Twins minor league player of the week

Achter, A.J. 2015Rochester (AAA)  right-handed pitcher A.J. Achter is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. Achter appeared in three games for the Red Wings, tossing 5.0 shutout innings with two hits, four walks and seven strikeouts. Achter has gone 3-2, 2.15 ERA (37.2 IP, 9 ER) with 13 saves in 33 games for the Red Wings this season. Earlier this week he was named an International League All-Star for the second straight season.

Achter was a September call-up last year and appeared in 7 games throwing 11 innings and posting a 3.27 ERA with a 1-0 record.

A.J. Achter-overcomes-long-odds-as-46th-round-pick

The 6’5″ 26-year-old Achter was originally acquired by the Twins in the 46th round of the 2010 First-Year Player Draft from Michigan State University for a reported $50,000 signing bonus.

Twins Minor League Report July 3, 2015

According to ELIAS

Joe Mauer 2015Joe Mauer‘s two-run homer in the first inning set the tone yesterday and the visiting Twins topped the Royals, 5-3. Mauer went 4-for-5, the 23rd game of his career with four-or-more hits and his fifth such game against Kansas City, his highest total against any opponent. But it was also his first such game since Aug. 14, 2013, and the first that he has produced as a first baseman. It was the longest stretch between games of four-or-more hits in Mauer’s big-league career. Source:ELIAS

Remembering 1965 – Part 13 – Mincher, Bat Day, Bombs in bat racks

After getting shutout 5-0 at Dodger Stadium by California Angels right-hander Fred Newman on June 30th the 1965 Twins find themselves with a 43-28 record and in second place in the ten team American League trailing the first place Cleveland Indians by just half a game. Although the Twins have played the first 3 months at a .606 pace, things are about to get even better for the Twins as they prepare to embark on a nine game winning streak from July 2 until they lose the nite-cap of a twin-bill on July 10th. The Twins take over first place in the AL standings on July 3rd and stay in first place for the rest of the season.

Terry FoxOn June 11th the Twins sweep a double-header from the Detroit Tigers at Tiger Stadium taking both games by a score of 5-4 and Tiger reliever Terry Fox takes the loss in both games. But things could have been much worse as the June 26, 1965 Sporting News tells us in a short story about how Detroit police search the Tigers dugout and bat rack for a bomb during the first game.

Sporting News June 26, 1965 P27

June 20, 1965 – The largest crowd to ever watch the Twins play on the road, 71,245 New York fans watched their beloved Yankees get swept by the Minnesota Twins 6-4 and 7-4 in a doubleheader as the Twins marched towards their first ever World Series.

Don Mincher (courtesy of the Minnesota Twins)
Don Mincher (courtesy of the Minnesota Twins)

The June 26, 1965 Sporting News has a nice article on Don Mincher and his struggles to break into the Minnesota line-up. You can also read about how “Bat Day” got started and learn about Harmon Killebrew‘s first ever home run back on June 24, 1955.

Sporting News June 26, 1965 P11

Twins minor league player of the week

Engelb Vielma 2015 springFt. Myers (High A) infielder Engelb Vielma is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. Vielma played four games for the Miracle, hitting .467 (7-for-15) with one double, two RBI, two walks and two runs scored. Vielma who just turned 21 was signed by the Twins as an undrafted free agent from Venezuela on September 8, 2011. The 5’11” 150 pound Vielma was named the 22nd best prospect and best defensive infielder in the Twins system by Baseball America entering 2015.

In his fourth season of pro ball Vielma has appeared in a total  of 270 games and has hit .253  with 2 home runs and has stolen 51 bases in 1,086 PA’s. Vielma has a slick glove but it will be his bat that determines if he gets to put on a big league uniform but keep in mind he just turned 21.

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, first baseman/outfielder Max Kepler, right-handed pitcher Aaron Slegers, left-handed pitcher David Hurlbut and right-handed pitcher Alex Wimmers.

Twins Minor League Report June 28, 2015

Kepler and Berrios to play for Futures World Team

Rosters were recently announced for the SiriusXM Futures Game to be played on Sunday, July 12 at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati during the All-Star break and the Twins will be sending two players, who will both play for the World Team, outfielder/1B Max Kepler and right-handed pitcher Jose Berrios.

Max Kepler
Max Kepler

The 22-year-old Kepler was born in Berlin, Germany has played 55 games for Double-A Chattanooga this season, hitting .342 (69-for-202) with 18 doubles, eight triples, three home runs, 29 RBI and 11 stolen bases. He was originally signed by the Twins on July 11, 2009.

Jose Berrios
Jose Berrios

The 21-year-old Jose Berrios, was born in Baymon, Puerto Rico, has made 14 starts for Double-A Chattanooga, posting a record of 7-3, 3.23 ERA (83.2 IP, 30 ER) with 23 walks and 86 strikeouts.Berrios, who was drafted in the first round (32nd overall) of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft, started for the World Team in 2014 at Target Field, tossing a perfect inning.

Barring injury I think there is at least a 50/50 chance both of these young players will make their big league debut with the Twins this season. Congratulations to both Max and Jose. Source Twins Notes

2015 Futures Game Rosters

Will the Axe Bat replace the round handled bat?

