Steve Lein

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The Twins fell to the Indians 4-3 tonight in walk-off fashion, but received a quality start effort from Ricky Nolasco, who bucked his early season strikeout deficiency, and racked up nine K’s in his six innings. The strikeout trend would continue with a few of the Twins top pitching prospects on the evening. TRANSACTIONS The Twins activated their 2013 15th round draft pick, pitcher Derrick Pinella, and assigned him to Cedar Rapids. The 6’2” lefty pitched at the Mount San Antonio (California) Junior College where he pitched as both a starter and reliever. He would make his first appearance of the season in the evenings game (a forgettable one). RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 0, Columbus 7 Box score Trevor May got the start for the Red Wings, looking to build off his 11 K, 1 BB performance six days prior. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the same magic. A second inning two-run home run from Roberto Perez got the scoring started for Columbus, and they never looked back. May lasted 4.2 innings, allowing eight hits, five runs (four earned), with three walks and four strikeouts. He was relieved by Deolis Guerra, who finished off the fifth inning and the sixth, walking two and picking up one K. Edgar Ibarra then finished the game for Rochester. In two innings, he gave up two hits, two walks, and two runs, with one strikeout. The Red Wings managed only four hits on the game, and were led by a 2-4 night from James Beresford. They threatened in the 4th and the 7th innings, but stranded runners on third both times. Chris Parmelee and Deibinson Romero provided the other two hits, both singles. ROCK CATS REVIEW Trenton 6, New Britain 4 Box score Righthander Tyler Duffey took the mound, and retired the first twelve batters he faced as the Rock Cats built a 2-0 lead. In the fifth however, Duffey gave up a leadoff single that was followed by a home run off the bat of Kyle Roller, his Eastern League leading ninth of the season to tie the score at two (interesting note on Roller, is he has these nine home runs while not qualifying for the Eastern League batting leaderboard, where he would be 2nd in Avg., and 1st in OBP, slugging, and OPS). Duffey finished the 7th inning, allowing four runs on just four hits, but two of them were homers. He struck out four and did not issue a walk. Even with the inning-eating start, the Rock Cats bullpen got some exercise as the game went into extra innings. Adrian Salcedo, Jim Fuller, Daniel Turpen, and Ryan O’Rourke combined to throw five innings, allowed four hits, and five strikeouts. O’Rourke was saddled with the loss after he to, surrendered a two-run home run. Of note in the extended game, is the entirety of the pitching staff did not issue a single base-on-balls (though they did have two HBP’s). The offensive contributions for the Rock Cats came from lead-off man Tony Thomas, who was 3-4 with a home run, three RBI, and a stolen base (was also caught stealing and picked off once each); and Kennys Vargas who was 3-6 with two doubles, though the three times he did not reach base, were because of the strikeout and was 3-3 at one point. Reynaldo Rodriguez, Mike Kvasnicka, and pinch-hitter Corey Wimberly collected New Britain’s three other hits on the night. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 6, Jupiter 3 Box score Twins Daily’s #6 Twins prospect, righty Jose Berrios, toed the rubber for the Miracle and was effectively erratic, which contributed to him lasting only five innings despite allowing only one hit and zero runs while racking up seven K’s. He was erratic because he also walked four. Mason Melotakis took over in sixth inning and pitched the next 2.1 innings giving up one hit and one walk, with two strikeouts. Madison Boer relieved Melotakis in the eighth inning and induced an inning-ending double play to end a threat, but would not fare as well in the ninth. A walk, double, and home run would plate Hammerheads three runs before Boer recovered to retire the final three hitters. At the plate, eight of the nine hitters in the Miracle lineup collected hits, with Adam Brett Walker II providing two. Walker was also caught stealing for the second time this season and second time of his professional career in eighteen attempts. Extra-base hits were provided by Levi Michael with a bases clearing double in the 7th, and a triple from Niko Goodrum who went on to score. Byron Buxton continued to work his way back, singling in the fourth an advancing to second on a throwing error, and also struck out with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 3, Quad Cities 7 Box score The Kernels would jump out to a 3-0 lead after the second inning, but those would be the only runs they could muster on the night. Jason Kanzler collected two hits, and Ivory Thomas drew three walks on the night. Engelb Vielma and Chad Christensen collecter their third and fourth doubles on the year, respectively. J.D. Williams and Zach Larson drove in two of the three runs, while the third scored on a bases loaded double-play ball off the bat of Mitch Garver. 2014 first round pick, Kohl Stewart, continued his strong start to the 2014 season. He tossed five innings, allowing five hits and two walks, zero runs, and struck out six. He lowered his ERA to under 3.00 on the season in 25.2 innings, and sports a fantastic 0.78 WHIP. As mentioned in the transactions section, Derrick Pinella made his 2014 debut but it was one he’d like to forget. He started with a groundball out, a walk, and then a strikeout, then proceeded to walk three consecutive batters before being replaced by Yorman Landa. Landa would then also walk the next 2 batters (with a passed ball thrown in). Hudson Boyd replaced him in the eighth and would finish game, but allowed two runs, two hits, and two walks before doing so. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Jose Berrios, Cedar Rapids Kernels Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Kennys Vargas, New Britain Rock Cats THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Columbus (5:35PM CST) – Scott Diamond New Britain @ Bowie (5:35PM CST) – TBD Fort Myers @ Jupiter (5:35PM CST) – David Hurlbut Cedar Rapids @ Wisconsin (6:35PM CST) – Felix Jorge

