Seth Stohs

Parker, based on having just a 45% GB rate in 2008 and 2009, how did Blackburn get this perception of a ground ball pitcher?

I want to say he's wrong. I just don't know how to argue against his opinion.... I mean, his K/9 is lower than Nick Blackburn's when Blackburn was league average his first two years as a starter. He's the Twins #1, and next year even if they bring in two good pitchers, he's still the Twins #3... but it's hard to call him a #3 long term...

The Twins organization is filled with players from all over the globe. They scout the entire country, Canada and Puerto Rico for the draft. They’ve done a nice job signing international players in recent years. The Twins do a great job in Australia. They have players from Europe and talent from Taiwan. They have players from Central and South America, but also from South Africa. [ATTACH=CONFIG]2095[/ATTACH] The last couple of seasons, the Twins have gone in a direction that is likely most rare. In the last two seasons, the Twins have signed four players out of the independent leagues. To this point, none of them have made it to the big leagues, and often, these players are not signed to get to the big leagues. They are signed to fill a role with one of the team’s affiliates. When the Baltimore Orioles signed OF Lew Ford out of the independent ranks, they basically came out and said he would likely not play in the big leagues. But once in a while, there is a success story. Ford played so well in AAA that the O’s called him up which was a great story. Here is a little bit about each of the four players the Twins signed from the independent leagues: Andrew Albers – LHP – 26 Albers pitched for four years at the University of Kentucky before being drafted in the 10th round of the 2008 draft by the Padres. He pitched in the rookie leagues for them that summer, but injured his elbow and needed Tommy John surgery. He missed the entire 2009 season, and when he went to spring training with the team in 2010, he was still not 100% He was released, and in 2010 he pitched for Quebec in the CanAm League. He went 3-0 with 17 saves and a 1.40 ERA. In 57.2 innings, he gave up 41 hits, walked 16 and struck out 59. The next spring, he was trying to work out tryouts with big league clubs, looking for an opportunity for another shot with an affiliation. A couple of those opportunities didn’t pan out. To make a short story long, he called the Twins and said that he would drive from Arizona to Ft. Myers for a tryout. IF they liked him, they could reimburse his travel. If not, he would drive back home, to Saskatchewan, and call it a career. The Twins liked what they saw and signed him. He was my choice for Twins minor league relief pitcher of the year in 2011 when he went 4-1 with a 1.55 ERA in Ft. Myers and then 4-1 with a 2.91 ERA in New Britain. He has been a starter this season for the New Britain Rock Cats. He is 4-3 with a 3.61 ERA in 17 games (15 starts). He is an aggressive, strike-thrower, walking just 11 in 87.1 innings. He has been on the disabled list twice. [ATTACH=CONFIG]2096[/ATTACH] Caleb Thielbar – LHP – 25 Thielbar is from the town of Randolph, Minnesota. He pitched at South Dakota State. In 2009, he went 5-8 with a 5.44 ERA for the Jackrabbits yet was drafted in the 18th round that year by the Milwaukee Brewers. He made it up to Low A Wisconsin of the Midwest League where he pitched in 30 games in 2010. In 2011, he pitched in 43 games for the St. Paul Saints and went 3-3 with a 2.54 ERA. In 49.2 innings, he gave up 41 hits, walked 15 and struckout 62. The Twins signed him in August, and he pitched in three games for the Ft. Myers Miracle. He did well, but the assumption by many was that he was just helping fill out the roster and may not make it to the 2012 season. Instead, he went to minor league spring training with the Twins and has been one of the fast-risers in the system. The left-hander started the season with the Miracle. He pitched in seven games and 12.1 innings. He gave up four hits, walked two and struckout 16. He was quickly promoted to New Britain where he pitched in 16 games. In 25 innings, he gave up 18 hits, walked just three and struck out 26. He earned a mid-June promotion to AAA Rochester. He has leveled off some, but in 23 games and 34 innings, he has given up 37 hits, walked 13 and struck out 26. Overall, he is 6-2 with a 2.14 ERA. [ATTACH=CONFIG]2097[/ATTACH] Chris Colabello – 1B – 28 Colabello had a solid, four-year career at Assumption College, a small Division II school in Worcester, Massechusetts. However, he was not drafted. Since that time, 2005, he has played independent baseball, primarily for Worcester, which is also in the CanAm League. He has hit over .300 in six of those seven seasons. He was a league All-Star in 2008 and again in 2011 when he had a terrific season. The first baseman hit .348/.410/.600 (1.010) with 32 doubles, 20 homers and 79 RBI). He was named the CanAm League player of the year, and also Baseball America named him the Independent League player of the year. The Twins felt they had a need for a bat and a first baseman at AA New Britain, so they gave Colabello his first opportunity with an affiliated team at the age of 28. To say that he has proven he belongs would be an understatement. He has hit in the middle of the