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
Week 12 finds AA Wichita Wind Surge outfielder Trey Cabbage and High A Cedar Rapids Kernels pitcher Louie Varland named as the Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the week.
Trey Cabbage was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 4th round of the 2015 MLB June Amateur Draft from Grainger HS in Rutledge, TN.
Cabbage started the season by playing 40 games in High A Cedar Rapids before being bumped up to AA Wichita on June 28th. This past week he played six games for the Wind Surge, hitting .300 (6-for-20) with two doubles, two home runs, six RBI, four walks and seven strikeouts. You can follow him on Twitter at @Treycabz
A couple of hours before the Twins were to take on the Los Angeles Angels at Target Field yesterday afternoon the Twins front office announced that they had struck a deal with the Tampa Bay Rays. The Twins were sending arguably their best hitter 41-year-old DH Nelson Cruz to Tampa Bay along with minor league right-handed relief pitcher Calvin Faucher and in return Tampa sends Minnesota two minor league right-handed pitchers, Joe Ryan and Drew Strotman.
Week 11 has the Minnesota Twins naming AAA St. Paul outfielder Brent Rooker and AA Wichita right-handed pitcher Jordan Balazovic as their minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.
In week 10 we have High-A Cedar Rapids Kernels outfielder Michael Helman winning this weeks Minnesota Twins minor league position player of the week. 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). Helman reportedly signed for a $220,000 signing bonus.
The 25-year-old Helman played in six games for the Kernels, hitting .409 (9-for-22) with one double, two home runs, four RBI, one walk, a .458 on-base percentage and a 1.186 OPS. The right-handed hitting Helman started his career as a second baseman and had appeared there in a few games but is primarily being used in the outfield in 2021. On the season Helman has an average slash line of .217/.310/.411.
Double AA Wichita infielder Jose Miranda and Double AA Wichita right-handed pitcher Josh Winder (WINE-der) have been named Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week. About time that Wichita posted some new roster pictures on their web site.
Week eight has AA-Wichita Wind Surge infielder Jose Miranda as the Twins minor league position player of the week for the third time this season. He previously won the award in weeks one and five. Miranda was drafted by the Twins in the 2nd round of the 2016 MLB June Amateur Draft from Leadership Christian Academy (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico).
Week seven brings us AAA – St. Paul Saints catcher/first baseman Tomás Telis as the Twins position player of the week. Telis was originally signed as a FA by the Texas Rangers in 2007. The 30-year-old Telis has 122 games of big league experience, 24 with Texas and 98 with Miami. Telis signed with the Twins as a FA in January of 2019 and has been in the Twins system since then. You can’t really consider Telis a prospect but he is a back-up should the Twins need one. Telis is a catcher but has expanded his repertoire to include first base and has even played a couple of games at second and third base. Telis has played in over 1,000 minor league games, a handy man to have around.
Telis played in six games for the Saints this week, hitting .391 (9-for-23) with one double, three home runs, five RBI, three walks and a 1.288 OPS. The 30-year-old has played in 39 games for the Saints this season, hitting .271 (42-for-155) with four doubles, one triple, six home runs and 21 RBI.
This week week we have another Jordan as the Twins pitcher of the week and this time it is Jordan Balazovic. Balazovic was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 5th round of the 2016 MLB June Amateur Draft from St. Martin SS (Mississauga, ON) . The 22-year-old right-hander is currently rated as the third best prospect in the Twins minor league system by MLB.
In the past 10 years, there have been five pitchers drafted and signed in the top five rounds of the Draft out of Canada. Only one, the Braves’ Mike Soroka, has made it to the big leagues. Balazovic, signed as a thin, projectable high school right-hander as a fifth rounder in 2016, has the chance to be the next.
MLB Pipeline
This past week Balazovic made his last start for the AA – Wichita Wind Surge on Tuesday vs. Springfield, pitching 4.1 scoreless innings with two hits allowed, one walk and eight strikeouts. Balazovic has only made four starts this season and pitched a total of 14 innings. It would be nice to see Balazovic get some innings under his belt as he has under 250 total innings in pro ball since 2016 with none in 2020 due to COVID.
In week five the Minnesota Twins minor league players of the week are AA Wichita infielder Jose Miranda and Low A Fort Myers left-handed pitcher Sawyer Gipson-Long. Congrats to Jose and Sawyer.
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.
In week two the Twins minor league position player of the week is infielder Spencer Steer. Steer who was born in Long Beach, California was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 3rd round of the 2019 MLB June Amateur Draft from University of Oregon (Eugene, OR). The 5’11” Steer had previously been drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 29th round in 2016 but did not sign with them.
In 2019 Steer spent 20 games with Elizabethton and then moved up to the Low-A Cedar Rapids Kernels where he appeared in 44 games. The right-handed hitting Steer is playing in Cedar Rapids again this year but this time it is with a High-A Cedar Rapids Kernels team. In five games this past week he hit .333 (4-for-12) with one home run, two RBI, five walks and had a .500 on-base percentage playing primarily second base but he has also played shortstop and third base. Steer has committed three errors in 9 games played this season. You can learn more about Spencer Steer by watching Seth Stoh’s Twins Spotlight on YouTube.
Winder, a big right-hander was 3-1 with a 3.72 ERA at Elizabethton in 2018 and in 2019 was 7-2 with the Low-A Cedar Rapids Kernels and led the Midwest League in ERA and WHIP during his first full season in pro ball. According to MLB.com “Winder worked hard during the 2020 shutdown to add strength to his 6-foot-5 frame, and it showed. After sitting in the low 90s throughout the 2019 season, he was up to 98 mph consistently during instructional, albeit in a smaller sample size, throwing it with good riding life. He added velocity to his curve as well. If the velocity and stuff gains are for real, Winder could be one of the biggest starting pitcher sleeper prospects in the game.” MLB has Winder at the 14th best Twins prospect going into 2021. Winder, 24, made his first start of the season the start on Friday for the AA Wichita Wind Surge vs. Amarillo, pitching 5.2 shutout innings with three hits allowed, one walk and eight strikeouts, earning the win for the Wind Surge.
With no MiLB played in 2020 due to COVID we have not had any Minnesota Twins players of the week since September 2019. It is nice to get things a little more back to normal. The MiLB season started about a month later than normal and the Appalachian League has been discontinued. The Twins discontinued their AAA relationship with the Rochester Red Wings and their new AAA St. Paul Saints team is just across the Mississippi River. What a wonderful deal for the Minnesota Twins and fans of minor league baseball. The Twins new AA team is the Wichita Wind Surge of the Double-A Central League Northern Division. The Cedar Rapids Kernels are now the High-A team and the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels are the Low-A team.
The Rookie League Gulf Coast league Twins and the Dominican Summer League Twins will begin play later this year.
