Tom Froemming

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

Agreed, and it's nice to see him figuring out how to navigate through some trouble. He was so dominant last year he didn't really have to do that often. It looks like he's facing older hitters almost 90 percent of the time, so Double A should be plenty enough of a challenge for him this year. There are a lot of the top bullpen arms who are coming off some sort of injury and haven't really been used in back-to-back games often, if at all. And I know Pressly has struggled so far, but it's important to put into context that if you put him back in the minors I'm sure he'd put up numbers just as impressive as anybody. People seem a little fixated on Burdi. I get it, he's got triple-digit heat, but in my eyes there are a few other guys ahead of him in the pecking order right now. Burdi only threw three innings last season, and over a grand total of 60.1 innings in Double A he's averaged 5.5 BB/9. He needs to have an extended stretch where he's healthy and throwing strikes. We may be witnessing the start of that stretch (he's down to 2.6 BB/9 so far in 2017), but he has not pitched back-to-back days yet. I'm excited about Burdi, but I really don't expect him up with the Twins until maybe September, if at all this year.

Jose Berrios made his triumphant return to the majors, turning in a performance that got Twins fans’ hearts all aflutter. It was also a banner day in the minor leagues highlighted by a near no hitter, two dramatic comebacks and numerous noteworthy performances. Oh, and everybody won. Find out what else happened around the Twins' minor leagues on Saturday.Transactions Michael Tonkin cleared waivers and was assigned to Rochester. Things didn’t go the way he had hoped with the Twins, but he’ll surely be an asset for the Red Wings. Over 118.2 innings in Triple A, he has a 2.65 ERA, 1.045 WHIP, 9.7 K/9 and 5.12 K/BB ratio. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 3, Pawtucket 1 Box Score Aaron Slegers completed six no-hit innings for the second time this season, as he and battery mate Mitch Garver led the Wings to victory. Slegers went 7.1 innings, surrendering one run on three hits and a walk while striking out five. Along with helping guide Slegers through a masterful performance, Garver went 3-for-4 and slugged his second homer of the year. The ninth-rounder from 2013 boosted his batting line to .269/.415/.500. Busenitz, acquired in the same deal that brought Hector Santiago to the Twins, now has a 2.84 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 16 strikeouts over 12.2 innings this season. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 9, Birmingham 6 Box Score With the Lookouts trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh, LaMonte Wade drew a leadoff walk that sparked a three-run rally. Unfortunately, the Chattanooga bullpen blew that lead, meaning Wade’s services were needed once again in the eighth. Wade lined a leadoff single, stole second base and scored. The Looks batted around, and just for good measure Wade drew yet another walk later in the inning. His OBP is up to .465. Of course, the only reason Wade batted three times in two innings was his Chattanooga teammates were beating up the Barons as well. Edgar Corcino started the game on the bench and still managed to drive in four runs on a pair of hits. Nick Gordon had another excellent night out of the leadoff spot, going 2-for-4 with a walk and two RBI. First baseman Jonathan Rodriguez was 3-for-5 and scored twice. Fernando Romero had a