Rock Cats lineup and hit .285/.354/.488 (.842) with 35 doubles, 18 homers and 91 RBI. For a guy who came into the season likely wondering if he would fit in and how he would do. At this point, the assumption is that he should be back and playing in Rochester in 2013. Can he be a right-handed bench bat for the Twins? We will find out. [ATTACH=CONFIG]2098[/ATTACH] Dan Sattler – RHP – 28 Sattler pitched in the Big 10, for Purdue, from 2004 through 2007. In that time, he went 12-18 with a 4.39 ERA. He was drafted by the Rangers in the 33th round in 2006 but went back for his senior season. He went undrafted but signed with the Rangers. He pitched in the Texas organization in 2007 and 2008. In 2009, he pitched for independent league Kansas City, but late in the season, he signed with the A’s and pitched in their system through the 2010 season. In 2011, he was with the Angels organization. He signed with the St. Paul Saints early this year, but the Twins signed him before he pitched for them. Blessed with a fastball in the upper 90s, Sattler signed and reported to Ft. Myers. He pitched in three games for the Miracle. On June 19, he was promoted to New Britain where he pitched in five games. On July 6, he was promoted to Rochester where he pitched in seven games. All told, he was 2-0 with a 2.12 ERA. In 29.2 innings, he gave up 18 hits, walked ten and struck out 20. Opponents hit just .173 against him. Unfortunately, he went on the disabled list with elbow problems and needed Tommy John surgery. [ATTACH=CONFIG]2099[/ATTACH] Generally, when teams sign players from independent leagues, it is to fill a minor league roster. However, there are always exceptions. I was fortunate to play ball in college with Chris Coste who spent several years with the independent Fargo/Moorhead Redhawks before getting an opportunity in affiliated ball. It took a few years, but you may recall that he became The 33-Year-Old Rookie and won a World Series ring with the Philadelphia Phillies. The beauty is that you just never know. Of these four players, it is possible none of them will see time with the Twins. It’s also possible that any of them could fill a role of some sort with the big league club. We shall see. --- Once you’re done here, head over to Twins Daily. Join John, Nick, Parker and Brock of Twins Daily, along with Aaron Gleeman, Lindsay Guentzel and others, at Park Tavern in St. Louis Park for a Twins Daily Meetup tonight (Thursday) at about 7. Discuss whether the Twins have a player who could play all nine positions in a game, like Cesar Tovar did in 1968. There is also an interesting discussion on if Tom Brunansky will be the Twins next hitting coach.

Brett Andersen made his first start in just over a year since he had Tommy John surgery, and the lefty was back in fine form. He gave up just one run on four hits and no walks in seven innings. Sean Doolittle pitched a perfect eighth. Then former Twins reliever Grant Balfour recorded his 12th save with a perfect ninth. In other words, the Twins offense just did not show up. Trevor Plouffe was again 0-4 and is now 2-29 in eight games since his return from the DL. Jamey Carroll was 0-3, and he now has one hit in his last 22 at bats over six games. Ryan Doumit is 3-22 in his last six games (yet still is hitting .290). Cole De Vries struggled with his control early in the game, walking three in the first couple of innings. He gave up just two runs on six hits in 5.2 innings. Anthony Swarzak came on and got just two outs but not before giving up two runs on four hits and a walk. Jeff Gray got four outs, and Tyler Robertson got the final out. Here is a look at the Twins minor league scores and highlights from Tuesday night: ROCHESTER 0, PAWTUCKET 3 Daisuke Matsuzaka was on the mound for Pawtucket. The right-hander from Japan went seven shutout innings and gave up just one hit, to Eduardo Escobar. He also walked four batters, including Wilkin Ramirez twice. That was about it for the Red Wings offense. Pedro Hernandez started and went just 2.1 innings. He gave up one run on two hits, walked none and struckout one. He left for unknown (at this time) reasons. He was replaced by Deolis Guerra who gave up two runs (1 earned) on three hits in 2.2 innings. He walked one and struck out two. Caleb Thielbar gave up one hit in two scoreless innings. Kyle Waldrop threw a scoreless innings. NEW BRITAIN 2, PORTLAND 4 (15 Innings) A night after playing ten innings, these two teams went even longer on Tuesday. Jose Gonzalez, in for his third innings, got the first out of the 15th before allowing a single. He was replaced by Matt Hauser who got one out, but then gave up a long, two-run home run, and that was the difference. The Rock Cats pitched well, but the offense did not hit much at all. Oswaldo Arcia was 2-6 with his 18th double. Aaron Hicks was 2-5. James Beresford was 2-5 with a walk. Chris Colabello had a single, walked twice and drove in his 91st run of the season. Andrew Albers started this game with five shutout innings. He gave up two runs in the 6th inning and only got the first two outs. David Bromberg got the next five outs, four of them on strikeouts. Edgar Ibarra got two outs, walked on and struckout one. Dakota Watts struckout four in two, one-hit innings. Bruce Pugh struckout two and walked one in two scoreless