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
Ft. Myers Miracle (High A) outfielder Brent Rooker has been named Twins minor league Player of the Week. Rooker appeared in six games for the Miracle, hitting .348 (8-for-23) with three home runs, 12 RBI and four runs scored. In 76 games between Rookie Elizabethton and Ft. Myers, Rooker has hit .262 (45-for-172) with seven doubles, 13 home runs, 38 RBI and taken 21 walks.
A 38th-round pick of the Twins last June (2016), Rooker had to give the Twins permission to select him again. Rooker, 22, the Southeastern Conference player of the year as a red shirt junior at Mississippi State, had the second-highest average exit velocity in Division 1 baseball last season, hitting .387 with 23 home runs in 67 games.
The Tennessee native was drafted by the Twins in the Competitive Balance Rd A (35th overall) in the 2017 First-Year Player Draft out of Mississippi State University. What the Twins saw from Terry Brent Rooker at the plate was enough to convince them to re-draft him at No. 35 overall on Monday. A right-handed hitter, he signed for the full slot figure of $1.935 million after a record-setting season at Mississippi State.
Ft. Myers Miracle (High A) outfielder (yes, another center-fielder) Tanner English, 24, was named the Twins Player of the Week ending July 15. The right-handed hitting English hit .450 (9-for-20) with a double, two triples, three home runs and seven RBI on the week. In 49 games for the Miracle this season English is batting .240 (40-for-167) with nine doubles, five home runs and 27 RBI.
English was originally a 13th round selection in the 2011 MLB Draft out of high school by the Tampa Bay Rays but decided to go to college. English was drafted in the 11th round of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of South Carolina and signed by Minnesota for a reported bonus of $105,000.
Ft. Myers Miracle (High A) pitcher Lachlan Wells is the Twins minor league player of the week. Wells made one start for the Miracle, pitching 7.0 shutout innings against the Florida Fire Frogs on Monday, with no walks, three hits allowed and eight strikeouts. The left-handed pitcher has made three appearances (2 starts) for the Miracle this season, going 1-1, 0.64 ERA (14.0 IP, 1 ER) with one walk and 17 strikeouts. The Newcastle, Australia native was signed by the Twins as an undrafted free agent in August of 2014.
Lachlan has a twin brother Alex who is in Baltimore Orioles organization and is also a left-handed pitcher with Delmarva in A ball. According to reports, each of the Wells twins received a $300,000 signing bonus.
Ft. Myers Miracle (High A) outfielder Tanner English is the Twins minor league player of the week. English played six games for the Miracle, hitting .391 (9-for-23) with two triples, three home runs, four walks and eight runs scored. The 23-year-old English is hitting .233 (20-for-86) with three doubles, three triples, four home runs and eight RBI in 24 games for the Miracle this season. English is about 5’10” and goes about 160 and plays primarily center field and has stolen 51 bases in 59 attempts in his three seasons in the Twins system.
English was originally a 13th round selection in the 2011 MLB Draft out of high school by the Tampa Bay Rays but decided to go to college. English was drafted in the 11th round of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of South Carolina and signed by Minnesota for a reported bonus of $105,000.
Ft. Myers Miracle (High A) right-handed pitcher Fernando Romero is the Twins minor league player of the week. Romero made one start for the Miracle, on Friday versus Charlotte, pitching 7.0 shutout innings with six hits allowed, no walks and 11 strikeouts. The 21-year-old has made nine starts for the Miracle this season, going 3-2, 2.39 ERA (49.0 IP, 13 ER) with eight walks and 48 strikeouts.
He was signed by the Twins out of the Dominican Republic on November 4, 2011 as a 16 year-old for a reported $260,000. Romero has TJ surgery in June 2014 and missed the entire 2015 season. Romero has a career minor league record of 10-7, 2.56 ERA (165.0 IP, 47 ER) with 45 walks and 157 strikeouts.
Ft. Myers Miracle (High A) right-handed pitcher Felix Jorge is the Twins minor league Player of the Week. Jorge made one start for the Miracle, allowing one run on six hits in 7.2 innings pitched, with no walks and six strikeouts against Lakeland on Wednesday.
The 22 year-old Jorge has made 11 starts for the Miracle this season, going 6-3, 1.59 ERA (73.2 IP, 13 ER) with 10 walks and 61 strikeouts.
Jorge has described by a Twins source as a poor man’s Ervin Santana. He has a thin body and doesn’t throw hard, but he has a good mix of pitches and throws strikes, lending hope that he can stick as a starter. Signed by the Minnesota Twins as a non-drafted free agent on Feb. 21, 2011 for $250,000.
Ft. Myers (High A) left-handed pitcher Stephen Gonsalves is the Twins minor league Player of the Week. Gonsalves made the start Tuesday night vs. Jupiter, allowing two runs (1 earned) on five hits in 7.0 innings pitched, with one walk and eight strikeouts, earning the win. Gonsalves has made three starts for the Miracle this season, going 1-1, 1.89 ERA (19.0 IP, 4 ER) with four walks and 18 strikeouts.
The 6’5″ Gonsalves was drafted (a real steal) by the Twins in the fourth round of the 2013 First-Year Player Draft out of Cathedral Catholic High School in San Diego. Gonsalves entered the season as the Twins ninth best prospect by Baseball America.
Personally I think that Gonsalves can turn out to be as good a pitching prospect if not better than Jose Berrios. The 21-year-old Gonsalves is in his 4th year of pro ball and his record so far stands at 20-8, with a 2.55 ERA along with a WHIP of 1.08. In 247.1 innings he has struck out 258 batters and allowed only 177 hits. I really don’t understand why Gonsalves is even in High A, he should be in AA as he has proven in 2015 that he can handle High A.
