Seth Stohs

Tough choice for Cody... I'm sure he wants to sign, but can understand not signing for half price. Huge gamble for him to go back to school too because as a fourth-year senior, he has no leverage. For the Twins, getting a potential power arm for a half-million less than slot allows them to sign 2-3 high school guys from later who otherwise wouldn't have signed. sounds perfect.

A night after providing the Minnesota Twins with a dramatic walkoff home run, Brian Dozier learned on Saturday afternoon at the ballpark that he was added to the American League All-Star roster. Image courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn, USA Today A night after providing the Minnesota Twins with a dramatic walkoff home run, Brian Dozier learned on Saturday afternoon at the ballpark that he was added to the American League All-Star roster. Dozier found out Friday afternoon that Mike Moustakus had won the Final Vote. He was making plans to be in northern Minnesota for his four-day All-Star break. On Saturday afternoon, he learned that he has plans in Cincinnati next week. Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista will not play in the game because of an injury, so Dozier was picked to take his place. Though he participated in last year's Home Run Derby at Target Field, this is Dozier's first All-Star Game appearance. He joins Glen Perkins as a Twins representative. Perkins is making his third All-Star roster. Through Friday's game, Dozier was hitting .259/.331/.521 (.852) with 26 doubles, three triples and 19 home runs. He has 49 RBI and a league-leading 66 runs scored. On behalf of Twins Daily, we would like to congratulate both Glen Perkins and Brian Dozier! View full article

Congratulations, Brian Dozier!