frames. Jose Gonzalez worked two scoreless innings and struck out three batters before the fifteenth inning. FT. MYERS 3, BRADENTON 2 Since the All Star break, Josmil Pinto has been tremendous. He has hit .329/.404/.524 since then. On this night, he had just one hit, but it was a line drive single to left that drove in what proved to be the game-winning run. Jhon Goncalves scored the run. The outfielder was 3-4. Danny Ortiz went 2-4 with his 18th double. Matt Summers made the start for the Miracle. The right-hander went 5.2 innings and gave up two runs. He gave up five hits, walked three, hit two batters and struck out six. Nelvin Fuentes struck out two in two scoreless innings. He gave up three hits. Michael Tonkin got the final four outs, two of them on strikeouts. BELOIT 11, QUAD CITIES 0 The Snappers scored 11 runs on 18 hits, but the lead story in this game is the left-handed arm of Jason Wheeler. Wheeler worked the first eight innings for the team. He gave up no runs. He allowed six hits, walked one and struck out three to improve to 14-6 on the season. DJ Baxendale struckout one in a scoreless ninth frame. Stephen Wickens went 4-4 with a walk and his ninth double. Nate Roberts went 3-6 with his 15th double and 24th stolen base. JD Williams was 3-6 with his 20th steal. Eddie Rosario was 3-6, as well. Kennys Vargas went 2-5 with a walk. AJ Pettersen was 2-5 and led the way with three strikeouts. ELIZABETHTON 7, GREENEVILLE 5 The E-Twins offense got contributions from many on Tuesday night. Travis Harrison went 2-3 with a walk and his 12th double. Rory Rhodes was 2-5 with his sixth home run. Byron Buxton was 2-5. Niko Goodrum hit his fourth home run. Candido Pimentel went 1-2 with two walks and his 15th stolen base. Romy Jimenez was 1-2 with two walks and his 11th double. Hudson Boyd made the start for the Twins. He gave up four runs (3 earned) on five hits. In four innings, he walked four and struckout just one. Travis Huber came in and gave up one run on two hits in two innings. He walked none and struckout two. Andrew Ferriera got the next four outs. He allowed no hits, walked two and struck out one. JT Chargois came in and gave up a single, but he recorded the final five outs, all five of them by strikeouts. GCL TWINS 5, GCL RAYS 2 Yorman Landa picked up his first win of the season. He gave up two unearned runs on four hits in five innings. He walked none and struck out six. Josue Montanez dropped his ERA to 0.40 with three shutout innings. The lefty gave up two hits and a walk, but he struckout five. Gonzalo Sanudo recorded his fourth save with a scoreless ninth frame. Joel Licon led the offense. He went 2-4 with his eighth double, first home run and two RBI. Jeremias Pineda was 1-2 with a walk, was hit by a pitch, tripled for the fourth time and stole his 20th base. Dereck Rodriguez hit his third home run. --- Players of the Day for Tuesday, August 21, 2012 Pitcher of the Day – Jason Wheeler [ATTACH=CONFIG]2088[/ATTACH] (Photo from Jim Crikket of Knuckleballs) Hitter of the Day – Stephen Wickens [ATTACH=CONFIG]2089[/ATTACH] --- A Look Ahead – Wednesday, August 22, 2012 Schedule Rochester @ Lehigh Valley – RHP Nick Blackburn New Britain vs Portland – LHP Luke French Ft. Myers vs Bradenton – RHP Tom Stuifbergen Beloit vs Peoria – TBD Elizabethton vs Greeneville – RHP Angel Mata GCL Twins @ GCL Rays – 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!

The Twins have 41 games to go which seems like a lot. However, there are just ten days before we reach September when rosters can expand. With the Twins moves yesterday, outrighting Nick Blackburn and Tsuyoshi Nishioka, the Twins 40 man roster now sits at 38. This is great because that means that the Twins can add two players to the 40 man roster without dropping anyone else. Then again, there are a few players that could be removed without much heartache in Twins Nation. Starting Pitching has been the Twins biggest concern all season. Really, it has been for several seasons, and it will be again throughout the offseason. That said, the Twins have to find out what they have on the 40 man roster for starters. As of right now, the Twins starting rotation is Scott Diamond, Sam Deduno, Brian Duensing and Cole De Vries. We might be able to assume that Liam Hendriks will take Blackburn’s rotation spot, but at this point, we don’t know that for certain. Below, I will outline what I would like to see the Twins do with their starting rotation in September, if not sooner: THE GOAL Again, I think it’s important to understand the logic in what is trying to be accomplished. In my opinion, the Twins front office has to make some tough decisions for next year. Can they count on Liam Hendriks? Which of the starters should stay on the 40 man roster, much less go to spring training attempting to win a 5th starter job or a long-relief job. THE PLAN To be able to see more pitchers, I would recommend a six-man starting rotation. I’d be against it under normal circumstances, but I think it’s important to see what several of these guys can do when asked to throw five to seven innings. WHO IS OUT (OF THE ROTATION)? Well, one of my recommendations was going to be to get Nick Blackburn out of the starting rotation. Whether it was to the bullpen of released, I think we have all seen enough of his