Paul Pleiss

This post originally appeared at http://puckettspond.com/2012/10/01/down-on-the-pond-twins-milb-awards-the-hitters/ The minor league seasons are all over. The prospects have played their final games (well, I guess officially the September call-ups still have 3 games left, but let's not get carried away) and the stats and progressions for 2012 are all in the books. Before the season began, several of the Twins bloggers, myself included, made some prognostications about who we thought would be the best MiLB players in the Twins system. You can see the predictions in full by going here (position players) or here (pitchers). Today I'll share my picks for the hitters and later in the week we'll take a look at the pitchers. My predictions are listed below with brief reasoning, followed by who I picked as the winner with a season full of stats and analysis to go on. The astute reader will notice my seemingly complete lack of ability to analyze MiLB players. I'm new to this, but I press on. http://puckettspond.com/files/2012/05/down-on-the-pond.1.jpg Breakout Hitter (Upper Levels) Pre-Season Pick: Tsuyoshi Nishioka, while many think that Nishi will find his way back to Japan by the season's end, the demotion to AAA will give Nishi a chance to learn the American flavor of the game and get the instruction he needs to use the skills he acquired in Japan to become a productive hitter in MLB. Boy was I wrong on this one. Last week Nishi requested and was granted his release by the Twins. I fully expected Nishi to rebound in AAA, ultimate FAIL! I harbor no ill-will to the former Japanese All-Star and wish him fair winds and following seas as he embarks on his post MLB career. Winner: Oswaldo Arcia. Get used to that name, you'll be hearing it quite a bit in the next couple years, and at least once more in this post. Arcia started the year in high-A Fort Myers and after half a season that saw Oswaldo hitting .309/.376/.517 (BA/OBP/SLG) he was promoted to AA New Britain. Usually there is a natural regression when players are moved up a level, but not for Arcia he moved up and started hitting even better. In 69 games with the Rock Cats Oswaldo hit .328/.398/.557! The Twins have a glut of OF talent in their system, much of it at AA or above, so it's unclear exactly where Arcia will start in 2013, but AAA wouldn't be a bad idea. Last week the Twins named Arcia as their minor league player of the year. Congratulations Oswaldo Arcia on a magnificent 2012 Campaign! Best Hitter (Upper Levels) Pre-Season Pick: Brian Dozier was impressive last year splitting time between Ft Myers and New Britain. After an impressive spring I look to Dozier to continue to tear things up in Rochester. If there is any disarray with the Twins middle infield, Dozier will be the first guy up to fill the open slot. Another miss for me here. After spending 2011 in AA I expected Dozier to continue to play solid defense and hit will as he adjusted to AAA. The Twins called Dozier up to the bigs and his bat never really got going. In August he was sent back to AAA and was even worse. What will 2013 bring for Brian Dozier? Will he make improvements with his bat and hold off Pedro Florimon for the starting short stop job? Only time will tell. Winner: Chris Parmelee. After a hot September call-up in 2011 Parmelee started the season with the Twins as insurance on JustinMorneau, but was sent down after a miserable start. In 64 games with the AAA Rochester Red Wings Parmelee hit .338/.457/.645 (1.102 OPS). CP tore up AAA pitching and 35 XBH including 17HR in his half-season of work in AAA to go with 51 walks while only striking out 52 times. In short, he was a superstar. Breakout Hitter (Lower Levels) Pre-Season Pick: Levi Michael. Levi signed late and will be making his professional debut with the Miracle this season and as a fairly polished college player should perform well hitting for high average and working his way up through the Twins system, finishing the season in AA after a successful campaign with the Miracle. Another miss for the BaseballPirate. Levi struggled early in the season for Ft Myers and finished the year with a slash line of .246/.339/.311 thanks in large part to his second half numbers (.272/.368/.328). While Michael did not break out in his first year of professional baseball, he did settle in late in the season and had a .969 fielding% splitting time between second base and short stop. Winner: Josmil Pinto. The right-handed catcher really came into his own in 2012 posting his best numbers since 2009 when he was playing with the Elizabethon Twins in extended spring training. On the season Pinto hit .295/.362/.482 in 93 games with Ft Myers and earned himself a late season call up to New Britain and was named both a mid-season and post-season All-Star in the Florida State League. I'd like to throw in an honorable mention to Beloit first basemen Kenny Vargas who hit .318/.419/.610 in limited action this season (41 games). Best Hitter (Lower Levels) Pre-Season Pick: Miguel Sano or Eddie Rosario. Both are moving up to Beloit this season and it's a coin flip as to which will be the best hitter for the Snappers this season as both are coming off of monster seasons in Elizabethon. I look for Sano to continue to develop his power tool although he may have a slow start playing in colder weather of the Midwest League. You could probably still make a case for Rosario who had a great year in low-A Beloit (.284/.345/.490), but Sano was a little less impressive than I was hoping going into the season. He still had a great season, but his approach at the plate still needs some work as he appears to be trying to hit the ball out of the park every time at the plate. 2012 was by no means a "lost season" for Sano, but I think I was over estimating the development rate of the young third basemen. Winner: Oswaldo Arcia. See his accolades above. Hard to argue against Arcia Breakout Hitter (Extended Spring Training) Pre-Season Pick: Niko Goodrum. Nko will repeat EST for a second season, but if he can build off of late season success from 2011 Niko's a name that Twins fans will be talking about as the season progresses. Goodrum is also a twitter fanatic, @nikogoodrumTC, and like Ben Revere he just looks like he's having fun out on the field. He's still pretty raw, but look for Goodrum to make big strides at the plate this year. Niko didn't have a bad season in 2012, but he didn't hit as well as he did in 2011, but looking at numbers alone in EST doesn't tell the whole story. Goodrum took more walks and hit for more power in his second full season in EST and should start 2013 with the Twins new low-A affiliate Cedar Rapids Kernels. Niko has a strong arm and will hopefully be able to stay at short-stop as he continues to progress through the Twins farm system. Winner: Max Kepler. In his second season with the Elizabethon Twins Max Kepler really came into his own hitting .297/.387/.539. At only 19 Kepler continues to develop into what many believe will be MLB All-Star form. Kepler hit 10HR this season after mashing only 1 in his last 2 seasons combined and cut his strike outs by a third (54 in 2011, only 33 in 2012). He was named a post-season All-Star in the Appalachian League. Best Hitter (Extended Spring Training) Pre-Season Pick: Max Kepler is back in EST for a second year after coming off a 2011 where he hit .262/.347/.366. Look for Kepler to settle in early and build off his season ending six game hit streak in 2011. Kepler should continue to get stronger and should develop power as he progresses through the Twins system. Ooooooo! It looks like I got one correct! Finally. Kepler did exactly what I had called for this spring, and yes, I am gloating. Honorable mention to the GCL Twins' Aderlin Mejia (SS) who hit .324/.365/.402 and even garnered a late season call up to Ft Myers. Winner: Max Kepler. What do you think? Any arguments for other players form the minors? Weigh in with your comments below and make sure to check back later in the week to go over my picks for the Twins minor league pitching stars from the 2012 season.

This post originally appeared at http://puckettspond.com/2012/10/01/down-on-the-pond-twins-milb-awards-the-hitters/ The minor league seasons are all over. The prospects have played their final games (well, I guess officially the September call-ups still have 3 games left, but let's not get carried away) and the stats and progressions for 2012 are all in the books. Before the season began, several of the Twins bloggers, myself included, made some prognostications about who we thought would be the best MiLB players in the Twins system. You can see the predictions in full by going here (position players) or here (pitchers). Today I'll share my picks for the hitters and later in the week we'll take a look at the pitchers. My predictions are listed below with brief reasoning, followed by who I picked as the winner with a season full of stats and analysis to go on. The astute reader will notice my seemingly complete lack of ability to analyze MiLB players. I'm new to this, but I press on. http://puckettspond.com/files/2012/05/down-on-the-pond.1.jpg Breakout Hitter (Upper Levels) Pre-Season Pick: Tsuyoshi Nishioka, while many think that Nishi will find his way back to Japan by the season's end, the demotion to AAA will give Nishi a chance to learn the American flavor of the game and get the instruction he needs to use the skills he acquired in Japan to become a productive hitter in MLB. Boy was I wrong on this one. Last week Nishi requested and was granted his release by the Twins. I fully expected Nishi to rebound in AAA, ultimate FAIL! I harbor no ill-will to the former Japanese All-Star and wish him fair winds and following seas as he embarks on his post MLB career. Winner: Oswaldo Arcia. Get used to that name, you'll be hearing it quite a bit in the next couple years, and at least once more in this post. Arcia started the year in high-A Fort Myers and after half a season that saw Oswaldo hitting .309/.376/.517 (BA/OBP/SLG) he was promoted to AA New Britain. Usually there is a natural regression when players are moved up a level, but not for Arcia he moved up and started hitting even better. In 69 games with the Rock Cats Oswaldo hit .328/.398/.557! The Twins have a glut of OF talent in their system, much of it at AA or above, so it's unclear exactly where Arcia will start in 2013, but AAA wouldn't be a bad idea. Last week the Twins named Arcia as their minor league player of the year. Congratulations Oswaldo Arcia on a magnificent 2012 Campaign! Best Hitter (Upper Levels) Pre-Season Pick: Brian Dozier was impressive last year splitting time between Ft Myers and New Britain. After an impressive spring I look to Dozier to continue to tear things up in Rochester. If there is any disarray with the Twins middle infield, Dozier will be the first guy up to fill the open slot. Another miss for me here. After spending 2011 in AA I expected Dozier to continue to play solid defense and hit will as he adjusted to AAA. The Twins called Dozier up to the bigs and his bat never really got going. In August he was sent back to AAA and was even worse. What will 2013 bring for Brian Dozier? Will he make improvements with his bat and hold off Pedro Florimon for the starting short stop job? Only time will tell. Winner: Chris Parmelee. After a hot September call-up in 2011 Parmelee started the season with the Twins as insurance on JustinMorneau, but was sent down after a miserable start. In 64 games with the AAA Rochester Red Wings Parmelee hit .338/.457/.645 (1.102 OPS). CP tore up AAA pitching and 35 XBH including 17HR in his half-season of work in AAA to go with 51 walks while only striking out 52 times. In short, he was a superstar. Breakout Hitter (Lower Levels) Pre-Season Pick: Levi Michael. Levi signed late and will be making his professional debut with the Miracle this season and as a fairly polished college player should perform well hitting for high average and working his way up through the Twins system, finishing the season in AA after a successful campaign with the Miracle. Another miss for the BaseballPirate. Levi struggled early in the season for Ft Myers and finished the year with a slash line of .246/.339/.311 thanks in large part to his second half numbers (.272/.368/.328). While Michael did not break out in his first year of professional baseball, he did settle in late in the season and had a .969 fielding% splitting time between second base and short stop. Winner: Josmil Pinto. The right-handed catcher really came into his own in 2012 posting his best numbers since 2009 when he was playing with the Elizabethon Twins in extended spring training. On the season Pinto hit .295/.362/.482 in 93 games with Ft Myers and earned himself a late season call up to New Britain and was named both a mid-season and post-season All-Star in the Florida State League. I'd like to throw in an honorable mention to Beloit first basemen Kenny Vargas who hit .318/.419/.610 in limited action this season (41 games). Best Hitter (Lower Levels) Pre-Season Pick: Miguel Sano or Eddie Rosario. Both are moving up to Beloit this season and it's a coin flip as to which will be the best hitter for the Snappers this season as both are coming off of monster seasons in Elizabethon. I look for Sano to continue to develop his power tool although he may have a slow start playing in colder weather of the Midwest League. You could probably still make a case for Rosario who had a great year in low-A Beloit (.284/.345/.490), but Sano was a little less impressive than I was hoping going into the season. He still had a great season, but his approach at the plate still needs some work as he appears to be trying to hit the ball out of the park every time at the plate. 2012 was by no means a "lost season" for Sano, but I think I was over estimating the development rate of the young third basemen. Winner: Oswaldo Arcia. See his accolades above. Hard to argue against Arcia Breakout Hitter (Extended Spring Training) Pre-Season Pick: Niko Goodrum. Nko will repeat EST for a second season, but if he can build off of late season success from 2011 Niko's a name that Twins fans will be talking about as the season progresses. Goodrum is also a twitter fanatic, @nikogoodrumTC, and like Ben Revere he just looks like he's having fun out on the field. He's still pretty raw, but look for Goodrum to make big strides at the plate this year. Niko didn't have a bad season in 2012, but he didn't hit as well as he did in 2011, but looking at numbers alone in EST doesn't tell the whole story. Goodrum took more walks and hit for more power in his second full season in EST and should start 2013 with the Twins new low-A affiliate Cedar Rapids Kernels. Niko has a strong arm and will hopefully be able to stay at short-stop as he continues to progress through the Twins farm system. Winner: Max Kepler. In his second season with the Elizabethon Twins Max Kepler really came into his own hitting .297/.387/.539. At only 19 Kepler continues to develop into what many believe will be MLB All-Star form. Kepler hit 10HR this season after mashing only 1 in his last 2 seasons combined and cut his strike outs by a third (54 in 2011, only 33 in 2012). He was named a post-season All-Star in the Appalachian League. Best Hitter (Extended Spring Training) Pre-Season Pick: Max Kepler is back in EST for a second year after coming off a 2011 where he hit .262/.347/.366. Look for Kepler to settle in early and build off his season ending six game hit streak in 2011. Kepler should continue to get stronger and should develop power as he progresses through the Twins system. Ooooooo! It looks like I got one correct! Finally. Kepler did exactly what I had called for this spring, and yes, I am gloating. Honorable mention to the GCL Twins' Aderlin Mejia (SS) who hit .324/.365/.402 and even garnered a late season call up to Ft Myers. Winner: Max Kepler. What do you think? Any arguments for other players form the minors? Weigh in with your comments below and make sure to check back later in the week to go over my picks for the Twins minor league pitching stars from the 2012 season.

