Seth Stohs

As we get closer to the end of the minor league seasons, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the leaders in many statistical categories. Throughout the season, Twins Daily has posted daily minor league reports. Within those, some names certainly tend to find their way into the reports more frequently than others. At the same time, there are others who have just been solid throughout the season and may surprise you when you see some of their rankings. There is still another 3-4 weeks, but this could be considered an early look at potential players of the year. Here are the Twins offensive statistical leaders through games played on Saturday, August 11th: [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]Plate Appearances: #1 - Miguel Sano 478 #2 - Chris Herrmann 470 #3 - Aaron Hicks 467 #4 - Evan Bigley 464 #4 - Chris Colabello 464 #4 - Deibinson Romero 464 #7 - Danny Santana 463 #8 - Pedro Florimon 460 #9 - Oswaldo Arcia 438 #10 - Levi Michael 435 Hits: #1 - Oswaldo Arcia 122 #1 - Danny Santana 122 #3 - Chris Colabello 119 #4 - Chris Herrmann 113 #4 - Evan Bigley 113 #6 - Aaron Hicks 110 #7 - Matt Carson 108 #8 - Pedro Florimon 107 #9 - Deibinson Romero 105 #10 - Miguel Sano 100 #10 - Danny Ortiz 100 Doubles: #1 - Chris Colabello 34 #2 - Oswaldo Arcia 30 #3 - Eddie Rosario 27 #4 - Evan Bigley 25 #5 - Miguel Sano 24 #6 - Chris Herrmann 22 #7 - Matt Carson 21 #8 - Danny Ortiz 21 #9 - Aaron Hicks 19 #9 - Pedro Florimon 19 #9 - Dan Rohlfing 19 Triples: #1 - Danny Santana 8 #2 - Aaron Hicks 7 #3 - Niko Goodrum 6 #4 - Oswaldo Arcia 5 #4 - Danny Ortiz 5 #6 - 8 tied with 4 Home Runs: #1 - Miguel Sano 23 #2 - Chris Colabello 18 #3 - Deibinson Romero 16 #4 - Oswaldo Arcia 14 #4 - Evan Bigley 14 #4 - Wilkin Ramirez 14 #7 - Chris Parmelee 13 #7 - Lance Ray 13 #9 - Aaron Hicks 12 #9 - Adam Walker 12 #9 - Matt Carson 12 Runs Scored: #1 - Aaron Hicks 82 #2 - Chris Herrmann 80 #3 - Chris Colabello 68 #4 - Miguel Sano 62 #5 - Oswaldo Arcia 61 #6 - Danny Santana 59 #7 - Deibinson Romero 57 #7 - Matt Carson 57 #9 - Evan Bigley 51 #10 - Levi Michael 49 RBI: #1 - Miguel Sano 89 #2 - Chris Colabello 87 #3 - Evan Bigley 81 #4 - Oswaldo Arcia 78 #5 - Deibinson Romero 66 #6 - Lance Ray 61 #7 - Eddie Rosario 58 #8 - Aaron Hicks 54 #9 - Chris Herrmann 50 #10 - Josmil Pinto 48 Stolen Bases: #1 - Aaron Hicks 27 #2 - Nate Roberts 19 #3 - JD Williams 17 #4 - Danny Santana 16 #4 - Jhon Goncalves 16 #6 - Darin Mastroianni 14 #7 - Joe Benson 13 #7 - Pedro Florimon 13 #9 - John Murphy 12 #10 - Aderlin Mejia 10 Walks: #1 - Miguel Sano 73 #2 - Aaron Hicks 67 #3 - Deibinson Romero 52 #4 - Levi Michael 48 #5 - Chris Herrmann 47 #6 - Jhon Goncalves 45 #7 - Oswaldo Arcia 43 #8 - Wang-Wei Lin 42 #9 - Lance Ray 41 #10 - Angel Morales 36 Strikeouts: #1 - Miguel Sano 128 #2 - Pedro Florimon 111 #3 - Evan Bigley 107 #4 - Angel Morales 103 #5 - JD Williams 100 #6 - Matt Carson 99 #7 - Wilkin Ramirez 96 #7 - Aaron Hicks 96 #9 - Matt Koch 92 #10 - Oswaldo Arcia 87 #10 - Clete Thomas 87 Batting Average (min. 250 plate appearances): #1 - Oswaldo Arcia - .319 #2 - Eddie Rosario - .313 #3 - Nate Roberts - .295 #4 - Chris Colabello - .286 #5 - Josmil Pinto - .285 #6 - Danny Santana - .283 #7 - Aaron Hicks - .282 #8 - Matt Carson - .278 #9 - Nate Hanson - .277 #10 - Chris