Bob Sacamento

The Twins never surprise, with the forecast calling for torrential downpours in the afternoon the 1pm Hi-A and Low-A games against the Rays' squad were moved to 10am. As many of you have seen Philip Hughes was gearing up and working on few things with catcher Kurt Suzuki to be ready for the season opener. Hughes looked good, showing command of his arsenal, I didn't watch him in-depth but Paul Molitor sure did. Molitor could be seen standing behind homeplate against the fence watching the game intently, more so with Hughes pitching. Kohl Stewart was the bat boy to start the game and was extremely cordial and friendly with the fans signing autographs and taking pictures when he left midgame. After Hughes was done throwing a few innings of in-game work, he threw 20-30 pitches with Kurt Suzuki in the pen working on locating and running his pitches before he was carted off to the clubhouse. At the same time, Sam Gibbons was pitching for the Low A squad which also featured a cameo from Levi Michael with Nick Gordon playing most of the game at SS. After a few innings Gordon left for the infield practice field with Sam Perlozzo for some glovework. Perlozzo was stressing to Gordon the importance at times of not funneling the ball up to the chest when fielding groundballs. Instead Nick was to field ball away from his body with his arms extended and not bringing it in. The purpose of this was to acclimate Gordon on working a quicker transfer and thus a quick release of the ball for those times of slow rollers and/or speedy runners. Visually one could see him struggle with it at first and even told Perlozzo that it didn't feel natural but at the end of it Gordon had it down. Back in the Low A game, Tom Kelly could be seen on the field behind Twins' 1B Trey Vavra giving advise and direction during the game. Kelly was literally behind and shadowing Vavra while live pitching was going on, only in Spring Training and Instructionals do you see that going on. The endcap of the day was seeing JT Chargois (this is how you say his name) enter the game throw for an inning, but boy was it a great appearance. He showcased his fastball that sat anywhere from 95-99 mph along with a breaking ball about 20 mph slower, so it wasn't even fair to the Rays Low A hitters especially Pujols. All In all, a great day for baseball and a good call to start the game early as the MLB which started at 1p was called early due to the weather. Also here is the latest MiLB roster for the Twins released on 3/26/15

Yeah ashburyjohn, I got there just a little before 10 thinking I'd catching some of the warmups but they moved the 1p game up due to impending bad weather later in the day. He looked good out there, I didn't get any video of him pitching in-game that would have required standing next to Paul Molitor but he did throw 20 or so pitches after the game in the pen that I caught a little of https://youtu.be/G-0uLKuXLJ4 Met a few twinsdaily posters today, adds to the list; I'm always surprised that it's someone older than me. I always figured I'm the old man on these forums boy was I wrong

Really sad, I just saw Thorpe throw last weekend and everything seemed well and he was in high spirits. As a sports' Chiropractor, I've seen plently of high school/college arms and a few minor leaguers rehab successfully from a sprained UCL with small tears with a proper incremental workout schedules without any issues. While others still need surgery after proper rehab. Every snowflake is different. As for ligaments being a vascular structure, yes it's true but on a pretty minimal standard, nowhere near like a muscle. That is why having a muscle strain is a better prognosis than a ligament strain, by usually a few wee. If there was a tear and it was minimal (10% or less) there is a nearly up to a 75% recovery rate depending on which ortho doctor you believe. Personally, if I 'm in charge of his care I'm doing an MRI every other week and once a week while he's throwing just to keep tabs

^is throws lefthanded

As promised here is Nick Burdi throwing some side session work today https://youtu.be/Dyj2sZAWaQ4

As of 8 AM 3/21/2015 here is the new work groups from AAA on down; with new changes of Buxton AAA, Sano AA as well as DL lists...

Well he told me today that he'll be starting the season off in AA Chattanooga. Dude seriously bathes in icy hot, real nice kid though pretty talkative, talked about his younger brother Zack who was just clocked at 100 mph while pitching at Louisville too...

I just watched Burdi throw this morning, kid was some serious gas!! In warmups, he was throwing with Kohl Stewart, and it was the hardest I've ever seen two grown men throw in "warming up". Austrialian Twins MiLB pitcher Josh Guyer asked me if I felt safe behind the fence while Burdi was throwing at me, "told him better than nothing", Stewart missed a few of Burdi's flamers but can't blame him. Burdi later threw off the mound for about 30 pitches, Jorge Fernandez had a hell of time catching Burdi, especially his slider which is just nasty straight behind the catcher. I took some video and will post up a link later.

