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 (High-A) pitcher Tim Shibuya is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. In two starts for the Miracle, he went 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA (14.0 IP, 2 ER) with 11 hits allowed, three walks and 11 strikeouts. The 24-year-old right-hander has appeared in 26 games (8 starts) for the Miracle, going 7-3, 2.98 ERA (81.2 IP, 27 ER) with 10 walks allowed and 54 strikeouts. The 6’1″ Shibuya was drafted in the 23rd round of the 2011 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of California-San Diego. Tim was a two-time All-American as a Triton in 2010 and 2011, and the program’s all-time leader in wins, innings pitched and strikeouts.
Here are a couple of links about Tim Shibuya that you might enjoy:
The 20-year old Jorge Polanco‘s stay in the big leagues with the Twins is expected to end today when the Twins are expected to send him back to the minor leagues. Polanco was called up from the Ft. Myers Miracle of the High A ball Florida State league on June 26th making Polanco the fifth Twins player to make the mammoth leap to the big leagues from class A ball.
Jim Manning
The first player in this exclusive group was 18-year old right-handed pitcher Jim Manning who was called up very early in 1962 from the class A Charlotte Hornets in the Sally League. Manning was only in his second year of pro ball after having signed with Minnesota as a free agent in 1961 and pitching in just 12 games for the Wytheville Twins in the Appalachian League in 1961. Manning became the youngest Minnesota Twins player to appear in a big league game when he debuted in relief on April 15, 1962 at the age of 18 years and 268 days against the Los Angeles Angels at Met Stadium in a 6-3 Twins loss. Manning appeared in four more games for the Twins before being sent down to the minors and to never again put on a big league uniform.
Butch Wynegar
The second Twins player to make the jump from class A to the majors was catcher Butch Wynegar. Wynegar was a Twins second round pick in 1974. Harold Wynegar, better known as Butch spent the 1975 season playing for the class A Reno Silver Sox and made the 1976 Twins team out of spring training and was a major leaguer from the day he made his big league debut on April 9, 1976 at Arlington Stadium at the age of 20 years and 26 days.
Player number three was non other than Twins Hall of Fame and Minnesota native first baseman Kent Hrbek. Hrbek, a 17th round pick in the 1978 draft for the Twins was playing in his third season of pro ball for the class A Visalia Oaks after stops in Elizabethton in 1979 and Wisconsin Rapids in 1980 when the Twins called him up in August 1981 and he made his debut at Yankee Stadium at the age of 21 year and 95 days on August 24, 1981. Hrbek never returned to the minors again. SABR Bio on Hrbek.
Jim Eisenreich
Player number four was another Minnesota native, outfielder Jim Eisenreich who was drafted by the Twins as a 16th rounder in 1980. Eisenreich spent time in Elizabethton and Wisconsin Rapids in 1980 and 1981 before coming north with the Minnesota Twins after making the club in spring training in 1982. Jim debuted at the Metrodome on April 6, 1982 at the age of 22 years and 353 days. Eisenreich was diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome and chose to retire causing him to miss all of the 1984 and 1985 seasons before making a comeback with the Kansas City Royals and going on to enjoy a very productive 15 year career with five major league teams although only 48 of his 1,422 big league games were spent in a Twins uniform. Eisenreich SABR Bio.
But getting back to Mr. Polanco, though he never had a chance to play in Target Field in front of home town fans during this call-up the switch-hitting shortstop garnered a loyal following among Twins fans that are looking to see him in the big leagues once again. Polanco appeared in four games getting seven plate appearances that included getting two walks and two hits and three RBI’s. His hits were a double and a triple. MLB ProspectWatch did a little blog on Polanco that you might want to check out. I think the most interesting part of the blog was the Baseball Prospectus scouting report on Polanco.
New Britain (AA – Eastern League) left-handed pitcher Taylor Rogers is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. The 23-year old lefty made one start for the Rock Cats June 25 vs. Altoona, tossing 8.0 innings allowing one run on six hits while striking out 11 but suffered the loss. In 15 starts this season, he has posted a 7-4 record with a 3.90 ERA. Rogers was drafted in the 11th round of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft out of University of Kentucky and signed with the Twins for a reported $100,000 bonus.
Taylor Rogers was named a postseason Florida State League All-Star after compiling an 11-7 record and 2.88 ERA for the Ft. Myers Miracle in 2013. Rogers struck out 83 batters in 130.2 innings and posted a very nice 1.16 WHIP. He ranked second in the Florida State League in ERA and third in wins. His three complete games and two shutouts topped the league. Rogers throws a fastball which is clocked in the low 90’s, a change-up and a slider.