Herrmann - .273 On-Base Percentage (min. 250 plate appearances): #1 - Nate Roberts - .437 #2 - Oswaldo Arcia - .389 #3 - Aaron Hicks - .383 #4 - Miguel Sano - .379 #5 - Eddie Rosario - .368 #6 - Jhon Goncalves - .362 #7 - Deibinson Romero - .358 #8 - Josmil Pinto - .351 #9 - Chris Colabello - .350 #10 - Matt Koch - .348 Slugging Percentage (min. 250 plate appearances) #1 - Oswaldo Arcia - .533 #2 - Miguel Sano - .515 #3 - Eddie Rosario - .505 #4 - Chris Colabello - .502 #5 - Aaron Hicks - .459 #6 - Josmil Pinto - .458 #7 - Wilkin Ramirez - .440 #8 - Deibinson Romero - .439 #9 - Matt Carson - .434 #10 - Nate Roberts - .430 #10 - Evan Bigley - .430 OPS (min. 250 plate appearances): #1 - Oswaldo Arcia - .922 #2 - Miguel Sano - .894 #3 - Eddie Rosario - .873 #4 - Nate Roberts - .867 #5 - Chris Colabello - .852 #6 - Aaron Hicks - .842 #7 - Josmil Pinto - .809 #8 - Deibinson Romero - .797 #9 - Matt Carson - .775 #10 - Matt Koch - .758

I mentioned when I wrote my Notes from Day 3 in Beloit that due to travel, returning to work and some other things, I may not get to Notes from Day 4 for a bit. I really didn’t want it to take almost a week. However, it has. That said, I still feel compelled to write more about my trip to Beloit because it was such a great time. The Snappers are playing really well. Their lineup is really coming together well. Their starting staff has been terrific, generally providing the team with a Quality Start. And, the bullpen is full of very hard-throwers. This weekend, the Snappers returned to Beloit after a brief road trip. Starting last night, they play three games against Peoria, the Cubs affiliate. They just promoted high-profile Cuban defector outfielder Jorge Soler to the Midwest League. Let’s get back to my Beloit trip. If you missed the first days, be sure to read my Notes from Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Sunday started with a quiet morning of writing. After checking out of the hotel, we met Jim Crikket at Applebees for lunch before heading over to the ballpark. The crowds on Thursday and Friday night were fairly small. On Saturday night, the attendance doubled, in part due to postgame fireworks. On Sunday, the Snappers have a great promotion. The first 500 fans would receive a Prince Fielder Beast Mode bobblearms. The line outside Pohlman Field wrapped around the outfield fence and out into the parking lot. Wisely, the first 500 fans got wristbands, and after the 5th inning, they were able to claim their Fielder Bobble arm. The Snappers were playing the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, the affiliate of Brewers. Milwaukee is about an hour from Beloit, so there are always a few more fans when this team comes to town. The teams didn’t take batting practice. However, in the batting cage behind the third base, manager Nelson Prada was throwing to Miguel Sano, Kennys Vargas and Tyler Grimes. The game was great. The Snappers won handily. Miguel Sano ripped a long, opposite field home run. It’s probably about 375 to the right centerfield gap, and there is an advertisement board that is probably 20 feet high. The homer went over that. Later, JD Williams ripped a long grand slam that really put the game out of reach. Like Matt Tomshaw and Jason Wheeler the two previous games, David Hurlbut