This post originally appeared at http://puckettspond.com/2012/09/28/minnesota-twins-podcast-episode-6-sconnie-beer-and-col-sanders/ Episode 6 of the Twins related baseball podcast, Talk To Contact, is now available for download via iTunes or by clicking here. http://puckettspond.com/files/2012/08/talktocontact-300x225.jpg Episode 5 was pretty excellent, if I do say so myself, and in the 6th edition of the podcast Eric and I discuss why the Twins always seem to lay down against the Yankees, Sam Deduno as a possible starter for 2013, and make prognostications for the rest of this season and the post-season awards. We also make mention of Sconnie Beer, Miguel Sano, a possible shake up in the coaching staff and Colonel Sanders of KFC fame.You can follow Eric on Twitter (@ERolfPleiss) or read his writing at the Knuckle Balls Blog. __________________ Follow @BaseballPirate on Twitter

This post originally appeared at http://puckettspond.com/2012/09/28/minnesota-twins-podcast-episode-6-sconnie-beer-and-col-sanders/ Episode 6 of the Twins related baseball podcast, Talk To Contact, is now available for download via iTunes or by clicking here. http://puckettspond.com/files/2012/08/talktocontact-300x225.jpg Episode 5 was pretty excellent, if I do say so myself, and in the 6th edition of the podcast Eric and I discuss why the Twins always seem to lay down against the Yankees, Sam Deduno as a possible starter for 2013, and make prognostications for the rest of this season and the post-season awards. We also make mention of Sconnie Beer, Miguel Sano, a possible shake up in the coaching staff and Colonel Sanders of KFC fame.You can follow Eric on Twitter (@ERolfPleiss) or read his writing at the Knuckle Balls Blog. __________________ Follow @BaseballPirate on Twitter

Over the Mother's Day weekend all four of the Twins full-season minor league affiliates were in action. The Twins flirted with their first winning streak of the season before losing Saturday evening's 2-1 battle against our neighbors to the North, the Toronto Blue Jays. Twins minor league call-ups have been the story lately for the Twins with stellar pitching performances from both Scott Diamond and P.J. Walters who combined to throw 20.0 innings. Last week Diamond pitched 7.0 innings of shutout baseball before giving way to the Twins bullpen who were able to secure the W. Walters gave the Twins a quality start going 6.0 innings and gave up only 2 runs but the offense was unable to respond against Drew Hutchison and the Toronto bullpen, managing only 1 run when Hutchison walked Brian Dozier to force home a run. Dozier is 8-for-29 in his first week in Minnesota and Drew Butera has three hits in his four games of action since getting called up to join the Twins. Diamond pitched again on Mother's day and pitched another 7 scoreless innings to bring his scoreless inning streak to 14 and although Jeff Burton tried to give the game away, Diamond is now 2-0 on the season with the Twins and has yet to surrender a run. But enough about the guys playing in the big leagues, let's take a look Down on the Pond![/url] AAA Rochester Red Wings (14-22) Friday: Red Wings vs Syracuse Chiefs - L 2-8 Saturday: Red Wings vs Syracuse Chiefs - L 0-11 Sunday: Red Wings vs Syracuse Chiefs - L 2-4 The Red Wings played the first three games of their four game set against the Syracuse Chiefs and lost all three. On Friday, Jeff Manship struggled early giving up 3 runs in the first and 6 total in his 4 innings of work. The Red Wings offense scattered 8 hits on the day with 2 each from Ben Revere and J.R. Towles but managed only 2 runs in the 2-8 loss. On Saturday, things got worse for the Red Wings as Daryl Thompson gave up 7 runs in 3.2 innings of work and the offense managed just 5 hits, 2 from Clete Thomas who had a double and a triple for the day, but were unable to score any runs as the Chiefs shutout the Red Wings 11-0. Rochester lost again on Sunday despite a strong pitching performance from Liam Hendriks on Mother's day. Hendriks went 6.0 innings, giving up 1R, 1BB and 4K's, but Deolis Guerra could not hold the slim 2-1 lead and gave up 3 runs (2 earned) in his first inning of relief. The bats were quiet the last 5 innings and the Red Wings lost 2-4 despite out hitting the Chiefs 7-5 over the course of the game. Studs: Ben Revere continues to have a hot bat, Revere was 4-for-12 over the weekend with no K'sand is 11-for-27 on the current 7 game road trip. His season average in AAA sits at .319 and his on base plus slugging is .674. Liam Hendriks pitched 6.0 innings and gave up only 1 run in his no decision, and has given up only 2 runs in his 11.2 innings of work for the Red Wings this season. Duds: Jeff Manship took his first loss of the season giving up 6 runs in 4.0 innings of work, and recording only a single strike-out. Daryl Thompson gave up 7 runs in 3.2 innings of work on Saturday and was tagged with the loss to move his record to 1-4 on the season. Casey Fien came in to mop up the 9th inning on Saturday and gave up 4 runs on 5 hits in a single inning of work and saw his ERA rise from 3.20 up to 4.79. Fien had given up only 7 runs in 19.2 innings of work prior to entering the game. Joe Thurston went 0-for-7 over the weekend and has a slash line of .139/.267/.236 (BA/OBP/SLG) on the season and is now batting .038/.133/.154 in the month of May. AA New Britain Rock Cats (22-14) Friday: Rock Cats vs Reading Phillies - W 4-1 Saturday: Rock Cats vs Reading Phillies - W 8-4 Sunday: Rock Cats vs Reading Phillies - L 4-6 On Friday afternoon the Reading Phillies' Trevor May took a no-hit bid into the top of the 7th before the Rock Cats' bats came alive. The Cats would score one in the 7th and 3 more in the 8th. Wilkin Ramirez homered in the 8th to make it three games in a row with a HR. The Rock Cats' own David Bromberg also had a nice evening on the mound pitching 6 innings and giving up no runs and striking out 7. Lester Oliveros came on to pitch 2 innings of perfect relief and picked up the win. Daniel Turpin came on for the ninth and gave up a run to spoil the shutout, Rock Cats 4, Phillies 1. On Saturday the Phillies took an early 1-0 lead off of B.J. Hermsen, but he settled down to pitch 7.0 innings and gave up only 2 runs, no walks to go with 3K's. The Rock Cats got the bats out and scored in 5 different innings and Wilkin Ramirez went 3-for-4 and hit another HR to take his HR streak to 4 games which ties a Rock Cats record. Aaron Hicks went 3-for-4 with 2 doubles and 3RBI. Blake Martin pitched a scoreless inning of relief and Louis Perdomo made things interesting in the 9th when he came in and surrendered 2 before securing the win for Hermsen, Rock Cats 8, Phillies 4. On Mother's Day, with the series lead 2-1 on the Phillies, the Rock Cats were unable to get the W and had to settle for a series split. Andrew Albers gave up only 3 runs in his 6.0 innings of work, however; the Rock Cats were hitless until Nate Hudson broke up the no-no in the bottom of the 6th. The Rock Cats would score 4 runs on 4 hits, but Caleb Thielbar was unable to keep the Phillies at bay and gave up 3 runs in 1.1 innings of work. The Phillies would hold on for the W, Rock Cats 4, Phillies 6. The Rock Cats now sit a half-game back of the Phillies for the division lead. Studs: David Bromberg, 6.0 innings, 0 runs, 7 K's. Lester Oliveros, 2.0 innings, no hits, no runs, 1 K. Wilkin Ramirez, 4-for-8 over the weekend, with HR's in 4 straight games and is now batting .388 on the season. Ramirez enjoyed a well earned day off on Sunday. Over the course of his last 10 games, Ramirez has a slash line of .419/.444/.884 with 9XBH. Duds: Joe Benson was 0-for-9 this past weekend with 3 K's. Benson is batting .095 (2-for-21) since his demotion to New Britain earlier this month. Caleb Thielbar pitched 1.1 innings in relief and gave up 3 runs on 5 hits and a walk. He recorded no K's. Tough outing for the usually reliable Thielbar who had pitched 6.1 scoreless innings of releif since being promoted from Fort Myers before his Mother's day struggles. To Read the rest of the recap, head on over to www.puckettspond.com __________________ Check out Puckett’s Pond on Facebook Follow @BaseballPirate on Twitter

