pioneers3

I would like to know his 6-8, but here is my guess 1. Buxton 2. Berrios 3. Boyd 4. Duffey 5. Harrison 6. Hicks 7. Walker 8-Goodrum? He may have a few more pitchers on his list, still getting to know those guys.

I don't know what your Budget is, but the Clarion Hotel and Convention Center is about 5 Minutes from the park, right off of 380. It's a nice hotel, all the visiting Football teams in town to play Iowa normally stay there. Has indoor pool and a nice little sports bar. Plus a few fast food joints near by. Not sure about the Breakfast. Hotel in Cedar Rapids IA, Clarion hotel near Hawkeye Downs Another one is kiddy corner to this is the Fairfield inn & Suites. Looks real nice, never been there. Fairfield Inn & Suites Cedar Rapids, Iowa Hotel Near Eastern Iowa Airport (CID) Here is a google map of Hotels in the SW part of Cedar Rapids where the stadium is. https://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF-8&q=Cedar+rapids+hotels&fb=1&gl=us&hq=hotels&hnear=0x87e45f7aa02f4251:0x55ee60432ce6ddc0,Cedar+Rapids,+IA&ei=V32CUenROdH8yAH76YDoBw&ved=0CJMCELYD

Kernels start a brutal road stretch where the play 3 at WM, 3 in SB, come home , have a day off and have a 4 game games at QC (Day trips, drive down and back). Then 3 at Beloit. This will be a good test for the Young players.

Yea he is...should be MWL player of the Month. I won't be posting about Buxton very much more. It kind of gets old to write the same things over and over and over again. But got a pretty good Idea how I compare him to Trout. The only difference from Trout and Buxton is Trout was thicker in the body and country strong, where Buxton is lean with athletic strength. If somebody asked me who was better in Cedar Rapids, to tell you the truth, I am leaning towards Buxton.

Just got back from the Kernels Game. They are fun to watch play, great approaches at plate. It also helps when you have Buxton , Harrison, Hicks, Walker playing and Berrios pitching. First Buxton already has a MLB approach, makes adjustments pitch to pitch and AB to AB. Some teams are pitching him backwards and he just waits for his pitch, I wonder what his swing and miss % is, I have a feeling it is pretty low. He has a longer swing early in the count, and shortens up with 2 strikes. Harrison hit an absolute BOMB to LF, it wasn't a typical Harrison HR, this was a high long fly ball home run, most of his are line shots, I am really liking Harrison and thing he could become a serviceable Big League Player, but Sano or him will have to move. I see Harrison at first or maybe LF. Hicks had an opposite field double, followed by a Walker opposite field triple (maybe a double, I had a few beers:)), both are swinging it well right now. Now to Berrios...Wow is all I have to say. If you follow me on twitter, I tried to share a video, if you saw it let me know how it looked. He sat most of the game 92-94 and touched 95 a few times. If you make it to Cedar Rapids, I wouldn't pay to close attention to the in house gun, it is off most of the time. Very rarely does it match the guns from the scouts behind the plate. His fastball is impressive, but the off-speed stuff he add tonight was BIG LEAGUE STUFF...Got a lot of swing and misses with his low 80 sliders. His change up flashed plus plus potential, just a little inconsistent with it, but it's there. Right now, if Buxton is the #1 prospect in CR and #2 in the twins, Berrios is 1A in Cedar Rapids and 2A for the Twins. If you are planning on coming to a game I would do it sooner rather then later, the roster will change after the Draft, I have a feeling that is when Buxton will be due to leave. Berrios will most likely stay longer as I am sure the Twins will limit his innings and total pitches this year.

IF Mauer wasn't a catcher he is in the league a lot quicker, he was learning how to handle a pitching staff as a high school draftee. So I wouldn't apply the Mauer time table to Buxton. Buxton will end year in FM, not AA.

Here is an article on Travis Harrison from Perfect Game's in house beat writer Jeff Dahn. I remember watching Harrison a bunch during his High School Days, he hit a home run on the back fields of the Cardinals Spring Training Complex, that when it left the bat, people took cover because it sounded like a gun shot.

I don't see Sano and Buxton batting next to each other...but who knows, I don't have enough knowledge of everyone in the Twins system. So somebody give me your 2015 line up for the twins when Buxton arrives. I think Buxton is up mid 2015 so the Twins get 6 1/2 years out of him before FA.

Atherton can be really good and he can also look like a high school kid who has no clue where the ball is going. If he ever figure's out how to repeat his delivery he has a chance to be very good. His cutter is the best pitch he throws, when he is on, it has late life and misses barrel's. Guess he was on last night. Berrios, had some nerves early, but settled in later, I expect him to be much better his next start at home, which I believe will be Monday the 29th, if all games are played. Burlington is getting lots of rain right now so game may be PPD again, which would push guys back. I guess Walkers HR was an just crushed, a LD ball that just kept going. Will be catching a few games on this upcoming home stand so looking forward to seeing Duff and Berrios pitch.

