Steven Buhr

Heading in to the 2014 season, everyone pretty much had expectations in check with regard to the Cedar Rapids Kernels. The team's fortunes would likely turn on the performance of a staff of young, highly heralded pitching prospects. The offense, meanwhile, could very well struggle to score enough runs to keep the Minnesota Twins' Midwest League affiliate competitive. As they near the end of the first month of the season, however, the Kernels are two games above .500 with a 13-11 record and the hitting is at least as responsible for that success as the pitching staff is. Infielder Tanner Vavra and outfielder Zack Larson are just two of the Cedar Rapids players making major contributions with their bats. Before Tuesday night's game with Kane County, Vavra and Larson talked about their season thus far. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/LarsonVavra2014.jpg Zack Larson and Tanner Vavra Vavra, the son of Twins coach Joe Vavra, spent a few days recently at the very top of the Midwest League's leader board in batting average and still leads his team with a .344 average. He's also reaching base at a .391 rate and carries an .829 OPS through Tuesday's games. While most fans may not have expected that kind of production out of Vavra, neither he nor his manager seem terribly surprised, either. “He’s a guy that really obviously has been around the game his whole life, with his dad being a professional baseball guy,” said Jake Mauer of his second baseman. “He’s got a lot of baseball instincts. He knows himself as a player. He knows what he needs to do and he plays to his strengths. He’s a guy that puts together good at-bats. He makes the routine plays. He’s definitely earned his playing time.” “I’m just trying to put good swings on (the ball) and help the team win,” said Vavra of his hot start to the season. “I’m just trying to stay with the same approach and kind of just get my pitch and get on base for guys like Larson here to drive me in.” Meanwhile, Larson's also got a pretty impressive early-season slash line, as well with a .307 batting average, a .351 on-base percentage and an .806 OPS. That's not a bad start for a 20 year-old in his first year with a full-season affiliate. “He’s really come on for a younger guy and made some adjustments.” his manager said of Larson. “He was having a little hard time with offspeed pitches, but that’s not the case any more. He's doing a nice job out in right field. He’s going to hit in the middle of our order and he’s getting even better in the outfield and that’s pretty encouraging to see.” Larson's just as humble as Vavra when asked about his contributions, too. “Like Tanner, I'm just trying to put good swings on it,” said Larson. “That’s my main focus, put a good swing on the ball and hopefully good things happen.” Both hitters have been particularly productive at the plate with teammates on the bases. In fact, both Vavra and Larson are hitting at a .400 clip with runners on base. Neither man claims they do anything special in those situations, though. “I don’t like to get out, so I try to take the same approach with runners on or runners not.” said Vavra, laughing. Added Larson, “Just barrel it up and put a good swing on it. I try to do that every at-bat; stay focused.” The two team mates may be making similar contributions to their team's cause this season, but they come at their tasks from very different backgrounds. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Larson2014-600x449.jpg Zack Larson Larson was drafted by the Twins in the 20th round of the 2012 First Year Player Draft out of his Bradenton, Florida high school. A 24 year-old from Wisconsin, Vavra played college ball at Valparaiso University before being drafted by the Twins in the 30th round of last June's draft. A year ago, top Twins prospects Jorge Polanco and Adam Brett Walker were manning the positions that Vavra and Larson are holding down this season. Both guys just smile when asked about trying to live up to the offensive legacy of last year's Kernels. “I think we all knew it was going to be tough to follow in the footsteps of the team from last year and we were never trying to do that,” said Vavra. “We're never trying to live up to what they did last year, because, let’s face it, that’s pretty special what everybody got to see with the number one prospect in all of baseball playing (in Cedar Rapids).” “With that being said, our goal is still the same,” Vavra added, “to get to the playoffs and put good seasons together individually and have a great team season. Hopefully take it one step farther and get that ring.” And maybe do enough to get a promotion to the next level in the organization? "Everyone wants that," acknowledged Larson, "but you can’t control that. You can only control what you do. Can’t worry about that." Larson shares the Midwest League lead with 10 doubles already this season, just one shy of his total two-baggers during his 55 games a year ago at both rookie league levels combined. Then again, he had five home runs last season and has just one as a Kernel. But don't expect Larson to feel disappointed with his results so far. “I’m not disappointed at all,” Larson explained. “I’m not worried about hitting home runs. I’m just worried about helping the team win and putting good swings on the ball and if I hit a home run, it’s cool. Whatever I can do to help the team.” “He’s young.” chimed in Vavra, about his team mate. “He’s still got a lot of manpower to come his way. This is his first full season. You never know, he might catch hot in July once the weather warms up and you’re going to see big things out of him.” http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Vavra1-600x456.jpg Tanner Vavra Vavra's complete story can't be told without mentioning that he's blind in his right eye, the result of a fishing accident at age three and a subsequent injury suffered playing football several years later. His ability to play baseball at a professional level with that limitation inevitably comes up during interviews. That could give a player a bit of a chip on his shoulder, but Vavra said questions about his eyesight don't bother him much anymore. “It’s kind of come and gone. That used to be the biggest concern.” said Vavra. “People doubted me.” “It irritated me for a while and it’s still a little chip,” Vavra continued, “but I’m just trying to get rid of the whole, ‘You’re here because of your dad,’ type deal.” “I haven’t gotten anything like that from the players, they’ve all been great. I haven’t heard that once. It’s from bloggers and those people that somehow send a letter to your house and tell you that you don’t belong. That’s my chip right now. The eye thing is always going to be there, but that’s my new chip.” While it's understandable that Vavra would be sensitive to suggestions that he hasn't earned his place in pro ball, having a father in the game has its benefits. “This offseason, I got to work with him for 5-6 months. That’s incredible. Going from usually working with him for three or four weeks over Christmas break to five months. It was definitely helpful.” While Vavra was spending his offseason working out indoors in Wisconsin with his dad, Larson was wintering in a much warmer climate. “Down in Bradenton, I give lessons at an indoor batting facility and my hitting coach is also there,” said Larson, of his offseason. “I hit with him and work out, try to get in the best shape I can before the season starts. Every day, hitting cage, doing something with baseball.” Larson arguably seemed to have an edge on non-baseball related activities. “I go to the beach. Beach is a big thing in Florida,” said Larson. “Just hang out with my friends. I don’t see them that often. They’re in college when I’m back at home.” Vavra, on the other hand, “did a lot of hunting and fishing. Different fishing though, dropping a line through the ice.” The look on Larson's face, hearing that, gave the impression he wasn't inclined to trade offseasons with his teammate. Click here to view the article

One of the top ranked high school power hitters at the time, Travis Harrison was drafted by the Twins with a supplemental first round pick (the 50th overall pick) in 2011. He signed a $1.05 million bonus to join the Twins organization and bypassed a scholarship offer to play baseball for USC. There's never been much doubt about Harrison's ability to hit a baseball. The question in many minds is what his ultimate defensive position will be. Right now, the Twins are working with Harrison to develop his skills at third base for the Cedar Rapids Kernels. Harrison is one of the top third base prospects in the Twins minor league organization, along with super-prospect Miguel Sano, who is currently playing for high Class A Fort Myers. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Harrison2.jpg This past Friday night, Harrison gave his Kernels team a dramatic win with a 12th inning walk-off single to beat the Kane County Cougars. It was the second consecutive walk-off victory for the Kernels, coming just one night after Byron Buxton's walk-off grand slam home run to beat the Burlington Bees. It was Harrison's second walk-off single recently. The first came when he hit what appeared to be a grand slam home run to beat the Lansing Lugnuts. However, his team mates mobbed him as he rounded second base and two of the runners ahead of him were ruled by the umpires to have abandoned their attempts to advance, leaving Harrison with a very long game winning single, rather than a home run. On Saturday afternoon, the day after his most recent game winning hit, Harrison sat down with me for an interview. SD Buhr: You're still learning to play third base. You had kind of a rough start to the season with something like five errors in the first 10 games. You seem to be looking a lot more comfortable out there lately. Are you feeling better out there? http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/HarrisonMauerPregame.jpg Travis Harrison and Manager Jake Mauer Travis Harrison: Yeah, I've been feeling good. Jake (Manager Jake Mauer) has been helping a ton and he's also made me learn that I might have a couple of errors, but they're errors being aggressive. They (official scorers) are giving me errors on tough plays, but I want to be a big league third baseman, so that's fine. But I'm not worried about the errors, I'm worried about making plays for the pitcher, making plays for the team. Just like any other infielder, if they give you an error and you're doing the best you can do, you can't control that. SDB: You've made a lot of pretty nice plays out there as well. You probably feel better about those than you necessarily feel bad about the errors? Harrison: Yeah, I mean you always want to make the routine plays first, that's your number one goal, so you focus on that. You give 100 per cent effort and you're going to make highlight plays every once in a while and those are good for the team. But first of all, you want to make the routine plays. Those are most important. SDB: The Twins have, for years, had a little trouble finding a third baseman to stick at the big league level. Is that something that gives you some motivation? The flip side of that is there are a couple of guys in the organization above you that look like they could have the potential to stick as well. Do you pay attention to what everyone else in the organization at your position is doing or do you just go out and worry about playing your game? Harrison: I just go out and play. I want to be the starting third baseman for the Twins for a long time. I mean that's the goal. I know I can do it. I just have to keep putting in the hard work and I'll get there. Following the other people? No. I know the other guys because of spring training. I know Miguel (Sano), we worked out together. Miguel's a great player. I'm just going to work my ass off and whatever happens is going to happen. SDB: You look around the Midwest League and you would be leading a lot of teams in a lot of offensive statistical categories. Here, you're one part, though one very important part, of an awfully good day-to-day lineup. Harrison: It's fun to be a part of. We're all off to good starts. We're all hitting the ball pretty well and we're all pulling for each other. No one's concerned with who has the most RBIs or anything. We're all just trying to do a job. I gotta say though, Walker (Adam Brett Walker) is stealing a lot of my RBIs, isn't he? Every time I get up there, there's no one on base! (laughing) It's fun. Walker's obviously off to a good start, Buck (Byron Buxton) is off to a good start. Everyone in the lineup really is. And so we're all just having fun, doing the best we can. Stats don't really tell you anything in baseball. Nothing really. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Harrison1.jpg Travis Harrison SDB: There's a whole sabermetric community that doesn't want to hear you say that! Harrison: Right (laughing). It's true though, ya know. For example, they saw Niko (Goodrum) had an error last night. Niko had the best game he's had all year at shortstop last night! It's stuff like that. So, they get on you about numbers things, things like that. It's just not the story, so we don't worry about that kind of stuff. SDB: You've had, at least that I've seen, two walk-off singles. This one was a little different than the last time. Harrison: This one was a real single (laughing). Yeah, those are fun. The only non-fun part about it is getting drenched with ice in the shower. Buck had to go through it the night before and they got me last night, but yeah it's exciting. Just goes back to pulling for each other. Just trying to get it done. We're not a bunch of selfish guys, we're just trying to win for the team. SDB: You might be responsible for one lesson that the entire team has learned. After Buxton's grand slam the other night, everybody came to home plate and waited for him instead of chasing him around second base. So there's a lesson learned. I don't know if you're responsible for teaching it to them, but somebody did, right? Harrison: (laughing) Right, that was good. With Buck's, we were down by three so they didn't have a choice. SDB: You're not going to tell me those guys ran around chasing you because they knew it didn't matter if your run counted or not. You don't really believe anybody was thinking like that. Harrison: No, we were all just super excited. They weren't trying to steal anything away from me. I was excited, I was jumping up and down. It didn't matter. When they told me it was a single after the game, I wasn't really worried about it. SDB: Tell me a little about yourself in high school. Were you a mulit-sport guy or did you pretty much stick to baseball? Harrison: No, I stuck to baseball. I played with APD Academy all through high school. It's a big baseball academy out in southern California. I started at a really young age and I stuck with that. I played basketball in middle school. Never played football, even though I went to a big football school. I stayed away from that. It was all baseball. I tried to focus on that. I've always played golf. Golf's fun. I enjoy that. SDB: That was going to be the next question. Away from the ballpark, what sort of things do you enjoy doing? Harrison: I love playing golf. I'm a big golfer. I love playing the guitar. I like things that kind of take me away from playing baseball and things that I can just relax and just focus on that. I'm not a big video game guy. I've always gotta do something. So when I'm out on the golf course, I feel like I'm not even thinking about baseball. I'm just away from it. Like, sometimes if I'm going through a slump, I go out and play a round of golf in the morning just to reset. SDB: The coaches don't mind that? This is old school, but there was a time when coaches discouraged players from golfing because they didn't want it screwing up the player's swing. Harrison: Everyone tells me that. I think of it as two totally different sports. I've been swinging a baseball bat since I was three or four years old, so I'm not going to forget how to do that. I don't even think about that. They're both hand-eye coordination. I think if it gets in your head, that's when you might get screwed up. Once you get to know the golf swing, there's actually a lot of similar things that go on between a golf swing and a baseball swing. Obviously, the ball's down but it's never really bothered me, it's always relaxed me and it's got me focused again. SDB: I read somewhere that the Twins wanted you to show more power this year, rather than spraying the ball to all fields. That seems contrary to the Twins past hitting philosophy, in my mind. Is that what they wanted to see you do more of this year? Harrison: I think so. I mean they want me to hit the ball hard and hit the ball out of the park and hit doubles and that kind of thing. I don't go up there thinking, “try to hit a home run.” I think, “try to hit a hard line drive.” I know home runs are going to come. Home runs are about selecting a pitch you can drive out of the yard instead of taking one you can hit to right field for a single. And I'm learning that, slowly. I've hit some home runs this year and I've hit a lot of doubles and so that's going well. SDB: I think you've got the same number of home runs this year that you had all of last year. Harrison: Yeah, I should have more! (laughing) SDB: At least one! Harrison: (smiling) So yeah, it's going good. Post-script: Harrison hit a home run in Sunday's game and another in Monday's game. On Tuesday, the Kernels had a Charity Golf Outing. I can't say I know for sure, but I'm guessing Harrison participated. - SD Buhr SD Buhr covers the Kernels for MetroSportsReport.com in Cedar Rapids. Click here to view the article

One of the unique things about Class A minor league baseball is that the season is divided in to two halves. The format allows teams, such as the Kernels, who had strong first halves of the season to qualify for postseason play at the mid-point of the season. It also gives teams that struggle early a chance to start over with a clean slate for the second half. The format benefits teams that experience significant roster turnover which is common among Class A affiliated teams. Sometimes, it also allows players that get off to a slow start to start over and salvage their seasons, not to mention their prospect status in the eyes of the organizational scouts that will largely determine their futures in professional baseball. Cedar Rapids Kernels pitcher Hudson Boyd is one such player who has benefited from the chance to demonstrate improvement and versatility in the second half of the Kernels’ 2013 season. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Boyd1.jpg Boyd was selected in 2011 by the Minnesota Twins as a supplemental first round pick (55th pick overall) in the First Year Player Draft following his senior year of high school at Bishop Verot High School in Fort Myers, Florida. He had a scholarship offer to play baseball at the University of Florida, but ultimately signed with the Twins for a reported $1 million bonus and reported for his first season of professional baseball in 2012 at the Twins’ spring training facility in his home town of Fort Myers. The right-hander weighed 275 pounds the summer after graduating from high school in 2011, according to one Fort Myers media report. The Twins made no secret of their feelings that Boyd would need to work himself in to better shape to survive the long seasons inherent in professional baseball and Boyd had already trimmed several pounds by the time he was pitching for Elizabethton a year ago for the Twins' Rookie level team there. This spring, Boyd was listed at just 225 pounds spread over his 6’ 2” frame when he opened the season in the Kernels’ starting rotation. The new look didn’t translate in to instant success, however. In the first half of the season, Boyd posted a 1-4 record for the Kernels in twelve starts, with a 6.56 ERA. Hitters knocked Boyd around to the tune of a .284 batting average. “Yeah, I think I got a little too obsessed with (dropping weight),” Boyd said in an interview over the past weekend. “I think I was a little too light. I noticed my fastball (velocity) starting to drop.” In his first start of the second half of the season, on the road against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, Boyd went just five innings, giving up five earned runs on eight hits, while walking six batters and striking out just one. While Boyd was credited with the win as the Kernels topped Wisconsin 13-9, he was pulled from the rotation after that game and began working out of the Cedar Rapids bullpen. Since that time, in eleven relief appearances covering 21 1/3 innings of work, Boyd has thrown to a 1.69 ERA out of the bullpen, while striking out 16 hitters and holding batters to a .208 batting average. That turnaround alone would be quite a story, but the story doesn’t end there. With several of the Kernels’ starting pitchers nearing innings limits imposed by the Twins organization, the club’s pitching coach, Gary Lucas, has been faced with a need to pull some of the those pitchers from the rotation as the regular season winds to a close. That meant Lucas would need some members of his bullpen to replace those starters in the rotation. Boyd got the news a couple of weeks ago that he was going to be re-inserted in to the starting rotation. The news came as a bit of a surprise, according to Lucas, but Boyd has taken the switch in stride. “Whatever gives us the best chance to win,” Boyd said, “I was down with that.” His first game back in the rotation was a forgettable effort where he failed to survive the third inning, but since that game, he’s steadily improved. On Friday, Boyd threw seven strong innings against the Quad Cities River Bandits, the team the Kernels will be facing in the first round of the Midwest League Playoffs beginning Wednesday, September 4. Boyd gave up just three runs on four hits and a pair of walks on the night, while striking out four. Boyd seemed more comfortable than he was during most of his early-season starts. “I was able to get through seven, which was nice. Just trying to throw a lot more strikes than I was early in the year,” said Boyd. Boyd indicated he has also made some adjustments to his preparation process. “Being in the bullpen, I think I learned some things I didn’t really need to do. I kind of have a better routine and it hasn’t been that big of an adjustment to get back in to it.” http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Boyd1-480x600.jpg Boyd has been on the Kernels’ roster since Opening Day in April and, as has been the case with most of his team mates, he was quick to praise the local fan base. “It’s been pretty nice. The fans up here are great,” said Boyd. “They’ve been really supportive of our team all year, so it’s been pretty fun to see the big packed crowds we get. I’ve definitely pitched in front of more people up here than I ever have in my life. So it’s been a fun year.” Still, nobody could fault Boyd for being anxious for a promotion to the Class high-A Fort Myers Miracle. Everyone likes the look of the next rung on the organizational ladder, but that’s particularly the case when the next rung means getting to play in your home town. “Yeah, the next step up for us is where I’m from,” Boyd admitted. ”It’s where I live in the off-season. So, the next step up, I’ll just be going home.” Don’t look for Boyd to drop more weight as he prepares for next year, however. In fact, Boyd may look to put back on some of the weight he shed a year ago. If he does add weight, it will be, “good weight,” assured Boyd. “I’m more looking to put it on in my legs than anything - just trying to get a lot stronger in my legs.” This has been the 20-year-old’s first exposure to a full season of professional baseball, giving Boyd a sense of what his body needs to be prepared to endure. “Now, I know what it feels like in August, so I have something to prepare for,” said Boyd. It certainly has not been the kind of season a consensus top 20 Twins prospect might have been wishing for coming in to the season, but he’s accomplished at least one of his goals coming in to the year. Boyd’s fastball has always been highly regarded and scouts have rated his breaking ball as potentially a “plus” pitch, but coming in to the year, Boyd was determined, in his words, “to have a better change-up than I did last year. I feel like I reached that one. I feel like I’ve got a pretty good change-up now.” Adding an effective third pitch to his repertoire is important for any pitching prospect, but critically important for a pitcher with designs on being a future member of a Major League starting rotation. Of course, there are some goals Boyd hasn’t attained. Coming in to the season, he hoped to throw about 130 innings during the year, “but I don’t think I’m going to get there,“ Boyd conceded. “One of the goals I had was to throw a complete game,” added Boyd. “That’s still attainable.” But then there’s the big goal. “Hopefully, we’ll win the championship,” said Boyd. “That will be three rings in three years for me.” Boyd is among a number of Kernels players this season that were part of the Appalachian League championship team at Elizabethton last year. The year before that, Boyd’s high school team won the Florida state championship. Boyd pitched his team through the semi-final game and in to the championship. In the finals, Boyd found another way to contribute. “Won it on a walk-off. I had the walk-off,” Boyd said with a smile. So if fate found Boyd pitching for a National League team someday, would he look forward to an opportunity to swing the bat again? “As long as they only throw fastballs. I wasn’t too fond of those curve balls.” Boyd said he'd like to get a chance to start in the postseason, yet added, “but if they move me back to the bullpen, I’m comfortable doing that, too.” The first two rounds of the Midwest League playoffs are only best two out of three games. That means that a number of the Kernels' current rotation, including Boyd, won't get opportunities to start unless the Kernels progress to at least the second round. Jose Berrios and Brett Lee will start the Kernels' first two postseason games and Tim Atherton will get the call if there's a game three in the first round. Boyd will be back to bullpen duty in round one, but could still get a start in the second round if the Kernels advance. Click here to view the article

