Tag: Trevor Larnach

Twins fun facts from Twins 3/23 ST notes

TWINS GO ON THE OFFENSIVE AT JETBLUE: The Twins shutout the Red Sox last night at JetBlue Park by a score of 11-0, setting spring highs in runs and hits (15). Joe Ryan (1-1) was the starter and winner, pitching 5 shutout innings with two hits allowed, one walk and five strikeouts. Emilio Pagán and Cole Sands each pitched 2 scoreless innings as Sands struck out three of his eight batters faced. The offense recorded 15 hits, highlighted by Trevor Larnach, who went 4-for-4 with his third home run of the spring. Kyle Farmer added a home run, marking his third of the exhibition season. The Twins also recorded eight two-out RBI. Now that what I like to see, good pitching and good hitting.

SPRING FLING: Today the Twins will play the 26th of 32 scheduled Grapefruit League games. After today, two more games will be played at Hammond Stadium and four more games will be played on the road.

BUCK TRUCK GETTING REVVED UP: Byron Buxton is in the Twins’ starting lineup for the second time this spring, batting leadoff as the designated hitter. He made his official spring debut on Tuesday vs. Tampa Bay, going 1-for-3 with a leadoff double and run scored. Buck has spent most of spring training seeing live pitching on backfields at Hammond Stadium.

Minnesota pitchers today are scheduled to be Tyler Mahle (R), Caleb Thielbar (L), Jhoan Duran (R), Jorge Alcala (R) and Griffin Jax (R).

THE DURANTULA: Jhoan Duran is in his fourth spring training with the Twins. He is scheduled to make his sixth spring appearance today, having pitched 5 scoreless innings so far with two walks and seven strikeouts. Made the Twins Opening Day roster last season for first time in career and spent season in bullpen; used all season in high-leverage situations, ranked sixth among AL relievers in ERA (1.86) and 12th in baseball. Led baseball in pitches of at least 100 miles-per-hour with 392.

Twins acquire new strikeout king

Joey Gallo

The Twins are in agreement with outfielder Joey Gallo on a one-year deal that will pay him $11MM. The two-time All-Star is represented by the Boras Corporation. Apparently when one of Boras’s players is having a tough time getting signed, they turn to the Minnesota Twins for some reason. Either Boras has something on the Twins FO dynamic duo that they don’t want the public to know or they are just easy to convince that the player will be good and might sign a long term deal with them.

Twins fans were disgusted with Miguel Sano and his strikeouts and they couldn’t wait for him to be run out of town. The Twins FO obliged and didn’t tender Sano. But if Twins fans didn’t like Sano, they are really in for a treat in their new outfielder Joey Gallo. Sanó has the second-highest career strikeout rate in MLB history at 36.4 percent. The only player to whiff more often is Gallo, who sits atop the all-time career list at 37.3 percent, including 39.8 percent last season for the Yankees and Dodgers.

Continue reading Twins acquire new strikeout king

2021 Twins Turkey of the Year

Happy Thanksgiving everyone

Time seems to have gotten away from me and it was only in the last few days that I realized it was that time again, time to pick another Twins Turkey of the Year. This years winner will be number 13. So far we have only had one repeat winner and that was President and CEO Dave St. Peter who took the honors in 2013 and again in 2019.

With the 2021 Minnesota Twins expected to do well and go deep in the playoffs by their fans and the so called baseball experts and then to see the team finish 73-89 and in last place in the American League Central Division you would have to think that there were more turkeys then you could shake a stick at. You would be right.

Continue reading 2021 Twins Turkey of the Year

Trevor Larnach and Randy Dobnak named 2019 Twins Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Year

Randy Dobnak

The Minnesota Twins announced yesterday that outfielder Trevor Larnach has been named the 2019 Sherry Robertson Award winner as the Twins Minor League Player of the Year and right-handed pitcher Randy Dobnak has been named the 2019 Jim Rantz Award winner as the Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Year.

Trevor Larnach

Larnach and Dobnak, along with the other Twins 2019 award winners, will be recognized at the 15th Annual Diamond Awards dinner, which will be held on Thursday, January 23, 2020.

2019 Player and Pitcher of the Year

Twins minor league players of the week – Larnach & Balazovic

Trevor Larnach (click on image to make larger)

Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week honors have been announced and  AA Pensacola Blue Wahoos outfielder Trevor Larnach and High-A Ft. Myers Miracle right-handed pitcher Jordan Balazovic have been named.

In five games for the Miracle, Larnach hit .412 (7-for-17) with two home runs, five RBI, four walks and a 1.289 OPS. The 22-year-old was selected by the Twins 20th overall in the 2018 First-Year Player Draft out of Oregon State University. After signing with Minnesota the left-handed hitting Larnach started with rookie league Elizabethton and finished the season with Low-A Cedar Rapids. This year he started in High-A Ft. Myers and was promoted in mid-July to AA Pensacola. At the present rate on the fast track I would expect Larnach to at least make an appearance for the Twins in 2020.