Well if there was any question why Torii Hunter was brought in, it showed on the first day of Spring Training full squad workouts when he was giving pointers to Byron Buxton and Aaron Hicks in the batting cages. Hunter was hands on and even more interactive with Buxton than coach Butch Davis. The following is video of Buxton receiving pointers from Hunter followed up by a cage session with Torii Hunter.. I'm not a professional, a kind-of adopted Twins fan, diehard Cubs fan but a just a baseball lover all around. Enjoy, follow me on twitter @tturbo420 http://youtu.be/uSYlmOgWxtk

Hope to see you out there tomorrow Halsey, they have a Domestic Violence class at 8am but are to have their first full squad workout. Sunday is the Bowling Tourney at Pin Street on Fowler. Don't think they get their uniforms till the 2nd.

Hope you all enjoy and can get some use out of this! I should be at the backfields this Saturday morning. Hope you all can read elsewise you can message me on here or on twitter @tturbo420

I caught the top ranked college team in the country, Vanderbilt, play Indiana State in Port Charlotte due to Vandys series against Illinois-Chicago cancellation due to snow. Vanderbilt has three of the top prospects in the 2015 in SS Dansby Swanson, RHP Carson Fulmer, and RHP Walker Buerhler in addition to a few more prospects for the 2016 draft in RHP Phillp Phieffer, RHP Jordan Sheffield, LHP Joe Kilichowski and CF Bryan Reynolds. Fulmer started the Friday night game, he looked wicked at times with his fastball/slider combo yet he seemed all too hittable at times; still hitting 97 mph into the fifth. When times were tough he went to for the strikeout and he went to his explosive fastball. RHP Jordan Sheffield was extremely wild walking three in just an inning and a third and just seemed lost. The best of the bunch, Walker Buerhler currently battling some elbow tendonitis thus did not pitch over the weekend. Dansby Swanson is the real deal with the bat, he constantly takes pitches up the middle, has a nice compact stroke all while working counts and being a prime top of the order hitter. To show his respect, he was intentionally walked in the bottom of the 9th with the winning run on third base to load the bases before Wiseman knocked in the game winner. In the field, Dansby bobbled a ball to throwing side while showing an average arm at SS. If I was a betting man, I'd say he's a 2B professionally. On Saturday, LHP Joe Kilichowski started and was quite filthy thru the first few frames before running into trouble. On a side bar, Friday nights game was filled a who's who with Cy Young winner and Vandy alum David Price, alum Pedro Alvarez, alum Ryan Flaherty, and Pedro Martinez and his kid.

The first two night games start at 7:05, the preschedule for those nights are the Twins take BP 4:15-5:15, Visitors BP 5:15-6:15, Twins infield 6:15-6:30, Visitors infield 6:30-6:45, with field prep 6:45-7:05. Workouts typically begin at 9ish AM give or take.

According to the press schedule I got he's suppose to be there today. Rod Carew and Tony Oliva on the 27th.

Halsey, you mean something like this: (if can't see, right click and hit view image)

See you there in the morning, dress warmly

They'll be players again next offseason for another big time prime pitcher which is a deep crop as of right now in David Price, Jordan Zimmerman, Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija, Yovani Gallardo, etc and they have good chunk of money coming off the books too so yes it is sustanable and it's been Epstein's model from the get go, time will only tell if it works. Look I give all the credit in the world to the Twins, I absolutely love the organization, how they bring up their players, how they train, how they develop, how they instill player-fan interaction (much more than most clubs). As a Cubs fan I'd kill to have the pitching depth of the Twins and the balance but I wouldn't give it up for 2 of the top prospects in baseball that play the infield. By next offseason, I can guarentee you the Cubs won't be number one and possibly not top five if Addison Russell graduates.

Arrieta was in the AL East, so he gets a bump for the move over to the NL Central, its not uncommon for 28 year old pitchers to turn the corner. It's not that long ago he was a top prospect and since joining the Cubs and Chris Bosio he's been nothing short of spectacular. Schwarber only played 20 games behind the plate by design, he caught during the NCAA season and the organization didn't want to push too much, he's bat was just too good. He skipped the AFL and went to Instructionals to work on his catching skills, look for him to catch full time in 2015 most likely in High A Myrtle Beach No, that's just because of the circles you follow, as a Cubs fan constantly hear about whether Bryant can stay at 3B or move to OF, can Baez hit over .200 or strikeout less than 300 times, can Castro stay at SS, etc. So we all deal with it

Don't know if Jake Arrieta slipped your mind but he projects as a top rotation arm. In 2014 he had a 2.53 ERA, 2.22 FIP, 151 ERA+, 0.99 WHIP, 5.3 WAR. The only pitchers in the NL who had a better WAR were Kershaw, Hamels, Cueto, and Wainwright. The others in the AL who bested him were: Corey Kluber, Felix Hernandez, Chris Sale and Max Scherzer.