It may surprise some Twins and Kernels fans to learn that, even with the promotion of fan-favorite Byron Buxton on Sunday, the Kernels still have an outfielder in their line up that was ranked among the Top 10 prospects of the parent Minnesota Twins coming in to the season. The reason for the surprise is that few fans have seen that prospect on the ball field yet this year. Max Kepler was promoted to Cedar Rapids last week and arrived just in time to join the team for their trip to Appleton, Wisconsin to face the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. He had five hits in the four-game series and three of those hits were doubles. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Kepler1.jpg Max Kepler I ranked Kepler #9 on my list of top Twins prospects back on December 31, which was directly in between the #8 ranking he was given by mlb.com and the #10 ranking by Baseball America before the season started. He was expected to open the 2013 season as a member of the Kernels' outfield, but an elbow injury suffered during spring training resulted in Kepler being held back in extended spring training. Kepler is a native of Berlin, Germany, and was given an $800,000 signing bonus by the Twins in 2009, the same off-season that they signed Miguel Sano. That was the highest bonus ever given to a European player by a major league organization. Kepler was just 16 years old at the time of his signing and moved to the United States shortly after signin. He finished high school at the Fort Myers high school that adjoins the Twins' spring training facility. He has played for the Twins' short season rookie league teams the past three years and was expected to begin his first full season of minor league ball with the Kernels in April. I was covering the Kernels and Timber Rattlers series for Metro Sports Report over the weekend and I had an opportunity to interview Twins General Manager Terry Ryan before the Kernels game on Sunday. He shared some of his thoughts on Kepler. “Yeah, he’s had a bad elbow and it’s been frustrating for all of us because we can’t figure out what the problem is. Now he’s playing and he’s playing the outfield. He can play left, center and right. He can play first. He’s got a lot of life in his bat. We’ll wait for him to get up to par here, because he’s way behind everybody. But I think you’re going to like what you see in Kepler as the summer progresses.” You can read my entire interview with the Twins GM by clicking here. Kernels Manager Jake Mauer concurred with his boss. Mauer told me over the weekend, “Kepler's going to help us. He's going to be a pretty good hitter.” But just who is this young German outfielder? I had the opportunity to sit down with Kepler before Sunday's game in Wisconsin to ask some questions that may give fans some insight in to that question. SD Buhr: You were expected to open this season with the Kernels. Can you tell us what happened and what you've been doing the past couple of months? Max Kepler: I’ve been rehabbing. I’ve been set back three times and it was due to an elbow strain that happened during spring training. I made a throw to home and it just didn’t feel good in my elbow and I was taken out of the game right then and there. I got an MRI and got the results and it was said to be an elbow strain. We worked on it, but I’ve been set back a couple of times and that’s why I’ve been out for so long, which is unfortunate. But now I’m back! SDB: It had to be tough staying back in Florida while the guys you were training with and playing with in during spring training in March were going north to Cedar Rapids. Kepler: You know, it happens. Yeah, this is the same team we had back in E’town (Elizabethton, the Twins rookie league team that won the Appalachian League championship last season), so I missed leaving with them, but I’m glad to be back with them now. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/KeplerBrewerAutographs.jpg Max Kepler and Caleb Brewer sign some autographs SDB: I have to ask, you were growing up as a kid in Germany - why baseball? It’s not exactly the German national sport, right? Kepler: That’s true. I went to an international school and my mom’s from Texas, so she kind of got me in to baseball. I was doing like four to five sports at the time and it came down to soccer and baseball and I had to make a decision between either one. I just chose to go with baseball. I wanted to go to the States, go abroad. Soccer’s real big in Germany so I would have spent the rest of my life in Germany if I’d stuck to soccer. So, yeah, I went with baseball. SDB: You said you played four or five sports, what were the others that you were playing when you were younger? Kepler: I played soccer, baseball, I had a scholarship in tennis, I swam, played basketball and some minor little sports on the side. SDB: For a lot of the international guys, the down side to playing minor league baseball is that the family doesn’t get to watch them play a whole lot. Does your family find a way to follow you or get to see you play at all? Kepler: Yeah, you know the time zone is a lot different there so they’re up until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning just getting to see the first half of the game. But they love doing it and they’ll be down pretty soon, a couple weeks. SDB: I saw you in your first spring training with the Twins three years ago and I saw this skinny looking guy on one of the back fields. That’s not you anymore and the difference showed up a bit in your power numbers last year. Kepler: Yep. I gained some weight (laughing). It happens. I put on some weight and learned to pull the ball better in those couple of years and it paid off! SDB: Do you have a particular hitting philosophy? Do you see yourself as a power hitter or are you just concerned about driving the ball and if it goes over the fence, fine? Kepler: I used to strictly see myself as a contact hitter. I came to the Twins as a contact hitter, just going (opposite field) all the time. Now, basically, it’s just a start to a new season, first couple games, just see the ball right now and hit it. But when I’m in a groove, I like it to go far, the ball to go deep. SDB: Off the field, in your down time, what sort of things do you like to do when you’re not playing baseball? Kepler: I like staying active. Last year, in E’town, we used to go out on lakes, go fishing. E’town didn’t have much to offer, but we found stuff to do. SDB: What about during the offseason? Kepler: I love working out. Just getting back with friends and family. Spending a good time with family. SDB: Do you go back to Germany in the offseason? Kepler: Yes, that’s very valuable to me. I only get like a month because they (the Twins) usually send you somewhere to play winter ball. I spend most of that time with family. Kepler will make his home debut at 12:05 Tuesday afternoon when the Kernels open their first home series of the second half of the season against the Burlington Bees. SD Buhr covers the Kernels for MetroSportsReport.com in Cedar Rapids. Click here to view the article

By the end of the coming weekend, the Twins will have reached the one-quarter mark of the season with 40+ games under their belts. It’s as good a time as any to reflect upon how some of the decisions made by General Manager Terry Ryan in building the team’s roster have turned out. As a team, the Twins have been hovering over the .500 mark most of the season and, after Monday night’s win over the White Sox, they are one game over the break-even point. Over the weekend, Ryan told 1500ESPN that .500 wasn’t what he was looking for out of this team, that he wanted them to be contenders. It’s great, of course, for your team’s GM to say that kind of thing, but I think most fans would have been pretty satisfied with the prospects of a .500 year out of this Twins team.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] This article was originally posted Tuesday, May 14 at Knuckleballsblog.com. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/TerryRyan.jpg Terry Ryan (Photo: Knuckleballs/Jim Crikket) You also have to consider that those words were coming out of the same mouth that, last November, told TwinsDaily’s John Bonnes that the Twins would be pursuing one of the “pretty darn good” pitchers on the free agent market last season and then went out and made Kevin Correia and Mike Pelfrey the cornerstones of the team’s free agent class. In that same interview, Ryan also told Bonnes that he felt the free agent pitching market was, “thin,” when most of us felt there was a pretty solid group of middle-to-upper-half of the rotation arms available. Now, looking back over the first six weeks of the season, is it possible Terry Ryan was right? Back on November 20, I posted an article at Knuckleballs in which I shared my wish list of free agent pitchers for Ryan and the Twins to pursue. Other fans and writers were naturally sharing their own advice for the Twins GM about the same time. Let’s see how our suggestions have been panning out compared to the guys Ryan actually signed for the Twins. Not many of us were suggesting the Twins should (or even could) sign Zack Greinke, who eventually signed a six-year deal for $159 million with the Dodgers. Greinke was actually off to a decent start until he broke his collarbone (or rather, Carlos Quentin broke Greinke’s collarbone). Maybe Greinke will bounce back and pay dividends on his deal with the Dodgers, but I’m not sorry the Twins didn’t try to outbid the Dodgers for his services. I argued in my post that the Twins should go ahead and pursue not one, but two of the other big dogs among the free agent pitching class, Anibal Sanchez and Edwin Jackson. Sanchez is one guy who is putting up the kind of numbers you would hope for, so far, as his 2.05 ERA , 1.082 WHIP and 66 strikeouts in 52.2 innings would attest. However, he eventually re-signed with the Tigers (5 years/$88 million), so there’s certainly doubt as to whether he and his agent would ever have even considered a move to Target Field. Jackson, on the other hand, is not exactly earning his 4 year/$52 million contract with the Cubs. Yes, he’s striking out almost one batter per inning pitched, but otherwise, his 6.02 ERA and 1.569 WHIP are pretty close to what the Twins are getting out of Mike Pelfrey (6.03/1.689)… and Ryan is on the hook for about $48 million less than Theo Epstein owes Jackson. The third pitcher on my wish list was Joe Saunders. I felt the Twins needed another lefty in the rotation and while he wasn’t likely to be a headliner, Saunders looked to me like a good bet to be a solid middle of the rotation pitcher for the next couple of years. When he eventually signed with the Mariners for just one year and $6.5 million, I was pretty certain the Twins would regret not outbidding the M’s for Saunders’ services (though I recall there was some talk about Saunders not being interested in pitching for the Twins, regardless). Saunders has pieced together a 3-4 record despite a 5.51 ERA and a 1.521 WHIP. He’s struck out exactly as many hitters (20) as Correia has for the Twins, but has walked more than twice as many batters. Correia’s ERA (3.09) and WHIP (1.200) are certainly looking better than Saunders’. So maybe my ideas, outside of Sanchez, weren’t as good as I thought they were (and apparently not as good as the ideas Ryan and his staff were having at the time). But what about the other pitchers on the market last off season? With all of the talent we thought was out there, surely there must have been several pitchers that have turned out to make the GMs who signed them look smart. Many of the best options, like Sanchez, were re-signed by their 2012 clubs or, in some cases, had options picked up by their teams. But there were still a number of pitchers generating buzz among the Twins faithful. There was some chatter about Dan Haren, who ended up with the Nationals on a one-year deal for $13 million. He’s put up a 5.17 ERA and a 1.487 WHIP while striking out 27 batters in 38.1 innings over seven starts. That’s not real impressive to me, but hey, he does have a 4-3 record if that’s what you’re in to. Brandon McCarthy was also a hot commodity in the blogging world. He got a two-year deal from the D’Backs totaling $18 million. For that, he’s accumulated a 5.63 ERA, a 1.542 WHIP, and has gone winless. I’ve read that McCarthy has been “unlucky,” as reflected in a higher than average batting average on balls in play (BABIP). That’s fine. But if you buy that, you need to also give a couple of the Twins (such as Pelfrey and, to an even greater degree, Vance Worley) pitchers the benefit of the same doubt for their “bad luck.” Ryan Dempster got beat up a bit by the Blue Jays on Sunday, but I don’t think the Red Sox are doubting their two-year/$26.5 million investment too much, so far. He’s got a 3.75 ERA, even after giving up six earned runs to the Jays in five innings of work. His 1.146 WHIP is certainly competitive, but it’s his 61 strike outs in 48 innings that’s perhaps more impressive. Again, I don’t think there was ever any chance Dempster would sign with the Twins since he likely had more than enough suitors from among contending teams. Shawn Marcum, though, was certainly a guy that a number of Twins fans thought might be obtainable by the club. Marcum signed a one-year deal with the Mets for just $4 million. It turns out the Mets may have overpaid. Marcum has put up a nasty looking 8.59 ERA to go with a 2.045 WHIP. He’s thrown only 14.2 innings covering three starts and one relief appearance. Were you one of the fans touting Joe Blanton as a possible Twins rotation addition? If so, you might want to keep it to yourself. Blanton signed with the Angels for $15 million over two years and has repaid them with a 0-7 record covering eight starts. His 6.46 ERA and 1.870 WHIP would indicate his record is not terribly misleading. It’s starting to look like Terry Ryan’s assessment of the pitching market as “thin” might have actually been pretty accurate, isn’t it? But certainly there must be some success stories, right? Of course there are. If, while the rest of us were laughing at the absurdity of the Royals signing Jeremy Guthrie to a 3 year/$25 million contract, you were actually going on the record saying it was a shrewd move certain to pay dividends, give yourself a pat on the back. Guthrie is 5-0 with the Royals and while he’s not striking a ton of hitters out (30 Ks in 47.1 innings), he’s put up a 2.28 ERA and a 1.183 WHIP in his seven starts for the Royals. He’s gone at least six innings in every start and has one complete game shutout of the White Sox to his credit. Oh yeah, and the Royals are three games above .500 going in to Tuesday night’s games, 1 ½ games behind Division leading Detroit. Of course, Guthrie isn’t the only free agent pitcher making his GM look wise. Carlos Villanueva and Scott Feldman were among the pitchers Epstein added to the Cubs and it’s pretty clear that neither of them are primarily responsible for the Cubs being six games under .500. Villanueva sports a 3.02 ERA and a 1.007 WHIP, but has only one win in seven starts to show for his efforts. Feldman’s ERA is even lower, at 2.53 and his WHIP is a very respectable 1.148. He’s actually gotten enough support to put up a 3-3 record. Maybe I’m wrong, but I just don’t recall a lot of wailing about Terry Ryan allowing Villanueva and Feldman to slip through his fingers. And before you credit Theo Epstein for being so much more brilliant than Terry Ryan, take a look at what Epstein and the Cubs are getting in return for outbidding Ryan for the services of Scott Baker this season. Baker’s next pitch in a Cubs uniform (if he ever makes one) will be his first. There are probably a few more pitchers worth checking in on that are escaping me at the moment. But from the looks of things, I’m starting to think Correia and Pelfrey weren’t such bad ideas after all. I’m not convinced Correia will continue to perform at the levels of his first few starts, but I do think that as Pelfrey continues to work out the post-TJ-surgery kinks, he may actually improve as the year goes on. Even with the benefit of perfect hindsight, I’m not 100% sure I’d jump for joy at those free agent signings, but I certainly like the way they’ve turned out so far a whole lot better than most of the other options. Click here to view the article