was terrific, giving up just one hit over the first six innings. Tim Atherton went two innings, and Mason Melotakis pitched an inning in relief. After talking to several players and coaches following the game, I enjoyed being a call-in guest of the Gleeman and the Geek podcast. We talked about the Beloit team, but we also talked a lot about Aaron Hicks and Oswaldo Arcia and more. I had a chance to see GM Matt Bosen and Director of Media and Community Relations Chrissy Scaffidi before leaving. These two are great. They both work so hard. So does the entire Snappers front office. Seriously, I need to thank especially Chrissy for making the four day trip so great. They were very helpful and accommodating. It was great to catch up with other Twins bloggers like Jeremy Nygaard and Jim Crikket. (be sure to read his blog on his two days in Beloit.) It was good to see AJ Pettersen, who as you know writes here at Twins Daily regularly, again. It was nice to see his brother Josh again. It was great to meet a few more players that I’ve chatted with or tweeted with. Beloit is a great place for minor league baseball. I know that you will likely read many opinions to the contrary, but for all its downfalls, Pohlman Field provides an atmosphere that encourages fan interaction. I enjoyed meeting the fans, and seeing the players talk to fans between the dugout and their clubhouse. That is not the case other places around baseball. Why they don’t get more fans there, I will never understand. I have now made the trip over to Beloit three straight seasons, and I hope to continue that trend in coming years. There is still nearly a month of regular season remaining, so be sure to consider a trip out there. Check out their website and see when they are at home. In fact, the Snappers are hosting the Peoria team the next couple of days. You could see Jorge Soler as well. This Snappers team is fun to watch. They won a playoff spot in the first half, and it appears that they are setting their roster for the playoffs. The lineup is pretty solid. Nate Roberts and JD Williams are doing a very good job at the top of the order. Then the 3-4-5 punch of Eddie Rosario, Miguel Sano and Kennys Vargas is powerful. Drew Leachman is coming on again. Their starting rotation has been pitching really well of late, and they have some very strong arms pitching well in the bullpen. We left Beloit at about 5:30, and we got back to the Twin Cities by shortly after 11. Of course, Monday was full of more driving for me. Left the Cities at about 8:30 and got to Perham at about 12:15. Left there about 2:15 and got back to Warroad by 6. Below, you will find a few more pictures from Day 4: David Hurlbut warming up before the game with pitching coach Gary Lucas watching. JD Williams Wang-Wei Lin signing autographs before the game. Corey Williams playing a game with a fan. Tyler Jones National Anthem Line Up Miguel Sano warming up Sano after home run Eddie Rosario at bat Kennys Vargas connecting. Miguel Sano at third base. Mason Melotakis warming up. Postgame - JD Williams Postgame - Nate Roberts and his mustache and Tyler Grimes Tommy Watkins high-fiving Eddie Rosario with Kennys Vargas and Miguel Sano behind. Postgame - Jairo Rodriguez and Drew Leachman Postgame - Dallas Gallant and other bullpen arms.

