Cody Christie

It wasn't that long ago that Oswaldo Arcia was a member of the Twins minor leagues. Today he made his biggest mark at the big league level by cracking his first home run and knocking in three runs. His long ball turned out to be the difference in the team winning the first game of their double header 4-3. He would be moved up to the third spot in the batting order for the second game of the double header so it was an exciting day for the budding star. There were some other exciting moments across the Twins farm system on Tuesday so let's check out what happened down on the farm. Rochester Red Wings 7, Syracuse Chiefs 8 (13 innings) Box Score Rochester staked themselves to an early lead but the bullpen faltered in the late innings to send this contest to an exciting finish. The Red Wings got three home runs from Clete Thomas, Eric Farris, and Nate Hanson. It was the Triple-A debut for Hanson and he certainly made his mark. He would finish 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBI. Farris and Thomas both racked up three hits in the game. Virgil Vasquez started the night on the mound for Rochester but he would be long gone before this one was decided. He tossed 5.1 innings and allowed two earned runs on six hits. It was his second consecutive start throwing five innings and allowing two runs or less. When the game went to extra innings, it looked like the Red Wings were close to finding a way to win. The team scored a run on a throwing error in the top of the 11th inning. This run would be answered by the Chiefs in the bottom half of the frame and the game continued on into the night. Rochester tried to mount another lead in the 13th inning. The team loaded the bases with only one out in the inning. Farris grounded into an ill-timed double play and another scoring opportunity was lost. Michael O'Connor came out for his second inning of relief work in the bottom of the 13th. Syracuse started the inning with three straight bunt attempts. The first one was good for a single, the second caused an fielding error by Ray Olmedo, and the third put two runners in scoring position. The next batter would single to end the game. With the loss, Rochester still has one victory on the road this year. The Red Wings have three more games in their series with Syracuse before heading home this weekend to face Buffalo. The club will need to figure some way to win on the road. New Britain Rock Cats --, New Hampshire Fisher Cats -- (Postponed) The Rock Cats were trying to end a three game skid on Tuesday evening but Mother Nature had other plans. Their game with the Fisher Cats was pushed to Wednesday night as part of a double-header. Thursday's game is scheduled for 10:35 am so the team's will play three games in less than 24 hours. Trevor May was scheduled to make his first start in over a week. With cold weather and early season pitch counts, May hasn't made it through more than 5.1 innings in any of his starts. He hasn't faced Syracuse yet this year so maybe he will be in line for a good start. New Britain heads home for a seven-game home stand. The action starts this weekend with a three game set against Richmond. At the beginning of next week, the team has an important four-game series with Harrisburg. Fort Myers Miracle 5, Palm Beach Cardinals 1 Box Score The Palm Beach Cardinals are getting really sick of seeing Miguel Sano trot around the bases. He hit a grand slam against them last week in Fort Myers. Some fireworks flew on Sunday when Palm Beach threw at Sano and he responded by cracking the ball over the fence. Tuesday brought another game and another Sano home run. It was a solo home run, Sano's 7th of the year, and he would be involved in another scoring play in his next at-bat. The Miracle had already scored twice in the inning on an Eddie Rosario single and a Lance Ray sacrifice fly. Sano would get his second RBI of the game with a single to center field. The club would score four runs in the inning to push their lead to 5-0. Taylor Rogers made his first start of the year after being called-up from Cedar Rapids. He performed well by limiting the Cardinals to four hits and no runs. He struck out four batters and only walked two men. Zach Jones gave up the lone run for the Cards. Nelvin Fuentes and Corey Williams each had a perfect inning of relief. Fort Myers got back on the winning track after losses in their last three games. The club still has the best record in the Florida State League. The Miracle have a scheduled off day tomorrow before playing three games against Charlotte Cedar Rapids Kernels --, Burlington Bees -- (Postponed) Rain washed out the final game of the series between the Kernels and the Bees. The game will be made up later in the first half as part of a doubleheader in Cedar Rapids. The Kernels are on a little bit of a roll with wins in their last three games including the first two games against the Bees. Byron Buxton still has a batting average over .400 and his OPS of 1.128 is off the charts. He is making his first full professional season look easy. The team has a scheduled off day on Wednesday before returning home for a three-game series vs Great Lakes. The six-game home stand will conclude with a three-game set against Lansing.

"Strike two, you're out," seems to be the current mantra for most of baseball. One of the biggest challenges for batters in recent years has been their ability to come back in an at-bat after falling into a two-strike count. Since 2006, there has been a steady decrease in player’s ability to hit with two strikes. Last year, two-strike hitting dropped to a new low, as batters were only able to muster a .178 batting average. How do pitchers have so much of an advantage when it comes to throwing to batters with two strikes? For one thing, players don't care as much about if they strikeout. Blame the juiced up players in the steroids era. It didn't matter if a player was swinging and missing as long as the ball was flying over the fence. Home run and RBI totals made up for big strikeout numbers. For batters to get anywhere near 200 strikeouts in the past would have been horrific. Bobby Bonds would be a trailblazer for the current generation of strike out prone players. He struck out 187 times in 1969 only to pass that mark the next year with 189. The 200-strikeout mark hasn't been as much of an embarrassment in recent years with the mark being passed five times in the last five seasons. Mark Reynolds has three of the top five strikeout seasons and he also sits at the top of the list with 223 strikeouts. Adam Dunn came within one strikeout of tying the MLB record last year but the dubious honor still belongs to Reynolds. Twins fans have become accustom to seeing one player buck the trend when it comes to hitting with a two-strike count. Joe Mauer is one of the best hitters in the game and he doesn't seem to have any trouble when he finds himself deep into an at-bat. It almost seems like Mauer becomes better as an at-bat goes on. In 2012, Mauer ranked as one of the top five batters in all of baseball when it came to hitting with two strikes. His .266 batting average with two-strikes was the highest mark in the American League. It was just high enough to finish ahead of Prince Fielder. Best Two-Strike Hitters in 2012 1. Martin Prado .286 2. Jayson Werth .286 3. Matt Carpenter .268 4. Joe Mauer .266 5. Prince Fielder .265 Mauer has been on quite the role to start the 2013 season. This has also helped his numbers with two strikes against him. So far this season, he is hitting .409/.435/.523 when he has two strikes. Those are unheard of numbers and it is hard to image that he will be able to keep up that pace for the entire season. For his career with two strikes, Mauer has a batting line of .258/.312/.359 which gets him close to the top of the all-time list. Besides being a Hall-of-Fame caliber hitter, Tony Gwynn was also the best hitter of all-time with two strikes against him. His .302 average would be good for any count let alone when he has two strikes against him. Todd Helton, Ichiro Suzuki, Juan Pierre, and Wade Boggs round out the rest of the top five with their averages sitting anywhere from .262 to .260. Ichiro would be a name that most would expect to see on this list. Pierre certainly doesn't fit the mold of all-time great but baseball is a funny game. The game of baseball will always be changing and batters are going to need to find some way to improve when they have two strikes against them. If Mauer continues on his current track, he could become one of the best two-strike hitters in history. He is going against the trend in baseball and Twins fans are happy with those results.

