Jump to content
Twins Daily
  • Create Account

Dman

Verified Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    5,883

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    23

 Content Type 

Profiles

News

Minnesota Twins Videos

2026 Minnesota Twins Top Prospects Ranking

2022 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

Minnesota Twins Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits

Guides & Resources

2023 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

The Minnesota Twins Players Project

2024 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

2025 Minnesota Twins Draft Pick Tracker

2026 Minnesota Twins Draft Pick Tracker

Forums

Blogs

Events

Store

Downloads

Gallery

Everything posted by Dman

  1. Dman
    I feel like a 900 OPS over a few months generally shows dominance at that level. It's not easy to get to 900. It takes consistency and the ability to get extra base hits. The Kernals have 4 guys with a 900 OPS right now and a 5th in DeBarge who has dropped just below that level. Not included in the five mentioned is Gonzalez who also had a 900 OPS at High A who currently has a 900 OPS at AA where his bat continues to stay hot. I'm not sure there is room for all 5 players at AA so it is going to be interesting to see how that shakes out. If I am Ross or Cespedes or Cossetti at AA and possibly Rucker or Prato at AAA. I am looking over my shoulder right now.
  2. Dman
    It is a smaller sample size but he has the highest OPS on the team right now IIRC. TBH my initial thought is it was kind of a joke\desperation signing, but like pretty much all season everything I think is right ends up wrong when it comes to this team. Might as well just say right now that the worst players will be the best players and vice versa. It's a strange world the Twins live in.
  3. Dman
    I honestly don't know what to say. I had pretty much given up on the season and was ready for the FO to trade all the guys on one year deals at the deadline. I know it is a long season but usually once a trend is set it doesn't instantly reverse itself. I'll eat my crow for now and jump back on the bandwagon I guess. This team just doesn't make sense to me, but they sure have been fun to watch while on this amazing streak. I know this pace isn't sustainable but it sure looks like they should be able to be in games and win their fair share. Who knows what will happen next, but they sure have made things interesting again as they take second place in the division after the win today..
  4. Dman
    I love it when these types of players get a chance. You never know how it might turn out. There are plenty of warts in his underlying numbers, but these power hitters can make up for a lot of short comings with the power they have. He looks a bit like Wallner from the right side. Let's see if he can manage an .800 OPS like Wallner has been able to do. It's a tall order moving up to the top level I sure hope he can do some damage when he gets his chance.
  5. Dman
    I would love it if Summerhill fell to the Twins. It's a very balanced profile with a high chance of success IMO. I think he ends up going higher than the Twins first pick though unless there are more high schooler's taken than expected ahead of him. I think he squeezes into the top 10 when it is all said and done but we'll how he does the rest of the way. Fischer wouldn't be a bad get either. The Twins need power hitters to balance out the lineup and I think he could be a solid power bat. Wouldn't mind going high school with this pick but with the results from last year in Culpepper and DeBarge I could see them double dipping college bats again. Not sure if love Phillips as he seems to have reliever risk, but a high octane arm certainly wouldn't hurt even if he ended up in the pen. I think this might be the year they take a flyer on one of the catchers that might be there around their spot. It seems like the system has been pretty rough for legit catchers. Stevenson has his warts as does Irish, but Irish's bat and position flexibility should make him a more Twinsy pick. I think this could be the year they go catcher early.
  6. Dman
    Happy you pointed it out but Gonzalez seems like he has a double play magnet on his bat when he is up. He should really focus on lifting the ball with bases loaded or even a man on first. It does feel like he has been a bit lucky and I am still not 100% sold on his very aggressive approach, but hard to argue against a .900 OPS for a young 21 year old.
  7. Dman
    It is so hard to go on these extended winning streaks as all five guys in the rotation have to keep the team in the game. The offense has to do enough against the other teams pitchers and the pen has to hold up game after game after game as well. With the way this season started I would have never pegged this team for even a five game winning streak let alone 12. Kudos to those guys for sticking together and changing this season's narrative.
  8. Dman
