Category: Twins Minor League Player of the Week

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

Matt Tomshaw
Matt Tomshaw

Ft. Myers (High A – Florida St. League) pitcher Matt Tomshaw is the Twins Minor League  Player of the Week. The 6’2″ left-handed Tomshaw made one start (at Clearwater), tossing 8 shutout innings with three hits allowed, two walks and three strikeouts and earned the win. Tomshaw, born in Kingston, New York has gone 4-1, 1.88 ERA (38.1 IP, 8 ER) with six walks and 21 strikeouts in eight games (5 starts) for the Miracle this season, winning each of his last four starts. The 25-year-old was drafted by the Twins in the 42nd round of the 2011 First-Year Player Draft out of Jacksonville University.

Tomshaw has been used both as a starter and a reliver since he started play in the Twins minor league system in 2011. In 295+ career minor league innings pitched he has a 17-11 record with 197 KO’s and a 3.23 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP but todate Tomshaw has not advanced past High-A Ft. Myers

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

Adam Walker - 2013
Adam Walker – 2013

Ft. Myers (High A – Florida St. League) outfielder Adam Walker is the Twins
Minor League Player of the Week. In seven games for the Miracle, Walker hit .345 (10-for-29) with three home runs, two doubles and 12 RBI.

In 2013 Walker played in Low-A Cedar Rapids and in 508 at bats hit .278 with 27 home runs with 109 RBI and was not caught once in 10 stolen base attempts. Walker did strikeout 115 times but that is not too bad if you put up those kind of power numbers.

Adam Brett Walker II is 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds of raw power. The physicality runs in the family. He is the son of Adam Walker, who played running back for the Minnesota Vikings in 1987. His mother, Glynis, was a national champion high jumper and volleyball player at Carthage College. Former All-Star infielder Damion Easley is his second cousin . cousin. Walker averaged 13.6 home runs a season and stole 40 bases in 41 attempts during his three years at Jacksonville University. The 22-year-old right-handed batter was drafted by the Twins in the third round of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft out of Jacksonville University and signed for a reported $490K.

An MiLB.com link added on June 5, 2014 regarding a recent Adam Walker posting.

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

Engelb Vielma
Engelb Vielma

This weeks Twins Minor League Player of the Week  is 19-year-old Cedar Rapids Kernels (A-Midwest League) infielder Engelb Vielma. Vielma played in seven games for the Kernels, hitting .423 (11-for-26) with two doubles, one triple, three RBI, one walk and a .444 on-base percentage.

It seems like everybody that comes from Venezuela is a shortstop and this scrawny looking 5’11”  and 157 pound switch-hitting Maracaibo, Venezuela native that the Twins signed as a non-drafted free agent in 2011 fits that same mold. Vielma played in the Dominican Summer League in 2012 and moved up to the Gulf Coast Twins in 2013 and had a 6 game cup of coffee stay with Elizabethton Twins late in 2013. Certainly not a power hitter by any stretch of the imagination Vielma has no home runs and has hit .251 in 483 career plate appearances. It’s the glove they say that makes Vielma stand out but yet when you look at his stats he has 38 errors in 122 games.

We have a trivia question for you. Prior to the 2014 season only six players in big league history have gotten 1,000 or more hits in both the NL and AL, two of these players once wore Twins uniforms. Can you name them?

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

Kennys Vargas
Kennys Vargas

New Britain (AA-Eastern League) first baseman Kennys Vargas is the Twins Minor
League Player of the Week. Vargas played in seven games for the Rock Cats, hitting .476 (10-for-21) with two doubles, three home runs, seven RBI and five walks. The 6′ 5″ 275-pounder is hitting .289 (26-for-90) with four doubles, six home runs, 17 RBI, 14 walks
and 11 runs scored in 26 games this season.

The 23-year-old Vargas who is from Canovanas, Puerto Rico drove in 93 RBI for Single-A Ft. Myers last season, the most in the Florida State League. Vargas was undrafted and signed by the Twins (scout Hector Otero) in February 2009 for a $125,000 signing bonus and was added to the Twins 40 man roster this past November. Vargas was suspended for 50 games by MLB  for a drug policy violation in August 2011.

Tyler Mason did a piece on Vargas back in March that is worth looking at. The Pioneer Press did a short piece on Vargas in March also.

Twins minor league player of the week

Alex Meyer pitching for New Britain in 2013
Alex Meyer pitching for New Britain in 2013

Rochester (AAA-International League) right-handed pitcher Alex Meyer is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. Meyer made one start for the Red Wings on April 23 at Pawtucket, tossing 6.2 scoreless innings with three hits allowed, three walks while tying a career high with 11 strikeouts, his third career double-digit strikeout performance. The Greensburg, Indiana native has gone 0-0, 3.48 ERA (20.2 IP, 8 ER) with eight walks and 24 strikeouts in four starts for the Wings this season. The 6″9″ 24-year-old was acquired by the Twins in late November of 2012 in exchange for Denard Span and is ranked as the club’s top pitching prospect by Baseball America.

 

Twins Minor Leaguer Hinojosa suspended

Jonatan Hinojosa batting during spring training 2014
Jonatan Hinojosa batting during spring training 2014

The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball announced today that Minnesota Twins Minor League infielder Jonatan Hinojosa has received a 50-game suspension without pay after testing positive for metabolites of Nandrolone, a performance-enhancing substance in violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program in effect prior to the recent changes to the Program. The suspension of the 21-year-old Hinojosa who is currently on the roster of Single-A Cedar Rapids of the Midwest League is effective immediately.

