Category: Twins Minor League Player of the Week

Twins minor league player of the week

Credit: Linwood Ferguson - Fort Myers Miracle
Credit: Linwood Ferguson – Fort Myers Miracle

Ft. Myers (High A) right-handed pitcher Aaron Slegers is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. Slegers made one start for the Miracle, tossing a complete game shutout on May 24 vs. Brevard County, allowing three hits, no walks and nine strikeouts, earning the win. The 6-foot-10, 245-pounder has made eight starts for the Miracle, going 3-2, 2.59 ERA (48.2 IP, 14 ER). The 6’10” workhorse has pitched seven innings or more in three of his last five starts, going 2-1 with a 1.59 ERA over that stretch. Slegers has limited opponents to a .204 average with 18 strikeouts in 26 innings this month. The Scottsdale, Arizona native was drafted by the Twins in the fifth round of the 2013 First-Year Player Draft out of Indiana University and signed for a reported $380,000.

Former Hooiser standing tall in major leagues

Slegers gets cold celebration after shutout

Previous winners of Twins POW this season are right-handed pitcher Tyler Duffey, left-handed pitcher Stephen Gonsalves, outfielder Byron Buxton, infielder Trey Vavra, infielder Miguel Sano and first baseman/outfielder Max Kepler.

 Twins Minor League Report 05312015

Twins minor league player of the week

Max Kepler
Max Kepler

Chattanooga (AA) 1B/outfielder Max Kepler is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. Kepler played in seven games for the Lookouts, hitting .500 (12-for-24) with three doubles, two home runs, nine RBI, four walks and a .571 on-base percentage. Kepler who throws and bats left-handed is only 22 years old but is in his sixth season of baseball in the Twins system.

Kepler started 2015 with the Ft. Myers Miracle after a Flexor Pronator Strain in his throwing arm this past March delayed his preparation for 2015. Kepler was bumped up to Chattanooga after just 6 games with the Miracle. Max who splits time between 1B and they outfield where he can play all three positions has been tearing the cover off the ball this year, in 28 games and 113 plate appearances Kepler is hitting a team leading .349 with a .946 OPS and has six steals in seven attempts. Kepler knows how to run the bases and has nice speed for a guy that goes about 6’4″ and 220. Kepler was signed by the Twins as an undrafted free agent out of Germany in 2009. Congratulations to my favorite player in the Twins minor league system.

Berlin-born Max Kepler enjoying early success with Chattanooga Lookouts | Times Free Press

Everyone expected the Chattanooga team to be strong this season and now three out of the last four weeks a Lookouts player has been the Twins player of the week. Previous winners of Twins POW this season are right-handed pitcher Tyler Duffey, left-handed pitcher Stephen Gonsalves, outfielder Byron Buxton, infielder Trey Vavra and infielder Miguel Sano.

Twins Minor League Report 05232015

Twins minor league player of the week

Miguel Sano Chattanooga 2Chattanooga (AA) infielder Miguel Sano is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. Sano played in eight games for the Lookouts, hitting .379 (11-for-29) with four doubles, three home runs, eight RBI, three walks and a .438 on-base percentage. After hitting .159 (10-for-63) in 18 April games, he has hit .321 (18-for-56) in 16 May games getting his average up to .235.

Sano just turned 22 a few days ago but he has been in the Twins minor league system since 2010 and is coming off Tommy John surgery which caused him to miss the entire 2014 season. It is good to see the Dominican born Sano start to hit because Twins fans here in Minnesota are still hoping to see the big guy in a Twins uniform sometime this season, hopefully by the time the All-Stars gather in Cincinnati.

Sano impresses hitting coach

Previous winners of Twins POW this season are right-handed pitcher Tyler Duffey, left-handed pitcher Stephen Gonsalves, Byron Buxton and infielder Trey Vavra.