Three batters into the game, Nick Blackburn had given up two mammoth home runs and the Twins were down 3-0. He actually settled down nicely after that, giving up just one more run (a second long BJ Upton home run) and working into the 7th inning. The bullpen did a nice job and kept the Rays at four runs. Unfortunately, the Twins offense didn’t do much in this game off of David Price. Justin Morneau and Darin Mastroianni each had two hits. Brian Dozier hit hit sixth home run. The Twins fall to 49-64. Ben Revere and Joe Mauer each went 0-4, and tomorrow they will both appear among the top 10 hitters in the American League. Revere (.319) reach enough plate appearances to qualify. He’ll be just ahead of Mauer (.317). Here is a look at the Twins minor league scores and highlights from the Saturday games in the minor leagues. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] ROCHESTER 5, PAWTUCKET 3 Lefty Pedro Hernandez, who came to the Twins in the Francisco Liriano trade, made his second start for the Red Wings. This one went much better than the first. In this game, he gave up two runs on seven hits in six innings. He walked none and struck out three. Bobby Lanigan pitched two scoreless innings. He gave up no hits, walked one and struck out three. Anthony Slama came in to protect a three-run lead in the 9th. He got the first two batters out (which dropped his ERA to 0.37). However, he gave up a single to the third batter, who advanced to second on a passed ball by Rene Rivera. The next batter got an RBI single to cut the lead to 5-3. It was just the second earned run allowed by Slama all season and raised his ERA to 0.74. Daniel Turpen came in and got the final out on a fly ball to record his second save. Trevor Plouffe batted fourth and played third base. He was terrific in the field. At that plate, he went 0-4 with weak ground balls to the pitcher and to first base and two strikeouts. Chris Parmelee went 1-3 with a walk and his 13th double. Clete Thomas was 2-4 and drove in two runs. NEW BRITAIN 10, READING 6 Oswaldo Arcia has made it pretty clear that he is the top hitter in the Twins farm system. On Saturday night, he continued his remarkable season. The outfielder went 3-3 with two walks, his 14th double and his seventh home run. He drove in four runs, and as Twins Fan from Afar points out, he now has 47 RBI for the Rock Cats in just 176 at bats. Chris Herrmann got the team started. In the second inning, he hit a three-run homer (his 9th) to give the team a 4-2 lead. Herrmann was 2-3 with two walks and the home run. Chris Colabello went 2-3 with a walk, his 34th double and two RBI. He now has 87 RBI on the season. James Beresford was 2-3 with his eighth double. Blake Martin got the start on the mound. The lefty went the first five innings and gave up two runs on five hits. He walked two and struck out five. Matt Hauser went the next 1.2 innings without allowing a run. He gave up two hits, walked two and struck out two. Bruce Pugh was charged with one run on three hits in 1.1 innings. He struck out three. Edgar Ibarra came in for the 9th. He got the first two outs. He gave up three runs (1 earned thanks to his own error) on three hits. Dakota Watts came in and got the final out. With the win, the Rock Cats take a 1.5 game lead for the second playoff spot in their division. FT. MYERS 0, ST. LUCIE 3 Tom Stuifbergen gave up two unearned runs in the first inning, and that proved to be enough. In all, he gave up three runs (1 earned) on three hits and three walks over six innings. He struck out two. Ricky Bowen came on and threw three scoreless innings. He gave up three hits, walked none and struck out four. The Miracle managed just four hits in the game. Lance Ray and Josmil Pinto each had a single and a walk. BELOIT 3, PEORIA 5 Jorge Soler is the highly publicized Cuban defector that signed earlier this year with the Chicago Cubs. Last week, he was promoted to their Low-A affiliate in Peoria, and on Saturday, he played in Beloit for the first time. In this game, he had just one hit. It happened to be a grand slam that made the difference in this game. Taylor Rogers started for the Snappers. He gave up four unearned runs on six hits in 5.2 innings. He walked two and struck out five. Steven Gruver came in and worked the final 3.1 innings. He gave up one run on two hits and a walk. He struckout three. Miguel Sano led the offense. He went 2-3 with his 23rd and 24th doubles and his 88th and 89th RBI. Eddie