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
New Britain (AA) left-handed pitcher Logan Darnell is this week’s Twins Minor League Player of the Week. In two starts for the Rock Cats, Darnell, 24 went 1-1, 0.60 ERA (15 IP, 1 ER) with nine hits allowed, one walk and 15 strikeouts. Darnell, a 6’2″ and 210 lb. lefty was selected by the Twins in the sixth round of the 2010 First-Year Player Draft. This marks his first ever Twins minor league POW honor at this level. In four season of minor league baseball, Darnell is 28-24 with a 4.15 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP. In 403 innings he has given up 439 hits and struck out 269 batters.
Previous winners this season include pitcher Tyler Duffey, infielder Miguel Sano, outfielder Adam Walker, infielder Jorge Polanco, pitcher Kyle Gibson and infielder/outfielder Chris Colabello.
Rochester (AAA – International League) 1B Chris Colabello is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week In seven games Colabello hit .560 (14-for-25) with four doubles, three home runs, eight RBI, six runs scored and three walks, posting a .607 on-base percentage and a 1.080 slugging. This season the right-handed hitting 1B is hitting .348 (57-for-164) with 15 doubles, 11 home runs and 33 RBI in 43 games. The 29-year-old was signed by the Twins as a minor league free agent February 2, 2012, after playing Independent ball for seven seasons in the Canadian-American Association. There is a nice story about Colabello here. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Colabello in a Twins uniform sometime this year, the man has earned his shot.
Rochester Red Wings (AAA – International League) right-handed pitcher Kyle Gibson is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. Gibson pitched a 9 inning complete game shutout on May 8 at Toledo, allowing four hits, walking two and striking out eight on 114 pitches. The 25-year-old was selected by the Twins in the first round (22nd overall) of the 2009 First-Year Player Draft from the University of Missouri. Gibson, who is 6’6″ and goes about 210 pounds has been ranked in the top 10 of the Twins top prospects list by Baseball America in each of the last four years.
Gibson was limited to 28 innings in 2012 due to “Tommy John” surgery. This season in 7 starts with Rochester, Gibson is 2-4 with a 3.32 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. He has allowed 36 hits in 40.2 innings while striking out 35 and walking 11.
Expectations are high for this Twins prospect and I would expect to see him in the Twins starting rotation no later then late June.
Current Twins minor league standings
Rochester (AAA) – 14-22 and 9 games out in 6th place in the International League North
New Britain (AA) – 20-16 and 2 games out in 2nd place in Easter League East
Ft. Myers (High A) – 27-8 and in first place in Florida State League South
Cedar Rapids (Low A) – 23-10 and in first place in Midwest league West
Cedar Rapids Kernels shortstop Jorge Polanco is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. In seven games, Polanco batted .429 (12-for-28) with three doubles and 10 RBI. The switch-hitting 5-foot-11, 190-pound infielder was signed by the Twins as a non-drafted free agent in July of 2009 and is in his fourth season of pro ball even though he is only 19 years of age. This season in Cedar Rapids in 26 games (15 at 2B, 3 at SS and 8 as DH), Polanco is hitting .352 with 16 runs scored, one home run and 24 RBI’s. Polanco was named to the MiLB.com Twins organizational All-Star team in 2012.
Previous Twins minor league player of the week winners this season include right-handed pitcher Tyler Duffey, 3B Miguel Sano and outfielder Adam Walker.
Cedar Rapids Kernels outfielder Byron Buxton is the Twins Minor League Player of the Month for April. In 22 games for the Kernels, the 19-year-old batted .392 (31-for-79) with five doubles, four home runs, 25 RBI while scoring 25 times. Buxton reached base in every game last month, recorded 17 walks and posted a .510 on-base percentage. Buxton was drafted by the Twins in the first round (2nd overall) in the 2012 First-Year Player Draft out of Appling County (Georgia) High School.
DJ Baxendale
Ft. Myers Miracle right-handed pitcher D.J. Baxendale is the Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Month for April. Over a span of five starts for the Miracle, he went 4-0 with a 1.84 ERA (29.1 IP, 6 ER). Baxendale struck out 25 and walked just six batters while posting a 0.92 WHIP. Baxendale, 22, was drafted by the Twins in the 10th round of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Arkansas.
Cedar Rapids Kernels (Single-A) outfielder Adam Walker is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. In five games, Walker, 21, batted .455 (10-for-22) with one double, one triple, four home runs and 13 RBI’s. In 2013, Walker, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin native who is playing for his first full season team is hitting .310 with 14 runs scored, six home runs and 25 RBI’s in 19 games.
After he was drafted by the Twins in the third round of the 2012 Draft from Jacksonville University, the 6’4″, 225 pound right-handed hitting outfielder shared the Appalachian League lead with 15 homers for Rookie-level Elizabethton. He hit three more in the postseason, none more important than a game-tying three-run blast in the bottom of the ninth inning of the decisive Game 3 of the Championship Series against Burlington, a contest the Twins won on Dalton Hicks‘ walk-off grand slam. Previous winners this season include right-handed pitcher Tyler Duffey in week 1 and infielder Miguel Sano in week 2.