Twins Minor League Report 051715

Twins minor league player of the week

Trey Vavra 2015Cedar Rapids (Low – A) first baseman/outfielder Trey Vavra is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. Vavra, who bats and throws from the right-side played in six games, hitting .560 (10-for-19) with one double, two RBI, six walks and eight runs scored. Vavra has played in 27 games for the Kernels this season, hitting .319 (30-for-94) with six doubles, three home runs, 14 RBI and 19 runs scored. Trey was selected by the Twins in the 33rd round of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft out of Florida Southern College and is the son of Twins Bench Coach Joe Vavra. In 2014 Vavra played in 50 games for Elizabethton and hit .319 with one home run and had 34 RBI.

Twins Daily piece on getting to know Trey Vavra

For Vavras, baseball is a Twins family affair

Previous winners of Twins POW this season are right-handed pitcher Tyler Duffey, left-handed pitcher Stephen Gonsalves and outfielder Byron Buxton

Twins Minor League Report May 10, 2015

Twins minor league player of the week

Byron Buxton - ChattanoogaChattanooga (AA) outfielder Byron Buxton is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. Buxton played in seven games, hitting .423 (11-for-26) with one double, one home run, six RBI, nine runs scored, six walks and four stolen bases. Buxton has played in 21 games for the Lookouts, hitting .284 (23-for-81) with three doubles, four triples, two home runs, 10 RBI, 15 runs scored, 10 walks and seven stolen bases. Buxton has been named as the Twins top prospect in each of the last two seasons by Baseball America as well as top prospect in baseball entering this season.  Previous winners of Twins POW this season are right-handed pitcher Tyler Duffey and left-handed pitcher Stephen Gonsalves.

What more is there to say about Buxton? Hopefully he stays hot and makes a strong case for Terry Ryan and the gang to bring him to Target Field sooner than later.

Minnesota Twins’ Byron Buxton slaps three extra-base hits for Chattanooga Lookouts – MiLB.com News

Twins Minor League Report 050315

Twins minor league player of the week

Gonsalves, Stephen 2015Single-A Cedar Rapids pitcher Stephen Gonsalves is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. Gonsalves made one start for the Kernels on April 23 at Wisconsin, tossing 7 shutout innings with one hit, one walk and 11 strikeouts (a career high), earning the win; it was his second straight double-digit strikeout total. Gonsalves fanned 10 in 7 innings April 17 versus Peoria. He has made three starts for the Kernels this season, going 2-0, 0.90 ERA (20.0 IP, 2 ER) with two walks and 30 strikeouts. The San Diego native was drafted by the Twins in the fourth round of the 2013 First-Year Player Draft out of Cathedral Catholic High School in San Diego.

Gonsalves was also the Twins minor league player of the week last August and you can read what I wrote about him at that time by going here. There is a nice link in that story explaining why Gonsalves dropped to the fourth round in the 2013 draft allowing the Twins to snap him up. Gonsalves just might be a diamond in the rough for Minnesota and I would look for Gonsalves to be moving up a rung on the Twins minor league ladder soon.

MiLB.com did a story on Gonsalves that you can view here. Stories about Twins and other teams prospects show up daily and you can read them by checking out our “Down on the Farm” links box on the right hand side of this home page.

Twins Minor League Report 042615

Twins minor league player of the week

Tyler Duffey 2015Chattanooga (AA) pitcher Tyler Duffey is the first Twins Minor League Player of the Week in 2015. Duffey made a start for the Lookouts on April 15 versus Birmingham tossing 7 shutout innings with two hits allowed, one walk and eight strikeouts. The 24 year-old Duffey has made two starts this season, tossing 13.2 scoreless innings pitched with six hits, two walks and 18 strikeouts. The right-handed Duffey was recently ranked seventh in minor league baseball on Baseball America’s Prospect Hot Sheet, covering games of April 9-16. Tyler Blinn Duffey was the Twins fifth round pick in the 2012 First-Year Player Draft out of Rice University and reportedly signed for a $267,000 signing bonus. Duffey served as the Rice Owls closer in his final season in college ball.

