Tag: Brent Rooker

Twins fans might not recognize their team

Minnesota Twins fans might not recognize their team this season when they go out to Target Field. The Twins have so many new players you will need to spend a few bucks and buy a scorecard just so you know who is playing where. Twins fans are already wondering who secretly snuck in during the dark of night this off-season and bought this Twins team from the Pohlad’s and has told Derek Falvey and Thad Levine to get off their butts and start putting together a winning team, money is no object. How else do you explain the Twins signing Carlos Correa to a three-year deal at $35.1 million per year? And the trades? What the heck is going here in fly over land?

The rumors were running wild last night as I went to bed that the Minnesota Twins and the San Diego Padres were talking let’s make a deal. The Padres have an excess of starting pitchers and the Twins are in need of starters so it looks like a match made in heaven. When I got up this morning I found out that a deal had indeed been consummated with the Twins getting starting right-handed pitcher Chris Paddack and right-handed reliever Emilio Pagan from San Diego in return for closer Taylor Rogers and first baseman/outfielder Brent Rooker. The Twins will also receive a player to be named later and will send cash to San Diego in the deal. That cash amount apparently covers all of Rogers salary but $700,000 in 2022. Rogers can become a free agent after the 2022 season.

Taylor Rogers

Lots of Twins fans are not happy to see Rogers, the Twins closer traded. Rogers was the Twins 11th round pick in the 2012 draft, the same year the Twins drafted Byron Buxton, Jose Berrios and Tyler Duffey. Rogers made his big league debut in April of 2016. Rogers has been a solid reliever ever since and he took over the closing chores in 2019. Rogers was named to his first All-Star team last season but suffered a finger injury in late July and he missed the rest of the 2021 season. Rogers has a twin-brother Tyler who pitches for the San Francisco Giants.

Continue reading Twins fans might not recognize their team

Twins Minor League POW are Brent Rooker & Jordan Balazovic

Week 11 has the Minnesota Twins naming AAA St. Paul outfielder Brent Rooker and AA Wichita right-handed pitcher Jordan Balazovic as their minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.

Continue reading Twins Minor League POW are Brent Rooker & Jordan Balazovic

Twins minor league players of the week – Rooker and Widell

Sorry for the delay in getting these Twins minor league player of the week updates out here on the site. My wife and I were on vacation for a couple of weeks taking a cruise to Alaska on the NCL Jewel out of Vancouver and then we spent a week touring the interior of Alaska. What a beautiful state even it it doesn’t have a big league baseball team. We were there for two weeks and we never saw darkness, it takes a bit of getting used to. Then again if you went in December it would always be dark.

I have missed baseball since you get no news on a cruise ship and the one newspaper I saw in Anchorage on our last day in Alaska has little to no MLB baseball coverage. So let’s see what we missed.

Two weeks ago the Twins named AAA Rochester Red Wings outfielder/first baseman Brent Rooker and Rookie-Elizabethton left-handed pitcher Ryley Widell as the organization’s minor league player and pitcher of the week.

Brent Rooker

Rooker, who was drafted 35th overall by the Twins in the 2017 First-Year Player Draft, played seven games for the Red Wings this week, hitting .429 (9-for-21) with two doubles, three home runs, 10 RBI, four walks and a 1.488 OPS.

The 24 year old Rooker is in a rush to the big leagues having split his 2017 season in Rookie Elizabethton and A+ Fort Myers, 2018 in AA Chattanooga, and 2019 in AAA Rochester. In 55 games in Rochester this year Rooker is hitting .290 with 13 home runs and 42 RBI. This season Rooker has spent his time in LF/DH but he has some played first base in 2017-2018. Might see a cup of coffee at Target Field in September.

Ryley Widell

Ryley Widell, who was drafted by the Twins in the seventh round of the 2017 Draft, pitched in one game this week, Wednesday against Bluefield, allowing just two runs (1 earned) on two hits, with no walks and six strikeouts in 4.0 innings pitched.

Widell, a 6’3″ lefty pitched in 8 games for Elizabethton in 2017 and missed 2018 due to injury and started this season in Elizabethton again this season.

