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 announced late yesterday that they acquired right-handed pitchers Sergio Romo and Chris Vallimont, along with a player to be named later from the Miami Marlins, in exchange for first baseman Lewin Diaz.
Twins acquire Sergio Romo, Chris Vallimont and a PTBNL from Miami in exchange for Lewin Diaz
High A Ft. Myers Miracles catcher Ryan Jeffers and Low A Cedar Rapids Kernels right-handed reliever/starter Austin Schulfer have been named Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.
The 6’4″ right-handed hitting Jeffers played in six games for the Miracle, hitting .400 (8-for-20) with two home runs, four RBI, three walks and a .478 on-base percentage. Jeffers, 21, was drafted by the Twins in the second round of the 2018 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and signed for a reported $800,000. Jeffers is having a solid season with Fort Myers hitting .283 with four home runs and 17 RBI in 38 games.
The 6’2″ right-handed Austin Schulfer, who was born in Plover, Wisconsin has been used primarily as a reliever in 2019 but has also sport-started three times in the 11 games in which he has appeared this season. In his last start on May 22 Schulfer pitched five scoreless hitless innings in his longest outing of the season while walking one and striking out seven and was credited with the win.
Season-to-date Schulfer has a 4-2 record and a 2.41 ERA. Schulfer has pitched 33.2 innings this season and has allowed just 16 hits, walked 21 and struck out 47 and batters are hitting just .139 off Schulfer. Schulfer, 23, was drafted in the 19th round of the 2018 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and received a $1K signing bonus.
The Florida State League announced that they are sending a league-leading eight Miracle players to the 2019 ASG on June 15 in Jupiter. Manager Toby Gardenhire will lead the South Division, along with Hitting Coach Matt Borgschulte, Pitching Coach Luis Ramirez, Athletic Trainer Ben Myers, and Strength & Conditioning Coach Chuck Bradway. Miracles players named are IF Royce Lewis, OF Trevor Larnach, C Ryan Jeffers, 1B Lewin Diaz, LHP Bryan Sammons, RHP Alex Phillips, RHP Johan Quezada and RHP Tom Hackimer.
High A Ft. Myers Miracle first baseman Lewin Diaz and Low A Cedar Rapids Kernels right-handed pitcher Andrew Cabezas have been named Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.
Diaz played in six games for the Miracle, hitting .333 (9-for-27) with one double, three home runs, six RBI and a 1.037 OPS. Diaz, 22, was signed out of Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic in July of 2013 for reported $1.4 million. Actually all three of his home runs this week came in one game when he became the first Miracle player to ever hit three home runs in a single game. Diaz played in 79 games for the Miracle in 2018 hitting six home runs with a batting average of just .224 along with an OPS of .598. In his second go around this year, he has appeared in 32 games hitting six home runs while putting up an average of .322 and an .881 OPS. I saw him this past January doing extra work at the ballpark long before spring training started. The man can hit the ball a long way and his first base play is coming along very nicely.
Cabezas made the start on Wednesday versus Quad Cities, pitching 7 shutout innings with one hit allowed, no walks and nine strikeouts. Cabezas Collars Bandits in Combined Shutout . Cabezas, 22, was drafted by the Twins in the 18th round of the 2018 First-Year Player Draft from the University of Miami and signed for a reported $90,000 according to Twins Daily.
If you haven’t seen this piece on MLB.com called “Twins Top 30 features 4 Top 100 prospects” by Jonathan Mayo, you might want to check it out.
Cedar Rapids Kernels (Low A) first baseman Lewin Diaz (bats and throws left-handed) is the Twins minor league Player of the Week. In five games for the Kernels, he hit .474 (9-for-19) with four doubles, two home runs, eight RBI, one walk and four runs scored. Diaz has played in 27 games for the Kernels this season, hitting .282 (29-for-103) with 11 doubles, three home runs and 17 RBI. The 6’3″ , 180 pound 20-year-old was signed by the Twins as an undrafted free agent in July of 2013. Diaz was signed by Minnesota for $1.4 million and some scouts say that Diaz reminds them of Ryan Howard.
Lewin Diaz named Midwest League and Minnesota Twins Player of the Week