Tom Froemming

The Twins had no trouble rallying with two outs against the Rays Friday night, scoring four of their five runs with their backs against the wall, down to their final out. The big blow came from Eddie Rosario, who delivered a go-ahead two-run single with two outs in the top of the ninth inning.Box Score Berrios: 6.2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, 64.6% strikes (64 of 99 pitches) Home Runs: None Multi-Hit Games: Polanco (2-for-4, 2 2B, BB), Astudillo (2-for-4, HBP), Gonzalez (2-for-4), Schoop (2-for-2, BB, HBP) WPA of +0.1: Rosario .263, Astudillo .219, Rogers .212, Schoop .184, Polanco .126 WPA of -0.1: Sano -.132, Buxton -.166, Kepler -.187 Download attachment: Win53`.png (chart via FanGraphs) Coming Out Swinging After a beat down on Thursday night, the Twins were aggressive in the first inning. Max Kepler, hitting lead off, swung at the first pitch of the game and nearly hit the ceiling in the Trop. Jorge Polanco’s at-bat did not last much longer. He swung at the second pitch and laced a one-out double. Astudillo then drove him home with a single early in the count. The Twins possibly could have scored another run had Astudillo not hesitated rounding third when C.J. Cron hit one off the wall in right center. Berrios responded with a quick shut-down bottom of the first inning. It took him less than 10 pitches to retire the side in order — not surprising for a pitcher who’s strike percentage is fourth best in the league. Rays Respond After a stellar first inning, Berrios struggled with his command at times in the second and third inning. In the second inning, he issued his first walk of the game and that runner crossed the plate on a Kevin Kiermaier home run, which gave the Rays a 2-1 lead. Berrios issued another walk in the third inning and once again that runner came across the plate. With runners on first and third, the Rays called for a double steal and ended up stealing a run from the Twins. The run may not have scored had Astudillo held onto the ball, however. A strong throw home from Schoop may have been good enough to beat the runner but Astudillo tried to tag the runner before catching the ball and the runner scored easily. Two-Out Rallies are Awesome Schoop drew a walk to lead off the fifth inning. He advanced to second on what should have been a double play if not for the Rays having shifted defensive positioning. He ended up standing on second with two away in the inning. Down by two, this was a scoring opportunity the Twins needed to capitalize on and that looked to be in jeopardy with two gone. That was until Jorge Polanco stepped up and did what he’s done all year - hit the darn ball. He ripped a one-run double, making the score 3-2. Then it was La Toruga’s opportunity to pick himself up after dropping the ball that allowed the Rays to score their third run. He did not disappoint, singling to left and driving in his second run of the game. Back-to-back two out knocks tied the game at 3-3. They did it again in the ninth. They got the bases loaded with two outs essentially for free. Rays pitcher, Diego Castillo, hit Schoop, Polanco was issued an intentional walk following a sacrifice bunt from Buxton. Astudillo fell behind 0-2 but was drilled by a slider and awarded first base, loading them up for Eddie Rosario. The Rays went to their bullpen — again — and brought in lefty Adam Kolarek to face to the left-handed hitting Rosario. The move would prove ineffective as Rosario went opposite field and hit a two-run single past the third base bag and gave the Twins a 5-3 lead. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen531.png Next Game Sat at TB, 12:10 pm CT (Gibson-TBD) Last Game TB 14, MIN 3: Well … That Just Happened More from Twins Daily Twins Daily 2019 MLB Draft Top 50 Prospects: 1-10 Multiple Twins Building All-Star Resumes Rejected Taglines for the 1981 Minnesota Twins Click here to view the article

