Bob Sacamento

Sane you are correct, just because a guy can throw 98 mph doesn't mean it's better than his 93 mph with movement. Those two scouts appeared not to be the biggest fans of the Twins' pitching development but did not elaborate and I didn't pry. I do know the amateur scout said Clay used to have bigger stride in college that was the only physical difference I overheard.

Once again, the Twins and Red Sox took to the diamond for Instructional League ball. There was a new giddiness in the air as the League is done as of Tuesday and a good number of these players will head home for the winter.Everyone already has their plans set and everyone has something different in store. Still, for now, there was baseball to be played and talent to be evaluated. This weekend members of the Twins front office were visible in the stands with GM Terry Ryan, Special Assistant Bill Smith, Scouting Director Deron Johnson, and head of Player Personnel Mike Radcliffe. The Red Sox top brass was also in the stands with GM Dave Dombrowski being the most notable. On the rubber for the Twins Friday was Williams Ramirez who was facing one of the Red Sox's top pitching prospects, Michael Kopech. The two matched each other pitch for pitch in the first two innings before Ramirez gave up a couple of hits and a run. For the duration of Instructs, the Twins have either let their starter go two or four innings depending upon their seasonal workload. Ramirez went 4 IP and was relieved by Logan Lombana (1 IP), John Curtiss (2 IP), and Yorman Landa (1 IP). Landa once again was 93-95 mph, spotting his fastball on both corners while breaking off a couple decent sliders. So I know this might sound like a broken record but Nick "Flash Jr" Gordon is really good, not only in the field but at the plate. In the field, he showed slick fielding going far into the hole, jumping and showing off a strong, accurate throw to first. Later in the game, he charged a soft grounder barehanded and threw out the runner while never getting his feet under him. At the plate, he hit the ball hard and up the middle with a compact stroke that is designed to take advantage of his speed. Additionally, he worked on his bunting skills. This wasn't a sacrifice style bunt yet rather a run and tap a la Otis Nixon or Brett Butler. After the game, I asked Gordon about his bunt earlier; he said that's part of his game that he really wants to improve and feels it adds another part to his game. He plans on working on it this offseason with his brother who's one of the better bunters in baseball today and has been coached by some of the best. Another hitter I'm continually pleased to see is Lamonte Wade with his beautiful lefthanded swing and advanced approach at the plate. He really had some good at-bats. Apparently, Gonsalves' last outing was Thursday when he went two innings and he said he felt good but was excited to shut it down for the rest of the year. As he said. this was the most he's ever thrown and by the end of the regular season he was tiring and throwing in Instructs just added more fuel to the fire. Also throwing on Thursday was Fernando Romero who went two innings, hitting 93-95 mph. In side notes, 2015 draftee and reliever Rich Condeelis was sidelined with several stitches in his chin as he was hit by a ball thrown by fellow pitcher Zach Tillery. Unlike most of the pitchers in camp, Condeelis is going to continue to throw for another month or so to stretch out his arm. Unbeknowst to me, Rich has only been pitching for the last 6-7 months as he spent much of his career as a first baseman. The organization is supportive of his sidearm delivery and will let him continue to throw in that fashion. As it turns out, the player I've been sitting and talking Spanglish with over the entire summer was Fernando Romero (he would never give his name other than "Paul"). He saved me a front row seat next to Deron Johnson and Mike Radcliff so that was nice of him. He absolutely hates his picture taken and thought I was a scout at the beginning of the GCL season. On Saturday, lefty Sam Clay started for the Twins, going 4 innings. his fastball was continually 89-91 mph, maxing out at 92 mph, with a slider around 76-78 mph. I was sitting next to two AL East Scouts (one amateur, one pro), and they were comparing notes on Clay. Last year, Clay's fastball was continually 92-95 mph when he first joined the Twins. They jokingly said that's the Twin's for you. I asked them what they meant and they said happens a lot with Twins pitchers. Clay was relieved