Seth Stohs

As you’ve noticed, I enjoy writing stories about guys that don’t get as much attention. It’s why I cover the minor leagues. It’s because I enjoy the human interest side of baseball. Sure, we’ll write about the big stories too here, but getting to know the other guys who are putting in work every day down here in Ft. Myers is important too. Doug Bernier is a guy who knows about hard work and perseverance. He made his big league debut in 2008: two games and four at bats (no hits) with the Colorado Rockies in 2008.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] In 2013, shortly after his 33rd birthday, and about five years since his debut, he got the call he’d worked so hard to get again. At the All-Star break, he learned the news that he would be heading back to the big leagues as a member of the Minnesota Twins. “It was so awesome. It was like all the work that happened, to actually get to the big leagues and play and get some time there. You know, the first two weeks there, my mind and heart were just racing all the time. But after a little bit, I was able to slow down and it just kind of felt like baseball a little bit. That’s exactly what I wanted to feel when I got up to that level. It was a blast, and that was something that I thought about every day this offseason and it’s where I want to get back to.” Photo by Steve Mitchell Many would have left the game sometime in between, satisfied to get that one chance to forever call himself a big leaguer. Bernier has those moments cross his mind too, but obviously he is thrilled he didn’t quit on himself. He also had a very strong supporter encouraging him along the way. “There was a couple of times where I was getting frustrated, but I also talked to my wife about it a little bit. She was totally supportive. She wasn’t like ‘hurry up and hang ‘em up so we can have a normal life.’ It’s cool just to have the support from her, and she’s like, ‘If you still love it, and you still believe you can do it, and you still believe you can play in the big leagues, go for it.’ And that’s what we did, and that made me relax a little bit, and I just went out there and played and had fun. So that was a little easier.” At the end of the season, the Twins designated Bernier for assignment, removing him from their 40 man roster. Maybe 24 hours later, he re-signed with the Twins. It was an easy choice for the veteran. “To me, it was easy. This is the place I wanted to be. Sometimes you can just kind of feel right away the closeness between the guys, the chemistry. I felt like even on the minor league side here. There was a closeness between the guys which is pretty unique. And it’s just a fun place to play baseball every day. And also, I had the opportunity to play in the big leagues last year. After the season, for me, it was a no brainer. I wanted to be back here.” Bernier has always played a very good defense. He takes a lot of pride in it and works at getting even better. “I’ve kind of always been that guy. I’ve had a lot of years in the past where I struggled offensively, but being able to stay consistent defensively has kind of kept me around. They tell you to separate offense and defense. That was something I had to do because if I didn’t, I’d have been out of the game a long time ago.” Bernier came into spring training this season with the same mentality he has every year, to make himself better. “I mean really, I’m just trying to do what I can to try to improve my game. I know there’s a lot of things I can work on. I’m just trying to go about it, do the best I can. Just trying to improve myself, and hopefully with that it can help the team. Just working on playing multiple positions, and trying to get better offensively. That’s just kind of the process of spring but everything’s feeling alright.” Bernier is a guy who not only wants to play baseball, but it is really important to him to be able to help others. Maybe they won’t experience the same journey he has, but players of all ages, kids and adults, often have questions about the game. Bernier and his wife found a way to do that. They started the Pro Baseball Insider website to put themselves in a position to help others. Twins Daily contributor AJ Pettersen has contributed a few articles to Bernier’s site as well. “The thing we started with Pro Baseball Insider is… I was doing lessons on the side, and we were getting kids that were asking, ‘Why do you do this? Or why do you do this? My high school coach is telling me this, is this good or is this bad?’ A lot of times, it’s just knowledge and information. I’ve been fortunate to be around a lot of the best baseball players in the world. I feel like, sometimes kids have questions like, ‘Are plastic spikes good, or are metal better?’ Things that you kind of take for granted that they have questions about.” Bernier continued, “Being able to talk to a bigger community of kids and parents, I thought was a pretty cool thing for me. So we decided to put the website together with some basic instruction on there. We have a little feature where people can e-mail and we can communicate back and forth. Sometimes we go in-depth on things. It was basically just a way to communicate things I’ve learned and what others have learned. I guess the professional way of doing things to try to teach kids when they’re young so hopefully they don’t have to go through the same mistakes that I had to battle through. I guess that was kind of the idea behind it.” Giving back is something that is often said, but it isn’t always followed up on. Bernier said that he gets quite a few e-mails from people each week. 2013 was certainly a dream season personally for Doug Bernier in many ways. After such a long time, he finally got a chance to get back to the big leagues last year, appearing in 33 games with the Twins. He was able to take a few weeks off after the season and spend some quality time with his wife and daughter. He was able to reflect for a while on all that happened but also looks forward to getting back in 2014. “It was a couple of weeks of being able to reflect. Once I started working out, it was just how I do it. Just get back and work hard. At that point, I wasn’t thinking about the past. I was just kind of thinking about what I was doing that day and thinking about this upcoming season.” Less than three weeks until Opening Day, and Doug Bernier is still on the Twins spring training roster. The odds may not be real high that he starts the season in the majors, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he surfaces with the Twins again in 2014.

