Tom Froemming

At first I was surprised you bumped Gordon to 1, though I'm sure it was a close call, but holy smokes that slugging percentage! I knew he already set a career high in HRs (4), but it's pretty amazing that SLG is 100 points higher than he's ever had. And at 21, he's only going to get bigger and stronger. Exciting stuff.

Thanks for the comments and valuable observations/impressions of Smith. For the record, I would not be too thrilled if the Twins took him and I think there's only about a 1% chance they do. Nothing against him, I'd just like to see them aim higher with the No. 1 overall pick. But just for fun, let's say we know Smith turns into a carbon copy of John Olerud (.295/.398/.465 line, 129 OPS+, 130 wRC+, a 162-game average of 18 HRs). Would you take him?

This is a really difficult and obviously sensitive subject to touch on, and respect your willingness to do so. I feel like I get the overall message you're trying to send, but in the second read through, there is this sentence that I don't agree with ... "... and there's no one there to ask the questions needing to be addressed." The bet reporters absolutely question Molitor about his decision-making process, but if he gives them answers that have nothing of value they really have nothing to report. Maybe I misinterpreted what you were trying to say, but what I got out of this was the beat writers are going to report the facts. They'll report on the bullpen struggling. They will ask Molitor about bullpen decisions and relay his quotes. But they won't provide opinions ... because that's not really their job. But for the columnists, providing opinions is primarily what they do. And they can be more free to be critical and not worry about hurting a relationship because they don't have that day-to-day thing the beat guys have.

This is great stuff, Ted. I covered some beats in college, it's tough. In hindsight, I was way too professional/stuffy about it, but I wanted people to know I was taking it seriously and I wasn't there to waste their time. But I struggled to develop rapport with coaches and players. With so many people provided the same information at the same time, it blows me away that Mike Berardino continuously gets incredibly valuable information before everybody else. Most recently it was about the focus on nutrition in the minor leagues. He's incredible. I definitely agree that the beat guys shouldn't be expected to be critical. But what really bothers me is when they go out of their way to defend the team. That's not necessary. One last thing, I can't tell you when the last time I read a gamer was. If I missed a game and wanna know what happened, I'll either just pull up the box score or watch the highlights on MLB.com. Maybe I'm in the minority, but I think it's borderline depressing the amount of work and stress beat guys have to go through to get their game stories in by deadline. It's gotta be a tough gig, tons of respect for those writers.

When it comes to college first basemen in this year’s draft class, Brendan McKay of Louisville has definitely been the most talked about player, but is he even the most complete hitter in his conference? There's a case to be made that Virginia first baseman Pavin Smith is the best hitter in the entire draft. Smith doesn’t profile as the kind of sky high upside player you usually think of as a No. 1 overall pick, but is that such a bad thing? What Smith may lack in projectability, he makes up for in polish.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. 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? Click here to view the article

I can't do this for every team, but here is the breakdown for Cleveland if you took Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco (who have been their best two guys so far this year) off their team. With Lindor OBP: .320, 18th SLG: .410, 18th Without Lindor OBP: .318, 19th SLG: .395, 24th With Carrasco ERA: 4.02, 10th WHIP: 1.23, 7th Without Carrasco ERA: 4.20, 14th WHIP: 1.31, 14th

Karma’s a … well, let’s just say don’t mess with karma. In a completely unlikely and bizarre twist of fate, Zack Granite delivered a walk-off victory off a player he had gotten into a bit of a dust-up with earlier in the evening. Find out what else happened around the Twins' minor leagues on Saturday.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. 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. Click here to view the article

