Tom Froemming

Miguel Sano played his first game since being called up to Rochester. Fernando Romero and Blayne Enlow were on the bump. Brent Rooker and Zander Wiel stared for Chattanooga, Alex Kirilloff and Ben Rortvedt did damage for Fort Myers and (of course) Ryan Jeffers and Chris Williams continued to be the bash brothers for E-Town. However, it was a Cedar Rapids outfielder who tallied the most total bases on the evening (and probably not the one you’d assume). Come check out what happened across the minors Saturday.RED WINGS REPORT Norfolk 5, Rochester 3 Box Score SP: Fernando Romero (7.2 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 3 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: Gregorio Petit, Jordan Pacheco Fernando Romero got off to a terrible start, opening this game by walking the first two batters he faced. He then gave up a single to load the bases with nobody out. The Tides tallied three runs in the first, but Romero was able to recover and pitching into the eighth inning. Miguel Sano, in his first game since being promoted from Fort Myers, started at third base and went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. He drove in a run on a ground out. Rochester’s lineup is in desperate need of a boost. Over their past six games, they’ve managed to scratch across just five runs. This was their sixth-straight loss and the Red Wings are 3-12 in their last 15 games. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 12, Mobile 10 (11 innings) Box Score W: Tyler Jay (2.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K) SP: Dietrich Enns (5.0 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 3 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: Zander Wiel, Brent Rooker, Mitchell Kranson, Jaylin Davis, Jimmy Kerrigan Lookouts manager Tommy Watkins has seen a couple of his better leadoff options promoted up to Rochester, but he may have found his new tablesetter tonight. First baseman Zander Wiel hit first for Chattanooga tonight and was 3-for-6 with a pair of doubles, a walk and scored all four times he was on base. Brent Rooker, who hit directly behind Wiel was also 3-for-6 with two doubles and a walk. He also drove in three runs. That’s a nice one-two punch right there. This was a crazy game. Mobile led 6-1 after the first three innings but Chattanooga managed to storm back and tie the game at 7-7 in the eighth inning. This one went into extras, and while the Lookouts were able to score in the top of the 10th, the BayBears answered with a run of their own to send this game into the 11th. Chattanooga responded with a four-run inning. That surely would be enough, right? Yes, but Mobile didn’t go down quietly. They managed to score twice before the game finally ended. Some of the numbers are just silly. The Lookouts were 9-for-27 with runners in scoring position. They had 17 hits and drew nine walks, so there was just constantly traffic on the bases. Jordan Gore made the jump all the way up from Cedar Rapids earlier this month, but he’s fitting right in. Tonight he hit a triple, drove in three runs and drew three walks. As you’d imagine by the score, there was a lot of bad pitching, but Andrew Vasquez kept rolling along. He was the first man out of the bullpen for Chattanooga and struck out five of the seven batters he faced. Sam Clay struck out three batters in his two innings of scoreless work. MIRACLE MATTERS Lakeland 8, Fort Myers 2 Box Score SP: Andro Cutura (3.2 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K) HR: Ben Rortvedt (3) Multi-hit games: Alex Kirilloff Starter Andro Cutura ran into trouble in the fourth inning and the Ryan Mason, who’s been having an excellent year, got knocked around in the fifth, putting the Miracle behind 8-0 after five innings. The Fort Myers lineup wasn’t able to dig out of that hole, but there were a couple strong performances. Ben Rortvedt hit a two-run home run, his third already with the Miracle in just 28 games. Rortvedt only had five home runs in 161 pro games prior to being promoted to Fort Myers. Alex Kirilloff was 3-for-4 and scored a run. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 7, Lansing 5 Box Score W: Blayne Enlow (6.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K) HR: Jean Carlos Arias (5) Multi-hit games: Robby Rinn, Jean Carlos Arias, Jared Akins Blayne Enlow was in control and the Kernels put up a six spot in the fifth inning of this one. Jean Carlos Arias got Cedar Rapids on the board with a solo homer in the second inning and then capped off the big rally in the fifth with a run-scoring triple. Enlow completed six innings for the third-straight start and has never had to eclipse 80 pitches over that stretch. The only runs he gave up were unearned, so Enlow’s ERA sits at 3.16 on the season. Arais was hands down the offensive star of the game, but Robby Rinn had two hits and drove in a pair of runs and Jared Akins also had two hits. E-TWINS E-NOTES Elizabethton 7, Princeton 6 Box Score W: Pedro Garcia (4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 5 K SV: Seth Pinkerton (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K) SP: Josh Winder (4.0 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 2 K) HR: Chris Williams (9), Ricky De La Torre (2), Micheal Helman (1) Multi-hit games: Ryan Jeffers, Ricky De La Torre, Michael Helman Michael Helman, a member of the 2018 draft class, hit his first professional home run and it was extra sweet because it put the E-Twins up for good. A second baseman out of Texas A&M, Helman also had a single. Ryan Jeffers was 3-for-4 with a double and scored twice, of course, because that’s what he does. Jeffers is now hitting .422 with an 1.121 OPS. Chris Williams hit a home run, because that’s what he does. The Clemson product now has nine dingers for E-Town. Shortstop Ricky De La Torre hit his second homer of the season. Josh Winder had a rough start, giving up six runs on eight hits over four innings, but Pedro Garcia bailed him out with four frames of one-hit ball and the bats mounted a comeback. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Red Sox 7, GCL Twins 6 (10 innings) Box Score SP: Andriu Martin (4.0 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: LaRon Smith, Yeison Perez The Twins held a 6-4 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth but the Red Sox managed to tie it up and then won this one in extras. Victor Tademo and Kidany Salva each drove in two runs, LaRon Smith had three singles and Yeison Perez was 2-for-3 with a double. It’s actually a little crazy that the Red Sox scored only seven runs. Five Twins pitchers combined to surrender 17 hits, they walked four batters and the defense committed four errors. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Blayne Enlow, Cedar Rapids Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Jean Carlos Arias, Cedar Rapids TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed. Please note that this Prospect Summary has been updated. 1. Royce Lewis (FM): 0-for-4, K 2. Alex Kirilloff (FM): 3-for-4, R 3. Brusdar Graterol (FM): Did not pitch. 4. Nick Gordon (ROC): 1-for-4, RBI, K 5. Stephen Gonsalves (ROC): Did not pitch. 6. Trevor Larnach (ET): 1-for-4, K 7. Brent Rooker (CHAT): 3-for-6, 2 2B, BB 3 RBI, R, K 8. Akil Baddoo (CR): 1-for-5, R, 2 K 9. Wander Javier: Out of for the season 10. Zack Littell (ROC): Did not pitch. 11. Blayne Enlow (CR): 6.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K 12. LaMonte Wade (ROC): 0-for-4, K 13. Travis Blankenhorn (FM): 0-for-4, 3 K 14. Lewis Thorpe (CHAT): Did not pitch. 15. Ben Rortvedt (FM): 1-for-4, HR, 2 RBI, R 16. Yunior Severino (ET): Did not play. 17. Lewin Diaz (FM): 1-for-3, BB, 2 K 18. Ryan Jeffers (ET): 3-for-4, 2B, 2 R 19. Jacob Pearson (CR): Was used as a late sub, only pinch ran and played left field. 20. Luis Arraez (CHAT): 1-for-2, R SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester vs. Norfolk, 12:05 pm CT: Zack Littell Chattanooga at Mobile, 5:05 pm CT: Lewis Thorpe Fort Myers: Off Cedar Rapids at Lansing, 12:05 pm CT: Jordan Balazovic Elizabethton vs. Princeton, 5:00 pm CT: TBD GCL Twins: Off Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games. Click here to view the article

