Twins minor league players of the week – Luis Arraez & Lewis Thorpe

The Twins have named High-A Ft. Myers infielder Luis Arraez and AA Chattanooga
left-handed pitcher Lewis Thorpe minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.

Luis Arraez

The 21-year-old Arraez played five games for the Miracle, hitting .542 (13-for-24) with one double, one home run, four RBI and had a five-hit game on Friday at Bradenton. For the season he is hitting .307 with a .359 OBP and has played primarily at second but has also put in time at third and shortstop. In his five seasons of pro ball Arraez has never hit below .300 and has a .332 career average. Arraez was out most of 2017 with a torn ACL. Arraez was signed by the Twins as an undrafted free agent in 2013 from San Felipe, Venezuela.

Lewis Thorpe

Thorpe made the start on Thursday vs. Biloxi, pitching 7.0 shutout innings with one hit allowed, one walk and 12 strikeouts. Thorpe was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2012 out of Melbourne, Australia. Here is what FanGraphs has to say about Thorpe :

Thorpe had real prospect status following the 2014 season, when he turned in a solid 71.2 innings in Low-A at age 18. He then missed all of the 2015 and 2016 seasons with Tommy John surgery and mono during his rehab from the surgery. He returned last year and mostly picked up where he left off, reaching Double-A at age 21, which is where he was assigned to start 2018. His stuff has always been around average, but it was a little above before and now it’s more fringy with a good slider.

 

Twins Minor League Report 062418.pdf

Twins minor league players of the week – Robby Rinn and Jordan Balazovic

The Twins have named Single-A Cedar Rapids first baseman Robby Rinn and Single-A Cedar Rapids right-handed pitcher Jordan Balazovic as Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.

Robby Rinn

In four games for the Kernels, Robby Rinn hit .556 (10-for-18) with two doubles, one home run, three RBI and scored five runs. Rinn, now 25 was drafted by Kansas City in the 25th round of the 2016 First-Year Player Draft and was acquired via trade this past May in exchange for cash.

Jordan Balazovic

Jordan Balazovic, 19,  who was recently assigned to Cedar Rapids made one start for the week, coming Monday at Wisconsin, allowing one run on three hits in 7.0 innings pitched and 11 strikeouts. The 6’4″ Oakville, Ontario native is a right-hander and was drafted by the Twins in the fifth round of the 2016 First-Year Player Draft and signed for a reported $515,000. Twins Daily did a nice piece on Balazovic that is worth checking out.

 

Twins Minor League Report 061718.pdf

Is the value of a two out RBI truth or myth?

According to the most recent (06/14/18) issue of MLB Weekly Notes, the Milwaukee Brewers have a MLB best 46% (126 out of 274) of their total RBI coming with two out. The first place Brewers have the best record in the National League at 42-27. The 40-29 Atlanta Braves have the second most wins in the NL and they also have the second best NL percentage of two out RBI at 43.2%. The San Diego Padres have the third best NL percentage of two out RBI at 41.7% but they have a 34-38 record and are last in the NL West.

In the American League the best two out percentage of RBI is 44.4% and belongs to the AL West fourth place Oakland A’s who have a 34-36 record. The only other team in the top five MLB percentages of two out RBI of 40% or more belongs to none other than our Minnesota Twins who sit at exactly 40%. The Twins offense has been anemic this season and their record stands at 30-36 and the team is 11th in the AL in runs scored. The third highest team in the AL in two out RBI is the 22-47 Kansas City Royals at 38.8% and only the Baltimore Orioles with a 19-49 record have fewer wins in MLB than the Royals.

Continue reading Is the value of a two out RBI truth or myth?

MLB Weekly Notes Draft Summary

As I have mentioned on this site previously, the MLB Weekly Notes that are published weekly by MLB are a good read for any baseball fan and you can find them on the MLB Weekly Notes Page on this site.

The most recent set of MLB Weekly Notes includes a very nice summary of the recently completed June amateur draft. I thought I would include it here so you could check it out.