Jordan Balazovic – click on image to make it larger)

Balazovic made the start on Thursday vs. Jupiter, pitching 5 shutout innings with two
hits allowed, one walk and nine strikeouts. The 20-year-old 6’5″ right-hander was selected by the Twins in the fifth round of the 2016 First-Year Player Draft out of St. Martin SS in Mississauga, Ontario. Balazovic pitched one perfect inning at the SiriusXM Futures Game this July at Progressive Field.

Balazovic carving path into Twins’ Future

 

Twins Minor League Report, 8-11-19

Twins minor league players of the week – Larnach & Duran

Ft. Myers Miracle Trevor Larnach (9) bats in the third inning of a baseball game against the Palm Beach Cardinals at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter, Fla., Sunday, May 5, 2019. (Gordon Donovan)

Ft. Myers Miracles (high A) outfielder Trevor Larnach and Ft. Myers Miracles right-handed pitcher Jhoan Duran have been named Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.

In five games for the Miracle, Larnach hit .524 (11-for-21) with two doubles, two
home runs, seven RBI, four runs scored and a 1.427 OPS. The 22-year-old Larnach was drafted by the Twins 20th overall in the 2018 First-Year Player Draft and this marks his second POW honor this season (also May 12).

Larnach raking at a Miraculous rate

 

Jhoan Duran – credit Bill Parmeter of Ft. Myers Miracle

The right-handed throwing Duran made one start for the Miracle coming last Sunday at Daytona, allowing two runs (1 earned) on two hits in 6.0 innings pitched with 14 strikeouts (23 batters faced). Although Duran has an 0-5 record this season with the Miracles, he has started nine games and pitched 42.1 innings allowing just 31 hits and a 3.61 ERA. Duran has struck out 52 but also walked 15 batters.

The 21-year-old was acquired by the Twins at the trade deadline last season from Arizona, in exchange for Eduardo Escobar.

Duran hits new career heights for Miracle

 

Twins Minor League Report, 6-2-19

The only Minnesota Twins minor league team with a losing record at this point is the 20-31 Rochester Red Wings.

Twins minor league players of the week – Jeffers and Schulfer

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.

Ryan Jeffers

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.

Austin Schulfer

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.

FSL All-Stars

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.

 

Twins Minor League Report, 5-26-19

Twins minor league players of the week – Larnach and Balazovic

High A Fort Myers Miracle outfielder Trevor Larnach and High A Fort Myers Miracle right-handed pitcher Jordan Balazovic have been named as the Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.

Trevor Larnach (click on image to make larger)

In six games for the Miracle, Larnach hit .440 (11-for-25) with two doubles, two home runs, five RBI, seven runs scored, three walks and a 1.260 OPS. Larnach, 22, was drafted by the Twins in the first round (20th overall) in the 2018 First-Year Player Draft out of Oregon State University and signed for a $2.55 million signing bonus. Larnach in his second season of pro ball is entering the 2019 season as the fifth best prospect in the Twins system by Baseball America.

Jordan Balazovic (click on image to make larger)

 

The Canadian born Balazovic made his FSL debut in start on Sunday at Palm Beach, pitching 7.0 no-hit innings with no walks and 10 strikeouts. Balazovic, 20, was drafted by the Twins in the fifth round of the 2016 First-Year Player Draft out of  St. Martin Secondary School in Mississauga, Ontario and signed for a reported $515,000 signing bonus. The 6’4″ right-hander has been used as a starter since he began pro ball and is rated as the Twins 19th best prospect.

 

Miracle’s Balazovic perfect in FSL debut

Twins Minor League Report, 5-12-19

Twins minor league players of the week – Trevor Larnach & Jhoan Duran

The Twins have named A- Cedar Rapids Kernels outfielder Trevor Larnach and Single-A Cedar Rapids right-handed pitcher Jhoan Duran as Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.

Trevor Larnach

In six games for the Kernels, Larnach hit .391 (9-for-23) with two doubles, one home
run, three RBI, three walks and six runs scored. The California native was drafted by the Twins 20th overall in this past June’s draft. The 6’4″ left-handed hitting Larnach started playing pro ball in Elizabethton and moved up to Cedar Rapids after 18 games. The Twins are expecting Larnach to move up the Twins system quickly.

Jhoan Duran

Duran made two starts for the Kernels, going 1-0, 0.66 ERA (13.2 IP, 1 ER) with three walks and 19 strikeouts. Duran, who earned this award earlier in the month, was acquired at the trade deadline from Arizona in exchange for infielder Eduardo Escobar. The 6’5″ 20-year-old right-hander has started five games for the Kernels since the Twins acquired him and has a 2-1 record but that is deceiving. He has allowed just 16 hits in 32 innings while striking out 41 and walking 7. Duran has an ERA of 2.25 and a 0.719 WHIP. The guy is tearing it up! WOW! Duran could be a steal.

 

Twins Minor League Report 082718