Tom Froemming

Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Berrios: 7.2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 10 K, 69.8% strikes Home Runs: None Multi-Hit Games: None WPA of 0.1 or higher: Berrios .497, Gonzalez .253, Rogers .115 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Kepler -.102, Rosario -.109 It’s worth mentioning that this was a reunion of Berrios and catcher Jason Castro. The veteran catcher called for an unusual amount of off-speed pitches from Jose today. Berrios threw 37 curveballs (38.5 percent) and 12 changeups (12.5 percent). Last season, he only went to those offerings 30.4 and 9.1 percent of the time, respectively. It turned out to be a very good game plan. This was the first time the Twins shutout their opponent on Opening Day since 1970. Berrios was excellent. Really. But anything he could do, unfortunately, Kluber could do better. It was a scoreless tie in a game played at a blistering pace up until the bottom of the seventh inning. One of the big storylines of spring was on how poorly Marwin Gonzalez looked at the plate. In his first game as a Twin, Gonzalez broke up Kluber’s perfect game with a walk in the fifth inning, then broke the scoreless tie with a two-run double in the seventh. That run-scoring seventh was started by a Nelson Cruz leadoff single followed by a one-out, broken-bat single by C.J. Cron. Marwin’s big hit gave the new faces a nice first impression at Target Field. https://twitter.com/Twins/status/1111388383366901761 One of the other big questions of the offseason was how the bullpen was going to work out. Today, Taylor Rogers came in to record the final out of the eighth inning and stayed in to pick up his third career save. He struck out three of the four batters he faced. https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1111397054067036163 What about Byron Buxton? In the sixth inning, he got ahead 2-0 and laced a double 113.4 mph for the Twins’ first hit of the season. https://twitter.com/LanceBroz/status/1111435898829176839 It would have been pretty difficult to expect a much better Opening Day than that. Postgame With Baldelli https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1111407425179901954 Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Next Three Games SAT vs. CLE, 1:10 pm CT SUN vs. CLE, 1:10 pm CT TUE at KCR, 7:15 pm CT And One More Thing ... https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1111436674838331392

What a ride it's been for Harper this spring. If you've been following the Sire of Fort Myers race this year, you know his story by now. He turns 30 on Wednesday and has never pitched in the majors. Talk about a big week. Speaking of big, the Twins bench is going to be huge. A five-man bench!? Wow. As of right now, it's expected to be Mitch Garver, Jake Cave, Ehire Adrianza, Astudillo and Austin. Dan Hayes of The Athletic reported that Polanco "looks to be on track" to make the Opening Day roster, but if he's not available Ronald Torreyes will take his spot. Addison Reed, Matt Magill, Gabriel Moya and, of course, Miguel Sano are all already expected to open the year on the Injured List. We also learned how the rotation is going to shake out. After Jose Berrios it'll be Jake Odorizzi and Michael Pineda with Kyle Gibson starting Tuesday in Kansas City. He was slightly behind schedule due to that battle with e. coli over the winter. Martin Perez will open the season pitching out of the bullpen. So here's what appears to be the full Opening Day roster: Rotation: Jose Berrios, Jake Odorizzi, Michael Pineda, Kyle Gibson Bullpen: Martin Perez, Trevor May, Blake Parker, Taylor Rogers, Trevor Hildenberger, Adalberto Mejia, Ryne Harper Catchers: Jason Castro, Mitch Garver, Willians Astudillo Infield: C.J. Cron, Jonathan Schoop, Marwin Gonzalez, Polanco, Ehire Adrianza, Tyler Austin Outfield: Eddie Rosario, Byron Buxton, Max Kepler, Jake Cave DH: Nelson Cruz

UPDATE: The polls are officially open. Last we checked in, Harper and 35-year-old infielder Adam Rosales had established themselves as the favorites. Well, Rosales cooled off and was released Friday evening. Still, his .278/.350/.694 batting line, a 1.044 OPS, makes him a finalist regardless. He was by far the most impressive hitter among those who qualified for the title. Among the other five names listed in the last update, Lucas Duda was let go and has since signed with the Royals, Tim Collins was also just released Friday night and LaMonte Wade was reassigned to minor league camp. A month ago, I didn’t even list Harper among the top 10 candidates for Sire of Fort Myers. Though most of his competition is no longer in big league camp with the Twins, there are still a few other candidates lingering. They’re also right-handed relief pitchers. Mike Morin has also had a strong spring. While Harper’s big, slow curveball has dazzled, Morin has really turned heads with his changeup. He’s given up four runs on nine hits and two walks over 9 ⅔ innings, striking out nine batters in the process. Preston Guilmet is also still in big league camp with the Twins. He’s given up four earned in 8 ⅔ innings but has an eye-popping 14 strikeouts, which leads the team. Prospect Ryan Eades has also shined. He's only yielded one earned run in seven innings while striking out nine batters. But you can’t get lower than a 0.00 ERA. Harper hasn’t given up an earned run in 10 innings, he’s only surrendered seven hits and hasn’t walked a single batter. He’s also racked up 13 strikeouts. Here’s his outing from Friday night: https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1109275849562488833 Harper is now the clear favorite for Sire of Fort Myers, but what about those odds of making the Opening Day roster? Well, it would certainly make for an amazing story. Harper has pitched in more than 300 games in his professional career. He was called up to the Mariners for a couple days in 2017 but did not make his major league debut. He turns 30 on Wednesday. Opening Day is Thursday. Can you imagine what it would mean to him to hear his name announced during intros at Target Field? I’m getting chills just thinking about it! Fernando Romero has already been optioned to the minor leagues. Addison Reed and Matt Magill haven’t pitched in well over a week. A path has been cleared. I’m rooting hard for Harper to break camp with the Twins, but it’s undeniable that those 186 career MLB appearances look really good on Morin’s resume. The final vote for Sire of Fort Myers will take place in the forums section here at Twins Daily on starting on Monday. Make sure your voice is heard.