Weekly Notes 060718

Twins minor league players of the week – Brent Rooker & Tyler Wells

The Twins have named Chattanooga Lookouts (AA) outfielder Brent Rooker and Ft. Myers Miracle (High A) right-handed pitcher Tyler Wells as Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.

In six games for the Lookouts, Rooker hit .450 (9-for-20) with one double, one triple, one home run, six RBI, eight walks and a .586 on-base percentage. The former Mississippi State Bulldog was drafted by the Twins in the Competitive Balance Round A (35th overall) last season.

Brent Rooker

This season in Chattanooga, Rooker has played in 58 out of their 62 games and is hitting .269 in 250 plate appearances with 8 home runs, 36 RBI with a .791 OPS. Rooker has struck out 68 times. Although he has appeared as a corner outfielder a handful of times this season, his primary position appears to be first base.

Rooker is also an impressive athlete, and he was a three-sport star at Evangelical Christian School in Germantown, Tennessee. Rooker hit .430 with nine home runs as a senior. He also led his high school to the Division 2-A State Championship Game in football, collecting 3,300 yards of total offense with 33 touchdowns, and he was named a 2013 Tennessee Mr. Football finalist after setting 18 school records. He also played basketball.

Tyler Wells

Wells made one start for the Miracle last week, allowing one run on two hits in 8.0 innings pitched with one walk and seven strikeouts, earning his fourth win (4-3). The University of Cal-Berkeley alum was drafted by the Twins in the 15th round of the 2016 First-Year Player Draft.

This season the 6’8″ Wells has nine starts for the Miracle and has a 2.86 ERA and a 0.932 WHIP primarily because he has given up just 31 hits in 44 innings. During his short pro career, the right-handed Wells has always allowed fewer hits than innings pitched when you look at his yearly numbers. 

 

Twins Minor League Report 061018.pdf

Cedar Rapids Kernels have two starters in Midwest League All-Star game

The Midwest League recently announced the rosters for the 54th Midwest League All-Star Game, scheduled for June 19th at Cooley Law School Stadium in Lansing, MI. The Cedar Rapids Kernels have two starters and two reserves selected to the team. The All-Stars were nominated and selected by the field managers of the 16 Midwest League teams.

Royce Lewis was selected as the starting shortstop for the MWL West squad and OF Alex Kirilloff was named a starting outfielder, pitchers Brusdar Graterol and Jared Finkel were selected as reserves for the MWL West squad.

Royce Lewis
Alex Kirilloff
Brusdar Graterol
Jared Finkel

 

Congratulations to Eddie Rosario

Eddie Rosario’s bat that hit the third home run is headed the the Twins archives. Credit-Dan Hayes

 

Congratulations to Minnesota Twins outfielder Eddie Rosario on becoming the first Minnesota Twins player in franchise history to hit three or more home runs in a game on two occasions.

Rosario did it for the first time on June 13, 2017 at Target Field against the Seattle Mariners and again less than a year later on June 3, 2018 again at Target field but this time the Cleveland Indians were the victims.

The Minnesota Twins and their predecessor Washington Senators have never had a player hit more than three home runs in a game but their players have hit three home runs in a game on 11 occasions and as mentioned earlier, Rosario is the only player to do it more than once.

Before the Washington franchise moved to Minnesota for the 1961 season, two Senators players had hit three home run in a single game, Jim Lemon on August 31, 1956 at Griffith Stadium against the New York Yankees and Goose Goslin on June 19, 1925 against the Cleveland Indians at Dunn Field. Lemon played for the Minnesota Twins from 1961-1963.

Twins opponents have hit three or more home runs in a game against the Twins a total of 26 times and no player has done it more than once.

List of franchise players who have hit 3 or more home runs in a single game

Twins minor league players of the week – Jose Miranda & Omar Bencomo

The Twins have named Low A Cedar Rapids infielder Jose Miranda and AA Chattanooga
right-handed pitcher Omar Bencomo as Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.

Jose Miranda

In eight games for the Kernels, Miranda hit .414 (12-for-29) with four doubles, one home run and nine RBI. The Manati, Puerto Rico native was drafted by the Twins in the second round of the 2016 First-Year Player Draft. The soon to be 20-year-old Miranda is a right-handed batter and is in his third season of pro ball. This season Miranda is playing second base and third base.

