Seth Stohs

I've met a lot of really good people in the Twins organization. I've put Luke Bard at or near the top of that list. All the reports I've heard from people who have seen him pitch, or tried to hit against him, have been glowing. Great stuff.

On Wednesdays, Jeremy Nygaard is responsible for the Twins Minor League Report. However, he was at the Twins game with his kids and a bunch of school kids. They got to see the Twins sweep the Boston Red Sox and move into a tie for first place with the Royals in the AL Central. They also got to help Jeremy celebrate his birthday. We won’t disclose how old Jeremy is, but it is quite a bit older than JO Berrios who celebrated his 21st birthday on Wednesday. The Ft. Myers Miracle won in extra innings on Wednesday night to improve to 23-22, the first time they’ve been over .500 since early April. That is interesting because now all four of the Minnesota Twins minor league affiliates – and the big league club – are playing over .500. There have not been many times in recent years when we could say that. Image courtesy of Seth Stohs (photo of Mat Batts) On Wednesdays, Jeremy Nygaard is responsible for the Twins Minor League Report. However, he was at the Twins game with his kids and a bunch of school kids. They got to see the Twins sweep the Boston Red Sox and move into a tie for first place with the Royals in the AL Central. They also got to help Jeremy celebrate his birthday. We won’t disclose how old Jeremy is, but it is quite a bit older than JO Berrios who celebrated his 21st birthday on Wednesday. The Ft. Myers Miracle won in extra innings on Wednesday night to improve to 23-22, the first time they’ve been over .500 since early April. That is interesting because now all four of the Minnesota Twins minor league affiliates – and the big league club – are playing over .500. There have not been many times in recent years when we could say that. With that, we were back to a full slate of games in the Twins farm system on Wednesday. Continue to read how the teams and the players did. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 8, Durham 2 Box Score The Red Wings got good pitching, six doubles and a late home run to win a Wednesday afternoon game in North Carolina. Taylor Rogers got the starting nod. The left-hander went seven innings and gave up two runs on seven hits. He walked two and struck out three to improve to 4-3 with a 3.34 ERA on the season. Casey Fien struck out two in a rehab outing. He pitched perfect innings in back-to-back and likely will be with the Twins when they start their series at Target Field against the Blue Jays on Friday. AJ Achter came in for the ninth inning and struck out two. Jose Martinez went 3-4 with his fourth double. Reynaldo Rodriguez went 2-5 with his 10th and 11th doubles. Kennys Vargas went 2-4 with a walk and his second double. Doug Bernier went 2-4 and drove in two runs with his fourth double. Danny Ortiz added his 11th double of the year. Argenis Diaz went 1-3 with two walks. Josmil Pinto hit a late, two-run homer, his fifth of the season. It was his first hit in 19 at -bats. Coming into Wednesday, he was hitting .158/.200/.281 (.481) in his last 15 games. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 6, Biloxi 8 Box Score The Lookouts have the best record in the Southern League North Division. Biloxi has the best record in the Southern League Southern Division. The two teams began a five-game series in Chattanooga on Wednesday night and hopefully each game will be as competitive as this one. Things started out well for the Lookouts. In the bottom of the first inning, they got on the board when a Travis Harrison single scored Jorge Polanco. In the third inning, Buxton led off with a double and advanced to third. He scored one batter later on a Miguel Sano groundout. The Lookouts then scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a commanding 6-1 lead. Adam Walker doubled off the top of the wall in left field to score Max Kepler. Walker later scored on a wild pitch. Soon after, Buxton launched a ball to deep center field. It stayed in the ballpark and instead of another triple, Buxton raced all the way around the bases for an inside-the-park home run. Unfortunately, the