TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history. “History never looks like history when you are living through it” – John Gardner, former Secretary of Health
The Midwest League and MiLB.com announced recently that Low A Cedar Rapids Kernels right-pitcher Kai-Wei Teng has been named Midwest League Pitcher of the Week for the period ending July 14. The 6’4″ and 260 pound Teng allowed five hits with 10 strikeouts in 6 IP in a no-decision, against Lansing on Sunday. Teng signed as a non-drafted free agent out of Taichung, Taiwan in October of 2017.
The award marks the second consecutive week a Kernels pitcher has been named MWL Pitcher of the Week (Andrew Cabezas) and third Kernel to win MWL weekly honors.
A+ Ft. Myers Miracle infielder Royce Lewis and Ft. Myers Miracle right-handed pitcher Edwar Colina have been named Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.
Royce Lewis at 2019 Futures game
Lewis, who played in the SiriusXM Futures Game at Progressive Field last Sunday, played in four games for the Miracle late this week, hitting .353 (6-for-17) with two home runs, three RBI and two walks. The 20-year-old Lewis is in his third season of pro ball after having been selected first overall in 2017 by Minnesota. Lewis appeared in 46 games for Ft. Myers last season and has spent all of this season with the Miracle. It is fair to say that Lewis has struggled at times this year hitting only .235 with a .285 OBP and a .649 OPS but he seems to be showing improvement. A handful of players from the 2017 draft have already had a cup of coffee in the big leagues with their parent clubs but with the way Lewis has played this season he has little to no chance of seeing a September call-up.
Edwar Colina
Colina made the start on Wednesday versus Daytona, pitching 7 shutout innings with three hits allowed, no walks and eight strikeouts. The 22-year-old Venezuelan right-hander started the season with the Miracle and in ten starts has 4-2 record with a nice 2.34 ERA. In 61.2 innings Colina has given up only 53 hits and struck out 61 batters. Colina has improved his control this season and has a nifty 4.07 SO/W ratio. The Minnesota Twins signed free agent RHP Edwar Colina to a minor league contract on September 29, 2015.
AAA Rochester Red Wings outfielder Jaylin Davis and Low-A Cedar Rapids Kernels right-handed pitcher Luis Rijo have been named Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.
Jaylin Davis
In eight games (DH Friday) for the Red Wings, Davis hit .364 (12-for-33) with three
doubles, four home runs, eight RBI, two walks and a 1.128 OPS. Davis, 25, was a 25th round pick by the Twins in 2015 and has hit .284 (81-for-285) with 15 doubles, 17 home runs and 47 RBI in 77 games between Double-A Pensacola and Rochester.
Luis Rijo – Credit to Dennis Hubbard/Four Seam Images
Rijo made the start on Thursday vs. Burlington, pitching 7 shutout innings with one hit allowed, no walks and 10 strikeouts. The 20-year-old Venezuela native was acquired by the Twins in 2018 from the New York Yankees, in exchange for right-handed pitcher and current Texas Ranger Lance Lynn.
The Twins have named AAA Rochester Red Wings first baseman/outfielder Zander Wiel and A+ Ft. Myers Miracle right-handed pitcher Cole Sands as Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.
Zander Wiel
In seven games for the Red Wings, the 26 year old Wiel hit .433 (13-for-30) with two home runs, five doubles, eight RBI, 24 total bases and five runs scored, including five multi-hit games. The Tennessee native was drafted by the Twins in the 12th round of the 2015 draft out of Vanderbilt University. This marks Wiels’ third career weekly honor, first since Sept. 4, 2016. Wiel is 6’3″ and goes about and hits and throws tight-handed. Wiel has advanced through the Twins organization and had a taste (15 games) of AAA ball last season and has spent all of this year in Rochester.
Cole Sands
Sands made one start for the Miracle, throwing 5.0 no-hit inning with six strikeouts last Sunday against Jupiter. Sands, just 21 was a fifth-round selection in the 2018 MLB draft out of Florida State. Sands, a right-hander started his pro career this year in A ball with the Cedar Rapids Kernels and has advanced to A+ Ft. Myers. This is his first weekly honor. Sands signed for a reported (Twins Daily) $600,000 with the slot value being $330,400.
Sorry for the delay in getting these Twins minor league player of the week updates out here on the site. My wife and I were on vacation for a couple of weeks taking a cruise to Alaska on the NCL Jewel out of Vancouver and then we spent a week touring the interior of Alaska. What a beautiful state even it it doesn’t have a big league baseball team. We were there for two weeks and we never saw darkness, it takes a bit of getting used to. Then again if you went in December it would always be dark.
