Seth Stohs

PJ Walters was terrific in his Twins debut, but the Twins lost by a score of 2-1. He gave up a single run in the fifth inning. In the sixth inning, Walters hung a 3-2 curveball to Jose Bautista who hit a line drive barely over the fence in left field for his tenth Target Field home run in ten Target Field games. The unfortunate thing is that Walters made a 2-2 pitch on the outside corner at the knees, a pitch that had been called a strike all game, but it was called a ball, extending the Bautista at bat. The Twins bullpen was also terrific. Brian Duensing threw two perfect innings, and Jeff Gray pitched a scoreless ninth frame. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Unfortunately, the Twins left a lot of base runners on again in this game. In the sixth inning, Brian Dozier led off the inning with a double, but was stranded at third base. In the eighth inning, Joe Mauer led off with a double off the top of the wall just left of center field. He never even got to third base. Drew Hutchinson, the Jays starter, pitched well, and got a lot of good bounces. On Sunday, Scott Diamond will take the mound for the Twins, attempting to help the Twins split this four-game series against the Blue Jays. On Saturday, the Twins minor league affiliates won tree out of four games. Here is a look at the Twins minor league scores and highlights from the day: ROCHESTER 0, SYRACUSE 11 The Red Wings played as if they were awaiting a night game. Unfortunately, they played an afternoon game and it didn’t go so well. Daryl Thompson made the start. The right-hander gave up seven run (6 earned) on seven hits and four walks in just 3.2 innings. Tyler Robertson struck out two over the next 1.1 innings. Anthony Slama threw two innings, allowing just a walk. Casey Fien gave up four runs on five hits in the eighth inning. The Red Wings managed just five hits in the game. Clete Thomas was 2-3 with a walk. He hit his third double and first triple. Danny Valencia was 0-4 in his return to the Red Wings. Rene Tosoni and Ben Revere were a combined 0-7 as well. NEW BRITAIN 8, READING 4 If Twins fans have learned anything early this season, it is that it all comes down to starting pitching. In this game, BJ Hermsen was terrific again. The right-hander from Iowa threw seven innings and gave up just two runs on seven hits. He walked none and struck out three. In doing so, he picked up his first AA win. Blake Martin threw a scoreless eighth frame. Luis Perdomo gave up two runs on three hits in the ninth. Wilkin Ramirez has been really good since coming up to the Rock Cats. On his night, he was 3-4 with a walk, his second and third triples and his fourth home run. He has played just 11 games with the Rock Cats and is hitting .388 with three doubles, three triples and four home runs. That is pretty strong production for the talented, 26-year-old outfielder. It was also a very productive night for Aaron Hicks. He was 3-4 with a walk and his fifth and sixth doubles. He also stole his eighth and ninth bases. Nate Hanson was 2-4 in the game. Evan Bigley’s eighth double drove in the Rock Cats first run of the game. Joe Benson is still struggling. He is now 2-21 (.095) in his first five games with the Rock Cats. FT. MYERS 3, CHARLOTTE 1 Dan Rohlfing drilled a two-out, two-run double in the first inning. It was his fourth double and proved to be all the offense that the Miracle would need. Andy Leer was 2-4. Lance Ray added his tenth double and stole his second base. Pat Dean made the start and gave up just one run on eight hits in five innings. He walked one and struck out two. Kyle Waldrop made his first rehab appearance and pitched a scoreless sixth inning. He gave up a hit, got two flyouts and a strikeout. Nelvin Fuentes came in and threw two scoreless innings. Ricky Bowen recorded his second save with a scoreless ninth inning. Oswaldo Arcia helped the pitchers. He threw out a runner at home. BELOIT 3, CLINTON 1 Matt Summers got off to a slow start for the Snappers, but he has been much better of late. On Saturday afternoon, the right-hander from UC-Irvine gave up one run on seven hits in seven innings. He walked two and struck out five. AJ Achter continued his domination of the Midwest League with a scoreless eighth inning. Corey Williams gave up a hit and two walks, but no runs, in the ninth inning to record his sixth save of the season. Tyler Grimes hit a two-run home run in the 5th inning to give the Snappers a 2-0 lead and enough run support for Summers. It was his second homer of the year. Jhonathan Goncalves was 2-4 with his ninth double. Adam Bryant and Drew Leachman were each 2-4. Eddie Rosario added his 12th double of the year. In his last three starts, Summers has given up just three earned runs in 20 innings. --- Players of the Day for Saturday, May 12, 2012 Pitcher of the Day – Matt Summers (photo courtesy of Justin Rinaldi, Rinaldi Photos) Download attachment: Matt Summers.jpg Hitter of the Day – Wilkin Ramirez Download attachment: Wilkin Ramirez.jpg --- A Look Ahead – Sunday, May 13, 2012 Schedule Rochester @ Syracuse – RHP Liam Hendriks New Britain vs Reading – LHP Andrew Albers Ft. Myers – No Game Schedule Beloit @ Clinton – LHP Matt Tomshaw --- If you have any questions or comments on the Twins minor league system, players, teams, etc., leave them in the Comments and I’ll try to answer them! Click here to view the article

