right-handed hitters, he would throw it low-middle and it would dive in the dirt between the plate and the catcher. He got a lot of good results, some off balance swings when it went low-middle. Then he has the ability to turn it over to left-handed hitters, and some really good, off balance swings from left-handers when the ball would sink down and away to left-handers. He's certainly got touch and feel for that pitch so in essence, by throwing it a little bit more he got a feel for when to use it and how to use it.” So pitching on a regular basis and the development and usage of the changeup have been very important for Berrios. He has also put up number which, according to Lucas has “helped his confidence go sky high.” Download attachment: JO Berrios 5.JPG Berrios gave up five runs in five innings in his AA debut two weeks ago. In two starts since then, he has given up a total of two runs on seven hits in 13 innings. He’s walked one and struck out nine. I talked to Lucas just before he made his first AA start and asked if he believed that Berrios was ready for this jump. “I do think he's ready for this Double-A jump. I think he's done most everything, in my guess, that you would want a young prospect to do at the A ball level in two years; certainly in innings, certainly with improvement on usage of pitches, mix of his pitches, command of his pitches, results. I think it's time to be tested. I don't think there's a reason to hold him back. We have to find out if the hitters who are better and more experienced are going to lay off stuff that is out of the zone, and if he'll make an adjustment and get it back in the zone, and get hitters out in the zone. You know, if you're a good Major League pitcher, you have to get outs in the zone. You can't get a lot of hitters to chase. You certainly have to have pitches that look like strikes and get the hitters to swing and miss at times, but I think you also have to be ready to challenge hitters in the strike zone. So, I think that's the next step, to see if he's got enough stuff in the zone that produces results. The better hitters know themselves. They chase less. They wait him out, and then we see what we've got. He makes quick adjustments. I saw enough legitimate strikes here that he wasn't getting all of his results out of the zone. He was in the zone with enough pitches here to merit the move up. We just need to see if experienced hitters react to him in any different way, so yes, I do think he's ready for this move.” There is a likelihood that he could still miss a start at some point this season, likely fairly soon. “I think he could benefit from a rest. I know there was some talk before he went up that we should rest his arm at some point, and I’m sure after the Futures Game, it'll probably be discussed of where to skip a start, and that'll be beneficial. 100 innings last year, and I'm sure he's on track to get 150 or more, and that's pretty good for a 20-year-old trying to be a guy for us in the big leagues eventually and pitch that 200 innings that we'd all like to see. But he's so young that you want to protect that arm and that's one thing I think they'd have to consider.” The Futures Game was a big deal for Berrios, according to Lucas. “I think it is. I think he looks back, playing for the WBC team. I think that gave him a taste of what he is capable of doing, to get that accolade. We have to do, as Twins pitching coaches, a half-year progress report on each pitcher, and I sat down with Jose like the others about mid-May and went over his goals, what he wanted to accomplish this year. Right away, without hesitation, he rattled off his three goals, and one of them was to be elected and pitch in the Futures Game along with making our All Star team in the Florida State League and hopefully getting moved up to AA.” Check. Check. Check. Lucas continued, “For such a young age, he is mature beyond his years. He has a mission that he is on. You can see that he is keeping his focus to stay on that path, and these are some goals he's reached. I know staying healthy would be another one. This is a big, big deal for him, I think, that he's accomplished this.” Berrios is not a finished product, which should really be exciting for Twins fans. “I still think he's got a lot of things to work on, to improve on. At his age, who wouldn't? He's not in the big leagues yet, but he's certainly made some huge strides in a quick period of time.” Gary Lucas, and the entire Twins organization, is excited about Berrios and what he could become. “We're just tickled in the organization that we have a young man of his stature and makeup and talent that's progressing, so it's really, really good for the Twins organization to have a pitcher of this caliber in our minor leagues.” Twins fans are excited too about a rotation that potentially could include the likes of Alex Meyer, Trevor May, Kyle Gibson and JO Berrios. The thing is, with how Berrios has performed, and with his work ethic, it may happen sooner than anyone might have guessed. 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