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
Chattanooga Lookouts (AA) infielder Jonathan Rodriguez was named the Twins Player of the Week. In six games for the Lookouts, Rodriguez hit .429 (9-for-21) with two doubles, three home runs, six RBI, five walks and seven runs scored. Rodriguez, a right-handed hitter has played 1B in 69 of his 85 games for the Lookouts this season and is hitting .315 (97-for-308) with 21 doubles, 14 home runs and 52 RBI. Rodriguez has also played 3B and some outfield while with the Cards but not with Minnesota.
The 27-year-old was signed by the Twins as a minor league free agent in January, spending the previous eight seasons in the Cardinals minor league system. Rodriguez was originally drafted by the Cardinals in 2009 in round 17.
All previous winners can be found in the Twins minor league player of the week category.
Ft. Myers Miracle (High A) outfielder (yes, another center-fielder) Tanner English, 24, was named the Twins Player of the Week ending July 15. The right-handed hitting English hit .450 (9-for-20) with a double, two triples, three home runs and seven RBI on the week. In 49 games for the Miracle this season English is batting .240 (40-for-167) with nine doubles, five home runs and 27 RBI.
English was originally a 13th round selection in the 2011 MLB Draft out of high school by the Tampa Bay Rays but decided to go to college. English was drafted in the 11th round of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of South Carolina and signed by Minnesota for a reported bonus of $105,000.
Cedar Rapids Kernels left-handed pitcher Alex Robinson has been named Twins minor league Player of the Week. The 22-year-old Robinson appeared in three games for the Kernels, pitching 4.0 shutout innings with eight strikeouts, no hits allowed, no walks and one save. In his third season of pro ball Robinson has had more innings pitched than hits allowed and more strikeouts than innings pitched.
The Queens, NY native was drafted by the Twins in the fifth round of the 2015 First Year Player Draft out of the University of Maryland.
Elizabethton Twins (Rookie League) outfielder/3B Trey Cabbage has been named Twins minor league Player of the Week. In seven games, the left-handed swinging Cabbage hit .333 (9-for-27) with two doubles, two home runs, nine RBI, eight walks and had a .486 on-base percentage. Cabbage was headed for the University of Tennessee before the Twins persuaded him to sign a professional contract for $760,000 and nice bump over the $517,900 slot amount.
Cedar Rapids Kernels (Low A) right-handed pitcher Tyler Wells is the Twins minor league Player of the Week. The 6’8″ Wells made the start for the Kernels last Saturday, against Clinton, allowing one run on four hits in 8.0 innings pitched, earning the win with 10 strikeouts and no walks.
Late News: Cedar Rapids placed Tyler Wells on the DL yesterday. This is the second DL stint this season because of a shoulder issue for Wells, who is 4-2 with a 2.21 earned run average in 11 starts. He has allowed just 45 hits and struck out 82 in 61 innings.
Alex Meyer (P) – June 26, 2015 – Traded by the Washington Nationals to the Minnesota Twins for Denard Span on November 29, 2012 . No other way to say it other than it was a disastrous start to his major league career. Meyer gave up a home run to the first batter and it was kind of down hill from there. Meyer didn’t retire a batter until the seventh hitter and then was pulled after facing the number 9 hitter with but one out on the board. 5 earned runs, 6 total runs on 6 hits.
Jorge Polanco (SS) – June 26, 2014 – Signed by the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent in July 2009. Polanco drew a walk and later scored in his first plate appearance in which he entered the game as a pinch hitter.
Tyler Robertson (P) – June 26, 2012 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 3rd round of the 2006 MLB June Amateur Draft. Now this is a stunning big league debut, Robertson entered the Twins vs White Sox game in the top of the 8th inning at Target Field with Twins trailing 3-0 and struck out the side.
Rochester Red Wings (AAA) outfielder Zach Granite has been named has been named Twins minor league Player of the Week. Granite, 24, appeared in five games for the Red Wings, hitting .526 (10-for-19) with five doubles, three RBI, five runs scored and six walks. Additionally, the left-handed hitting Zach Granite has hit in 16 straight games, batting .508 (33-for-65) with nine doubles, three triples, five RBI, 16 runs scored and seven stolen bases since June 1 while collecting multiple hits in 13 of the last 15 games. Granite now qualifies for league leaderboard, pacing the International League in batting average (.348) and on-base percentage (.401). Since June 2, he leads all minor leaguers in batting average (.525), hits (32) and OBP (.586). He also leads the league in runs scored (15), extra-base hits (11), total bases (46), stolen bases (7) and OPS (1.340) over that same period.