Alright I'll bite, I'm a Cubs fan and part of the reason why I feel it's s considered unanimous that Chicago has the top farm system is that positional prospects are less likely to bust than pitching prospects. The other part is that Kris Bryant and Addison Russell are leftsided infielders (at least at this point), advanced levels of the minors, and have low floors/high ceilings. CJ Edwards as the top pitching prospect is a concern but not much as the Front Office philosphy is more geared toward drafting higher end positional talent early in the draft and then loading up in the later early rounds for pitchers. In 2014, in first 12 rounds took hitters in first and third round, rest were all pitchers. In 2013, in first 12 rounds took hitters in first, third and ninth. In 2012, in first 12 rounds took hitters in first, seventh, ninth, eleventh. Let us also not forget that Chicago has money to spend and the pocketbook to do it so expect another calculated front rotation starting pitcher to be added next offseason again. As for Kyle Schwarber, whom everyone thought was a huge reach for the club at #4 overall and absolutely no one thought would reach High A two months after being drafted. The Cubs felt he was the best MLB ready bat on the board but not too many other clubs felt that way, and Chicago worked him in slowly as he was playing DH/LF/C. He skipped AFL and instead went to Arizona for Instructionals to work on his catching as the club feels he can be an adequate catcher with a plus plus bat. The good part is there is no need to rush him to the big leagues as there are plenty of outfield depth ahead of him.

Halsey, I'll see you there Friday, they still taking the field around 8a?

From an outsider's perspective (diehard Cubs fan here and recently adopted Twins fan) For me the most likely of the 3 to be a regular impact starting pitcher for years to come has got to be Berrios, not only for the stuff, command, durability, results and proximity but Jose has a great head on his shoulders, very cerebral and doesn't get flustered too easy. Don't get me wrong, I love Meyer's stuff but he has difficulty staying out there and when he's stuff's not on as he doesn't have Berrios' acumen to stay out there. Meyer should definitely make an MLB appearance this year but his long term role might be in the back end of the bullpen if he doesn't a) stay healthy and b)repeat his mechanics. What I've seen of Kohl so far (albeit only Instructionals and GCL) I'm not that impressed at least not yet. He'll likely make an appearance in High A Ft. Myers this season at some point so I'll get to see more of him but I'd take the lefty Austrailian Lewis Thorpe over Stewart. At this point in Stewart's career he seems much more like a thrower than a pitcher. I'll be there on Friday morning to welcome in the pitchers/catchers...

Buxton is hitting in the cages but thats all I saw him do (besides picking up/cleaning up), no running, no throwing etc. I know he said he's nowhere near in shape. Gordon and Stewart were absent from the camp, not sure where they were. Lewis Thorpe was out playing catch and doing long tossing and simulated pitching from flat ground.

dukie yes, here it is: No. Pitchers (24) 71 Bixler, Brandon 13 Booser, Cameron 85 Cederoth, Mike 83 Chargois, JT 82 Clay, Sam 81 Curtiss, John 80 Eades, Ryan 21 Easton, Brandon 79 Gilbert, Brian 78 Gonsalves, Stephen 77 Hildenberger, Trevor 75 Irby, CK 30 Johnson, DJ 50 Jones, Zach 73 LeBlanc, Randy 33 Poulson, Brandon 72 Reed, Jake 31 Rodriguez, Dereck 65 Steele, Keaton 45 Stewart, Kohl 41 Theofanopoulos, Mike 60 Thorpe, Lewis 66 Tillery, Zack 39 Wilson, Jared No. Catchers (6) 38 Fernandez, Jorge 37 Garver, Mitchell 27 Navarreto, Brian 26 Silva, Rainis 20 Swim, Alex 25 Turner, Stuart No. Infielders (11) 18 Gordon, Nick 1 Guzman, Manuel 15 Kelly, Pat 7 Kuresa, Tyler 24 Mautner, Tyler 19 Molina, Nelson 52 Valera, Rafael 40 Vavra, Trey 5 Vielma, Engelb 12 Walker, Ryan 46 White, TJ No. Outfielders (6) 23 Christensen, Chad 2 Davis, Tyree 51 English, Tanner 22 Kanzler, Jason 11 Larson, Zack 17 Murphy, Max

okay, not a problem goulik. I actually was on my way to talk to Poulson before JT Chagois was to take the mound, so I bypassed Brandon for videoing Chagois and talking to JT. LOL I'll ask Theofanopolous about the name and jersey, I'm sure he'll have a smart ass answer for it. He shoulda been drafted by the Cubs "theo-fan" - polous lol