Category: General Blogging

This is a general blogging category.

Vargas and Berrios 2014 minor league players of the year

Kennys Vargas the 24 year-old 1B/DH has been named the Twins Minor League Player of the Year (Sherry Robertson Award) and Jose Berrios a 20 year-old right-handed pitcher has been named as the Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Year (Jim Rantz Award).

Kennys Vargas
Kennys Vargas

Vargas was called up by the Twins on July 31 from New Britain and made his major league debut at U.S. Cellular Field on his 24th birthday on August 1 going 1 for 5 with a run scored and two RBI. Vargas has been with the Twins ever since and appears to be a fixture in the Twins line-up for years to come. Between New Britain and his stint in Minnesota Vargas as hit 26 home runs this season. The switch-hitting Vargas is probably going to get some games in at first base but his primary role with the Twins will be at DH.

Berrios is on the fast track to Minnesota, the 20 year-old started the season going 9-3 with a 1.96 ERA for the Ft. Myers Miracle before being bumped up to Double A New Britain where he was 3-4 with a 3.54 ERA. The Triple A Rochester club had an outside shot at making the playoffs late in the season and the Twins sent Berrios to Rochester where he started one game but came up the loser when he lasted just 3 innings and gave up 6 earned run. Berrios had a great season and the only fly in the ointment here is that he was pulled from a game late in the season with a sore arm. Berrios pitched after that episode but it is certainly something to keep an eye on. Berrios has all kinds of potential and I would hate to see some kind of an arm injury slow down his development and delay his arrival in a Twins uniform. I think that Berrios has as much or more potential than any pitcher the Twins have in their minor league system and I can’t wait to see him pitch at Target Field in as a Minnesota Twin.

Jose Berrios
Jose Berrios

I sure hope that winning the Jim Rantz award does not jinx Berrios. If Berrios checks out the previous Jim Rantz award winners, he might not show up in Minnesota in January to accept his award. Maybe the Twins should consider renaming the award instead of have it named for Jim Rantz a long time Twins executive but who was a career minor league pitcher from 1960-1964 and never got a taste of pitching in the major leagues.

Previous Jim Rantz award winners

2013 – Andrew Albers
2012 – B.J. Hermsen
2011 – Liam Hendriks
2010 – Kyle Gibson
2009 – David Bromberg
2008 – Anthony Slama
2007 – Kevin Slowey
2006 – Matt Garza
2005 – Francisco Liriano
2004 – Scott Baker
2003 – Jesse Crain
2002 – J.D. Durbin
 

Congratulations to both Kennys Vargas and Jose Berrios on their great season!

This and That

Santana, Danny 3 2014

According to Elias –  Danny Santana was 3-for-5 with a double, triple, and stolen base in the Twins’ 8-4 home win over the Tigers. It was the second time this season that Santana delivered at least three hits, two extra-base hits, and a steal from the leadoff slot; he also did it against the White Sox on August 3. The only other Twins leadoff hitters to have more than one such game in a season since the team moved to Minnesota in 1961 were Dan Gladden (3 in 1988) and Jacque Jones (2 in 2002).

Chattanooga Lookouts logoThe Chattanooga Lookouts are pleased to announce that the organization has signed a four-year player development contract with the Minnesota Twins. Chattanooga is part of the 10 team Southern League which is split into the Northern and Southern Division. The Lookouts are in the Northern Division. The Lookouts who were affiliated with the Los Angeles Dodgers this past season will replace the previous Twins Double-A affiliate the New Britain Rock Cats (Eastern league) who had been the Twins Double-A home since 1995. New Britain has announced a new two-year player development agreement with the Colorado Rockies.

Glen Perkins
Glen Perkins

The Twins finally announced that Glen Perkins will be under-going an MRI, what took them so long? In his last eight games going back to August 26 Perkins has pitched 6.1 innings giving up 12 hits, two walks, five home runs, and 10 earned runs while striking out two batters. Did I mention that in those 6+ innings he has faced 32 batters and posted a 14.21 ERA? You think there is a problem here? Is this another case of a Twins player hiding an injury? Can’t be sure, but I am getting tired of players that keep playing when they are injured, they are no better in my eyes than the players that beg out of a game when they have a hang-nail. These players are professionals that are paid big money to play major league baseball, it is a shame a number of them don’t act like it. Just what the Twins need, another question mark heading into the 2015 season.

