Bob Sacamento

I've got alot more footage, mainly of Alex Meyer and Alex Wimmers in side sessions but figured you guys would have a fill from the ones I already had posted.

You can read the entire article here: A Day in the Life: Florida Instructional League 9/19/13 - Blogs - Minnesota Twins News & Rumors Forum The Alexs: Meyer and Wimmers

During this process, the Red team pitchers were taking infield drills and how to be ready after releasing the pitch. Coach Henry Bonilla was directing the action here and apparently plays in the same fantasy football team as Ethan Mildren, 2013 12th rounder RHP, and took it out on him for not accepting a lopsided trade by hitting his dribbler over the fence and into the parking lot. It was quite comical to see. [video=youtube_share;mAaYs2JQNfc] By this time, it was 11am and the players broke for lunch which is provided for them if they desire. They returned to the field at 12:15 for a practice squad game of Red vs Blue team. There was no score being kept, balls/strikes/outs were subjective as was a lineup; it was a 3 inning game give or take. Throwing in the game was Meyer, Wimmers and Irby for the Blue team and Yorman Landa, Stephen Gonsalves, and Luke Bard for the Red team. Other notes that were made during my Instructional League visit: pitchers Kohl Stewart (1st Rd 2013), Ethan Mildren (13th Rd 2013), and Aaron Slegers (5th Rd 2013) are pretty close in terms of friendship on the squad. Apparently, Grand Theft Auto 5 is played among most of the players and Mildren has made it to the 4 star level already (I don't know what that means but the rest of the players were impressed). Also, Austin Melotakis (16th Rd 2011) and Lewis Thorpe (UFA 2013 Australia) introduced chew to Kia Tiger's pitchers J.Park and H.Lee and their reaction was priceless. It was one of disgust and repeated spitting much like my one and only time ever trying to dip. Of the players, Levi Michael and Kennys Vargas could not be nicer Anyone thinking of going to a Florida Instructional League game or camp, it is much more up and personal than anything else you can do in the minor leagues. Not many places can one go and be side by side with a Hall of Famer such as Paul Molitor with no fanfare as well as seeing future big league contributors. Also players reporting for the Arizona Fall League will show up for the Instructional League the week before they head out to Arizona to prep up. I'll be back at least once more before they close out for the year on the 8th of October. Sorry for all the comment breaks as I could only post 1 video per comment

When the pitchers finished with their sidework they joined the positional players for some defensive drills (mainly working on hitting the cutoff man, and positional coverage) which was led by Paul Molitor. Paul would call out game situations and used half the pitchers as baserunners while the other half as fielding pitchers. I can tell you Molitor still has a slick bat for an old man, hitting the ball at will to wherever he wanted with backspin, slice, etc; it was quite impressive. [video=youtube_share;6AA-rD36fQs]

Before that Jeff Reed, former MLB catcher, gave the catchers a pep talk and some advice, "let your ass relax" [video=youtube_share;-MAPUfvSiss]

While Meyer was extremely impressive, the other Alex, Alex Wimmers was no slouch either. Wimmers was throwing side by side with Meyer and showed some good movement. Michael Quesada (24th Rd 2010) was catching Wimmers. The first video is of him closeup and he spins off a nice curve. [video=youtube_share;3LU9T0V3b_A]

The other is video of him working on a split finger fastball that Rasmussen was showing him. It ha Don't know if that is something new for Meyer but I also know that one of the things he's working on is consistency with his delivery and a changeup. [video=youtube_share;IwvLCSjJffw]

That's probably because those two were airing it out in side sessions especially Meyer. Meyer was creating some serious pop with his fastball and was drawing some ohhs and ahhs from the rest of the pitchers in camp. At one point every else stopped what they were doing just to watch Meyer on the rubber. Brian Navarreto (6th Rd 2013) was catching for him. I took alot of video of him and choose these two as his best. The first is a closeup of him and gives you the impression of what its like to be in the box with him. (Video was truncated by accident and the whole will be posted later) [video=youtube_share;SVYYM14OBL0]