I have missed baseball since you get no news on a cruise ship and the one newspaper I saw in Anchorage on our last day in Alaska has little to no MLB baseball coverage. So let’s see what we missed.
Two weeks ago the Twins named AAA Rochester Red Wings outfielder/first baseman Brent Rooker and Rookie-Elizabethton left-handed pitcher Ryley Widell as the organization’s minor league player and pitcher of the week.
Brent Rooker
Rooker, who was drafted 35th overall by the Twins in the 2017 First-Year Player Draft, played seven games for the Red Wings this week, hitting .429 (9-for-21) with two doubles, three home runs, 10 RBI, four walks and a 1.488 OPS.
The 24 year old Rooker is in a rush to the big leagues having split his 2017 season in Rookie Elizabethton and A+ Fort Myers, 2018 in AA Chattanooga, and 2019 in AAA Rochester. In 55 games in Rochester this year Rooker is hitting .290 with 13 home runs and 42 RBI. This season Rooker has spent his time in LF/DH but he has some played first base in 2017-2018. Might see a cup of coffee at Target Field in September.
Ryley Widell
Ryley Widell, who was drafted by the Twins in the seventh round of the 2017 Draft, pitched in one game this week, Wednesday against Bluefield, allowing just two runs (1 earned) on two hits, with no walks and six strikeouts in 4.0 innings pitched.
Widell, a 6’3″ lefty pitched in 8 games for Elizabethton in 2017 and missed 2018 due to injury and started this season in Elizabethton again this season.
Jake Cave finished 4-for-5 with four doubles and increased his International League-leading hitting streak to 13. (Photo: Bare Antolos/Rochester Red Wings)
The Minnesota Twins have named AAA Rochester Red Wings outfielder Jake Cave and AAA Rochester Red Wings right-handed pitcher Sean Poppen as Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.
Jake Cave as we all know has spent a good portion of the 2019 season with the Twins. Since being optioned from Minnesota in mid-May, the 26-year old Cave has played in 27 games for the Red Wings, hitting .294 (32-for-109) with 11 doubles, two triples, three home runs, 21 RBI and a .861 OPS. In eight games for the Red Wings this week, Cave hit .417 (15-for-36) with seven doubles, two triples, one home run and nine RBI, which included a four-double game on Thursday at Syracuse.
Jake Cave was originally a 2011 6th round pick by the New York Yankees and was selected by the Reds in the December 2015 Rule 5 draft but was returned to the NYY in April 2016. The Yankees then traded Cave to the Twins for minor leaguer Luis Gil on March 16, 2018.
Sean Poppen a 25-year old right-handed pitcher started two games this week for the Red Wings, going 1-0, 0.75 ERA (12.0 IP, 1 ER) with five walks and 13 strikeouts. Poppen was promoted to Rochester on May 26 and has appeared in four games and started three of them and has a 3-0 record with a 1.57 ERA with 25 strikeouts in 23 innings and has allowed just 14 hits in 23 innings. The numbers he has put up in Rochester are much better then the numbers he put up in AA Pensacola where he was 2-3 with a 4.40 ERA and a .275 average against.
Poppen, 6’3″ was selected by the Twins in the 19th round of the 2016 First-Year Player Draft out of Harvard and is in his fourth pro ball season.
Ft. Myers Miracle Trevor Larnach (9) bats in the third inning of a baseball game against the Palm Beach Cardinals at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter, Fla., Sunday, May 5, 2019. (Gordon Donovan)
Ft. Myers Miracles (high A) outfielder Trevor Larnach and Ft. Myers Miracles right-handed pitcher Jhoan Duran have been named Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.
In five games for the Miracle, Larnach hit .524 (11-for-21) with two doubles, two
home runs, seven RBI, four runs scored and a 1.427 OPS. The 22-year-old Larnach was drafted by the Twins 20th overall in the 2018 First-Year Player Draft and this marks his second POW honor this season (also May 12).
Jhoan Duran – credit Bill Parmeter of Ft. Myers Miracle
The right-handed throwing Duran made one start for the Miracle coming last Sunday at Daytona, allowing two runs (1 earned) on two hits in 6.0 innings pitched with 14 strikeouts (23 batters faced). Although Duran has an 0-5 record this season with the Miracles, he has started nine games and pitched 42.1 innings allowing just 31 hits and a 3.61 ERA. Duran has struck out 52 but also walked 15 batters.
The 21-year-old was acquired by the Twins at the trade deadline last season from Arizona, in exchange for Eduardo Escobar.
High A Ft. Myers Miracles catcher Ryan Jeffers and Low A Cedar Rapids Kernels right-handed reliever/starter Austin Schulfer have been named Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.
