Month: August 2019

Twins minor league players of the week – Kirilloff & Ober

The Twins have announced that outfielder Alex Kirilloff and Bailey Ober have been named Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.

Alex Kirilloff

Kirilloff, 21, played in seven games for Double-A Pensacola this week, hitting .444 (12-for-27) with one double, one home run, five RBI and a 1.075 OPS. Kirilloff was drafted by the Twins in round one and 15th overall in the 2016 First-Year Player Draft and represented the Twins at the SiriusXM Futures Game in Cleveland this summer.

Kirilloff is in his fourth season of pro ball but he missed all of 2017 due to TJ surgery. The slugging left-hander has never hit below .306 in the pro’s but is hitting only .282 this year after injuries early in the season hampered his swing. A star in the making, I’m sure we would all love to see a sneak peak of Alex at Target Field this season but I think that is unlikely to happen, next year at some point for sure.

Bailey Ober

Ober, 24, made one start for the Blue Wahoos on Wednesday at Mississippi, pitching 7 shutout innings with three hits, no walks and 12 strikeouts. In his two starts at Pensacola, the big 6’9″ right-hander is 2-0 with 14 innings pitched, 20 KO’s, 5 hits allowed, 1 walk and 1 earned run allowed.

Ober was drafted by the Twins in the 12th round of the 2017 MLB Draft out of College of Charleston.

Twins Minor League Report, 8-25-19

Gabe Snyder named to post season All-Star roster in MWL.

Gabe Snyder

The Midwest League has announced the 2019 Post Season All-Star Roster. The team was selected by the Field Managers of the sixteen Midwest League member clubs. Gabe Snyder was selected to the Post Season All-Star Roster at first base. Snyder has hit .258 (100-for-387) with 21 doubles, three triples, 16 home runs and 51 RBI in 105 games for the Cedar Rapids Kernels. 

The 24 year old Snyder was selected in the 21st round of the 2018 June draft and received a $1,000 signing bonus.

Twins minor league players of the week – Celestino & Chalmers

Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week honors have been announced and Low-A Cedar Rapids outfielder Gilberto Celestino and High-A Ft. Myers right-handed pitcher Dakota Chalmers have been named.

Gilberto Celestino

In five games for the Kernels, Celestino hit .579 (11-for-19) with three doubles, two home runs, five RBI and a 1.689 OPS. The 20-year-old Dominican was acquired by the Twins in July 2018 as part of the Ryan Pressly trade with Houston and is in his fourth season of pro ball. The right-handed hitting Celestino, who currently is rated the Twins number 21 prospect, was promoted to the Ft. Myers Miracle on August 21st. I think this is the third time this year that Celestino has won the Twins POW honor, WOW!

Dakota Chalmers

The right-handed Chalmers made the start on Tuesday versus St. Lucie, surrendering one unearned run in 6 innings allowing three hits, one walk and nine strikeouts. The 22-year-old was acquired by the Twins from Oakland in exchange for Fernando Rodney last August. What I like about Chalmers is that he always seems to give up fewer hits then inning pitched, in 151 career inning pitched he has given up just 105 hits but struck out 178.

Interesting in that both Celestino and Chalmers were acquired in trades. One of the trades, the one in which the Twins traded Pressly still has many Twins fans grumbling because he has been so good for Houston. The Rodney deal? Not so much, no one seems to care or even remember him.

Twins Minor League Report, 8-18-19

 

Max Kepler The New European Home Run King

Single-Season European Home Run King Max Kepler
Max Kepler

With his 33rd home run, a two-run shot last night, Max Kepler now owns the MLB single-season record for most homers by a European-born player. The Berlin, Germany native surpassed Glasgow, Scotland-born Bobby Thomson, who hit 32 home runs for the 1951 New York Giants. Thomson’s final homer in ’51 was the legendary “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” to clinch the NL pennant.

 

Bobby Thomson

Thomson played in the big leagues for 15 seasons from 1946-1960 for the New York Giants, Milwaukee Braves, Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles and 246 career home runs. Kepler has 89 career home runs but has played in 1,247 fewer games than Thomson.

 

Twins announce their 2020 schedule

 

The Minnesota Twins today announced their preliminary regular season schedule for the 2020 season, marking the team’s 60th campaign in Twins Territory.

Minnesota will begin its diamond anniversary season with its earliest Opening Day ever, March 26 at Oakland. That contest will start a seven-game, two-city roadtrip against the Athletics (March 26-29) and the Seattle Mariners (March 30-April 1). The Twins will then host Oakland at Target Field for the home opener on April 2, part of a six-game homestand vs. the A’s (April 2-5) and the Cleveland Indians (April 6-8).

The Twins will again play 20 Interleague games over the course of the 2020 regular season (2 in April/ 3 in May/ 5 in June/ 5 in July/ 2 in August/ 3 in September). The home Interleague schedule includes the first-ever Target Field appearance by the San Francisco Giants (May 4-6), along with visits by the Milwaukee Brewers (June 16-17), the Colorado Rockies (June 26-28) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (July 28-29). The Twins will also face the Dodgers (April 28-29) and Brewers (August 25-26) on the road, along with trips to the Arizona Diamondbacks (July 20-22) and the San Diego Padres (September 22-24).

