Tom Froemming

One of the great things about being a baseball fan is you can always find plenty to be positive about if you’re willing to look hard enough. While 2016 has been a bleak year for the Twins, having 100-plus players in the organization means there are 100-plus opportunities to find some bright spots. It’s no secret that the biggest issue for the Twins has been their pitching. While some of the prospects like Jose Berrios and J.T. Chargois have struggled in their brief time in the major leagues, there are plenty of other pitchers in the system trending in the right direction. If you’re looking for the brightest stars shining in the system, Stephen Gonsalves (1.97 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 9.9 K/9) and Fernando Romero (1.89 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, 9.0 K/9) are having as good of seasons as anyone in the entire minor leagues. But there has been and will be plenty of coverage about those two as they rocket their way up the Twins prospect rankings. Digging a bit deeper, you can find a few less heralded pitchers who have really put things together over the past couple months. Unlike Gonsalves and Romero, these guys aren’t going to be in the running for pitcher of the year awards or sit atop any prospect lists, but what they’re doing shouldn’t be ignored. Here is a list of one pitcher from each of the Twins’ top four affiliates who has turned things up as the minor league season is winding down. Rochester: D.J. Baxendale Baxendale began the season in the Chattanooga Lookouts’ rotation and pitched well enough to be named a midseason Southern League All-Star. He had a 3.44 ERA and displayed excellent control (1.8 BB/9), which has been his calling card throughout his professional career. That performance earned him a promotion, but it wasn’t to the Rochester rotation. Along with a new team, Baxendale shifted to a new role out in the bullpen. After averaging 6.6 K/9 as a starter in Double A, the Arkansas product is now averaging over a strikeout per inning out of the Rochester pen. Over 30 ⅓ innings with the Red Wings, Baxendale has a 1.19 ERA and 34 strikeouts. He’s pitched at least two innings in seven of his 22 appearances. A former 10th-round pick, the 25-year-old Baxendale has never been viewed as much of a prospect, but the way he’s pitched at the highest level of the minor leagues has to have captured the attention of the front office. With a new regime expected to take over, however, it’s anyone’s guess whether Baxendale will remain in relief or go back to starting next season. Chattanooga: Ryan Eades Eades’ totals for the year don’t look like much to get excited about, but since returning to the Lookouts’ rotation, he has been on a nice roll. The former second-round pick was bumped to the bullpen in early July and saw his ERA balloon to 5.13 in the middle of that month. He smoothed things out and managed to get back into the rotation on Aug. 14, partially due to performance but luck also played a big role. While he may not have technically earned his way back into the rotation, he’s certainly pitched like he intends to stay there since. Maybe being sent to the pen was a wakeup call, maybe he learned some things out there, maybe it’s as simple as he has a fresh arm ... whatever it is Eades has looked like a different pitcher. Over four starts, the LSU product has a 2.42 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and four times as many strikeouts (20) than walks (5). His 8.1 K/9 over that period is a nice increase over his career mark of 6.6. Eades hasn’t lived up to his impressive college resume or $1.3 million bonus up to this point, and this could just be him getting hot over a small sample, but I wonder if we are seeing his turning point. Fort Myers: Dereck Rodriguez Rodriguez started the year in Cedar Rapids and got off to a rough start. Coming off a season in which he was named the Appalachian League Pitcher of the Year, Rodriguez looked lost, pitching to a 7.71 ERA through June 2. From there he really turned things around. The Twins took notice and quickly bumped him up to Fort Myers. The 24-year-old has carried that momentum over, and through four starts in the Florida State League has a 2.36 ERA and 0.97 WHIP over 26 ⅔ innings. He isn’t posting as many strikeouts since the promotion (just 5.1 K/9), but he has issued just two walks. That’s not two walks as in per nine rate, that’s two walks as in total. While the FSL is a notorious pitcher’s haven, that kind of control is impressive no matter the setting. Since hitting that low point in early June, Rodriguez has pitched at least six innings in all 13 of his starts. That’s an especially impressive feat considering this is just his second season as a starting pitcher and third overall since being converted from the outfield. Cedar Rapids: Eduardo Del Rosario Much like Rodriguez, Del Rosario’s 2016 got off to a rotten start. His season started in June, but the lanky 21-year-old didn’t really get rolling until the start of July. Here’s a breakdown his numbers by month. June: 6.58 ERA, 1.58 WHIP, 5.2 K/9 July: 2.83 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 9.4 K/9 Aug.: 1.69 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 11.5 K/9 Del Rosario has pitched out of his mind over his last eight starts in particular, tallying a total of 58 Ks against just 14 walks over that stretch of 44 ⅔ innings. He is far and away the most intriguing prospect on this list, but it’s important that Del Rosario keeps logging innings and developing his body before he really shoots his way up the rankings. Regardless, he has definitely established himself as a guy to keep an eye on. Aside from Berrios and Chargois, there has been plenty of frustration over the lack of progress from other highly-touted prospects like Tyler Jay, Kohl Stewart, Nick Burdi and the handful of other relievers the Twins took with high draft picks. But luckily in baseball hope springs eternal. All those guys will get another shot to breakout next year. But in the meantime, Gonsalves and Romero are reason enough to be excited and there are plenty of under the radar guys beyond the four listed above taking big steps forward right before our eyes.