I can’t imagine that there is a worse starting rotation in Major League Baseball than the Minnesota Twins. It was really bad last year. They added only Jason Marquis in the offseason. Scott Baker had elbow surgery that turned into Tommy John surgery. Francisco Liriano, who teased in spring training, has been so bad that he’s having a skipped start after just four starts. The Twins starting staff has an ERA over seven right now. Understandably, the thing we hear from most Twins fans is that the Twins absolutely must use their first draft choice, the #2 overall pick, on a college pitcher. The reason is obvious. The Twins need pitching, and they need it now. The perception is that college pitchers come up quickly and make an impression. Sometimes that is the case, but I wanted to do a little bit of research to show that is the right thing to do.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] I decided to go online and look up all of the college pitchers drafted in the top 25 players each year from 1980 through 2010 (31 years worth of data). I noted their draft slot so that I could compare pitchers drafted in the Top 5 compared to those drafted between 21 and 25. I honestly had no idea what I would fine. I know I many times have a preconceived notion that many high-profile college starting pitchers are often overused. There have been so many top college pitchers who get to the big leagues relatively quickly, have some quick success when they get there, and then their arm (shoulder or elbow) burns out, and they are a shell of their former selves. I know there are also some exceptions to that rule. I decided to use Career WAR as the stat of choice. I wanted some sort of comparative statistic that would be semi-constant in meaning. In other words, career ERA isn’t a good stat because it doesn’t provide any context, such as number of innings pitched, or what the league ERA may have been at a given time. Obviously Wins are never a good stat to use for a pitcher. So, you can argue if WAR is the right statistic for this analysis, but I think it is appropriate. I’m certain that it will be no surprise to anyone to find out that Roger Clemens, the 19th overall pick in the 1983 draft out of the University of Texas, is the leader in WAR among the 222 college pitchers selected in the top 25 picks over 30 years. His 145.5 WAR is followed most closely by Mike Mussina, the 20th overall pick in the 1990 draft out of Stanford, who had a career WAR of 85.6. Kevin Brown, the 4th overall pick in the 1986 draft from Georgia Tech, posted a career WAR of 77.2. No other college pitcher drafted in baseball’s top 25 picks from 1980 through 2010 has posted a career WAR of 36. To be fair, Justin Verlander, the #2 overall pick in the 2004 draft from Old Dominion, has career WAR of 32.5, and presumably, he will continue to pitch well for years and wind up much higher. That said, Mark Prior, the #2 overall pick in the 2001 draft from USC, had a career WAR of 16.0 through his first four big league seasons, and his career WAR was 15.8. So, you just don’t know. Here are the Top 25 college pitchers drafted in the Top 25 picks of the first round in the 1980-2010 draft, by WAR: [TABLE=width: 424] [TD=width: 53, bgcolor: transparent]Draft Yr [/TD] [TD=width: 52, bgcolor: transparent] Overall [/TD][TD=width: 129, bgcolor: transparent]Name [/TD] [TD=width: 189, bgcolor: transparent]College [/TD] [TD=width: 99, bgcolor: transparent]Draft Team [/TD] [TD=width: 43, bgcolor: transparent] WAR [/TD] [TD=width: 53] 1983 [/TD][TD=width: 52] 19 [/TD][TD=width: 129]Roger Clemens [/TD] [TD=width: 189]Texas [/TD] [TD=width: 99]Red Sox [/TD] [TD=width: 43] 145.5 [/TD] [TD=width: 53] 1990 [/TD][TD=width: 52] 20 [/TD][TD=width: 129]Mike Mussina [/TD] [TD=width: 189]Stanford [/TD] [TD=width: 99]Orioles [/TD] [TD=width: 43] 85.6 [/TD] [TD=width: 53] 1986 [/TD][TD=width: 52] 4 [/TD][TD=width: 129]Kevin Brown [/TD] [TD=width: 189]Georgia Tech [/TD] [TD=width: 99]Rangers [/TD] [TD=width: 43] 77.2 [/TD] [TD=width: 53] 1981 [/TD][TD=width: 52] 1 [/TD][TD=width: 129]Mike Moore [/TD] [TD=width: 189]Oral Roberts [/TD] [TD=width: 99]Mariners [/TD] [TD=width: 43] 35.7 [/TD] [TD=width: 53] 1988 [/TD][TD=width: 52] 1 [/TD][TD=width: 129]Andy Benes [/TD] [TD=width: 189]Evansville [/TD] [TD=width: 99]Padres [/TD] [TD=width: 43] 35.7 [/TD] [TD=width: 53] 1987 [/TD][TD=width: 52] 5 [/TD][TD=width: 129]Jack McDowell [/TD] [TD=width: 189]Stanford [/TD] [TD=width: 99]White Sox [/TD] [TD=width: 43] 35.0 [/TD] [TD=width: 53] 1986 [/TD][TD=width: 52] 2 [/TD][TD=width: 129]Greg Swindell [/TD] [TD=width: 189]Texas [/TD] [TD=width: 99]Indians [/TD] [TD=width: 43] 34.9 [/TD] [TD=width: 53] 1988 [/TD][TD=width: 52] 17 [/TD][TD=width: 129]Charles Nagy [/TD] [TD=width: 189]Connecticut [/TD] [TD=width: 99]Indians [/TD] [TD=width: 43] 34.4 [/TD] [TD=width: 53] 1991 [/TD][TD=width: 52] 23 [/TD][TD=width: 129]Aaron Sele [/TD] [TD=width: 189]Washington St [/TD] [TD=width: 99]Red Sox [/TD] [TD=width: 43] 33.6 [/TD] [TD=width: 53] 2004 [/TD][TD=width: 52] 2 [/TD][TD=width: 129]Justin Verlander [/TD] [TD=width: 189]Old Dominion [/TD] [TD=width: 99]Tigers [/TD] [TD=width: 43] 32.5 [/TD] [TD=width: 53] 1999 [/TD][TD=width: 52] 10 [/TD][TD=width: 129]Ben Sheets [/TD] [TD=width: 189]NE Louisiana State [/TD] [TD=width: 99]Brewers [/TD] [TD=width: 43] 31.7 [/TD] [TD=width: 53] 1985 [/TD][TD=width: 52] 3 [/TD][TD=width: 129]Bobby Witt [/TD] [TD=width: 189]Oklahoma [/TD] [TD=width: 99]Rangers [/TD] [TD=width: 43] 31.5 [/TD] [TD=width: 53] 1983 [/TD][TD=width: 52] 1 [/TD][TD=width: 129]Tim Belcher [/TD] [TD=width: 189]Mt Vernon Nazarene College [/TD] [TD=width: 99]Twins [/TD] [TD=width: 43] 31.4 [/TD] [TD=width: 53] 1999 [/TD][TD=width: 52] 9 [/TD][TD=width: 129]Barry Zito [/TD] [TD=width: 189]USC [/TD] [TD=width: 99]A's [/TD] [TD=width: 43] 31.3 [/TD] [TD=width: 53] 1995 [/TD][TD=width: 52] 12 [/TD][TD=width: 129]Matt Morris [/TD] [TD=width: 189]Seton Hall [/TD] [TD=width: 99]Cardinals [/TD] [TD=width: 43] 29.5 [/TD] [TD=width: 53] 2006 [/TD][TD=width: 52] 10 [/TD][TD=width: 129]Tim Lincecum [/TD] [TD=width: 189]Washington [/TD] [TD=width: 99]Giants [/TD] [TD=width: 43] 27.9 [/TD] [TD=width: 53] 1984 [/TD][TD=width: 52] 24 [/TD][TD=width: 129]Terry Mulholland [/TD] [TD=width: 189]Marietta College [/TD] [TD=width: 99]Giants [/TD] [TD=width: 43] 26.2 [/TD] [TD=width: 53] 1993 [/TD][TD=width: 52] 12 [/TD][TD=width: 129]Billy Wagner [/TD] [TD=width: 189]Ferrum College [/TD] [TD=width: 99]Astros [/TD] [TD=width: 43] 24.7 [/TD] [TD=width: 53] 1984 [/TD][TD=width: 52] 2 [/TD][TD=width: 129]Billy Swift [/TD] [TD=width: 189]Maine [/TD] [TD=width: 99]Mariners [/TD] [TD=width: 43] 24.4 [/TD] [TD=width: 53] 2004 [/TD][TD=width: 52] 12 [/TD][TD=width: 129]Jered Weaver [/TD] [TD=width: 189]Long Beach State [/TD] [TD=width: 99]Angels [/TD] [TD=width: 43] 24.3 [/TD] [TD=width: 53] 1988 [/TD][TD=width: 52] 8 [/TD][TD=width: 129]Jim Abbott [/TD] [TD=width: 189]Michigan [/TD] [TD=width: 99]Angels [/TD] [TD=width: 43] 23.4 [/TD] [TD=width: 53] 1998 [/TD][TD=width: 52] 14 [/TD][TD=width: 129]Jeff Weaver [/TD] [TD=width: 189]Fresno State [/TD] [TD=width: 99]Tigers [/TD] [TD=width: 43] 23.2 [/TD] [TD=width: 53] 1981 [/TD][TD=width: 52] 9 [/TD][TD=width: 129]Ron Darling [/TD] [TD=width: 189]Yale [/TD] [TD=width: 99]Rangers [/TD] [TD=width: 43] 22.1 [/TD] [TD=width: 53] 1989 [/TD][TD=width: 52] 1 [/TD][TD=width: 129]Ben McDonald [/TD] [TD=width: 189]LSU [/TD] [TD=width: 99]Orioles [/TD] [TD=width: 43] 21.8 [/TD] [TD=width: 53] 1998 [/TD][TD=width: 52] 2 [/TD][TD=width: 129]Mark Mulder [/TD] [TD=width: 189]Michigan State [/TD] [TD=width: 99]A's [/TD] [TD=width: 43] 21.1 [/TD] [/TABLE] Among that list, you can see a few things. There are several pitchers who have high WAR because of longevity (Mulholland, Swindell) and you can see a lot of pitchers who were pretty good but injuries derailed their careers (Sheets, Witt, Morris, McDonald). Will today’s aces like Verlander, Lincecum and Jered Weaver continue to increase their WAR over time, or will they suffer some of the circumstances that so many of these guys (and the guys with career WAR of less than 20) dealt with in their careers? Of the 222 pitchers drafted in the Top 25 overall picks from 1980-2010, the 25 shown above are the only ones with a career WAR of 20 or higher. Here is a breakdown: Career WAR Pitchers >20 25 10.1 - 20 25 5.1 - 10 16 0 – 10 78 No MLB 49 Many of you may wonder why I included the Top 25 picks from each of those years, rather than just the Top 2 picks since the Twins have the #2 pick. I did so for a couple of reasons. First, the Twins have more than just two options for the draft this year. When the draft is analyzed in five or ten years, the Twins selection at #2 will be compared against guys drafted at #3, #4, #5 and throughout the first round picks. Secondly, I was of the opinion coming into the research that the likelihood of finding an “ace” was just as good at #20 as it is at #2. Finally, in 2009 and 2010, the Twins selected college pitchers. In 2009, the Twins took Kyle Gibson with the 22nd overall pick. In 2010, the Twins used the 21st overall pick on Alex Wimmers. I wanted to understand the success rates of guys taken with those picks as well. (NOTE – Gibson and Wimmers are included in the No MLB Experience category up above, and we all hope that at some point, they will get to the big leagues and be successful.) (The Twins have had high picks such as Adam Johnson and Ryan Mills that didn't pan out, but they also have found success with the likes of Mark Redman and Matt Garza in the first round.) The next thing I did with the data was look at each of the 25 draft slots. I counted how many times in those 31 years of drafts that a college pitcher was chosen with that pick. I showed the average career WAR for those players. I showed how many have No Major League experience because they are included in the ‘average.’ I also showed which pitcher drafted in that slot has the highest career WAR. Here is that chart: [TABLE=width: 427] [TD=width: 65, bgcolor: transparent] Draft Slot [/TD][TD=width: 69, bgcolor: transparent] College Pitchers [/TD][TD=width: 84, bgcolor: transparent] Avg Career WAR [/TD][TD=width: 81, bgcolor: transparent] No Maj Lg Experience [/TD][TD=width: 269, bgcolor: transparent]Highest Career WAR [/TD] [TD=width: 65, bgcolor: transparent] 1 [/TD][TD=width: 69, bgcolor: transparent] 11 [/TD][TD=width: 84, bgcolor: transparent] 15.5 [/TD][TD=width: 81, bgcolor: transparent] 0 [/TD][TD=width: 269, bgcolor: transparent]Mike Moore/Andy Benes (35.7) [/TD] [TD=width: 65, bgcolor: transparent] 2 [/TD][TD=width: 69, bgcolor: transparent] 9 [/TD][TD=width: 84, bgcolor: transparent] 16.3 [/TD][TD=width: 81, bgcolor: transparent] 0 [/TD][TD=width: 269, bgcolor: transparent]Greg Swindell (34.9) [/TD] [TD=width: 65, bgcolor: transparent] 3 [/TD][TD=width: 69, bgcolor: transparent] 10 [/TD][TD=width: 84, bgcolor: transparent] 7.5 [/TD][TD=width: 81, bgcolor: transparent] 2 [/TD][TD=width: 269, bgcolor: transparent]Bobby Witt (31.5) [/TD] [TD=width: 65, bgcolor: transparent] 4 [/TD][TD=width: 69, bgcolor: transparent] 14 [/TD][TD=width: 84, bgcolor: transparent] 8 [/TD][TD=width: 81, bgcolor: transparent] 1 [/TD][TD=width: 269, bgcolor: transparent]Kevin Brown (77.2) [/TD] [TD=width: 65, bgcolor: transparent] 5 [/TD][TD=width: 69, bgcolor: transparent] 9 [/TD][TD=width: 84, bgcolor: transparent] 4.7 [/TD][TD=width: 81, bgcolor: transparent] 1 [/TD][TD=width: 269, bgcolor: transparent]Jack McDowell (35.0) [/TD] [TD=width: 65, bgcolor: transparent] 6 [/TD][TD=width: 69, bgcolor: transparent] 11 [/TD][TD=width: 84, bgcolor: transparent] 2.1 [/TD][TD=width: 81, bgcolor: transparent] 2 [/TD][TD=width: 269, bgcolor: transparent]Ricky Romero (9.8) [/TD] [TD=width: 65, bgcolor: transparent] 7 [/TD][TD=width: 69, bgcolor: transparent] 10 [/TD][TD=width: 84, bgcolor: transparent] 0.8 [/TD][TD=width: 81, bgcolor: transparent] 1 [/TD][TD=width: 269, bgcolor: transparent]Dan Reichert (3.7) [/TD] [TD=width: 65, bgcolor: transparent] 8 [/TD][TD=width: 69, bgcolor: transparent] 7 [/TD][TD=width: 84, bgcolor: transparent] 5.7 [/TD][TD=width: 81, bgcolor: transparent] 4 [/TD][TD=width: 269, bgcolor: transparent]Jim Abbott (23.4) [/TD] [TD=width: 65, bgcolor: transparent] 9 [/TD][TD=width: 69, bgcolor: transparent] 7 [/TD][TD=width: 84, bgcolor: transparent] 11.4 [/TD][TD=width: 81, bgcolor: transparent] 1 [/TD][TD=width: 269, bgcolor: transparent]Barry Zito (31.3) [/TD] [TD=width: 65, bgcolor: transparent] 10 [/TD][TD=width: 69, bgcolor: transparent] 7 [/TD][TD=width: 84, bgcolor: transparent] 9.1 [/TD][TD=width: 81, bgcolor: transparent] 1 [/TD][TD=width: 269, bgcolor: transparent]Ben Sheets (31.7) [/TD] [TD=width: 65, bgcolor: transparent] 11 [/TD][TD=width: 69, bgcolor: transparent] 8 [/TD][TD=width: 84, bgcolor: transparent] 1.8 [/TD][TD=width: 81, bgcolor: transparent] 5 [/TD][TD=width: 269, bgcolor: transparent]Max Scherzer (10.9) [/TD] [TD=width: 65, bgcolor: transparent] 12 [/TD][TD=width: 69, bgcolor: transparent] 5 [/TD][TD=width: 84, bgcolor: transparent] 17.6 [/TD][TD=width: 81, bgcolor: transparent] 1 [/TD][TD=width: 269, bgcolor: transparent]Matt Morris (29.5) [/TD] [TD=width: 65, bgcolor: transparent] 13 [/TD][TD=width: 69, bgcolor: transparent] 6 [/TD][TD=width: 84, bgcolor: transparent] 5.6 [/TD][TD=width: 81, bgcolor: transparent] 1 [/TD][TD=width: 269, bgcolor: transparent]Mark Redman (17.3) [/TD] [TD=width: 65, bgcolor: transparent] 14 [/TD][TD=width: 69, bgcolor: transparent] 7 [/TD][TD=width: 84, bgcolor: transparent] 4.3 [/TD][TD=width: 81, bgcolor: transparent] 2 [/TD][TD=width: 269, bgcolor: transparent]Jeff Weaver (23.2) [/TD] [TD=width: 65, bgcolor: transparent] 15 [/TD][TD=width: 69, bgcolor: transparent] 6 [/TD][TD=width: 84, bgcolor: transparent] 0.3 [/TD][TD=width: 81, bgcolor: transparent] 2 [/TD][TD=width: 269, bgcolor: transparent]Sean Lowe (1.8) [/TD] [TD=width: 65, bgcolor: transparent] 16 [/TD][TD=width: 69, bgcolor: transparent] 12 [/TD][TD=width: 84, bgcolor: transparent] 6 [/TD][TD=width: 81, bgcolor: transparent] 1 [/TD][TD=width: 269, bgcolor: transparent]Roberto Hernandez/Jason Jennings (15.2) [/TD] [TD=width: 65, bgcolor: transparent] 17 [/TD][TD=width: 69, bgcolor: transparent] 8 [/TD][TD=width: 84, bgcolor: transparent] 9.3 [/TD][TD=width: 81, bgcolor: transparent] 1 [/TD][TD=width: 269, bgcolor: transparent]Charles Nagy (34.4) [/TD] [TD=width: 65, bgcolor: transparent] 18 [/TD][TD=width: 69, bgcolor: transparent] 10 [/TD][TD=width: 84, bgcolor: transparent] 3 [/TD][TD=width: 81, bgcolor: transparent] 3 [/TD][TD=width: 269, bgcolor: transparent]Joe Magrane (15.0) [/TD] [TD=width: 65, bgcolor: transparent] 19 [/TD][TD=width: 69, bgcolor: transparent] 10 [/TD][TD=width: 84, bgcolor: transparent] 14.8 [/TD][TD=width: 81, bgcolor: transparent] 1 [/TD][TD=width: 269, bgcolor: transparent]Roger Clemens (145.5) [/TD] [TD=width: 65, bgcolor: transparent] 20 [/TD][TD=width: 69, bgcolor: transparent] 9 [/TD][TD=width: 84, bgcolor: transparent] 11.9 [/TD][TD=width: 81, bgcolor: transparent] 5 [/TD][TD=width: 269, bgcolor: transparent]Mike Mussina (85.6) [/TD] [TD=width: 65, bgcolor: transparent] 21 [/TD][TD=width: 69, bgcolor: transparent] 12 [/TD][TD=width: 84, bgcolor: transparent] 2.6 [/TD][TD=width: 81, bgcolor: transparent] 3 [/TD][TD=width: 269, bgcolor: transparent]Ian Kennedy (7.9) [/TD] [TD=width: 65, bgcolor: transparent] 22 [/TD][TD=width: 69, bgcolor: transparent] 10 [/TD][TD=width: 84, bgcolor: transparent] 3.4 [/TD][TD=width: 81, bgcolor: transparent] 2 [/TD][TD=width: 269, bgcolor: transparent]Rick Helling (15.1) [/TD] [TD=width: 65, bgcolor: transparent] 23 [/TD][TD=width: 69, bgcolor: transparent] 6 [/TD][TD=width: 84, bgcolor: transparent] 5.9 [/TD][TD=width: 81, bgcolor: transparent] 3 [/TD][TD=width: 269, bgcolor: transparent]Aaron Sele (33.6) [/TD] [TD=width: 65, bgcolor: transparent] 24 [/TD][TD=width: 69, bgcolor: transparent] 10 [/TD][TD=width: 84, bgcolor: transparent] 4.8 [/TD][TD=width: 81, bgcolor: transparent] 3 [/TD][TD=width: 269, bgcolor: transparent]Terry Mulholland (26.2) [/TD] [TD=width: 65, bgcolor: transparent] 25 [/TD][TD=width: 69, bgcolor: transparent] 8 [/TD][TD=width: 84, bgcolor: transparent] 2.6 [/TD][TD=width: 81, bgcolor: transparent] 2 [/TD][TD=width: 269, bgcolor: transparent]Matt Garza (14.6) [/TD] [/TABLE] SUMMARY In summary, we could look at this data many different ways to see what it would tell us. Based on this history, the odds of the Twins drafting a college pitcher with the #2 pick and him posting a career WAR of 20 or more are like 10% History tells us that although college pitchers certainly get to the big leagues much quicker, in general, Twins fans may want to temper their enthusiasm for whoever the team takes with the #2 pick. What does this mean to the Twins? Absolutely nothing. First, as Terry Ryan said on Sunday’s “Inside Pitch” radio show, the team will take the best available player on their draft board. If it is it a position player, like Byron Buxton, Mike Zunino, or Carlos Correa, they will take that player. That is completely the right strategy. However, if the Twins’ scouts put together their list of top draft-eligible players and a college pitcher (such as Mark Appel, Kevin Gausman or Kyle Zimmer), this data should not deter them from taking that pitcher. Having the #2 overall pick is a great opportunity for the Twins to acquire a top talent. This historical perspective should provide, just that, perspective on what our expectations should be for any 1st round draft pick. However, that #2 draft slot should also provide a lot of hope that maybe the Twins can get this turned around, and pitching is the team's number one need. Having five picks in the first 72 picks of the draft is an opportunity for the Twins to add some much needed talent and life to the Twins farm system. Download attachment: Kyle Zimmer.jpg Click here to view the article

From a source with direct knowledge, Twins Daily has learned that LHP Logan Darnell is on his way to the Twins Cities and will be with the Twins on Friday night. The other half of the transaction is not presently known. A player from the current 25-man roster will need to be optioned or placed on the disabled list to make room for Darnell. The Twins will re-evaluate Aaron Hicks on Friday morning, and he could be placed on the 7 day concussion list. They could also option a reliever to Rochester. After the second game on Thursday night, Game 2 starter and 26th man Kris Johnson was sent back to Rochester. Download attachment: Logan Darnell 3.jpg The Minnesota Twins are in need of an arm on Friday and throughout this weekend. With the rainouts and Thursday's doubleheader, there could have been issues. However, when neither of Thursday's starters went beyond five innings, the bullpen was all overused. Jared Burton pitched in both games. Sam Deduno and Anthony Swarzak, the long-relievers, both threw a lot of pitches. Brian Duensing threw on Wednesday and a lot of pitches again on Thursday. The Twins need an arm. Darnell was scheduled to start for Rochester on Saturday, so he would be capable of eating extended innings if needed. Of course, it would be ideal if Ricky Nolasco would throw seven, eight or even nine innings on Friday night against Baltimore, but the Twins have to be prepared for that not happening. Yesterday, I named Darnell the Minnesota Twins Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Month of April. In four starts, he went 0-0 but posted an ERA of 1.69 and a WHIP of 1.03. He worked 21.1 innings and gave up 15 hits, walked seven and struck out 21. Darnell was drafted by the Twins in the 6th round of the 2009 draft. He played college ball at the University of Kentucky where he was a teammate of former Twins pitcher Andrew Albers as well as potential Twins pitchers Alex Meyer and Taylor Rogers. Injured Ft. Myers outfielder Lance Ray and former Twins farmhand Gunner Glad also played at Kentucky with Darnell. In December, I had the opportunity to talk to Kentucky head coach Gary Henderson about these players, and he had wonderful things to say about Logan Darnell. After signing, Darnell went to Elizabethton. In 2011, his first full season, he made six starts for Beloit, 15 starts in Ft. Myers and then five starts with New Britain. He spent the entire 2012 season with the Rock Cats and then went to the Arizona Fall League. He started 2013 in New Britain as well. When he was pitching very well in mid season, he earned the promotion to Rochester. Following the season, he was added to the 40 man roster. This spring he participated in his first big league spring training and was optioned in early March so he could be stretched out and prepared to start. Darnell most likely will only be with the Twins for the weekend. However, can you imagine getting that phone call, likely very late at night, that you were going to the big leagues? Learning that you are about to live your dream has to be a remarkable moment. Click here to view the article