starts. Cole De Vries has shown me enough to likely stay on the 40 man roster and be able to compete for a 5th starter/long reliever/#6-7 starter job. Brian Duensing should be in the bullpen, regardless of how well he pitched last night. He has shown that he can start when needed. His roster spot is very safe as he is a tremendous left-handed reliever. WHO STARTS? #1 – Scott Diamond – He has made himself into the one given for the Twins Opening Day starting rotation. He has thrown 162.2 innings so far in 2012 after pitching 162 innings last year. If you subscribe to the belief that a pitcher should pitch no more than 20% more innings than the previous season, that means Diamond should throw about 195 innings. Going to six starters will likely mean one less start and they can still monitor his innings because of extra relievers. #2 – Sam Deduno – Yes, I know he’s got 36 walks and 30 strikeouts in 46 innings. But he also has a 4-1 record and a 3.33 ERA. I know that there’s like a 99.8% likelihood that his success is not sustainable, but let me live in that other 0.2% for another month. What if he can find a way to relax a little bit and reduce is BB/9 from 7.0 to 4.2 or so? What if? I am so intrigued by how nasty his stuff is and how much movement his pitches get. The Twins have nothing to lose in September, so why not give his ‘stuff’ an opportunity?! #3 – Liam Hendriks – Yes, he has struggled with the Twins in a couple of stints this year. He was the Twins minor league pitcher of the year last year when he split time between AA and AAA and then was pushed too quickly to the big leagues in September. This year, he was with the Twins quickly and probably wasn’t quite ready. However, in 16 starts with AAA Rochester this season, he is now 9-3 with a 2.20 ERA. In 106.1 innings, he has given up 76 hits, walked 28 and struck out 82. He’s just 23 years old and has the background of success and the mix of pitches necessary to believe that he will figure it out at some point. #4 – Esmerling Vasquez – The Twins claimed Vasquez on the final weekend of the 2011 season. Just before spring training, he was DFAd to make room for Darin Mastroianni. He has been, arguably, the most consistent pitcher in Rochester this season. As a reliever, he is 5-4 with a 2.67 ERA. In 57.1 innings, he has given up 41 hits, walked 25 and struckout 50. However, he was recently moved to the starting staff, and in seven starts, he is 4-1 with a 3.16 ERA. In 37 innings, he has given up 27 hits, walked 11 and struck out 41. That doesn’t count a game that he came into with two outs in the 1st inning and pitched into the 9th inning. That K/rate of more than one per inning is certainly intriguing in an organization where that is a rarity. #5 – Jeff Manship – Next spring, Manship will be out of options. Since making five starts for the Twins in 2009 (including his first big league win in a must-win, last weekend start against the Royals), Manship has made just one start for the Twins, and that was in 2010. However, as a starter in Rochester this season, he has gone 4-2 with a 2.29 ERA in 10 starts. In 51 innings he’s given up 47 hits, walked 19 and struck out 32. I would give him a five to six start opportunity in September before making a decision, either way. #6 – PJ Walters – Although his overall numbers in seven starts for the Twins from mid-May through mid-June were not great, he certainly showed some glimpses. In his first four starts, he went at least six innings and pitched a complete game against the White Sox. But when the calendar turned to June, his struggles began. He didn’t go more than five in his first two starts, and then he didn’t get out of the first inning in a June 13 start against the Phillies. He hasn’t pitched in the big league since. He’s now working in his second rehab stint in Rochester, and went three innings and threw 59 pitches. Another start or two for the Red Wings and he should be able to make five more starts with the Twins. SUMMARY Terry Ryan and his front office staff have some difficult decisions to make on many players as they plan for 2012. I think a good way to get a look at a few of them would be to go to a six man starting rotation. Guys like Cole De Vries, Brian Duensing and Anthony Swarzak will become very important as well because there will be short starts and innings to eat, in all likelihood. Five or six extra starts is probably too small of a sample size to make final decisions, but coupled with AAA reports, it’s something more. What do you think of this plan? What do you think will or should happen, in your opinion? [ATTACH=CONFIG]2077[/ATTACH] Photo by StarTribune.com