One of the challenges the Twins face in retaining Austin will be trying to fit him on the roster, which will more than likely feature a three-man bench for the majority of the season. He’s out of options, and power is typically very expensive. If the Twins place him on waivers, I have little doubt the majority of rebuilding teams would be salivating over the thought of bringing him in. We learned today that an extra roster spot will be added next season, making it much easier for a team to carry a bat-only type player. That’s huge for a guy like Austin. One of the other significant changes coming is the three-batter minimum for pitchers. But there’s a twist. Starting in 2020, a pitcher must either face three batters or pitch to the end of a half-inning. So it’s not a strict three-batter minimum rule, but it will make it more difficult for teams to deploy specialist pitchers. Austin has been phenomenal against left-handed pitching over his young career (.937 OPS), but right-handers have mostly had their way with him (.664 OPS, 39.0 K%). As it stands right now, it’s not always easy to take advantage of that platoon split, but it will become much easier with these new restrictions. A lot of the focus on this rule change has revolved around how it impacts bullpen usage. While that’s certainly the most obvious element to the rule and the thing it aims to adjust, I believe this change (in addition to the extra roster spot) means pinch hitters suddenly become a great deal more valuable than they’ve been in the era of the 13-man pitching staff. These tweaks have the potential to change a slugging pinch hitter from a luxury most teams cannot afford to shoehorn onto their rosters to a potential integral part of the makeup of each team’s bench. While Austin’s potential value is boosted by these changes, there were already some good reasons for the Twins to try to keep him in the org. Nelson Cruz has been arguably the best power hitter in baseball over the past few years, but nobody escapes Father Time. He does an incredible job at taking care of himself but you never know when a dropoff or significant injury may come. C.J. Cron had a breakout year last season and is a much more established player than Austin, but what if he can’t replicate that success? What if he's LoMo 2.0? The Twins are only committed to Cruz and Cron for this upcoming season, though both can be brought back in 2020 if the team so chooses – Cruz has a $12 million option and Cron has one more year of arbitration eligibility. Austin, meanwhile, isn’t set to become a free agent until 2024. The Twins also have some nice bats down on the farm who figure to be factoring into the 1B/DH conversation before too long. Brent Rooker also seems to be a big beneficiary of these rule changes, but a bat in the hand is worth two in the rack. I have not been a big supporter of Tyler Austin in the past because it’s difficult to see much value in a player of his profile the way the game is being played today. With a tweak in the rules must also come a reevaluations of how we value certain players. While these rule changes aren’t so dramatic to cause any kind of a seismic shift, I do believe they have a significant impact on players of Austin’s specific profile. The only question is can they find room for Austin throughout the entire 2019 season? Full Rule Changes Here’s a link to the full press release. For 2019: -Inning breaks reduced to two minutes. They were previously 2:05 for local games and 2:25 for national broadcasts. -There will be a single July 31 trade deadline. No more separate wavier trade deadline. -Updates to All-Star Game voting and a $1 million bonus to the Home Run Derby winner. For 2020: -Active roster to expand one spot to 26. -Rosters will only expand to 28 in September instead of 40. -Undetermined cap on the number of pitchers on an active roster. This will be determined by a joint committee. -Pitchers will need to either face three batters or pitch to the end of a half-inning. -Injured list goes back up to 15 days instead of 10.