"Strike two, you're out," seems to be the current mantra for most of baseball. One of the biggest challenges for batters in recent years has been their ability to come back in an at-bat after falling into a two-strike count. Since 2006, there has been a steady decrease in player’s ability to hit with two strikes. Last year, two-strike hitting dropped to a new low, as batters were only able to muster a .178 batting average. How do pitchers have so much of an advantage when it comes to throwing to batters with two strikes? For one thing, players don't care as much about if they strikeout. Blame the juiced up players in the steroids era. It didn't matter if a player was swinging and missing as long as the ball was flying over the fence. Home run and RBI totals made up for big strikeout numbers. For batters to get anywhere near 200 strikeouts in the past would have been horrific. Bobby Bonds would be a trailblazer for the current generation of strike out prone players. He struck out 187 times in 1969 only to pass that mark the next year with 189. The 200-strikeout mark hasn't been as much of an embarrassment in recent years with the mark being passed five times in the last five seasons. Mark Reynolds has three of the top five strikeout seasons and he also sits at the top of the list with 223 strikeouts. Adam Dunn came within one strikeout of tying the MLB record last year but the dubious honor still belongs to Reynolds. Twins fans have become accustom to seeing one player buck the trend when it comes to hitting with a two-strike count. Joe Mauer is one of the best hitters in the game and he doesn't seem to have any trouble when he finds himself deep into an at-bat. It almost seems like Mauer becomes better as an at-bat goes on. In 2012, Mauer ranked as one of the top five batters in all of baseball when it came to hitting with two strikes. His .266 batting average with two-strikes was the highest mark in the American League. It was just high enough to finish ahead of Prince Fielder. Best Two-Strike Hitters in 2012 1. Martin Prado .286 2. Jayson Werth .286 3. Matt Carpenter .268 4. Joe Mauer .266 5. Prince Fielder .265 Mauer has been on quite the role to start the 2013 season. This has also helped his numbers with two strikes against him. So far this season, he is hitting .409/.435/.523 when he has two strikes. Those are unheard of numbers and it is hard to image that he will be able to keep up that pace for the entire season. For his career with two strikes, Mauer has a batting line of .258/.312/.359 which gets him close to the top of the all-time list. Besides being a Hall-of-Fame caliber hitter, Tony Gwynn was also the best hitter of all-time with two strikes against him. His .302 average would be good for any count let alone when he has two strikes against him. Todd Helton, Ichiro Suzuki, Juan Pierre, and Wade Boggs round out the rest of the top five with their averages sitting anywhere from .262 to .260. Ichiro would be a name that most would expect to see on this list. Pierre certainly doesn't fit the mold of all-time great but baseball is a funny game. The game of baseball will always be changing and batters are going to need to find some way to improve when they have two strikes against them. If Mauer continues on his current track, he could become one of the best two-strike hitters in history. He is going against the trend in baseball and Twins fans are happy with those results.

Tragedy struck Boston on Monday with the horrific bombings at the Boston Marathon. A very visible sporting event was attacked and this story hit home with a lot of us. It can be frightening to think about attacks happening at big events but people are resilient. There were numerous positive stories coming out of the tragedy. A former New England Patriots lineman carried a woman to safety and there were plenty of other stories like this. Many teams around the world of baseball paid tribute to Boston in a similar fashion. The song "Sweet Caroline" has become synonymous with Red Sox games. Most teams saw it fitting to play this song during a break in the action; even the rival Yankees stood united in support of Boston. Here are the fans at Target Field singing "Sweet Caroline." Baseball continued to go on this week and there were some great stories from across the web. Have a safe weekend and give someone you love a call. Chris Colabello has one of the best stories in baseball. How does Joe Mauer do when it comes to catcher framing? Twins starters pitch to contact and that is killing them this year. AJ Petterson is playing with some very good players and he offers his early season highlights. There has been more than one player for the Twins to get a cup of coffee with the club. Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario are helping the Miracle to a record start. Sano already has one movie about his rise and they are working on a sequel. Glen Perkins is always an interesting interview. Aaron Hicks set a record and it wasn't one a player wants to set. Mauer and David Wright forged a friendship in the WBC. "Delmon's going to be as good as Delmon wants to be" Here is a cool list of all the players that have debuted this year with the scouts that signed them. A couple of Twins players on the list. IMDb released their top 10 baseball movies of all-time. Here is my top 5 baseball films: Bull Durham Sandlot Major League A League Of Their Own Field of Dreams Beyond the Boxscore did some great research creating Pitcher Similarity Scores based on Pitchf/x data. Denard Span didn't know what a double-switch was. Jackie Robinson gets a lot the press but Larry Doby was just as important in the AL. Bert Blyleven never had anyone charge him but he did charge the mound once himself. Lance Berkman really doesn't like Wrigley Field. There is more than one way to deal with hecklers in the stands. Former Twins pitcher Kyle Waldrop had an impressive first start at the Triple-A level. My Weekly Rundown: Monday: Talk to Contact: Episode 33 Tuesday: Finding solutions for struggling Aaron Hicks Wednesday: Arcia's ascension could mean Willingham's exit Wednesday's Minor League Wrap-Up Video of the Week: It is hard for Ben Revere to amaze after some of the plays he made in a Twins uniform. This catch from earlier this week might still leave you with your mouth open. He misplays the ball a little at the beginning and has to make up for it at the end with a Superman like jump. It was a very cool play by a good defense center fielder.

Tragedy struck Boston on Monday with the horrific bombings at the Boston Marathon. A very visible sporting event was attacked and this story hit home with a lot of us. It can be frightening to think about attacks happening at big events but people are resilient. There were numerous positive stories coming out of the tragedy. A former New England Patriots lineman carried a woman to safety and there were plenty of other stories like this. Many teams around the world of baseball paid tribute to Boston in a similar fashion. The song "Sweet Caroline" has become synonymous with Red Sox games. Most teams saw it fitting to play this song during a break in the action; even the rival Yankees stood united in support of Boston. Here are the fans at Target Field singing "Sweet Caroline." Baseball continued to go on this week and there were some great stories from across the web. Have a safe weekend and give someone you love a call. Chris Colabello has one of the best stories in baseball. How does Joe Mauer do when it comes to catcher framing? Twins starters pitch to contact and that is killing them this year. AJ Petterson is playing with some very good players and he offers his early season highlights. There has been more than one player for the Twins to get a cup of coffee with the club. Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario are helping the Miracle to a record start. Sano already has one movie about his rise and they are working on a sequel. Glen Perkins is always an interesting interview. Aaron Hicks set a record and it wasn't one a player wants to set. Mauer and David Wright forged a friendship in the WBC. "Delmon's going to be as good as Delmon wants to be" Here is a cool list of all the players that have debuted this year with the scouts that signed them. A couple of Twins players on the list. IMDb released their top 10 baseball movies of all-time. Here is my top 5 baseball films: Bull Durham Sandlot Major League A League Of Their Own Field of Dreams Beyond the Boxscore did some great research creating Pitcher Similarity Scores based on Pitchf/x data. Denard Span didn't know what a double-switch was. Jackie Robinson gets a lot the press but Larry Doby was just as important in the AL. Bert Blyleven never had anyone charge him but he did charge the mound once himself. Lance Berkman really doesn't like Wrigley Field. There is more than one way to deal with hecklers in the stands. Former Twins pitcher Kyle Waldrop had an impressive first start at the Triple-A level. My Weekly Rundown: Monday: Talk to Contact: Episode 33 Tuesday: Finding solutions for struggling Aaron Hicks Wednesday: Arcia's ascension could mean Willingham's exit Wednesday's Minor League Wrap-Up Video of the Week: It is hard for Ben Revere to amaze after some of the plays he made in a Twins uniform. This catch from earlier this week might still leave you with your mouth open. He misplays the ball a little at the beginning and has to make up for it at the end with a Superman like jump. It was a very cool play by a good defense center fielder.