Over the Mother's Day weekend all four of the Twins full-season minor league affiliates were in action. The Twins flirted with their first winning streak of the season before losing Saturday evening's 2-1 battle against our neighbors to the North, the Toronto Blue Jays. Twins minor league call-ups have been the story lately for the Twins with stellar pitching performances from both Scott Diamond and P.J. Walters who combined to throw 20.0 innings. Last week Diamond pitched 7.0 innings of shutout baseball before giving way to the Twins bullpen who were able to secure the W. Walters gave the Twins a quality start going 6.0 innings and gave up only 2 runs but the offense was unable to respond against Drew Hutchison and the Toronto bullpen, managing only 1 run when Hutchison walked Brian Dozier to force home a run. Dozier is 8-for-29 in his first week in Minnesota and Drew Butera has three hits in his four games of action since getting called up to join the Twins. Diamond pitched again on Mother's day and pitched another 7 scoreless innings to bring his scoreless inning streak to 14 and although Jeff Burton tried to give the game away, Diamond is now 2-0 on the season with the Twins and has yet to surrender a run. But enough about the guys playing in the big leagues, let's take a look Down on the Pond![/url] AAA Rochester Red Wings (14-22) Friday: Red Wings vs Syracuse Chiefs - L 2-8 Saturday: Red Wings vs Syracuse Chiefs - L 0-11 Sunday: Red Wings vs Syracuse Chiefs - L 2-4 The Red Wings played the first three games of their four game set against the Syracuse Chiefs and lost all three. On Friday, Jeff Manship struggled early giving up 3 runs in the first and 6 total in his 4 innings of work. The Red Wings offense scattered 8 hits on the day with 2 each from Ben Revere and J.R. Towles but managed only 2 runs in the 2-8 loss. On Saturday, things got worse for the Red Wings as Daryl Thompson gave up 7 runs in 3.2 innings of work and the offense managed just 5 hits, 2 from Clete Thomas who had a double and a triple for the day, but were unable to score any runs as the Chiefs shutout the Red Wings 11-0. Rochester lost again on Sunday despite a strong pitching performance from Liam Hendriks on Mother's day. Hendriks went 6.0 innings, giving up 1R, 1BB and 4K's, but Deolis Guerra could not hold the slim 2-1 lead and gave up 3 runs (2 earned) in his first inning of relief. The bats were quiet the last 5 innings and the Red Wings lost 2-4 despite out hitting the Chiefs 7-5 over the course of the game. Studs: Ben Revere continues to have a hot bat, Revere was 4-for-12 over the weekend with no K'sand is 11-for-27 on the current 7 game road trip. His season average in AAA sits at .319 and his on base plus slugging is .674. Liam Hendriks pitched 6.0 innings and gave up only 1 run in his no decision, and has given up only 2 runs in his 11.2 innings of work for the Red Wings this season. Duds: Jeff Manship took his first loss of the season giving up 6 runs in 4.0 innings of work, and recording only a single strike-out. Daryl Thompson gave up 7 runs in 3.2 innings of work on Saturday and was tagged with the loss to move his record to 1-4 on the season. Casey Fien came in to mop up the 9th inning on Saturday and gave up 4 runs on 5 hits in a single inning of work and saw his ERA rise from 3.20 up to 4.79. Fien had given up only 7 runs in 19.2 innings of work prior to entering the game. Joe Thurston went 0-for-7 over the weekend and has a slash line of .139/.267/.236 (BA/OBP/SLG) on the season and is now batting .038/.133/.154 in the month of May. AA New Britain Rock Cats (22-14) Friday: Rock Cats vs Reading Phillies - W 4-1 Saturday: Rock Cats vs Reading Phillies - W 8-4 Sunday: Rock Cats vs Reading Phillies - L 4-6 On Friday afternoon the Reading Phillies' Trevor May took a no-hit bid into the top of the 7th before the Rock Cats' bats came alive. The Cats would score one in the 7th and 3 more in the 8th. Wilkin Ramirez homered in the 8th to make it three games in a row with a HR. The Rock Cats' own David Bromberg also had a nice evening on the mound pitching 6 innings and giving up no runs and striking out 7. Lester Oliveros came on to pitch 2 innings of perfect relief and picked up the win. Daniel Turpin came on for the ninth and gave up a run to spoil the shutout, Rock Cats 4, Phillies 1. On Saturday the Phillies took an early 1-0 lead off of B.J. Hermsen, but he settled down to pitch 7.0 innings and gave up only 2 runs, no walks to go with 3K's. The Rock Cats got the bats out and scored in 5 different innings and Wilkin Ramirez went 3-for-4 and hit another HR to take his HR streak to 4 games which ties a Rock Cats record. Aaron Hicks went 3-for-4 with 2 doubles and 3RBI. Blake Martin pitched a scoreless inning of relief and Louis Perdomo made things interesting in the 9th when he came in and surrendered 2 before securing the win for Hermsen, Rock Cats 8, Phillies 4. On Mother's Day, with the series lead 2-1 on the Phillies, the Rock Cats were unable to get the W and had to settle for a series split. Andrew Albers gave up only 3 runs in his 6.0 innings of work, however; the Rock Cats were hitless until Nate Hudson broke up the no-no in the bottom of the 6th. The Rock Cats would score 4 runs on 4 hits, but Caleb Thielbar was unable to keep the Phillies at bay and gave up 3 runs in 1.1 innings of work. The Phillies would hold on for the W, Rock Cats 4, Phillies 6. The Rock Cats now sit a half-game back of the Phillies for the division lead. Studs: David Bromberg, 6.0 innings, 0 runs, 7 K's. Lester Oliveros, 2.0 innings, no hits, no runs, 1 K. Wilkin Ramirez, 4-for-8 over the weekend, with HR's in 4 straight games and is now batting .388 on the season. Ramirez enjoyed a well earned day off on Sunday. Over the course of his last 10 games, Ramirez has a slash line of .419/.444/.884 with 9XBH. Duds: Joe Benson was 0-for-9 this past weekend with 3 K's. Benson is batting .095 (2-for-21) since his demotion to New Britain earlier this month. Caleb Thielbar pitched 1.1 innings in relief and gave up 3 runs on 5 hits and a walk. He recorded no K's. Tough outing for the usually reliable Thielbar who had pitched 6.1 scoreless innings of releif since being promoted from Fort Myers before his Mother's day struggles. To Read the rest of the recap, head on over to www.puckettspond.com __________________ Check out Puckett’s Pond on Facebook Follow @BaseballPirate on Twitter

This post originally appeard in it's entirety at www.puckettspond.com http://puckettspond.com/files/2012/05/down-on-the-pond.1.jpgWhat's been going on with the Twins MiLB affiliates? Sometimes my life gets in the way of my baseball writing, and fortunately while I have been away from the day in and day out happenings of the Twins minor league affiliates, baseball has gone on. I'd like to throw out a very special thank you to my friend Mark Smith (@MarkArtSmith) for creating the Down on the Pond logo that you'll see accompanying my minor league posts over the course of the rest of this season. The Twins have been sending players up and down seemingly every night this past week and there are new faces in new places throughout the system. AAA Rochester Red Wings (14-21) The Red Wings have been going the wrong over the course of the last couple weeks, and are 5-7 in the month of May, including 4 straight losses. Liam Hendriks takes the mound for the Red Wings this afternoon and tries to help the Wings turn things around. Hendriks is 1-0 since being optioned back to AAA earning a W against the Pawtuckett Red Sox on the 8th of May. Hendriks pitched 5.2 innings giving up 1R off 3H with only 2BB to go with 8K's. While with the Twins Hendriks was out matched going 0-2 in four starts with an ERA of 9.00 in only 18 innings pitched. The Red Wings will need their offense to come alive if Liam is to record another W this afternoon. Rochester has scored 4+ runs only three times this month and has been shut out twice this month alone. AA New Britain Rock Cats (22-13) The Rock Cats have continued to put together wins this season and find themselves atop the Eastern League Eastern Division standings. Andrew Albers (1-0, 4.50ERA) takes the mound for the Rock Cats this afternoon as they go for the sweep against the visiting Reading Phillies. Wilkin Ramirez has homered in 4 straight games for the Rock Cats and the pitching staff own a team ERA of 3.24, 1.18 WHIP and have only given up 15HR through the first 35 games this season. A+ Fort Myers Miracle (15-21) The Miracle have struggled this year, but are beginning to steady the ship going 6-6 so far this month. The Miracle are struggling offensively this year and head into tomorrow evening's game with a .239 team BA, and are in the bottom half of almost all offensive stats in the Florida State League. There are, however, some bright spots for the Miracle this season on the offensive side as they have blasted 24HR this season and taken 122 free passes, both inside the top three in the FSL through 36 games. The Miracle currently sit 13 games back of the red hod St. Lucie Mets who are 28-8 on the season. Tomorrow evening Madison Boer will toe the rubber for the Miracle. Boer has struggled since his promotion from Beloit, going 0-2 with a 14.09ERA during his first two starts. Boer will need to reclaim the magic he had in Beloit and bounch back after his last outing versus Dunedin when he game up 9 runs and lasted only 2 innings. A Beloit Snappers (21-15) The low A affiliate Snappers are tearning through the Midwest League and sit only 2 games back of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in the Western division. Beloit sends Matthew Tomshaw to the mound this afternoon agains the Clinton Lumberkings. Tomshaw is making his third start of the season and has appeared in 9 games for the Snappers this season going 1-1 with a 3.22ERA over 22.1 innings pitched. Tomshaw has walked only 3 batsmen this season to go with 17 K's. Of course the big news in Beloit this season are the Twins top prospects Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario who both enter today's game with identical .291 batting averages. Sano has blashed 10HR this season, good enough for half of the team's 20 bombs this season. Rosario, who had one more HR than Sano last season, has just 2 so far this season but also has 12 doubles so far this season. Both Rosario and Sano are still learning to field their positions and are struggling a little with the glove, Sano with 11 errors and Rosario with 8. Beloit has 6 pitchers this year with ERA's under 3.00, including starters Tim Shibuya and Jason Wheeler. Former Minnesota Golden Gopher Adam Pettersen continues to impress his coaches and scrap for every inch of playing time he gets. I went down to Clinton, Iowa last month to see the Snappers play the Lumberkings and Pettersen took a few moments to chat with my brother and I before the game. As a hometown kid from Minnetonka, MN, he exudes the Minnesota niceness and while he has only managed a .263 BA this season he does have a .352 OBP. I have a soft spot in my heart for Pettersen and I look forward to watching him in the months and hopefully years to come. The Twins affiliates currently hold a combined record of 72-70. __________________ Check out Puckett’s Pond on Facebook Follow @BaseballPirate on Twitter

This post originally appeard in it's entirety at www.puckettspond.com http://puckettspond.com/files/2012/05/down-on-the-pond.1.jpgWhat's been going on with the Twins MiLB affiliates? Sometimes my life gets in the way of my baseball writing, and fortunately while I have been away from the day in and day out happenings of the Twins minor league affiliates, baseball has gone on. I'd like to throw out a very special thank you to my friend Mark Smith (@MarkArtSmith) for creating the Down on the Pond logo that you'll see accompanying my minor league posts over the course of the rest of this season. The Twins have been sending players up and down seemingly every night this past week and there are new faces in new places throughout the system. AAA Rochester Red Wings (14-21) The Red Wings have been going the wrong over the course of the last couple weeks, and are 5-7 in the month of May, including 4 straight losses. Liam Hendriks takes the mound for the Red Wings this afternoon and tries to help the Wings turn things around. Hendriks is 1-0 since being optioned back to AAA earning a W against the Pawtuckett Red Sox on the 8th of May. Hendriks pitched 5.2 innings giving up 1R off 3H with only 2BB to go with 8K's. While with the Twins Hendriks was out matched going 0-2 in four starts with an ERA of 9.00 in only 18 innings pitched. The Red Wings will need their offense to come alive if Liam is to record another W this afternoon. Rochester has scored 4+ runs only three times this month and has been shut out twice this month alone. AA New Britain Rock Cats (22-13) The Rock Cats have continued to put together wins this season and find themselves atop the Eastern League Eastern Division standings. Andrew Albers (1-0, 4.50ERA) takes the mound for the Rock Cats this afternoon as they go for the sweep against the visiting Reading Phillies. Wilkin Ramirez has homered in 4 straight games for the Rock Cats and the pitching staff own a team ERA of 3.24, 1.18 WHIP and have only given up 15HR through the first 35 games this season. A+ Fort Myers Miracle (15-21) The Miracle have struggled this year, but are beginning to steady the ship going 6-6 so far this month. The Miracle are struggling offensively this year and head into tomorrow evening's game with a .239 team BA, and are in the bottom half of almost all offensive stats in the Florida State League. There are, however, some bright spots for the Miracle this season on the offensive side as they have blasted 24HR this season and taken 122 free passes, both inside the top three in the FSL through 36 games. The Miracle currently sit 13 games back of the red hod St. Lucie Mets who are 28-8 on the season. Tomorrow evening Madison Boer will toe the rubber for the Miracle. Boer has struggled since his promotion from Beloit, going 0-2 with a 14.09ERA during his first two starts. Boer will need to reclaim the magic he had in Beloit and bounch back after his last outing versus Dunedin when he game up 9 runs and lasted only 2 innings. A Beloit Snappers (21-15) The low A affiliate Snappers are tearning through the Midwest League and sit only 2 games back of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in the Western division. Beloit sends Matthew Tomshaw to the mound this afternoon agains the Clinton Lumberkings. Tomshaw is making his third start of the season and has appeared in 9 games for the Snappers this season going 1-1 with a 3.22ERA over 22.1 innings pitched. Tomshaw has walked only 3 batsmen this season to go with 17 K's. Of course the big news in Beloit this season are the Twins top prospects Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario who both enter today's game with identical .291 batting averages. Sano has blashed 10HR this season, good enough for half of the team's 20 bombs this season. Rosario, who had one more HR than Sano last season, has just 2 so far this season but also has 12 doubles so far this season. Both Rosario and Sano are still learning to field their positions and are struggling a little with the glove, Sano with 11 errors and Rosario with 8. Beloit has 6 pitchers this year with ERA's under 3.00, including starters Tim Shibuya and Jason Wheeler. Former Minnesota Golden Gopher Adam Pettersen continues to impress his coaches and scrap for every inch of playing time he gets. I went down to Clinton, Iowa last month to see the Snappers play the Lumberkings and Pettersen took a few moments to chat with my brother and I before the game. As a hometown kid from Minnetonka, MN, he exudes the Minnesota niceness and while he has only managed a .263 BA this season he does have a .352 OBP. I have a soft spot in my heart for Pettersen and I look forward to watching him in the months and hopefully years to come. The Twins affiliates currently hold a combined record of 72-70. __________________ Check out Puckett’s Pond on Facebook Follow @BaseballPirate on Twitter