After ending the first half on such a hot streak, this Twins team sounded motivated to try to convince the front office it was too early for a fire sale. They’ve opened things up after the All-Star break with basically an ideal opponent to clean up against, but instead have dropped the first two games to the lowly Royals.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Lance Lynn: 43 Game Score, 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 K, 6 BB, 55.9% strikes Bullpen: 3.0 IP, 1 ER, 1 K, 3 BB Lineup: 2-for-4 w/RISP, 6 LOB WPA of 0.1 or higher: Mauer .105 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Cave -.110, Polanco -.144, Dozier -.191 Download attachment: WinChart721.png First Base Congratulations are in order! Joe Mauer led off this game with a double, giving him 415 for his career. The significance in that number? Joe is now the Twins’ all-time leader in doubles. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen721.png AL Central Standings CLE 54-43 MIN 44-52 (-9.5) DET 42-58 (-13.5) CHW 33-63 (-20.5) KC 29-68 (-25) Next Three Games Sun at KC, 1:15 pm CT: Jake Odorizzi vs. Brad Keller Mon at TOR, 6:07 pm CT: Adalberto Mejia vs. Marco Estrada Tue at TOR, 6:07 pm CT: Jose Berrios vs. Ryan Borucki Click here to view the article

Wanna know what's really weird? Both those guys you mentioned were born on the same day, July 12. But Ober was born in 1995 and Leach in 1999. The biggest thing is there's about 50 pounds of weight difference between those two. Tyler looks like a football player and Bailey looks like he belongs on a basketball court, but you're right, they both look very comfortable on a pitcher's mound, especially for dudes their size.

