Jeremy Nygaard

At the time of the 2012 draft, a lot was made of the fact the Twins took a number of hard-throwing college relievers. Shortly after that, we found out the plan was to convert these pitchers into starters. As we approach the stretch-run, some of these “new” starting pitchers are heading into unchartered waters when it comes to innings. My curiosity got the best of me and I did a little research. First, I looked at the 2011 draft class and all of those pitchers that became full-season starting pitchers in 2012. There were five: Madison Boer, Matthew Summers, Steven Gruver, Jason Wheeler and Tim Shibuya. In their finals years of college and first taste of pro ball, these five averaged 135.2 combined innings pitched. The outliers were Jason Wheeler, who didn’t pitch professionally, at 103 innings and Tim Shibuya, who pitched 73 2/3 innings for Elizabethton and totaled 184 combined. The other three all fell plus or minus 10 of the average. Let’s fast forward to their first full-seasons in pro ball: Tim Shibuya had shoulder issues which limited him to only 74 innings. (Could that have been a result of the heavy workload the previous year?) Steven Gruver shifted into a swing role and saw his innings drop by 10%. Matt Summers saw his workload increase by 8% and Madison Boer saw his increase by 11%. Jason Wheeler, who, again, didn’t pitch professionally in 2011, saw his innings increase by 52%. But if you figure that he would have gotten around the average of the other guys in E-Town (not considering the overworked Shibuya), it would have put his increase at around 20%. I also wanted to consider the most recent college-reliever-to-full-season-starter that I could remember: Carlos Gutierrez. Gutierrez pitched a combined 65 2/3 innings in 2008 before seeing his innings increase to 107 (+62%) in 2009 and 126 (+18%) in 2010 before, you guessed it, experiencing arm issues and a move back to the bullpen. Gutierrez was also a first-round pick and a more costly investment. You would think the Twins would have been a little more patient with an arm that had already underwent Tommy John surgery as a collegiate. Now let’s consider last year’s crop. There are four pitchers that fit the criteria: Mason Melotakis, Tyler Duffey, D.J. Baxendale and Taylor Rogers. The average of these four was much different: only 108.7 innings which includes Rogers, who pitched 152 2/3 combined innings, a total that is higher than every non-Shibuyan pitcher mentioned. Baxendale and Rogers average innings were actually around 140, which is close to the previous year’s study. So the assumption is that their increase would probably go up somewhere between 10% and 20%. That would put Baxendale at between 140 and 150 innings. (He’s at 101 2/3 as of today.) It would put Taylor Rogers somewhere between 170 and 180 innings. He’s only pitched 89 1/3 so far this year after spending some time on the disabled list. (Hmmm... see previous paragraph). The two that really stand out to me are Mason Melotakis and Tyler Duffery. Mason Melotakis has had a pretty good season starting for Cedar Rapids. But he’s eclipsed last season’s total (86) already and the team still has nearly 40 games to play (plus the playoffs). If Melotakis starts every sixth game for the rest of the season and pitches five innings each start, he’s looking at around 120 innings (which is a 40% increase). Not quite in the Gutierrez range, but definitely a large increase. Tyler Duffey, on the other hand, has already exceeded his total from last year by 52%. If Duffey were shut down today, his workload would be eerily similar to what the Twins did to Carlos Gutierrez. He has adjusted to High-A ball quite well after his promotion from Cedar Rapids, and the Miracle have qualified for the playoffs too. Continuing to trot him out there every five days could lead to issues down the line. How many more innings can you justify putting on his young arm? All pitchers are different. Some arms are simply more resilient, but when you have a guy who has exceeded expectations like Duffey has, when is it time to go all Stephen Strasburg on him and shut him down? If Duffey were to get to 120 innings in 2013 and increase to 150 in 2014, you can take the reins off of him in 2015. Maybe that’s being too cautious. If that’s even a real thing with pitchers today. What are your thoughts, should innings matter? How should the Twins be handling their pitchers at the lower levels?

As the draft quickly approaches, we’ve spent a lot of time discussing the choices the Twins have with the fourth overall pick in the draft. Today, we’re going to look at what you can expect to happen in the first ten rounds. Over the last three drafts, the Twins have selected 35 players in the Top 10 rounds. Here’s how those picks break down: College right-handed pitchers: 10 (1, 1s, 2, 2, 4, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10) College left-handed pitchers: 7 (2, 3, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10) Prep outfielders: 3 (1, 4, 6) College shortstops: 3 (1, 5, 9) College “corners”: 3 (3, 8, 9) *value in bat, position TBD (includes unsigned Mazzilli) Prep right-handed pitchers: 2 (1s, 1s) Prep shortstops: 2 (2, 10) *maybe should be labeled “prep athletes” Prep “corners”: 1 (1s) College outfielders: 1 (5) Prep left-handed pitchers: 1 (6) Prep catchers: 1 (7) College catchers: 1 (9) The Twins have been equipped with five extra choices in rounds one and two over the last two years, a luxury they won’t have this year. Those additional picks have been extra arms or, in Travis Harrison’s case, the only prep with his value tied exclusively to his bat in the last three years. Though the Twins have only used two Top 10 selections on catchers in the last three years, they used a 12th-round pick on a college catcher in the odd year. They’re admittedly looking for more catching, so expect to see a catcher selected higher than in previous years. (GUESS: Twins pop a catcher somewhere in the rounds 4-6.) The category of college shortstops is tied for third most-represented on the list. Unfortunately, the Twins haven’t gotten great value there. Levi Michael was likely viewed as the best-available and that was why he came off the board. (GUESS: There isn’t a lot of SS depth in the system or in this draft, so if there is a “senior sign” that the Twins believe in, taking one in round 6-9 wouldn’t be a shock.) It could be tied into the last category, but prep shortstops are different. The Twins have a history of adding a prep shortstop in the Top 15 (if not Top 10) rounds. It seems they’ll sacrifice bat for a likeliness to stick at shortstop. (GUESS: If they find a guy they like, they could move early. If not, expect them to take a chance after round 10, especially if they’ve used a pick on a college shortstop already.) College “corners” and even the lone college outfielder (Nate Roberts) happen about once a year. (GUESS: It could happen at any time in the first ten rounds, maybe twice. One name to keep an eye on early on Day 2 is Georgia Tech OF/1B Daniel Palka.) The Twins have always seemed to have a love-affair for toolsy prep outfielders. The truth is, though, that they haven’t taken a ton of them, they’ve just had a lot of success with them when they do. (GUESS: Like prep pitchers, they do it early. There is a chance the Twins take an athlete that falls with the likelihood they add a CF sometime on Day 2. Should be noted, as well, that the Twins only “overslot” sign after Round 10 was a prep CF.) Taking a prep right-hander is rare. But when it’s happened, it’s happened early. Expect the same this year. (GUESS: Kohl Stewart at 4 would qualify as early.) The Twins have only selected on prep lefty in the Top 10 rounds and that pick turned up to have shoulder issues before signing. He was also one of a handful of Puerto Ricans drafted over the last three years. The Twins typically wouldn’t be counted on to take a prep lefty, but this year has more depth in the category than most years. (GUESS: They’ll come off the board early, so if it hasn’t happened by round 3, don’t count on it.) College pitchers – both left- and right-handed – dominate the Twins draft board over the last three years. Nearly half of the Top 10 round picks have been pitchers and that makes sense. Last year, eight of the first 13 picks were pitchers. This year could be very similar. (GUESS: Expect the Twins to go to the pitching well early and often. Drafting six pitchers total in the first ten rounds seems about right, but after drafting so many lefties recently, there is less urgency to add as many this year. If two lefties come off the board in the top 10 rounds, that would make sense.) Round-by-round expectations: Round 1 – There is some intrigue left because of the uncertainty before them, but (as of today) prep RHP Kohl Stewart is the pick. Round 2 – If the pick is Stewart in Round 1, it would surprise me if they turned around and took a prep lefty here. With that being said, there will be some good value here. Names such as Blake Taylor (CA) and Hunter Green (KY) are names that could be in the discussion. A more likely scenario would see a college arm come off of the board. Best available would be the way to go, especially if one falls, but names that are in play are Tom Windle (Minnesota), Kent Emanuel (North Carolina) and Dillon Overton (Oklahoma). The other scenario would be a position player dropping into the Twins lap. It’s impossible to predict who it could be, but the Twins are enamored with Aaron Judge’s power (Fresno State), though he’s upped his draft stock as of late. Round 3 and Round 4 – Some names worth remembering here are Stephen Tarpley (LHP, Scottsdale JC), Cody Reed (LHP NW Miss. JC), Corey Littrell (LHP, Kentucky) and D.J. Snelton (LHP, Minnesota). If the Twins want to take another shot on a college reliever A.J. Vanegas (RHP, Stanford) could be an intriguing name. Slowed by injuries, Vanegas still offers a high-90s fastball and very good slider. This could also be the time you also see a prep shortstop (or other prep athlete) come off the board, though it’s a danger-zone for those with signability questions. Round 5 through Round 7 – This is the range the Twins could very easily be considering a catcher. Brian Navaretto (FL) and Rene Melendez (PR) are two preps that fit the defensive profile. Mississippi State SS Adam Frazier would immediately become a Gardenhire favorite. If the Twins go the prep SS route here, Stephen Alemais (a personal favorite of mine) would make sense. David Gates (RHP, Howard JC) and Taylor Williams (RHP, Kent State) are names that could be in the mix here. Round 8 through Round 10 – If the Twins have passed on outfielders to this point, someone like Adam Engel (Louisville) would be a great choice. Ryan Cordell (Liberty) would also make sense. There are literally hundreds of pitchers that could be under consideration for these picks. The baseball draft is far more unpredictable than either the football or basketball draft simply because of the volume of guys that are selected. The front office is hard at work setting their draft board, which will consist of approximately 900 names. (Yes, that’s less than will be selected over the 40 rounds. No, they’re not worried they’ll run out of names.) It will be much earlier in the draft than you’d anticipate where players are getting drafted that aren’t even on the Twins board. (I believe I was told it happened in the 3rd round last year.) Once the draft is complete – and the organization has 40 more players – they will begin signing them. Of course, not all will sign (not all will even be offered contracts), but when the dust clears on July 15, expect the Twins to have signed somewhere between 22 and 26 players. --- If you haven't had enough draft talk yet, go find last week's Gleeman and the Geek podcast. I also talked draft with Fanatic Jack at BlogTalkRadio last Monday. There's more draft talk coming: The Talk2Contact crew will be running their draft preview early next week. And if you're really crazy and can't get enough, I'll be joining the BlueJaysPlus podcast tomorrow night.