The Twins weren't the only team impacted by the weather on Wednesday evening. Minnesota's affiliate's game in Cedar Rapids was also postponed due to inclement weather. The Upper Midwest is still waiting for spring to show up and there will probably be more weather issues before spring is finally sprung. Three other affiliates took the field for Wednesday action. The Miracle were going for lucky win 13 to start their season. Rochester has been struggling and the call-up of Oswaldo Arcia is going to hurt their offense. New Britain played an afternoon game and they found themselves in another tight contest. Let's see how the teams and players fared in "Wednesday's Minor League Wrap-Up." Rochester Red Wings 0, Scranton W/B RailRiders 7 Boxscore It was a rough night for the Red Wings as the team was shut out for the second consecutive night. The loss marked the seventh in a row for Rochester as the team hasn't recorded a win since last Tuesday. Going back to last season, the RailRiders have won 10 of the last 13 games between these two clubs. Liam Hendriks made his first start at Triple-A this season after starting the season with the big league club. He gave up a run in each of the first three innings to put Rochester in an early hole. For the game he tossed six innings, gave up nine hits and four earned runs. Anthony Slama got back on the mound after being slammed around in both of his last two outings. In those appearances, combined, he recorded only three outs and gave up seven earned runs. After walking multiple batters in those rough outings, he had a clean ninth inning with no walks and a strikeout. There wasn't much to write home about on the offensive side. Jeff Clement and Brandon Boggs were the only men to record more than one hit. Boggs added his second double of the year. Evan Bigley made his 2013 debut with the Red Wings as a pinch hitter and he flied out in the ninth. Rochester had only four plate appearances with runners in scoring position. The team failed in all of those attempts. Overall, the team left eight runners on base. The team starts a four game series with Pawtucket tomorrow night and the club will look to get back on track. New Britain Rock Cats 2, New Hampshire Fisher Cats 3 (11 Innings) Boxscore The Rock Cats seem have a flair for the dramatic this season. After winning in the bottom of the ninth on Tuesday, New Britain found themselves in the middle of another tight contest this afternoon. The team was held scoreless and was behind by two until the bottom of the ninth. They needed two runs to make things interesting. Back to back one out singles by Josmil Pinto and Daniel Ortiz had the team in good shape. A throwing error on the hit from Ortiz put two runners in scoring position. Curt Smith came through with a grounder up the middle to cut the score to 2-1. James Beresford was the next batter and he cracked a sac fly to center to knot the game at 2. The Fisher Cats then mounted their own rally in the top of the 11th inning to score the go-ahead run. Two singles and a balk by Aaron Thompson allowed the winning run to score. It was the first loss of the year for Thompson in his second appearance with the club. Pat Dean pitched seven strong innings, allowing one run on seven hits. He was being very democratic by not striking out a batter and letting the defense do their work behind him. He also didn't issue any walks and it was the first time he made it into the fifth inning this year. New Britain managed seven hits in the game. Smith and Ortiz were both 2-for-5 and they were the lone members of the Rock Cats to collect more than one hit. The team was 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and the club left seven men on base. Fort Myers Miracle 2, Palm Beach Cardinals 5 Boxscore The hunt for win number 13 turned out to be unlucky for the Miracle. After finding a way to win their first 12 games of the year, Fort Myers suffered their first loss on Wednesday night. The Miracle found themselves with an early 2-0 lead but the offense of the Cardinals proved to be too much. Even in the ninth inning the club tried to hold on to their perfect season. Trailing by three runs entering the bottom of the final frame, Fort Myers would load the bases on singles from Michael Gonzalez, Kyle Knudson, and Kennys Vargas. Another single from Adam Pettersen scored a run. Unfortunately, Angel Morales then grounded into a double play. This left Eddie Rosario on deck and Miguel Sano in the hole. Sano played the hero on Tuesday with a grand slam to give the Miracle the lead. He struggled in this game going 0-for-4 with a couple of strikeouts. Even with the bad day he is still hitting .380 on the season. Rosario has also helped the offense and he went 1-for-4 with his seventh RBI of the year. The bottom of the line-up did most of the damage for the Miracle. Hitters five through eight all had multiple hits. Extra base hits were tough to come by though as Michael Koch had the lone two-bagger in the game. Matthew Summers started for the Miracle and pitched 5.2 innings. During this outing he gave up three runs on seven hits. He walked one and struck out one to record his first loss of the year. Adrian Salcedo did well in relief by striking out three of the four batters he faced. Fort Myers will look to start a new winning streak as the team travels to Port St. Lucie for a three game set. Cedar Rapids Kernels --, Wisconsin Timber Rattlers -- (Postponed) The only thing slowing down Byron Buxton this spring has been the bad weather. Cedar Rapids had their game cancelled on Wednesday due to inclement weather. Since the Kernels and the Timber Rattlers don't play again in the first half of the MWL season, the game will not be made up. Cedar Rapids will now head out on the road for six games in Peoria and Burlington. Their next home action will be Thursday, April 25th when they open a six game home stand against Great Lakes and Lansing. With a 9-3 record the Kernels find themselves on top of the Western Division of the MWL. They are looking to keep the good juices flowing as they take a two game winning streak into their road trip. The addition of J.O. Berrios, the 32nd pick in last year's draft, should be a boost to the pitching staff.

