Jim Crikket

If, indeed, Sano did "pimp" his HR, then I agree with Seth... that needs to be corrected. That said, what I really did like and would like to see more of at the Twins level, was the "I'm not going to take crap from you" attitude and the "We've got your back" reaction from Sano's teammates. Pimping the HR is childish and hopefully something Sano grows out of, but if, for whatever reason, an opposing player gets in your face, I want to see a guy stand up and I want to see teammates stand up with him.

After a rather ugly game Wednesday night and Thursday’s suspended game, the Snappers and Kernels put on a good show on Friday in Cedar Rapids. In the completion of Thursday’s suspended game, the Snappers got a home run from newcomer Drew Leachman and Miguel Sano hit his 7th home run of the season immediately after an AJ Petterson double in the 8th inning, but it wasn’t enough for the win. The Kernels topped Beloit 9-6. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/SanoHR2012-801x1024.jpgMigeul Sano's home run stroke in the first of two dingers on the night (Photo: Jim Crikket) The nightcap was a different story, with the Snappers breaking a 3-3 tie in the top of the 9th inning when Sano followed a JD Williams walk with his 8th home run of the year. The Kernels thought Sano spent a bit too long admiring the blast and getting around the bases and their catcher, Abel Baker, let Sano know about it as he crossed home plate. The two exchanged words and that led to both benches emptying. The 5-3 lead held up and the Snappers left town having won two of three games from the Kernels. There were plenty of good performances among the Snappers in the series finale as starting pitcher Steven Gruver retired the first six hitters he faced and threw five decent innings. Michael Tonkin gave up a run in his 1 1/3 innings of work, but struck out four Kernels, and Clint Dempster finished up with 2 2/3 strong shutout innings, without giving up a hit, to notch the Win. On the offensive side, Sano, Eddie Rosario, Wang-Wei Lin and Matthew Koch all had two hits and JD Williams & Tyler Grimes added doubles. But the story of this series was Sano. In the three games in Cedar Rapids, he was 7 for 13 plus one walk. He had two doubles to go with his two home runs. He scored five runs and drove in seven RBI. He did strike out once on Friday, stranding runners at 2nd and 3rd base, so I guess he’s human. Still, in a post-game interview with the Cedar Rapids Gazette, Kernels manager Jamie Burke called Sano, “unbelievable” and, “the best player I’ve seen here – by far.” Personally, I still believe Mike Trout is the best player I’ve ever seen in the Midwest League, because he literally showed no weaknesses in his game during his time with the Kernels. But Sano’s performance this week was the most impressive offensive series I’ve witnessed. I know the Twins organization is reluctant to push their position players up the ladder quickly. Selfishly, I hope he’s still with Beloit in mid June when the Snappers return to Cedar Rapids again. But as a Twins fan, I can’t imagine what more he needs to demonstrate in the Midwest League that he can’t just as easily work on in Fort Myers. There’s absolutely no doubt that Sano has work to do with the glove before he’s ready for prime time, but does it really make that much difference whether he works on his defense in Beloit or Fort Myers? I’m convinced he’s more than ready to face better pitching. Kernels pitchers were feeding him almost nothing but breaking balls and other off-speed pitches. When they did throw a fastball, it wasn’t often anywhere near the strike zone. ************* I leave you with the following picture. As is the case at many ballparks, the Kernels give some lucky kids the opportunity to stand next to Kernels players on the field during the National Anthem and they give the kids t-shirts to wear. Very large t-shirts. I call this picture “Angels in the Infield.” http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/AngelsInTheInfield-1024x758.jpgAngels In The Infield (Photo: Jim Crikket)