So here's the deal: I spent the last 90 minutes typing up the minor league report only to have the whole thing vanish when trying to add the picture you see over there. If it was 10:30... fine, I could handle that. But it's not. It's 1:15 am and I just got worked over by my wife TWICE playing Ticket to Ride. Well, not just worked over. Worked over about three hours ago before I started to write my original piece. So instead of getting the full version, you're going to get a slightly expanded Jeremy's Twitter-like Minor League Report. RED WINGS (box scores are linked) Chris Rahl continues to hit well, but the team is starting to feel the effects of the Twins' playing Musical Chairs with their pitchers. They've lost 8 of 10 after tonight's 5-1 loss to Durham. Gilmartin struck out 9. ROCK CATS Tyler Duffey struck out 9 in 7 innings to beat Altoona and Aaron Hicks proves he's a AA baseball player. Rosario drops an 0fer and so does Vargas (sorta). MIRACLE Tomshaw improves to 9-2, but team will need Miracle for Buxton to stay healthy. Good thing they dropped two deuces tonight; Walker and Gonzales double. KERNELS Garver drops bombs like Hiroshima (x3). Hu deals (6 IP, 0 ER, 6 K) in win E-TWINS Max Murphy might be the greatest player ever (three more hits, now .408). Gordon 1-3, BB, K. Gonsalves pretty ordinary (three walks, three runs, three strikeouts, five innings) in E-town win. GCL TWINS Easton/Nordgren struggle, Roberto Gonzalez drives in two on two hits. --- Next week will be better... or at least more normal.

Last Tuesday night during Seth's weekly podcast, I expressed some surprise that the Twins hadn't drafted a middle infielder yet. Right away Wednesday morning, the Twins drafted a high schooler from Lexington (KY) Catholic (Ben Rever's alma mater). Not only did they get a guy who can slot in nicely to the system's middle infield, but they got a guy that will go far in MiLB.com's annual "best name contest". I had the chance recently to exchange some emails with one of the newest Twins. Twins fans, meet Will Hurt. (examiner.com) The following interview was originally posted at ManCenter.com Jeremy Nygaard: First of all, congratulations on getting drafted. Tell us what this week has been like for you, not only in baseball terms, but also with high school. Will Hurt: Thank you! It's been a very fun and exciting process but at the same time a very hard decision to make. All of my friends at school have been very supportive throughout the whole thing and I cannot thank them enough for that. What were your expectations coming into the draft? WH: I always have high expectations of myself but there's always doubt that something could go wrong. However, I've known throughout the year that my chances of getting drafted were very high it was just a matter of where and how much. Now that the draft is over, you have made, presumably, a very difficult decision: Sign instead of going to Coastal Carolina. Tell us how you arrived on that decision and now that you've made your decision, what's next for you? WH: It was an extremely hard decision, by far the hardest I've ever had to make. The coaches at Coastal are great guys, I don't think there is a college program with greater guys as coaches. Coach Gilmore and Coach Schnall were the biggest reason I decided so early to go ahead and choose where I wanted to play college ball. It was privilege and an honor for them to think so highly of me to give me the chance to play baseball at such a great school. I made my decision because it's obviously something I've always wanted to do so why not go ahead and take advantage of having three years of pro experience instead of those three years in college ball? I feel like it was in my best interest to go ahead and get started. Coach Gilmore at Coastal Carolina says losing you to professional baseball would be a “crushing blow”. As a Twins fan, I read that as getting you to sign was a “huge steal.” Speaking of steals, it sounds as though speed is your number one tool. How do you use your speed to produce on the field? WH: I always want to try and make everyone I'm involved with happy as best I can. Unfortunately, in the situation, I can't do that. I've got to do what I think is best for me and my future. I love stealing bases and laying down drag bunts to use my speed as my advantage. On the defensive side, speed gives me a huge advantage at SS by being able to get to balls most people cannot. The Twins were introduced to Lexington Catholic when they took Ben Revere in the first round of the 2007 draft. Have you had a chance to meet Ben Revere? And if so, did you seek his guidance in making a decision to play pro ball? WH: Ben actually tweeted me the day after I got drafted and told me he'd make sure to get in contact with me as soon as possible. Everyone I've met that knows Ben have told me nothing but good things about him. I love the way he plays the game. He looks like he's having so much fun out there, always smiling and playing hard. I made my decision before I had a chance to speak with him, however. If I'm ever in need of advice I feel like he'll be a guy I can go to. Revere was signed by scout Billy Corrigan. Was Corrigan the scout responsible for drafting you and what types of conversations did you have with him leading up to the draft? WH: The scouts I interacted with the most were Rick Sellers and Tim O'Neil. Both are great guys who were very informative and helpful with every question my family and I had (there were a lot). Both told me to do what I think is best for me and that nobody else can make this decision for me. They not only told me about the positives of playing pro ball but how hard and how much work it is which really made me trust in them that they weren't just trying sign me for their own benefit but that they also wanted what's best for me. Will, thanks a ton for taking the time to help us learn more about you. Good luck with the rest of the season; great to have you in the system! WH: Thank you and I appreciate it! Can't wait to get started. ---- Will will report to Fort Myers on Friday and will receive his assignment then. He will most likely remain there with the GCL Twins. You can follow Will on Twitter @will_hurt.

Monday morning got out to a quick - and good - start when Baseball America released their mid-season Top 50. Byron Buxton was ranked the #1 prospect in all of baseball. Miguel Sano, despite being in a little bit of a funk, checked in only two spots later at #3. It was also nice to see the injured Alex Meyer at #32. Narrowly missing the Top 50 were P Jose Berrios (who pitched for Cedar Rapids today) and New Britain 2B Eddie Rosario. That list is behind the paywall, so no quotes to read. ROCHESTER RED WINGS 3, SCRANTON/WB RAILRIDERS 6 Box Score Andrew Albers certainly didn't step up and grab a rotation spot (if one's available). Albers used 98 pitches to get through five innings. On nine hits, he allowed five runs. He walked two and struck out five. Chirs Herrmann hit his first AAA home run. Antoan Richardson had two hits, including a triple. Eric Farris was 3-for-4 with a double. Deibinson had two hits (a double) and an RBI. Pedro Hernandez is tomorrow's scheduled starter, though P.J. Walters is set to join the team tomorrow as well. It will be interesting to see what transpires. NEW BRITAIN ROCK CATS 2, PORTLAND SEA DOGS 1 Box Score It was quite a performance for Rock Cats' starter Virgil Vasquez. Vasquez cruised through eight shutout, one-hit innings this afternoon before allowing three singles and a run in the 9th. He only walked one, while striking out nine. Vasquez, who has bounced between New Britain and Rochester, got his first AA win and dropped his AA ERA to 3.04. Vasquez threw 112 pitches. Danny Ortiz and Jordan Parraz accounted for all the Rock Cats runs on two swings of the bat. In addition to their solo home runs, both men added singles. Nate Hanson and Josmil Pinto doubled. Miguel Sano went 0-for-4 with a K. Manager Jeff Smith was ejected after arguing Sano's 1st inning strikeout. Sano is now batting .195 in his stint with New Britain. The Rock Cats will attempt to get back to .500 on Thursday. The Eastern League All-Star game with be hosted by the Rock Cats on Wednesday night. FORT MYERS MIRACLE 3, ST. LUCIE METS 5 Box Score After jumping out to a quick 2-0 lead, the bullpen counted clean up Jason Wheeler's mess and fell to the Mets. Jason Wheeler lasted 6.1 innings but it was the error to start the inning and what happened after he left that was too much to overcome. Wheeler allowed four runs (two earned) on eight hits. He walked three and struck out four. Wheeler left the bases loaded for Nelvin Fuentes, who allowed two to score on a single. Zack Jones allowed a run in an inning of work. Aderlin Mejia and Matt Koch both had two hits. Kennys Vargas drove in two runs. Byron Buxton, batting in the 3-hole, went 0-for-3 with a walk. Jhon Goncalves, who spent some time in New Britain before being sent back to Fort Myers, needs to go back up. He's been the hottest hitter in the Twins system over the last handful of weeks (.412/.512/.647 over his last ten games). Tonight he was 1-for-2 with two walks. He stole a base and, though he committed an error in the outfield, also had two assists - one at home and one at second. Goncalves is not a prospect, but a valuable organizational-type guy. ACongratulations to P Matt Summers and OF Mike Kvasnicka, who earlier in the day were named FSL Pitcher and Hitter of the Week. CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 5, CLINTON LUMBERKINGS 3 Box Score The Kernels came from behind to win this one, and despite only getting four hits, they used the help of nine walks to earn the victory. D.J. Hicks drove in two run on two hits, including a double. Jose Berrios wasn't sharp and only lasted four innings. Tonight, he walked four, hit a batter and allowed seven hits. He only had one strikeout and gave up three runs. He did pick two runners off of first base though. The bullpen combo of Steven Gruver and Tyler Jones was fantastic. Over five innings, they allowed only two hits and combined to strike out seven. Gruver got the win and Jones the save. Christian Powell makes the 6:35 pm start tomorrow night. ELIZABETHTON SWEPT BY BURLINGTON ROYALS (4-1 and 2-0) Game 1 Box Score Game 2 Box Score Despite being swept in a two-game set, the E-Town pitchers pitched very solidly. Hein Robb wasn't great in Game 1. He went 4.2 innings giving up four runs. He only struck out one. Brandon Bixler struck out three to get four outs and Dallas Gallant pitched a hitless final frame. In Game 2, the starting pitcher was Randy Rosario, who is making his case to move up prospect lists. He struck out five in five innings, allowing two runs (one earned) to score on three hits and two walks. C.K. Irby made his pro debut and struck out two in an innings. Andrew Ferreira struck out the side in the 7th. Offensively, in two games, there isn't much to speak of. Eight hits TOTAL, including a lone double by Romy Jimenez, led to only one run on the day. It's really not worth talking about, writing about or reading about. It wasn't pretty. GCL TWINS 11, GCL RAYS 4 Box Score The GCL Twins used a 16-hit, 11-run attack to improve to 9-6 on the year. The offensive charge was led by Zach Larson (3-for-4, 2B, R, SB, 4 RBI), Jonatan Hinojosa (3-for-4, 2 3B, 3 R, 4 RBI) and Jorge Hernandez (3-for-5, 2 R). Amaurys Minier, who has been up-and-down all season, was up today. He hit two solo home runs and drew a walk. He did commit his 3rd error today, though. Fan favorite Nick Blackburn made another rehab start today. He lasted five innings, striking out five. He allowed two runs on six hits. Jared Wilson struck out five in two innings, but also allowed two runs. He's credited with a blown save and a win. Chih-Wei Hu allowed two hits with a strikeout in two innings. Any questions or comments? Please leave below.