Oh yeah, you're right. Huh, that link is to the AFL official offshoot from MLB.com, but they must not be keeping that updated.

Here's a link to the AFL roster rules. Sounds like the main constraints are a player must have less than one year of MLB service time and teams can only send one player from below Double-A.

Excited to see Gordon on this list. Should be good experience for him to be facing a bunch of Triple-A and Double-A pitchers.

This what the Twins are saying, but take a look at the history of guys who've had TOS. It's not pretty. I hope he can come back, but if I was in the Twins front office there's no way I'd be banking on it.

Santana's age worries me. We've seen some really great pitchers completely break down without much warning. It would be crushing to see another missed opportunity like Josh Willingham in 2012. But can you imagine this team without Ervin? Ick. I guess I'd keep him to start next year, but if things go south again you trade him and Dozier at the deadline and let the new GM start to really put his stamp on the organization.

I think your guy would be Chaim Bloom, Rays assistant GM. He's been working for them in various roles since 2005.

Personally I feel there's a big difference between game situations and practice drills/meetings/one-on-one instruction with coaches. In my mind this is especially true when it comes to things like game calling and managing pitchers' personalities. If it's the Twins' strategy to have catchers split time on the farm, I'd imagine they are in the minority, even when it comes to fringe prospects. Tucker Barnhart was a 10th round pick and he caught over 90 games on three separate occasions in the minors. Judging by Seth's opinion, which I view in high regard, maybe I'm crazy. But I just think it's so strange that if Garver's biggest question was always his defense they wouldn't be having him catch as much as reasonably possible.

I'm sure fans of other teams would react similarly if their squad lost 90 games five times in six years.

Touche

I had considered this, but my thought was if he had lingering or consistent concussion symptoms they would have completely shut him down again, or at least kept him from catching for an extended time. But you are correct, it is certainly possible.