When is a loss maybe a win? Well, when you think it might be best for your favorite team to sell at the trade deadline, but a recent surge has kinda sorta put them back into the playoff discussion, in theory. The way I see it, Twins fans can’t lose right now. If the team wins, great. If not, maybe in the big picture that’s for the best anyway.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Kyle Gibson: 43 Game Score, 5.1 IP, 4 ER, 5 K, 2 BB, 63.1% strikes Bullpen: 2.2 IP, 2 ER, 1 K, 1 BB Lineup: 3-for-13 w/RISP, 11 LOB WPA of 0.1 or higher: Garver .154 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Rosario -.111, Dozier -.143, Gibson -.154, Kepler -.300. Download attachment: WinChart720.png After really playing around with things last season, I got these game recaps to a format I liked and haven’t changed them much over the course of this year. Let’s try something different tonight … First Base Nobody’s going to replace Platinum Glove Award winner Byron Buxton in center field, but Jake Cave has looked pretty darn good out there and tonight Max Kepler made a very nice catch at Kauffman: Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen720.png AL Central Standings CLE 52-43 (Friday game still in progress) MIN 44-51 (-8) DET 41-58 (-13) CHW 33-62 (-19) KC 28-68 (-24.5) Next Three Games Sat at KC, 6:15 pm CT: Lance Lynn vs. Jakob Junis Sun at KC, 1:15 pm CT: Jake Odorizzi vs. Brad Keller Mon at TOR, 6:07 pm CT: TBD vs. Marco Estrada More From Twins Daily Miguel Sano Promoted to Triple-A Rochester GM For A Deadline, Part One Twins Owe it to Themselves to Look at Existing Talent in Second Half Click here to view the article

I guessed he was going to be back July 5, but I think the Twins falling so far behind may have given them less incentive to speed things along. They were four games back of Cleveland when he went down, but then were 11.5 back on the fifth. Obviously I was wrong, but it never made sense to me to keep him down for an extended period if he was healthy. Establishing some new habits/routines shouldn't take months.

Falvinegaard has a nice ring to it ... My question to you, Jeremy, is now that we've seen a few trades go down and have some feel for how guys are being valued, would you change your expectations at all on what the Twins may be able to fetch for Dozier/Escobar? Or have things panned out close to what you would have expected?

And don't sleep on Kai-Wei Teng, who started for the GCL Twins. I think he could be a guy we're all pretty excited about in a year or two. Yeah ... They've got the worst offense in the IL. I think it really hurt that guys like Chris Carter and Cameron Rupp under performed (and now are gone). I think you're always going to see quite a few career minor leaguers in Triple A, which is fine just so long as they're performing. But, just like with the big club, injuries have not helped. Under normal circumstances, Cave and Astudillo would be down there and Romero probably would have spent the whole year there to this point, maybe Matt Magill too ... Ryan LaMarre ... Bobby Wilson. Instead, those guys were called upon by the Twins and their replacements have not stepped up like you'd like to see. I think that would make a lot of sense, even if Stewart and Jay aren't really "ready" if you can even really know that. I'd like to see Watson jump back up to Fort Myers now that he's back on track. The scenario you laid out is better than anything I could come up with. I was trying to work through that myself, but then I got a headache and figured I'd just paste in the game log word-for-word Unfortunately, it's really difficult to find any additional info on the GCL games and I didn't really have time to dig around because ... ... sloopjont said I had to get some sleep Toss in the fact that we had a game scheduled for seven innings go into extras and this just made for a really weird day. Speaking of which ... ... don't take this as a dig at this specific stance, but I'm curious if people also don't like the fact that minor league doubleheaders are seven-inning games? It's kind of an odd thing they do on the farm, but both the short doubleheaders and the "bonus" runner in extras rules are there to try and keep from crazy long days at the ballpark/travel issues. Obviously that's a a valid concern, but what I wonder is would it just be better to allow minor league games to end in a tie?