A little over a year ago, I sat in the Cedar Rapids Kernels dugout before a Sunday game and did an interview with then-Kernels infielder Jorge Polanco - the same Jorge Polanco that just spent the past weekend wearing number 11 for the Minnesota Twins. I’d been told that, of the Kernels’ Latin American players, Polanco was one of those most familiar with the English language. Since the only familiarization I have with a foreign language comes from the two years of high school French class that I nearly flunked out of over 40 years ago, it seemed like a good idea to interview a player who knew my language better than I knew his. (This article orignally was posted at Knuckleballsblog.com) http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Polanco1.jpg Jorge Polanco as a Cedar Rapids Kernel Polanco was very accommodating. I approached him after the team worked out that day and asked if he had some time to talk. He said he did, but asked if we could do it after the brief chapel service players have on Sundays. After chapel, we met and sat in the dugout for the interview. The interview didn’t go particularly well and, unfortunately, I didn’t feel I had enough material to turn it in to something I could post at the time. I had only been covering the Kernels for a couple of months at that time and, frankly, my interviewing skills weren’t very strong. I’m not sure I’d say they’re particularly strong now, either, but I’m better at it than I was that Sunday afternoon with Polanco. I asked him what he felt the biggest difference was between his experience at Elizabethton (TN) with the Twins’ short-season rookie level team the year before and his season in Cedar Rapids. "More fans," Polanco responded. "A lot of fans." Neither of us knew then, of course, that just over a year later, he’d be playing ball in front of a crowd ten times larger than what he was seeing in the Cedar Rapids stands. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Polanco2.jpg Jorge Polanco We talked some about his home town, San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic. A "good town to live there," according to Polanco, and about his favorite Major League player. "Robinson Cano," Polanco replied immediately. "I like the way he plays. I would like to be like him. He’s a good person." I also found out during the conversation that the then-19 year old spent his time away from the ballpark in much the same way other 19 year olds spend their idle time. "I like to watch TV and play Playstation3 video games," he said. Then he added, "I like to play pool." Asked if he was any good at it, he smiled and simply said, "Yes." Unfortunately, he added that he had not yet found a place to play pool in Cedar Rapids. I imagine that probably didn’t change much during the summer, since it might be difficult for a 19 year old to get in to most public establishments with pool tables around here. Toward the end of our conversation, we talked about the adjustments that he and other Latino players have to make to play ball in a place like Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The food, he said, was probably one of the most difficult adjustments, but we also talked about the language barrier. Polanco clearly was working hard on learning English and wanted to get better. "I like it because all the people here - most all the people - speak English, so I try to do it." That’s when I made one of those off the cuff comments that I may come to regret. I went back to the audio recording of the interview this weekend, with the hope that perhaps my memory of what I said next was not quite accurate. I told Polanco I was starting to try to learn some Spanish. I should have left it at that. But no, I continued with, "When you’re in Target Field with the Twins in a couple of years, I’m going to come to a Twins game and we’ll talk in your language. Is that a deal?" He smiled and said, "Yes, alright." Last week, just about 13 months after my conversation with Polanco, he was called up to the Twins, who found themselves in need of a versatile infielder after a series of injuries to their infield corps. Fortunately, those games were all in Anaheim, California, and Arlington, Texas, and not in Target Field. I’m using that technicality as an excuse to conclude I still have some time before making good on my poorly thought out promise to Polanco. (I’ve learned my lesson, by the way. I’m NOT going to promise any of this year’s crop of Kernels players from "down under" that I’ll learn to speak Australian before they wear a Twins uniform.) It turned out to be just four games in The Show for Polanco, including one start on Sunday against the Rangers, before infielders Eduardo Nunez and Trevor Plouffe came off the Disabled List on Monday and Polanco was sent back to the Fort Myers Miracle. I don’t think anyone would have been surprised if Polanco had shown some jitters during his time with the Twins, but from all accounts, he looked like he belonged there. He had two hits (a double and a triple) in five at-bats, he scored two runs and drove in three more. He turned three double plays and, yes, he had a mental lapse on defense in a rundown situation. He’s not the first Twins player to have a mental lapse in the field this season. He also handled himself well with the media, as is clear from a video clip the St. Paul Pioneer-Press’ Mike Berardino posted over the weekend (click here to view) after Polanco recorded his first Major League hit. Over the first season and a half of the affiliation between the Twins and Kernels, we’ve seen several players that have legitimate Major League potential and Polanco was no doubt one of those guys. Fans in Cedar Rapids couldn’t be happier for Polanco, as the first Kernels player since the new affiliation agreement to reach the Big Leagues. Still, it’s unlikely that anyone thought he’d get even this kind of "cup of coffee" with the Twins this soon. But as one of this year’s Kernels told me recently, "Baseball is a goofy game." Indeed it is. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think it’s time for my next Spanish lesson. It seems I may need to accelerate my learning curve a bit. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Spanish.jpg [/hr]Twins beat the Royals on Tuesday so on Wednesday you can get a half price large or extra-large pizza at PapaJohns.com when using the promo code 'TWINSWIN'. Click here to view the article

Everyone who has ever played the game knows you simply do not anger the baseball gods. The baseball gods are a vengeful lot. Any kind of slight, whether real or perceived, can cause them to rain down bad karma on players, coaches, teams and even, apparently, entire organizations. Someone in the Minnesota Twins organization must have really ticked off those baseball gods back during spring training, because the Twins have had one calamity after another since March. That’s when arguably the top power-hitting prospect in the game, Miguel Sano, was lost for the season with a torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL), requiring Tommy John surgery. A couple of weeks later, the consensus top minor league prospect in baseball, Byron Buxton, injured his wrist in the outfield on one of the back fields of the Twins’ training complex in Fort Myers FL. In fact, the baseball gods must really have it in for Buxton because just days after he was activated by Fort Myers, they zapped his wrist again, sending him back to the DL. The Twins have had so many injuries at the major league level that they’ve routinely been sending out career infielders like Eduardo Escobar to play in the outfield over the past week. The Twins currently have four players on a disabled list of one kind or another. Others, including $23 million a year man Joe Mauer, have missed stretches of games with injuries despite avoiding a trip to the DL. However, the wrath of the baseball gods has perhaps been visited hardest upon the Twins’ Class A Midwest League affiliate, the Cedar Rapids Kernels. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Rosario2014a.jpg Randy Rosario - on the DL Cedar Rapids’ uniforms don’t have players names sewn on the back of their jerseys above the number. That’s probably a good thing this season, because the club may have needed to retain a seamstress full time just to keep up with the roster changes already during 2014. Roster turnover is not unusual in the minor leagues, of course. Players are promoted, demoted and even released at various points during the season, making it not at all unusual to see close to 50 different players take the field in a Kernels uniform at some point during the summer. A year ago, 49 different players (including Twins pitcher Mike Pelfrey on an injury rehabilitation assignment) put in time with the Kernels. But this year’s Cedar Rapids club is getting an unwelcome jump on the roster musical chairs game. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Pineda1-600x420.jpg Jeremias Pineda - on the DL On Tuesday, less than six weeks in to the new season, pitcher Jared Wilson became the 34th player to wear a Kernels uniform this year. Before the end of the first game of the Kernels' doubleheader Tuesday night, shortstop Engelb Vielma had been pulled from the game after coming up lame as he left the batter's box in the second inning and center fielder Jason Kanzler had been injured on a collision in the outfield. (UPDATE: After the 2nd game, Kernels manager Jake Mauer confirmed Vielma injured his hamstring and Kanzler likely has a concussion. Mauer said he expects both players to be placed on the disabled list and hopes to have replacements up from extended spring training in time for Wednesday night's doubleheader.) Of the 25 players who arrived in Cedar Rapids from spring training to start the current campaign, pitcher Brandon Peterson has earned a promotion to High-A Fort Myers, pitcher Miguel Sulbaran has been traded, pitcher Christian Powell has been released and seven original 2014 Kernels have spent some time on the club’s disabled list. If Vielma's name is added to that list, he would be the eighth. Centerfielder Zack Granite was hitting .313 for the Kernels just four games into the season when the baseball gods struck him down with a rotator cuff strain. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Larson4-450x600.jpg Zack Larson - on the DL About ten days later, catcher Michael Quesada fell to a right wrist contusion. Less than a week after Quesada was felled, outfielder Jeremias Pineda broke his wrist and pitcher Randy Rosario hit the DL with a left flexor mass strain. The game’s mystic guardians finally looked in other directions for almost two weeks before returning their attention to the Kernels with a vengeance and sidelining infielders Tanner Vavra (right ankle sprain) and Logan Wade (dislocated left shoulder), as well as outfielder Zack Larson (right hamstring strain), all during the first ten days of May. That’s an average of better than one player a week that manager Jake Mauer and his coaching staff have had to replace due to injury. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Wade2014a-600x449.jpg Logan Wade - on the DL So far, the nine players added to the Kernels’ roster as replacements from extended spring training have managed to avoid the DL, though Kanzler would break that string if he lands on the DL following his injury Tuesday. One replacement, Jonatan Hinojosa, was with the team only long enough to play in one game before finding himself suspended by Major League Baseball for having tested positive for a PED. http://knuckleballsb...5-3-475x600.jpg Michael Quesada - back from the DL Twins farm director Brad Steil must cringe every time his phone rings and he sees Jake Mauer’s name on the caller ID. Perhaps remarkably, Mauer has patched together line-ups that have managed to win more games than they’ve lost. In fact, with five weeks left in the Midwest League’s first-half race, the Kernels are right in the thick of the race for second place in the league’s Western Division and the automatic postseason spot that would come with it. The Kernels struggled through a tough six-game road trip during which they won just two of six games and they play just seven of their next 17 games at home, but both Quesada and Vavra have returned from their injuries. Even Quesada’s return, however, poses a peculiar challenge for his manager. The Kernels’ current active roster includes 13 pitchers and 12 position players, four of them catchers. Of course, at this level, it’s not unusual for catchers to play some first base. Which is good, because the Kernels’ regular first baseman of late, Chad Christensen, is likely going to be needed in the outfield. The arrival of JD Williams from extended spring training, where he’d been recovering from his own spring training injury (a broken thumb) has certainly provided a spark at the top of the Cedar Rapids batting order. http://knuckleballsb...14b-600x428.jpg Tanner Vavra - back from the DL After Monday night's doubleheader against Peoria was washed out, the Kernels were scheduled to play back-to-back doubleheaders against the Chiefs Tuesday and Wednesday. Going in to Tuesday night's games, Peoria sat in second place in the MWL West, just a half game ahead of Cedar Rapids. There were four more teams, however, bunched tightly together behind the Kernels and all of them have their eyes on the second Western Division postseason spot. (All photos: SD Buhr/Knuckleballsblog.com) [/hr]Because the Twins won yesterday, you can get a half price large or extra-large pizza today (Friday) from PapaJohns.com when you use the promo code TWINSWIN. Click here to view the article

A year ago, Jonathan Murphy was a 22-year-old 19th round draft pick out of Jacksonville University just starting his professional baseball career in the Minnesota Twins organization with the rookie-level Gulf Coast League team in Fort Myers. Today, Murphy is the primary leadoff hitter and center fielder for the Cedar Rapids Kernels. It’s not at all unusual for a second-year professional player drafted out of college to be spending time with the Kernels, but Murphy, the younger brother of New York Mets infielder Daniel Murphy, didn’t take the normal path to Cedar Rapids this season. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Murphy51.jpg Jonathan Murphy Murphy didn’t set the world on fire in his 52 games with the GCL Twins in 2012, hitting just .216 and reaching base at a .288 clip, so it’s probably safe to say that expectations for Murphy this season, based on last year’s results, were marginal, at best. Murphy started 2013 at extended spring training in Fort Myers while awaiting news of where he would be sent to begin his season. The rookie league team in Elizabethton, TN seemed logical or perhaps Class A Cedar Rapids would need an outfielder when Murphy was deemed ready to get his year started. But neither place was where Murphy found himself assigned. Instead, the High-A Fort Myers Miracle ran into a bit of bad luck with injuries and Murphy was dispatched across the parking lot from the back fields where the GCL Twins play to Hammond Stadium, home of the Miracle. "I was just in the right place at the right time. It had nothing to do with my own merit," Murphy explained during an interview over the weekend. "It just had to do with (the Miracle) had a lot of injuries and I happened to be the oldest guy, I think, running around in (extended spring training) so they decided to ship me over there." Regardless of the circumstances, Murphy valued the experience. "(Playing for the Miracle) was really a great opportunity for me. A great learning experience, too, just getting to go to a higher level like that and learn from some of those guys that have some experience and see what it's like to be a professional, with this being my first (full) professional season." Murphy indicated he definitely noticed the higher level of competition he’d been thrown into. "The game was moving pretty fast, but it was exciting. It was a challenge and an opportunity for me and I was appreciative of the organization for it." A few days after Twins top prospect Byron Buxton was promoted to Fort Myers, Murphy found himself assigned to the Kernels, essentially to replace Buxton in the Cedar Rapids outfield and, eventually, at the top of the Kernels’ batting order, as well. Was Murphy worried about replacing the top rated minor leaguer in America? "I was worried about him replacing me in Fort Myers," Murphy responded, laughing. "No, Byron’s a great guy and an unbelievable player. He’s got more talent than I’ll ever imagine having. To try to compare myself to him wouldn’t be real fair. He’s a great player and I’m just going to try to play the best that I can." Murphy certainly doesn’t see himself competing with Buxton. "Byron's a major league baseball player and I don’t think there’s a lot of doubt about that. He’s going to play in the major leagues. So, if I were to get caught up in trying to compare myself to him constantly, it would drive me crazy. "Basically, all I can do is show up every day and whoever is pitching that day, it's my job to compete against him and do the best I can. If I can do that every day and compete and be successful, then maybe I'll look up in a couple of years and find myself in the major leagues, too." Murphy knows there's no guarantee in his line of work, though. "Maybe (it will turn out) I’m not quite good enough. But all I can do is come out here and compete every day and as far as I'm concerned the pressure is taken off me. I have a job to do every day and however good I am and how much talent I have will dictate where I go as long as I put the effort forth." While not competing with Buxton, Murphy has filled in well for the departed star. Through the past weekend, Murphy was hitting .311 in his 23 games for the Kernels and had put up a .398 on-base percentage, while showing good range in the outfield. So, after spending a couple of weeks facing the Class High-A pitching, apparently Murphy is finding Midwest League pitchers relatively easy to hit, right? That question pulls a laugh from Murphy. "Not at all! You must not have come to many of the games! Oh, my goodness, no. There are still plenty of talented arms and talented pitchers. It’s been exciting, though, to have the opportunity to come here and get to play every day." http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Murphy1.jpg Jonathan Murphy goes through pregame baserunning drills as Jorge Polanco and Niko Goodrum wait their turns Murphy’s got one advantage that most minor league ballplayers don’t: an older brother who has already made it to the big leagues. Daniel Murphy is in his fifth season with the Mets and the two brothers are close. "We encourage one another," Murphy said. "We send each other texts. He had a day game yesterday and he had a real good day. I think he had like three or four hits. I (texted), 'I think you win today, I don’t think I’m going to be able to match that.' "Sometimes whenever we’re both going well, we'll try to encourage one another like, 'Hey, you got two today, I’ll try to join the party,' " Murphy added. "Then when we’re struggling, it's nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of and he's always there for me when I need him. It’s a great tool and resource to have for baseball and for life. He’s just been a good role model for me." Asked what he likes to do away from the ballpark, Murphy gave an answer quite different than most ballplayers give. "I just got engaged, so that takes up a lot of my free time, in a good way. We’ve been doing some wedding planning." Murphy and his fiancé chose October 12 for their wedding. "Right after the season. Hopefully, the Mets won’t be in the World Series. I think we’ll be OK there." Picking that date was a little dicey with a brother playing major league baseball, where mid-October is right in the middle of the postseason. The Mets, however, are having just about as much success this season as the Twins are, which is to say, not much at all. The timing was questioned by at least one member of Murphy’s family, however. "My dad sent me a text, 'What if the Mets are in the World Series?' I said, 'I think this year we’ll be OK dad.' " Murphy then smiled and almost mumbled, “I might catch some heat for that one.” But Murphy is clearly looking forward to the event as the culmination of an exciting year. "My family will be there, we’re going to have a nice small wedding. I’m really looking forward to it and excited that God’s really blessing both of us and it's been an exciting time in my life. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Murphy8.jpg Jonathan Murphy "Getting to come out (to the ballpark) and do something I love every day and now I’ve found a wife I’m going to get to spend the rest of my life with. So, I’ve really been blessed here in the last few months." Kernels players who have spent prior years playing at lower levels in the organization, or at Beloit during the last season or two of the Twins affiliation with the Snappers, have expressed their enthusiasm for the facilities and environment in Cedar Rapids. Murphy, however, has a different perspective, having arrived in town after playing at the next level up in the organization. The Fort Myers Miracle, after all, play their home games at Hammond Stadium, the spring training home of the parent Twins. That said, Murphy's assessment of the environment in Cedar Rapids is much the same as those who’ve moved up the ladder to reach the Kernels. "It’s unbelievable. Fort Myers was good and it was exciting, but as far as crowds go and the fans, they’re way better here. Just numbers-wise and they seem to care a lot more," said Murphy. "When I go around town and I run in to someone and I say, 'I play for the Kernels,' almost every single person has said, 'Oh, yeah, I went to a game last week,' or 'I love going to the Kernels games every once in a while.' " Murphy indicated that was not necessarily the case in Fort Myers. "It's definitely more of a community here. It's been enjoyable and the fans really care a lot. It makes it a lot of fun to play in front of them. They’re passionate." Click here to view the article