It has already been an interesting year in terms of how the Twins have deployed their players defensively. From Miguel Sano moving all over the place, to Jorge Polanco going from no reps as a shortstop in the minors to the everyday guy there on the big club, there have been some decisions that have been worthy of questioning.Well, the questioning seems to be never-ending during a down season, and I'd like to pile on and add Mitch Garver's usage to the list of head-scratchers in the organization. If the Twins believe Garver can be a starting catcher, they sure have a funny way of showing it. While in Chattanooga, fellow 2013 draftee Stuart Turner held a slight advantage over Garver in terms of reps behind the plate. Since his promotion, Garver holds a slight playing time advantage over John Ryan Murphy, but it's only eight starts vs. seven. Overall, Garver has played 107 games this year but has caught in just 54 of those contests. This is nothing new. In 2014, on his way to being named Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Year, Garver caught 63 of his 120 games. Last year, the split was less extreme at 77 games caught and 127 total games. With just 12 games left in the Red Wings' season, when it's all said and done, Garver will have caught right around 200 games over the past three seasons. Sounds like a decent amount until you compare him to other backstops. A few of the most recent catchers to establish themselves as big league regulars are Philadelphia's Cameron Rupp, Miami's J.T. Realmuto and Cincinnati's Tucker Barnhart. Over their final three full years in the minors, each of them totaled over 280 games caught. Even prized Yankee prospect Gary Sanchez, who has always been more highly regarded for his bat, eclipsed 90 games caught in three separate MiLB seasons. It seems these days you can't have a discussion about catching without also talking about concussions. It's worth noting Garver has been placed on the DL twice for concussions, once in June of '14 and again this May. There is no such thing as a concussion that isn't a serious injury, but in both cases Garver was able to get back in the gear in a matter of weeks, so those injuries can't account for the lost reps behind the plate. Garver has kept his bat in the lineup by playing first base or DH, but his skills at the plate have never been questioned as much as his ability to play behind it (but we'll get to more on that later). With that being the case, you'd think the team would go out of its way to have Garver catching as much as possible. Not buying the playing time being an issue? Okay, then let's go into the "Free Mitch Garver" portion of the discussion. Garver was called up to Rochester on Aug. 9, but what took so long? There's a valid argument to be made that Garver should already be on the big league club. I understand that Turner was drafted ahead of Garver and started his career a level ahead. It's also valid to point out that the team invested resources into Murphy, who is on the 40-man roster, and they want to give him every opportunity to play his way out of his season-long slump. But why has Garver remained so low on the catching totem pole when his performance has been stellar and he's actually older than both Murphy and Turner? At 25-years-old, I'm not sure if Garver can really even be called a prospect anymore. It's time to see what he can do, no matter what that means to Murphy, Turner, or even Kurt Suzuki or Juan Centeno. Garver had a down year in 2015, but followed it up with an impressive showing in the Arizona Fall League. He had posted an above average OPS for the Southern League each month this season, ending his time in Chattanooga with a .257/.334/.417 slash line. Combine that with an excellent start in Rochester (.364/.404/.455) and you have a guy who has trended up for around 12 months now, and the glove work is catching up with his offense. On Sunday's pregame radio broadcast, interim GM Rob Antony went out of his way to compliment the strides Garver has made with the mitt, and the numbers back it up. The University of New Mexico product has also thrown out an impressive 50% of base stealers this season and has received positive reviews on his pitch framing ability. So ... if the bat was never in question and the numbers show he's been a phenomenal defensive catcher this season, then what gives? I suppose it's entirely possible the front offices does not, in fact, view Garver as an everyday catcher. The way he's been used over his career certainly makes you wonder. Click here to view the article

Been working on this for a few weeks and think I finally figured him out ... Kohl Stewart's a witch. Only way to explain it. Seriously though, you'd almost rather see him get shelled every once in awhile so he'd be forced to adjust. But with the results he's getting, why would he change anything?

Thanks for adding that, you're right there isn't any incentive for them to avoid adding him on the 40 man next week. They're going to have to do it this fall anyway.