rough first couple of appearances for Chattanooga, but Saturday he pitched into the sixth inning for the fifth-straight start. The 22-year-old gave up two runs in the first inning, but he surrendered just one more unearned run from there. He struck out four over 5.2 innings. The Twins have more relief prospects than you can shake a stick at, which is pretty much all opposing hitters could do in the box against Luke Bard. The No. 42 overall pick of the 2012 draft, Bard struck out the first five batters he faced, gave up a double, then got the next batter on strikes for his sixth K of the evening. Bard has now struck out 31 batters in 18.2 innings. That’s preposterous. Just silly what he’s doing to Southern League hitters right now. Unfortunately, Mason Melotakis allowed that inherited runner of Bard’s to score. Todd Van Steensel tallied two strikeouts of his own in the ninth inning, giving him 20 Ks in 15.1 innings on the season. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 7, Charlotte 6 Box Score Down 6-1 heading into the top of the eighth, it seemed Fort Myers needed, well ... a miracle to pull out a victory Saturday night. Turned out all they needed was some rain. With the rain falling the Miracle managed to score four runs in the eighth before adding the game-tying and go-ahead runs in the top of the ninth. Chris Paul was right in the thick of things each of those epic final two innings. A sixth-round pick in 2015, Paul delivered a single to load the bases in the eighth and later came around to score. He followed that up by driving in the game-winning run on a double in the ninth. After a three-hit night, Paul’s average is up to .317. The rain didn’t seem to faze Sam Clay, who held Charlotte scoreless over the final two innings to earn his fourth win out of the bullpen. It was Clay’s 10th consecutive scoreless appearance, a streak that stretches 19.2 innings. Shane Kennedy went 2-for-4 with a triple, a walk and both scored and drove in a pair of runs. Catcher Kevin Garcia also had two RBI, Max Murphy scored twice and stole a base and Zander Wiel went 2-for-5 with his fourth triple of the season. Dereck Rodriguez extended his streak of completing six or more innings to six straight starts. He gave up four runs on seven hits and a walk while striking out four. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 7, Bowling Green 5 Box Score There was no comeback needed for the Kernels, as they racked up five first-inning runs and piled on another pair of runs in the second. Lewin Diaz was 3-for-5 with his fourth home run, two RBI and two runs scored. Christian Cavaness went 2-for-4 and slugged his second homer, a two-run shot. Clark Beeker, who was cruising through six innings, picked up his fifth win but his performance was somewhat tainted by giving up three runs in the seventh. Colton Davis, Andrew Vasquez and Hector Lujan combined to pitch three scoreless innings in relief. Vasquez, a lefty, struck out four batters, giving him 23 K's in 14.2 innings on the year. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Aaron Slegers (had a no-hitter through 6.1 innings) Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Chris Paul (delivered game-winning hit in crazy Miracle comeback win) SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester at Pawtucket, 12:35 CT, Kyle Gibson (4.50 ERA, 1.17 WHIP) Chattanooga vs. Birmingham, 1:15 CT, Paul Clemens (4.06 ERA, 1.48 WHIP) Fort Myers OFF Cedar Rapids OFF Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Saturday's games. Click here to view the article

