Seth Stohs

The Minnesota Twins are currently two games above .500. I just felt like that would be a good, and fun, way to start today’s report. In his last five starts, Phil Hughes has worked a combined 33.1 innings. He has given up just four earned runs on 30 hits. He’s walked none and struck out 27 batters. I’d say he’s been everything Twins fans could have hoped for. His season ERA is now 3.15. Not bad considering he gave up four earned runs in each of his first three starts of the season. Can you imagine a Minnesota Twins starting pitcher winning the AL Pitcher of the Month award? It’s been a long time! With that, let’s get to the minor league discussion of the day. TRANSACTIONS On Wednesday morning, Engelb Vielma and Jason Kanzler were activated from the disabled list. However, it came at the expense of Carlos Avila and BK Santy who were both given their unconditional releases. Let’s look at the goings on in the Twins system: RED WINGS REPORT No Game Scheduled. ROCK CATS REVIEW New Britain 5, Richmond 7 Box Score Things started out badly for the Rock Cats in this game before it even started. Kennys Vargas was scratched from the lineup when he hurt his wrist during batting practice. No word on the severity of the injury. However, Twins fans have seen enough wrist issues already in 2014 (Buxton, Arcia, Willingham). Pat Dean made the start for the Rock Cats. The lefty went 4.1 innings. He was charged with five runs (4 earned) on nine hits and a walk. Jim Fuller came on and gave up two hits over 1.2 scoreless innings. DJ Baxendale returned after a month on the disabled list. He worked one scoreless inning despite giving up two hits and a walk. Matt Summers came on and gave up two runs on two hits and a walk in his inning. Ryan O’Rourke pitched a scoreless frame. Danny Ortiz led the offense. He went 3-4 with his first triple and his fourth home run. Corey Wimberly was 2-5 with his second triple. He also stole his eighth and ninth bases of the year. Nate Hanson was 2-5. Mike Kvasnicka hit his third homer. Matt Koch, Brandon Waring and AJ Pettersen each had a double. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 2, Dunedin 4 Box Score David Hurlbut has arguably been the Miracle’s top starting pitcher this season, but he had a tough one. That said, through the game’s first five innings, he gave up just one run. Unfortunately, he was charged with three runs in the sixth. His total line? He gave up four runs on six hits and a walk in six innings. He struck out three. Tim Shibuya struck out two in a scoreless inning. Brandon Peterson worked a scoreless inning as well. There wasn’t much offense for the Miracle. Travis Harrison went 2-4 to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. Aderlin Mejia was 2-4 with his fifth double. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 4, Beloit 9 Box Score Felix Jorge is a well-regarded pitching prospect, but he has really struggled to this point in the season. On this night, the righty gave up seven runs, all earned, on seven hits and five walks over just 2.2 innings. His ERA is now up to 9.99 on the season. Jake Mauer, Ivan Arteaga, Eric Rasmussen and Brad Steil all have to be scratching their heads trying to come up with a plan for what to do with the talented Dominican. Brandon Bixler came in and was charged with two runs on five hits and a walk over the next 1.1 innings. Derrick Penilla came on and struck out five in three scoreless innings. Hudson Boyd walked two, hit one and struck out one over two scoreless frames. The Kernels offense was scoreless and had just one hit going into the sixth inning, when they got a couple base runners on. Mitch Garver singled in a run, and then Jason Kanzler – in his first game back from concussion – hit a three-run homer. Kanzler was 2-4 and the homer was his third. Chad Christensen was also 2-4. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Derrick Penilla, Cedar Rapids Kernels Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Danny Ortiz, New Britain Rock Cats THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Scranton/Wilkes Barre (5:35 CT) – Alex Meyer (Listen) Richmond @ New Britain (5:35 CT) – Virgil Vasquez (Listen) Ft. Myers @ Dunedin (5:30 CT) – Alex Wimmers (Listen) Cedar Rapids @ Quad Cities (6:35 CT) – Aaron Slegers (Listen) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Wednesday games. With another Twins win over San Diego on Wednesday night, you can get half-price large or extra-large pizzas at PapaJohn’s.com with the promo code “TWINSWIN.”

