Tom Froemming

RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 9, Syracuse 3 Box Score Adam Wilk earned his first victory in the Twins organization, aided by a big day at the plate from Tommy Field. Wilk had a clean first inning, was then spotted a three-run lead, but gave it all back in the top of the second. To his credit, the 29-year-old lefty kept battling, and held Syracuse scoreless over the next four innings. Wilk ended the night having pitched six innings while giving up three runs on five hits and a walk. He struck out five. The game was tied in the bottom of the sixth when singles from Field, ByungHo Park and John Ryan Murphy produced the go-ahead run. Rochester later tacked on five runs in the eighth. Field was 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles, two runs and two RBI. Alan Busenitz followed Wilk with two scoreless innings before Drew Rucinski finished it off in the ninth. Zack Granite (2-for-5) had his eighth-straight multi-hit game. Mitch Garver started the game in left field, his first professional appearance in the outfield. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 7, Montgomery 4 Box Score Fernando Romero didn’t have his best stuff or command, but he was able to hold the Biscuits at bay. Romero walked five batters, but only surrendered three hits, limiting the damage to two runs over 5.2 innings. He tallied six strikeouts. Ryan Walker hit a go-ahead, bases-clearing triple in the top of the sixth. Nick Gordon was 2-for-5 with his 17th double of the season and drove in a run. Jonathan Rodriguez was 2-for-3 and drew a pair of walks. Both T.J. White and Dan Rohlfing had three hits on the evening. Montgomery scored four of about the flukiest runs you’ll ever see. The first two came on a chopper that should have been the third out of the first inning, but instead bounced off second base and into the outfield to go down as a two-run double. The last two came in the bottom of the ninth on a bases-loaded wild pitch that should have been a strikeout to end the game. Luke Bard and Mason Melotakis both recorded four strikeouts out of the bullpen. Bard pitched 2.1 innings. Melotakis technically only recorded three outs. Baseball math is funny sometimes. The win put the Lookouts in a three-way tie with Montgomery and Tennessee for the Southern League North division lead. MIRACLE MATTERS Tampa 2, Fort Myers 1 Box Score Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the ninth, the Miracle made a comeback attempt, but it fell short. The inning started with back-to-back singles from Max Murphy and Alex Perez. A couple of strikeouts were sandwiched between Trey Vavra reaching on a fielding error. The Miracle’s lone run came in on a bases-loaded wild pitch before Rafael Valera flied out to right field to end the game. Starter David Fischer went 4.2 innings, limiting the Yankees to just one run despite walking five batters. Andrew Vasquez had two strikeouts over 1.1 IP in his second appearance with Fort Myers. It was a tough night for the Miracle bats, as they managed just five hits (all singles) and a walk while striking out 11 times. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 15, Burlington 5 Box Score What’s better than hitting for the cycle? Whatever you want to call what Jermaine Palacios did Friday night. Palacios was 5-for-6 with two homers and two doubles. I suppose he “fell” a triple short of the cycle, but I’m sure he’s happy having to settled for 13 total bases on the night. Heck, let’s call that hitting a Palacios! The Kernels shortstop scored five runs and drove in three. Travis Blankenhorn was 3-for-6 with a home run. Lewin Diaz, Mitchell Kranson and Ben Rortvedt also had three hits each. Brandon Lopez had two hits, including a triple, as did Aaron Whitefield, who stole his 14th base. Clark Beeker gave up four runs but managed to pitch six innings, extending his streak of pitching six or more to seven-straight starts. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Adam Wilk (6 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K) Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Jermaine Palacios (5-for-6, 2 HR, 2 2B, 5 R, 3 RBI) SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester vs. Syracuse, 6:05 pm CT, Yohan Pino (4.50 ERA, 0.93 WHIP) Chattanooga at Montgomery, 6:35 pm CT, Stephen Gonsalves (2.45 ERA, 0.82 WHIP) Fort Myers vs. Tampa, 5:05 pm CT, Lachlan Wells (4.42 ERA, 1.25 WHIP) Cedar Rapids vs. Burlington, 6:35 pm CT, Eduardo Del Rosario (5.30 ERA, 1.52 WHIP) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Friday's games.