by an inning of Wilfredy Liranzo and Brandon Poulson for an inning before the game was called due to rain. Poulson threw one slider, the rest were fastballs at 90-95 mph averaging 93. In the box, Tyree Davis got some of his first game action of the 2015 season. Tyree has really bulked up, adding 20 lbs of muscle over the year as he's been relegated to the weight room due to his elbow injury. He luckily avoided surgery and he said that it feels 100%. He wants to continue his season in the Caribbean but is unsure if the team will give the okay. Also getting some at-bats was former first-rounder Levi Michael, who looked very rusty out on the field. Levi's a great guy and I'll always root for him but his baseball career is looking bleak. Overall, it was a great summer of the GCL and Instructs. The Twins wrap up their season hosting the Orioles on Monday and visiting the Red Sox on Tuesday. Till February!! In the meantime, I'll be getting my baseball fix and a foothold on the 2016 draft with all the showcases in South Florida. Click here to view the article

Once again, the Twins and Red Sox took to the diamonds for Instructional League ball. Yet there was a new giddiness in the air as the League is done as of Tuesday and a good deal of these players will head home for the winter. Everyone already has their plans set and everyone has something different in store. Still for now there was baseball to be played and talent to be evaluated. This weekend the Twins front office were visible in the stands with GM Terry Ryan, Special Assistant Bill Smith, Scouting Director Deron Johnson, and head of Player Personnel Mike Radcliffe. The Red Sox top brass was also in the stands with GM Dave Dombrowski being the most noticeable. On the rubber for the Twins Friday was Williams Ramirez who was facing one of the Red Sox's top pitching prospects in Michael Kopech. The two matched each other pitch for pitch in the first two innings before Ramirez gave up a couple hits and a run. For the duration of Instructs, the Twins have either let their starter go two or four innings dependent upon their seasonal workload. Ramirez went 4 IP and was relieved by Logan Lombana (1 IP), John Curtiss (2 IP), and Yorman Landa (1 IP). Landa once again was 93-95 mph spotting his fastball on both corners while breaking off a couple decent sliders. So I know this might sound like a broken record but Nick "Flash Jr" Gordon is really good not only in the field but at the plate. In the field, he showed slick fielding going far into the hole jumping and showing off a strong accurate throw to first. Later in the game, he charged a soft grounder barehanded and threw out the runner while never getting his feet under him. At the plate, he hit the ball hard and up the middle with a compact stroke that is designed to take advantage of his speed. Additionally, he worked on his bunting skills. This wasn't a sacrifice style bunt yet rather a run and tap ala Otis Nixon/Brett Butler style. After the game, I asked Gordon about his bunt earlier, he said that's part of his game that he really wants to improve and feels it adds another part to his game. He plans on working on it this offseason with his brother who's one of the better bunters in baseball today and has been coached by some of the best. Another hitter, I'm continually pleased to see is Lamonte Wade with his beautiful lefthanded swing and advanced approach at the plate. He really has some good at bats. Apparently, Gonsalves last outing was Thursday where he went two innings and he said he felt good but was excited to shut it down for the rest of the year. As he said this was the most he's ever threw and by the end of the regular season he was tiring, throwing in Instructs just added even more fuel to the fire. Also throwing on Thursday was Fernando Romero who went two innings hitting 93-95 mph. In side notes, 2015 draftee and reliever Rich Condeelis was sidelined with several stitches in his chin as he was hit by a ball thrown by fellow pitcher Zach Tillery. Unlike most of the pitchers in camp, Condeelis is going to continue to throw for another month or so to stretch out his arm. Unbeknowst to me, Rich has only been pitching for the last 6-7 months as he spent much of his career as a first baseman. The organization is supportive of his sidearm delivery and will let him continue to throw in that fashion. As it turns out, the player I've been sitting and talking Spanglish with over the entire summer was Fernando Romero (he would never give his name other than "Paul"), he saved