The Minnesota Twins were back in action on Tuesday after an off day on Monday. The team traveled to Port Charlotte and lost to the Tampa Bay Rays by a score of 7-1. Jason Kubel homering seems to have been the main story of the game. As Twins Daily fans would know and expect from me, I chose to stay in Ft. Myers because there were two more minor league intrasquad games. Four Twins pitchers threw in the game to mixed results, but there was plenty going on in the games. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Note - There are a LOT of pictures from yesterday's games in this article, but there will be a lot more on the Twins Daily Facebook page throughout the afternoon. Be sure to Like Twins Daily on Facebook to see more. The biggest news was that Matt Guerrier made his first appearance in a game on the mound. It wasn’t a big league game, but it was a milestone for the 35 year old veteran nonetheless. He looked good. The first batter he faced was Byron Buxton who hit a hard ground ball that third baseman Tony Thomas dove to his left for, got up and got him by a half step. The next batter was Jorge Polanco and he grounded out as well. John Murphy came up and hit a fly ball to left center that should have been an easy out, but it dropped for a double. Good thing Tom Kelly didn’t see that. Guerrier walked the next batter before getting the final out on a lazy fly ball. The secondary news was that Jared Burton came in and pitched the first inning for New Britain. To say it didn’t go well is an understatement. The first batter was Corey Wimberly, and he singled. With Burton not even paying attention, the diminutive veteran stole second and third base. Then Burton hit Chris Rahl who proceeded to steal second base on the first pitch. The next batter hit a hard one-hopped that Jorge Polanco, playing shortstop, dove and caught. He got up and threw a short-hopper to first base that got by the first baseman just enough for both runners to score. CJ Ziegler, the large man signed from independent ball this winter, hit a deep double to the right centerfield fence. On the next pitch, Danny Ortiz hit a ball about 420 feet to right field, and it was 5-0. Burton did get the next hitter, Reynaldo Rodriguez, out on a ball that was caught near the fence in centerfield, about 405 feet from home plate. Frankly, I went over to watch the other game at that point, but I understand he got the final two outs of the inning. It is important to note that he doesn't throw his slider this early in spring training, so let's not make too much out of this. In good news, Brian Duensing and Glen Perkins had relatively easy innings. Perkins made a couple of hitters look silly on his slider, caught by the catcher near the back foot of right-handed hitters. Mike Kvasnicka and AJ Pettersen, like Perkins, are former Gophers, put the ball in play against him. Kvasnicka flew out, and Pettersen lined out to third base. That’s the big league portion of the minor league report for today. Below, you will find several other observations from intra-squad game two. Pitchers of the day: ROCHESTER/NEW BRITAIN GAME: Matt Guerrier, Jared Burton, Brian Duensing, Glen Perkins, Pat Dean, AJ Achter, Dakota Watts, Mark Hamburger, DJ Baxendale, Madison Boer, BJ Hermsen, Cole Johnson, Tyler Duffey, Brett Lee FT. MYERS/CEDAR RAPIDS: JO Berrios, Felix Jorge, Yorman Landa, Stephen Gonsalves, Josh Burris, CK Irby, Chris Mazza, Carson Goldsmith, Sam Gibbons, Tanner Mendonca, Dereck Rodriguez, Todd Van Steensel THE PITCHERS: DJ Baxendale looks tough. Like Scott Erickson, he looks in for the signal with his hand in his glove, peering over the top of his glove. He has a quick delivery, but he throws pretty hard and his breaking ball looks really tough. Todd Van Steensel went 5-2 in 2011 with the Elizabethton Twins, but after the season, he was released. The Australian went back home and he been pitching in the Australian Baseball League. This spring, he the Twins re-signed him. Watching him reminds me of former Twins reliever, turned dominant closer the last few years, Grant Balfour. He wears the goggles. He pitches solely from the stretch. He has a high leg-kick and he throws a lot harder. We’ll see where it goes, but still just 23, he is worth watching. Also, how can we not cheer for a guy who got to take a selfie with Taylor Swift. Reports from last year were that lefty Pat Dean topped out around 88 mph, but he was throwing pretty well on Tuesday. He showed terrific control in the strike zone, or just off the corners throughout his two innings. The former third round pick gets forgotten, but he did make it to AAA last year. I had the chance to talk to AJ Achter a little bit yesterday. He pitched and said he felt really good. I asked him about