Steve Lein

Happy Father’s Day across Twins Territory!!! While Jake Arrieta was taking it to the Minnesota Twins lineup and Anthony Rizzo continued to bash their pitchers on Sunday Afternoon, three of the four full-season league affiliates were in action in the minors. The organization went 2-2 on the day, but in the minors a come-from behind victory was sparked by a pair of bash-brothers in a single inning, and there were several standout bullpen performances. Read on to find out about all the action on Sunday afternoon! RED WINGS REPORT Louisville 3, Rochester 2 Box Score The Red Wings managed to score first and last in this contest, but were still handed a loss as Louisville put a crooked number on the scoreboard in an inning, while they did not. In the first inning Danny Santana led off the game for Rochester with a double, and after being moved to third on a ground out, trotted home to score the game’s first run on a Danny Ortiz single and 1-0 lead. It would remain that way until the third inning, when Red Wings starter Pat Dean gave up a solo home run to number eight-hitter Ryan Lamarre to tie the game at one. Dean had retired the first seven hitters of the game to that point. He ran into further trouble in the fourth inning as the middle of the lineup for Louisville came through with some more power. Number three-hitter Hernan Iribarren singled to start the inning, and trotted home on a two-run home run from cleanup man Josh Satin, making the score 3-1. Dean would face the minimum over the next nine outs before walking two around a strikeout to begin the top of the seventh. He was relieved by Alex Meyer who escaped the inning with zero damage after two fly-outs. In the bottom of the seventh inning, it was again Santana providing a spark for Rochester. His third triple in 12 games with the Red Wings allowed him to score on a sac-fly to left field from James Beresford, closing the score to 3-2. Meyer would pitch a scoreless eighth inning, picking up two strikeouts along the way, to keep the game in striking distance for Rochester. Caleb Thielbar retired the side one-two-three in the ninth, bringing up the home team for their final at-bat. Eric Farris singled with one out, then was erased on a Eric Fryer fielder’s choice, before Fryer moved to second on a balk, placing the tying run in scoring position for the games star to that point, Danny Santana. Unfortunately, this at-bat ended in a ground out to second base instead of an extra-base hit, and Rochester fell 3-2. Santana (2-5, 2 R’s, 2B, 3B) and Oswaldo Arcia (2-4) were the only hitters in the lineup with multiple hits, and Reynaldo Rodriguez added a triple to lead the offense. Dean managed a quality start, allowing the three runs on five hits and two walks in 6.1 innings, striking out five. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Jacksonville 5, Chattanooga 6 Box Score The Lookouts found themselves down 5-1 after the top-half of the sixth-inning, but the powerful bats in their lineup refused to let them stay there. D.J. Baxendale made the start, and pitched the first three frames in his first start returning from shoulder discomfort. He allowed zero runs on one hit and two walks, while striking out three. Tim Shibuya came on for the fourth inning, and promptly allowed a solo home run to the first batter he faced, the rehabbing Michael Morse of the Miami Marlins, to tie the game at one. It didn’t get much better for Shibuya, as he would allow two runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings to put the Lookouts in a 5-1 hole. Brandon Peterson game on in the sixth inning with two outs and a runner on third, but picked up a strikeout to end the frame. This is when the big-boppers in the Chattanooga lineup came out to play. Mike Gonzalez led off the bottom of the sixth with a walk, and Adam Brett Walker made the score 5-3 with his Southern League Leading 19th home run of the year. Singles from Jairo Rodriguez and Levi Micheal around a Stephen Wickens fly out and Niko Goodrum K would bring Miguel Sano to the plate. His 13th home run of the season would put the Lookouts out front 6-5 and they never looked back. Peterson would pick up four more strikeouts and not allow a single baserunner in the seventh and eighth innings, before yielding the save opportunity to J.T. Chargois. He walked one but retired the three other hitters to pick up his fifth save in eight appearances with the Lookouts. His ERA stands at 2.08 for the season, and 1.17 with Chattanooga. Assisting Sano (1-3, 2 R’s, HR, BB, 3 RBI) and Walker (1-4, R, HR, 2 RBI) with multiple hits in the comeback victory were Michael (2-4, R, BB, SB), and Rodriguez (2-4, R). Max Kepler was 0-2 but reached base via walk twice and stole his eleventh base from the cleanup spot in the lineup (behind Sano). The Lookouts finish the first half of the Southern League season atop the North Division standings, and tied with the Biloxi Shuckers of the South Division with 43-25 records. The 43-25 mark is the Lookouts best first half record in the history of their home park, AT&T Field. MIRACLE MATTERS The Miracle enjoyed a day off on Sunday afternoon, and host the Palm Beach Cardinals for a three game series starting tomorrow at 6:05 PM CST at the Century Link Sports Complex and Hammond Stadium. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 5, Clinton 2 Box Score Cedar Rapids jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning after Brett Doe led off the frame with an infield single and moved into scoring position when T.J. White was hit by a pitch. He would score on a Rafael Valera single. Kernels starter Jared Wilson gave the run back in the bottom half when a two-out single brought home Joseph DeCarlo, who had doubled. Cedar Rapids responded by adding two runs in each of the third and fifth innings. Max Murphy was the catalyst in both those innings. In the third, he slugged his fourth home run of the season, a two run shot to make the score 3-1, and in the fifth his double put runners on second and third. A balk would score Alex Real and move him up to third, before a pickoff attempt caught Pat Kelly between first and second base with two-outs. Kelly was savvy enough to make the Lumberkings attempt multiple throws in a rundown, and Murphy was able to scamper home before they tagged-out Kelly to end the inning. Randy LeBlanc was the first pitcher in relief of Wilson, and he went three scoreless innings to improve his record to 5-0. He allowed just two hits and struck out two. These three scoreless innings improved his ongoing scoreless streak to 26 innings, tying him with Trevor Hildenberger for the team’s longest streak of the year and lowered his ERA to 1.52. Lefty Cameron Booser came on for the eighth inning and allowed one run on a sac fly after a walk and two singles, but struck out the last two hitters he faced to escape with limited damage. Hildenberger then came on for the ninth and recorded his eighth save by striking out the side. His ERA rests at 0.51 on the season and has not been above 1.00 since April 23rd. The Kernels got multiple hits from Real (2-5, 2 R’s, 2B), Murphy (2-4, 2 R’s, 2B, HR, 2 RBI) and Valera (2-3, BB, RBI) to lead the offense. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Brandon Peterson, Chattanooga Lookouts (W, 2.1 IP, 5 K’s) Hitter of the Day – Miguel Sano, Chattanooga Lookouts (1-3, 2 R’s, GW 3-Run HR, 3 RBI) MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Pawtucket (6:05 PM CST) – LHP Tyler Duffey (1-4, 4.15 ERA) Chattanooga – Scheduled Day Off. Palm Beach @ Fort Myers (6:05 PM CST) – TBD Cedar Rapids – MWL All-Star Break. Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Sunday’s games.