Of the seven games in tonight’s report, four of them went into extra innings. Kohl Stewart had a great start, Brent Rooker hit another home run, Aaron Whitefield had a walk-off double, Akil Baddoo collected three more hits, a Cedar Rapids reliever went strikeout crazy and Chris Williams slugged another homer. Check out what else happened across the minors Thursday night.TRANSACTIONS Jeremy Hazelbaker was acquired from Tampa Bay for cash considerations and was assigned to Rochester. Another left-handed hitting outfielder, Hazelbaker has hit .258/.327/.500 (.827 OPS) over 285 plate appearances with the Cardinals and Diamondbacks. The 30-year-old was having a rough go of things for Durham, Tampa Bay’s Triple-A affiliate, hitting .210/.293/.397 (.690 OPS). Cody Stashak was placed on Chattanooga’s temporary Inactive List. Fort Myers placed Tom Hackimer on the 7-Day DL with an ankle sprain. RED WINGS REPORT Game 1: Norfolk 1, Rochester 0 (7 innings) Box Score SP: Kohl Stewart (6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: Nick Gordon Rochester was held to just three hits, two from Nick Gordon, but Kohl Stewart was awesome. Making his fourth Triple-A start this season, Stewart gave up just one run on three hits, all singles, and two walks. He also struck out eight of the 22 batters he faced on the day. Stewart also went six innings and only gave up one run in his last start. Jeremy Hazelbaker was 0-for-2 with a strikeout in his debut in the organization. Game 2: Norfolk 1 Rochester, 0 (8 innings) Box Score SP: D.J. Baxendale (3.1 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: None Yes, Rochester played two games, they lost both and the score was 1-0 in both contests. Also, both runs scored over the 15 innings of baseball were on sacrifice flies. This game was played in Rochester, but it was technically a road game for the Wings, er, they were the Plates tonight, I guess. They were making up a game that was rained out in Norflolk earlier in the season. That meant Rochester was walked off in their own ballpark, which had to feel a little weird. The only hits by the Plates in this one were a Juan Graterol double and a Jon Kremmer single. D.J Baxendale opened things with 3 1/3 shutout innings before Trevor May tuned in 2 1/3 frames of no-hit ball. Gabriel Moya pitched two innings and gave up the game-winner, though it’ll go down as an unearned run since that was the “bonus” runner that started the inning on second base. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 5, Mobile 3 Box Score W: Omar Bencomo (5.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K) SV: Tyler Jay (1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K) HR: Brent Rooker (16) Multi-hit games: Brent Rooker, Mitchell Kranson This one started with a Zander Wiel double followed by Brent Rooker’s 16th home run. The Lookouts built a 4-0 lead thanks to RBI singles from Mitchell Kranson and Rooker, but the BayBears battled back to pull within a run of Chattanooga. Brian Navarretto plated an insurance run in the top of the ninth on a sac fly and the bullpen locked it down. Omar Bencomo (29) gave up two runs and struck out seven batters over 5 1/3 innings. Williams Ramirez (who turns 26 in a few weeks) gave up a run in his inning of work before Sam Clay (25) delivered 1 1/3 innings of scoreless work. Tyler Jay (24) earned his second save by recording the final four outs. He gave up one hit and had three strikeouts. Why yes, the Lookouts do have the oldest pitching staff in the Southern League (second oldest in all of Double A), why do you ask? MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 4, Lakeland 3 (10 innings) Box Score W: Jovani Moran (3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K) SP: Griffin Jax (7.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: None Hits were hard to come by for the Miracle, but they made the most of them. They managed to score four runs despite only being able to muster three well-timed hits. Alex Kirilloff hit a single to load the bases in the first inning, Joe Cronin drew a walk to score the first run and then Ben Rortvedt delivered a two-run single to put Fort Myers up 3-0 in the first inning. They didn’t get another baserunner until the seventh. In the meantime, the Flying Tigers stormed back to tie the game at 3-3. Griffin Jax gave up just one earned run over seven innings before handing the game off to Jovani Moran, who was making just his third appearance for the Miracle. Moran managed to fend off Lakeland for three innings, keeping the game knotted up. Things didn’t get off to a very good start in the bottom of the 10th for Fort Myers. Rortvedt was walked to try to set up the double play. To combat that, the Miracle bunted … into a double play. Since offense was impossible to come by, Fort Myers hadn’t recorded a hit since the first inning, they seemed doomed. Instead, Aaron Whitefield delivered a walk-off double that scored Rortvedt from second base. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 6, Great Lakes 3 Box Score W: Tyler Watson (6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K) SV: Jose Martinez (2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB 6 K) HR: Ben Rodriguez (8), Jacob Pearson (4) Multi-hit games: Akil Baddoo Tyler Watson set the tone with six innings of shutout ball and Ben Rodriguez mashed a three-run homer that put the Kernels up 4-0 in the third inning, making for a low-stress night, especially when compared to how the other affiliates fared. Akil Baddoo had an excellent game, going 3-for-5 and was a homer shy of the cycle and Jacob Pearson hit his fourth home run of the season. Jose Martinez made sure things remained under control as he absolutely blew through the Loons’ lineup. Martinez faced seven men and he struck out six of them. He threw 21 of his 26 pitches for strikes. Wow. E-TWINS E-NOTES Greeneville 3, Elizabethton 2 (10 innings) Box Score SP: Andrew Cabezas (5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 4 K) HR: Chris Williams (8) Multi-hit games: Yunior Severino, Andrew Cosgrove My goodness, is Chris Williams flexing his muscles or what!? The guy now has eight home runs through 26 pro games. Combined that with his numbers at Clemson this year Williams has 25 homers in 88 games this year. Again, my goodness! E-Towns’ other run came on a game-tying single from Trevor Larnach. Andrew Cabazas pitched five shutout innings of two-hit ball. Johan Quezada followed with two no-hit innings to go with four strikeouts. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Twins 6, GCL Orioles 3 (11 innings) Box Score W: Petru Balan (3.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K) SP: Kai-Wei Teng (5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: Agustin Marte, Charles Mack, Victor Tedemo, Erick Rivera The Twins trailed 1-0 heading into the top of the ninth, but they tied it up on a pretty wild play. Here’s the description from the MiLB play log: “Victor Tademo out on a sacrifice bunt, left fielder Jacob Brown to third baseman Jared Gates. Alberoni Nunez scores. Charles Mack to 3rd. Victor Tademo out at 3rd. Victor Tademo out at 3rd, left fielder Jacob Brown to third baseman Jared Gates.” Uh ... say what now? Things continued to get interesting, as the Twins added another run in the top of the 10th thanks to a passed ball. But the O’s also scored in the bottom of that inning. The Twins really broke loose in the 11th, tallying four runs, the big blow being a Tademo double. Second baseman Agustin Marte was 3-for-5 with a double and Mack was 2-for-4 with a walk. Kai-Wei Tend delivered five frames of one-run ball before J.T. Perez pitched two scoreless innings. Petru Balan gave up an unearned run over his three innings of work and Osiris German also surrendered an unearned run in the 11th STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Jose Martinez, Cedar Rapids Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Brent Rooker, Chattanooga TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed. Please note that this Prospect Summary has been updated. 1. Royce Lewis (FM): 0-for-3, BB, R, E 2. Alex Kirilloff (FM): 1-for-4, R, K 3. Brusdar Graterol (FM): Did not pitch. 4. Nick Gordon (ROC): 2-for-6, SB 5. Stephen Gonsalves (ROC): Did not pitch. 6. Trevor Larnach (ET): 1-for-3, BB, RBI, K 7. Brent Rooker (CHAT): 2-for-4, HR, 3 RBIs, R 8. Akil Baddoo (CR): 3-for-5, 2B, 3B, 2 R, RBI 9. Wander Javier: Out of for the season 10. Zack Littell (ROC): Did not pitch. 11. Blayne Enlow (CR): Did not pitch. 12. LaMonte Wade (ROC): 0-for-6, 4 K 13. Travis Blankenhorn (FM): 0-for-3, K, E 14. Lewis Thorpe (CHAT): Did not pitch. 15. Ben Rortvedt (FM): 1-for-2, 2 BB, 2 RBI, R 16. Yunior Severino (ET): 2-for-5, R 17. Lewin Diaz (FM): 0-for-3, RBI, K 18. Ryan Jeffers (ET): 1-for-4, BB 19. Jacob Pearson (CR): 1-for-4, HR, RBI, R, K 20. Luis Arraez (CHAT): 1-for-4, 2B, R, K FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester vs. Norfolk, 5:05 pm CT: Ervin Santana Chattanooga at Mobile, 7:05 pm CT: Sean Poppen Fort Myers vs. Lakeland, 6:00 pm CT: Brusdar Graterol Cedar Rapids at Great Lakes, 6:05 pm CT: Bailey Ober Elizabethton vs. Greeneville, 6:00 pm CT: TBD GCL Twins vs. GCL Red Sox, 11:00 am CT: TBD Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games. Click here to view the article