This was always a baseball state, it’s just that we much prefer baseball that’s, ya know, good. Twins Territory turned out to see a some more good baseball Sunday afternoon, as Jake Odorizzi was outstanding and both Eddie Rosario and Max Kepler hit three-run bombas. Over 108,000 fans passed through the gates at Target Field this weekend to watch the Twins sweep the White Sox.Box Score Odorizzi: 5.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, 62.4% strikes (58 of 93 pitches) Home Runs: Rosario (16), Kepler (12) Multi-Hit Games: Kepler (2-for-4, 2B, HR) WPA of +0.1: Odorizzi .249, Rosario .190 WPA of -0.1: None Download attachment: Win526.png (chart via FanGraphs) The Twins drew more than 3.2 million people in their first season at Target Field. Attendance increased by more than 800,000 overall, or roughly 10,000 per game, over the prior year. The prospect of being able to spend time watching a good Major League Baseball team outdoors once again really lit a fire under this fanbase. We all know what happened after that. I think it’s fair to say Twins Territory is filled with a great number of frontrunners, and that portion of the fans has been pretty dormant. And that’s OK, there are a lot of other great summer activities to compete with baseball. But it’s clear now they've been waiting, sometimes impatiently, ready to embrace the next good Twins team. There’s still definitely some cautious optimism in the air, not everyone is quite ready to get completely swept off their feet, but with each victory you can feel it. People are letting their guard down. They’re starting to believe. The team is the talk of the town, fans are showing up and Twins merch is being brought out from the back of closets. The Twins got off to a slow start this afternoon. Well, I mean by their standards. They were held off the board for the entire first two innings of this game. They didn’t even have a hit! Byron Buxton got things going with a single, then stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error on the play. Max Kepler drove him home on a double, Jorge Polanco walked and Eddie Rosario blasted a three-run home run. That’s more like it, guys. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen526.png Next Game Mon vs. MIL, 6:10 pm (Pineda-Gonzalez) Last Game MIN 8, CHW 1: Gibby Sizzles Over 7 Solid Innings More from Twins Daily Injuries Have Been Huge, Unfortunate Story of Twins Minor League Season When the Twins Go Buying ... Who Are They Selling? Twins' Offense Having a Barrel of Fun Click here to view the article

As honest and as genuine as I can possibly be, I am zero percent concerned about the future of Royce Lewis. He's not going to get far with his current swing, but I think anybody who's seen him had a good feeling that was going to be the case from Day 1. He's athletic enough to where you'd imagine he should be able to make adjustments and there doesn't appear to be any major concerns about his pitch recognition. He has a 22.0 K% and 9.5 BB% this year, both of which are better than average in the FSL.

I'd wager that Alcala ends up in the pen, but using him as a primary pitcher seems like a good compromise for now. He stays stretched out but still gets some experience in coming in after the game has started. Yes. That swing is almost comical. He's most definitely having a disappointing season. I don't think anybody would dispute that. But ... ... even though I think the swing needs to change and his performance has been disappointing, I'm not concerned. Not about his future. He should be able to successfully make adjustments. I don't really understand why the org has let him continue with that big of a leg kick for this long, but sometimes it does seem like it's good to let a guy fail. Let him figure out the humongous leg kick's gotta go on his own and maybe that adjustment process will be more successful/he'll buy in earlier.

