The Minnesota Twins have selected AA-Wichita Wind Surge outfielder BJ Boyd and AAA-St. Paul Saints pitcher Joe Ryan as their minor league players of the week for week 16.
BJ Boyd was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 4th round of the 2012 MLB June Amateur Draft from Palo Alto HS (Palo Alto, CA). On May 27, 2021 the Twins signed him as a free agent to a minor league deal and assigned him to Wichita. Boyd who turned 28 in July last played pro ball in 2018 at the AAA level in the A’s system.
This past week Boyd, a left-handed hitting outfielder appeared in 7 games and slashed .343/.343/.771 with 5 home runs, 12 RBI and 9 runs scored in 35 AB’s. For the season so far Boyd is hitting .313 with 15 home runs, 60 RBI and 8 steals in 256 AB.
Joe Ryan was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 39th round of the 2014 MLB June Amateur Draft from Sir Francis Drake HS (San Anselmo, CA) and the Tampa Bay Rays in the 7th round of the 2018 MLB June Amateur Draft from California State University, Stanislaus (Turlock, CA).
On July 22, 2021 the Twins traded Nelson Cruz and and Calvin Faucher (minors) to the Tampa Bay Rays for Joe Ryan (minors) and Drew Strotman (minors). At the time of the trade Ryan was a member of the USA Olympic baseball team which went on to win a silver medal losing to Japan in the championship game. The most recent MLB Pipeline has Ryan rated as the sixth best Twins prospect.
Ryan’s first start for the AAA St. Paul Saints was much anticipated by Twins fans and he did not disappoint. On a 60-70 pitch count Ryan went four innings allowing just one hit albeit a home run, while striking 9 batters and walking just one. At AAA-Durham earlier this year Ryan as 4-3 with a 3.63 ERA, a 0.789 WHIP and 75 strikeouts in 57 innings.