How are the Minnesota Twins’ affiliates doing, and who are the statistical leaders in the hitting and pitching stats in the Twins farm system? The seasons are over three months complete. There are about seven weeks left in those seasons. There are some top prospects and familiar names boiling to the top of these lists as the season moves forward. Image courtesy of Brad Rempel, USA Today How are the Minnesota Twins’ affiliates doing, and who are the statistical leaders in the hitting and pitching stats in the Twins farm system? The seasons are over three months complete. There are about seven weeks left in those seasons. There are some top prospects and familiar names boiling to the top of these lists as the season moves forward. Here is a look at the updated Twins minor league standings and statistical leaders through Friday, July 10. Feel free to discuss. STANDINGS Here is a quick look at where the teams rank in their divisions. The International League All-Star game is next week, right after the MLB All-Star Game. The other five affiliates are all in full swing the rest of the way out. Rochester is now 48-41 and 1.5 games ahead of Scranton/Wilkes Barre in the International League North Division. Chattanooga is 46-36 on the season. However, after winning the first-half title and clinching a playoff berth, the Lookouts are just 3-11 in the second half of the season. Promotions of Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, Jorge Polanco and JO Berrios along with injuries now to Travis Harrison and Max Kepler and the Lookout roster is quite a bit different than it was the first half. Ft. Myers has an overall record of 49-37. They are 11-5 and one game back of Palm Beach. Cedar Rapids is 50-34 overall this season. They are 10-6 in the second half, though they are four games back of Kane County. They earned a playoff berth in the first half. Elizabethton is 8-9 in their season. They are currently in fourth place in their division, but they are just 1.5 games out of first place. The GCL Twins are 9-8 so far. They are four games back of the GCL Red Sox. HITTERS For batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, IsoD and IsoP, we used a minimum of 220 plate appearances. Plate Appearances: Zach Granite (356), Reynaldo Rodriguez (343), Jorge Polanco (334), Nick Gordon (329), Adam Brett Walker (327) Batting Average: Max Kepler (.327), Alex Swim (.310), Jorge Polanco/James Beresford (.302), Byron Buxton (.283) On-Base Percentage: Max Kepler (.401), Miguel Sano (.374), Mitch Garver (.367), Zach Granite/Travis Harrison (.357) Isolated Discipline: Mitch Garver (.124), Travis Harrison (.106), Miguel Sano (.100), Tanner English/Niko Goodrum (.099), Stuart Turner (.094) Slugging Percentage: Adam Brett Walker (.575), Miguel Sano (.544), Max Kepler (.515), Byron Buxton (.489), Reynaldo Rodriguez (.422) Isolated Power (IsoP): Adam Brett Walker (.311), Miguel Sano (.270), Byron Buxton (.206), Max Kepler (.188), Reynaldo Rodriguez (.166) OPS: Miguel Sano (.918), Max Kepler (.917), Adam Brett Walker (.896), Byron Buxton (.840), Jorge Polanco (.749) Hits: Jorge Polanco/Alex Swim (94), James Beresford (87), Max Kepler/Zach Granite (85) 2B: Max Kepler (24), Reynaldo Rodriguez/Adam Brett Walker/Danny Ortiz (20), Miguel Sano/Travis Harrison (18) 3B: Byron Buxton (12), Max Kepler (8), Max Murphy (7), Tanner English (6), TJ White (5) HR: Adam Brett Walker (23), Miguel Sano (15), Reynaldo Rodriguez/Oswaldo Arcia (8), Danny Ortiz (7) Runs: Zach Granite (56), Miguel Sano (55), Reynaldo Rodriguez (52), Adam Brett Walker (51), Nick Gordon (48) RBI: Adam Brett Walker (73), Reynaldo Rodriguez (49), Miguel Sano (48), Danny Ortiz (46), Zach Larson (41) SB: Tanner English (26), Nick Gordon/Engelb Vielma (21), Byron Buxton (20), Zach Granite (17) STARTING PITCHERS (>64 IP) Innings: Taylor Rogers (115.2), Tyler Duffey (111.0), JO Berrios (101.1), Pat Dean 99.2), Greg Peavey (94.0) ERA: Stephen Gonsalves (1.67), Mat Batts (1.94), Felix Jorge (2.00), Chih-Wei Hu (2.20), Tyler Duffey (2.51) WHIP: Felix Jorge (0.90), Stephen Gonsalves (0.98), Mat Batts (1.05), Chih-Wei Hu (1.07), Zach Tillery (1.08) K/9: Stephen Gonsalves (10.6), JO Berrios (9.2), Mat Batts (9.0), Chih-Wei Hu (8.3), Tyler Duffey/Alex Wimmers (7.9) BB/9: Greg Peavey (1.6), Aaron Slegers (1.7), Felix Jorge (1.8), Tyler Duffey/Mat Batts (1.9), Pat Dean (2.0) Strikeouts: JO Berrios (104), Tyler Duffey (98), Stephen Gonsalves (95), Mat Batts (88), Taylor Rogers (82) Wins: Stephen Gonsalves (9-1), JO Berrios (8-3), Taylor Rogers (7-6), Eight pitchers with 6 wins (Ryan Eades/Randy LeBlanc 6-1). RELIEF PITCHERS (>24 IP, Games: AJ Achter (35), Todd Van Steensel (30), Alex Muren/JT Chargois (29), Mark Hamburger/DJ Johnson (28) Innings: Alex Muren (51.0), Randy LeBlanc (49.1), Todd Van Steensel (47.1), Mike Theofanopoulos (44.0), Brandon Peterson (42.0) ERA: Brandon Peterson (0.64), Trevor Hildenberger (0.87), Alex Muren (1.41), Randy LeBlanc (1.46), Luke Bard (1.82), Todd Van Steensel (2.09) WHIP: Trevor Hildenberger (0.65), AJ Achter (0.832), Brandon Peterson (0.833), Matt Summers (0.87), Randy LeBlanc (.097) K/9: Cameron Booser (12.7), Trevor Hildenberger/Brandon Peterson/Todd Van Steensel (12.0), Lester Oliveros (11.6) BB/9: Trevor Hildenberger (1.1), Tim Shibuya (1.4), Matt Summers (1.9), Luke Bard (2.2), AJ Achter (2.5) Saves: AJ Achter (14), Trevor Hildenberger/Todd Van Steensel (11), Zack Jones (10), JT Chargois (9), Cameron Booser (8) There you have it. The Twins Minor League Leader Board through Friday, July 10. What are your thoughts? What surprised you? 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I mean, Arcia had 30-35 MLB home runs before he turned 24. , so he has shown that he can hit big league pitching. However, his lack of plate discipline/approach is a concern. Even in his 11-12 game hot streak with Rochester right now, he has struck out 12 times (which isn't terrible). He's walked 4 times, but the two last night (reports said) pitchers were totally pitching around him and counts were still going full. So, I'm not certain that the approach has improved. That immense power has always been there. He's close... but hopefully this has been a good learning thing for him. With Arcia, the feel is that it's more about attitude and approach than anything else.