The Twins weren't the only team impacted by the weather on Wednesday evening. Minnesota's affiliate's game in Cedar Rapids was also postponed due to inclement weather. The Upper Midwest is still waiting for spring to show up and there will probably be more weather issues before spring is finally sprung. Three other affiliates took the field for Wednesday action. The Miracle were going for lucky win 13 to start their season. Rochester has been struggling and the call-up of Oswaldo Arcia is going to hurt their offense. New Britain played an afternoon game and they found themselves in another tight contest. Let's see how the teams and players fared in "Wednesday's Minor League Wrap-Up." Rochester Red Wings 0, Scranton W/B RailRiders 7 Boxscore It was a rough night for the Red Wings as the team was shut out for the second consecutive night. The loss marked the seventh in a row for Rochester as the team hasn't recorded a win since last Tuesday. Going back to last season, the RailRiders have won 10 of the last 13 games between these two clubs. Liam Hendriks made his first start at Triple-A this season after starting the season with the big league club. He gave up a run in each of the first three innings to put Rochester in an early hole. For the game he tossed six innings, gave up nine hits and four earned runs. Anthony Slama got back on the mound after being slammed around in both of his last two outings. In those appearances, combined, he recorded only three outs and gave up seven earned runs. After walking multiple batters in those rough outings, he had a clean ninth inning with no walks and a strikeout. There wasn't much to write home about on the offensive side. Jeff Clement and Brandon Boggs were the only men to record more than one hit. Boggs added his second double of the year. Evan Bigley made his 2013 debut with the Red Wings as a pinch hitter and he flied out in the ninth. Rochester had only four plate appearances with runners in scoring position. The team failed in all of those attempts. Overall, the team left eight runners on base. The team starts a four game series with Pawtucket tomorrow night and the club will look to get back on track. New Britain Rock Cats 2, New Hampshire Fisher Cats 3 (11 Innings) Boxscore The Rock Cats seem have a flair for the dramatic this season. After winning in the bottom of the ninth on Tuesday, New Britain found themselves in the middle of another tight contest this afternoon. The team was held scoreless and was behind by two until the bottom of the ninth. They needed two runs to make things interesting. Back to back one out singles by Josmil Pinto and Daniel Ortiz had the team in good shape. A throwing error on the hit from Ortiz put two runners in scoring position. Curt Smith came through with a grounder up the middle to cut the score to 2-1. James Beresford was the next batter and he cracked a sac fly to center to knot the game at 2. The Fisher Cats then mounted their own rally in the top of the 11th inning to score the go-ahead run. Two singles and a balk by Aaron Thompson allowed the winning run to score. It was the first loss of the year for Thompson in his second appearance with the club. Pat Dean pitched seven strong innings, allowing one run on seven hits. He was being very democratic by not striking out a batter and letting the defense do their work behind him. He also didn't issue any walks and it was the first time he made it into the fifth inning this year. New Britain managed seven hits in the game. Smith and Ortiz were both 2-for-5 and they were the lone members of the Rock Cats to collect more than one hit. The team was 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and the club left seven men on base. Fort Myers Miracle 2, Palm Beach Cardinals 5 Boxscore The hunt for win number 13 turned out to be unlucky for the Miracle. After finding a way to win their first 12 games of the year, Fort Myers suffered their first loss on Wednesday night. The Miracle found themselves with an early 2-0 lead but the offense of the Cardinals proved to be too much. Even in the ninth inning the club tried to hold on to their perfect season. Trailing by three runs entering the bottom of the final frame, Fort Myers would load the bases on singles from Michael Gonzalez, Kyle Knudson, and Kennys Vargas. Another single from Adam Pettersen scored a run. Unfortunately, Angel Morales then grounded into a double play. This left Eddie Rosario on deck and Miguel Sano in the hole. Sano played the hero on Tuesday with a grand slam to give the Miracle the lead. He struggled in this game going 0-for-4 with a couple of strikeouts. Even with the bad day he is still hitting .380 on the season. Rosario has also helped the offense and he went 1-for-4 with his seventh RBI of the year. The bottom of the line-up did most of the damage for the Miracle. Hitters five through eight all had multiple hits. Extra base hits were tough to come by though as Michael Koch had the lone two-bagger in the game. Matthew Summers started for the Miracle and pitched 5.2 innings. During this outing he gave up three runs on seven hits. He walked one and struck out one to record his first loss of the year. Adrian Salcedo did well in relief by striking out three of the four batters he faced. Fort Myers will look to start a new winning streak as the team travels to Port St. Lucie for a three game set. Cedar Rapids Kernels --, Wisconsin Timber Rattlers -- (Postponed) The only thing slowing down Byron Buxton this spring has been the bad weather. Cedar Rapids had their game cancelled on Wednesday due to inclement weather. Since the Kernels and the Timber Rattlers don't play again in the first half of the MWL season, the game will not be made up. Cedar Rapids will now head out on the road for six games in Peoria and Burlington. Their next home action will be Thursday, April 25th when they open a six game home stand against Great Lakes and Lansing. With a 9-3 record the Kernels find themselves on top of the Western Division of the MWL. They are looking to keep the good juices flowing as they take a two game winning streak into their road trip. The addition of J.O. Berrios, the 32nd pick in last year's draft, should be a boost to the pitching staff.

With the Twins up and down start to the year, it is hard to know if the team will be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline. Most likely the team will be selling. There will be plenty of talk about Justin Morneau being dealt in the coming months since his contract is up at the end of the year. Another important name to watch out for in the hot stove reports is Josh Willingham. Willingham is coming off his best season and there might be more than one team looking to add a powerful corner bat for the stretch run. In a story published this weekend, the Boston Globe talked about the possibility of a Willingham trade. According to one National League GM, "He's a powerful right-handed bat that any contender could stick right in the middle of their lineup and get outstanding production." He went on to say, "You'd have to give something up, but he'd be worth the expenditure. He can really hit." ESPN's Rumor Central mentioned the Pirates as a possible trade fit. They need an upgrade in their outfield and they have some players in the minor leagues that could be enticing for the Twins. It also helps that Willingham has a very club friendly contract. He is in the second year of a three-year, $21 million deal. Another wrinkle in the Willingham trade rumors is the ascension of stud prospect Oswaldo Arcia. It has been a whirlwind couple of days for Arcia. He made his MLB debut on Monday, he played for Rochester on Tuesday, and he got called back up to the big leagues after last night's game. Darin Mastroianni's injury will mean a longer look at Arcia this time around. Arcia won't turn 22 until next month becoming the youngest position player to debut with the Twins since 20-year old Joe Mauer. He was killing the ball at Triple-A and he certainly deserved this call-up. In ten games for Rochester, he was hitting .394/.474/.727 with three home runs, two doubles and eight runs scored. If Arcia kept putting up those types of numbers, it would have been hard to keep him at Triple-A. The problem for the Twins could be finding him a place in the line-up. Arcia is primarily used as a corner outfielder or designated hitter. The Twins have plenty of these types of players with Willingham, Chris Parmelee, and Ryan Doumit. It might take a trade for Arcia to stick with the club for the long-term. Morneau could be dealt creating a spot (first base) for Parmelee to move to. Willingham could also be traded to open a hole in the outfield. Both of these men could be traded away before July and then there would be plenty of playing time for Mr. Arcia. Things might be moving a little fast for Arcia. He started the 2012 season at the High-A level so he only played 69 games at Double-A before getting the bump to Rochester. He had a grand total of nine Triple-A games under his belt before he made his MLB debut. There should be tempered expectations for Arcia as fans have seen how much Aaron Hicks has struggled in his first 10 big league games. The Twins need Arcia to be a cornerstone of the franchise as the team tries to get back to winning baseball. This might be just the first taste of what is yet to come. Players are blocking the path of Arcia and he most likely will get more playing time at Triple-A. If the Twins are looking like sellers at the trade deadline, a deal including Willingham could pave the way for Arcia's permanent spot on the roster. Willingham has done some great things in his Twins tenure but Arcia is the wave of the future.

