Category: Twins Minor League Player of the Week

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

Jose Berrios

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.

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

 
Kennys Vargas

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.

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

Deibinson Romero

Infielder Deibinson Romero is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. The 25-year old right-handed hitting Romero hit .375 (6-for-16) with a double, two home runs and had seven RBI’s in four games for Double-A New Britain. Romero signed with the Twins as a non-drafted free agent in 2004.

Romero is slowly progressing through the Twins minor league system playing primarily 3B but also plays some 1B as needed. In his 7th minor league season, Romero has 2,230 minor league at bats and has a career average of .264 with 56 home runs but 29 of those have come in the last two seasons. Romero is not a threat on the bases.

Twins minor league player of the week

 

Esmerling Vasquez

Rochester right-handed pitcher Esmerling Vasquez is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. In 11.2 innings Vasquez went 2-0, with a 0.00 ERA, allowed four hits, five walks and 10 strikeouts in two relief appearances. Vasquez pitched 4.0 scoreless innings of relief, August 4 at Toledo, then 7.2 scoreless innings of relief, August 9 vs. Scranton-Wilkes/Barre. Vasquez, 28, joined the Twins organization after being claimed off waivers from the Arizona Diamondbacks on September 27, 2011.

Primarily used as a reliever, Vasquez has started 5 games this season. Vasquez has appeared in 28 games for Rochester putting up a 7-5 mark with a 3.10 ERA. In 81.1 innings he has allowed 61 hits and struck out 50 but he has walked 25 batters. Vasquez has previous big league experience appearing in 141 games for Arizona in 2009-2011.

Twins minor league player of the week

outfielder Matt Carson

Rochester outfielder Matt Carson is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week for July 29-August 3. Carson played six games for Triple-A Rochester, batting .367 (11-for-30) with two doubles, seven RBI’s and scored five runs. Carson, 31, who was signed by the Twins as a free agent prior to the season was originally selected by the New York Yankees in the fifth round of the 2002 First-Year Player draft out of BYU. Carson has also spent time in the Oakland and Tampa organizations after leaving the Yankee organization as a fee agent after the 2008 season.

Carson spent some time on the Oakland A’s big league roster in 2009-2010 playing in 46 games while hitting .200 in 100 big league at bats with 5 home runs, 14 RBI’s and stealing 4 bases. At the age of 31 the right-handed hittiong Carson is not really a prospect and is more or less filling out the roster in Rochester.

 

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

Steven Liddle

Outfielder Steven Liddle is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. Liddle played five games between Low-A Beloit and High-A Ft. Myers, batting .533 (8-for-15) with one double, one triple, one home run and five runs scored. Liddle was drafted by the Twins in the 15th round of the 2009 First-Year Player Draft and is the nephew of current Twins third base coach Steve Liddle.

An outfielder by trade, Liddle has been playing mostly 1B this season. In his fourth season in the Twins minor league system, Liddle has a career average of .253 with 23 home runs and 17 stolen bases.

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

outfielder Oswaldo Arcia

New Britain outfielder Oswaldo Arcia is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week for July 15-21. Arcia appeared in eight games for the Rock Cats hitting .370 (10-for-27) with two doubles, three home runs and 13 RBI while scoring eight runs. The 21-year-old Venezuelan, was signed by the Twins as a non-drafted free agent in 2007, he was ranked by Baseball America as the fifth best prospect in the system prior to the 2012 season.

The left-handed hitting Arcia started the season in Ft. Myers playing in 55 games before being promoted to New Britain where he has played in 29 games. In 2012 Arcia has 356 plate appearances and is hitting .312 with 12 home runs and 63 RBI’s. Arcia who is willing to take a free pass, has walked 31 times and has a .901 OPS.

Arcia was signed by the Twins at the age of 16 and is in his 5th season of pro ball. Arcia played for the “World” team in the 2012 Futures game and went 1 for 2 with a double.

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

Rochester relief pitcher Luis Perdomo is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week for July 8-14. Perdomo made two relief appearances for the Red Wings, tossing 2.1 scoreless innings, with no hits allowed, no walks, two strikeouts and two saves. The right-hander is in his first season in the Twins organization after signing as a free agent this past November. Perdomo started the season with Double-A New Britain going 4-4, 2.75 (39.1 innings pitched, 12 er) in 26 games. Luis is 2-1, 1.50 (12.0 ip, 2 er) with five saves in eight games for the Red Wings this season.

The 28-year old Perdomo was originally signed as an amateur free agent by the Cleveland Indians in 2003 but since then has been with the Cardinals, Giants, and Padres before signing as a FA with Minnesota. Luis has been in the minor for 7 season posting a 21-30 record with a 3.48 ERA, a 1.26 WHIP and strikes out about 8.6 batters per 9 innings. Perdomo has pitched in the big leagues with the Padres in 2009 appearing in 35 games and in 2010 but that season he pitched in just one game.

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

Aaron Hicks

New Britain switch-hitting outfielder Aaron Hicks is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week for June 30-July 6. Hicks, 23, batted .381 (8-for-21) with one double, one triple, one home run, two RBI and six runs scored in six games for the Rock Cats. The athletic Hicks was drafted out of high school by the Twins in the first round (14th overall) in the 2008 First-Year Player draft. Prior to the Twins drafting Hicks, a number of teams saw Hicks more as a pitching prospect than as an outfielder.

In his fifth season of pro ball Hicks has a career average of .266 with 29 home runs and 78 stolen bases but he has also been caught stealing 35 times. In 75 games and 312 plate appearances in New Britain this season, Hicks has 8 home runs with 18 of 26 stolen bases and has a .264 batting average but he has struck out 72 times. Hicks remains one of the Twins top prospects.

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

Romy Jimenez

Elizabethton outfielder Romy Jimenez is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week for June 23-29. Jimenez, 22, batted .450 (9-for-20) with one double, three home runs, eight RBI’s and four runs scored in five games for the E-Town Twins. Jimenez was signed by the Twins as an undrafted free agent in 2009 . Entering his fourth season in the Twins organization, Jimenez had played in 90 minor league games for the Twins, all in the outfield, hitting .308. Jimenez has hit 4 home runs in Elizabethton this season while playing in 8 games after hitting just two home runs in 90 games over the last 3 seasons. Jimenez who was signed out of the Dominican Republic at the age of 18 bats and throws from the right side and stands 6’2″ and weighs in at about 170.