Ryan Jeffers
The 6’4″ right-handed hitting Jeffers played in six games for the Miracle, hitting .400 (8-for-20) with two home runs, four RBI, three walks and a .478 on-base percentage. Jeffers, 21, was drafted by the Twins in the second round of the 2018 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and signed for a reported $800,000. Jeffers is having a solid season with Fort Myers hitting .283 with four home runs and 17 RBI in 38 games.
Austin Schulfer
The 6’2″ right-handed Austin Schulfer, who was born in Plover, Wisconsin has been used primarily as a reliever in 2019 but has also sport-started three times in the 11 games in which he has appeared this season. In his last start on May 22 Schulfer pitched five scoreless hitless innings in his longest outing of the season while walking one and striking out seven and was credited with the win.
Season-to-date Schulfer has a 4-2 record and a 2.41 ERA. Schulfer has pitched 33.2 innings this season and has allowed just 16 hits, walked 21 and struck out 47 and batters are hitting just .139 off Schulfer. Schulfer, 23, was drafted in the 19th round of the 2018 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and received a $1K signing bonus.
FSL All-Stars
The Florida State League announced that they are sending a league-leading eight Miracle players to the 2019 ASG on June 15 in Jupiter. Manager Toby Gardenhire will lead the South Division, along with Hitting Coach Matt Borgschulte, Pitching Coach Luis Ramirez, Athletic Trainer Ben Myers, and Strength & Conditioning Coach Chuck Bradway. Miracles players named are IF Royce Lewis, OF Trevor Larnach, C Ryan Jeffers, 1B Lewin Diaz, LHP Bryan Sammons, RHP Alex Phillips, RHP Johan Quezada and RHP Tom Hackimer.
High A Ft. Myers Miracle first baseman Lewin Diaz and Low A Cedar Rapids Kernels right-handed pitcher Andrew Cabezas have been named Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.
Ft. Myers Miracle Lewin Diaz (11) bats in the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Palm Beach Cardinals at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter, Fla., Sunday, May 5, 2019. (Gordon Donovan)
Diaz played in six games for the Miracle, hitting .333 (9-for-27) with one double, three home runs, six RBI and a 1.037 OPS. Diaz, 22, was signed out of Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic in July of 2013 for reported $1.4 million. Actually all three of his home runs this week came in one game when he became the first Miracle player to ever hit three home runs in a single game. Diaz played in 79 games for the Miracle in 2018 hitting six home runs with a batting average of just .224 along with an OPS of .598. In his second go around this year, he has appeared in 32 games hitting six home runs while putting up an average of .322 and an .881 OPS. I saw him this past January doing extra work at the ballpark long before spring training started. The man can hit the ball a long way and his first base play is coming along very nicely.
Cabezas made the start on Wednesday versus Quad Cities, pitching 7 shutout innings with one hit allowed, no walks and nine strikeouts. Cabezas Collars Bandits in Combined Shutout . Cabezas, 22, was drafted by the Twins in the 18th round of the 2018 First-Year Player Draft from the University of Miami and signed for a reported $90,000 according to Twins Daily.
High A Fort Myers Miracle outfielder Trevor Larnach and High A Fort Myers Miracle right-handed pitcher Jordan Balazovic have been named as the Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.
Trevor Larnach (click on image to make larger)
In six games for the Miracle, Larnach hit .440 (11-for-25) with two doubles, two home runs, five RBI, seven runs scored, three walks and a 1.260 OPS. Larnach, 22, was drafted by the Twins in the first round (20th overall) in the 2018 First-Year Player Draft out of Oregon State University and signed for a $2.55 million signing bonus. Larnach in his second season of pro ball is entering the 2019 season as the fifth best prospect in the Twins system by Baseball America.
Jordan Balazovic (click on image to make larger)
The Canadian born Balazovic made his FSL debut in start on Sunday at Palm Beach, pitching 7.0 no-hit innings with no walks and 10 strikeouts. Balazovic, 20, was drafted by the Twins in the fifth round of the 2016 First-Year Player Draft out of St. Martin Secondary School in Mississauga, Ontario and signed for a reported $515,000 signing bonus. The 6’4″ right-hander has been used as a starter since he began pro ball and is rated as the Twins 19th best prospect.
The Midwest League and MiLB.com announced recently that Low A Cedar Rapids Kernels right-pitcher Kai-Wei Teng has been named Midwest League Pitcher of the Week for the period ending July 14. The 6’4″ and 260 pound Teng allowed five hits with 10 strikeouts in 6 IP in a no-decision, against Lansing on Sunday. Teng signed as a non-drafted free agent out of Taichung, Taiwan in October of 2017.
