Jeremy Nygaard

The Twins got an excellent outing from free-agent pick-up Kevin Correia, who worked into the 8th inning. Unfortunately, the Royals strung a few hits together and were able to chase Correia after taking a 3-1 lead. The Twins failed to rally in the 9th and lost their 3rd “Home Opener” of the season. (But remain undefeated in non-Home Openers.) [ATTACH=CONFIG]3696[/ATTACH] Three of the club’s affiliates were in action this evening. Let’s take a look… Rochester Red Wings 2, Scranton/WB RailRiders 4 Box Score Congratulations to first baseman Chris Colabello, who was named International League Player of the Week for last week. Andrew Albers was originally slated to begin the season in New Britain’s bullpen. A BJ Hermsen injury sent him to their rotation. After Alex Burnett was waived, a spot in Rochester’s bullpen opened up. Soon after that, Pedro Hernandez took Cole De Vries’ spot in Minnesota’s rotation. Albers, whose minor-league career has been a journey, has been on a mini-journey in just the last week. His ultimate destination, Rochester’s rotation, is where Albers made his season debut tonight. Albers pitched very well before reaching his pitch limit with two outs in the fourth. He allowed a run on three hits and a walk. He struck out five, throwing 50 strikes on 76 pitches. Luis Perdomo had another rough outing, allowing two runs on four hits and two walks. He did strike out two, but used 32 pitches to record only four outs. Daniel Turpen allowed a run. Tyler Robertson, back in AAA, walked a batter in an otherwise uneventful inning. The bats didn’t offer much in terms of run support. Oswaldo Arcia, who, despite gaudy numbers, has avoided the prospect spotlight (thank Sano and Buxton for that), had another big game. His three singles led to him scoring both of Rochester’s runs. He also stole his first base of the year. Clete Thomas and Rey Olmedo both added two hits. Thomas drove in both runs and now has seven on the young season. Joe Benson, now batting .077, had his first double of the season. New Britain Rock Cats 9, Harrisburg Senators 2 Box Score New Britain continues their season-opening road trip in Harrisburg tonight. After winning their season opener, the Rock Cats lost their next three games. A change of venue proved to be enough to end the losing streak. The bats were alive for the Rock Cats. Danny Ortiz (now batting .400) led the charge with a double and a home run. Josmil Pinto had a three-run triple. Harold Garcia hit his second home run of the season. Antoan Richardson had two hits and a walk in the leadoff position. Danny Santana had three hits (to improve his average to .273). Blake Martin enters his 3rd season making spot-starts for the Rock Cats. Tonight, he worked three innings (66 pitches, 34 strikes), allowing only one run. He avoided trouble despite yielding two hits and walking four. He struck out two and now has an ERA of 1.69. Marty Popham (52 pitches, 28 strikes) walked two in three scoreless innings. He struck out four. Edgar Ibarra walked and struck out one in an inning. Nelvin Fuentes gave up a run on two hits in the ninth to close out the victory. Ft. Myers Miracle – DAY OFF after starting the season 4-0 D.J. Baxendale will make his season debut tomorrow night. Cedar Rapids Kernels 10, Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 2 Box Score The story of the spring in the upper Midwest has been the cold weather. The Kernels opened in a cool, but seasonable, weekend in Cedar Rapids. Today, they headed north to Appleton, WI. Early this afternoon, first baseman DJ Hicks tweeted, “You know it’s cold when teammates are buying gloves and head masks for a game.” Shortstop Niko Goodrum later tweeted that on his way to the game he saw a frozen lake… for the first time in his life. Once the game started, in mid-30s “heat”, the story, again, was the Kernels. After jumping out to a 6-0 lead, the Kernels were able to coast to a 10-2 win. Another stellar pitching performance tonight, this time from David Hurlbut left Cedar Rapids in good shape. Hurlbut pitched six innings (70 pitches, 49 strikes) allowing three hits and two runs (a 2-run home run). He struck out five. Tyler Jones pitched two innings out of the bullpen, striking out two. Jones has been phenomenal. In 5.1 innings this year, he’s struck out eight and allowed zero hits. Chris Mazza closed out the game by striking out the side. He walked a batter and allowed an infield hit. The lineup added plenty of run support. All of the starters (besides catcher Jairo Rodriguez) recorded a hit. Seven of the nine batters scored. Byron Buxton hit his second home run of the season and drove in three runs, though he did prove human and strike out three times. DJ Hicks improved to .389 with two hits (a double). Adam Walker, back in his home state, drove in four runs on two hits (including a double). Travis Harrison hit his first home run. JD Williams showed his speed reaching base three times and stealing two bases. He was caught stealing once, but it brought Jake Mauer out to argue and sounded on the radio like it was a questionable call. (If you haven’t, listen to a Kernels baseball game on kmryradio.com. It’s fantastic. Broadcaster Morgan Hawk does a great job.) Tomorrow, Brett Lee will make his first start of the season. He picked up the win in Friday’s walk-off victory over Beloit. He wasn’t scheduled to pitch, but was needed due to the short bullpen that has since been added to.