 

Twins Minor League Report, 6-23-19

Arizona Fall League just around the corner

2018 Arizona Fall League rosters were announced August 30th and the Minnesota Twins players will make-up part of the Salt River Rafters along with players from the Diamondbacks, Rockies, Marlins and Nationals.  The club’s manager will be Tommy Watkins and strength and conditioning will be handled by Jacob Dean.

Players representing the Twins will be right-handed pitchers Griffin Jax and Hector Lujan, left-handed pitchers Alex Robinson and Devin Smeltzer, infielder Travis Blankenhorn, and outfielders Jaylin Davis, Luke Raley and Brent Rooker.

Griffin Jax

Hector Lujan

Alex Robinson

Devin Smeltzer

Travis Blankenhorn

Jaylin Davis

Luke Raley

Brent Rooker

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

click on images to make them larger

Entering its 27th year, the AFL features six teams that are composed of players from all 30 Major League organizations. It offers the unique opportunity to gauge young talent against competition that usually is superior to what they experienced during the Minor League season. The rosters for this year’s AFL, are loaded with future stars. The group features 18 players ranked on MLB Pipeline’s list of the Top 100 Prospects.

Although I have not been to any AFL games the last few seasons I have attended a number of them in the past and it is a special treat to watch these young up and coming stars play ball. The price is right and often you will see more scouts than you will see paying fans. It is indeed a unique experience that I would recommend you partake in, if the opportunity presents itself.

 2018 AFL Schedule

Twins minor league players of the week – Donny Breek and Brent Rooker

The Twins have named GCL Twins right-handed pitcher Donny Breek and Double-A Chattanooga outfielder Brent Rooker as Twins minor league Pitcher and Player of the Week.

Donny Breek

Breek, 18, made two starts for the GCL Twins, going 1-0, 0.00 ERA (9.0 IP) with three hits allowed, four walks and 13 strikeouts. The Amsterdam native was signed to a seven-year deal by the Twins as a free agent last September.

Donny Breek signs with Twins

Brent Rooker

Rooker, who is winning this award for the third time this season (May 20 and June 10), hit .467 (14-for-30) with four doubles, three home runs, nine RBI, six walks and a .556 on-base percentage in seven games for the Lookouts. The 23-year old is putting together a solid season at Chattanooga and in 99 games is hitting .275 with a .862 OPS with 20 home runs and 66 RBI. He has struck out 120 times. Rooker was selected by the Twins 35th overall in the 2017 First-Year Player Draft out of Mississippi State University.

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

Not all first round picks are born to be stars

For some baseball fans the MLB June Amateur Draft is one of the highlights of the season. They can’t wait to see who their favorite team drafts and then can’t wait to see that player wear their favorite team colors. Who knows, maybe their team just landed the next great baseball superstar, but few consider the fact that even first round selections can turn out to baseball “duds”.

If you pick a player in round one you expect him to be a bona-fide big league star, an All-Star type of player. Sadly, a lot of them will not meet those expectations for one of many different reasons.

The 2018 June Amateur Draft is just around the corner so it is time to take a look at the Minnesota Twins previous first round selections for the last ten years and see how they are doing.

 

The Minnesota Twins have had 18 first round selections in the last ten years (2008-2017). 

  • Three of the picks are playing for the Minnesota Twins at this time. Gibson, Buxton and Berrios
  • One of the picks is playing for another big league team. Hicks
  • One of the picks was selected in the Rule 5 draft, pitched briefly in the big leagues but was returned to the Twins minor league system. Bard
  • Seven of the picks are in the Twins system and still have a shot at wearing Twins colors at some point in the future. Lewis, Rooker, Kirilloff, Jay, Gordon, Stewart and Bard
  • Three of the picks are no longer with the Minnesota organization and are playing in the minors elsewhere. Michael, Harrison and Wimmers
  • Four are no longer playing pro baseball. Boyd, Bashore, Gutierrez and Hunt

 