After a rather ugly game Wednesday night and Thursday’s suspended game, the Snappers and Kernels put on a good show on Friday in Cedar Rapids. In the completion of Thursday’s suspended game, the Snappers got a home run from newcomer Drew Leachman and Miguel Sano hit his 7th home run of the season immediately after an AJ Petterson double in the 8th inning, but it wasn’t enough for the win. The Kernels topped Beloit 9-6. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/SanoHR2012-801x1024.jpgMigeul Sano's home run stroke in the first of two dingers on the night (Photo: Jim Crikket) The nightcap was a different story, with the Snappers breaking a 3-3 tie in the top of the 9th inning when Sano followed a JD Williams walk with his 8th home run of the year. The Kernels thought Sano spent a bit too long admiring the blast and getting around the bases and their catcher, Abel Baker, let Sano know about it as he crossed home plate. The two exchanged words and that led to both benches emptying. The 5-3 lead held up and the Snappers left town having won two of three games from the Kernels. There were plenty of good performances among the Snappers in the series finale as starting pitcher Steven Gruver retired the first six hitters he faced and threw five decent innings. Michael Tonkin gave up a run in his 1 1/3 innings of work, but struck out four Kernels, and Clint Dempster finished up with 2 2/3 strong shutout innings, without giving up a hit, to notch the Win. On the offensive side, Sano, Eddie Rosario, Wang-Wei Lin and Matthew Koch all had two hits and JD Williams & Tyler Grimes added doubles. But the story of this series was Sano. In the three games in Cedar Rapids, he was 7 for 13 plus one walk. He had two doubles to go with his two home runs. He scored five runs and drove in seven RBI. He did strike out once on Friday, stranding runners at 2nd and 3rd base, so I guess he’s human. Still, in a post-game interview with the Cedar Rapids Gazette, Kernels manager Jamie Burke called Sano, “unbelievable” and, “the best player I’ve seen here – by far.” Personally, I still believe Mike Trout is the best player I’ve ever seen in the Midwest League, because he literally showed no weaknesses in his game during his time with the Kernels. But Sano’s performance this week was the most impressive offensive series I’ve witnessed. I know the Twins organization is reluctant to push their position players up the ladder quickly. Selfishly, I hope he’s still with Beloit in mid June when the Snappers return to Cedar Rapids again. But as a Twins fan, I can’t imagine what more he needs to demonstrate in the Midwest League that he can’t just as easily work on in Fort Myers. There’s absolutely no doubt that Sano has work to do with the glove before he’s ready for prime time, but does it really make that much difference whether he works on his defense in Beloit or Fort Myers? I’m convinced he’s more than ready to face better pitching. Kernels pitchers were feeding him almost nothing but breaking balls and other off-speed pitches. When they did throw a fastball, it wasn’t often anywhere near the strike zone. ************* I leave you with the following picture. As is the case at many ballparks, the Kernels give some lucky kids the opportunity to stand next to Kernels players on the field during the National Anthem and they give the kids t-shirts to wear. Very large t-shirts. I call this picture “Angels in the Infield.” http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/AngelsInTheInfield-1024x758.jpgAngels In The Infield (Photo: Jim Crikket)

I was Tweeting about Sano's HR when I looked up and saw the benches cleared. Here's the CR Gazette report with the Kernels' version of what happened. I suspect the Beloit perspective may be slightly (or not so slightly) different, of course. http://thegazette.com/2012/05/04/kernels-dont-take-kindly-to-opponents-home-run-pimp/

Sano caused a little bit of a "dust up" with his game winning HR in the nightcap Friday night. I was Tweeting about the HR and when I looked up, the benches had cleared and coaches/umpires were trying to keep the players separated and under control. Both benches got a warning. Here's the story (from the Cedar Rapids point of view, anyway): http://thegazette.com/2012/05/04/kernels-dont-take-kindly-to-opponents-home-run-pimp/

The Kernels probably should have pitched around him, too. Though I guess in a way, they did... he got pretty much nothing but off-speed pitches. When he did get a fastball, it was seldom anywhere near the strike zone. I'm inclined to agree with nicksaviking... he's not going to get challenged by the MWL pitchers at this point. It may not hurt him to stick around Beloit through the fist half of the season, but anything beyond that is probably a waste of time. He's not a good defensive ballplayer, but he can work on that just as easily in Fort Myers as Beloit.

Thanks for the link, Seth. Interesting experiences with the autograph seekers. I didn't get to the ballpark early enough tonight to see whether Thursday's observation was a unique situation. On Thursday, Sano came to the wall next to the dugout after he was done with his warmups out in left field. The same was true of Rosario. I suspect that, in Beloit, the number of autograph seekers can be pretty overwhelming at times. It looked to me like Sano signed for all of the 8-10 people... some kids, some adults... who were at the wall. There were fewer there when Rosario came over, but he signed for the 4-5 that I saw there before heading in to the dugout.