On Tuesday, I began my look at the Twins organizational depth chart by looking at all of the outfielders in the system. Today, we jump back into the Twins system by looking at the infielders. Compared to the outfielders, I’d say it’s more than fair to say that the Twins have not had as much success grooming infielders. Could that trend be changing? Read below and decide for yourself. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] In the following, we will consider which players may fill the rosters of the Twins minor league affiliates. Of course, this is all just my educated guess. As I’ve said, any of this could be altered by an unexpected free agent signing or a trade. Sadly, not all of these players will remain in the organization beyond spring training. Some may wind up on the Disabled List. Hopefully this list will remind you of which players are in the organization. So let’s get to it. Here are the Infielders in the Minnesota Twins organization: Minnesota Twins Justin Morneau (1B), Brian Dozier (2B), Trevor Plouffe (3B), Pedro Florimon (SS), Jamey Carroll, Eduardo Escobar Morneau is the most healthy he’s been since spring of 2010 when he put up MVP caliber numbers until he suffered a concussion. The 2006 MVP is still just 31 years old and entering his contract year. As we know, Joe Mauer and Chris Parmelee will also likely see time at first base. It is also a big year for Trevor Plouffe in 2013. The Twins are banking on him hitting similarly to what he did for those six weeks that he crushed the ball, rather than the .150 hitter he was early in the season. He is healthy and will get every opportunity. Brian Dozier struggled immensely as a rookie in 2012, but the organization believes in him and he is being given every opportunity to be the team’s second baseman. He’ll team up the middle with Pedro Florimon, the great-glove, no-hit shortstop. Those guys will get the chance, but having the solid veteran Jamey Carroll around will certainly help provide some stability. Eduardo Escobar is a terrific glove who will do well in a utility role. In my opinion, Escobar will be starting at shortstop by mid-June. Rochester Red Wings Chris Colabello (1B), James Beresford (2B), Mark Sobolewski (3B), Ray Olmedo (SS), Jeff Clement, Nate Hanson, Reynaldo Rodriguez Chris Colabello was the story of the Twins minor league system in 2012 when, as a 28-year-old, he spent his first season in affiliated baseball and had a terrific season. It earned him an invitation to Twins big league spring training, and he also will be representing Italy in the WBC. Colabello lived in Italy for several years of his youth and played for Italy in several international competitions. He has an outside shot to be a bench bat with the Twins if they go that direction. Beresford's (pictured) 2013 WBC experience is already over. He was the leadoff hitter and shortstop for Australia, but he’ll likely be playing a lot at second base as well. Ray Olmedo spent time in the big leagues in the middle of last decade, but after a few years away, he returned to the big leagues with the White Sox in 2012 after they traded Eduardo Escobar to the Twins. Olmedo and Beresford won’t hit a lot, but they will play tremendous defense. Mark Sobolewski was a Twins minor league Rule 5 selection in December from the Blue Jays organization. The cancer-survivor hit 20 home runs last year between AA and AAA. The Twins seem to really like his defense. The Twins drafted Clement in 2002 out of his Iowa high school, but he decided to go to college. It was the right choice for him as three years later, he was the #3 overall pick in the draft by the Mariners. Things haven’t happened for him in the big leagues to this point, and he’s back with the Twins on a minor league deal, playing some 1B and wanting to show he can be an emergency catcher option. Nate Hanson really stepped up his game in 2012 when he was moved to second base after playing mostly first base the year before. He was drafted as a third baseman, where he will get some time again this spring, but the former Gopher’s path to the big leagues will involve using several different gloves.Rodriguez is another veteran first baseman for some depth. New Britain Rock Cats Steve Liddle (1B), Levi Michael (2B), Deibinson Romero (3B), Danny Santana (SS), Harold Garcia, Jason Christian, Doug Bernier, Michael Gonzales, 2012 was a frustrating year for Liddle, the nephew of the former Twins coach. He began the season hurt, and he ended up going back to Beloit for a month before settling in with the Miracle. The former Vanderbilt standout will primarily play first base, although he has played some in the outfield in his career. Deibinson Romero had a very good season in 2012 with the Rock Cats. He was invited to big league spring training (For the first time since he was on the 40 man roster in 2009), but visa issues mean he is still back home in the Dominican. That may also mean that he will have to head back to the Rock Cats and wait for an opening in Rochester. Danny Santana (pictured above) really stepped up his performance in 2012 with the Miracle. At the end of the year, he was placed on the Twins 40 man roster and has shown his talent along with his weaknesses so far in camp. Levi Michael’s professional debut last year in Ft. Myers certainly got off to a rough start. He was young for his draft class, but his struggled in the Florida State League were disappointing. He has been hurt since signing with the Twins but played all of the 2012 season. He could go back to Ft. Myers for a spell to start the season, but he should get to the Rock Cats quickly. Harold Garcia, Jason Christian and Doug Bernier are long-timer minor league veterans who at this points in their careers are just happy with an opportunity to continue their careers. Michael Gonzales was alright in 2012 in Ft. Myers. He just is not able to play very long or very often in the humidity of the Florida State League. He has a condition in which he really suffers from dehydration so he is often not able to play full games or many back-to-back. He could stay in Ft. Myers, but they may move him up for an opportunity to play more. Ft. Myers Miracle Kennys Vargas (1B), Eddie Rosario (2B), Miguel Sano (3B), AJ Pettersen (SS), Andy Leer, Adam Bryant, Steven Wickens This is a pretty impressive infield, at least when they have bats in their hands. Miguel Sano hit 30 home runs in the Midwest League in 2012 and is generally considered the team’s top prospect. Rosario (pictured) will play for Puerto Rico in the WBC, but he impressed during his stint with the Twins before reporting. He will begin his second season at second base, and his defensive improvements will likely dictate how quickly he moves up to New Britain. Likewise for Sano. Kenny Vargas returned to a game lineup later last summer after finishing out his 50-game suspension on the Elizabethon roster. He came back and immediately showed the power that he possesses. For him to move up, he will have to improve several parts of his game, but his power is pretty legit. AJ Pettersen, Adam Bryant, Stephen Wickens and Andy Leer will all play around the infield and give guys days off. Pettersen and Bryant each played several positions in 2012 in Beloit. Wickens came up later in the year and played up the middle defense and did a nice job with the bat. Leer played all over the field for the Miracle a year ago. Pettersen is a former Gopher who writes for Twins Daily and for Baseball America. Leer is from North Dakota. Cedar Rapids Kernels DJ Hicks (1B), Jorge Polanco (2B), Niko Goodrum (SS), Travis Harrison (3B), Candido Pimentel, Rory Rhodes Rhodes began the 2012 season in Beloit, but he really struggled before being sent back down to Elizabethton where he split time with DJ Hicks. Rhodes is Australian. Hicks was the Twins 17th round draft pick in 2012 from Central Florida. His walk-off grand slam gave the Elizabethton Twins the 2013 Appalachian League championship. Former 2nd round pick Niko Goodrum spent his second season in Elizabethton a year ago. He did improve his shortstop defense. His batting average went down but his walk numbers and his slugging increased. Jorge Polanco was part of the international signing year that saw the Twins ink deals with Miguel Sano and Max Kepler as well. Touted for his defense and his ability to play shortstop, he has primarily played second base in the minor leagues. In 2012, his bat even came to life as he hit over .300 with the E-Twins. Travis Harrison, a Twins supplemental 1st round pick in 2011, made his pro debut in 2012 with the E-Twins. He hit for average, but most believe that his power will also develop. His error total rivaled that of Miguel Sano and will have to improve a lot if he wants to stay at third base. Pimentel was the Appy League MVP in 2012 when he was the team’s leadoff hitter. He was an outfielder, but he was moved to second base and will get some time there as well in 2013. Extended Spring Training/Short-Season Aderlin Mejia, Bryan Haar, Joel Licon, Javier Pimentel, Logan Wade, Jose Ramirez, Will Hurt Aderlin Mejia was the one player on the GCL Twins team to be named all-league. For his efforts, he was asked to play a few games with the Ft. Myers Miracle at the end of their season. Haar was the team’s 34th round pick a year ago from San Diego. He played 45 games for the GCL Twins and hit .250/.319/.345. Javier Pimentel signed for about $700,000 in 2010 and has struggled offensively since signing. Will Hurt gave up a scholarship to Coastal Carolina to sign as the Twins 16th round pick last year. He really struggled with the bat, but he has premiere speed. Licon was the Twins 25th round pick, and like Hurt, most people thought he would be a tough sign, but he did come to terms with the team. Wade is a 21-year-old Australian who signed just a year ago. He spent the winter playing in the Australian Baseball League. After spending two years in the DSL, Jose Ramirez spent 2012 in the GCL where he hit .234. TOP PROSPECTS 1.) Miguel Sano, 2.) Eddie Rosario, 3.) Danny Santana, 4.) Jorge Polanco, 5.) Travis Harrison, 6.) Travis Harrison, 7.) Niko Goodrum, 8.) Levi Michael. This prospect list isn’t so bad. Sano and Rosario could be future stars. There are five middle infielders on this list that have the potential to be a big league middle infielder if things play out right. Now, most of this talent is in the lower levels of the minor leagues. That’s why it will be important for Brian Dozier, Pedro Florimon and Eduardo Escobar will have to be able to man the positions for a couple of years. SUMMARY There are questions, to be sure, in the Twins big league middle infield. Then again, it’s also a big year for Trevor Plouffe. It’s also a contract year for Justin Morneau so it will be curious to see if a big year means a contract extension or a July trade to a contender? The Twins do have several very good minor league infield prospects, so it will be fun to watch how they develop throughout the 2013 season. Offense is what we tend to notice. Managers, coaches, and especially pitchers will also notice the infielders’ defense. Which players will be receiving the most notice as the season progresses? If you have any further questions, please feel free to leave your thoughts in the Comments Section! View full article

Here we are, less than a week into full Twins spring training workouts. Games don’t even start for a couple of days. It’s time to start talking position battles, right? It appears to me that there are actually very few positions that are up for grabs at this stage of camp. Of course, as injuries mount through spring training, more position battles can spring up, but for now, there are a lot of givens on the roster. Hitters: Joe Mauer, Ryan Doumit, Justin Morneau, Alexi Casilla, Danny Valencia, Jamey Carroll, Ben Revere, Denard Span, Josh Willingham, Trevor Plouffe (10 out of 13 positions are accounted for). Pitchers: Scott Baker, Carl Pavano, Francisco Liriano, Nick Blackburn, Jason Marquis, Matt Capps, Glen Perkins, Anthony Swarzak, Brian Duensing (9 out of 12 positions accounted for). The biggest debate the last couple of days has been about the bullpen where one more job opened up with the loss of Joel Zumaya for the season. Let’s discuss that tomorrow. Let’s start today with the offensive (as in hitting!) side of the ball. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] 3rd Catcher The favorite at this point for the third catcher spot has to be Drew Butera. What does he have going for him? Two years of experience catching Twins pitchers in front of the Twins coaching staff, good catch and throw guy and he’s still a pre-arbitration eligible guy meaning he will basically make league minimum. The competition for the role comes from a couple of places, 28 year olds JR Towles and Rene Rivera. Towles was a big prospect in baseball and then hit .375 in 44 plate appearances in 2007. In 141 games spread over the past four years in Houston, he has hit .168/.251/.289. Of course, those numbers are better than Butera’s the last two years, but still not confidence-inducing. We got to see some of Rivera last year and realized that he is in the same category. No offense, solid defense guy. Prediction: I think that Butera ‘wins’ that third catcher job because, frankly, there isn’t an option that is much better, if at all better. Also, he’s on the 40 man roster and the other two are not. Frankly, Danny Lehmann’s name should be in this mix because he is just as good as any of these guys, knows the Twins pitchers, and has the respect of all pitchers in the organization. Chris Herrmann is certainly the top prospect in the group, and he should begin the year in AA New Britain. Download attachment: Butera.jpg The Final TWO bench spots The starting lineup for the Twins is pretty much set. There will be a third catcher, and Trevor Plouffe will be the fourth outfielder. That leaves two spots. The favorites at this point are guys we saw in 2011. Tsuyoshi Nishioka’s debut season in the big leagues was pretty much a complete disaster. However, looking at the options for who could fill a utility role, he is the one that can play shortstop. He will have to play it (and 2B) better and also learn some 3B. He’ll also have to show an ability to hit. Although he’s a favorite, I don’t get the sense that he’s guaranteed a roster spot. If not for his shoulder injury, suffered while playing in the Australia Winter League, Luke Hughes would likely fit into the ‘given’ category. If he is healthy, I think he is a given. If he is not healthy, I think he goes on the Disabled List. I don’t think that the Twins should try to get Hughes through waivers because I think that he would be claimed and lost. The Competition for those two roster spots come from a couple of different angles. Sean Burroughs is the guy most are talking about now. His story is quite well known. He spent most of the 2011 season pinch-hitting with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He can play the corner spots solidly but would likely not have the range to play up the middle. His left-handed bat also matters as other bench options in the infield bat right handed. Steve Pearce can also play both corner infield spots and maybe be serviceable in the corner outfield. With Trevor Plouffe being the fourth outfielder, it may not be a horrible idea for the Twins to have a more proven defensive outfielder as a late-inning option. The Twins would likely prefer to have Rene Tosoni get every day playing time in Rochester, but he is an option. Recently acquired Darin Mastroianni is also a possibility as a true backup outfielder. Prediction: I believe that the Twins are likely to go with Nishioka and Hughes as the backups. Brian Dozier is probably the best infielder vying for a spot, but he hasn’t played above a half-season in AA and he’s got too much potential to waste on the bench. (That said, if he wins a starting spot, Jamey Carroll or Alexi Casilla could certainly move to the bench.) The same is true with Joe Benson in the outfield. He needs every day at bats. Chris Parmelee certainly enters the equation for a roster spot if Justin Morneau suffers any setbacks. I also believe that we will see plenty of Sean Burroughs on the Twins roster throughout the 2012 season. We’ll be back tomorrow with much more on the bullpen options, of which there are plenty. Click here to view the article

On Friday night, the Twins needed an extra inning to top the Cubs 8-7. It may not have been pretty game, but a win is a win, and the Twins have been playing much better baseball the last month. Ryan Doumit had two hits, including his sixth home run. Trevor Plouffe was 2-3 with a walk, his fifth double and his eighth home run. Ben Revere had three hits, a walk and two stolen bases. Jamey Carroll and Darin Mastroianni each had two hits. Josh Willingham had two hits including a walk-off single that scored Mastroianni with the winning run in the 10th. On Saturday, Joe Mauer and Denard Span return to the Twins lineup, and Scott Diamond looks to continue his 2012 success. Here is a look at the Twins minor league scores and highlights from Friday:[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] ROCHESTER 9, NORFOLK 6 Esmerling Vasquez became the 14th starting pitcher for the Red Wings in 2012. The hard-throwing right-hander gave up just one run on three hits and a walk in 4.2 innings. He struck out six. Brendan Wise came in and in 2.1 innings gave up one run on three hits and a walk. Carlos Gutierrez gave up three runs on three hits in one inning. Kyle Waldrop gave up a run on two hits in his inning. Sean Burroughs led the offensive attack by going 4-5 with his fifth and sixth doubles. Rene Rivera went 2-2 with two walks, his fourth double and three RBI. Matt Carson went 2-3 with a walk, his 16th double and his fifth stolen base. Brian Dinkelman returned to the lineup and went 2-4 with his first double. Clete Thomas hit his second home run. NEW BRITAIN 7, ERIE 9 James Beresford continues to play well. His batting average is now up to .289 with a three-hit game on Friday night. He had a single, his third double and his second triple in this game. Chris Colabello went 2-4 with a walk and his 13th double. He drove in three runs. Deibinson Romero hit his eighth home run. Mark Dolenc hit his first of the season. Aaron Thompson was back on the mound for the Rock Cats. In 4.2 innings, he gave up seven runs (6 earned) on eight hits and three walks. He struck out just one. Bobby Lanigan gave up two runs (1 earned) on four hits in 1.2 innings. Blake Martin got the final five outs. FT. MYERS, TAMPA There was more rain in southwest Florida, and no game played. These two teams are still trying to finish a game that was started on Wednesday night. The regularly scheduled game for Friday night has been cancelled. BELOIT 7, BURLINGTON 0 The Snappers offense showed up again in this game, but when a team gets a shutout, we have to start with the pitching. Left-hander Steven Gruver has been terrific of late and on Friday night, the story was the same. He gave up no runs on three hits in six innings. He walked two and struck out three. Corey Williams gets his seventh save by throwing three one-hit innings and striking out two. Tyler Grimes went 2-3 with a walk. Adam Bryant and Jairo Rodriguez were each 2-4. Wang-Wei Lin was 2-5. Eddie Rosario and Miguel Sano each hit a double. It was Sano’s 14th and Rosario’s 20th. --- Players of the Day for Friday, June 8, 2012 Pitcher of the Day – Steve Gruver Download attachment: StevenGruver.jpg Hitter of the Day – Sean Burroughs Download attachment: SeanBurroughs2.jpg --- A Look Ahead – Saturday, June 9, 2012 Schedule Rochester @ Indianapolis – RHP Liam Hendriks New Britain @ Erie - TBD Ft. Myers @ Palm Beach – RHP Marty Popham Beloit @ Wisconsin – RHP Tyler Jones Click here to view the article

