Seth Stohs

I think you have it backwards... the first number is the number for where I ranked them in January when the book came out. The number in parentheses is where I ranked them in late May. Salcedo dropped a little bit. I also will put out a top 50 following the season, likely in September... but after researching 160+ players for the book, it can change more.

1500espn will be fine. I'm a big fan of Reusse. He's good, and I enjoy his knowledge of this Twins organization and its history. I think that Mackey is terrific. He may not respect all bloggers all the time, and that's fine, but he is a very hard worker, knows the game, knows the personnel, gets a lot of first-hand information. He's good. I think Judd Zulgad's move to radio has been tremendous. I really enjoy listening to him. He and Joe Anderson talk too much hockey for me, but that's ok. Tom Pelissero is the best on the Vikings beat in my opinion. I don't think anyone (other than possibly Paul Allen) does more than Tom, and I also think that he is a terrific host. Finally, Doogie Wolfson is another very hard worker. He knows so many people already in town, especially around the Gophers. They're sports people are tremendous, regardless of what any rankings may say. I can't listen to Soucheray or the national stuff, I guess. Other than PA, I can't listen to anyone on KFAN. Well, I guess I keep listening to Gleeman and the Geek every Sunday, including the podcast... except when they have me on, of course.

I hate to continue the conversation, but I do somewhat feel responsible. I saw the thread go up. I thought it was ridiculous. I went back and forth in my own mind about whether to shut it down right away or not, especially seeing the responses. I didn't for a couple of reasons. First, I heard Bremer's comment and it makes me uncomfortable, yet know I that there was no intent. Second, I don't want to be a big censor just because threads can get tough. Third, I think, if handled properly, it should be something we should be able to discuss appropriately, without the name calling. Finally, I don't think that Twins Daily should be a place where tough issues like racism, PEDs, or whatever issue happens to present itself, should be hidden from. I think good, valuable discussion can be had. Maybe that's just me being a little naive because I know how most forums work, and it's too bad. Finally, I fell asleep on the couch and didn't wake up until 3 and then I went right to bed and haven't had time to moderate. Lesson learned.

To clarify, he was ejected in one game and then hit a homerun in his next? Correct... ejected one night, homered the following night. Ha!

You can view the page at http://www.twinsdaily.com/content.php?921-Minnesota-Twins-Top-20-Prospects-in-Review