That's a good question... Walker is not a particularly good outfielder, and hasn't been playing 1B (was described as "stiff" there going into his draft). Kepler is the better option to me at both spots defensively. So if that's the conundrum, I think it's Max in the OF.

Kepler was still .305/.361/.491 the day Buxton was promoted with a .283/.351/.489. I might concede a wash, haha!

The exact reasons you guys are proposing to keep Arcia, are the exact reasons I would trade him. Young, has power. That's valuable. Maybe not as much right now with the struggles, but he's shown that value. That's why you trade him. He could get you something useful back. We complain so much around here about them trading "low" on guys, so why are you so opposed to them attempting to trade "high" now?! I've never thought Arcia was a good fit for this team from a depth chart perspective (he's not an OF, and too many DH's). Love the youth, enthusiasm, and power. But it's been three years now and he hasn't developed into the type of hitter his minor league career suggests (.310 career MiLB hitter), only the power remains. I'd cash him in on something the Twins need in a heartbeat and wouldn't care how it turns out for him on another team. There's plenty of options to step up on the Twins and provide the power he takes with him elsewhere.

A bit surprised Kepler has only climbed to #9, but I've always been higher on him then most. He's outplayed everybody on that talented Lookouts roster, and that included Buxton while he was there. Love Max, but he's likely a guy to go to AAA first instead of straight to the majors, I think. September seems logical for him this year, but who knows what else might happen.

If Kepler isn't #1, or very close, on BA's Hot Sheet today, I will be extremely disappointed!

What I find interesting is a lot of pitchers, before going pro, are or were also great or decent hitters in their amateur careers. It's the nature of their "elite athlete" status. Why when they turn pro, especially for an NL team, that this aspect of the game kind of gets thrown away for them, is weird to me. A local pitching product, Brad Hand of the Miami Marlins, was a stud hitter in high school too. He broke a friend of mine's single season HR record for them. But through his development with them is now only a career .074 hitter as a major leaguer. I feel like Carlos Zambrano like production could happen for a lot more pitchers than it does if they kept that as more of a part of the development process than they do.

I've mentioned this experience several times here before as well, but Max did more for my overall opinion of his baseball talents than any other prospect of the Twins has that I've watched with my own eyes in person. At Spring Training in 2012, he was playing with the Snappers roster that included Sano, Vargas, and Rosario. Kepler was the best player on the diamond throughout my time there, and it wasn't even close. Think he was something like 7 or 8 for 11 with 3 doubles, some walks, and a bunch of RBI in the three full games of theirs I took in. His outs were even loud as everything off his bat was a line drive (check out this double I recorded from then, for instance). I was astonished that he didn't play with the Snappers at all that season, but he did crush the Appalachian League.

Hah. Yes he wasn't drafted. But that's a common/reflex way to refer to when a player joins an organization. Doug Mientkeiwicz even uses those exact words in this article talking about Max. Sorry! I wish I could find all the obscure articles I've read talking about it, but that remark comes from Max himself. He was always the biggest guy on his teams and essentially the slugger, so he got plugged at 1B. We don't disagree though, so I don't know what your issue is.

You guys know Kepler's "natural position" is 1B, right? q:) He didn't play OF until the Twins drafted him. As mentioned, he's more than athletic enough to do it though, so why wouldn't they develop him at multiple spots? I think he'd take offense to being called a "waste" at his best position.

So much THIS. I hate the pidgeon-holing of positions to be a certain type of hitter. You can get power or whatever else from wherever it shows up in your lineup. You don't need to be, and shouldn't be, cookie-cutter. A team like the Twins can't survive that way. Also, to Kirby's point, you might be very surprised to know how Mauer stacks up against the primary #3 hitters of all teams over the past 4 seasons (and I know he has been very good in those seasons). BUT, a lot of #3 hitters have been, it's the nature of that spot in the lineup. I've wanted Mauer batting second all the time for forever, but unfortunately for the Twins, they haven't really had a guy who fit better at #3 during those years, either. That's not the case this year, however.

What Kwak said also... (Walker is not an outfielder like Arcia is not an outfielder)

Walker is certainly one of the most interesting guys in all of the minors if you ask me. The HR power is certainly legit. That's his issue as well though. That's all he's shown. It's certainly a tool that can carry him, but it's hard to get overly excited about a strict DH.

I think he's already had the "stretching out process" started while working as a reliever. He pitched 3+ innings quite frequently for Illinois this year.

It looks a lot like this year will go exactly like Burdi's did after being drafted last year. Start him at Cedar Rapids, and if he excels get him to Fort Myers or Chattanooga. If Twins are still in it in August and they think he can help at that point, I would love to see him get called up to help out. Then next year, you stretch him out into a starter. I have no problem with having him pitch in relief for the rest of this season after he signs.

Yeah, Gonsalves was doing very well up until that home run. It "wasn't as good" only in comparison to all of his starts in the MWL this year! After all, leading up to this he hadn't given up a run in his last three starts and 19 innings, where he won each game, allowed just six hits, and struck out 30... Hard to match that type of dominance in your first game at a new level!