Murphy hasn't hit as well as Lis did yet, but he's more of a prospect than Lis probably was... Lis was a plodding 1B/DH type while Murphy is an athletic, OF with good speed. Murphy has probably already had more national attention than Lis, except for when Lis homered on ESPN off of Roger Clemens in Clemens' return.

It could be. I don't know how long Kendrick was expected out with mono. Also, might allow both Blankenhorn and Cabbage to play third base.

I think there is some talent. I mean, that Ft. Myers pitching staff is really good (Stewart, Eades, Gonsalves, Hu, Batts, Slegers)... a few of them are legit MLB starter prospects. Don't forget that Thorpe is out for the year. I think they have focused so much on pitching the last 2+ years in the draft that there aren't as many hitting prospects in the lower levels. However, Nick Gordon, Amaurys Minier and a few others are intriguing.

With Travis Harrison on the DL and Max Kepler out with a sore shoulder, the Lookouts need outfielders The Minnesota Twins signed outfielder Shannon Wilkerson from the independent York Revolution. Marcus Knecht was promoted from Ft. Myers to Chattanooga. TJ White was promoted from Cedar Rapids to Ft. Myers. Unconfirmed reports that Travis Blankenhorn has been promoted to Elizabethton.

I know that this is the Minor League Report, but I’d be remiss to not mention the Brian Dozier walk-off, three-run homer to give the Minnesota Twins an 8-6 win against Detroit. Miguel Sano, Eddie Rosario and Danny Santana all have been in the Twins farm system this year and each contributed in that ninth inning rally. Rule 5 pick JR Graham threw three scoreless innings. Ryan O'Rourke, who began the season in Chattanooga, struck out two in a perfect inning. Another reminder than getting to know these players before they arrive in a Twins uniform is important and fun! Image courtesy of Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports I know that this is the Minor League Report, but I’d be remiss to not mention the Brian Dozier walk-off, three-run homer to give the Minnesota Twins an 8-6 win against Detroit. Miguel Sano, Eddie Rosario and Danny Santana all have been in the Twins farm system this year and each contributed in that ninth inning rally. Rule 5 pick JR Graham threw three scoreless innings. Ryan O'Rourke, who began the season in Chattanooga, struck out two in a perfect inning. Another reminder than getting to know these players before they arrive in a Twins uniform is important and fun! There were seven games in the Twins farm system on Friday, plus a bunch of news and transactions. Check it all out below. TRANSACTIONS There was a bit of movement in the Twins farm system on Friday. First, a bit of news. Max Kepler, who has been out for a couple of games with a sore shoulder, has been ruled out of the Futures Game on Sunday. He was replaced by, you guessed it, a Royals’ prospect. With Travis Harrison placed on the disabled list a few days ago and Kepler out, the Lookouts needed some outfield help. The other night, pitcher Tim Shibuya was out in right field for a couple of innings (and actually played well and got an assist). Marcus Knecht was promoted from Ft. Myers to the Lookouts. Also, the Twins signed veteran minor leaguer Shannon Wilkerson to play in the outfield. He was an eighth-round pick of the Red Sox in 2009 and got to AAA with them in 2014. This year, he went unsigned and was playing for the York Revolution of the independent Atlantic League. Third baseman TJ White was promoted from Cedar Rapids to Ft. Myers on Friday as well. Twins Daily also learned the Twins third-round pick Travis Blankenhorn was being promoted from the GCL Twins to the Elizabethton Twins. RED WINGS REPORT Game 1 - Rochester 0, Syracuse 4 Box Score Taylor Rogers was on the hill for the Red Wings in game one. The left-hander was charged with four runs on ten hits and three walks in six innings. He struck out five. He falls to 7-6 with a 3.19 ERA. The Red Wings hitters managed just three hits in this game. Eric Farris hit his eighth double, the lone extra base hit. Game 2 - Rochester 11, Syracuse 2 Box Score As poor as the offense was in the first game, they made up for it (if that is possible) in game 2. As you might guess, Oswaldo Arcia played a large role in that. He went 2-3 with two walks, his ninth double, his eighth home run and three RBI. In his final plate appearance, he worked a walk with the bases loaded. It brought up Reynaldo Rodriguez who promptly launched a grand slam, his eighth home of the year. Rodriguez had five RBIs in the game. James Beresford went 2-3 with a walk. Chris Herrmann and Wilkin Ramirez each had a double. Logan Darnell made another spot start. The lefty went the first 3.1 innings. He gave up two runs on four hits and a walk. Mark Hamburger worked the next 2.2 innings and gave up two hits and a walk, but no runs. He struck out three. Cole Johnson pitched a scoreless final inning. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 0, Mississippi 9 Box Score This was a reasonably close game until the late innings. Brett Lee gave up nine hits, but just two runs, in four innings. Alex Muren threw two more scoreless innings. Jake Reed came on for the seventh and gave up two runs that inning. He was then charged with two more in the eighth. He gave up four runs on three hits and two walks in 1.1 innings. Zack Jones came on for him. He was only able to record one out. He was charged with three runs on one hit and four walks. DJ Johnson got the final out of the eight and pitched a scoreless ninth. Newcomer Shannon Wilkerson led off and went 1-3 with a walk. Marcus Knecht batted sixth and went 1-3 with a walk and a double. Levi Michael also had a double. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 0, Clearwater 3 Box Score Mat Batts just continues to impress. The lefty had another terrific start. In this game, he got a no-decision despite throwing seven shutout innings. He gave up five hits, walked two and struck out ten. It was his second straight game without allowing an earned run. His Miracle ERA drops to 1.71. Brian Gilbert came on for the eighth. He was charged with three runs on two hits and a walk in the inning. Matt Summers gave up a hit in a scoreless ninth inning. Not much offense for the Miracle in this one. Tanner Vavra continues to hit well. He went 2-3 with his fourth and fifth doubles of the year. Zach Granite and Jason Kanzler each added a single. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 3, Kane County 8 Box Score Zach Tillery has been terrific for the Kernels this year in whatever role he’s been given. He continues to start. In this game, he gave up one run on six hits and a walk in 5.2 innings. He struck out two. Mike Theofanopoulos got the final out of the sixth inning, but not before giving up two hits, three walks and two runs. Jared Wilson gave up two runs on four hits over the final two innings. Tanner English, Max Murphy and Rafael Valera each went 2-4. Murphy has the only RBI for the Kernels in the game. E-TWINS E-NOTES Elizabethton 2, Kingsport 3 Box Score The E-Twins fall a game below .500 (8-9). Sam Clay made his first start. The lefty gave up one run on three hits and three walks in just 2.2 innings. He struck out two. 2015 pick Nate Gercken gave up one run on three hits over 4.1 innings. He walked none and struck out three. Alex Robinson got two outs. He gave up one run on one hit and one walk. He struck out one. Logan Lonbana got the final out. Manuel Guzman led the offense. He went 3-3 with a walk and his fifth stolen base. Tyler Kuresa went 3-4 including his fourth home run of the short season. LaMonte Wade hit his second home run. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Twins 1, GCL Red Sox 5 Box Score Williams Ramirez made the start in this game and was terrific. He threw five shutout innings and gave up just one hit. He walked three, but he struck out seven. Hector Lujan came on to start the sixth. He gave up five runs (three earned) on two hits and two hit batters and recorded just one out. Rich Condeelis went the next 1.2 innings, walking one and striking out one. Max Cordy pitched one scoreless inning. The Twins managed just four hits in this game. Jermaine Palacios went 2-4. Luis Arraez hit his fourth double. Palacios is now hitting .389 while Arraez is hitting .328. The GCL Twins fall to 9-8 on the season. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Mat Batts, Ft. Myers Miracle Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Oswaldo Arcia, Rochester Red Wings SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Syracuse (6:05 CST) – LHP Pat Dean Mississippi @ Chattanooga (6:15 CST) – TBD Clearwater @ Ft. Myers (5:05 CST) – RHP Kohl Stewart Cedar Rapids @ Kane County (6:30 CST) – LHP Randy Rosario Johnson City @ Elizabethton (5:00 CST) – RHP Cody Stashak GCL Red Sox @ GCL Twins (9:00 CST) – TBD Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Friday games. View full article