Zach Granite was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 14th round of the 2013 MLB June Amateur Draft from Seton Hall University. The Twins organization selected Zach Granite as the 2016 Minor League Player of the Year. Here is what manager Paul Molitor has to say about Granite:
“He’s aggressive, got a little moxie,” Molitor said of the Sherry Robertson Award winner. “Likes to get dirty, run the bases. Almost every day, the (reports) are fairly complimentary on how he gets after it. He’s finding a way to use what he can do in a game to make an impact. I know we don’t like facing those kind of guys.”
This weeks Twins Minor League Player of the Week is also today’s Minnesota Twins starting pitcher against the San Francisco Giants, left-hander Nik Turley. The 6’5″ Turley will be the fourth Twins pitcher to make major league debut this season following Randy Rosario, Jason Wheeler and Justin Haley.
Turley tied a Southern League record with the Chattanooga Lookouts (AA) by striking out eight straight batters on April 25 vs. Tennessee and also set a Frontier Field record by striking out 15 batters in just 6.0 innings in his last start on June 6 for the Rochester Red Wings (AAA) while allowing just 4 hits. The 15 strikeouts were the most by a Red Wings pitcher since 1988.
Between Chattanooga and Rochester, Turley struck out 84 of 204 total batters faced (41.2%). He struck out 45 of 86 total batters faced (52.3%) with the Lookouts.
The now 27-year old Turley was a 50th round selection (1,502 overall) by the Yankees in 2008 and has played in the minor league systems of the Yankees, Giants, Red Sox and the Twins as well as an independent league team. Turley is the first 50th round draft pick to reach the majors since Efren Navarro in 2011, and one of just three 50th round selections
to reach the major leagues since 2000 (also: Jarrod Dyson in 2010).
In his 10th minor league season Turley has a 48-45 record with a 3.50 ERA. Turley changed the grip on some of his pitches this spring and seemingly has turned his career around. Nik has stated that former Yankee pitcher Bob Turley is a distant relative.
Cedar Rapids Kernels (Low A) right-handed pitcher Sean Poppen has been named Twins minor league Player of the Week. The 6’4″ Poppen made two starts for the Kernels, going 2-0, with one unearned run allowed on eight hits, one walk and 11 strikeouts in 13.1 innings pitched; he beat Kane County on Saturday and Quad Cities on Thursday. Poppen has been used exclusively as a starter in 2017 and is 4-1 with a 2.12 ERA and a nice 1.03 WHIP. In the 63+ innings he has pitched he has allowed only 54 hits and struck out 60 batters. In his 10 starts he has allowed as many as 3 earned runs just twice and has pitched at least 5 innings in each start.
Poppen
The 23-year old Virginia native was drafted by the Twins in the 19th round of the 2016 First-Year Player Draft out of Harvard University. Sean Poppen looks like a prospect to watch regardless what round he was selected in.
Chattanooga Lookouts (AA) right-handed pitcher John Curtiss has been named Twins minor league Player of the Week. Curtiss saved three games for the Lookouts, pitching 3.0 scoreless innings with one walk and six strikeouts in three games. The Dallas native was drafted by the Twins in the sixth round of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Texas and signed for a reported $266,900 signing bonus.
Here is what one scouting report has to say about John Curtiss:
The former Texas Longhorns closer put together 61 strong innings in 2016, primarily at High A Fort Myers, and followed-up his regular season campaign with a solid AFL performance that saw him strike out almost two batters per innings pitched. Curtiss can work 95-to-97 mph with good life down in the zone and will also show a mid- to upper-80s slider that will flash. The arm generally works well and our looks in the AFL prompted a Joe Nathan (RHP, Giants) comp on the strapping righty. While control has been an issue in the past, Curtiss tightened up his execution in 2016. If he can maintain that his momentum heading into 2017 he could emerge as a quality late-inning arm for the Twins, logging innings in Minneapolis as early as this upcoming summer.
In 2017 the 6’4″ Curtiss has pitched 17+ innings and allowed just one run (unearned), allowed 10 hits and struck out 25 batters. The downside about Curtiss is that he has walked 10 batters. Unless he falls apart or gets hurt, you have to figure on seeing John Curtiss at Target Field this year, at least for a cup of coffee in September.
Medi-facts – Underwent Tommy John surgery in the summer of 2012 and sat out the entire 2013 season while at Texas. Missed much of the 2015 season with a concussion.