With the Twins up and down start to the year, it is hard to know if the team will be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline. Most likely the team will be selling. There will be plenty of talk about Justin Morneau being dealt in the coming months since his contract is up at the end of the year. Another important name to watch out for in the hot stove reports is Josh Willingham. Willingham is coming off his best season and there might be more than one team looking to add a powerful corner bat for the stretch run. In a story published this weekend, the Boston Globe talked about the possibility of a Willingham trade. According to one National League GM, "He's a powerful right-handed bat that any contender could stick right in the middle of their lineup and get outstanding production." He went on to say, "You'd have to give something up, but he'd be worth the expenditure. He can really hit." ESPN's Rumor Central mentioned the Pirates as a possible trade fit. They need an upgrade in their outfield and they have some players in the minor leagues that could be enticing for the Twins. It also helps that Willingham has a very club friendly contract. He is in the second year of a three-year, $21 million deal. Another wrinkle in the Willingham trade rumors is the ascension of stud prospect Oswaldo Arcia. It has been a whirlwind couple of days for Arcia. He made his MLB debut on Monday, he played for Rochester on Tuesday, and he got called back up to the big leagues after last night's game. Darin Mastroianni's injury will mean a longer look at Arcia this time around. Arcia won't turn 22 until next month becoming the youngest position player to debut with the Twins since 20-year old Joe Mauer. He was killing the ball at Triple-A and he certainly deserved this call-up. In ten games for Rochester, he was hitting .394/.474/.727 with three home runs, two doubles and eight runs scored. If Arcia kept putting up those types of numbers, it would have been hard to keep him at Triple-A. The problem for the Twins could be finding him a place in the line-up. Arcia is primarily used as a corner outfielder or designated hitter. The Twins have plenty of these types of players with Willingham, Chris Parmelee, and Ryan Doumit. It might take a trade for Arcia to stick with the club for the long-term. Morneau could be dealt creating a spot (first base) for Parmelee to move to. Willingham could also be traded to open a hole in the outfield. Both of these men could be traded away before July and then there would be plenty of playing time for Mr. Arcia. Things might be moving a little fast for Arcia. He started the 2012 season at the High-A level so he only played 69 games at Double-A before getting the bump to Rochester. He had a grand total of nine Triple-A games under his belt before he made his MLB debut. There should be tempered expectations for Arcia as fans have seen how much Aaron Hicks has struggled in his first 10 big league games. The Twins need Arcia to be a cornerstone of the franchise as the team tries to get back to winning baseball. This might be just the first taste of what is yet to come. Players are blocking the path of Arcia and he most likely will get more playing time at Triple-A. If the Twins are looking like sellers at the trade deadline, a deal including Willingham could pave the way for Arcia's permanent spot on the roster. Willingham has done some great things in his Twins tenure but Arcia is the wave of the future.

With the Twins struggling to find offense in the club's games this weekend, there have been a few boo birds roosting in the stands at Target Field. Some of these might be angry fans sitting out at a cold baseball game with nothing better to do. For others, it could be the frustration of the last couple of seasons coming to a head. Aaron Hicks has found himself in a bit of a rough patch to start his MLB career. According to FanGraphs version of WAR, Hicks has been the worst player in all of baseball this season. He has a -1.0 WAR and that places him ahead of the next closest competitors Victor Martinez, Matt Kemp, and Adam Dunn. The Twins have seen this with Hicks in the past because he has a track record of struggling when he is promoted to a new level. He usually finds a way to work out the kinks but this was a bigger jump than he has ever made before. It is hard to know how patient the Twins can be with their young outfielder. There might be to be some ways to try to ease the struggles for Hicks. Here are a few different ways the Twins front office could approach the situation. 1.) Send Hicks to Triple-A: He has never played at the Triple-A level and the team might need him to find success at that level before they give him another chance with the big league club. Hicks earned the starting job this spring with his performance but player's numbers can be deceiving in exhibition games. He looks lost at the plate against big league pitching and he needs to regain some confidence. Triple-A could give him a chance to get out of the spotlight and get his head back on his shoulders. 2.) Move Hicks down in the order: Last weekend when Ron Gardenhire was asked about moving Hicks down in the order, he was against the idea because he didn't want to hurt the rookie's confidence. It has been another full week and Hicks hasn't shown any signs of breaking out of his slump. Moving him down in the order would take some pressure off the rookie and it could help the team's offense. Gardenhire even said he wasn't opposed to having Mauer take over the lead-off role. 3.) Take away some playing time: It can be tough to get used to life at the big league level. Maybe Hicks just needs some time to adjust and a little less playing time. This could allow him to get some wind in his sails and maybe it would produce some better performances on the field. The team has given him a couple of days off but he didn't exactly come back from the hiatus hitting the cover off the ball. Of these possibilities this seems the least likely since they want Hicks to continue to get at-bats no matter where he is playing. 4.) Be Patient: So far, the team has followed this plan but it is hard to know how long this patience will last. There might need to be some positive signs from Hicks for the club to continue to follow this course of action. His defense has been good in center field but the offense has been terrible. The strikeouts continue to add up and it seems like the boo birds are going to continue to fly. Will the rookie have enough to overcome his early season struggles or will the team have to follow a different plan? If you were in charge of the Twins, what would you do? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion.

With the Twins struggling to find offense in the club's games this weekend, there have been a few boo birds roosting in the stands at Target Field. Some of these might be angry fans sitting out at a cold baseball game with nothing better to do. For others, it could be the frustration of the last couple of seasons coming to a head. Aaron Hicks has found himself in a bit of a rough patch to start his MLB career. According to FanGraphs version of WAR, Hicks has been the worst player in all of baseball this season. He has a -1.0 WAR and that places him ahead of the next closest competitors Victor Martinez, Matt Kemp, and Adam Dunn. The Twins have seen this with Hicks in the past because he has a track record of struggling when he is promoted to a new level. He usually finds a way to work out the kinks but this was a bigger jump than he has ever made before. It is hard to know how patient the Twins can be with their young outfielder. There might be to be some ways to try to ease the struggles for Hicks. Here are a few different ways the Twins front office could approach the situation. 1.) Send Hicks to Triple-A: He has never played at the Triple-A level and the team might need him to find success at that level before they give him another chance with the big league club. Hicks earned the starting job this spring with his performance but player's numbers can be deceiving in exhibition games. He looks lost at the plate against big league pitching and he needs to regain some confidence. Triple-A could give him a chance to get out of the spotlight and get his head back on his shoulders. 2.) Move Hicks down in the order: Last weekend when Ron Gardenhire was asked about moving Hicks down in the order, he was against the idea because he didn't want to hurt the rookie's confidence. It has been another full week and Hicks hasn't shown any signs of breaking out of his slump. Moving him down in the order would take some pressure off the rookie and it could help the team's offense. Gardenhire even said he wasn't opposed to having Mauer take over the lead-off role. 3.) Take away some playing time: It can be tough to get used to life at the big league level. Maybe Hicks just needs some time to adjust and a little less playing time. This could allow him to get some wind in his sails and maybe it would produce some better performances on the field. The team has given him a couple of days off but he didn't exactly come back from the hiatus hitting the cover off the ball. Of these possibilities this seems the least likely since they want Hicks to continue to get at-bats no matter where he is playing. 4.) Be Patient: So far, the team has followed this plan but it is hard to know how long this patience will last. There might need to be some positive signs from Hicks for the club to continue to follow this course of action. His defense has been good in center field but the offense has been terrible. The strikeouts continue to add up and it seems like the boo birds are going to continue to fly. Will the rookie have enough to overcome his early season struggles or will the team have to follow a different plan? If you were in charge of the Twins, what would you do? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion.