Stephen Gonsalves made his return last week in a brief start, but Friday night we saw the big southpaw return to his 2016 form. His team won in a wild (literally) fashion, but another Twins affiliate picked up a victory in one of the more lopsided games you’ll ever see. Find out what else happened around the Twins' minor leagues on Friday.INJURY NEWS RED WINGS REPORT Indianapolis 11, Rochester 6 Box Score Nick Tepesch had a dud of a start, giving up nine earned runs over 3.1 innings, but at least there were some offensive highlights. Daniel Palka hit his eighth homer of the year, and was 2-for-5 with three RBI. Engelb Vielma had his best game for the Red Wings thus far, going 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored. Niko Goodrum hit his fourth home run of the season and both Mitch Garver and Matt Hague had two hits. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 3, Montgomery 2 Box Score In his second start of the season, Stephen Gonsalves turned in an impressive effort and the Lookouts won in a strange fashion. Possibly the most encouraging thing out of Gonsalves was the fact that he threw seven innings, 88 pitches. But he also held the Biscuits to two runs on six hits and no walks while tallying seven strikeouts. As excellent as Gonsalves was, this game was tied heading into the bottom of the eighth. Chattanooga scored the game-winning run when Ryan Strausborger struck out. Yes, it’s true. Strausborger went down swinging on a wild pitch that allowed Nick Gordon to score. Gordon had a double, a walk and scored twice. LaMonte Wade was 1-for-2 with a sac fly, an intentional walk and threw out what would have been the go-ahead run at the plate in the seventh inning. Todd Van Steensil pitched a perfect eighth inning to earn his fourth win of the season. Mason Melotakis followed suit with a perfect ninth for his fourth save of the year. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 17, Charlotte 1 Box Score Shortstop Sean Miller led the way with four hits, but four more of his teammates had multi-hit games. The Miracle combined for 16 hits, only three of which were for extra bases (a pair of doubles from Chris Paul and a Tanner English homer). Second basemen Alex Perez filled up the box score, going 2-for-3 with two walks, three RBI and three runs scored. Paul’s big game (he was 3-for-5 with three RBI and two runs) boosted his batting average to an even .350. Dereck Rodriguez was the beneficiary to all the offense, and he picked up his third win of the season after surrendering one run over five innings. He gave up just three hits and did not issue a walk while striking out four. Nick Anderson had three strikeouts over an eventful, but scoreless ninth inning. The 26-year-old has a 0.93 ERA and 0.83 WHIP on the season. KERNELS NUGGETS Kane County 2, Cedar Rapids 1 Box Score Cedar Rapids fell just short of completing a comeback in the ninth. Trailing 2-0 in the final frame and down to their last out, the Kernels strung together three straight hits: a Jaylin Davis double, a Travis Blankenhorn RBI single and another single from Brandon Lopez. But Ben Rortvedt was not able to keep the conga line moving as he grounded out to end the game. It was a night to forget for the young backstop. He was 0-for-4 and had both a passed ball and a throwing error. Ouch. Cedar Rapids got great pitching performances for what was a bullpen game for the team. Max Cordy made his first start of the season, he gave up two unearned runs over three innings and struck out five batters. Cordy was followed by newcomers Ryan Mason and Patrick McGuff, who were both making their Cedar Rapids debuts. Mason a 13th rounder in 2016, threw three shutout innings. McGuff, a 36th rounder last year, held the Cougars scoreless over the final two innings. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Stephen Gonsalves (7 IP, 2 ER, 7 Ks) Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Chris Paul (3-for-5, 2 2Bs, 3 RBI, 2 R) SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester vs. Indianapolis, 6:05 CT, Nik Turley (3.27 ERA, 1.36 WHIP) Chattanooga vs. Montgomery, 6:15 CT, Yohan Pino (has not pitched in 2017) Fort Myers at Charlotte, 5:05 CT, RHP Randy LeBlanc (return to the Miracle) Cedar Rapids at Kane County, 6:30 CT, Sean Poppen (2.68 ERA, 1.13 WHIP) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Friday's games. Click here to view the article

The Twins are in first place, but where would they be sans Miguel Sano and Ervin Santana? Sano has established himself as one of the primary candidates to finish as the runner up to Mike Trout for AL MVP (yep, pretty confident we can already call that one). While Santana's peripherals don't stack up against guys like Chris Sale, he'd still be a contender for AL Cy Young right now.Beyond the San-San connection, however, the Twins haven't had many other real standout performers thus far. When you have two guys producing at levels this high above average (Santana has a 230 ERA+ and Sano has a 176 OPS+), you can afford to have a couple of holes on your roster, but the fact remains those two are carrying the team right now. Here's a look at some of the numbers with and without them. OBP Sano: .417 Team: .334 (7th in MLB) Without Sano: .324 (would be 15th) SLG Sano: .600 Team: .414 (16th in MLB) Without Sano: .393 (would be 25th) ERA Santana: 1.80 Team: 4.17 (13th in MLB) Without Santana: 4.67 (would be 24th) WHIP Santana: 0.83 Team: 1.30 (12th in MLB) Without Santana: 1.40 (would be 24th) It's a little concerning at how important Sano and Santana are to the Twins success right now for a couple reasons. Individual players just can't lift a team to dominance in baseball like in other sports. As great as they've been, Sano and Santana can only have so much influence on the team's success. Sano has accounted for 10.9 percent of the team's plate appearances and Santana 18.2 percent of the innings pitched. Obviously the biggest concerns revolve around those two going into extended slumps, or worse, getting injured. The Twins are 7-3 in games Santana starts (18-15 otherwise). They're 10-1 when Sano hits a home run (15-17 otherwise). Yes, Max Kepler has really blossomed and Jose Berrios has been terrific in his three starts. Brian Dozier has started to heat up and both Robbie Grossman and Hector Santiago have been solid. But if the Twins are to continue to stay in contention, there are going to be a few more players who step up and contribute on a more consistent basis. A lot of people don’t like to hear this, but there’s a good chance Sano and (especially) Santana regress. Who’s going to pick up the slack when that happens? Click here to view the article

