Month: June 2012

Twins and Lee County agree on 30 year extension

The Minnesota Twins have signed a 30 year lease extension to continue to use the Lee County Sports complex as their spring training home on the assumption that Lee County will get $15 million from a state grant to help finance the expected $25 to $30 million in improvements.  Lee County Commissioners voted 4 -1 yesterday to sign the 30-year conditional lease with the Twins. Lee County and the Twins needed to sign this conditional lease prior to the exact details of the improvements being agreed upon because the $15 million state grant can only be used to retain a current baseball team and the county has to apply for the state grant before July 6.

Twins president Dave St. Peter

When Twins president Dave St. Peter was asked what improvements the team was looking for, he said “We are focused on general improvements surrounding fan amenities, player development and amateur sports.” When pressed for more details, St. Peter said he could not be more specific at this time. Rumor has it that the Twins are looking to add about a 1,000 seats, add some ballpark elevators, add a team dormitory and a player-development academy. When I asked the Twins president what the chances were that the county would get the state funds and when these improvements were expected to be completed, he replied that “he is optimistic that the county would get the state funds and that some improvements would be completed for 2014 and the balance in 2015.” Dave St. Peter went on to say that “we have eight (8) years remaining our current lease with two five-year team options. When asked about his thoughts about the rumored move of the Washington Nationals to Ft. Myers where they would use the old Boston Red Sox spring training complex, he had “no comment”.

The Twins have called Ft. Myers as their spring training home since 1991. The only other city that the Twins have used as a spring training facility was Orlando, Florida where they trained from 1961 through 1990. The Twins supposedly generate at least $25 million to $30 million per year from tourists traveling to Lee County, using the hotels, eating at the restaurants and going to games.

A chat with former catcher Matt Walbeck

 

catcher Matt Walbeck (courtesy of the Minnesota Twins)

Matthew Lovick Walbeck was born on October 2, 1969 in Sacramento, California and grew up playing a variety of sports but baseball was his passion. Walbeck was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 8th round of the 1987 amateur free agent draft out of Sacramento High School as a catcher and signed his first pro contract just a few days later fulfilling a lifetime dream to play professional baseball. Matt worked his way up the Cubs minor league ladder playing and ended up making the Cubs big league club out of spring training in 1993 as the teams 3rd catcher. Walbeck stayed with the Cubs for about a month before being sent down to AAA Iowa where he spent most of 1993 before being called up to the big club again in September.

In November of 1993 Walbeck was traded by the Cubs to the Minnesota Twins along with pitcher Dave Stevens for the Twins 1987 first round pick (3rd overall) pitcher Willie Banks. Walbeck was the Twins primary catcher in the Twins strike shortened 1994 season but the highlight of Matt’s big league career occurred on April 27th at the Metrodome when Matt caught Scott Erickson’s no-hitter, a 6-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. In 1995 Walbeck played in a career high of 115 games and hit for a .257 average. In spring training of 1996 Matt had a sore wrist and a couple of days before the season started, Walbeck was diagnosed with a broken Hamate bone and had to undergo surgery. The recovery from the surgery was slower than expected and Walbeck did not play his first game in 1996 until June 18th. Former Oakland A’s catcher and Minnesota native Terry Steinbach signed with the Twins as a free agent in December of 1996 and just a few days later Walbeck was traded to the Detroit Tigers for minor league pitcher Brian Stentz. Stentz as it turned out never appeared in a big league ball game. Walbeck ended his Twins career having played in Minnesota for 3 years. During his time in Minnesota, Walbeck better known for his catching skills then his bat, caught in 275 games and had 1,008 plate appearances in which he hit 8 home runs, knocked in 103, stole 7 bases and posted a .230 batting average.

Walbeck played for the Detroit Tigers in 1997 before being traded to the Anaheim Angels where he played from 1998-2000. Walbeck then played in the minors for the Reds and the Phillies getting only one big league at bat with the Phillies in 2001 before finishing his career in Detroit in 2002-2003 at the age of 33 and 11 years of big league baseball.

Immediately after ending his playing career, Matt move into a manager role in the Tigers system in 2004 and managed their A ball team to two championships between 2004 and 2006. Walbeck then moved up to manage in AA ball where he again took the team to the playoffs and was rewarded by getting the 3rd base coaching job for the Texas Rangers and manager Ron Washington in 2008. Walbeck was let go after one season and returned to managing in the Pirates system in 2009 and by 2010 he had led his team to yet another championship season and was named manager of the year in the Eastern League but was let go by the Pirates. In 2011 Walbeck took over as manager for the A ball Rome Braves in the Atlanta organization but the team played poorly and Walbeck was fired mid season for philosophical differences.

