Seth Stohs

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The news came from Twins PR Director Dustin Morse following Sunday's win in Cleveland. Kyle Gibson will be promoted to the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday and will make his Major League debut on Saturday at Target Field. Gibson has been a big conversation piece for Twins fans throughout the season. There has been his recovery from Tommy John surgery. There is talk of an innings limit. There has been speaking of Consistency. All of the rumor and speculation can end now with Gibson getting the call. [ATTACH=CONFIG]4523[/ATTACH] In Rochester, he has made 15 starts. He is 7-5 with a 3.01 ERA. In 92.2 innings, he has given up 78 hits, walked 29 and struck out 79. He was very inconsistent through the season's first ten stars, alternating good and bad starts. Since then, however, he has been very good, and aside from one clunker, he has been terrific. The Kyle Gibson Era is about to start, and Twins fans should be excited.

As he should, since he's the one that has seen him the most. He's the one that gets the national cross-checkers to come see them, and finally the GM and the scouting director.

Well stated.

Maybe Gibson makes the Saturday start instead of Hernandez. It's possible. That would give Walters one start to overcome his bad start and Pelfrey would take Walters rotation spot after next Friday. If not, then Gibson getting the call for next Saturday is just a one start thing too. Of course, if he pitches on Tuesday, he likely wouldn't be able to start on Saturday, unless they limit him t 50 pitches or something.

Hendriks would get claimed. I think Hernandez would get claimed. De Vries would not.

Video of Sano's triple last night. Scorched the ball, but the RF probably should have caught it. It was a rocket though. Sano helps Rock Cats stun Aeros | MiLB.com News | The Official Site of Minor League Baseball

I agree with most of your thoughts... The metrics would be hard because it's easy to evaluate the guys they sign, but it's equally important to point out which players a scout said the Twins shouldn't go after, or the guys that they really pushed for but didn't get. Also, if those 17 are only making $30,000, that would be the saddest thing I've ever heard. If they aren't making at least 150% more than that, I would be disappointed.

First paragraph... a couple of them (which really should be sourced) are pushing the promotion agenda... but remember those "experts" likely aren't around the Twins organization every day, much less around the actual players. They have opinions, just as we do. Most of those sentences are just very nice compliments about how well they're doing and that they're great prospects. Not that they are being moved to slowly. Then to the Arcia six year plan comment: He (like Sano) was signed as a 16-year old. Played one year in the DSL, one year in the GCL, and one year in E-Town. He then spent one month in Beloit. The rest of that season, he spent in Ft. Myers where he was OK, but not great, and couldn't hit left-handed pitching. He spent the first half of last season in Ft. Myers where he started very slow before finally figuring out the left-handed pitching. He spent 2 months in New Britain at the end of last year and dominated. He spent about a month in AAA, and now he's pretty much a fixture in the Twins lineup for the next 6 years. If a guy makes his major league debut at 21 or 22, it's pretty hard to agree with that being a slow path. As was also mentioned, one year ago, Buxton had not even signed a contract yet, and he could soon be in Ft. Myers as a 19 year old. And Sano just turned 20 a month ago and he's in AA. Again, hard to say the path has been too slow. Both will likely debut in the big leagues at 21 years old.

I'd say there are likely legitimate reasons that the Twins have not yet promoted Buxton, but I dont' think the heat and humidity of Ft. Myers is it.

Video Highlights & Clips - MiLB | Miracle clinch the FSL South - Video | Fort Myers Miracle Multimedia The newest episode of the Miracle Insider Show is now available on miraclebaseball.com. The episode will look at Twins prospects from Puerto Rico, all the Miracle All Stars and more. The Miracle do a tremendous job with their multi-media. Check out this episode!

Yeah, can't really blame the Twins on this one. Late hour injury. Don't want to use a 40 man roster spot for one or two starts. Gotta be flexible in this situation.

Reusse: Evolution of scouting is not lost on the Twins | StarTribune.com Interesting column by Mr. Reusse on scouting. Interesting story about the Twins first round pick in 1979, during the Calvin Griffith era, and how that compares to now.

Times are different as it comes to prospects now than it was even 9-12 years ago with Mauer. It used to be the following prospects and minor leaguers was done through Baseball America and you were kind of a hipster if you did. Now, it's everywhere. Baseball America is still there, but blogs and the internet have really brought minor leaguers to the forefront. People like Kelly and Molitor are now getting those questions, frequently. I'm sure that teh Twins were just as excited about Mauer and Morneau and Kubel and Cuddyer and others as they are about Buxton and Sano. As for Mientkiewicz, I'm sure they weren't thrilled with the comment, but they don't run from it. They put Sano into the spotlight and wanted him to see how he handled it at Twins Fest. He has grown up, matured a ton in the last 12-18 months. I believe Mientkiewicz's comment was that he could "hold his own" as a hitter in the big leagues. He probably could. But do you want a guy wit that kind of upside holding his own, or do you want him to keep developing so that he can come along and succeed, rather than struggle.