It has already been an interesting year in terms of how the Twins have deployed their players defensively. From Miguel Sano moving all over the place, to Jorge Polanco going from no reps a shortstop in the minors to the everyday guy there on the big club, there have been some decisions that have been worthy of questioning. Well, the questioning seems to be never ending during a down season, and I'd like to pile on and add Mitch Garver's usage on to the list of head scratchers in the organization. If the Twins believe Garver can be a starting catcher, they sure have a funny way of showing it. While in Chatanooga, fellow 2013 draftee Stuart Turner held a slight advantage over Garver in terms of reps behind the plate. Since his promotion, Garver holds a slight playing time advantage over John Ryan Murphy, but it's only eight starts vs. seven. Overall, Garver has played 107 games this year but has caught in just 54 of those contests. This is nothing new. In 2014, on his way to being named Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Year, Garver caught 63 of his 120 games. Last year, the split was less extreme at 77 games caught and 127 total games. With just 12 games left in the Red Wings' season, when it's all said and done Garver will have caught right around 200 games over the past three seasons. Sounds like a decent amount until you compare him to other backstops. A few of the most recent catchers to establish themselves as big league regulars are Philadelphia's Cameron Rupp, Miami's J.T. Realmuto and Cincinnati's Tucker Barnhart. Over their final three full years in the minors, each of them totaled over 280 games caught. Even prized Yankee prospect Gary Sanchez, who has always been more highly regarded for his bat, eclipsed 90 games caught in three separate MiLB seasons. It seems these days you can't have a discussion about catching without also talking about concussions, especially in concern to the Twins. It's worth noting Garver has been placed on the DL twice for concussions, once in June of '14 and again this May. There is no such thing as a concussion that isn't a serious injury, but in both cases Garver was able to get back in the gear in a matter of weeks, so those injuries can't account for the lost reps behind the plate. Garver has kept his bat in the lineup by playing first base or DH, but his skills at the plate have never been questioned as much as his ability play behind it (but we'll get to more on that later). With that being the case, you'd think the team would go out of its way to have Garver catching as much as possible. Not buying the playing time being an issue? Okay, then let's go into the "Free Mitch Garver" portion of the discussion. Garver was called up to Rochester on Aug. 9, but what took so long? There's a valid argument to be made that Garver should already be on the big league club. I understand that Turner was drafted ahead of Garver and started his career a level ahead. It's also valid to point out that the team invested resources into Murphy, who is on the 40-man roster, and they want to give him every opportunity to play his way out of his season-long slump. But why has Garver remained so low on the catching totem pole when his performance has been stellar and he's actually older than both Murphy and Turner? At 25-years-old, I'm not sure if Garver can really even be called a prospect anymore. It's time to see what he can do, no matter what that means to Murphy, Turner, or even Kurt Suzuki or Juan Centeno. Garver had a down year in 2015, but followed it up with an impressive showing in the Arizona Fall League. He had posted an above average OPS for the Southern League each month this season, ending his time in Chattanooga with a .257/.334/.417 slash line. Combine that with an excellent start in Rochester (.364/.404/.455) and you have a guy who has trended up for around 12 months now, and the glove work is catching up with his offense. On Sunday's pregame radio broadcast, interim GM Rob Antony went out of his way to compliment the strides Garver has made with the mitt, and the numbers back it up. The University of New Mexico product has also thrown out an impressive 50% of base stealers this season and has received positive reviews on his pitch framing ability. So ... if the bat was never in question and the numbers show he's been a phenomenal defensive catcher this season, then what gives? I suppose it's entirely possible the front offices does not, in fact, view Garver as an everyday catcher. The way he's been used over his career certainly makes you wonder.

I can't see the Ramos reunion happening, somebody's going to throw a crazy amount of money at that guy, but you never know. I believe the new GM will want to completely blow things up and start over, but ownership will be hesitant to do so. This may be pretty close to the 2017 Opening Day roster, but if things start off poorly again I'd expect a massive fire sale at the trade deadline.

Vargas being optioned?

Gotta give Stewart credit for his run prevention and pitching successfully as a 21-year-old in his first shot in Double A, but how long can he keep this up? Over his last 10 starts he has 32 Ks and 29 walks over 61 1/3 innings. Somehow he's still managed a 2.49 ERA over that stretch. How does that work?

Not that this has been a factor for other guys, but Palka does only have 38 games at Triple A. He's also striking out 36% of his PAs at Rochester. Still a legit question though since his other numbers are outstanding.

This seems to be the most likely way Escobar makes it back off the bench at this point.

Tough to argue against any of these points, so I won't And for the record, Eduardo is one of my faves. Gotta root for a guy who continually defies the odds and really seems to enjoy himself at the ballpark. But you can't deny that after appearing to turn the corner in terms of his approach at the plate, Escobar has been a big disappointment. Since the team burned through Polanco's option years they have a lot of incentive to try and find him a spot. It's just a terrible time for Eduardo to be performing poorly.

Really? I believe he's expected to start throwing again sometime next month and the club expects him to be ready for the start of Spring Training.

Jeremy did a nice write up on the arbitration eligible guys and estimated Escobar to earn between $3-4 million. That's not crippling by any means, but if the Pohlads are motivated to cut payroll they may not be inclined to commit that to a utility guy/insurance policy. If I remember correctly, Hughes, Perkins and Dozier are all getting salary increases next season. Throw in the other arb raises and things may get tight, even with Suzuki coming off the books and the savings from the Ricky Nolasco trade. Of course, there's the possibility the payroll increases next season, but I'm not gonna hold my breath.