The big news of the day was obviously the 2015 MLB draft and the Twins selection of Illinois pitcher Tyler Jay (whose pre-draft profile you can read here, and talk about the pick here). Instant and meaningless analysis: I love the pick! But like every other day during the summer, there also was plenty of action for the Twins affiliates, where Jay will (hopefully) soon be playing. There was one top prospect making his first start in a new league, a rain postponement that pushed out the start of another, and a standout individual performance and football game score from our friends in the Dominican Republic worthy of mention.Read on to find out about all the action on Monday night! TRANSACTIONS It was known yesterday, but became official today that the Twins have sent shortstop Danny Santana down to AAA, and recalled Kennys Vargas in his place. Some of the league All-Star rosters have also been released, with pitchers Chih-Wei Hu, Brandon Peterson and J.T. Chargois, along with catcher Alex Swim, representing the Fort Myers Miracle in the Florida State League game to be played on June 20th. In the Midwest League, pitchers Felix Jorge, Cameron Booser, and Trevor Hildenberger, along with first baseman Trey Vavra, will represent the West Division squad and the Cedar Rapids Kernels in their game on June 23rd. RED WINGS REPORT Indianapolis 6, Rochester 3 Box Score It was International League division leaders squaring off as the Red Wings lead the North Division, and the Indians the West Division. It did not start out well for Rochester, as Indianapolis jumped out to 3-0 lead after the second inning, and made it 4-0 after four. All four of those runs were charged to starter Jason Wheeler, who went on to finish the fifth inning. He allowed those runs on eight hits and two walks, while striking out two. The Red Wings lineup struggled to get anything going against Indians starter Clayton Richard, who has been a MLB starter for several seasons with the Chicago White Sox and San Diego Padres. He came to the Pittsburgh Pirates organization this year after shoulder surgery limited him to just four starts in the minors in 2014. He appears to be back on his way to the majors as he now sports a 1.69 ERA for Indianapolis. Over Richard’s seven innings, the Wings managed just five hits and two walks. The lone unearned run came in his final inning, when Richard committed a throwing error to move Jose Martinez to third base and in position to score on a sac fly from Wilkin Ramirez. In the ninth inning, doubles from Oswaldo Arcia, Eric Fryer and Wilkin Ramirez made the score 6-3, but they weren’t able to do any more damage. Reynaldo Rodriguez was 2-4 on the night to lead the offense, and Ramirez had two RBIs. In relief for the Red Wings, Logan Darnell allowed two runs on two hits and a walk in two innings. He struck out three. Mark Hamburger and Ryan O’Rourke each pitched a scoreless inning, with Hamburger picking up two K’s. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga @ Jackson, Postponed (Rain) Starter Jose Berrios was looking for a bounce back start after he suffered his worst outing of the year (relatively speaking) in his last one, but he was forced to wait another day due to rain in Jackson, Tennessee. The game will be made up tomorrow as part of a double-header, with both games going seven innings. The first game will start at 5:05 PM CST. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 5, Lakeland 3 Box Score Stephen Gonsalves was on the mound for the Miracle, making his Florida State League debut. H picked up his first FSL win. Overall, the start wasn’t as good as his starts in the Midwest League were, but that’s not unexpected with a guy making his first start at a new level. Gonsalves finished 5.1 innings, allowing three runs on five hits and three walks while striking out two, as reported by MiLB.com (or five, if the game report from Miracle play-by-play man Bryce Zimmerman is to be believed). In his final inning, a walk and a two-run home run got the bullpen active, and he left the game with runners on the corners. Alex Muren came on and got the final two outs to keep Gonsalves in line for the win. The Miracle took a 2-0 lead in the second inning with two-out rally started by Bryan Haar with a single. Marcus Knecht followed with