This article originally was posted at Knuckleballsblog.com If you follow me on Twitter (@JimCrikket), you know that the Twins’ low-A affiliate, the Beloit Snappers, are making their first trip to Cedar Rapids this week and that I’ve spent the past couple of evenings at the ballpark watching them take on the Kernels (the Angels’ Midwest League affiliate). They’ve played 1+ games in the series so far (Thursday’s game was suspended by thunderstorms in the 3rd inning and will be resumed at 5:00 today, prior to the scheduled series finale), so I thought I’d put up a quick post with my initial impressions. The guys who are getting all the attention for the Snappers are infielders Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario. Sano is the consensus #1 ranked prospect in the Twins organization and Rosario is most often listed as either #2 or #3, so they both have some game. They aren’t the only guys on the team with some talent, though. Wednesday night, I had arranged use of the suite that my company has out at Memorial Stadium, so I hosted a number of my coworkers and their significant others as we watched what started out as a pretty ugly display of baseball, frankly. To give you an idea of how ugly, the Snappers won the game 6-5, but the teams each scored only two earned runs on the night. That’s not pretty. After two innings, the teams were tied 2-2 in the runs column, but the Snappers “led” 3-2 in errors. Two of those Snapper errors were charged to Rosario and Sano and they both were the kind that made you cringe. The conventional wisdom is that both players have work to do on defense with Sano’s size perhaps making staying at 3B a challenge and Rosario trying to learn a new position at 2B, after being an outfielder throughout his career. The conventional wisdom may be pretty accurate in this case. But let’s face it, if Sano and Rosario are fixtures in the Twins 2015 lineup, it won’t be because they’re gold glovers, it will be because they’re capable of hitting the crap out of the baseball. Rosario had a tough night at the plate, going 0-4 (no Ks though) before being lifted after hitting in the 7th inning. Sano fared much better, with three hits in 5 at-bats, including a rocket double down the left field line that Kernel 3B Caleb Cowart managed to get a little leather on. As I mentioned, though, Sano and Rosario aren’t the only players with some baseball talent. Relief pitcher Corey Williams came in to finish off the final two innings and slammed the door on the Kernels, walking one and striking out two hitters, without giving up a hit, to earn his fourth save on the year. Shortstop Tyler Grimes has only played four innings so far this series, but he’s made a couple of pretty impressive plays in the field. Finally, 1B Rory Rhodes may be struggling to get his BA up over the Mendoza line, but he hit a HR Wednesday night that was a monster. It cleared the fence. It cleared the picnic area beyond the fence. From my vantage point, it appeared to clear the street beyond the picnic area. I’m not 100% sure it’s come down yet. Eddie Rosario was lifted in the 7th inning Wednesday night, for what I assumed was defensive purposes, but when I arrived at the stadium Thursday night, I saw he wasn’t in the lineup for the Snappers. It made me wonder if he was hurt or, perhaps, had been bumped up to Ft. Myers. But he was in uniform warming up with the rest of the Snappers in LF before the game, so the latter clearly wasn’t the case. I’ll be interested to see if he plays tonight. Here’s another thing I really liked seeing… Sano and Rosario seemed to be enjoying themselves before and during the games. They were loose and smiling during warm-ups and both were generous with their time signing autographs for fans along the wall by the Snappers dugout before the games. That’s not always the case, especially with visiting teams’ “top prospects.” Then again, there was no shortage of fans in Twins caps and shirts at the ballpark this week. It’s always a bit of a “split crowd” when the Twins’ affiliate comes to Cedar Rapids, so the Snappers get plenty of support. With that, I’ll wrap up with a few pictures from last night’s abbreviated trip to the ballpark. (Apologies for the size of the photos... Haven't figured out how to make them smaller in this place, but obviously it doesn't work just to copy the smaller versions from our Knuckleballs blog. - JC) http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Sano2012c-1024x767.jpg Miguel Sano signing a few autographs for fans http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Rosario2012c-765x1024.jpg Eddie Rosario warming up before the game... he's changed positions once already, but could he really be thinking about pitching? http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Roario2012b-1024x767.jpg ... or catching? Say it ain't so, Eddie! http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Snappers2012-1024x659.jpg The Snappers loosen up with that time-honored tradition of a game of "Pepper" http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Tomshaw2012a-767x1024.jpg Thursday's starting pitcher, Matthew Tomshaw, is off to a nice start for the Snappers, but wouldn't get much of an opportunity to pitch before the rains came http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Rhodes2012a-767x1024.jpg OK, this was a swing and a miss by Rory Rhodes Thursday night... but on Wednesday, he launched a ball about as far as I've seen one hit at Memorial Stadium in recent years http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Grimes2012a-1024x767.jpg Tyler Grimes at shortstop for the Snappers in the sunshine... obviously prior to the thunderstorm that was to soon arrive http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/RainDelay.jpg The thunderstorm may have caused the game to be suspended in the 3rd inning, but the crowd didn't let a little thing like that keep them from enjoying "$1.50 beer night"