In my fourth annual Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook, which became available in January, I posted my Top 30 Twins Prospect list as well as my annual rankings back five or six years. I enjoy looking at those lists for a couple of reasons. First, it is humbling. No one will likely ever produce a top 10 list that is 100% accurate. Second, it’s a fun reminder of some of the names from the past that didn’t stick around or make it. Third, it’s just fun to review to see what I have learned since then. Today, I would like to take a look at my top 20 Twins prospects from before the season started and provide a quick update on how they’re doing. Some will move up, others will (or have) moved down. In parentheses, you will see where I ranked that player when I did an updated ranking before the June draft. In the comments, please feel free to discuss, but also feel free to post your updated Top 10 list as of now. --- #1 (1) – Miguel Sano – 19 years old – 3B In Beloit, he is hitting .259/.380/.521 (.902) with 24 doubles, 4 triples, 24 homers and 90 RBI. He has stolen seven bases. He has also committed 40 errors. #2 (2) – Eddie Rosario – 20 years old – 2B Also in Beloit, Rosario missed just over a month of games after being hit in the mouth by a line drive in batting practice, but he’s back and hitting again. He is hitting .301/.359/.480 (.839) with 24 doubles, three triples, eight homers and 54 RBI. He has committed just 12 errors at second base, and is also playing about a game a week in centerfield. #3 (5) – Oswaldo Arcia – 21 years old – RF It’s been a great year for the Venezuelan outfielder. After a slow start in Ft. Myers, he took off. He played in the FSL All Star game and then hit a double off of Jameson Taillon in the Futures Game. He was promoted to AA New Britain in mid-June and he has been even better. Overall, he’s hitting .319/.390/.534 (.924) with 31 doubles, five triples 14 home runs and 78 RBI. He has six errors defensively, but he also has 15 outfield assists. #4 (4) – Aaron Hicks – 22 years old – CF Hicks has seemingly turned a corner since his strong showing in the AFL last year. In AA this year, he has taken off. He is hitting .281/.381/.456 with 19 doubles, seven triples, 12 home runs and 55 RBI. He’s also stolen 27 bases and has ten outfield assists while showing great range and a very strong arm. #5 (7) – Joe Benson – 24 year old – OF It’s been a disappointing season for Benson since a nice showing in spring training. He began the season in Rochester where he really struggled before being sent back to New Britain. He then had to have surgery on his hamate bone and missed 5-6 weeks. He has returned and is back at New Britain, but the struggles continue. Overall this season, Benson is hitting .209/.294/.350 (.644) with 13 doubles, three triples and six home runs. He’s also 13/17 in steal attempts. He remains one of the best defensive outfielders in the organization. #6 (3) – Liam Hendriks – 23 years old – RHP Hendriks made the Opening Day roster but was sent down later in the first month. He got another opportunity in June that went miserably as well. However, in Rochester, he has been terrific. He is a 9-2 with a 1.99 ERA and a 0.95 WHIP. In 99.1 innings, he has given up just 69 hits, walked 25 and struckout 76. He will get another shot soon. #7 (6) – Kyle Gibson – 24 years old – RHP Hearing reports that Gibson is throwing just as hard, if not harder, than he did before his September Tommy John surgery is certainly encouraging. He has remained on schedule and tonight will make his first start of the year for the Ft. Myers Miracle. In a month’s worth of rehab games in the GCL, Gibson was 0-0 with a 2.45 ERA and a 0.89 WHIP. In 14.2 innings, he gave up nine hits, walked four and struck out 14. Of course, the numbers are far less important than the process. #8 (13) – Adrian Salcedo – 21 years old – RHP The lanky right-hander struggled in the early season. He was 0-2 with a 5.87 ERA and a 1.83 WHIP. Unlike his previous seasons, he struggled with control, issuing more walks than ever. Something wasn’t right. He was put on the DL with elbow concerns early in the year. He came back and struggled more, and then he was put on the DL with shoulder issues. #9 (12) – Alex Wimmers – 23 years old – RHP After all of his control issues early last season, he ended the year with a no-hitter for the Miracle. He had a solid spring and was sent to New Britain to start the season. He made his first start and hasn’t pitched since. After a couple of months rehabbing, he had Tommy John surgery. #10 (N/A) – Chris Parmelee – 24 years old – 1B Like Hendriks, Parmelee made the Opening Day roster. He struggled some, but when Justin Morneau started playing more 1B, he also didn’t play. He has gone to Rochester and been back up one other time. In Rochester, he is currently hitting .354/.469/.691 (1.161) with 14 doubles, 15 homers and 41 RBI. He has 37 walks to go with 33 strikeouts. Like Hendriks, he should be up again very soon. #11 (8) – Brian Dozier – 25 years old – SS In 84 Games with Twins, he’s hitting .234/.271/.332 (.603) with 11 doubles, a triple, six homers, 32 RBI and nine stolen bases. #12 (9) – Travis Harrison – 19 years old – 3B He’s hitting .310/.394/.444 (.838) with ten doubles, two triples, three homers and 18 RBI. He has 20 errors in 45 games. #13 (25) – Tom Stuifbergen – 23 years old – RHP He’s 4-6 with a 5.40 ERA and a 1.65 WHIP. In 53.1 innings, he’s given up 78 hits, 10 walks and 30 strikeouts. #14 (24) – Angel Morales – 22 years old – OF He’s hitting .207/.288/.310 (.597) with seven doubles, four triples, six homers and 28 RBI. #15 (11) – Chris Herrmann – 24 years old – C/LF Hitting .270/.343/.391 with 22 doubles, a triple, 9 homers and 50 RBI. He’s caught in 70 games and played LF in 26 others. #16 (36) – Manuel Soliman – 23 years old – RHP He made two starts for Ft. Myers before his season came to an end due to surgery on his labrum. #17 (15) – Levi Michael – 21 years old – SS/2B Michael was horrible in the first half and has been at least solid in the second half. He’s hitting .238/.333/.303 (.636) with 10 doubles, four triples, two homers and 33 RBI. #18 (27) – Max Kepler – 19 years old – OF Fair to say he’ll move way up this list after this season. He’s hitting .298/.399/.536 (.935) with 11 doubles, four triples, eight homers and 40 RBI for Elizabethton. He played solely in CF until Byron Buxton got to E-Town. Now Kepler is playing in the corners. #19 (16) – Niko Goodrum – 20 years old – SS/3B Like Kepler, Niko returned to E-Town, but the success (in terms of batting average) has not been there. He’s hitting .247/.367/.425 (.792) with ten doubles, six triples, three homers and 34 RBI. He’s got 13 errors between the two positions. #20 (10) – Hudson Boyd – 19 years old – RHP Boyd jumped to E-Town for his pro debut this year. He’s just 2-5, but his ERA is just 2.40. Half of the 24 runs he’s allowed this year have been unearned. He is posting a 1.40 WHIP. In 45 innings, he given up 47 hits, walked 16 and struck out 29. #21 (14) – BJ Hermsen – 22 year old – RHP After four starts in Ft. Myers (1-0, 0.78 ERA, 0.91 WHIP), Hermsen moved up to AA New Britain where he was an All Star. With the Rock Cats, he’s 10-5 with a 3.09 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP. #22 (18) – Danny Santana – 21 years old – SS With the Miracle, he’s hitting .283/.324/.397 (.721) with 18 doubles, eight triples, five homers and 47 RBI. He has 16 stolen bases. He has 16 errors in 67 games at SS, and another 8 errors in 32 games at 2B. --- There you have it. A look at my preseason Top 20, err… Top 22 Twins prospects. What do you think? What’s your updated Top Ten? [ATTACH=CONFIG]2019[/ATTACH]