We’re a little over a week away from the 2019 MLB Draft. On a night with very little offense across the system, 2018 top picks Trevor Larnach and Ryan Jeffers put together strong performances. Come see what else happened Friday evening.TRANSACTIONS -Zack Littell was recalled by the Twins while Austin Adams was designed for assignment. -Darren Wolfson reported that Randy Dobnak is being promoted to Rochester. RED WINGS REPORT Game 1: Pawtucket 6, Rochester 1 (7 innings) Box Score Lewis Thorpe: 4.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 63.6% (49 of 77 pitches) HR: John Andreoli (5) Multi-hit games: None Not a whole lot to report from the first game of Rochester’s doubleheader. Lewis Thorpe had a solid, albeit short, start. His ERA has dropped from 8.19 down to 6.31 over his last three starts. Andrew Vasquez also had an encouraging outing, striking out three batters over 1 2/3 scoreless innings. The Wings’ only run scored on John Andreoli’s fifth home run of the season. Game 2: Pawtucket 6, Rochester 1 (7 innings) Box Score D.J. Baxendale: 2.0 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 52.2% strikes (24 of 46 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: None Yep, these teams played two games that ended in the exact same score Friday. The Red Wings went with a bullpen game in this one. D.J. Baxendale gave up three runs in his two innings of work and Zack Weiss surrendered three runs in 2 1/3 inning. Ryan Eades followed with 1 2/3 scoreless innings before Trevor Hildenberger pitched a clean seventh inning. Between the majors and Triple A, Hildenberger hadn’t registered a scoreless appearance in five outings, giving up 14 earned runs over 5 1/3 innings over that stretch. Here’s hoping tonight’s performance results in some positive momentum for him. The Red Wings mustered just three hits, Drew Maggi’s double being the only one that went for extra bases. Their only run was scored on a Jake Cave bases-loaded double play. BLUE WAHOO BITES Tennessee 5, Pensacola 1 Box Score Jorge Alcala: 4.0 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 5 BB, 2 K, 68.7% (46 of 67 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: None Sam Clay started this game with two shutout innings before Jorge Alcala took over and struggled as the primary pitcher, though only two of the five runs he gave up were earned. On the other hand, the only reason he had unearned runs was because he committed an error. Tom Hackimer did a great job in his two scoreless innings, striking out three batters. He’s give up just one earned run in 21 2/3 innings this season. Again here, not much to report on the offensive side. The Blue Wahoos combined for just five singles. Their only run scored on an Alex Kirilloff two-out RBI single. Kirilloff also had an outfield assist. Travis Blankenhorn was 1-for-4 and stole his third base of the season. MIRACLE MATTERS Daytona 4, Fort Myers 3 (11 innings) Box Score Tyler Watson: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 58.2% strikes (56 of 79 pitches) HR: Ryan Jeffers (4) Multi-hit games: Trevor Larnach (2-for-3, 2 2B, 2 BB), Ryan Jeffers (2-for-4, HR, BB) The Miracle trailed 3-0 in the top of the eighth inning, but a Lewin Diaz leadoff triple sparked a three-run rally capped by a Ryan Jeffers home run. Unfortunately, Fort Myers couldn’t scratch across another run. The pitching staff did an excellent job keeping Daytona off the board from the sixth through 10th innings, but finally ceded in the bottom of the 11th. The 2019 MLB Draft is right around the corner, and it was great to see the first two Twins picks of last year’s draft put together great performances. Trevor Larnach hit two doubles and drew a pair of walks. In addition to his fourth home run, Jeffers had a single and drew a walk. KERNELS NUGGETS Peoria 4, Cedar Rapids 1 Box Score Tyler Palm: 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 66.3% strikes (61 of 92 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: Ben Rodriguez (2-for-4, 2B) My oh my were runs tough to come by Friday night. Tyler Palm had a very nice start, pitching into the seventh inning while only allowing two runs, but the bats were quiet. Five hits total and the only run came on an Andrew Bechtold sacrifice fly. He also doubled in this game. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Tyler Palm, Cedar Rapids Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Ryan Jeffers, Fort Myers TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed 1. Royce Lewis (FM): 0-for-5, 4 K 2. Alex Kirilloff (PNS): 1-for-4, RBI, 2 K, OF assist 4. Trevor Larnach (FM): 2-for-3, 2 2B, 2 BB, R, K 8. Lewis Thorpe (ROC): 4.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 63.6% (49 of 77 pitches) 11. Nick Gordon (ROC): 2-for-6, R 13. Ryan Jeffers (FM): 2-for-4, HR (4), BB, 2 RBI, R, K 14. Ben Rortvedt (PNS): 1-for-3, BB 16. Gilberto Celestino (CR): 0-for-4 18. LaMonte Wade (ROC): 0-for-4, BB, HBP 19. Jorge Alcala (PNS): 4.0 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 5 BB, 2 K, 68.7% (46 of 67 pitches) 20. Jose Miranda (FM): 0-for-5 SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester vs. Pawtuckett. 6:05 pm CT (Randy Dobnak) Pensacola at Tennessee, 6:00 pm CT (Brusdar Graterol) Fort Myers at Daytona, 6:05 pm CT (Jordan Balazovic) Cedar Rapids vs. Peoria, 6:35 pm CT (Cole Sands) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games. Click here to view the article

