Tom Froemming

Perez vs. lefties 2016-19 .213/.260/.325 30.9 K%, 3.9 BB% That could be a helpful piece in a bullpen that only has one lefty at the moment.

I know Twins fans haven't come away impressed with his prior performances with the big club, but he's been doing his thing down on the farm. Here's where he ranks among the 86 Triple-A pitchers with at least 50 innings this year: ERA: 17th WHIP: 13th K%: 8th

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How I would rank them at this exact moment* Rogers May Harper Duffey Parker Morin Magill Littell *This is the type of thing that should be ever-changing. Guys get hot, guys go cold and you have to be willing to react to that. That doesn't mean to the extremes of DFA a guy who's cold and promote a guy who's hot to closer, but you do have to let things evolve quickly if the situation calls for it. My main concern with May is the walks. He's only walked one of the last 15 men he's faced, so I'm going to slide him up. If Duffey's going to continue to get chances ... actually give him chances. See what's there. If you just know he's not a guy you're ever going to trust, might as well get somebody else up here or give a guy like Littell an extended look as opposed to all these cameo appearances they've been doing.

I will put myself in the precarious position of Blake Parker defender. It's not a glamorous job, but somebody's gotta do it! Before I start, I just want to say that in no way am I trying to advocate for him to continue pitching in high-leverage situations. But, I am going to back down from an earlier take I had saying that he needs a 10-day stay on the IL. Why? I'm encouraged that we're seeing the splitter more. His usage of that pitch has gone up from 20.3% and 20.7% in April and May to 33.6% in June. If he's going to be productive, he needs that pitch. I was also happy to see his four seamer averaged 92.6 mph last night, nearly a full mph above where it's been sitting on the season. He should slide down in the pecking order, and each outing should continue to be monitored very closely, but I actually think last night was a good step forward. The Bogaerts RBI double came on a pitch that was a few inches off the plate, exactly where Castro wanted it. I think that was more a good piece of hitting than a bad pitch. We've seen Parker pitch much worse and not give up any runs. Hmm ... somehow I feel like that may not make people feel any better, ha!

The Cardinals are third in their division and eighth in the NL. They're 13-17 over their last 30 games, which is 13th in the NL. No, they're not likely to be selling off pieces right this minute, but if they can't break out of this funk, I'm sure they'll start to entertain the idea of selling off pieces. Gant is a guy to keep on the radar over the coming weeks.

On Schoop being thrown out, it looked bad, but I thought that was more of a good play by Whit Merrifield than a foolish decision by Schoop. Here's a link to the video, I was impressed with how quickly Merrifield transferred the ball over and got rid of it.

It's crazy. I started to outline an article on that topic of most underrated Twin, but I ended up with about 75% of the roster in consideration. A lot of these guys are among the best players in baseball this year, and most of them could probably stroll around MPLS and go unrecognized, let alone on the bigger, national scale. People are most definitely taking notice of the Twins' success, but to your point, there's no superstar carrying the team by himself. It's a team effort. One of the guys the team marketed the most (La Tortuga) is in Triple A right now.

Here that is for anybody who missed it:

With this lineup, you can never count out the Twins. They fell behind 4-1 tonight, but rallied back to tie the game in the fifth and took the lead in the sixth. Working with just a one-run lead over the final three innings, the bullpen not only got the job done, but even managed to pitch around a couple of errors.Box Score Odorizzi: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 71.7% strikes (66 of 92 pitches) Bullpen: 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K Home Runs: Kepler (17), Gonzalez (9) Multi-Hit Games: Gonzalez (2-for-4, HR) WPA of +0.1: Gonzalez .205, Rogers .170, Cron .120, Polanco .102 WPA of -0.1: Odorizzi -.111, Schoop -.122, Cruz -.126 Download attachment: Win615.png (chart via FanGraphs) No Lead is Safe The Twins fell behind 4-1 heading into the bottom of the fifth. They were within a run of the Royals by the time an out was recorded that inning. Mitch Garver singled and Marwin Gonzalez socked a two-run bomba. Later that inning, Jorge Polanco provided a game-tying RBI double with two outs. The comeback was complete when C.J. Cron hit an RBI double in the bottom of the sixth inning. Bullpen Secures Victory Sometimes that “no lead is safe” statement applies to the Twins’ bullpen, but not tonight. After the bats stormed back, the bullpen managed to protect that lead. Trevor May pitched around an error to record a scoreless seventh inning. There was another error committed in the eighth, but Blake Parker and Ryne Harper combined to keep Kansas City off the board that inning. Taylor Rogers gave up a one-out single and issued a two-out walk in the ninth, but worked around them to earn his eighth save. Odorizzi is Human Jake Odorizzi gave up as many earned runs tonight, four, as he had in those previous eight outings. He looked a little more human tonight, though he did still provide the Twins with six innings. Odorizzi gave up seven hits, walked two batters and struck out seven. He gave up multiple home runs for the second time this season, but to his credit, never flew completely off the rails. I’ve Got a Riddle for You Who’s the most underrated Twin? I started brainstorming an article around this question, but it was too difficult. There are so many guys on this 2019 teams that are doing so well, but still have such low profiles across the landscape of baseball. Now of course, if you’re here at Twins Daily reading a game recap, you’re obviously more invested than the average sports fan. But how many people actually realize that, say, Max Kepler is doing what he’s doing? Anyway, Kepler hit his 17th home run tonight. He entered this game with a 134 OPS+ so far. He’s never even cracked 100 before (which is league average). People around town are definitely starting to take notice of what this team is doing collectively, which is tremendous, but it’s pretty incredible what so many of these guys are doing on an individual basis, as well. No.7 Retired Before tonight’s game, the Twins put together a ceremony that was pretty neat. Joe Mauer’s No. 7 was retired. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen615.png And One More Thing ... I try really hard to avoid ump talk, but I’m sorry, we have to go there tonight. It’s a tough job, I get that, and both teams are stuck with the same umpire, so things typically even out. But, my word, is Angel Hernandez terrible. If anybody needs a retirement party, it’s that guy. Here’s a look at the called strikes on Twins hittters: Download attachment: KCPitcherCalledStriks.png And below are the called strikes on Royals hitters: Download attachment: MINPitcherCalledStrikes.png The guy basically made a joke of this game. How can MLB allow this to continue to happen? Click here to view the article

Just updated the article with a Tweet from Jeff Johnson of the Cedar Rapids Gazette. Does not sound significant.