The Twins got big offense from their nine through four hitters and came away with a nice 7-1 win over the Oakland A’s, one of baseball’s hottest teams. Of course, the biggest story was the performance of Brian Duensing. The lefty gave up two runs (1 earned) in six innings. He gave up five hits, walked one and struck out seven. Quite the improvement over his mid-July start against the A’s when he gave up six runs on seven hits (3 HR) in just two innings. Casey Fien pitched two scoreless innings in relief, followed by a scoreless ninth by Alex Burnett. As for the offense, #9 hitter Pedro Florimon went 3-3 with a walk, a stolen base and three runs scored. Leadoff man Ben Revere went 2-5. 2-hitter Darin Mastroianni was 2-3 with a sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly, two runs and two RBI. He also stole his 15th base. Joe Mauer went 3-5 with two RBI. Josh Willingham went 3-5 with a double and two RBI. Before the game was over, the team’s learned that the A’s had traded for Diamondbacks’ shortstop Stephen Drew who will improve the A’s. Denard Span missed another game and incredibly had his first MRI on Monday despite missing the last nine days. With Nick Blackburn taken off of the 40 and 25 man rosters, the Twins will need to make a move before Wednesday’s game. That is when Blackburn was supposed to start for the Twins. The assumption here is that Liam Hendriks would get the start for the Twins in that spot since he last started on Friday night. The other option, Esmerling Vasquez, pitched for Rochester on Monday night. Here is a look at the Twins minor league scores and highlights from Monday night: ROCHESTER 9, PAWTUCKET 6 The Red Wings had a big seven-run second inning, and it proved to be enough on this night. Wilkin Ramirez has been one of the hottest hitters in the International League the past week. In the second, he hit a grand slam, his 11th homer of the season. Brian Dinkelman added his fourth homer of the year, a two-run blast in the same inning. Tsuyoshi Nishioka was 2-5. Brian Dozier doubled for the tenth time with the Red Wings. Esmerling Vasquez put together another quality start for the team. He went the first six innings and gave up two runs on three hits. Both runs scored on solo homers. Vasquez walked three and struck out four to improve to 9-5 with a 2.86 ERA. Daniel Turpen pitched the 7th inning and gave up three runs (2 earned) on two hits and two walks. Luis Perdomo gave up one run on three hits and a walk in his inning. Anthony Slama recorded his 11th save and dropped his season ERA to 0.68 with a scoreless ninth. NEW BRITAIN 3, PORTLAND 4 (10 innings) The first four Rock Cats of the game reached on singles. Before they had an out, they had scored two runs. Unfortunately, that was about it for the offense. Over the next 27 outs, the bats managed just two more hits. Oswaldo Arcia went 2-4 with his 17th double. He was also hit by a pitch. BJ Hermsen started for New Britain. He gave up three runs on 11 hits and a walk spread over 6.1 innings. He struck out five. Blake Martin came in and struck out two in 1.1 scoreless innings. Matt Hauser got the next three outs. Aaron Thompson got the final out of the ninth inning. He started the tenth frame by giving up a run on three hits and only getting one out. Bruce Pugh got the final two outs without any additional runs scoring. FT. MYERS MIRACLE No games scheduled in the Florida State League on Monday. BELOIT 8, QUAD CITIES 2 Cole Johnson continues to impress in his time with the Snappers. He started this game and threw five shutout innings. He gave up two hits, walked one and struckout seven. Steven Gruver gave up two runs on five hits over the next 2.2 innings. He struckout two. Mason Melotakis came on and got the final four outs, all of them on strikeouts. The Snappers bats showed up. Kennys Vargas was 3-5. Drew Leachman went 2-5 with his tenth double. Nate Roberts went 2-3 with a walk, was hit by a pitch and hit his 13th and 14th doubles. Matt Koch hit his 19th double. AJ Pettersen was hit by a pitch and hit his 11th double. ELIZABETHTON 5, GREENEVILLE 6 The E-Twins had plenty of offense in this game, plenty of base runners, but it wasn’t enough. Al nine E-Twins starters had at least one hit by the sixth inning. Byron Buxton was 2-4 with a walk and his third stolen base. Adam Walker was 2-5 with his seventh double. Jorge Polanco was 2-5 with his second triple. Candido Pimentel was 2-6. Max Kepler was 1-3 with two walks. DJ Hicks was 1-3 with two walks and his sixth double. Travis Harrison hit his fourth home run. Ricardo Arevalo started for the E-Twins. He gave up four runs on four hits in four innings. He walked one and struckout two. Luis Nunez came on and gave up two runs on two hits and two walks over two innings. He struck out… one. Kaleb Merck pitched the final three innings. He gave up no runs on one hit. He walked one, although it was intentional, and struck out three. GCL TWINS 4, GCL RAYS 1 Kuo Hua Lo improved to 2-0 with six strong innings. The right-hander from Taiwan did not allow a run. HE gave up just three hits, walked one and struckout five to reduce his ERA to 1.19. Melciades de la Cruz gave up on erun on three hits and a walk in two innings. Alex Muren recorded his fourth save with a perfect ninth. The Twins had six hits in this game. Aderlin Mejia hit his 11th double. Dereck Rodriguez hit his 7th double. Bryan Santy was 1-2 with a walk and his fifth double. --- Players of the Day for Monday, August 20, 2012 Hitter of the Day – Nate Roberts [ATTACH=CONFIG]2073[/ATTACH] Pitcher of the Day – Kuo Hua Lo [ATTACH=CONFIG]2074[/ATTACH] --- A Look Ahead – Sunday, August 21, 2012 Schedule Rochester @ Pawtucket – LHP Pedro Hernandez (vs Daisuke Matsuzaka) New Britain vs Portland – LHP Andrew Albers Ft. Myers vs Bradenton – LHP Cole Nelson Beloit @ Quad Cities – LHP Jason Wheeler Elizabethton vs Greeneville – RHP Hudson Boyd GCL Twins @ GCL Rays – 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!

