Tag: Jermaine Palacios

Twins minor league players of the week are Henriquez & Palacios

The Minnesota Twins minor league players of the week are right-handed pitcher Ronny Henriquez and infielder Jermaine Palacios and both are with the Triple-A St. Paul Saints.

Ronny Henriquez was signed as international free agent by the Texas Rangers on July 3, 2017. Barely 5-10 and 150 pounds when he signed in 2017, he received just $10,000. But as a 17-year old he could already hit 93 with his fastball. Henriquez was acquired by the Minnesota Twins over the 2021 offseason in a trade with Texas, along with infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa, in exchange for catcher Mitch Garver. At the time of the trade Henriquez was rated the Rangers 15th best prospect. He is currently rated as the Twins 11th best prospect. This is the second time ths season Ronny Henriquez has won this award.

Henriquez, 22, appeared in one game in relief for the Saints this week versus Iowa, pitching 4 shutout innings, allowing five hits, no walks and four strikeouts. The Bonao, Dominican Republic native has gone 1-1, 3.12 ERA (26.0 IP, 9 ER) with eight walks and 29 strikeouts in his last six games (4 starts) for the Saints. Henriquez is currently on the Twins 40-man roster.

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Twins Minor League POW are Jermaine Palacios & Jovani Moran

In week 14 the Twins have named AA – Wichita infielder Jermaine Palacios and AAA – St. Paul left-handed pitcher Jovani Moran as the club’s minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week. Both are repeat winners of the award this year.

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Twins Minor League POW are Jermaine Palacios & Griffin Jax

Week four has AA Wichita Wind Surge infielder Jermaine Palacios as the Twins player of the week. The 24-year old Palacios is primarily a shortstop but also has played second and third base. The Twins signed Palacios out of Venezuela in September 2013 and then in February of 2018 traded him to Tampa Bay for pitcher Jake Odorizzi only to resign him as a minor league free agent this past February.

This week Palacios, 24, played six games for the Wind Surge, hitting .435 (10-for-23) with one double, one home run, four RBI, four runs scored, four walks and a 1.127 OPS. Palacios is having a good season so far hitting .311 with 4 home runs and 12 RBI in 23 games. How much of a prospect he is now is questionable at his age and the fact that he has never reached the AAA level.

The Twins pitcher of the week is Griffin Jax from the AAA St. Paul Saints. The 6’2″ right-hander is 26 years old. Jax was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 12th round of the 2013 MLB June Amateur Draft but did not sign. The Minnesota Twins then selected him in the 3rd round of the 2016 MLB June Amateur Draft from United States Air Force Academy (Colorado Springs, CO).

Jax, 26, started two games for the Saints, going 2-0, 0.75 ERA (12.0 IP, 1 ER) with three walks and 18 strikeouts, including a career-high 10-strikeout performance on Friday at Iowa. Used primarily as a starter, Jax does not have a high strikeout rate but he has good control. It would be fun to see someone from a military academy wear the Minnesota Twins uniform in a MLB game.

Twins deal for Jake Odorizzi

Jake Odorizzi

The Twins made a very nice addition to their starting rotation when they acquired pitcher Jake Odorizzi from the Tampa Rays for minor league shortstop Jermaine Palacios yesterday. Odorizzi, 27, has a career 3.83 ERA in 129 appearances (126 starts) since 2012 and he has struck out 643, walked 232 and allowed 101 homers in 705 1/3 innings. The 21-year-old Palacios played shortstop for A ball Cedar Rapids and High A Ft. Myers in 2017. Most of the experts had Palacios ranked somewhere between the 20th and 30th best Twins prospect. Palacios is known more for his hitting than he is his fielding

Jermaine Palacios

This will be the fourth big league organization for Odorizzi who was a first round pick by the Brewers in 2008 but was traded to the Royals in 2010. The Royals traded Odorizzi to the Rays in 2012. Odorizzi will make $6.3 million this year and can become a free agent in 2020.

Kind of an unusual footnote here is that having back to back zz’s in your name isn’t all that common yet Jake Odorizzi joins former Twins Steve Lombardozzi, Sam Perlozzo, Buzz Stephen, Mauro Gozzo and Keith Garagozzo in this unusual club.

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.

Twins minor league player of the week – Jermaine Palacios

Cedar Rapids Kernels (Low A) infielder Jermaine Palacios is the Twins minor league Player of the Week. In seven games for the Kernels, the 20-year-old from Venezuela hit .387 (12-for-31) with three doubles, one home run, eight RBI and seven runs scored. Last week he was also designated as the Midwest League Player of the Week.

Playing primarily at short for the Kernels this season, Palacios is tearing the cover off the ball this season. In his fourth season of pro ball Palacios is hitting .395 with 34 hits in 86 at bats with three doubles, five triples and a home run pushing his OPS up to 1.016. The MLB Pipeline currently has Palacios as the Twins 24th best prospect.

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