Over the Mother's Day weekend all four of the Twins full-season minor league affiliates were in action. The Twins flirted with their first winning streak of the season before losing Saturday evening's 2-1 battle against our neighbors to the North, the Toronto Blue Jays. Twins minor league call-ups have been the story lately for the Twins with stellar pitching performances from both Scott Diamond and P.J. Walters who combined to throw 20.0 innings. Last week Diamond pitched 7.0 innings of shutout baseball before giving way to the Twins bullpen who were able to secure the W. Walters gave the Twins a quality start going 6.0 innings and gave up only 2 runs but the offense was unable to respond against Drew Hutchison and the Toronto bullpen, managing only 1 run when Hutchison walked Brian Dozier to force home a run. Dozier is 8-for-29 in his first week in Minnesota and Drew Butera has three hits in his four games of action since getting called up to join the Twins. Diamond pitched again on Mother's day and pitched another 7 scoreless innings to bring his scoreless inning streak to 14 and although Jeff Burton tried to give the game away, Diamond is now 2-0 on the season with the Twins and has yet to surrender a run. But enough about the guys playing in the big leagues, let's take a look Down on the Pond![/url] AAA Rochester Red Wings (14-22) Friday: Red Wings vs Syracuse Chiefs - L 2-8 Saturday: Red Wings vs Syracuse Chiefs - L 0-11 Sunday: Red Wings vs Syracuse Chiefs - L 2-4 The Red Wings played the first three games of their four game set against the Syracuse Chiefs and lost all three. On Friday, Jeff Manship struggled early giving up 3 runs in the first and 6 total in his 4 innings of work. The Red Wings offense scattered 8 hits on the day with 2 each from Ben Revere and J.R. Towles but managed only 2 runs in the 2-8 loss. On Saturday, things got worse for the Red Wings as Daryl Thompson gave up 7 runs in 3.2 innings of work and the offense managed just 5 hits, 2 from Clete Thomas who had a double and a triple for the day, but were unable to score any runs as the Chiefs shutout the Red Wings 11-0. Rochester lost again on Sunday despite a strong pitching performance from Liam Hendriks on Mother's day. Hendriks went 6.0 innings, giving up 1R, 1BB and 4K's, but Deolis Guerra could not hold the slim 2-1 lead and gave up 3 runs (2 earned) in his first inning of relief. The bats were quiet the last 5 innings and the Red Wings lost 2-4 despite out hitting the Chiefs 7-5 over the course of the game. Studs: Ben Revere continues to have a hot bat, Revere was 4-for-12 over the weekend with no K'sand is 11-for-27 on the current 7 game road trip. His season average in AAA sits at .319 and his on base plus slugging is .674. Liam Hendriks pitched 6.0 innings and gave up only 1 run in his no decision, and has given up only 2 runs in his 11.2 innings of work for the Red Wings this season. Duds: Jeff Manship took his first loss of the season giving up 6 runs in 4.0 innings of work, and recording only a single strike-out. Daryl Thompson gave up 7 runs in 3.2 innings of work on Saturday and was tagged with the loss to move his record to 1-4 on the season. Casey Fien came in to mop up the 9th inning on Saturday and gave up 4 runs on 5 hits in a single inning of work and saw his ERA rise from 3.20 up to 4.79. Fien had given up only 7 runs in 19.2 innings of work prior to entering the game. Joe Thurston went 0-for-7 over the weekend and has a slash line of .139/.267/.236 (BA/OBP/SLG) on the season and is now batting .038/.133/.154 in the month of May. AA New Britain Rock Cats (22-14) Friday: Rock Cats vs Reading Phillies - W 4-1 Saturday: Rock Cats vs Reading Phillies - W 8-4 Sunday: Rock Cats vs Reading Phillies - L 4-6 On Friday afternoon the Reading Phillies' Trevor May took a no-hit bid into the top of the 7th before the Rock Cats' bats came alive. The Cats would score one in the 7th and 3 more in the 8th. Wilkin Ramirez homered in the 8th to make it three games in a row with a HR. The Rock Cats' own David Bromberg also had a nice evening on the mound pitching 6 innings and giving up no runs and striking out 7. Lester Oliveros came on to pitch 2 innings of perfect relief and picked up the win. Daniel Turpin came on for the ninth and gave up a run to spoil the shutout, Rock Cats 4, Phillies 1. On Saturday the Phillies took an early 1-0 lead off of B.J. Hermsen, but he settled down to pitch 7.0 innings and gave up only 2 runs, no walks to go with 3K's. The Rock Cats got the bats out and scored in 5 different innings and Wilkin Ramirez went 3-for-4 and hit another HR to take his HR streak to 4 games which ties a Rock Cats record. Aaron Hicks went 3-for-4 with 2 doubles and 3RBI. Blake Martin pitched a scoreless inning of relief and Louis Perdomo made things interesting in the 9th when he came in and surrendered 2 before securing the win for Hermsen, Rock Cats 8, Phillies 4. On Mother's Day, with the series lead 2-1 on the Phillies, the Rock Cats were unable to get the W and had to settle for a series split. Andrew Albers gave up only 3 runs in his 6.0 innings of work, however; the Rock Cats were hitless until Nate Hudson broke up the no-no in the bottom of the 6th. The Rock Cats would score 4 runs on 4 hits, but Caleb Thielbar was unable to keep the Phillies at bay and gave up 3 runs in 1.1 innings of work. The Phillies would hold on for the W, Rock Cats 4, Phillies 6. The Rock Cats now sit a half-game back of the Phillies for the division lead. Studs: David Bromberg, 6.0 innings, 0 runs, 7 K's. Lester Oliveros, 2.0 innings, no hits, no runs, 1 K. Wilkin Ramirez, 4-for-8 over the weekend, with HR's in 4 straight games and is now batting .388 on the season. Ramirez enjoyed a well earned day off on Sunday. Over the course of his last 10 games, Ramirez has a slash line of .419/.444/.884 with 9XBH. Duds: Joe Benson was 0-for-9 this past weekend with 3 K's. Benson is batting .095 (2-for-21) since his demotion to New Britain earlier this month. Caleb Thielbar pitched 1.1 innings in relief and gave up 3 runs on 5 hits and a walk. He recorded no K's. Tough outing for the usually reliable Thielbar who had pitched 6.1 scoreless innings of releif since being promoted from Fort Myers before his Mother's day struggles. To read the rest of the weekend recap, visit www.puckettspond.com........................................ __________________ Check out Puckett’s Pond on Facebook Follow @BaseballPirate on Twitter

http://puckettspond.com/files/2012/04/dDX2oApa.jpgMinnesota native, Cole DeVries This post originally appeared at http://www.puckettspond.com Sunday morning I brought you the news and results from opening weekend for the Twins minor league affiliates, and what a weekend it was. Baseball is back across the nation and #hope springs eternal in Twins territory and beyond. Despite a tough series sweep of the Twins at the hands of the Orioles Twins fans should keep their heads up, the season is long and an opening weekend a season does not make. All of the Twins minor league affiliates were inactive on Easter Sunday w/ exception of the Rochester Red Wings who faced off against the Buffalo Bison (New York Mets) in the 2nd game of a 3 game series AAA Rochester Red Wings (2-2): Easter Sunday Recap: Cole DeVries started the game out with a walk and 2 singles in the first inning but was able to work himself out of the jam and escape the inning without allowing a run. After the early trouble Devries mowed down 1o Buffalo batters in a row before getting himself into trouble again in the 4th. Heading into the 4th Rochester was up 1-0 thanks to Rene Rivera's first home run of the season. DeVries walked the second batter in the bottom half of the inning and then gave up back to back jacks (Adam Loewen, Matt Tuiasosopo) before being pulled in favor of Jeff Manship. In his second outing of the season Manship continued to look good this spring retiring all 10 Bison he faced and recording 4 K's along the way before handing off the ball to fellow reliever Casey Fien in the top of the 8th with the score tied 3-3. The Red Wings used a little 2-out magic in the home half of the 6th inning to scratch 2 runs across on a couple of 2 out singles and a walk to bring the score even at 3. Fien worked quickly getting the first two outs of the inning before giving up a HR to Valentino Pascucci. Fien would give up two more hits before escaping the inning. The Red Wings went down in order in the 8th and Fien gave up another 3 singles and a run in the 9th before watching the Red Wings fail to produce the 2 runs needed to extend the game. Studs: Jeff Manship pitched 3.1 perfect innings of relief with 4 K's in his second appearance of the year. Rene Rivera was 2 for 3 in the game with a home run and a single before he was pinch run for in the 7th. Duds: Cole DeVries only gave up 4 hits, but two of those were long balls.Casey Fien gave up three hits and a run in each of his 2 innings. The Red Wings offense was 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position. Game Notes: Brian Dozier was 1 for 3 and has a hit in each of the teams first four games. Matt Carson was 0 for 3 but did get himself a free pass and like Dozier, he has been on base each game this season. The Red Wings now sit at 2-2 and look to earn back to back W's to scratch out a series split in their home opening series. Check back tomorrow for results from today's games as all four of the Twins full season minor league affiliates are in action. __________________ Check out Puckett’s Pond on Facebook Follow @BaseballPirate on Twitter

http://puckettspond.com/files/2012/04/dDX2oApa.jpgMinnesota native, Cole DeVries This post originally appeared at http://www.puckettspond.com Sunday morning I brought you the news and results from opening weekend for the Twins minor league affiliates, and what a weekend it was. Baseball is back across the nation and #hope springs eternal in Twins territory and beyond. Despite a tough series sweep of the Twins at the hands of the Orioles Twins fans should keep their heads up, the season is long and an opening weekend a season does not make. All of the Twins minor league affiliates were inactive on Easter Sunday w/ exception of the Rochester Red Wings who faced off against the Buffalo Bison (New York Mets) in the 2nd game of a 3 game series AAA Rochester Red Wings (2-2): Easter Sunday Recap: Cole DeVries started the game out with a walk and 2 singles in the first inning but was able to work himself out of the jam and escape the inning without allowing a run. After the early trouble Devries mowed down 1o Buffalo batters in a row before getting himself into trouble again in the 4th. Heading into the 4th Rochester was up 1-0 thanks to Rene Rivera's first home run of the season. DeVries walked the second batter in the bottom half of the inning and then gave up back to back jacks (Adam Loewen, Matt Tuiasosopo) before being pulled in favor of Jeff Manship. In his second outing of the season Manship continued to look good this spring retiring all 10 Bison he faced and recording 4 K's along the way before handing off the ball to fellow reliever Casey Fien in the top of the 8th with the score tied 3-3. The Red Wings used a little 2-out magic in the home half of the 6th inning to scratch 2 runs across on a couple of 2 out singles and a walk to bring the score even at 3. Fien worked quickly getting the first two outs of the inning before giving up a HR to Valentino Pascucci. Fien would give up two more hits before escaping the inning. The Red Wings went down in order in the 8th and Fien gave up another 3 singles and a run in the 9th before watching the Red Wings fail to produce the 2 runs needed to extend the game. Studs: Jeff Manship pitched 3.1 perfect innings of relief with 4 K's in his second appearance of the year. Rene Rivera was 2 for 3 in the game with a home run and a single before he was pinch run for in the 7th. Duds: Cole DeVries only gave up 4 hits, but two of those were long balls.Casey Fien gave up three hits and a run in each of his 2 innings. The Red Wings offense was 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position. Game Notes: Brian Dozier was 1 for 3 and has a hit in each of the teams first four games. Matt Carson was 0 for 3 but did get himself a free pass and like Dozier, he has been on base each game this season. The Red Wings now sit at 2-2 and look to earn back to back W's to scratch out a series split in their home opening series. Check back tomorrow for results from today's games as all four of the Twins full season minor league affiliates are in action. __________________ Check out Puckett’s Pond on Facebook Follow @BaseballPirate on Twitter

Fantastic! I'm interested in getting involved, paulpleiss@gmail.com, not sure what I can do to help but I'm willing to give it a try.