Twins first round picks for last 10 years

2017 – Royce Lewis (shortstop) – First pick overall out of high school. Has been at Cedar Rapids (Low A) all season and is hitting .315 with a .368 OBP in 124 at bats with one home run and 13 stolen bases in 14 attempts. Signing bonus – $6.725 million

2017 – Brent Rooker – (outfielder) – 35th selection overall out of college. Has spent the season in Chattanooga (AA) and is hitting .233 in 163 at bats with four homers and 20 and has struck out 53 times. Has shown power in the past but no so much this year. The Twins seem to be grooming him to play first base. Signing bonus – $1.935 million

2016 – Alex Kirilloff – (outfielder) – 15th overall pick out of high school. Missed all of 2017 with TJ surgery and has played with Cedar Rapids all of this season hitting .325 in 151 at bats and a slick .959 OPS. Signing bonus – $2,817,100 million

2015 – Tyler Jay (LHP) – Selected sixth over all out of college. Pitched as a starter in 2015 and 2016 and strictly a reliever since. Injuries have plagued Jay and last season he pitched a total of just 11.2 innings for three different teams. He also pitched in the AFL where he threw 9.2 innings and had a 5.59 ERA. This year in AA Chattanooga he has thrown 14 innings striking out 9, walking 5,  has allowed 16 hits and has an ERA of 1.93. Signing bonus – $3,889,100 million

2014 – Nick Gordon (shortstop) – Selected fifth overall out of high school. The son of Tom “Flash” Gordon is in his fifth season of pro ball and was just promoted to AAA Rochester after hitting .333 in AA Chattanooga with 7 stolen bases, 10 doubles and 5 homers in 162 at bats. I would expect to see him put on a Minnesota Twins uniform at some point this season. In my opinion with Jorge Polanco suspended and the team hitting poorly why not bring Gordon up and see if he can provided a spark? Signing bonus – $3.851 million

2013 – Kohl Stewart (RHP) – Selected fourth overall out of high school. Finished the 2017 season in AA Chattanooga and is calling it home again this season. Has a 3-1 record but sports a 4.70 ERA with 36 strikeouts and 41 hits in 38.1 innings. Injuries has also plagued Stewart in his career. He is going to need a breakout season real soon…. Signing Bonus – $4.544 million

2012 – Byron Buxton (outfielder) – Selected second overall out of high school and has been with the Twins off and on since his big league debut in June of 2015. Great outfielder with speed to burn but hitting has been sub par. For a second overall pick you have to consider him “disappointing” so far. Signing bonus – $6 million

2012 – Jose Berrios (RHP) – Selected 32nd overall out of high school in Puerto Rico and debuted with Minnesota in 2016. Berrios is having a great season in 2018 with the Twins. Looks to be the ace the Twins hoped he would be. Signing bonus – $1.55 million

2012 – Luke Bard – (RHP) – Selected 42nd overall out of college and has had some injury issues including TJ surgery that caused him to miss all of 2014. Selected by the Angels as a Rule 5 selection last November and pitched 11.2 innings with 13 strikeouts in the bigs but was returned to Minnesota in late April and is pitching in AAA Rochester and I would not be shocked to see him at least get a cup of coffee with the Twins in 2018. Signing bonus – $1.227 million

2011 – Levi Michael – (shortstop) – Selected 30th overall out of college and was released by Minnesota after the 2017 season and currently playing AA ball in the New York Mets system. Signing bonus – $1.175 million

2011 – Travis Harrison – (Third Baseman) Selected 50th overall out of high school and released by Minnesota after the 2017 season and currently playing in an Independent league. Signing bonus – $1.050 million

2011 – Hudson Boyd (RHP) Selected 55th overall out of a Ft. Myers high school and signed for one million dollars and was released by Minnesota in 2014. Boyd had many issues including his weight, booze, and attitude. A major flop! Signing bonus – $1 million

2010 – Alex Wimmers (RHP) – Selected 21st overall out of college. Pitched in a total of 24.2 innings for the Twins between 2016 and 2017 and posted a 1-3 record with a 4.38 ERA but those 19 walks were horrific and he is now in the Marlins system where at last look he had a 9.82 ERA. Signing bonus – $1.332 million