If the draft occurred on January 5th, instead of June 5th, there is a good chance Trea Turner would have been selected before the Minnesota Twins made their first round selection, fifth overall. Now just two weeks from the draft’s first round, there is no doubt that Turner will be available to the Twins with their pick. Could the Twins use that pick to take the college shortstop? Who is This Guy? Trea Turner grew up in Florida and following his high school career, he was drafted in the 20th round by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Instead of signing an above-slot offer, Turner enrolled at North Carolina State. He arrived as a skinny, 6-1, 170 pounder, and as he (likely) leaves, he will have added about ten pounds to his lanky build. As a freshman, he hit .336/.432/.459 (.891) while playing third base. That season, he stole 57 bases in 61 attempts. As a sophomore, he made the move over to shortstop. He hit .368/.455/.553 (1.008). Despite an ankle injury, he still was successful in 30 of 36 steal attempts. He came into this season looking to build on those numbers. Going into tournament play, he was hitting .318/.414/.507 (921). These were steps back and yet still very good numbers. He also had stolen 24 of 27 bases. Why the Twins will pick him As you may assume from his stolen base totals (111-124), he has tremendous speed and is a very good, sound base runner. He has elite speed and was once clocked at 3.42 seconds from home to first base… from the right-handed batter’s box. Despite the lanky frame, Turner is not just a slap hitter. In fact, he generally takes a very healthy cut. Over his three years, his extra base hit total went from 18 to 24 to 22. That includes 20 home runs. Certainly his drafting team should not expect 20 homer seasons from Turner, but he will hit a few and drive the ball from gap to gap. Turner has also done a tremendous job at controlling the strike zone. In all three years, he has walked more than struck out. In the three years, he walked 115 times while striking out 94 times. This certainly is a strong indicator and could potentially allow him to move quickly. On defense, there are mixed opinions on whether he can stick at shortstop. That said, his fielding percentage has continued to improve each year. As a third baseman his freshman year, he posted a .921 fielding percentage. In his first year at shortstop, it improved to 940, and this year, it is .961. Though the Twins have some depth at shortstop in the system right now (Danny Santana, Jorge Polanco, Niko Goodrum), the Twins enjoy drafting athletes who can hopefully play in the middle of the field. Turner can. He also has played three seasons of high-caliber college competition as well as competed for Team USA in summers. He could certainly move up quickly. Why the Twins won’t pick him The Twins typically do not take college bats in the first round. They did take North Carolina infielder Levi Michael with the 30th overall pick in 2011. Before him, the last time the Twins used a first round pick on a college hitter was Travis Lee in 1996 (Matt LeCroy was a supplemental 1st round pick in 1997). Other college bats they have drafted in the first round included Todd Walker (1994), David McCarty and Scott Stahoviak (1991), Chuck Knoblauch (1989) The Twins have generally gone with athletic high school bats with big ceilings. There are a couple of them who may also be available to the Twins with the number five pick. There is some concern about his decline in performance in 2014, although the numbers are still very good. Stop back tomorrow when we will get to know another potential 2014 Twins draft pick. The Twins beat the Padres last night so on Wednesday you can get a half price large or extra-large pizza from PapaJohns.com with the promo code TWINSWIN.

