Tag: St. Paul Saints

Twins minor league players of the week are Varland and Winkel

The Minnesota Twins announced that Triple-A St. Paul right-handed pitcher Louie Varland and High-A Cedar Rapids catcher Pat Winkel have been named Twins minor league Pitcher and Player of the Week.

Louie Varland was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 15th round of the 2019 MLB June Amateur Draft from Concordia University (St. Paul, MN). Varland and this St. Paul native signed for a $115,000 signing bonus. Varland is a repeat winner this season having already won this award thrice earlier this season. Varland is currently rated as the Twins 10th best prospect according to MLB Pipeline.

Varland, 24, made one start for the Saints on Thursday at Iowa, pitching 6 shutout innings, with three hits allowed, one walk and nine strikeouts. We may or may not see Varland in September. MLB Rosters will expand on September 1, when all teams must carry 28 players on the active roster through the end of the regular season.

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Twins minor league players of the week are Holland & Gossett

The Minnesota Twins have named Double-A Wichita shortstop/outfielder Will Holland and right-handed pitcher Daniel Gossett as their Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.

Will Holland was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 5th round of the 2019 MLB June Amateur Draft from Auburn University (Auburn, AL). Holland reportedly signed with the Minnesota Twins, per MLB.com, for a $575,000 signing bonus. That is well above the slotted value of $360,800 for the 149th overall pick. Holland was promoted from Cedar Rapids to Wichita on August 11th.

Holland, a 24 year-old Atlanta, Georgia native, played in six games for the Wind Surge, hitting .316 (6-for-19) with one double, two home runs, eight RBI, six runs scored, five walks, a .458 on-base percentage, a .684 slugging percentage and a 1.143 OPS. Although being used primarily in the outfield, the right-handed hitting Holland still plays some shortstop now and then but has not played that position with Wichita. In just 11 games with Wichita, Holland has a slash line of .333/.488/.697.

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Twins minor league players of the week are Varland and Prato

The Minnesota Twins have named Triple-A St. Paul right-handed pitcher Louie Varland and Double-A Wichita infielder/outfielder Anthony Prato as their minor league Pitcher and Player of the Week.

Louie Varland was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 15th round of the 2019 MLB June Amateur Draft from Concordia University (St. Paul, MN). Varland and this St. Paul native signed for a $115,000 signing bonus. Varland is a repeat winner this season having already won this award twice earlier this season. Varland is currently rated as the Twins 11th best prospect according to MLB Pipeline.

Varland, who was promoted from Double-A Wichita on August 8, made his first AAA start for St. Paul on Friday night against Columbus, pitching 5.1innings, with one hit allowed, two walks and eight strikeouts, carrying a no-hitter into the sixth inning. It will be interestig to see if this Minnesota native makes his MLB debut yet this season.

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Twins minor league players of the week are Helman & Ohl

The Twins announced that Triple-A St. Paul infielder/outfielder Michael Helman and Low-A right-handed pitcher Pierson Ohl have been named Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.

Michael Helman was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 11th round of the 2018 MLB June Amateur Draft from Texas A&M University (College Station, TX). According to Jim Callis of MLB.com, Helman agreed to a deal with a signing bonus with $220,000. That was above slot value as Minnesota had room with their bonus pool to offer him extra money. Helman started 2022 in AA Wichita and was bumped dup to AAA St. Paul at the end of May.

Helman, 26, played in six games for the Saints, hitting .333 (10-for-30) with two doubles, one triple, four home runs, seven RBI, seven runs scored, an .867 slugging percentage and a 1.222 OPS, including a five-hit game on Tuesday at Omaha. The 6’1″/195 Helman has played all four infield position as well as CF and LF for the Saints this season. Helman is slashing .287/.357/.505 with the Saints.

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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 players of the week are Henriquez & Wallner

The Minnesota Twins minor league players of the week are Triple-A St. Paul right-handed pitcher Ronny Henriquez and Double-A Wichita outfielder Matt Wallner.

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.

Henriquez, 22, appeared in one game in relief this week for the Saints on Thursday at Louisville, pitching 4 shutout innings with four hits allowed, no walks and four strikeouts. Henriquez is 1-1, 3.80 ERA (23.2 IP, 10 ER) with eight walks, 27 strikeouts and a .236 opponent batting average in his last five games (3 starts) for the Saints. Henriquez’s numbers on the season are not nearly as good as he is 1-3 in 9 starts (13 appearances) with a 6.15 ERA and a 1.500 WHIP and his SO/W ratio is 2.71. Henriquez is on the Twins 40 man roster and according to MLB Pipeline he is the Twins 11th best prospect.