Fair point, Rosario has been great (1.65 ERA, 0.80 WHIP). He doesn't have the insane strikeout totals (7.6 K/9), but his status on the 40 man and left-handedness definitely give him an easier path to Target Field than some of the others.

Ben Rortvedt is definitely gonna stick at catcher, is only 19, has Popeye's forearms and Iron Man's hand cannon things from which he can launch baseballs down to second base. I know the hitting numbers are trash, but if anything I personally think he's too low on this list. Than again ... I'm still holding out hope that Brian Navarreto (who has a sub-.600 OPS for the third year in a row) develops some offensive skills, so what do I know.

You can say that again! He hit 98 mph last night and the Twins were confident in his mix to try him as a starter when they first drafted him. His 5.1 BB/9 are a bit of a concern, though I suppose you could put Davis into that territory. He's played 107 games now and has 27 HRs and 140 Ks (31.2 K%). It's worth noting that Walker's K% between E-Town and Cedar Rapids was only 23.8.

The Twins were off, but there was plenty of notable news to share across the minor league sytem from Thursday evening. Tyler Jay made his 2017 debut, Lewis Thorpe looked good again in his second start of the year and Nick Gordon set a new career high in home runs. Find out what else happened around the Twins' minor leagues on Thursday.AWARD UPDATE Jermaine Palacios was named the Twins Minor League Player of the month for April. He hit .393 with a .434 OBP and 17 runs scored for Cedar Rapids in a month where it seemed like every night he was doing something notable. TRANSACTION ALERT RED WINGS REPORT Rochester, Durham POSTPONED Another game called off due to rain for the Red Wings. They’ll make this one up on May 30 as part of a doubleheader in Durham in which Rochester will be the home team for Game 2. This was the ninth postponement for Rochester this season. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 5, Montgomery 2 Box Score Tyler Jay made his 2017 debut, giving up a run on a homer and a pair of walks in the eighth inning. It was his first game action since July 30 of last year. It was also a big night for Nick Gordon, who hit his fourth home run of the season. Why is that significant? It represents a new career high for Gordon, who also walked and scored a run. Ryan Eades did his best Kohl Stewart impression, surrendering just one run over 5.3 innings despite zero strikeouts and three walks. Randy Rosario was the first man out of the pen and recorded four consecutive outs, three of them on Ks. The addition of Jay to the Chattanooga bullpen is a huge deal, but what John Curtiss is doing for the Lookouts has been amazing. The Twins sixth-rounder from 2014 recorded his ninth save of the season, getting all three outs via the strikeout. Over 17.2 innings, he has yet to give up an earned run and he’s now up to 25 Ks. With Nick Burdi and now Jay in that same pen, Curtiss is going to continue to be overshadowed in terms of name recognition/prospect hype, but he has been incredible. Edgar Corcino reached base in all four of his plate appearances, going 3-for-3 with a walk. LaMonte Wade had a RBI double and drew a walk. MIRACLE MATTERS Dunedin 5, Fort Myers 4 (Game 1, 9 innings) Box Score The Miracle bats knocked rehabbing big league starter J.A. Happ around for three runs on seven hits over his three innings, but eventually lost in walk-off fashion. Bradley Strong had a single and an RBI double off Happ, who finished sixth in AL Cy Young voting last