Twins 2, Seattle 1 Box Score Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) Gibson kept it simple, essentially ditching everything but his two-seamer and curveball. That’s especially of note since the curve is usually Gibby’s least-used pitch (13.3 percent). Image above via Baseball Savant Image above via Brooks Baseball We’ll see whether this becomes a new trend for Kyle or if he simply had a better feel for that pitch last night than others. His catcher provided the big offensive blast of the night. Here’s a look at the Castro homer from @MLBBarrelAlert on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MLBBarrelAlert/status/873014155716026368 Castro now has a 10-game hitting streak. One night after blowing the save, Brandon Kintzler was right back out there in the ninth again. He apparently heard the cries for more strikeouts, as he got Jarrod Dyson looking and Boog Powell swinging in a perfect inning. As much of a pitcher’s duel as it was, the difference of the game really came down to defense. The game-winning run scored on a pair of Robinson Cano errors on the same play in the fifth inning. Byron Buxton made an outstanding catch with two runners on to end the fifth. Taylor Rogers made a nifty snag on a comebacker to start a double play. Postgame With Kintzler Postgame With Molitor Today Twins (Ervin Santana, 2.44 ERA) at San Francisco (Matt Moore, 5.22 ERA); 9:15 p.m. CT Erv has looked a bit more human of late, posting a 4.28 ERA over his last six starts. Moore is having a rough go of it in his first full season with the Giants. What’s especially strange is lefties are killing the southpaw, hitting .385/.444/.785 (1.229 OPS) off him so far in 2017. AL Central Standings Twins 30-26 Cleveland 29-28 (-1.5) Detroit 29-30 (-2.5) Kansas City 26-33 (-5.5) Chicago 25-33 (-6.0) Be sure to also check out the Minor League Report.

Seattle 6, Twins 5 Box Score Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) Top 5 Plays (via Baseball-Reference) Kintzler opened the ninth by quickly getting two groundouts on seven total pitches. Ben Gamel hit a two-out single into center field on a 2-0 count to extend the game. Kintzler then fell behind Zunino 2-0, as well. Image via Yahoo Sports The Star Tribune’s Phil Miller shared this interesting tidbit regarding Zunino’s two-homer game: https://twitter.com/MillerStrib/status/872707782402744325 Adalberto Mejia had a 5-2 lead as he entered the fifth inning, in which he gave up a run. In seven starts, Mejia has now factored into the decision in just two of them (1-1). Tyler Duffey gave up another run in the sixth, but managed to record seven outs. Taylor Rogers got the last two outs of the eighth, and was very impressive, topping out at 96 mph. Image via Brooks Baseball The only Twins hitters who failed to reach base were Robbie Grossman and Byron Buxton, and the team went 3-for-4 with runners in scoring position. Miguel Sano hit his 15th home run of the season, a three-run blast (see below). The only other extra-base hit was an Ehire Adrianza double. Image via ESPN’s Home Run Tracker The Twins made a number of roster moves prior to Wednesday’s game. Hector Santiago was placed on the 10-day DL and Jorge Polanco on the bereavement list. Kennys Vargas was recalled from Rochester and Chris Heston was claimed off waivers from the Dodgers. To make room on the 40 man, Nick Tepesch was released. Highlights https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3OhJIEvubI Postgame With Molitor Today Kyle Gibson (7.23 ERA) vs. Christian Bergman (4.36 ERA) In three starts since returning from Rochester, Gibson has a 5.63 ERA. Current Mariners have hit .232./.286/.348 off Gibby, with their only home run coming from Jarrod Dyson, who has gone deep just nine times in 1,740 career PAs. The only Twins hitter who has faced Bergman, a former Rockies pitcher, is Adrianza (1-for-3). AL Central Standings 1. Twins 29-26 2. Cleveland 29-28 (-1.0) 3. Detroit 29-29 (-1.5) 4. Kansas City 26-32 (-4.5) 5. Chicago 25-32 (-5.0) Make sure to check out the Minor League Report from Wednesday’s action. And here's a link to last night's Twins Daily game thread.

Seattle 12, Twins 3 Box Score Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) Top 5 Plays (via Baseball-Reference) Santiago did not look right from the get-go. Below is a visual on how he fared against the first batter of the game (via Yahoo), the location is obviously an issue, but note the velocity, as well. Hector struggled to eclipse 90 mph early on, though he did appear to loosen up as the game progressed. (Data below from BrooksBaseball.net) Brian Dozier hit his ninth home run of the season on a prototypical Dozier homer. The pitch was left up and he pulled it right down the left field line. The Twins are now 4-4 when Dozier homers (he had a two-homer game), but oddly enough they're 12-2 when Miguel Sano goes deep. (data below from Yahoo) The new guys out in the bullpen had ugly games. Randy Rosario gave up five earned runs in 0.1 IP. His ERA is 30.86. Alex Wimmers managed to get five outs, but he also gave up a pair of runs. Byron Buxton was 2-for-4 with a double and saw 19 pitches. Highlights https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDGRFN0OTqo Postgame With Molitor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIM8NLGZ0-w Today Adalberto Mejia (3.95 ERA) vs. Yovani Gallardo (6.24 ERA) Mejia has been solid in three starts since returning from Rochester, lowering his ERA from 5.79 to 3.95 in the process. Current Twins have hit .359/.450/.516 off Gallardo over a combined 81 PAs. AL Central Standings 1. Twins 29-25 2. Cleveland 29-27 (-1.0) 3. Detroit 28-29 (-2.5) 4. Chicago 25-31 (-5.0) 5. Kansas City 25-32 (-5.5) Click here for the minor league report for Tuesday's games.