Monday morning got out to a quick - and good - start when Baseball America released their mid-season Top 50. Byron Buxton was ranked the #1 prospect in all of baseball. Miguel Sano, despite being in a little bit of a funk, checked in only two spots later at #3. It was also nice to see the injured Alex Meyer at #32. Narrowly missing the Top 50 were P Jose Berrios (who pitched for Cedar Rapids today) and New Britain 2B Eddie Rosario. That list is behind the paywall, so no quotes to read. ROCHESTER RED WINGS 3, SCRANTON/WB RAILRIDERS 6 Box Score Andrew Albers certainly didn't step up and grab a rotation spot (if one's available). Albers used 98 pitches to get through five innings. On nine hits, he allowed five runs. He walked two and struck out five. Chirs Herrmann hit his first AAA home run. Antoan Richardson had two hits, including a triple. Eric Farris was 3-for-4 with a double. Deibinson had two hits (a double) and an RBI. Pedro Hernandez is tomorrow's scheduled starter, though P.J. Walters is set to join the team tomorrow as well. It will be interesting to see what transpires. NEW BRITAIN ROCK CATS 2, PORTLAND SEA DOGS 1 Box Score It was quite a performance for Rock Cats' starter Virgil Vasquez. Vasquez cruised through eight shutout, one-hit innings this afternoon before allowing three singles and a run in the 9th. He only walked one, while striking out nine. Vasquez, who has bounced between New Britain and Rochester, got his first AA win and dropped his AA ERA to 3.04. Vasquez threw 112 pitches. Danny Ortiz and Jordan Parraz accounted for all the Rock Cats runs on two swings of the bat. In addition to their solo home runs, both men added singles. Nate Hanson and Josmil Pinto doubled. Miguel Sano went 0-for-4 with a K. Manager Jeff Smith was ejected after arguing Sano's 1st inning strikeout. Sano is now batting .195 in his stint with New Britain. The Rock Cats will attempt to get back to .500 on Thursday. The Eastern League All-Star game with be hosted by the Rock Cats on Wednesday night. FORT MYERS MIRACLE 3, ST. LUCIE METS 5 Box Score After jumping out to a quick 2-0 lead, the bullpen counted clean up Jason Wheeler's mess and fell to the Mets. Jason Wheeler lasted 6.1 innings but it was the error to start the inning and what happened after he left that was too much to overcome. Wheeler allowed four runs (two earned) on eight hits. He walked three and struck out four. Wheeler left the bases loaded for Nelvin Fuentes, who allowed two to score on a single. Zack Jones allowed a run in an inning of work. Aderlin Mejia and Matt Koch both had two hits. Kennys Vargas drove in two runs. Byron Buxton, batting in the 3-hole, went 0-for-3 with a walk. Jhon Goncalves, who spent some time in New Britain before being sent back to Fort Myers, needs to go back up. He's been the hottest hitter in the Twins system over the last handful of weeks (.412/.512/.647 over his last ten games). Tonight he was 1-for-2 with two walks. He stole a base and, though he committed an error in the outfield, also had two assists - one at home and one at second. Goncalves is not a prospect, but a valuable organizational-type guy. ACongratulations to P Matt Summers and OF Mike Kvasnicka, who earlier in the day were named FSL Pitcher and Hitter of the Week. CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 5, CLINTON LUMBERKINGS 3 Box Score The Kernels came from behind to win this one, and despite only getting four hits, they used the help of nine walks to earn the victory. D.J. Hicks drove in two run on two hits, including a double. Jose Berrios wasn't sharp and only lasted four innings. Tonight, he walked four, hit a batter and allowed seven hits. He only had one strikeout and gave up three runs. He did pick two runners off of first base though. The bullpen combo of Steven Gruver and Tyler Jones was fantastic. Over five innings, they allowed only two hits and combined to strike out seven. Gruver got the win and Jones the save. Christian Powell makes the 6:35 pm start tomorrow night. ELIZABETHTON SWEPT BY BURLINGTON ROYALS (4-1 and 2-0) Game 1 Box Score Game 2 Box Score Despite being swept in a two-game set, the E-Town pitchers pitched very solidly. Hein Robb wasn't great in Game 1. He went 4.2 innings giving up four runs. He only struck out one. Brandon Bixler struck out three to get four outs and Dallas Gallant pitched a hitless final frame. In Game 2, the starting pitcher was Randy Rosario, who is making his case to move up prospect lists. He struck out five in five innings, allowing two runs (one earned) to score on three hits and two walks. C.K. Irby made his pro debut and struck out two in an innings. Andrew Ferreira struck out the side in the 7th. Offensively, in two games, there isn't much to speak of. Eight hits TOTAL, including a lone double by Romy Jimenez, led to only one run on the day. It's really not worth talking about, writing about or reading about. It wasn't pretty. GCL TWINS 11, GCL RAYS 4 Box Score The GCL Twins used a 16-hit, 11-run attack to improve to 9-6 on the year. The offensive charge was led by Zach Larson (3-for-4, 2B, R, SB, 4 RBI), Jonatan Hinojosa (3-for-4, 2 3B, 3 R, 4 RBI) and Jorge Hernandez (3-for-5, 2 R). Amaurys Minier, who has been up-and-down all season, was up today. He hit two solo home runs and drew a walk. He did commit his 3rd error today, though. Fan favorite Nick Blackburn made another rehab start today. He lasted five innings, striking out five. He allowed two runs on six hits. Jared Wilson struck out five in two innings, but also allowed two runs. He's credited with a blown save and a win. Chih-Wei Hu allowed two hits with a strikeout in two innings. Any questions or comments? Please leave below.

Back to write-up for tonight: ROCHESTER RED WINGS 3, PAWTUCKET RED SOX 2 (10 innings) Box Score Another night with very little offense, but, more importantly, another win for the Red Wings. Tonight's win was their 5th consecutive and, impressively, gets them over .500 on the season. I remember there being lots of panic and disappointment when they started the season 2-11. People questioning why Rochester re-upped with the Twins. People saying the Twins wouldn't support them now that they got them signed for two more seasons. To you people, well... you can finish that sentence for yourselves. Tonight's win came courtesy of a walk-off error. Eric Farris hit a routine groundball to the second baseman, who booted it. Brian Dinkelman scored. Game over. There wasn't many offense highlights to speak of... Ray Olmedo had the team's only extra-base hit (of five hits): a double. Eric Farris stole two bases. Logan Darnell made his second AAA start. The southpaw went seven innings, striking out four. He scattered five hits and two walks, only allowing one run. Luis Perdomo recorded four outs and was credited with the win, despite giving up the go-ahead run in the top half of the 10th inning. Cole De Vries was placed on the DL before the game with a right elbow strain. Vance Worley will pitch tomorrow at 1:05 ET. NEW BRITAIN ROCK CATS 9, PORTLAND SEA DOGS 4 Box Score The Rock Cats have climbed back to one game within .500 and are in the Eastern League playoff mix (currently only two games behind Portland for the Wild Card spot). The biggest hit of the game was delivered in the first inning. Leadoff hitter Danny Santana lined a ball off of pitcher Matt Barnes' hand and forced him to leave the game. That set the tone early as the Rock Cats clawed their way to a 9-0 lead before giving up four runs late. The top four batters in the order combined to go 8-for-19. All four batters - Santana, Eddie Rosario, Nate Hanson and Josmil Pinto, had two hits and each doubled. Rosario and Pinto homered. It was Rosario's 1st in AA; Pinto's 13th. Miguel Sano went 0-for-4 with 2 strikeouts and a walk. D.J. Baxendale made his AA return and was excellent. He was clearly on a pitch-limit (he threw 55), but you wouldn't know it based on the fact that he completed five innings. He only allowed three hits and struck out one. This was the pitcher the Rock Cats expected to get, not the one they saw before getting shut down with a shoulder issue. B.J. Hermsen gave up four runs (three earned) in two innings. Last year's organizational pitcher of the year will probably find himself left off the 40-man roster this winter. Edgar Ibarra finished the game off. He allowed a hit in two innings. Ibarra was named a replacement for the Eastern League All-Star Game (presumably for A.J. Achter, who was promoted to AAA). The Rock Cats have not named their starter for tomorrow's 1:00 pm ET game, but it would appear to be Tom Stuifbergen's day. FORT MYERS MIRACLE 3, ST. LUCIE METS 6 Box Score The Miracle dropped the game and dropped to only 25 games over .500 on the season. Levi Michael led the offensive charge tonight. He homered, singled and walked in four plate appearances. Since missing time following an on-field collision, Michael has returned to collect four multi-hit games in the six he's played. Obviously people have been disappointed in the former first-round pick who has battled injuries and put up suspect numbers in a year-plus at Fort Myers. But if you squint hard enough I think you can see a Nick Punto/Brian Dozier love-child in there, and that guy - as messy as it sounds - can be a productive player at the Major League level. Byron Buxton went 1-for-5 and watched his batting average drop 25 points (from .400 to .375). Manuel Soliman took his turn in the rotation (which still confuses me) and went 4.1 innings. He had a WHIP of nearly 3 (9 hits, 3 walks) and didn't strike any out on the way to giving up 5 runs. Chad Rogers allowed a homer in 2.2 innings and Adrian Salcedo gave up a hit in an otherwise quiet inning. Matt Summer will make the 1 pm ET start tomorrow. CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 5, CLINTON LUMBERKINGS 6 (11 innings) Box Score The Kernels were aided by a mistake-prone Clinton defense, but the offense only mustered seven hits. Two singles by J.D. Williams and D.J. Hicks and three singles by Joel Licon provided all the offense. Travis Harrison committed his 18th error of the season. Tim Atherton held his own, striking out five in five innings. He allowed two runs on five hits and a walk. Caleb Brewer was a mess. Madison Boer kept the Kernels in the game. Alex Muren got one out before giving up the walk-off winner. (I would think Boer has earned his chance to move back up to Fort Myers.) Lefty Mason Melotakis, fresh off his first save of the season last Monday, will start the 2 pm game. ELIZABETHTON TWINS 3, BLUEFIELD BLUE JAYS 0 Box Score It looks like the Twins just had a thing with shutting the Blue Jays out today. E-Town scored their three runs on 13 hits. Javier Pimentel (2-for-4) doubled and drove in a run. Kelvin Ortiz (3-for-5) doubled. Mitch Garver (1-for-4) tripled. Romy Jimenez and Zach Granite both had two hit games. The team was a collective 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position. Frustrating. The pitching made up for it, though. Yorman Landa struck out three in five innings and now has an ERA of 0.60. Tim Shibuya and Brian Gilbert combined to complete the shutout. GCL TWINS 8, GCL RED SOX 2 (Completion of 7/5 game: BOX SCORE) Stephen Gonsalves made his professional debut yesterday, but we'll cover it today. He gave up two hits, two walks and struck out three in two innings. Adonis Pacheco was 3-for-5 with a triple and three RBI. Brian Navaretto had two hits, including a double. Amaurys Minier continued his hot-and-cold season going 0-for-5 with 2 Ks and a throwing error. GCL TWINS 6, GCL RED SOX 5 (8 INNINGS, scheduled for seven: BOX SCORE) Adonis Pacheco, who was hot in game one, stayed hot. He went 2-for-4 with three runs scored. His third the most important, coming as the result of a walk-off home run. Engelb Vielman, who has been the primary SS, is now hitting over .300. He went 3-for-3 with a double and 3 RBI. Evan Bigley had two doubles in rehab (can you say ready?) and Will Hurt added two singles. Speaking of Hurt, he got off to a historically poor star last year, getting his first hit in game 10 and starting his career 1-for-33. Nelson Molina, this year's 11th round pick, is giving Hurt a run for his money. Through 8 games, Molina is 0-for-23. Fortunately for Molina, he has only struck out four times. The report I got was that he's hitting the ball hard but "right at guys". That would make sense with a BABIP of .000. That's a number that's got to improve. Lewis Thorpe struck out six in three innings, but gave up two runs on five hits. "The Thorpedo" (as I'll call him) has struck out a ton of batters (20 in 13 innings), but has given up 12 hits. He's only give up two walks, which is extremely encouraging. A guy to watch for sure. The GCL affiliate is off tomorrow.

