Dwight Leroy Siebler was born in Columbus, Nebraska on August 5, 1937, as the third of four children of William and Viola Siebler. Dwight Siebler passed away on June 16, 2021 in Omaha, Nebraska at the age of 83.
Month: June 2021
Twins Minor League POW are Jose Miranda & Josh Winder
Double AA Wichita infielder Jose Miranda and Double AA Wichita right-handed pitcher Josh Winder (WINE-der) have been named Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week. About time that Wichita posted some new roster pictures on their web site.
Week eight has AA-Wichita Wind Surge infielder Jose Miranda as the Twins minor league position player of the week for the third time this season. He previously won the award in weeks one and five. Miranda was drafted by the Twins in the 2nd round of the 2016 MLB June Amateur Draft from Leadership Christian Academy (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico).
So where do the Twins go from here?
Minnesota Twins fans and the team itself had such high expectations going into 2021 and yet as we approach the midway point in the season we find the team floundering badly at 31-42. The season opened on April 1 and the team reached their high-water mark for the season on April 8 when they were three games over .500 with a 5-2 record. Since then it has been one step forward and two steps back.
So how do you explain this? How does a team that everyone expected to be a serious contender and pretty much a playoff lock in 2021 play such terrible baseball that it is basically unwatchable? Where do you start? Like in most businesses you have to start at the top.
Twins Minor League POW are Tomás Telis & Jordan Balazovic
Week seven brings us AAA – St. Paul Saints catcher/first baseman Tomás Telis as the Twins position player of the week. Telis was originally signed as a FA by the Texas Rangers in 2007. The 30-year-old Telis has 122 games of big league experience, 24 with Texas and 98 with Miami. Telis signed with the Twins as a FA in January of 2019 and has been in the Twins system since then. You can’t really consider Telis a prospect but he is a back-up should the Twins need one. Telis is a catcher but has expanded his repertoire to include first base and has even played a couple of games at second and third base. Telis has played in over 1,000 minor league games, a handy man to have around.
Telis played in six games for the Saints this week, hitting .391 (9-for-23) with one double, three home runs, five RBI, three walks and a 1.288 OPS. The 30-year-old has played in 39 games for the Saints this season, hitting .271 (42-for-155) with four doubles, one triple, six home runs and 21 RBI.
This week week we have another Jordan as the Twins pitcher of the week and this time it is Jordan Balazovic. Balazovic was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 5th round of the 2016 MLB June Amateur Draft from St. Martin SS (Mississauga, ON) . The 22-year-old right-hander is currently rated as the third best prospect in the Twins minor league system by MLB.
In the past 10 years, there have been five pitchers drafted and signed in the top five rounds of the Draft out of Canada. Only one, the Braves’ Mike Soroka, has made it to the big leagues. Balazovic, signed as a thin, projectable high school right-hander as a fifth rounder in 2016, has the chance to be the next.
MLB Pipeline
This past week Balazovic made his last start for the AA – Wichita Wind Surge on Tuesday vs. Springfield, pitching 4.1 scoreless innings with two hits allowed, one walk and eight strikeouts. Balazovic has only made four starts this season and pitched a total of 14 innings. It would be nice to see Balazovic get some innings under his belt as he has under 250 total innings in pro ball since 2016 with none in 2020 due to COVID.
Twins 1965 World Series star Mudcat Grant passes away at 85
Jim “Mudcat” Grant was born on August 13, 1935 in Lacoochee, Florida, a small town of about 500 people in central Florida. According to the Cleveland Indians, Mudcat Grant died peacefully in Los Angeles, California on June 11, 2021. Jim Grant was 85 years old.
Twins Minor League POW are Spencer Steer & Jordan Gore
Week six finds another repeater (week two) as the Twins minor league position player of the week with infielder Spencer Steer. Steer who was born in Long Beach, California was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 3rd round of the 2019 MLB June Amateur Draft from University of Oregon (Eugene, OR). The 5’11” Steer had previously been drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 29th round in 2016 but did not sign with them. Steer is primarily playing second base for the High A Cedar Rapids Kernels this year but he has also played shortstop and third base.
Steer who was on fire this past week played in six games for the Kernels, hitting .333 (9-for-27) with one double, six home runs, 11 RBI, four walks and a 1.456 OPS, including two two-homer games, one on Sunday at Fort Wayne and one on Wednesday at Beloit. MLB Pipeline recently added Spencer Steer to the Minnesota Twins 2021 top 30 prospect list. You can follow Steer on twitter at @spenc__er .
Twins Minor League POW are Jose Miranda & Sawyer Gipson-Long
In week five the Minnesota Twins minor league players of the week are AA Wichita infielder Jose Miranda and Low A Fort Myers left-handed pitcher Sawyer Gipson-Long. Congrats to Jose and Sawyer.
Pitcher “Iron Mike” Mike Marshall gone at the age of 78
Mike Marshall, one of the most durable relievers in baseball history and the first reliever to win a Cy Young award has died at the age of 78 on May 31, 2021 exactly 54 years to day of when he made his MLB debut. Marshall passed away in his Zephyrhills, Florida home where he had been in hospice care for Alzheimer’s disease. Michael Grant Marshall was born in Adrian, Michigan on January 15, 1943.
Marshall began his professional baseball career when he was signed as an infielder by the Philadelphia Phillies on September 13, 1960. Marshall made his MLB debut pitching for the Detroit Tigers at the age of 24 with an inning of relief in 9-0 blow-out loss to the Cleveland Indians.