At 20, so slightly older than Buxton now, Arcia went 352/420/704 in 20 games as a DH (all in April) before going to Fort Myers. His situation was a little different, he underwent elbow surgery and rehabbed in FM before staying there. But not a terrible comparison. Optimistically, I could see Buxton getting to Fort Myers after the MWL All-Star break. If he performs well there, he could start next year in AA and be a phone call away from the show. (That being said, he just struck out for the 3rd time tonight and is now batting only .500. It's freezing cold though and he's probably never swung a bat at this temperature before, so... get used to it!)

[video=youtube;FL6ExnC-7Us] Pretty good two-strike swing.

I have a pretty strong suspicion that the Twins prefer Meadows to Frazier. I won't give up too much more til I do Draft Board v.3

We have threads started on a lot of potential draftees. This would be another place to start. http://twinsdaily.com/twins-minor-league-talk/5559-article-draft-board-v-2-0-3-13-a.html

While I don't know the answer to that question, I do know that the Twins primary Puerto Rican scout, Hector Otero, left the Twins organization over the off-season to take a job working for Dan Lozano's agency. (If you've never heard of him, google his name and read the Deadspin article from November of 2011.) The new Puerto Rican scout is Freddie Thon, who I believe is a nephew to Dickie Thon.

Another move: OF Mike Kvasnicka placed on the DL by Ft Myers. Not sure on severity and if a corresponding move will involve CR or EST (or a DL activation).

Boer and Bax are the only two left in the rotation, so Monday if they have a game.

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?r=1531-Twins-Minor-League-Report-Sano-warms-Kernels-cool