This article originally was posted at Knuckleballsblog.com If you follow me on Twitter (@JimCrikket), you know that the Twins’ low-A affiliate, the Beloit Snappers, are making their first trip to Cedar Rapids this week and that I’ve spent the past couple of evenings at the ballpark watching them take on the Kernels (the Angels’ Midwest League affiliate). They’ve played 1+ games in the series so far (Thursday’s game was suspended by thunderstorms in the 3rd inning and will be resumed at 5:00 today, prior to the scheduled series finale), so I thought I’d put up a quick post with my initial impressions. The guys who are getting all the attention for the Snappers are infielders Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario. Sano is the consensus #1 ranked prospect in the Twins organization and Rosario is most often listed as either #2 or #3, so they both have some game. They aren’t the only guys on the team with some talent, though. Wednesday night, I had arranged use of the suite that my company has out at Memorial Stadium, so I hosted a number of my coworkers and their significant others as we watched what started out as a pretty ugly display of baseball, frankly. To give you an idea of how ugly, the Snappers won the game 6-5, but the teams each scored only two earned runs on the night. That’s not pretty. After two innings, the teams were tied 2-2 in the runs column, but the Snappers “led” 3-2 in errors. Two of those Snapper errors were charged to Rosario and Sano and they both were the kind that made you cringe. The conventional wisdom is that both players have work to do on defense with Sano’s size perhaps making staying at 3B a challenge and Rosario trying to learn a new position at 2B, after being an outfielder throughout his career. The conventional wisdom may be pretty accurate in this case. But let’s face it, if Sano and Rosario are fixtures in the Twins 2015 lineup, it won’t be because they’re gold glovers, it will be because they’re capable of hitting the crap out of the baseball. Rosario had a tough night at the plate, going 0-4 (no Ks though) before being lifted after hitting in the 7th inning. Sano fared much better, with three hits in 5 at-bats, including a rocket double down the left field line that Kernel 3B Caleb Cowart managed to get a little leather on. As I mentioned, though, Sano and Rosario aren’t the only players with some baseball talent. Relief pitcher Corey Williams came in to finish off the final two innings and slammed the door on the Kernels, walking one and striking out two hitters, without giving up a hit, to earn his fourth save on the year. Shortstop Tyler Grimes has only played four innings so far this series, but he’s made a couple of pretty impressive plays in the field. Finally, 1B Rory Rhodes may be struggling to get his BA up over the Mendoza line, but he hit a HR Wednesday night that was a monster. It cleared the fence. It cleared the picnic area beyond the fence. From my vantage point, it appeared to clear the street beyond the picnic area. I’m not 100% sure it’s come down yet. Eddie Rosario was lifted in the 7th inning Wednesday night, for what I assumed was defensive purposes, but when I arrived at the stadium Thursday night, I saw he wasn’t in the lineup for the Snappers. It made me wonder if he was hurt or, perhaps, had been bumped up to Ft. Myers. But he was in uniform warming up with the rest of the Snappers in LF before the game, so the latter clearly wasn’t the case. I’ll be interested to see if he plays tonight. Here’s another thing I really liked seeing… Sano and Rosario seemed to be enjoying themselves before and during the games. They were loose and smiling during warm-ups and both were generous with their time signing autographs for fans along the wall by the Snappers dugout before the games. That’s not always the case, especially with visiting teams’ “top prospects.” Then again, there was no shortage of fans in Twins caps and shirts at the ballpark this week. It’s always a bit of a “split crowd” when the Twins’ affiliate comes to Cedar Rapids, so the Snappers get plenty of support. With that, I’ll wrap up with a few pictures from last night’s abbreviated trip to the ballpark. (Apologies for the size of the photos... Haven't figured out how to make them smaller in this place, but obviously it doesn't work just to copy the smaller versions from our Knuckleballs blog. - JC) http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Sano2012c-1024x767.jpg Miguel Sano signing a few autographs for fans http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Rosario2012c-765x1024.jpg Eddie Rosario warming up before the game... he's changed positions once already, but could he really be thinking about pitching? http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Roario2012b-1024x767.jpg ... or catching? Say it ain't so, Eddie! http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Snappers2012-1024x659.jpg The Snappers loosen up with that time-honored tradition of a game of "Pepper" http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Tomshaw2012a-767x1024.jpg Thursday's starting pitcher, Matthew Tomshaw, is off to a nice start for the Snappers, but wouldn't get much of an opportunity to pitch before the rains came http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Rhodes2012a-767x1024.jpg OK, this was a swing and a miss by Rory Rhodes Thursday night... but on Wednesday, he launched a ball about as far as I've seen one hit at Memorial Stadium in recent years http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Grimes2012a-1024x767.jpg Tyler Grimes at shortstop for the Snappers in the sunshine... obviously prior to the thunderstorm that was to soon arrive http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/RainDelay.jpg The thunderstorm may have caused the game to be suspended in the 3rd inning, but the crowd didn't let a little thing like that keep them from enjoying "$1.50 beer night"