The Twins fell to 50-70 on the season after a weekend sweep at the hands of the Seattle Mariners. On Sunday, Sam Deduno gave the Twins another Quality Start despite doing his best Deduno impersonation. The effectively wild righty gave up just two runs despite allowing five hits and walking six batters. He walked in the tying run and the go-ahead run scored on a double play. Jeff Gray pitched in the seventh inning and gave up three runs to put the game out of reach. Glen Perkins came in and struck out the side in the 8th inning. Ryan Doumit was the only played with two hits. Josh Willingham and Pedro Florimon each hit doubles. Here is a look at the Twins minor league scores and highlights from Saturday night: ROCHESTER 0, EMPIRE STATE 6 PJ Walters made his second rehab start (this rehab stint). He threw three shutout innings. He gave up three hits, walked two and struck out six. He threw 59 pitches, and 36 of them were strikes. Jeff Manship came in and had a rough one. He gave up six runs on four hits and an uncharacteristic five walks in 2.1 innings. Luis Perdomo struck out two in 1.2 scoreless innings. Anthony Slama pitched a scoreless inning. He gave up a hit and an intentional walk, but he struck out three. Kyle Waldrop struckout two in a scoreless inning. Wilkin Ramirez remained hot. He went 4-4 in this game and has hits in his last seven at bats. He has 13 hits in his last 23 at bats (.565). Chris Parmelee went 2-3 with a walk, his 17th double and sixth stolen base. NEW BRITAIN 4, PORTLAND 7 The Rock Cats had a rough one in Portland. Logan Darnell started and gave up five runs on five hits in five innings. He walked three and struck out one. Aaron Thompson and Blake Martin each threw a scoreless inning. Dakota Watts pitched the 8th inning and gave up two runs on three hits and a walk. Rene Tosoni went 2-4 with his third Rock Cats home run. Chris Herrmann and Nate Hanson were each 2-4 in the game. James Beresford hit his 11th double. FT. MYERS 4, PALM BEACH 6 Kyle Gibson made his second Miracle start. He gave up one run on three hits and a hit batter in four innings. He walked none and struckout six. The lone run he gave up was on a solo home run to Alan Ahmady. Miguel Munoz came in to start the fifth inning. One runner got on by an error and he walked three batters. With the bases loaded (and still no one out), Madison Boer came into the game and immediately gave up a grand slam. Fortunately, Boer settled down. He went four more innings without giving up another run. He walked none and struckout three. Anderson Hidalgo went 2-3. Josmil Pinto doubled for the 22nd time this season. Andy Leer was 1-2 with a walk. BELOIT 3, QUAD CITIES 5 Miguel Sano had a big day at the plate, but it wasn’t enough on this day. Sano gave the Snappers a 1-0 lead in the second inning with his 26th home run. For the game, he was 3-4 with his 26th double as well. Kennys Vargas went 2-4 with his 10th home run and two RBI. Wang-Wei Lin went 2-4. David Hurlbut started for the Snappers. The lefty gave up four runs on seven hits in five innings. He walked none and struck out six. Corey Williams went the next two innings. He gave up one run on two hits and a walk. Zach Jones struckout two in a scoreless inning. ELIZABETHTON 3, KINGSPORT 2 Tied 2-2 going to the bottom of the 9th inning, Jorge Polanco led off with a walk. A second batter walked. The next batter hit a ground ball and on an error, Polanco scored the game-winning run. Polanco was 1-2 with the walk. He also drove in the Twins two other runs. Kelvin Mention went 2-4. Max Kepler hit his 13th double. Brett Lee started for the E-Twins and gave up two runs (1 earned) in 5.2 innings. He gave up three hits, walked two and struck out eight. Tyler Duffey came in and gave up just one hit over 2.1 innings. He walked none and struck out five. Chris Mazza struck out two in the final inning. GCL TWINS No Game Scheduled. --- Players of the Day for Sunday, August 19, 2012 Hitter of the Day – Miguel Sano [ATTACH=CONFIG]2064[/ATTACH] Pitcher of the Day – Tyler Duffey [ATTACH=CONFIG]2065[/ATTACH] --- A Look Ahead – Monday, August 20, 2012 Schedule Rochester @ Pawtucket – RHP Esmerling Vasquez New Britain vs Portland – LHP Logan Darnell Ft. Myers – No Game Scheduled Beloit @ Quad Cities – RHP Cole Johnson Elizabethton vs Greeneville – TBD GCL Twins vs GCL Rays – 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!

The new guys continued to impress in their second games with the Twins, and Scott Diamond put in another quality start, but on this night, there wasn’t enough offense and the team lost in walk-off fashion in the ninth. Scott Diamond started and gave up two runs on nine hits over 6.2 innings to keep his ERA below 3 (2.95). Alex Burnett got him out of the 7th, and Jared Burton worked a scoreless eighth frame. Tyler Robertson came out to start the ninth inning. He gave up two hits and a walk to load the bases. Casey Fien came in to try to get out of it, but John Jaso hit a sacrifice fly to end the game. The two new guys provided most of the Twins offense. Pedro Florimon went 2-3 with a triple and a sacrifice bunt. Matt Carson was 3-4 in the game, and he also threw out a runner trying to advance