Back to write-up for tonight: ROCHESTER RED WINGS 3, PAWTUCKET RED SOX 2 (10 innings) Box Score Another night with very little offense, but, more importantly, another win for the Red Wings. Tonight's win was their 5th consecutive and, impressively, gets them over .500 on the season. I remember there being lots of panic and disappointment when they started the season 2-11. People questioning why Rochester re-upped with the Twins. People saying the Twins wouldn't support them now that they got them signed for two more seasons. To you people, well... you can finish that sentence for yourselves. Tonight's win came courtesy of a walk-off error. Eric Farris hit a routine groundball to the second baseman, who booted it. Brian Dinkelman scored. Game over. There wasn't many offense highlights to speak of... Ray Olmedo had the team's only extra-base hit (of five hits): a double. Eric Farris stole two bases. Logan Darnell made his second AAA start. The southpaw went seven innings, striking out four. He scattered five hits and two walks, only allowing one run. Luis Perdomo recorded four outs and was credited with the win, despite giving up the go-ahead run in the top half of the 10th inning. Cole De Vries was placed on the DL before the game with a right elbow strain. Vance Worley will pitch tomorrow at 1:05 ET. NEW BRITAIN ROCK CATS 9, PORTLAND SEA DOGS 4 Box Score The Rock Cats have climbed back to one game within .500 and are in the Eastern League playoff mix (currently only two games behind Portland for the Wild Card spot). The biggest hit of the game was delivered in the first inning. Leadoff hitter Danny Santana lined a ball off of pitcher Matt Barnes' hand and forced him to leave the game. That set the tone early as the Rock Cats clawed their way to a 9-0 lead before giving up four runs late. The top four batters in the order combined to go 8-for-19. All four batters - Santana, Eddie Rosario, Nate Hanson and Josmil Pinto, had two hits and each doubled. Rosario and Pinto homered. It was Rosario's 1st in AA; Pinto's 13th. Miguel Sano went 0-for-4 with 2 strikeouts and a walk. D.J. Baxendale made his AA return and was excellent. He was clearly on a pitch-limit (he threw 55), but you wouldn't know it based on the fact that he completed five innings. He only allowed three hits and struck out one. This was the pitcher the Rock Cats expected to get, not the one they saw before getting shut down with a shoulder issue. B.J. Hermsen gave up four runs (three earned) in two innings. Last year's organizational pitcher of the year will probably find himself left off the 40-man roster this winter. Edgar Ibarra finished the game off. He allowed a hit in two innings. Ibarra was named a replacement for the Eastern League All-Star Game (presumably for A.J. Achter, who was promoted to AAA). The Rock Cats have not named their starter for tomorrow's 1:00 pm ET game, but it would appear to be Tom Stuifbergen's day. FORT MYERS MIRACLE 3, ST. LUCIE METS 6 Box Score The Miracle dropped the game and dropped to only 25 games over .500 on the season. Levi Michael led the offensive charge tonight. He homered, singled and walked in four plate appearances. Since missing time following an on-field collision, Michael has returned to collect four multi-hit games in the six he's played. Obviously people have been disappointed in the former first-round pick who has battled injuries and put up suspect numbers in a year-plus at Fort Myers. But if you squint hard enough I think you can see a Nick Punto/Brian Dozier love-child in there, and that guy - as messy as it sounds - can be a productive player at the Major League level. Byron Buxton went 1-for-5 and watched his batting average drop 25 points (from .400 to .375). Manuel Soliman took his turn in the rotation (which still confuses me) and went 4.1 innings. He had a WHIP of nearly 3 (9 hits, 3 walks) and didn't strike any out on the way to giving up 5 runs. Chad Rogers allowed a homer in 2.2 innings and Adrian Salcedo gave up a hit in an otherwise quiet inning. Matt Summer will make the 1 pm ET start tomorrow. CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 5, CLINTON LUMBERKINGS 6 (11 innings) Box Score The Kernels were aided by a mistake-prone Clinton defense, but the offense only mustered seven hits. Two singles by J.D. Williams and D.J. Hicks and three singles by Joel Licon provided all the offense. Travis Harrison committed his 18th error of the season. Tim Atherton held his own, striking out five in five innings. He allowed two runs on five hits and a walk. Caleb Brewer was a mess. Madison Boer kept the Kernels in the game. Alex Muren got one out before giving up the walk-off winner. (I would think Boer has earned his chance to move back up to Fort Myers.) Lefty Mason Melotakis, fresh off his first save of the season last Monday, will start the 2 pm game. ELIZABETHTON TWINS 3, BLUEFIELD BLUE JAYS 0 Box Score It looks like the Twins just had a thing with shutting the Blue Jays out today. E-Town scored their three runs on 13 hits. Javier Pimentel (2-for-4) doubled and drove in a run. Kelvin Ortiz (3-for-5) doubled. Mitch Garver (1-for-4) tripled. Romy Jimenez and Zach Granite both had two hit games. The team was a collective 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position. Frustrating. The pitching made up for it, though. Yorman Landa struck out three in five innings and now has an ERA of 0.60. Tim Shibuya and Brian Gilbert combined to complete the shutout. GCL TWINS 8, GCL RED SOX 2 (Completion of 7/5 game: BOX SCORE) Stephen Gonsalves made his professional debut yesterday, but we'll cover it today. He gave up two hits, two walks and struck out three in two innings. Adonis Pacheco was 3-for-5 with a triple and three RBI. Brian Navaretto had two hits, including a double. Amaurys Minier continued his hot-and-cold season going 0-for-5 with 2 Ks and a throwing error. GCL TWINS 6, GCL RED SOX 5 (8 INNINGS, scheduled for seven: BOX SCORE) Adonis Pacheco, who was hot in game one, stayed hot. He went 2-for-4 with three runs scored. His third the most important, coming as the result of a walk-off home run. Engelb Vielman, who has been the primary SS, is now hitting over .300. He went 3-for-3 with a double and 3 RBI. Evan Bigley had two doubles in rehab (can you say ready?) and Will Hurt added two singles. Speaking of Hurt, he got off to a historically poor star last year, getting his first hit in game 10 and starting his career 1-for-33. Nelson Molina, this year's 11th round pick, is giving Hurt a run for his money. Through 8 games, Molina is 0-for-23. Fortunately for Molina, he has only struck out four times. The report I got was that he's hitting the ball hard but "right at guys". That would make sense with a BABIP of .000. That's a number that's got to improve. Lewis Thorpe struck out six in three innings, but gave up two runs on five hits. "The Thorpedo" (as I'll call him) has struck out a ton of batters (20 in 13 innings), but has given up 12 hits. He's only give up two walks, which is extremely encouraging. A guy to watch for sure. The GCL affiliate is off tomorrow.