While that was going on the pitchers were stretching it out in the outfield. Most just played short catch but Alex Meyer and Alex Wimmers who were playing catch together were playing some serious long toss. [video=youtube_share;as0QZB1jTQA]

While the hitters were in the cages, the pitchers were watching video and going over preparations. After about 45 minutes the pitchers and hitters took to separate practice fields. While the pitchers were warming up, Paul Molitor took task with the positional players talking about in-game stratedgy. In one video clip I took, Molly was talking about how there is a time and place to make the 3rd out of the inning trying to stretch to 3rd base. [video=youtube_share;O04UaM0nInw]

PLAYERS/STAFF REPORTING DATE: Thursday, September 12 FIRST WORKOUT: Friday, September 13 FIRST GAME: Monday, September 16 LAST DAY: Tuesday, October 8 PLAYERS DEPART: Tuesday, October 8 STAFF DEPARTS: Tuesday, October 8 TEAM HOTEL: Hilton Garden Inn 12600 University Drive. Ft. Myers, FL 33907 (239) 790-3500 TRAINING COMPLEX: Lee County Sports Complex 14110 Six Mile Cypress Pkwy. Ft. Myers, FL 33912 (239) 533-7640 MINOR LEAGUE FIELD COORDINATOR: Joel Lepel (612-803-2186) HITTING COORDINATOR: Bill Springman PITCHING COORDINATOR: Eric Rasmussen STRENGTH/COND. COORDINATOR: Erik Beiser Jon Cioffi REHAB COORDINATOR: Chad Jackson MANAGER: Doug Mientkiewicz COACHES: Henry Bonilla Ramon Borrego Jeff Reed Tim Doherty Chad Allen TRAINERS: Larry Bennese Chris Johnson FLORIDA OPERATIONS: Brian Maloney

Here is the Florida Instructional League Schedule: 2013 MINNESOTA TWINS INSTRUCTIONAL LEAGUE SCHEDULE * All games Mon.-Fri. at 1:00 p.m. unless noted * Saturday games at 10:00 a.m. unless noted [TABLE=width: 283] Mon Sept 16 CAMP DAY Tue Sept 17 MIN @ TAM Wed Sept 18 BAL @ MIN (12pm) Thu Sept 19 CAMP DAY Fri Sept 20 MIN @ BAL (12pm) Sat Sept 21 BOS @ MIN (10am) Sun Sept 22 OFF Mon Sept 23 TAM @ MIN Tue Sept 24 BAL @ MIN (12pm) Wed Sept 25 CAMP DAY Thu Sept 26 MIN @ TAM Fri Sept 27 MIN @ BOS Sat Sept 28 BOS @ MIN (10am) Sun Sept 29 OFF Mon Sept 30 MIN @ BAL (12pm) Tue Oct 1 TAM @ MIN Wed Oct 2 CAMP DAY Thu Oct 3 BAL @ MIN (12pm) Fri Oct 4 BOS @ MIN Sat Oct 5 MIN @ BOS (10am) Sun Oct 6 CAMP DAY Mon Oct 7 BOS @ MIN Tue Oct 8 MIN @ BOS * (10am) [/TABLE]

In that many Twins fans think it's hype from their own organization. This kid is the real deal and will be the face of the franchise for the next 10+ years

You guys have no idea what you have in Buxton, as a Cubs fan I know teams tend to hype their own. But this is NOT hype on B.B., everything that is being said of the man-child is true. His plate approach, his contact, his speed, his arm, his coverage in CF, they are all well above average if not great. The only question I see is if he hits 20hrs or 30hrs... I sure do wish he was a Cub...

Buxton and Kepler were here last year so was Kyle Gibson and Joe Benson.

I live here in Ft. Myers and frequent the Instructs, if there is any video or details that people want to know just give me a heads up and I will gladly do it. I did this last year with some good results too. Last year's roster looked alot better with bigger names but there are still plenty of great prospects down here.