Ha! Listen, I heard Bremer say that last night too, and my first thought was that it is a very unfortunate way of saying that he was under team control. It's a saying that most announcers and sports writers have used. I would never feel comfortable saying it myself. But there was no racially motivated tone to it. It's certainly not meant as a racist comment. The same can be said for Mastroianni, Deduno, Delmon or anyone who signs a baseball contract. Because of baseball's anti-trust exemption, frankly, players can be traded elsewhere without their permission. that's a sad part of the game. It makes Bremer's statement accurate.But like I said, I think there are other phrases that could be used to state the same thing. Please note - I think this is a good, fair discussion. I do think it is a fair topic for discussion. The reason that Thrylos's thread was taken down last night was because of the name-calling, not because of the topic. There is a better way to tell Thrylos that you/we disagree with him. There are several comments above that are offensive, and that's ridiculous!

Powers wrote a nice article on Colabello in spring training too.

After getting ejected last night, Miguel Sano hit his 24th home run tonight and drove in his 90th run.

You can view the page at http://www.twinsdaily.com/content.php?919-Monday-in-the-Minors

The beauty of baseball is many-fold. On any given night. You just never know. Teams need stars to play well over the course of a season to be successful. But on any given night, anyone can step up when you least expect it and help you to a win. On Monday night, Samuel Deduno was wild as ever, but he somehow managed to pitch into the 8th inning and gave the Twins offense an opportunity to work without being behind. Darin Mastroianni was in the lineup as Denard Span and his shoulder are day-to-day. He came through with a solo home run that gave the Twins a 2-1 lead. Later, he had a big two-run single that broke the game open. It was Ryan Doumit who put it out of reach when he blasted a three-run homer, his 13th of the year. It was a quiet night in the Twins farm system. New Britain, Ft. Myers and Eizabethton had scheduled nights off. The GCL Twins were rained out. There was some thunder in Beloit, but fortunately it was off the bats of two of their big boppers. And the Red Wings game came right down to the last at bat, an at bat by the guy that the Red Wings would want in that position. Here is a look at the Twins minor league scores and highlights from Monday night: ROCHESTER 3, LEHIGH VALLEY 5 The Red Wings got the tying run to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the 9th. It was just who Red Wings players and fans would want, Chris Parmelee, one of minor league baseball’s hottest hitters. Unfortunately on this occasion, Parmelee took a called third strike to end the game. Shairon Martis started for the Red Wings and gave up five runs over the first six innings. He gave up eight hits and a walk. Kyle Waldrop came in and gave up one hit and one walk over two scoreless innings. The Red Wings managed just six hits on this night. Clete Thomas provided two RBI doubles. Pedro Florimon drove in the other run with a single scoring Eduardo Escobar. NEW BRITAIN ROCK CATS The Rock Cats players enjoyed their final off day of the season. FT. MYERS MIRACLE The Miracle also had a day off. BELOIT 3, PEORIA 2 Leading off the bottom of the second, Miguel Sano hit his 24th home run of the season. It also gave him 90 RBI. The next batter, Kennys Vargas, connected for his 9th home run in just his 21st game to give the Snappers a 2-0 lead. That is how the score remained through seven innings. Lefty Matt Tomshaw started for the Snappers and threw seven shutout innings. He gave up just three hits, walked none and struckout four. Mason Melotakis came in for the 8th inning and promptly gave up two runs (1 earned) which tied the game. In the bottom of the 8th, things started out well. Nate Roberts singled and there was an error when Wang-Wei Lin attempted a sacrifice bunt. With runners on first and second, Eddie Rosario flew out to center. Nate Roberts tried to tag up and advance to third base, but he was thrown out. With two outs, Miguel Sano singled, advancing Lin to 3B. Peoria chose to intentionally walk Kennys Vargas to pitch to Drew Leachman. Leachman worked a walk to give the Snappers a 3-2 lead. DJ Baxendale came on in the 9th and despite allowing one hit, he pitched a scoreless inning for his first Snappers save. Melotakis gets the “Win” to improve to 3-1 on the season. ELIZABETHTON TWINS Elizabethton was not scheduled to play either. GCL TWINS The GCL Twins were rained out on Monday. --- Players of the Day for Monday, August 13, 2012 Hitter of the Day – Miguel Sano [ATTACH=CONFIG]2013[/ATTACH] Photo by Seth Pitcher of the Day – Matthew Tomshaw [ATTACH=CONFIG]2014[/ATTACH] Photo by Jim Crikket --- A Look Ahead – Tuesday, August 14, 2012 Schedule Rochester vs Indianapolis – RHP PJ Walters New Britain vs Richmond – LHP Logan Darnell Ft. Myers @ Jupiter – RHP Kyle Gibson Beloit – No Game Scheduled Elizabethton @ Bluefield – LHP Brett Lee GCL Twins vs GCL Orioles – TBD --- 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!