Download attachment: TRyan2014c.jpg During a routine physical exam early this year, Minnesota Twins General Manager Terry Ryan asked his doctor to take a look at a lump on his neck. Testing found Ryan to have squamous cell carcinoma. Ryan had surgery in February and has undergone radiation treatment. In the meantime, Assistant General Manager Rob Antony has filled in as the interim GM for the Twins, though Ryan has been in regular contact with Antony and others in the Twins front office. During the past Cedar Rapids Kernels homestand, Ryan was in town observing the Twins’ young Class A prospects and sat down Sunday morning for an interview that covered a range of topics. In Part 1, we’ll cover his return to work, his view of the current state of the Twins at the big league level and his thoughts concerning the upcoming MLB First Year Player Draft that kicks off Thursday, June 5. [/hr] Originally published at KnucleballsBlog.com [/hr]Usually a regular presence at spring training and all around the Twins minor league affiliates during most seasons, Ryan has understandably not been making those trips to this point this year. So the first question anyone would likely ask is, how is he feeling? “I’m feeling OK. This is my first trip. I wanted to come here (to Cedar Rapids) so just in case I couldn’t handle it, I could just get in my vehicle and come back, but I can handle it. “I’ve got a lot of physical therapy and a lot of rehab to go still. I’m doing that. But I’m OK, I’m fine, I’m fortunate actually.” Ryan indicated, however, that there still is no specific timetable for his return to full time General Manager duties. “I’m going back for the draft after this game today (Sunday). That’s a huge piece to our year. It’s one of the most important days to our entire year – maybe the most important. So I’ll be going back for the draft. That’ll be a huge step for me, because I’ve got to get acclimated to the players. “On an everyday basis, I’ve certainly been participating. I haven’t taken any road trips but that’s about all. And when we’re home, I’m usually at a game up there. So it’s not like I haven’t been involved. “(Rob Antony) has done a nice job. He certainly knows what he’s doing, he’s been around it. He’s been around Gardy a lot and he’s been around the team a lot. We’re in good hands. “Ultimately when the time is right, I’ll take a road trip and we’ll kind of make a seamless transition again. I’m not sure when that’s going to be, but it shouldn’t be down in the future too far.” Asked if that meant we should expect to see him back in the GM chair before the end of the current season, Ryan responded, “Yeah, no question.” As Ryan indicated, he was headed back up to Minneapolis after Sunday’s Kernels game to participate in the organizational preparations for the First Year Player Draft. The GM wouldn’t tip his hand concerning who the team is targeting with the fifth overall pick in the first round, but Ryan shared what he’d like to see accomplished in the draft. “Where we’re picking, everybody’s always trying to get the best guy. Nobody cares if they take a pitcher or position player. “It’s like when took (Byron) Buxton. Everybody thought we were going to take a pitcher. We didn’t. And I caught hell up there. It was ‘pitching, pitching’. Well, the guy is named minor league player of the year. We’ll take the best guy there. “This has got a little more pitching flavor to this draft. There’s not a clear cut number 1. There are a handful of guys that could go 1. But at 5, we’re sitting in a good spot. We’re going to get a good player or pitcher, it doesn’t matter which way we go. We’re going to take probably the best guy.” Ryan was asked whether this year’s high number of “Tommy John” injuries among pitchers across baseball makes him feel any greater inclination to draft heavy on pitching. “I’m guessing we will. We did last year. We did the year before. We’ll draft a lot of pitching just because of the attrition. We need to make sure we have numbers and competition. “Actually the depth and some of the talent in our organization is starting to lean toward pitching. We’ve got some pitching in AAA. We’ve got some arms that can run it up there with some velocity now, which is good to see. “But we won’t have enough, so we’ll take a bunch more. “I’d like to see us take more left-handed pitching. That would be my preference. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the first guy, but that wouldn’t bother me either. “For me, left-handed pitching is a commodity that’s very difficult to come by. You’ve got to take it and hopefully develop a few of them and get lucky with a few of them. If we took a lot of left-handed pitching, I would be very pleased.” While his trip to Cedar Rapids was his first road trip of the season, Ryan has seen a lot of the parent club’s home games in Minneapolis. The Twins have hovered near the .500 mark through most of the season and just completed a rare series win over the Yankees in New York over the weekend. Ryan was asked for his impressions of the Twins’ performance so far. “We’re better. It didn’t help us when (Josh) Willingham and (Oswaldo) Arcia both went down at the same time. Although at that time, we were scoring runs. (Chris) Colabello carried us for a month, maybe more. We’ve had trouble offensively again this past month. “Our pitching is improved, our hitting went the other way. It was directly opposite in April. We’re a better club. We’ve got more depth. “We’ve had a couple of pleasant surprises, particularly (Eduardo) Escobar. He’s kind of emerged and looks like he might want to take that shortstop job. I think (Trevor) Plouffe has improved. (Kurt) Suzuki has been a good addition. (Phil) Hughes has been a good addition. Unfortunately, we lost (Mike) Pelfrey, again. But we’re better. “We’re competitive. We have not embarrassed ourselves, maybe a game here or there, but not too much. Unlike last year when we were out of games in the fifth (inning) a lot. “We do have some chemistry and character on this club that seems to mesh pretty well . When you go to the park, you feel pretty good. At least we’re going to be a competitive team in this game. That’s a big difference. “The one constant, our bullpen has been pretty good over the last number of years. (Glen) Perkins in the back side of that thing has solidified that. “We’ve got a handful of guys up there that people didn’t see last year, which is kind of neat. Between (Josmil) Pinto and Escobar and (Danny) Santana and (Caleb) Theilbar and Arcia, all those guys are 20-25 or so. “We’re getting there. We’ve got a ways to go. What we’ve done the last three years has not been good at all, but we are getting there. It’s going to take a little bit more.” Tomorrow, in Part 2, Ryan shares some of his observations concerning the Cedar Rapids Kernels and the challenges they’ve faced this season. [/hr]Twins beat the Yankees on Sunday, so you win today. Get 50% of a Large or XL pizza at PapaJohns.com when using the promo code 'TWINSWIN'. Click here to view the article

It's the top of the seventh inning and his team is leading by two runs. There are two outs, but the bases are loaded with opposing base runners. It's the kind of situation the best relief pitchers almost seem to relish coming in to face. Lefty Steve Gruver and right-hander Tyler Jones have been among the most reliable bullpen arms in the Midwest League this season and have presented a formidable lefty-righty combination out of the Kernels bullpen.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/JonesGruver.jpg Kernels relief pitchers Tyler Jones (35) and Steve Gruver ® Gruver was one of eight Kernels named to the Midwest League All-Star Game in June and on Friday night it was Gruver who entered the game with two outs and the bases loaded, determined to protect that two-run Kernels lead. Gruver would like to forget the moments that followed, as Tyrone Taylor launched a grand slam home run off a pitch that found its way too close to the middle of the plate and put the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers up by an 8-6 score. Gruver finished the final 2 1/3 innings of the game for Cedar Rapids and the Kernels scored once in the eighth inning, but it wasn't enough, as they lost to Wisconsin 8-7. (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com) The next day, on Saturday afternoon, before the Kernels took on the Lumber Kings in Clinton, Gruver, who was drafted by the Twins out of the University of Tennessee in the seventh round of the 2011 First Year Player Draft, talked about the life of a professional relief pitcher. SD Buhr: Steve, this is your second year in the Midwest League and you spent time in Beloit last year both as part of their starting rotation and pitching out of the bullpen, correct? Steve Gruver: Most of the year, I started and then toward the end of the year, actually right around this time, I went to the bullpen. SDB: Was that primarily to limit the number of innings on your arm? I know they had a few guys that pitched in both roles last year. Gruver: There were a few, but mainly for me, my velocity started dropping a little bit and I had a few bad outings in a row. So I was just trying to get back in to not thinking and just trying to throw hard and get my velocity back up a little. SDB: Coming in to this year, did the Twins tell you that this is your role, working out of the bullpen, or did they tell you to be prepared for anything again? Gruver: It was kind of be prepared for anything. They don’t really let you know too much. They want you to be prepared for anything. They want you to be able to be versatile and come out in any role so I’ve kind of kept it open and like there was a chance to do anything really. SDB: Do you have a particular preference, now that you’ve done both? Is there one role you prefer over the other? Gruver: I enjoy both. I’m not too picky, as long as I’m pitching. I try to treat every inning as just one inning at a time, whether I’m trying to go six or seven that day or just one. I try and look at it the same, whether I’m starting or relieving. SDB: The preparation between games has to be a little different, though, right? Gruver: There’s differences in the preparation between the two and I try and keep that the limit of the differences. But there are definitely differences there. Starting, you have four or five days in between each start, so it’s a little bit more logistical, I guess, in how you prepare. You have a little bit more of a plan going through each day, on what you do each day in your bullpens in between when you pitch. When you’re in the pen, you kind of have to let it fly. You never know. You could pitch two, three days in a row sometimes. So you don’t have those days in between to throw pens and work out as much. You kind of have to have somewhat of a loose routine when you’re coming out of the pen, compared to a starter routine, which would be very strict and kind of a more day-to-day basis. SDB: As a starter, your pitching coach can work with you between starts, maybe work on a new grip for one of your pitches. How do you go about making those sorts of adjustments as a reliever when you don’t know whether you’re going to have to pitch that night or not? Gruver: You have to limit your pitches. You have to really be diligent in what you do and every pitch has to matter when you’re in a relief role. When you’re trying to get that extra work in, you have to use every pitch. I may only throw 10 pitches in my bullpen when I go out, but I try and make sure every pitch counts and I have a plan for each pitch so that every time I throw, I’m getting something out of it. SDB: What about the mental approach to relieving, as opposed to starting? Out of the bullpen, you have to be prepared to go in either to start an inning or with guys on base. Gruver: I enjoy that. I enjoy having that excitement, especially when you come in with guys on base. It’s a do or die situation and it kind of gets you focused, it gets you excited and it kind of gets your heart rate up a little bit. Starting is different. Starting, you have to be a little bit more under control. You’re starting the game and you know that you’re the one the team is counting on to get through the long innings. There are different approaches to it, but both are exciting in their own way. SDB: Which leads us to last (Friday) night. Bases loaded, you come in and second pitch didn’t go where you wanted it to go. At least it didn’t end up where you wanted it to end up. Gruver: No, it didn’t. The pitch didn’t go where I wanted it to go, either. I made a bad pitch and he got the best of me on that one. As a relief pitcher, that’s got to just disappear from your mind, because tonight they may call on you again in the same situation and you can’t go in there thinking about what happened last time. Even closer to the situation, I had to go two more innings afterward. I had to get out of that situation and tell myself we can still come back. I have to be able to put that behind me and keep going through the game, just in case we score. We were only down two and still had a chance to come back. If that was still on my mind, I could have given up two or three more runs the next innings and really blown it. You have to have a very short memory in those situations. SDB: You said you enjoy that aspect of being a relief pitcher, of always being ready. Is that part of it, too, knowing there’s a little bit of a mental challenge to have that short memory? Gruver: Yeah, that’s definitely something that’s tough for a lot of guys, but it is exciting. When you can push through that, you feel good even in a bad situation like that. You feel good coming out of it, knowing that you got through it. You really tell yourself it's not the end of the world. So next time, you might come in a little bit more relaxed and get out of that situation. SDB: There are some who believe that it takes greater mental fortitude to be a late-inning reliever, as opposed to a middle reliever. Do you look at it that way or does it really not matter when you go in to a game? Gruver: I try not to make it matter. I try and take every inning as the same. Really, you can break it down in to one pitch at a time, even less than an inning. I'm trying to throw that one pitch, whether you're up five or down five, you're trying to make that one pitch at a time. If you're coming in during the fourth inning, you tend to be either up a lot or down a lot, so there is a little bit less pressure sometimes. You can come in and try to pound the zone a little more, knowing that even if you give up one or two that you're still going to be in the game or you're not inherently affecting the game, where coming in in the eighth or ninth, a lot of times the game's on the line. But, overall, you try and look at it the same way. SDB: There's a perception that it may take a guy less time to reach the big leagues as a relief pitcher than as a starting pitcher, particularly for a lefty. Does that influence your preference as far as your role or do you even think about that kind of thing? Gruver: It's not my decision. I do what they tell me and I'm happy to be in whatever role, as long as I'm still playing. And If I'm moving up, it doesn't really matter to me what role I'm in. SDB: Tell me a bit about how you're finding the Cedar Rapids experience this year. Is there anything in particular about playing in Cedar Rapids that stands out to you? Gruver: I really enjoy the fans. They get behind us a lot. The games are always exciting in that way. It's always loud and the fans get in to it. When we're playing well, the fans let us know. It's fun to hear a loud crowd. When you're on the field and something good happens, the fans get in to it just as much as you do. SDB: Off the field, do you have hobbies or other interests? What do you enjoy doing when you're not at the ballpark? Gruver: I enjoy some movies. I enjoy being outside a lot. Anything I can. Playing other sports, but I really can't do that in the season. In the season, in the time I'm not at the field, I enjoy some movies. I enjoy reading a lot, especially with all the road trips we have and all the time on buses, I'm really getting in to some books. I enjoy that a lot. SDB: Do you have a favorite movie? Gruver: One of my favorites is “Shawshank Redemption.” It's a classic favorite. ************************************ Speaking of redemption... On Monday night in Clinton, In Gruver's first appearance since Friday's tough loss, Gruver entered the game in the fifth inning with the Kernels trailing Clinton 3-1. He threw three shutout innings, giving up just two hits and one walk, while striking out three Lumber Kings hitters, while his teammates came back to take a lead and earned Gruver his fifth win of the season. SD Buhr covers the Cedar Rapids Kernels for MetroSportsReport.com. His alter-ego, Jim Crikket, opines about the Twins and Kernels at Knuckleballsblog.com. Click here to view the article

The big All-Star bash in Minneapolis is behind us now and by most accounts, it was somewhere between very successful and close to perfect. I saw the Futures Game/Celebrity Softball Game in person on Sunday and watched the Home Run Derby and ASG on the tube. My conclusion is that, while I wouldn't say it was all perfectly staged and performed, the Twin Cities and those from MLB and the Twins who were involved all did themselves proud. It was the kind of event that could make us feel proud to call ourselves Twins fans (and there haven't been many events like that over the past few years). A list of the things I didn't like would be short. Too much Jeter (but we knew there would be) and too little Gwynn (none at all, really). I also really didn't like the special caps for the ASG. That just seems like an over-the-top money grab by MLB to sell more stuff. I'd rather see the players in some version of their regular uniforms, including the cap. (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com) The rain delay at the HR Derby on Monday sucked. But the rainbow over the Plaza almost made the rain delay worthwhile in itself. I'm sure there were a few people moaning about the lack of a roof, but I think most of us stopped listening to those idiots years ago. The new HR Derby format didn't exactly work the way people thought (or hoped) it would. Oh well, try something different next time. I had some family with me this trip and that meant visits to the Mall of America on Friday night and Saturday. I know a lot of people roll their eyes at going to MOA, but I've never been too averse to it. Walking around the Mall brings back some memories of visits there when our kids were young and it was a bit of an adventure. I tire quicker these days, of course, but I've never had trouble finding an open bar stool for a rest and I rested at the Sky Deck Grille and Kokomos for quite a bit of my time at MOA. Sunday, the family got in some pool time at the hotel before we hopped on the light rail to Target Field for the Futures Game. It was my 11-month old grandson's first venture in to a swimming pool and his first time at a Big League ballpark. So that was cool. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Jack1-300x171.jpg grandson Jack in the hotel pool We pretty much took over the first row of Section C in the Legends Club for the Sunday activities. Getting through a full Futures Game, a half hour or more "intermission" and a six-inning softball game with various interviews slowing things down between innings was a bit much for me, so I have no idea how an 11-month old endured it, but he did. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Jack2.jpg My grandson's first trip to Target Field. Kind of gave "Futures Game" a different meaning to me. I enjoyed watching Kennys Vargas and Alex Meyer and I was really excited to see Jose Berrios start for the World team. When the Twins announced their affiliation with the Cedar Rapids Kernels starting in 2013, I started looking forward to being able to see guys I'd been watching in Kernels uniforms play in Target Field. Berrios was the first of the 2013 crop of Kernels I got to see there and it just has me even more anxious to see the arrival of a few of his Kernels teammates with the Twins in coming years. All three of the Twins prospects did just fine in the game. Nobody "starred," but that's OK. Let's not forget, these three guys aren't the organization's top 3 prospects, but they held their own (or better). The future is bright for the Twins, if I can just manage to live long enough to see it. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Berrios-FG-2.jpg Jose Berrios, former CR Kernel, future Minnesota Twin The cramped rail-ride back to Bloomington was probably the worst part of the day, but at least I could collapse at the hotel when it was over. Monday morning, we packed up and headed back to Cedar Rapids, getting there well before the HR Derby's scheduled start. Of course, it turned out the actual start was delayed about an hour by rain anyway. The ovations for Justin Morneau and Brian Dozier were terrific and I thought the crowd did a nice job of showing appreciation for all the participants. I felt a bit bad for Yasiel Puig. I'm not sure if he just was too amped up or what. And did nobody tell him he should enlist his favorite BP pitcher to throw to him? Odd. Anyway, I suspect he'll do better in a future Derby. If I'm being completely honest, I was just really glad it wasn't Morneau or Dozier that got shut out. I watched the first couple innings of the All-Star Game itself at my favorite local bar. They had music playing, so I was spared the need to mute the TV. Of course, that meant I missed what most seem to think was a pretty good National Anthem (though FOX totally blew off the Canadian Anthem, which I thought was tacky on their part). Looked like a great flyover, too. I love those. I guess I have to give my thoughts on the Jeter-fest. I'd like to get a real good case of Jeter-hate up, but I just can't. Yes, I hate the Yankees and that's largely because of Yankee fans, so it's usually pretty easy for me to really dislike individual Yankee players. But I reserve most of my dislike for the mercenaries who grab the Yankee dough after spending their best years elsewhere. Jeter didn't do that. And, at least at the ballpark, from what I can tell, he's conducted himself in a pretty honorable manner through the years. I can appreciate that, even in a Yankee. Is he over-rated? Oh yeah, definitely. But playing for the Yankees isn't always easy, as others have found out, so maybe a guy who plays there and plays very well for 20 years should get a little credit for that. That said, I would agree that his career warranted an ASG send off closer to the one Chipper Jones got. It just wasn't realistic to expect that would happen. So, I thought he, MLB, the Twins and the Target Field crowd did about the best job that could have been expected of balancing proper appreciation with he inevitable ESPN/FOX overkill of the situation. I admit, too, that I was pleasantly surprised that Mike Trout got the ASG MVP award, rather than Jeter. Again, some bias there at seeing another former Kernels player out-do the "face of baseball." By the way, that whole "face of baseball" thing is a crock. First, there IS no face of baseball. This isn't the NBA and we don't need hyped up media megastars to survive. Trout is the best player in the game and he's only 22 years old (for about another month), but the media will never allow him to reach the hype level of Jeter - because he's not a Yankee. It's really that simple. There will be no more "face of baseball" hype until the next time there's a Yankee with the pedigree to allow Yankee fans, MLB and ESPN to bang the drum loud enough to proclaim him as such. Hopefully, that will take a REALLY long time. Like forever. It was good to see Pat Neshek participating. You can't help but feel just how important this unimportant game was to him after all he's been through. Sure, there were more deserving pitchers that could have been selected (but not as many as some people think), but as long as you're going to give the ASG manager some latitude on picks, you're going to get some picks based on his emotions and if that's going to happen, I'd rather see it happen to guys like Neshek than some others. I did think he could have done without the bit of Twins front office-bashing he did to the media over the weekend, but he probably has good reason to feel the way he does. Heck, I really wish I could complain that letting Neshek go was the worst decision the Twins have made the last few years. It's too bad Neshek got saddled with the loss. His 3B (I don't even remember who it was) sure didn't do him any favors with his defense on Trout's double down the left field line. The game was at least interesting. Plenty of stars performed well under the spotlight. Some did not (I'm looking at you Robinson Cano). All in all, as I said, it was an event Twins fans can be proud of. I took a few pictures on Sunday, so I'll share some of them here. - JC http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/ClydesdalesFG.jpg Best thing about Budweiser beer http://knuckleballsb.../Meyer-FG-4.jpg Alex Meyer http://knuckleballsb.../Oliva-FG-3.jpg Tony Oliva with the first pitch before the Futures Game http://knuckleballsb...ivaVargasFG.jpg Tony Oliva threw out the first pitch to Kennys Vargas http://knuckleballsb...Vargas-FG-6.jpg Kennys Vargas http://knuckleballsb...eerMachines.jpg The self-serve beer machines seemed to really clog up the concourse. Not sure if it was the people using them or the people gawking at them. http://knuckleballsb...ingers-SB-1.jpg Rollie Fingers http://knuckleballsb...gerald-SB-1.jpg Larry Fitzgerald http://knuckleballsb...onPiazza-SB.jpg Mike Piazza and Ricky Henderson http://knuckleballsb...arsise-SB-1.jpg Zach Parise http://knuckleballsb...terson-SB-1.jpg Adrian Peterson Click here to view the article

