Seth Stohs

Good morning, Twins fans!! Today is the day we have been thinking about since the end of the 2013 season when the Minnesota Twins finished with the fifth-worst record in baseball. That means the Twins have the fifth pick in each round of the MLB Draft. On Thursday evening, we will know who the Twins selected with the #5 overall pick, but we'll also find out who they took with their second round pick (#46) later in the evening. One of the "positives" of playing so poorly is a high draft choice the next season. Twins fans, we're used to that as the Twins have had a high draft choice the past two years too. Of course, two years ago, it meant they were able to draft outfielder Byron Buxton from a rural Georgia high school with the second overall pick in 2012. Last year, the Twins went the prep route again and selected athletic, hard-throwing righty Kohl Stewart with the fourth overall pick. (SD Buhr talked to Stewart about his thoughts on his first full season in professional baseball last week) Who will the Twins select this evening with the fifth overall pick this year? Well, unfortunately, we are going to have to remain patient until early this evening. The Major League Draft starts at 6:00 central time with the first overall pick. The Houston Astros have earned that selection each of the last three seasons and they've taken shortstop Carlos Correa and "sure-thing" right-hander Mark Appel. After the Astros pick, the Miami Marlins well draft. After that, the Windy City will get some air time as the White Sox have the third pick and the Cubs have the fourth pick. There are a lot of scenarios that could play out with those top four picks. As much as we think that the Twins might go in one direction (most mock drafts have the Twins taking Florida high schooler Nick Gordon), we won't know until about 6:30 central time tonight. Over the last few weeks, at Twins Daily, we have done profiles of the several players that the Twins could take: Trea Turner - SS - North Carolina State Aaron Nola - RHP - Louisiana State U. Tyler Beede - RHP - Vanderbilt Kyle Freeland - LHP - Evansville U Brady Aiken - LHP - High School in California Tyler Kolek - RHP - High School in Texas Nick Gordon - SS - High School in Florida Carlos Rodon - LHP - North Carolina State Alex Jackson - C/OF - High School in California Of course, depending upon how things go, the Twins could surprise and go in a different direction. Hartford left-hander Sean Newcomb, a 6-5 230 pounder with a mid-90s fastball, a slider and changeup in the low-to-mid 80s and a curveball in the mid-to-high 70s, has certainly picked up some steam as the draft approaches. Twins Daily is fortunate to have Jeremy Nygaard as a key part of this community. His efforts with the Rosters & Payrolls page is remarkable. However, his knowledge and passion for the draft are unrivaled in this market. He has kept us updated for a couple of months on developments in the MLB Draft. In the last few weeks, he has provided us with mock drafts. Mock Draft 1.0 - 5/18/14 Mock Draft 2.0 - 5/28/14 Mock Draft 3.0 - 6/5/14 He even posted his predictions (or at least some options) for what the Twins will do with their first ten picks over the next couple days. The MLB Draft is such an important time for MLB teams. They are able to make 40 (or more) picks to add talent to the organization. In any given year, if two or three of the picks become useful big leaguers, the draft was a huge success. When a team has such high picks, it is more important to be right. That's the position that the Twins find themselves in for the third straight season. We encourage you to keep close to Twins Daily for more updates. However, be sure to stop by at 6:00 when we will have a special MLB Draft Twins Hangouts show. Jeremy Nygaard and Seth Stohs will be joined by John Bonnes to talk about the draft and the picks leading up to the Twins pick (which should occur just after 6:30). We'll be on until around 7 with our reaction to whoever it is the Twins select. Then at 9:00, John, Jeremy and I will take their discussion to the air waves. Tune in to KFAN (fm 100.3 in the Twin Cities, or here online) for a Minnesota Twins draft show. We will discuss the Twins first round pick, but we'll also tell you more about the Twins 2nd round pick. That pick should be made around 9:35, so Jeremy can tell us more about that player as well. It's going to be a full, fun, busy day here at Twins Daily. Use this thread to discuss rumors throughout the day. Even more fun, post below your thoughts on who will be taken with each of the top 5 or 10 picks. And then on Friday, we will have a new article for the Twins Day 2 picks, which will cover rounds 3-10. On Saturday, we will post and discuss selections from rounds 11-40 in a Day 3 article. Jeremy Nygaard will provide some thoughts on each pick. A quick reminder: Thanks to the Twins win over the Brewers Wednesday, it means that on Thursday you can get 50% off a Large of Extra Large pizza when you use the “TWINSWIN” promotion code at PapaJohns.com.