I am happy to announce that the Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook 2014 is now available to be purchased. The self-published book was co-authored by Jeremy Nygaard, Cody Christie and myself. Several others contributed to the book, as shown below. Order Your Own Copy of the Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook 2014 Right Here for $14.95. NOW AVAILABLE AS AN E-BOOK! Click here to order with an immediate download. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] For much more on the book and what is included in the book, click down below. Also, Jeremy, Cody and I conducted a Google Hangout last night to introduce the book. That was a lot of fun to discuss the stories, the 150+ prospect profiles and much more. --- Though we tried to be more concise and efficient in our profiles, we ended up with about 188 pages of Twins minor league content. Included are: Stories on my minor league award winners: Miguel Sano (hitter), Taylor Rogers (starting pitcher), Tyler Jones (relief pitcher) and Jake Mauer (manager).A Foreword by Twins Daily's John Bonnes.Cody wrote an article on The Anatomy of a 5-Tool Player.Jeremy wrote articles reviewing the 2013 Twins draft, and another looking forward to the 2014 draft.Jeremy also conducted an interview with Twins scout Freddie Thon.Season Reviews from each of the four Twins minor league affiliates. Twins Daily contributors Chris Fee (Rochester), Andrew Walter (New Britain) and Steve Buhr (Cedar Rapids) along with Miracle play-by-play guy Adam MacDonald penned these articles.The Top prospect lists for myself, Cody and Jeremy.And most important, there are the prospect profiles. There will be about 150 profiles on Twins minor leaguers. Yes, there are profiles on Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano and Alex Meyer. There are also profiles on Adonis Pacheco and Leonel Zazueta, as well as Jim Fuller and Kevin Thomas, the Twins minor league Rule 5 picks from Thursday. If you're looking for Christmas gifts for yourself or your Twins fan friends or family, this just might be it. The plan is for it to be available as both an e-book and a paperback book. The e-book is for those who don't like hard copies of anything. The paperback book is great as a coffee table book. When Dick Bremer or Cory Provus talk about a Twins minor leaguer, or a player recently promoted, you can go through the pages and learn a little about the player. It's also great for autographs. The cover is something that will look great autographed and many get the players' profiles autographed. It's been a ton of work for myself, Jeremy and Cody, but it's exciting that it's close. Other versions, such as an e-book or versions for Readers will hopefully be available shortly. If you have any questions, please let me know. Thanks also to Josh Johnson for designing the cover for the third straight year!Special thanks also to Justin Rinaldi (of Rinaldi Photos) for many pictures used on players of the Kernels and Rock Cats. Also, Linwood Ferguson, a Miracle photographer, and Scott Blanchette, a photographer for the Rock Cats. Download attachment: mnphb2014.jpg Click here to view the article

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). [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]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 Download attachment: Jason Wheeler 4.jpg (Photo from Jim Crikket of Knuckleballs) Hitter of the Day – Stephen Wickens Download attachment: Stephen Wickens.jpg --- 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! Click here to view the article

Last night, I posted my choice for the Twins minor league relief pitcher of the month, Deolis Guerra. I also mentioned five other bullpen guys that deserved recognition for their strong starts. This morning, I’ll post my choice for the Twins minor league start pitcher for April. There were some pretty good options, but in the end, the choice was pretty easy. As always, I welcome feedback in the Comments if you have any thoughts, questions, or want to ‘vote’ for your choice. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] From a starting pitcher, I will mention Win-Loss record although it doesn’t really factor into the rankings. I do look a little bit more at ERA with starters than relievers, and WHIP is always important. Limiting base runners is a good way to limit runs allowed. For prospect status, strikeouts are important, but for this, I think that it’s important to look at walks and strikeouts in combination, and do so relative to innings pitched. And please remember, we are talking about a very small sample size of four to five starts. One of these pitchers mentioned below was the obvious choice as top starting pitcher for April until he struggled in his fifth start of the month. (So, how would you weigh one bad start with four terrific ones?) It can be a little subjective, but let's take a look at the top starting pitchers for the season’s first month. Number 6 – Beloit – Tim Shibuya - 5 GS, 1-1, 3.00 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, 24.0 IP, 30 H, 4 BB, 22 K Last year’s Appalachian League Pitcher of the Year had a solid first month in full-season ball. He started off a little slow, giving up some hits, but he stayed true to form and ended up with some solid numbers. He is the definition of a Twins pitcher, throwing strikes and yet, as you can see, he struck out nearly a batter per inning. He has a strong four-pitch mix that should succeed in the Midwest League. Number 5 - Rochester – Cole DeVries - 4 GS, 0-1, 2.91 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 21.2 IP, 16 H, 6 BB, 23 K Last April, DeVries was the easy selection as Twins minor league relief pitcher of April. After bouncing between the bullpen and rotation in 2011, he started in the AFL and enters 2012 as a starter as well. He had a terrific initial month to his season. He has terrific control and has found a way to get more and more strikeouts. He has good stuff, and he has been around for a while. He has also gained a little velocity on his fastball. Number 4 - Beloit – Jason Wheeler - 5 GS, 3-0, 2.33 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 27.0 IP, 26 H, 6 BB, 19 K Last August, Jason Wheeler waited until the last day to sign with the Twins after they made him their 8th round draft pick out of Loyola Marymount. His first pro experience came in the Florida Instructional League, and this spring he made his official professional debut with the Snappers. The tall, burly south paw made a good impression. Two years ago, he was the pitcher of the year in the Northwoods League. Number 3 – Rochester – Scott Diamond - 5 GS, 4-1, 2.84 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 31.2 IP, 32 H, 5 BB, 24 K Before his most recent start of the month (in which he gave up seven earned runs in six innings, he was the easy choice for the top minor league pitcher of the month. However, we can’t completely ignore that last start. It happened and affected his month’s numbers, but nowhere near far enough to keep him out of the top three. The lefty clearly made some adjustments from last year when he really struggled at AAA and with the Twins. The biggest thing might be a better defense behind him because he will need to rely on defense. Number 2 – New Britain – Luke French - 5 GS, 2-0, 1.80 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 30 IP, 17 H, 12 BB, 18 K The Twins signed the left-handed former big leaguer shortly before the start of spring training. He went to minor league camp and despite a big league past, he started his season at AA New Britain. As should be expected, he had little problem with the level. Six of his walks came in one of his outings and he was able to wiggle out of trouble a couple of times. He was promoted to AAA Rochester and is expected to start on Wednesday in place of Sam Deduno. And the Twins Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Month is: Ft. Myers – BJ Hermsen - 4 GS, 1-0, 0.78 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 23 IP, 16 H, 5 BB, 12 K Hermsen had a terrific 2011 season for the Twins organization. He spent most of the year in Beloit where he went 11-7 with a 3.10 ERA. He was promoted to Ft. Myers and made five starts. He made four starts in April for the Miracle before being promoted to AA New Britain where he is expected to make his first start for the Rock Cats tonight. Hermsen is not a pitcher who misses bats, so he relies on a strong mix of pitches. Despite a 6-6 frame, he doesn’t overpower hitters, and yet, when you look at the numbers, he gets results. Double-A may be a challenge for him, but he has earned this opportunity. A 6th round pick in the 2008 draft, the Twins will have to decide after the season whether to put him on the 40 man roster or not. We will see what happens going forward, but for April 2012, he was the Twins top minor league starting pitcher. Download attachment: BJHermsen2.jpg (photo courtesy Jim Crikket, Knuckleballs) What do you think? I listed six pitchers here that got off to a nice start this season. There were not a lot of other choices. Who would your choice be? How would you rank these guys (and feel free to include others)? Be sure to check back later in the day for the April Starting Pitcher and Hitter of April. Also, tonight at 9:00 central time, you can listen to the SethSpeaks Weekly Minnesota Twins podcast while watching the start of the Twins/Angels game. Click here to view the article

Francisco Liriano did a tremendous job on Friday night of building his trade value. The lefty gave up just one run in 6.2 innings against baseball’s best offense. Jared Burton got four outs quickly. The Twins got enough offense, as well as some help from the Rangers defense, to put up five runs. Joe Mauer drove in two runs, and Justin Morneau homered. The two teams play again on Saturday as Sam Deduno makes his first Twins start. With that, here is a look at the Twins minor league scores and highlights from Friday:[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] ROCHESTER 3, PAWTUCKET 1 PJ Walters started and appears to be close to a return to the Twins. The right-hander threw five shutout innings. He gave up five hits, walked none and struck out two. Bobby Lanigan went the next 2.1 innings and gave up one run on three hits and two walks. Dan Sattler debuted with the Red Wings and got four outs. He gave up no runs despite allowing a hit and walking two. Luis Perdomo came in to record the final out. Danny Valencia went 2-4 with his seventh home run. Pedro Florimon hit his 10th and 11th doubles. Clete Thomas was 2-3 with his eighth home run. The Red Wings are now 41-47 on the season. NEW BRITAIN 1, TRENTON 7 Aaron Thompson made the start for the Rock Cats. In six innings, he gave up four runs on 11 hits. He walked none and struck out five. Brett Jacobson came in and continued his walking ways. He recorded just one out and was charged with two runs on one hit and three walks. Daniel Turpen gave up one run on three hits in 1.2 innings. He walked none and struck out three. The Rock Cats’ bats managed just five hits in the game. Aaron Hicks had two of them, including his eighth home run. With the loss, the Rock Cats fall to 47-38, 1.5 games behind Trenton (49-37). FT. MYERS 3, CHARLOTTE 5 Madison Boer continues to find ways to last longer into games. On this night, he gave up five runs (3 earned) on nine hits. He walked none and struck out two. Ricky Bowen pitched a scoreless eighth inning. The Miracle managed just six hits in the game. Danny Ortiz remains hot at the plate. He went 2-4 with his fifth home run, a three-run shot that provided all of the Miracle offense. Earlier in the day, the Miracle announced that infielder Jairo Perez had been released. The Miracle are currently 37-46 on the season. However, they are 9-7 in the early stages of the season’s second half, just one game back of Bradenton for a playoff spot. BELOIT 5, CLINTON 4 Jason Wheeler went six innings and recorded his ninth win of the season. The tall, left-hander gave up three runs on six hits. He walked four and struck out three. Cole Johnson came in and gave up an unearned run on one walk over the next 2.1 innings. He struck out three. Clinton Dempster recorded the final two outs, both via the strikeout, to record his fourth save. Matt Koch led the offense. He was 2-5. AJ Pettersen hit his sixth home run. Nate Roberts and Wang-Wei Lin each walked twice. The Snappers are 46-39 on the season. They clinched a playoff berth in the first half and are currently 7-8 in the second half, three games back of the division leader. GAME 1 - ELIZABETHTON 6, KINGSPORT 2 After being postponed on Thursday, the E-Twins and Kingsport played two seven inning games on Friday night. Ricardo Arevalo got the nod in Game 1. He went the first four innings and gave up two runs on five hits. He walked two and struck out five. Josh Burris improved to 4-0 with two more shutout innings, dropping his ERA to 0.69. He gave up a hit and walked a batter while striking out one. Mason Melotakis pitched a perfect frame. Candido Pimentel went 2-3 with his fourth and fifth stolen bases. Travis Harrison went 1-2 with a walk and his second home run. He’s now batting .368. Adam Walker was 1-3 with his third home run. Michael Quesada went 1-3 with his fifth double. He is hitting .370. Max Kepler walked twice and stole his first two bases of the season. GAME 2 - ELIZABETHTON 5, KINGSPORT 4 Corey Kimes started the second game. The lefty from Illinois gave up only an unearned run on three hits and no walks. In five innings, he struck out eight. Tyler Herr gave up three runs on five hits and recorded just two outs. Kaleb Merck got the final four outs for his first pro save. He struck out two. Candido Pimentel was 1-2 with a walk in the second game. He also stole his sixth base. Niko Goodrum walked twice. Romy Jimenez went 1-2 with a walk and is hitting .426 now. The E-Twins are 13-5 and find themselves in a familiar spot a top their division by 2.5 games. GCL TWINS 4, GCL RED SOX 9 Adrian Salcedo made a rehab start for the GCL Twins. The right-hander went 2.1 innings and gave up four runs (2 earned) on five hits and a walk. The earned runs were thanks to two errors of his own. Randy Rosario came in and gave up five runs (4 earned) on three hits and three walks in three innings. He struck out two. Trent Higginbotham got the final two outs. He was not charged with a run despite allowing two hits and a walk. Joe Benson was back in the lineup and went 1-3 with a double. John Murphy and Jorge Fernandez each went 2-3. Kelvin Ortiz was 2-2 with his first home run of the season. The GCL Twins are now 8-8. (Note – you’ll be excited to read about how Byron Buxton and Austin Malinowski did on Saturday morning!) --- Players of the Day for Friday, July 6, 2012 Pitcher of the Day – PJ Walters Download attachment: PJ Walters2.jpg Hitter of the Day – Candido Pimentel Download attachment: Candido Pimentel.jpg --- A Look Ahead – Saturday, July 7, 2012 Schedule Rochester vs Lehigh Valley – RHP Liam Hendriks New Britain @ New Hampshire – RHP Shairon Martis Ft. Myers vs Jupiter – LHP Pat Dean Beloit vs Burlington – RHP Matt Summers Elizabethton @ Johnson City – RHP Angel Mata GCL Twins vs GCL Red Sox – LHP Austin Malinowski --- If you have any questions or comments on the Twins minor league system, players, teams, etc., leave them in the Comments and I’ll try to answer them! Click here to view the article

The Twins return from a day off. However, they are still in the Pacific time zone, so that means some late games!! For those that didn’t stay up… shame on you (just kidding!), but you missed a good game. With Scott Ullger at the helm, Carl Pavano was caught by Drew Butera, and Pavano responded with six shutout innings. Mariners’ lefty Jason Vargas also held the Twins scoreless through six. The Twins got to the M’s bullpen for three runs in the top of the 7th, thanks to a couple of walks, an error and an infield single by Joe Mauer that gave the Twins the lead. Because the top of the 7th went over 30 minutes, Ullger went to his bullpen despite the fact that Pavano had thrown just 69 pitches. Brian Duensing was perfect in the 7th. Glen Perkins dominated the 8th, and Matt Capps looked better than ever with two strikeouts in a 1-2-3 ninth. The Twins played with a one-man bench on Friday night because of the 13 man pitching staff, Justin Morneau’s wrist, and Erik Komatsu not getting to Seattle until Saturday. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] The Twins got a big win and there was a lot of excitement in minor league affiliate’s games too. Here is a look at the Twins minor league scores and highlights from Thursday: ROCHESTER 3, EMPIRE STATE 0 The Red Wings won for back-to-back games for the first time in over two weeks, and yet the story of the game, for the organization, was again Scott Diamond. The left-hander went the first three innings. He gave up no runs on three hits and two walks while striking out two. With GM Terry Ryan in attendance, speculation is quite heavy that Diamond will be promoted to the Twins and likely start next week. Esmerling Vasquez came in and threw three innings of one-hit baseball. He struck out three. Tyler Robertson started the seventh inning and got two outs. He walked one and was replaced by Casey Fien. Fien loaded the bases but was able to get Steve Pearce, who has come up with many big hits against the Red Wings already this season, to pop out to end the inning. Fien pitched the eighth inning as well. Anthony Slama recorded his sixth save. He gave up two hits and walked one but did maintain the shutout. Matt Rizzotti went 2-4 with his second and third doubles. The first broke an 0-12 streak. JR Towles hit his fourth double of the season in the game. That hit broke an 0-21 streak which went back to April 10. All four of his hits this season are doubles. Aaron Bates was 1-3 with a walk and his third double. Rene Tosoni added his second double. Five of the team’s nine hits were doubles, which is a season high for the team. NEW BRITAIN 3, PORTLAND 4 The Rock Cats came up just one run short. Logan Darnell started and gave up four runs (3 earned) on five hits. In six innings, he walked one and struck out three. The bullpen was terrific. Lester Oliveros gave up no runs and no hits and walked none in two innings. He struck out five batters. Daniel Turpen continued his great work. He struck out two (And walked none) in a perfect inning. Deibinson Romero provided the much of the offense. He was 3-3 with a walk. Wilkin Ramirez was 2-4 with his first triple. FT. MYERS 1, LAKELAND 6 The Miracle fell behind early and weren’t able to come back. No surprise since the Miracle hitters were hitting a combined .197 over their previous 16 games, according to play-by-play man Brice Zimmerman. The team did manage eight hits in this game (.296 in the game). Oswaldo Arcia went 2-4 with his fourth double. Josmil Pinto knocked his seventh double and drove in the team’s lone run. Jhon Garcia made the start and gave up five runs (3 earned) in just 3.2 innings. He gave up seven hits, walked four and struck out just two. Miguel Munoz had another nice performance in his comeback from elbow problems. He went 2.1 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit. Matt Hauser threw two scoreless innings. Ricky Bowen pitched the final inning and gave up a run on a hit and two walks. GAME 1 - BELOIT 6, CEDAR RAPIDS 9 – Completion of suspended game These two teams sored managed to get into the third inning on Thursday night before rains came and the game was suspended. So they completed the game before the regularly scheduled game. Matthew Tomshaw had started on Thursday and went 2.2 innings before the rains came. He gave up one run on two hits and a walk. When the game resumed on Friday, AJ Achter took the mound. In three innings, he gave up five runs (3 earned) on five hits. David Hurlbut made his Midwest League debut and gave up three runs on five hits in 1.1 innings. Bart Carter threw a scoreless inning. Miguel Sano went 2-4 with his seventh home run and three RBI. Adam Bryant and Jairo Rodriguez were each 2-4. AJ Pettersen (4th) and Tyler Grimes (6th) each hit a double. Meanwhile, Drew Leachman made his MWL debut and hit his first home run in the game. GAME 2 - BELOIT 5, CEDAR RAPIDS 3 Things got a little interesting in the regularly scheduled game. With the score tied in the top of the 9th, Miguel Sano hit a two-run homer to put the Snappers ahead. Although details are sketchy, benches cleared as Sano rounded the bases. Calm was restored and the Snappers pulled out the win. Steven Gruver has been struggling in his last couple of outings, but on this night, he was pretty good. The lefty gave up one run on five hits and a walk in five innings. He struck out four. Michael Tonkin gave up a solo home run, but of the four outs he got, three of them came on strikeouts. Clinton Dempter went the final 2.2 innings, striking out two, to be credited with the win. Sano again led the offense. He was 2-4 with his eighth home run and his seventh double. Eddie Rosario was 2-4 with his ninth and tenth doubles. Wang-Wei Lin was 2-4 with his sixth double. Tyler Grimes (7th) and JD Williams (4th) each had a double. Matt Koch was also 2-4. Sano Update - He is 9-16 in his last four games with 2 doubles, 2 HR and 9 RBI. He was hitting .262, and four games later, he's at .310. --- Players of the Day for Friday, May 4, 2012 Hitter of the Day – Miguel Sano Download attachment: Miguel Sano 2.jpg Pitcher of the Day – Lester Oliveros Download attachment: Lester Oliveros.jpg --- A Look Ahead – Saturday, May 5, 2012 Schedule Rochester @ Empire State (2) – RHP PJ Walters and TBD New Britain vs Portland – RHP David Bromberg Ft. Myers vs Lakeland – RHP Adrian Salcedo Beloit vs Kane County – RHP Tim Shibuya --- If you have any questions or comments on the Twins minor league system, players, teams, etc., leave them in the Comments and I’ll try to answer them! Click here to view the article