You're right about Solarte and Osterbrock. Osterbrock was released just days after this post originally appeared on http://www.puckettspond.com

@rogrulz: Parmalee will be fun to watch if he can hit MLB pitching with any sort of regularity, if not, it'll be a long season for Parmalee fans. While I think he may get off to a slow start I think Parm can be about league average at 1B this season. @PeantusFromHeaven, it's going to be fun watching Ben get into games this year, hopefully he still gets his ABs and time out in the field so we can watch him make crazy catches in the OF and run wild on the base paths.

[/url]This post originally appeared at http://www.puckettspond.com On Thursday of this past week all four of the Twins full-season affiliate teams were in action, and although the teams split the games with 2 wins and 2 losses, there were a lot of good things to take away from both opening day and the first few days of the 2012 MiLB schedule. As this will be my first season covering the minors with anything more than a casual glance to the big name prospects, I'm still figuring a few things out, including the format for my weekly Down on the Pond updates. It's a daunting task to cover 4+ teams day in and day out, but I'm looking forward to getting to know the guys toiling down in the minors. I'll start at the top of the organization and work my way down; let's start by taking a look at what's been going on with the Twins AAA affiliate, the Rochester Red Wings. Rochester Red Wings (2-1) The Red Wings started off the season with two wins (Jeff Manship, Scott Diamond) against Syracuse before dropping the home opener to Buffalo. In the first game of the season P.J. Walters pitched 4.0 scoreless innings striking out 4 while giving up only 2 hits before Manship came into the game and pitched 1.1 scoreless innings to pick up the win. In the home opener Daryl Thompson pitched 5.0 innings giving up 3 runs (2 earned) and struck out 5, but the Buffalo pitching, lead by Chris Schwinden, held the Red Wings to 5 hits over the course of the game. The Red Wings Take on Buffalo this afternoon to close out opening weekend. Studs: Matt Carson opened the season 4 for 5 and has hit safely in all three games going 7-13 with 3XBH (extra base hits, 2 doubles and a triple). Brian Dozier, like Carson, has hit in all three games going 6 for 12 with 2 doubles. Scott Diamond pitched 6.1 scoreless innings scattering 4 hits and striking out 3 en root to the Red Wings 2nd W of the season. Duds: Tsuyoshi Nishioka opened the season 0 for 9 and was caught stealing in his only attempt. On the plus side he has drawn a free pass in each of the teams first three games. Tyler Robertson has pitched only one inning for the Wings this season but managed to give up two runs on three hits before he was chased from the game. Luckily Rochester had put up 5 runs in the top half of the inning and were able to hang on for the W. New Britain Rock Cats (3-1) The Rock Cats opened the season with 3 wins before dropping the last game of the opening series to Richmond in the 12th inning. The pitching in New Britain has been phenomenal giving up only 8 runs in the first 30 innings of the season. Studs: Rock Cats Starting Pitching. Starters for the Cats have been very impressive Luke French, Logan Darnell, Steve Hirschfeld and Jason Marquis have all gone at least 5.0 innings and have given up only a single run between them earning 3 W's for the team. Marquis gave up the only run in a 3H first inning and then settled down to pitch 5 scoreless innings. Pedro Florimon is 6 for 12 with only a single K and has reached base in each game for the Rock Cats. Chris Hermann is 4 for 12 in three games of work with 4RBI. Danny Lehmann is only 1 for 4 at the plate but has earned himself 4 walks in the last game of the series. Andrew Albers. Albers has 2 relief appearances for 3.0 innings this season giving up no runs on 2 hits. Duds: Aaron Hicks. HIcks is 1 for 12 with 4K's, not a good start for one of the Twins top prospects. Blake Martin. BM game into the 12th inning and gave up 3 hits, 2 runs and a walk giving the Rock Cats their only loss of the season. Blake gets the loss after a rough outing, but the real dud for the game was the Rock Cats offense that managed only 4 hits in 12 innings of work. To read the rest of the story click here and don't forget to stop over to Puckett's Pond for daily Twins news. __________________ Check out Puckett’s Pond on Facebook Follow @BaseballPirate on Twitter

[/url]This post originally appeared at http://www.puckettspond.com On Thursday of this past week all four of the Twins full-season affiliate teams were in action, and although the teams split the games with 2 wins and 2 losses, there were a lot of good things to take away from both opening day and the first few days of the 2012 MiLB schedule. As this will be my first season covering the minors with anything more than a casual glance to the big name prospects, I'm still figuring a few things out, including the format for my weekly Down on the Pond updates. It's a daunting task to cover 4+ teams day in and day out, but I'm looking forward to getting to know the guys toiling down in the minors. I'll start at the top of the organization and work my way down; let's start by taking a look at what's been going on with the Twins AAA affiliate, the Rochester Red Wings. Rochester Red Wings (2-1) The Red Wings started off the season with two wins (Jeff Manship, Scott Diamond) against Syracuse before dropping the home opener to Buffalo. In the first game of the season P.J. Walters pitched 4.0 scoreless innings striking out 4 while giving up only 2 hits before Manship came into the game and pitched 1.1 scoreless innings to pick up the win. In the home opener Daryl Thompson pitched 5.0 innings giving up 3 runs (2 earned) and struck out 5, but the Buffalo pitching, lead by Chris Schwinden, held the Red Wings to 5 hits over the course of the game. The Red Wings Take on Buffalo this afternoon to close out opening weekend. Studs: Matt Carson opened the season 4 for 5 and has hit safely in all three games going 7-13 with 3XBH (extra base hits, 2 doubles and a triple). Brian Dozier, like Carson, has hit in all three games going 6 for 12 with 2 doubles. Scott Diamond pitched 6.1 scoreless innings scattering 4 hits and striking out 3 en root to the Red Wings 2nd W of the season. Duds: Tsuyoshi Nishioka opened the season 0 for 9 and was caught stealing in his only attempt. On the plus side he has drawn a free pass in each of the teams first three games. Tyler Robertson has pitched only one inning for the Wings this season but managed to give up two runs on three hits before he was chased from the game. Luckily Rochester had put up 5 runs in the top half of the inning and were able to hang on for the W. New Britain Rock Cats (3-1) The Rock Cats opened the season with 3 wins before dropping the last game of the opening series to Richmond in the 12th inning. The pitching in New Britain has been phenomenal giving up only 8 runs in the first 30 innings of the season. Studs: Rock Cats Starting Pitching. Starters for the Cats have been very impressive Luke French, Logan Darnell, Steve Hirschfeld and Jason Marquis have all gone at least 5.0 innings and have given up only a single run between them earning 3 W's for the team. Marquis gave up the only run in a 3H first inning and then settled down to pitch 5 scoreless innings. Pedro Florimon is 6 for 12 with only a single K and has reached base in each game for the Rock Cats. Chris Hermann is 4 for 12 in three games of work with 4RBI. Danny Lehmann is only 1 for 4 at the plate but has earned himself 4 walks in the last game of the series. Andrew Albers. Albers has 2 relief appearances for 3.0 innings this season giving up no runs on 2 hits. Duds: Aaron Hicks. HIcks is 1 for 12 with 4K's, not a good start for one of the Twins top prospects. Blake Martin. BM game into the 12th inning and gave up 3 hits, 2 runs and a walk giving the Rock Cats their only loss of the season. Blake gets the loss after a rough outing, but the real dud for the game was the Rock Cats offense that managed only 4 hits in 12 innings of work. To read the rest of the story click here and don't forget to stop over to Puckett's Pond for daily Twins news. __________________ Check out Puckett’s Pond on Facebook Follow @BaseballPirate on Twitter

This post originally appeared at www.puckettspond.com -------------------- Earlier this week I put together my predictions for the AL Central and Beyond, but today I’ll be taking a look down into the Twins farm system trying to prognosticate and give you my choices for who to watch this year in MiLB. Every year Seth Stohs (@SethTweets) asks a few members of the Twins blog-o-sphere for their minor league predictions/projections and this year I was lucky enough to be asked to provide my two cents. This post will cover both pitchers and hitters from all levels of the Twins farm system. If, when you get to the end, you’re scratching your head trying to figure out who the heck these guys are, I encourage you to go out and get yourself a copy of Seth’sMinnesota Twins Prospect Handbook 2012. Breakout Hitter (Upper Levels) – Tsuyoshi Nishioka. I know I’m going to take some heat for this prediction, but I think a trip to AAA will pay huge dividends for the Twins Japanese import. While many think that Nishi will find his way back to Japan by the season’s end, the demotion to AAA will give Nishi a chance to learn the American flavor of the game and get the instruction he needs to use the skills he acquired in Japan to become a productive hitter in MLB. With Brian Dozier coming off a great spring and a fantastic 2011, even a breakout season for Nishioka in AAA may not be enough to get him back in the Twins lineup this season. Breakout Hitter (Lower Levels) - Levi Michael. Levi signed late and will be making his professional debut with the Miracle this season and as a fairly polished college player should perform well hitting for high average for the Ft Myers Miracle. He should find himself working his way up through the Twins system finishing the season in AA New Britain before the dust settles on 2012. Breakout Hitter (in Extended Spring Training (EST)) - Niko Goodrum. Nko will repeat EST for a second season, but if he can build off of late season success from 2011, Niko Goodrum is a name that die hard Twins fans will be talking about all season long. Goodrum is also a twitter fanatic, @nikogoodrumTC, and like fellow tweeter Ben Revere (@BenRevere9) he looks like he’s having fun out on the field. He’s still pretty raw, but look for Goodrum to make big strides at the plate this year. Breakout Pitcher (Upper Levels) - Tyler Robertson. Robertson will be back in Rochester for the first time since getting moved to the bullpen at the beginning of 2011. He made on start for the Red Wings in 2010, but in 2011 he was sent back to AA and moved to the bullpen. Although Robertson doesn’t have any pitch that is outstanding, he commands all of his pitches well and I look forward to the lefty taking big steps forward in his second full season working out of the pen. If he pitches well and the Twins bullpen has issues, which seems to be a giveN. Robertson has an outside chance to get a call up to Minnesota. Breakout Pitcher (Lower Levels) - Madison Boer. Boer is a hometown kid from Eden Prairie, MN and will be given a chance to start in Beloit this season and with a solid defense behind him and an offense that will impress Boer should put up some eye-popping numbers in his first full season in Beloit. Breakout Pitcher (in EST) - Hudson Boyd. Boyd was drafted out of HS last season and signed late so he’ll make his professional debut this season in EST. As a high school pitcher he is a raw talent, but he throws hard and has good control. If he can stay healthy and keep his weight under control he should put up good numbers in 2012. Best Hitter (Upper Levels) – Brian Dozier was impressive last year splitting time between Ft Myers and New Britain. After an impressive spring I look to Dozier to continue to tear things up in Rochester. If there is any disarray with the Twins middle infield, Dozier will be the first guy up to fill the open slot. Best Hitter (Lower Levels) - Miguel Sano or Eddie Rosario are both great bets to be the best hitter in the lower levels of the Twins organization. Both are moving up to Beloit this season and it’s a coin flip as to which will be the best hitter for the Snappers this season after monster seasons in Elizabethon in 2011. I look for Sano to continue to develop his power tool, although he may get off to a slow start playing in colder weather of the Midwest League. To see the rest, stop on over to Puckett's Pond __________________ Check out Puckett’s Pond on Facebook Follow @BaseballPirate on Twitter