me a front row seat next to Deron Johnson and Mike Radcliff so that was nice of him. He absolutely hates his picture taken and thought I was a scout for the beginning of the GCL season. On Saturday, lefty Sam Clay started for the Twins going 4 innings, his fastball was continually 89-91 mph maxing out at 92 mph with a slider around 76-78 mph. I was sitting next to two AL East Scouts (one amateur, one pro), and they were comparing notes on Clay. Last year, Clay's fastball was continually 92-95 mph when he first joined the Twins. They jokingly said that's the Twin's for you, I asked them what they meant and they said happens alot with Twins pitchers. Clay was relieved by an inning of Wilfredy Liranzo and Brandon Poulson for an inning before the game was called due to rain. Poulson threw one slider, the rest were fastballs at 90-95 mph averaging 93. In the box, Tyree Davis got some of his first game action of the 2015 season. Tyree has really bulked up, adding 20 lbs of muscle over the year as he's been regulated to much of the weight room due to his elbow injury. He luckily avoided surgery and is said that it feels 100%. He wants to continue his season in the Caribbean but is unsure if the team will give the okay. Also getting some at bats was former first rounder Levi Michael, who looked very rusty out on the field. Levi's a great guy and I'll always root for him but his baseball career is looking bleek. Overall, it was a great summer of the GCL and Instructs, the Twins wrap up their season hosting the Orioles on Monday and visiting the Red Sox on Tuesday. Til February!! In the meantime, I'll be getting my baseball fix and a foothold on the 2016 draft with all the showcases in South Florida.

It was another beautiful weekend for baseball in sunny Southwest Florida. The baseball gods were smiling down as there was a rematch of last weekends pitching prospect phenoms of Stephen Gonsalves of the Twins vs 17 year old wunderkid Anderson Espinoza. Before the matchup, I got a little video of Gonsalves warming up in the bullpen where he appeared a little wild. After his two innings of pitching, where he showed off his plus changeup that upticked his 90-92 mph fast and the feel of a good curveball (~74 mph). When I asked about his bullpen warmups, he said he wasn't feeling the slider so scraped it for the outing. When asked to order his comfortability with his pitches Stephen said usually it's a FB/CH/SL/CV order as his curveball is a fourth pitch offering that he's working on to give the hitters another look. As soon as Instructional League is over with Gonsalves said he'll shut it down pitching wise until January when he'll start long tossing and by February he'll be ready for his bullpen sessions, in the meantime he'll be ramping up his workout schedule. Making an appearance over the weekend was Twins' masher Adam Brett Walker II, he's only gotten bigger since I saw him in Spring Training, truly a man-child. Walker was impressive at the plate working deep counts, making pitchers work while taking his big cuts. Adam left the game on Friday after four at bats with slight soreness in his wrist but was good enough to play on Saturday while maning leftfield at Fenway South. He got to face some advanced pitching in BoSox prospects Anderson Espinoza, Logan Allen, and Michael Kopech before he heads out to the Arizona Fall League to face even better competition. Another prospect in town getting some reps before the AFL was righty power reliever Jake Reed. Reed looked real good at times in his one inning outing showing off a nasty slider with a hard 95mph fastball yet having a little command issues. Yet one Twins prospect got the lion's share of the praise from the 20 or so scouts that were on hand this weekend, and that would be SS Nick Gordon. Gordon sat out on Friday but played SS and batted second on Saturday. The scouts I talked to raved about Nick, one AL East scout echoed the same sentiments I heard from BoSox coach Joe Oliver in that Nick's going to be better than his older brother Dee. The comp that the scout put on him might be unfair but should make Twins' fan overjoyed was that of pinstripe legend Derek Jeter. The scout elaborated for me that Gordon has all the tools across the board (he's going to stay at SS, can get on base, can steal, can hit and has some pop that he'll grow into), has great leadership, and great overall makeup. Other tidbits from Instructs, Mike Cederoth has a very "unique" delivery if you've never seen it, where most pitchers push off the rubber, Mike takes a