Bob Sacamento

Gonsalves should still be here then, but if he turns it on like he did in 2015, he won't be here at the FSL All-Star break

91-93 mph with his FB on Saturday

While Nolasco was on Field 3 pitching the first five innings, Glen Perkins started the game on Field 4. Perk was economical in his one inning getting a strikeout (all sliders to the kid). 90FB, 88FB, 81SL, 90FB, 90FB, 80SL, 80SL, 81SL (K), 80SL, 92FB The slider looked real good and despite the lack of fastball velocity, it had good movement.

Here is Nolasco's pitch/velocity chart done by the team:

Not usually, if at all possible I take a picture of the box score just depending who's charting. I used to take one of the velocity and pitch type chart but apparently that's private information per coach Ramon Borrego. The BoSox don't care...

Yeah John, by himself you really don't notice it but next to guys like Gonsalves (who's younger) you can really see the size difference. Height isn't the only thing he's lesser in, but also his frame, shoulders and hips. Which could lead to a higher chance of injury or not who knows but he could fit though a small opening in a fence.

LOL, If I posted it up here, I might be out of my free parking that I have done for the past four years

Halsey's right, the players (MLB and MiLB) usually take to the field around 930-10. In terms of MiLB, with games starting at 1p now, they usually practice til 1130, take lunch and then comeback to the field about 1230p Concerning parking and traffic, there are closer places to park (for free) than a mile out at Publix...just saying

LOL, I said the same thing to him. He replied looks can be deceiving, but he keeps active and in-shape with workouts and throwing to the kids. Says he can still hit 90 and yes he still has that hammer curveball; that's gotta be good practice for the kids to hit off of

The Twins minor league camp is finally in full swing as the players start to get ready for their first game action. This past Sunday marked the first intrasquad game of Team 1 (AA) vs Team 2 (HiA)and Team 3 (LoA) vs Team 4 (SS-GCL). On Friday, I got to witness Kohl Stewart going thru his side session. Kohl broke off a couple of real good breaking balls with different looks, a slow bending curve and a cutter/slider in addition to a fastball with good movement. When watching Stewart pitch, he has all the makings of a good quality starter but thus far his game results haven't lived up to his abilities. During his session, one of the pitching coaches, Bonilla, works with his mechanics and the angle of his lead arm. What stood out even more than Kohl's pitching was his choice of hairstyle, in that it's ala Ricky Vaughn in Major League Baseball. VIDEO: Kohl Stewart working in the bullpen Another on the mound included GCL 21 year old Johan Quezada, who is listed at 6'6 but is closer to 6'8. The tall lanky righty hits 98-100mph with his fastball, but it's not his velocity that's holding him back, it's the fact that the ball can pretty much anywhere when he releases it. His fastball command has improved in the past few seasons as he's walking less and giving up weak contact. His secondary pitch, slider, is still a work in progress yet overall he illicits alot of groundballs. Quezada will likely open up the year in EXST and get a chance in E-town, if he puts it together he's another bullpen option the Twins have in the future. More or less a lotto ticket at this point though. VIDEO: Johan Quezada pitching a side session If you don't know who the Australian Todd Van Steensel, you are missing a good follow on Twitter. He doesn't have overpowering stuff but his delivery is deceptive and he hides the ball well, the windup reminded me of former MLBer Hideo Nomo, as you can read Van Steensel's entire name on the back of his jersey. With his dominating first half in 2015, it's not a surprise that he was elected to the FSL All Star team last season, the question is will be able to keep it up in AA this season as he started to wilt in the second half. VIDEO: Todd Van Steensel throwing in the bullpen Lastly another international arm that is intriguing is 20 year old South African pitcher Callan Pearce. Pearce doesn't light up the radar gun but over the course of the past two seasons has started to get more of the feel for pitching. Pearce will most likely stay in EXST and open the year in GCL or E-town. VIDEO: Callan Pearce pitching in side session One more Australian, the recently turned 19yo Lachlan Wells who had a pretty good debut last year in the GCL. Wells is another lefty who mixes his pitches well and has an advanced grasp of pitching. His teammates affectionally call him "Squints" due to his VERY thick glasses. VIDEO: Lachlan Wells throwing a side session The MLB team played the Miami Marlins at Hammond Stadium, so there was a Gordon family reunion as Dee made his way out to the backfields before gametime to see his brother in action and to say hi to his parents. Side by side, Nick is bigger all around than his brother: height, frame, build. Still next to their Dad, Tom "Flash" Gordon, neither have filled out the top half as he did. Despite Flash being a pitcher, he gave Nick some tutoledge on his fielding. Getting to talk to Nick and Tom at the same time was definitely the highlight of my day (which also included meeting Barry Bonds and watching him throw BP to Dee Gordon, Marcell Ozuna, JT Realmuto, Adeiny Henchavarria. Afterwards, Nick took some bunting practice, where the Miracle's coach Jeff Smith helped him with his technique. VIDEO: Nick Gordon working on his bunting skills With all the MiLB players in camp, there was an old familiar face in Loek Van Mil, the 7'2 (with spikes on) Dutch pitcher who came up through the Twins organization. Not many guys can make Aaron Sledges and Johan Quezada look small. On Saturday, the MLB club was in Sarasota, so the majority of the big boys stayed back in Fort Myers to work on their game. Namely, Phil Hughes who threw a simulated game to hitters such as James Bereford and Adam Brett Walker. Former MLB pitcher, now scout Mike Venafro, was clocking Hughes' outing where his fastball was hitting 86-89 mph. It's good to know that Hughes had the time to tweet me saying the gun was wrong, "he might've gotten a better reading from Naples. Based on swings/feedback and actual readings from last start..." Here is some video of his simulated start: VIDEO: Phil Hughes throwing in a simulated game Lastly, here is a look at the future lefties, Stephen Gonsalves and Tyler Jay working with Miracles Pitching Coach Henry Bonilla. I also got to see Seth, Halsey Hall, Chitown, and diehard in addition to a few "lurkers" who approached me. Other Videos: Lewis Thorpe showing off his quick reaction time in groundball drills Fernando Romero fielding an infield fly with his back turned to the ball Minor Leaguers working on their sliding technique