The Minnesota Twins had the day off. So did the Cedar Rapids Kernels and the Ft. Myers Miracle. New Britain and Rochester’s games were affected by weather, nothing new during this season. So, today’s Minor League Report may not be long, but hey, there is still baseball to write about so we’re going to do just that. There have been several transactions throughout the organization in the past week. On Wednesday, it was Drew Leachman who was promoted from Cedar Rapids to Ft. Myers. He started for the Kernels on Opening Night, but he jarred his left shoulder on a stolen base that night and didn’t play for two weeks. He went 9-21 in five games since his return, including seven hits in back-to-back games. Rochester Red Wings 6, Syracuse Chiefs 5 (Suspended – 11th) Box Score This game went to the 11th inning. Evan Bigley singled to lead off the inning. It was followed by a walk to Eric Fryer. Doug Bernier bunted the runners up a base. After Ray Olmedo was intentionally walked, Chris Herrmann came through with an RBI single to give the Red Wings a lead. At that point, the Chiefs went to change the pitcher and just then game was suspended due to rain. It will be completed on Thursday before the two teams will play their regularly scheduled nine inning game. Andrew Albers started for the Red Wings. The Canadian left-hander gave up five runs on nine hits (including 2 home runs) and two walks in six innings. He struck out six. Tyler Roberson came on and threw three shutout innings. He gave up just two hits, walked two and struck out four. Tim Wood pitched a scoreless tenth inning. So, who will come in for the save opportunity in the bottom of the 11th? Chris Herrmann photo by Brace Hemmelgarn Herrmann led the offense on this night. He went 4-6 with three RBI and his second stolen base. Chris Colabello went 2-4 with a walk. Evan Bigley was 2-4 with his first AAA homer of the year. Doug Bernier went 2-4. Ray Olmedo was 1-2 with a walk and his second double. A Joe Benson double tied the game at five. Game 1 - New Britain Rock Cats 5, New Hampshire Fisher Cats 0 Box Score Trevor May put together his best start of the season for the Rock Cats. The hard-throwing righty threw all seven innings and did not give up a run. He gave up three hits, walked three and struck out four. Antoan Richardson went 3-4. Mark Sobolewski returned to the Eastern League and went 2-4 with his first double. Reynaldo Rodriguez went 1-3 with a triple. Jhon Goncalves hit his first AA home run. Game 2 - New Britain Rock Cats 0, New Hampshire Fisher Cats 3 Box Score Lefty Pat Dean was good on this night, but not good enough, as his offense did nothing to support him. Dean went six innings in this second game of a doubleheader, scheduled for only seven innings. He gave up three runs on seven hits. He walked none and struck out three. Jhon Goncalves had a triple and was hit by a pitch. Jason Christian had the only other Rock Cats hit, a single. Alex Meyer will take the mound for the Rock Cats on Thursday when they play at 9:35 A.M.(!) central time. Ft. Myers Miracle – No Game Scheduled Cedar Rapids Kernels – No Game Scheduled Please feel free to comment or ask questions below. View full article

Late on Monday night, rumors began circulating (originating from friend of Twins Daily, Darren Wolfson) that the Minnesota Twins are interested in outfielder Rajai Davis, maybe even willing to go to two years with him. Immediately I had some thoughts on the idea of Davis with the Twins and what he might be able to do for the organization. My first thought is always: What does it mean for the Twins' outfield depth? (Note - Ben Nicholson-Smith says "industry sources" indicate the Detroit Tigers may be the favorite for Davis at this time.) [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] So, I thought I'd take a look at the Twins outfield situation. Download attachment: Rajai Davis.jpg First though, let's take a look at Rajai Davis. He is a player I have always liked because of his speed. His yearly stolen base totals in the big leagues going back to 2008 are: 29, 41, 50, 34, 46, 45. He has spent the last three seasons with the Blue Jays and has hit .252/.299/.369 with 61 doubles, 11 triples and 15 home runs. He was their regular centerfielder in 2011, but the last two years, since Colby Rasmus came over to the Jays, he has played the two corner outfield spots. With the Twins, he could potentially start in center or left field. Before Toronto, Davis played for Oakland, Pittsburgh and San Francisco. He will be 33 years old through the 2014 season, and his game is about speed. I like him as a fourth outfielder and as a guy who can compete with Alex Presley and Aaron Hicks for the starting centerfield job. Ideally, he is a fourth outfielder on a good team, but he can also be a placeholder for Byron Buxton. With that said, here is a brief look at the Twins outfield situation: Josh Willingham - He is likely to begin the season as the team's left fielder. Though his best defensive position is designated hitter, he has more trade value if he proves healthy and can play defense; it would make him a possible trade target for National League teams. He had a down year last season, likely largely due to injuries, but we know he's got the ability to hit the ball out of the park. Alex Presley - Acquired last August in the Justin Morneau deal, Presley played adequately over the final month. He will compete for the starting centerfield job in spring training and if he isn't starting he is a solid fourth or fifth outfield option. Aaron Hicks - Handed the starting centerfield job out of spring training a year ago, he had a very difficult transition in his jump from AA to the big leagues. But the potential is still there, and he likely learned a ton from 2013. Hopefully he can make some adjustments and at some point in 2014, he could come up for good. Oswaldo Arcia - Having played center field and right field in the minors, the Twins called up Arcia and had him play a lot of left field. His defense was in Willingham's category out there. My belief is he can be an adequate, maybe average, defensive right fielder. The man can flat-out hit and has a ton of power. I wouldn't trade him, but in a trade he could bring back something big! Chris Parmelee - Started a lot of games in right field a year ago and impressed with his glove and a generally accurate arm. The bat didn't come around with any consistency in 2013, but he does still have potential. He is also out of options. With Joe Mauer moving to first base, left or right field will become important to Parmelee's playing time. Chris Colabello - See Chris Parmelee. Colabello dominated AAA a year ago, but he struggled with the Twins. He had played very little outfield in his career before playing some right field with the Twins. Darin Mastroianni - He was hurt throughout the 2013 season. Even when he came back, he struggled and clearly was not at 100%, Speed is his game. He can play all three outfield spots. He is a candidate to be DFA'ed if the Twins sign Davis. Byron Buxton - Baseball's #1 prospect will likely be invited to big league spring training. It is possible he surfaces with the Twins in the season's second half and never looks back. Eddie Rosario - He has played second base most of the last two years, but with the emergence of Brian Dozier at second base, it appears the Twins are looking to move Rosario back to the outfield. Honestly, that's where he should be. He is a natural, gifted outfielder with a very strong arm. His bat may not have huge home run power, but he can hit, uses the whole field and hits a lot of doubles. That potential/rumored 50 game suspension certainly hurts his chances of debuting in 2014. I would not be against the signing of Rajai Davis by the Twins. Of course, that depends on the years and the money. A one year, $2-3 million deal makes sense. A two year, $4-5 million deal makes sense. Anything beyond that doesn't make sense. It's all part of the picture. The beauty of the week of Winter Meetings is that rumors are abundant. How many are true? Some. With each rumor it's nice to be able to go through an exercise like this, looking at those currently on the roster and those in the near-future plans, to see what makes sense. To me, a 2015 outfield of Eddie Rosario, Byron Buxton and Aaron Hicks, with Oswaldo Arcia as the DH and Rajai Davis or Alex Presley as the fourth outfielder looks and sounds pretty good. So, what are your thoughts? Should the Twins be interested in or sign Rajai Davis? What does it mean for the future? Click here to view the article

Three days after MLB’s Opening Day, I wish you all a very Happy Minor League Opening Day! I may be in the minority, but I think I get as excited, if not more so, about minor league opening day as the big league version. For me, instead of just watching the Minnesota Twins games, I can now follow as many as five box scores each day. All four Twins minor league affiliates are scheduled to play their opening day games on Thursday. Hopefully weather will cooperate so they can get their games in. On Tuesday, I posted the Twins minor league opening day rosters. Today, I’ll provide a primer on the four affiliates. Please feel free to ask questions.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] ROCHESTER RED WINGS The Red Wings are scheduled to open their season at Buffalo. Scott Diamond decided to stay with the Twins organization. He will make the opening night start for the Red Wings opposite Blue Jays pitching prospect Marcus Stroman. The schedule has them playing their first two games in Buffalo before the teams move to Frontier Field in Rochester for two games to open up the Red Wings home schedule. Top Pitching Prospect – Alex Meyer Top Hitting Prospect – Danny Santana First Pitcher Promoted – Kris Johnson First Hitter Promoted – Chris Herrmann Most Underrated Pitcher – Deolis Guerra Most Underrated Hitter – James Beresford Radio Voice – Josh Whetzel (Listen Live here) NEW BRITAIN ROCK CATS The Rock Cats will open their season at home against Richmond. Pat Dean returns to the team to start this season after getting a handful of starts in Rochester a year ago. The Rock Cats will play their first seven games at home at New Britain Stadium, four against Richmond followed by three against Harrisburg. Top Pitching Prospect – Flip a Coin (DJ Baxendale, Sean Gilmartin or Taylor Rogers) Top Hitting Prospect – Kennys Vargas (since Miguel Sano is on the DL and Eddie Rosario on the Restricted List) First Pitcher Promoted – AJ Achter First Hitter Promoted – Danny Ortiz Most Underrated Pitcher – Adrian Salcedo Most Underrated Hitter – Mike Kvasnicka Radio Voice – Jeff Dooley (Listen Live here) FT. MYERS MIRACLE Ft. Myers starts out on the road in Jupiter for two games before returning to Hammond Stadium for two games against the Hammerheads. Jason Wheeler returns to the Miracle despite a solid season with the team a year ago. The Miracle made it to the playoffs a year ago and this year will have a mix of guys who played with the Miracle or with that offensive juggernaut from Cedar Rapids last year. Top Pitching Prospect – JO Berrios Top Hitting Prospect – Jorge Polanco (or some might say Adam Walker, Travis Harrison, or Max Kepler… with Byron Buxton on the DL) First Pitcher Promoted – Jason Wheeler First Hitter Promoted – Lance Ray (if/when healthy) Most Underrated Pitcher – Mason Melotakis Most Underrated Hitter – Travis Harrison Radio Voice – Brice Zimmerman (Listen Live here) CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS The Kernels had a hugely successful inaugural season as an affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. The offense was remarkable. This season’s team will not hit anywhere near those prolific numbers, but the pitching staff certainly has a lot of talent. 2014 fifth round pick Aaron Slegers will make the Opening Day start for the Kernels when they host Clinton at Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium. Top Pitching Prospect – Kohl Stewart Top Hitting Prospect – Zach Larson or Engelb Vielma First Pitcher Promoted – Miguel Sulbaran First Hitter Promoted – Michael Quesada Most Underrated Pitcher – Brandon Peterson Most Underrated Hitter – Zach Granite Radio Voice – Morgan Hawk (Listen Live here) PLANNING A TRIP TO CEDAR RAPIDS Last season, I had the opportunity to go to Cedar Rapids on two separate occasions. I was there for their opening weekend and then again around the Fourth of July. For me, it is about 11-12 hours each direction. If you live in the Twin Cities, the drive to Cedar Rapids is about four-and-a-half hours. Just check mapquest and you’ll see you only have to know about three or four road names/numbers to get there. On the way home, consider going up to Decorah and then to Rochester. There are a couple of places to stop and some incredible scenery. Driving that way and seeing all of the corn is actually a pretty incredible site. As you get further north and are driving along the Mississippi River, there are some breathtaking views. Of course, along that path is Dyersville, IA, which of course is the home of the Field of Dreams movie site. My brother and I made a stop there on our way home and although we were only there for about an hour, maybe 90 minutes, it was a pretty neat experience. It is incredible in its simplicity. Walk in the corn, play catch, take some pictures in front of the house, or sit on the bleachers where James Earl Jones gave the memorable "They Will Come, Ray" speech. For any baseball fan, Dyersville should be on your bucket list. And, it is about one hour north and east of Cedar Rapids. Download attachment: Field of Dreams.jpg Also along that way, if you’re as cool as me (and I wouldn’t wish that on many people), Burr Oak, Iowa is on the way. Of course, that is one of the many places where author Laura Ingalls Wilder lived. Maybe you’ve got a goal to visit many midwestern-type, small town museums. You can cross this one off the list! Download attachment: LauraIngalls.jpg The Amana Colonies are about 15 to 20 miles southwest of Cedar Rapids. There are several cultural options as well such as the NewBo City Market, the Czech and Slovak Museum, the Cedar Rapids Museum of Arts and around the Fourth of July is the Freedom Festival. Depending upon your interests, Cedar Rapids has many options so you (and your family) have something to do between Kernels ball games! That’s right, back to the Kernels… They play at Perfect Game Field. Another interesting thing is that the Perfect Game facilities are basically right across the street from the ballpark. Each of the six Kernels games that I went to I had at least one (and usually two or three) people come up and tell me they had driven down from the Twin Cities. Generally speaking they would leave work at noon on Friday or Saturday, spend a night and go to a second game the next day before driving back. I had one or two people say they drove down that afternoon and were driving back after the game. I couldn’t do that, but it is an option. The atmosphere at the stadium is tremendous, especially after school lets out and the weather warms. You will most likely see GM Doug Nelson roaming the huge concourse, talking with fans and making sure they’re enjoying the experience. The Kernels players do a ton in the community and before each game two players are up in the concourse signing autographs. Download attachment: Berrios Signing.jpg The field is really terrific and they continue to make improvements each year. This offseason, the put in new grass on the field which was a huge undertaking. The year before, they put in a huge 30x48 LED scoreboard in the outfield that shows replays and provides a ton of statistical information. They also have a pregame show before each game on the board that includes the daily Minnesota Twins Organizational Report which is sponsored by Twins Daily. Download attachment: Cedar Rapids Stadium.jpg You'll also want to check out their Hall of Fame. Cedar Rapids has a long, rich history of minor league baseball going back over 100 years. There is a ton of information on that history. There are also a lot of plaques on the wall of contributors, but also of a lot of players you will recognize from the Reds and the Angels organizations. Download attachment: CedarRapidsHistory.jpg They also have a really neat feature, a Walk of Fame with players getting stars around the concourse. It was a very neat thing to see all those big league stars who spent time with the Kernels, such as the new $144.5 million man, Mike Trout. Download attachment: Mike Trout Star.jpg And after the games, be sure to head over to Bushwood Sports Bar & Grill for lots of sports on big screen TVs, beverages and great food. Most likely, you will also find Steve Buhr (aka Jim Crikket) sitting at a table top. You can thank him for all his great writing and reporting of the Kernels by buying him a beer and some corn nuggets (which are actually not too bad!). I can’t emphasize enough that if you enjoy reading about the minor leaguers, and Twins Daily is certainly the best place online to do that every day, it’s so satisfying to get to a couple games and see for yourself. The Twins have an affiliate within reasonable travel distance. Take advantage. Check out their schedule and their promotions and book some tickets if you’re interested. And, if you do make a trip to Cedar Rapids to see the Kernels (or see the Miracle, Rock Cats or Red Wings as well), be sure to report for us what your observations were about the facilities, the experience, the players and anything else you found interesting in the forums of Twins Daily. Again, Happy Minor League Opening Day to everyone! It’s great to be able to talk about five teams, especially when the big league club struggles. Good luck to each of the teams and all the players. Click here to view the article