Back to write-up for tonight: ROCHESTER RED WINGS 3, PAWTUCKET RED SOX 2 (10 innings) Box Score Another night with very little offense, but, more importantly, another win for the Red Wings. Tonight's win was their 5th consecutive and, impressively, gets them over .500 on the season. I remember there being lots of panic and disappointment when they started the season 2-11. People questioning why Rochester re-upped with the Twins. People saying the Twins wouldn't support them now that they got them signed for two more seasons. To you people, well... you can finish that sentence for yourselves. Tonight's win came courtesy of a walk-off error. Eric Farris hit a routine groundball to the second baseman, who booted it. Brian Dinkelman scored. Game over. There wasn't many offense highlights to speak of... Ray Olmedo had the team's only extra-base hit (of five hits): a double. Eric Farris stole two bases. Logan Darnell made his second AAA start. The southpaw went seven innings, striking out four. He scattered five hits and two walks, only allowing one run. Luis Perdomo recorded four outs and was credited with the win, despite giving up the go-ahead run in the top half of the 10th inning. Cole De Vries was placed on the DL before the game with a right elbow strain. Vance Worley will pitch tomorrow at 1:05 ET. NEW BRITAIN ROCK CATS 9, PORTLAND SEA DOGS 4 Box Score The Rock Cats have climbed back to one game within .500 and are in the Eastern League playoff mix (currently only two games behind Portland for the Wild Card spot). The biggest hit of the game was delivered in the first inning. Leadoff hitter Danny Santana lined a ball off of pitcher Matt Barnes' hand and forced him to leave the game. That set the tone early as the Rock Cats clawed their way to a 9-0 lead before giving up four runs late. The top four batters in the order combined to go 8-for-19. All four batters - Santana, Eddie Rosario, Nate Hanson and Josmil Pinto, had two hits and each doubled. Rosario and Pinto homered. It was Rosario's 1st in AA; Pinto's 13th. Miguel Sano went 0-for-4 with 2 strikeouts and a walk. D.J. Baxendale made his AA return and was excellent. He was clearly on a pitch-limit (he threw 55), but you wouldn't know it based on the fact that he completed five innings. He only allowed three hits and struck out one. This was the pitcher the Rock Cats expected to get, not the one they saw before getting shut down with a shoulder issue. B.J. Hermsen gave up four runs (three earned) in two innings. Last year's organizational pitcher of the year will probably find himself left off the 40-man roster this winter. Edgar Ibarra finished the game off. He allowed a hit in two innings. Ibarra was named a replacement for the Eastern League All-Star Game (presumably for A.J. Achter, who was promoted to AAA). The Rock Cats have not named their starter for tomorrow's 1:00 pm ET game, but it would appear to be Tom Stuifbergen's day. FORT MYERS MIRACLE 3, ST. LUCIE METS 6 Box Score The Miracle dropped the game and dropped to only 25 games over .500 on the season. Levi Michael led the offensive charge tonight. He homered, singled and walked in four plate appearances. Since missing time following an on-field collision, Michael has returned to collect four multi-hit games in the six he's played. Obviously people have been disappointed in the former first-round pick who has battled injuries and put up suspect numbers in a year-plus at Fort Myers. But if you squint hard enough I think you can see a Nick Punto/Brian Dozier love-child in there, and that guy - as messy as it sounds - can be a productive player at the Major League level. Byron Buxton went 1-for-5 and watched his batting average drop 25 points (from .400 to .375). Manuel Soliman took his turn in the rotation (which still confuses me) and went 4.1 innings. He had a WHIP of nearly 3 (9 hits, 3 walks) and didn't strike any out on the way to giving up 5 runs. Chad Rogers allowed a homer in 2.2 innings and Adrian Salcedo gave up a hit in an otherwise quiet inning. Matt Summer will make the 1 pm ET start tomorrow. CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 5, CLINTON LUMBERKINGS 6 (11 innings) Box Score The Kernels were aided by a mistake-prone Clinton defense, but the offense only mustered seven hits. Two singles by J.D. Williams and D.J. Hicks and three singles by Joel Licon provided all the offense. Travis Harrison committed his 18th error of the season. Tim Atherton held his own, striking out five in five innings. He allowed two runs on five hits and a walk. Caleb Brewer was a mess. Madison Boer kept the Kernels in the game. Alex Muren got one out before giving up the walk-off winner. (I would think Boer has earned his chance to move back up to Fort Myers.) Lefty Mason Melotakis, fresh off his first save of the season last Monday, will start the 2 pm game. ELIZABETHTON TWINS 3, BLUEFIELD BLUE JAYS 0 Box Score It looks like the Twins just had a thing with shutting the Blue Jays out today. E-Town scored their three runs on 13 hits. Javier Pimentel (2-for-4) doubled and drove in a run. Kelvin Ortiz (3-for-5) doubled. Mitch Garver (1-for-4) tripled. Romy Jimenez and Zach Granite both had two hit games. The team was a collective 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position. Frustrating. The pitching made up for it, though. Yorman Landa struck out three in five innings and now has an ERA of 0.60. Tim Shibuya and Brian Gilbert combined to complete the shutout. GCL TWINS 8, GCL RED SOX 2 (Completion of 7/5 game: BOX SCORE) Stephen Gonsalves made his professional debut yesterday, but we'll cover it today. He gave up two hits, two walks and struck out three in two innings. Adonis Pacheco was 3-for-5 with a triple and three RBI. Brian Navaretto had two hits, including a double. Amaurys Minier continued his hot-and-cold season going 0-for-5 with 2 Ks and a throwing error. GCL TWINS 6, GCL RED SOX 5 (8 INNINGS, scheduled for seven: BOX SCORE) Adonis Pacheco, who was hot in game one, stayed hot. He went 2-for-4 with three runs scored. His third the most important, coming as the result of a walk-off home run. Engelb Vielman, who has been the primary SS, is now hitting over .300. He went 3-for-3 with a double and 3 RBI. Evan Bigley had two doubles in rehab (can you say ready?) and Will Hurt added two singles. Speaking of Hurt, he got off to a historically poor star last year, getting his first hit in game 10 and starting his career 1-for-33. Nelson Molina, this year's 11th round pick, is giving Hurt a run for his money. Through 8 games, Molina is 0-for-23. Fortunately for Molina, he has only struck out four times. The report I got was that he's hitting the ball hard but "right at guys". That would make sense with a BABIP of .000. That's a number that's got to improve. Lewis Thorpe struck out six in three innings, but gave up two runs on five hits. "The Thorpedo" (as I'll call him) has struck out a ton of batters (20 in 13 innings), but has given up 12 hits. He's only give up two walks, which is extremely encouraging. A guy to watch for sure. The GCL affiliate is off tomorrow.

Back to write-up for tonight: ROCHESTER RED WINGS 3, PAWTUCKET RED SOX 2 (10 innings) Box Score Another night with very little offense, but, more importantly, another win for the Red Wings. Tonight's win was their 5th consecutive and, impressively, gets them over .500 on the season. I remember there being lots of panic and disappointment when they started the season 2-11. People questioning why Rochester re-upped with the Twins. People saying the Twins wouldn't support them now that they got them signed for two more seasons. To you people, well... you can finish that sentence for yourselves. Tonight's win came courtesy of a walk-off error. Eric Farris hit a routine groundball to the second baseman, who booted it. Brian Dinkelman scored. Game over. There wasn't many offense highlights to speak of... Ray Olmedo had the team's only extra-base hit (of five hits): a double. Eric Farris stole two bases. Logan Darnell made his second AAA start. The southpaw went seven innings, striking out four. He scattered five hits and two walks, only allowing one run. Luis Perdomo recorded four outs and was credited with the win, despite giving up the go-ahead run in the top half of the 10th inning. Cole De Vries was placed on the DL before the game with a right elbow strain. Vance Worley will pitch tomorrow at 1:05 ET. NEW BRITAIN ROCK CATS 9, PORTLAND SEA DOGS 4 Box Score The Rock Cats have climbed back to one game within .500 and are in the Eastern League playoff mix (currently only two games behind Portland for the Wild Card spot). The biggest hit of the game was delivered in the first inning. Leadoff hitter Danny Santana lined a ball off of pitcher Matt Barnes' hand and forced him to leave the game. That set the tone early as the Rock Cats clawed their way to a 9-0 lead before giving up four runs late. The top four batters in the order combined to go 8-for-19. All four batters - Santana, Eddie Rosario, Nate Hanson and Josmil Pinto, had two hits and each doubled. Rosario and Pinto homered. It was Rosario's 1st in AA; Pinto's 13th. Miguel Sano went 0-for-4 with 2 strikeouts and a walk. D.J. Baxendale made his AA return and was excellent. He was clearly on a pitch-limit (he threw 55), but you wouldn't know it based on the fact that he completed five innings. He only allowed three hits and struck out one. This was the pitcher the Rock Cats expected to get, not the one they saw before getting shut down with a shoulder issue. B.J. Hermsen gave up four runs (three earned) in two innings. Last year's organizational pitcher of the year will probably find himself left off the 40-man roster this winter. Edgar Ibarra finished the game off. He allowed a hit in two innings. Ibarra was named a replacement for the Eastern League All-Star Game (presumably for A.J. Achter, who was promoted to AAA). The Rock Cats have not named their starter for tomorrow's 1:00 pm ET game, but it would appear to be Tom Stuifbergen's day. FORT MYERS MIRACLE 3, ST. LUCIE METS 6 Box Score The Miracle dropped the game and dropped to only 25 games over .500 on the season. Levi Michael led the offensive charge tonight. He homered, singled and walked in four plate appearances. Since missing time following an on-field collision, Michael has returned to collect four multi-hit games in the six he's played. Obviously people have been disappointed in the former first-round pick who has battled injuries and put up suspect numbers in a year-plus at Fort Myers. But if you squint hard enough I think you can see a Nick Punto/Brian Dozier love-child in there, and that guy - as messy as it sounds - can be a productive player at the Major League level. Byron Buxton went 1-for-5 and watched his batting average drop 25 points (from .400 to .375). Manuel Soliman took his turn in the rotation (which still confuses me) and went 4.1 innings. He had a WHIP of nearly 3 (9 hits, 3 walks) and didn't strike any out on the way to giving up 5 runs. Chad Rogers allowed a homer in 2.2 innings and Adrian Salcedo gave up a hit in an otherwise quiet inning. Matt Summer will make the 1 pm ET start tomorrow. CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 5, CLINTON LUMBERKINGS 6 (11 innings) Box Score The Kernels were aided by a mistake-prone Clinton defense, but the offense only mustered seven hits. Two singles by J.D. Williams and D.J. Hicks and three singles by Joel Licon provided all the offense. Travis Harrison committed his 18th error of the season. Tim Atherton held his own, striking out five in five innings. He allowed two runs on five hits and a walk. Caleb Brewer was a mess. Madison Boer kept the Kernels in the game. Alex Muren got one out before giving up the walk-off winner. (I would think Boer has earned his chance to move back up to Fort Myers.) Lefty Mason Melotakis, fresh off his first save of the season last Monday, will start the 2 pm game. ELIZABETHTON TWINS 3, BLUEFIELD BLUE JAYS 0 Box Score It looks like the Twins just had a thing with shutting the Blue Jays out today. E-Town scored their three runs on 13 hits. Javier Pimentel (2-for-4) doubled and drove in a run. Kelvin Ortiz (3-for-5) doubled. Mitch Garver (1-for-4) tripled. Romy Jimenez and Zach Granite both had two hit games. The team was a collective 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position. Frustrating. The pitching made up for it, though. Yorman Landa struck out three in five innings and now has an ERA of 0.60. Tim Shibuya and Brian Gilbert combined to complete the shutout. GCL TWINS 8, GCL RED SOX 2 (Completion of 7/5 game: BOX SCORE) Stephen Gonsalves made his professional debut yesterday, but we'll cover it today. He gave up two hits, two walks and struck out three in two innings. Adonis Pacheco was 3-for-5 with a triple and three RBI. Brian Navaretto had two hits, including a double. Amaurys Minier continued his hot-and-cold season going 0-for-5 with 2 Ks and a throwing error. GCL TWINS 6, GCL RED SOX 5 (8 INNINGS, scheduled for seven: BOX SCORE) Adonis Pacheco, who was hot in game one, stayed hot. He went 2-for-4 with three runs scored. His third the most important, coming as the result of a walk-off home run. Engelb Vielman, who has been the primary SS, is now hitting over .300. He went 3-for-3 with a double and 3 RBI. Evan Bigley had two doubles in rehab (can you say ready?) and Will Hurt added two singles. Speaking of Hurt, he got off to a historically poor star last year, getting his first hit in game 10 and starting his career 1-for-33. Nelson Molina, this year's 11th round pick, is giving Hurt a run for his money. Through 8 games, Molina is 0-for-23. Fortunately for Molina, he has only struck out four times. The report I got was that he's hitting the ball hard but "right at guys". That would make sense with a BABIP of .000. That's a number that's got to improve. Lewis Thorpe struck out six in three innings, but gave up two runs on five hits. "The Thorpedo" (as I'll call him) has struck out a ton of batters (20 in 13 innings), but has given up 12 hits. He's only give up two walks, which is extremely encouraging. A guy to watch for sure. The GCL affiliate is off tomorrow.