from first to third. Here is a look at the Twins minor league scores and highlights from Saturday night: ROCHESTER 3, EMPIRE STATE 10 It was a rough start for the Red Wings. Shairon Martis went just 2.1 innings and gave up six runs on seven hits and a walk. He struck out two. Bobby Lanigan’s consecutive scoreless innings streak (9.1 innings coming into the game) came to an end. He gave up two runs (1 earned) on five hits and a walk (and a hit batter) in 1.1 innings. Daniel Turpen gave up two hits over two scoreless innings. Caleb Thielbar’s consecutive scoreless innings streak (9.2 innings coming in to the game) came to a conclusion as well. He gave up two runs on four hits over 1.1 innings. Deolis Guerra went the final 1.2 innings and gave up two hits and a walk, but no runs. Wilkin Ramirez led the offense. He went 3-4 with his 12th double. Chris Parmelee went 2-5. Brian Dinkelman had three walks and was hit by a pitch. Tsuyoshi Nishioka hit his second home run of the season. NEW BRITAIN 2, PORTLAND 9 (completion of suspended game) The Rock Cats were in Portland. On Friday night, the two teams completed three-and-a-half innings before the rains came. The game was suspended with the game tied at 0. The Rock Cats still did not have a hit, and the lone base runner was a Chris Herrmann walk. Luke French made his first start since his return to the Rock Cats. The lefty gave up two runs in three scoreless innings. He walked none and struck out one. Of the 28 pitches he threw, 20 of them were strikes. The game will resume on Saturday. David Bromberg took the mound for the Rock Cats when the game resumed. He went 3.1 innings and gave up seven hits and no walks. When he left the game, he had given up just two runs, but the bases were loaded and in came lefty Jose Gonzalez who promptly allowed all three inherited runners to score, charged to Bromberg. Gonzalez gave up two more runs of his own before getting out of the inning. Edgar Ibarra walked one in a scoreless inning. Aaron Hicks went 2-4 with his eighth triple. Rene Tosoni was 2-4. James Beresford hit his 10th double. NEW BRITAIN 4, PORTLAND 2 (regularly scheduled game) Steve Hirschfeld made the start for the Rock Cats and did quite well. He went seven innings and gave up just two runs on six hits. He walked none and struck out four to record his eighth win. Bruce Pugh picked up Save #7 with a scoreless inning. He gave up a hit, walked one and struck out two. Oswaldo Arcia went 2-4 with his third triple. Chris Colabello was 2-4 with his 35th double. Deibinson Romero hit his 20th double and stole his second base. FT. MYERS 6, PALM BEACH 1 Pat Dean returned from the Disabled List to make this start. He gave up one run on three hits and a walk in five innings. He struck out four. Ryan O’Rourke gave up a hit and a walk but no runs in his inning. Ricky Bowen threw two scoreless innings. Michael Tonkin pitched a scoreless ninth frame. Danny Rams went 3-5. Danny Santana went 2-5 with a walk and his sixth home run. Levi Michael was 1-3 with two walks and his 11th double. Josmil Pinto went 2-4 with two walks. BELOIT 4, QUAD CITIES 6 For the first time in a month, Matt Tomshaw had a rough start. The lefty, who had given up just one run over his previous three starts, gave up six runs (4 earned) on eight hits. In 5.1 innings, he walked three and struckout five. Tim Atherton struck out five over the final 2.2 innings. He allowed two hits and walked two batters. Kennys Vargas went 2-3 with a walk. Nate Roberts went 2-5. Matt Koch was 1-3 with a walk and his second triple. JD Williams walked twice. Eddie Rosario hit his tenth home run of the season. Miguel Sano was 0-4 with four strikeouts and his 41st error. ELIZABETHTON 4, KINGSPORT 8 DJ Hicks had a terrific game at the plate for the E-Twins but it wasn’t enough on this night. The powerful first baseman went 2-3 with two walks, his fifth double and his third home run. Jorge Polanco went 2-4. Lefty Hein Robb started and gave up five runs (4 earned) on six hits and two walks. The South African struck out two in his 3.1 innings. Josh Burris worked the next 2.2 innings and gave up only one hit. He struckout three. Tyler Herr gave up two hits over two scoreless innings. Christian Powell pitched the ninth and gave up three runs on three hits and a walk. GCL TWINS 2, GCL RED SOX 1 Austin Malinowski started and threw four shutout innings. He gave up three hits, walked none and struck out five. Gerardo Ramirez worked the next two innings. He walked two and struck out one but didn’t allow a run. Hung-yi Chen then gave up one run on two hits over 1.2 innings of work. Alex Muren got the final four outs. --- Players of the Day for Saturday, August 18, 2012 Hitter of the Day – DJ Hicks [ATTACH=CONFIG]2057[/ATTACH] Photo from University of Central Florida Pitcher of the Day – Austin Malinowski [ATTACH=CONFIG]2058[/ATTACH] --- A Look Ahead – Sunday, August 19, 2012 Schedule Rochester vs Empire State – TBD New Britain @ Portland – LHP Logan Darnell Ft. Myers @ Palm Beach – RHP Kyle Gibson Beloit @ Quad Cities – LHP David Hulbut Elizabethton vs Kingsport – LHP Brett Lee GCL Twins – No Game Scheduled --- 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!

