Seth Stohs

#1 is still trying too... Getting hit by a pitch and breaking his wrist (or that area) two years in a row doesn't help. By pick 27, expectations should drop significantly. #2 has fought some injuries. The ankles getting hurt in spring training a couple years ago. He was also hit by a pitch in the hand/wrist area and missed a couple of weeks this season. He hasn't helped himself in the organization either #4 Raya will get more innings, but he has had shoulder issues since drafted, and he is a little guy. The reality is that if he becomes an MLB reliever, that's a tremendous fourth-round pick. They're being cautious, going three innings in all his starts so far this year. At some point, he'll get an opportunity to go four innings, and if things progress, he'll get to five maybe by the end of the year. He (and Rosario) don't need to be added to the 40-man roster until after the 2024 season. #5 - Kala'i Rosario has been such a huge surprise this year. He was known for a ton of swing-and-miss, and he struck out a lot last year with the Mighty Mussels. He's always had tremendous power, arguably the most power potential by any prep hitter from that draft. I thought he would start back in Fort Myers for maybe a half season. Instead, he has been terrific, a rare bright spot in the Kernels lineup. A couple of days ago, he was named the TD Minor League Hitter of the Month for May, and he's hit a couple more homers since the calendar changed. As for undrafted signings, not too many: John Stankiewicz - now with CR. Zarion Sharpe - rehabbed much of last year and eventually had Tommy John... possible to be back this year. Lucas Sweeny - Not sure if the lefty ever pitched for a Twins affiliate. He was hurt since signing, and the Twins released him this spring. Allante Hall - The catcher signed, but he wasn't in the organization for too long. Feel like he was released in 2021 probably. Willy Diaz Vazquez - a shortstop from Canada, but he also didn't remain in the organization for long.

I go back and forth on Sabato. 1.) If he wasn't a first-round pick, we would probably be fairly excited about a 23-24 year old who has hit 20ish homers in a season. Obviously because he was a first-round pick, it's magnified, 2.) it's a reminder that if you're not picking in the top 4-6 picks in the draft, there is nothing given. 3.) Not a good defensive 1B. 4.) Walks a ton. 5.) Swings and misses a lot. 6.) When he actually does catch up to fastballs, he can crush it. So, ultimately, yes, it's been disappointing, but it hasn't been anywhere near the point where you would want to just release him. They risk losing him after this season if they don't add him to the 40-man roster. If that happens, oh well. Hard to imagine it would, so in reality, they have control of him through like 2026, and he's already at Double-A... Until he's holding someone back, there's no reason to drop him...

He doesn't even have to be added to the 40-man roster until after the 2025 season, so they would be wise to take as long as necessary, be patient, get him write, build him up.

If they needed a spot start, I do think that Headrick would probably be the one they would ideally turn to... if they have the time to plan it out. If it comes down to who is available, SWR and even Balazovic would be possibilities too. Prielipp had a setback after maybe his second start and has been rehabbing since in Fort Myers. Structurally, he's fine. That said, no updates in awhile.

I think Martin should be a candidate in CF. I think he and Royce Lewis would be the best for that spot. Maybe have them race and see which is faster. Ha! No, I guess you keep Royce at 3B because he's so good there whereas Martin could be significantly better if he's in the OF.

Last year was the first time that we included the DSL Twins updates in our daily minor league reports. In the past, we just had to limit it somehow, but now that we have 5-6 MILB report writers, it isn't asking too much, in my opinion, to add one more game to the report. Anyway, I feel like because of that, hopefully more people are at least familiar with some of these kids in the FCL this year because they were discussed in the DSL last year. Also, we write about the guys they signed in January, and now we write about how they perform in our daily reports.

I like the idea too... and I'll talk it through with our minor-league writers. I could probably do it fairly frequently, but not every day. It would get these guys a bit more recognition, maybe... not more words, but Yeah, i'm not sure. I do like the idea of keeping it separate from Jeremy's MILB Week in Review on Mondays. As for Daniel Pena... I would give it a little bit more time. :-) Mercedes and Rodriguez are the two Top 20 prospect guys... Acuna, Chourio are in that next category.

I would assume the plan would be to keep playing him somewhere once/if he comes back and stays healthy the rest of the year. Would be good to get him time at SS, 2B, 3B, LF and CF.

