goulik

I figured long term he would be moved to the corner, but up to this year he has played a lot of CF (1,013 innings vs 434 in LF and 67 in RF) I did not realize a decision had been made that he was no longer a CF especially since he is still listed as CF on his Lookouts page.

That is a great read, thank you for sharing. Sano is a beast and this article shows us why. So excited that we get to watch him for many years to come!!

English has been a top tier defensive outfielder with a light bat. In 62 at bats he is hitting .129 with a whopping .430 OPS. He has struck out 26 times. I do not recall him being on top 20 or 30 prospect lists but he may have been on top 50-60 lists because of his defense. As it is, he has been taking CF time from LaMonte Wade who is a much higher regarded prospect.

Tanner English was sent down to Fort Meyers which I believe will get Wade a lot more time in CF...time will tell.

Can you post a connection to your source please?

Pulling a starting pitcher after 2 innings and 2 runs IS Molitors decision. He has been doing this with Berrios last year and Mejia this year. The young guys are going to go through struggles. You have to let them fight through it. On Thursday, Holland gave up 6 runs to the Twins in the first two innings. He pitched 5 innings and gave up 7 runs. I would rather see Mejia be put in that situation where he has to gut it out than be pulled after 2 innings and 2 runs. That is just ridiculous.

WARNING, THE FOLLOWING POST WILL CONTAIN A PAUL MOLITOR GRIPE READ ON WITH CAUTION Mejia has pitched 3 starts for AAA Rochester so far this year hurling 17.2 innings and holding a 4.08 ERA. He has allowed 8 runs and issued 3 walks while striking out 15. His K rate is 7.6. We all see the ghastly MLB ERA and 8 runs allowed in 11.2 MLB innings which also contained 8 walks and two home runs but I'm annoyed at the short leash given to young pitching prospects. We saw how molitor yanked Berrios around. Mejia has made 4 MLB appearances and has allowed 8 Earned Runs. That is two runs per start... He has never been allowed to try to work through a jam. He has an MLB K rate North of 8 and his stuff is electric. Honestly, I want to see the front office do the same with Mejia as they promised to do with Berrios. Keep him down until they are ready to bring him up and keep him up. Mejia has not spent a season at AAA yet so seasoning is a good idea. He now has 89.2 AAA innings with an 85/19 K/BB and an 8.5 K/9. His 4.01 AAA ERA won't excite anyone but I was really impressed with his stuff when I saw him with the big club. If he can get control and work out the kinks, the kid could be good. And when he does come up, he needs to go at least 90 pitches per outing or until he gives up 6 runs in an outing before getting the hook. He's gotta be given a chance to work through it when he comes back.

Mets signed him and released Wilks as the corresponding move

In three weeks my life will slow down significantly for the summer and I will pour some more time into this. June 3rd is my first day of relief from my schedule...

Ditto with OPS...

David Hurlbut because with a name like that... I mean seriously, he has to be given one MLB with a name like THAT!!

In many ways Berrios was everything we have hoped for with good control and confidence in his stuff Except In the third inning with a runner on third he suddenly seemed to be overthrowing. He uncorked a wild pitch and the runner scored. He continued to be wild the rest of the at bat and walked the next batter as well. He got the next guy to fly out ending the inning and from that point on he was very much in control.

Not disagreeing at all with any of that. Problem is, Polanco is here, playing shortstop and doing a good job of it this season despite his past deficiencies. If he regresses to his past norm, he will get moved to 2B in favor of Gordon but I am seeing the possibility that he earns the right to stay at short

Vielma profiles more as a defense first utility infielder on a good team than as an every day shortstop. Polanco and Vielma have more range than Gordon so if Polanco can handle short, Vielma might be 2B when Dozier is traded until Gordon takes over. Also,either May take over short pushing polanco to 2nd when polanco is deemed not solid enough a glove at SS

http://twinsdaily.com/topic/25898-article-twins-minor-league-report-512-kranson-granite-wade-key-in-victories/ A lot of Wade love going on after last night's game

He is still listed on the 7 day DL for Cedar Rapids. I'm confused too....

With the starters not named Santiago or Santana, we have had to love long relievers.

I expect that by seasons end, there will be more names on that top 100 from the Twins. What has killed them were the Jay and Stewart draft picks and injuries. Burdi was once on the list and looks like the old Burdi again, Wade I believe is the real deal, Gonsalves was on preseason lists, and there are some guys at A- that could rise to the list by seasons end (Palacios, Diaz, Rortverdt). I am not going to get overly excited by the lack of names but if we picked better than Jay and Stewart we would not have this discussion going today...