Ron GardenhireSo what will happen with manager Ron Gardenhire? Will the Twins fire him or will Gardy announce that he has resigned? My guess is that Gardy will walk away after the 2014 season finally ends to recharge his batteries and spend more time with his family and take a job with MLB TV for the 2015 season and then take another managing job next season when a manager gets axed or after the 2015 season ends. Just think how much fun it will be to watch Gardy on MLB TV, they should give him his own show. The Twins still don’t like firing people and a Gardenhire resignation will work best for everyone involved. Everyone except the current Twins coaching staff, but they have all earned the right to become free agents and a clean sweep of the Twins coaching ranks is in order. The term “getting it right” has been used a lot in the Twin Cities the last week or so with another professional team that calls Minnesota home and the Twins can borrow that phrase and put it to good use. I have always liked Ron Gardenhire but the time has come when a change needs to be made, it is kind of like when we have to get rid of a car that we have had for a long time and we really liked. The car has served us well over the many years we owned it and we have gotten used to its many idiosyncracies and most of the time it got us to where we needed to go but now it has broken down again and it is time to call the tow truck and have it taken away. There is always someone out there that thinks another mans junk is another mans treasure and Gardy is too young to be sent to the manager scrap heap so you will see him managing again soon, maybe against our Minnesota Twins.

200 hits in a season

Jose AltuveLast Wednesday Houston Astros 2B Jose Altuve went two for five in the Astros 5-2 win over the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field. His single in the seventh inning was his 200th hit of the season. As of today, Altuve, a 2014 All-Star has 206 hits and the hitter closest to him in hits is Indians outfielder Michael Brantley with 180 hits. The 24 year-old five foot six inch second sacker who is in his fourth season with the Astro’s is showing everyone that he is a real good baseball player. In the last 10 seasons MLB hitters have had 200 or more hits on 36 occasions but last year there were none and this season Altuve may well be the only one. Is pitching taking over baseball?

So when was the last time the Minnesota Twins had a hitter with 200 or more hits in a season? Can’t remember? Maybe that is because it hasn’t happened for many a year. The last Twins hitter to have 200 or more hits in a season was 39 year-old DH Paul Molitor back in 1996. The amazing Kirby Puckett did it a total of five times including four in a row from 1986-1989 and he came up just short in 1985 with 199 hits. The Twins now in their 54th season have had only 13 hitters that have gotten 200 or more hits in a single season. The Twins have never had more than one hitter in a season get 200 or more hits but in 1977 Rod Carew had 239 hits and Lyman Bostock came up just short with 199 hits.

Twins hitters with 200 or more hits in a season

Kirby Puckett

Rk Player H Year ? Age G AB R HR RBI BA OPS Pos
1 Paul Molitor 225 1996 39 161 660 99 9 113 .341 .858 *D3/H
2 Kirby Puckett 210 1992 32 160 639 104 19 110 .329 .864 *8/DH45
3 Kirby Puckett 215 1989 29 159 635 75 9 85 .339 .843 *8/HD
4 Kirby Puckett 234 1988 28 158 657 109 24 121 .356 .920 *8/H
5 Kirby Puckett 207 1987 27 157 624 96 28 99 .332 .900 *8/DH
6 Kirby Puckett 223 1986 26 161 680 119 31 96 .328 .903 *8/H
7 Rod Carew 239 1977 31 155 616 128 14 100 .388 1.019 *3/H4D
8 Rod Carew 200 1976 30 156 605 97 9 90 .331 .858 *3/4H
9 Rod Carew 218 1974 28 153 599 86 3 55 .364 .879 *4/H
10 Rod Carew 203 1973 27 149 580 98 6 62 .350 .881 *4/H
11 Cesar Tovar 204 1971 30 157 657 94 1 45 .311 .725 *798/5H4
12 Tony Oliva 204 1970 31 157 628 96 23 107 .325 .878 *9/8H
13 Tony Oliva 217 1964 25 161 672 109 32 94 .323 .916 *9/8H7
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/15/2014.