Ah, you Northerners, that's how ya know you're NOT from Florida, 85 is hot? Try the backfields in August with GCL going, not uncommon to hit 110 with the heat index. Might make it up to 90 before you leave Seth!!

The only one of the three that could come back to bite you in the ass would be Arcia. You can pretty much guarantee that he won't slide through waivers especially with the number of NL teams in rebuilding mode that would love to have a 24yo left handed bat with 20+ hr potential for free.

"Caliente del pie" = hot foot

Today in his simulated game/live batting practice, the scout in attendance, former MLBer Mike Venafro had a gun on Hughes putting his FB 86-89 mph during the session. I made the mistake of reporting this and Mr. Hughes was not happy stating, "he might've gotten a better reading from Naples. Based on swings/feedback and actual readings from last start...". Always a caveat with Twitter, only so many characters, but despite what the gun did say, Hughes illicited weak contact from the group and his fastball had good movement.

I posted in another thread but here is the MiLB Schedule and MiLB workout groups. First intrasquad game is Sunday!

Great! See you then, I'm usually out Friday and Saturday around 9-930a

I'll look for you Friday afternoon if I'm still there Seth, worse case I'm sure I'll see you sometime on Saturday. If I remember correctly, there were not alot, if any, of the DSL kids til EXST last year.

So I take you are not a fan of Andrelton Simmons, who despite posting a 75 and a 86 OPS+ the past two years his WAR was 3.3 and 4.0, which means he was VERY valuable even with his poor bat. I'm not saying Vielma is Simmons but he does have a very good glove at SS. Having seen Palacios play this summer, his glove at SS was down right atrocious even with work he's probably better suited for 2b, 3b.

I'll tell you what Alan Rail (Miracle trainer) told me last year, "You only know what you know unless you see if happen first hand.... You can't make the player tell you they're hurting.... These kids will keep playing until you stop them or worse." Rail used an example lets call him Player X who hurt himself in in-game action and if Alan didn't see the mechanism for injury, the player wouldn't have been pulled from the game because he wasn't saying anything and he didn't want the "soft" tag to get labeled on him. Needless to say, Rail made the right call for the team, the player, and the future.

Well...how about that Nick Gordon!! Kid gets knocked all 2015 for his size, lack of power, and slow start; uses it as motivation in the offseason by putting on 10 pounds of muscle---I'm looking for 2016 to be Nick Gordon's coming out party.

About time, now the hard part is to decipher all the data, just like with the Trackman's exit velocity, spin rates, extension, perceived velocity. The data is all out there, the hard part is figuring out what is useful and correlated. Little tidbit, Aroldis Chapman throws hard that's well known but Carter Capps (who has to have TJ now) had a higher average perceived fastball at 101.52 mph due to his hop that gave him an increased extension (8.2 ft a near half foot higher than next his competitor) which in turn makes that fastball a lot faster (3.5 mph to be exact).

Go early my young padawan! Traffic starts to get bad about an hour to hour and a half before the game. If you married another young padawan then a 930am arrival time is ideal. If your mate is of the female persuasion, then the players tend to give more favorable attention. If the MLBers slow practice session is not to your liking head west towards the rest of the backfields where you have the chance of seeing Kohl Stewart, Stephen Gonsalves, Nick Gordon, and other lower level minor leaguers in action. Here you really have a chance to see the future of the Twins and interact with them in a more intimate basis.

Yes dorsiflexing is a great stretch for gastros but dorsiflexing AND extending the toes is the hallmark stretch for the plantar fascia, hell I sell sleep boots for it! Here's an example http://www.braceshop.com/media/catalog/product/cache/2/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/images_swedeo/base/fxt1.jpg Yes, pain after inactivity and waking up are signs for it, but a young physically active person taking one 's shoe off, massaging, tapping and stretching the fascia after activity is another. As for the cleats, being the issue, so whats good about the left shoe and not the right shoe? Is that left shoe broken in quicker than the right? And NO heel spurs ARE NOT the same as Plantar Fasciitis!! A spur in the heel is an osteophyte formation, it is formed out of repetitive stress and bone reaction formation. I've xrayed 100s of feet in my lifetime, and many have heel spurs with no symptoms. I'll tell ya what, when I see him on Friday, I'll ask.