Though the Minnesota Twins fell back to .500 with a 6-2 loss on Sunday to Felix Hernandez and the Seattle Mariners, it wasn’t all bad news in the Twins organization. In fact, all four Twins full-season affiliates won their games. Three lefties led the highest level teams to victory while the Cedar Rapid Kernels had to come back to end their big losing streak. TRANSACTIONS Following the Twins game, OF/C Chris Herrmann was promoted back up to the Twins while reliever Michael Tonkin was sent back to Rochester. The move gives manager Ron Gardenhire an extra bat on the bench this coming week while playing in National League ballparks. In the ten days that Herrmann was in Rochester, he hit .400 (14-35) with three doubles, a triple and a home run. Tonkin, meanwhile, had a 5.84 ERA in 12.1 innings with the Twins. Let’s look at the goings on in the Twins system: RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 2, Toledo 1 Box Score Last week, when the Twins decided to option Oswaldo Arcia, it was likely because he had not yet been able to play more than two games in a row without a set back with his wrist injury. Since then, he has now played in seven straight games. In the last four, he has six hits. On Sunday, he went 2-4 with a double and his third home run. In other words, he finally appears to be healed and ready to return to the big league club. James Beresford went 2-4. Josh Willingham was in the lineup, batting fifth and serving as the Red Wings DH. He went 0-2 with two strikeouts. He was also hit by a pitch. Kris Johnson continues to pitch well in the International League. Last year’s IL ERA leader went six innings and gave up only an unearned run. He gave up four hits, walked two and struck out seven. Ryan Pressly recorded his first professional save. He gave up three hits over three scoreless innings. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out four. It was the sixth straight win for the Red Wings. It was also their ninth straight win at home at Frontier Field. ROCK CATS REVIEW New Britain 5, Harrisburg 3 Box Score Taylor Rogers has been pitching very well the last month. On Sunday, he posted his fifth straight quality start. For the first time, he completed seven innings. He gave up three runs on eight hits. He walked one and struck out four. He recorded a win for the fourth straight start. You may recall, in April, he went 0-3 with a 9.33 ERA. In May, he is now 4-0 with a 2.49 ERA. Cole Johnson gave up one hit and two walks, but also struck out three in two scoreless innings. It was his third save and he reduced his ERA to 1.23. Kennys Vargas went 2-4 with his tenth double, eighth home run and three RBI. Tony Thomas was 2-4 with his second triple. Mike Kvasnicka was 2-4 with his fifth double. Reynaldo Rodriguez went hitless, snapping his 13 game hitting streak. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 10, Daytona 1 Box Score Brett Lee made his first start for the Miracle since April 30, and the Miracle got a big blast in a blowout win. Lee worked the first five innings and gave up only an unearned run. He allowed four hits, walked none and struck out six. Tyler Jones came on and threw 2.1 scoreless frames. He gave up one hit, walked two and struck out four. Steve Gruver recorded the final five outs, two on strikouts. Jorge Polanco had a first-inning error that allowed the unearned run to score. It was hit 14th error of the year. However, he also went 3-5 with his ninth double of the season to extend his hitting streak to 15 games. Travis Harrison went 1-3 with a walk. Niko Goodrum was 2-4 with a walk. Adam Walker was also 2-4 with five RBI. He came to the plate in the 7th inning with the bases loaded and uncoiled for a grand slam. It was his seventh homer of the season and his second grand slam in the past four games. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 7, Burlington 6 Box Score The Kernels fell behind early. Down 4-0 after three innings, and 5-2 after five innings, the Kernels scored three in the top of the 6th inning to tie the score at five. In the 7th inning, Jake Mauer was ejected from the game, so he didn’t get to see the ninth inning when his team scored two runs and held on for the one-run win. The win snapped their eight game losing streak. Ethan Mildren started and gave up five runs in the first five innings. The Bees scored in four of the five innings. He gave up nine hits, walked one and struck out five. Derrick Penilla came on and gave up just one hit over three scoreless innings. He struck out four. Todd Van Steensel came in for the ninth. He gave up a solo home run, but he struck out two to record the first save of his professional career. The Kernels got six hits from their top two hitters. JD Williams was 3-5 with his fourth and fifth doubles. Tanner Vavra was also 3-5 and doubled for the eighth time this season. Bo Altobelli went 2-5. All nine Kernels’ hitters had at least one hit. Bryan Haar (6), Mitch Garver (11), Michael Quesada (5) and Joel Licon (3) each added a double. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Kris Johnson, Rochester Red Wings Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Kennys Vargas, New Britain Rock Cats MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Toledo @ Rochester (6:05 CT) – Trevor May (Listen) Richmond @ New Britain (5:35 CT) – Tyler Duffey (Listen) Daytona @ Ft. Myers (9:35 am CT) – JO Berrios (Listen) Beloit @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 CT) – Josue Montanez (Listen) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Sunday games.