I have chopped a lot of wood of the years and played a little baseball but I have never considered the two related in any way. Matter of fact I thought that chopping wood often kept me from playing baseball. Come to find out now that someone has tied an axe handle and a bat together and it might just be catching on.

“In 2006, a New Yorker named Steve Leinert obtained a patent on the axe handle for a baseball bat, a concept Ted Williams hit on decades earlier in his book “The Science of Hitting,” in which he compared a baseball swing to that of an axe. “Try it for yourself,” Williams wrote. “Get a bat and swing it against a telephone pole. I do this with doubting young Washington players. Where is the wrist position at point of impact? Square and unbroken, that’s where, just as when you hit a tree with an ax.””

The Axe Bat made its debut in MLB two years ago when former Philly and now Dodger shortstop Jimmy Rollins occasionally used an Axe Bat in major league games. Now Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia has spent a month using it as his lone bat, and the results are promising.

Axe handled batOne of the benefits of the axe bat handle is that it is supposed to limit hamate bone injuries, it will be interesting to see if the axe handled bat catches on and if it really does help prevent hand injuries. I suppose like anything else, if someone has some success with it, the bat will find its way into clubhouses all across baseball.

Here is a story that Jeff Passon did on the bat for Yahoo Sports.

According to ELIAS

Vargas gets his first four-hit game

Kennys Vargas 2015Twins designated hitter Kennys Vargas was 4 for 4, including a three-run homer, in Minnesota’s 13-2 rout of the White Sox. It was the first four-hit game for Vargas in his two seasons in the major leagues, and only the third four-hit game by a Twins DH over the last five seasons. The others were both in 2014, by Danny Santana (June 7 vs. Houston) and Trevor Plouffe (Septmber 23 vs. Arizona). Source: ELIAS

This Day in Twins History – June 22

Carew, Rod 166/22/1970 – In the fourth inning of the Twins game against the Milwaukee Brewers in County Stadium Rod Carew suffers a serious knee injury with torn cartilage and torn ligaments when Brewers 1B Mike Hegan rolls in to Carew at 2B trying to break up a double play. According to Rod Carew in his book “Carew”, my leg snapped back and went crack! He goes on to say that 2B umpire Jake O’Donnell had heard the crack and vomited. Carew was hitting .376 at the time underwent surgery and ended up in essence missing the rest of the season. Rod did return for 5 at bats late in September but did not get a hit. Carew had only 2 plate appearances against the Orioles in the ALCS with no hits.

6/22/1984 – In a teary home plate ceremony before the Twins-White Sox game at the Metrodome, Calvin Griffith and his sister, Thelma Haynes, sign a letter of intent to sell their 52 percent ownership of the Twins to Minneapolis banker Carl Pohlad for $32 million (some reports state it was $36 million) ending the longest family ownership of a team in baseball history. Griffith and his sister had been involved with the franchise since 1922, when they were adopted by owner Clark Griffith when the team was the Washington Senators.

Twins minor league player of the week

Alex Wimmers - (Credit: Roger Hoover/Tennessee Smokies)
Alex Wimmers – (Credit: Roger Hoover/Tennessee Smokies)

Chattanooga (AA) right-handed pitcher Alex Wimmers is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. Wimmers made two starts for the Lookouts, going 2-0, 0.00 ERA (14.2 IP) with five hits allowed, four walks and 20 strikeouts. Wimmers, 26,  struck out nine in 7.2 innings June 13 vs. Birmingham and 11 in 7.0 innings June 19 vs. Jacksonville. The Twins first round pick (21st overall) in the 2010 First-Year Player Draft has made 12 starts for the Lookouts, going 5-1, 4.31 ERA (64.2 IP, 31 ER), with 24 walks and 62 strikeouts.

Lookouts’ Wimmers silences Suns

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, first baseman/outfielder Max Kepler, right-handed pitcher Aaron Slegers and left-handed pitcher David Hurlbut.

Max Kepler
Max Kepler

Another player that probably was a finalist for POW honors again this week is Chattanooga 1B/OF Max Kepler. Kepler, 22, who was the Twins minor league player of the week a few weeks ago has been on an absolute tear lately and in his last 10 games he is 19 for 34 with 9 walks and is hitting at a .559 clip with 8 runs scored, 6 RBI, 1 home run, one double and 4 triples.  In 52 games for Chattanooga Max is hitting .346 with a .977 OPS.

 

Twins Minor League Report June 21, 2015

It has taken awhile but this is Twins Trivia post number 1,000.

According to ELIAS

Vargas wins it in walk-off style

Kennys Vargas 2015Kennys Vargas connected for a two-out, walk-off home run to give the Twins a 2-1 victory over the Cardinals yesterday. Vargas is the fifth player this season with a two-out, walk-off homer, joining the Nationals’ Yunel Escobar and Ryan Zimmerman, San Diego’s Derek Norris, and the Reds’ Todd Frazier.

The Cardinals, who led, 1-0, in the eighth inning, had won their previous 50 games when leading in the eighth inning or later, dating back to September 2014. Entering Thursday’s games, that was the third-longest current streak in the majors, behind the Royals (111) and Orioles (75).