You shoulda said something! I think I've been sitting on it for about that long

Travis Blankenhorn ended Pensacola’s night on a high note, hitting a walk-off single in the 11th inning. Also, Josh Winder pitched well, Willians Astudillo had four more hits and Brent Rooker provided a game-winning base knock. Come check out what else happened across the system Friday night.TRANSACTIONS -Twins recall RHP Zack Littell from Rochester. -RHP Fernando Romero optioned to Rochester. -RHP Jacob Blank retired. -Several more drafted players signed. Again, you can keep up with them on the Twins Daily Draft Signing Tracker article. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 7, Charlotte 6 Box Score Kohl Stewart: 5.1 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 66.3% strikes (65 of 98 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: Willians Astudillo (4-for-5), Luis Arraez (3-for-5, 2B), Jake Cave (2-for-3, BB), Wilin Rosario (2-for-5, 2B) These two teams traded blows, with the lead changing hands four times in the first six innings. Charlotte knotted it up in the eighth, but a Brent Rooker RBI single to score Willians Astudillo in the bottom of that inning was the difference maker. Kohl Stewart surrendered five runs in his 5 1/3 innings, but Gabiriel Moya did a great job stabilizing this game. He provided 1 2/3 perfect innings, striking out three batters in the process. Cody Stashak was credited with both a blown save and the win. He gave up a run in the eighth, but struck out a pair of batters in a scoreless ninth to protect the one-run lead. Astudillo had four singles in this game, and now has a 1.553 OPS since being sent down to Rochester. Jake Cave had another two-hit night, and has a 1.174 OPS so far in June. Luis Arraez had three hits, including a double, lifting his batting average up to .351 in his time with the Red Wings. BLUE WAHOO BITES Pensacola 5, Tennessee 4 (11 innings) Box Score Charlie Barnes: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 60.9% strikes (56 of 92 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: Travis Blankenhorn (2-for-6, 2B) Tennessee jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning and held that advantage until the bottom of the sixth. A Travis Blankenhorn leadoff double sparked a two-run rally in the bottom of the sixth. The Blue Wahoos still trailed heading into the bottom of the ninth. Michael Davis led off the inning with a six-pitch walk, was bunted over to second base by Jimmy Kerrigan and scored the game-tying run on a Taylor Grzelakowski single. Tyler Palm pitched a scoreless 10th inning, but gave up the go-ahead run in the 11th. The Pensacola bats had one more comeback in them. Kerrigan hit a game-tying RBI single and scored the winning run on a Blankenhorn walk-off single. Clinton committed four errors in this game. Their poor starter, George Soriano, pitched a complete game and still got the loss despite giving up zero earned runs. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Josh Winder, Cedar Rapids Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Travis Blankenhorn, Pensacola TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed 5. Wander Javier (CR): 1-for-2, R, RBI, K 6. Brent Rooker (ROC): 1-for-3, 2 RBI, K 11. Nick Gordon (ROC): 1-for-4, BB, R 14. Ben Rortvedt (PNS): 1-for-4, BB, R, RBI, 3 K 16. Gilberto Celestino (CR): 0-for-4, K 18. LaMonte Wade (ROC): 0-for-3, BB SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester vs. Charlotte, 6:05 pm CT (Chase De Jong) Pensacola vs. Tennessee, 6:05 pm CT (Jorge Alcala) Fort Myers OFF - FSL All-Star Game, 6:05 pm CT Cedar Rapids vs. Clinton, 6:35 pm CT (Andrew Cabezas) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games. Click here to view the article