The Twins attempted to come from way behind on Saturday but fell to the Tigers 12-9. Injuries were the story. Trevor Plouffe hurt his oblique. He was replaced at third base by Eduardo Nunez, who later pulled his hamstring. Because of these injuries, the Twins will have Pedro Florimon in Detroit on Sunday, ready to play if either Plouffe or Nunez needs to go on the disabled list. In the minor leagues, there were some impressive performances by hitters. One hitter put himself in the spotlight and showcased his skills at an All-Star game. At least eight players had three hits or got on base four times. Even better, all three affiliates that played got a win. Below you’ll find what happened in the Twins farm system on Saturday: RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 11, Lehigh Valley 1 Box Score The Red Wings got off to a fast start and never really looked back in this blowout of the IronPigs. The team scored two runs in the first inning and a Josmil Pinto grand slam in the second frame further got things going on the right note. Wilkin Ramirez went 3-5 with his 12th and 13th doubles. Deibinson Romero went 3-5 with his 16th double. Chris Colabello went 2-2 with two walks. Pinto added a single to his grand slam. Chris Rahl hit his third home run and drove in three runs. Logan Darnell was uncharacteristically wild, and yet he pitched out of some jams. The lefty went five innings. He gave up only an unearned run on three hits. He walked five batters and struck out four. AJ Achter came on and continued his dominance. He struck out three in three shutout innings. That puts him at 13.2 consecutive scoreless innings. He did give up one hit which ended a stretch of ten innings without yielding a hit. Aaron Thompson pitched a scoreless ninth. ROCK CATS REVIEW Game 1 – New Britain 3, Trenton 2 Box Score This game began on Friday night but was suspended due to weather late in the game. It finished on Saturday in walk-off fashion. Down 2-1 going into the bottom of the 9th inning, Nate Hanson and Kennys Vargas walked. Reynaldo Rodriguez singled to load the bases. That brought Brandon Waring to the plate. The veteran singled to left which scored Hanson with the tying run and Vargas with the winning run. Waring finished 2-4 with his 14th double. Rodriguez was 2-4 and gave the Rock Cats their first run of the game with his ninth home run. Virgil Vasquez started the game and went six innings. He gave up one run on four hits. He walked three and struck out six. Adrian Salcedo gave up a hit and walked two but didn’t allow a run in the 7th inning. Matt Summers got the eighth frame. He gave up a run on two hits. Cole Johnson pitched the ninth and struck out two in a perfect inning. Game 2 – New Britain 4, Trenton 3 Box Score It has been a season of ups and downs for lefty Pat Dean, but on Saturday night, it was definitely a good day. Dean gave up just one run on five hits in seven innings. He walked one and struck out three. Mark Hamburger gave up a run on two hits in his two innings. Lester Oliveros recorded his ninth save. He gave up one run in the ninth but held on. It was surprising to see Jairo Rodriguez start this game as the team’s designated hitter. It was even more surprising to see that he went 3-4 with the bat. It is most surprising that he stole a base. Mike Kvasnicka went 2-4 with his ninth and tenth doubles. Kennys Vargas went 2-4 with his 11th home run. MIRACLE MATTERS Florida State League All Star Game Box Score Download attachment: Adam Walker.jpg Most of the Miracle team was able to take a second straight day off. Four members of the team were named to the Florida State League All Star game. David Hurlbut and Brett Lee didn’t play in the game. JO Berrios and Adam Walker both did, and both performed like stars. JO Berrios was the starter for the South team. He gave up one hit and one walk, but he struck out two in the first inning. Adam Walker put on a show before the game and then during the game. He participated in the annual Home Run Derby and demolished baseball after baseball to win the competition. In the game, he batted fifth and played right field. He went 3-5 with a double and a solo home run. He was named the game’s Most Valuable Player. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 7, Burlington 6 Box Score This game went back and forth, right up to the final batter of the game, but the Kernels came through with the win. Kohl Stewart was pushed ahead a day, likely to allow him to be able to pitch an inning in the Midwest League All-Star game on Tuesday. The young right-hander threw four shutout innings. He gave up six hits, walked three and struck out three. Josue Montanez gave up three runs on three hits, a walk and a hit batter in three innings. Brandon Bixler gave up one run on one hit and a walk in his inning. That brings us to the ninth inning. Hudson Boyd came in to protect a 6-4 lead, but he gave up home runs to the first two batters he faced to tie the game. He managed to keep the game tied. So, the game went to the bottom of the ninth. The first two batters got on which brought Jason Kanzler to the plate. Kanzler laid down a perfect bunt in an attempt to advance the runners. However, a poor throw got by the first baseman and allowed the winning run to score. Ryan Walker led the offense. He went 3-4 with his third and fourth triples. Engelb Vielma went 3-5. Jon Murphy went 3-4. Chad Christensen went 2-5 with his sixth home run. Jason Kanzler was 2-5. Jake Mauer missed the final inning as he was ejected earlier in the game. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Pat Dean, New Britain Rock Cats Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Adam Walker, Ft. Myers Miracle SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Lehigh Valley @ Rochester (12:05 CST) – Kris Johnson (Listen) Trenton @ New Britain (12:35 CST) – Taylor Rogers (Listen) Ft. Myers– All Star break (Listen) Burlington @ Cedar Rapids (2:05 CST) – Ethan Mildren (Listen) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Saturday games. Click here to view the article

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 no 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 hits 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 Download attachment: Jose_BerriosCard.jpg Hitter of the Day – Josmil Pinto Download attachment: JosmilPinto4.jpg --- 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! Click here to view the article

On Saturday, MLB held its third day of the draft. It covered rounds 11 through 40 and lasted over six hours to complete. However, at the end of the day, the Minnesota Twins had made 40 picks this year. Day 3 was filled with a pitching-led theme again. The Twins drafted a bunch of power arms, looking to accumulate pitchers with velocity that they can work with on command and control. They took a couple of high-potential pitchers in Florida prep Taylor Blatch and Logan Shore [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]although both are likely to go to college instead of signing. The Twins also accumulated plenty of talent to help fill their GCL and Elizabethton rosters. Below, you will find each of the Twins draft picks, and on many of them, Twins Daily's draft expert Jeremy Nygaard added some brief comments. It's taken two days to get through ten rounds of the MLB Draft. On Saturday, a conference call of 30 teams, each making 30 picks, will complete the 2013 draft. It'll be rapid fire throughout the day. As soon as one team makes a selection, the next will get about 5 seconds to make their pick. It's actually quite something to listen to. As Twins picks are made, we will continue to update the Twins selections below. Please comment throughout the day with your thoughts. The Twins have made ten picks through the first ten rounds. They have chosen six pitchers (4 college, 2 high school), three catchers (2 college, 1 high school) and a college third baseman. What will they do with their final 30 picks? Well, we can be assured that they will continue to find more pitching, but will they be able to find any hidden gems in the late rounds? Of course, only time will tell. Day 3 40th Round (1190) - Kelly Starnes - OF - Los Medanos College (CA) 39th Round (1160) - Seth Wagner - LHP - Mifflin County HS (PA) 38th Round (1130) - Javier Salas - RHP - U of Miami 37th Round (1100) - Julien Service - OF - Northeast Texas CC 36th Round (1070) - Joe Greenfield - RHP - Eastern Illinois U 35th Round (1040) - Nick Lemoncelli - LHP - Lower Columbia College (WA) 34th Round (1010) - Ivory Thomas - CF - Cal St. Dominguez Hills 33rd Round (980) - Stephen Stensley - OF - University HS (Louisiana) 32nd Round (950) - Carlos Avila - SS - Cal St. Dominguez Hills 31st Round (920) - AJ Bogucki - RHP - Boyertown HS (PA) 30th Round (890) - Tanner Vavra - 2B - Valporaiso (3B Coach Joe's son) 29th Round (860) - Logan Shore - RHP - Coon Rapids HS (MN) 28th Round (830) - Chris Erwin - LHP - Grayson HS (GA) 27th Round (800) - Tyler Blatch - RHP - Jensen Beach HS (FL) Blatch, who doesn't even check in at six feet, is going to tough to sign with his 95 mph fastball and two solid off-speed offerings. 26th Round (770) - Ryan Halstead - P - Indiana 25th Round (740) - Chad Christianson - OF - Nebraska Christianson started at SS for two years before moving to the outfield for his last two years. Showed more strength as a junior than he did as a senior. 24th Round (710) - Brandon Easton - LHP - Lakeland CC Easton is also a high-K pitcher (78 in 59.2 IP) and big (6-6). Easton was the OCCAC Pitcher of the Year. (Easton is in MLB's database as a 1B, but he's a pitcher.) 23rd Round (680) - Zach Hayden - RHP - South Carolina - Aiken Hayden struck out 41 in 21 innings for the Pacers this year. He also walked 23. 22nd Round (650) - Alex Swim - C - Elon University Swim is a senior who stole 15-of-18 bases and started all 64 games. 21st Round (620) - Tyler Stirewalt - RHP - Fresno State Stirewalt is a project. He walked-on the Fresno State football team for three years before switching over to baseball in 2012. Obviously athletic, Stirewalt can hit 94. 20th Round (590) - Jason Kanzler - CF - Buffalo Fifth-year senior, batting .330 with some power (12 HRs) and speed (21 SBs). 19th Round (560) - Jared Wilson - RHP - UC Santa Barbara A fifth-year senior with big arm strength and a lack of control. Good fastball and curve, but any success will depend on figuring out how to make it goes where he wants it to. 18th Round (530) - Ryan Walker - SS - Texas-Arlington Walker will be a solid shortstop for the E-town Twins, batted .304 in 58 games for the Mavericks. 17th Round (500) - Tanner Mendonca - RHP - Sacremento State Good body with a fastball up to 94 and a decent breaking ball. 16th Round (470) - Brandon Bixler - LHP - Florida Gulf Coast Bixler offers two pretty significant pieces: first, his ability to miss bats - a good fastball with two solid secondary pitches (curveball and change-up). Secondly, he doesn't always throw it in - or near - the strike zone. Bixler is also about 5-10, 160. 15th Round (440) - Derrick Penilla - LHP - Mt San Antonio College Not a lot of info out there on Penilla, a lefty. Started for MSAC and averaged over a strikeout per inning. 14th Round (410) - Zack Granite - CF - Seton Hall Three-year starter and leadoff centerfielder for the Pirates. Granite is small, but gets on base and has good speed. 13th Round (380) - Brandon Peterson - PHP - Wichita State Stop me if you've heard this: A college reliever who should get a shot to start in pro ball. Features a low-90s fastball and a slider. Was successful as Wichita State's closer with a ceiling as a set-up man if the starter thing doesn't work. 12th Round (350) - Ethan Mildren - RHP - Pittsburgh A tall, groundball pitcher who throws four pitches, including a low-90s fastball. 11th Round (320) – Nelson Molina - SS - Puerto Rico HS 6-3, 170, skinny and weak but very projectable. A scout's dream that could stick at shortstop with soft hands, quick release, but lacks the cannon arm. Day 2 10th Round (290) - C.K. Irby - RHP - Samford University 9th Round (260) - Mitchell Garver - C - U of New Mexico 8th Round (230) - Dustin DeMuth - 3B - U of Indiana 7th Round (200) - Brian Gilbert - RHP - Seton Hall University 6th Round (170) - Brian Navarretto - C - Florida (High School) 5th Round (140) - Aaron Slegers - RHP - U of Indiana 4th Round (110) - Stephen Gonsalves - LHP - California (High School) 3rd Round (78) - Stuart Turner - C - U. of Mississippi Day 1 2nd Round (43) - Ryan Eades - RHP - LSU (College) 1st Round (4) - Kohl Stewart - RHP - Texas (High School) View full article

Earlier this week, I handed out the “awards” for Twins minor league relief pitcher and starting pitcher of April. In each case, I was able to profile six pitchers and there were good numbers. Today, I am going to profile five Twins minor league hitters who had solid Aprils. Unlike with the pitchers, it was really tough to come up with hitters. If I’m being honest, it was a two-player race for the April Hitter of the Month. And, today, when the Twins have an off day after being shut out two straight games (and no-hit late last night by Jered Weaver), I wish I could tell you that there were several players at AAA Rochester who are hitting so well that they are pushing their way up to the big leagues. There aren’t. Here are my selections for the Top 5 Twins Minor League hitters in April: [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Number 5 - Ft. Myers - Danny Santana - (29-95) .305/.327/.453 with four doubles, two triples, two home runs and 11 RBI. The diminutive middle infielder got off to a very fast start before a mini-slump. However he did end the month strong again to garner a spot on this list. Although his game is speed, he is not afraid to take a big swing and will get a lot of extra base hits. To advance through the minors and eventually get to the big leagues, he will have to learn to take an occasional walk, but he does have really good tools. Number 4 – New Britain – Deibinson Romero - (25-89) .281/.337/.494 with eight doubles, a triple, 3 home runs and 17 RBI. Although he’ll play at 25 years old throughout this season, this is already his ninth season in the Twins organization. He was on the Twins 40 man roster, but quickly fell out of favor. However, last year he had a semi-revival season in New Britain in 2011 (.256/.327/.411, with 27 doubles and 11 home runs), and he has continued that success into the first month of the 2012 season. Number 3 - New Britain – Aaron Hicks - (24-88) .273/.347/.477 with four doubles, a triple, four home runs and 14 RBI. I truly thought that Hicks would really struggle in the early going at AA New Britain. To this point, he has certainly held his own. He has shown patience. He has shown power. He has struck out a lot and been a little inconsistent, but overall, a very impressive start for the ultra-talented outfielder prospect. Consistency will be the thing to watch with Hicks throughout the year. Can he limit the longevity of the slumps better? That will be important. Number 2 - Beloit – Eddie Rosario - (29-89) .326/.429/.472 with eight doubles, a triple, one home run and 16 RBI. Rosario was the Appy League Player of the Year in 2011. He has already had some ups and downs in his first month of a full-season league, but overall, the numbers are definitely there. Some may expect more home runs from Rosario after leading the league last year with 21, but that’s not the type of hitter he is. He has very quick hands and will hit for average, gap power and certainly can hit his share of homers. He has a good approach at the plate as well. He stole 7 bases in the season’s first month. His transition to 2B has been shaky at times (7 errors in April), but reports indicate that he may be able to handle the position given time. The April Minnesota Twins Minor League Hitter of the Month is... Beloit Snappers 3B Miguel Sano (24-87) .276/.422/.586 with five doubles, two triples, six home runs and 19 RBI. Sure, the batting average isn’t the highest, and he leads the Midwest League in strikeouts. He has a ton to learn about defense, plate approach and has a lot of maturing to do. But at the end of the day, Sano was the clear-cut top hitter of the month in the Twins organization. Along with the strikeouts, he is the league leader in walks which means he has a tremendous OBP. And 13 extra base hits in 87 at bats is pretty impressive. Sano is a powerful individual and when he makes contact, he does very good things. It will be a lot of fun to track his development. There were several strong performances in April, even if there weren’t many strong hitters. Earlier in the week, we named the Twins Relief Pitcher and Starting Pitcher of the month of April. Please feel free to discuss. Download attachment: Miguel Sano.jpg Click here to view the article