a single of his own and they moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. Chad Christensen brought them home with a single to center field. Fort Myers added three runs in the top of the sixth inning which was begun with a single from Ryan Walker. FSL All-Star Alex Swim brought him home with his first triple of the season to chase Lakeland’s starter from the game. Mitch Garver greeted his replacement with a single to bring Swim in. Niko Goodrum followed with a single to put Garver on third, and he raced home on Haar's groundout to make it 5-1. Muren finished the seventh inning before relinquishing duty to Todd Van Steensel, who picked up his sixth save with two innings of scoreless ball. He struck out three according to MiLB.com. Walker, Goodrum, Haar, and Christensen each collected two hits on the night, and Christensen’s two RBI’s led the team in the victory. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 4, West Michigan 2 Box Score The Kernels completed a come-back victory with a single run in the sixth inning to narrow their deficit to 2-1, and added three in the seventh to take the lead for good. West Michigan got out to the 2-0 lead in the fourth inning when starter Jared Wilson ran into his first trouble of the night. Up to that point, the only runner for the Whitecaps had reached on an error by Kernels third baseman T.J. White. It was a triple with one out that got the first runner of the game in scoring position. A single brought that runner in for a 1-0 lead, then a single and walk loaded the bases and the second run scored on a wild pitch. Wilson recovered to pitch scoreless fifth and sixth innings, ending the game with six innings pitched, allowing the two runs on three hits and two walks, while striking out four. The win brought Wilson’s record to 5-1 on the season, and lowered his ERA to 3.10. When Wilson exited, the game was left up to the unhittable, long-named, and University of California alumni duo of Michael Theofanopoulos and Trevor Hildenberger. Theo went two perfect innings, striking out one to pick up his fourth hold of the season, while Hil pitched a scoreless ninth, walking one and striking out two to pick up his sixth save. The Cedar Rapids scoring was started in the sixth inning by Nick Gordon, who brought home newly minted lead-off man Edgar Corcina with a single. Corcina had singled and stolen second base to put himself in scoring position. In the seventh, a two-out, three-run rally was started when Brett Doe was hit by a pitch. This was followed by a White single, a Blake Schmit two-RBI double, and a Brian Navaretto RBI single to make the final score of 4-2. Gordon, White, and Schmit were all 2-4, with Schmit’s two-run double being the Kernels only extra-base hit of the evening. DSL TWINS SPECIAL REPORT DSL Twins 21, DSL Yankees (team 1) 14 Box Score It’s really hard to make anything out of the young players who make up the roster of the Minnesota Twins Dominican Academy team, but it’s hard not to notice a baseball game score with an NFL-like final of 21-14. The DSL Twins took advantage of sixteen hits and twelve walks to come away with the victory. As a team they were 8-15 with runners in scoring position and four hitters in the lineup racked up multiple hits. There was also just one hitter in the lineup who did not score multiple runs. Even more notable was the batting line of first baseman and clean-up hitter Jorge Parra, as he hit for the cycle and tallied six RBIs. He was 4-6 on the night as a whole and also scored three runs. Quite a performance no matter the level or competition! TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Todd Van Steensel, Fort Myers Miracle (W, 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R’s, 3 K’s) Hitter of the Day – Jorge Parra, DSL Twins (4-6, 3 R’s, 2B, 3B, HR, 6 RBI) TUESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Indianapolis @ Rochester (6:05 PM CST) – LHP Taylor Rogers (5-3, 3.09 ERA) Chattanooga @ Jackson, Double-Header (Game 1: 5:05 PM CST, Game 2: 30-45 min after end of Game 1) – RHP Jose Berrios (6-3, 3.25 ERA) and TBD Fort Myers @ Lakeland (5:30 PM CST) – LHP Mat Batts (0-1, 2.13 ERA) Cedar Rapids – Scheduled day off. Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Monday’s games. Click here to view the article

