Bob Sacamento

Well your welcome, like I said he looked sharp the other day. Here is some video I took of Tyler Jones from Game 1 on 8/25/2013[video=youtube;Lc_2uALNEUA]

Yeah when he's down here in Florida for Instructionals etc, he's only on the field very early in the day and shows up here and there. The rest of the time he's on the golf course

I don't see Mauer moving down for more exposure. I know when the Twins added Cedar Rapids affiliate last year that Jake asked almost immediately to move down because it's closer to his family in Minnesota

I don't know about Mauer coaching AAA, he took a "demotion" from High A to Low A to be closer to his family.

Living in Ft. Myers I've got to see Sano play in the GCL, instructs (watching him work with Molitor every morning was kinda cool) and the FSL. He has definitely gotten better, less brick hands and more accurate throws. He'll never be an elite defender but should be at least adequate to stay there. The player I liken him to defensively would be Aramis Ramirez.

I'll be at the doubleheader today in Fort Myers, hopefully we can get both in but it's looking like rain again. I'll take pics and notes if anyone cares...

Well he was pitched around all night, he had one IBB but several other nonintentional intentional walks. I think he's going to start seeing alot more of that the rest of the season and playoffs, make someone else beat you.

From my understanding with talking to the some of the Miracle brass is yes, Sano and Rosario can be "demoted" and made available for the playoffs but that it would considered poor baseball

Here's a view from an outsider. I'm a Cubs fan but live in Ft. Myers and have had season tickets for the Miracle this year. Buxton is the real deal, there is no Twins hype, he is honestly one of the best prospects I've ever seen. Not only is he a legit 5 tool player but he's extremely refined and polished on the field especially when you consider his age. But off the field, he is usually the first player to the facility and one of the last ones to leave; his work ethic is off the charts plus he's very humble and approachable. Buxton is a once in a lifetime talent, you guys should all chip in and send Houston a card for not drafting him first overall! As for sending him to the AFL, he's already logged a whole season, did plenty of work in Instructionals and has the FSL playoffs ahead.

Well I can at least say I got to see Sano's last game in FSL and it was a monster of a game for him. He made a spectacular defensive play to end the 8th and the Bradenton rally, where he cut off the throw to the plate from the CFer (who made a horrible throw) but Sano had enough mind to get the guy at second. Right afterwards, he led off the 9th with a homerun to RCF that went at least 400 if not 430 feet, it cleared the Boys and Girls parking lot behind McKenie Field in Bradenton. After the game, he signed for almost a half hour, gave away his bat to a fan and signed it for her. He was extremely happy after the game, so I'm sure someone had told him already that he got the call up.

Molitor should already know what the Twins have in Sano on the infield as Paul spent nearly every morning working with Miggy in Spring Training. And from what I saw in spring and already this season here in Ft. Myers he's a butcher on the field. Sano has 1B/DH written all over him which is a shame because he has a killer arm. Nice story of Sano because he's very standoffish now unless you talk to him in Spanish. I've got similar stories of Buxton since he's been in town. Not only is Buxton an amazing athlete but great to the fans, I've never seen him turn down an autograph. Vargas is a huge jokester, always playing pranks and fun trash talking. You are right that he is someone to keep an eye on because he fields his position very well and has a big bat.

Sounds like it was a minor league spring training game of High A vs Low A. Which there was probably as many people there are there are for a usual GCL game.

They might have dorms or use the local Hilton Garden Suites but I know that a few of the players stay with host families, Miguel Sano is one of them as well as Eddie Rosario.

Yeah I read it to him yesterday when I got him to sign it, don't think he understood too much of it. In fact I got everyone in the Top 30 to sign my BA prospect book except for Arcia (who left camp already) and Hicks (who made the big league club). Only one who said anything about their ranking was 3B Harrison, he said he didn't agree with their assessment.

Salcedo pitched yesterday a couple of innings, the velocity was a little behind where he should be and his pitches were NOT crisp. The other guys were hitting it hard off him. Personally, I only saw Rosario in the infield yesterday. Meyers was charting the AAA vs. AA yesterday and said he was pitching for New Britain when I talked to the freakish giant. Levi said his legs weren't where they should be.

Buxton makes it really hard NOT to root for him. 5 tool athlete yet still acts like the kid next door.