It was a busy day throughout the Twins organization. The Twins returned home to play the second half of their two-at-home, two-on-the-road series with the Brewers. Oswaldo Arcia had a three run homer and an RBI single that gave the Twins their final lead, the one they were able to hold on to. The Rochester Red Wings played two games and each of the other affiliates played as well. The Ft. Myers Miracle put Max Kepler on the disabled list. After four Miracle players (Adam Walker, Brett Lee, JO Berrios, David Hurlbut) were named to the Florida State League All-Star game on Tuesday, the Midwest League named its All-Stars on Wednesday. Three members of the Kernels were named to the team: Bryan Haar, Yorman Landa and Kohl Stewart. Thursday is Day 1 of the Draft, and Twins Daily is certainly your place to discuss. Come back at 6:00 (central time) tonight for a special Twins Hangouts Draft special with Jeremy Nygaard, Seth Stohs and guest John Bonnes. Then at 9:00 central time, we will have a special draft show live on KFAN, so be sure to check that out. Without further ado, here is what happened in the Twins farm system on Wednesday night: RED WINGS REPORT Game 1 – Rochester 7, Charlotte 5 Box Score It was, by far, the worst start of the season for lefty Kris Johnson, but the Red Wings bats bailed him out and helped him improve to 6-2. Johnson gave up five runs on four hits and three walks over five innings. He struck out four. Michael Tonkin struck one out over two perfect innings for the save. The Red Wings used power to score five runs in the second inning. Dan Rohlfing hit his first home run of the year, a three-run blast. Two batters later, Doug Bernier hit a two run homer, his third of the year. Rohlfing and Bernier each had one more hit. Eric Farris went 2-4 with a walk and his ninth double. Chris Colabello went 1-2 with two walks. Game 2 – Rochester 9, Charlotte 5 Box Score Scott Diamond started the second game. He was given a 5-0 lead, but he gave up solo homers in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th innings. However, the Red Wings added four more runs in the 5th and held on. Diamond improved to 3-6 on the season. He went five innings and gave up just the three runs on five hits. He walked one and struck out three. Deolis Guerra pitched the sixth inning and gave up one run on two hits and a walk. Aaron Thompson gave up one run on one hit and a walk in the seventh frame. Danny Ortiz went 0-4 on Tuesday in his first game with the Red Wings. His second AAA game was in Game 2. He went 2-3 with his first home run and four runs driven in. Brad Nelson went 3-4. James Beresford was 2-3 with a walk and his tenth double. Deibinson Romero went 1-1 and was walked three times. ROCK CATS REVIEW New Britain 6, Akron 9 Box Score It’s safe to say that there wasn’t a pitcher’s duel in New Britain on Wednesday night. Tyler Duffey made the start for the Rock Cats. He gave up six runs on ten hits and a walk in four innings. He struck out five. Mark Hamburger came on and gave up three runs (1 earned) on four hits in two innings. He struck out two. Ryan O’Rourke, Jim Fuller and Lester Oliveros each pitched a scoreless innings. O’Rourke struck out two. Fuller struck out three and Oliveros struck out one. Reynaldo Rodriguez continued his torrid streak. He went 3-4 with his 17th and 18th doubles. Nate Hanson also had three hits in the game. Mike Kvasnicka went 2-4. Brandon Waring added a two-run double, his 12th two-bagger of the year. Tony Thomas added his 12th double of the year as well. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 3, Lakeland 10 Box Score DJ Baxendale was returned to Ft. Myers to get some innings under his belt. He began the season with New Britain, but an arm injury cost him more than a month. He returned but was pitching out of the Rock Cats bullpen. The team decided to send him back to the Miracle to stretch him out. Last year, he began the season with the Miracle and in nine starts went 7-0 with a 1.10 ERA and a 0.78 WHIP. On this night, he was terrific through three innings, but then things turned for him. In total, he gave up six runs on six hits and two walks in five innings. He struck out four. Alex Wimmers, also now a bullpen arm, gave up four runs (2 earned) on six hits and a walk in three innings. He did strike out six. Madison Boer gave up a hit and a walk in one scoreless inning. Eddie Rosario led the offense, going 3-4. Following his 1-11 start, he is now hitting .308 in his short stint with the Miracle. Niko Goodrum went 2-4. Adam Walker, Travis Harrison and Stuart Turner each collected a double. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 4, Wisconsin 6 Box Score There were some fireworks in the middle innings, and unfortunately the Kernels lost on a walk-off home in the bottom of the 9th. Aaron Slegers started and gave up four runs on five hits in seven innings. He walked one, hit two and struck out five. Brandon Bixler pitched a scoreless eighth inning. In the ninth, he gave up a single and the walk-off home run. Engelb Vielma went 2-4 with a walk and his seventh double. Chad Christensen went 2-4 with his ninth double. Mitch Garver went 2-3 with two walks. In the 6th inning, Slegers hit a batter before giving up a home run to Clint Coulter. At that time, things got interesting. The next batter was almost hit by a pitch and took exception. The benches cleared. Catcher Michael Quesada was ejected. So was Twins roving minor league hitting instructor Bill Springman. Two members of the TimberRattlers were ejected as well. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Jim Fuller, New Britain Rock Cats Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Reynaldo Rodriguez, New Britain Rock Cats THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Charlotte (6:05 CST) – Trevor May (Listen) Akron @ New Britain (5:35 CST) – Sean Gilmartin (Listen) Lakeland @ Ft. Myers (6:05 CST) – Tim Shibuya (Listen) Cedar Rapids @ Wisconsin (7:05 CST) – Fernando Romero (Listen) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Wednesday games. A quick reminder:Thanks to the Twins win over the Brewers Wednesday, it means that on Thursday you can get 50% off a Large of Extra Large pizza when you use the “TWINSWIN” promotion code at PapaJohns.com.