Austin Adams looked real bad. He also threw a baseball 97.9 mph today. I'm intrigued enough to want to see more. Berrios is going tomorrow and May, Rogers, Magill and Parker are all rested. There shouldn't be any need to get a fresh arm up.

Fixed, thank you. There were a lot of those suckers to keep track of

They just got Miguel Sano back and now Mitch Garver and Nelson Cruz are out. Addison Reed is so ruined they had to release him. Of their 48 games, 13 have come against other first-place teams. They're 6-7 in those games despite nine of them being on the road. They've only played KC twice and have yet to play the White Sox (which is pretty crazy).

I didn't want to go off on too much of a tangent there, but since you've opened the door for me to do so, let's do it I love thinking about bullpens. What I meant by that is we're not seeing anything radical in terms of bullpen usage. We're not seeing relievers used as openers or multi-inning guys piggybacking off starters, etc. He's distributing things pretty evenly, but they're still averaging three outs per appearance and there's not really any specialization/managing for matchups going on. There's not a longman who covers multiple innings on a regular basis. Stuff like that. Baldelli claims to not have a closer, but that's only sorta true. Blake Parker is this team's closer, he's just not married to him being the only guy he turns to in save situations. Parker has eight of the team's 14 saves, but a couple of those other saves went to guys who came in after Parker had pitched, didn't really look great and needed to be bailed out. To be clear, I'm not saying any of this is a bad thing. I'm just saying there isn't anything revolutionary about the way he's managing the bullpen. He's doing pretty much the same things as every other MLB manager. There are definitely other ways to go about things. We saw bullpens managed very differently in other eras. If Jose Berrios can throw 200 innings in a season, how come Taylor Rogers can only throw 70? Back in 1979, Mike Marshall threw 140 innings out of the bullpen for the Twins. How cool is that!? We also see bullpens managed very differently in the minor leagues. Last season, Ryne Harper threw two or more innings in 18 of his 38 appearances. He faced more than five batters in 26 of those 38 appearances. With the Twins this year, he's only gone multiple innings once and faced more than five batters three times in his 19 appearances. Again, just to be clear, I'm not necessarily saying those would be smart conventions to challenge. I think it would be cool to see relievers get the opportunity to go through an entire turn through a lineup instead of just one inning, but maybe that's a terrible idea, I don't know. All I'm trying to point out is that Rocco's been pretty conventional in that regard.