Ft. Myers (High A Florida St. League) pitcher Jose Berrios is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. The right-handed pitcher made two starts for the Miracle, going 1-0, 1.20 (15.0 IP, 2 ER) with nine hits allowed, no walks and 22 strikeouts. In 11 starts for the Miracle this season, he has gone 5-2, 2.24 (64.1 IP, 16 ER) with 17 walks and 74 strikeouts. The 20-year-old was drafted by the Twins in the first round (32nd overall) of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft out of Papa Juar, Puerto Rico. Berrios was the first pick in the supplemental round, a selection Minnesota was awarded after they lost Michael Cuddyer via free agency to the Rockies.
In just his third season of pro ball Berrios has put up some nice career stats. In 41 games Berrios has thrown 198 and 2/3 innings while giving up just 177 hits and striking out 223 batters for an outstanding 2.99 ERA, a WHIP of 1.19 and a record of 15-9. You just sense that Berrios is on the fast track to Minnesota and will be moving up to New Britain soon.
This is the third week in a row that a Ft. Myers Miracle player has won the Twins minor league player of the week honors. The Miracle are 36-25 at this point in the season and in first place in the Southern Division of the Florida State League.
Ft. Myers (High A – Florida St. League) pitcher Matt Tomshaw is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. The 6’2″ left-handed Tomshaw made one start (at Clearwater), tossing 8 shutout innings with three hits allowed, two walks and three strikeouts and earned the win. Tomshaw, born in Kingston, New York has gone 4-1, 1.88 ERA (38.1 IP, 8 ER) with six walks and 21 strikeouts in eight games (5 starts) for the Miracle this season, winning each of his last four starts. The 25-year-old was drafted by the Twins in the 42nd round of the 2011 First-Year Player Draft out of Jacksonville University.
Tomshaw has been used both as a starter and a reliver since he started play in the Twins minor league system in 2011. In 295+ career minor league innings pitched he has a 17-11 record with 197 KO’s and a 3.23 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP but todate Tomshaw has not advanced past High-A Ft. Myers
Ft. Myers (High A – Florida St. League) outfielder Adam Walker is the Twins
Minor League Player of the Week. In seven games for the Miracle, Walker hit .345 (10-for-29) with three home runs, two doubles and 12 RBI.
In 2013 Walker played in Low-A Cedar Rapids and in 508 at bats hit .278 with 27 home runs with 109 RBI and was not caught once in 10 stolen base attempts. Walker did strikeout 115 times but that is not too bad if you put up those kind of power numbers.
Adam Brett Walker II is 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds of raw power. The physicality runs in the family. He is the son of Adam Walker, who played running back for the Minnesota Vikings in 1987. His mother, Glynis, was a national champion high jumper and volleyball player at Carthage College. Former All-Star infielder Damion Easley is his second cousin . cousin. Walker averaged 13.6 home runs a season and stole 40 bases in 41 attempts during his three years at Jacksonville University. The 22-year-old right-handed batter was drafted by the Twins in the third round of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft out of Jacksonville University and signed for a reported $490K.
The Ft. Myers news-press.com site is reporting that the Ft. Myers Miracle have been sold to a New Jersey based ownership group SJS Beacon. The president of SJS Beacon is Jason Hockberg. Marvin Goldklang, 71 and the principal owner of the Goldklang Group, which had owned the team since September of 1989, said the sale felt bittersweet.
Andrew Moon and experts from Forbes and Sports Business Journal estimated Class A baseball affiliates, depending on their location and attendance, to be worth in the $7 million to $10 million range.
The Twins have a 30-year lease agreement with Lee County of the sports complex. The Twins’ affiliation agreement with the Miracle expires after the 2018 season, but Hochberg said he expected the partnership to continue thereafter.
Outfielder Byron Buxton has been named the 2013 Sherry Robertson Award winner as the Twins Minor League Player of the Year and left-handed pitcher Andrew Albers has been named the 2013 Jim Rantz Award winner as the Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Year.