I miss read, I was thinking the 29-30 of April, no clue why...but I see it is June, should be nice by then.

He will be in FM, question is, will it be after the 1st half? If the twins want the Kernels in the play offs, I don't think they move him until they clinch. But the minors aren't all about winning, it's about getting guys ready to play in the bigs, so they may move him before the Kernels clinch. I would be very shocked, I mean really shocked if he is still in Cedar Rapids come mid July.

Can't wait to watch him throw again, everyone I talk to are real high on him.

HA, some days I feel like I work for Deadspin...

My co worker Jeff Dahn wrote a piece about Hudson Boyd- Boyd listens, learns in MWL | Perfect Game USA Perfect Game will be dong articles through out the year, so I will keep posting them when they come out. Boyd threw indoors yesterday, he looks physically good, if he keeps his body right, he has a chance to become really good.

Radar shows a slight chance of playing in Cedar Rapids. I wouldn't count on it though.

Both teams have an open date on May 24th I think, or May 17th...Wisconsin is playing in Clinton the day before, and at the Quad Cities the day after so, could be made up at the point if the Mid West League wants to get them in.

Paul Molitor-504 SB's I would cross him off the list. When Paul was with the Twins, yes he wasn't as fleet as foot as I remember him with the Brewers.

Caught the 2nd game of the DH in Cedar Rapids. Buxton was outstanding, went 3 x 4 using all his tools doing it. His first AB was a chopper to the SS which he beat out for a single, I wouldn't call it routine, but not many people beat the throw, followed that up with a LD double down the LF line, then almost killed the pitcher with a hard LD single up the middle. His hardest hit ball may have been his L7. Dalton Hicks has some serious bat speed, he will need to learn how to hit to LF, as he grounded out twice into the big shift by Wisconsin. He had an F6 but, in all reality the ball got so high I think the CF lost it when it got above the lights, as the SS caught it about 10 feet from where the CF stands. Travis Harrison had a home run in the big first inning, a line shot over LF, from seeing Harrison in HS, that is all his HR's, line shots. Pitching was outstanding, Gruver threw 4 innings of shut out ball and had command of all pitches, did a pretty good job pitching with big lead. The man from down under, who I am really starting to like, pitched 3 innings and got the win. I was sitting up in the Suite, and I am sure that the radar gun isn't correct so I won't give you velo's on the arms.

You got to remember that Prior was a college pitcher and legit...he broke down because he was abused by Dusty Baker when he got to the bigs. If Prior goes to the twins, who know's he may still be pitching and becomes a Verlander type pitcher. He had that kind of stuff. Just wasn't physically ready to throw the pitch counts he was throwing. USC abused him to, so it I can't put total blame on Dusty.

From looking at the schedule, both the Kernels and Rattlers (Wisconsin) have off on May 7th and 21st. May 7th could be the date, Kernels are in South Bend on the 6th then at Quad Cities (day trip for Kernels) on the 8th. They may swing through and play 2 on way home. the 21st would be tough on Rattlers as they play at Clinton IA, have a day off than play at Quad Cities IA. I know that the MWL will want to make them up before the 1st half is over, but I don't know if they will make them play it at Cedar Rapids this week.

That is one way of cooling off Buxton, don't play for 3 days.

Just to let you know that there should be a huge crowd at those games, the Kernels play the Lansing Lugnuts (Blue Jays) and they have a former Cedar Rapids High School Player on the roster, Kellen Sweeney. The Kernels also did a promotion on April 1st where you buy a ticket and you get one for the 29th for a buck. Hope the weather is a little warmer for your trip.

The Kernels came into the indoor today, so I got to see a few of the arms throw a bull pen. Really like Tim Atherton, he is from down under. Had good life and his cutter was sharp today, throws down hill. He was one of the relievers in the No-no game. Taylor Rogers threw, he is starting now, but if he struggles moving up as a starter, I could see him doing well vs. LHH out of the pen. He has that low 3/4 arm slot that would come from behind a LHH. Couldn't stay to see everyone, I have a hoops game, but will be updating as the season gets going and the weather gets nicer!

Saw a retweet of one of the writers that had the link in his profile, so clicked it and lead me here. And 70Charger...I would have your hopes high on Buxton...Trout was just a little more physical when he was here, but they have very similar tools. From the 1 game I saw, I would say Buxton actually has more raw bat speed then Trout did, but Trout was so strong. Trout had a big league body when he was here. Buxton doesn't yet, but he has big league tools. 3 was my college number where I played, had it since the 90's. Kernels were cancelled today, some of their pitchers will be getting a work out in the indoor cages where I work, so I will stop by and watch a few of them work out tonight.

work at Perfect Game USA. I saw a lot of the minor league players and future big league guys while in High School at some of our events. Remember watching Berrios in Fort Myers as a High School Senior...can't wait for him to get to Cedar Rapids in a few weeks.