 

According to Elias

FrustratedThe Angels won their season series against the Twins, seven-games-to-none. The Halos have swept only one other season series of seven or more games in their history (seven games versus the Royals in 2004) but it’s the fourth time that the Twins have been swept in a season series of at least seven games (12 games versus the Rangers in 1999, seven games against the Yankees in both 2003 and 2009).

Dozier to join a select group of Twins players

When Twins second baseman Brian Dozier scores his next run he will cross home plate for the 100th time this season and become just the 13th player in Twins history to score 100 or more runs in a single season. Twins players have scored 100 runs or more in a single season 19 times. Our old buddy Chuck Knoblauch did it four times (1992, 1995-1997) and in 1996 he scored an amazing 140 runs. The last player to score 100 or more runs for Minnesota was Michael Cuddyer when he scored 102 runs in 2006. Here is the complete list through September 5, 2014.

Brian Dozier
Brian Dozier
Rk Player R ? Year G PA AB H BB IBB SB BA OBP SLG OPS
1 Chuck Knoblauch 140 1996 153 701 578 197 98 6 45 .341 .448 .517 .965
2 Rod Carew 128 1977 155 694 616 239 69 15 23 .388 .449 .570 1.019
3 Zoilo Versalles 126 1965 160 728 666 182 41 3 27 .273 .319 .462 .781
4 Cesar Tovar 120 1970 161 726 650 195 52 5 30 .300 .356 .442 .798
5 Kirby Puckett 119 1986 161 723 680 223 34 4 20 .328 .366 .537 .903
6 Chuck Knoblauch 117 1997 156 716 611 178 84 6 62 .291 .390 .411 .800
7 Tony Oliva 109 1964 161 719 672 217 34 8 12 .323 .359 .557 .916
8 Kirby Puckett 109 1988 158 691 657 234 23 4 6 .356 .375 .545 .920
9 Tony Oliva 107 1965 149 647 576 185 55 12 19 .321 .378 .491 .870
10 Chuck Knoblauch 107 1995 136 629 538 179 78 3 46 .333 .424 .487 .911
11 Harmon Killebrew 106 1969 162 709 555 153 145 20 8 .276 .427 .584 1.011
12 Harmon Killebrew 105 1967 163 689 547 147 131 15 1 .269 .408 .558 .965
13 Lyman Bostock 104 1977 153 660 593 199 51 5 16 .336 .389 .508 .897
14 Kirby Puckett 104 1992 160 696 639 210 44 13 17 .329 .374 .490 .864
15 Chuck Knoblauch 104 1992 155 707 600 178 88 1 34 .297 .384 .358 .743
16 Bob Allison 102 1962 149 613 519 138 84 0 8 .266 .370 .511 .881
17 Michael Cuddyer 102 2006 150 635 557 158 62 5 6 .284 .362 .504 .867
18 Shane Mack 101 1992 156 692 600 189 64 1 26 .315 .394 .467 .860
19 Corey Koskie 100 2001 153 649 562 155 68 9 27 .276 .362 .488 .850
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/6/2014.

When Dozier joins this select list he will have the lowest batting average of any Twins player to score 100 or more runs in a season.

Twins relationship with Rock Cats on the rocks?

New Britain Rock Cats logoOn the field the New Britain Rock Cats (Class AA; Eastern League) finished the season with a 72-69 record but missed the playoffs. Off the field it has been an interesting season too and owner Josh Solomon says he expects his team to be playing in Hartford in two years — but maybe not as a Minnesota Twins affiliate. A split has been rumored for a few weeks, ever since Twins GM Terry Ryan spent a few days visiting the Rock Cats in August without announcing a PDC extension.

“Overall it’s been a good season in spite of the distractions,” Solomon said, referring to the team’s announcement in the middle of the year that it intends to move to Hartford (just 12 miles from New Britain) for the 2016 season and a fight with the city of Berlin over a tax issue.