    CR has a killer lineup. The Twins invested most of their top 10 picks in bats last years draft and most of them are performing well. 5 of the top 10 hitters for OPS in the Midwest league are from the Kernel's (Gonzales, Amick, DeBarge, Baez and Culpepper). I don't think I have ever seen that level of dominance at any level before. They all have their flaws as hitters so plenty to work on. As mentioned by @jmlease1I don't think they move anyone up until at least the end of May or early June and they often wait until the first half of the minor league season is over to make those moves. There is no reason to rush anyone that I can see as they are all pretty young except for Baez. Been watching Diaw pretty closely and on offense it seemed like he just really lacked power. His K and Walk rates are good and his BA has been decent all year as well but the OPS lagged because he had no power. I was going to write that about him earlier and of coarse now he has been hitting HR's and moved his OPS into the 800's. If he can keep that going it looks like a strong plate approach and strong bat. When I went to the Cedar Rapids game he didn't look that good behind the plate and the opposing team stole bases at a high clip and his throws to second were way off. Maybe just a bad game as I know he has been better there recently. Also lot's of passed balls in the game I watched. Seems like there is work to be done there but he does look athletic behind the plate. Still hoping he develops into a more viable catcher than the Twins have had in a while. Baez has the typical power you like in a catcher and I think his defense is fairly good as well (except for caught stealing numbers which are horrible). He has really brought his K rate down this year from like 30% to 11%. It seems to have made a huge difference in his results at the plate. I would like to see them move him soon since he is older for the level and with his improved approach and 900 OPS he has earned a move to AA IMO.
  9. Dman
    Man am I gonna have to eat crow tonight for my Paddack comments? I thought his last time out was a little bit of luck, but seven innings of no run ball? Maybe he is better than I thought he was? Naaw I need him to do it one more time before getting that crow dinner. Nice to see him pitching well. Hope it stays that way the rest of the year.
  10. Dman
    Yeah I noticed that as well. His numbers are going to come down and they were until he got hurt. Still I think the fact that he is taking his fair share of walks and getting so much solid contact seem to dispel some of the concerns that he might not improve much. I'm not as pessimistic, but I also don't think you are wrong to be concerned. I think the power will return. If I had to guess I would think they wanted him to focus on contact in the zone first as that was a pretty major concern coming out of college and likely the reason he fell to mid second round (he had late first round buzz if you looked past the warts). If his injury isn't too bad I expect a power surge later in the year. We'll see. I was extremely pessimistic when they made the pick and am on record as not liking it. There is still plenty to be concerned about, but he hasn't been the train wreck I expected he might be.
  11. Dman
    Thomason looks more than ready to move up, but not much room in the infield for the Kemal's. .The only player from the Kernal's that seems ready to move up would be Baez but he is a catcher. With Salas back they technical have 4 shortstops plus Amick and Doncon whenever those two come back. SO he might have to stay at Fort Meyers a bit longer than maybe he needs to. I don't know how much more McCusker can do to earn that callup. 10 Home runs already. and he has been striking out less these past few games as well. Maybe no room with Bader and Larnach hitting pretty well right now? Hope he keeps it up. Would like to see if it translates to the bigs.
  12. Dman
    I really liked the pick when they made it but I never expected to be a top 100 guy his first full pro year. Usually the high school arms struggle to some degree, but he has been good from the start. He will need to fill out some but Festa is still pretty skinny and he does just fine. My mind would blown if the Twins developed an ace type lefty. There's a long way to go, but I love seeing Hill off to a great start.
  13. Dman
    I went to Beloit to watch the Kernels and I wish I could have my money and time back. For the most part they looked horrible tonight. Poor plate discipline, Pitchers couldn't throw strikes and when they did gave up solid contact. Wild pitches throwing errors. Just really ugly baseball. Hard to believe this team has a good record after what I saw tonight. A few observations. Culpepper has some very good bat to ball skills and made a great defensive play tonight. He really looks the part as a strong defensive shortstop IMO. However, Beloit scouted him well as he likes to swing at pitches low in the zone and they exploited him in key spots by throwing pitches in the dirt or very close to that to get swinging strikes out of him. He needs to figure that out and if he does he has a bat that can do good damage. If he doesn't he should be pretty easy to strike out staying out of the zone. Funny part of the evening had Kendle as the player that if he strikes out they give 4 dollar beers to those that want them. The announcer and the crowd got on him and he ultimately did strike out the first time, but his next time up he hit a home run and quieted the crowd some. So he got his revenge in the end which was one of the few things to go right tonight for the Kernel's. I came to this game to watch Oliveras pitch and he didn't make it out of the first inning. He couldn't throw strikes and when he did they were all over it with solid contact. Given what I saw it was hard to believe he was someone that has barely been scored on the last 11 innings or so. He looked awful. I will say he throws hard and the ball really makes a pop in the catchers mitt. It is a good looking delivery, but the results were not there and I was extremely disappointed that he didn't make it out of the first inning. That game was over after the first inning. The player that looked the most amazing tonight was Thomas White with Beloit. He was masterful getting lots of swings out of the zone. His control wasn't that great IMO , but he had them swinging and he made throwing 95 to 97 look easy. Like playing catch. He has work to do for sure, but was the best player out there tonight IMO. I was thinking of heading out there for Sunday's matchup, but with such a sour taste in my mouth with this one I think I am going to skip.