"He was so ready to get out of town that he caught a red-eye flight the night of the sweep and rushed reporters out off his office to make the flight. Before the blood even dried. Before he could have a single team meeting." Just for the record and not that it will change your opinion anyway, but it turns out the manager DID have a team meeting after the game Wednesday night. Details are available at the 1500ESPN site, from Phil Mackey's post there.

First of all, I agree with Seth, the Twins should keep sending him out to play 3B as long as they think there's any chance he could develop enough skill there to be servicable at that position. That said, after watching him work out a little every spring in Ft Myers and then seeing him the past couple of nights in Cedar Rapids, I think he may have "DH" written all over him. Just doesn't seem terribly smooth out there. He still seems to be growing in to his body, though, and at just 19 yrs old, there's still plenty of time to get past that awkwardness.

Me too. He had another multi-hit game last night in the Cats' loss to Harrisburg (yes, still both hits were singles, but why quibble with that?) along with a walk and run scored. That brings his BA back up to .286 to go with a nice .384 OBP. A few extra-base hits would elevate his OPS from its current .685 level, but I'm still hopeful that some of those balls will start finding some gaps. His 10/9 strikeout/walk ratio beats the heck out of everyone else with New Britain except Danny Lehmann, who's sitting at 6/7.

I intentionally didn't do a write-up of the Wednesday night game. The Snappers won 6-5 and Sano went 3 for 5 with a double and Rosario was hitless. But the reason I'm holding off on writing is that... man... did they look BAD in the field. I'm hoping things go better tonight and Friday. Rosario had a ground ball go right under him and Sano launched a throw in to right field that was supposed to go somewhere close to 2B. He also got the error when he and Petterson, the SS, bumped in to one another and ended up letting a pop fly in shallow LF drop to the ground. Taking the camera to the game tonight so I'll probably be posting something at Knuckleballs tonight or tomorrow... certainly by Saturday.

Again, another rather absurd conclusion. So are you saying that any of us who take vacations or any time off from work should conclude that if our employers/jobs can get by without us for 3 days, then they can just as easily get by without us for 10 days, 40 days, 1 year? Of course not. To suggest that missing one series is no different than 20 series just makes the whole point you're trying to make even more bizarre.

I get that you hate Gardenhire and all that, but when you go to this extreme, it doesn't help your cause at all. It just shows that you'll stop at very little when it comes to bashing the guy. You do realize flights,both private and commercial, get delayed or even cancelled, right? Rule one of travel is that you NEVER leave yourself without contingency options if you've got a critical event to attend. One big thunderhead over the Rockies and he misses his daughter's graduation. As someone who's traveled a fair amount for work and gone to some pretty questionable extremes at times to avoid missing my kids' events, big and small, I'll just say that if anyone suggested I do what you're suggesting Gardy should have done, I'd tell them exactly what they could do with their suggestion... and it probably wouldn't be anatomically possible. Questioning strategic decisions, baseball smarts, control of the clubhouse... all are legitimate nits to pick if you're so inclined. But questioning a guy making damn sure he's there and able to enjoy his daughter's graduation is out of line, in my opinion.