Do you mean physically? He did all the warm up drills as the rest of the team did, he took some batting practice and did the running but I didn't see him throw much at all or play the field. I did see him working with the trainer stretching out his shoulder and forearms and doing some theraband stetches as well. I'm not a Twins insider but I am a Chiropractor so with the stretches he was doing it looked like focus was on the supraspinatus and serratus anterior with some pec minor and major work as well. Kepler appeared in good spirits and was very jovial with his fellow comrades- he was with Mason Melotikis and Tyler Jones two of more jokster guys out there.

The driver had no problem with being candid and in fact he had some of the nicer things to say about Sano than others did. He chalked much of it up to a young kid- new place, lots of new money, and knows he's good. I did see Sano with his host "Fort Myers" family at the end of the game and he was extremely sweet and playful with their kids. It was about the only time I saw the guy smile and laugh all day. I left out what one high ranking staffer/coach had said about Sano but said they were working on it. Nay, the driver was as honest as could be and he had no problem with anything that was said being written. As an old New Yorker, he was brutally honest. The driver and I talked for almost an hour, he lives in my neighborhood and his prized possession that he carries around is a ball signed by the Mauer boys, Jake and Joe. I'm not a Bus Driver or even former one by any regards, just a baseball fan who was doing nothing on Easter morning. More tidbits: Funniest line came from Blake Martin, when he was asked by a young kid, he said his name was Miguel Sano. Which carries more levity as Blake is as pasty white as one can get and rather smaller in size to Miguel's 6'3 200+lb frame. Coach Smith joked with Daniel Santana on enjoying the 84 degree weather in Florida now because it's going to be a lot colder where your going. Markus Solbach and Max Kepler arrived together with some huge cinnamon rolls that they were giving out. Joe Benson when asked if he was upset with not making the MLB club said the club made the right call and that he still has kinks in his swing that he needs to work out and to stay healthy. Benson, Jeff Clement and PJ Walters were all incredibly nice. If I didn't know better I'd say Walters was out on the ranch, cowboy boots and hat and pulled up in a truck that looks like it should be a Monster Truck rally. Probably the biggest dick of the day was Brandon Boggs, when a young kid asked him who he was he told the kid he needed to do a better job.

More pictures:

I saw him in Instructional League just making the switch and to be honest he looked pretty good for not much him there. The coaches were praising him for how quick he took to it. Today I saw him doing drills and some side action and he looks like a natural back there. Good footwork and a strong arm, he still needs to get more reps and work on his blocking.

Here's some information that I also picked up at the fields today for those who care. Liam Hendricks was pitching in the Rochester vs New Britain game and he was looking good, velocity appeared to be down and the breaking ball wasn't crisp. After the game he said he felt good on how he threw but felt he needed to hit his spots better. Really nice guy and looks Dunkin Donuts. Buxton looked great in the field and at the plate and in the cages. He's really nice kid and signs everything and anything for the fans. He acts nothing like you would think, nowhere new close to many of those primadonna top picks do. Can't say the same for Miguel Sano. He looks like a butcher over at third, brick hands and poor mobility and that's after working with Molitor every morning at 3B on his defensive skills. The other day Miguel made four errors at 3B in a matter of two innings. But with that bat, he is deadly, when he hits hit, he hits it hard very hard. Off the field he's very much a primadonna, he does respond better when you talk to him in Spanish though; apparently he doesn't know much english. He did rolled up in a brand new BMW with Virginia plates that read "LIQUID". Talked to Pete the Bus Driver, now this guy has got a job. He picks the players up at 9am from the Hilton Garden Inn drops them off and sits in the bus until the players are down which today was around 330 as the two games, AAA vs AA and High A vs Low A. He's been the driver for the Miracles and Spring Training the past five years. Talking with him, he said Brian Dozier and Chris Parmelee are stand up guys and probably one of the nicest that he's seen in his time there. He also said there is one guy here who is "uppidity" and that was Miguel Sano but the organization was going to change that with him this year. Much as they always do either that or ship them out. He also had high praise for the Mauer boys. Jake rode shotgun with him for the past few seasons on the bus and he called him a stand up guy. He also called his brother Joe one of the best guys in the game and gave a little story from earlier in the season where Mauer went and caught for Pelfrey in a minor league spring training game. Joe went and caught for him for 5 innings to get in a groove together, they both rode the team bus with the other minor leaguers something most MLBers don't do. After the game, Joe was signing for all the hawks and eventually gets to this 7 year old boy with a little wooden mini bat and asks him to sign it. Joe gets down on eye level with the kid signs for him, gives him and hug and takes a picture with him. Talk about some class. Other tidbits, Grimes is looking very comfortable behind the plate. Alex Meyer was charting for the AAA vs. AA game. Salcedo, Rodgers, May all threw in the High A vs Low A game as well. J.O. Berrios was very pleased to be reminded how he dominated Ellsbury and Crawford in a GCL game last season. I was surprised to see how many of the guys eat at McDonalds, Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts. Once again, I'm not a diehard Twins fan, that allegiance goes to the Chicago Cubs but I very much respect the Twins organization. Things definitely look to be run the right way, keep it up.

