Fort Myers Miracle Archives - Page 3 of 3

Miracle win it all!

On Monday, September 8, the Ft. Myers Miracle won the first Florida State League Championship in team history three games to one over the Daytona Cubs. Jason Kanzler‘s two-run homer in the eleventh inning propelled the Fort Myers Miracle to the Florida State League Championship in a 4-2, extra inning win over the Daytona Cubs at Jackie Robinson Ballpark in game four on Monday night. The Miracle under manager Doug Mientkiewicz finished the season with an 87-58 overall record and were 4-1 in the playoffs. Outfielder Adam Walker led the 2014 Miracle with 25 home runs and 94 RBI while hitting .246. The pitching staff was led by Matt Tomshaw, Brett Lee, and Jose Berrios who had a combined 30-14 record.

Minnesota’s longest-running Minor League full season affiliate, the Miracle began an association with the Twins in 1993. The 1993 team finished with a 55-79 record under manager Steve Liddle. Players on that team that went on to play in Minnesota were pitchers Brad Radke, Dan Naulty, Scott Watkins, catcher Damian Miller and outfielder Brent Brede.

The team has drawn nearly 120,000 fans in each of the last seven seasons. The Miracle have been top-four in the Florida State League for individual game average attendance every year since 2005. As expected, the Twins and single-A affiliate Ft. Myers Miracle have agreed to extend their Player Development Contract for four years, through the 2018 season.

This is the first league championship that a Twins minor league team has won since the Elizabethton Twins won the Appalachian League title in 2012 and also the first league championship that a minor league team has won under Brad Steil who became the Twins Farm Director after the 2012 season. The last Twins A-Ball team to win a league championship were the 1987 Kenosha Twins (82-58) who were managed by Don Leppert.

Twins minor league teams finished the 2014 season with a combined record of 409-354 for a .536 winning percentage. Of the Twins seven minor league clubs, only the 23-37 Gulf Coast League Twins posted a losing record. 2014 marked the third consecutive season that Twins farm teams have won more games than they lost.

You can learn more about the Twins minor league teams going back to 1961 on our Twins Minor League History page.

Twins minor league player of the week

Ft. Myers outfielder Byron Buxton is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. In six games for the Miracle, he hit .500 (12-for-24) with two home runs, one triple, four RBI, eight runs scored and five walks. Buxton homered in back-to-back games July 17 & 18 at Daytona, including four hits on the 18th. The 20 year-old Buxton has played in just 13 games this season, missing time with an injured left wrist but is hitting .280 (14-for-50) with one double, one triple, three home runs, six RBI and five walks for the Miracles this season. You have to figure Buxton will be moved up to New Britain soon.

Not that long ago Jim Souhan of the Star Tribune did a nice piece on Buxton that you can view here. Depending on what site you choose to read, Buxton is either the number one or number two prospect in all of baseball. Will the Twins have the stones to put Buxton in a Twins uniform later this season? If they do, they will have a sellout crowd on their hands, probably the only way they will get one this year.

Twins minor league player of the week

Ft. Myers (High A – Florida State League) pitcher D.J. Baxendale is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. The right-handed pitcher made one start for the Miracle June 18 vs. Bradenton, tossing 6.0 shutout innings with four hits allowed, no walks and five strikeouts, earning the win. DJ (Douglas James) was drafted in the 10th round of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft out of University of Arkansas and signed for a reported $125,000.

The 23 year-old Baxendale finds himself in Ft. Myers again after starting the season in AA – New Britain and struggling with 5.76 ERA and an 0-3 record. Baxendale was promoted to New Britain last season from Ft. Myers but also found tough going then with a 5.63 ERA and a 5-7 record.

