TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history. “History never looks like history when you are living through it” – John Gardner, former Secretary of Health
The Minnesota Twins have announced that Triple-A St. Paul right-handed pitcher David Festa and Low-A Fort Myers outfielder Walker Jenkins have been named Twins minor league Pitcher and Player of the Week for week 22.
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). Festa signed with the Twins for a $125,000 signing bonus. MLB Pipeline currently has Festa rated as the Twins 9th best prospect. Read more about Festa here. Festa is getting to be a regular here, I wonder if they will give him a late season call-up as a reward.
Festa, 23, made his Triple-A debut on Wednesday night for the Saints against Columbus, allowing one run on four hits in 5 innings pitched, with one walk and seven strikeouts.
The Minnesota Twins have announced that Triple-A St. Paul outfielder DaShawn Keirsey Jr. and Double-A Wichita right-handed pitcher David Festa have been named Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week for week 21.
DaShawn Keirsey was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 4th round of the 2018 MLB June Amateur Draft from University of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT). Signing bonus is reported as $600K which is considerably over his slot value.
Keirsey was promoted from Wichita to St. Paul in early August. Keirsey, 26, played in five games for the Saints, hitting .412 (7-for-17) with one double one triple, one home run, five RBI, four walks and a 1.289 OPS. His 2023 slash line is .306/373/.485 and has played all three outfield positions but plays mainly center field.
The Minnesota Twins have announced that Double-A Wichita right-handed pitcher David Festa and High-A Cedar Rapids outfielder Emmanuel Rodriguez as minor league Pitcher and Player of the Week for week 16.
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 8th best prospect. Read more about Festa here.
He appeared for the AL Team in the 2023 SiriusXM Futures Game in Seattle over the Major League Baseball All-Star break and pitched 1.0 inning. The 6’6″ righty has made 15 starts this season and has a 2-2 record with 62 innings pitched allowing 60 hits while striking out 80. This is the second time he has won this award this season.
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.
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.
SPRING FLING: Today the Twins will play the 28th and 29th of 32 scheduled Grapefruit League games as the Twins and Braves will play a pair of split squad at Hammond Stadium and CoolToday Park in North Port. After today, one more game will be played at Hammond Stadium and two more games will be played on the road. The Twins will complete the exhibition season with a 1:05 pm (ET) game in Bradenton against the Pirates on Tuesday, March 28. After the game, they will fly to Kansas City, hold an optional team workout on March 29 then begin a three-game, four-day series at Kauffman Stadium from March 30-April 2. Rocco Baldelli announced to the media how the starting five will open the season: for the Kansas City series – RHP Pablo López on Thursday, March 30 , RHP Sonny Gray on Saturday, April 1, RHP Joe Ryan on Sunday, April 2. For the Miami series – RHP Tyler Mahle on Monday, April 3, RHP Kenta Maeda on Tuesday, April 4.
Below is a look at MLB’s top ten Twins prospects entering the 2023 season: 1. Brooks Lee, 2 Royce Lewis, 3. Emmanuel Rodriguez, 4. Connor Prelipp, 5 Matt Wallner, 6 Simeon Woods Richardson, 7 Marco Raya, 8 Misael Urbina, 9 Matt Canterino, 10 Louie Varland.
PROSPECT SHOWCASE IN TAMPA: The Twins beat the Yankees yesterday afternoon at George M. Steinbrenner Field by a score of 6-4. Pablo López was the starter in his final tuneup of the spring, allowing two runs on two hits in 3 innings pitched. Kenta Maeda made his final official spring appearance in relief, allowing two runs on three hits in 5 innings pitched, with five strikeouts. Twins prospects Edouard Julien and Emmanuel Rodriguez both went 2-for-4 with a home run, as Rodriguez’s three-run jimmy jack gave the Twins a ninth inning lead and eventual victory.
The Minnesota Twins have named Double-A Wichita infielder Brooks Lee and High-A Cedar Rapids right-handed pitcher David Festa as the club’s minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.
Brooks Lee was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1st round (8th) of the 2022 MLB June Amateur Draft from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (San Luis Obispo, CA). Lee, whose draft slot was estimated to be worth $5.4 million, received a signing bonus worth $5.675 million. Lee’s scouting report is interesting and you can see it here. MLB Pipleline has Lee as the Twins top prospect and currently rated number 33 in MLB overall.
Lee, 21, played in four games for the Kernels (including all 3 playoff games), going 4-for-15 with two doubles, two RBI and three walks. He was promoted from High-A Cedar Rapids yesterday afternoon after hitting .289 (28-for-97) with four doubles, four home runs, 12 RBI and an .848 OPS in 25 games for the Kernels. The San Luis Obispo, California native switch-hitting shortstop has played in just 29 professional games and is already at AA-Wichita. Just 4 games with the Rookie Twins and 25 games at High-A Cedar Rapids. Talk about being on the fast track to Minnesota!
Twins minor league players of the week are outfielder-first baseman Alex Kirilloff who has been playing in AAA St Paul and High-A Cedar Rapids RHP David Festa. I apologize for the delay in getting this out this week.
Alex Kirilloff was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1st round (15th) of the 2016 MLB June Amateur Draft from Plum HS (Pittsburgh, PA). This is Kirilloff’s second minor league player of the week honor in 2022, he also won on May 22.
Kirilloff made his big league debut with the Twins on September 30, 2020 in a playoff game against the Houston Astros. Kirilloff spent 59 games with the Twins last season before being sidelined with a wrist injury and started 2022 with the Twins before the wrist injury resurfaced.
Kirilloff has been hot of late while rehabbing with the AAA St. Paul Saints and last week played in five games, hitting .474 (9-for-19) with one double, four home runs, nine RBI, a .565 on-base percentage, a 1.158 slugging percentage and a 1.723 OPS. In 131 at bats with the Saints this season Kirilloff had a slash line of .359/.465/.641. He was recalled by the Twins on June 17.
This weeks Minnesota Twins players of the week are Low-A Fort Myers right-handed pitcher David Festa and AA Wichita infielder Spencer Steer.
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). Festa signed with the Twins for a $125,000 signing bonus.
Festa, 22, pitched very briefly in 2021 appearing in two games with the FCL Twins and two games with the Low-A Fort Myers Might Mussels throwing a total of 8.1 innings. The big 6’6″ right-hander has again started this season with the Mighty Mussels. This past week Festa started the Mighty Mussels no-hitter versus the Palm Beach Cardinals, pitching 6 innings with two walks allowed and a career-high 11 strikeouts. Sitting consistently at 96 mph and topping out at 98, Festa needed 82 pitches to complete six innings for the first time in 14 professional starts. The performance was a continuation of what has been a sizzling start to the 2022 campaign for the right-hander. Through five starts, Festa has surrendered just four earned runs while running a 33-to-6 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 24 innings. The Verona, N.J., native is holding opponents to a .148 average and one extra-base hit.
Week 18 brings us another week closer to the end of the 2021 baseball season but we still have players playing their hearts out. This weeks Minnesota Twins minor league players of the week are Low-A Fort Myers Mighty Mussels 3B/1B Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Rookie level pitcher David Festa.