Matt Walbeck today

Since then, Matt has started the Walbeck Baseball Academy in Sacramento, California where he gets to work with youngsters and their parents teaching some life skills and baseball while spending time at home with his wife and 3 children. I think that Matt is enjoying his life at home right now but who knows what the future may hold for this former catcher and proven minor league winning manager if another big league opportunity should present itself. In his free time, Matt enjoys coaching his son’s baseball team, exercising and doing some fly fishing.

Want to know how and why Matt became a switch-hitter? You can listen to Matt tell you by clicking here. Be sure to check out our other interviews with former Twins players by going to the Interview Archives page, there are 36 different interviews you can check out.

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

Michael Tonkin

Twins Minor League Player of the Week is Beloit pitcher Michael Tonkin. The 22 year-old 6’7″ Tonkin made three relief appearances for the Snappers, tossing 5.2 scoreless innings, with no hits allowed, no walks, 12 strikeouts and two saves. The right-hander is in his fifth season in the Twins organization after being the Twins’ 30th round pick in the 2008 First-Year Player Draft out of Palmdale High School in California.

In his minor league career, Tonkin has pitched in 100 games starting 25 and has a 14-14 record, 9 saves with a 3.28 ERA, a 8.5 SO/9 ratio and a 1.24 WHIP.

 

 

What are the odds?

 

What are the chances that the National league Major League Player of the Week for three weeks in a row turns out to be a former Minnesota Twin? Apparently pretty good.

Week of June 11th (tie between two players)

Jason Kubel, Arizona D-Backs (.409, 2 HR, 12 RBI, 5 R, .818 SLG)

Ryan Dempster, Chicago Cubs (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 15.0 IP, 9 SO)

To make the odds even longer, the American League Player of the for the Week of June 11th was, you guessed it, another tie and another former Minnesota Twin.

Torii Hunter, LA Angels (.500, 4 HR, 10 RBI, 10 R, 1.045 SLG)

Mike Trout, LA Angels (.520, 2 2B, 4 RBI, 10 R, 4 SB, .567 OBP)

Week of June 4th

Johan Santana, New York Mets (First no-hitter in NYM history on 6/1)

 Week of May 29th

R.A. Dickey, New York Mets (2-0, 0.63 ERA, 14.1 IP, 1 BB, 21 SO)

Twins 20 game winner Dave Boswell passes away

Dave Boswell

Dave Boswell a right-handed pitcher who won 20 games for the Twins in 1969 passed away from a heart attack yesterday at the age of 67.  Born in Baltimore, Maryland on January 20, 1945, Boswell signed with the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent pitcher/outfielder in 1963 after finishing his high school career with a 28-2 record. The New York Yankees offered Boswell the same deal at the Twins did and Boswell wanted to pitch for the Yankees but the Yankees had a very strong pitching staff and Dave and his family decided that Minnesota would offer him his best opportunity.

Boswell started his professional career in 1964 in A ball with Bismarck/Mandan in the Northern League and after going 7-11 with a 3.88 ERA he was moved up to AA Charlotte where he went 4-2 with a 2.85 ERA. The Minnesota Twins called Boswell to the big leagues in September and Dave made his major league debut on September 18 at the age of just 19 against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Boswell did not get a decision that day but his big league career was well on its way. Boswell made the Twins ballclub out of spring training in 1965 and after a few games in long relief, he entered the starting rotation and by the end of May, Boswell had a 2.12 ERA, in 34 innings. Boswell would have remained in the starting rotation, but he came down with mononucleosis and missed about a quarter of the season. When he returned, the Twins moved Boswell to the bullpen where he finished the 1965 pennant winning season. With the Twins only using 3 starters in the 1965 World Series, Boswell made one appearance in the 1965 World Series pitching in relief of Jim Kaat in-game 5. Boswell was in the starting rotation between 1966-1968 and won 36 games. But in 1969 Boswell had a career season going 20-12 with a 3.23 ERA while pitching 256.1 innings. Boswell started game 2 of the 1969 ALCS against the Baltimore Orioles and pitched 10.2 scoreless innings but came away as the losing pitcher when reliever Ron Perranoski game up single to Curt Motton and Boog Powell whom Boswell had walked to lead off the inning scored the only run in the ball game and the Orioles were 1-0 winners. Boswell hurt his arm striking out Frank Robinson to end the 10th inning and according to Boswell that was the reason he walked Powell to lead off the 11th inning. That arm injury was the beginning of the end for Dave Boswell and his big league career. In 1970 Boswell tried pitching through his injury but went 3-7 with a 6.42 ERA and on July 29 Boswell pitched in his last Twins game, a start against the Cleveland Indians that lasted just 2.1 innings when he gave up 7 walks and 3 hits. The Twins released Boswell in April 1971 and he hooked with the Detroit Tigers but he only pitched in 3 games there before being released in late May. Boswell then signed with the Baltimore Orioles and finished the 1971 season there.  Baltimore released Boswell before the 1972 season and amazingly at the young age of 27, Boswell’s big league career was finished.