This post originally appeared at www.puckettspond.com -------------------- Earlier this week I put together my predictions for the AL Central and Beyond, but today I’ll be taking a look down into the Twins farm system trying to prognosticate and give you my choices for who to watch this year in MiLB. Every year Seth Stohs (@SethTweets) asks a few members of the Twins blog-o-sphere for their minor league predictions/projections and this year I was lucky enough to be asked to provide my two cents. This post will cover both pitchers and hitters from all levels of the Twins farm system. If, when you get to the end, you’re scratching your head trying to figure out who the heck these guys are, I encourage you to go out and get yourself a copy of Seth’sMinnesota Twins Prospect Handbook 2012. Breakout Hitter (Upper Levels) – Tsuyoshi Nishioka. I know I’m going to take some heat for this prediction, but I think a trip to AAA will pay huge dividends for the Twins Japanese import. While many think that Nishi will find his way back to Japan by the season’s end, the demotion to AAA will give Nishi a chance to learn the American flavor of the game and get the instruction he needs to use the skills he acquired in Japan to become a productive hitter in MLB. With Brian Dozier coming off a great spring and a fantastic 2011, even a breakout season for Nishioka in AAA may not be enough to get him back in the Twins lineup this season. Breakout Hitter (Lower Levels) - Levi Michael. Levi signed late and will be making his professional debut with the Miracle this season and as a fairly polished college player should perform well hitting for high average for the Ft Myers Miracle. He should find himself working his way up through the Twins system finishing the season in AA New Britain before the dust settles on 2012. Breakout Hitter (in Extended Spring Training (EST)) - Niko Goodrum. Nko will repeat EST for a second season, but if he can build off of late season success from 2011, Niko Goodrum is a name that die hard Twins fans will be talking about all season long. Goodrum is also a twitter fanatic, @nikogoodrumTC, and like fellow tweeter Ben Revere (@BenRevere9) he looks like he’s having fun out on the field. He’s still pretty raw, but look for Goodrum to make big strides at the plate this year. Breakout Pitcher (Upper Levels) - Tyler Robertson. Robertson will be back in Rochester for the first time since getting moved to the bullpen at the beginning of 2011. He made on start for the Red Wings in 2010, but in 2011 he was sent back to AA and moved to the bullpen. Although Robertson doesn’t have any pitch that is outstanding, he commands all of his pitches well and I look forward to the lefty taking big steps forward in his second full season working out of the pen. If he pitches well and the Twins bullpen has issues, which seems to be a giveN. Robertson has an outside chance to get a call up to Minnesota. Breakout Pitcher (Lower Levels) - Madison Boer. Boer is a hometown kid from Eden Prairie, MN and will be given a chance to start in Beloit this season and with a solid defense behind him and an offense that will impress Boer should put up some eye-popping numbers in his first full season in Beloit. Breakout Pitcher (in EST) - Hudson Boyd. Boyd was drafted out of HS last season and signed late so he’ll make his professional debut this season in EST. As a high school pitcher he is a raw talent, but he throws hard and has good control. If he can stay healthy and keep his weight under control he should put up good numbers in 2012. Best Hitter (Upper Levels) – Brian Dozier was impressive last year splitting time between Ft Myers and New Britain. After an impressive spring I look to Dozier to continue to tear things up in Rochester. If there is any disarray with the Twins middle infield, Dozier will be the first guy up to fill the open slot. Best Hitter (Lower Levels) - Miguel Sano or Eddie Rosario are both great bets to be the best hitter in the lower levels of the Twins organization. Both are moving up to Beloit this season and it’s a coin flip as to which will be the best hitter for the Snappers this season after monster seasons in Elizabethon in 2011. I look for Sano to continue to develop his power tool, although he may get off to a slow start playing in colder weather of the Midwest League. To see the rest, stop on over to Puckett's Pond __________________ Check out Puckett’s Pond on Facebook Follow @BaseballPirate on Twitter

This post originally appeared at http://www.puckettspond.com in it's entirety. ----------------- December 16, 2011 Michael Cuddyer signed a 3-year $31.5million dollar deal to play for the Colorado Rockies and for me, as well as for many other Twins fans, this was a sad day. I think the Rockies paid too much and I think the addition of Josh Willingham is an upgrade, but that’s not where I want to go with this. As a fan, the departure of Cuddyer was especially loathsome because Cuddy was my favorite Twin, and had been for awhile. I can’t think of many Twins players who I’ve liked more than Cuddyer, except of course for Kirby Puckett. I’ll continue to follow Cuddyer, both on twitter (@Mcuddy3) and on the field, but now there’s a void in my life. I no longer have a favorite Twins player. http://puckettspond.com/files/2012/04/6137500.jpg Something must be done to fix this problem, there’s a hole in my baseball world and it needs to be filled. No one on the current 25-man roster really jumps out at me, so I’m going to need to take a closer look. There are a couple of guys in the minor league that I really like, but who knows if they’ll even pan out and make it up to the bigs for more than a cup of coffee. I need a favorite Twin, and I need one now. What am I looking for in a favorite player? I’m on twitter, a lot, so a player who interacts with fans on Twitter is a big plus. I’m looking for a player who gets regular playing time and has some history with the team, someone that seems to be a regular Joe and a good person. I want Michael Cuddyer, but he’s gone gone gone. I want someone who speaks their mind but not in an Ocho Cinco way (@ochocinco). Let’s take a look at the candidates for my favorite player. Jamey Carroll, Ryan Doumit, Josh Willingham, Sean Burroughs, thanks for playing, but none of you have yet to play a single meaningful pitch for the Twins so you’re out of the running for my favorite player before things even begin. NEXT! Pitchers, I’m sorry but I’ve never been a pitcher, and I don’t think I could ever fully commit to having a pitcher as a favorite player. I’m going to have to pass. Sorry guys, you just don’t make the cut. Carl Pavano, bring back the stash and maybe we can talk. No stash, no love. NEXT! Joe Mauer was drafted with the first overall pick in 2001 and debuted 3 years later in 2004. He is everyone’s favorite, a hometown kid who’s turned into just a fantastic baseball player, 3 time AL batting champ, and he’s signed through 2018. But, he just doesn’t have what I’m looking for in a favorite player. He does shampoo commercials, he’s not on twitter and generally is just a pretty quiet guy. I need more excitement, I need more! Joe Mauer, you’re great, you’re too good for me, it’s not you, it’s me. NEXT! Justin Morneau was drafted by the Twins in the third round of the 1999 draft and made his debut 4 years later in 2003 and has mashed 185 taters for the Twins in the last 9 years. He’s Canadian and under contract until the end of next season. This guy seems like a great choice for my favorite player, but he’s been injured for most of the last 2 seasons and there are concerns that his concussion symptoms may not be behind him leading him to comment that he may have to hang up the cleats if the problem continues. I can’t go through this favorite player choosing every season, I need a long term commitment. Thank you Justin Morneau, but no thank you. NEXT! Denard Span was drafted in the first round in 2002 and debuted with the Twins in 2008, he’s under contract for the next three seasons and he’s on Twitter (@thisisDSpan). He’s a flashy player who makes great plays in the field and he gets on base, even Billy Beane would love this guy. When he’s up to bat people say “Let’s get Denarded.” Awesome, but he’s not for me. Unlike Morneau, I’m not too worried about any lingering effects from his concussion last season, but I just dont have any buzz for Denard. I need to actually be a fan of my favorite player, there needs to be some sort of personal connection and with D. Span I’ve got nothing. NEXT! Danny Valencia (@DannyValencia19) was drafted in the 19th round of the 2006 draft and debuted in 2010 and put up great numbers the rest of the season. He went to college at the University of Miami so I know that he knows how to have a good time. I’ve been living in the Miami area for the last three years and if there’s one thing that people do well in Miami, it’s party. Danny’s a bit of a hard egg, anyone who Ron Gardenhire doesn’t like must be doing something wrong, right? Or maybe he’s just got a bit of an edginess about him. I like you Dan-o, and I think third base is a pretty neat position, but I’m going to pass. NEXT! Trevor Plouffe (@TPlouffe24) signed with the Twins after being drafted in the first round of the 2004 draft and then debuted with the club in 2010. Plouffe who has some power will, at least to be, always be called “Babe Plouffe” although he’s only hit 10HR in 103 career games in the big league, so maybe that’s unfair. Regardless, Plouffe is a prior middle infielder and I have an irrational dislike for middle infielders. Plouffe will probably be with the Twins for quite some time, Trevor Plouffe, I’m not quite ready to dismiss you, but I must move on down the road. NEXT! Alexi Casilla is not on twitter and he’s a middle-infielder. That’s 2 strikes against him already. Casilla signed as a free agent with the Anaheim Angels 2003 and in 2005 was traded to the Twins in exchange for J.C. Romero and then debuted with the Twins the following year. Casilla has almost no power, 71 XBH (10HR) in 1281 at-bats. Not exactly an offensive monster but the Twins have actually used him as a DH 17 times during his six years with the Twins. Alexi also has terrible facial hair, and as a man who can rock a beard with the best of them I despise him. NEXT! Chris Parmelee (@CParmeleeAFL) is a California kid who was drafted in 2006 and made his debut last season with the Twins and put up pretty impressive numbers at the end of the year hitting .355 in 21 games, a bright spot on a very dark year for the Twins. Although Parmelee is on Twitter he hasn’t tweeted since 2009. I like Parmelee, and I also like saying his last name, Parmelee. Fantastic. It looks like CP is going to get a chance in 2012 to be the everyday first basemen for the Twins while Justin Morneau takes over the regular DH duties. Parm, which is what I like to call him when I’m talking Twins with other fans, is definitely high on my list for possible favorites. I’ll keep him in mind, but I must press on, NEXT! Ben Revere is on twitter, @BenRevere9 and this just in, he’s fast! With the big smile that’s always plastered across his face it’s fun watching Ben play the game. He may not take the best routes in the outfield, and his arm might be pretty weak (Fangraphs rated it 4/100) but he sure is fast. Revere was drafted in the first round of the 2007 draft and debuted with the Twins in 2010. While Revere only got on base at a .310 OBP last year, his minor league career numbers were much better with a .385. Revere started to get things figured out last season, batting .311 with a .342 OBP. Hopefully Revere has begun to figure out major league http://puckettspond.com/2012/04/05/2012-twins-whos-your-favorite/ and can build on that going into 2012. Ben Revere, you’re on the short list to be my favorite Twin. NEXT! Luke Hughes (@lukehughes38) signed with the Twins as an international free agent in 2002 out of Perth, Australia. Being an Aussie, Hughes says mate, wombat, and all sorts of other fun Australian things. Hughes had a rough go of things with the Twins in 2011, hitting .223 with only 19XBH (7HR) and got on base less than 1/3 of the time. While Hughes has never been a high BA guy he’s never had trouble getting on base with a minor career .330 OBP in the minor leagues. Hopefully 2012 sees Hughes turn things around otherwise he might be wearing a Twins uniform for much longer. NEXT? Visit me at Puckett's Pond to find out who my favorite Twin is going into 2012