I'm especially high on Hildy, with his delivery I think he could be a dominant right-handed specialist. Last season, RHers hit .168/.192/.240 off him. They have an OPS of .655 off him so far this year, but it's mainly that high because he's already given up a HR. In 25 PAs vs. RHB he has nine strikeouts (36 K%). That's a fair point, I did see quite a few Boston jerseys at the park on Friday. Even saw a Jason Bay and a Rusney Castillo. That's how they're using Buddy Boshers, and basically what they did with Rucinski too. But yeah, the Belisles and Breslows get in the way of expanding that philosophy, and I'd much rather see a Hildenberger or Melotakis used in that capacity.

There has been a reshuffling of the Twins roster, but the pitching staff still isn’t getting any younger. Per Baseball-Reference, the Twins have trotted out the fourth-oldest pitching staff in baseball with a weighted average age of 30.2. The 2016 Twins pitching staff had an average age right at league average, which was 28.3. So after 103 losses, they got older and are continuing to do so. Justin Haley is the youngest pitcher on the active roster, he turns 26 in a little over a month. Taylor Rogers and Tyler Duffey are the only other Twins hurlers currently on the 25-man roster who were born in the 1990s.The Rockies, who have the second-best record in the NL, have the youngest pitching staff in baseball. They have three pitchers younger than Haley ... in their rotation. Among the numerous roster moves made the past few weeks included the additions of Nick Tepesch (28) and Drew Rucinski (28) to the roster. Wednesday evening, the team optioned Rucinski back to Triple A to make room for 29-year-old Adam Wilk. As the 250-plus comments (and counting) on Seth’s writeup of the Wilk addition suggest, it was a bit of a controversial and puzzling move. It sounds like Wilk is likely to pitch out of the pen, alleviating some of the Jose Berrios outrage, but having a 29-year-old with little or no upside in the bullpen doesn’t make much sense either, especially considering the other options. ***UPDATE*** Berrios is starting Saturday, woooooooooo!!! Obviously, the 22-year-old Berrios and 23-year-old Adalbert Mejia would represent a youth movement in the rotation, but there are a number of bullpen guys the Twins have pitching well in the minors who are already in their mid-20s. Relievers Trevor Hildenberger, D.J. Baxendale, Alan Busenitz and Luke Bard are all 26-years-old. Mason Melotakis is 25 and both John Curtiss and Nick Burdi are 24. I’m not saying all seven of those guys are ready for The Show, but I gotta believe at least one of them deserves a look in a low-leverage role over a guy like Wilk. But hey, what do I know? The Twins entered the evening with a 16-14 record, which is pretty remarkable. As I noted a while back, the last 24 teams who lost 100 averaged another 95 losses the next year. Only two of those teams bounced back with a winning record. And there doesn’t seem to be any fan apathy either, as the paid attendance eclipsed 90,000 for last weekend’s series against the Red Sox. I guess some people (me) will always have an ax to grind. Rosario Off to a Rosie Start On the flip side, the Twins have the second-youngest hitters by average age this season at 27.1. One of the young hitters who doesn't seem to be getting much attention is Eddie Rosario. The 25-year-old entered this year with a strikeout rate of 25.2 percent, but he has managed to cut that to 17.7 so far this year. Download attachment: RosarioGraph.png Rosario is still swinging at as many balls as ever, he's just hitting them more often. His contact rate on balls out of the zone is up from 65.5 percent in 2016 to 70.6 so far this season. Download attachment: RosarioOContact.png Rosario also leads all of baseball in making medium contact, with a rate of 62.9 percent. While that's not a particularly great accomplishment, it does correlate to a nice drop in his frequency of making bad contact. His soft contact rate is 11.2 percent, which puts him is inside the top 20 among 184 qualified hitters. Download attachment: RosarioSoftContact.png Rosario is also among the top 20 percent of hitters in hitting the ball the other way. His rate of going to the opposite field has increased from 24.1 percent in 2016 to 29.2 this year. Download attachment: RosarioOppo.png ADDITIONAL NOTES -I typically like to include some notes about the expected pitching matchups over the weekend, but the Twins have yet to officially announce who will be starting Saturday or Sunday. But we do know the bats will dodge a bullet in Cleveland, facing Josh Tomlin, Mike Clevinger and Trevor Bauer. No disrespect to those guys, but it’s nice to miss Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar. -The Twins staff is still dead last in swinging-strike rate at 8.2%. They also have the third-worst K/9 (6.98) and K% (17.9). They've also allowed highest contact percent at 82.5, which is two points higher than the next team. -Miguel Sano has the lowest soft contact rate at 1.7 percent. That's 5.5 percent better than any other qualified hitter. -Only the Reds have a higher rating in Defensive Runs Above Average than the Twins. The Twins lead the league in outfield arm runs. Yes, that is a real stat (ARM on Fangraphs). But curiously, the Twins have been the second-worst team at GIDP rate. This is calculated by dividing double plays turned by the number of PAs against with a runner on first and less than two outs. -Daniel Palka (.240/.301/.423) has cooled off some after a hot start, but he has been doing a great job in cutting down on the Ks. After striking out in 38.6 percent of his at-bats for Rochester in 2016, he’s cut that rate to 23.9 so far this season. -LaMonte Wade (.937) and Nick Gordon (.880) both rank in the top 10 in OPS among Southern League hitters. Click here to view the article

Great to see Daniel Palka get two hits off Aaron Nola. Also encouraging to see he's dropped his strikeout rate from 38.6% with ROC in '16 to 23.9% so far this year.

Great stuff, thanks for this.

Dudes like Adam Wilk are available all the time. This makes no sense to me. Pretty sure whatever Jose Berrios is working on in Triple A he can continue to work on in the majors.