Now that Craig Kimbrel and Dallas Keuchel have finally signed, the Twins will have to trade away prospects if they want to improve the pitching staff. It’s going to be OK, because prospect hoarding isn’t really allowed anyway. If the Twins don’t thin out the herd a bit, they may lose valuable pieces and get nothing in return.Kimbrel is a Cub, Keuchel is a Brave and so now the Twins are going to have to spend prospect capital to boost their pitching instead of “just” money. As things currently stand, the Twins appear to have several difficult decisions on the horizon this offseason anyway, so dealing a few prospects for bullpen help may actually help clear up space. A big crop of Twins prospects will be eligible for the Rule 5 Draft for the first time this winter. That means the team will either have to add them to the 40-man roster or risk potentially losing them to another organization. For more on the Rule 5 Draft, check out Jeremy’s article on the subject from last month. Jeremy also maintains an amazing Twins Roster and Payroll spreadsheet that’s available on the top navbar at the desktop version of the site (click on Roster & Payroll) or you can just access it here. Rule 5 Eligibles Here’s a list of some of the players who will be eligible for the Rule 5 Draft for the first time this winter: Travis Blankenhorn Wander Javier Luke Raley Jorge Alcala Edwar Colina Jhoan Duran Brusdar Graterol Griffin Jax That group of players joins another few guys having impressive seasons who were already Rule 5 Draft eligible in Lewin Diaz, Jaylin Davis and Zander Wiel. Not all of those players would end up being selected, but why risk losing them for nothing when you can turn them into trade bait? Of course, the other option would be to try and deal some of the other young players currently on the 40-man roster to avoid that logjam. Guys like Luis Arraez, Nick Gordon, Lewis Thorpe, LaMonte Wade or even Jake Cave. But Wait, Isn’t the System Having a Down Year? It’s true that there are a lot of guys on the shelf right now, and some who are active have not been putting up great numbers. But, what Royce Lewis does in the first few months of 2019 in Fort Myers probably doesn’t have a huge impact on who he ends up being in, say 2022. The same is likely with Brusdar Graterol and his shoulder impingement Likewise, Alex Kirilloff missing some time this year doesn’t really cloud his future outlook too much. I mean, the guy already missed a year due to Tommy John and still established himself as among the better hitters in the minor leagues last year. Speaking of Tommy John surgery, that's what's going to cost Akil Baddoo the rest of his 2019 season. And while there have been blips, there have been other guys who’ve surged. Diaz, Blankenhorn and Davis are having tremendous seasons. Jordan Balazovic has really exploded, Gordon appears to be having a bounce back and Ben Rortvedt is another riser. Misael Urbina is a player you can expect to hear a lot about in the coming years. Trevor Larnach, Ryan Jeffers and Cole Sands from last year’s draft continue to look good. Speaking of which, the Twins just added a bunch of new talent via the 2019 Draft. Click here for an update for who has signed. Where will those new draftees fit as far as the rankings? You'll find out soon, as Twins Daily will be sharing our 2019 Midseason Twins Prospect List in the coming weeks. The farm system is always going to need to be an area of focus for the Twins, but if there was ever a time to part with some prospects to improve the big club, now’s the time. 40-Man Roster Spots Opening Up The Twins do have several players currently set to become free agents at the end of the season. That group is highlighted by Jake Odorizzi, Jason Castro, Michael Pineda, Kyle Gibson and Jonathan Schoop. There also always seems to be some fat that can be trimmed from the 40-man roster. But, I suspect the Twins will be more interested in free agent additions to replace those departures rather than just protecting prospects. When the competitive window opens, priorities have to change at least a little bit. No, I’m not saying I expect the Twins to be active at the top of the market, but it is pretty easy to envision Derek Favley and Co. setting out to add another solid crop of veterans in the middle tier, much like they did this past offseason. Rocco Baldelli seems to be establishing a very player-friendly atmosphere. That, combined with the team’s success, should make Minnesota an attractive destination for free agents. Recommended further reading: When the Twins Go Buying ... Who Are They Selling? Click here to view the article

Right!? I don't recall that being such a weapon for him in the past, though it could be he just never had that working the times I've caught him on MiLB.tv. Maybe the different arm angle is helping that pitch? All I know is if he's trying to figure out how to drop down and throw a good change, it's awfully handy that he has Trevor Hildenberger around to bounce ideas off of.

That's just what I'm gonna rename my entire YouTube channel

The Twins have been churning through relievers, but Jake Reed is still waiting for his opportunity. At least he's making good use of his time. Reed has been tinkering with his mechanics, and has been on a nice roll over the past month down in Rochester.I know, I know, enough minor league band-aids already, right? Well, until the Twins make some moves to acquire arms, it appears they'll continue to audition in-house candidates in the bullpen. Over the past two weeks, we've seen Zack Littell, Ryan Eades and now Fernando Romero all make cameo appearances with the big club. When is Jake Reed finally going to get his shot? Well, a lot of it will have to do with timing. Often when a bullpen move is made, the team is looking to promote a fresh arm as much as anything, or someone who could provide them with length. But Reed has a solid track record, is showing he's open to making adjustments and has been on a nice roll of late for the Red Wings. Reed delivered two scoreless innings and struck out three batters this afternoon for Rochester. His totals for the year don't jump off the page, but over his last eight appearances, Reed has only given up two earned runs over 16 1/3 innings ( 1.10 ERA) and has 19 strikeouts. He's also been tinkering with his release point. The video below contains a comparison between where he was releasing the ball earlier this year and where he was this afternoon (skip ahead to about the 1:15 mark for that). Reed has always had a lower arm slot, but he's really dropping it down to sidearm now. Will this adjustment be what (finally) gets him up with the Twins? It's hard to say, but with the rate the team is currently cycling through relievers, it feels like it's only a matter of time before Reed's number gets called. Previous 2019 Prospect Spotlights Click here to view the article

That's always so difficult, since so much of that really just depends on what other teams are willing to offer for these guys. These features will be more geared toward familiarizing everyone with the potential relief market, but Jeremy did write an interesting piece on Twins trade assets a couple weeks ago. We'll also look back at the recent historical precedents set when acquiring an ace pitcher or a stud reliever. Stuff like that. Since the Twins certainly appear to be buyers, we'll be hitting those kinds of things really hard over the coming weeks.