Lookouts were not able to add more. Alex Wimmers got the start and was charged with two runs on six hits and a walk in five innings. Cole Johnson came on and struggled mightily. He was charged with three runs on two hits and two walks in just 0.2 innings. Nick Burdi came on to get out of that inning, holding the 6-5 lead. However, he gave up a run in the seventh on two hits to tie the score at six. Jake Reed pitched a perfect eighth frame. JT Chargois came on for his Double-A debut. He got the first two batters out, but then he gave up three straight singles. Fortunately, a Walker-to-Sano-to-Kepler relay throw got the runner trying to take the lead. Madison Boer came in for the 10th inning. He walked two and both came around to score. The Lookouts were unable to tie the score in the bottom of the 10th inning, and that was the ballgame. Buxton led the way. He hit his sixth home run and his sixth double. Travis Harrison went 3-5. Stuart Turner went 2-4 with his third home run. Max Kepler had two hits, including his 14th double. Jorge Polanco also had two hits. The Lookouts are now 28-17 while the Shuckers improve to 28-18. For Biloxi, shortstop Orlando Arcia went 3-6 in the game with a double and a home run. He is now hitting .343 with 13 doubles and three home runs this season. As you may have already guessed, the 20-year-old infielder is the brother of Twins outfielder Oswaldo Arcia. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 6, Clearwater 5 (10 innings) Box Score Mat Batts had to wait an extra day to make his Miracle and Florida State League debut, but it didn’t faze him at all. He pitched very well. The left-hander worked seven innings and gave up just one run. He gave up six hits, walked one and struck out three. As impressive, he has a 12-to-3 groundout-to-flyout rate in the game. Batts left the game with a 4-1 lead. Ethan Mildren began the eighth inning for the Miracle. He gave up two runs on three hits and got just two outs. Todd Van Steensel came on and got the final out of the eighth inning before the tying run scored. However, he was charged with a run on two hits and three walks (one intentional) in the ninth. It tied the game at four and sent the teams to extra innings. In the top of the 10th, a Niko Goodrum single drove in two runs and gave the team a 6-4 lead. Alex Muren came on for the bottom of the tenth. He gave up an unearned run on two hits, but it was good enough to record his first save of the season. Alex Swim got on base four times. He went 2-3 with two walks. Chad Christensen had two hits including his second home run. Goodrum had two hits including the big 10th inning hit. Zach Granite had an RBI double early in the game. With the win, the Miracle are now 23-22. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 7, Wisconsin 3 Box Score For the 30th time this season, the Cedar Rapids Kernels were able to shake hands at the end of the game following a win. They fell behind 2-0 early, but after that, it was all Kernels. Felix Jorge made his eighth start of the season, and for the seventh time, he completed six innings. He was charged with three runs on five hits. He walked none and struck out five. Lefty Jose Velez came on and worked scoreless seventh and eighth innings. He gave up just one hit, walked none and struck out two. Luke Bard gave up a walk and a hit, but no runs, in the ninth inning to close out the game. Everyone contributed to the offensive output on this night. All nine hitters had at least one hit. Five players had doubles. Nick Gordon went 1-3 with two walks and his fifth double. Max Murphy went 2-3 with a walk, his ninth double and three RBI. Trey Vavra did not play after hurting his ankle on Tuesday night. He said it was swollen but not serious. 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 – Byron Buxton, Chattanooga Lookouts THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester – No Game Scheduled Biloxi @ Chattanooga (6:15 CST) – LHP David Hurlbut Ft. Myers @ Clearwater (DH @ 4:00 CST) – RHP Ryan Eades, LHP Brett Lee Wisconsin @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 CST) – RHP Jared Wilson Please feel free to discuss the Twins minor league system and the games from Wednesday. View full article