"and that's pretty terrible production for a guy who offers almost no defensive value." I don't agree with this all that much. While he's never going to post a good UZR or any other defensive metric statistic because of his limited speed, he would be the 2nd best outfielder on our team right now. I've loved him out there. Was excellent at playing the RF wall in Target Field, and never looked lost like Willingham, Arcia, and Colabello have. I would call him better overall than Kubel as well, due to the fact Kubes can still make a play look harder than it is, while I've never gotten that impression from Parms. I have no issues with Parmelee playing a corner OF spot, while I have issues with everyone else on the roster who is playing those spots from a defensive standpoint. It says a lot to me when you're a guy who doesn't make mistakes. All those other guys have, Parms never seemed to.

I don't disagree with any of that. But I'll still take the stable 1-run performance over the schizophrenic one. Diamond could have pitched through the 8th with his pitch count (ended with 85, 56 for strikes). Gilmartin wasn't going any longer than 6 (96 pitches, 58 for strikes).

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After a rough, Mother Nature influenced series, in which the Twins were forced to use every one of their pitchers in a double-header vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday, they received a valiant effort from their prized off-season acquisition, Ricky Nolasco, on Friday night to stave off a catastrophic pitching predicament moving into the weekend. Although Nolasco was able to save the bullpen with a complete game, 3-earned run effort, it wasn’t enough to save himself from taking a loss, as the Twins weren’t able to muster any offense against the Baltimore Orioles’ Ubaldo Jimenez, tallying only 4 hits in a disappointing effort for the first (semi) decent weather game I’ve been able to attend in section 107 at Target Field this year. Minnesota’s Minor League affiliates, were able to fare somewhat better however, going 2-2 on the night, including a familiar extra innings marathon. TRANSACTIONS The Twins recalled SP Logan Darnell from Rochester before the weekend games kicked off. He is due to make his MLB debut in reprieve of an overused bullpen, and optioned SP Kris Johnson back to Rochester after his double-header spot start on Thursday. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 6, Louisville 1 Box score Scott Diamond took the hill for the Red Wings, and after an extremely disappointing start to his season, put together the first type of outing that that Twins fans remember from his staff-ace stretch of 2012. Diamond lasted 6.2 innings, scattering 6 hits and 2 walks, with only 1 earned run and 6 K’s. He was replaced by A.J. Achter, who finished the final 2.1 innings without surrendering a baserunner and finalized the victory for Rochester. The offense was led by the recently on-fire Chris Parmelee, whom had a 1st inning sac fly to score Doug Bernier, and a 5th inning solo blast, his 5th HR of the season, to make the score 4-1 in Rochester’s favor. DH Brad Nelson, and 3B Deibinson Romero added RBI doubles to contribute to the offense. ROCK CATS REVIEW New Britain 4, New Hampshire 2 Box score The acquisition from the Atlanta Braves organization that the Twins received for dealing Ryan Doumit last season put together arguably his best start for his new organization on Friday night. Sean Gilmartin tossed 6 innings of 1 run ball, allowing only 3 hits and racked up 8 K’s to secure the win, although he did surrender 4 BB’s. Relievers Daniel Turpen (hold), Lester Oliveros (hold), and Adrian Salcedo (save) all pitched a single inning and ensured the victory for the Rock Cats. The trio of relievers added 6 K’s to the team’s total, allowing 1 hit each, 3 total BB’s, and only 1 ER. Notable, was the rough start for Turpen, who started the 7th inning off with a single and stolen base to advance the runner to 2nd, and subsequent wild-pitch that put him on 3rd. But he then proceeded to K the next 3 batters looking to end the threat. On the offensive side, DH Kennys Vargas slugged his 5th HR on the season in the 6th inning, plating Kenny Wilson for a 4-1 Rock Cats lead. 2B Tony Thomas and SS (and Twins Daily contributor) A.J. Petterson added doubles to the offense, while Nate Hanson (another Minnesotan) added his second HR on the year in the victory. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 2, Palm Beach 3 (14 innings) Box score The Miracle attempted to emulate the Twins from Thursday night, lasting nearly 4 hours into the 14th inning. Unfortunately for them, the result was the same, a tally in the Loss column. David Hurlburt started for the Miracle and put together a quality start effort. He pitched 6 innings, allowing 7 hits and 2 ER’s with no walks and 2 K’s. He was replaced by lefty Steven Gruver who pitched into the 9th, then Tim Shibuya who tossed a much needed 4.1 innings in the extra effort. Tyler Jones became the recipient of the loss after giving up a single and HBP to start the 14th, a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners, then sac fly to plate the walk-off run. Fort Myers received multi-hit efforts from leadoff man (and subsequent keep-your-eye-on-prospect) 2B Levi Michael (2 doubles) and OF Adam Brett Walker II (double) in the extended game, but only 4 other hitters collected a hit on the evening. Although as a team they walked 9 times, they stranded all but 1 of them. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 2, Peoria 12 Box score The pitching staff for the Kernels had a rough night and were unable to limit an early, relentless attack from the Chiefs. Helium prospect Felix Jorge made the start, but was only able to last 3 innings. He allowed only 1 BB, but 8 hits including 1 HR, 2 3B’s, and a double, which resulted in a 5-0 lead for Peoria. He was replaced by Christian Powell, who fared even worse, surrendering 7 R’s (6 earned) in just 0.2 innings. He was relieved by Todd Van Steesel whom allowed every inherited runner to score in the 4th inning before recovering to strike out 4 through the 6th and 2.1 total IP. Brandon Bixler then provided the mop-up duty in the last 3 innings, allowing 1 BB, with 3 K’s. The offense was stymied to the tune of 14 K’s from the Peoria pitchers, though they were able to collect 10 hits on the night. They were led by 2B Logan Wade who went 3-5 with 2 doubles and an RBI, CF Jason Kanzler who went 2-5 with a run scored, and 3B Bryan Haar who went 2-4. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Scott Diamond, Rochester Red Wings Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Logan Wade, Cedar Rapids Kernels SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Louisville @ Rochester (12:05 PM CST) – Yohan Pino (Listen) New Hampshire @ New Britain (5:35 PM CST) – Pat Dean (Listen) Fort Myers @ Palm Beach (5:35 CST) – Alex Wimmers (Listen) Peoria @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 CST) – Aaron Slegers (Listen)

Yup. The Twins are 12-11 now. They were also 11-11 on this day last year, and 18-18 a few weeks later...

Yup, agree on the first point, and in general on the 2nd. I think you obviously would be much quicker with the hook on a high-pitch count inning later in the game.

this. This. THIS!!! In my opinion, one should NEVER look at total pitch counts, but pitches thrown in each inning. If a guy is going into the 7th inning, and has not thrown more than 20 pitches in any of the prior innings, he may be at or near 100 pitches, but he hasn't really been stressed. It's when guys start throwing for prolonged periods in an inning where stress/tiredness becomes an issue.

Which is why teams buy those years out in the first place, so that potential difference from arbitration gets a concrete/cost-certainty number put on it. I can't even imagine what the number from Arbitration for Mike Trout would have been. But I think the $5 mil they gave for what would be his first season of it is a massive money saving amount from an arbitration standpoint.

Agree, though I wouldn't describe that as the reason for him not being on the team now, in relation to Meyer. But this is my least favorite argument ever for the types of prospects that Buxton, Sano, and Meyer are (e.g.: Elite) in regards to making an MLB debut and starting service time at the beginning of a season. It is absolutely unfathomable to me that if you have a guy ready for the big leagues, who obviously is going to help and IMPROVE your team right out of the gate, that you stash him in the minors for a few months. On a potential contending team, that could be the difference between making the playoffs and just missing at the end of the season. For guys like this, it's very likely they have good to great success in their first years up in the bigs, and if/when Super 2 would even come into play, smart teams should be looking to buy out that year, the rest of their arbitration years, and even a year or two of free agency. Did Mike Trout ever have an arbitration contract? No. Did Clayton Kershaw ever have an arbitration contract? No. Did Joe Mauer ever have an arbitration contract? No. Did Andrew McCutchen ever have an arbitration contract? No. Did... I could go on and on and on and on. I've heard people attempt to make the "Well, the guy has to want to sign that contract though..." Well, I then ask them to tell me about someone who didn't (provided the contract offer was reasonable), and decided to go year-to-year through those team control seasons, and nobody has been able to give me a single name that I would classify as an "elite" prospect type, who did this. They are potentially risking a lot of guaranteed money if they pass it up. Hate, hate, hate the super-2 argument in relation to potential cornerstone up-and-comers.

