Twins minor league players of the week – Diaz and Cabezas

High A Ft. Myers Miracle first baseman Lewin Diaz and Low A Cedar Rapids Kernels right-handed pitcher Andrew Cabezas have been named Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.

Ft. Myers Miracle Lewin Diaz (11) bats in the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Palm Beach Cardinals at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter, Fla., Sunday, May 5, 2019. (Gordon Donovan)

Diaz played in six games for the Miracle, hitting .333 (9-for-27) with one double, three home runs, six RBI and a 1.037 OPS. Diaz, 22, was signed out of Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic in July of 2013 for reported $1.4 million.  Actually all three of his home runs this week came in one game when he became the first Miracle player to ever hit three home runs in a single game. Diaz played in 79 games for the Miracle in 2018 hitting six home runs with a batting average of  just .224 along with an OPS of .598. In his second go around this year, he has appeared in 32 games hitting six home runs while putting up an average of .322 and an .881 OPS. I saw him this past January doing extra work at the ballpark long before spring training started. The man can hit the ball a long way and his first base play is coming along very nicely. 

Cabezas made the start on Wednesday versus Quad Cities, pitching 7 shutout innings with one hit allowed, no walks and nine strikeouts. Cabezas Collars Bandits in Combined Shutout . Cabezas, 22, was drafted by the Twins in the 18th round of the 2018 First-Year Player Draft from the University of Miami and signed for a reported $90,000 according to Twins Daily.

 

Twins Minor League Report, 5-19-19