Although Boswell won 20 games in 1969, he is probably better remembered for a fight that he had with Twins manager Billy Martin at the Lindall A.C. in Detroit. There are a lot of different stories circulating about that fight and we won’t go into them here.

Dave Boswell’s career lasted 8 years and he had a 68-56 record and an ERA of 3.52 and a 1.26 WHIP. Bos struck out 882 batters in his 1,065.1 innings and he gave up only 858 hits. Boswell always gave up fewer hits than innings pitched until he suffered his arm injury late in 1969. Boswell loved playing baseball and he was a good hitter too. Dave hit 4 home runs and knocked in 22 while batting .202 during his career and was used by the Twins as a pinch runner many, many times in his tenure in Minnesota.

Dave Boswell was one of baseball’s real characters and he played baseball the way he lived his life, non stop. Dave Boswell participated in the Twins Fantasy Camps for a number of years and had some health issues for the last year or so. The Minnesota Twins and their fans lost one of their “good ones” yesterday. Thank you for the great memories Dave, we won’t forget you.

I did an interview with Dave a few years back and you can see that Q&A by click here.

A beautiful YouTube tribute to Dave Boswell can be viewed here.

The Baltimore Sun obit for Dave Boswell

Shooter Now: Minnesota Twins ‘character’ Dave Boswell dies

Looking at some recent drafts

2012 first round pick Byron Buxton

The Twins drafted 43 players in the 2012 First Year player draft. With the second overall pick, the Twins selected Appling County High School (Baxley, Georgia) outfielder Byron Buxton who has signed a baseball scholarship with Georgia. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Buxton, a true five-tool prospect, led Appling County to the Class AA state championship. Buxton, also pitched and has a fastball that has been clocked at 99 mph, struck out 18 batters in last week’s clinching game. He is expected to play centerfield in pro ball. Buxton, who said he expects to sign before the July 13 deadline, comes from a middle-class background, his father drives a truck for a living, while his mother works at a school cafeteria. This year’s No. 2 pick has a slotted signing bonus of $6.2 million. The last time the Twins went the high school route with their first round pick was back in 2008 when they took outfielder Aaron Hicks.

Mason Melotakis

As of June 10th the Twins have signed 10 of their 43 picks including their second round pick LHP Mason Melotakis. According to a Twins source, they expect to sign 25-30 of their 43 picks and spend somewhere between $12.5-$13 million this year. Here is how the rest of their draft selections breakdown.

Position College High School Bats Right Bats Left Switch Hitter LHP RHP
C 3 3 5 0 1 n/a n/a
1B 1 0 1 0 0 n/a n/a
2B 2 0 2 0 0 n/a n/a
SS 0 1 1 0 0 n/a n/a
3B 1 0 1 0 0 n/a n/a
OF 4 4 7 1 0 n/a n/a
P 20 4 n/a n/a n/a 8 16
TOTALS 31 (72%) 12 (28%) 17 1 1 8 16

Picking 30th, the Twins drafted 52 players in the 2011 First Year player draft. The Twins selected Levi Michael a switch-hitting shortstop from North Carolina with their first pick. The Twins signed 33 of their 52 (63%) picks in 2011 and spent just under $5.9 million. Here is how the rest of their draft selections break down.

Position College High school Bats right Bats left switch hitter LHP RHP
C 2 0 2 0 0 n/a n/a
1B 0 0 0 0 0 n/a n/a
2B 0 2 1 0 1 n/a n/a
SS 5 1 5 0 1 n/a n/a
3B 0 1 1 0 0 n/a n/a
OF 4 2 3 3 0 n/a n/a
P 23 12 n/a n/a n/a 17 18
TOTALS 34 (65%) 18 (35%) 12 3 2 17 18

 

In 2010 the Twins signed 31 of 50 (62%) of the players they drafted.

In 2009 the Twins signed 23 of 51 (45%) of the players they drafted.