He had Tommy John that last year at UCLA, but the Twins got him in the 11th round. He ended up having another Tommy John surgery and returned to action in 2022. That's why they sent him to the AFL, to get some extra innings. They released RHP Tyler Beck in early May. He was putting up some really solid numbers in his return from Tommy John. But I chatted with him and he was all understanding of it, said the Twins explained it, said they had kept expectations for him, and he was fully aware of them. And ultimate understood that it is a numbers game. Very mature response to my message.

John Klein signed as a non-drafted free agent with the Twins and was on the FCL Twins roster.

I went to Cooperstown with my dad and brother, a high school friend and his dad. He was in DC at the time, so we flew into DC, and spent about 24 hours seeing everything (not literally, but the monuments, the Mall, Ford's Theatre, Arlington, and an ESPN the Restaurant). Then we drove a van up to Cooperstown. We actually stayed at a camp site about 20 minutes outside of Cooperstown. It was nice, though, had a pool, showers, a lake, canoeing, etc., and more. Figured that would be much cheaper than trying to rent two hotel rooms on a Hall of Fame weekend. We were there in 2001, when Puckett and Winfield and Mazeroski and Hilton Smith were inducted. We were there probably Thursday night through Monday maybe. Before we went, we ordered VIP memberships which allowed us into most everything. So, we spent time in the HOF museum every single day. You can fly through it in a few hours, but it is so great to be able to go back there each day and spend a little more time reading plaques or noticing little displays or at that time, they had just set up the Women in Baseball display. That weekend, they had a Hall of Fame game... It was the Marlins and someone. I remember that because Adrian Gonzalez had been the #1 overall pick the year before and played in that game. It was an exhibition game, but still fun. The cool thing about that time was just walking around the old town. My brother ran into Tony Oliva and got a photo with him outside the little stadium. I walked into a little cafe, and as I was walking in, Frank Robinson was walking out. My friend spent a little money and got an autograph and a photo with Harmon Killebrew. I could go on and on. The ceremony was great (but really warm). Now, saying that, I would love to go back, but not on a Hall of Fame weekend. I think just some random Thursday to spend like 6 hours there and kind of take in the town, maybe even learn a bit more about James Fenimore Cooper too. Also, I haven't check the Hall of Fame's website since I started this message, but once in a while, they will bring in a speaker to the museum and they have a program, and it's interactive. I'm sure they've got stuff going on all the time. Here is that page. https://baseballhall.org/ Feel free to ask questions... I need to check this more often and others should share their stories too.

Good for him. I saw a report NESN did on him and his background, his story of being adopted, growing up playing ball, going to college, getting drafted, debuting with the Yankees. It was very well done. And, he's signed so many minor-league deals in recent years, this is a nice little thing for Refsnyder, knowing he will have an offseason in which he won't have to look for a job.

I think it's a great story. The interview with him before his first game back was great. He got the money and spent it all on pot, essentially choosing that over a career in baseball. Sounds like he's got his priorities back in the right places.

Absolutely. A head coaching job in the SEC has to be worth a ton. This article shows how much the SEC coaches made in 2022. (I will only post the school and the head coach's salary): Vanderbilt: $1.668 million Tennessee: $1.5 million Texas A&M: $1.41 million Arkansas: $1.3 million Mississippi State: $1.25 million Ole Miss: $1.2 million LSU: $1.2 million Florida: $1.2 million Auburn: $1 million Georgia: $650,000 South Carolina: $600,000 Kentucky: $575,000 Alabama: $475,000 Missouri: $470,000 Obviously some of the discrepancy is how long a coach has been in the position, their background, etc. Without looking, I would guess Wes Johnson will get somewhere around $1.0 million. I wouldn't be shocked if he's closer to $1.25 million. His contract at LSU to be pitching coach was 3 years, $1.14 million. As I've pointed out... the Twins hired Johnson from Mississippi State the same year they hired Pete Maki to run the pitcher development program in the minor leagues. The two were one and the same, so it's not like the Twins lost anything. That said, they lost 2-3 other minor league coaches to Division I baseball jobs in the last year.