Everything was nice and fuzzy last Friday when the Twins had pulled off some nice wins and they had themselves near the top of the American League. Things have changed in the last week as the club got swept by the Kansas City Royals and the Twins are near the bottom of the AL Central. It is still early in the year so there is plenty of things that could change. Joe Mauer wasn't hitting the ball very good for the first few games of the year but he has started to come around. Josh Willingham powered a couple of home runs over the fence and Chris Parmelee has been on quite the roll at the plate. Pitching will continue to be the biggest wild card for the Twins. If the starters can keep the scores close, Minnesota's offense might be able to score enough to keep them in games. It also helps to have a strong bullpen to cover up a poor pitching staff. There was plenty of good material across the web this week. Check out the latest edition of "Friday Links-N-Thinks" and have a fantastic weekend! Eduardo Escobar seems to have found a good niche with Minnesota. The Twins front office looked pretty silly after the $15 batting practice story came out. Miguel Sano is the youngest player in the Florida State League. Minnesota has the fourth most money to spend on the international market this year. Denard Span might have the whole beating traffic thing figured out. Vance Worley is an interesting character. Fans are going to have to be patient with the Twins youngsters. Jake Mauer has a new job and some interesting prospects to tutor. Supplemental draft picks have a tough decision between college and professional baseball. Is the glass half empty or half full for the Twins? We talked about this on this week's episode of Talk to Contact so here is Bryce Harper's older brother and his fantastic mustache. It's real and it's spectacular. One of the most powerful stories from this week looks at Ken Griffey Jr. and his attempt at suicide. It is hard to believe "The Sandlot" turns 20 this year. Here is a look at where the stars are now. The most valuable baseball card in the world was altered even though people suspected this for years. Vin Scully can make anything sound better even when he doesn't know the meaning of hashtag. A goat's head showed up on the doorstep of Wrigley Field. The Kansas City Royals almost ended up with a dome but thankfully they didn't. Who does this Justin Verlander bobblehead look like? My vote is for Jamey Carroll. Plenty of fans don't like the wave but these Nats fans are going to the extreme. Will there be an MLB International Draft for 2014? MLB is going to establish a training academy in Puerto Rico. Those fancy pink wireless phones haven't shown up in the dugout yet. My Weekly Rundown Monday: Talk to Contact: Episode 32 Tuesday: Anthony Swarzak could be key to the bullpen Wednesday: Will the real Twins base stealers, please stand up? Wet Wednesday in the Minors Video of the Week: A terrible strike call end a game with the Rangers and the Rays earlier this week. One of the biggest parts of this strike was the fact that it capped Joe Nathan's 300th save in the big leagues. Twins fans got to see Nathan climb the club's all-time list before he broke the record. He continues to rack up saves and it will be interesting to see how high he can get on MLB's all-time list.

Everything was nice and fuzzy last Friday when the Twins had pulled off some nice wins and they had themselves near the top of the American League. Things have changed in the last week as the club got swept by the Kansas City Royals and the Twins are near the bottom of the AL Central. It is still early in the year so there is plenty of things that could change. Joe Mauer wasn't hitting the ball very good for the first few games of the year but he has started to come around. Josh Willingham powered a couple of home runs over the fence and Chris Parmelee has been on quite the roll at the plate. Pitching will continue to be the biggest wild card for the Twins. If the starters can keep the scores close, Minnesota's offense might be able to score enough to keep them in games. It also helps to have a strong bullpen to cover up a poor pitching staff. There was plenty of good material across the web this week. Check out the latest edition of "Friday Links-N-Thinks" and have a fantastic weekend! Eduardo Escobar seems to have found a good niche with Minnesota. The Twins front office looked pretty silly after the $15 batting practice story came out. Miguel Sano is the youngest player in the Florida State League. Minnesota has the fourth most money to spend on the international market this year. Denard Span might have the whole beating traffic thing figured out. Vance Worley is an interesting character. Fans are going to have to be patient with the Twins youngsters. Jake Mauer has a new job and some interesting prospects to tutor. Supplemental draft picks have a tough decision between college and professional baseball. Is the glass half empty or half full for the Twins? We talked about this on this week's episode of Talk to Contact so here is Bryce Harper's older brother and his fantastic mustache. It's real and it's spectacular. One of the most powerful stories from this week looks at Ken Griffey Jr. and his attempt at suicide. It is hard to believe "The Sandlot" turns 20 this year. Here is a look at where the stars are now. The most valuable baseball card in the world was altered even though people suspected this for years. Vin Scully can make anything sound better even when he doesn't know the meaning of hashtag. A goat's head showed up on the doorstep of Wrigley Field. The Kansas City Royals almost ended up with a dome but thankfully they didn't. Who does this Justin Verlander bobblehead look like? My vote is for Jamey Carroll. Plenty of fans don't like the wave but these Nats fans are going to the extreme. Will there be an MLB International Draft for 2014? MLB is going to establish a training academy in Puerto Rico. Those fancy pink wireless phones haven't shown up in the dugout yet. My Weekly Rundown Monday: Talk to Contact: Episode 32 Tuesday: Anthony Swarzak could be key to the bullpen Wednesday: Will the real Twins base stealers, please stand up? Wet Wednesday in the Minors Video of the Week: A terrible strike call end a game with the Rangers and the Rays earlier this week. One of the biggest parts of this strike was the fact that it capped Joe Nathan's 300th save in the big leagues. Twins fans got to see Nathan climb the club's all-time list before he broke the record. He continues to rack up saves and it will be interesting to see how high he can get on MLB's all-time list.