The Twins just got back over .500 (again) while a top prospect is starting to heat up. [ATTACH=CONFIG]3681[/ATTACH] There was a lot going on in the minor leagues today. You can read about it and catch up (or comment) here. After taking in three Kernels games in Cedar Rapids, Seth is driving back to reality tonight. So I'm pinch-writing. Like any back-of-the-rotation starter, you'll have to put up with me once (and sometimes twice) a week. I'm on Twitter, if you're into that sort of thing. But my baby is tracking the Major League payroll and all of the organizational rosters. I call it the R&P (Roster & Payroll) page and update it frequently to answer all of your burning questions. I'm also pretty heavy into the MLB Draft. Sometime soon here I plan to start bugging Seth into letting me do a Draft Chat, what do you think about that idea? But enough about me, let's take a spin around the farm: Ft. Myers Miracle 10, Bradenton Marauders 6 Box Score The bats were alive in Fort Myers and the Miracle will look to complete a four-game sweep tomorrow afternoon. Though Miguel Sano didn’t hit a home run, he did go 3-for-4 with a double and a walk. He scored three runs and the report was that he looked great at 3B. Eddie Rosario, who got off to a cold start, had two hits tonight including his first home run. He also scored two runs. The Michael Gonzales-Kennys Vargas-Lance Ray part of the order drove in six runs on five hits. Gonzales homered, the other two doubled. Matthew Summers got the start and went four innings. He allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits and a walk. He struck out three. Making a relief appearance was Adrian Salcedo. Salcedo has been regarded as a highly-ranked starting pitcher, but has missed significant time with various injuries. Tonight, he allowed two runs on three hits in two innings. All of his outs were recorded on the ground. He still is someone to watch as far as “prospect status” goes and his role this year bears watching. Ryan O’Rourke picked up his second win of the year. He struck out two in two innings. Closing it out (in a non-save situation) was Zack Jones, who struck out one in a perfect ninth. Rochester Red Wings 2, Buffalo Bisons 9 Box Score A chilly Home Opener in Rochester saw the Red Wings drop their third straight game and second straight home opener to Buffalo. Shairon Martis threw only 29 of 69 pitches for strikes and only lasted three innings. His four walks and four hits allowed amounted to two earned runs. He struck out one. The bullpen – starting with Bruce Pugh – didn’t provide much help. Pugh allowed three hits and two earned runs while only recording one out. Caleb Thielbar got the Red Wings through the sixth. He struck out four, but also allowed two more earned runs. Luis Perdomo allowed four hits, four walks and – you guessed it – two more runs in 1 1/3 innings. Daniel Turpen got the final five outs, but also allowed a run on two hits and two walks. He struck out two. Offensively, the story of the game was walks. Rochester play-by-play announcer Josh Whetzel tweeted after the game that in the MLB since 1916 only 14 teams have lost a nine inning game while coaxing 11 walks, like Rochester did today, and scoring two or less runs. As you can probably guess, the Red Wings did poorly with runners in scoring position (1-for-10). Chris Colabello was the only player with a multi-hit game (two singles). Oswaldo Arcia went hitless and Eric Farris, making his Red Wings debut, went 0-for-4 after pinch-hitting for Ray Olmedo in the 4th inning. Sunday’s original starter, Pedro Hernandez, was promoted and will start for the Twins. Virgil Vasquez, who was originally slated to pitch Monday, will pitch tomorrow. Buffalo will send Tyson Brummett to the mound. New Britain Rock Cats 5, Richmond Flying Squirrels 7 Box Score The Rock Cats got all of their offense from two players – Daniel Ortiz and Harold Garcia. Ortiz went 3-for-4 with two doubles, three RBI and a run. Harold Garcia had two hits, including a two-run home run. Pat Dean got the start and lasted four innings. He allowed seven hits, two walks and five runs (four earned). He struck out two. Relieving Dean was TwinsDaily’s Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Year last year: A.J. Achter. Achter struck out two and walked two in two innings. Marty Popham took the loss for allowing two runs in the seventh. Nelvin Fuentes hit a batter, but otherwise went unscathed in the eighth. Tomorrow the Rock Cats will look to even the four-game series with Richmond. They will be doing so with Alex Meyer making his Twins minor league debut. This is definitely a game Twins prospect-watchers will have their eye on. Cedar Rapids Kernels 1, Beloit Snappers 2 Box Score After two exciting wins, the Kernels struggled to get going and failed to match their dramatic victory of last night. Super-prospect Byron Buxton went 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. He’s now batting .455. Jorge Polanco drove in the lone run with an RBI double in the 8th innings. Candido Pimental and Niko Goodrum added singles. Pimentel and J.D. Williams each stole a base. 2012 2nd round pick, Mason Melotakis, has started his conversion from relief pitcher to starting pitcher. He worked into the fifth, recording one out, while giving up only two runs on five hits and two walks. He struck out two. Melotakis was throwing in the low-to-mid-90s while working quickly, according to Seth. Worth noting, Melotakis recored 10 groundball outs, compared to only 1 flyball out. The Kernels got a great showing from their bullpen, ironically enough, from two former Snappers starters – Matt Tomshaw and Manuel Soliman. Tomshaw came in to relieve Melotakis after Melotakis issued a walk to start the 5th innings. He did allow two hits and two walks, but he struck out four in 2.2 scoreless innings. Soliman made his second appearance of the year and allowed three hits, but no runs, while recording six outs. Another college reliever, Tyler Duffey, will make his pro debut as a starter tomorrow as the Kernels look to clinch the series win.