He just needs to break out his good old "Quick Swing" for a few weeks to get the mojo back, then he'll be fine... I find the K-rate to be extremely disconcerting, however.

I would really like to see them get Brad Miller from the Mariners. I like him a lot. Is not a great defender, but would see him being similar to Bartlett in that regard (pretty average), and a likely a better hitter to boot even with his slow start this year. I also wouldn't mind seeing Beresford given a chance either. Is of the same ilk as Miller defensively and has almost zero power (did see him hit a HR in Spring Training 2 years ago though), but he has hit .297 with a good on-base percentage thus far in his AAA career. And I would also say the Twins don't need any power from the SS position, just some on-base competency. I was convinced halfway through last year that Florimon hurts the team more with his rally killing offense than he saves with his superior defense. It's a luxury you can live with if the rest of you're offense is stacked, and although the Twins offense hasn't been the problem thus far, I still don't consider it to be stacked or believe it will continue at this rate.

Favorite Twin(s): Kyle Gibson or Trevor Plouffe at the moment. Kirby on an all-time scale. Favorite Pizza: Meat Lovers

I think they would move him pretty fast if he shows anything close to what he was after being drafted. That's the big if with him, though.

I liked what I saw (briefly) from Travis down in Spring Training. Looked like a more contact oriented swing than I'd seen from him before. Big fan of Nate's, I hope you are right! I think Hermsen has reached his ceiling, which is unfortunate. Watching him, he reminds me of the best pitchers I'd see playing Town Team amateur ball, so that's somewhat discouraging. He got rocked when I saw him this year before I ran into you! I like the Guerra pick. It's good to see him out there again. Can't believe he's still just 24! Melotakis is one guy I'd like to see them put back in the pen. He's been arguably the best of their college drafted RP-transformations, but I'd rather he throw lefty 97MPH gas from the 'pen than be another back-end starter candidate. I like that prognostication, though I'm hoping he can excel defensively at SS more than further development as a hitter.

Rochester's opening day starter is Scott Diamond. New Britain's is Pat Dean.

The only reason I didn't peg Stewart for the SP pick is he's not going to get a ton of innings, much like Berrios at CR last year. I do think he will dominate in the Midwest League though, and will end up with much better #'s than Berrios did there in 2013. Thorpe is probably a trendy pick, but I'm not so sure he spends much time on a full-season league this year. I think they have him pegged for E-Town. I'm also weary of Walker. He's trendy around here to. But until he shows otherwise, I'm not a huge fan of his future outlook as a one-trick pony (power) with big swing and miss tendencies and nonexistent plate discipline as part of his profile. But, he should still have a good amount of success in the FSL, where I think he should have been playing already last season with his track record/experience in college (Yes he's "young" for such a player, but also should be more advanced because of where he came from). I think they wasted last year with him at CR, and should have expected him to do what he did there. That's why I'm not so high on him as others.

I've honestly come to love the MiLB Opening Day more than the MLB one over the years, so today is going to be a fun one for me. All the Twins' affiliates begin their seasons this afternoon/evening (barring any bad weather), so I thought it was a good time to throw out some 2014 predictions. Here is what I came up with: -2014 Breakout Player: Max Kepler. Fully healthy this year, and I love his swing, size, and athleticism. Puts it together in the FSL. -2014 Comeback Player of the Year: Alex Wimmers. This is more a shot in the dark, but I don't think he's worth forgetting about, yet. -Relief Pitcher of the Year: Adrian Salcedo. Could also be a comeback player pick, but should thrive in the pen coming back. -Starting Pitcher of the Year: Jose Berrios. I'm not as high on him as others, but the FSL will help his overall #'s at the end. -Hitter of the Year: Kennys Vargas. Everybody and their grandmother would pick Buxton for this, but I see Kennys mashing at AA. What are your MiLB predictions for the 2014 season?

Haha, that wasn't a literal statement, but he's by far the #1 guy on my follow list this year!

You're probably right! I will say to those who view the projections as too optimistic: A lineup with 1 guy hitting above .280 (per both mine and Seth's lists) is a terrible lineup. (But the Twins only had 1 regular above .260 last year, so you could call it an "improvement!")