Kyle Gibson returned to the mound and after struggling in recent starts, he recorded his first win in a month as the Twins topped the Mariners 5-4. Brian Dozier homered for the tenth time this season and Josmil Pinto hit his sixth home run. Glen Perkins made it interesting in the ninth, but recorded the save. In the minor leagues, Mike Pelfrey and Josh Willingham returned to the field in rehab appearances with the Red Wings. There is an unsung player putting up tremendous numbers in New Britain over an 11 game hitting streak while a hitting streak reaches 13 games in Ft. Myers. The Cedar Rapids Kernels are streaking in the wrong direction. Let’s look at the goings on in the Twins system: RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 6, Columbus 2 Box Score Rochester’s game was the first opportunity for Mike Pelfrey and Josh Willingham to play for a while. Pelfrey made a rehab start for the Red Wings and threw 81 pitches in five innings. He gave up one run on five hits and a walk. He struck out three. Edgar Ibarra struck out three in two scoreless innings. He gave up one hit and walked one. AJ Achter gave up one run on one hit over two innings to record his third Red Wings save. He struck out three and walked none. Josh Willingham batted fifth and was the DH. He went 0-4 with a strikeout in his first game in over a month. Chris Herrmann’s torrid streak continued. He went 2-4 and his now hitting .467 (14-30) since his demotion. Oswaldo Arcia went 2-4 and hit his second home run. Deibinson Romero was 2-4 with his eighth double. ROCK CATS REVIEW New Britain 4, Harrisburg 3 Box Score With how well Kennys Vargas has been hitting the last few weeks, Reynaldo Rodriguez is quietly putting up great numbers too. Coming into this game, he was hitting .476/.500/.738 (1.238) with two doubles and three home runs in his past ten games. On this night, he extended his hitting streak to 11 games with an eighth-inning, two-run home (his seventh) that gave the Rock Cats the lead, a lead they held on to. Corey Wimberly went 2-5. Nate Hanson and Brandon Waring each hit a double. Matt Koch and AJ Pettersen both went 1-3 with a walk. Pat Dean gave up some hits, but at the end of the night, he had another quality start. He gave up three runs on 11 hits in six innings. He struck out three and walked none. Dan Turpen gave up a hit and walked three over 1.1 innings. Lester Oliveros came on, walked three and got the final five outs to record his sixth save. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 1, Daytona 2 Box Score Alex Wimmers was due. He had given up 23 runs in his last three starts. Although eight of the runs in his last start were unearned, he has been getting hit. On this night, the former #1 pick was back in good form. He gave up just one run on two hits over six innings. He walked two and struck out eight. Sometimes we forget that this is his first season after Tommy John surgery and a second arm surgery. There will be some ups and downs, but he needed a good start. Steven Gruver went the next two innings. He gave up one run on three hits and a walk. He struck out three. Brian Gilbert pitched a scoreless ninth inning, walked one and struck out one. Jorge Polanco extended his hitting streak to 13 games. He went 2-4 with his eighth double. He drove in the Miracle run as well. Travis Harrison was also 2-4. The two combined for four of the team’s six hits in the game. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 2, Burlington 8 Box Score Aaron Slegers struggled and lost for the first time this season (4-1). He gave up six runs (5 earned) on nine hits and a walk. He struck out seven. Alex Muren pitched the final two innings. He gave up two runs on three hits. He walked one and struck out three. The Kernels’ bats managed just five hits in the game. Mitch Garver went 2-4 with his third stolen base. Michael Quesada hit his first home run of the year. JD Williams doubled, and Bryan Haar hit his second triple of the year. The loss was the seventh straight for the Kernels. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Alex Wimmers, Ft. Myers Miracle Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Oswaldo Arcia, Rochester Red Wings SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Toledo @ Rochester (6:05 CST) – Logan Darnell (Listen) New Britain @ Harrisburg (DH @ 5:00 CST) – Matt Summers, Virgil Vasquez (Listen) Daytona @ Ft. Myers (5:05 CST) – Jason Wheeler (Listen) Cedar Rapids @ Burlington (6:30 CST) – Ryan Eades (Listen) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Friday games. A quick reminder: Thanks to the Twins win over the Seattle Mariners on Friday, it means that on Saturday you can get 50% off a Large of Extra Large pizza when you use the “TWINSWIN” promotion code at PapaJohns.com.