Category: Twins Minor League Player of the Week

Twins minor league players of the week are Matt Wallner & Brent Headrick

The Minnesota Twins have announced that Triple-A outfielder Matt Wallner and Triple-A left-handed pitcher Brent Headrick have been named Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week for week nine. Twins Rookie and DSL leagues begin play today (June 5).

Brent Headrick was Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 9th round of the 2019 MLB June Amateur Draft from Illinois State University (Normal, IL). Headrick signed with Minnesota for a reported $130,000. MLB Pipeline currently has Headrick as the Twins 24th best prospect. More info on Headrick. The 6’6″ lefty made his big league debut earlier this season.

Headrick, 25, pitched 5 innings of relief on Tuesday at Buffalo, allowing one run on five hits in 5 innings pitched with no walks and seven strikeouts. This season in Triple-A St. Paul, Headrick has started 5 of the 8 games he has appeared in this season but it appears the Twins are trying to make him a relief pitcher. In 37.2 innings he has allowed 43 hits and struck out 48 but his WHIP is 1.407 so his control needs some work.

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Twins minor league players of the week are Ricardo Olivar & Marco Raya

The Minnesota Twins have announced that Low-A Fort Myers catcher/outfielder Ricardo Olivar and High-A Cedar Rapids pitcher Marco Raya have been named Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week for week eight. Twins Rookie and DSL leagues begin play on June 5th.

The Barquisimeto, Venezuela native was signed by the Twins as an international free agent on July 8, 2019 for just $20,000. MLB Pipeline currently shows Olivar as the Minnesota Twins 26th best prospect. For more info on Olivar go here.

Olivar, 21, hit .600 for the week, including a home run, a double and a 1.600 OPS for the Mighty Mussels. On the season the right-handed hitting Olivar is slashing .282/.355/.422. The Twins have the 5’10” (176 lbs) Olivar playing catcher and outfielder and he has even played two games in centerfield.

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Twins minor league players of the week are Blayne Enlow & Kala’i Rosario

The Minnesota Twins have announced that Double-A Wichita RH pitcher Blayne Enlow and High-A Cedar Rapids outfielder Kala’i Rosario have been named Twins minor league Pitcher and Player of the Week for week seven.

Blayne Enlow was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 3rd round of the 2017 MLB June Amateur Draft from St. Amant HS (St. Amant, LA). Enlow received a $2 million signing bonus to coax him out of his commitment to Louisiana State University.

Enlow, 24, made one start for the Wind Surge on Thursday vs. Arkansas, allowing one run on six hits in 5.1 innings pitched with no walks and had a career high of 10 strikeouts. The 6’3″ Sorrento, Louisiana native is already 24 and running out of time as he is in his sixth season (excluding 2020) of pro ball and has not yet pitched in AAA. In seven starts in 2023 he hs thrown 35.2 innings and struck out 47 and has a a 3.28 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP.

Kala’i Rosario was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 5th round of the 2020 MLB June Amateur Draft from Waiakea HS (Waiakea, HI). Unconfirmed sources stated that Rosario signed for a bonus of $270,000.

Rosario, 20, hit .538 with one double and two home runs this week for the Kernels. The Papaikou, Hawaii native is primarily a corner outfielder. Scouts have already given Rosario a 55 grade for his power. This power definitely has something to do with his exit velocity, the analytic stat that likely made the Twins fall in love with Rosario in the first place. Rosario has his negatives, mainly, his other four tools. Rosario isn’t an overly speedy guy, he doesn’t hit incredibly well, and his glove isn’t great. His arm, while better, isn’t anything to write home about either. But the power.

Twins Minor League Report, 5-21-23.PDF

Twins minor league players of the week are C.J. Culpepper & Yunior Severino

The Minnesota Twins have announced that Double-A Wichita infielder Yunior Severino and Low-A Fort Myers right-handed pitcher C.J. Culpepper have been named Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week for week six.

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Twins minor league players of the week are Brooks Lee & Alejandro Hidalgo

The Minnesota Twins have announced that Double-A Wichita infielder Brooks Lee and High-A Cedar Rapids right-handed pitcher Alejandro Hidalgo have been named Twins minor league Player and
Pitcher of the Week for week five.

