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).
With his 23rd birthday just a few days off Miranda hit .536 (15-for-28) with two doubles, three home runs, four RBI, two walks and a 1.495 OPS in six games for the Wind Surge, including a five-hit game on Thursday at Midland. Miranda is splitting his time this season playing first, second and third base. In 45 games this season Miranda has 12 home runs, 35 RBI and is hitting .349 with a 1.000 OPS. Plus Miranda has almost as many walks (17) as he has strikeouts (23). I am thinking that Miranda would prefer a bump up to AAA-St. Paul rather than collecting POW honors. He certainly appears to have earned it.
Josh Winder is this weeks Twins minor league pitcher of the week and he too is a repeat winner having won the award in week two. Winder was drafted by the Twins in the 7th round of the 2018 MLB June Amateur Draft from Virginia Military Institute (Lexington, VA). Winder skipped right over High A ball going from Low A Cedar Rapids in 2019 to AA ball in Wichita this season. Will he skip AAA ball too?
Winder a 24-year old right-hander made one start for the Wind Surge coming on Wednesday at Midland, allowing one run on four hits in 7.0 innings pitched with no walks and seven strikeouts. For the season Winder is 3-0 in ten starts with a 1.98 ERA. Winder has struck out 65 batters in 54.2 innings allowing just 41 hits and has a 0.933 WHIP so his control is pretty impressive. We might see him at least auditioning in a Twins uniform this season.