The big news of the day was obviously the 2015 MLB draft and the Twins selection of Illinois pitcher Tyler Jay (whose pre-draft profile you can read here, and talk about the pick here). Instant and meaningless analysis: I love the pick! But like every other day during the summer, there also was plenty of action in the Minors for the Twins affiliates as well, where Jay will (hopefully) soon be playing. There was one top prospect making his first start in a new league, a rain postponement that pushed out the start of another, and a standout individual performance and football game score from our friends in the Dominican Republic worthy of mention. Read on to find out about all the action on Monday night! TRANSACTIONS It was known yesterday, but became official today that the Twins have sent shortstop Danny Santana down to AAA, and recalled Kennys Vargas in his place. Some of the League All-Star rosters have also recently been released, with pitchers Chih-Wei Hu, Brandon Peterson, and J.T. Chargois along with catcher Alex Swim representing the Fort Myers Miracle in the Florida State League game to be played on June 20th. In the Midwest League, pitchers Felix Jorge, Cameron Booser, and Trevor Hildenberger along with first baseman Trey Vavra will represent the West Division squad and the Cedar Rapids Kernels in their game on June 23rd. RED WINGS REPORT Indianapolis 6, Rochester 3 Box Score It was International League division leaders squaring off as the Red Wings lead the North Division, and the Indians the West Division. It did not start out well for Rochester, as Indianapolis jumped out to 3-0 lead after the second inning, and made it 4-0 after four. All four of those runs were charged to starter Jason Wheeler, who would go on to finish the fifth inning. He allowed those runs on eight hits and two walks, while striking out two. The Red Wings lineup struggled to get anything going against Indians starter Clayton Richard, who has been a MLB starter for several seasons with the Chicago White Sox and San Diego Padres. He came to the Pittsburgh Pirates organization this year after a shoulder surgery limited him to just four starts in the minors in 2015. He appears to be back on his way to the majors as he now sports a 1.69 ERA for Indianapolis. Over Richard’s seven innings, the Wings managed just five hits and two walks, and the lone unearned run came in his final inning, when Richard committed a throwing error to move Jose Martinez to third base and in position to score on a sac fly from Wilkin Ramirez. In the ninth inning, doubles from Oswaldo Arcia, Eric Fryer, and Wilkin Ramirez made the score 6-3, but they weren’t able to do any more damage. Reynaldo Rodriguez was 2-4 on the night to lead the offense, and Ramirez had two RBI. In relief for the Red Wings, Logan Darnell allowed two runs on two hits and a walk in two innings. He struck out three. Mark Hamburger and Ryan O’Rourke each pitched a scoreless inning, with Hamburger picking up two K’s. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga @ Jackson, Postponed (Rain) Starter Jose Berrios was looking for a bounceback start after he suffered his worst outing of the year (relatively speaking) in his last one, but he was forced to wait another day due to the rain in Jackson, Tennessee. The game will be made up tomorrow as part of a double-header, with both games going seven innings. The first game will start at 5:05 PM CST. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 5, Lakeland 3 Box Score Stephen Gonsalves was on the mound for the Miracle, making his Florida State League debut, and he also picked up his first FSL win. Overall, the start wasn’t as good as all of his had been in the Midwest League, but that’s not unexpected with a guy making his first start at a new level. Gonsalves finished 5.1 innings, allowing three runs on five hits and three walks, while striking out two (or five, if the game report from Miracle play-by-play man Bryce Zimmerman is to be believed). In his final inning, a walk and two-run home run got the bullpen active, and he left the game with runners on the corners. Alex Muren came on and got the final two outs to keep Gonsalves in line for the win. The Miracle took a 2-0 lead in the second inning with two-out rally started by Bryan Haar with a single. Marcus Knecht followed with