Back to write-up for tonight: ROCHESTER RED WINGS 3, PAWTUCKET RED SOX 2 (10 innings) Box Score Another night with very little offense, but, more importantly, another win for the Red Wings. Tonight's win was their 5th consecutive and, impressively, gets them over .500 on the season. I remember there being lots of panic and disappointment when they started the season 2-11. People questioning why Rochester re-upped with the Twins. People saying the Twins wouldn't support them now that they got them signed for two more seasons. To you people, well... you can finish that sentence for yourselves. Tonight's win came courtesy of a walk-off error. Eric Farris hit a routine groundball to the second baseman, who booted it. Brian Dinkelman scored. Game over. There wasn't many offense highlights to speak of... Ray Olmedo had the team's only extra-base hit (of five hits): a double. Eric Farris stole two bases. Logan Darnell made his second AAA start. The southpaw went seven innings, striking out four. He scattered five hits and two walks, only allowing one run. Luis Perdomo recorded four outs and was credited with the win, despite giving up the go-ahead run in the top half of the 10th inning. Cole De Vries was placed on the DL before the game with a right elbow strain. Vance Worley will pitch tomorrow at 1:05 ET. NEW BRITAIN ROCK CATS 9, PORTLAND SEA DOGS 4 Box Score The Rock Cats have climbed back to one game within .500 and are in the Eastern League playoff mix (currently only two games behind Portland for the Wild Card spot). The biggest hit of the game was delivered in the first inning. Leadoff hitter Danny Santana lined a ball off of pitcher Matt Barnes' hand and forced him to leave the game. That set the tone early as the Rock Cats clawed their way to a 9-0 lead before giving up four runs late. The top four batters in the order combined to go 8-for-19. All four batters - Santana, Eddie Rosario, Nate Hanson and Josmil Pinto, had two hits and each doubled. Rosario and Pinto homered. It was Rosario's 1st in AA; Pinto's 13th. Miguel Sano went 0-for-4 with 2 strikeouts and a walk. D.J. Baxendale made his AA return and was excellent. He was clearly on a pitch-limit (he threw 55), but you wouldn't know it based on the fact that he completed five innings. He only allowed three hits and struck out one. This was the pitcher the Rock Cats expected to get, not the one they saw before getting shut down with a shoulder issue. B.J. Hermsen gave up four runs (three earned) in two innings. Last year's organizational pitcher of the year will probably find himself left off the 40-man roster this winter. Edgar Ibarra finished the game off. He allowed a hit in two innings. Ibarra was named a replacement for the Eastern League All-Star Game (presumably for A.J. Achter, who was promoted to AAA). The Rock Cats have not named their starter for tomorrow's 1:00 pm ET game, but it would appear to be Tom Stuifbergen's day. FORT MYERS MIRACLE 3, ST. LUCIE METS 6 Box Score The Miracle dropped the game and dropped to only 25 games over .500 on the season. Levi Michael led the offensive charge tonight. He homered, singled and walked in four plate appearances. Since missing time following an on-field collision, Michael has returned to collect four multi-hit games in the six he's played. Obviously people have been disappointed in the former first-round pick who has battled injuries and put up suspect numbers in a year-plus at Fort Myers. But if you squint hard enough I think you can see a Nick Punto/Brian Dozier love-child in there, and that guy - as messy as it sounds - can be a productive player at the Major League level. Byron Buxton went 1-for-5 and watched his batting average drop 25 points (from .400 to .375). Manuel Soliman took his turn in the rotation (which still confuses me) and went 4.1 innings. He had a WHIP of nearly 3 (9 hits, 3 walks) and didn't strike any out on the way to giving up 5 runs. Chad Rogers allowed a homer in 2.2 innings and Adrian Salcedo gave up a hit in an otherwise quiet inning. Matt Summer will make the 1 pm ET start tomorrow. CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 5, CLINTON LUMBERKINGS 6 (11 innings) Box Score The Kernels were aided by a mistake-prone Clinton defense, but the offense only mustered seven hits. Two singles by J.D. Williams and D.J. Hicks and three singles by Joel Licon provided all the offense. Travis Harrison committed his 18th error of the season. Tim Atherton held his own, striking out five in five innings. He allowed two runs on five hits and a walk. Caleb Brewer was a mess. Madison Boer kept the Kernels in the game. Alex Muren got one out before giving up the walk-off winner. (I would think Boer has earned his chance to move back up to Fort Myers.) Lefty Mason Melotakis, fresh off his first save of the season last Monday, will start the 2 pm game. ELIZABETHTON TWINS 3, BLUEFIELD BLUE JAYS 0 Box Score It looks like the Twins just had a thing with shutting the Blue Jays out today. E-Town scored their three runs on 13 hits. Javier Pimentel (2-for-4) doubled and drove in a run. Kelvin Ortiz (3-for-5) doubled. Mitch Garver (1-for-4) tripled. Romy Jimenez and Zach Granite both had two hit games. The team was a collective 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position. Frustrating. The pitching made up for it, though. Yorman Landa struck out three in five innings and now has an ERA of 0.60. Tim Shibuya and Brian Gilbert combined to complete the shutout. GCL TWINS 8, GCL RED SOX 2 (Completion of 7/5 game: BOX SCORE) Stephen Gonsalves made his professional debut yesterday, but we'll cover it today. He gave up two hits, two walks and struck out three in two innings. Adonis Pacheco was 3-for-5 with a triple and three RBI. Brian Navaretto had two hits, including a double. Amaurys Minier continued his hot-and-cold season going 0-for-5 with 2 Ks and a throwing error. GCL TWINS 6, GCL RED SOX 5 (8 INNINGS, scheduled for seven: BOX SCORE) Adonis Pacheco, who was hot in game one, stayed hot. He went 2-for-4 with three runs scored. His third the most important, coming as the result of a walk-off home run. Engelb Vielman, who has been the primary SS, is now hitting over .300. He went 3-for-3 with a double and 3 RBI. Evan Bigley had two doubles in rehab (can you say ready?) and Will Hurt added two singles. Speaking of Hurt, he got off to a historically poor star last year, getting his first hit in game 10 and starting his career 1-for-33. Nelson Molina, this year's 11th round pick, is giving Hurt a run for his money. Through 8 games, Molina is 0-for-23. Fortunately for Molina, he has only struck out four times. The report I got was that he's hitting the ball hard but "right at guys". That would make sense with a BABIP of .000. That's a number that's got to improve. Lewis Thorpe struck out six in three innings, but gave up two runs on five hits. "The Thorpedo" (as I'll call him) has struck out a ton of batters (20 in 13 innings), but has given up 12 hits. He's only give up two walks, which is extremely encouraging. A guy to watch for sure. The GCL affiliate is off tomorrow.