his experience in the Arizona Fall League last year, and he said he enjoyed it immensely. He said he threw really well early, but by the end of the season, his arm was really tired and he had little left. He’s looking forward to a fresh start this year. Brett Lee has been my choice throughout the offseason as a sleeper candidate. The lefty looked really good pitching against the AAA hitters on Tuesday. I talked to him afterward for a little while. He said it felt good. They were encouraged to get a feel for all of their pitches. Going forward in spring, they’ll start focusing more on fastball command. He has a nasty slider that he said is going well so far in spring. BJ Hermsen had a rough year in 2013. He would be the first one to admit it. What he won’t admit is that the strained oblique injury that he suffered late in spring training last year affected him the entire year. Obviously Hermsen relies on his control and movement. But when your side hurts, imagine trying to find a consistent release point that doesn’t hurt. He looked good in his first outing of the spring on Tuesday. Tyler Duffey pitched, and got a bunch of ground balls. I was able to stand behind the plate a little more when he was pitching and saw the life on his pitches. He didn’t throw real hard, but he did got a lot of sink, and because of it, you can see why he has the potential to be an extreme ground ball pitcher. Mark Hamburger looked solid in his first inning as well. He throws pretty hard still, and that mustache has to be intimidating. JO Berrios may not be tall, but he does a very nice job on the mound. I watched his pregame bullpen. He throws hard and locates well down in the zone. His breaking pitch looked devastating in the bullpen. He did walk one batter in his first inning, but he got out of it. In the second inning, he got a weak ground ball to first base. Then a ground ball back to himself that he made an athletic, diving play on. He struck out the final batter he faced. He did miss on his location on one pitch that I’ll write more about later. Stephen Gonsalves is tall and long. He looks like a pitcher, especially standing on the mound. He has a very smooth delivery and great arm action. He didn’t throw blazing fast at this stage, but he’s got a good, consistent release even on his breaking pitches. He got hit a little bit, and he even walked one, but in all, it’s clear he has some potential. Felix Jorge came on and he definitely looks like he’s going to be good. He is tall and he is very lean. He throws hard, but has good control. The breaking pitch and the change looked pretty good. Yorman Landa also threw. He’s a little bigger and stronger than Jorge at this point, but the scouting reports that I’ve seen and heard were on display in this game. He throws really hard and he doesn’t always know where it’s going to go. In fact, he hit Ivory Thomas, who isn’t a real big target, near the shoulder with a pitch. Reports on Josh Burris were accurate too. Throws hard, struggles with control, hammer for a curveball! Brian Gilbert looks like a late-inning reliever. He’s got a certain mound presence that is clear watching him. He throws pretty hard, and does have good control too. Could move quickly. Dereck Rodriguez, I wish I would have seen more of him, but he is tall and thin. Kind of the opposite build of his father who is aptly nicknamed “Pudge.” He does throw hard. He’ll have to work on his other pitches. He’ll go back to EST and develop. THE HITTERS I have to lead the hitters with Brian Navaretto. I mentioned earlier the one bad pitch the JO Berrios threw? It was to Navaretto, and he deposited it well over the left field fence. Unlike a day earlier, this one stayed fair. He had at least one other hit in the game. Travis Harrison says that he is seeing the ball really well. He hit the long home run on Monday and hit some hard line drives. He said that he is disappointed somewhat in moving to the outfield because he felt he made some real positive strides throughout the 2013 season. He pointed at Jake Mauer and said, “a huge amount of credit goes to that guy right there.” But he also understands it and knows that his best attribute as a player is his offense, specifically his power. Byron Buxton grounded out in his first two minor league at-bats. He then hit a chopper down the third base line that he beat out. He played just five innings. Same thing with Jorge Polanco. In one of his at-bats, he lined a ball to center in one at-bat and went all-out to second for a double. However, he played shortstop and it was a mess. He made no fewer than three errors that I saw. He was saved on another one when a ball went under his glove and the second baseman fielded it and stepped on the base for an out. Listen, he’ll