Thanks for the tip! I found it: https://www.mlb.com/twins/video/dozier-on-eating-healthy/c-1893675883?tid=219880472

Fort Myers hitting coach Steve Singleton is working with Sano, but in a quote I saw from him he mentioned how Sano was doing a good job of focusing on the things assigned to him "from above" or "from the top" something along those lines. So, as you'd expect, the guidance in terms of what Miguel's supposed to be focusing on is coming from the front office/MLB field staff, but it sounds like Singleton is the main person who's working to implement that plan with Miguel. Kate Moran is the team's dietitian and she's based out of the Fort Myers complex. The Twins have made a big commitment toward better nutrition the past couple years, and seem to be out in front of a lot of other clubs in that regard. For example, not every team employs its own full-time dietitian. I tried to get in touch with Moran for an interview for the prospect handbook. It didn't end up working out, but I learned quite a bit in researching for that piece before it fell through.

Brad Hand; what a great example of exactly what you're talking about here Jamie. The Padres originally acquired Hand off waivers from the Marlins back in April 2016. Hand was fighting for a roster spot with Miami, but after having a bad spring they decided to go with a pair of "established" left-handed relievers instead. Southpaws Craig Breslow and Chris Narveson made the Marlin's opening day roster that year. They combined to throw 22 1/3 innings with Miami.