Rocco Baldelli is the first millennial manager in baseball. It shows. He’s soft. Well, at least in terms of the pro sports world. He bends to the will of his team and goes out of his way to be accommodating. I’m not sure if he would chastise a player publicly if his job depended on it. He also might be the best manager in baseball.The victories keep piling up, the lead in the American League Central keeps increasing, World Series odds keep improving and you’d better believe other teams across baseball are taking notice. If the Twins’ success continues, don’t be surprised if Millennialball becomes the new Moneyball. Baldelli eats avocado toast, talks about empathy and has allowed a nap room to be created at Target Field. He’s gone out of his way to be inclusive and encourages an atmosphere in which players are comfortable to be themselves. He’s given everyone on the roster their own trophy for making the team, and before each game the team holds hands and talks about their feelings. OK, that last sentence isn’t true. Well, as far as I know. You probably read the headline of this article and expected it to paint Baldelli in a negative light. That’s because for most people both “coddle” and “millennial” are loaded terms with a lot of negative connotation. Well guess what? Baldelli’s job is to manage a bunch of millennials. Well, everyone except Nelson Cruz, one of the last active Gen Xers in baseball. But even Cruz is a big proponent of rest, as the nap room was his idea. Anyway, if you’re going to be a manager in 2019, you’d better have some strategies on how to deal with people from the millennial generation. Being associated with that term should not be viewed as a negative. As far as coddling, the definition of that word is “to treat with extreme or excessive care or kindness.” That doesn’t sound so bad, though I could see where that could be viewed in a negative way in the sports world. Call me crazy, but by that definition I kinda want my team’s manager to coddle his players to some degree. Paul Molitor probably could have afforded to coddle a few guys over his tenure as manager. People have been trying to find explanations to why the Twins have gotten off to such a great start. In reality, it’s more than likely a blend of several different things, but I believe this all stems from Baldelli and the clubhouse environment he has cultivated. The exciting thing is how they’ve got to this point. We’re less than two months into Baldelli’s tenure as manager of the Twins, so a lot can change, but if there’s one thing that’s special about him I think it’s his focus on the long haul. The number of scheduled off days for the position players has been staggering and workload among the relievers has been pretty spread out. He almost seems obsessed with keeping people fresh. Think about that for a second. The Twins are one of the best teams in baseball despite setting out to create both a less mentally and physically stressful atmosphere. They’ve put an emphasis on long-term health and performance and yet they’ve still managed to thrive in the short term. They’ve let up on the gas pedal and yet are somehow increasing acceleration. But here’s the thing about Baldelli: I don’t actually think he’s anything special as an in-game manager. I don’t care for his lineups. There’s really nothing that appears particularly unique about his bullpen management. The one thing he’s doing much more than the average manager is shifting the infield, and even that’s just surrendering to the numbers. I’m not saying I think he’s a bad in-game manager, I just don’t believe this team’s success has much of a correlation to any buttons he’s pushing between the National Anthem and the final out. If I were to describe Baldelli’s management style, I’d say he’s hands off. He’s the ultimate macro manager. Baldelli doesn’t pinch hit a whole lot, and when he does, it’s typically in very low-leverage situations. The Twins have attempted just six sacrifice bunts and 19 stolen bases all season. They have the third-fewest relief appearances in baseball and the pitching staff’s percentage of plate appearances with the platoon advantage is right at league average. Baldelli seems to be motivated to simply stay out of the way. Baldelli treats his players both as grown men capable of policing themselves and as professional baseball players who can be trusted to execute. Weird. When you think of it in those terms, it’s no wonder why this Twins team appears to be so comfortable and confident. Is it possible that what’s done during the game is among the least important aspects of a manager’s influence on his team’s success? Perhaps being a tactical taskmaster is overrated, I’m not sure, but I do think it’s maybe time to re-evaluate how we perceive the manager’s role. There’s a lot that they do outside of filing out lineup cards and making pitching changes. It might also be a good idea to change the way the terms “coddle" and "millennial” are viewed. The Twins sure are making them look like positive things so far this spring. Click here to view the article

There are better days ahead for Gilberto Celestino. I'm not sure he's ever experienced weather like this before in his life. You'd hope that type of thing wouldn't impact a guy too much, it certainly didn't seem to bother Arraez back in '16, but it happens. Some guys also take some time to adjust to a new level. I bet he takes off in June. It's been a rough 38 games for Gilberto, but Arraez himself only had a .564 OPS through his first 38 games last season. Different situations (Luis was at a higher level and knocking off some rust), as is always the case, but my point is you wouldn't want to rush to judgement. Just take a look at what Lewin Diaz is doing in his second trip around the FSL (.933 OPS vs. a .598 OPS last year). Everybody slid him down their lists a ton and it's looking like that was a mistake. Prospect rankings are weird, difficult and this is a deep system. I personally didn't feel there was a huge gap between my personal No. 5 prospect and No. 15 prospect, or my No. 16 prospect and my No. 36 prospect. There are guys outside of my top 50 I could see carving out jobs as MLB role players if everything breaks right.