season. This game was scheduled to go seven innings, but it remained tied at four and went into “extras.” Can it really be extra innings if it’s a nine-inning game? I suppose. Altogether, the Miracle collected 15 hits. Max Murphy was 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and a walk. Strong, Chris Paul, Nelson Molina, Sean Miller and Alex Perez all had two-hit games for Fort Myers. Brady Anderson held Dunedin to two runs on four hits and a walk over five innings. Sam Clay was on the mound for an eventful sixth inning. Clay gave up a single, two walks, threw a wild pitch and catcher Rafael Valera was credited with two passed balls in his (Clay's) inning of work. Alex Muren threw two scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 0.87 (one earned run over 10.1 innings). Anthony McIver was not able to escape the ninth, giving up a walk-off RBI double to Nash Knight (80-grade name). Zander Wiel struckout in the top of the first and did not take the field in the bottom of the inning. He was also absent from the lineup in Game 2. Dunedin 2, Fort Myers 1 (Game 2, 7 innings) Box Score Lewis Thorpe didn’t have to wait another nearly 1,000 days between starts, and he showed flashes of brilliance yet again for the Miracle. The left-hander made his first start in over two years last Friday, and followed that up with four more innings of one-run ball while striking out six batters. After throwing 49 pitches in his debut, Thorpe reached 66 pitches Thursday night. The Twins are surely going to be taking baby steps with Thorpe’s return, but the early results are encouraging. He’s throwing 93-94 mph and has only walked two batters over eight innings pitched. Unfortunately, Fort Myers got swept in the double dip. Murphy and Paul both had multi-hit games again, and Strong drove in the lone Miracle run of the game. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 9, Clifton 2 Box Score Eduardo Del Rosario was very interesting to watch Thursday night. He had some nasty stuff going, striking out nine batters. He also was issued a warning and penalized a couple of balls for going to his mouth, then straight to the ball. To top it off, he was working in a funky quick pitch I hadn’t seen from him in the past. Del Rosario, who turned 22 this week, went six innings and gave up a pair of runs on a two-run homer. The Kernels also have the early favorite for the next player of the month award winner. Jaylin Davis swatted his eighth home run of May, an opposite-field shot he hit with two strikes. It didn’t even seem like he got much of it, but he muscled it over the fence. He finished 3-for-4 with three RBI. Lewin Diaz also homered, his seventh of the season. Palacios celebrated his Player of the Month award by hitting an RBI single in his first at-bat of the game. Colton Davis, Andrew Vasquez and Logan Lombana each threw a shutout inning out of the bullpen. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Eduardo Del Rosario (6 IP, 9 Ks, 2 ER) Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Jaylin Davis (hit his MWL leading 11th home run and drove in three) FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rocester vs. Indianapolis, 5:35 CT, Nick Tepesch (3.16 ERA, 1.40 WHIP) Chattanooga vs. Montgomery, 6:15 CT, Stephen Gonsalves (4.50 ERA, 0.75 WHIP) Fort Myers at Charlotte, 5:35 CT, Dereck Rodriguez (3.06 ERA, 1.16 WHIP) Cedar Rapids at Kane County, 6:30 CT, Max Cordy (starting a bullpen game) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Thursday's games. Click here to view the article