When last night’s minor league report was completed around midnight, there was seemingly nothing on the horizon. Eight hours later, we learned that Pedro Hernandez had made a six hour drive from Louisville, Kentucky to Cleveland to make a spot start because Mike Pelfrey was put on the disabled list with back spasms. He got the win despite walking six in five innings and was immediately demoted following the game. Soon after, we learned the Kyle Gibson was promoted and will start on Saturday. Less than an hour later, Twins Daily became aware Byron Buxton was going to be promoted and soon after that, Jim Crikket got verification from Jake Mauer. Two big moves in one day![PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Gibson tweeted the following late on Sunday evening (OK, early on Monday morning): "As much as I would love to personally thank each and every one of you who have helped me along the way, as well as thank each and every person for the kind words on here, it would be impossible!! So a broad "Thank You" will have to do for now!! God has blessed my wife & I with great family and friends, and we are excited for this new journey and opportunity He has put in front of us! Thank you all for your support and I am looking forward to living out my dream as long as God has it in His plans! Thank you all very much!!!" In all my time covering the Twins minor league system, so many Twins players have been just tremendous people. Kyle Gibson may be at the top of the list when it comes to class. He is as genuine as it gets, so it is great to see him finally get this opportunity, likely two years after he had hoped. There were more than just transactions. There were five games on the Twins' minor league docket. The Kernels offense kept things going. The E-Twins offense hasn’t clicked yet. Chris Colabello has yet to slow down. Check out what happened in the Twins' farm system Sunday: Rochester Red Wings 8, Louisville Bats 5 Box Score Chris Colabello was at it again Sunday. After hitting his 16th home run Saturday, he went 2-4 with a walk and his 17th home run on Sunday. Drew Butera was 2-4 in the game. All nine Red Wings starters had at least one hit. Andrew Albers continued to pitch well. He improved to 7-2, going five innings and giving up one run on five hits and two walks. He struck out six. Cody Eppley came on and gave up two runs on three hits in two innings; he walked none and struck out two. Blake Martin came on to start the eighth and got one out, was charged with two runs on two hits and one walk. Michael Tonkin recorded the final five outs for his fifth save. New Britain Rock Cats 3, Akron Aeros 4 Box Score There was talk of Trevor May making the 45 minute drive north from Akron to Cleveland to make the spot start on Sunday for the Twins, but rightfully, the Twins nixed that. It certainly would not have been the ideal situation for a big league debut. Instead, he made his scheduled start for the Rock Cats in Akron. He gave up three runs on six hits and a walk in 5.2 innings. He struck out five. Dakota Watts came on and was perfect for 1.1 innings. Bobby Lanigan entered and gave up a run on two hits and a walk in his inning. He struck out one. Josmil Pinto led the offense, going 2-4 with his 16th double. Eddie Rosario added his second double while Curt Smith doubled for the eighth time. Ft. Myers Miracle 7, Jupiter Hammerheads 5 Box Score Manuel Soliman made his first start in Ft. Myers in over a year. He missed most of the 2012 season after having had shoulder surgery. He rehabbed throughout he offseason and began this season in the Cedar Rapids bullpen. Recently, he was promoted to Ft. Myers. He gave up two runs on eight hits and two walks in 5.2 innings. He struck out three. Nelvin Fuentes came on and gave up one hit and walked a batter, but didn't allow a run in 1.1 innings. Corey Williams gave up three runs (2 earned) on two hits and four walks in one inning. Zach Jones came on and got the final three outs, two of them on strikeouts, to record his ninth save. Mike Kvasnicka kept his hot streak going. He went 2-4 with his second homer (in as many days) and drove in three runs. His home run came right after Matt Koch’s fifth homer. Aderlin Mejia and Jhon Goncalves each went 2-5. Cedar Rapids Kernels 13, Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 9 Box Score The Kernels had 18 base knocks on Saturday night. On Sunday, they had 20. Interestiingly, Wisconsin’s starter was Marco Estrada, the Brewers starter who was making a rehab appearance. Jorge Polanco went 4-6 with his 20th double. JD Williams was 3-4 with a walk, his sixth home run and his 13th stolen base. Max Kepler went 3-6 with his second and third doubles and three RBI. Adam Walker went 2-5 with his 11th home run. Travis Harrison was 2-5 with a walk and his 22nd double. Dalton Hicks was 2-4 with a walk. In his final Kernels game, Byron Buxton went 2-5 with a walk and his 10th triple. The chief beneficiary of the run support was Hudson Boyd, who really needed it. He was able to get through five innings with Terry Ryan in the stands. However, he gave up five runs on eight hits and six walks. He struck out just one, but he gets credit for the win. Caleb Brewer came on and gave up four runs on four hits in two innings. Steven Gruver struck out two over the final two scoreless innings. Photo by Tim Gale Elizabethton Twins 5, Bristol White Sox 3 (10 innings) Box Score The offense of the E-Twins has not yet been able to get it going. Through seven innings, they had just two hits. Down 3-0, the team scored three in the 8th. A Bryan Haar RBI single was followed by a two-run double from Rory Rhodes. The game went to the tenth and it was Mitchell Garver who came up with the two-run single that put the team ahead for good. Garver was 2-5 with a double. Rhodes was 2-4 with a walk. The double was his second. Tanner Vavra hit his first double. Hein Robb made his first start for the E-Twins. He gave up three runs on four hits and a walk in five innings. He struck out one. Andrew Ferreira worked two perfect innings. Dallas Gallant gave up one hit in two scoreless innings. Luis Nunez gave up two hits, but no runs, in one inning. He struck out two. GCL Twins No Games on Sundays. Please feel free to comment or ask questions below. View full article

First things first... Happy 2014 Minnesota Twins Opening Day to the Twins Daily community! As the 2013 season came to yet-another frustrating end, many Twins fans found baseball difficult to watch. Many Septembers, prospects are called up and fans can catch a glimpse of the future. Last September, Twins fans got to see catcher Josmil Pinto make a strong first impression.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] However, other September call-ups were journeymen. I recall telling anyone who would listen that it was a tough to watch, but we knew there would be many more reasons to watch in 2014. Yet, as this season opens, there is a lot of negativity surrounding the Twins, even more than the last couple of seasons. So, what happened? Where did all this negativity come from? In my opinion, the day the attitude for the 2014 season changed is the day Miguel Sano fielded a slow roller and made an off-balance throw to first base. Since then, we found out he needed Tommy John surgery, had the surgery and will miss most of the season. After Sano hit 35 home runs between Ft. Myers and New Britain in 2014 and showed enough improvement defensively at third base that many, myself included, thought he would be up with the Twins no later than July. Who knows? With the Twins offense this spring, maybe it would have been as early as May! He was generally ranked among the Top 10 prospects in all baseball. The concern really started after playing just two games in the Dominican Winter League. He was shut down with a strained UCL. Many, myself included (and apparently Dr. James Andrews), chose to believe that because he was a position player the elbow could be rested, and he could come back and play at 100% in 2014. And then came that slow roller. And surgery. And the big cast over his arm. Download attachment: Miguel Sano Cast.jpg Photo by Nick Nelson (found on Twins Daily Facebook page) Sure, he'll pick up a bat in early August and could get a couple at-bats in GCL games before the end of the year, but he will (without something crazy happening) not make his big league debut until early in the 2015 season. I truly believe when fans found out that Miguel Sano would not be promoted this season, optimism for 2014 dropped. Of course, at the same time we heard about Miguel Sano being shut down in the Dominican, reports came out of Puerto Rico that Eddie Rosario would likely face a 50-game suspension. The second baseman had a very strong 2013 season. He began the year in Ft. Myers and he was promoted to New Britain the same day as Sano. Rosario more than held his own at AA. Before spring training began, news came out that he officially had been suspended, but not for a PED. Instead, he was suspended for a drug of abuse. This meant he had previously failed a drug test and got caught again. My personal thought was that his season would begin in late May, possibly with a handful of games in Ft. Myers. He would quickly move up to New Britain and could still be called up in August or September. However, when minor league spring training started in early March, we learned that Rosario had been given permission by the club to report late. Rumors were rampant as to what the drug of abuse was and where he was during this time. Well, as minor league spring training is now complete (and his suspension begins), he has still not reported. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean anything, but the level of concern is certainly higher at this point. Again though, we most likely will not see him until 2015. Byron Buxton dominated as a 19 year old at Cedar Rapids and in Ft. Myers. In the offseason, he was the consensus #1 prospect in all baseball and was invited to big league camp. Although he didn’t hit much in big league camp, there was no question about his talent and his future. Again, Jeremy Nygaard and I talked (on the Twins Hangouts podcast) about how we felt there was a chance Buxton could play in the Futures Game at Target Field and stick with the team. To be fair, that was probably a little over-aggressive. However, the thought was not completely out of the realm of possibility. Unfortunately, in mid-March, on a back field in minor league camp, he made a diving catch in a game and hurt his wrist. After further evaluation, it was decided he will start the season on the disabled list and likely miss at least two weeks at the start of the season. My assumption is he will get at least a handful of games with the Ft. Myers Miracle to start his season before moving up to New Britain (where he would otherwise have started his season). The delayed start (and hopefully it is only two to three weeks) changes my thinking. I thought he could make a July/August debut. Now, I think he’ll spend the entire season at New Britain (again, after those initial games with the Miracle). That is not a bad thing at all, far from it. It’s just that instead of debuting as a 20 year old in 2014, he will likely debut in the middle of the 2015 season. As those three situations were happening with three of the Top Five Minnesota Twins prospects, top pitching prospect Alex Meyer is pitching after missing two months last season. Of course, it didn’t help much that the Twins offense did pretty much nothing during spring training games. Over time, more and more concern about the Twins offense (or lack thereof) was voiced publicly. So again, I am of the opinion that optimism for 2014 was not about the major league team suddenly winning 80 games or competing for a division title. The cause of optimism was that some key building blocks for the future would get their first glimpse of big league ball and go through their rookie season ups and downs so that in 2015 they could improve even more and maybe the Twins would start competing. I don’t think the upside and potential of the prospects is any less now than it was two months ago, but I do think the timeline has unfortunately been pushed back a year. In my opinion, these minor leaguer situations have affected the enthusiasm of the Minnesota Twins fans. The Twins went out and added a couple of pitchers in Ricky Nolasco and Phil Hughes. However, they did little to improve the offense. I believe a big reason for that is because of the belief that with Sano and Rosario (along with Aaron Hicks and Josmil Pinto, and eventually Danny Santana and Byron Buxton), the changing of the guard would be taking place. The lack of offense in spring training certainly didn’t help the enthusiasm and hope of Twins fans. One can’t help but wonder what ticket sales would look like this year if not for hosting the All-Star Game in July. Click here to view the article

According to Jon Heyman, The Minnesota Twins have reached an agreement with RHP Mike Pelfrey. He says that it is a two year deal at $11 million. It also includes incentives up to another $3.5 million. Download attachment: Mike Pelfrey.JPG There have been reports for a month that the two sides were very close, and that the Twins had made an offer. On Saturday night, there was finally an agreement. Pelfrey went 5-13 with a 5.19 ERA and a 1.55 WHIP with the Twins in 2013. He had undergone Tommy John surgery in April of 2012 and returned quickly. He struggled early with the Twins, but he did show good velocity on his fastball. Last month, Parker wrote about why the Twins might have interest in bringing back the right-hander. The Twins have been busy in the free agent pitching market. Last month, they inked Ricky Nolasco to a four year, $49 million contract with an option for a fifth year. Days later, they agreed with Phil Hughes on a three year, $24 million deal. The Twins have Kevin Correia under contract for 2014 at $5.5 million. If the Twins do not sign any other starting pitchers or make any trades, Sam Deduno, Kyle Gibson, Andrew Albers, Kris Johnson, Scott Diamond, Vance Worley and Alex Meyer will be competing for the fifth starter job. (Deduno, Diamond and Worley will be out of options) There is no word yet on whether the Twins would still consider adding another starting pitcher as rumors surrounding Bronson Arroyo and Matt Garza have not subsided. Click here to view the article

It was a quiet Mother’s Day in the minor leagues as both Ft. Myers and Cedar Rapids had days off. However, the Twins finished their series in Detroit, the Red Wings were in Toledo and New Britain was in Bowie, and there was still plenty to write about. The Twins fell behind early in Detroit on Sunday, but they didn’t give up and walked away with a 4-3 win and a series win against the Tigers. They will get Monday off before hosting the Boston Red Sox in a three game series starting Tuesday. Here are the game updates from the Twins minor league system from Saturday. TRANSACTIONS The Ft. Myers Miracle placed Byron Buxton (wrist) and Levi Michael (foot) on the 7-Day Disabled List. As most know by now, Buxton re-injured his wrist on a slide into third base on Thursday. That same night, Michael fouled a ball off of his foot and hasn’t played since. In Cedar Rapids, Zack Larson was put on the Disabled List (on Saturday). Download attachment: Tony Thomas.jpg Tony Thomas RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 0, Toledo 7 Box Score Things got off to a bad start and the bats just were not able to make up for it with their offense. In fact, the offense had just three hits in the game. Logan Darnell made his first Rochester start in two weeks. He had a nice stint with the Twins in between. In the first inning, he gave up five runs, though just two were earned due to a Pedro Florimon error. He gave up one more run over the next three innings. In his four innings, he gave up four hits, walked two and struck out four. Aaron Thompson gave up a run on two hits in the eighth inning. In between, set up man AJ Achter threw three perfect innings and had a lot of cheers from the Toledo crowd. The Toledo native had a lot of family and friends in attendance. In the three games in Rochester, Florimon went 0-8 (with three walks) at the plate. He also committed one error each game. Mike Hessman, the 36 year old for Toledo, his a third inning home run off of Darnell. It was the 399th home run of his minor league career. Since 2003, he has hit 14 major league home runs as well. ROCK CATS REVIEW New Britain 11, Bowie 1 Box Score The Rock Cat bats were back on Sunday afternoon. They scored 11 runs while accumulating 13 hits and six walks. The first five batters in the lineup each had two hits. Corey Wimberly led off and went 2-4 with two walks and his fifth double. Tony Thomas was 2-4 with a walk, his fourth home run and three RBI. Danny Ortiz drove in three runs and went 2-5. Kennys Vargas was 2-5 and drove in two runs. Reynaldo Rodriguez went 2-4 with a walk and his sixth home run. Coming into the game, Kennys Vargas was on fire. In his last 19 games (since April 21), he had gone 26-70 and is hitting .371/.450/.671 (1.121) with six doubles, five homers and 13 RBI. Matt Summers put in a terrific start. He gave up one run on four hits in six innings. He walked three and struck out seven. Ryan O’Rourke gave up one hit and walked one in a scoreless inning. Dan Turpen pitched a 1-2-3 inning. Lester Oliveros struck out one in a perfect inning as well to end the game. MIRACLE MATTERS No Game Scheduled. KERNELS NUGGETS No Game Scheduled. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – AJ Achter, Rochester Red Wings Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Tony Thomas, New Britain Rock Cats SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Toledo (9:30 a.m. CST) – Kris Johnson (Listen) New Britain – No Game Scheduled Ft. Myers @ Brevard Country (5:35 CST) – Matt Tomshaw (Listen) Peoria @ Cedar Rapids (DH at 5:05 CST) – Josue Montanez, Ethan Mildren (Listen) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Sunday games. [/hr]The Twins took the series against the Tigers with a 4-3 win on Sunday, so on Monday you can take 50% off a large or extra-large pizza from PapaJohns.com by using the promo code 'twinswin'. Click here to view the article