The answer is yes and no. I posed this same to the Ft. Myers FO last week about the possibility of Sano/Rosario being send down to Class Hi A where they played a bulk of their 2013 season. So yes they can be sent down to play in playoffs but there is a roster deadline a few weeks beforehand plus it is extremely frowned upon to send prospects back down. Of course there are stipulations mainly due to injuries etc. I did hear that back in ~1995 the Yankees sent several prospects down to face Ft. Myers in the playoffs for "more experience" it was hotly talked about in minor league circuits in a negative manner.

I know it was just one outing but he looked good. When I saw him in instructs, he looked bad in limited action. As a reliever, he has the ability to be in the big leagues by next year. My guess is that he goes to the rotation next year and plays it from there.

Had never thought about it but while in the FSL, I do remember him receiving quite a few high and tight ones. I chalked that more up to that he hugs the plate, there were times that his forearm hung out over the plate. I have no problem with it but he's going to need elbow protection otherwise he's going to chance injury.

Luke Bard 96 mph fastball[video=youtube_share;GvhDVpmofZ0]

The last game of the regular season was a good one for the Miracle but not so much so for Buxton. The number one prospect in baseball was 0-3 and pulled after six innings. His first at bat he grounded back to the pitcher and induced a double play, while his third at bat, he popped up to the first baseside. Physically, he looked tired even before the game and at the plate he saw a steady diet of offspeed pitches from Montero who worked the corners as , as changing speeds (88-92mph fb). I don't know if it was just one game but that was not the same Buxton I've seen all year, hope sending him to the AFL doesn't turn out bad. The Miracle lefty pitcher Tomshaw did not look sharp, his fastball topped early at 92mph but sat mostly round 86-88 especially after the first three innings and was erratic with his command of his offspeed also. He was very lucky to only give up seven hits and only a couple of hard hit balls, the infield defense looked strong. Luke Bard made his 2013 FSL appearance and was amazing, he struck out two, sitting at 96 mph much of the time with a nasty slider and challenging the hitters. Adrian Salcedo was hitting 94 regularly with good off speed stuff, he continues to look like a good relief option down the road. It was nice to see the lower half of the lineup work the comeback as well as seeing the club hit MLBer James McDonald well especially Kennys Vargas monster shot. Vargas shows great power potential but his hit tool looks to be average at best. Levi Michael was once again great in the field and showed flashes of the possibility of an average hit tool going 2-2 (double) as well as working 2 walks and 2 sb. His contact is fair at best but shows no power but does show strong fundamentals at the plate and with the leather. He looks like a defensive utility man with OBP skills if he has a MLB future. Buxton's last official regular season at bat in the Florida State League [video=youtube_share;7D1g3vg5PUU]

Yes they still make them and you can get it on the cheap end now because the year is up. I'm not a Twins fan but I do have my entire Top 30 Twins prospects autographed

Here is video of Buxton's third at bat (I have his second at bat but he was hit by a pitch): [video=youtube;UjQiJYeYKxc]

I took some pics but mainly of Buxton and I also took video of his 3 at bats in game 1 and will have it up later in the day. Before the game, he signed autographs and chatted it up with the fans. He still doesn't know if he is going to AFL yet but would love to go if given the chance. Asked him about next year possibly playing in the Future's Game and the big league's and he said just taking it one day at a time but can't wait and that it would be awesome to play at Target Field in front of everyone. Other points, Tyler Jones was throwing hard and with control, popping 97 for the most part. Kennys Vargas running looks like its in slow motion. Buxton makes everything look easy whether its on the bases, at the plate or in the field. I've never seen a hitter (in the minors) pitched around as much as I have seen with Buxton of late. Hurlbut is a groundball machine. Here is video of Buxton's first at bat on 8/25/2013 in Game 1: [video=youtube;GmgZhaXKm0w]