Back to write-up for tonight: ROCHESTER RED WINGS 3, PAWTUCKET RED SOX 2 (10 innings) Box Score Another night with very little offense, but, more importantly, another win for the Red Wings. Tonight's win was their 5th consecutive and, impressively, gets them over .500 on the season. I remember there being lots of panic and disappointment when they started the season 2-11. People questioning why Rochester re-upped with the Twins. People saying the Twins wouldn't support them now that they got them signed for two more seasons. To you people, well... you can finish that sentence for yourselves. Tonight's win came courtesy of a walk-off error. Eric Farris hit a routine groundball to the second baseman, who booted it. Brian Dinkelman scored. Game over. There wasn't many offense highlights to speak of... Ray Olmedo had the team's only extra-base hit (of five hits): a double. Eric Farris stole two bases. Logan Darnell made his second AAA start. The southpaw went seven innings, striking out four. He scattered five hits and two walks, only allowing one run. Luis Perdomo recorded four outs and was credited with the win, despite giving up the go-ahead run in the top half of the 10th inning. Cole De Vries was placed on the DL before the game with a right elbow strain. Vance Worley will pitch tomorrow at 1:05 ET. NEW BRITAIN ROCK CATS 9, PORTLAND SEA DOGS 4 Box Score The Rock Cats have climbed back to one game within .500 and are in the Eastern League playoff mix (currently only two games behind Portland for the Wild Card spot). The biggest hit of the game was delivered in the first inning. Leadoff hitter Danny Santana lined a ball off of pitcher Matt Barnes' hand and forced him to leave the game. That set the tone early as the Rock Cats clawed their way to a 9-0 lead before giving up four runs late. The top four batters in the order combined to go 8-for-19. All four batters - Santana, Eddie Rosario, Nate Hanson and Josmil Pinto, had two hits and each doubled. Rosario and Pinto homered. It was Rosario's 1st in AA; Pinto's 13th. Miguel Sano went 0-for-4 with 2 strikeouts and a walk. D.J. Baxendale made his AA return and was excellent. He was clearly on a pitch-limit (he threw 55), but you wouldn't know it based on the fact that he completed five innings. He only allowed three hits and struck out one. This was the pitcher the Rock Cats expected to get, not the one they saw before getting shut down with a shoulder issue. B.J. Hermsen gave up four runs (three earned) in two innings. Last year's organizational pitcher of the year will probably find himself left off the 40-man roster this winter. Edgar Ibarra finished the game off. He allowed a hit in two innings. Ibarra was named a replacement for the Eastern League All-Star Game (presumably for A.J. Achter, who was promoted to AAA). The Rock Cats have not named their starter for tomorrow's 1:00 pm ET game, but it would appear to be Tom Stuifbergen's day. FORT MYERS MIRACLE 3, ST. LUCIE METS 6 Box Score The Miracle dropped the game and dropped to only 25 games over .500 on the season. Levi Michael led the offensive charge tonight. He homered, singled and walked in four plate appearances. Since missing time following an on-field collision, Michael has returned to collect four multi-hit games in the six he's played. Obviously people have been disappointed in the former first-round pick who has battled injuries and put up suspect numbers in a year-plus at Fort Myers. But if you squint hard enough I think you can see a Nick Punto/Brian Dozier love-child in there, and that guy - as messy as it sounds - can be a productive player at the Major League level. Byron Buxton went 1-for-5 and watched his batting average drop 25 points (from .400 to .375). Manuel Soliman took his turn in the rotation (which still confuses me) and went 4.1 innings. He had a WHIP of nearly 3 (9 hits, 3 walks) and didn't strike any out on the way to giving up 5 runs. Chad Rogers allowed a homer in 2.2 innings and Adrian Salcedo gave up a hit in an otherwise quiet inning. Matt Summer will make the 1 pm ET start tomorrow. CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 5, CLINTON LUMBERKINGS 6 (11 innings) Box Score The Kernels were aided by a mistake-prone Clinton defense, but the offense only mustered seven hits. Two singles by J.D. Williams and D.J. Hicks and three singles by Joel Licon provided all the offense. Travis Harrison committed his 18th error of the season. Tim Atherton held his own, striking out five in five innings. He allowed two runs on five hits and a walk. Caleb Brewer was a mess. Madison Boer kept the Kernels in the game. Alex Muren got one out before giving up the walk-off winner. (I would think Boer has earned his chance to move back up to Fort Myers.) Lefty Mason Melotakis, fresh off his first save of the season last Monday, will start the 2 pm game. ELIZABETHTON TWINS 3, BLUEFIELD BLUE JAYS 0 Box Score It looks like the Twins just had a thing with shutting the Blue Jays out today. E-Town scored their three runs on 13 hits. Javier Pimentel (2-for-4) doubled and drove in a run. Kelvin Ortiz (3-for-5) doubled. Mitch Garver (1-for-4) tripled. Romy Jimenez and Zach Granite both had two hit games. The team was a collective 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position. Frustrating. The pitching made up for it, though. Yorman Landa struck out three in five innings and now has an ERA of 0.60. Tim Shibuya and Brian Gilbert combined to complete the shutout. GCL TWINS 8, GCL RED SOX 2 (Completion of 7/5 game: BOX SCORE) Stephen Gonsalves made his professional debut yesterday, but we'll cover it today. He gave up two hits, two walks and struck out three in two innings. Adonis Pacheco was 3-for-5 with a triple and three RBI. Brian Navaretto had two hits, including a double. Amaurys Minier continued his hot-and-cold season going 0-for-5 with 2 Ks and a throwing error. GCL TWINS 6, GCL RED SOX 5 (8 INNINGS, scheduled for seven: BOX SCORE) Adonis Pacheco, who was hot in game one, stayed hot. He went 2-for-4 with three runs scored. His third the most important, coming as the result of a walk-off home run. Engelb Vielman, who has been the primary SS, is now hitting over .300. He went 3-for-3 with a double and 3 RBI. Evan Bigley had two doubles in rehab (can you say ready?) and Will Hurt added two singles. Speaking of Hurt, he got off to a historically poor star last year, getting his first hit in game 10 and starting his career 1-for-33. Nelson Molina, this year's 11th round pick, is giving Hurt a run for his money. Through 8 games, Molina is 0-for-23. Fortunately for Molina, he has only struck out four times. The report I got was that he's hitting the ball hard but "right at guys". That would make sense with a BABIP of .000. That's a number that's got to improve. Lewis Thorpe struck out six in three innings, but gave up two runs on five hits. "The Thorpedo" (as I'll call him) has struck out a ton of batters (20 in 13 innings), but has given up 12 hits. He's only give up two walks, which is extremely encouraging. A guy to watch for sure. The GCL affiliate is off tomorrow.

The story on the farm today was... RAIN. Rainouts, specifically. ROCHESTER RED WINGS, NEW BRITAIN ROCK CATS, FORT MYERS MIRACLE and GCL TWINS were all postponed. CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 6, PEORIA CHIEFS 3 Box Score Mike Pelfrey packed his family up in the Cities yesterday and made the trek down to Cedar Rapids for a rehab start today. In six frames, he allowed two runs (one home run) and struck out six. He reportedly feels better and should be back in the Twins rotation on Saturday. Mason Melotakis, who would have started today, picked up a three-inning save. Melotakis allowed four hits and a run. He struck out two. Even with the absence of Byron Buxton reaching eight games (and counting), the Kernels have continued their dominance in the second half. Today marked consecutive victory number eleven. The bats were led by Max Kepler, who tripled and homered, who drove in two and scored twice. Niko Goodrum also tripled. Jonathan Murphy, who joined the Kernels when Jeremias Pineda was placed on the DL, was 0-for-2, but contributed an outfield assist. Jose Berrios will stand atop the mound at Pohlman Field tomorrow in Beloit at 7:00 pm. ELIZABETHTON TWINS 8, KINGSPORT METS 4 Box Score E-Town improved to 10-2 with their victory tonight. Zach Granite, batting leadoff, drew four walks, resulting in three runs scored and two stolen bases. Mitch Garver, who was a cheap senior-sign this year, has hit the ball extremely well (a question coming into the draft) and added two more tonight (his fourth multi-hit game out of seven). Dereck Rodriguez doubled. The team as a whole combined to draw 11 walks. Tanner Mendonca made his second start for the defending Appy League Champs. Mendonca struck out six in three innings. He allowed four hits and two runs, but didn't walk anyone. Tim Shibuya came in as a reliever again and pitched three strong innings to pick up his third win. When there is a need in Cedar Rapids, you have to believe Shibuya will move up. Brian Gilbert struck out the side in his inning of relief. E-Town takes on Johnson City tomorrow at 7 pm ET. Leave your questions and/or comment below. The International signing period opens tomorrow... check the site for updates.

The story on the farm today was... RAIN. Rainouts, specifically. ROCHESTER RED WINGS, NEW BRITAIN ROCK CATS, FORT MYERS MIRACLE and GCL TWINS were all postponed. CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 6, PEORIA CHIEFS 3 Box Score Mike Pelfrey packed his family up in the Cities yesterday and made the trek down to Cedar Rapids for a rehab start today. In six frames, he allowed two runs (one home run) and struck out six. He reportedly feels better and should be back in the Twins rotation on Saturday. Mason Melotakis, who would have started today, picked up a three-inning save. Melotakis allowed four hits and a run. He struck out two. Even with the absence of Byron Buxton reaching eight games (and counting), the Kernels have continued their dominance in the second half. Today marked consecutive victory number eleven. The bats were led by Max Kepler, who tripled and homered, who drove in two and scored twice. Niko Goodrum also tripled. Jonathan Murphy, who joined the Kernels when Jeremias Pineda was placed on the DL, was 0-for-2, but contributed an outfield assist. Jose Berrios will stand atop the mound at Pohlman Field tomorrow in Beloit at 7:00 pm. ELIZABETHTON TWINS 8, KINGSPORT METS 4 Box Score E-Town improved to 10-2 with their victory tonight. Zach Granite, batting leadoff, drew four walks, resulting in three runs scored and two stolen bases. Mitch Garver, who was a cheap senior-sign this year, has hit the ball extremely well (a question coming into the draft) and added two more tonight (his fourth multi-hit game out of seven). Dereck Rodriguez doubled. The team as a whole combined to draw 11 walks. Tanner Mendonca made his second start for the defending Appy League Champs. Mendonca struck out six in three innings. He allowed four hits and two runs, but didn't walk anyone. Tim Shibuya came in as a reliever again and pitched three strong innings to pick up his third win. When there is a need in Cedar Rapids, you have to believe Shibuya will move up. Brian Gilbert struck out the side in his inning of relief. E-Town takes on Johnson City tomorrow at 7 pm ET. Leave your questions and/or comment below. The International signing period opens tomorrow... check the site for updates.