Hinojosa spent his first three seasons playing in the Dominican Summer league where he hit .147, .186, and .174 with zero home runs and had 28 stolen bases. Last season Hinojosa played for the Gulf Coast League Twins and hit .236 again with no home runs in 48 games. This season Hinojosa appeared in just one game for Cedar Rapids and was hitless in 3 at bats.

Walker’s skills, passion led to career in baseball

There is a nice piece about Ft. Myers Mircale outfielder Adam Walker that you can check out here.

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

Rochester (AAA – International League) right-handed pitcher Yohan Pino is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. The 29-year-old Pino made two starts for the Red Wings, going 1-0, 0.82 ERA (11.0 IP, 1 ER) with four walks nine strikeouts and a 7.0-inning complete game shutout vs. Pawtucket on Thursday. The Turmero, Venezuela native has made four appearance (2 starts) for the Wings this season, going 2-0, 0.59 ERA (15.1 IP, 1 ER) with six walks and 12 strikeouts. Pino’s fastball is in the mid-to-high 80’s and he has  great curveball and slider. Pino suffered a foot injury in 2008 and he has not been the same pitcher that once threw a no-hitter in 2007.

Yohan Pino
Yohan Pino

Pino, a right-hander was originally signed by the Twins in 2004 and spent parts of six seasons in the Twins system before being the PTBNL in a trade that helped the Twins acquire right-handed pitcher Carl Pavano in August of 2009. Pino also spent time in the minor league organizations of the Blue Jays and Reds before he was resigned by the Twins this past offseason and was invited to Spring Training.

Twins Minor League Player of the Week is Mitchell Garver

 

Catcher Mitchell Garver -spring training 2014
Catcher Mitchell Garver -spring training 2014

Cedar Rapids (A – Midwest League) catcher Mitch Garver is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. In seven games for the Kernels Garver hit .400 (8-for-20) with three doubles, four home runs, six RBI, six runs scored and five walks. The Twins ninth round pick in the 2013 First-Year Player Draft is in his second full season in the Twins system, the Albuquerque native spent last season at Rookie-Elizabethton, hitting .243 (49-for-202) in 56 games.

Twins announce 2013 Minor League Player & Pitcher of the Year

Outfielder Byron Buxton has been named the 2013 Sherry Robertson Award winner as the Twins Minor League Player of the Year and left-handed pitcher Andrew Albers has been named the 2013 Jim Rantz Award winner as the Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Year.

 

Byron Buxton
Byron Buxton

Buxton, 19, hit .334 (163-for-488) with 19 doubles, 18 triples, 12 home runs, 77 RBI, 109 runs scored and 55 stolen bases in 125 games this season between Low-A Cedar Rapids and High-A Ft. Myers. In the field playing primarily center field, Buxton committed two errors in 306 chances and was credited with 9 assists. The right-handed hitting Buxton was named Midwest League MVP as well as the top minor league prospect at midseason and Minor League Player of the Year by Baseball America. Buxton was the Twins first round pick (second overall) in the 2012 June Amateur draft.

Andrew Albers
Andrew Albers

Albers, 27, began the season at Triple-A Rochester and went 11-5 with a 2.86 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP (132.1 IP, 42 ER), allowing 124 hits with 32 walks, 116 strikeouts and three complete games (one shutout) in 22 starts. The left-handed Canadian native was named to the Triple-A All-Star game. At the time of his promotion to Minnesota in August, he ranked first in the International League in strikeouts, tied for second in wins, third in innings pitched and fifth in ERA. With the Twins, Albers went 2-5 with a 4.05 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP in 10 games (all starts). Albers struck out 25 and walked just 7 batters in 60 innings.

Buxton becomes the 44th winner of this award (since 1970) and Albers becomes the 12th winner of this award (since 2002). The 2012 award winners were Oswaldo Arcia and B.J. Hermsen.

Congratulations to both Byron Buxton and Andrew Albers on a job well done.

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

Miguel Sano
Miguel Sano

New Britain (AA – Eastern League) third baseman Miguel Sano is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. In six games for the Rock Cats, Sano hit .333 (7-for-21) with four home runs, eight RBI, two doubles, seven walks and scored five runs. The 20-year old from San Pedro De Macoris, Dominican Republic is in his fourth season of pro ball and has hit a combined 35 home runs and knocked in 103 runs between Single-A and Double-A this season. Baseball America has listed Sano the Twins top prospect each of the last two seasons.

Fans in Minnesota who are tired of watching the home team struggle to score runs are hoping that the Twins will make Miguel Sano a September call-up and allow him to win the third base job during spring training in 2014. I too would love to see what Sano can do against big league pitching this year at Target Field but I don’t see it happening no matter how much the Twins could use his bat.

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

Danny Santana
Danny Santana

New Britain (AA – Eastern League) shortstop Danny Santana is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. In seven games for the Rock Cats, Santana hit .429 (8-for-23) with one home run, five RBI, one double, two triples, two stolen bases and four runs scored. The 22-year old from Monte Plata, Dominican Republic, is hitting .296 (150-for-506) this season, with 22 doubles, 10 triples, two home runs, 43 RBI, 26 stolen bases and 63 runs scored with a .331 OBP in 123 games for New Britain.

Although Santana is only 22, he is already in his sixth season in the Twins organization. The 5’11” switch-hitting Santana is a slick fielder and is well liked by many in the Twins organization. Since 2010 his OBP has gone from .285, to .289, to .298, to .329 and now to .331. Don’t be surprised is Santana makes a serious run at taking over the Twins shortstop job within the next year or two.