Candidates I see that could have value and may be at positions where we are overstocked could include players like Granite/Wade/Palka, blocked by our current 4 outfielders, Park blocked by Mauer/Vargas, and Vielma/Gordon blocked by Polanco/Escobar/Dozier.

So as we look to the future and hope the younger Relief Pitchers start replacing some of the older MLB guys, who comes up first? Here are some contenders: Nick Burdi is a favorite among many here on TD but he is still at AA, has never been higher than AA, and has only pitched 16.2 innings in the past 2 years combined due to injuries. In 13.2 innings this year Burdi has struck out 18 while walking 4 and allowing only 1 run for a 0.66 ERA. His 0.67 WHIP is also impressive. Burdi has a career 1.24 WHIP in the minors. Mason Melotakis is also still at AA and also has never pitched any higher than AA after missing 2015 due to injury. Melotakis is repeating AA after 33 innings with a 2.97 ERA and 1.44 ERA there last year. In his second season in Chattanooga, Melotakis has pitched 15 innings with 11 K's compared to 3 walks. His WHIP is an impressive 0.60 with a career WHIP of 1.29. Melotakis has allowed two runs this year but one of those was unearned so his 0.60 ERA is even lower than Burdi. Trevor Hildenberger is in his first year in AAA with 10.2 innings logged this year. Hildenberger has struck out 12 while only walking 3. He has allowed 3 runs for a 2.53 ERA. In his favor is a terrific career 0.85 WHIP that is hurt by his career high 1.22 WHIP so far this year. Alan Busenitz spent most of last year in AA but, unlike the three above, he pitched 20.2 innings in AAA last year so comes with more experience. He has pitched in 12.1 innings this year with 15 strikeouts offsetting the 4 runs and 7 walks. His 2.92 ERA is solid and a 0.89 WHIP is really nice but his AAA career ERA is still 4.91 because of his AAA time BEFORE coming to the Twins in a trade midseason. DJ Baxendale has also been mentioned on TD as someone to bring up instead of some of the free agent signings we have seen. This year he has an identical ERA to Busenitz (2.92) in the exact same number of innings (12.1) but he is repeating AAA with the most AAA experience of anyone on this list. Last year, in 35 innings, he had a 1.29 ERA with 40 K's to 8 walks for a 1.03 WHIP. His K rate is down this year with only 9 so far but the control is there with only 2 walks and a 0.89 WHIP So, based on these numbers (and any others you would like to share with us in your responses), who do you think should be the first minor leaguer called up? Maybe it is someone not on this list...

You have several multi-hit games, 3 doubles and a home run during that span and the result is this thread with another link as well. http://twinsdaily.com/topic/25864-mlbpipline-players-of-the-week/

Wade is tearing up another level of baseball hitting .326/.458/.478 for a .937 OPS in 120 Plate Appearances. Those are career highs in Avg, OBP, and OPS. Pretty good for having moved up another level after only a half season at A+. Wade has collected 24 BB's vs 17 K's. He has also stolen all 3 bases he's attempted. He has hit 5 doubles and 3 homers but has not tripled yet. Defensively, Wade is playing mostly Left Field due to the superior defense of Tanner English. He has 162.2 innings in Left, 40 in right, and 28 in center with a .981 FPCT over a combined 230.2 innings in the field (one error...). Wade also has 4 outfield assists, one of those trying to tag up on him and the others being too aggressive for their own good. Wade has typically spent a half season or less at a level and at this pace, he will not be in Chattanooga for long either.

Vielma is Batting 308/372/355 for a 727 OPS in 123 Plate Appearances. His only power has been in the form of 5 doubles and he has only managed to steal one base in 4 attempts. He has 10 walks to 11 K's which boosts his OBP Defensively, he has been competing with Gordon for time at SS. He has 140 innings at Short and 104.2 at 2B. His fielding percentages at each position have remained consistent with the rest of his career, .986 at second and .958 at SS.

Anyone have the date he can be called up without losing service time? When is our cut off in knowing that service time is or is not the case? EDIT: Ok, so I was typing this question while Brooks was posting the June 27th date... I assume that is the service time date?

Is it possible that the Twins try to send him down so as to have 5 starters in AAA when they call up Berrios? Please be true?