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Twins minor league players of the week are Kirilloff & Festa

Twins minor league players of the week are outfielder-first baseman Alex Kirilloff who has been playing in AAA St Paul and High-A Cedar Rapids RHP David Festa. I apologize for the delay in getting this out this week.

Alex Kirilloff was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1st round (15th) of the 2016 MLB June Amateur Draft from Plum HS (Pittsburgh, PA). This is Kirilloff’s second minor league player of the week honor in 2022, he also won on May 22.

Kirilloff made his big league debut with the Twins on September 30, 2020 in a playoff game against the Houston Astros. Kirilloff spent 59 games with the Twins last season before being sidelined with a wrist injury and started 2022 with the Twins before the wrist injury resurfaced.

Kirilloff has been hot of late while rehabbing with the AAA St. Paul Saints and last week played in five games, hitting .474 (9-for-19) with one double, four home runs, nine RBI, a .565 on-base percentage, a 1.158 slugging percentage and a 1.723 OPS. In 131 at bats with the Saints this season Kirilloff had a slash line of .359/.465/.641. He was recalled by the Twins on June 17.

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Twins minor league players of the week are Varland & Steer

The Minnesota Twins have named Double-A Wichita right-handed pitcher Louie Varland and Triple-A St. Paul infielder Spencer Steer as the Twins minor league Pitcher and Player of the Week. The Twins are lucky to have a number of their minor leaguers knocking on the Target Field door.

Louie Varland was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 15th round of the 2019 MLB June Amateur Draft from Concordia University (St. Paul, MN). Varland, a St. Paul native signed for a $115,000 signing bonus.

Last season Varland was 10-4 with a nifty 2.10 ERA in 20 games and 103 innings. Varland gave up just 82 hits and struck out 142 and posted a 1.087 WHIP. The 6’1″ right-hander was rewarded by the Minnesota Twins by being named their Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2021 after splitting time between Fort Myers and and Cedar Rapids. This past week Varland, 24, made two starts (6/4 vs. Frisco and 6/10 at Arkansas) for the Wind Surge, going 1-0, 1.64 ERA (11.0 IP, 2 ER) with eight hits allowed, two walks and 18 strikeouts. In 2022 Varland is 5-1 with a SO/9 ration of 10.7 and a 1.200 WHIP. Looks like he will be able to come home to pitch soon.

Louie Varland makes himself next Twins pitching prospect to watch out for (Patrick Reusse)

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Twins minor league players of the week are Kirilloff & Povich

This weeks Minnesota Twins minor league players of the week are AAA St. Paul outfielder Alex Kirilloff and High-A Cedar Rapids left-handed pitcher Cade Povich. This is the second time that Povich has earned this honor this season.

Alex Kirilloff was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1st round (15th) of the 2016 MLB June Amateur Draft from Plum HS (Pittsburgh, PA). Kirilloff made his big league debut on September 30, 2020 and has 69 major league games on his resume.

Kirilloff, who was optioned to St. Paul from Minnesota on May 14, played in six games for the Saints, hitting .458 (11-for-24) with one double, one home run, four RBI, three walks, a .519 on-base percentage, a .625 slugging percentage and a 1.144 OPS. On Wednesday at Omaha, he went 4-for-6 with a double, a home run and three RBI. Kirilloff has struggled with a wrist issue off and on in his short big league career. Kirilloff missed most of last season due to surgery on the troublesome wrist but the issue resurfaced again this year. This may be something that Kirilloff will have to learn to play with. In 14 games with the Saints Kirilloff has a slash line of .340/.450/.420. I expect we will see Kirilloff back at Target Field soon.

Rehabbing with Saints, Alex Kirilloff just trying to stay on the field

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Twins announce 2021 Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Year

In a Press Release this morning the Minnesota Twins announced that infielder Jose Miranda has been named the 2021 Sherry Robertson Award winner as the Twins Minor League Player of the Year and right-handed pitcher Louie Varland has been named the 2021 Jim Rantz Award winner as the Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Year.

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