Last night Stephen Gonsalves recorded his 300th strikeout in 274 2/3 innings between Double A and Triple A. That's a 9.8 K/9 in a good-sized sample in the high minors. He's only surrendered 193 hits over that span, an average of 6.3 H/9. To put that into perspective, Jose Berrios had a 9.2 K/9 and gave up 6.8 H/9 between Double A and Triple A. Obviously, there's a huge gap in the base on balls department between the two of them, but all I'm trying to display is how nasty SG has been. Also, keep in mind those numbers include 100-something innings of work from Jose AFTER he already had made his MLB debut. The concerns are absolutely legit, but it's also worth keeping in mind that this isn't a finished product we're looking at. Hopefully this ends up being a good learning experience/exposes something in Stephen's game that he needs to address, but if you take a look at him through rose-colored glasses right now the picture sure is sweet.

First off, I am very happy to see the three guys mentioned in this piece all finding success at the big league level. The fact that they've all made it this far is a success story for the Twins developmental program. With Niko, you've gotta remember that heading into this season it was expected that Eduardo Escobar was going to be a bench player, not even to mention Ehire Adrianza. There was just no place to envision Goodrum fitting in. Rosario has been effective for the Cubs, but I'd still take Duke, Rogers and Moya as lefty relievers over him. Heck I'd take Mejia in the bullpen over him. I'd be shocked if Randy makes the Cubs' postseason roster, assuming he sticks around that long. D-Rod is the guy I look at and scratch my head on. They knew when he was going to be eligible for free agency this offseason, but still had him spend a good chunk of last season as a 25-year-old in Fort Myers. That situation seems weird to me, but it's still impressive that the Twins were able to successfully help convert Rodriguez from the outfield, where he spent three full seasons as a pro, to the mound. The real kicker to me? Tyler Kinley. What a waste. There are good reasons you can find as to why the Twins didn't protect these three guys above, but when they used the space to carry Kinley as a Rule 5 guy instead? Again, what a waste. I certainly agree with the main premise of this piece. The Twins need to give the guys they have a shot. And not necessarily the top prospects. Why not give Kennys Vargas one more shot? Let your Duffey/Bard/May/Curtiss/Reed types take over a spot or two in the pen and rotate through them. With Ervin coming back things are going to get tight in the rotation, but Mejia deserves to be starting in the majors, in my opinion.

I had Vasquez at 44. That may sound low, but he was also the fourth reliever I have ranked, behind only Tyler Jay, John Curtiss and Gabriel Moya. He's an interesting pitcher. Big, eccentric mechanics, good offspeed stuff but he doesn't throw hard. I'm pleasantly surprised by how well he's performing in Chattanooga.

Yeaaaaaah ... not ideal. Luckily the production has still been there despite the Ks. In the splits at Baseball-reference.

Thank you for reading, and I want to make it clear that I welcome people to chip in with comments like these, but just a heads up both Miranda and Cabbage were highlighted in last month's "Another 10 to Know" section. I'm trying to avoid repeating any names in an effort to spotlight as many players as possible. It's been good for me personally to get a bit out of my comfort zone and discover some new names (like with the DSL guys), so I hope everyone following along has the same experience. Here are the "Another 10" guys from the previous two installments : -Arraez (wasn't in the top 20 at that time), Charlie Barnes, Cabbage, Randy Dobnak, Adalberto Mejia (who I realize now isn't technically a prospect, doh!), Sean Miller, Miranda, Jovani Moran, Brian Navarreto and Bryan Sammons. -Nick Anderson, Willians Astudillo, Edgar Corcino, Jaylin Davis, Ryan Mason, Chris Paul, Cody Stashak, Todd Van Steensel, Andrew Vasquez and Zander Wiel. So again, feel free to further discuss any of those guys, but if you're wondering why they weren't singled out, it's because they already have been.

Neither do I, to be honest. I feel like there's a lot of fool's gold down there. It's really hard to try and evaluate on the numbers, which is all I personally have to go off of for that league. Below are some things that put into perspective what comes out of the DSL. Since the kids are so young in this league, you've got to look back a ways to get any real context. Players to make the MLB 2012 DSL Twins: Fernando Romero, Engelb Vielma 2011 DSL Twins: Felix Jorge, Randy Rosario 2010 DSL Twins: Miguel Sano, Jorge Polanco 2009 DSL Twins: None 2008 DSL Twins: Oswaldo Arcia, Danny Santana And among the DSL leaders back in 2008, only six of the top 50 players in OPS and six of the top 50 pitchers in ERA that season made it to the majors. But, I still wanted to highlight a few of the guys down there because I do think it's worth at least keeping some tabs on what's going on. Maybe Escobar (17), Feliz (18) and Morales (19) make it to the majors, maybe they flame out before they ever even make it to full season ball. Who knows? Fun facts on Jeferson Morales: He has more extra-base hits (12) than strikeouts (11) and leads the DSL Twins with 12 stolen bases. This is all from a catcher listed at 5-8, 170 pounds.