a single of his own and they moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. Chad Christensen would bring them home on a single to center field. Fort Myers added three runs in the top of the sixth inning that was led off with a single from Ryan Walker. FSL All-Star Alex Swim brought him home with his first triple of the season to right field to chase Lakeland’s starter from the game, and Mitch Garver greeted his replacement with a single to bring him in. Niko Goodrum would follow with a single to put Garver on third, and he raced home on Haar ground out to make it 5-1 at that point. Muren would finish seventh inning before relinquishing duty to Todd Van Steensel, who picked up his sixth save with two innings of scoreless ball. He struck out three (or four if the same report is instead accurate). Walker, Goodrum, Haar, and Christensen each collected two hits on the night, and Christensen’s two RBI’s led the team in the victory. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 4, West Michigan 2 Box Score The Kernels completed a come-back victory with a single run in the sixth inning to close the game to 2-1, and added three in the seventh to take the lead for good. West Michigan got out to the 2-0 lead in the fourth inning, when starter Jared Wilson ran into his first trouble of the night. Up to that point, the only runner for the Whitecaps had reached on an error by Kernels third baseman T.J. White. It was a triple with one out that got the first run of the game in scoring position. A single would bring that runner in for a 1-0 lead, then a single and walk loaded the bases and the second run scored on a wild pitch. Wilson would recover to pitch scoreless fifth and sixth innings, ending the game with six innings pitched, and allowing the two runs on three hits and two walks, while striking out four. The win brought Wilson’s record to 5-1 on the season, and lowered his ERA to 3.10. When Wilson exited, the game was left up to the unhittable, long named, and University of California alumni duo of Michael Theofanopoulos and Trevor Hildenberger. Theo went two perfect innings, striking out one to pick up his fourth hold of the season, while Hil pitched a scoreless ninth, walking one and striking out two to pick up his sixth save. The Cedar Rapids scoring was started in the sixth inning by Nick Gordon, who brought home newly minted lead-off man Edgar Corcina with a single. Corcina had singled and stole second base to put himself in scoring position. In the seventh, a two-out three-run rally was started when Brett Doe was hit by a pitch. This was followed by a White single, Blake Schmit 2-RBI double, and a Brian Navaretto RBI single to make the final score of 4-2. Gordon, White, and Schmit were all 2-4, with Schmit’s 2-run double being the Kernels only extra-base hit of the evening. DSL TWINS SPECIAL REPORT DSL Twins 21, DSL Yankees (team 1) 14 Box Score It’s really hard to make anything out of the young players who make up the roster of the Minnesota Twins Dominican Academy team, but it’s hard not to notice a baseball game score with an NFL-like final of 21-14. The DSL Twins took advantage of sixteen hits and twelve walks to come away with the victory. As a team they we’re 8-15 with runners in scoring position and four hitters in the lineup racked up multiple hits. There was also just one hitter in the lineup who did not score multiple runs. Even more notable, was the batting line of first baseman and clean-up hitter Jorge Parra, as he hit for the cycle and tallied six RBI’s. He was 4-6 on the night as a whole and also scored three runs. Quite a performance no matter the level or competition! TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Todd Van Steensel, Fort Myers Miracle (W, 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R’s, 3 K’s) Hitter of the Day – Jorge Parra, DSL Twins (4-6, 3 R’s, 2B, 3B, HR, 6 RBI) TUESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Indianapolis @ Rochester (6:05 PM CST) – LHP Taylor Rogers (5-3, 3.09 ERA) Chattanooga @ Jackson, Double-Header (Game 1: 5:05 PM CST, Game 2: 30-45 min after end of Game 1) – RHP Jose Berrios (6-3, 3.25 ERA) and TBD Fort Myers @ Lakeland (5:30 PM CST) – LHP Mat Batts (0-1, 2.13 ERA) Cedar Rapids – Scheduled day off. Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Monday’s games.