With last night's loss, the Twins failed to win a series for the first time in 2013. Things didn't go much better tonight for Minnesota as the club fell to the Kansas City Royals. It was the first time the team had been swept in 2013 and the Twins only scored five runs in the series. Miguel Sano hit his first home run of the year on Tuesday evening. He has only been held hitless in one game so far this year and he was hitting .421 entering play today. The Miracle had a 5-0 record entering play tonight and new manager Doug Mientkiewicz has to be pleased with his team performance. How long can they keep it going is another question. Two of the best pitching prospects in the Twins organization were suppose to be on the mound in the upper levels of the minor leagues. Both Kyle Gibson and Trevor May were scheduled to make their second starts of the season and each man was looking for his first win. Let's see how things went on a wet Wednesday night in the minor leagues. Rochester Red Wings --, Scranton/WB RailRiders -- (Postponed) Kyle Gibson didn't get to take the mound on Wednesday due to inclement weather. The game will be made up on Monday, June 17 as part of a doubleheader at PNC Field. The first game will be scheduled for 5:35 pm (Eastern Time) with the second game following shortly after. Rochester was trying to win back-to-back games for the first time this season. On Tuesday, Chris Colabello cranked a solo home run to break a 1-1 tie in the ninth inning. Anthony Slama closed the door in the ninth inning for his first save of the year and the 101st of his career. The Red Wings will now travel to Pawtucket to open a four-game series with the Red Sox beginning on Thursday night. New Britain Rock Cats 17, Harrisburg Senators 5 Boxscore The Rock Cats found themselves in a tight contest with the Senators before back-to-back four run innings put the club out in front for good. A rain delay wasn't even enough to slow down the Rock Cats offense as the team pounded out 17 hits and 17 runs including 15 runs in the last four innings. Reynaldo Rodriguez and Josmil Pinto each had two home runs. Rodriguez finished the game going 3-for-5 with two bombs, a two-bagger, and four RBI. It was quite the game for Rodriguez considering he didn't have a hit so far this season. Daniel Ortiz, Danny Lehmann, and Nate Hanson joined the mash party as New Britain pounded out seven home runs in the game. Trevor May started for New Britain and gave up two earned runs on four hits including one long ball. It took him 82 pitches to get through four innings so he wasn't exactly being efficient. He struck out seven batters and walked three. May was replaced by Edgar Ibarra who three two perfect innings and struck out four. New Britain starts a four game series at Portland tomorrow night. The club sits one game over .500 and they will try to continue to play winning baseball. Fort Myers Miracle 7, Jupiter Hammerheads 6 (10 innings) Boxscore The Miracle found themselves in an early 4-0 hole and this could have spelled trouble but the team was able to complete the comeback. The win improved the Miracle to 6-0, the club's best start since 2006. In the bottom of the tenth inning with two outs, a pitch hit Kyle Knudson with Jonathan Goncalves already on first base. The next batter was Stephen Wickens and he sent the fans home happy with a line drive single to center field. Miguel Sano went 2-for-5 in the game with his third double of the year. With a double and a triple, Angel Morales had his first multi-hit contest of 2013. Kenny Vargas and Jonathan Goncalves added two hits of their own while Goncalves rocked his first home run. Tom Stuifbergen pitched six innings and only allowed one earned run. Sano had two errors in the first inning and this caused a few unearned runs to score. Corey Williams earned his first blown save and Adrian Salcedo picked up his first win out of the bullpen. He struck out two of the four batters that he faced in the 10th inning. The Miracle will finish out their series with the Hammerheads tomorrow night. The team looks to remain unbeaten on the season before heading out on the road for a weekend series with Charlotte. 
 Cedar Rapids Kernels -- , Wisconsin Timber Rattlers -- (Double Header- Postponed) For the second day in a row, the Kernels game against the Timber Rattlers was postponed. The team was supposed to have a double header today but it was too cold in Wisconsin to be playing baseball. Cedar Rapids was off to a very good start with a 4-1 record so it is disappointing that they haven't been able to play the last couple of days. Hopefully, the team can get in some action tomorrow as they head back to Iowa to play the Clinton LumberKings.

With last night's loss, the Twins failed to win a series for the first time in 2013. Things didn't go much better tonight for Minnesota as the club fell to the Kansas City Royals. It was the first time the team had been swept in 2013 and the Twins only scored five runs in the series. Miguel Sano hit his first home run of the year on Tuesday evening. He has only been held hitless in one game so far this year and he was hitting .421 entering play today. The Miracle had a 5-0 record entering play tonight and new manager Doug Mientkiewicz has to be pleased with his team performance. How long can they keep it going is another question. Two of the best pitching prospects in the Twins organization were suppose to be on the mound in the upper levels of the minor leagues. Both Kyle Gibson and Trevor May were scheduled to make their second starts of the season and each man was looking for his first win. Let's see how things went on a wet Wednesday night in the minor leagues. Rochester Red Wings --, Scranton/WB RailRiders -- (Postponed) Kyle Gibson didn't get to take the mound on Wednesday due to inclement weather. The game will be made up on Monday, June 17 as part of a doubleheader at PNC Field. The first game will be scheduled for 5:35 pm (Eastern Time) with the second game following shortly after. Rochester was trying to win back-to-back games for the first time this season. On Tuesday, Chris Colabello cranked a solo home run to break a 1-1 tie in the ninth inning. Anthony Slama closed the door in the ninth inning for his first save of the year and the 101st of his career. The Red Wings will now travel to Pawtucket to open a four-game series with the Red Sox beginning on Thursday night. New Britain Rock Cats 17, Harrisburg Senators 5 Boxscore The Rock Cats found themselves in a tight contest with the Senators before back-to-back four run innings put the club out in front for good. A rain delay wasn't even enough to slow down the Rock Cats offense as the team pounded out 17 hits and 17 runs including 15 runs in the last four innings. Reynaldo Rodriguez and Josmil Pinto each had two home runs. Rodriguez finished the game going 3-for-5 with two bombs, a two-bagger, and four RBI. It was quite the game for Rodriguez considering he didn't have a hit so far this season. Daniel Ortiz, Danny Lehmann, and Nate Hanson joined the mash party as New Britain pounded out seven home runs in the game. Trevor May started for New Britain and gave up two earned runs on four hits including one long ball. It took him 82 pitches to get through four innings so he wasn't exactly being efficient. He struck out seven batters and walked three. May was replaced by Edgar Ibarra who three two perfect innings and struck out four. New Britain starts a four game series at Portland tomorrow night. The club sits one game over .500 and they will try to continue to play winning baseball. Fort Myers Miracle 7, Jupiter Hammerheads 6 (10 innings) Boxscore The Miracle found themselves in an early 4-0 hole and this could have spelled trouble but the team was able to complete the comeback. The win improved the Miracle to 6-0, the club's best start since 2006. In the bottom of the tenth inning with two outs, a pitch hit Kyle Knudson with Jonathan Goncalves already on first base. The next batter was Stephen Wickens and he sent the fans home happy with a line drive single to center field. Miguel Sano went 2-for-5 in the game with his third double of the year. With a double and a triple, Angel Morales had his first multi-hit contest of 2013. Kenny Vargas and Jonathan Goncalves added two hits of their own while Goncalves rocked his first home run. Tom Stuifbergen pitched six innings and only allowed one earned run. Sano had two errors in the first inning and this caused a few unearned runs to score. Corey Williams earned his first blown save and Adrian Salcedo picked up his first win out of the bullpen. He struck out two of the four batters that he faced in the 10th inning. The Miracle will finish out their series with the Hammerheads tomorrow night. The team looks to remain unbeaten on the season before heading out on the road for a weekend series with Charlotte. 
 Cedar Rapids Kernels -- , Wisconsin Timber Rattlers -- (Double Header- Postponed) For the second day in a row, the Kernels game against the Timber Rattlers was postponed. The team was supposed to have a double header today but it was too cold in Wisconsin to be playing baseball. Cedar Rapids was off to a very good start with a 4-1 record so it is disappointing that they haven't been able to play the last couple of days. Hopefully, the team can get in some action tomorrow as they head back to Iowa to play the Clinton LumberKings.