Ft. Myers (High A) right-handed pitcher Brandon Peterson is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. Peterson appeared in two games for the Miracle, tossing 3.2 shutout innings with one walk and seven strikeouts. This season, he has appeared in 20 games for the Miracle, posting an ERA of 0.88 (30.2 IP, 3 ER) with 15 walks and 42 strikeouts.
The twenty-three year old Peterson was born Savage and attended Burnsville High School. Peterson was a 13th round selection in the 2013 draft and started his professional career in Elizabethton. In his third season of pro ball the 6’1″ 190 pounder has been used almost exclusively out of the bullpen with only one start in 79 career games. The native Minnesotan has a career record of 3-3 with a 1.72 ERA and 11 saves. In 115.1 innings he has struck out 166 batters.
Former Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers outfielder Riccardo Ingram passed away after a lengthy battle with brain cancer at the age of 48 on March 31. Ingram was born in Douglas, Georgia on September 10, 1966.
Riccardo Ingram was a fourth round selection by the Detroit Tigers in the 1987 June amateur draft and made his major league debut with the Tigers on June 26, 1994 in Oakland-Alameda County Stadium as a pinch-runner for Cecil Fielder as the Oakland A’s beat the Tigers 10-5. Ingram appeared in a dozen games for the Tigers that season and then left the Tigers organization as a free agent after the 1994 season and signed with the Minnesota Twins. Ingram’s time with the Minnesota Twins in July of 1995 was brief and he appeared in just four games and had one hit and one RBI in eight at bats. Ingram left Minnesota after the 1995 season and spent 1996 with the San Diego Padres AAA Las Vegas Stars team before retiring after the season ended.
Ingram was offered and accepted a minor league coaching position with the Twins organization after retiring as an active player and spent the next 18 seasons coaching and managing in the Twins system. Ingram managed the GCL Twins, Fort Myers Miracle, and the New Britain Rock Cats and was well liked by his players and members of the Twins organization. alike Ingram was apparently a great story-teller and fun to be around. In 2009 Ingram suffered from severe headaches and was diagnosed with a brain tumor, the prognosis was grim as doctors gave him just a year to live. Ingram battled the brain tumor for a year before returning to coaching in the Twins system. Ingram was a coach for the Fort Myers Miracle in 2014 but as the year progressed he learned that his cancer had returned.
“Every year, he used to meet with our pitchers,” said Eric Rasmussen, who was Ingram’s pitching coach with the Miracle in 2005 and is now the Twins minor league pitching coordinator. “He’d gather them all together, and he’d say: “You have got one job to do. Throw the ball over the plate.” “And then he’d leave.”
Before becoming a professional baseball player, Ingram was a star football and baseball player at Georgia Tech and is a member of the Georgia Tech’s Sports Hall of Fame. He was the first Georgia Tech player to be named the Atlantic Coast Conference’s male athlete of the year. He was an All-Atlantic Coast Conference defensive back in 1986 before leading the Yellow Jackets to the 1987 ACC baseball championship.
Riccardo Benay Ingram is survived by his wife, Allison, and their two children – Kacey and Kristen. RIP Riccardo Ingram, you will be missed.
Twins prospect Eddie Rosario is hitting .409 in the Arizona Fall League and I haven’t seen a word about him. I know the AFL season has just started and the Salt River Rafters have only played six games (going 5-1) and Rosario has played in five of those games. Small sample size I know, but the man is on fire in Arizona.
The 23 year-old from Puerto Rico with the sweet left-handed swing has been playing left field Rafters and follows Byron Buxton (who hits lead-off) in the Rafters batting order. Yesterday’s game was the first time since play began that Rosario has not gotten two hits in a game. Rosario has nine hits in 22 at bats with two runs scored and five RBI to go along with his four stolen bases in as many attempts. Todate Rosario has only one extra base hit, a double but he has a slick .391 on-base percentage.
Rosario put himself in the Twins doghouse when he had to sit out the first two months of 2014 on a 50-game suspension for a second violation of Major League Baseball’s drug-of-abuse policy. Had this suspension not occurred, it is very likely that Rosario would have made an appearance in a Twins uniform at Target field this past season.
As it turned out, after his suspension Rosario started the season in Ft. Myers where he hit .300 albeit in just 30 at bats before being bumped up to New Britain. Rosario struggled at New Britain both on and off the field. Rock Cats manager Jeff Smith benched Rosario in late July for four games for what Brad Steil the Twins director of minor league operations called “just a team situation.” Rosario, who continues to play second base while spending time in the outfield hit only .237 in 316 at bats, scored 40 times and hit eight home runs and knocked in 36 while stealing eight bases in 12 tries. Rosario has never hit below .284 in any season prior to 2014 has a lifetime batting average of .294. It was a bad year for Rosario all around but he seems to have caught a second wind in Arizona this fall.
The Twins didn’t call Rosario up to the big leagues for a cup of September coffee and maybe Rosario got the message loud and clear. I sure hope so because this man can hit the ball and he has some pop in his bat as he showed in 2011 when he hit 21 round trippers for Elizabethton and 12 in Beloit in 2012 in just 392 at bats.
Rosario was the Twins fourth round (135th pick over all) in 2010 and signed for about $200,000. Baseball America had him rated as the Twins sixth best prospect after the 2013 season. BA also had Rosario rated as the Twins best hitter for average in 2011 and 2012. There is a spot for Rosario with the Twins next season but he needs to wake up and smell the roses or his dream of wearing a Twins uniform in Minnesota will fade quickly. I sure hope that the Minnesota Twins organization does not give up on Eddie Rosario because down the road this man can help the Twins, he just needs some help staying on the right road.