Perhaps, based on recent results, his progression was a bit too quick. It might do him some good to see some AAA hitters for a bit and then try again. He's still pretty young. Thank you all for your comments on the post. I appreciate it.

After reading through this entire thread, I believe there is only one certain conclusion... Regardless of who the Twins take with the #2 pick, there will absolutely be SOMEONE picked later that turns out to be better than whoever the Twins take... and when that happens, there will be no shortage of people around here screaming about how stupid the Twins are for not knowing, years in advance, that the other guy would be the better pick.

Barring something unforeseen happening, when Twins starting pitcher Liam Hendriks toes the rubber Wednesday night, he’ll be staring down Angels’ top prospect Mike Trout, who’s been hitting in the leadoff spot for the Halos since being promoted a few days ago. Talk about déjà vu flashbacks. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Hendriks.jpgLiam Hendriks Just over two years ago, the Beloit Snappers opened their season against the Angels’ Midwest League affiliate, the Cedar Rapids Kernels, and I sat through a 10-inning 1-0 Snappers win in 37 degree temperatures. You can read all about it and see how photo-happy I was in those days by clicking here to go back to a Knuckleballs post I put up after the game. You’ll note from the story that Liam Hendriks started that game for the Snappers and pitched five strong innings. What you won’t read in that story, because I focused so much on the Snappers, is that Mike Trout was the starting centerfielder for the Kernels. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Trout-214x300.jpgMike Trout By the way, I’ve already started gathering my Mike Trout collectables… I’ve got a pack of Kernels baseball cards from 2010 with Trout’s card right up there on top and the Kernels gave away Mike Trout bobbleheads at their home opener this season. Yes, I made sure I was there early enough to be one of the first 1,000 in the gate (which I needn’t have done… they were still handing them out to people who came through the turnstiles at game time). So, yes, I’ve seen Liam Hendriks face Mike Trout already. If you regularly attend minor league games, you become accustomed to seeing a fortunate few of these kids eventually wear Major League uniforms, but I have to admit that seeing two of them rise to become Big Leaguers in just two years after playing here in Cedar Rapids seems rare. As it turns out, though, maybe it’s not as rare as I think. Three of Trout's team mates on that 2010 Kernels team have already made their MLB debuts. Trout’s the only position player, but pitchers David Carpenter, Garrett Richards and Patrick Corbin have all already made appearances for the Angels or, in Corbin’s case, the D’Backs. That Snappers line up on Opening Day 2010 was nothing to sneeze at either. Hendriks is the only 2010 Snapper to make the Big Leagues (unless you count JJ Hardy, who rehabbed with Beloit for three games that season), but it won’t be that way for long. Check out the picture I posted of my scorecard from that game in April, 2010. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/scorebook600.jpg See any familiar names? How about… Brian Dozier at SS. He’s still in Rochester, but it shouldn’t be long before he joins his former Snapper team mate Hendriks in Minnesota. Aaron Hicks and James Beresford were in the line up that day… both have reached AA New Britain now. So has pitcher Dakota Watts, who also was with Beloit at the start of 2010. BJ Hermsen pitched in Beloit that year, as well, but I don’t believe he even began the year there. Now, he’s also a Rock Cat after being promoted recently. You’ll also see names like Angel Morales, Michael Gonzales, Danny Rams and Anderson Hidalgo on that scorecard. While their former team mate Hendriks is in The Show, they’ve progressed just one rung up the ladder to High-A Ft. Myers since that Opening Day two years ago. But they’re still chasing that dream. Wednesday night (and likely Thursday and Friday, as well), I’ll be out at Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids again… watching this year’s Beloit Snappers face the current Cedar Rapids Kernels. I’ll have my eyes on the “big names” like Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario, arguably the Twins two top prospects, but who else will stand out? Which of these “kids” will have a chance to live the fairy tale some day and wear a Big League uniform for the Twins or Angels… or maybe another organization if that should be their fate? For about $10, you can get the best seat in the house at a minor league ballpark like the one we have here in Cedar Rapids. For that price, you get to watch future Major League ballplayers play baseball. How can you beat that? Man, I love this game. - JC