The Twins 2020 schedule features 16 home games in the month of April, 13 in May, 16 in June, 10 in July, 14 in August and 12 in September, along with showcase weekend series against the Boston Red Sox (April 24-26), Los Angeles Angels (June 4-7), New York Yankees (June 18-21), Toronto Blue Jays (July 9-12) and Houston Astros (July 31-August 2). After its successful debut in 2019, weekday (Monday-Thursday) night games at home will again start at 6:40 p.m. in the months of April, May (prior to Memorial Day) and September (after Labor Day), while Minnesota will host 46 of its 81 home games between those two holidays.

The Twins will play each of their American League Central Division rivals 19 times apiece: the Chicago White Sox (9 home/10 away), the Cleveland Indians (10 home/9 away), the Detroit Tigers (9 home/10 away) and the Kansas City Royals (9 home/10 away). The Twins will face each AL Central Division team for three series apiece at home and three series on the road.

2020 Season Tickets

Fans who purchase the 2019 Playoff Push Plan or a season ticket package for 2020 will have 2019 postseason ticket priority. Fans interested in buying season tickets can visit twinsbaseball.com.

All game times and broadcast information will be announced at a later date

Twins minor league players of the week – Larnach & Balazovic

Trevor Larnach (click on image to make larger)

Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week honors have been announced and  AA Pensacola Blue Wahoos outfielder Trevor Larnach and High-A Ft. Myers Miracle right-handed pitcher Jordan Balazovic have been named.

In five games for the Miracle, Larnach hit .412 (7-for-17) with two home runs, five RBI, four walks and a 1.289 OPS. The 22-year-old was selected by the Twins 20th overall in the 2018 First-Year Player Draft out of Oregon State University. After signing with Minnesota the left-handed hitting Larnach started with rookie league Elizabethton and finished the season with Low-A Cedar Rapids. This year he started in High-A Ft. Myers and was promoted in mid-July to AA Pensacola. At the present rate on the fast track I would expect Larnach to at least make an appearance for the Twins in 2020.

Jordan Balazovic – click on image to make it larger)

Balazovic made the start on Thursday vs. Jupiter, pitching 5 shutout innings with two
hits allowed, one walk and nine strikeouts. The 20-year-old 6’5″ right-hander was selected by the Twins in the fifth round of the 2016 First-Year Player Draft out of St. Martin SS in Mississauga, Ontario. Balazovic pitched one perfect inning at the SiriusXM Futures Game this July at Progressive Field.

Balazovic carving path into Twins’ Future

 

Twins Minor League Report, 8-11-19

Twins minor league players of the week – Celestino & Ober

Gilberto Celestino

For the second straight week, the Twins have named Low-A Cedar Rapids Kernels outfielder Gilberto Celestino Twins Player of the Week. In his last six games for the Kernels, Celestino hit .458 (11-for-24) with one double, one home run, three RBI, two walks and a 1.144 OPS. Celestino was acquired by the Twins along with right-handed pitcher Jorge Alcala near the 2018 trade deadline in exchange for right-handed pitcher Ryan Pressly. Celestino was originally signed as international free agent by Astros, July 2, 2015 for a $2.25 million signing bonus and $275,000 for college.

Bailey Ober

High -A Ft. Myers right-handed pitcher Bailey Ober has been named Twins minor
league Pitcher of the Week. The 6’9″ Ober made the start last Saturday, allowing one unearned run on six hits in 6.1 innings pitched, earning the win over Lakeland. In 8 starts for the Miracle this season Ober is 4-0 with a 0.99 ERA in 45.2 innings. His WHIP matches his ERA at 0.99 and he has struck out 53 batters while allowing on 39 hits. Nice numbers!

The 24-year-old was drafted by the Twins in the 12th round of the 2017 MLB Draft out of College of Charleston and signed for a reported $125,000 signing bonus. Ober had been drafted by the Dodgers as a 23rd rounder in 2016 but chose not to sign.

Twins Minor League Report, 8-4-19

Nelson Cruz on a record breaking roll!

Nelson Cruz

Stolen from today’s MN Twins GameNotes. This is just crazy, the man is 39 years old. We are lucky to have watched him this year.

ALL ABOUT THE BOOMSTICK: Historic night in Nellyville:

Nelson Cruz has 30 home runs on the season, tied for second most in the AL.

He now has 30 for the sixth straight season. Active players with 30+ homer streaks include Albert Pujols (12) from 2001-12, Edwin Encarnacion (8) from 2012-19, and Miguel Cabrera (7) from 2007-13.

Cruz’s 30 home runs pass Chili Davis‘ 1991 total (29) for the most by a DH in club history, (MLB all-time record is 54 by David Ortiz in 2006).

Current .652 slugging percentage is the highest in club history (next: Killebrew, .606 in 1961).

Three homers last night marked the 12th time in club history:  Bob Allison (’63), Harmon Killebrew (’63), Tony Oliva (’73), Justin Morneau (’07), Max Kepler (’16), Brian Dozier (’16), Eddie Rosario (’17), Byron Buxton (’17), Eddie Rosario (’18), Max Kepler (’19), Nelson Cruz (’19) and Nelson Cruz (’19).

Becomes the 23rd player in baseball history with multiple three-homer games in a season (first in Twins history). The first in MLB history with multiple after turning 39.

After Cruz’s three-homer game July 25 at CWS, he joins Doug DeCinces (8/3 & 8, 1982) and Johnny Mize (7/13 & 20, 1938) as the only players to homer three times within 10 days.

Leads baseball in home runs since ASG (14), next players, Max Kepler and Mancini have nine. Also leads baseball in RBI since ASG (26)

Joins Jason Kubel (2009) as the only two players in club history with four five+ RBI games in a season.

Thanks for the show Boomstick!