Go ahead and underestimate Cedar Rapids Kernels outfielder Jason Kanzler. He’s used to it. Having to show people they’re wrong about him is nothing new. ”I think I’ve done that my whole life, pretty much,” Kanzler said. “I was never really at the top on anyone’s priority list. I wasn’t recruited out of high school. I tried to walk on at Northeastern University and I was cut after two weeks. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Kanzler2014a.jpg Jason Kanzler "Then I went to Buffalo as kind of a recruited walk-on and I didn’t play. I guess my red-shirt freshman year, I got 10 at-bats.Then I platooned a little in left and right my sophomore year." That's not exactly the kind of start to a college baseball career that you'd expect for a guy with hopes of playing ball professionally. Things turned around for Kanzler his next two seasons at the University of Buffalo, however. "I started in center field my junior and senior year and won two Gold Gloves so I kind of shoved it up in everyone’s faces." If you think it sounds like Kanzler has a little chip on his shoulder over people underestimating him, you would be correct. Kanzler spent spring training with the Class A group, but got word the last week of camp that he would not be heading north to Cedar Rapids with the others. Asked how he felt about being one of the final cuts to the Kernels' roster as spring training drew to a close in March, he quickly answered the questioner and didn't hesitate to say exactly how he felt about it. ”I was the last guy,” he said. And he said it without a trace of a smile. “I was angry, I was really angry,” he admitted. “The coaches down in extended (spring training) told me to cool it and I’ll get my chance eventually.” You get the sense from Kanzler that "cooling it" isn't something that comes very naturally to him on a baseball field. In fact, in the game the evening after giving the interview, Kanzler was ejected for arguing a called third strike late in the game. In any event, he didn't have to cool it for very long this spring before he was given a plane ticket for Cedar Rapids. Four games into the season, Kernels center fielder Zack Granite was injured and Kanzler got the call. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Kanzler2014c.jpg Jason Kanzler Granite rejoined the Kernels last week, but it wasn't Kanzler's roster spot he took. Instead, Ivory Thomas was given his unconditional release by the Twins to make room for Granite and Kanzler in the same outfield. At the Midwest League's All-Star break, the halfway point of the Kernels' season, Kanzler is hitting .293 with an .813 OPS. He has five doubles, five triples and one night after his ejection he hit his seventh home run of the year. He has also stolen 10 bases. Kanzler was utilized as a top-of-the order hitter when he first arrived in Cedar Rapids, but the power he’s demonstrated has resulted in a move toward the middle of the lineup. How could power go unnoticed? "I’m not a 'guy' really. Just an ‘extended guy’," Kanzler explained. "I was hurt for 14 days during spring training with a hamstring, so I really only got to play like ten spring training games." The pop in his bat may have surprised others, but not Kanzler. “I knew I had it. I think it makes me even more mad that no one else really knew,” he said. Kanzler has let his play convince others he’s more than just a defensive specialist and slap hitter. “I guess I could show it off in BP a little bit,” he said, “but they kind of figured I was just a speed guy with good defense and once you get pigeon-holed, it’s hard to kind of climb your way out.” Kernels hitting coach Tommy Watkins knows Kanzler has a bit of a chip on his shoulder and that the player uses it to his advantage. “I think that’s one thing that motivated him, being the last guy left off the team,” Watkins said. “From talking to him since he’s been here and in spring training, I think he’s been a guy that people have always told him he couldn’t do it, so he set himself out to prove everybody wrong. “If you tell him he can’t do it, he’s going to work 10 times harder to prove you wrong.” Asked about his goals for this season before the year started and whether they have changed at all with his performance in Cedar Rapids, Kanzler was thoughtful with his responses. "I think my goals are just to play my game," he responded initially. "I think if I play my game, everything will kind of work itself out. I guess my main goal is to play excellent defense and kind of be a spark plug. I kind of like to do a little bit of everything. So whether it’s hit a home run or steal a base or make a diving catch, I just like to play the game hard." Watkins thinks Kanzler's on the right track with that goal. "I think for him just to work on his overall game," Watkins said. "He’s a guy that has tremendous tools, all of them. He can hit, hit with power, he can run, he can throw. He’s got all the tools, it’s just fine-tuning all of them and have them show in the game." Of course, Kanzler has longer term goals, too. "My goal is to get to the big leagues, but that’s more like a dream than a goal right now. Still a few too many steps away to be a goal yet." A native of upstate New York, Kanzler added another potential goal before he reaches the Big Leagues, "Fill up the Red Wings' stadium." "Maybe my (short term) goal would be to make a post-season all-star team and help the Kernels win the second half and get in the playoffs and win the playoffs. "I like that. I like to win." http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Kanzlerslide2014.jpg Jason Kanzler goes in hard to break up a double play Kanzler and his teammates aren't accustomed to looking at the standings and seeing their team near the bottom. They don't like it much. "Yeah, I think especially because we have, I think, a lot more talent than a lot of the teams that are above us. We have so many games where we can’t put everything together. One or two things go right instead of all three." As intense as Kanzler can be on the field, he's capable of relaxing and enjoying his time away from the ballpark. Recently, that included a trip to a local music store with teammate and Cedar Rapids native Chad Christensen. "He (Christensen) bought a guitar and I bought a ukulele," Kanzler related. "So I’ve been practicing my ukulele a little bit. Ryan Walker has a banjo and it’s amazing. It’s an instrument I’d like to learn." How's that ukulele coming and does it sound good with Christensen's guitar? "No we haven’t tried that. The guitar is too loud and they don’t collaborate well I don’t think. "Chad’s been learning mostly country songs and I’ve been learning video game songs, like Mario and Zelda. That’s my kind of thing. Just fun little stuff." You get the feeling that all it would take for Kanzler to become the best ukulele player ever would be for someone to tell him he can't do it. Click here to view the article

June has not been kind to the Cedar Rapids Kernels. As a team, they’ve lost a dozen games this month and won just six. The first half of the season mercifully drew to a close a week ago, but the Kernels started off their second half season by dropping three of four road games to the Midwest League’s Western Division champions, the Kane County Cougars. Silver linings are a little difficult to come by for a team that most people expected to be led by their pitching when the season opened, only to find themselves with the 15th ranked team ERA (4.83) in the 16-team Midwest League. [/hr] This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com [/hr] There are a handful of bright spots as the Kernels begin the race for a postseason spot that would come with finishing as one of the top two teams in the MWL Western Division among the six teams that have not already qualified for postseason play. The brightest of those bright spots might be catcher Mitch Garver. So far in June, Garver is batting .364, has an on-base percentage of .500 and an OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) of 1.045. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Garver2-469x600.jpg Mitch Garver According to TwinsDaily.com's Seth Stohs, heading in to this week’s series in Peoria, Garver is among the Twins minor league organizational leaders in batting average (2nd), on-base percentage (1st), slugging percentage (3rd), OPS (2nd) and home runs (tied for 4th with teammate Bryan Haar). Cedar Rapids native Chad Christensen has also shown he can handle Class A work. He is hitting .323 in June and has a .963 OPS. He’s had eight extra-base hits in the month, including four home runs. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Christensen2-600x449.jpg Chad Christensen Christensen’s .299 batting average ties him for fourth among all Twins minor leaguers. But Garver and Christensen can’t win games by themselves. Most of the rest of the Kernels’ batting order have seen their hitting numbers drop considerably in June. The Kernels could get some offensive help as some of the hitters that have been idled by injuries begin to return. That process has begun already as outfielder J.D. Williams was activated from the disabled list on Tuesday. Zach Larson, Logan Wade and Jeremias Pineda remain on the club’s DL for now. Larson, in particular, could provide an offensive boost if he can get healthy and return to the level of productivity he demonstrated in April when he hit .307 for the Kernels. Unless you’re a fan who worships strikeout numbers for pitchers, there has been nothing to complain about in starting pitcher Kohl Stewart’s performance thus far. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Stewart5-600x449.jpg Kohl Stewart Stewart’s 2.44 ERA on the season would be good enough for fourth best in the league if he had enough innings to qualify (he’s one inning short, which should be more than met in his next scheduled start on Wednesday). Stewart has continued to lead the rotation with a 1.13 ERA in three June starts, with batters putting up just a .236 batting average against him this month. To find anything else resembling “bright” among the Cedar Rapids pitching corps, it’s necessary to turn to the bullpen, which has had its own share of ups and downs through the first half of the season. Todd Van Steensel perhaps represents the best of the “ups” for the bullpen corps recently. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/VanSteensel3-600x449.jpg Todd Van Steensel Van Steensel has put up a 1.67 ERA since joining the Kernels at the end of April. He has struck out 35 batters in 27 innings of work and opponents are hitting just .179 off the right hander. Alex Muren has been among the team’s most consistent bullpen arms, assembling a 3.43 ERA on the year and a similar 3.48 ERA so far in June. This month, hitters are batting just .171 against Muren. He’s thrown 10.1 innings in five June appearances. All four runs surrendered this month came in one forgettable appearance on June 15. http://knuckleballsb...en3-600x439.jpg Alex Muren Brandon Bixler had two good months in April and May, but has been less consistent in June. He has a 3.13 ERA on the year and hitters have just a .201 batting average against him. He’s struck out 39 batters in 40.1 innings. Jared Wilson’s year has been similar to Bixler’s. Since joining the Kernels in mid May, Wilson has put up a 2.49 ERA and a .197 BAA (batting average against), while striking out over one batter per inning pitched. He’s been somewhat inconsistent in June, with three outings where he was almost unhittable and three others where he gave up almost an earned run per inning. The Kernels bullpen could be in for a boost, however. On Tuesday, the Twins announced that they had signed Nick Burdi, their second round pick in the 2014 draft, and that Burdi will be joining Cedar Rapids on Friday. Burdi, the closer for a University of Louisville squad that qualified for the College World Series, reportedly throws in the 96-98 mph range and is capable of regularly topping 100 mph with his fastball. Expectations for the Kernels coming in to the season were modest, but a seventh place finish in the MWL Western Division first-half standings was a disappointment. Garver and Christensen will need some of their teammates to step up their games and the Kernels rotation will need to start contributing more than three or four innings of solid pitching on a regular basis if the team expects to contend for a postseason berth in the second half of the year. Click here to view the article

As the Cedar Rapids Kernels wrap up the final stretch of the first half of their 2014 Midwest League season, the parent Minnesota Twins sent them some needed starting pitching help in the form of two teenage pitching prospects. Australian 18-year old lefty Lewis Thorpe and right-hander Fernando Romero, a 19-year old out of the Dominican Republic joined the Kernels from extended spring training last week and both were immediately inserted in to the starting rotation by manager Jake Mauer and pitching coach Ivan Arteaga. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Thorpe4.jpg Lewis Thorpe Thorpe was the 6th ranked prospect in the Twins organization by MLB.com during the offseason and #7 on Baseball America’s list of Twins top prospects. Romero was also among the organization’s top 15 prospects by both organizations coming in to the year. Romero was the first of the pair to debut, getting a start on Thursday on the road in Appleton WI against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. The righty went five full innings, giving up a pair of earned runs on seven hits and one walk. He struck out six Rattler batters. The Kernels lost the game 7-4 but Romero got a no-decision, leaving the game with the score tied at 2-2. Thorpe had less luck in his first start with the Kernels, picking up a loss in Kane County on Saturday as the Kernels fell to the Cougars, 5-2. All five runs were charged to Thorpe and all were earned. He gave up six hits, walked three and struck out just one batter in 4.2 innings. It makes for an ugly stat line for Thorpe, but that’s more than a little misleading. One very close pitch at the knees being called ball four instead of strike three was the difference between escaping the fifth inning relatively unscathed and getting the hook. He left the game with two runs across and bases loaded in the home half of the fifth inning, but all three baserunners came around to score after he departed. Afterward, Arteaga agreed that Thorpe looked much better than his stat line would indicate. “He got through two outs in the fifth inning, but just ran out of gas, unfortunately,” said Arteaga. “I think he deserved better. His line doesn’t say what he actually looked like. One thing is his line, but another thing is what he actually did and how he looked. “He had poise. Obviously he needs a little work with the breaking ball but his fastball (command) isn’t going to be a problem. He throws the ball well. Being the first time and all, I think that I’m very pleased with what I saw.” Arteaga was also happy with his first look at Romero since spring training in March. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Romero5.jpg Fernando Romero “He’s got one of those arms that make you go, ‘wow,’ Arteaga said, adding that Romero throws, “94 to 99 (mph). He was able to throw a hard slider and a couple of them were sharp, especially against right-handed hitters. Coming over for the first time, I thought he looked really good.” Arteaga, whose rotation has struggled at times through much of the season, was heartened by his first look at the new additions. “It’s very encouraging, to have those two guys join the rotation - very encouraging for everybody because they showed that they will compete. They will throw it over and they’re going to be just fine, as advertised. “I saw Romero and Thorpe during spring training. It was just basically a matter of time before they were going to join us and the time has come. They’re here and they’re doing really well.” http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/ArteagaMildren.jpg Pitching coach Ivan Arteaga and pitcher Ethan Mildren Thorpe and Romero will form one-third of the Kernels' six-man rotation going forward, joining four pitchers selected by the Twins in the 2013 First Year Player Draft: Kohl Stewart (1st round), Ryan Eades (2nd round), Aaron Slegers (5th round) and Ethan Mildren (12th round). The Kernels, who sat in seventh place in the eight-team Western Division of the MWL coming out of the weekend, will get a chance to start over with a clean slate as the league divides their season in two halves with the second half starting on Thursday, June 19, after next week’s MWL All-Star Game. Click here to view the article

Minnesota Twins General Manager Terry Ryan had surgery for squamous cell carcinoma in February and has undergone radiation treatment as well. In the meantime, Assistant General Manager Rob Antony has filled in as the interim GM for the Twins, though Ryan has been in regular contact with Antony and others in the Twins front office. During the past Cedar Rapids Kernels homestand, Ryan was in town observing the Twins’ young Class A prospects and sat down Sunday for an interview that covered a range of topics. In Part 1, we covered his return to work, his view of the current state of the Twins at the big league level and his thoughts concerning the upcoming MLB First Year Player Draft. Today, Ryan shares some thoughts and observations concerning the Cedar Rapids Kernels, the Twins’ Class A affiliate in the Midwest League. [/hr] Originally published at KnucleballsBlog.com [/hr]Like their parent club, the Kernels have hovered near the .500 mark most of the season. That’s been no small achievement given the number of injuries that manager Jake Mauer’s club has sustained. They currently have seven players on the disabled list and have others who have been on the DL and come back already. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/TRyan2014e-600x449.jpg Terry Ryan Ryan acknowledged that it’s a very different club than local fans saw a year ago when top prospects like Byron Buxton, Jorge Polanco, Adam Brett Walker and Travis Harrison were wearing Kernels colors. “We had a very talented club here last yea. You’d like to think we could supply this affiliate with that kind of talent every year, but it’s not going to happen. We’ve got a different looking club this year. “We’ve got some pitching here. Don’t have the thump. Don’t have the type of line- up we had last year, which was a very dangerous line-up. We don’t have that type of size. We had monstrous guys here, so yeah, it’s different. “But every year is going to be different no matter what you try to do or accomplish at a minor league affiliate. You’re looking for players. You’re trying to develop players. This is a little different lot. “So you adjust. Jake and Tommy (Watkins, the hitting coach) and Ivan (Arteaga, the pitching coach) are going about their business. It’s a little bigger challenge this year because you don’t have a Buxton here, you don’t have a Walker. You don’t have a Polanco. “But that comes with the territory. When you’re running a Class A club, you’re going to have different personnel every year. You’ll have a few repeats, but for the most part it’s a different club and a different atmosphere and different results.” Asked for his observations on specific players, Ryan was reluctant to go in to much detail, given that he had seen just four Kernels games at the time of the interview. “It’s a little dangerous when you start naming names. “I haven’t seen Stewart (Kohl Stewart, the Twins first round draft pick a year ago), of course. He’s pitching today. But he’s the most recognizable name on this roster for a lot of reasons. He’s talented and he’s a big draft. I’ll be interested to see how he does today. “He had a tough outing his last go, I understand, I didn’t see it. He went two or three innings and they had to go get him. I doubt very much that he’s experienced that in his life but this is the ideal spot (to experience that). Alright, let’s see how he handles this. We’ll see if he bounces back today and gets back to his normal self. If he doesn’t then I would be a little concerned. But if he does, which I would expect, it’s just a matter of growth." For the record, Stewart did indeed bounce back under the watchful eyes of the GM. Stewart threw six innings Sunday, giving up just one earned run, in the Kernels’ win over Burlington. “He’s an athlete, he’s confident,” continued Ryan. “He’s got the skills that you’re looking for. There’s a reason the guy was picked fourth in the (draft). He was picked up there because he’s got strength, he’s got a body, he’s got mechanics, he’s got stuff, he’s got competitiveness. “He’s got the kind of mechanics and arm action that would be conducive to pounding strikes, which is good.” Kernels fans are getting the opportunity to see a native Cedar Rapidian in action with the Kernels this season. Chad Christensen, the Twins’ 25th round pick a year ago out of the University of Nebraska, played high school ball at Cedar Rapids Washington. He came north with the club out of spring training and is hitting .290 while playing all over the field for the injury-plagued Kernels. “One of the things that I think we were impressed with when he came out of Nebraska was his ability to have some versatility for a club,” Ryan said of Christensen. “He’s got strength and he’s got speed. He’s got strength in his bat. He can play a number of spots, including centerfield, which is pretty good. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/TRyanKernelsGroundCrew-600x364.jpg Twins GM Terry Ryan chats with members of the Cedar Rapids grounds crew “When he showed up last year after signing, he made a good impression and then in spring training. He’s got the type of make-up that you want to have him on your club. I’m sure Jake was pleased when he did come here and I think he’s even more pleased with what he sees in the results. “He’s just been a good player on this team, home town or not. That’s a little bit more pressure for a kid to come in here and play in front of your home town. He’s handled it quite well. In fact, he might be the most consistent guy we’ve had on this club. Not that I’ve been around much, but I read those things, the reports and that stuff.” Ryan is aware that the Kernels have had more than their fair share of injuries, but doesn’t feel they should be keeping the team from performing well on the field. “It’s no excuse. We’ve got other players. “(Jason) Kanzler came in because of an injury to Zack Granite. So here comes Kanzler and he’s been quite good here. There are other people that we can go get and hopefully fill in for an injury. “Now, we’re starting to get healthy. A bunch of these guys are going to get healthy here soon. “Getting back on the diamond is important for a 21-year-old, because they can’t afford to spend a lot of time on the disabled list. You just can’t do anything with them. There’s no development time - they’re getting bypassed - stuff like that. They’ll get healthy and we’ll get them back here. “We’ve got some kids with ability but so far it’s been a slow go for them. I’m not so sure the weather was too conducive to what they were trying to do. The thing is, you’re going to have to learn to do that. We play in Cedar Rapids, we play in New Britain (CT), we play in Rochester (NY) and we play in Minnesota. Minnesota is not too much different than Cedar Rapids.” About a year ago, Twins top prospect Byron Buxton and others were promoted from the Kernels up to Class high-A Fort Myers shortly after the mid-June Midwest League All-Star break. Ryan’s visit shouldn’t be interpreted as a precursor to similar promotions, however. “When I come in here, I don’t worry about that stuff. That’s Brad Steil (Twins minor league director) and that would be Jake and the minor league coordinators. “If someone is dominating, as you know, we’ll move them. I don’t know if we’ve got any of that going on here. I don’t think we’re in that position quite yet. “Although if somebody starts dominating this league in the next month or so and they put up numbers and you say, ‘what more do they have to do?’ That’s about the time you start saying ‘let’s move him up.’” Ryan was asked for an update on the condition Buxton, who has missed almost the whole season so far with a wrist injury. “We had him see a specialist with that wrist about two weeks ago and there was no alarm. He re-aggravated that thing and we’re taking our time. It’s getting better. I read that yesterday in a medical report. He’s still not ready to take the field. “He’s not going to lose a whole year. Unfortunately, April and May are shot, but he certainly played pretty good in March (during spring training). With him going through major league camp, it was a good experience. He handled himself pretty well. He handled himself with some class. He understood. He listened - was very coachable. “We’ll get him back up there. We’ll salvage the year, I don’t think there’s any question that we’ll be able to do some things to get him at-bats.” Click here to view the article