Transaction Alert The Red Wings added Ryan Pressly, reinstated Engelb Vielma from the temporary inactive list (paternity leave) and sent Nik Turley back to Chattanooga. Also, Rochester won't be needing to make room for Jason Wheeler, as he has been traded to the Dodgers. https://twitter.com/LaVelleNeal/status/870847189752332289 Award Announcement John Curtiss was named the Southern League Relief Pitcher of the Month for May. In eight games, 9.1 IP, Curtiss had a 0.00 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, gave up just four hits and struck out 12. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 6, Norfolk 2 Box Score David Hurlbut gor off to a rocky start, giving up two runs in the first, but the Wings staff shut out the Tides from there on. The Rochester bats managed to string together a four-run third inning despite not recording an extra-base hit in that frame. Zack Granite led off the game with a triple, drew a walk in that big third inning and added a double in the fifth. He scored three runs on the night. Matt Hague and Tommy Field also had multi-hit games. Despite his early struggles, Hurlbut turned in a quality start. Over six innings he gave up six hits, did not walk a batter and struck out two. Drew Rucinski followed with clean innings in the seventh and eighth before Michael Tonkin pitched a perfect ninth inning. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 3, Birmingham 2 Box Score Felix Jorge continued to roll, as he pitched into the seventh inning for the fourth-consecutive start. He also tied a season high with six strikeouts. Heading into the seventh frame, Jorge had a two-hit shutout in the works. After giving up a solo home run and a single, his night was done. Jake Reed was thrown right into the fire for his 2017 debut, and struggled to find the zone. He walked three-consecutive batters, causing the runner he inherited from Jorge to score, before finally recording the final out of the inning on a strikeout. I’d relay Reed's radar gun readings, but let’s just say the Birmingham gun was unreliable. https://twitter.com/BaseballByTom/status/870826369562931201 With the game tied in the top of the eighth, Edgar Corcino hit a leadoff single and later came around to score on a Dan Gamache double. Corcino was the only Chattanooga batter to record a multi-hit game, bumping his average up to .301 on the year. Nick Gordon hit his 15th double of the season, putting him in a tie for the Southern League lead. Seth Stohs recently provided an update of his prospect rankings which had Gordon at the top spot. John Curtiss pitched a perfect ninth inning, picking up his 26th strikeout (over 18.2 IP) and 10th save of the season. All it took was 10 pitches, eight of which were strikes. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 2, Bradenton 0 Box Score Daniel Kihle’s two-run homer was the difference maker in this pitcher’s duel. Dereck Rodriguez, Williams Ramirez and Alex Muren combined to shut out the Marauders. Rodriguez went six innings, gave up just three hits (all singles) and a walk while striking out six. You’d be hard pressed to find a pitcher in the Twins system who’s had a better year than Rodriguez. He lowered his ERA to 2.66 and his WHIP is at 1.07 for the season. He has nearly five times as many strikeouts (49) as walks (10) and has averaged a hair over six innings per start. Second baseman Alex Perez was 1-for-2, drew the Miracle’s only two walks of the game and scored on the Kihle homer. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 3, Burlington 0 Box Score Domenick Carlini had his best start of the season, limiting the Bees to three hits and two walks over six innings while tallying two strikeouts. Patrick McGuff (0.1 IP), Max Cordy (1.2 IP) and Hector Lujan (1 IP) secured the shutout, giving Carlini his third win. Lujan also picked up his third save. The Kernels failed to record an extra-base hit in this one, but managed to string together some runs thanks in large part to Aaron Whitefield’s speed. The Aussie outfielder led off the third inning with a walk, went first-to-third on a Travis Blankenhorn single, then scored the first run of the game on an Ariel Montesino sac fly. In the fifth inning, Whitefield hit an RBI single, stole second base (his 12th of the season) and scored on a Blankenhorn sac fly. That’s right, he scored from second base on a sac fly. The win put Cedar Rapids up to 32-23 in what is shaping up to be a special first season under rookie manager Tommy Watkins. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher(s) of the Day – Felix Jorge (6.2 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 6 K) & Dereck Rodriguez (6 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 6 K) Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Aaron Whitefield (1-for-2, BB, RBI, 2 R, SB) SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester at Norfolk, 6:05 pm CT, Aaron Slegers (3.81 ERA, 1.20 WHIP) Chattanooga at Birmingham, 6:30 pm CT, TBD Fort Myers at Palm Beach, 4:30 pm CT, David Fischer (3.35 ERA, 1.33 WHIP) Cedar Rapids at Burlington, 6:30 pm CT, Clark Beeker (2.50 ERA, 0.99 WHIP) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Friday's games.

