Shane Wahl

Bert is borderline terrible and TK is fantastic. If only Vin Scully were the play-by-play guy . . . that would be the most information baseball broadcast ever. Instead it's Dick, er, Richard.

Exactly, and it's not even close. Zunino is not the only catcher out there, either. There are 3-4 high school catchers and 2-3 college catchers below Zunino who could be as good or better. Getting a top college pitcher who could end the year in New Britain is worth way more than gambling on Buxton.

Some available players: JD Williams (!), Adam Bryant, Michael Gonzales, Rory Rhodes, Dan Rohlfing, Danny Lehmann, Josmil Pinto, and Nick Lockwood And there are plenty of pitchers.

Morales just owned Mauer in that at bat. Actually watch the pitches and then tell me what could have been done. A couple inside fastballs at 94-95, some off-speed garbage and then one low and away that he at least pulled to the right side instead of tapping to short. If that ball goes 10 feet to the right, Carroll probably scores.

Current Big Ten standings: (Conference record, overall record) 1. Purdue 12-3, 31-6 2. Michigan State 7-5, 26-13 Minnesota 7-5, 23-19 4. Nebraska 8-7, 26-15 5. Penn State 6-6, 18-21 6. Indiana 6-6, 18-22 7. Ohio State 7-8, 22-18 8. Illinois 5-7, 22-17 Iowa 5-7, 16-19 10. Michigan 4-8, 17-24 11. Northwestern 5-10, 13-23 Standings summary: There are only 4 teams in the conference that could be called good. Purdue is well ahead of the pack. Top 5 Big Ten draft prospects: 1. Kevin Plawecki, C, Purdue: 140 AB, .357/.456/.564 16 doubles, 2 triples, 3 homers, 19 BB/6 K, 2 SB/5 SBA Plawecki is good defensively behind the plate (his pitchers trust him to call games and he has been very successful doing so, making plenty of average pitchers perform at a higher level). He is a great contact hitter but also has doubles power. The 19/6 BB/K ratio is perhaps most impressive. 2. Nick Wittgren, RHR, Purdue: 23 IP, 1.57 ERA, 26/6 K/BB Scouts will start to wander around the stadium in the middle of Purdue's Big 10 games, but when Wittgren comes in they sit down with their radar guns. Well above the other pitchers in the conference, he has the stuff to move to a starting role. 3. Tony Bucciferro, RHS, Michigan State: 68 IP, 3.04 ERA, 60/13 K/BB Bucciferro is a solid all-around pitcher. Not overpowering, but he has good enough strikeout potential and has improved in that area this year. 4. Torsten Boss, 3B, Michigan State 154 AB, .331/.448/.513, 12/2/4, 29/28, 9/9 Boss is developing a balanced offensive game. Like Purdue's Cameron Perkins (honorable mention), may project to being a corner IF/OF util guy. 5. Ryan Jones, 2B, Michigan State 171 AB, .386/.447/.497, 9/2/2, 21/11, 6/7 Great range defensively and is a very good contact hitter with some pop. With Plawecki, two of the hardest guys to strike out in the conference. Honorable mentions (Cameron Perkins, 3B, Purdue, and T.J. Oakes, RHS, Minnesota--drafted in 41st round by the Twins last year) No surprise that the top two teams in the conference dominate the top of the draft prospect ranks. With the two honorable mentions, I would not be shocked if these were the top 7 Big Ten players selected in the June draft.

Current Big Ten standings: (Conference record, overall record) 1. Purdue 12-3, 31-6 2. Michigan State 7-5, 26-13 Minnesota 7-5, 23-19 4. Nebraska 8-7, 26-15 5. Penn State 6-6, 18-21 6. Indiana 6-6, 18-22 7. Ohio State 7-8, 22-18 8. Illinois 5-7, 22-17 Iowa 5-7, 16-19 10. Michigan 4-8, 17-24 11. Northwestern 5-10, 13-23 Standings summary: There are only 4 teams in the conference that could be called good. Purdue is well ahead of the pack. Top 5 Big Ten draft prospects: 1. Kevin Plawecki, C, Purdue: 140 AB, .357/.456/.564 16 doubles, 2 triples, 3 homers, 19 BB/6 K, 2 SB/5 SBA Plawecki is good defensively behind the plate (his pitchers trust him to call games and he has been very successful doing so, making plenty of average pitchers perform at a higher level). He is a great contact hitter but also has doubles power. The 19/6 BB/K ratio is perhaps most impressive. 2. Nick Wittgren, RHR, Purdue: 23 IP, 1.57 ERA, 26/6 K/BB Scouts will start to wander around the stadium in the middle of Purdue's Big 10 games, but when Wittgren comes in they sit down with their radar guns. Well above the other pitchers in the conference, he has the stuff to move to a starting role. 3. Tony Bucciferro, RHS, Michigan State: 68 IP, 3.04 ERA, 60/13 K/BB Bucciferro is a solid all-around pitcher. Not overpowering, but he has good enough strikeout potential and has improved in that area this year. 4. Torsten Boss, 3B, Michigan State 154 AB, .331/.448/.513, 12/2/4, 29/28, 9/9 Boss is developing a balanced offensive game. Like Purdue's Cameron Perkins (honorable mention), may project to being a corner IF/OF util guy. 5. Ryan Jones, 2B, Michigan State 171 AB, .386/.447/.497, 9/2/2, 21/11, 6/7 Great range defensively and is a very good contact hitter with some pop. With Plawecki, two of the hardest guys to strike out in the conference. Honorable mentions (Cameron Perkins, 3B, Purdue, and T.J. Oakes, RHS, Minnesota--drafted in 41st round by the Twins last year) No surprise that the top two teams in the conference dominate the top of the draft prospect ranks. With the two honorable mentions, I would not be shocked if these were the top 7 Big Ten players selected in the June draft.