On Saturday, the Twins' 2013 first round draft pick, Kohl Stewart, had his last start of the first half of the season for the Cedar Rapids Kernels. He was originally scheduled to pitch on Sunday, but had his start moved up a day so that he'd have two days of rest before Tuesday's Midwest League All-Star game. Stewart completed four shutout innings, throwing 69 pitches at Burlington hitters before calling it a night. The innings weren't perfectly clean, however. Stewart worked out of a bit of trouble in both the third and fourth innings. Download attachment: Stewart7.jpg Kohl Stewart After the game, Kernels pitching coach Ivan Arteaga explained Stewart's abbreviated start went as planned. “That was the plan,” Arteaga said. “If he was going to pitch on regular rest, his regular outing, was at 75-80 pitches. That was the plan for today, to keep him down so he could be able to throw in the All-Star Game.” With the Kernels eliminated from contention for postseason qualification in the first half of the Midwest League season, Arteaga said it was important that Stewart be used in a way that he'd get an opportunity to pitch in Tuesday's MWL All-Star Game. “He’s been on a pitch count all year, so we believed that in order for him to represent the Kernels and represent the Minnesota Twins and enjoy his time in the All-Star Game, he needed to be ready to pitch,” explained Arteaga. “We didn’t feel comfortable having him pitch on one day’s rest.” Those plans were nearly waylayed in the fourth inning when a line drive deflected off of Stewart's hip in to right field. But Stewart remained in the game and got the final two outs of the inning before calling it a night. Arteaga indicated he was happy with Stewart's night, as he has been with his season thus far. “He got hit a little bit and the ball deflected off of him on the right hip. But he should be fine. He went four innings. He managed to put zeros up there. He's been doing that. “We're very happy with his performance and the way he's handled himself. He had a heck of a first half and we hope he can continue doing that.” Stewart talked to reporters after the game and answered questions on a number of topics, including his performance on Saturday, his All-Star break plans and just how important strikeouts are (or aren't) to him at this point. On the line drive that caught him on the hip: “I think I got it just right where I was turning. Tried to avoid it. Just grazed me.” On moving his start up a day: “Yeah they bumped me up. They wanted me to throw in the All-Star Game. “I was switched from the day before (the All-Star break), so I figured I wouldn't (be able to pitch in the All-Star Game), but they made it a priority for me pitch in that game. "That was the plan, to treat that (Tuesday) as my bullpen day. Hopefully, I can bounce back after two days (rest). I've never done that before. I don't think it's a problem.” On going home after the All-Star Game before re-joining the Kernels: "They want me to go see a diabetes doctor and this is the only time I can really do it. So I'll probably fly out of West Michigan to home, go see my doctor, then meet them in Kane County. "I don't think I'll make a start there. I think I'll maybe start in Peoria, the next road trip. We have another off day between those two trips so that gives me enough time to catch back up. So I'm going to be gone for about six days I guess.” Stewart was asked if the doctor visit is indicative of problems with his diabetes: “No, no, no. It's just you're supposed to see a doctor every three months now and I haven't seen one since spring training. So the whole time, we were looking at the All-Star break as the time when I would go do that. "I'm just going to go home and see my original doctor. It's just something you've got to do every three months. That's just kind of the easiest time to do it.” Stewart's fastball consistently registered 93-94 on the Kernels' scoreboard on Saturday. The board is generally considered to register about 2 mph below actual pitch speed. He was asked if he felt he has added a bit of velocity recently. “The hardest thing for me right now is, I think I can reach back and get that when I want it, but it's not the (priority). I want to get ahead, get 0-1, get 0-2. I think the velo is pretty normal. That gun out there (on the Cedar Rapids scoreboard) is pretty inconsistent. “That's the thing I'm kind of trying to handle right now is when to go get it and when to not. When to get ahead of guys and when to put them away with that fastball, because I should be able to. "Honestly, I knew I was on kind of a super low pitch count today so I was trying to get guys out. "When guys got on base, I was paying way too much attention to runners. Me and Ivan talked about it. I was trying to look guys back and trying to pitch all in the same motion and I wasn't even really picking up my target and making the pitch. “But it was good to get out of those two innings. It's going to happen every now and then. That was a big double play that Vielma and Walker turned in that fourth inning. "Then to get out of that third inning, too, without any runs and keep us in the game was big. I wish I hadn't thrown as many pitches in that short of time.” Finally, there has been some concern among a segment of the fan base with regard to Stewart's modest strikeout rate this summer. He was asked how important strikeouts are to him. “I don't know how important they are but it's a number that everybody's going to look at. That's the thing that me and Ivan are working on right now actually, because I've had a lot of guys where I want them. It's just about making that one pitch. “I think I have those pitches that I need that get guys to strike out with. It's about throwing the slider in the right spot. It's not just about throwing the slider as hard as I can and getting guys out with it. “People are going to want to see more of it, but as a pitcher trying to keep my feet in the game, it's not something I should be paying attention to. I think that the more I work with him, the more those types of things will come, but I can't really worry about it on the mound. That's not really what I'm trying to do. “I'm a guy that's kind of is going to pound the zone and ask you to put the ball in play before I start worrying about trying to pitch around guys. But as long as I keep getting guys out, people pushing the ball in to the ground, it's just as good in my opinion. That's one thing I've learned, is how to be efficient and put guys away. “It's funny, whenever me and Garver (Kernels catcher Mitch Garver) want to put a guy away, we can. Then we do. But then guys come up and it's all about pounding the zone and getting ahead and if they want to get themselves out, let them get themselves out. “That's a number people are going to look at and want me to strike more guys out. I understand that. But I think the more that me and (Ivan) work at it, the more it will come.” Click here to view the article

Cedar Rapids Kernels manager Jake Mauer has been in a unique situation for the past couple of months, since his Kernels nailed down a Midwest League postseason berth by finishing second in the MWL’s Western Division during the first half of the season. Only in minor league baseball is a manager occasionally faced with the challenge of keeping his roster focused on winning games even after locking up a spot in the postseason with 70 games remaining on the regular season schedule.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Recently, Mauer talked about that challenge as well as the steps he and his coaching staff are taking to prepare for the Midwest League playoffs that begin for the Kernels on September 4. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/HarrisonMauerPregame.jpg “We’re a lot different team than we were at the beginning of the year,” Mauer pointed out. “Obviously, (Byron) Buxton and (Dalton) Hicks and (JD) Williams were a big part and they’ve moved up, along with some of our pitchers, (Steven) Gruver and (Tyler) Jones and (Tyler) Duffey. That’s kind of what happens and how the nature of the beast is. “But you’re getting a chance to see (Max) Kepler a little more and you’re getting to see (Joel) Licon on an everyday basis. (Jonathan) Murphy’s another guy that came up and has been helping us. (Mike) Gonzales is kind of on the comeback trail a little bit here, but a guy with a little bit of experience. So we’ve been fortunate. When we’ve lost some guys, we’ve been able to get some pretty good guys to replace them.” If you compare the final standings in the first half of the MWL season with the current standings, you’ll see what can happen as team rosters change over significantly. The Beloit Snappers slipped past the Kernels in the final few days of the first half to claim first place in the league’s Western Division, but the Snappers now sit several games under .500 in the second half. Yet, the Snappers have fared far better than the Fort Wayne Tincaps, who won the Eastern Division in the first half. The Tincaps have been struggling to escape the cellar of their Division during the season’s second half. While Mauer’s Kernels have had significant roster turnover, as well (only nine of the Opening Day Kernels remain on the current 25-man roster), Cedar Rapids has managed to continue competing at a high level. They have held or shared first place in the West for all but four days since the All-Star break reset. Mauer believes much of the reason can be found on the pitcher’s mound. “Really, our pitching has been the key this second half. The pitching has been way better. Guys are throwing the ball over the plate,” said the manager. Mauer pointed out that, while his team lost several effective pitchers to promotion, the replacements have stepped right in and done the job. “Adding a (Madison) Boer and a (Brian) Gilbert to the back end of the pen, that’s two pretty reliable guys. (Alex) Muren has been pretty steady the whole year,” said Mauer, adding, “Our starters are doing a pretty good job. (Tim) Atherton has done a wonderful job starting. (Josue) Montanez has been a lot better.” Of course, talking about pitching brings up another topic rather unique to the world of a minor league coaching staff. A number of the Kernels’ most reliable starting pitchers this season are putting more innings on their young arms than they ever have before. This is particularly true of guys who spent last season as relief pitchers or pitched in some combination of high school/college and short-season leagues. Pitchers such as Mason Melotakis, Brett Lee and Jose Berrios who have been cornerstones of the rotation much of the season are seeing their innings limited down the stretch. That has required Mauer and pitching coach Gary Lucas to find other guys to plug in to the starting rotation and part of the Kernels’ continued success can be attributed to how those pitchers have performed. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Berrios2.jpg Jose Berrios “They’ve been real good,” said Mauer. “Atherton has been excellent, throwing more strikes and still striking guys out like he has been. Berrios has gotten better, Brett Lee’s been great. He had a little scare there with that elbow thing (Lee spent a week on the Disabled List after being struck on the elbow by a batted ball), but he seems to be OK. We’re going to have to keep an eye on him a little bit. I don’t think you’ll see a complete game until, hopefully, the fourth.” Was that Mauer tipping his hand concerning his plans for the starting pitching assignment in the first playoff game on September 4? Mauer would only admit that they’re starting to think about who will be starting those postseason games. “Some of the things we have to start thinking about,” Mauer conceded, “Who are we going to use in the playoffs? Who’s going to be our starters? I think the young man we got, Sulbaran, is going to help us.” Miguel Sulbaran was obtained from the Dodgers organization in a trade recently. “(Tim) Shibuya’s going to help us,” continued Mauer. “(Brandon) Bixler has done a nice job. Gilbert has been pretty dominant, thus far. Hopefully we can keep that going.” Clearly, one ingredient a manager needs to keep his team competitive in both halves of a Class A season is talented replacements for the players promoted. But these are still young ballplayers, many just a year out of college or even high school, and a 140-game season can be a grind. A couple of weeks ago, the Kernels went through a stretch where they lost six of eight games in series with Burlington and the Quad Cities. The club’s pitching, hitting and defense all seemed to collapse at the same time. Is it hard to keep a team focused when a postseason spot is locked up halfway through the year and some players are still wondering if/when they’ll be getting promoted? The answer to that question is, “It shouldn’t be,” according to Mauer. “Every time you go out there, you should want to win the game. There’s a difference between wanting to win the game and doing things to help you win the game. In that stretch, Burlington and Quad Cities, they took it to us pretty good, but again we gave them a lot of opportunities, extending innings (with errors). That’s not going to do it. “So you try to refocus. It shouldn’t have anything to do with whether you’re in (the postseason) or not, whether you’re playing for something or not. It should just have to do with you understanding what it takes to play every day and being a professional player.” “When you get in the game, it’s time to (think about) we’ve got to win this game today,” continued Mauer. “We’ve got to win this inning, win this pitch. You can break it down as far as even pitch to pitch. If you do that, if you win every pitch, then you’re going to win just about every inning and you’re going to win a lot of your games and you’re going to get noticed and that’s how you get promoted. A lot of it is controlling what you can control.” “There’s some guys in there (the clubhouse) that probably should be in Fort Myers,” Mauer acknowledged, “but they’re backlogged or whatever and they’re still here. Maybe they’re a little (ticked) and maybe they should be, but you’ve got to keep putting numbers up. You’ve got to keep doing your job and you’ve got to keep showing up every day.” “It’s hard to tell,” what the specific problem was during that early August swoon, according to Mauer. “We just weren’t playing very good and it all just kept going downhill. It just kind of gets going that way and you’re going to go through phases throughout the year where you’re not going to be playing good and others where you’re going to be playing pretty good. What you try to do is you try to keep the focus be the same, whether you’re high or whether you’re low, it shouldn’t matter. Whether you’ve won eight in a row or lost eight in a row, your focus should be the same and that’s what you’re trying to teach.” It’s not just the postseason success that the players are playing for, of course, and the manager acknowledged that fact, as well. The players and the Twins organization are already looking toward 2014. “A lot of them are playing for a spot in Fort Myers next year and a lot of them are playing for a spot anywhere. That’s a reality,” said Mauer. “Those boys that are in (Elizabethton) and any guys that come in from (this year’s) draft generally are newer. They get a little more opportunity than some guys that have been around, where we’ve got a decent feeling of what they can and can’t do. We’re going to give these other guys some of those at-bats. "You’re really playing for a job, whether it’s here (in Cedar Rapids), whether it’s in Fort Myers or wherever it might be. You’ve got to make an impact in these last two weeks.” Mauer conceded that he’ll be managing the team a little differently headed in to the final couple of weeks of the regular season. “I know we’re going to play some teams that are in the playoff chase, but we’ve got to get a little healthier for Wednesday, the fourth (of September – the first Kernels postseason game),” predicted Mauer. “The next week at Peoria and Quad Cities, we’ll probably rotate quite a few guys. When Peoria comes back here Sunday (August 25), we’ll try to get us cranked up again to where we’re getting ready and trying to get sharp again for the playoffs. “I don’t like to sit my guys right before the playoffs. I’d like to do it this next week and then we can button some things up and hopefully, they’ve got enough rest and here we go.” Evidence of the change has already become evident. For instance, Tyler Grimes, one of the Kernels’ catchers and a converted middle infielder had done nothing but catch and DH all season, until Friday night. When Murphy left the game for precautionary reasons after being hit in the head by a pitch, second baseman Licon moved in to the outfield and Grimes entered the game as the new second baseman. The next night, Grimes started at second base, as well. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Grimes9.jpg Tyler Grimes “(Grimes) is going to play some middle (infield) through these last two weeks here. He’s been an infielder his whole life, so he can still go out there. We’ll try to give some of our middle guys a little bit of a (rest),” said Mauer. “You’ll probably see guys like (Adam) Walker get another day off here. Kepler, (Niko) Goodrum, (Jorge) Polanco, guys like that, that have been playing a lot are going to get some rest. (Travis) Harrison is another one, too. Try to freshen them up and try to walk that delicate line between becoming stale and becoming fresh - sit guys for a maybe a day, maybe two days at the most, and get them back out there if you can.” (NOTE: Polanco was placed on the 7-day Disabled list on Sunday, retroactive to Friday, August 16, with a groin strain.) There will be a few other, more subtle, changes that most fans won’t likely notice, as well, according to Mauer. “We probably won’t hit for as long or take infield as much, things like that. We’ll pick our spots with that. We’ll rest.” The Kernels’ skipper was asked whether he thought there was an advantage entering the postseason, either to teams that qualified with their success in the first half of the season or with a playoff run at the end of the second half. Mauer likened it to the NFL. “Those wildcard teams show up in the Super Bowl because you’re playing for your life every week. And that’s the intensity that you should have, even if you’re (already) in.” Still, it’s nice to have the luxury of resting your players and setting up your pitching rotation the way you want it to start the postseason while the teams who have yet to qualify, as the manager puts it, “have to go pedal to the metal.” “Each team is going to be different,” Mauer said. “You just try to feel the best you can. Gauge how you’re feeling health wise. Who’s doing what and who can help you. But you want to try and make sure you go in to September as ready as you can.” At the end of the day, Mauer feels his group is going to be ready when the postseason begins. “Yeah, we’re excited,” Mauer concluded, concerning his team’s chances in the playoffs. “We’ve got a good group and these kids have worked hard and the new additions have been doing a nice job. We’re happy with how we’re progressing and we’ll see how these last two weeks end up. Hopefully, we’re playing better two weeks from now, you don’t want to peak too soon. We want to be playing our best baseball in September.” SD Buhr covers the Cedar Rapids Kernels for MetroSportsReport.com. His alter-ego, Jim Crikket, opines about the Twins and Kernels at Knuckleballsblog.com. Click here to view the article

