Seth Stohs

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2163[/ATTACH] No one expected a slugfest when the Mariners and Twins got together to play in Target Field. Felix Hernandez was on the mound for the Mariners, but Liam Hendriks was on the mound for the Twins. It looked like a mismatch, but it turned into one of the best pitcher’s duals of the year! Liam Hendriks remains winless in the big leagues despite throwing a tremendous, tough-loss, complete game. The one mistake he made was giving up an 8th inning, opposite field home run by Eric Thames. The length of that home run was less than that of a fly ball by Trevor Plouffe caught at the wall by Franklin Gutierrez or a triple off the right-center field wall by Justin Morneau. Location! Location! Location. Hendriks was every bit as good as Hernandez on this night, giving up just three hits in the game. Hernandez gave up five hits, but when runners got on base, both really pitched well. Here is a look at the Twins minor league scores and highlights from Monday: ROCHESTER 6, BUFFALO 1 Nick Blackburn put together a nice start again for the Red Wings. He gave up one run on seven hits and two walks in six innings. He struckout just one batter. Jeff Manship went the next two innings. He gave up no runs despite three hits and two walks. Daniel Turpen worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning. Blackburn improved to 3-1 with a 2.12 ERA. Wilkin Ramirez remains on fire. In this game, he had a bases-clearing triple and his 13th home run, driving in four for the Red Wings. In his last 15 games, he is 23-54 (.426) with six doubles, two homes and 17 RBI. Matt Carson was 1-2 with two walks. Eduardo Escobar and Brian Dozier each hit a triple NEW BRITAIN 8, TRENTON 1 Luke French did what he did in April for the Rock Cats. He dominated AA hitters. The soft-tossing left-hander threw a complete game. He gave up just one run on three hits. He walked two and struck out two. The Rock Cat bats showed up right away, scoring six runs in the first inning. Rene Tosoni doubled in two runs, and that was followed by Nate Hanson’s sixth home run of the season, a three-run blast. Oswaldo Arcia went 2-4 with a walk and his 20th double. Chris Colabello was 2-4 with a walk. Chris Herrmann went 2-5. Aaron Hicks walked twice. Josmil Pinto hit his first triple. FT. MYERS, BRADENTON To no surprise, the winds and rain in the Gulf region postponed the games in the Florida State League. BELOIT 11, CEDAR RAPIDS 8 The Snappers bats were out in full force again on Monday. Drew Leachman went 4-5 with his 12th double and his fifth home run. AJ Pettersen went 4-5 with his 12th double. Eddie Rosario was a double from the cycle. He was 3-6 with his fourth triple and 12th home run. Kennys Vargas was 3-5 with his seventh double. Wang-Wei Lin hit his third home run and stole his tenth base. Nate Roberts got on base twice and stole his 26th base. Tyler Jones started and pitched a career-high eight innings. He was charged with seven runs, but just two of them were earned. He gave up ten hits, but most important, he walked none. He struck out seven. DJ Baxendale came on for the 9th inning. He gave up an unearned run on one hit and one walk. He struck out two. ELIZABETHTON 3, PRINCETON 4 Eight hitters for the E-Twins had one hit in this game. The only player without a hit, Candido Pimentel, walked twice. Byron Buxton and Romy Jimenez each doubled. Angel Mata started and went just one inning. He gave up one run on not hits. He walked two and struckout one. Luis Nunez came on and gave up one hit and two walks in 2.2 innings. He struck out two. Travis Huber went the next 2.2 innings. He gave up one run on two hits and two walks. Kaleb Merck went the final 2.2 innings. He gave up an unearned run on two hits. He walked none and struckout two. --- Players of the Day for Monday, August 27, 2012 Hitter of the Day – Drew Leachman [ATTACH=CONFIG]2161[/ATTACH] Pitcher of the Day – Luke French [ATTACH=CONFIG]2162[/ATTACH] --- A Look Ahead – Tuesday, August 29, 2012 Schedule Rochester @ Buffalo – RHP Shairon Martis New Britain @ Trenton – RHP Steve Hirschfeld Ft. Myers @ Bradenton (DH) – RHP Matt Summers, TBD Beloit @ Cedar Rapids – LHP Matt Tomshaw Elizabethton vs Princeton – LHP Hein Robb GCL Twins – Season Over --- 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!

