Cotton Nash passes away at age 80

Cotton Nash

Charles “Cotton” Nash, a three-time All-American men’s basketball player and a University of Kentucky Athletics Hall of Famer, died May 23, 2023 in Lexington, Kentucky at the age of 80. Nash was born in Jersey City, New Jersey on July 24, 1942.

Hollywood handsome with a distinctive thatch of blonde hair (the inspiration for his nickname), Nash was a star from the moment he joined Adolph Rupp’s varsity in 1961-62. Nash (1962-64) appeared in 78 for the Wildcats and averaged 22.7 points and 12.3 rebounds per game. He was a member of two Southeastern Conference championship squads and was tabbed an All-American during all three seasons of his basketball career. Nash earned All-SEC Eastern Division honors as a member of the baseball team, and also participated in track and field as a discus thrower.

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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

Finally it is time for games that count

It has been a number of years since I have been this excited about the beginning of a new baseball season. I can’t wait for it to begin and it starts tomorrow. There are a number of rules changes that I think will make baseball more fun to watch. There are so many changes in the game this year from bigger bases, shift limits, the pitch timer, limits on throws to first base, and more. The extra-inning rule with the so called “Ghost Runner” was made permanent and I really don’t like that rule at all but you have to take the bad with the good.

One of the other changes that MLB made that I think is fantastic is the schedule change, the number of games still stays at 162 but every team will face every other team at least six times during the regular season so fans will get to see the best players in the game in their home ballpark for a minimum of three games, unless of course they are injured.

Then there are our home town Minnesota Twins who I think are set to earn back the AL Central Division title in 2023 that has eluded them since 2020 and that was only in a 60-game season. The Twins were swamped with injuries last season and finished 78-84 and in 2021 they finished with a 73-89 record. Can they win 15 more games in 2023 than they won lost year? I think they can.

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Twins fun facts from Twins 3/28 ST notes

It is the final day of 2023 Spring Training and the Minnesota Twins find themselves in Bradenton, Florida for their final Spring Training exhibition game. So instead of listing some fun facts from the Twins notes for today, I will just include the entire set of today’s notes here. The normal Twins Game notes during the season are a bit more in depth and if you want to check them out daily once the season starts, I will try to get the link out on the site daily.

Twins-Notes-3-28-at-PIT