be fine as a shortstop. It wasn’t a good day, but he can field. It is also clear that he is a second baseman. Max Kepler played for the Ft. Myers team and played the full game. He struck out against Gonsalves, but he hit the ball real hard a few times. He played right field throughout the game. Starting to feel better about my pick of Stuart Turner as my breakout hitter of 2014. He hit a long double to right field off of Duensing. He had another line drive hit. He also does a tremendous job behind the plate. You can see that clearly. We also shouldn’t overlook 2013 ninth round pick Mitch Garver. He’s a terrific backstop as well, and he can hit too: a lot of line drives. Up the middle defense looks to have some potentially really good glove guys. Nelson Molina, Will Hurt, Carlos Avila, Jonatan Hinojosa, Ryan Walker, AJ Pettersen, Niko Goodrum, and Jorge Polanco are all really good glove guys. The guy people wanted to talk about was Engelb Vielma. He has made some tremendous plays with the glove. Levi Michael did not play on Tuesday after a leg injury on Monday. It didn’t appear serious. Nate Roberts is around and doing some running and such, but he has not played yet. DISCLAIMER: Yes, I am aware that seeing these guys for one or two games does not a sufficient scouting report make. However, it is great to be able to see these players who otherwise you only know through box scores. It is enlightening. Twins play the Pirates in a couple of hours. Kevin Correia and Gerrit Cole will be starting. Oswaldo Arcia is returning to the lineup and the outfield. Aaron Hicks is again not in the lineup. Robby Incmikoski is here in Ft. Myers with the Pirates broadcast team. Also, Jack Morris is making his radio debut today. The game will also air on FSN at 12:05 (central).

On Monday, the Minnesota Twins had an actual off day. The players and the coaching staff were given a full day off. However, on the minor league side, things were really busy. They held a regular workout from about 9:30 until 11:30, but then after lunch, they played their first intra-squad game of the season after four full days of workouts. On Tuesday afternoon, there will be another set of intra-squad games.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] At 1:00, the Rochester Red Wings work group played against the New Britain Rock Cats work group. At the same time, on an adjacent field, the Ft. Myers Miracle work group went up against the Cedar Rapids Kernels. There was actually quite a crowd at the game. For a minor league guy like myself, this is an amazing atmosphere. I walked back and forth between the fields with a camera, trying to get pictures of everyone. However, with prospects playing on both fields, it can be a little overwhelming. It is also pretty incredible. As mentioned on Sunday, the Twins cut 16 players from Twins camp. Those players were encouraged to take Monday off as well and are expected to report to minor league camp on Tuesday. Notes from the day: Pitchers of the day: ROCHESTER: Virgil Vasquez, Taylor Rogers, Matt Summers, Matt Hauser, AJ Achter and Ryan O’Rourke. NEW BRITAIN: Jason Wheeler, Mason Melotakis, Tim Shibuya, Chad Rodgers, Matt Tomshaw, Tyler Jones. FT. MYERS: Aaron Slegers, Kuo Hua Lo, Christian Powell, Fernando Romero, Randy Rosario. CEDAR RAPIDS: Kohl Stewart, Lewis Thorpe, Ethan Mildren, Derrick Penilla, Tyler Stirewalt. Of course, the questions you will want to ask likely revolve around seeing Stewart, Thorpe and Romero. I can’t blame you. Those are three guys that I found myself gravitating toward when they were on the mound. Obviously what they did statistically doesn’t really matter at all, especially five days into camp. Where all of these pitchers were on Monday is not where they hopefully will be in April and throughout the season. Here are my thoughts on those three and some others. Kohl Stewart – He certainly is an athlete. He has a good delivery, and he does throw pretty hard (though I don’t think he was airing it out yet). He struggled some with his control and walked a couple. He’s not as tall as many of the Twins pitchers. He’s about 6-3 and has room to grow. Lewis Thorpe – The lefty was pretty impressive as well. He showed a good fastball and a good curveball, and many think his changeup may be his best pitch. There was contact on him, but for the most part, he also just threw strikes. He has a very smooth delivery. It is clear he’s got a high baseball IQ and knows how to pitch. Couple that with his stuff and he has a chance. Fernando Romero – He threw the hardest of the group, and he does have that slider. He struggled with his control as well. He is not tall, and he is pretty stocky. Scouts likely notice that he has some pretty big, strong legs. Randy Rosario – Jorge and Landa didn’t pitch, but Rosario was impressive. He’s a small, athletic guy with a lot of energy. He does throw pretty hard, and when he throws strikes, it’s hard to make great contact off him. Jason Wheeler – The very tall (6-8) lefty looks pretty impressive. He’s lanky, and the mechanical adjustments he made while working with Ivan Arteaga last year have helped him increase his 87-89 mph fastball to 91-92 mph. He has very good mechanics and a nice delivery. He also has a brother that plays in the big leagues. Mason Melotakis – He definitely did not have his best control, but he does throw hard. He threw a lot of fastballs in the dirt. Matt Hauser* – He throws really hard. It might be a bit straight though as he was hit really hard. Again, nothing to worry about, but he is a reliever to watch this year. Tim Shibuya – He missed much of the early part of the 2013 season after shoulder surgery the previous offseason. He showed his old impeccable control and appeared to be throwing harder than I recall. Taylor Rogers – The lefty makes it look pretty easy out there. He has a great delivery and really good arm action. He also touches 93, so he’s worth watching. Kuo Hua Lo – He struggled with his control early, walking a few in a row. He has a delivery in which he brings that ball and his glove over his head and then pauses before throwing. Tyler Stirewalt – I know he’s a guy that Jeremy Nygaard and I talk a lot about due to his football background. He didn’t throw as hard on Monday as I thought he might, but you can see that it’s there. He works from about a ¾ release point and has a good slider. Definitely a project. The Hitters: Travis Harrison – Yes, they had him playing left field throughout the game. He will likely spend some time at third base again in 2014, but he will get a lot of time in the outfield. He’s one that goes without batting gloves to get that feel in his hands. He worked a count against Matt Summers and crushed a pitch well over the left centerfield fence for a home run. He put some really good swings on the ball. He also showed more speed than I recall from last year. Brian Navarreto – The 6-4, 220 pound, 18-year-old catcher was pretty impressive. Behind the plate, he set up surprisingly low. He also displayed a very strong, accurate arm, throwing out a would-be base stealer at second base. He came to bat with the bases loaded one inning. He destroyed a pitch down the third base line that the ump called foul. Tom Kelly joked, "Hey, you hit it too far anyway.” A couple pitches later, he settled for an RBI single. Engelb Vielma – There has been a lot of talk about him. I will say this, he plays a pretty good shortstop. He made a play up the middle on a ground ball and flipped it perfectly to second base to start a double play. He’s thin and has a lot of room to grow. Offensively, he is a slap hitter, as you’d expect. He does have good speed. We’ll have to be patient, but you can see what the Twins see in him. Nelson Molina – Again, he is a guy whose tools are quite evident. The team’s 11th round pick a year ago has the tools. He has a good glove at shortstop with good range. At about 6-2 and really skinny, he has some growing to do. If he does, he could be one to watch. That would also help him at the plate, where he looks like he could struggle in the short term. Also, Will Hurt plays a tremendous shortstop. Tom Kelly – TK warrants his own section. We know he’s a roving instructor, but you can see, up close, the love and passion that he has for the game. He was frequently talking to Chad Christensen. In fact, he held up a full round of infield before the games to show Christensen a couple of tips. In the game, he’s walking around with his fungo in his hands. He’s shouting encouragement to players, and he’s observing. He’s seeing the minutiae that most of us miss. Players who didn’t pitch today were behind the home plates, watching their teammates. Many of the pitchers will throw on Tuesday. John Murphy made a remarkable diving catch down the left field line in the second game. He all-out dove after it and made the play. JD Williams was in centerfield for the New Britain team, at least for a few innings. He made a terrific diving catch in left center. He remained on the field for a little while before coming in. He told me later that he was feeling much better. He had landed on his hip and was moving slowly. Levi Michael – At one point, he found his way on base. He stole second and then grabbed a leg. It looked like it could have been a pulled muscle, or maybe even just a charley horse. A couple of new hitters hit back-to-back in the first game. Brad Nelson and CJ Ziegler both look to have a lot of power and not much speed. They are both big and strong and clearly