In the last two weeks, we’ve reviewed the catchers, the first basemen and third basemen so far, and today we will be looking at the middle infielders in the Minnesota Twins organization. As much as I would like to separate the shortstops and the second basemen, so many of them can (or will or have) played both positions that I will consider them as one group of players. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] As it sits today, it appears that the Twins may start the same middle infield combination for the first time in a decade, when Cristian Guzman and Luis Rivas were roaming the center of the diamond together. Download attachment: Florimon Magic.jpg Pedro Florimon is magic with his glove, and maybe more. Photo by Betsy Bissen The Big Leaguers Unless something happens over the next month or so, Pedro Florimon and Brian Dozier will be the Twins keystone combo to start the season. Both spent time as the Twins starting shortstop during the 2012 season and didn’t perform very well. In 2013, Dozier made the transition to second base, and at least defensively, the Twins were strong up the middle. Offensively, you all know that Dozier got off to a slow start, but at the end of May, he made an adjustment and started producing with the bat. Dozier provided the Twins with 33 doubles and 18 home runs while committing just six errors. Can he keep up his second-half success, maybe even hit for more power? As expected, Florimon struggled with the bat. He hit just .221/.281/.330 (.611), though he had 17 doubles and nine home runs. Florimon makes his money with his glove. Defensively, his reputation of having great range and a strong arm both proved true. Can the defense overcome the offensive struggles? Can he make some adjustments with the bat? Eduardo Escobar is out of options, so he is all but assured of being on the Twins roster to start the season. As in 2012, he will most likely be the Twins utility infielder as he can play all three spots pretty well. The Twins have typically preferred having a second utility infielder. Doug Bernier surfaced last year after last playing in the big leagues in 2008. The Twins also brought back Jason Bartlett, who has not played since May 14, 2012. At 34, he is attempting a comeback. For defensive purposed, James Beresford may be the best option. He just turned 25 and between AA and AAA in 2013 he hit .306/.363/.346 while primarily playing 2B. If I had to pick a favorite of that group to start the season, I would lean toward Beresford, though Bartlett at 100% could make things interesting. 2013 Draft Picks The Twins drafted four middle infielders in the 2013 draft. Three of those players came from the college ranks. Their first middle infielder they took was in the 11th round, and he came from the prep ranks. Nelson Molina was the Twins 11th round pick, coming from high school in Puerto Rico. He played for the GCL Twins and it would be fair to say he struggled to start the season. In his first 19 games, he had just one hit in 52 at bats (.019 BA). He hit .193 over the final 17 games. At 6-3 and 175 pounds, there is some confidence his offense will come around. There is more confidence about his glove, and they believe he will be able to stay at shortstop. In the 18th round, the Twins took Ryan Walker out of UT-Arlington. He hit .267 in 42 games with Elizabethton; he also played in six games with Cedar Rapids. He is a speed player who plays very solid defense, with good range and a strong arm. In the 30th round, the Twins went with a player they know well. They drafted second baseman Tanner Vavra. The son of Twins 3B coach, Joe, Tanner went to Valparaiso where he hit very well. No surprise with a coach’s kid, but he is a grinder. He hit just .246 in E-Town, but got on base about 36% of the time. Two rounds later, the Twins went to Cal State-Dominguez Hills shortstop Carlos Avila. He hit just .206 in Elizabethton, and is known more for his glove than his bat. Prospect Rankings The Twins top middle infield prospect certainly affects the opening day roster. Eddie Rosario (My Twins Prospect #5) will begin the season with a 50-game suspension. That said, Rosario remains a top prospect because he can hit. After hitting .329/.377/.527 (.903) in 57 games with the Miracle, he hit .284/.330/.412 (.742) in 70 games in New Britain. Brian Dozier’s level of success with the Twins in 2014 may determine whether the Twins keep Rosario at second base or move him back to the outfield. Jorge Polanco (#6) struggled his first two years of pro ball, but in 2013 in Cedar Rapids, he showed that his 2012 stats an Elizabethton weren’t a fluke. In fact, in a loaded Kernels lineup, he hit third most of the season. Overall, he hit .308/.362/.452 (.813) with 32 doubles, ten triples and five home runs. Polanco split his time between shortstop and second base, though he really only played shortstop when Niko Goodrum was hurt. Goodrum (#20) had a solid first full season with the Kernels. He plays a very solid shortstop with good range, soft hands and a strong, accurate arm. Offensively, he hit .260/.364/.369 with 30 extra base hits. He has never hit for average, but his career IsoD is .096. He is long and lanky and still growing. He has a nice swing from both sides of the plate and could add some power. Danny Santana (#15) has shown the ability to hit for average (.297) and steal a lot of bases (30). He is allergic to walking, but he’s got the pop to hit a lot of doubles and triples. Defensively, he has the tools (great range, rocket arm) to be a great shortstop but to this point he has been very inconsistent on the routine plays. Levi Michael was not in my Top 30 prospects and barely makes the Top 50 after the former first-round pick has struggled two straight years in Fort Myers. In two seasons with the Miracle, he has hit .239/.336/.323. The Rosario suspension could mean he gets pushed to New Britain to start the season. He will be 23 throughout the season. Aderlin Mejia is another guy who isn’t a Top 30 prospect, but he came out of nowhere to be a likely Top 50 guy. He was supposed to go to Elizabethton, but while at Extended Spring Training, the Miracle had a need. It was supposed to be short-term, but he hit so well (.308 in 75 games), they couldn’t take his bat out of the lineup until a late-season injury. Roster Projections In each installment, I’ll make my roster projections. Obviously additional signings or injuries will affect all this, and that’s why it is important to have more than just two or even three at each level. There are also always players put on the disabled lists. So again, most likely there won’t be four catchers at Cedar Rapids, but this gives an idea of who could be at each affiliate at the start of the season. Minnesota: Pedro Florimon (SS), Brian Dozier (2B), Eduardo Escobar (UT) Rochester: Doug Bernier (SS), James Beresford (2B), Eric Farris (UT), Jason Bartlett (UT), Nate Hanson (UT) New Britain: Danny Santana (SS), Levi Michael (2B), Eddie Rosario (2B-SUSP), AJ Pettersen (UT), Brad Boyer (UT), Corey Wimberly (UT) Fort Myers: Niko Goodrum (SS), Jorge Polanco (2B), Aderlin Mejia (UT),Stephen Wickens (UT) Cedar Rapids: Ryan Walker (SS), Logan Wade (2B), Carlos Avila (UT), Joel Licon (UT), Tanner Vavra (UT) Extended Spring Training: Jonatan Hinojosa, Engelb Vielma, Nelson Molina, Will HurtFeel free to discuss the players and the roster. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Gibson Red Wings2.JPG UPDATED at 1:30 CST for Official announcement! For fans of the minor leagues, this time of year is pretty fun. The Elizabethton Twins will be starting their playoff run tonight. September call-ups can start happening on Friday. The minor league regular seasons come to an end on Labor Day and then more players get called up while those playoff runs start.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] As you know, Beloit will be in the Midwest League playoffs, and most likely, they will be the lone Twins full-season playoff team. Today, it is expected that the Arizona Fall League teams will be announced. So, who will represent the Twins in Arizona when the AFL begins on October 9? According to the Star-Tribune’s LaVelle E. Neal, the Twins will send six players to the AFL and also save one more spot for another player. Here is the list, which should become official today. Chris Herrmann – It isn’t usual for the Twins to send a player to the Arizona Fall League two consecutive years, but Herrmann will do just that. Last year, Herrmann made a name for himself on a more national scene with a strong showing in the AFL. He hit .380/.456/.620 in just 57 at bats. He returned to AA New Britain this season and has hit .268/.342/.385 with 23 doubles, a triple, 10 home runs and 55 RBI. The 24 year old has been the team’s primary catcher, but this year, he has returned to playing quite a bit of outfield. Evan Bigley – The 25 year old outfielder began the 2012 season back in New Britain where he had spent parts of the two previous seasons. In 88 games, he hit .268/.311/.444 with 19 doubles, three triples and 12 home runs. He was promoted to Rochester where, in 35 games, he is hitting .211/.241/.328 with six doubles and three homers. The Right Fielder has a good arm. Kyle Gibson – Of course, Gibson is the headliner on this roster. Gibson, the Twins 1st round pick in 2009 rocketed through the Twins farm system in 2010. He began 2011 in Rochester where he pitched well until arm issues derailed his season. He had Tommy John surgery last September, and his comeback this season has been going well to this point. He made his first start for the Red Wings in 2011 on Saturday. The goal is to get him as many innings as they can this fall so that he can go to spring training 2013 with a chance to impress. Logan Darnell – He was the Twins sixth round pick in 2010 out of Kentucky. In 2011, he pitched for Beloit, Ft. Myers and New Britain (5 starts, 5.58 ERA). This season, he has pitched exclusively for the Rock Cats. He has made 26 starts and thrown 145 innings already after throwing a combined 150.1 innings in 2011. He is 9-12 with a 5.21 ERA. He’s given up 181 hits (21 home runs), walked 44 and struckout just 94. Despite the pedestrian stats and the low strikeout numbers, he is said to have some really good stuff. Michael Tonkin – The Twins can have up to two players from the Ft. Myers roster compete in the AFL. Michael Tonkin will do that this year. He began the season by completely dominating the Midwest League. For Beloit, he went 3-0 with a 1.38 ERA in 22 games. He had six saves. In 39 innings, he walked just nine (gave up just one home run) and struckout 53. Opponents hit just .206 off of him. He was promoted to Ft. Myers where opponents are hitting just .202 off of him. He’s 1-1 with a 3.18 ERA in 20 games. In 28.1 innings, he has walked 11 and struck out 40. He has three good pitches, generally gets a lot of ground balls. Caleb Thielbar – Thielbar is a lefty from Randolph, MN, who signed with the Twins late last season, the first player the Twins had signed from the St. Paul Saints. Since then, he has been terrific and progressed swiftly up the Twins farm system. He started the season with seven games in Ft. Myers. In 12.1 innings, he gave up four hits, walked two and struck out 16. He moved up to New Britain and pitched in 16 games. In 25 innings ,he gave up 18 hits, walked three and struck out 26. Now, he’s pitched in 24 games for Rochester. In 37 innings, he has given up 40 hits, walked 15 and struckout 29. The Arizona Fall League will be a good challenge for him. Joe Benson – It’s been a lost season for the Twins talented outfield prospect. He struggled early, but he has had one injury after the next ever since. He had surgery on his hamate bone, he’s had some other minor injuries, and his season came to an end two weeks ago with a knee injury. He will have surgery on Monday. The rehab will likely take at least one month, so the Twins are holding a spot for him in the AFL. He just needs to find some at bats so that he can go into the 2013 season strong and hopefully ready to take that final step. Nate Roberts - the 23 year old has been an on-base machine for the Beloit Snappers the past two seasons. He missed a lot of time in 2011 with knee injuries, but he has been relatively healthy. It is possible he will be on the roster until Benson is ready to play. The Twins players will play for the Peoria Javelinas with prospects from the Reds, Phillies, Mariners and Padres. They will be managed by Dusty Wathan. Be sure to check in with Twins Daily for updates on Twins minor leaguers in the Arizona Fall League, but also Twins minor leaguers playing Winter League ball anywhere. Several players will play in the Caribbean, be it in Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico or Mexico. Several will also be playing in the Australian Baseball League. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: ETwins Logo.jpg It was another very successful season for the Elizabethton Twins. In the regular season, they had a league-best 43-22 record. The second best record came from the East Division and was the 41-25 record of the Burlington Royals. The two teams rightfully met in the Appalachian League championship series. Burlington won a one-run, extra-inning Game 1. Elizabethton won Game 2 in one-run, extra inning style as well. So, it all came down to Game 3 in Elizabethton. To find out who won this a remarkable game, a thriller … you’ll have to keep reading… Seriously, you will want to. What a dramatic game!![PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] These two teams were clearly the top two teams in the league all year. Elizabethton led the league with 6.17 runs per game. Third on that list was Burlington at 5.1 runs per game. The E-Twins gave up a league-fewest 3.75 runs per game. Burlington was second in that category at 4.14 runs allowed per game. Let's start in the bottom of the ninth. The E-Twins made things interesting in the bottom of the 9th inning, but they could not come up with the big hit. Wait!! Yes, they did!! Down 6-1 heading into the bottom of the 9th, Royals closer John Walter came in. He walked Jhonatan Arias and Romy Jimenez to start the inning, but he got the next two batters out. On a full count, he walked Max Kepler to load the bases. He hit DJ Hicks with the first pitch he threw to him to cut the lead to 6-2. Appy League Home Run Champ Adam Walker came to the plate as the potential tying run. A wild pitch cut the lead to 6-3 and moved the other runners to second and third. On the very next pitch, Walker connected on a long home run to tie the game at six. Walter’s night was over and Freddy Rodriguez came in to get the final out of the inning. The damage had been done. Download attachment: Adam Walker.jpg However, the score was now tied at 6-6 and for the third time in this three game series, extra innings were necessary. Let's go back to the beginning. Max Kepler started the scoring in the first inning. Following a Niko Goodrum double, Kepler singled him in to give the E-Twins a 1-0 lead. However, the Royals would score the next six runs. Jose (JO) Berrios started for the E-Twins. He began with three scoreless innings. Unfortunately in the fourth frame, he gave up four unearned runs on a hit and three walks. He also threw two wild pitches. (Berrios struck out seven in his four innings.) Josh Burris came in and threw two scoreless innings. Chris Mazza pitched a quick 7th inning. However, he gave up two solo home runs in the 8th inning. Travis Huber pitched a scoreless ninth inning which set up the unlikely E-Twins comeback in the bottom of the 9th. That brings us to extra innings. Did I mention that it is for the third straight game in this three-game series? Ricardo Arevalo came on for the top of the 10th inning. He gave up a single to lead off the inning. A sacrifice bunt advanced the runner to second. The next batter was intentionally walked for one purpose. Thankfully, the next batter obliged, grounding back to Arevalo who started a 1-6-3, inning-ending double play. In the bottom of the 11th, the E-Twins had a chance. With one out, catcher Jhonathan Arias, who had been 0-21 in the playoffs, singled. Romy Jimenez singled over the second baseman’s head to advance Arias to second base with one out. Jorge Polanco came in to pinch run for Arias, but Candido Pimentel struckout and Niko Goodrum flew out to deep center field to end the threat. Arevalo started the 12th, but he got just one out and had runners on 1st and 2nd. Lefty Brett Lee came on and got a ground out and a strikeout to end the inning. In the bottom of the 12th, Bo Altobelli grounded out. Romy Jimenez walked. Candido Pimentel struckout for the fourth time in the game. Niko Goodrum worked a walk. Then after a wild pitch, Max Kepler was walked to load the bases. That brought up DJ Hicks. With two outs and a full count, Hicks drilled an opposite field home run, a walk-off grand slam to win the game, to win the Appalachian League Championship. Download attachment: DJ Hicks Mug.jpg It was the E-Twins 10th title since the Twins moved to Elizabethton in 1974. It is their fifth title in the last ten years, but it is their first since 2009. Congratulations to long-time E-Town manager and former Twins catcher Ray Smith and his coaching staff on the title and another tremendous season. Congratulations to the whole roster for the E-Twins. What a game!! E-Twins 7, Burlington 6. (Note - since Hicks never got to round the bases, the final score is officially 7-6, not 10-6, not sure anyone really cares.) Click here to view the article