There are very few spots up for grabs on the 25-man roster, but there are still plenty of players who have a lot to gain from having strong spring showings. This is their chance to not only be seen by top members of the Twins’ staff but also the other 29 MLB teams, overseas and independent leagues. So who is eligible to be named Sire of Fort Myers? Anybody who’s not on the 40-man roster, even guys with several years of MLB service time, and anyone on the 40-man roster who hasn’t made their MLB debut also qualifies. This is not about identifying the player most likely to break camp with the team, or the player who has the highest upside. It’s all about performance. The mantra this time of year is “spring training stats don’t matter.” That’s definitely true in the case of established major leaguers, but there are some players who have something to gain from a strong spring. Top Hitters Ryan LaMarre was crowned the inaugural Sire of Fort Myers after hitting .475/.511/.775 (1.286 OPS) in 45 plate appearances. It’d be crazy to expect anyone to replicate those video game numbers, right? Well … Adam Rosales, 35, IF .385/.429/.962 (1.390 OPS) 10-for-26, 3 2B, 4 HR, 2 BB, 3 K Rosales has been bouncing around as a Quad-A type player for years now. He’s seen major league time with six different teams over the past 11 seasons. He’s shown good power with the Twins, both at the plate and in regard to his throwing arm. Most of his time has been spent at third base, but he’s also played some second and even got a start at shortstop. Get a load of that slugging percentage. Wow. He’s shown almost no pop in the majors (.365 career slugging), but Rosales did hit 18 home runs in 114 games for Cleveland’s Triple-A team last year. The Twins have no shortage of multi-positional players in camp, or whatever Rocco Baldelli prefers to call them, so it’s likely Rosales is playing for an opportunity elsewhere every bit as much as he’s trying to make a good impression on the Twins. But it’s fair to point out that it was almost impossible to imagine Ryan LaMarre making the Opening Day roster at this point last season, so anything’s possible. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1105999332149465094 Lucas Duda, 33, 1B .333/.448/.458 (.907 OPS) 8-for-24. 3 2B, 5 BB, 9 K I tabbed Dude as the hands-down favorite in my Sire of Fort Myers preview, and while he trails a few other players, he has not disappointed. Duda has a lot of pressure on him this spring, a poor performance could have been very damaging to his hopes of landing on a major league roster this season. It’s a bit difficult to see Duda cracking the Twins’ Opening Day roster, but he’s done a nice job at showcasing his skills to other teams that may be searching for a lefty bat. LaMonte Wade, 25, OF .296/.375/.556 (.931 OPS) 8-for-27, 2 2B, 3B, HR, 3 BB, 5 K How great is this to see? After struggling in his first taste of Triple A toward the end of last season, Wade has put a positive spin on the start to his 2019 season. He was optioned to Rochester after Tuesday’s game, but I felt it was still well worth mentioning his efforts to this point. Honorable mentions among hitters include Nick Gordon, Brian Navarreto and Jimmy Kerrigan. Top Pitchers The bullpen is the biggest question mark in terms of the major league club. It seems like the guys on the outside looking in smell blood in the water. Ryne Harper, 29, RHP 0.00 ERA, 0.67 WHIP, 39.1 K% 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K Harper always put up great numbers in the minor leagues but never could find an opportunity even above Double A for years. He came up in the Braves’ system before being dealt to Seattle in December of 2015. After a great first season in the Mariners’ system, Harper finally appeared to be getting his shot. He was called up May 28, 2017. Unfortunately, he never got the chance to pitch and was sent back to Triple A just three days later. Harper became a minor league free agent after that season and signed with the Twins. In 65 innings between Chattanooga and Rochester, Harper posted a 3.60 ERA and 1.09 WHIP. What really jumps off the page is his sterling strikeout-to-walk ratio of 8.60. He averaged 11.9 K/9 while issuing just 1.4 BB/9. The Twins brought him back on another minors deal this offseason. Including winter leagues, Harper has pitched in more than 300 minor league games in his career. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1105681142596931584 Ryan Eades, 27, RHP 0.00 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, 35.0 K% 5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 K We go from a former 37th-round pick in Harper to the Twins’ second-round pick from the 2013 Draft. Eades has been pitching primarily out of the bullpen the past two seasons and really took a step forward in 2018. Over his final 30 1/3 innings, Eades gave up just three earned runs (0.89 ERA), struck out 34 batters and walked just five (6.8 K:BB ratio). https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1102405680819027969 Preston Guilmet, 31, RHP 1.50 ERA, 0.83 WHIP, 39.1 K% 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K Guilmet has 27 big league appearances under his belt, spreading those across six organizations. That’s a lot of cups of coffee. He was drafted twice, traded once and selected off waivers five times. In all, he’s pitched for 22 different teams in his professional career, including one in Japan (2017 with the Yakult Swallows). He had a 1.60 ERA, 0.65 WHIP and 9.9 K/9 in 33 2/3 Triple-A innings last season. Mike Morin, 27, RHP 0.00 ERA, 0.50 WHIP, 27.3 K% 6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K Here’s another reliever who’s bounced around quite a bit. Morin had a great rookie year in 2014 as a 23-year-old with the Angels, pitching to a 2.90 ERA and 1.19 WHIP in 59 innings. Things haven’t gone as well since. He was claimed off waivers by the Royals, then again by the Mariners. He made three appearances with Seattle but spent most of the season in Triple A, where he had a 3.86 ERA and 1.19 WHIP. Morin was born in Andover but played his high school ball in Kansas before attending the University of North Carolina. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1102314523569074178 For more on Morin, La Velle E. Neal III wrote a nice profile on him and his changeup over at the Star Tribune. Honorable mentions among pitchers include Justin Nicolino, Jake Reed and Tim Collins. So there you have it, the top contenders for 2019 Sire of Fort Myers as we head down the stretch. Coronation day will be in a few short weeks.