With no MiLB played in 2020 due to COVID we have not had any Minnesota Twins players of the week since September 2019. It is nice to get things a little more back to normal. The MiLB season started about a month later than normal and the Appalachian League has been discontinued. The Twins discontinued their AAA relationship with the Rochester Red Wings and their new AAA St. Paul Saints team is just across the Mississippi River. What a wonderful deal for the Minnesota Twins and fans of minor league baseball. The Twins new AA team is the Wichita Wind Surge of the Double-A Central League Northern Division. The Cedar Rapids Kernels are now the High-A team and the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels are the Low-A team.
The Rookie League Gulf Coast league Twins and the Dominican Summer League Twins will begin play later this year.
So let’s get right to it and introduce this weeks Twins Minor League POW (Player of the Week) Jose Miranda who is an infielder with the Wichita Wind Surge and has played second and third base this season. Miranda was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 2nd round of the 2016 MLB June Amateur Draft from Leadership Christian Academy (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico). Miranda, a shortstop was selected from Leadership Christian Academy with the No. 73 overall pick in Lottery Round B and projects to be a power-hitting third baseman. The Twins saved slot money by signing him for $775,000, as the pick had a value of $878,500.
The 22 year-old Miranda who bats and throws from the right side is 6’2″ and goes about 210. Miranda started playing pro ball in 2016 at the age of 18 with the Gulf Coast Twins and spent most of 2019 with High-A Fort Myers and played one game with the AA Pensacola Blue Wahoos. In five games this season Miranda is hitting .391 with an 1.223 OPS going 9 for 23 with three home runs and seven RBI and he has struck out just once. Miranda’s first home run for the Wind Surge can be can seen here.
The Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Week is Brent Headrick. Headrick was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 9th round of the 2019 MLB June Amateur Draft from Illinois State University (Normal, IL) and signed for about $130KThe 23 year-old Headrick is a lefty and he has some size at 6’6″ and 235. You can watch a cool YouTube interview that Twins Daily Seth Stohs did with Brent here.
In 2019 Headrick appeared briefly in just three games for Elizabethton pitching 3.2 innings. In his lone start this season with the High-A Fort Myers Mighty Mussels he went 4 scoreless innings allowing two hits and striking out seven.
John,
With the Twins off to a horrible start, the farm system is a nice place to focus.
Last year with my Red Sox playing their worst ball in 55 years (albeit a 60 game season),
my focus was the alternate site in Pawtucket where the Boston Globe kept tabs on
the daily work, intrasquad games, etc.
A lot of what went on down there last year is paying dividends this year with some of the
young talent making contributions to their good start. Much too early to start ordering
World Series tix, just as it is too early to write off the Twins. Losing Buxton ain’t gonna help, though.
Thank you for your donation Paul. Yes, the Twins have been very disappointing this season, I really expected just the opposite, I expected their best year ever but their are so many wheels that have fallen off this wagon. But, #$*t happens sometimes, once things go bad it just spirals out of control. You have to be decide if this is just a one year thing or if you need to start over.