The Cedar Rapids Kernels dropped an ugly 5-2 game to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers back on July 9 and Kernels manager Jake Mauer clearly was not a happy man afterward. His line-up had left eight runners stranded in scoring position on the night and played some shoddy defense in a loss on a night when Kernels pitching combined to strike out 13 opposing hitters. “We’re going to have some changes,” Mauer promised that night, in a post-game interview. (This article originally was posted at Knuckleballsblog.com) Catcher Alex Swim went 1 for 4 as the team’s designated hitter in that loss and he has not DH’d since. Then again, he hasn’t done much catching, either. The next night, July 10, again against the Timber Rattlers, Swim was inserted as the Kernels’ right fielder. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Swim2014.jpg Alex Swim Maybe Mauer was just trying to give some of his regular outfield crew a wake-up call or maybe he knew something nobody else did, but Swim gunned down Rattler baserunner Omar Garcia at home in that game and he has been the starting right fielder for the Kernels on every line up card Mauer has filled out since. He’s put on the catcher’s gear for a game in that stretch only twice. Once to finish a rain shortened game in which he had started as the catcher (he played right field in the full game following the completion of the postponed contest) and he made one appearance at catcher late in a game after starting catcher Michael Quesada was removed for a pinch runner. Swim was already riding a six game hitting streak pieced together starting June 30 as he rotated between catching, DH'ing and taking his turn riding the pine as part of what was, for a time, a four-man catching rotation that included Mitch Garver and Bo Altobelli, along with Quesada and Swim. After being inserted in to the every day line up, Swim swatted hits in another eight consecutive games, making him the proud owner of a 14-game streak, the longest by a Kernels hitter this season, before the streak was snapped on July 21. On the season, Swim is batting .341 in the 26 games he’s suited up with the Kernels. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Swim2014d.jpg Alex Swim in the Kernels special “Duck Dynasty” camo jersey In an interview late last week, Swim said he played some outfield during his junior and senior years at Elon University in North Carolina, “just to get a little break from behind the plate.” Coming in to the season, though, he wasn’t expecting to see this much time on the outfield grass. “During (extended spring training), they asked me if I had an outfielder’s glove and I did. They said, ‘get a few reps out there just in case,’” Swim recalled. Acknowledging that he’s been out there every game lately, he added with a smile, “maybe (the Twins organization) gave me a position change and didn’t tell me, I don’t know.” He’s not complaining. “I’ll play anywhere,” he said. “I love throwing the ball and showing off the arm a little bit.” That’s a healthy approach to have for a player in Swim’s position with the Twins organization. Swim, Garver and the current catcher for the Class high-A Fort Myers Miracle, Stuart Turner, were all college catchers selected by the Twins in the same draft class a year ago. Turner was the Twins’ third round pick, Garver was picked in the 10th round and Swim in the 22nd. The Twins also selected a high school catcher, Brian Navarreto, in the sixth round. Navarreto is currently with the Twins’ Elizabethton short-season rookie level affiliate. As if that weren’t enough, the Twins drafted six more catchers in the 2014 draft, though none were higher than the 19th round and not all were inked by the Twins before the signing deadline on July 18. Still, Swim recognizes that he’s up against some tough competition as he tries to work his way up the organizational ladder, not only from other recent draftees, but from players with more professional experience, such as his Cedar Rapids teammate Quesada. “Obviously, I know who’s there,” Swim conceded. “But I think everyone is good in their own way. If you’re meant to keep going and playing, you’re going to get there. “I try to make it where I can play different positions to help me out. If you need a right fielder, I’ll play right field. If you need a first baseman, I’ll do that. Whatever they need.” In baseball, hitters can run hot and cold, but in his first month as a Kernel, Swim has definitely been hot with the bat. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Swim2014j.jpg Alex Swim “I feel pretty comfortable in the box and the ball does look a little bigger right now,” he admitted. Fellow Kernels catcher Garver hit three home runs in one game on Monday, but Swim doesn’t expect to be putting on that kind of power display any time soon. “Generally, with my swing, I’m not going to hit the ball out of the park or drive a bunch of balls in to gaps, so I just try to really stay up the middle and just stay short and sweet to the ball and just try to get on base.” Swim worked out with the Class A group during most of spring training, but when the time came to head north to start the season, he was left behind in extended spring training. That sort of thing can be disappointing to a player, of course, but Swim pointed out that there were some benefits, too, for a guy from Greensboro, North Carolina. “It’s not that big of a deal when you’re playing in 85 degree weather in the spring down in Florida, so that was the good part,” he recalled with a bit of a laugh. “I was texting a few of the guys and they were saying it was 30 degrees and they had four layers on. I was, like, I’m in a pair of shorts and sandals right now.” Swim had the opportunity to turn professional after his junior year of college when the St. Louis Cardinals made him there 36th round selection in the 2012 draft, but he opted to pass at the time. “Right around draft time my junior year, mom was sick, was in the hospital,” Swim explained. “I really didn’t know how that was going to affect her as far as what was going to happen. I didn’t want to push it by leaving at that time, so I decided to forgo the draft, stay at home, work a little bit, try to help out around the house and get things situated. “Honestly, I don’t have any regrets. I would do it the same way every time. She’s doing well right now. She’s getting healthy. She’s staying at home and listening to the games (over the internet).” Away from the ballpark, Swim escapes the daily grind of the game with a good book. “I like biographies and stuff like that,” he explained. “That kind of gets me away from the game and not thinking about anything really about baseball.” Click here to view the article

The Cedar Rapids Kernels brought a highly heralded group of pitchers north out of spring training. The opening day pitching staff was littered with highly rated prospects obtained with high draft picks and big-money international free agency signings. Even among top prospects, however, you’re never sure what kind of start you’ll get in a Midwest League season. Some of these pitchers are still teenagers. Some are a long way away from home for the first time. Some have seldom, if ever, pitched in front of a sizable crowd. Some have never experienced the kind of bone-chilling spring weather that is commonplace in Cedar Rapids and other MWL locations. Any of those factors can cause a pitcher to get off to a slow start, but if you can find a guy who’s already spent a few years away from home, matured as a pitcher, pitched in high-pressure situations and is no stranger to cold weather, he just might have a chance to impress early. But where could you possibly find such a pitcher? Maybe a guy who has spent the last three years away from home at college, pitching in front of big crowds in big games and regularly played in cold weather during his college years. Meet Kernels starting pitcher Aaron Slegers. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Slegers2014j.jpg Aaron Slegers (photo: SD Buhr/Knuckleballs) The 21 year-old Slegers, who was selected by the Minnesota Twins in the fifth round of the 2013 Major League June Amateur Draft out of the University of Indiana, is 3-0 for the Kernels and carries a 2.52 ERA after six starts. He’s struck out 33 batters in 35.2 innings, while walking just six. Slegers threw seven shutout innings on Saturday night against the Peoria Chiefs and sat down for an interview the following morning. Slegers is mature and converses his way through an interview easily, despite the fact that he must know, by now, that the first question every interviewer is going to start with will be about his height. At 6′ 10”, it’s impossible to overlook the obvious. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Slegers2014g.jpg Aaron Slegers (photo: SD Buhr/Knuckleballs) As he told a group of Kernels boosters at the club’s welcome dinner the day before the season started, he’s not even the tallest member of his family. “My dad’s seven feet tall,” he said on Sunday, just as he told the gathering a month ago. So there was never much doubt that the pitcher would be long in the frame. “Yeah, there’s a funny story about that,” offered Slegers. “In the Big Ten Tournament at Target Field, my mom was interviewed by the Big Ten Network and the sideline reporter asked her, ‘when did you know Aaron was going to be so tall?’ She thought to herself, ‘I guess when I married a seven foot guy.’ I don’t think she said that to the reporter, though.” Too bad. It’s the kind of line reporters love. He also has an older sister, in New York City. “She’s about six foot, 6’ 1”. She played volleyball in college,” said Slegers. Height can be an advantage for a pitcher, but it can also come with certain challenges, including additional levels of stress and strain on important joints. Slegers fought through a number of injuries in college, but he doesn’t feel they were related to his height. “The injuries were kind of freak, they weren’t really related to growing or anything,” Slegers explained. “I took a line drive my freshman year in an intrasquad the first week of the season. The first pitch I threw to our starting shortstop that year was a fastball right down the middle and he hit it right back at me off my throwing wrist. That broke my wrist and I was out for the year on a medical redshirt. “The next year, was a little more my fault, but I showed up a minute late for the bus that was leaving the hotel for the field and the punishment for that was running the entire batting practice. Because of that, I got shin splints in my right shin. It hurt to walk and, again, out for the year after seven innings my sophomore year. “It was a tough little stretch there when I was in Indiana the first couple of years. It was a tough go on with the injuries.” Things got better before he left Bloomington, however. Slegers and his Indiana teammates made it all the way to the College World Series in Omaha last year. Slegers threw a complete game in his final appearance as a Hoosier, but lost to Oregon State 1-0. Despite the way it ended, the trip made all of the early challenges at Indiana worthwhile. “A hundred percent, exactly right,” Slegers agreed, smiling. “The College World Series makes everything OK.” The sight of a 6′ 10” pitcher on the mound brings to mind memories of Randy Johnson, the certain future Hall of Fame pitcher who’s fastball periodically clocked in excess of 100 miles per hour. But that’s not Slegers’ style. His fastball regularly sits in the low 90s, which is good, but not considered overpowering. The big righthander isn’t concerned about his velocity, however. “Velocity’s always nice, but that’s sort of something that comes secondary,” explained Slegers. The primary thing, according to Slegers, is getting the preparation work done and preparing to compete. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/ArteagaSlegersc-436x600.jpg Aaron Slegers having a between-innings conversation with pitching coach Ivan Arteaga (photo: SD Buhr/Knuckleballs) “Working in the bullpen, working on your mechanics, long-toss. When you go out and compete, you’re doing exactly that. Going out and competing, trying to repeat (the delivery) and throw strikes and throw all your pitches for strikes. Velocity’s just sort of one of those things that happens.” So you won’t see Slegers turning around to check his pitch speed on the Kernels’ video board after every pitch. “That’s something they’re trying to steer us away from,” Slegers agreed, smiling. Slegers saw a lot of success in college, but he realizes he’s working at a new level now and that it requires work to improve, even if he’s not focused on adding velocity to his fastball right now. “I’m throwing my slider and change up more since I got in pro ball; trying to keep the hitters off balance. You can’t just keep pumping in fastballs over and over. They’re pretty good at learning those pitches. I’m kind of moving the baseball more than in college.” One thing Slegers hasn’t had to do is adjust to pitching in cold Midwestern weather. His time pitching in the Big Ten assured he’d be prepared for that aspect of his first full season of professional ball. “Oh yeah, oh yeah,” said a smiling Slegers. “We would go down south the whole month of February, but when we’d come up to school, if it was above 35, we were out on the field practicing and trying to hit BP. So, yeah, I’m more than accustomed to it. And those late March home games will toughen you up in a hurry, in terms of the weather.” Being accustomed to cold weather doesn’t mean he spends any more time in it than he has to, however. Slegers may have gone to school in Indiana, but he and his family live in Arizona and that’s where he spends his offseason. Slegers stays active both in the offseason and, to the degree possible, during off days during the season. “I like to fish and golf, primarily,” Slegers said, concerning his off-the-field interests. “I like to golf as much as possible. In terms of exercising, I like cycling, road biking. That always takes up my time when I want a good cardio workout. It’s kind of unusual for a guy my size to ride a road bike, but mostly golf and fishing are my relaxing off day hobbies.” Click here to view the article

The merry-go-round that is a minor league team's roster continued to spin over the weekend in Cedar Rapids as the Kernels saw two pitchers promoted to high-A Fort Myers, one infielder put on the 7-Day Disabled list and two new pitchers arrive from Elizabethton. The new pitchers, right handed starting pitcher Chih-Wei Hu and righty bullpen arm Jake Reed, were in uniform for Tuesday night's series opener with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, won by the Kernels, 15-5. The two will replace starter Ethan Mildren and co-closer Todd Van Steensel on the Kernels' pitching staff. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/ArteagaMildren.jpg Kernels pitching coach Ivan Arteaga and pitcher Ethan Mildren Mildren has been dominant through his most recent pair of starts, throwing seven shutout innings against Clinton on June 29 and duplicating that feat on Independence Day against Beloit. He allowed just seven hits and three walks over that 14-inning stretch. [/hr]This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com [/hr]Van Steensel had not been charged with allowing a run, earned or otherwise, in his last seven appearances for Cedar Rapids. Overall, he put up a 1.30 ERA covering 34.2 innings of work in 23 appearances in a Kernels uniform. If early impressions mean anything, Reed will be a capable replacement for Van Steensel in the Kernels bullpen. The 21-year old righty, drafted in the 5th round out of the University of Oregon last month, threw nothing but shutout innings for the E-Twins in his first six innings of work this season. He struck out eight batters and held opponents to a .053 batting average.against him. That scoreless streak, however, came to an end in Reed's first appearance in a Cedar Rapids uniform on Tuesday night. Reed gave up one unearned run in an inning of work on Tuesday night when the first batter he faced reached on a two-base error and came around to score on a subsequent single. Reed recorded his first strikeout as a Kernel to finish the eighth inning. The man with the biggest shoes to fill with the Kernels, perhaps, will be Hu. Cedar Rapids has struggled to find consistency from their rotation and Mildren was just beginning to provide much needed leadership in that area. Hu will get Mildren's spot in the rotation and should get his first start for the Kernels on Thursday against the Rattlers, in front of the home crowd. Like Reed, Hu was off to a strong start for Elizabethton. The Taichung, Taiwan, native had time to make just three starts for the E-Twins before being promoted. He was 1-0 with a 1.69 ERA. He threw six shutout innings of two-hit baseball in his last start, striking out nine batters in the process. After watching Hu throw a bullpen session on Tuesday, Kernels pitching coach Ivan Arteaga pronounced the 20-year old Hu, "ready to go." "His fastball moves a lot and his slider's got good rotation," Arteaga added. "He really competes, according to the reports we got." The Kernels played Tuesday a man short on their roster as shortstop Engelb Vielma has been placed on the 7-day DL with concussion symptoms and no corresponding roster move was immediately announced. Manager Jake Mauer indicated to media after the game that infielder Logan Wade would be re-activated from the DL on Wednesday to replace Vielma. [/hr]Since the Twins beat the Mariners last night, you can get half off your L or XL pizza on Wednesday by ordering online at PapaJohns.com with the promo code 'TWINSWIN'. Click here to view the article

The Cedar Rapids Kernels sported a 9-7 record as they departed for Peoria Monday for the first of seven road games before returning to Veterans Memorial Stadium on Monday, April 28. They enter the week just two games behind Kane County in the Midwest League’s Western Division standings. One reason for the success they’ve had thus far has been a power surge in the heart of their batting order. The Kernels lead the MWL in slugging percentage entering this week’s games largely due to power generated by catcher Mitch Garver and infielder Bryan Haar. Garver leads the league in home runs, with five, and Haar is right on his heels with four round-trippers. Over the weekend, Haar shared his perspectives on the start to the season that he and his teammates have had, as well as some thoughts about his own experiences moving from college ball, through two levels of rookie level professional baseball and on to his first month with the Class A level Kernels. Though Garver and Haar have provided much of the power early on for Cedar Rapids, Haar insists that their offensive success has been a team effort. “When our team got hot and went on a little winning streak, I think we were all hitting pretty well so that helps,” said Haar. “Hitting is contagious. So I think we all contributed to the good start.” While the Kernels have kept their record above .500, they haven’t exactly had it easy thus far. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Haar1a.jpg Bryan Haar Haar and many of his team mates have spent their lives playing ball in far warmer climates. Several of the Kernels’ games have been played with temperatures in the 30s and 40s, so they were glad to see things warm up a bit over the past weekend. “Anything above 50 right now is good for us,” Haar said with a smile on Saturday. “If it’s not 35 and raining, we’re happy.” You won’t yet find Haar’s name on many of the organizational “top prospect” lists published during the offseason, but the 24 year-old from San Diego is showing power that’s been largely missing to this point in his professional career. Haar was drafted by the Twins in the 34th round of the 2012 MLB June Amateur Draft, following his senior year at the University of San Diego. He hit only one home run in 44 games with the Gulf Coast League Twins in 2012 after signing with the Twins and went deep just six times in 60 games with the Twins’ short-season Appalachian League affiliate in Elizabethton last season. Haar said it took some time for him to adjust from college pitchers, who generally threw a mix of pitches, to lower levels of professional ball, where he faced a lot of strong young arms who were looking to impress. “In GCL that first summer, it was just fastballs all day,” recalled Haar. “I actually struggled a little bit because I forgot how to hit a fastball. It was new to me. They were blowing it by me.” He had to continue working on being able to catch up with the heat a year ago in Elizabethton. “In E’town, it was rookie ball, so there were a lot of 18 year old pitchers out of high school that maybe thought they threw 95 and really threw 91-92, trying to throw fastballs by me. I got more fastballs then. Jeff Reed (hitting coach at Elizabethton) is a great hitting coach, so he helped me out a lot.” That doesn’t necessarily mean the pitching he faced in college was superior to what he saw his first two years in the pros, though. “I’d say not better, but more command of their sliders,” Haar explained. “In E’town it was sliders in the dirt, sliders in the dirt. They never flipped one over for a strike. In college, it was slider for a strike, slider for a strike, now you’re down 0-2. But now (in the MWL), it’s more college guys so I’ve got to readjust to college pitching, I guess.” http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Haar1b.jpg Bryan Haar Haar knows he’s largely been feasting on fastballs this season and said he already sees pitchers making adjustments. “The first game of a series, usually I get some fastballs to hit. If I hit them well, then the next two or three games I get sliders and change-ups and curveballs. Just making that adjustment has been a little harder than I would have thought, but I’ve got to hit the fastball when I get it.” Kernels hitting coach Tommy Watkins has been working with Haar to keep a step ahead of the adjustments the pitchers are making. “They’re throwing me off-speed a lot, so I’ve got to start adjusting my swing a little bit towards that,” Haar said. “Tommy and I have been working on that the past couple of days. Not really trying to strike out less, but just put more balls in play hard. “I’ve hit two home runs off sliders, but I think they were the only hits I’ve had off sliders. We were working on that (Saturday), just kind of letting the ball get a little deeper, seeing it deeper.” At 24, Haar is a bit older than the average MWL position player, but he’s not feeling any extra anxiety about trying to advance more quickly up the Twins organizational ladder because of that. "I don’t really worry about that. I’m just having a good time in Low-A with my friends,” he said.　”I got drafted in 2012 and pretty much all the guys here were drafted in the 2012 draft, so it’s nice to move up with them, in a sense. I’m just letting my play speak for itself and doing what I can here.” That includes being versatile in the field. Haar has played both corner infield positions for the Kernels already and that’s fine with him. Haar said he’d play anywhere, “as long as I’m in the lineup.” Haar played some football and basketball in high school and said his interests include, “pretty much every sport with a ball.” But as a Southern Californian, his interests outside of baseball go beyond what local fans might consider the norm. “I’m from San Diego, so I surf whenever I can. Usually in September I take some time off from baseball and I go surf. But when I get back in to workouts, I don’t have much time for that.” There’s obviously neither time nor opportunity for surfing during the season, so Haar is looking for other things to do with his limited down time. “I do enjoy fishing, so since we’re in Iowa, I’d like to get out and fish a little bit, but it’s tough. Getting back from a long road trip, you want to sleep in, and then you’re at the field.” Of course, there’s always the standard fallback option for ballplayers: video games. Haar and team mates Garver and Zach Larson, who live in close proximity to one another this season, “have a little FIFA battle on the X-Box. We’re on that quite a bit.” Click here to view the article