Twins fans have been spoiled in the last two seasons. Ben Revere made base stealing look easy. Even Denard Span could swipe a base or two if the club needed it. Both of these men are in different uniforms to start the 2013 season. In fact, three of the top four base stealers from the 2012 Twins are no longer with the organization. Last year the Twins stole 135 bases, which ranked first in the American League. In 2011, the club finished in 10 place in the AL with 92 stolen bases. The team only had 68 steals in 2010 and that was bad enough to rank 12th among the 14 AL clubs. It obviously helps to have Mr. Revere on your club for any part of a season. Stealing bases is an art form. Unfortunately for the Twins, the club is going to have to find some different artists for the coming year. Chris Parmelee was thrown out trying to steal second base in the late innings of Monday afternoon's game. This meant the Twins have only been successful in two of their six stolen base attempts. The current team leaders in steals are Trevor Plouffe and Parmelee with one steal apiece. It is obvious that these two men aren't the fleetest of foot. So where are the steals going to come from for Minnesota? One man the Twins will rely on for steals this year is Aaron Hicks. He has gotten the year off to a bad start and this has meant he has only been on base four times. If a batter isn't getting on base, he obviously isn't going to be able to rack up steal attempts. In his one attempted steal this year, he was thrown out pretty easily (see photo above). Hicks had an outstanding year last season at Double-A and his solid offensive output was only helped by his ability to steal bases. He stole 32 bases last year and was caught stealing 11 times. Before last year, he had never had more than 21 steals so this was a step in the right direction. The Twins can't just rely on Hicks for steals so there will have to be some other men to reek havoc on the base paths. Darin Mastroianni had 21 steals in 24 attempts last season. These were very good numbers for someone that played in only 77 games. He has been hampered be a nagging injury from the end of spring training. When he is able to get back to being fully healthy, he could get more playing time and the chance to steal some more bases. The middle infield core of Brian Dozier, Pedro Florimon, and Eduardo Escobar has yet to join the steal parade. Dozier had nine steals for the Twins last season but in his last full season in the minors he took 24 bags. Florimon and Escobar have a track record of getting double digits in steals but they will have to be selective with when to take an extra base. One dark horse when it comes to stealing bases could be Joe Mauer. He usually gets on base at one of the best rates in the AL and being on first base a lot can lead to some opportunities to swipe second. Mauer's athletic ability can always make him a threat but he has never stolen more than 13 bases. This could be the year for him to set a new career high. Steals might be few and far between this year unless the Twins get some other players into their everyday line-up. The opportunity to swipe bags might be there but the club will need to be selective in sending some runners with less ability on the base paths.

Twins fans have been spoiled in the last two seasons. Ben Revere made base stealing look easy. Even Denard Span could swipe a base or two if the club needed it. Both of these men are in different uniforms to start the 2013 season. In fact, three of the top four base stealers from the 2012 Twins are no longer with the organization. Last year the Twins stole 135 bases, which ranked first in the American League. In 2011, the club finished in 10 place in the AL with 92 stolen bases. The team only had 68 steals in 2010 and that was bad enough to rank 12th among the 14 AL clubs. It obviously helps to have Mr. Revere on your club for any part of a season. Stealing bases is an art form. Unfortunately for the Twins, the club is going to have to find some different artists for the coming year. Chris Parmelee was thrown out trying to steal second base in the late innings of Monday afternoon's game. This meant the Twins have only been successful in two of their six stolen base attempts. The current team leaders in steals are Trevor Plouffe and Parmelee with one steal apiece. It is obvious that these two men aren't the fleetest of foot. So where are the steals going to come from for Minnesota? One man the Twins will rely on for steals this year is Aaron Hicks. He has gotten the year off to a bad start and this has meant he has only been on base four times. If a batter isn't getting on base, he obviously isn't going to be able to rack up steal attempts. In his one attempted steal this year, he was thrown out pretty easily (see photo above). Hicks had an outstanding year last season at Double-A and his solid offensive output was only helped by his ability to steal bases. He stole 32 bases last year and was caught stealing 11 times. Before last year, he had never had more than 21 steals so this was a step in the right direction. The Twins can't just rely on Hicks for steals so there will have to be some other men to reek havoc on the base paths. Darin Mastroianni had 21 steals in 24 attempts last season. These were very good numbers for someone that played in only 77 games. He has been hampered be a nagging injury from the end of spring training. When he is able to get back to being fully healthy, he could get more playing time and the chance to steal some more bases. The middle infield core of Brian Dozier, Pedro Florimon, and Eduardo Escobar has yet to join the steal parade. Dozier had nine steals for the Twins last season but in his last full season in the minors he took 24 bags. Florimon and Escobar have a track record of getting double digits in steals but they will have to be selective with when to take an extra base. One dark horse when it comes to stealing bases could be Joe Mauer. He usually gets on base at one of the best rates in the AL and being on first base a lot can lead to some opportunities to swipe second. Mauer's athletic ability can always make him a threat but he has never stolen more than 13 bases. This could be the year for him to set a new career high. Steals might be few and far between this year unless the Twins get some other players into their everyday line-up. The opportunity to swipe bags might be there but the club will need to be selective in sending some runners with less ability on the base paths.

When word came out following TwinsFest about the injury suffered by Anthony Swarzak, it had to be embarrassing. He suffered a fractured rib after wrestling with some teammates during the Twins annual fan festival. Swarzak would open the season on the DL and it was tough for him to watch the Twins fight the Tigers and the Orioles before he could get on the field. Swarzak returned to the mound on Sunday and got four big outs for the Twins on their way to a second series win in a row to start the year. He entered in the sixth inning and allowed two hits and a walk along with one strikeout. He was forced to toss a lot of sliders because he didn't have a great feel for his fastball. It would be his first victory of the year and he made the appearance without making any rehab starts in the minor leagues. Swarzak is back and he has a little something to prove. One of the biggest surprises for the Twins in the first week of the season has been the performance of the pitching staff. There have been positive signs from almost every starting pitcher but only Kevin Correia has pitched seven innings. This leaves the bullpen in charge of getting a lot of outs. The Twins could be relying heavily on Swarzak during the coming season. The long relief pitcher could be called on for some big outs when the starting staff doesn't make it into the late innings. In recent years, he has even been called on to make a start or two. Players like Jared Burton, Glen Perkins, and Brian Duensing are going to have important late-inning roles out of the bullpen. It might take a bridge to get from the starting pitcher to those back of the bullpen arms. That is where Swarzak can make his mark. As one would expect, his numbers are much better as a relief pitcher versus his time as a starter. For his career, he ERA is 1.19 points lower out of the bullpen. His WHIP is .153 points lower and he has a higher strikeout per nine. Opponent’s batting average against him is 60 points lower when he is used in relief. Ron Gardenhire and Rick Anderson know the bullpen is one of the team's strengths in 2013. This could mean a lot of use out of some of the more consistent arms in the bullpen. The team has relied on the bullpen to keep their games close so far and that trend will likely continue in the coming weeks. Swarzak wants the ball as much as possible. He said, "As long as they want me to pitch, I'll pitch. That's always been my attitude here, and that will always be my attitude anywhere. I'm a pitcher before anything else. As long as they want me to have the ball, I'll take the ball." The Twins might need Swarzak to take the ball a lot this season. It looks like the bullpen is going to be one of the most important parts of the roster and Swarzak could be a key figure for the success of the 2013 Minnesota Twins.