I guess I don't know these people, and frankly, it's not the Twins job to keep other people happy. They believe in what they're doing, and they should. Sano is 20 years old in AA. If anyone thinks they're being slow with him, then I don't get it. We all seem to think that Buxton should be in Ft. Myers, but there must be some reason. It's not making excuses for the Twins approach. It's just saying that we don't know the whole story, and there could be reasons for Buxton still being in Cedar Rapids. It's certainly not hurting him in any way.

Regarding Harrison's Defense - He is relatively knew to 3B still, and he was really bad there a year ago in Elizabethton. When I saw him, he looked alright, and his error percentage is much better than a year ago. It's still not good. But, he has about half as many errors at 3B this year as Sano had last year at 3B. Sano was significantly better in the second half, and people are talking about Sano this year about being able to stay there, so I wouldn't give up on him. Also, dude can hit! Hicks is not exactly nimble around 1B, but he's adequate. Regarding Walker, his power is absolutely legit. I thought he might move up at the midseason mark too earlier. He had an impressive power stretch, and he has driven in a lot of runs. But, despite being a 3-year college guy drafted a year ago, he won't turn 22 until after the season. So, he's certainly not old. He's got amazing power, is a decent athlete, has average speed, can play a decent outfield. The only concern is the 15:63 BB:K rate. He strikes out a lot and doesn't walk much. All that put together, he's doing just fine and I think he's just fine where he is.

I wish I knew an official answer to that, other than to say (as we all understand), it's more than just about the numbers. I just don't know what the full story on the reasoning is, other than the Twins don't typically promote a sub-20 year old out of the Midwest League. They didn't with Mauer or Sano. They both spent the full year in the league before moving up two levels in the following year. I think we're also all smart enough to know that domination for 4-6 weeks is not enough to warrant a promotion... but Buxton is at 10-11 weeks at this point.

Without looking, I don't think I would have had him in the Top 50 pre-season, and I know he wasn't in there in early June. I used to have him in the 30s or 40s when he was a starter in Beloit .I saw him a couple of years ago there make a start and came away very impressed with his pitches. He's not a Top 50 for me, but I really, really like him. I do believe he has a future in the big leagues as a reliever. He throws pretty hard. I think he's got 3-4 pitches, though he hasn't been able to be consistent with them (which is why he's not a starter).

The GM is not the person who decides when a player gets promoted. Ryan visits each affiliate at least once a year. He likely spends more time in New Britain and Rochester as that is where player are promoted to the big leagues from. Molitor sees each affiliate at least twice a year. Brad Steil will see each affiliate a couple of times each yet. Radcliff will see them. The minor league pitching and hitting coordinators are there frequently. The coaches and manager of each affiliate write up reports daily that go to everyone up above. But, Mr. Steil is the one that determines when minor leaguers are promoted/demoted, based on the evaluations of all. The idea that Terry Ryan or others in the front office "don't know what they have" in Sano or Buxton or any single player in the farm system is ridiculous.

We can quicken their paths to the bigs?

