In week 14 the Twins have named AA – Wichita infielder Jermaine Palacios and AAA – St. Paul left-handed pitcher Jovani Moran as the club’s minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week. Both are repeat winners of the award this year.
The Twins signed Jermaine Palacios out of Venezuela in September 2013 and then in February of 2018 traded him to Tampa Bay for pitcher Jake Odorizzi only to resign him as a minor league free agent this past February.
Palacios appeared in seven games for the Wind Surge, hitting .259 (7-for-27) with two doubles, four home runs, eight RBI, four walks and a 1.122 OPS. The 24-year Palacios has a career high sixteen home runs this season in 75 games and is being used primarily at shortstop in Wichita.
Jovani Moran was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 7th round of the 2015 MLB June Amateur Draft from Carlos Beltran Baseball Academy (Florida, Puerto Rico).
When Moran won this award a few weeks back he was with AA Wichita but on July 16 he was promoted to AAA St. Paul. Moran appeared in two games for the Saints this week, pitching four shutout innings with no hits allowed, no walks and seven strikeouts. This season in AA & AAA over 50 innings Moran has an amazing 1.98 ERA while allowing just 17 hits and striking out 85 with a 0.700 WHIP. The Twins could use a lefty like this in the bullpen NOW! Moran is number 30 in the Twins MLB Pipeline.