Yes! Excited to read the rest of these. Great to see Tyler Wells crack the Top 40, he's been fun to watch this season.

He's big, has been very durable and is excelling as a 24-year-old in Triple A. But at the same time, he's only averaging 6.2 K/9, so the stuff is far from overpowering. The Twins didn't think highly enough of him to make room on the 40-man roster, subjecting him to the Rule 5 Draft, so that should tell you something. Still, he looks really good in games. It definitely seems hitters have a more difficult time pitching up his pitches, which makes sense since the ball is coming from different slots and in at different angles than most pitchers they see. Plus, any pitcher with a K:BB ratio of over three is giving himself a good chance of being successful, and Slegers is at 3.22 this year (was 2.26 in 2016). I'm nuts, people keep telling me, but as far as callups go, I think Hildenberger, Busenitz and Baxendale are all head of Burdi among right-handed relievers. Burdi definitely has the highest upside/is the sexiest prospect of that bunch, but I just don't see him being the next guy up. But he has been dominant, and that is very exciting to see. I do agree with Einstein1, I'd like to see him in Rochester like immediately. I think if Tonkin had been claimed by another team there's a good chance Burdi would already be there.

There was a near complete game shutout, a prospect made his triumphant return after a two-year absence and a hitter slugged his very first home run in 264 professional games. Find out what else happened around the Twins' minor leagues on Friday.RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 2, Scranton/Wilkes Barre 1 Box Score Aaron Slegers spun another gem, pitching into the ninth inning for the first time this season. After giving up one run on five hits over 8.1 innings, Slegers’ ERA is down to 3.83 in his first year with the Red Wings. Over seven starts he’s gone six or more innings while giving up one run or fewer in four of them. Slegers only struck out two batters, but it was a particularly impressive performance considering the opponent. Matt Hague scored Daniel Palka on a sac fly in the seventh. ByungHo Park and J.B. Shuck both had doubles. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Biloxi 4, Chattanooga 0 Box Score Nick Burdi continued his impressive 2017 with a 1-2-3 inning in which he consistently hit 99 mph on the radar gun. In 15.2 innings, he’s only given up one run and with one more strikeout tonight is up to an even 20 Ks. The Lookouts could only muster seven baserunners on the evening, but Ryan Strausborger was on three times. The 29-year-old outfielder was 1-for-2 with a pair of walks. Nick Gordon was credited with a throwing error, but it really probably should have gone to first baseman Jonathan Rodriguez as a missed catch. Ryan Eades made his second start of the season and gave up three runs over five innings while striking out five. Randy Rosario gave up an unearned run over two innings. Over 22.1 innings for Chattanooga, Rosario has a 2.01 ERA and 0.90 WHIP. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 7, Bradenton 1 Box Score Lewis Thorpe, making his first start since Aug. 31, 2014 and his first ever appearance in the Florida State League, had an encouraging debut. The Aussie hit 94 mph and struck out three batters over four innings, giving up a run on two hits and a walk to help lead the Miracle to their sixth straight win. As expected, the Twins appear to be playing it safe with the 21-year-old lefty. He threw just 49 pitches, but just having him back on the mound at all is exciting. Thorpe had a 2.96 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and 11.2 K/9 between 2013 and ‘14. It was also a special day for Rafael Valera. In his 264th career game, the native of Venezuela finally hit his first professional home run. Tanner English, in his fifth game since being sent down from Double A, went 2-for-3 with three RBI, scored a run and was hit by a pitch. Chris Paul also reached in three of his plate appearances, tallying a double, a walk and an HBP. Nelson Molina had a pair of hits and drove in two and Max Murphy drew a couple walks and stole his sixth base. Anthony McIver, Alex Muren and Nick Anderson combined to throw five shutout innings out of the bullpen. KERNELS NUGGETS Wisconsin 9, Cedar Rapids 2 Box Score Jermaine Palacios hit his fifth home run of the season and Clark Beeker pitched seven strong innings, but an ugly night from reliever Max Cordy put this one out of reach. Christian Cavaness was the only Kernels to reach safely twice, recording a single and Cedar Rapids’ only walk of the evening. Beeker gave up a pair of homers, but limited the Timber Rattlers to three runs on four hits and two walks while striking out five. A 33rd-round pick from last year’s draft, Beeker now has a 2.76 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and has pitched at least six innings in six of his seven starts. Cordy walked three batters, hit two more and threw a wild pitch. Wisconsin scored six runs while he was on the mound (four earned) and he recorded just one out. Andrew Vasquez came in and struck out the only two batters he faced. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Aaron Slegers (carried a shutout into the ninth inning) Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Rafael Valera (hit a go-ahead homer, the first of his professional career after over 264 games played) SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester at Scranton/WB, 3:05 CT, Nick Tepesch (2.29 ERA, 1.53 WHIP) Chattanooga at Biloxi, 6:35 CT, Stephen Gonsalves (first start of season) Fort Myers vs. Bradenton, 5:05 CT, Dereck Rodriguez (2.80 ERA, 1.09 WHIP) Cedar Rapids at Wisconsin, 6:35 CT, Eduardo Del Rosario (5.29 ERA, 1.48 WHIP) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Friday's games. Click here to view the article

I'm sure you're right. It's better to keep Gimenez and Adrianza in the org, and it's not going to hurt any of the alternatives to spend some more time down on the farm. But, it's pretty outstanding to look down and see every hitter on the 40 man currently in the minors is making something of a case for a callup (Garver, Murphy, Vielma, Palka and Granite). I don't know, Murphy only played 26 games with the Twins last year. It was bad, real bad, but I wouldn't completely give up on him just yet. Thank you for adding that. Seems there would be very little reason for the Twins not to want Stuart back basically for free. But who knows, maybe we could poach an intriguing arm from Cincy in a trade if they decide to send him down. It's an interesting situation to keep an eye on.