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Saturday was a very busy night in the Twins farm system. It started with another Minier Show in the afternoon. There were a ton of great performances and very exciting games throughout the Twins system. Vance Worley continued to pitch as we would all hope. Taylor Rogers continued his tremendous run with the Miracle. The Rock Cats used a few big innings, but could they pull off a win? A couple of former Gophers had a big day. So much to get to! Check out what happened in the Twins farm system, Saturday in the minor league parks: Rochester Red Wings 2, Louisville Bats 1 Box Score Chris Colabello provided Vance Worley with all of the offense the Red Wings needed to help manager Gene Glynn to his 300th career win. Worley worked all nine innings and gave up only an unearned run on two hits and a walk. He struck out five. In his past three starts, he has given up just one earned run in 23 innings. Overall now in Rochester, he is 3-3 with a 3.10 ERA. Doug Bernier went 2-4 with his 11th double. Colabello went 2-4 including a two-run homer, his 16th of the season. New Britain Rock Cats 12, Akron Aeros 7 Box Score This game was pretty uneventful until the 8th inning. Going into the top of the eighth frame, the Rock Cats were down 3-0. They scored three in the top of the 8th to tie the game, but gave up three more runs in the bottom of the inning. However, the Rock Cats scored four runs in the top of the 9th to grab a one-run lead. However, Akron tied the score in the bottom of the 9th. The game went to the 11th inning. After three in the eighth and four in the ninth, the Rock Cats scored five runs in the top of the 11th. Eddie Rosario singled in a run. Miguel Sano hit a two-run triple. That was followed by a two-run homer off the bat of Reynaldo Rodriguez. The Rock Cats had 17 hits, and all nine starters had at least one. Danny Santana and Eddie Rosario each went 3-6. Rosario stole his first AA base. Nate Hanson hit his 10th and 11th doubles. Miguel Sano was 2-6 and his triple was his first with the Rock Cats. Reynaldo Rodriguez hit his 19th double and 11th home run. Danny Ortiz also had two hits. Virgil Vasquez went the first 5.2 innings. He gave up three runs (1 earned) on seven hits and two walks. He struck out two. Edgar Ibarra got the next five outs. Dan Turpen came on and gave up three runs (2 earned) on one hit and four walks. Cole Johnson came on and got the final out of the 8th. Matt Hauser entered the game for the ninth and gave up a run that tied the game. He then worked a scoreless tenth frame. AJ Achter came on to protect the five run lead in the 11th, and he got all three batters he faced. Ft. Myers Miracle 7, Jupiter Hammerheads 1 Box Score Taylor Rogers was given some terrific run support, but on this night, it wasn’t all needed. The lefty improved to 6-1 with a 1.56 ERA since being promoted in late April. On this night, he went six innings and gave up one run on four hits. He uncharacteristically walked four while striking out two. Jose Gonzalez came on and walked one and gave up one hit in two scoreless innings. Ryan O’Rourke worked a scoreless ninth. Former Gopher Mike Kvasnicka missed the first two-plus months of the season due to a broken hamate bone. On this night, he went 2-4 with his second double, first home run in the Twins organization, and four RBI. Aderlin Mejia went 4-5. Kennys Vargas had another two-hit game, including his 23rd double. Andy Leer was 2-3 with a walk. [ATTACH=CONFIG]4518[/ATTACH] Cedar Rapids Kernels 8, Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 3 Box Score The Kernels brought their hitting shoes on this night. Their eight runs came on 18 hits. All nine starters had at least one hit, and six at had least two hits. Travis Harrison went 3-4 with a walk and his 20th and 21st doubles. Dalton Hicks and Jorge Polanco each went 3-6. Adam Walker was 2-4. Niko Goodrum went 2-6 with his 14th double. Byron Buxton went 2-5 with a walk and his ninth triple. He also stole his 32nd base. Michael Quesada singled in the 9th to be the final Kernel to get a hit. However, he had previously walked twice. [ATTACH=CONFIG]4517[/ATTACH] Brett Lee was on the mound to start for the Kernels. The left-hander gave up three runs (2 earned) on five hits and a walk in five innings. He struck out three. Alex Muren came on and got all nine batters he faced out in his three innings. Tyler Jones came on for the ninth inning and walked one and struck out one before getting the final out. Elizabethton Twins 6, Bristol White Sox 2 Box Score Yorman Landa is one of the talented starters from last year’s GCL squad. He began his 2013 campaign very well. He worked five innings and gave up just one run on five hits. He walked one and struck out eight. Ethan Mildren came on and gave up one hit in his inning. Brandon Peterson then struck out two in his inning. Lefty Austin Malinowski went the final two innings. He gave up an unearned run on one hit and three walks. He struck out two. Kelvin Ortiz led the offense. The right fielder went 2-3 with a walk and a double. Rory Rhodes hit a home run and stole a base. Romy Jimenez went 1-3 with a walk and a double. GCL Twins 4, GCL Red Sox 5 (11 innings) Box Score Amaurys Minier was again the top story for the GCL Twins. After going 2-4 with a double and a home run on Friday, he went 2-3 with two walks, a single and a triple. 4-7 with two walks, a single, a double, a triple and a home run in two games! Chad Christensen went 2-5 with a double. Lance Ray (rehab) was 1-4. Fernando Romero started and went the first three innings. He gave up two unearned runs. He didn’t allow a hit. He walked two, hit a batter and struck out four. Josh Guyer struck out three (and walked one) in a scoreless inning. Leonel Zazueta gave up one run on two hits and a walk and recorded just two outs. A rehabbing Bruce Pugh got the next four outs, one on a strikeout. Reyson Zaquiel recorded two outs. He walked and struck out a batter. Damian Defrank gave up one run on six hits in 3.1 innings. In the 11th, Jose Abreu came on and gave up an unearned run before recording the second out. Please feel free to comment or ask questions below.