There are no minor-league games on Mondays... until there are. On Monday, the Florida Complex League and the Dominican Summer League began their seasons. Find out how the teams and the players performed. Also, several players are moving up the Twins organization, so be sure to check the transactions too. Image courtesy of Seth Stohs, Twins Daily I enjoy following the Twins minor-league system. I've been doing that for a minimum of 20 years, and really even further back. Why? Well, even when the Twins are struggling, I can follow four more box scores and keep up with over 100 Twins prospects. Well, then in early June when the short-season, rookie leagues begin, there are two more teams and nearly 60 more prospects to keep up with. The FCL roster includes several of the Twins top young prospects, like 17 and 18 year olds who were signed to seven-digit signing bonuses six months ago. Soon, you will see the Twins Daily Minor League Week in Review which will discuss the good, the bad and the ugly. That will be limited to the four full-season this week. But we would love your input. Is it better to post a Twins Minor League Report on Monday's for the two Complex teams, or do you think it should be included in the Week in Review? Let us know below. Let’s get to the report. As always, please feel free to discuss and ask questions. TRANSACTIONS Austin Martin began a rehab assignment with the FCL Twins. RHP Miguelangel Boadas has been promoted from the FCL to Fort Myers. Infielder Jankel Ortiz and outfielder Argenis Jimenez have been placed on the FCL Twins 7-Day IL. RHPs Pierson Ohl and Regi Grace promoted from Cedar Rapids to Wichita. RHP Cory Lewis promoted from Fort Myers to Cedar Rapids. RHP Orlando Rodriguez activated from Cedar Rapids' Development List. Wichita placed RHP Chad Donato on the Development List, and RHP Seth Nordlin was released. COMPLEX THOUGHTS from FLORIDA FCL Twins 4, FCL Rays 1 Box Score Opening Day for the Florida Complex League Twins was on Monday at noon local time at Bill Smith Field in Fort Myers. The roster certainly has some intriguing players. The first thing to point out is that Austin Martin played in his first game since early in spring training. He has been rehabbing an elbow injury. He batted second and played second base. He grounded out to shortstop in his first plate appearance. Then in the third inning, he came up and hit a solo home run. He came to the plate one more time and was hit by a pitch. He added a stolen base. His game was complete soon after, replaced by Isaac Pena who singled in his line at-bat. He scored the team’s fourth run on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Jose Rodriguez. The offensive star of the game was Venezuelan catcher Daniel Pena who went 3-for-3. In the fourth inning, the 18-year-old hit a two-run homer to increase the Twins lead to 3-1. 19-year-old lefty Cesar Lares posted a 2.93 ERA in 11 starts in the DSL last year (with 71 strikeouts in 46 innings). On Monday, he got the nod to make the team’s first start. Lares gave up one run on two hits and two walks in four innings. He had an impressive nine strikeouts. Juan Mercedes then struck out five batters over three scoreless innings. He gave up one hit and one walk. Yon Landaeta walked two and struck out two batters in a scoreless inning. 24-year-old Ricardo Velez struck out the side in a perfect ninth to record the save. Velez signed with the Twins in July of 2021 as an undrafted free agent from the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma, an NAIA school. He had been playing in the United Shore League. He has pitched a lot the last couple of offseasons in the Puerto Rican Winter League. Byron Chourio, who came to the Twins in the Luis Arraez/Pablo Lopez deal, batted fifth and played center field. He went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts. Bryan Acuna batted fourth and played shortstop. Ronald and Luisangel’s younger brother went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. Finally, the Twins 14th round pick last year was Florida prep infielder Omari Daniel. He didn’t play in 2022 because he had Tommy John surgery. So Monday was his professional debut. He batted ninth and played third base. He went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. COMPLEX THOUGHTS from BOCA CHICA DSL Twins 1, DSL Giants Orange 5 Box Score The DSL Twins began their season with a home game. Ledwin Taveras started and gave up three runs in the first inning. The 18-year-old responded with two scoreless innings before two unearned runs scored in the fourth frame. The error was his own. In four innings, he gave up five runs (3 earned) on eight hits and two walks. He also notched seven strikeouts. Eduardo Soriano (20) came on and tossed three scoreless innings. He gave up four hits and no walks, and he struck out four batters. Eider Machuca (18) worked the final two innings without further runs scoring. He gave up one hit, walked one, and hit one batter. He had three strikeouts. Meanwhile, the DSL bats were quiet in their first game of the season. Hendry Chivilli had two of the team’s four hits in the game. He played shortstop and hit leadoff. The 17-year-old signed with the Twins in January for $2.1 million. Yilber Herrera had the lone extra base hit, a double, and added the team’s lone walk in the game. He also stole a base. Moises Lopez, who turned 17 a month ago, had the team’s lone RBI, a single to score Herrera. Lopez also stole a base and was hit by a pitch. The Twins top international signing in January was outfielder Ariel Castro who reportedly received a $2.4 million bonus. He batted third and played center field. He went 0-for-4 with a strikeout. The third seven-digit signing bonus the Twins gave in January went to catcher Carlos Silva, who got $1.1 million. On Opening Day, he batted seventh and was the team’s DH. He went 0-for-3 with a strikeout. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Cesar Lares (FCL) - 4 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 9 K. Hitter of the Day – Daniel Pena (FCL) - 3-for-3, HR(1), R, 2 RBI PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on the new Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Monday. #10 - Yasser Mercedes (EST) - 0-for-5, K #11 - Austin Martin (St. Paul) - 1-for-2, HBP, HR(1), R, RBI, E (played 2B) #18 - Jose Rodriguez (EST) - 1-for-3, SF, RBI, K TUESDAY’S SCHEDULE AND PITCHING PROBABLES Iowa @ St. Paul (7:07 PM CST) - RHP Jordan Balazovic (0-1, 4.45 ERA) Wichita @ San Antonio (7:05 PM CST) - TBD Cedar Rapids @ Dayton (6:05 PM CST) - RHP Kyle Jones (3-3, 4.70 ERA) Clearwater @ Fort Myers (6:00 PM CST) - TBD FCL Twins @ FCL Rays (11:00AM CST) - TBD DSL Twins @ DSL Phillies Red (10:00AM CST) - TBD Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Monday’s Complex League Opening Day games! View full article

