Tag: Brett Lee

Twins minor league player of the week

Brett Lee 2015Chattanooga (AA) left-handed pitcher Brett Lee is the Twins minor league Player of the Week. The 6’4″ 200 pound Lee made one start for the week, that coming last Sunday at Birmingham, pitching a 7.0-inning complete game shutout with two hits allowed, two walks and eight strikeouts, earning the win. Lee has made 21 starts between Chattanooga and Single-A Ft. Myers this season, going 7-7, 3.64 ERA (128.2 IP, 43 ER) with 40 walks and 64 strikeouts.

The soon to be 25 year-old Lee was the Pirates 40th round pick in 2009 and the Dodgers 33rd round selection in 2010 but chose not to sign. The Pensacola, Florida native then was drafted by the Twins in the 10th round of the 2011 First-Year Player Draft out of St. Petersburg College and signed for $150,000.

Twins Minor League Report 09062015

Miracle win it all!

Miracle are 2014 championsOn Monday, September 8, the Ft. Myers Miracle won the first Florida State League Championship in team history three games to one over the Daytona Cubs. Jason Kanzler‘s two-run homer in the eleventh inning propelled the Fort Myers Miracle to the Florida State League Championship in a 4-2, extra inning win over the Daytona Cubs at Jackie Robinson Ballpark in game four on Monday night. The Miracle under manager Doug Mientkiewicz finished the season with an 87-58 overall record and were 4-1 in the playoffs. Outfielder Adam Walker led the 2014 Miracle with 25 home runs and 94 RBI while hitting .246. The pitching staff was led by Matt Tomshaw, Brett Lee, and Jose Berrios who had a combined 30-14 record.

Minnesota’s longest-running Minor League full season affiliate, the Miracle began an association with the Twins in 1993. The 1993 team finished with a 55-79 record under manager Steve Liddle. Players on that team that went on to play in Minnesota were pitchers Brad Radke, Dan Naulty, Scott Watkins, catcher Damian Miller and outfielder Brent Brede.

The team has drawn nearly 120,000 fans in each of the last seven seasons. The Miracle have been top-four in the Florida State League for individual game average attendance every year since 2005. As expected, the Twins and single-A affiliate Ft. Myers Miracle have agreed to extend their Player Development Contract for four years, through the 2018 season.

This is the first league championship that a Twins minor league team has won since the Elizabethton Twins won the Appalachian League title in 2012 and also the first league championship that a minor league team has won under Brad Steil who became the Twins Farm Director after the 2012 season. The last Twins A-Ball team to win a league championship were the 1987 Kenosha Twins (82-58) who were managed by Don Leppert.

Twins minor league teams finished the 2014 season with a combined record of 409-354 for a .536 winning percentage. Of the Twins seven minor league clubs, only the 23-37 Gulf Coast League Twins posted a losing record. 2014 marked the third consecutive season that Twins farm teams have won more games than they lost.

You can learn more about the Twins minor league teams going back to 1961 on our Twins Minor League History page.

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

Brett Lee
Brett Lee

Cedar Rapids (Single-A – Midwest League) pitcher Brett Lee is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. In two starts for the Kernels, the 22 year-old Lee went 2-0, pitching two complete games (18.0 IP), allowing two runs on 11 hits with two walks and 13 strikeouts. The left-handed 6′ 4″ Lee pitched primarily in relief in Elizabethton in 2012 where he was 4-0 with a 2.68 ERA but in Cedar Rapids this season Lee has appeared in 17 games and started 15 of them. Thus far this season Lee has a 7-4 record while posting a 3.30 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP. In 95.1 innings he has allowed 100 hits with 22 walks and 74 punch-outs. Lee was a 40th round pick by the Pirates in 2009 and was selected in round 33 by the Dodgers the following season but chose not to sign. Lee was then drafted by the Twins in the 10th round of the 2011 First-Year Player Draft.