Twins minor league player of the week

Cedar Rapids (A – Midwest League) pitcher Todd Van Steensel is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. The right-handed pitcher made three appearances, recording two saves while striking out five over 3.1 scoreless innings. In 15 appearances this year for the Kernels, the 23-year old Van Steensel has posted a 1.11 ERA (24.1 IP, 3 ER) with 31 (11.5 KO/9) strikeouts and six walks. Van Steensel was signed by the Twins as a minor league free agent in 2010 out of Sydney, Australia but was released after the 2011 season only to be resigned this past off-season. You can find a story that www.kcrg.com did about a month ago on Van Steensel here. Another story on Van Steensel, this one by the Australian Baseball Digest.

Twins prospect Adam Brett Walker who is currently with the Ft. Myers Miracle participated in the Florida State League Home Run Derby last night and won the title. Walker scored 36 points in the final round of the All-Star Home Run Derby to take the crown. Walker entered the All-Star break with 14 homers and 52 RBI in 64 games. In the actual All-Star Game, the Twins outfield prospect went 3-for-5 with a home run and a double. Adam Walker was the Twins minor league player of the week three weeks ago and you can see that posting here.

Twins minor league player of the week

Alex Meyer pitching for New Britain in 2013

Rochester (AAA-International League) right-handed pitcher Alex Meyer is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. Meyer made one start for the Red Wings on April 23 at Pawtucket, tossing 6.2 scoreless innings with three hits allowed, three walks while tying a career high with 11 strikeouts, his third career double-digit strikeout performance. The Greensburg, Indiana native has gone 0-0, 3.48 ERA (20.2 IP, 8 ER) with eight walks and 24 strikeouts in four starts for the Wings this season. The 6″9″ 24-year-old was acquired by the Twins in late November of 2012 in exchange for Denard Span and is ranked as the club’s top pitching prospect by Baseball America.

Twins Minor Leaguer Hinojosa suspended

Jonatan Hinojosa batting during spring training 2014

The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball announced today that Minnesota Twins Minor League infielder Jonatan Hinojosa has received a 50-game suspension without pay after testing positive for metabolites of Nandrolone, a performance-enhancing substance in violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program in effect prior to the recent changes to the Program. The suspension of the 21-year-old Hinojosa who is currently on the roster of Single-A Cedar Rapids of the Midwest League is effective immediately.

Hinojosa spent his first three seasons playing in the Dominican Summer league where he hit .147, .186, and .174 with zero home runs and had 28 stolen bases. Last season Hinojosa played for the Gulf Coast League Twins and hit .236 again with no home runs in 48 games. This season Hinojosa appeared in just one game for Cedar Rapids and was hitless in 3 at bats.

Walker’s skills, passion led to career in baseball

There is a nice piece about Ft. Myers Mircale outfielder Adam Walker that you can check out here.

Byron Buxton is 2013 Minor League Player of the Year

Baseball America announced today that Byron Buxton is the 2013 Minor League Player of the Year joining Joe Mauer (2003) as the only Twins players to be so honored. The Twins second overall pick in the 2012 draft from Appling County High in Baxley, Georgia is on the fast track to Minnesota. A few days ago the Twins announced that Buxton will be joining the Twins contingent of players heading for the Arizona Fall League where he will join infielders Eddie Rosario and Max Kepler along with pitchers Trevor May, Alex Meyer, A.J. Achter, and Zach Jones playing for the Glendale Desert Dogs.

Buxton started the season at low Class A Cedar Rapids and was promoted in late June to high Class A Fort Myers, Buxton hit a cumulative .334/.424/.520 with 49 extra-base hits, 55 stolen bases and a sparkling 76-to-105 walk-to-strikeout ratio in 125 games. He led the minors with 18 triples, finished second with 109 runs scored, one behind Marcus Semien of the White Sox and 12th in stolen bases. Even more impressive, Buxton ranked sixth in the minor league batting race, 10th in hits (163) and seventh in on-base percentage, despite being a full year younger than any other member of those top-10 lists.

Twins minor league attendance numbers

I enjoy the work that Ballpark Digest does and check their site every day, as a matter of fact I have their RSS feed going to this site whenever they publish anything new. This past Monday they published their 2013 minor league attendance totals and averages for every team as well as how they ranked over all. They also have affiliated attendance by league. Check them out, they are interesting to look at and see how the Twins minor league teams rank.

