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
YESTERDAY’S RECAP: The Twins fell to the Atlanta Braves yesterday, 7-5, in North Port. Louie Varland was the starter and took the loss, allowing five runs on six hits (2 HR), with one walk and three strikeouts in 2.0 innings of work; became the first Twins starter to work in the third inning this spring. The Twins’ bench came through for the club, recording five of the club’s eight hits on the afternoon – all during a five-run, eighth-inning rally. Chris Williams went 1-for-1 with a two-run double, while Yoyner Fajardo, Jose Salas and Jake Rucker all had RBI singles.
GLOBAL GAME: The 2023 World Baseball Classic starts this week, with pool play in Taichung, Taiwan; Tokyo, Japan; Phoenix, Arizona; and Miami, Florida. The Twins will be well-represented, with 16 players and staffers from across the organization partaking. Here’s the full list: José De León (Puerto Rico), Edouard Julien (Canada), Jorge López (Puerto Rico), Pablo López (Venezuela), Jovani Moran (Puerto Rico), Emilio Pagán (Puerto Rico), Dereck Rodríguez (Puerto Rico), Christian Vázquez (Puerto Rico), Bert Blyleven (Kingdom of the Netherlands), Julio Borbón (Dominican Republic), Ramon Borrego (Venezuela), Tony Diaz (Dominican Republic), Rudy Hernandez (Venezuela), Dustin Morse (Kingdom of the Netherlands), Luis Ramirez (Venezuela) and Martijn Verhoeven (Kingdom of the Netherlands).
The Minnesota Twins have named Oswaldo Arcia their 2012 Sherry Robertson Award winner as the Twins’ Minor League Player of the Year and right-handed pitcher B.J. Hermsen as their 2012 Jim Rantz Award winner as the Twins’ Minor League Pitcher of the Year.
outfielder Oswaldo Arcia
Oswaldo Arcia, 21, began the season at Single-A Ft. Myers and batted .309 (64-for-207) with 16 doubles, three triples, seven home runs, 31 RBI and 22 runs scored in 55 games with the Miracle. He was promoted to Double-A New Britain in mid-June and batted .328 (86-for-262) with 20 doubles, five triples, 10 home runs, 67 RBI and 54 runs scored in 69 games with the Rock Cats. He combined to hit .320 (150-for-469) with 36 doubles, eight triples, 17 home runs and 98 RBI in 124 games this season. The 6-foot, 210-pounder was the Twins Minor League Player of the Month for May, batting .358 (39-for-109) with 10 doubles, four home runs and 18 RBI in 27 games with Ft. Myers. Arcia has played primarily RF but he has played several games in CF.
Arcia, a left-handed hitter who throws tight-handed was signed as a free agent, July 4, 2007 out of Venezuela at the age of 16 by scout Jose Leon. Arcia becomes the 43rd winner of this award. In 2010 Arcia had a breakout season in Elizabethton leading the league in numerous hitting categories and was named to the All-Star team and was named the league player of the year. Arcia played for the World team in the 2012 Futures game and was 1 for 2 with a double after entering the game in the 8th inning.
pitcher BJ Hermsen
B.J. (Brett Joseph) Hermsen, 22, began the season at Single-A Ft. Myers and went 1-0, 0.78 ERA (23.0 IP, 2 ER), allowing 16 hits with five walks and 12 strikeouts in four starts. He was promoted to Double-A New Britain at the end of April and went 11-6, 3.22 ERA (139.2 IP, 50 ER), allowing 145 hits with 25 walks and 75 strikeouts in 22 starts for the Rock Cats. The 6-foot-5, 235-pounder was the Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Month for April, going 1-0, 0.78 ERA (23.0 IP, 2 ER) with five walks and 12 strikeouts. The right-handed Hermsen was drafted by the Twins in the sixth round of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft out of West Delaware High School in Manchester, Iowa. In four minor league seasons Hermsen has pitched 477+ innings and has a 37-24 record with a 3.21 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP. Hermsen becomes the 11th winner of this award.
Both Arcia and Hermsen, along with the Twins other 2012 award winners, will be recognized at the Eighth Annual Diamond Awards dinner, which will be held on Thursday, January 24, 2013 at Target Field.
By the way, if you were not aware, the 2013 World Baseball Classic qualifying rounds are already underway in Jupiter, Florida and Regensburg, Germany and you can keep up with the action and actually watch the games by clicking on the 2013 WBC icon on the right hand side of our home page. Max Kepler and former Twins minor leaguer Toby Gardenhire are playing for the team from Germany former Twins player Rene Tosoni is playing for Canada. I am sure other Twins will be playing for one of the 28 teams in the tournament.
January 7, 2009 – Once again it is almost time for the World Baseball Classic. This will be the second time this event has been held. The first World baseball Classic was held in 2006 and the Dominican Republic beat Australia 6-4 for the title. Sixteen teams including the USA will be battling for the championship this year. The first game is on March 5 in the Tokyo Dome between China and Japan. Games will also be played in Mexico City, Toronto, San Juan, San Diego, Miami, and the finals will be played in Los Angeles between March 21 -23.
A number of Twins including Justin Morneau and Jesse Crain (Canada) Joe Nathan (USA), Nick Punto (Italy), and Jose Mijares (Venezuela) may be competing. A number of Twins minor leaguers may also be found on some rosters. Bert Blyleven will be the pitching coach for the team from Netherlands. It should be fun to follow again this year. If you want to know more about the WBC, just click on the World Baseball Classic logo.