I think Arraez could hit .600 and still go back down because, to your point, he needs to play. He's still only 22 and has around 90 total games above A-ball. Allowing him to continue to develop is a lot more important than having him as a bench option on the big club, especially since it could turn out that he has a chance to be the regular 2B in 2020. You'd hope Schoop, Polanco, Sano and Marwin are in the lineup more often than not anyways. I love watching him pitch. He's often the first guy out of the bullpen, which puts him in a position to potentially sink a lot of games. If you think about it, there are a lot more games that are decided in the sixth or seventh innings than there are in the ninth. Harper is currently holding opposing batters to a .189/.228/.257 line. That .485 OPS is the 12th lowest among pitchers with at least 20 innings this season. Pretty cool.

Even a really great meal goes stale eventually. I desperately wanted the Twins to do more to upgrade the bullpen this offseason, and was supportive of the idea of them pursuing Craig Kimbrel at one point, but I'm out now. I don't really want anything to do with him. My frustration with the bullpen inactivity was never tied to any one particular reliever. Things have boiled own to that, since Kimbrel is the last man standing, but there were several attractive free agent bullpen pieces out there this winter. The Twins didn't sign any of them. I'm over it. I'm not saying this bullpen is fine as it's currently constructed. While Ryne Harper has been a pleasant surprise and the backed trio of Blake Parker, Taylor Rogers and Trevor May has mostly looked good, there are some legit concerns about the depth. But bringing in a project isn't the answer. Kimbrel is one of the greatest closers of all time. There's also a reason why he's still unemployed. Here are a few: -He has to be rusty. This is item No. 1 with a bullet. There's no way he can possibly be sharp, I don't care what kind of simulated games he may be throwing. -He had a 4.57 ERA in the second half and a 5.91 ERA in the postseason last year. -His fastball velocity dropped from 98.72 mph in 2017 to 97.63 mph last year. -It actually took him awhile to work up to that velocity last season, sitting below 97 mph through April. Yes, he's been working out, but I'd still be concerned it would take him some time to get up to full speed. -His ground ball rate dropped from 37.0% to 28.2% last year. -His line drive rate went up from 19.4% to 24.8% last year. -He had a worse first-pitch strike rate (56.3%) than Fernando Rodney last year. -He had the eighth-lowest rate of pitches in the zone (36.6%) of the 151 qualified relievers last year. -He walked 12.6% of the batters he faced last year. That is horrible. It was the 20th-worst rate among 336 pitchers who logged more than 50 innings last year. In nearly every single positive mention of the Twins I see, there is somebody in the comments who calls for Kimbrel. I get it, I just think the idea of Kimbrel doesn't even accurately reflect who he actually is at this point. If the Twins seek to improve the bullpen, they should be looking for guys who are trending upward. Or at least, you know, active. Maybe Kimbrel will be great, I don't know, but I am comfortable with another team taking on that project. There are other ways to boost the bullpen.