The Twins new catching duo has helped elevate the pitching staff to respectability, but is it time to break up the backstop tandem of Jason Castro and Chris Gimenez? The veteran pair has drawn rave reviews for their leadership and ability to manage a pitching staff, but both are struggling to provide much offensive value.Castro has had some nice stretches, but overall his batting line heading into Thursday was .202/.304/.360. That should come as no surprise, however, as that’s nearly identical production to his 2016 campaign. Castro is who he is, the Twins knew exactly what they were getting into. He has his flaws, but he’ll certainly be the primary catcher for the foreseeable future. Being a career .257/.355/.391 hitter against left-handers, Gimenez looked like a logical platoon mate for Castro. His defensive flexibility was also a plus when the Twins opened the year with a three-man bench, and his ability to pitch in an emergency doesn’t hurt his cause, either. After going 1-for-4 Thursday afternoon, however, the 34-year-old has a .195/.327/.268 line for the season. Altogether, Twins catchers ranked 20th in wRC+ (80) and 23rd in OPS (.646) heading into Thursday’s games. By all accounts there are a lot of intangibles Gimenez has added to the Twins. It’s also worth noting that the team is 5-6 in games he’s started behind the plate, so it’s not like he is crippling the team. But considering how the Twins Triple-A catchers are performing, you have to wonder if maybe there is a better option to back up Castro. Rochester One-Two Punch Down in Rochester, Mitch Garver and John Ryan Murphy have split playing time right down the middle at 18 games each. Both are off to strong starts, as they rank as the top two hitters in OPS among current players on the Red Wings’ roster. Garver, who is actually a few months older than Murphy, has been particularly impressive, hitting .255/.397/.473. If he had enough plate appearances to qualify, his .870 OPS would rank just outside the top 10 in the International League. Murphy has looked much better than last season, posting a .232/.306/.446 (.780 OPS) line. His biggest advantage over Garver comes in terms of experience, having 141 big league games under his belt. Murphy also has some better defensive numbers than Garver so far, besting him in caught stealing percentage (42 to 29) and passed balls (3 to 5), though Murphy has committed two errors and Garver zero. While neither is considered a liability in terms of pitch framing, they also don’t have reputations of being elite in that discipline either. Three Catchers? If the Twins were to replace Gimenez, I would expect Murphy would be the guy who got the call. It’s easy to forget he hit .267/.311/.374 over 284 plate appearances with the Yankees prior to falling on his face for the Twins last year. The team is trying to stay competitive, and Murphy is probably better suited to step in and contribute right away considering his familiarity with the league and the MLB pitching staff. But, if the Twins were looking to add a third catcher, I’d imagine Garver would be the guy. If the Twins were looking to add a right-handed bat to the bench, you’d be hard pressed to find a better option than Garver down on the farm right now. Sure, it’s great to see ByungHo Park back, but he’s still not on the 40-man roster and has hit just .179/.179/.321 in seven games since returning from injury. As much as I like the defensive upside of Ehire Adrianza, it doesn’t make a ton of sense to have him and Eduardo Escobar on the same bench. Swapping Garver for Adrianza would give the bench some more offensive firepower and provide Paul Molitor with flexibility. Adrianza would likely get claimed on waivers, but the Twins do have Engelb Vielma, who is another similar player, on the 40-man roster. I know a lot of people hate the idea of having three catchers, but Castro is so vulnerable against lefties (career .192/.254/.289 hitter off southpaws) that having the ability to pinch hit for him late in games could be a big asset. You’re never going to see Paul Molitor do that when he’s only got two catchers on the roster because the very last thing he ever wants to do is put his emergency catcher, Escobar, behind the dish. Forgotten Man It’s easy to forget the Twins could also be getting Stuart Turner back at any moment. The former third-round pick of the Twins was taken by the Reds in the Rule 5 draft this year, but he’s only gotten 27 plate appearances in Cincinnati's 39 games this season. Turner was basically brought in to be insurance, but Devin Mesoraco is healthy and has caught back-to-back games a few times this month. Tucker Barnhart has filled in admirably as the Red’s primary catcher in Mesoraco’s absence the past two seasons. For now, the Reds are sticking with three catchers, but Turner’s days there could be numbered. The Reds had to give the Twins $50k to acquire Turner, and if they were to remove him from their 25-man roster the Twins could get him back for $25k. Maybe the Twins would prefer to work out a trade and let the Reds keep Turner, who knows, but I suspect at some point they will have the opportunity to re-acquire him if they so desire. Bottom Line The Twins are off to a better start than expected and there seems to be a positive vibe in the clubhouse. Certainly much more so than last year. Gimenez has contributed to both those factors, so it’s probably premature to be talking about jettisoning him from the roster. But, if the team decides to go another direction, they have no shortage of options to back up Castro. Click here to view the article