I know I posted my percentages above, but I just think Kepler adn Turner and Walker are almost givens. Kepler should be up in September. Turner is definitely, I"d put him probably higher than I did above.

Kepler would be a good one too.

Depends on if the Twins want to - or MLB pushes them to - send Buxton and Sano. They'd be the easy picks. I think Hu would have a very good chance at making it. I also think Walker is a possibility too.

Yeah, I didn't phrase that well... my point was just that if it's a guy that can be Ben Revere, it's a good pick later in the round, not at 6. Just from talking to Jeremy, I do think his upside is higher by quite a bit.

I'd have to leave that to Jeremy to say what the comp is... I hope people realize how few "Byron Buxtons" there are, and that even at six, you're most likely not going to find one. If his downside is Revere, that's a pretty good guy to take... in the late first or 2nd round, but you're right, not at 6. I seem to think he has a bit more power than that though.

Vandy just continues to be a hot bed for pitchers. It's remarkable!

JO Berrios turned 21 years old today and he's pitched in AA for almost a year (20 starts maybe?). Hu made 9 starts in Cedar Rapids (and less in Elizabethton) and he's now doing well in Ft. Myers and will likely be up in Chattanooga soon. Stewart is already in Ft. Myers and Gonsalves will be there shortly. I think this concept of being afraid to move pitchers up quickly should go away.We're talking about a max of 3-4 more starts, not another year.

Booser is still learning to pitch, but he tops out at 100. I can't think of one decent reason that Hildenberger remains in Cedar Rapids (other than the playoff thing, which might be it). He's just so good. 22 consecutive scoreless innings. Well over a K per IP. Very good control. He needs to move up. And will.

First, thank you for sharing your thoughts from the game. It's always fun to read first-hand perspectives. As for the scoreboard reading of the pitches, the scouts are right. We've written about that several times in these forums before, but the Cedar Rapids scoreboard is 2-3 mph slow. The assumed reasoning is the positioning of the radar gun itself. It was reported last night that his final pitch, a strikeout, came on a fastball that hit 94.

Perkins is the one given, though I don't necessarily think he'd be leading fan voting if fans voted for pitchers. Fan voting results are weird sometimes. I think Dozier should be an All Star, but there are many more quality second baseman than third baseman, so Plouffe may be just as (or more?) likely to make it than Dozier. Gibson (and to this point Pelfrey) seem like the types that will get passed by for an All Star nod by bigger names. Fair or not.

It's definitely not an ideal scenario for a team to have to get more than 3 outs from the closer. Obviously the can do it. We often hear about how Torre did it with Mariano, but he only did that in the playoffs (for the most part). Gardy even went 3 innings with his closer once in the playoffs. I do think the "Different Voice" thing is a big factor. Gardy was pretty set on a lineup whereas Molitor completely seems to go with his gut from day to day, altering Hunter between 2nd and 5th. Suzuki between 5th and 7th. It's all over the place. I also do think that Hunter is a big part of it too.

Yeah, you still get the 'ping' but it's not the same as it used to. They're composites.

I'd agree with that percentage.

I was just going to come here and link to your game story... It is important that Gonsalves work on that breaking ball. He can get away with it not being great in Low A ball, but as he moves up, he will need it. Is it better for a 20 year old to work on that pitch at a level that he can succeed, or move him up to a tougher level where he will need it? (I don't think this is a simple answer at all) Either way, I expect him to move up very soon.

Yep, I thought that Mat Batts would be promoted first because he was also dominating the level and he is 3-4 years older. Jared Wilson is also pitching well and he recently turned 25. All that said, Gonsalves is ready to move up soon.