Rosario drove in a run with his third triple. JD Williams was 1-3 with two walks. Wang-Wei Lin walked twice from the leadoff spot. ELIZABETHTON 8, BRISTOL 0 Twins supplemental first round pick J.O. Berrios made his first appearance in the Appalachian League. The right-hander went 3.1 innings without giving up a base runner. In total, he went four innings and gave up no runs on one hit and one walk. He struck out five. Travis Huber came in and threw two scoreless innings. He gave up one hit and struck out two. Luis Nunez struck out three in his two shutout frames. Tyler Herr pitched a 1-2-3 ninth. Max Kepler again led the offense. He went 3-5 with his 11th double and two RBI. Jhonathan Arias also went 3-5. Candido Pimentel was 2-4 with a walk and his 7th and 8th doubles. Jorge Polanco hit his third home run. Byron Buxton doubled for the second time. Niko Goodrum walked three times. An update from last night’s report. The Twins second supplemental first round pick, Luke Bard, left last night’s game after facing just one batter. He was to be re-evaluated on Saturday, but to this point, there has been no updated. It was an arm injury though. GCL TWINS 3, GCL RED SOX 6 Minnesota native Austin Malinowski started for the Twins. It wasn’t his best outing. The lefty gave up four runs (2 earned) on six hits and four walks. In just 1.2 innings, he struck out one. Hung-yi Chen came in and went the next 2.1 innings. He gave up two runs on two hits and a walk. Alex Muren then threw two shutout innings. Melciades de la Cruz struck out four in two scoreless innings. Bryan Santy led the offense by going 2-3 and was hit by a batter. Javier Pimentel went 2-4 with his first stolen base. Zach Larson hit his first double. --- Players of the Day for Saturday, August 11, 2012 Hitter of the Day – Oswaldo Arcia Pitcher of the Day – JO Berrios --- A Look Ahead – Sunday, August 12, 2012 Schedule Rochester @ Lehigh Valley – RHP Liam Hendriks New Britain vs Reading – RHP Steve Hirschfeld Ft. Myers vs St. Lucie –RHP Carl Pavano Beloit vs Peoria – RHP Tyler Jones Elizabethton @ Bristol – TBD GCL Twins – No Game Scheduled --- 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!

The Twins lost 12-6 to the Tampa Bay Rays. It was not a pretty game. Sure, Joe Mauer had three hits, and Ryan Doumit had a home run, but that was not a pretty game. Down 8-1 after an inning and a half makes for a long game. At least we have plenty of positives throughout the Twins farm system, so let’s just jump right into that! Here is a look at the Twins minor league scores and highlights from the Friday games in the minor leagues. ROCHESTER 3, PAWTUCKET 9 A couple of former Twins were instrumental in a big loss for the Red Wings on Friday night. Eric Hurley started and gave up seven runs on eight hits and three walks while recording just six outs. He did have three strikeouts. David Bromberg came in and provided three scoreless innings. He gave up two hits, walked one and struck out two. Luke French went the next three and gave up two runs. He gave up four hits and one walk. Anthony Slama made his first Red Wings appearance since June 6 when a Miguel Tejada line drive broke his fibula. He didn’t miss a beat. The righty walked one, but struck out three, in a scoreless inning to drop his ERA to 0.38.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Chris Parmelee hit a 2-run homer, his 13th, in the first inning off of Daisuke Matsuzaka that gave the Red Wings an early lead. He went 2-3 with a walk. Ray Chang was 3-4. Pedro Florimon knocked his 15th double. For Pawtucket, Jason Repko hit a double and his seventh home run. Danny Valencia went 3-3 with two walks and two doubles. (Following the game, Valencia was promoted to Boston because 3B Will Middlebrooks has a broken wrist.) NEW BRITAIN 5, READING 1 BJ Hermsen continues to impress. Despite not throwing real hard or recording “enough” strikeouts, Hermsen continues to get people outs and eat innings. He is now 10-5 with a 3.09 ERA in New Britain after yet another terrific start on Friday night. The lanky right-hander pitched a complete game. He gave up one run on ten hits. He walked just one and struck out four. He needed just 94 pitches to complete the game, and 71 of those were strikes. Aaron Hicks led the offense. He was 2-4 with a walk and drove in a run. Rene Tosoni went 1-2 with two walks and hit ninth double. Chris Colabello hit his 33rd double and drove in his 85th run for the Rock Cats. Pretty impressive