I know the AAA official roster came out and looks like the Work Group, rest are probably the same. Here is the pic of the Work Group assignments that I picked up today. Also gives you an idea of who is staying back in extended ball.

Sorry it's 10 days later but here is the schedule: Field [TABLE=width: 602] TUE Mar-26 1:00 PM Norfolk vs. Rochester Two [/TD] 1:00 PM Bowie vs. New Britain Three 1:00 PM Ft. Myers @ Frederick Buck O'Neil 1:00 PM Cedar Rapids @ Delmarva Buck O'Neil 1:00 PM GCL Twins Work Out One WED Mar-27 1:00 PM Pawtucket vs. Rochester Two 1:00 PM Portland vs. New Britain Three 1:00 PM Ft. Myers @ Lancaster Ft. Myers 1:00 PM Cedar Rapids @ Greenville Ft. Myers 1:00 PM GCL Twins vs. St. Thomas U One THU Mar-28 1:00 PM Rochester @ Pawtucket Ft. Myers 1:00 PM New Britain @ Portland Ft. Myers 1:00 PM Lancaster vs. Ft. Myers Two 1:00 PM Greenville vs. Cedar Rapids Three 1:00 PM GCL Red Sox vs. GCL Twins One FRI Mar-29 1:00 PM Norfolk vs. Rochester Two 1:00 PM Bowie vs. New Britain Three 1:00 PM Ft. Myers @ Frederick Buck O'Neil 1:00 PM Cedar Rapids @ Delmarva Buck O'Neil 1:00 PM GCL Twins workout One SAT Mar-30 10:00 AM Rochester @ Pawtucket Ft. Myers 10:00 AM New Britain @ Portland Ft. Myers 10:00 AM Lancaster vs. Ft. Myers Two 10:00 AM Greenville vs. Cedar Rapids Three 10:00 AM GCL Red Sox vs. GCL Twins One SUN Mar-31 12:00 PM New Britain vs. Rochester Two 12:00 PM Cedar Rapids vs. Ft. Myers Three 12:00 PM GCL Twins Work Out One MON Apr-1 Rochester Breaks Camp New Britain Breaks Camp 12:00 PM Cedar Rapids vs. Ft. Myers Two 12:00 PM GCL Twins Work Out Three TUE Apr-2 Cedar Rapids Breaks Camp [TD]10:00 AM Ft. Myers vs. GCL Twins Two [/TABLE]

Well I'm glad you guys liked them, I'll go back and add captions to those pictures later. Yesterday, was an intersquad game with Boyd, Baxendale, and Ferreira pitching for the Red team while Lee and Nunez were the pitchers for the Blue team. So practice was pretty limited to batting cages, balametrics, and stretching. All I can say is Hicks swings like he's trying to crush the ball everytime and Buxton has a cannon for an arm, I still can't figure out why they play him in LF. Derek Rodriguez said he hasn't even thought about trying to be a catcher and the staff isn't considering it (I thought I'd ask since I saw some of you posting it on here). As far as fines go, Bard owes 5 bucks for charting indifferences while Boyd missed Balametrics the other morning (**** starts at 7:40a is what Hudson told me) so he owes 5 bucks as well. Most of the players are staying in the Hilton Garden Inn off Summerlin/College, only a few miles from the facility; but there are a few that are sharing apartments together.

Zach Jones side session [video=youtube;9yINTJ7Cquc]