Byron Buxton
Buxton, 19, hit .334 (163-for-488) with 19 doubles, 18 triples, 12 home runs, 77 RBI, 109 runs scored and 55 stolen bases in 125 games this season between Low-A Cedar Rapids and High-A Ft. Myers. In the field playing primarily center field, Buxton committed two errors in 306 chances and was credited with 9 assists. The right-handed hitting Buxton was named Midwest League MVP as well as the top minor league prospect at midseason and Minor League Player of the Year by Baseball America. Buxton was the Twins first round pick (second overall) in the 2012 June Amateur draft.
Andrew Albers
Albers, 27, began the season at Triple-A Rochester and went 11-5 with a 2.86 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP (132.1 IP, 42 ER), allowing 124 hits with 32 walks, 116 strikeouts and three complete games (one shutout) in 22 starts. The left-handed Canadian native was named to the Triple-A All-Star game. At the time of his promotion to Minnesota in August, he ranked first in the International League in strikeouts, tied for second in wins, third in innings pitched and fifth in ERA. With the Twins, Albers went 2-5 with a 4.05 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP in 10 games (all starts). Albers struck out 25 and walked just 7 batters in 60 innings.
Buxton becomes the 44th winner of this award (since 1970) and Albers becomes the 12th winner of this award (since 2002). The 2012 award winners were Oswaldo Arcia and B.J. Hermsen.
Congratulations to both Byron Buxton and Andrew Albers on a job well done.
Kevin Chapman‘s wild pitch scored Ryan Doumit with the go-ahead run in the 12th inning of the Twins’ 9-6 win at Houston. The last time Minnesota won a game in this manner was on September 20, 1984, when the White Sox’ Bert Roberge wild-pitched home Tom Brunansky in the 13th inning at the Metrodome.
Ron Gardenhire
The Twins are now 8-7 in extra-innings this season. Since the start of the 1961 season, the Twins have an all-time extra-inning record of 384-345-2. Twins Manager Ron Gardenhire seems to like extra-inning baseball and has a career-record of 107-72, a .598 winning percentage since he took the managers job in 2002. Gardy is just 7 wins short of getting 1,000 wins as a manager, I think he is going to get it soon. A real nice achievement!
Did you know that prior to the Twins retiring Bert Blyleven‘s number 28 that it was the lowest number that no MLB team had retired?
Brian Dozier hit home run number 17 last night and is the all-time Twins leader in home runs hit by a second baseman in a single season. Dozier now has 51 extra base hits this season, the only Twins second baseman with more are Chuck Knoblauch with 53 in 1994 and 1995, Todd Walker with 56 in 1998 and the leader is Chuck Knoblauch with 62 in 1996.
The Twins finished August having struck out 291 times in 30 games, the highest total of strikeouts by any team in one month in major-league history. That works out to 9.7 strike outs per game. When you attend a Twins game be sure to hold on to your hat cause there is a lot of whiffing going on.
Only one player in Twins history has won the Twins team triple crown by leading the team in home runs, RBI, and average, who was he?
The Twins seven minor league teams finished the 2013 regular season with a 411-345 record, good for a .544 winning percentage. Not too shabby at all. The AAA-Rochester Red Wings at 77-67, the High A-Ft. Myers Miracle at 79-56 and the Cedar Rapids Kernels at 88-50 are all play-off bound. The only teams with losing records were the AA-New Britain Rock Cats at 66-76 and the Rookie league GCL Twins at 28-32. The Rookie league Elizabethton E-Twins finished their season at 37-31, good for third place. The DSL (Dominican Summer League) Twins finished in fourth place with a 36-33 record. Since 2000, the Twins minor league teams have had a losing record twice, in 2010 and 2011. If you are interested in learning more about the Twins minor league history, stop by http://wp.me/P1YQUj-1jd .
Ft. Myers (A – Florida St. League) outfielder Jhon Goncalves is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. In five games for the Miracle, the right-handed hitting Goncalves hit .555 (10-for-18) with six doubles, five RBI and three walks.
Jhonathan Humberto (Cervelli) Goncalves, 24 was signed by the Twins as a free agent in 2005 out of Venezuela. Goncalves started the 2013 season with New Britain Rock Cats but struggled hitting just .196 in 31 games and was demoted to Ft. Myers. Goncalves is hitting .306 in 177 at-bats for the Miracle with 2 home runs and 5 stolen bases.
Previous winners this season include (in order): P Tyler Duffey, INF Miguel Sano, OF Adam Brett Walker, INF Jorge Polanco (twice), P Kyle Gibson, INF Chris Colabello, P Logan Darnell, P Taylor Rogers, P Andrew Albers, OF Byron Buxton and P Trevor May.
