In week 9, the Minnesota Twins have named AAA St. Paul infielder Jose Miranda and Low-A Fort Myers right-handed pitcher Sawyer Gipson-Long as the Twins minor league Player of the Week and Pitcher of the Week — both repeat winners. This starting to be a habit for Miranda.
Jose Miranda split the week between the AAA St. Paul Saints and AA Wichita Wind Surge, earning the promotion to St. Paul on Monday. In his Triple-A debut on Tuesday vs. Omaha, he went 5-for-6 with one double, three home runs and six RBI. He combined to hit .407 (11-for-27) with two doubles, four home runs and 11 RBI in six games. The Manatí, Puerto Rico native was selected by the Twins in the second round (73rd overall) out of Leadership Christian Academy in Guaynabo, PR. This is actually the fourth time that Miranda has been the Twins Player of the week in 2021. MLB now has Miranda listed as the 16th best Twins prospect in their MLB Pipeline. For those of you that have not heard, Yes, Twins prospect Jose Miranda is the cousin of Lin-Manuel Miranda — the famous actor and playwright. No, Jose Miranda hasn’t seen his cousin’s best-known work, “Hamilton.”
Sawyer Gipson-Long made two starts for the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels, going 1-0, 1.50 ERA (12.0 IP, 2 ER) with no walks and 14 strikeouts. The Lithia Springs, Georgia native was selected by the Twins in the sixth round of the 2019 First-Year Player Draft out of Mercer University in Macon, GA. This is Gipson-Long’s second Twins Pitcher of the Week selection.
Gipson-Long is pitching in his second pro season with no minor league ball played in 2020 due to COVID. Gipson-Long is 4-2 on the season with 59 strikeouts in 41.2 innings and has a 1.392 WHIP.