Hey now, I'm part of this profile writing contingent here! Haha.

I'd have to think Harris is a massive reach at number 6. Anything specific that makes you say "Harris is likely to be the best of the lot when the Twins step up to the podium."? Or is that just more of a remark on his projection to stick in a starting profile compared to the others like Jay, Fulmer, Tate, etc... who have the stuff, but get more bullpen comments?

As Seth mentioned, he's not an MLB center fielder, though he could probably fill in there fine. Pretty good athlete in a corner though. He didn't much play outfield until he came to the Twins as a pro, he was a first baseman before that. I'd actually call that his "natural position."

I've also read elsewhere, that the Illini coaches think his mentality is built better for the closer role, than the other guys they have starting (who are also quite good, mind you). So that could be your answer to that question.

I think Aiken's medicals are far more problematic than Giolito's were. There's a lot more going on with his arm than just Tommy John surgery from what I've gathered. I think all Law was saying with this, as echoed elsewhere in the article, is there hasn't really been any good reason demonstrated why Jay was not starting. But Jeremy is right as well, and I didn't really mention this in the article, that Jay has been used for more than just a single inning most of the time. And in the game he did start this season, he went 5 innings, allowed no runs on two hits, and struck out six. This is the idea they are talking about. He had shown he can maintain starter-like effectiveness, so why not use him as one?