This post originally appeared at http://www.puckettspond.com in it's entirety. ----------------- December 16, 2011 Michael Cuddyer signed a 3-year $31.5million dollar deal to play for the Colorado Rockies and for me, as well as for many other Twins fans, this was a sad day. I think the Rockies paid too much and I think the addition of Josh Willingham is an upgrade, but that’s not where I want to go with this. As a fan, the departure of Cuddyer was especially loathsome because Cuddy was my favorite Twin, and had been for awhile. I can’t think of many Twins players who I’ve liked more than Cuddyer, except of course for Kirby Puckett. I’ll continue to follow Cuddyer, both on twitter (@Mcuddy3) and on the field, but now there’s a void in my life. I no longer have a favorite Twins player. http://puckettspond.com/files/2012/04/6137500.jpg Something must be done to fix this problem, there’s a hole in my baseball world and it needs to be filled. No one on the current 25-man roster really jumps out at me, so I’m going to need to take a closer look. There are a couple of guys in the minor league that I really like, but who knows if they’ll even pan out and make it up to the bigs for more than a cup of coffee. I need a favorite Twin, and I need one now. What am I looking for in a favorite player? I’m on twitter, a lot, so a player who interacts with fans on Twitter is a big plus. I’m looking for a player who gets regular playing time and has some history with the team, someone that seems to be a regular Joe and a good person. I want Michael Cuddyer, but he’s gone gone gone. I want someone who speaks their mind but not in an Ocho Cinco way (@ochocinco). Let’s take a look at the candidates for my favorite player. Jamey Carroll, Ryan Doumit, Josh Willingham, Sean Burroughs, thanks for playing, but none of you have yet to play a single meaningful pitch for the Twins so you’re out of the running for my favorite player before things even begin. NEXT! Pitchers, I’m sorry but I’ve never been a pitcher, and I don’t think I could ever fully commit to having a pitcher as a favorite player. I’m going to have to pass. Sorry guys, you just don’t make the cut. Carl Pavano, bring back the stash and maybe we can talk. No stash, no love. NEXT! Joe Mauer was drafted with the first overall pick in 2001 and debuted 3 years later in 2004. He is everyone’s favorite, a hometown kid who’s turned into just a fantastic baseball player, 3 time AL batting champ, and he’s signed through 2018. But, he just doesn’t have what I’m looking for in a favorite player. He does shampoo commercials, he’s not on twitter and generally is just a pretty quiet guy. I need more excitement, I need more! Joe Mauer, you’re great, you’re too good for me, it’s not you, it’s me. NEXT! Justin Morneau was drafted by the Twins in the third round of the 1999 draft and made his debut 4 years later in 2003 and has mashed 185 taters for the Twins in the last 9 years. He’s Canadian and under contract until the end of next season. This guy seems like a great choice for my favorite player, but he’s been injured for most of the last 2 seasons and there are concerns that his concussion symptoms may not be behind him leading him to comment that he may have to hang up the cleats if the problem continues. I can’t go through this favorite player choosing every season, I need a long term commitment. Thank you Justin Morneau, but no thank you. NEXT! Denard Span was drafted in the first round in 2002 and debuted with the Twins in 2008, he’s under contract for the next three seasons and he’s on Twitter (@thisisDSpan). He’s a flashy player who makes great plays in the field and he gets on base, even Billy Beane would love this guy. When he’s up to bat people say “Let’s get Denarded.” Awesome, but he’s not for me. Unlike Morneau, I’m not too worried about any lingering effects from his concussion last season, but I just dont have any buzz for Denard. I need to actually be a fan of my favorite player, there needs to be some sort of personal connection and with D. Span I’ve got nothing. NEXT! Danny Valencia (@DannyValencia19) was drafted in the 19th round of the 2006 draft and debuted in 2010 and put up great numbers the rest of the season. He went to college at the University of Miami so I know that he knows how to have a good time. I’ve been living in the Miami area for the last three years and if there’s one thing that people do well in Miami, it’s party. Danny’s a bit of a hard egg, anyone who Ron Gardenhire doesn’t like must be doing something wrong, right? Or maybe he’s just got a bit of an edginess about him. I like you Dan-o, and I think third base is a pretty neat position, but I’m going to pass. NEXT! Trevor Plouffe (@TPlouffe24) signed with the Twins after being drafted in the first round of the 2004 draft and then debuted with the club in 2010. Plouffe who has some power will, at least to be, always be called “Babe Plouffe” although he’s only hit 10HR in 103 career games in the big league, so maybe that’s unfair. Regardless, Plouffe is a prior middle infielder and I have an irrational dislike for middle infielders. Plouffe will probably be with the Twins for quite some time, Trevor Plouffe, I’m not quite ready to dismiss you, but I must move on down the road. NEXT! Alexi Casilla is not on twitter and he’s a middle-infielder. That’s 2 strikes against him already. Casilla signed as a free agent with the Anaheim Angels 2003 and in 2005 was traded to the Twins in exchange for J.C. Romero and then debuted with the Twins the following year. Casilla has almost no power, 71 XBH (10HR) in 1281 at-bats. Not exactly an offensive monster but the Twins have actually used him as a DH 17 times during his six years with the Twins. Alexi also has terrible facial hair, and as a man who can rock a beard with the best of them I despise him. NEXT! Chris Parmelee (@CParmeleeAFL) is a California kid who was drafted in 2006 and made his debut last season with the Twins and put up pretty impressive numbers at the end of the year hitting .355 in 21 games, a bright spot on a very dark year for the Twins. Although Parmelee is on Twitter he hasn’t tweeted since 2009. I like Parmelee, and I also like saying his last name, Parmelee. Fantastic. It looks like CP is going to get a chance in 2012 to be the everyday first basemen for the Twins while Justin Morneau takes over the regular DH duties. Parm, which is what I like to call him when I’m talking Twins with other fans, is definitely high on my list for possible favorites. I’ll keep him in mind, but I must press on, NEXT! Ben Revere is on twitter, @BenRevere9 and this just in, he’s fast! With the big smile that’s always plastered across his face it’s fun watching Ben play the game. He may not take the best routes in the outfield, and his arm might be pretty weak (Fangraphs rated it 4/100) but he sure is fast. Revere was drafted in the first round of the 2007 draft and debuted with the Twins in 2010. While Revere only got on base at a .310 OBP last year, his minor league career numbers were much better with a .385. Revere started to get things figured out last season, batting .311 with a .342 OBP. Hopefully Revere has begun to figure out major league http://puckettspond.com/2012/04/05/2012-twins-whos-your-favorite/ and can build on that going into 2012. Ben Revere, you’re on the short list to be my favorite Twin. NEXT! Luke Hughes (@lukehughes38) signed with the Twins as an international free agent in 2002 out of Perth, Australia. Being an Aussie, Hughes says mate, wombat, and all sorts of other fun Australian things. Hughes had a rough go of things with the Twins in 2011, hitting .223 with only 19XBH (7HR) and got on base less than 1/3 of the time. While Hughes has never been a high BA guy he’s never had trouble getting on base with a minor career .330 OBP in the minor leagues. Hopefully 2012 sees Hughes turn things around otherwise he might be wearing a Twins uniform for much longer. NEXT? Visit me at Puckett's Pond to find out who my favorite Twin is going into 2012

http://puckettspond.com/files/2012/03/6072978-300x199.jpgCredit: Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE This post originally appeared at http://www.puckettspond.com -------------------------------------- Last week I reported on the origins of the Pleiss brothers' Twins prospect challenge. A year into the process, a year that saw eight Twins make their MLB debuts, Eric and I decided to make a change to the prospect challenge. A quick review of the rules for the prospect challenge, in case any of you here on the Pond want to join: Each person gets to select a position player for each position, three RHP and three LHP. Any player chosen who debuts in MLB within three years of selection will earn one point. The person with the most points each year is declared the winner. Last year I picked Scott Diamond as one of my selections, and as a Rule-5 draft pick, he was virtually guaranteed to get called up to the Twins for his MLB debut when theyheaded north out of Ft Myers. To prevent easy pickings like this, and to put more emphasis on projections and predictions we made a very simple, and yet very challenging rule change. Going forward, no prospect who has played above AA is elligible for selection in the prospect challenge. In addition to the rule change, a year of following prospects and REALLY following the Twins from the top of the organization on down, I learned a lot that I'll be putting to use for this year's prospect challenge. http://puckettspond.com/wp-includes/js/tinymce/plugins/wordpress/img/trans.gif Last year both Eric and I both went a little overboard and both selected Miguel Sano. A year later, I see that as without a doubt by worst pick of 2011. Even selecting Sano this year would be a reach, yes, but last year he was still playing in Elizabethton, and for him to debut this year or next would be nothing short of a miracle. Even for Sano to be playing in New Britain would put him well ahead of schedule. It's hard not to pick the A+ prospects when you are unfamiliar with how the minor league system works. A year later I find myself looking hard at the Ft. Myers roster and the performances put in out of Beloit last year, looking for the hidden gems and looking for the guys I think have a shot at making it to Target Field. Last year I picked Tom Stuifbergen and he put in a good 2011 performance racking up a career high 121.2 innings over 24 appearances and was knighted in his native country. Sir Tom Stuifbergen would have again made my prospect challenge list in 2012 if not for a late season emergency start that he made for Rochester effectively removing him from contention for the 2012 prospect challenge. Prospect predicting is no easy game, even first round picks go bust, and yet most of those seemed like the right bet at the time. The rule changes for 2012 have definitely made things more difficult. In 2011 the Twins called a lot of guys up to MLB before they probably should have been there, and those call-ups created plenty of holes in the AAA roster that needed to be filled, at least on a part time basis. With the new rule, all of those guys are now inelligible and trying to find propspects who are less than 3 years out at each position was tough. Without further delay, I give you the 2012 Twins Prospect Challenge selections: [h=1]2012 Prospect Challenge Selections:[/h][TABLE=class: mceItemTable, width: 253] [TD=width: 32] [/TD] [TD=width: 111][h=5]@BaseballPirate[/h][/TD] [TD=width: 110][h=5]@ERolfPleiss[/h][/TD] [h=5]C[/h] [h=5]Chris Herrmann[/h] [h=5]Dan Rohlfing[/h] [h=5]1B[/h] [h=5]Michael Gonzales[/h] [h=5]Danny Rams*[/h] [h=5]2B[/h] [h=5]Danny Santana[/h] [h=5]Yangervis Solarte[/h] [h=5]3B[/h] [h=5]Travis Harrison[/h] [h=5]James Beresford*[/h] [h=5]SS[/h] [h=5]Brian Dozier*[/h] [h=5]Brian Dozier[/h] [h=5]OF[/h] [h=5]Oswaldo Arcia[/h] [h=5]Chris Herrmann[/h] [h=5]OF[/h] [h=5]Aaron Hicks[/h] [h=5]Aaron Hicks*[/h] [h=5]OF[/h] [h=5]Angel Morales*[/h] [h=5]Mark Dolenc[/h] [h=5]RHP[/h] [h=5]Adrian Salcedo[/h] [h=5]B.J. Hermsen[/h] [h=5]RHP[/h] [h=5]Alex Wimmers[/h] [h=5]Alex Wimmers[/h] [h=5]RHP[/h] [h=5]Bobby Lanigan[/h] [h=5]Bobby Lanigan[/h] [h=5]LHP[/h] [h=5]Andrew Albers[/h] [h=5]Andrew Albers[/h] [h=5]LHP[/h] [h=5]Logan Darnell[/h] [h=5]Dan Osterbrock*[/h] [h=5]LHP[/h] [h=5]Pat Dean*[/h] [h=5]Pat Dean[/h] [/TABLE] *players selected on my 2011 list I invite Twins fans everywhere to join me in my prospect predictions. Post your selections below or on the Puckett's Pond Facebook page. __________________ Check out Puckett’s Pond on Facebook Follow @BaseballPirate on Twitter