Thanks Carole, since you asked ... I'm going to cut it down to just the 10 top and five extras next time I'll see what I can do in terms of expanding it next month, it'll depend on how mush I've got going on the day I whip this together.

Welcome to another edition of the Twins Prospect Pulse. Over the past month we’ve seen several big promotions (Alex Kirilloff, Brusdar Graterol, Royce Lewis) and the short-season leagues have all gotten underway, which means we’re starting to see some of the 2018 draftees for the first time. Here's how each affiliate is performing, a rundown of the Twins Daily top 20 prospects and another 10 names of note.This is a feature designed to keep those of you who are more casual followers of the system up to speed on what’s happening in the minor leagues. This will be posted mid-month going forward, the intention being that it will complement Seth’s Minor League Player of the Month Award articles nicely. Speaking of which, here are the award winners from June: Hitter: Luis Arraez Starting pitcher: Tyler Wells Relief pitcher: Jovani Moran Below are the stats for this edition of the Prospect Pulse. All numbers were pulled on the morning of July 16. Affiliates -Rochester Red Wings: 43-46, fourth place in IL North -Chattanooga Lookouts: 42-50 overall, 6-17 second half, last place in SL North -Fort Myers Miracle: 38-54 overall, 10-14 second half, fourth place in FSL South -Cedar Rapids Kernels: 48-45 overall, 16-8 second half, second place in MWL Western -Elizabethton Twins: 16-8, first place in Appy West -GCL Twins: 13-9, tied for first place in GSL South -DSL Twins: 25-11, first place in DSL South Top Prospects Here’s a snapshot at how the top 20 prospects have performed. We unveiled a new midseason prospect list earlier this month. Both Fernando Romero and Mitch Garver graduated from prospect status while Tyler Jay and Felix Jorge dropped out of our top 20. The new arrivals that took their places are Trevor Larnach, Ryan Jeffers, Jacob Pearson and Luis Arraez. 1. Royce Lewis, SS, Fort Myers Last 28 days: .370/.447/.568 (1.015 OPS), 12.8 K%, 11.7 BB% Full season: .320/.373/.485 (.858 OPS), 14.9 K%, 7.4 BB% 2. Alex Kirilloff, RF, Fort Myers Last 28 days: .289/.316/.400 (.716 OPS), 17.9 K%, 3.2 BB% Full season: .322/.372/.553 (.925 OPS), 17.0 K%, 7.2 BB% 3. Brusdar Graterol, RHP, Fort Myers Last 28 days: 19.1 IP, 4.66 ERA, 1.66 WHIP, 8.8 K/9, 2.71 K:BB Full season: 55.2 IP, 3.23 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 9.9 K/9, 4.69 K:BB 4. Nick Gordon, SS, Rochester Last 28 days: .222/.239/.344 (.584 OPS), 16.1 K%, 2.2 BB% Full season: .282/.317/.429 (.746 OPS), 16.6 K%, 4.2 BB% 5. Stephen Gonsalves, LHP, Rochester Last 28 days: 21.2 IP, 0.83 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 7.9 K/9, 1.46 K:BB Full season: 84.1 IP, 3.20 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 9.6 K/9, 1.76 K:BB 6. Trevor Larnach, OF, Inactive 7. Brent Rooker, 1B/LF, Chattanooga Last 28 days: .275/.340/.582 (.922 OPS), 32.0 K%, 8.0 BB% Full season: .263/.320/.488 (.808 OPS), 29.1 K%, 7.2 BB% 8. Akil Baddoo, CF, Cedar Rapids Last 28 days: .318/.384/.523 (.907 OPS), 13.1 K%, 10.1 BB% Full season: .247/.365/.429 (.794 OPS), 24.4 K%, 15.4 BB% 9. Wander Javier, SS, Out for the season due to injury 10. Zack Littell, RHP, Rochester Last 28 days: 19.2 IP, 1.83 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 6.9 K/9, 3.00 K:BB Full season: 83.1 IP, 4.32 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 9.2 K/9, 2.66 K:BB 11. Blayne Enlow, RHP, Cedar Rapids Last 28 days: 20.0 IP, 0.90 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 6.3 K/9, 1.75 K:BB Full season: 56.2 IP, 3.49 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 6.5 K/9, 1.64 K:BB 12. LaMonte Wade, LF/RF, Rochester Last 28 days: .250/.379/.500 (.879 OPS), 14.9 K%, 14.9 BB% Full season: .278/.391/.440 (.831 OPS), 11.3 K%, 14.4 BB% 13. Travis Blankenhorn, 3B/2B, Fort Myers Last 28 days: .196/.282/.304 (.586 OPS), 28.8 K%, 6.7 BB% Full season: .243/.308/.397 (.705 OPS), 25.7 K%, 6.9 BB% 14. Lewis Thorpe, LHP, Chattanooga Last 28 days: 21.2 IP, 1.66 ERA, 0.74 WHIP, 13.3 K/9, 10.67 K:BB Full season: 84.1 IP, 3.95 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 11.3 K/9, 4.42 K:BB 15. Ben Rortvedt, C, Fort Myers Last 28 days: .226/.333/.355 (.688 OPS), 16.7 K%, 12.5 BB% Full season: .265/.329/.372 (.701 OPS), 20.1 K%, 8.0 BB% 16. Yunior Severino, 2B, Elizabethton Last 28 days: .317/.353/.476 (.829 OPS), 19.1 K%, 5.9 BB% Full season: Same as above 17. Lewin Diaz, 1B, Fort Myers Last 28 days: .280/.326/.378 (.704 OPS), 15.7 K%, 6.7 BB% Full season: .234/.265/.360 (.624 OPS), 17.2 K%, 3.1 BB% 18. Ryan Jeffers, C, Elizabethton Last 28 days: .398/.524/.566 (1.090 OPS), 13.3 K%, 14.3 BB% Full season: Same as above 19. Jacob Pearson, LF, Cedar Rapids Last 28 days: .317/.417/.476 (.892 OPS), 19.8 K%, 13.5 BB% Full season: .292/.370/.429 (.799 OPS), 18.0 K%, 10.6 BB% 20. Luis Arraez, 2B, Chattanooga Last 28 days: .330/.371/.396 (.767 OPS), 10.3 K%, 6.2 BB% Full season: .301/.351/.387 (.738 OPS), 11.1 K%, 6.7 BB% Another 10 to Know This is a rotating list. I’m trying to make sure to feature a brand new set of 10 players each month. These aren’t necessarily the next 10 in the rankings, but here are some other names of note: Jean Carlos Arias, OF, Cedar Rapids Last 28 days: .324/.351/.592 (.943 OPS), 23.0 K%, 4.1 BB% Full season: .274/.292/.425 (.717 OPS), 21.5 K%, 2.7 BB% Jordan Balazovic, RHP, Cedar Rapids Last 28 days: 22.1 IP, 2.42 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 11.3 K/9, 4.00 K:BB Full season: 38.0 IP, 2.37 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 11.8 K/9, 4.17 K:BB Anthony Escobar, RHP, DSL Twins Last 28 days: 24.0 IP, 1.50 ERA, 0.58 WHIP, 8.3 K/9, 7.33 K:BB Full season: 43.2 IP, 1.24 ERA, 0.64 WHIP, 7.6 K/9, 5.29 K:BB Jesus Feliz, SS, DSL Twins Last 28 days: .333/.364/.627 (.991 OPS), 12.5 K%, 1.8 BB% Full season: .287/.319/.517 (.836 OPS), 15.8 K%, 3.2 BB% Derek Molina, RHP, Elizabethton Last 28 days: 12.0 IP, 3.00 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 14.3 K/9, 3.80 K:BB Full season: 25.1 IP, 3.55 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 12.1 K/9, 2.43 K:BB Jeferson Morales, C, DSL Twins Last 28 days: .286/.437/.393 (.829 OPS), 11.3 K%, 15.5 BB% Full season: .330/.496/.489 (.984 OPS), 9.4 K%, 19.7 BB% Bailey Ober, RHP, Cedar Rapids Last 28 days: 23.2 IP, 2.28 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, 13.7 K/9, 12.00 K:BB Full season: 64 IP, 4.36 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 10.4 K/9, 9.25 K:BB Sean Poppen, RHP, Chattanooga Last 28 days: 25.2 IP, 2.45 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 8.8 K/9, 4.17 K:BB Full season: 78.1 IP, 3.68 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 10.0 K/9, 3.48 K:BB Tyler Webb, RF, Elizabethton Last 28 days: .387/.478/.440 (.918 OPS), 13.3 K%, 10.0 BB% Full season: Same as above Chris Williams, 1B, Elizabethton Last 28 days: .270/.362/.539 (.901 OPS), 18.1 K%, 12.4 BB% Full season: Same as above That’s it for this edition of the Prospect Pulse. Thanks for checking it out. Click here to view the article

It feels really good to be mad at the other team for a change, lol. One more update: The Twins apparently didn't challenge that Cave was safe, per @MLBReplays, they were challenging that catcher Jesus Sucre blocked the plate. 1) That's embarrassing for the Twins/Molitor. 2) It's embarrassing for MLB to have such a ridiculous review system. Why can't you simply review whether or not the call was right? Why so specific? It's trash.