Back in 2006, Ozzie Guillen compared the Twins’ lineup to piranhas due to its ability to relentlessly small ball a team to death. This 2019 Twins lineup is more like a frenzy of sharks with their rows of razor-sharp teeth and incredibly powerful jaws. This lineup smelled blood in the water and devoured Seattle’s pitching staff tonight.Box Score Berrios: 4.2 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 66.7% strikes (70 of 105 pitches) Home Runs: Cron 2 (12), Buxton (4), Sano (1), Schoop 2 (8) Multi-Hit Games: Schoop (3-for-5, 2 HR), Gonzalez (3-for-5, 2B), Rosario (3-for-6), Cron 3-for-6, 2B, 2 HR), Buxton (2-for-4, HR) WPA of +0.1: Buxton .194, Cron .144 WPA of -0.1: None Download attachment: Win518.png (chart via FanGraphs) I’ve run out of superlatives, so let’s cut the fluff and get right to the numbers. The Twins won their fifth straight game and are 30-15. They scored 18 runs. They hit six more home runs. No team in baseball has scored more or hit more home runs than the Twins. This is reality, right? I’m not dreaming, am I? Somebody pinch me. At this point, there really is no need to get cute about trying to analyze the Twins’ season so far. Just look at the standings. Just look at the leader boards. I honestly don’t even know what to say at this point. This team is insane. They are grinding Seattle into dust so far this series, outscoring them 36-11 through three games. They’ve done all this without Nelson Cruz or Mitch Garver. C.J. Cron and Jonathan Schoop each hit two home runs, Byron Buxton hit a grand slam and Miguel Sano hit his first homer of the season. The sharks combined for 19 hits, 10 of which went for extra bases. They also went 6-for-13 with runners in scoring position and drew six walks. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen518.png Next Three Games Sun at SEA, 3:10 pm CT (Gibson-Kikuchi) Mon at LAA, 9:07 pm CT (TBD) Tue at LAA, 9:07 pm CT (TBD) Last Game MIN 7, SEA 1: Venezuelan Night in Seattle Click here to view the article

And in case anybody's interested in seeing similar videos I've done on other Twins prospects, here are some links: Jaylin Davis Austin Schulfer Royce Lewis Lewis Thorpe Alex Kirilloff Jhoan Duran

The Twins announced earlier today that Luis Arraez, who was just recently promoted to Triple A, was being called up to the big leagues for the first time in his career. Arraez is a familiar name to regular readers of Twins Daily's minor league coverage, but let's take a quick look at some video to help bring this guy into 3D.The first thing that comes to mind with Luis Arraez is his hand-eye coordination. The thing that makes this guy special is his ability to square up the ball. In 354 career minor league games, Arraez has a .331 batting average. He's an incredibly tough out. Among a sample of 885 qualified minor league hitters, Arraez has the eighth-lowest strikeout rate (8.4%) and the sixth-lowest swinging strike rate (3.9%) this season. One big development this year has been that he's posting a career-high 10.6% walk rate. Tough to pitch to a guy who always makes contact and is becoming more stubborn about expanding the zone. There aren't any especially loud tools beyond his ability to hit for contact, but he's a well-rounded ballplayer and is a person who makes a big impact everywhere he goes. Arraez is an animated guy and seems like a bit of a character. People really seem to take a liking to him everywhere he goes.