Ballpark Digest article: Solomon: Rock Cats still committed to Hartford move

The Bristol Press: Solomon not worried about issues facing Rock Cats future

The Courant: Rock Cats Pay New Britain, Averting Eviction

The Bristol Press: Rock Cats take tax dispute to court

 

Help is on the way, or is it?

The Twins plan to add eight players to the roster now that the Rochester Red Wings season has ended. The team plans to recall LHP Logan Darnell, RHP Michael Tonkin, C Josmil Pinto, C/OF Chris Herrmann and OF Aaron Hicks. Additionally the Twins will select the contracts of RHP Lester Oliveros, RHP A.J. Achter and INF Doug Bernier.

Also joining the Twins will be Triple-A hitting coach Tim Doherty from September 2-14 while Red Wings Manager Gene Glynn will be with the Twins from September 15-28.

Aaron Hicks
Aaron Hicks

Not much to get excited about here, just think how different things could have been had Byron Buxton. Miguel Sano, and Alex Meyer not been injured this year. Then again maybe we would not have seen Danny Santana and Kennys Vargas step up in the way they have so far this year. It will be interesting to see if Hicks has improved, he did well in New Britain and in Rochester for a while before he cooled off. When Rochester was making a push for a wild-card spot late in the season Hicks was not always a regular in that line-up.

Twins announce 2014 AFL participants

AFL logoThe Minnesota Twins have named six players that will participate in the 2014 Arizona Fall League season and will announce one additional player at a later date. The Twins players that will play for the Salt River Rafters this season are outfielders Byron Buxton, Eddie Rosario, Max Kepler as well as RHP Jason Adam, LHP Mason Melotakis, and LHP Taylor Rogers. Players do not often play in the AFL two years in a row but in the case of the Twins they will Buxton, Rosario, and Kepler back for a second try. Not because of how they played in the AFL in 2013 but because they all need more at bats this season. Buxton the number one prospect in baseball has been out most of the season with wrist injuries and now is coming off a concussion. Kepler has had various nagging injuries all season and has not played up to his potential at Ft. Myers this season. Rosario missed the first 50 games of the season due to his suspension. All three outfielders have something to prove this fall.

The Salt River Rafters roster will be made up of players from the Rockies, Diamondbacks, Astros, Marlins and Twins organizations. The team will be managed by Andy Haines and the hitting coach will be Kevin Riggs and the pitching coach will be Joshua Miller.

The six-team  league, owned and operated by Major League Baseball, will play six days per week (Monday-Saturday). As always, the AFL will be chock full of future big leaguers when the six-week league, which has established itself as the finishing school for the game’s best prospects since its inception in 1992, begins its season on Tuesday, October 7. The Fall League season runs through Saturday, November 15, with a championship game held at Scottsdale Stadium. The league’s Fall Stars Game, which will feature many of those Top 100 prospects, will be held Saturday, November 1, at Salt River Fields.

According to MLB, approximately 60 percent of AFL players will reach the Major Leagues. 14 players on the Twins current roster have participated in the Arizona Fall League. Since its inception in 1992 about 2,300 AFL players have reached the major leagues.

MLB TV will carry some of these AFL games so make sure you check it out and watch some of these young stars play this fall and maybe, just maybe you will see some of the players in the major leagues in 2015.

UPDATE AS OF AUGUST 30 – The Twins have announced that RHP Jake Reed will also join the Salt River Rafters this fall.

Elizabethton Twins doing well…..again

Nick Gordon
Nick Gordon
Felix Jorge
Felix Jorge

A recent issue of Twins Game Notes stated that the Rookie-level Appalachian League named its 2014 All-Star Team Friday night. Nick Gordon was named the shortstop, Max Murphy was named an outfielder, Felix Jorge was named right-handed pitcher and Ray Smith was named Manager.

Ray Smith
Ray Smith

Gordon is hitting .282 (59-for-209) with six doubles and three triples in 51 games. Minnesota-native Max Murphy (currently with Cedar Rapids) hit .378 (45-for-119) with 10 home runs and 26 RBI in 35 games and also earned Appy League Player of the Year honors. Felix Jorge (currently with Cedar Rapids) went 4-2, 2.29 ERA (63.0 IP, 16 ER) with 13 walks and 56 strikeouts in 11 starts and also earned Appy League Pitcher of the Year honors. lastly, manager Ray Smith has led the E-Twins to a record of 34-27 and in first place of the Apply League West Division. Smith is in his 21st year of managing the E-Twins and his team has won the league championship on seven occasions and lost in the championship game five more times. His team has failed to make the playoffs in only seven of his 21 seasons at the helm.