I think it's just primarily because the Twins really promoted them quickly. They have (or did a couple of weeks ago), the youngest offense in the Midwest League. Salas, Miller, E-Rod, Urbina... I'm sure I'm missing a couple. Salas is one of the ten youngest players in the league. Miller didn't hit last year in the FSL. E-Rod missed 2/3 of last season and almost a month this year. Urbina has struggled. Rosario may have been the one I worried about the most in terms of getting pushed up too quickly, but he's been fantastic. Average age of a pitcher in that league is like 23. Those guys are all 19-20...

Well said. Remember that he was fired (or not brought back) over the phone while he was helping neighbors near his Florida Keys home... Dude is bitter... No question about that. He didn't want to play nice with the new front office. I'm sure he has full respect for Terry Ryan... and he should. I do, probably more than anyone I've ever met in the game. But Mientkiewicz was all about winning... which obviously is great, and they did win in Fort Myers and much of the same team won in Double-A too. He was the manager for the likes of Buxton, Sano, Rosario, Kepler, Berrios, etc. But, he just wasn't interested in the analytics, and he wasn't interested in providing the front office staff with the reports they were asking for... and all that matters in the development too... and just in general, no one wants to work with someone who is insubordinate.

The reality is that the Twins did get him to that point... just needed more time in the big leagues to respond to his early struggles. Cano showed plenty of times in his development that he would dominate. Control will be an issue.