Who Is He? A 6-2, 210-pound lefty out of Jupiter, Fla., Smith made a pretty significant impact for the Cavaliers upon his arrival to campus. Not only did he start every game and lead UVA in hits as a freshman, he also helped lead them to their first ever College World Series Championship. Not too shabby. Last season, his numbers improved across the board, but he’s really blossomed in 2017. So how does he stack up against McKay? Here’s a quick breakdown of their numbers this season ... Smith: .346/.429/.571, 12 HR, 72 RBI, 52 R, 36 BB, 9 K McKay: .363/.481/.705, 17 HR, 52 RBI, 52 R, 42 BB, 33 K Smith doesn’t have the same eye-popping power numbers, but one thing to take special note of is that last number. Pavin Smith has more home runs than strikeouts this season. That’s bananas. Of course, McKay facies himself as something of a pitcher as well. All he did was lead the ACC in strikeouts (124) while posting the fourth-lowest ERA in the conference (2.37). But enough on McKay, there will be plenty more on him here at Twins Daily later in the week. Why The Twins Will Pick Him Because they're scared of the potential bust factor with every other top prospect in this draft. With Smith, there is no having to try to figure our whether he's going to be a pitcher or a hitter. Really, there's very little to be worried about at all, comparatively speaking. The Baseball America staff picked Smith as the best college hitter in the draft. Having shown an incredible prowess for handling the bat, Smith appears not only to be one of the safest bets in the draft, but it could be argued he’s the closest to being major league ready. Now I don’t know if we’re talking about ready to take over for Joe Mauer in 2019 ready … but maybe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TEaLI-XWCM Also, it’s worth noting any concern over Smith transitioning over to wood bats can be relieved by the fact that he hit .318/.394/.444 in the Cap Cod League. John Sickels of Minor League Ball put a 60 grade on Smith’s power, calls him an asset at first base, and notes that he draws comps to John Olerud and Eric Hosmer. That’s not the sexiest profile, but he’s got a slab house floor -- no basement. Another thing that could be working in Smith’s favor that’s it’s possible he’s willing to sign for significantly under slot. Nobody even has him projected to go in the top five (more on that to come), so he's likely flexible. That seems to be an unpopular strategy among Twins fans, but any money saved at the top could be used to sway some more big names in later rounds. Looking from the outside in and following along with the national media coverage, it would seem like there’s a very low percentage chance the Twins are calling Pavin Smith’s name on June 12. But, remember, this is a brand new Twins front office. We have no historical data on this particular group of decision makers. Anything can happen. Why The Twins Will Not Pick Him The lack of projectability/upside hurts his case to be picked at 1:1. The Twins are expected (and rightly so) to be able to find not just a star, but a superstar. It would also seem pretty far-fetched to think the Twins would take Smith over McKay, given his superior performance in the same conference, regardless of whether they think he’ll be a pitcher or a first baseman. And that’s not even taking into account Kyle Wright or any of the great preps in the class. He’s also not what I’d consider to be a high-skill position player. No offense to first basemen, and I’m not trying to belittle the impact they can make defensively, but they’re just much easier to find than starting pitchers, shortstops, center fielders or catchers. Keith Law appears to have Smith the highest in his latest mock, pegging him to go to Oakland with the sixth pick. In Baseball America’s latest mock, they had Smith going seventh to Arizona. Same for Ryan Fagan of The Sporting News. Jim Callis of MLB.com has him going eighth to Philadelphia, as does Jay Jaffe of SI.com. Benjamin Chase of Call to the Pen has him going ninth to Milwaukee. And one last link to share, this one from Twins Daily member Hrbowski, who wrote an excellent and in-depth profile on Smith back in April that is well worth your time. So, if you’re to believe the experts, there appears to be very little chance the Twins take Smith. What do you think? Should the Twins take aim at one of the higher-upside players in the draft? Or take more of a sure thing like Smith and save a little bit of money to use later in the draft in the process?