http://puckettspond.com/files/2012/03/6072978-300x199.jpgCredit: Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE This post originally appeared at http://www.puckettspond.com -------------------------------------- Last week I reported on the origins of the Pleiss brothers' Twins prospect challenge. A year into the process, a year that saw eight Twins make their MLB debuts, Eric and I decided to make a change to the prospect challenge. A quick review of the rules for the prospect challenge, in case any of you here on the Pond want to join: Each person gets to select a position player for each position, three RHP and three LHP. Any player chosen who debuts in MLB within three years of selection will earn one point. The person with the most points each year is declared the winner. Last year I picked Scott Diamond as one of my selections, and as a Rule-5 draft pick, he was virtually guaranteed to get called up to the Twins for his MLB debut when theyheaded north out of Ft Myers. To prevent easy pickings like this, and to put more emphasis on projections and predictions we made a very simple, and yet very challenging rule change. Going forward, no prospect who has played above AA is elligible for selection in the prospect challenge. In addition to the rule change, a year of following prospects and REALLY following the Twins from the top of the organization on down, I learned a lot that I'll be putting to use for this year's prospect challenge. http://puckettspond.com/wp-includes/js/tinymce/plugins/wordpress/img/trans.gif Last year both Eric and I both went a little overboard and both selected Miguel Sano. A year later, I see that as without a doubt by worst pick of 2011. Even selecting Sano this year would be a reach, yes, but last year he was still playing in Elizabethton, and for him to debut this year or next would be nothing short of a miracle. Even for Sano to be playing in New Britain would put him well ahead of schedule. It's hard not to pick the A+ prospects when you are unfamiliar with how the minor league system works. A year later I find myself looking hard at the Ft. Myers roster and the performances put in out of Beloit last year, looking for the hidden gems and looking for the guys I think have a shot at making it to Target Field. Last year I picked Tom Stuifbergen and he put in a good 2011 performance racking up a career high 121.2 innings over 24 appearances and was knighted in his native country. Sir Tom Stuifbergen would have again made my prospect challenge list in 2012 if not for a late season emergency start that he made for Rochester effectively removing him from contention for the 2012 prospect challenge. Prospect predicting is no easy game, even first round picks go bust, and yet most of those seemed like the right bet at the time. The rule changes for 2012 have definitely made things more difficult. In 2011 the Twins called a lot of guys up to MLB before they probably should have been there, and those call-ups created plenty of holes in the AAA roster that needed to be filled, at least on a part time basis. With the new rule, all of those guys are now inelligible and trying to find propspects who are less than 3 years out at each position was tough. Without further delay, I give you the 2012 Twins Prospect Challenge selections: [h=1]2012 Prospect Challenge Selections:[/h][TABLE=class: mceItemTable, width: 253] [TD=width: 32] [/TD] [TD=width: 111][h=5]@BaseballPirate[/h][/TD] [TD=width: 110][h=5]@ERolfPleiss[/h][/TD] [h=5]C[/h] [h=5]Chris Herrmann[/h] [h=5]Dan Rohlfing[/h] [h=5]1B[/h] [h=5]Michael Gonzales[/h] [h=5]Danny Rams*[/h] [h=5]2B[/h] [h=5]Danny Santana[/h] [h=5]Yangervis Solarte[/h] [h=5]3B[/h] [h=5]Travis Harrison[/h] [h=5]James Beresford*[/h] [h=5]SS[/h] [h=5]Brian Dozier*[/h] [h=5]Brian Dozier[/h] [h=5]OF[/h] [h=5]Oswaldo Arcia[/h] [h=5]Chris Herrmann[/h] [h=5]OF[/h] [h=5]Aaron Hicks[/h] [h=5]Aaron Hicks*[/h] [h=5]OF[/h] [h=5]Angel Morales*[/h] [h=5]Mark Dolenc[/h] [h=5]RHP[/h] [h=5]Adrian Salcedo[/h] [h=5]B.J. Hermsen[/h] [h=5]RHP[/h] [h=5]Alex Wimmers[/h] [h=5]Alex Wimmers[/h] [h=5]RHP[/h] [h=5]Bobby Lanigan[/h] [h=5]Bobby Lanigan[/h] [h=5]LHP[/h] [h=5]Andrew Albers[/h] [h=5]Andrew Albers[/h] [h=5]LHP[/h] [h=5]Logan Darnell[/h] [h=5]Dan Osterbrock*[/h] [h=5]LHP[/h] [h=5]Pat Dean*[/h] [h=5]Pat Dean[/h] [/TABLE] *players selected on my 2011 list I invite Twins fans everywhere to join me in my prospect predictions. Post your selections below or on the Puckett's Pond Facebook page. __________________ Check out Puckett’s Pond on Facebook Follow @BaseballPirate on Twitter

http://puckettspond.com/files/2012/04/iPhone-predictions.jpgWhat does 2012 hold for the Twins? This post originally appeared at http://www.puckettspond.com ------------------------- After a disappointing 99 loss season fans across Twins Territory are eager to put the 2011 season behind them. The wait is over Twins fans; our beloved Twins take the field Friday in Baltimore to do battle with the Orioles and attempt to kick start 2012 with a W. What will 2012 bring for the Twins and how will the 2012 season play out for the AL Central teams and across the nation? AL Central Predictions: 1. Detroit Tigers, 96-66 In January Victor Martinez suffered an off-season workout injury tearing his left ACL. The Tigers wasted little time and quickly filled the void in their lineup by signing Prince Fielder to a 9-year $214mil deal. The move came as a surprise to most baseball fans as the Tigers were already set at 1B with Miguel Cabrera, arguably the best hitter in the AL in 2011. Cabrera will move across the diamond to 3B this season and the opening day lineup for the Tigers will feature a lot of power. The Tigers will score a lot of runs this season, but even with the addition of Prince Fielder the Tigers will still be missing V-Mart (who had 52 XBH and 103 RBI last season) in their lineup. The Tigers are the most complete team in the division and have the best bullpen and top lineup in the central and a closer who hasn't blown a save since 2010. The Tigers should are clear favorites to win the AL Central in 2012. For more on the Tigers check out Fansided's Motor City Bengals site. Best baseball name on the roster: Al Alburquerque. 2. Cleveland Indians, 83-79 In 2011 the Indians got off to a hot start and all across the nation fans were talking about Cleveland and their 30-15 start. Unfortunately, the nation was asking "when are the Indians going to fall apart?" and they did, losing the last four games of the season to finish the season 80-82. In 2012 the Tribe are out to prove that their hot start from 2011 was not a fluke. Cleveland brought in Casey Kotchman from the Rays to play 1B and with a budding star behind the plate in Carlos Santana, all-star SS Asdrubal Cabrera and second baseman Jason Kipnis at 2B the Indians will have a solid infield defense, and they'll need to play well because the Indians starters led the AL in ground ball rate, inducing ground balls a whopping 48.3% of the time. If Grady Sizemore can stay healthy and play at the level this club needs him to, the Tribe will be in competition for the AL Central Crown until mid-August. It will be interesting to see how the Roberto Hernandez (aka Fausto Carmona) saga plays out as he tries to obtain a visa to enter the US under his real name. For more Cleveland Indians news than you could ever want, make sure to check out Wahoo's On First. Most likely to hit 40 home runs: Carlos Santana Note: former Twin Kevin Slowey, who was acquired from the Rockies this off-season after being traded from the Twins was unable to secure a spot in the starting rotation for the Indians and will start the season in AAA. 3. Minnesota Twins, 81-81 The Twins offseason was busy, starting off with the replacement of BIll Smith with the man he replaced, Terry Ryan. The Twins lost some key components of winning Twins teams of the past as Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel and Joe Nathan all left for greener pastures. Terry Ryan went to work signing free agents Jason Willingham and Ryan Doumit to bring some big bats back into the lineup and Jamey Carroll to improve the defense at SS. The Twins also brought in veteran pitcher Jason Marquis who they hope can stay healthy and be a back of the rotation innings eater. The key for this team is the health of Mauer and Morneau. Mauer looks to be back to his smooth swinging self this spring, and although Morneau is slated to be used primarily as the DH early this season, he has found his swing and has started to put a hurt on the ball late in spring training. I look for the Twins to over perform on the vegas expectations this year (Vegas over/under for the Twins is 72.5 per http://www.betfirms.com) and get up to .500. While hopes for another AL Central crown are slim, look for the Twins to get back to playing small ball and playing good defense. While 81 wins might not be spectacular, it sure beats the heck out of 63. The Twins starting pitching could shine if Liriano and Baker both play at their best and Pavano and Marquis are both able to stay healthy and pitch 200+ innings. The Twins will need the starters to eat a lot of innings with so many question marks in the bullpen. Glen Perkins and Matt Capps are cemented into the late inning rolls, but aside from those two the rest of the pen looks to be a mess. The Twins will need Capps to bounce back form a rough 2011 season to be the shut down closer they traded for in 2010. Best off-season move: Re-hiring Terry Ryan as GM 4. Kansas City Royals, 77-85 The Royals finished last season with 71 victories, good enough for fourth place in the AL Central and although they have a seemingly endless supply of top tier prospects who are coming up to the major league, the team is just not ready to contend for an AL Central crown. Many are predicting the Royals to finish above .500 for the first time since 2003 but I don't see that happening in 2012. Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer will anchor the infield for the Royals and KC will need big numbers from both of them to get their record up near .500. The loss of pitcher Joakim Soria and catcher Salvador Perez were major blows to this team this offseason, but expectations are still up in Kansas City. The Royals will be an improved club in 2012, but I'm not looking for them to make a move in the division until 2013 and beyond. Look out Twins Territory, the Royals are coming. Want to know more? Check out Kings of Kauffman for all your Royals news. Fun Royals Fact: In the last 17 years the Royals have had one winning season, 2003. In both 2002 and 2004 the Royals lost 100+ games. 5. Chicago White Sox, 72-9 The White Sox are going to be bad this season, really bad, 2011 Twins bad. The White Sox managed to scrape together 79 wins last season, but that was before the departure of Mark Buehrle, Omar Vizquel, Juan Pierre, Carlos Guentin and the always colorful Ozzie Guillen. The White Sox GM Kenny Williams insists that the team is not rebuilding, but the departure of so many stars this offseason speaks otherwise. The White Sox starting pitching staff will still be productive this season, even with the loss of Buehrle. I expect John Danks, Gavin Floyd and Philip Humber to all win 10+ games, and Jake Peavy could go as high as 15 or 16 if he stays healthy. 22 year old Chris Sale will be moving to the rotation for the first time this season after posting a 2.79 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP last season out of the bullpen. Offense for the Southsiders will be tougher to come by. Alex Rios and Adam Dunn both stumbled mightily last season and even their all-star SS Alexei Ramirez had a down year in 2011. Will their offense be able to turn it around in 2012? Is Adam Dunn done or was last season just a fluke? Veterans Paul Konerko and A.J. Perzynski should both continue to produce for the White Stockings, but new Chicago manger Robin Ventura will need some help from the rest of the lineup for 2012 to be a success for the Southsiders. Check out Southside Showdown for all your White Sox info throughout the season. Best name in franchise history: Pants Rowland. Pants was the manager for the White Sox from 1915-1918 and in 1917 he coached the team to their only 100 win season in franchise history and a World Series title. American League playoff contenders: 1. New York Yankees (East), 94-68 2. Detroit Tigers (Central), 96-66 3. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (West), 94-68 4. Tampa Bay Rays (Wild Card 1), 92-71 5. Texas Rangers (Wild Card 2), 91-72* *Texas wins a 1 game playoff against the Boston Red Sox National League playoff contenders: 1. Philadelphia Phillies (East), 94-68 2. Cincinnati Reds (Central), 86-76 3. Arizona Diamondbacks (West), 89-73 4. San Francisco Giants (Wild Card 1), 87-75 5. St Louis Cardinals (Wild Card 2), 85-77 World Series: The AL will win the 2012 All-Star game and as a result, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim will host Jason Kubel and the Arizona Diamondbacks in the World Series. The Angels potent combination of pitching and offense will make quick work of the Diamondbacks and win the series in 5 making the huge payroll increase worth every penny. WS MVP: Jered Weaver Individual Awards: AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera NL MVP: Joey Votto AL Cy Young: Jered Weaver NL Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw AL Rookie of the Year: Matt Moore NL Rookie of the Year: Bryce Harper AL Manager of the Year: Eric Wedge NL Manager of the Year: Don Mattingly