We have discussed the Twins top minor-league pitcher performances in May. Pitching is great. You can never have enough pitching. But the 2023 Twins are reminding us that it is also important to have some hitting. So, here are the Twins minor leaguers who hit well in May. Image courtesy of Steve Buhr, Twins Daily (graphics by Thieres Rabelo) Earlier in the week, we announced the Twins Daily Minor League Starting Pitcher and Relief Pitcher for the month of May. Today, we conclude the series by posting our minor league hitter of the month. There were several good choices, and several St. Paul Saints showed up on the honorable mention list. They would likely be higher in the rankings if not for big-league promotions during the month which meant less minor-league opportunities. I do factor games played when I rank these players, but I always like to promote the honorable mention guys. You will notice that a couple of catchers are mentioned. They play just every other game, and in some cases, every third game. They can only perform when they are placed in the lineup, and a couple backstops played really well in May. Honorable Mention Edouard Julien (St. Paul): 16 G, 18-54, .333/.471/.537 (1.008), 5-2B, 2-HR, 12 R, 6 RBI, 12 BB, 13 K David Banuelos (Wichita): 11 G, 9-35, .257/.381/.600 (.981), 1-2B, 1-3B, 3-HR, 7 R, 11 RBI, 6 BB, 11 K. Hernan Perez (St. Paul): 15 G, 18-51, .353/.414/.549 (.963), 3-2B, 2-3B, 1-HR, 8 R, 13 RBI, 6 BB, 12 K, 4-SB Matt Wallner (St. Paul): 16 G, 21-65, .323/.348/.615 (.963), 5-2B, 1-3B, 4-HR, 10 R, 11 RBI, 3 BB, 28 K. Jair Camargo (St. Paul): 11 G, 15-49, .306/.343/.592 (.925), 2-2B, 4-HR, 10 R, 10 RBI, 1 BB, 22 K. Hitter of the Month Number 4: Andrew Cossetti (Fort Myers/Cedar Rapids) 20 G, 20-68, .294/.437/.485 (.922), 5-2B, 1-3B, 2-HR, 9 R, 13 RBI, 13 BB, 17 K. Cossetti was the Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Month in April when he hit .327 with a 1.124 OPS, five doubles and four home runs for the month. He walked as much as he struck out. He spent the first two-third of May with the Mighty Mussels before ending the month with a handful of games in Cedar Rapids. The 2022 11th round pick from St. Joseph’s has made a strong first impression in the organization. The promotion to High-A has been challenging early in his time there. However, with Cossetti and Noah Cardenas (2022 TD Minor League All Star) team to form a pretty strong 1-2 punch for Brian Dinkelman to get good production regardless of which one is playing. Hitter of the Month Number 3: Jorel Ortega (Fort Myers) 24 G, 28-95, .295/.374/.537 (.915), 8-2B, 3-3B, 3-HR, 23 R, 17 RBI, 11 BB, 29 K. Ortega is certainly an intriguing prospect. The Puerto Rico native was the Twins sixth-round draft pick in 2022 out of the University of Tennessee. He played in one game for the Mussels last season but after an RBI single in his first at-bat, he broke his wrist and his season was over. He was an Honorable Mention choice in April when he hit .265 with an .837 OPS. In April, he walked 18 times and struck out 16 times. In May, he appears to have made an adjustment, more willing to be more aggressive and strike out more in an attempt to add power. And for the month, that was successful. He led the organization with 14 extra base hits in the month. Hitter of the Month Number 2: Yunior Severino (Wichita) 21 G, 29-97, .299/.358/.557 (.915), 5-2B, 1-3B, 6-HR, 16 R, 17 RBI, 9 BB, 34 K For the second straight month, Severino comes in second in our hitter rankings. He has generally been pretty consistent all season. He hit six home runs in both months. However, he added more doubles and a triple in May. As you can see, he will certainly strike out quite a bit, but his prospect status should be rising. A promotion to Triple-A could be in his future, although he’s at a point now where he simply needs to be in the lineup most every day. Hitter Number 1: Kala’i Rosario (Cedar Rapids) 24 G, 31-93, .333/.441/.591 (1.032), 7-2B, 1-3B, 5-HR, 14 R, 16 RBI, 15 BB, 29 K. Rosario was the Twins fifth-round pick in the five-round 202 MLB Draft. He had made a name for himself as one of the most powerful high school hitters in his draft class. His career began in 2021 with the GCL Twins, and he spent 2022 with the Mighty Mussels. Like several of the young prospects who made the jump to High-A Cedar Rapids this season, it was not an easy decision. It wasn’t an obvious choice. However, Rosario has been terrific throughout most of the season’s first two months, and it all came together in May when he hit for average, was willing to take walks and showed terrific doubles and home run power. Yes, there are still strikeouts and that’s something he will need to continue working on, but it’s been a very nice showing for Rosario this season, and his prospect status should be on the rise. What do you think of the choices made for the top four Twins minor-league hitters? Discuss these prospects and their potential impacts. View full article

I don't have any official answer, just my own theories. So, feel free to agree or disagree. Since the Twins drafted Raya, he's had several 'minor' shoulder issues. His is not a big guy, so he'll likely always have to fight the thing about smallish pitchers being bullpen guys. So I do assume they have a plan that includes a pitch count or an up-and-down (innings) count. I personally am curious how it will play out over the long haul, but I don't mind it for now. Try to keep him healthy. Keep him working on a consistent basis. He works really hard in the bullpen and in the weight room, so he is getting work and developing. Maybe the plan is to keep seeing him get bigger and stronger before asking him for too many pitches for innings. I can try to find out more. Not sure I'd be able to get anything too official. But for now, the results in these shorter stints hve been quite positive.

This is really good stuff... Thanks for sharing your story here. Like you said, we just don't know what's going on away from the ball field.

A couple of quick notes: 1.) I just added a quote from Yoyner Fajardo. 2.) Instead of posting a ton of twitter videos, I hyperlinked to them, so if there is an RBI mentioned or something and it's linked, click on it to see the video. 3.) The first time each player's name is mentioned in the article, it links to the players' Baseball Reference page... For several players, I also linked to their Twins Daily search page.

Per the game's box score, 6 mph wind from Right to Left, but maybe @darwin22 can let us know how it was.