Life-changing money for that young man. Good for him. Now go earn it. NOW, lol Sounds like he'll be joining the GCL Twins, so you'll be able to read about him in the minor league reports here soon. Looks like their first game is June 24.

We could just wait until they make a trade and write about it then, but I decided naw, let's take a big, long look at what's out there Relievers don't get a whole lotta love, so there are a lot of good ones out there Twins fans may not have heard of or may not know much about. We'll also be taking a look at some of the higher-profile guys too. Anyway, as it pertains to the Padres, I don't think they're very good. They do have some good young talent, however, so maybe everything will click for them at some point. Hard to tell. But while they're only four back in the wild card race, they're tied for ninth in the NL and are 13th in the NL in Pythag W/L. I suspect they'll be sellers, and if that's the case, Yates will be among their better trade chips. Maybe they won't be prepared to make moves anytime soon, just saying this is a guy to have on the radar.

It's no secret, the Twins will be seeking bullpen help as the trade deadline approaches. The current group of relievers have helped get the Twins where they are, but let's face it, there is plenty of evidence that suggests upgrades are required. Who may be available? Today, we'll take a look at Padres closer Kirby Yates.*You're going to see a lot of speculation and analysis on potential bullpen additions at the site over the coming weeks. Cody led things off last night with a great overview of 10 potential trade targets. We'll continue to explore the reliever market by running profiles on specific pitchers each day. Kirby Yates, RHP, 32-years-old San Diego Padres (33-33, 4th in NL West) Under team control via arbitration through 2020 2019: 0.96 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, 15.4 K/9, 2.6 BB/9 in 28.0 IP 2018: 2.14 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 12.9 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 in 63.0 IP What’s to Like? Well you gotta like the idea of a guy named Kirby joining the Twins, right? He’s also a frontrunner for fireman of the year right now. If you were looking to ride a hot hand, Yates is among the hottest you can find right now. Yates leads all relievers in saves (23), FanGraphs’ WAR (1.9) and WPA (2.59). Out of the 165 relievers with at least 20 innings, Yates is third in ERA (0.96), fourth in xFIP (1.95) and second in K-BB% (37.7). Opposing batters are hitting just .167/.245/.219 (.464 OPS) against him right now. Yates hasn’t given up a run in his last 10 appearances, yielding just two hits and one walk over that stretch. He hasn’t been taken deep in 2019 and has surrendered just five extra-base hits. Plugging in a set closer to the ninth inning would allow Rocco Baldelli to continue using Taylor Rogers in whatever other high-leverage situations he sees fit. Concerns Diversity is something to aim for in the bullpen, and Yates’ pitch mix is similar to a current Twins reliever. Yates’s specialty pitch is his splitter, same as Blake Parker, though Yates goes to that offering nearly twice as often as Parker does (42% vs. 21.8%). There’s also some concern that he may be a product of his pitching environment. Yates has posted a 161 ERA+ over 146 2/3 innings with the Padres. He was nowhere near that good with the Rays (73 ERA+ in 56 1/2 innings) or Yankees (83 ERA+ in 41 1/3 innings). What happens if you take him out of San Diego and put him back in the American League? He did develop that splitter while with the Padres, however, so maybe this is for real. The aging curve for relievers can be pretty brutal. Yates is 32 and it’s not like he’s a flame-thrower as it is. His four seamer, which he throws roughly 57% of the time, sits 93 mph. See Also 10 Relievers Minnesota Could Target Click here to view the article