The Twins just got back over .500 (again) while a top prospect is starting to heat up. [ATTACH=CONFIG]3681[/ATTACH] There was a lot going on in the minor leagues today. You can read about it and catch up (or comment) here. After taking in three Kernels games in Cedar Rapids, Seth is driving back to reality tonight. So I'm pinch-writing. Like any back-of-the-rotation starter, you'll have to put up with me once (and sometimes twice) a week. I'm on Twitter, if you're into that sort of thing. But my baby is tracking the Major League payroll and all of the organizational rosters. I call it the R&P (Roster & Payroll) page and update it frequently to answer all of your burning questions. I'm also pretty heavy into the MLB Draft. Sometime soon here I plan to start bugging Seth into letting me do a Draft Chat, what do you think about that idea? But enough about me, let's take a spin around the farm: Ft. Myers Miracle 10, Bradenton Marauders 6 Box Score The bats were alive in Fort Myers and the Miracle will look to complete a four-game sweep tomorrow afternoon. Though Miguel Sano didn’t hit a home run, he did go 3-for-4 with a double and a walk. He scored three runs and the report was that he looked great at 3B. Eddie Rosario, who got off to a cold start, had two hits tonight including his first home run. He also scored two runs. The Michael Gonzales-Kennys Vargas-Lance Ray part of the order drove in six runs on five hits. Gonzales homered, the other two doubled. Matthew Summers got the start and went four innings. He allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits and a walk. He struck out three. Making a relief appearance was Adrian Salcedo. Salcedo has been regarded as a highly-ranked starting pitcher, but has missed significant time with various injuries. Tonight, he allowed two runs on three hits in two innings. All of his outs were recorded on the ground. He still is someone to watch as far as “prospect status” goes and his role this year bears watching. Ryan O’Rourke picked up his second win of the year. He struck out two in two innings. Closing it out (in a non-save situation) was Zack Jones, who struck out one in a perfect ninth. Rochester Red Wings 2, Buffalo Bisons 9 Box Score A chilly Home Opener in Rochester saw the Red Wings drop their third straight game and second straight home opener to Buffalo. Shairon Martis threw only 29 of 69 pitches for strikes and only lasted three innings. His four walks and four hits allowed amounted to two earned runs. He struck out one. The bullpen – starting with Bruce Pugh – didn’t provide much help. Pugh allowed three hits and two earned runs while only recording one out. Caleb Thielbar got the Red Wings through the sixth. He struck out four, but also allowed two more earned runs. Luis Perdomo allowed four hits, four walks and – you guessed it – two more runs in 1 1/3 innings. Daniel Turpen got the final five outs, but also allowed a run on two hits and two walks. He struck out two. Offensively, the story of the game was walks. Rochester play-by-play announcer Josh Whetzel tweeted after the game that in the MLB since 1916 only 14 teams have lost a nine inning game while coaxing 11 walks, like Rochester did today, and scoring two or less runs. As you can probably guess, the Red Wings did poorly with runners in scoring position (1-for-10). Chris Colabello was the only player with a multi-hit game (two singles). Oswaldo Arcia went hitless and Eric Farris, making his Red Wings debut, went 0-for-4 after pinch-hitting for Ray Olmedo in the 4th inning. Sunday’s original starter, Pedro Hernandez, was promoted and will start for the Twins. Virgil Vasquez, who was originally slated to pitch Monday, will pitch tomorrow. Buffalo will send Tyson Brummett to the mound. New Britain Rock Cats 5, Richmond Flying Squirrels 7 Box Score The Rock Cats got all of their offense from two players – Daniel Ortiz and Harold Garcia. Ortiz went 3-for-4 with two doubles, three RBI and a run. Harold Garcia had two hits, including a two-run home run. Pat Dean got the start and lasted four innings. He allowed seven hits, two walks and five runs (four earned). He struck out two. Relieving Dean was TwinsDaily’s Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Year last year: A.J. Achter. Achter struck out two and walked two in two innings. Marty Popham took the loss for allowing two runs in the seventh. Nelvin Fuentes hit a batter, but otherwise went unscathed in the eighth. Tomorrow the Rock Cats will look to even the four-game series with Richmond. They will be doing so with Alex Meyer making his Twins minor league debut. This is definitely a game Twins prospect-watchers will have their eye on. Cedar Rapids Kernels 1, Beloit Snappers 2 Box Score After two exciting wins, the Kernels struggled to get going and failed to match their dramatic victory of last night. Super-prospect Byron Buxton went 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. He’s now batting .455. Jorge Polanco drove in the lone run with an RBI double in the 8th innings. Candido Pimental and Niko Goodrum added singles. Pimentel and J.D. Williams each stole a base. 2012 2nd round pick, Mason Melotakis, has started his conversion from relief pitcher to starting pitcher. He worked into the fifth, recording one out, while giving up only two runs on five hits and two walks. He struck out two. Melotakis was throwing in the low-to-mid-90s while working quickly, according to Seth. Worth noting, Melotakis recored 10 groundball outs, compared to only 1 flyball out. The Kernels got a great showing from their bullpen, ironically enough, from two former Snappers starters – Matt Tomshaw and Manuel Soliman. Tomshaw came in to relieve Melotakis after Melotakis issued a walk to start the 5th innings. He did allow two hits and two walks, but he struck out four in 2.2 scoreless innings. Soliman made his second appearance of the year and allowed three hits, but no runs, while recording six outs. Another college reliever, Tyler Duffey, will make his pro debut as a starter tomorrow as the Kernels look to clinch the series win.