Duffey who was born in Houston, Texas and is starting this season at Chattanooga (AA) this season pitched at three levels in the Twins minor league system in 2014 starting out in Ft. Myers (High A) where he was 3-0 with a 2.82 ERA before being moved up to New Britain (AA) where he went 8-3 with 3.81 ERA. Duffey then was moved up to Rochester (AAA) where he was 2-0 with a 3.91 ERA and a SO/9 ratio of 9.0 in three starts. That SO/9 ratio at Rochester is a bit deceiving as his career SO/9 ratio is 7.4 but so far this year his SO/9 ratio is 11.9.

Twin minor league report 04192015

Twins minor league player of the week

Stuart Turner
Stuart Turner

Ft. Myers Miracle (High A ball) catcher Stuart Turner is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. The 22 year-old Turner played in four games for the Miracle and went 6-for-13 (.462) with three doubles, a home run and five RBI. The Twins third round pick in the 2013 First-Year Player Draft is a right-handed hitter and is in just his second year of professional baseball after being drafted out of the University of Mississippi. The Eunice, Louisiana native was named the Twins best defensive catcher entering the 2014 season.

Couple of other minor league notes –

Alex Meyer
Alex Meyer

Triple-A Rochester Red Wings starter Alex Meyer was removed from last night’s game vs. Buffalo and was placed on the disabled list with shoulder inflammation. Does that kill his chances for pitching for the Twins this year? We will have to wait and see but it does not look promising.

Jose Berrios
Jose Berrios

The Twins promoted RHP Jose Berrios and LHP Ryan O’Rourke to Rochester. Berrios is expected to start for the Red Wings today in Pawtucket. 2014 has been an amazing year for Berrios who started the season at High A Ft. Myers where he put up a 9-3 record with a 1.96 ERA and was then promoted to Double AA New Britain when his record was 3-4 with a 3.54 ERA. Between the two stops he has struck out 137 batters in 137 innings. Berrios who is obviously on the fast track to Minnesota is trying to help Rochester get a wild card playoff spot.

Twins minor league player of the week

Jake Reed
Jake Reed

Cedar Rapids Kernels (Low A) pitcher Jake Reed is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. Reed, a 6’2″ right-hander made three appearances for the Kernels, tossing 4.0 shutout innings with no hits allowed no walks and six strikeouts while earning two saves. The Twins fifth round pick in the 2014 First-Year Player Draft has made 18 appearances for Cedar Rapids and Elizabethton combined, going 3-0, 0.32 ERA (28.0 IP, 1 ER) with two walks and 37 strikeouts.

The 21 year-old La Mesa, California native attended the University of Oregon from 2012-14 and switched from starter to closer in his final season. Reed went 4-1 with a 1.95 ERA and 13 saves in 31 games in his first season as a reliever for the Ducks. He started 17 games in each of his first two seasons with the Ducks and went 8-4 with a 2.92 ERA as a freshman and 6-6 with a 3.50 ERA as a sophomore. Reed was a Chicago White Sox 40th round pick in 2011 but chose not to sign. The Twins reportedly gave Reed a $350,000 signing bonus, slightly under slot.

Twins minor league player of the week

Stephen Gonsalves
Stephen Gonsalves

Cedar Rapids (Low A ball)  pitcher Stephen Gonsalves is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. The 20 year-old Gonsalves made a start on Friday against Peoria, tossing 7.0 shutout innings with three hits allowed, no walks and five strikeouts, earning the win. The Twins fourth round pick in the 2013 First-Year Player Draft has gone 2-2, 1.57 ERA (23.0 IP, 4 ER) in five starts for the Kernels this season. The 6’5″ left-handed Gonsalves was promoted from Rookie league Elizabethton in late July, where he was 2-0, 2.79 ERA (29.0 IP, 9 ER) in six starts.

Gonsalves was projected at one time to be the best left-handed pitcher in the 2013 draft but fell all the way to round four where he was selected by Minnesota. Why did he drop so dramatically? You can read the story here. The exact cost of Gonsalves’ suspension will never be known, but the 15th pick of this year’s (2013) first round earned a $2.25 million bonus, while the 33rd and final pick signed for $1.65 million. Kohl Stewart, the Twins’ pick at No. 4 overall, received a $4,544,400 signing bonus Wednesday. Gonsalves received $700,000, still far above his slot projection of $468,200.