Barring something unforeseen happening, when Twins starting pitcher Liam Hendriks toes the rubber Wednesday night, he’ll be staring down Angels’ top prospect Mike Trout, who’s been hitting in the leadoff spot for the Halos since being promoted a few days ago. Talk about déjà vu flashbacks. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Hendriks.jpgLiam Hendriks Just over two years ago, the Beloit Snappers opened their season against the Angels’ Midwest League affiliate, the Cedar Rapids Kernels, and I sat through a 10-inning 1-0 Snappers win in 37 degree temperatures. You can read all about it and see how photo-happy I was in those days by clicking here to go back to a Knuckleballs post I put up after the game. You’ll note from the story that Liam Hendriks started that game for the Snappers and pitched five strong innings. What you won’t read in that story, because I focused so much on the Snappers, is that Mike Trout was the starting centerfielder for the Kernels. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Trout-214x300.jpgMike Trout By the way, I’ve already started gathering my Mike Trout collectables… I’ve got a pack of Kernels baseball cards from 2010 with Trout’s card right up there on top and the Kernels gave away Mike Trout bobbleheads at their home opener this season. Yes, I made sure I was there early enough to be one of the first 1,000 in the gate (which I needn’t have done… they were still handing them out to people who came through the turnstiles at game time). So, yes, I’ve seen Liam Hendriks face Mike Trout already. If you regularly attend minor league games, you become accustomed to seeing a fortunate few of these kids eventually wear Major League uniforms, but I have to admit that seeing two of them rise to become Big Leaguers in just two years after playing here in Cedar Rapids seems rare. As it turns out, though, maybe it’s not as rare as I think. Three of Trout's team mates on that 2010 Kernels team have already made their MLB debuts. Trout’s the only position player, but pitchers David Carpenter, Garrett Richards and Patrick Corbin have all already made appearances for the Angels or, in Corbin’s case, the D’Backs. That Snappers line up on Opening Day 2010 was nothing to sneeze at either. Hendriks is the only 2010 Snapper to make the Big Leagues (unless you count JJ Hardy, who rehabbed with Beloit for three games that season), but it won’t be that way for long. Check out the picture I posted of my scorecard from that game in April, 2010. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/scorebook600.jpg See any familiar names? How about… Brian Dozier at SS. He’s still in Rochester, but it shouldn’t be long before he joins his former Snapper team mate Hendriks in Minnesota. Aaron Hicks and James Beresford were in the line up that day… both have reached AA New Britain now. So has pitcher Dakota Watts, who also was with Beloit at the start of 2010. BJ Hermsen pitched in Beloit that year, as well, but I don’t believe he even began the year there. Now, he’s also a Rock Cat after being promoted recently. You’ll also see names like Angel Morales, Michael Gonzales, Danny Rams and Anderson Hidalgo on that scorecard. While their former team mate Hendriks is in The Show, they’ve progressed just one rung up the ladder to High-A Ft. Myers since that Opening Day two years ago. But they’re still chasing that dream. Wednesday night (and likely Thursday and Friday, as well), I’ll be out at Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids again… watching this year’s Beloit Snappers face the current Cedar Rapids Kernels. I’ll have my eyes on the “big names” like Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario, arguably the Twins two top prospects, but who else will stand out? Which of these “kids” will have a chance to live the fairy tale some day and wear a Big League uniform for the Twins or Angels… or maybe another organization if that should be their fate? For about $10, you can get the best seat in the house at a minor league ballpark like the one we have here in Cedar Rapids. For that price, you get to watch future Major League ballplayers play baseball. How can you beat that? Man, I love this game. - JC

Just thought I would point out that James has a little hitting streak going. He's hit safely in the past 7 games in which he's played. On April 19, he was sporting a cringe-worthy .182 BA, but starting with the Rock Cats' game on April 20 and running through last night's extra-inning win over Richmond, Beresford has 10 hits in 23 ABs with 4 walks against only 3 strike outs. That's good for a .435 batting average over the course of the hitting streak and, if my math is correct, a .519 OBP. Not bad for the guy hitting 9th in the order in all but one of those games! The streak has raised his BA for the season up to .286 and his OBP up to .375. Keep it up James!

I think that's the hope... that he develops enough gap power to take advantage of pretty decent contact skills and excellent middle infield defense. I believe he has that potential and I'm obviously rooting for him.