http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120827&content_id=37429990&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb&tcid=tw_share OF Jeremias Pineda came to the Twins organization in early August from the Red Sox in the Danny Valencia trade. In all, he hit .365/.406/.469 with 9 doubles, 4 triples, a homer and 25 RBI. He also stole 23 bases. SS Aderlin Mejia played sparingly with the Twins GCL team a year ago as well. This year, he stepped up. He hit .324/.370/.418 with 13 doubles and a home run. Congratulations to both!

Plenty of pieces at the back of the 40 man roster that can be DFAd as well.

http://chrissyscaffidi.wordpress.com/2012/08/22/getting-to-know-the-2012-draft-class-snappers-style/ Chrissy Scaffidi with a nice Get to Know 'Em on Mason Melotakis and Taylor Rogers.

Chrissy Scaffidi did a nice Get to Know 'Em blog on Zach Jones and DJ Baxendale: http://chrissyscaffidi.wordpress.com/2012/08/27/getting-to-know-the-2012-draft-class-zack-jones-and-dj-baxendale/

Chrissy Scaffidi did a nice Get to Know 'Em blog on Zach Jones and DJ Baxendale: http://chrissyscaffidi.wordpress.com/2012/08/27/getting-to-know-the-2012-draft-class-zack-jones-and-dj-baxendale/

http://m.beloitdailynews.com/mobile/sports/jones-on-target-as-a-closer/article_c26a68a2-ee00-11e1-ad9b-0019bb2963f4.html A nice story on Zach in the Beloit Daily News.

The shame of it is that he had only thrown 112 pitches through 8 innings, so he probalby could have gone one more. But the Twins only led 1-0, so Nathan came in for the save. FWIW, Nathan got to more Ks. I remember that. Gardy was trying to decide whether or not to keep him in, but as Santana walked off the mound, he was tipping his cap to the crowd and basically acting as if he was done. Made Gardy's decision to go to Nathan pretty easy.

http://www.1500espn.com/pages/sportswire.php?mtype=audio Go to http://www.1500espn.com, click on SportsWire, then on Audio and you'll find the link to it.

Chris Jaffe of The Hardball Times wrote an article with a lot of interesting, random Twins notes from their 52 years in Minnesota: http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/52-years-from-the-twins-junk-drawer/

Yeah, some Twins fans are strange. When he was catching 130-135 games a year and getting other days off, they would complain about that. Now that he's catching about 85-95 games and playing 155+ games this year, they're complaining about him not catching enough... I'll never understand.

No, he can't become a 6 year minor league free agent until after the 2013 season, which makes me feel even more horrible for him. he was drafted in 2006, but he didn't sign until early in the 2007 season, after his senior season of college (final year of draft-n-follows). if they don't put him on the 40 man roster (or if they do for September and then take him back off again), he would be eligible for the Rule 5 draft. But then again, when the Twins took him off the 40 man last November, no one claimed him. Hard for me to understand this one. In 8-9 years of following the Twins farm system pretty closely, nothing has confused me more than the Slama Situation.

Sano returned to the lineup on Sunday afternoon in Cedar Rapids. He went 4-6 with a walk, two doubles (28), his 27th home run and 3 RBI. He also stole his eighth base of the year. His 3 RBI gives him 97 on the season.