Let’s take a peek at the American League from 2009 through 2011 and see how many drafted players have actually been signed by the teams. It is really no surprise that MLB dropped to 50 rounds in 2012 as a very low percentage of the players drafted in rounds 41-50 were signed anyway. Between 2009 and 2011 only 3 first round picks chose not to sign and they were the first rounders for Texas and Tampa in 2009 and Toronto in 2011. If you are going to be drafted and want to sign, you have to hope that the Mariners draft you because they have the highest signing percentage while the Yankees have the lowest signing percentage. Only the Yankees at 46%, the Reds Sox at 48%, the Rangers at 50%, the Indians at 53%, and the Orioles at 56% have a lower signing percentage than the Twins 57% . Who would have thought that?

TEAM 2011drafted/signed 2010drafted/signed 2009drafted/signed Totals
Twins 52/33 50/31 51/23 153/87(57%)
Tigers 49/33 51/33 50/25 150/91(61%)
White Sox 50/33 51/34 52/39 153/106(69%)
Indians 50/27 50/27 50/26 150/80(53%)
Royals 50/33 50/37 49/27 149/97(65%)
Yankees 50/23 50/26 49/20 149/69(46%)
Rays 60/48 53/38 50/25 163/111(68%)
Orioles 50/22 49/39 50/22 149/83(56%)
Red Sox 53/30 52/24 50/20 155/74(48%)
Blue Jays 55/38 52/38 52/32 159/108(68%)
Angels 49/39 55/43 54/30 158/112(71%)
A’s 49/30 50/33 49/25 148/88(59%)
Mariners 51/44 50/38 52/29 153/111(73%)
Rangers 51/25 53/38 51/15 155/78(50%)
719/458(64%) 720/479(67%) 709/358(50%)
Published
Categorized as MLB Draft

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

 

Beloit outfielder/second baseman Eddie Rosario is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week for June 2-8. Rosario, 21, batted .450 (9-for-20) with three doubles, one home run, had three RBI, six runs scored, one walk and three strikeouts in five games for the Snappers. Rosario was the Twins fourth round pick in the 2010 First-Year Player Draft out of Rafael Lopez Landron (PR) High School, this marks his second Twins Minor League Player of the Week honor, after earning his first, July 1, 2011.

Rosario is learning to play 2B after spending all of his time in the outfield in 2010-2011. The sweet swinging left handed hitting Rosario is 6′ and only goes 170 but he has some serious pop in his bat hitting 21 out of the park in 2011 in only 270 at bats in Elizabethton. In ony his third season, Eddie has a career .312 batting average.

UPDATE as of June 13, 2012 – Eddie Rosario was hit in the face yesterday by a line drive during batting practice and has at least one facial fracture. The current expecatation is that he could be on the DL for 6 weeks.

This Day in Twins History – June 4

outfielder Larry Hisle

1976 – Larry Hisle becomes the third Twins player ever to hit for the cycle as he does so in Baltimore in a 10 inning Twins 8-6 victory.

1982 – Brad Havens and Terry Felton combined to shut out Baltimore 6-0 at the Metrodome, snapping the Twins’ club-record 14-game losing streak. The last-place Twins were 3-26 in the month of May. To boost attendance, Twins president Calvin Griffith promised fans that they could purchase tickets for a future game for a buck if the Twins won the game and broke their losing streak.

2002 – In its 23-2 win over Cleveland at the Metrodome, Minnesota had four players with four hits, four players with at least three RBIs and four players with at least three runs scored. In the seventh inning, the Twins set a franchise record with 10 runs in the frame — Minnesota batted around before making an out. The Twins had a franchise-record 25 hits. The Twins also set a team mark for their largest margin of victory at 21 which broke the mark of 19 set May 20, 1994 in a 21-2 victory over the Red Sox. The Indians matched their most lopsided loss in history — 21-0 to Detroit on Sept. 15, 1901.

According to Elias

Scott Diamond

Scott Diamond allowed three runs, all unearned, in the Twins’ victory at Cleveland to improve his record to 4-1 and lower his ERA to 1.86. Diamond is the third Twins rookie since the franchise relocated to Minnesota in 1961 to win at least four of his first six starts of a season while posting such a low ERA. The others were Jim Hughes in 1975 (5-1, 1.62 ERA) and Francisco Liriano in 2006 (5-1, 1.50 ERA).

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

Jason Wheeler

Beloit left-handed pitcher Jason Wheeler is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week for May 26-June 1. Wheeler, 21, won both of his starts for the Snappers, going 2-0, 4.84 ERA (13.0 ip, 7 er), allowing 12 hits with five walks and 13 strikeouts. In 11 starts this season, he is 7-1, 3.23 (64.0 IP, 23 er) allowing 67 hits with 15 walks and 46 strikeouts. Wheeler was the Twins eighth round pick in the 2011 First-Year Player Draft out of Loyola Marymount University.