2009 – Kyle Gibson (RHP) – Selected 22nd overall out of college. Debuted with Minnesota in 2013 and has been in the starting rotation since 2014. Signing bonus – $1.8 million

2009 – Matt Bashore (LHP) – Selected 46th overall out of college. Missed all of 2010 with TJ surgery and released by the Twins after the 2011 season. Bashore pitched a total of 18.2 innings in the Twins minor league system before the organization gave up on him and out of baseball after the 2012 season. Signing bonus – $751,500

2008 – Aaron Hicks (outfielder) – Selected 14th overall out of high school and opened the season in Minnesota as the starting center fielder in 2013. Hitting woes caused the Twins to give-up on Hicks and trade him to the New York Yankees for catcher John Ryan Murphy in November 2015 but he too turned out to be a dud and was sent packing to Arizona. Hick is still playing with the Yankees in a semi-regular role. Signing bonus – $1.78 million

2008 – Carlos Gutierrez (RHP) – Selected 27th selection overall out of college and advanced as high as AAA in the Twins system before he moved on to the Cubs in 2013 but left pro ball after that season. Signing bonus – $1,290 million

2008 – Shooter Hunt (RHP) – Selected with the 31st pick overall out of college and didn’t get higher than high A in Ft. Myers before moving on to a different career after the 2011 season. Signing bonus – $1.080 million

Continue reading Not all first round picks are born to be stars

Twins minor league players of the week – Brent Rooker & Brusdar Graterol

The Twins have named Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts outfielder Brent Rooker and Single-A Cedar Rapids right-handed pitcher Brusdar Graterol Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.

Rooker

In seven games, the 23-year-old Rooker hit .290 going 9 for 31 with two doubles, two home runs, eight RBI, six runs scored and a .303 on-base percentage. It appears that the Twins are turning the right-handed hitting/throwing Rooker into a first baseman/DH after drafting him as an outfielder. In 39 games this season for Chattanooga he has played 21 games at first, 12 games as a DH and just 6 games if left field. We might just be looking at the Twins next first baseman. Rooker, who Baseball America has rated as the Twins seventh best prospect  is off to a slow start at Chattanooga this season just hitting .235 with a .270 OBP with just 4 home runs in 163 PA’s. The former Mississippi State outfielder was selected 35th overall in last year’s draft in Compensation Round A.

Graterol

Graterol made one start this week for the low-A Kernels, pitching 5.2 shutout innings with two hits allowed, one walk and 10 strikeouts versus Quad Cities earning his first win of the season. Graterol threw 76 pitches, 55 for strikes. In 14.1 innings this year he has allowed just 8 hits, one walk and struck out 21 batters and has a 0.63 ERA. WOW! The right-hander is just 19 and was signed by the Twins for $150,000 on August 29, 2014 from Calabozo, Venezuela as part if their 2014 International signing group.

Graterol pitched in just four games in 2015 before tearing his UCL and under-going Tommy John surgery causing his to miss almost two seasons of baseball. Prior to this season Graterol has pitched just 51 innings of pro ball. Entering this season, Baseball America named Graterol the fourth best prospect in the Twins system. 

The Twins pitching prospect you didn’t know you wanted

Twins Minor League Report 052018

 

Twins organization All-Stars by MiLB.com

Stephen Gonsalves (Credit: Brian McLeod/MiLB.com)

A lot of our readers are not only interested in the Minnesota Twins history but also want to know something about the Twins future, so now and then we throw them a bone and point them to a story that caught our fancy and maybe it is something they too might enjoy.

In the “Down on the Farm” section on the right hand side of the home page is a headline that reads “Twins’ Gonsalves, Curtiss ready to contribute“, it is nice piece by MiLB.com about Minnesota Twins prospects that are getting close to putting on a Twins uniform or may have already worn out briefly. The article puts together a Twins organization All-Stars about players in the Twins farm system that have stood out in 2017. If you have any interest in the Twins future you might want to check this story out.

If you want to check out Organization All-Stars for the other MLB teams, go here. The “Down on the Farm” headlines are often very interesting and it might be something that you might enjoy looking at if you have not done so.