  14. Dman
    I never thought this team would even sniff 500 after their horrible start to the season. Maybe I've just jinxed them as they are not quite there yet, but to have nibbled their way this close seems extraordinary given the offensive limitations and the imploding pitching they tend to have. I don't know that they can keep this up, but kudos to them for getting back in it. I mean I had just recently been cheering for them to lose and for players like France, Castro and Bader to do well so they could fetch players at the deadline. If this team can continue to pitch this well consistently they can play with anyone. Also FWIW I never in my wildest dreams thought Paddack could go 6 no hit innings or ever go 7 innings in a game. He just hasn't looked capable. And yet here we are in one of the more Jekyll and Hyde starts to a season I can remember. I give up trying to figure this team out. Will just have to see how things play out, but I am going to try to keep some type of positive spin whether they keep winning or losing.
  15. Dman
    McCusker making his move to convince the Twins he needs to be called up. He is on fire to start the season. Absolutely dialed in. The only thing holding him back is that 30% K rate which generally only gets worse at the MLB level. I do love seeing him hit home runs. Festa looking really good too. He is just waiting for another chance.
  16. Dman
    I didn't know about the velocity drop. I thought they were likely working with him to try and get more swinging strikes out of the zone rather than in the zone as he seems to have Home run problem when in the Majors. So if there is a velocity drop that certainly would be worrisome.
  17. Dman
    Nice to see Beltre have instant success in the FCL. 1 for 2 with a home home run. a walk. four RBI's and no strikeouts has him continuing what he did in the DSL last year. Long way to go, but he was great in his first game.
  18. Dman
    Walker JenkinsLuke KeaschallEmmanuel RodriguezKaelen CulpepperMarco RayaConnor PrielippCharlee SotoDasan HillBilly AmickBrandon WinokurAndrew MorrisGabriel GonzalezTanner SchobelKala'i RosarioPayton EelesCory LewisCJ CulpepperYunior SeverinoCarson McCuskerYasser Mercedes
  19. Dman
    Man what a difference a week makes. Last week I was ready to pronounce DeAndrade as a failure. He wasn't disciplined at the plate, swinging out of the zone. It didn't look like he was tracking pitches well at all there was sooo much swing and miss. Sooo much weak contact. The past week has seen a power surge and his OPS climb into the 800's. This is the bat I remember. He still has a low batting average, but he dug himself a pretty big hole to start the season. Happy to see him back on track.
  20. Dman
    Cleveland's Williams has been bad the last three times out. Wondering if there is something wrong with his arm? Nice to see hits with runners in scoring position. We'll see what tomorrow brings but I am really struggling to follow this team.
  21. Dman
    Man Hill is a beast out of the gates. His pitching lines have been ridicules. He clearly looks ready for High A but I assume they like having him at Fort Meyers for development. I don't think I have seen a Twins first year teenager come close to what he is doing since I have been watching prospects. Maybe Blyleven for a comp? Gotta say I thought he would slowly but surely be good, but not this good this early. Looks like a "special" arm right now.
  22. Dman
    Correct me if my memory is faulty but wasn't Peschl a late sign and from a smaller school? His college stats didn't look great to me either. 5.48 ERA, more hits given up than innings pitched. K/9 was solid but that was about it. The Twins really have something going with those small school finds where they can improve the pitching mechanics. He keep this up though May and he will moving onto Cedar Rapids. He has been a really fun arm to follow so far. Bowen with another good outing as well. He looks like he wants to move up too. If he stops giving up too many home runs it looks like he is going to be in AAA before too long as well.
  23. Dman
    I kind or wrote Olivar off after he had a rough start at AA last year. Also I don't see him making it as a MLB catcher. Still he is a slow runner without much defensive value with a very good bat. AA isn't easy and this is really his first extended crack at it being healthy and not too dinged up like late last year and he is doing really well. Hope he keeps it up. If he can be an elite bat there is still 1st base or DH. Hoping he stays hot.
  24. Dman
    Yeah he is a horrible hitter. He just doesn’t see pitches well and is fooled way too easily. He is a guess hitter at this point. I don’t see him getting much better because he just doesn’t seem to have a clue what the ball is going to do.
  25. Dman
    Totally agree on Questad. He isn’t walking as many and is challenging hitters in the. Zone more. Definitely a top 30 guy for me. He has good movement on his pitches I think he keeps this up. Bummer on giving up the HR, but it happens. I have been very impressed at how far he has come from last year to this year.
×
×
  • Create New...