Transaction Update Adalberto Mejia was called up to the Twins to start Saturday, and the Red Wings activated David Hurlbut from the disabled list to take his spot. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 3, Indianapolis 2 (12 innings) Box Score In the third inning, Indians first basemen Joey Terdoslavich shoved Zack Granite after he was under the impression the Red Wings speedster did … something. Granite was a professional about the whole altercation, but Terdoslavich probably should have been ejected from the game. https://twitter.com/RocRedWings/status/868667882644934658 It’s funny how things can come around to bite you. In the bottom of the 12th inning, Indianapolis was running out of bullpen arms and turned to Terdoslavich on the mound. With the game tied and Granite due up fifth it seemed unlikely the two would face off. But, of course, they did. With the bases loaded and one out, Granite lined Terdoslavich’s pitch for the walk-off winner. Baseball: what a game, huh? https://twitter.com/RocRedWings/status/868672973707911168 Back in the bottom of the ninth, Granite put his speed to good use to help send the game into extra innings. He led of the inning by reaching on a fielding error, then went from first to third on a ground out to the shortstop. I repeat, Zack Granite went from first to third on a ground ball to shortstop. Crazy. To top it all off, he scored the game-tying run on a sacrifice fly by Daniel Palka. Nik Turley’s been up and down between Chattanooga and Rochester a couple times already this year and has also bounced between the rotation and bullpen along the way. He started Saturday night, and picked up another five strikeouts over five innings of two-run ball. The Rochester bullpen had an incredible night. Trevor Hildenberger took over for Turley and pitched 2.2 innings, gave up just one hit and struck out five batters. Buddy Boshers went 1.1 scoreless innings before Drew Rucinski threw three shutout innings to earn the victory. Mitch Garver, who entered the night with his OBP at an even .400, drew four walks. Playing first base, he also made a game-saving scoop to end the top of the 12th inning as the winning run was on its way home from third. This was a wild game which also included a pretty comical ejection and ensuing blowup from Indianapolis manager Andy Barkett. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Montgomery 3, Chattanooga 0 Box Score Former Twin Yohan Pino (11 starts in 2014) made his season debut. It was also his first appearance in the States since he pitched for the Royals in 2015, as the right hander pitched in Korea last season. The 33-year-old struck out the side in order in the first inning, and gave up one run on two hits over three innings pitched. Matt Tracy took over from there, as in took over the whole rest of the game. Tracy gave up a pair of runs over the final six innings, racking up five strikeouts. He gave up three hits and walked three. Third baseman T.J. White (single and a walk) and second baseman Ryan Walker (two walks) were the only Rochester batters to reach safely twice. Edgar Corcino’s double was the Lookouts only extra-base hit. MIRACLE MATTERS Charlotte 4, Fort Myers 2 Box Score After a 17-run barrage Friday night, the Miracle were shut out over the first six innings of this contest. By the time the bats got rolling it was too late. Sean Miller was 2-for-5 and had the only Fort Myers RBI on the night. It was Miller’s fifth multi-hit performance in his last eight games. Randy LeBlanc was saddled with the loss after giving up four runs over six innings. Anthony McIver held the tone Crabs scoreless over the final two innings. Catcher Brian Navarreto had two hits and threw out two base runners. The loss dropped Fort Myers to 25-25 on the season. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 6, Kane County 0 Box Score Sean Poppen continued his great start to the 2017 season by throwing seven shutout innings of three-hit ball while striking out six. He walked just one batter. The Harvard product’s ERA is down to 2.35. Zach Tillery and Hector Lujan handled the final two frames to secure the shutout. Hank Morrison, playing his second game with Cedar Rapids, was 2-for-3 and hit his first professional home run. Travis Blankenhorn also had two hits and drove in three runs. Ariel Montesino was 1-for-2 with a double, two walks, stole a base and scored twice. A loss would have put the Kernels and Cougars in a tie for the Midwest League Western Division lead, so this was a big victory for Tommy Watkins’ guys. Cedar Rapids is 28-21 so far under their rookie manager. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Sean Poppen (7 IP, 0 ER, 6 K) Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Zach Granite (scored the game-tying run and hit a walk-off single) SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester vs. Indianapolis, 12:35 pm CT, David Hurlbut (3.38 ERA, 1.50 WHIP) Chattanooga vs. Montgomery, 5:15 pm CT, Felix Jorge (4.03 ERA, 1.48 WHIP) Fort Myers at Charlotte, 11:35 am CT, David Fischer (3.32 ERA, 1.34 WHIP) Cedar Rapids at Kane County, 6:30 pm CT, Domenick Carlini (5.97 ERA, 1.52 WHIP) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Saturday's games.