You can view the page at http://www.twinsdaily.com/content.php?968-Sunday-Minor-League-Game-Notes

The Twins got off the schneid with a 6-5 win over the Rangers. They end their AL West road trip with two wins in ten games. Ben Revere went 4-4 with a triple. Denard Span had two hits. Cole De Vries started, and after a long rain delay, he returned and was able to go five innings. He left with a 6-2 lead. Jeff Gray came on and before too long, it was 6-5. Casey Fien did a great job in 1.2 innings, striking out three. Jared Burton pitched a scoreless eighth inning, and Glen Perkins was terrific in the ninth for his eighth save. [ATTACH=CONFIG]2139[/ATTACH] Here is a look at the Twins minor league scores and highlights from Sunday: GAME 1 - ROCHESTER 0, BUFFALO 1 Esmerling Vasquez continues to push toward a September call-up. The hard-throwing right-hander gave up one run on six hits in six innings. He walked three and struck out seven to reduce his ERA to 2.78. Of course, since the Red Wings were shutout, Vasquez got the loss. The Red Wings bats managed just three hits in the game. Matt Carson hit two doubles, his 25th and 26th of the year. GAME 2 - ROCHESTER 11, BUFFALO 9 Game 1 was a pitcher’s duel. In Game 2, the bats showed up. The Twins went with a bullpen game. Caleb Thielbar started and went the first three innings. He gave up five runs (2 earned) on three hits. He walked twice and struck out three. Bobby Lanigan improved to 6-1 with a scoreless inning. Luis Perdomo then gave up four runs on five hits and a walk in 1.1 innings. Anthony Slama came in for the final five outs and he gave up no runs on one hit to record his 12th save and drop his ERA to 0.59. Brian Dozier broke out of his slump in a big way. He went 3-3 with a walk, was hit by a pitch and hit his 11th double. Chris Parmelee went 2-3 with two walks and his first triple. Matt Carson was 2-4 with a walk and added his 27th and 28th doubles. He also threw out a runner attempting to advance to third base. Wilkin Ramirez went 2-4 with a walk and his 14th double. NEW BRITAIN 7, NEW HAMPSHIRE 8 The Rock Cats had some big home runs. Chris Colabello drilled a three-run homer to keep the Rock Cats in the game early. Then, in the top of the ninth, down four runs, Oswaldo Arcia came up and hit a grand slam to tie the game. However, in the end, they came up just one run short. Andrew Albers started and gave up four runs on seven hits in five innings. He walked one and struck out two. Matt Hauser gave up two runs on four hits in two innings. Blake Martin went the next inning and gave up one run on one hit. Bruce Pugh came in for the bottom of the ninth. He got two outs, but he gave up the winning run to take the loss. Chris Colabello went 2-5 with his 19th home run and three RBI, putting him at 95 RBI on the year. Aaron Hicks was 3-4 with a walk and his 31st stolen base. Rene Tosoni went 2-5. Deibinson Romero went 2-3 with a walk and his 21st double. Shawn Roof was 2-4. Oswaldo Arcia hit the grand slam, his 8th home run and his four RBI gives him 57 with the Rock Cats. FT. MYERS, PALM BEACH The game was cancelled earlier on Sunday morning due to the inclement weather caused by Tropical Storm Isaac. Their game on Monday has already been postponed. BELOIT 8, CEDAR RAPIDS 9 (13 innings) It was a long afternoon in Cedar Rapids. The game’s start was delayed for a bit, and then 13 innings later, it finally came to an end. Jason Wheeler started and gave up four runs on seven hits in six innings. He walked two and struck out seven. Mason Melotakis came on and got all five batters he faced out, three on strikeouts. Zach Jones and gave up three runs on two hits and three walks in just one inning. He struck out three. Taylor Rogers went 2.1 perfect innings. Tim Atherton went the next 1.2 innings and gave up two runs on two hits and two walks. He struck out two. Miguel Sano had a big day after getting a day off on Saturday. He went 4-6 with a walk, his 27th and 28th doubles, his 27th home run and three RBI (which gives him 97 on the year). He also stole his 8th base. Wang-Wei Lin was 3-5 with his 13th double and ninth stolen base. Kennys Vargas was 2-6 with a walk and his 11th home run. Stephen Wickens went 2-6 with his second home run and seventh stolen base. Nate Roberts went 2-5 with two walks, his 17th double and his 25th stolen base. ELIZABETHTON 6, PULASKI 8 DJ Hicks hit a two-run homer as part of a game-tying four-run ninth for the E-Twins. Unfortunately, Pulaski came back and won in the 9th. The E-Twins had eight players with one hit each. Jorge Polanco was 1-3 with his fifth homer. Byron Buxton hit his fifth double. Hudson Boyd started and gave up four runs (3 earned) on eight hits. In five innings, he walked two and struck out three. Josh Burris gave up two runs on three hits and a walk in his inning. Tyler Duffey came on and struck out three in two scoreless innings. Chris Mazza gave up two runs (1 earned) on three hits and a walk in two innings. --- Players of the Day for Sunday, August 27, 2012 Hitter of the Day – Miguel Sano [ATTACH=CONFIG]2137[/ATTACH] Pitcher of the Day – Esmerling Vasquez [ATTACH=CONFIG]2138[/ATTACH] --- A Look Ahead – Monday, August 28, 2012 Schedule Rochester @ Buffalo – RHP Nick Blackburn New Britain @ Trenton – LHP Luke French Ft. Myers @ Bradenton – Game Postponed Beloit @ Cedar Rapids – RHP Tyler Jones Elizabethton vs Princeton – RHP Angel Mata GCL Twins – Season Over --- 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!