around for power. Twins Daily contributor AJ Pettersen had a single, a walk and a couple of stolen bases. He didn’t play defense early in the game, but he did go play centerfield for a couple innings. The first two batters flew out to him when he got out there, and he made the plays. Before the game, I had the chance to talk to a couple pitchers. I talked to Tyler Jones who was my choice for minor league reliever of the year last year. He provided the “best shape of my life” line, but he certainly looks the part too. With that 97 mph fastball, he has a chance to move a couple of levels this year. I also talked to veteran Mark Hamburger. He is incredibly excited to be back with the Twins. He said this spring he feels so much better and he sounds like it too. He is in a much better place in his life. He looks truly happy. Asked whether he will get a chance to pitch as a starter or out of the bullpen, he said he wasn’t sure. He will be working late in the intra-squad game on Tuesday, but he was told that he would be given an opportunity to start. He talked about how he has his 50 games to get stretched out down in Ft. Myers. He enjoyed his time with the Saints, but this is where he wants to be. Don’t forget that he pitched in September for the Rangers briefly in their first World Series run. He has a chance to contribute this year. I plan to spend time at the major league camp some on Tuesday morning and again watch the minor league intrasquad game in the afternoon. Remember that Jeremy Nygaard and I will discuss all kinds of Twins and Twins minor league topics on Tuesday night's Twins Hangout at 8:30 (central time). One last thing... here is some video of Lewis Thorpe on the mound.

Each year, the Minnesota Twins (and every other big league team) invite several players to spring training who aren’t on the 40 man roster. Many of those guys are veteran minor leaguers, but this year the Twins brought in some of their better prospects. Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano and Alex Meyer, the team’s top three prospects, came to camp but were sent to minor league camp on Sunday. One of the other intriguing prospects who was invited to big league camp was catcher Stuart Turner. I had the opportunity to catch up with the backstop moments before he was tapped on the shoulder and asked to go to Ron Gardenhire’s office.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Stuart Turner was born and raised in Eunice, Louisiana, a town of just over 10,000 in central Louisiana. He said, “Everybody goes to the high school to play football, baseball, or basketball. It’s a community that everybody supports everybody, and I have a lot of love and support from back home and I’ll try to make those guys proud.” Turner lettered for three years in baseball in high school. He was an All-State player all three years. He then spent two years at LSU-Eunice where he was a two-year starter who led his team to a national championship. He was also the recipient of a Rawlings Gold Glove. Last year, he went to Ole Miss where he hit .374. The Twins made him their third round pick in 2013. Leading up to the draft, Turner chose not to think about it any more than necessary. “I just knew that I needed to play ball and help my team try to win a game and everything will take care of itself. God has blessed me with the spot I was drafted in and the opportunity I’ve been given. Just now I continue to play ball and see what I can do.” He was also named the recipient of the Johnny Bench Award, given each year to the top catcher in college baseball. (See video of him speaking after winning the award) Fellow Twins minor leaguer and 2013 draft pick Mitch Garver was also one of the final three nominees. “That whole experience. I just try to play ball and help the team with games. With the draft, I was blessed to be taken where I was taken. Same thing with that award. I was lucky enough to receive the nominations and lucky enough to win it. It’s just a blessing. Try to come in and help the team win and to play my best every day and let things fall where they fall.” Turner is certainly known for his defense first and foremost, and he has had a lot of mentors to learn from throughout his years. He said, “I’ve been blessed to be with catchers my whole life. My high school coach was a catcher. In college, at Ole Miss, the three coaches (head coach and two assistants) were all catchers. Then to get to my first pro team (Elizabethton) and have Jeff Reed who was a 17 year catcher in the big leagues. It’s kind of like, God continues to bless me and put me in the right places and lead me the right way. I’m just very thankful for that. Reed did a wonderful job with hitters. At Instructs was when I got the most catching