There was, I believe a LH catcher in the 80s with the Pirates, who played a few games. That's it.

I feel a little sick watching this game.

Really strange leaving Marquis out for the 7th. Great for Jamey Carroll. Bad for Mauer and Willingham. And then, Matt Capps . . .

Yeah, they have surprised me this year (mainly Bigley and Romero). They should only get better. And Angel Morales is looming . . .

I am glad you posted this after I posted mine . . . That's pretty hard to follow. Great stuff and he will be someone to watch indeed.

yep. And then someone else did in the same game.

There's a decent prospect who has homered tonight still available as well.

I appreciate your affinity for Beresford as he is the exact same kind of player I was through high school plus way more talent.

Very nice job!

A big PHEW! to see Arcia finally waking up. I was getting concerned after last year's Fort Myers showing.

42 down? People might start needing a refresher on available players. Some notables are Manuel Soliman, Danny Santana, Lance Ray, Michael Gonzales, Rory Rhodes, Jose Gonzales, Evan Bigley, Danny Lehmann, Dan Rohlfing, Josmil Pinto, Danny Rams, Tim Shibuya, etc.

Haha! That is a great Brunansky story.

Chris Herrmann Position: Catcher/OF DOB: 11/24/1987 (24 years, 5 months old) POB: Tomball, Texas Hand: Bats left, throws right Draft: First drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 10th round of the 2008 draft. Selected by the Twins in the 6th round of the 2009 draft out of the University of Miami. Statistics: 2010 (Fort Myers): 408 PA, .219/.310/.301, 17 doubles/3 triples/2 home runs, 41 BB/74 K, 3 SB/5 SBA. 52 games at LF, 42 at C, 11 at CF. 36% caught stealing percentage at C. 2011: (Fort Myers): 106 PA, .310/.404/.425, 5/1/1, 15/6, 1/1. 10 games at LF, 6 at C, 5 at RF. 2011: (New Britain): 406 PA, .258/.380/.392, 14/5/7, 64/68, 9/12. 60 games at C, 22 at LF, 1 at RF. 36% caught stealing percentage at C. 2011 (AFL): 57 PA, .380/.456/.620 Current 2012 (New Britain): 64 PA, .228/.279/.386, 6/0/1, 4/11, 1/1. (.731 OPS against RH pitchers)10 games at C, 4 at DH. 30% caught stealing percentage at C. Scouting Book Combine Ranking: 322 Herrmann is a bright spot in the Twins system, providing a backup catching solution in the not-too-distant future. Herrmann has a great eye and is a disciplined hitter. His average and OBP this year are down so far, but he has managed to slug nearly the same as he did in 2011 while batting 30 points lower. This is mainly because of his doubles power, which is an encouraging sign for an OBP guy. I hope that he gets time in the OF for New Britain soon. He is an average to above average defensive player at both LF and C. I would like to see him move up to Rochester this season and at least split time behind the plate and then play the corner OF positions to keep his bat in the lineup. It is possible that Herrmann gets a September call-up this year. If Joe Mauer has a significant injury, he might be up before that as Herrmann is the only catcher near-ready or ready for MLB who can hit at all. Last 5 games cumulative stats: .200 (4 for 20), 2 walks, 3 strikeouts, 3 doubles

Ooops . . . well the next time you go to South Bend, there is a cafe called Chicory Cafe about a block from LaPeep (a block south toward the stadium) that is very good. It's French Quarter style . . .

The options that I see are: Liriano starting with the Twins, Maloney relieving with the Twins, Diamond starting for the Red Wings or Liriano relieving for the Twins, Maloney starting/relieving for the Red Wings (if he clears waivers), and Diamond starting for the Twins or some combination where Liriano is starting for the Red Wings I really think the best option is the second one. Diamond can perform like a 4th or 5t starter whereas Liriano cannot. I think Liriano can get it back as a reliever, maybe to become setup man or closer for 2013 (Twins or elsewhere). Liriano was dominant as a reliever in 2006 and gained his confidence as a big-league pitcher then. He needs that again.

Chris Herrmann.

A lot of batting order stuff is overblown, but not when it comes to the leadoff position. Removing Span's OBP from the top of the lineup would be very bad. Until Aaron Hicks is ready, I wouldn't trade Span unless A. It was a package deal with someone else for a top starting pitcher, and B. Someone else could legitimately fill Span's spot at the top of the order.

Jamey Carroll and Hudson for 1/2 of 2010 are/were legit as second batters. Every other year Mauer should have been batting second. One thing about the third spot is that it often happens at the beginning of the game (and later, in particular the fourth inning if the minimum batters have been up) there are two outs and nobody on when the 3-man comes to the plate. In those situations the most likely run scored comes from a homer (as opposed to some kind of string of two or more hits/walks), so there is some value to having a power hitter batting third.

It's not simply that he needs more time in the minors. He just needs to be playing every day. There is no reason to start Clete over him in RF. If Gardenhire is doing this for defensive purposes, then Willingham should be in RF and Revere up and in LF.