Sethtweets and says Josue Montanez will join Cedar Rapids from EST tomorrow.

What have you been up to this morning? Not much, probably. The Twins farm system, on the other hand, has been pretty busy. It started yesterday afternoon... P Cole De Vries scratched from his start for the Twins on Sunday. He will be DL'd and taking his place will be LHP Pedro Hernandez from Rochester (though that won't become official until after tonight's game, at the earliest). and continued yesterday afternoon... Red Wings C Drew Butera removed from lineup after being hit in hand/wrist by pitch. and last night... Seth talked to Drew Leachman (CR), who injured himself in Thursday night's game and is headed to the DL. and so this morning... the Red Wings announced early (7am) that Butera is being replaced on roster by 2B Eric Farris, on his way up from New Britain. and later... 1B/OF Curt Smith, who played for the Netherlands in the WBC, has been activated to take Farris' spot. That will leave Rochester one spot short on Sunday (though they have ten pitchers on the DL) and Cedar Rapids one player short right now (Seth talked to Manager Mauer, who is lobbying for another pitcher). Keep it dialed here, for all your Twins minor league news. Updated rosters can be found here as well.

Drew Butera headed to Rochester's DL. Eric Farris from NB to Roch. Rosters updated here. No word on severity of Butera's left hand injury (he was hit by a pitch), but you can assume it might be a while.

That's how I feel. This may be part of the reason he has fallen off since the Cape. Don't forget how players who play well in the Cape typically stay pretty high on the Twins draft board.

Cedar Rapids won on a walk-off single by Niko "that's some m-f-ing" Goodrum (nickname courtesy of Eric Pleiss).

Full stats not available yet, but Stanek had a bounce-back performance tonight. He struck out five - allowing four hits - in eight innings.

It was announced today that Manaea would not be making his start this weekend due to a strained hip muscle. The hope is that he'll be able to throw, but Indiana State's plan is to play it safe.

Page has been updated to include the future transaction of recalling Hernandez (with salary details) and DL-ing De Vries. Seth reports that Leachman (CR) is going on the DL, so both Cedar Rapids and Rochester will be a guy short.

I would have tabled this one... gonna be a lot of unhappy campers commenting below.

With two months to go, I still don't thinl Anderson or Shipley are top 5 talents. From what I've gathered the Twins aren't super high on Shipley. The most interesting thing I've heard about this draft is about prep arms. Typically the Twins wouldn't consider it in the Top 5, but this year "anything goes".

Pedro Hernandez is Roc's starter on Sunday. He'd be the guy.

Good stuff.