Minor League Player of the Week

Tyler Robertson
Tyler Robertson

New Britain left-handed pitcher Tyler Robertson is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week for July 23-30. Robertson, 23, was 1-0 with one save in three appearances for the Rock Cats. Tyler did not allow a run and recorded seven strikeouts while walking three batters in his 5.0 innings of relief work last week…Robertson was selected by the Twins in the third round of the 2006 First-Year Player Draft out of Bella Vista (Ca.) High School. Robertson entered 2011 with a career 30-32 minor league record and a 3.71 ERA over 98 appearances (95 starts).

Rangers show Twins no mercy

The Rangers scored three runs in each of the first three innings, then added five runs in the fourth inning and four more in the fifth inning, on their way to a 20-6 win over the Twins yesterday. Only two other teams since 1900 scored three-or-more runs in each of the first five innings of a game: the 1900 Phillies (July 13 vs. Pirates) and 1991 Athletics (September 29 vs. Rangers). The Rangers also became only the third team in American League history to have seven different players with three or more hits in a nine-inning game. The others were the 1939 Yankees and 1955 White Sox, who each coincidentally did so against the Athletics. Source: Elias

Minor League Player of the Week

pitcher BJ Hermsen
pitcher BJ Hermsen

July 24, 2011 – Beloit (Midwest League – Single-A) right-handed pitcher B.J Hermsen is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week for July 16-22. Hermsen, 21, was drafted in the sixth round of the of the 2008 First-Year Player draft out of West Delaware High School in Iowa. Hermsen was 1-0 in one start for the Snappers as he recorded five strikeouts while walking just two batters in the 7.0 inning win. B.J. is 10-6 in his second season with Beloit with a 3.14 ERA in 106 innings of work while giving up 110 hits, 28 walks and 68 strikeouts.

Homers fly as temps soar at target Field

Asdrubal Cabrera and Austin Kearns homered in the Indians’ 5-2 win at Minnesota (first game of double-header), where the game-time temperature was 90 degrees. It was only the third time that the Twins hosted a game at Target Field for which the first-pitch temperature was in the 90s, and a total of nine home runs were hit in those three games. The average in the other 123 games at Target Field has been 1.5 home runs. Source – Elias

Twins minor league player of the week

Ft. Myers (Florida St. League – Single-A) left-handed pitcher Logan Darnell is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week for July 9-15. Darnell was drafted in the sixth round of the of the 2010 First-Year Player draft out of the University of Kentucky. Logan made his professional debut last season with Elizabethton appearing in 11 games (five starts). Darnell, 21, was 2-0 in two starts for the Miracle, he recorded 10 strikeouts while walking just two batters.

Some interesting numbers

From Elias, A comparison of this season’s “first-half” statistics with the numbers at the break in past seasons:

In 2011, teams have averaged 8.4 runs per game. In 2010 it was 8.9, 9.2 in 2009, 9.1 in 2008, 9.4 in 2007 and 9.8 in 2006. 2011 is the lowest since 1992.

In 2011, teams have averaged 1.8 home runs per game. In 2010 it was 1.9, 2.1 in 2009, 2.0 in 2008 and 2007 and 2.2 in 2006. 2011 is the lowest since 1993.

In 2011, teams have averaged 1.3 stolen bases per game. In 2010 it was 1.2, 1.3 in 2009, 1.2 in 2008 and 2007 and 1.1 in 2006. 2011 is the highest since 1999.

In 2011, teams have a batting average of .253. In 2010 it was .259, .261 in 2009 and 2008, .264 in 2007 and .269 in 2006. 2011 is the lowest since 1972.*

In 2011, teams have averaged 6.3 walks per game. In 2010 it was 6.6, 7.0 in 2009, 6.8 in 2008 and 6.6 in 2007 and 2006. 2011 is the lowest since 1972.*

In 2011, teams have averaged 13.92 strikeouts per game. In 2010 it was 13.89, 13.6 in 2009, 13.3 in 2008, 13.0 in 2007 and 12.8 in 2006. 2011 is the highest ever.

*the American League adopted the DH the following season (1973)

Twins lose late

Michael Cuddyer’s home run in the bottom of the seventh inning tied the game, 5-5, but Tampa Bay scored four runs in the eighth inning and three more in the ninth to beat Minnesota 12-5. The Twins franchise has had only one larger margin of defeat in the past 75 years in a game it was leading or tied heading into the eighth inning. That was a 12-4 loss to the Royals in August 1995, during which the bullpen allowed nine runs over the final two innings, squandering a 4-3 lead. Source – Elias

Ducks on the Pond

Danny Valencia

Danny Valencia drove in two runs with a bases-loaded single in the seventh inning (and a third run crossed the plate on the same play as a result of an error) to lift the Twins to a 9-7 win over the Brewers yesterday. Valencia has eight hits, including two homers, in 13 at-bats (.615) with the bags full during his two seasons in the majors. Over the last two seasons, only Vladimir Guerrero (.631, 12-for-19) has a higher bases-loaded batting average than Valencia (minimum: 8 bases-loaded hits). Source – Elias

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

Eddie Rosario

Elizabethton (Appalachian League – Rookie Level) outfielder Eddie Rosario is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week for June 25-July 1. Rosario, 20, was 11-for-28 (.393) with two doubles, five home runs, 12 RBI’s and nine runs scored in seven games for the E-Town Twins. Last season Rosario spent the year in the GCL hitting .294 and stole 22 bases in 51 games. Rosario was drafted by the Twins in the fourth round of the 2010 First-Year Player draft out of Puerto Rico.

Keep’em Dancing

Jim Kaat

To be a good pitcher they say, you need to keep the hitters off-balance and you can’t let the hitters get comfortable at the plate. If you look at the Twins pitching history, you will see that some of the Twins top pitchers were not afraid to plunk a hitter now and then. I can’t tell you for sure if these pitchers threw at batters on purpose or if they just felt that they owned the plate and they were not afraid to pitch inside, but either way, the pitchers on this list hit their share of batters and a number of these pitchers pitched in the days when they themselves had to step up to the plate to hit. Jim Kaat hit the most batters when he pitched for the Twins, hitting 89 batters (plus 7 more as a Washington Senator before he became a Minnesota Twin) but he also pitched just under 3,000 innings and he averaged a hit batter once every 33.25 innings. Mike Smithson, who certainly was not afraid to pitch inside hit 46 batters in his time with the Twins and he did this in just 816 innings so he hit a batter every 17.74 innings, far and away the most hit batters per innings pitched. Let’s take a look at the Twins top ten.

  Name Batters hit Innings Innings per hit batter
1 Jim Kaat 89 2,959 33.25
2 Bert Blyleven 80 2,566 32.08
3 Brad Radke 62 2,451 39.53
4 Jim Perry 50 1,883 37.66
5 Mike Smithson 46 816 17.74
6 Kyle Lohse 44 908 20.64
7 Scott Erickson 42 979 23.31
8 Dave Boswell 34 1,036 30.47
9 Frank Viola 29 1,772 61.10
10 Johan Santana 27 1,308 48.44

Now let’s take a look at the Twins current starters and see how they compare.

  Name Batters hit Innings Innings per hit batter
1 Scott Baker 25 915 36.60
2 Francisco Liriano 20 617 30.85
3 Nick Blackburn 17 668 39.29
4 Carl Pavano 12 397 33.08
5 Brian Duensing 6 289 48.17