James has reacted well to being adopted on Monday, the 23rd. He didn't play in the Rock Cats' game that night (the Cats have a bit of a 3-man rotation thing going on in the middle infield with Beresford, Estarlin De Los Santos and Pedro Florimon each starting a couple of games and then sitting a game out), but he went 1 for 3 and scored a run in Tuesday's win over Portland and 2 for 3 in Wednesday's loss to the same opponent. The beauty of early season small sample sizes means that James managed to raise his BA 36 points to .267 in those two games and his on-base percentage rose a similar amount to .353. Defensively, Beresford has yet to make an error on the season. New Britain has tonight (Thursday) off before opening a three game series Friday in Richmod against the Flying Squirrels, the Giants' AA affiliate. [TABLE=class: dataTableClass] [TR=class: dataRow even] [TD=class: dataCell, align: left]James Beresford[/TD] [TD=class: dataCell, align: center]2B[/TD] [TD=class: dataCell, align: center]16[/TD] [TD=class: dataCell, align: center]45[/TD] [TD=class: dataCell, align: center]4[/TD] [TD=class: dataCell, align: center]12[/TD] [TD=class: dataCell, align: center]1[/TD] [TD=class: dataCell, align: center]0[/TD] [TD=class: dataCell, align: center]0[/TD] [TD=class: dataCell, align: center]3[/TD] [TD=class: dataCell, align: center]13[/TD] [TD=class: dataCell, align: center]5[/TD] [TD=class: dataCell, align: center]8[/TD] [TD=class: dataCell, align: center]0[/TD] [TD=class: dataCell, align: center]1[/TD] [TD=class: dataCell, align: center].353[/TD] [TD=class: dataCell, align: center].289[/TD] [TD=class: currSortDataCell, align: center].267[/TD] [TD=class: dataCell, align: center].642[/TD] [TD=class: dataCell, align: center]0[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

Let's add a couple of pictures, shall we? Beresford has had a few opportunities to suit up with the Twins in Spring Training the last couple of years. Below, he signs autographs after a game with the Pirates in Bradenton in 2011 and shows his form at 2B against the Red Sox this past March.

James Beresford Middle Infielder Born: January 19, 1989 in Glen Waverley, Victoria, Australia Bats: Left – Throws: Right Signed in 2005 by the Twins as a 16 year old. Named to Australian team for both the 2009 World Baseball Classic and 2009 Baseball World Cup. Current Minor League Career totals: 485 Games .280 BA / .340 OBP / .318 SLG / .658 OPS / 41 SB / 224 Runs / 50 2B / 7 3B / 1 HR / 152 BB / 253 K Current Season (New Britain Rock Cats - AA): 14 Games .231 BA / .318 OBP / .256 SLG / .575 OPS / 0 SB / 3 Runs / 1 2B / 0 3B / 0 HR / 4 BB / 6 K ****** I first recall seeing Australian James Beresford playing for the Beloit Snappers in 2009 during a game here in Cedar Rapids against the Kernels. He looked a lot like most of the middle infielders we see coming through the Class Low-A Midwest League… that is to say, he looked a lot like any kid you might expect to see on a local high school diamond. He was still with the Snappers a year later when they made their first trip of the season to play the Kernels and it was during one of those games that James really caught my eye. He hadn’t grown a lot over the offseason, but he certainly didn’t play the field like many high school kids I’d seen… or many minor leaguers I’d seen, for that matter. In a single game, I saw him turn a very difficult double play from his shortstop position and make a play deep in the hole to his right and make a leaping/turning throw to first base for an out. Since that time, I’ve continued to keep an eye on Beresford during my annual trips to Spring Training and as he’s worked his way up the ladder within the Twins organization. He’s filled out a bit and while he definitely needs to start driving the ball harder, his batting average has been fine for a middle infielder over the past couple of seasons. He’s off to a bit of a slow start with the stick in New Britain this season, where he’s been playing second base, and with the Twins adding Levi Michael through the draft last year and attempting to convert promising prospect Eddie Rosario in to a second baseman, James is going to have to continue stepping up his game to stay ahead of those guys in the Twins’ middle infield pecking order. But he's still only 23 years old and, from what I’ve seen, he has the work ethic to do just that. He’s also the kind of young man that it’s easy to root for. You can follow James on Twitter at @JamesBeresford2 - JC

Seth, you should probably just list Beresford as being "adopted" by Jim Crikket, rather than the entire Knuckleballs crew... could be that Babs, KL and/or Eric decide they want to get in on this separately - JC