little hop and actually pushes off an inch or two in front of the rubber. The Red Sox players/coaches were shouting from the bench that "he's cheating" but the umpire said he was within the guidelines of "the book". By doing so, Cederoth is able to increase his extension and release point which in turn makes that 93 mph look like it's 95 mph. Lamonte Wade shows an advanced approach at the plate, working counts and puts good wood on the ball often; keep on eye on him. Tyree Davis is itching to get on the ballfield and from the sounds of it might be ready for the last week of Instructs. If you don't know, Davis injured his elbow and elected for rehab for the torn joint instead of surgery. Tyree has bulked up while he's been off the field, adding 20 lb of muscle; he wants to play winter ball but is unsure if he'll get the okay from management. Yorman Landa saw some game action that had his fastball at 94-95mph and threw for two innings. Pitchers on Friday included Stephen Gonsalves (2IP start), Yorman Landa (2IP), Alex Robinson, Logan Lombana, and Johan Quezada. Pitchers on Saturday included Sam Clay (4IP start), Brandon Poulson, Jake Reed, Mike Theofanopoulos, Mike Cederoth, and Rich Condeelis. I'll be back next weekend as the Twins wrap up their Instructional League play and players either head home for the winter or off to Arizona, Mexico, Austraila, or the Caribbean for more playing time.

It's that time of year again, where the minor league season is winding down but new life and a new season are just around the corner. Just like adolescence, the Instructional League is often an awkward yet still pivotal period in a player's development process.The bulk of the players who are in the FIL are new to the organization; they were taken in the 2015 draft and just got their feet wet in the GCL and short season Elizabethon. Pretty much they were coached on the fly. Now in the FIL the coaching staff gets to work in depth with the players and their deficiencies. Of the 44 players in camp, 16 of them were drafted this year. The new draftees aren't the only ones in camp. The rest of the roster is comprised of players who missed time due to injuries, players getting ready for AFL/winterball, players working on new position and pitchers working on new pitches. Then there are the headscratchers. A player who had a great season, reached career highs, has been to Instructs before and seemingly doesn't have much to work on. Over the past four seasons of watching Instructs, I've seen the light bulb go on in quite a few players and make amazing strides in their game. I've seen Jose Berrios further develop his changeup, I've seen "roving coach" Paul Molitor show off his abilities to inspire, I've seen Derek Rodriguez the hitter and Derek Rodriguez the pitcher, I've seen Adam Brett Walker work on his bunting, and it goes on and on. During the past week, I was fortunate enough to see a Camp Day in addition to two games against the Red Sox. Camp Days are often various offensive, defensive, baserunning and pitching drill sessions broken up into groups sets. When I showed up the offensive players in camp (minus a few playoff-bound players) were participating in various slide drills. Instructor Joel Lepel was in charge and had Jermaine Palacios as his lead example for every technique. Lepel always picks a few players out and razzes them more than others. The day's pick was Kolten Kendrick or as Joel referred to him as "Cottontop", the meaning could be several different choices but we'll just go with Kolten's hair looks like a red cottonball. The slide difficulty slowly progressed from straight hands up, to sliding past the bag with extended arm, to barrel-rolling, and finally breaking up a double play. Visually, it was appealing as the player's starting points were staggered off in domino fashion, starting to run as the other descended for his slide.Catcher Robert Molina took the sliding serious enough that he split his pants, literally. Afterwards, the players took to the batting cages. Later on, Twins took on the Red Sox at JetBlue Park where the game was highly attended by nearly 20 scouts, everyone from Twins' front office members, Scouting Director Deron Johnson, lead scout Mike Radcliff, as well as scouts from the Rays, Astros, MLB.com and Yankees. Fernando Romero started the game going two innings before being relieved by Brandon Poulson for two and then flamethrower Johan Quezada. Of the bunch, Romero looked the sharpest, locating his fastball while Poulson and Quezada were both erratic yet also