The Twins fell behind the Mariners early thanks to some more bad pitching by Nick Blackburn. John Jaso hit a two-run homer in the first inning, and Miguel Olivo hit a hanging curveball. The Twins’ bats didn’t do much early either. After Felix Hernandez’s perfect game on Thursday, Mariners starter Hisashi Iwakuma was perfect through the first four innings. In the fifth frame, Justin Morneau led off with a double. A couple of batters later, Matt Carson came up and singled in Morneau to put the Twins on the board. Unfortunately, the Twins went behind 5-1 behind Blackburn which put the game out of reach. In the 8th inning, they still tried. Joe Mauer hit his eighth homer of the year to dead center. Josh Willingham came up next and drilled his 31st homer of the year to cut the lead to 5-3. However, that was it for the scoring and the Mariners picked up the win. The Twins played without the services of outfielders Denard Span (Shoulder) and Ben Revere (ankle). Carson was 1-4 in his first game with the Twins with that RBI single. Pedro Florimon made his first Twins start. He went 0-3 batting ninth, but he did make a couple of very nice plays in the field, including a diving catch in shallow left field that should be a Web Gem. Here is a look at the Twins minor league scores and highlights from Friday night: ROCHESTER 3, INDIANAPOLIS 4 The big news in Rochester on Friday was that the Twins and Red Wings agreed to extend their player development relationship for another two years. Obviously negotiations were likely tenuous when they were talking in June and the Red Wings were terrible again. However, the team now has the best record in the International League since July 1st and have an outside shot at a wild card berth. The team also had a game and their best pitcher was throwing. Liam Hendriks entered the game having thrown 14 straight scoreless innings. He extended that with a scoreless first inning, but he would really struggle in the second inning. He gave up four runs in the inning on a couple of hits and an unusual two walks. Then he settled down and completed seven innings, giving up only those four runs. He gave up seven hits, walked three and struck out six. He recorded that sixth strikeouts in the 7th inning on his 97th pitch with a 94 mph fastball. Caleb Thielbar gave up a hit and a walk in the 8th inning, but did not allow a run. In the ninth, Kyle Waldrop walked one but gave up not runs to give the Red Wings a chance at the comeback. Tsuyoshi Nishioka led the Red Wings bats with a 4-5 day at the plate. He stole his seventh base. Eduardo Escobar went 3-4 with his second double. In his 18th game with the Red Wings, it was already his fourth three-hit game. Chris Parmelee was 1-3 with a walk and his 16th home run, a blast off the scoreboard at Frontier Field. His 16 home runs is the most by a Red Wings hitter since 2010 when 1B Brock Peterson hit 19 homers. (You may have seen, Peterson has spent the past two seasons playing independent league baseball. Earlier this week, he signed a minor league contract with the St. Louis Cardinals and will report to AAA Memphis.) NEW BRITAIN 0, PORTLAND 0 (suspended) The Rock Cats were in Portland. The two teams completed three-and-a-half innings before the rains came. The game was suspended. The Rock Cats still did not have a hit, and the lone base runner was a Chris Herrmann walk. Luke French made his first start since his return to the Rock Cats. The lefty gave up two runs in three scoreless innings. He walked none and struck out one. Of the 28 pitches he threw, 20 of them were strikes. The game will resume on Saturday. FT. MYERS 9, PALM BEACH 4 Josmil Pinto came to the plate in the 9th inning with three hits, a single, a double and a home run. Needing a triple for the cycle, Pinto hit a ball to the gap. He rounded second, looking for that triple, and was thrown out easily. But it was a great try, and a great game for Pinto. The powerful catcher was 4-5 with his 20th and 21st doubles and his 12th home run. Jhon Goncalves went 2-3 with two doubles and three RBI. Danny Ortiz went 1-3 with two walks and stole in fourth base. Tom Stuifbergen made the start for the Miracle and provided another quality start. In seven innings, he gave up three runs on nine hits and a walk. He struck out four. AJ Achter pitched the final two innings. He gave up one run on two hits. BELOIT 2, WISCONSIN 5 Tyler Jones started for the Snappers. The right-hander gave up four runs (3 earned) on six hits in five innings. He walked three and struck out ten. Taylor Rogers moved into the bullpen. He gave up one run on four hits over three innings. He struckout three. Corey Kimes pitched the ninth inning. He gave up two hits and walked a batter but did not give up a run. Matt Koch went 2-4 with his 18th double. Nate Roberts went 2-4 with a walk. Miguel Sano was hit by a pitch and later hit his 26th home run. ESPN.com’s Keith Law tweeted that it went over the batter’s eye in center field. ELIZABETHTON 5, KINGSPORT 1 Supplemental first round pick J.O. Berrios is making the Appalachian League look easy. After throwing four shutout innings in his first E-Town start, he threw five shutout innings on this night. He gave up just two hits, walked none and struck out 11 batters. Travis Huber struck out three in two perfect innings. Andrew Ferriera struck out three batters in the eighth inning. JT Chargois pitched the ninth frame and gave up an unearned run on three hits. He struckout two. Rory Rhodes went 2-4 with his eighth double and fifth home run. Adam Walker was 1-3 with a walk and his 14th home run. He also stole his third base. GCL TWINS 1, GCL RED SOX 5 Aderlin Mejia played with the GCL Twins a year ago. He started out really fast, but then struggled for most of the season. This time around, he has been able to sustain his offensive success. On Friday, he was 3-4 to raise his season average to .348. He also stole his 11th base. Bryan Haar hit his seventh double. Logan Wade tripled for the fourth time. Randy Rosario started and threw five shutout innings. He gave up three hits, walked two and struck out three. Trent Higginbotham pitched a scoreless sixth inning. However, he got just one out in the 7th. He was charged with four runs on one hit and three walks. Markus Solbach came in and got the final out of the 7th but not before allowing a fifth run. He pitched a scoreless eighth. --- Players of the Day for Friday, August 17, 2012 Pitcher of the Day – J.O. Berrios [ATTACH=CONFIG]2054[/ATTACH] Hitter of the Day – Josmil Pinto [ATTACH=CONFIG]2053[/ATTACH] --- A Look Ahead – Saturday, August 18, 2012 Schedule Rochester vs Empire State – RHP Shairon Martis New Britain @ Portland - TBD Ft. Myers @ Palm Beach – LHP Pat Dean Beloit @ Quad Cities – LHP Matt Tomshaw Elizabethton vs Kinsport – LHP Hein Robb GCL Twins vs 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!