coaching from him because he was able to specifically work with the catchers. He was tremendous at what he did.” Upon being drafted, he went to play for the Elizabethton Twins. In 34 games with the E-Twins, he hit .264/.340/.380 (.721) with five doubles, three homes and 19 RBI. He felt that going to Elizabethton was a blessing for him in that it helped him adjust to the professional baseball game. “I’m from a small town, so going to Elizabethton was a little gift in disguise. Just not getting overwhelmed right away. The biggest adjustment was playing every day. Even though I wasn’t playing every day, you had to get to the field and get ready every day. I wasn’t used to that. It took some time to adjust to the wood bat, to not being in the lineup every day.” He also got to catch some pretty good pitchers at Elizabethton last year. “Jorge Felix and Yorman Landa, they pitched really well for us all year. It was fun to catch those guys. They work both sides of the plate. Then late in the year, Kohl Stewart and Stephen Gonsalves came up and, with those two guys out of high school, their maturity level was really encouraging. I think there’s great things to come for all of those guys. And out of the bullpen, there were plenty of arms that could knock down one, two, three, four innings if they have to. That whole staff was pretty special with the newer draftees, the high school guys, some of the older guys. Everybody just came together. The season didn’t go like we hoped it would, but when everything was clicking, that staff was one to be reckoned with.” It is pretty rare for the Twins to give a big league spring training invite to a draft pick from the previous season. However, teams need plenty of catchers in spring training because there are so many pitchers. Rob Antony discussed Turner before Sunday’s game. “Didn’t see a lot of him, but he lived up to his billing that he’s a really polished catcher, and that’s the reason we brought him up here. When you get to the last few guys and you bring in a few catchers, you want guys who will come in to catch bullpens, work hard and get good experience. He did exactly what we wanted.” Turner certainly enjoyed his time in big league camp and made a strong impression. He received his minor league invite before the holidays. “It was a week or two before Christmas. Terry Ryan gave me a call, and he told me they traded Ryan Doumit, and they were going to bring me in to help with some bullpens and stuff. Like I said, I’m just making the most of it.” Making the most of it means, in part, that he has been able to pick the brain of several catchers who have a lot of big league experience. “I see Kurt (Suzuki) doing some drills, and I ask him what is he working on, and he’ll tell me. Little things like that. Talking with Steiny (Terry Steinbach) about pitch selection. Just the other day, I made a bad pitch call. He came and talked to me about it and explained his thought process. It’s talking to those guys with the experience. It’s so much easier to get some knowledge.” Those are good things for Turner to pick up, and he clearly takes his role as a catcher very seriously. However, he also wants to go out and show that he is a good hitter and is willing to work to improve. “I’m a guy that takes a lot of pride in my defense and continue to work very hard on my hitting. That’s what I wanted to do (in big league camp). I wanted to show that I’m a good defensive catcher and show that I’m willing to work, put the extra work in the cages, off the tee, whatever it is. I’ll continue to do that on the other side and continue to do it all summer. That’s nothing different, but I wanted to do to show those guys that I was really willing to work.” Asked where he thinks he will begin 2014, his first full professional season, he said, “They’ll send me where they think I should be at, and we’ll go from there.” For what it’s worth, I think he will skip Cedar Rapids and jump up to Ft. Myers and play for the Miracle. However, with his skill set, he could be a fast riser. He won’t be overwhelmed. Turner is smart and understands that it’s all part of a bigger picture. As you can read, his faith is something that is very important to him. “My parents raised me to believe in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Without him, nothing would be possible and I thank him every day for it.” On Tuesday, Turner will report to minor league camp. However, he looks at his time in major league camp as very fruitful. “It’s been unbelievable. Being able to be here with these guys. The experience, the staff. Everybody’s been there and done that. Just being able to be here and experience it. Seeing how they go about their business is the biggest thing. Getting ready day in and day out.”