Similar stories at this point... Both have earned the right to get a shot with the Twins. Both not getting as much respect as they could... including people calling them different names, like "Archer."

I'll pick out a couple of my tweets from last night to mention here.

I had him around 40 before the season, though I have had him as high as like 32 after last season. If he can hit at all, he can be a top 20 guy. He's only like 5-11 and maybe 160 (if that)... but the glove will carry him... he's a legit MLB prospect, but how high will depend on his growth (fair or not).

Most free agents are over 30, usually 31. And that's especially true of catchers because they take longer to develop. Most players debut at 24-25, and if they stay up, they pass 6 years service time when they're 31-32. Catchers develop slower, so it becomes even later. Obviously there are exceptions, like Mauer, but then again those guys typically don't become free agents either.

... when Berrios was 18!

Each step up the chain is a step that will require adjustments. Earlier this season, Berrios seemed to have trouble in the 6th inning in AA too. AAA hitters are also generally better than AA hitters. The HR he gave up was to Luke Scott, who has a lot of big league homers and experience. People seem to believe in his stuff... It was only his second start at AAA. I think we'd need another 10-15 starts to see if it's anything more that just adjusting.

As for Berrios... I choose to look at the first five innings and say that he dominated. That's remarkably impressive for a just-turned-21-year-old, in my opinion. He just kind of lost it at that point, but the first five shouldn't be overlooked.

Thanks for the update. I was curious about that as well. Figured someone got ejected. Shibuya's such a terrific athlete. Looks like he even made a play.