Darren Wolfson is hosting a show on 1500espn.com at 6:00 tonight. He had Terry Ryan on as a guest. I didn't listen to it, but Doogie did tweet the following:

Nice article by Tom Powers. I suppose this makes Chris Colabello the new Brian Dozier, right? How so?

Listen the Twins trainers tell the players throughout the system to always check with them for anything they take. And, I can almost guarantee that this was one of those cases where he took something for some other reason and forgot to have someone look into what was in it.

I don't. The kid has some talent, for sure... But this will certainly hurt his development since he has to serve it only during the E-Town season (like Vargas this year).

From Baseball America: I hope to have more on this soon.

I would agree with those that say blaming any one person is ridiculous. Deron Johnson has drafted well, but obviously things haven't worked out yet for a few of the pitchers. Gibson was a good choice. Wimmers was a good choice. Bashore was a lefty throwing 97 two weeks before the draft. Tootle was throwing triple-digits. Bullock was only walking one every other inning back then. Gutierrez was a top closer coming out of a top university just a year after Tommy John. If the Twins didn't take him at 27, the Red Sox would have before the Twins took Hunt at 31. No one can predict Steve Blass disease. I know most think I'm overly positive, but to say that there isn't some bad luck in there isn't fair either. We've seen the lack of power arms throughout the system. Each of those pitchers (with the exception of the two best - Gibson/Wimmers) were power arms. Go back to that 2004 draft. Perkins has turned out pretty good. Waldrop got hurt. Swarzak had other issues, but he's been alright in long relief. Rainville got hurt. Morlan got traded before he got hurt. 2005 - Duensing's been a very good 3rd round pick, especially in the bullpen. I don't know. I just hate always needing to find blame. Things happen and then they need to respond. That's what this year and next year are all about.

Geez, what is this? Some marvel comic movie??? We get it... Bobby Cuellar is the great pitching coach ever (with the possible exception of Dave Duncan)... right?

I would think one of the two will be called up in September... Maybe. And, that's why you have to read the wording with those spring training (or any) transactions. Arcia was one of 3-4 players added to the 40 man roster last fall. When he or Robertson, etc. were send to minor league camp, the transaction read, "Optioned to..." When someone like Matt Carson or Sam Deduno got sent down, the transaction read, "reassigned to minor league camp."

That is true. Slama has like 28 innings, so he likely won't even get to 40 by the end of the year. There are a BUNCH of guys with less than 30 innings with some very good K numbers, including guys who were just drafted.