Apparently, those pushups paid off. A day after causing some controversy when he did pushups on the field after hitting a double, Royce Lewis muscled his first home run of the season. Come see what else happened across the system Friday night.TRANSACTIONS -Luis Arraez was recalled by the Twins, filling a roster spot opened up when Nelson Cruz was placed on the IL. -Kody Funderburk was activated from extended spring training and assigned to Fort Myers. -Albee Weiss was activated from extended spring and assigned to Cedar Rapids. The Kernels placed Gabe Snyder on the temporary inactive list. RED WINGS REPORT Durham 9, Rochester 5 Box Score Devin Smeltzer: 4.2 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 65.3% strikes (49 of 75 pitches) HR: Drew Maggi (3), Jake Cave (1) Multi-hit games: LaMonte Wade (2-for-4), Cave (2-for-4, 2B, HR), Wilin Rosario (2-for-4) So Devin Smeltzer is human after all. He came into this start having given up just two earned runs over 45 innings between Pensacola and Rochester, but gave up four in this start. Trevor Hildenberger made his first minor league appearance since June 21, 2017. It did not go well. He gave up four runs on three hits, a walk and a wild pitch in his inning of work. All the scoring for the Red Wings came via the long ball. Jake Cave hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning and Drew Maggi hit a three-run shot in the seventh. BLUE WAHOO BITES Mobile 8, Pensacola 2 Box Score Sean Poppen: 5.2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 68.3% (56 of 82 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: None How often does a team get assists from all three of its outfielders? That was an oddity that occured in tonight’s game, as left fielder Travis Blankenhorn and center fielder Jaylin Davis both cut down runners at the plate and right fielder Alex Kirilloff nailed a runner at third. The Pensacola lineup couldn’t make the most of their opportunities tonight. Despite drawing eight walks, the Blue Wahoos scored just two runs. They were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. Alex Kirilloff had the team’s lone extra-base hit, his second double of the season. He also drew two of those walks. Sean Poppen held the BayBears to three runs over the first 5 2/3 innings, but things got a little sloppy in the final three innings. Three runs scored while Sam Clay was on the mound, though just one was earned, and Cody Stashak surrendered a pair of runs in his two innings of work. MIRACLE MATTERS St. Lucie 2, Fort Myers 1 (10 innings) Box Score Tyler Watson: 7.1 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 63.2% strikes (55 of 87 pitches) HR: Royce Lewis (1) Multi-hit games: Lewin Diaz (2-for-4) In his 38th game of the season, Royce Lewis finally has a home run. That has to be a relief. The Florida State League can very tough on hitters, and No. 1 overall picks are no exception. Lewis, who was the DH today, hit a 1-1 pitch grooved right over the middle of the plate over the left field wall to put Fort Myers up in the top of the first inning. Unfortunately, that was the only run the Miracle scored all game. Tyler Watson pitched great, giving up just one run over 7 1/3 innings. Hector Lujan held on through the ninth, but he allowed the bonus runner to score on a double in the top of the 10th inning. The Fort Myers bats were retired in order in the bottom of the inning to end the game. Speaking of how the FSL can be tough on a hitter, how about that Lewin Diaz!? He followed up a monster game in which he went 4-for-5 with three homers by collecting a couple of singles. He’s 18-for-50 so far in May (.360). KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 6, Clinton 5 (11 innings) Box Score Tyler Palm: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 64.9% strikes (61 of 94 pitches) HR: Jared Akins (3) Multi-hit games: The Kernels just wouldn’t go away in this one. Trailing 3-0 with two outs in the top of the eighth inning, Jared Akins hit a game-tying homer. He fell behind 1-2 in that at bat, battled back to work the count full and then unleashed on a pitch left over the plate. Cedar Rapids managed to scratch across a run in the top of the 10th. Clinton answered, but they were unable to finish things off despite having the bases loaded with one out. Zach Neff got the second out on a strikeout and induced a grounder to end the threat. Akins scored the go-ahead run in the top of the 11th on a wild pitch and Yeltsin Encarnacion plated what ended up being a massive insurance run with a single. Neff went back out for his third inning of work to try to secure a well-fought Kernels victory. Neff struck out the first batter he faced but allowed the bonus runner to score on a double. With Cedar Rapids now clinging to a one-run lead, Neff struck out the next two batters he faced to finish things off. He had seven strikeouts in his three innings of about the highest-leverage work you could imagine. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Zach Neff, Cedar Rapids Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Jared Akins, Cedar Rapids TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed 1. Royce Lewis (FM): 1-for-4, HR 2. Alex Kirilloff (PNS): 1-for-3, 2B, 2 BB, OF assist 4. Trevor Larnach (FM): 0-for-3, BB, 2 K 13. Ryan Jeffers (FM): 0-for-4, K 14. Ben Rortvedt (PNS): 1-for-4, R 16. Gilberto Celestino (CR): 1-for-6, 2 K 18. LaMonte Wade (ROC): 2-for-4, R 20. Jose Miranda (FM): 1-for-4, K SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester at Durham, 5:35 pm CT (Lewis Thorpe) Pensacola vs. Mobile, 6:05 pm CT (Jorge Alcala) Fort Myers vs. St. Lucie, 5:00 pm CT (Melvi Acosta) Cedar Rapids at Clinton, 6:30 pm CT (Cole Sands) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games. Click here to view the article

I thought he was great last night too, helped keep a blowout interesting. He was so excited about one of the pitch sequences from Pineda to record a third out that they actually had to cut him off heading into the commercial.