It wouldn't hurt him at all... and if he's as good as we all believe, he'll rake and be up in Rochester within 6 weeks. Same thing with Hicks really.

Well, he did miss 2 months this year with a broken leg, suffered on a hard ground ball back at him by Miguel Tejada. I have to believe that if he was healthy, he would have got a legitimate 2-3 month look. He's been good again and should be up. I've never understood it... Based on his K-Rates, I'd say that big league hitters should be made to prove that they can hit him at this point. Enough guys who don't put up Slama numbers get chances because of "stuff", but Slama can't get a real chance despite unbelievable numbers in AAA? Makes no sense whatsoever. Maybe the Twins will prove to be right in this case too. But he's earned a chance. Scary thing is that because of when he signed, he can't become a minor league free agent until AFTER the 2013 season. Poor guy!

Yeah, I don't think it's "tuning out" at all... It's not that, it's not lack of effort. It's lack of pitching, falling behind... Gardy is a terrific manager, and like others have said, he'll have a lot of job offers.

Great article!! A definitely talking/thinker, and I have no idea what the answer is... By the way, this blog has been promoted to the front page. Comments will be closed here, but you can find them in the main forum now. http://www.twinsdaily.com/content.php?966-Blind-faith-vs-evidence-and-reason

Stuifbergen and Dean better be starting in New Britain. Bromberg will need to go to Rochester as well. Now sure how you picture Nate Roberts becoming a AAA utility infielder next year, when he's a starting OF in Low A this year.

Hard to get too excited about Wickens yet, although this year he has done very well. Since joining the Snappers, he's played some 2B and some SS, not that great with the glove. His bat, surprisingly, is what keeps him in the lineup. He isn't a top 30 guy for me at this point, but if he were to jump up to FM next year, might be worth watching. Some of his future, frankly, has more to do with whether or not Rosario stays at 2B. Lots of middle infielders in the Twins system that re all very similar.

His glove - Looks like a great DH!! They won't have him skip Ft. Myers.. the knock on him (according to his manager and hitting coach) is that he can crush curveballs and average fastballs but he can't catch a good fsatball. Also note that Vargas's numbers right now are about what Sano's were through as many plate appearances at the beginning of the year. Vargas is a legit prospect, possibly even borderline Top 10, but definitely not a need or reason to rush.