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Twins minor league players of the week are Louie Varland & Mike Helman

The Minnesota Twins have announced that Triple-A St. Paul right-handed pitcher Louie Varland and Triple-A St. Paul infielder Michael Helman have been named Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week for week four. For some reason the Twins did not announce their minor league players of the week last week.

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Twins minor league players of the week are Ross & Matthews

The Minnesota Twins have announced that High-A Cedar Rapids shortstop Ben Ross and Low-A Ft. Myers right-handed pitcher Zebby Matthews have been named Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week for week two.

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Twins minor league players of the week are Festa & Julien

The Minnesota Twins have announced that Double-A Wichita right-handed pitcher David Festa and Triple-A St. Paul infielder Edouard Julien have been named Twins minor league Pitcher and Player of the Week for week one.

David Festa a New Jersey native was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 13th round of the 2021 MLB June Amateur Draft from Seton Hall University (South Orange, NJ). MLB Pipeline currently has Festa rated as the Twins 11th best prospect and Baseball America has him rated as the ninth-best prospect in the Twins’ system.

Festa, 23, made the start on Friday for the Wind Surge at Springfield, pitching 5 shutout innings with one hit allowed, no walks and eight strikeouts, earning the win.

https://www.mlb.com/prospects/twins/david-festa-701581

Edouard Julien was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 37th round of the 2017 MLB June Amateur Draft from Cardinal Roy SS (Ancienne-Lorette, QC) and the Minnesota Twins in the 18th round of the 2019 MLB June Amateur Draft from Auburn University (Auburn, AL). Both MLB and Baseball America have Julien rated as the Twins fourth best prospect.

Julien, 23, a left-handed hitting second baseman, had three hits in 10 at-bats including one home run, two RBI and three walks in his short stint with the St. Paul Saints. Julien was called up by the Twins last night and made his MLB debut today at Target Field against the Chicago White Sox and Lucas Giolito going 0 for 2 with a walk in a Twins 3-1 victory. Congratulations on making your MLB debut Edouard Julien.

https://www.mlb.com/prospects/twins/edouard-julien-666397

Twins minor league players of the week are Lee & Festa

The Minnesota Twins have named Double-A Wichita infielder Brooks Lee and High-A Cedar Rapids right-handed pitcher David Festa as the club’s minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.

Brooks Lee was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1st round (8th) of the 2022 MLB June Amateur Draft from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (San Luis Obispo, CA). Lee, whose draft slot was estimated to be worth $5.4 million, received a signing bonus worth $5.675 million. Lee’s scouting report is interesting and you can see it here. MLB Pipleline has Lee as the Twins top prospect and currently rated number 33 in MLB overall.

Lee, 21, played in four games for the Kernels (including all 3 playoff games), going 4-for-15 with two doubles, two RBI and three walks. He was promoted from High-A Cedar Rapids yesterday afternoon after hitting .289 (28-for-97) with four doubles, four home runs, 12 RBI and an .848 OPS in 25 games for the Kernels. The San Luis Obispo, California native switch-hitting shortstop has played in just 29 professional games and is already at AA-Wichita. Just 4 games with the Rookie Twins and 25 games at High-A Cedar Rapids. Talk about being on the fast track to Minnesota!

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Twins minor league players of the week are Balazovic & Cavaco

The Minnesota Twins have named Triple-A St. Paul right-handed pitcher Jordan Balazovic and Low-A Fort Myers infielder Keoni Cavaco as the club’s minor league Pitcher and Player of the Week.

Jordan Balazovic was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 5th round of the 2016 MLB June Amateur Draft from St. Martin SS (Mississauga, ON). At one point he was as high as number 3 on the MLB Twins Pipeline but now finds himself at number 15. The soon to be 24 year-old is spending his sixth season in the minors (no minor league ball in 2020).

Balazovic, who turns 24 on Saturday, made two starts for the Saints, going 0-0, 1.00 ERA (9.0 IP, 1 ER) with four walks and 15 strikeouts. Balazovic has had a disappointing 2022 season with his last two starts being arguably the best he has had all season. He started the season on the IL and with the AAA-Saints he has made 18 starts and has an 0-6 record with a 8.16 ERA. In his 18 starts he has pitched 56 innings (3.11 innings per start) and he has given up 89 hits while striking out 61 batters. His last start was the first time he has ever pitched 5 innings in pro ball and he has not thrown as many as 80 pitches in his career. He is relatively young but has to turn things around soon if he wants to be a big league pitcher.

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