One year ago, Kurt Suzuki found himself playing in his first All-Star Game at the age of 30. In fact, he was behind the plate, catching teammate Glen Perkins, as the American League won the game at Target Field. Soon after, the Twins had a huge decision to make on the veteran backstop. Image courtesy of Jerome Miron, USA Today One year ago, Kurt Suzuki found himself playing in his first All-Star Game at the age of 30. In fact, he was behind the plate, catching teammate Glen Perkins, as the American League won the game at Target Field. Soon after, the Twins had a huge decision to make on the veteran backstop. A year ago, the Twins signed catcher Kurt Suzuki to a one year, $2.75 million contract. The general thought from Twins fans at the time of the signing was that it an OK signing. He would be a veteran presence to help mold Josmil Pinto into a big league catcher. However, the Twins and Suzuki never said that was the reason for his signing. He was brought in to start. And he did. And he played really well. He made his first All-Star team and really earned it. On July 31 of 2014, the MLB trade deadline, the Twins were faced with three options regarding their All-Star catcher. First, they could just do nothing. They could stand pat, keep him the rest of the season and let him become a free agent at the end of the year. They could join the other teams in bidding for his services at the end of the season, or just let him go. Second, they could have sold high and traded him. On July 31, Suzuki was hitting.306/.369/.391 (.760). The team wasn’t in contention, and he could have fetched a solid prospect in return. Maybe that wasn’t really an option. Maybe they tried to trade him and found that they were not getting the kind of return they had hoped for a veteran catcher in an All-Star season. As the trade deadline passed that afternoon, news came out that the Twins went with Option #3. They signed him to a two-year extension. Suzuki was given a two year, $12 million contract with a vesting option for 2017 at $6 million based on plate appearances in 2016. The big question was Would Kurt Suzuki continue to play like he did in the first four months of the 2014? Had he made some sort of alteration in his game that would help him sustain that success? Or, would the pumpkin burst? Let’s take a quick look at the numbers: 2012 (118 games) - .235/.276/.328 (.605) 2013 (94 games) - .232/.290/.337 (.627) Through July 31, 2014 (90 games) - .306/.369/.391 (.760) After July 31, 2014 (41 games) - .248/.290/.366 (.656) Through July 8, 2015 (68 games) - .227/.284/.309 (.593) Maybe I’m the only one, but all I can think of is the classic tune from Sesame Street, “One of these things is not like the other.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ect-kgxBb4M Come on... it's always good to get a clip from Sesame Street into an article, right? Now good luck getting that tune out of your head today! Those are admittedly just the offensive numbers. Suzuki’s defensive metrics have never graded out well in terms of pitch framing. And in 2014, he threw out 25% of would-be base stealers and that number has dropped to 20% in 2015. To be fair, there are intangibles - especially important with catchers - in the game of baseball, and most of those things can’t be measured with statistics all the time. Just because they can’t be measured does not mean they are not valuable. It’s clear that Twins pitchers believe in Suzuki’s preparation, leadership and ability to work and call a good game. Those things do matter. On Monday night, the Twins sent Chris Herrmann down the Rochester and promoted Eric Fryer to the big league club. Herrmann was hitting just .156/.239/.281 (.521) in 25 games. Fryer had been working out with Team USA, preparing for the Pan Am Games when he learned that he’d been called to join the Twins. After going 0-3 in his first Red Wings game this season, he was on first his next seven games. He hit .625/.667/.750 (1.417) in those games. However, in 42 games since then, he hit .248/.344/.292 (.636), more in line with his career numbers. He had two hits in the Twins win on Wednesday afternoon. Fryer is touted as a strong defensive-minded catcher. Josmil Pinto hasn’t hit like himself most of the 2015 season. He suffered a concussion late in spring training that may have cost him a spot on the Twins Opening Day roster. He has again been on the DL with a concussion for the last month. His defensive skills have always been somewhat critically scrutinized by coaches and even teammates. Stuart Turner was pushed up to AA Chattanooga after a solid second half in Ft. Myers. He continues to be strong defensively and pitchers really enjoy throwing to him. However, his bat has not turned around this season. In 56 games with the Lookouts, he has hit just .183/.276/.267 with five doubles and three home runs. He will be a big league catcher, but he may need to repeat the level in 2016. Mitch Garver, our choice for Hitter of the Year in the Twins minor leagues in 2014, got a spring training invite, but he got off to a slow start with the bat in Ft. Myers this year. Through May 31, Garver was hitting just .185/.317/.215 with four doubles for the Miracle. Since June 1, he has been very good. In 32 games, he has hit .318/.429/.400 with nine doubles. There are some catchers in Cedar Rapids and lower that are certainly at least intriguing, but they have a long way to go. So, what are the Twins to do? With this year’s July 31 trade deadline approaching and the Twins actually being in contention, could they look for an upgrade at catcher? The other option at this point is to hope that Suzuki can have a strong final two months of the 2015 season while continuing to fulfill the importation leadership role that he does have on this year’s team. View full article

Nope, that is correct.

Yeah, I think this is a good thing. They've had a couple games where one plays third and the other plays short. Neither is likely to stay at SS, and obviously both won't be able to play 3B at the same time. I think it's good to get them some time all over because you never know what the Twins need at the big league level will be in 5-6-7 years when these guys are (hopefully) ready.