popping 98 mph. I swear I've seen Poulson throw every weekend this summer, he shows off a high octane fastball but he doesn't know where it's going most of the time and his slider's even worse. It got bad enough at times that he was strictly throwing fastballs. Still the organization sees enough raw talent that they've kept him around despite his numbers. Johan Quezada is another strong arm in camp who is still growing into his body and frame, yet still throws up big velocity numbers. On several outings in the GCL, Quezada showed a fastball that hit 100mph and a slider in the upper 80's. As one would expect, with all the moving parts to a 6'6 and still-growing physique, repeating his delivery has been a problem. The hitting side was lackluster for the most part, but Nick Gordon collected a couple of hits, and Zander Weil took a charge into the deepest part of the park for a fly out. In the field, Flash Jr. displayed extremely quick hands and a strong accurate arm while covering plus lateral ground. Gordon has a first step in the field that allows him to have plus range. Jorge Fernandez was behind the plate and threw out a couple of baserunners with his strong, accurate arm. The lineup consisted of CF Christian Caverness, SS Nick Gordon, DH Jermaine Palacios, 1B Zander Weil, C Jorge Fernandez, DH Brian Navarreto, LF Lamonte Wade, RF Daniel Kihle, 2B Sean Miller, 3B Luis Arraez. Rafael Valera was the warmup catcher for the weekend, just trying to reps as he put it. On Saturday, the small crowd was treated to a special matchup of Twins top pitching prospect Stephan Gonsalves and Red Sox phenom Anderson Espinoza. Both held the opponents scoreless for two innings and looked good. Deron Johnson came away saying he was impressed with what he saw from Gonsalves in his brief stint where he walked one and as he put it "picked off his first baseman". Stephan has a good move to first and Kolten Kendrick was not expecting it. After the game and the trainer got to stretch him out , I talked to the big lefty about his year and what he's doing for Instructs. According to the Catholic Cathedral HS grad, the key to his season was his changeup. Going into this year, Gonsalves threw his change maybe 10% of the time. After working with coaches last year in Instructionals, he started to feel more comfortable with the offering and threw it 27% of the time this year. That impressed me, not only seeing his change take a step forward but also that he knew exactly how often he threw it this year which tells me they stressed it in his exit interview at the end of the regular season. The biggest question I think both of us had was, what is he doing in instructionals. He's not working on a new pitch, he hit career highs in innings pitched already; the consensus that the two of us drew was that he's just getting further stretched out for next year. All in all, I'll be back next weekend as the Twins and Red Sox will once again take on each other! Click here to view the article

It's that time of year again, where the minor league season is winding down but new life and a new season are just around the corner. Just like adolescence, the Instructional League is often an awkward yet still pivotal period in a player's developmental process. The bulk of the players that are in the FIL are new to the organization, they were taken in the 2015 draft and just got their feet wet in the GCL and Short Season Elizabeton. Pretty much they were coached on the fly, now in the FIL the coaching staff gets to work in-depth with the players and their deficiencies. Of the 44 players in camp, 16 of them were drafted this year. The new draftees aren't the only ones in camp. The rest of the roster is comprised of players who missed time due to injuries, players getting ready for AFL/Winterball, players working on new positions, pitchers working on new pitches then there are the headscratchers. A player who had a great season, reached career highs, has been to Instructs before and seemingly doesn't have much to work on. Over the past four seasons of watching Instructs, I've seen the light bulb go on in quite a few players and make amazing strides in their game. I've seen Jose Berrios further develop his changeup, I've seen "roving coach" Paul Molitor show off his abilities to inspire, I've seen Derek Rodriguez the hitter and Derek Rodriguez the pitcher, I've seen Adam Brett Walker work on his bunting, and it goes on and on. During the past week, I was fortunate enough to see a Camp Day in addition to two games against the Red