debut in affiliated ball for the 28 year old who was the independent leagues’ MVP last year according to Baseball America. FT. MYERS 1, ST. LUCIE 2 Cole Nelson gave up two runs in the first inning. And that was it. Those were the only two runs scored by the St. Lucie Mets. Unfortunately, the Miracle bats were only able to score one run. The run came on an RBI double off the bat of Anderson Hidalgo which scored Danny Ortiz. The Miracle managed just four hits. Nelson gave up those two runs on six hits and two walks over the first four innings. The lefty struck out four. Miguel Munoz went the next two innings, giving up just one hit while striking out three. Ryan O’Rourke pitched the final three innings. He gave up two hits, walked one and struck out three. BELOIT 2, QUAD CITIES 1 It was a very quiet game for the Snappers on Friday night. In fact, both offenses in this game were quite quiet. David Hurlbut was terrific. He gave up just one run on six hits in seven innings. He walked none and struck out five. He left with his team down 1-0. However, in the top of the 8th, the Snappers finally got on board and tied the game. Drew Leachman singled to score Wang-Wei Lin. Corey Williams pitched a scoreless eighth inning. In the top of the ninth, AJ Pettersen, who went 2-3 as a replacement for Miguel Sano who got a rare day off, came up and drilled a single up the middle to score Stephen Wickens. The hit gave the Snappers a 2-1 lead. Williams returned to the mound for the 9th. He got one out before being replaced by hard-throwing Zach Jones. Jones gets his fourth save by getting the final two outs. Nate Roberts continues to be an on-base machine. He got on via a walk and a single and stole his 19th base. Wickens was 1-2 and was twice hit by a pitch. GAME 1 – ELIZABETHTON 3, BRISTOL 2 Pitching is the name of the game, and in this one the E-Twins got a great start and a nice finish. Angel Mata started and gave up just two hits and one walk in five shutout innings. He struck out five. He gave way to Christian Powell who threw a scoreless sixth frame. In the seventh, he got one out, but a two-run double put the game in jeopardy. With the tying runner on second and one out , Tyler Duffey was brought in. He recorded the final two outs, one on a strikeout, to get the save. Byron Buxton continues to show he’s not intimidated by his recent promotion. In this game, he was 2-3 with his first double and an RBI. Adam Walker and Jorge Polanco were each 2-3. Niko Goodrum added his tenth double. GAME 2 – ELIZABETHTON 5, BRISTOL 2 The E-Twins were able to complete the double-header sweep in the second game. Ricardo Arevalo started and gave up only an unearned run on two hits in four innings. He walked one and struck out five. Chris Mazza came in and worked the next two innings. He gave up one run on two hits. He struck out two. Luke Bard came in to start the seventh inning. He faced one batter and walked him. He came out of the game, replaced by Kaleb Merck. Merck gave up one hit, but struck out three, in his inning to record his second save. (Note – I am trying to find out why Bard left the game and will report as soon as I have any information.) Travis Harrison led the way in this game. He was 3-3 with his ninth and tenth doubles. Adam Walker hit a two-run double, his sixth. Jorge Polanco hit his 14th double. GCL TWINS 4, GCL RED SOX 8 Randy Rosario started, and the lefty went the first three innings. He gave up three runs (1 earned) on three hits. He walked two and struck out three. Josue Montanez came in next. It was his first appearance since June 11 when he threw five shutout innings. On this day, he struckout five in two perfect innings. Trent Higginbotham came in and gave up four runs on five hits in 2.1 innings. He walked three, hit one and struck out one. Gerardo Ramirez gave up one run on four hits in 1.2 innings. He struckout one. Joel Licon went 2-4 with two RBI. Logan Wade drove in the other two runs. Jorge Fernandez and Brian Compton each hit a double. --- Players of the Day for Friday, August 10, 2012 Pitcher of the Day – BJ Hermsen Hitter of the Day – Travis Harrison --- A Look Ahead – Saturday, August 11, 2012 Schedule Rochester vs Pawtucket – LHP Pedro Hernandez New Britain vs Reading – LHP Blake Martin Ft. Myers vs St. Lucie – RHP Tom Stuifbergen Beloit vs Peoria – LHP Taylor Rogers Elizabethton @ Bristol – TBD GCL Twins @ GCL Red Sox – LHP Austin Malinowski --- 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!