It was "Meet the Kernels Night" at Veterans Mermorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids Tuesday night, giving local fans and media a first look at the 2014 version of the Twins' Class A Midwest League affiliate and giving the Kernels players their first look at chilly Iowa April temperatures. After the media portion of the event, players and coaches mingled with fans on the concourse to chat and sign autographs. Then they shed their parkas for a brief workout. The cold temperatures made for a pretty small turnout from the public and that's unfortunate, but understandable. The more unfortunate fact is that the weather forecast for Opening Night on Thursday (and Friday, for that matter) makes the proposition of actually getting baseball played a little dicey. A year ago, it seemed like weather was forcing doubleheaders every week for the first couple months across the Midwest League and I wouldn't be surprised if we start the season with a twin-bill (or two) over the weekend as well. Manager Jake Mauer, along with hitting coach Tommy Watkins and pitching coach Ivan Arteaga met with media for a few minutes, as did four members of the new Kernels roster: Kohl Stewart, Aaron Slegers, Mitch Garver and Chad Christensen. They all arrived in the media room wearing their newly-issued Cedar Rapids Kernels parkas. Nothing says "play ball" like new team parkas and portable gas heaters in the dugout! The field staff and players who met with the media had some interesting things to say and I'll try to write a follow up story with quotes later this week. I did ask Arteaga about his plans for the rotation, specifically about whether he planned to use a six-man rotation again this year, as pitching coach Gary Lucas had in 2013. Arteaga explained that that's pretty much an organizational approach to young pitchers in order to protect their arms. He did add, however, that for the first couple of weeks, they were likely to use a five-man rotation, with a piggy-backing of their fifth and sixth starting pitchers in game 5 next week. Miguel Sulbaran is not yet stretched out to the point where he needs to start, so he'll split games with another pitcher the first couple times through the rotation. Within a couple of weeks, however, Arteaga believes they'll be on track with the six-man rotation. Other than that bit of "news," you'll just have to be satisfied with getting a little sense of flavor of the evening from a few pictures. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/ArteagaWatkinsMauer.jpg Left to Right: pitching coach Ivan Arteaga, hitting coach Tommy Watkins, manager Jake Mauer http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Stewart.jpg Kohl Stewart http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Slegers.jpg Aaron Slegers http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Garver.jpg Mitch Garver http://knuckleballsb...Christensen.jpg Chad Christensen http://knuckleballsb.../JakeMauer1.jpg Jake Mauer http://knuckleballsb...ightDugout2.jpg Kernels prepare for introductions http://knuckleballsb...ernelsIntro.jpg Kernels introduced Click here to view the article

The 2014 MLB First Year Amateur Player Draft is right around the corner and hundreds of high school and college ballplayers are counting the hours before the Houston Astros go on the clock with the first pick of the draft on Thursday, June 5. One year ago, Kohl Stewart was an 18 year-old pitcher anxiously awaiting the draft. Today, Stewart, who was selected by the Minnesota Twins with the fourth overall pick of the first round, is a couple of months in to his first full year of professional baseball. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Stewart2014.jpg Kohl Stewart Stewart sat recently and reflected on the draft a year ago and his progress as a starting pitcher this season with the Cedar Rapids Kernels, the Twins' Class A affiliate in the Midwest League. “I think that this time last year, we had just lost in the state finals in baseball,” recalled Stewart. “Then I was graduating from school and the draft was coming up. I was spending hours with my agent talking about what I wanted to do. There were a million different scenarios playing over in my head. I remember thinking, ‘if this happens, if this guy goes here and if this guy goes here.’” Those “scenarios” Stewart speaks of went beyond those of most of his peers. While all of the high school ballplayers likely to be selected near the top of the draft have the option of postponing their professional careers in favor of playing college baseball, Stewart had an additional option. He had a scholarship offer from Texas A&M football coach Kevin Sumlin to play quarterback for the Aggies. Stewart and his agent certainly knew he'd be selected early on draft night. But that doesn't mean he had made up his mind weeks before the draft that he'd be signing with whatever team chose him. As draft day neared, however, things seemed to come more in to focus. “I expected to go to A&M,” acknowledged Stewart. “A couple of days before the draft, I think, my agent I guess had kind of talked to some people and he kind of had an idea of what was going to happen and I even talked to Coach Sumlin a couple of days before it happened and he gave me his blessing. He wanted me to do what was best for me and that was another dynamic that I had to deal with, too. I kind of felt like I was letting him down. Having guys like that… he’s a really good coach for a reason. He had gone through that before. He definitely made the situation easier on me.” Even having pretty much come to grips with the likelihood that he'd be signing a professional baseball contract rather than pursuing a major college football career didn't make waiting any less stressful for Stewart. “You kind of have that situation made up in your mind, but everything’s still got to happen. You’ve still got to sit there and the decision’s still got to be made,” said Stewart. The anxiety of the wait didn't mean Stewart and those closest to him didn't enjoy the moment, however. “I definitely enjoyed it. It was definitely a fun time for my family,” recalled Stewart. “I have a lot of friends that are really good baseball players that are playing in college right now. I got to experience what a lot of guys that I grew up playing ball with will probably be going through the same thing in a couple of years and to kind of share it with them was really special. “But it was definitely really stressful. I would go to bed knowing I was going to have to make a really big choice and that was kind of hard. Every day it got closer to the draft, it was very apparent that I was going to have a very good opportunity with the Twins and I didn’t want to pass it up.” Players do a lot of different things to relax on draft day. Some go hunting or fishing. Some play golf to take their minds off the draft and hope it passes the time more quickly. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Stewart4.jpg Kohl Stewart Stewart enjoys hunting and fishing in the offseason and also really enjoys golfing. But on draft day, he chose to pass the hours leading up to the draft with friends and family. “I remember waking up. I slept in late,” Stewart recollected, smiling a bit. “I told myself I don’t want to get up and have to worry about it all day long. I wanted to sleep in as long as I could. I think that lasted until about 6:30 that morning." After breakfast, Stewart spent time with one of his Select Team coaches (“He was blowing it up, having a good time with it, kind of looking forward to the night”) and with an older brother. “We went to a place called Mel’s Diner. It’s a small little burger place. I went there, had a good meal with him. I remember he went and bought a bunch of champagne and put it in a cooler. Then we went back to my house and a bunch of people showed up and we turned on the TV. “It was good. It was definitely a day I’ll never forget.” Now, a year later, coming out of Memorial Day Weekend, Stewart has a 1-2 record and a 2.93 ERA as a member of the Kernels rotation. Stewart struggled in a loss to Beloit on Monday, but had given up just three earned runs in his previous five starts combined. Nearly two months in to his first full season of pro ball, Stewart talked about what he has found to be the toughest things to adjust to in professional baseball life. One, the adjustment to going to the ballpark every day either to play or work out between starts, is commonly mentioned by first-year pro ballplayers. “I think that’s kind of a cliché that everybody says, ‘you’re not used to playing every day,’ and you hear that so much, but it’s true,” said Stewart. “I think that most of us guys that haven’t played a full year are still kind of getting used to this kind of animal of 140 games in a season. “I think definitely that’s been the hardest thing for me. And then being away from my home. There’s some days I’ve just wanted to pick up my stuff and go home. I think every kid goes through that. “I mean, I haven’t had a freshman year of college yet, so I didn’t get to experience that kind of homesick feeling first. But I’m learning. I’m learning how to be a professional, to come every day and figure out that I’ve got a job to do.” The other challenging adjustment is probably a bit more unique to a pitcher in Stewart's rather unique situation as a multi-sport star in high school. “Going in to the season, I hadn’t thrown a lot of innings,” explained Stewart. “I threw in high school seasons but football kind of kept me from (throwing after the season). “I think I underestimated the amount of throwing that I’m going to be doing. But I think that everybody probably goes through that, even coming out of college. I think the two bullpens between every start (a byproduct of the Kernels' six-man rotation). I've never been used to that. Or throwing a bullpen the second day after you pitch, that was a new animal for me. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Stewart3-430x600.jpg Kohl Stewart “I think that going in to a couple of starts, I felt like my arm was dead. I think that my arm was learning how to adjust to that feeling and I think that now my arm is starting to build on it. I think that now my arm is getting stronger and I’m kind of building back up to that strength that I was at. “I think that those two things were probably the toughest for me, but I think that as time goes on, I’m getting more used to it every day, so I think I’m doing alright.” As a result of Stewart's limited work in high school, he and the Twins clearly had a plan for Stewart to follow heading in to the season. Not only pitch count limits and innings limits, which are commonplace for teenage pitching prospects, but also plans that focus on learning his craft. Stewart explained the plan and assessed his progress so far. “I’ve definitely had some good starts and I’ve had some bad starts. I think going in to the season, they hammered some things into my head that they want me to get done, such as fastball command. They want me to pound the zone. They want me to be efficient. They want me to pitch. They don’t want me throwing a lot of pitches. There’s a pitch count on me for a reason. They want me to be able to go as deep as I can in to games without running my pitch count up. “One thing that they really want me to do is fastball command. They don’t want me to get behind in counts and then have to work from behind. So, I think that focusing on that stuff with Ivan (Kernels pitching coach Ivan Arteaga) and our catchers, I think that’s really helped me a lot. “So I think that getting these innings in and learning to get the change-up over. I hadn’t thrown very many change-ups and my change-up now is something that I go to a lot against lefties. And really, just getting ground balls and keeping the ball out of the air. I think I lived up in the zone in high school because I could. I used to just throw the ball as hard as I could and that’s not really pitching. I’ve had to learn to command the zone and not feel like I have to overpower everybody. "Going in to the season, I’m trying to build on every start, but I think that the approach that I have right now that Ivan and Jake (manager Jake Mauer) and I have gone over, I think that the plan we have going in to every start is pretty good. I think that I like where things are headed, but I think that I have a lot of work to do.” College football season doesn't start for a couple of months, but Texas A&M and every other major program recently wrapped up their spring practices. Did that give Stewart an itch to get on the practice field and throw the football around? “I didn’t have time for it,” replied the pitcher. “I was so busy figuring out what I was doing and stuff, just trying to get better.” Not that football is forever banished from his mind, of course. “Whenever I watch them on TV, I always get that itch,” admitted Stewart, “but I think everybody kind of enjoys watching those things on TV. I think when I go to the games, I feel like I’m there kind of part of the team. There’s always going to be a part of me that’s there. There’s always going to be that closeness that I have with those guys that are in that class. “But they know that I’m doing what I love and I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else.” ********** The Kernels return home to Cedar Rapids after Tuesday's matinee series finale in Beloit. They'll be home for six games (three vs Wisconsin and three vs Burlington). Friday night, May 30, is another special jersey promotion. It's "Star Wars" night with white/black "storm trooper" themed jerseys that will be auctioned off via silent auction with proceeds going to a charity. The first 1,000 fans through the gates Friday also get a free Star Wars t-shirt. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Star_Wars_Jersey_Promo-150x126.jpgKernels Star Wars Jersey http://knuckleballsb...omo-150x126.jpgStar Wars t-shirt giveaway (All photos: SD Buhr/Knuckleballsblog.com; jersey/t-shirt images: Kernels.com) Click here to view the article

The Cedar Rapids Kernels dropped an ugly 5-2 game to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers back on July 9 and Kernels manager Jake Mauer clearly was not a happy man afterward. His line up had left eight runners stranded in scoring position on the night and played some shoddy defense in a loss on a night when Kernels pitching combined to strike out 13 opposing hitters. “We’re going to have some changes,” Mauer promised that night, in a post-game interview. (This article originally was posted at Knuckleballsblog.com) Catcher Alex Swim went 1 for 4 as the team’s designated hitter in that loss and he has not DH’d since. Then again, he hasn’t done much catching, either. The next night, July 10, again against the Timber Rattlers, Swim was inserted as the Kernels’ right fielder. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Swim2014.jpg Alex Swim Maybe Mauer was just trying to give some of his regular outfield crew a wake-up call or maybe he knew something nobody else did, but Swim gunned down Rattler baserunner Omar Garcia at home in that game and he has been the starting right fielder for the Kernels on every line up card Mauer has filled out since. He’s put on the catcher’s gear for a game in that stretch only twice. Once to finish a rain shortened game in which he had started as the catcher (he played right field in the full game following the completion of the postponed contest) and he made one appearance at catcher late in a game after starting catcher Michael Quesada was removed for a pinch runner. Swim was already riding a six game hitting streak pieced together starting June 30 as he rotated between catching, DHing and taking his turn riding the pine as part of what was, for a time, a four-man catching rotation that included Mitch Garver and Bo Altobelli, along with Quesada and Swim. After being inserted in to the every day line up, Swim swatted hits in another eight consecutive games, making him the proud owner of a 14-game streak, the longest by a Kernels hitter this season, before the streak was snapped on July 21. On the season, Swim is batting .341 in the 26 games he’s suited up with the Kernels. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Swim2014d.jpg Alex Swim in the Kernels special “Duck Dynasty” camo jersey In an interview late last week, Swim said he played some outfield during his junior and senior years at Elon University in North Carolina, “just to get a little break from behind the plate.” Coming in to the season, though, he wasn’t expecting to see this much time on the outfield grass. “During (extended spring training), they asked me if I had an outfielder’s glove and I did. They said, ‘get a few reps out there just in case,’” Swim recalled. Acknowledging that he’s been out there every game lately, he added with a smile, “maybe (the Twins organization) gave me a position change and didn’t tell me, I don’t know.” He’s not complaining. “I’ll play anywhere,” he said. “I love throwing the ball and showing off the arm a little bit.” That’s a healthy approach to have for a player in Swim’s position with the Twins organization. Swim, Garver and the current catcher for the Class high-A Fort Myers Miracle, Stuart Turner, were all college catchers selected by the Twins in the same draft class a year ago. Turner was the Twins’ third round pick, Garver was picked in the 10th round and Swim in the 22nd. The Twins also selected a high school catcher, Brian Navarreto, in the sixth round. Navarreto is currently with the Twins’ Elizabethton short-season rookie level affiliate. As if that weren’t enough, the Twins drafted six more catchers in the 2014 draft, though none were higher than the 19th round and not all were inked by the Twins before the signing deadline on July 18. Still, Swim recognizes that he’s up against some tough competition as he tries to work his way up the organizational ladder, not only from other recent draftees, but from players with more professional experience, such as his Cedar Rapids teammate Quesada. “Obviously, I know who’s there,” Swim conceded. “But I think everyone is good in their own way. If you’re meant to keep going and playing, you’re going to get there. “I try to make it where I can play different positions to help me out. If you need a right fielder, I’ll play right field. If you need a first baseman, I’ll do that. Whatever they need.” In baseball, hitters can run hot and cold, but in his first month as a Kernel, Swim has definitely been hot with the bat. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Swim2014j.jpg Alex Swim “I feel pretty comfortable in the box and the ball does look a little bigger right now,” he admitted. Fellow Kernels catcher Garver hit three home runs in one game on Monday, but Swim doesn’t expect to be putting on that kind of power display any time soon. “Generally, with my swing, I’m not going to hit the ball out of the park or drive a bunch of balls in to gaps, so I just try to really stay up the middle and just stay short and sweet to the ball and just try to get on base.” Swim worked out with the Class A group during most of spring training, but when the time came to head north to start the season, he was left behind in extended spring training. That sort of thing can be disappointing to a player, of course, but Swim pointed out that there were some benefits, too, for a guy from Greensboro, North Carolina. “It’s not that big of a deal when you’re playing in 85 degree weather in the spring down in Florida, so that was the good part,” he recalled with a bit of a laugh. “I was texting a few of the guys and they were saying it was 30 degrees and they had four layers on. I was, like, I’m in a pair of shorts and sandals right now.” Swim had the opportunity to turn professional after his junior year of college when the St. Louis Cardinals made him there 36th round selection in the 2012 draft, but he opted to pass at the time. “Right around draft time my junior year, mom was sick, was in the hospital,” Swim explained. “I really didn’t know how that was going to affect her as far as what was going to happen. I didn’t want to push it by leaving at that time, so I decided to forgo the draft, stay at home, work a little bit, try to help out around the house and get things situated. “Honestly, I don’t have any regrets. I would do it the same way every time. She’s doing well right now. She’s getting healthy. She’s staying at home and listening to the games (over the internet).” Away from the ballpark, Swim escapes the daily grind of the game with a good book. “I like biographies and stuff like that,” he explained. “That kind of gets me away from the game and not thinking about anything really about baseball.”