Sox. Camp Days are often various offensive, defensive, baserunning and pitching drill sessions broken up into groups sets. When I showed up the offensive players in camp (minus a few playoff bound team players) were participating in various slide drills. Instructor Joel Lepel was in charge and had Jermaine Palacios as his lead example for every technique. Lepel always picks a few players out and razzes them more than others. The day's pick was Kolten Kendrick or as Joel referred to him as "Cottontop", the meaning could be several different choices but we'll just go with Kolten's hair looks like a red cottonball. The slide difficulty slowly progressed from straight hands up, to sliding past the bag with extended arm, to barrel-rolling, and finally breaking up a double play. Visually, it was appeasing as the player's starting points were staggered off in domino fashion, starting to run as the other descended for his slide.Catcher Robert Molina took the sliding serious enough that he split his pants, literally. Afterwards, the players took to the batting cages. Later on, Twins took on the Red Sox at JetBlue Park where the game was highly attended by nearly 20 scouts, everyone from Twins' front office members Scouting Director Deron Johnson, Lead Scout Mike Radcliff as well as scouts from the Rays, Astros, MLB.com, Yankees. Fernando Romero started the game going 2 inning before being relieved by Brandon Poulson for two and flamethrower Johan Quezada. Of the bunch, Romero looked the sharpest, locating his fastball while Poulson and Quezada were both erratic yet also popping 98 mph. I swear I've seen Poulson throw every weekend this summer, he shows off a high octane fastball but he doesn't know where it's going most of the time and his slider's even worse. It got bad enough at times that he was strictly throwing fastballs. Still the organization sees enough raw talent that they've kept him around despite his numbers. Johan Quezada is another strong arm in camp who is still growing into his body and frame, yet still throws up big velocity numbers. On several outings in the GCL, Quezada showed a fastball that hit 100mph and a slider in the upper 80's. As one would expect, with all the moving parts to a 6'6 and still growing physique that repeating his delivery has been a problem. The hitting side was lackluster for the most part, but Nick Gordon collected a couple hits, and Zander Weil took a charge into the deepest part of the park for a flyout. In the field, Flash Jr. displayed extremely quick hands and a strong accurate arm while covering plus lateral ground. Gordon has a first step in the field that allows him to have plus range. Jorge Fernandez was behind the plate and threw out a couple of would be baserunners with his strong accurate arm. The lineup consisted of CF Christian Caverness, SS Nick Gordon, DH Jermaine Palacios, 1B Zander Weil, C Jorge Fernandez, DH Brian Navarreto, LF Lamonte Wade, RF Daniel Kihle, 2B Sean Miller, 3B Luis Arraez. Rafael Valera was the warmup catcher for the weekend, just trying to reps as he put it. On Saturday, the small crowd was treated to a special matchup of Twins top pitching prospect Stephan Gonsalves and Red Sox phenom Anderson Espinoza. Both held the opponents scoreless for two innings and looked good. Deron Johnson came away saying he was impressed with what he saw from Gonsalves in his brief stint where he walked one and as he put it "picked off his first baseman". Stephan has a good move to first and Kolten Kendrick was not expecting it. After the game and the trainer got to stretch him out , I talked to the big lefty about his year and what he's doing for Instructs. According to the Catholic Cathedral HS grad, the key to his season was his changeup. Going into this year, Gonsalves threw his fastball maybe 10% of the time. After working with coaches last year in Instructionals, he started to feel more comfortable with the offering and threw it 27% of the time this year. That impressed me, not only seeing his change take a step forward but also that he knew exactly how often he threw it this year which tells me they stressed it in is exit interview at the end of the regular season. The biggest question I think both of us had was, what is he doing in instructionals. He's not working on a new pitch, he hit career highs in innings pitched already; the consensus that the two of us drew was that he's just getting further stretched out for next year. All in all, I'll be back next weekend as the Twins and Red Sox will once again take on each other!