Twins score 20

The Twins beat up on the Detroit Tigers 20-6 last night at Target Field in front of 29,394 fans that had to watch 3 hours and 59 minutes of baseball if they wanted to see the games final pitch. The Twins are the first AL team this season to score 20 runs in a game and this is the most runs ever scored by the Twins in a game at Target Field.

This is the 13th time in franchise history and the eighth time in Twins team history that the team has scored 20 or more runs in a game. The Detroit Tigers have been the unlucky victims of the Twins/Senators 20 or more runs parade on five occasions, four times by the Twins and once by the Washington Senators.

The Twins previous high for runs scored in a game at Target field occurred on July 16, 2012 when they out-scored the Baltimore Orioles 19-7. The Twins have had 20 runs scored against them just three times and always on the road. The Twins lost to the Kansas City A’s 20-2 on April 25, 1961, they lost 23-6 to the Kansas City Royals on April 6, 1974 and they lost a 20-6 game to the Texas Rangers on July 25, 2011.

Rk Date Tm Opp Rslt PA AB R H HR BB LOB Attendance GmLen
1 1996-04-24 MIN DET W 24-11 60 46 24 19 3 12 9 12,189 223
2 2002-06-04 MIN CLE W 23-2 57 50 23 25 3 7 10 14,029 194
3 1994-06-04 MIN DET W 21-7 57 49 21 24 4 5 9 23,780 194
4 1994-05-20 MIN BOS W 21-2 54 44 21 22 1 7 9 20,766 188
5 1929-08-05 WSH DET W 21-5 51 41 21 21 1 6 6 132
6 2014-08-22 MIN DET W 20-6 55 46 20 20 4 9 11 29,394 239
7 2009-05-21 MIN CHW W 20-1 54 46 20 20 4 5 7 23,048 178
8 2007-07-06 (1) MIN CHW W 20-14 57 47 20 21 2 8 10 31,543 222
9 1980-04-27 MIN OAK W 20-11 52 41 20 20 0 8 8 19,859 197
10 1943-08-01 (2) WSH SLB W 20-6 56 41 20 19 0 12 12 15,579 136
11 1925-08-22 WSH DET W 20-5 55 44 20 19 3 10 8 162
12 1923-08-24 WSH CLE W 20-8 59 42 20 22 0 14 12 150
13 1915-09-29 (2) WSH PHA W 20-5 52 43 20 23 0 4 8 110
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/23/2014.

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Here is what ELIAS had to say about the game: Eduardo Escobar led the Twins’ 20-hit attack, going 5-for-6 from the eighth slot in the lineup, in their 20-6 victory over the Tigers. He was the first major-league player to collect five hits, including a home run, in a game from either the eighth or ninth slot in the lineup since Detroit’s Carlos Pena generated six hits, including a pair of homers, at Kansas City back in 2004.

Eduardo Escobar
Eduardo Escobar

Escobar’s night began with a second-inning homer off Robbie Ray, and he followed with a single off Blaine Hardy, a triple off Jim Johnson, a single off Joba Chamberlain and another single off pitcher-for-a-day infielder Andrew Romine. Escobar became the second Twins player this month to get hits off five different pitchers in the same game – Danny Santana did it against the White Sox on August 3 – something no other big-leaguer has done this season.

And just to complete the story, we note that Escobar also made a pair of errors at shortstop on Friday night. The last major-leaguer with at least five hits and at least two errors in the same game was Kansas City’s Angel Berroa, who did it in a game at Cleveland in September 2003.

For the Twins, their 20-run, 20-hit performance marked just the eighth time in modern major-league history that a team had posted those exact numbers – and three of those eight games have been produced by the Twins. Minnesota went 20/20 against the Athletics in 1980 and against the White Sox in 2009.