According to a 2016 Rhett Bollinger article, Miranda, who was selected from Leadership Christian Academy with the 2016 number 73 overall pick in Lottery Round B, projects to be a power-hitting third baseman. The Twins saved slot money by signing him for $775,000, as the pick had a value of $878,500.

Omar Bencomo

The 29-year-old right-handed Bencomo made two starts, one for the Lookouts and one for the Red Wings, going 2-0 with a 0.69 ERA (13.0 IP, 1 ER) with five hits allowed, two walks and 11 strikeouts.

The Valencia, Venezuela native first started playing pro ball in 2007 and signed with the Twins as a minor league free agent on January 19, 2018. Bencomo has been used both as a starter and a reliever over the years but he has been a starter for Chattanooga and Rochester since the end of April. Bencomo was promoted to Rochester on May 30th.

 

Twins Minor League Report 060218

Ft. Myers Miracle have four players named as All-Stars

Florida State League All-Stars were announced yesterday and the Ft. Myers Miracle will have four representatives. Left-handed pitcher Andrew Vasquez, infielder Travis Blankenhorn and outfielders Jimmy Kerrigan and Jaylin Davis.

Andrew Vasquez is 0-1 with a 0.66 ERA in 15 relief appearances, 30 strikeouts and eight walks in 27.1 innings pitched. Vasquez was selected in round 32 of the 2015 June amateur draft.

Jimmy Kerrigan is hitting .289 with six home runs and 21 RBI in 40 games. Kerrigan was signed by Minnesota as a minor league free agent in July 2017.

Jaylin Davis is hitting .273 with four home runs and 11 RBI in 42 games with five outfield assists. Davis was a 24th round selection in the 2015 June amateur draft by the Twins.

Travis Blankenhorn (2nd All-Star selection – Midwest League in 2017 with Low-A Cedar Rapids) is hitting .255 with six home runs and 22 RBI. Blankenhorn was a Twins 3rd round pick in the 2015 June amateur draft.

Andrew Vasquez
Jimmy Kerrigan
Jaylin Davis
Travis Blankenhorn

click on images to make them larger

Falvey and Levine should DFA Molitor

Paul Molitor

Should Derek Falvey and Thad Levine be looking for a new manager for the Minnesota Twins? I know, I know, they signed him to a new deal after last season right after the Twins made the playoffs after a seven-year absence.

I can’t believe that Paul Molitor is their guy, and they in essence had no choice but to sign Molitor or get run out-of-town. The Twins are playing terribly, way below expectations in spite of good starting pitching. The bullpen started out decent but Molitor’s bullpen management quickly put an end to that.

You can’t put all the blame on Molitor but you can’t get rid of the players so the easiest thing to change is the manager. This team needs new leadership before the problem gets even more serious. The team doesn’t look like it is having fun or even takes the losses very seriously. Come on now, eight walk-off losses in 50 games, that is crazy.

Too many injuries? Every team has injuries, you just need to know how to manage them. Miguel Sano has been terrible so far and I think a part of that is because of Jorge Polanco being out due to suspension and not much can be done about that. Sano and Polanco are best buddies from way back and when I watched them this spring they were like joined at the hip, if you saw one you saw the other.

Derek Falvey and Thad Levine

Falvey and Levine aren’t blameless in this fiasco this year either. If Polanco is out, and Nick Gordon is tearing it up in AA and now hitting well in AAA why not bring him up and see what he can do and see if he can kick-start this anemic offense? It obviously is not breaking any barriers to bring up a guy from AA with little to no time in AAA.

Having said all this, Falvey and Levine deserve a chance to determine their own fate and that is difficult to do if you don’t have “your guy” managing your team. I know that Paul Molitor was a heck of a ballplayer, is in the Hall of Fame and is a local boy made good but that does not necessarily make him a good manager. Thank him for his service and let’s move on. Baseball is about winning, if you can’t do the job, its next man up. I am waiting to see of Falvey and Levine will “man up”.