By the way – Each of the Twins four minor league affiliates have won their last three games.
Aaron Hicks
According to Elias – Aaron Hicks finally stroked his first major-league extra-base hit, a two-run double in the eighth inning of the Twins’ 7-2 home win over the Rangers yesterday. Hicks thus ended a streak of 64 straight at-bats without an XBH to start his career, the second-longest by any Twins position-player since the team relocated from Washington in 1961. Catcher Tom Tischinski didn’t record more than a single in any of his first 90 big-league at-bats in 1969 and 1970.
Starting tomorrow, the Twins will begin their longest road trip of 2013, playing 10 games in 11 days with stops in Detroit (April 29-May 1), Cleveland (May 3-5) and Boston (May 6-9). So far in 2013 the Twins are 6-6 at home and 4-4 on the road.
Max Kepler update – Star prospect Max Kepler remains on the shelf in Ft. Myers with a left elbow strain and remains shutdown for another month. Kepler, who has never suffered any serious injuries in his short career is reported to be chomping at the bit to start playing some baseball but the Twins are not going to put a young prospect like Kepler at risk of long-term injury. Having said that, there is discussion about sending Kepler to Cedar Rapids and have him DH even if he can’t play in the field.
This week’s Twins Minor League player of the Week is none other than 3B Miguel Sano. In seven games for the Ft. Myers Miracle (Florida State League), Sano batted .360 (9-for-25) with three walks, three home runs, and 11 RBI’s. The Twins top prospect and one of the top prospects in all of baseball is batting .377 (23-for-61) with five doubles, five home runs and 15 RBI this season. Sano is about 6’3″ and goes about 195 but I think he has grown since these stats were announced.
Miguel Sano, 19 was named Midwest League Prospect of the Year following a strong season with the Beloit Snappers (Single-A). Sano participated in the MWL All-Star game and was named to the MWL postseason All-Star team after leading the league in home runs (28) and RBI (100). Sano was rated best power prospect and best infield arm in the Midwest League by Baseball America’s annual Best Tools survey.
Although this future Twins superstar is only 19, this is his fifth year playing in the Twins organization. In 2011 he hit .292 with 20 home runs in Elizabethton and in 2012 in Beloit he hit .258 with 28 home runs. It is in the field where Sano needs to improve. Sano was signed as a shortstop but has out grown that position and is now a full-time 3B. Sano had 26 errors between short and 3B in 2011 and 42 errors at 3B in 2012.
This weeks Twins minor league player of the week is Cedar Rapids (A ball) right-handed pitcher Tyler Duffey. Duffey, 22, made one start during the week on April 7 versus Beloit earning the win. Tyler pitched 7.0 no-hit innings with seven strikeouts as Josue Montanez and Tim Atherton finished off the no-hitter for the Kernels.
Duffey is a 6’3″ and 210 lbs Houston, Texas native that was drafted by the Twins in the fifth round of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft out of Rice University. Duffey was 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA in 12 games, all in relief in Elizabethton last season. Duffey struck out 27 batters in 19 innings for the E-Twins. This season as a starter in Cedar Rapids, Duffey is 1-1 with a 2.13 ERA and has 11 KO’s in 12.2 innings.
Right-handed pitcher Jose Berrios is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. Berrios, 18 years of age (6′ 1″ and about 190) earned the win as he tossed 6.0 innings allowing just one hit and striking out six this week for the E-Town Twins. Berrios was selected by the Minnesota Twins in the first round (32nd overall) of the 2012 First-Year Player draft and signed on June 15. Berrios started the season with the GCL Twins posting a 1.08 ERA (16.2 IP, 2 ER) in eight appearances before being promoted to Elizabethton.
Berrios was one of the most highly touted pitching prospects to come out of Puerto Rico in recent draft history and has a fastball in the 92-95 MPH range and throws a change-up and curve but both off-speed pitches could use some work.
Kennys Vargas is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. Vargas, a 6’5″ switch-hitting 1B hit .429 (12-for-28) with a double, a home run and five RBI in seven games for Single-A Beloit. Vargas, 22, signed with the Twins as a non-drafted free agent in 2009 and has spent his entire professional career in the Twins organization, including hitting .322 at Elizabethton last year.
Vargas is in his fourth season in the Twins system and has played 1B exclusively except for one game at 3B in Beloit this year. Vargas has a career hitting average of .306 (hitting over .300 for three years in a row) in 543 at bats with 22 home runs and 106 RBI’s.
Vargas was suspended by MLB for 50 games last season for testing positive for Phentermine and missed his final 18 games at Elizabethton last year and served out the remainder of his suspension this season. That is why Vargas has played in only 32 games this year but in those games he has 118 at bats and is hitting .305 with 10 home runs and 9 RBI’s along with a 1.043 OPS.