Merry Gibsmas! Kyle Gibson made his Major League debut this afternoon in front of a nearly-packed house. If you're waiting to get home to watch Gibson's start on DVR, I won't ruin it for you. ROCHESTER RED WINGS 0, SYRACUSE CHIEFS 1 Box Score Offensively, the Red Wings just didn't get it done. Doug Bernier and Jeff Clement both doubled and, throw in a Bernier single, that's all the hits they accounted for today. Aaron Hicks struck out twice in an 0-for-4 day. He played all nine innings and will soon be activated from the disabled list. Where will he go then? It's being discussed in this thread. As you'd expect in any game where a team only scored one run, the pitching was very good. Pedro Hernandez pitched a complete game for the Wings. In eight innings of work, Pedro allowed only five hits and two walks. He struck out three and gave up the only run in the game. His 96-pitch effort still is labeled with a "loss", but it definitely wasn't Hernandez who lost this game. It will be interesting to see what plays out with the Red Wings and Twins pitching staffs. Hernandez has been a fully-capable fill-in and has pitched well even though he's been flipping between a bullpen and starting role. By no means is Hernandez a long-term answer in the rotation, but he's definitely a guy that should be able to be counted on as a LOOGY or as a long-lefty out of the bullpen. Liam Hendriks starts at Syracuse at 4pm tomorrow afternoon. NEW BRITAIN ROCK CATS 5, READING FIGHTIN PHILS 0 Box Score There were no Miguel Sano fireworks tonight. Though there was a double off Philly's Jesse Biddle. Sano struck out twice too. Baseball Prospectus' Jason Parks was in attendance all weekend. He tweeted numerous times about Sano. Most tweets included either #rig or #want, two of Parks' "catch-tags". In a nutshell, Parks loves Sano's power. He loves his arm. He thinks he's a good overall hitter. He thinks he's fast for a big man. And he was very impressed with Sano's defense at 3B. After hearing his perspective, Sano will stick at 3B without a doubt. (That's "flashing all five tools at times in games" if you're scoring at home.) Parks earlier this week called Buxton the top prospect in the game. I guess the Twins view top prospects in the same way Taylor Swift does. #want Nate Hanson, Josmil Pinto, Kyle Knudson and Angel Morales all had two-hit games. Pinto drove in three runs. Eddie Rosario got the night off and A.J. Pettersen filled in a shortstop, walking twice and getting a hit. The story of the night, however, was the pitching performance of Pat Dean. Before tonight, Dean was 3-8 and somewhere in the realm of "lousy" on the season. Tonight, he was the exact opposite. He struck out five in a complete-game, five-hit, two-walk shutout. He did it in exactly 100 pitches. Dean is a lefty - and breathing - so he'll be given every opportunity, but it's refreshing for him to throw a gem tonight. Matt Summers will make his second start for the Rock Cats tomorrow afternoon at 12:35 pm. FORT MYERS MIRACLE 12, ST. LUCIE METS 2 Box Scores Jhon Goncalves had a pretty memorial game for the Miracle today. He was 4-for-4 with three doubles, five RBI and two runs scored. He reached base by walk in his other plate appearance and also stole a base. (Maybe he wasn't ready to just hand over center field to some 19-year-old punk...?) Goncalves scores a run against St. Lucie in 2010. Speaking of, Byron Buxton singled twice to raise his average to .222. He struck out once but drove in and scored a run. Aderlin Mejia, Matt Koch, Stephen Wickens and Levi Michael all had two-hit games too. Keeping in line with pitching gems today, Matt Tomshaw pitched eight innings. He allowed two runs (one earned) on seven hits and two walks. He struck out three. Nelvin Fuentes struck out the side in the ninth. CEDER RAPIDS KERNELS 2, PEORIA CHIEFS 1 (10 innings) Box Score Brett Lee got a no-decision, but might have had the best start in the system today. He went eight innings and struck out nine. He didn't walk a batter, but allowed four hits. The lone run allowed was unearned, the result of an error by Jorge Polanco. Caleb Brewster pitched two innings and got the win, striking out and walking three. ABW2, who has cooled off since a great first month, was good today going 2-for-3 with a double, two runs and two walks. Max Kepler doubled in a run. The Kernels won, in extra innings, after Adam Walker singled and stole second. Kepler walked to make it first and second. Tyler Grimes sacrificed the runners over. Michael Quesada came up and a pitching change was made. The new pitcher, Zach Russell, came in and promptly threw a wild pitch. Game over. Kernels improve to 100-0 in the 2nd half of the season. (Ok, sorry... it's 9-0.) Tim Atherton will make his first start of the year tomorrow at 2:05 pm. Mike Pelfrey will be pitching for the Kernels on Monday. Yahtzee! ELIZABETHTON TWINS 4, KINGSPORT METS 5 Box Score E-town dropped their second game of the year (8-2) after scoring the game's first runs (4) in the top of the 8th. Kelvin Ortiz doubled in two runs and Bryan Haar came up a home-run short of the cycle. Zach Granite stole two bases. Hein Robb struck out four in three innings. Carson Goldsmith followed that up with two strikeouts in a inning. Andre Martinez allowed two runs in the eighth. Dallas Gallant cleaned up that mess, stranding both of Martinez's guys. However, Gallant got himself into his own mess in the ninth, which Luis Nunez couldn't get out of. With two outs in the ninth, Nunez allowed a walk-off hit. E-town will try to get back in the left-hand column tomorrow at 5 pm. GCL TWINS 3, GCL RED SOX 4 Box Score Another good start wasted. Kyle Davis, rehabbing from a shoulder injury, pitched five innings of shutout baseball. He struck out seven. Fernando Romero blew the save giving up three runs (two earned) in two innings. Markus Solbach gets handed the loss. The winning run scored on an error by the shortstop. Solbach didn't do himself any favors by balking and walking a batter after allowing the winning run to reach base with a single. Zach Larson (double), Lance Ray and Jorge Fernandez (two doubles) all had two-hit games. Amaurys Minier was 1-for-3 with an RBI (and no strikeouts). The GCL will rest on the Seventh Day. Comment or questions? Leave them below!

The Twins spring schedule kicks off tomorrow. I know many are looking forward to it, even without the belief that the Twins will be competing for an AL Central crown this fall. That doesn't make this spring any less interesting. So with that in mind, I'm going on record and making predictions... some bold, some not. (www.examiner.com) TEAM *The Twins will finish in last place in the AL Central. They'll win between 69-72 games. *The Twins will be sellers at the deadline. Justin Morneau, Josh Willingham and Mike Pelfrey will bid farewell before the end of July. HITTERS *The battle to start in CF is already over. After trading Span and Revere, we've been led to believe Darrin Mastroianni, Aaron Hicks and Joe Benson are in a three-way battle to be the everyday centerfielder. Benson, who is far removed from a successful minor league year and not as far removed from microfracture surgery, has no shot at being the Opening Day Centerfielder. Hicks, for both service reasons and having taken zero at-bats at AAA, will get sent down until a) he absolutely proves he's ready or Mastroianni proves he absolutely isn't the answer. *The opening-day 4th OF will be a guy not currently on the 40-man roster. Clete Thomas, who blew our mind for about two at-bats last year, before making us want to blow our brains out, is the likely frontrunner. (I think the bigger question is, when Thomas gets DFA'd and clears waivers, does he accept his assignment to Rochester or elect free agency?) *Chris Parmelee will be the everyday Right-Fielder... until it's Oswaldo Arcia. It's going to be an interesting first couple of months. Parmelee isn't best-suited to play the outfield. He's likely good enough to keep the seat warm for Arcia, and that's likely - hopefully, in the Twins mind - going to happen when Morneau is traded away and Parmelee moves to First Base. But what happens if Parmelee can't get it done offensively or defensively? Who knows... *Oswaldo Arcia will have more impact on the 2013 Twins than Aaron Hicks. Arcia will hit and play serviceable D. Hicks will play a solid D but struggle to hit. Next year at this time, I see discussions being the same... is Hicks ready to be a leadoff hitter at the major league level? While the RF job is not up-for-grabs in Spring Training (only this time because Arcia has a stranglehold on it). *Chris Colabello will be a major-league player this year. Another guy that just rakes. Sign him up. *Trevor Ploufee will be frustratingly hot-and-cold both offensively and defensively, but TwinsDaily readers will rejoice that he's not Danny Valencia. *Drew Butera will spend less time in the major leagues in 2013 than any season since debuting in 2010... and TwinsDaily readers will still complain! *Jamey Carroll's option will vest with 401 plate appearances despite the Twins making an effort to see that it doesn't happen. *Pedro Florimon and Brian Dozier will leave the fanbase wishing for Luis Rivas and Cristian Guzman. Or Orlando Hudson and J.J. Hardy. Or basically any 2B/SS combination you can think of. *Joe Mauer will be Joe Mauer. Many will be unhappy. PITCHERS *The rotation will be better than last year. Hardly went out on a limb there... *One year from now we'll feel really good about the rotation. 2014 will include Kyle Gibson (who won't compete for ROY, but be solid amid a limited-innings year), Scott Diamond (who will regress, but still be a solid lefty), Vance Worley (who fans will love because he goes after hitters and works quick), Liam Hendriks (who will actually look like he belongs in the major leagues this year) and Kevin Correia (who was signed to be a #5 pitcher). This isn't mentioning any of the prospects who could be knocking on the door. *The bullpen will be good - again. Glen Perkins and Jared Burton will be fantastic in their late-inning roles. *Brian Duensing will continue to strive as a left-handed reliever. *Tim Wood will absolutely be in the Opening Day bullpen. This isn't the second coming of Jeff Gray. Tim Wood signed a $675,000 contract with the Twins. He has less than a year of service. Anthony Swarzak, who has over 2 years of service, got $502,500. No Twin who had their contract renewed got over $530,000. That makes Tim Wood, who has had no MLB success - and almost as little experience - the 12th highest-paid Twins player this year. Crazy? Just a little bit. *Sam Deduno will figure something out this year. Either, "Hey, I do know how to throw it through the zone" or "You know what, this baseball thing isn't for me." *Trevor May makes his September debut coming out of the bullpen. *Ryan Pressly doesn't make the team... and the Red Sox will not be willing to work out a trade, unfortunately. Go ahead, be bold... or not bold.

One of my favorite things to do in regards to this website - whether in conjunction with the Prospect Handbook or not - is have an ongoing dialogue with scouts in the organization. My favorite article I've ever posted still remains the interview I did with West Coast Scouting Supervisor Sean Johnson. In the 2013 edition of the handbook, I had an interview with Jack Powell, who is the scout responsible for signing Byron Buxton. The full interview was available in the book, with a brief preview here. In an effort to make keep the tradition of featuring a scout in each year's handbook, I reached out to one of the newest members of the Twins scouting fraternity: Freddie Thon. This picture of Freddie was during his minor-league All-Star days of 2006, but you get the point - he's a former baseballer and now his job is to locate the next generation of Twins prospects. Located primarily in southern Florida and Puerto Rico, Thon's job is especially important, given the success the Twins have had in that area. I'd love for you to read the whole interview, but that's only going to be available in the Handbook (which is available in both paperback and eBook versions). Some excerpts here: Freddie talks about his background, which is very baseball heavy, and also his path from high school through college and into the minor leagues. Of course, I had to ask him about next year's draft class: Freddie spoke at length about many other things as well. Pick up the Handbook, you won't be disappointed.