JO Berrios and Kohl Stewart each made 19 starts for Cedar Rapids. Chih-Wei Hu made just nine starts in the second half of the 2014 season for the Kernels. On Tuesday night, Stephen Gonsalves made his 16th Midwest League start since late last season. It’s hard to imagine, with the numbers that he has put up this year, that he will make too many more starts for the Kernels, if any. Image courtesy of Seth Stohs (Stephen Gonsalves) JO Berrios and Kohl Stewart each made 19 starts for Cedar Rapids. Chih-Wei Hu made just nine starts in the second half of the 2014 season for the Kernels. On Tuesday night, Stephen Gonsalves made his 16th Midwest League start since late last season. It’s hard to imagine, with the numbers that he has put up this year, that he will make too many more starts for the Kernels, if any. Just two games were played on Tuesday night and a couple of transactions occurred, but an interesting day in the Twins farm system. TRANSACTIONS JT Chargois has been promoted from Ft. Myers to the Chattanooga Lookouts. The flame-thrower did not pitch in 2013 or 2014 due to elbow problems and eventually had Tommy John surgery. He returned to the Instructional League last fall and reportedly was hitting triple-digits with regularity. The 24-year-old was the Twins second- round pick in 2012 out of Rice University where he was the co-closer with current Red Wings starter Tyler Duffey. He has pitched in 16 games this year for the Miracle. He is 1-0 with a 2.40 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP. In 15 innings, he has walked five and struck out 19. To make room for Chargois on the Lookouts roster, Dallas Gallant was sent to the Miracle. Gallant dominated in 2014 in Cedar Rapids and jumped over the Florida State League. The 26-year-old who has also missed quite a bit of time due to injury and also a 50-game suspension has gone 1-1 with a 5.06 ERA and a 1.56 WHIP with the Lookouts. In 16 innings (12 games), he walked eight and struck out nine. Like Chargois, Gallant also throws quite hard, though he tops out at about 96. To keep tabs on the transactions in the Twins minor leagues, check out our Twins Minor League Transactions thread. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 1, Durham 2 Box Score The Red Wings went with a bullpen game on Tuesday night in Durham. Casey Fien, in his second rehab appearance, started the game. He needed just nine pitches to get through a perfect first inning. Lester Oliveros came on and went the next 2.1 innings. He gave up one run on two hits. He walked two and struck out four. Logan Darnell was next. The left-hander gave up one hit and walked one over 1.2 scoreless innings. He struck out four. Caleb Thielbar gave up one run on two hits in 1.2 innings. He walked none and struck out three. AJ Achter came on and got the final out on a strikeout. The Red Wings had eight hits, but were able to score just one run. James Beresford was the lone hitter with more than one hit. He went 2-4 with his ninth double of the season. Danny Ortiz went 1-3 with a walk and his 10th double. Oswaldo Arcia played in his first rehab game. He batted third and DHed. He went 0-3, but his sacrifice fly scored the team’s only run. Kennys Vargas, batting fourth, went 0-4. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga Box Score The Lookouts had a scheduled off day on Tuesday after getting rained out on Monday. Two days without a Lookouts game is tough on Twins Minor League fans!! MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers @ Clearwater Box Score Rain fell throughout the afternoon on the west coast of Florida, and after over an hour delay, the game was postponed. It will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Thursday. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 4, Wisconsin 1 Box Score Despite the game being delayed for over an hour, the Kernels got an incredibly well-pitched game. Stephen Gonsalves made the start and it was right up there with his best. The left-hander went six innings. He gave up one unearned run on three hits. He walked one and struck out a career-high 12 batters. On the season, he has now walked 11 and struck out 66 batters in 48 innings. Michael Cederoth, who was recently moved back to the bullpen, came in and continued the domination. He struck out three batters in two perfect innings. He has nine strikeouts and only one run allowed in 6.1 innings in relief. Cameron Booser recorded his fifth save with a perfect ninth inning. Tanner English led the offense. The center fielder went 2-3 with two walks. He also stole three bases in the game and has 16 on the season. Nick Gordon went 1-2 with two walks, and he stole his ninth and tenth bases. Jorge Fernandez went 2-4 with his seventh double which drove in a run. Trey Vavra had an RBI double in the first inning. Vavra left the game in the third inning when he hurt his leg sliding for a ball near the tarp. He walked off under his own power, limping noticeably though. Later in the game, catcher Brian Navaretto re-injured the same wrist that caused him to miss about three weeks of games. (UPDATE - Jeff Johnson from the Cedar Rapids Gazette reported after the game that Navarreto's thumb was bent back on a foul ball. It was not his wrist.) The Kernels are now 29-17. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Stephen Gonsalves, Cedar Rapids Kernels Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Tanner English, Cedar Rapids Kernels WEDNESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Durham (1:05 CST) – LHP Taylor Rogers Biloxi @ Chattanooga (6:15 CST) – RHP Alex Wimmers Ft. Myers @ Clearwater (DH @ 5:00 CST) – LHP Mat Batts Wisconsin @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 CST) – RHP Felix Jorge Feel free to discuss the Twins farm system and the goings on from Tuesday. View full article

I wonder who will be the pitcher of the day in the minor league report tonight?

I find it interesting that he started as opposed to coming in later in the game. Can't help but wonder if he has a flight tonight too...

Reed is no slouch, topping out at about 98. DJ Johnson hits 95.

1.) I don't have a problem with the players staying for the All Star Game. It's a nice honor. 2.) Two years ago, Ft. Myers clinched the 1st half title with about a week to go before the All Star game. Sano and Rosario were promoted the next day and skipped the All Star game. I don't know if that's a team decision or a team/player decision.

I'll let Jeremy answer your questions however he likes. He's the most tuned in to all of this. I'll just remind people that we started profiles today with Buehler and will be profiling more players each day of the next 2 weeks.