Having seen Palacios play about 10 or so games in the GCL while on his hot streak, everything he put a bat on seemed to find a hole in the infield or bloop down in the right spot, or just inside the line. His BABIP was an insane .464 in the GCL and .375 in Eliz meaning I don't see it holding up. Personally, I think I might have mentioned this before but he kinda reminds me of Starlin Castro of the Cubs, swings early in counts while sitting on the fastball, he's not going to walk much, not going to strikeout much, not going to steal a bunch, makes plus contact, can play SS but is probably better off at 2B in the long run, the biggest question I have on him is power development and that should increase as he puts some weight on his frame.

He didn't sign til September of 2013, there is nothing official which usually means pretty low probably 10K-30K but that is purely a guess.

I can vouch that Cordy is in camp and pitching for the GCL squad just saw him on Friday. Don't think he got much more than 5K to sign. If I see Wiel this weekend around the complex I'll let ya know. If I'm Cody, I take the offer the Twins have on the table. Way too big of a gamble for him to go back to school at this point.

I'll get some video and pictures of him this weekend if everyone is interested. Most of my time at GCL games have been watching/videoing Cabbage, Lewin Diaz, Roberto Gonzalez, and Blankenhorn (before his callup). Also keep on eye on Lachlan Wells who is quietly having a real good year in GCL, looks to be his "Lewis Thorpe type 2013 GCL season". The size is scary as he's listed at 5'8 and 160lb. Sadly, he's pitched only on days I can't make it but he did tell me he'll be starting 7/25 game on Saturday, I'll try to get video then.

Over the weekend, I got to enjoy a couple GCL games between the GCL Minnesota Twins and GCL Boston Red Sox. The best part of these games is the closeness to the action you can get, as well as VIPs lurking around. (VIDEO of many Twins farm hands included!)This weekend, (Minnesota Twins Director of Player Personnel) Mike Radcliff was seen timing and evaluating the new talent. The following links are YouTube videos that I took over the weekend of the prospects. The following are the pitching lines and charts for the 6/26/15 game, followed by video on Travis Blankenhorn, Trey Cabbage, Kerby Camacho, Lean Marrero, Brian Olson as well as pitcher Callan Pearce. The Twins ended up losing the game 6-1 but the bullpen performed well. The following day, Saturday morning, I caught the Red Sox vs Twins on Field One at the Twins' CenturyLink Sports Complex. Williams Ramirez started the game and went a strong four innings. Here are video at bat compilations of Travis Blankenhorn, Trey Cabbage, Lewin Diaz, Roberto Gonzalez, and Bryant Hayman, as well as pitchers Rich Condeelis and Andrew Vasquez The Twins lost Saturday's game 3-2. It was quite a pitcher's duel for the most part. Please feel free to leave comments and ask questions. Click here to view the article

The biggest standouts from the past are Roberto Gonzalez, I heard one fan compare him to Buxton, Ratcliff got a little smile on his face. He really likes Gonzo from what I could tell and was watching him. Lewin Diaz is coming along nicely, he's starting to get an approach at the plate and if that happens with his power, good things will come. Kid is a sweetheart, goofy and always has a smile on his face. He gets comp'ed to Sano, and his bat is special but Diaz is already a 1B defensively. I will say his glove looked more than passable at 1B on Saturday as he scooped and saved a few errant throws. My personal favorite so far is Trey Cabbage, the 2015 first rounder, beautiful swing, makes good contact, is a "gamer" having no problem getting his uniform dirty. He also plays a pretty good 3B defensively, He fully extended on a play Saturday saving what would have been a run scoring double. Travis Blankenhorn has flashed some brilliance at the plate, showing an advanced approach for the most part. Defensively, I've seen him play LF and 1B in deference to Cabbage at 3B. Bryant Hayman a 4 year DII catcher signed as a undrafted free agent looks very hitterish. He slugged a ball out on Saturday for one of the two runs the Twins scored. He's also a great guy, after the game he gave his homerun bat (his first in his pro career) to a 6 year old fan in the stands who was screaming his name during the game. In short those are the hitters I've seen standing out thus far.