September Call Ups

The Minnesota Twins announced on September 8th that they have recalled infielder Eduardo Escobar, outfielder Chris Parmelee, left-handed pitcher Scott Diamond and right-handed pitchers Michael Tonkin and Cole De Vries from Triple-A Rochester. Additionally, the Twins have selected the contracts of catcher Eric Fryer and right-handed pitcher Shairon Martis from Rochester. To make room on the Twins 40-man roster right-handed pitcher Sam Deduno and outfielder Wilkin Ramirez have been transferred from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day DL.

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

Ft. Myers (A – Florida State League) left-handed pitcher Taylor Rogers is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. In one start for the Miracle, the 22 year-old Rogers pitched 7.0 shutout innings, with seven hits allowed, no walks and seven strikeouts. Rogers was selected by the Twins in the 11th round of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft from the University of Kentucky. The Twins gave Rogers a $100,000 signing bonus and that is not bad for a player drafted 340th over all. Rogers was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in 2009 in round 37 but chose to attend the University of Kentucky.

The 6’3″ 175 lb. Rogers started the season in Cedar Rapids where he did not seem to be particularly effective starting 3 games (0-1) and pitching a total of 10 innings allowing 14 hits with 10 strikeouts along with a 7.20 ERA and a 1.80 WHIP but for whatever reason the Twins promoted him to Ft. Myers where he has started 6 games going 4-1 with a 1.32 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP. Go figure….

Previous winners this season include: pitcher Tyler Duffey, infielder Miguel Sano, outfielder Adam Walker, infielder Jorge Polanco, pitcher Kyle Gibson, infielder Chris Colabello, and pitcher Logan Darnell.

Twins Minor League Players of the Month – April

Cedar Rapids Kernels outfielder Byron Buxton is the Twins Minor League Player of the Month for April. In 22 games for the Kernels, the 19-year-old batted .392 (31-for-79) with five doubles, four home runs, 25 RBI while scoring 25 times. Buxton reached base in every game last month, recorded 17 walks and posted a .510 on-base percentage. Buxton was drafted by the Twins in the first round (2nd overall) in the 2012 First-Year Player Draft out of Appling County (Georgia) High School.

Ft. Myers Miracle right-handed pitcher D.J. Baxendale is the Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Month for April. Over a span of five starts for the Miracle, he went 4-0 with a 1.84 ERA (29.1 IP, 6 ER). Baxendale struck out 25 and walked just six batters while posting a 0.92 WHIP. Baxendale, 22, was drafted by the Twins in the 10th round of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Arkansas.

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

This week’s Twins Minor League player of the Week is none other than 3B Miguel Sano. In seven games for the Ft. Myers Miracle (Florida State League), Sano batted .360 (9-for-25) with three walks, three home runs, and 11 RBI’s. The Twins top prospect and one of the top prospects in all of baseball is batting .377 (23-for-61) with five doubles, five home runs and 15 RBI this season. Sano is about 6’3″ and goes about 195 but I think he has grown since these stats were announced.

Miguel Sano, 19 was named Midwest League Prospect of the Year following a strong season with the Beloit Snappers (Single-A). Sano participated in the MWL All-Star game and was named to the MWL postseason All-Star team after leading the league in home runs (28) and RBI (100). Sano was rated best power prospect and best infield arm in the Midwest League by Baseball America’s annual Best Tools survey.

Although this future Twins superstar is only 19, this is his fifth year playing in the Twins organization. In 2011 he hit .292 with 20 home runs in Elizabethton and in 2012 in Beloit he hit .258 with 28 home runs. It is in the field where Sano needs to improve. Sano was signed as a shortstop but has out grown that position and is now a full-time 3B. Sano had 26 errors between short and 3B in 2011 and 42 errors at 3B in 2012.

Tag: Fort Myers Miracle

Miracle win it all!

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Twins minor league player of the week

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