Tuesday, May
10, 2010
A Look Back:
Twins Draft Picks
Please check out my
StarTribune.com TwinsCentric blog for this
week. I looked back at the Twins last 15 years of draft picks to find the hits
and misses. It’s hard to believe that the 2010 draft is less than a month away.
So take A
Look Back at the Twins drafts in recent years.
Also, be sure to join Travis Aune and myself tonight at 10:00 central time for
this week’s Twins
Minor League Weekly. Each week, Travis and I dive headfirst into the
Twins minor league farm system. This week, there will be plenty of transactions
to discuss, for sure. But we will also talk about who has been playing well, and
upcoming roster decisions. It’s a fun hour of discussion and we certainly
welcome your comments and feedback.
SethSpeaks Monday Minor League
Hitter of the Day – Steve Liddle – Beloit Snappers
SethSpeaks Monday Minor League
Pitcher of the Day – Kyle Gibson – Ft.
Myers
·
While you’re reading my Strib article
this morning, be sure to check
out LaVelle E. Neal’s morning blog. In it, he
mentions that Matt Tolbert is on his
way to the Twin Cities in case JJ Hardy,
who is seeing a hand specialist, needs to be put on the Disabled List. I’ve
said several times that I expected that Tolbert would get the promotion if
needed just because Gardy absolutely loves the
already-28 year old utility guy. I just think this would have been the perfect
time to call up Trevor Plouffe, who has played very well this spring at
Rochester, and give him a two week tryout. Plouffe
earned it on and off the field. The other option would have been to go with Danny Valencia, let him play 3B for two
weeks with Nick Punto
shifting back to SS. Valencia is hitting over .270 after his slow start and is
currently on a 14 game hitting streak. Retreading Tolbert in this situation makes
absolutely no sense. Instead, we’ll probably see a lot of Brendan Harris and Alexi
Casilla at
SS.
·
I’ve been trying to keep you updated here over the last
2-3 days on all the transactions in the minor leagues, but LaVelle
posted a couple that I wasn’t aware of yet. Loek Van Mil has been activated from the Disabled List and will pitch,
at least temporarily, for Ft. Myers. Andrei
Lobanov, who had 1 walk and 35 strikeouts at the
GCL last year, is also pitching for Ft. Myers. Again, that is likely only
temporary and he will probably pitch in Elizabethton later this summer.
·
After a horrible two inning outing on Friday, Yoslan Herrera asked for, and was granted his
release from the Twins. That is the nice way of saying, he quit. Yesterday, New
Britain reliever Henry Arias did the same thing. The Twins put
him on the suspended list (so he is not a free agent), and he won’t return to
the team.
Red Wings Report
Monday – Rochester 2, Indianapolis 7 – Glen Perkins had what appears to have been another rough start. He
gave up seven runs on six hits and three walks in 5.1 innings. However, he
actually pitched very well through the first four innings. (Baby steps, right?)
Jose Lugo went 2.2 shutout innings
in relief, much needed for him and the team. Dustin Martin had two doubles in four at bats. Luke Hughes was 2-4 with his second stolen base.
New Britain Notes
Monday – New Britain 2, Trenton 8 – David Bromberg had his first rough outing in AA. The Twins pitching
prospect gave up eight earned runs on 11 hits and four walks in 4.2 innings of
work. Michael Allen made a nice AA debut. He threw 2.1 scoreless innings with no
walks and three strikeouts. Santos Arias
and Matt Williams each threw a
scoreless inning. Alexander Soto
went 3-4 with his third double. Steve
Singleton went 2-5 with his sixth double.
Miracle Matters
Monday – Ft. Myers 4, Tampa 1 – There is a lot of talk about Kyle Gibson being promoted to AA very
soon, maybe even today, but Gibson put that beyond him and pitched another very
good game. He went 6.2 innings and gave up one run on five hits. He walked
three and struck out a career-high eight batters. He improved to 4-1 with a
1.87 ERA. There were a couple more good stories from this game. Shooter Hunt got his second save with
2.1 shutout innings. He didn’t give up a run or even a hit. He walked one and
struck out six. Brandon Roberts went
2-4 with two more stolen bases in his rehab work. Yangervis Solarte went 1-3 with two RBI and his
third stolen base. The other great bit of news is that Paul Kelly was back in the Miracle lineup, batting second and
playing SS. He went 0-3.
SIDENOTE – I get a lot of questions from people asking what I
think they should do with Shooter Hunt.
After a rough 2009 season, he is pitching great in the Ft. Myers bullpen. Many
want him to be promoted to AA. More want him to move into the Ft. Myers
starting rotation. My personal opinion is that they need to just leave him
where he is for right now. Let him keep pitching in this role of one to three
innings in relief. Let him experience this success and gain more and more
confidence. This is one of the truly great people in the organization, and
rather than push, push, push, they need to remain cautious. Let’s not forget
that he does not need to be added to the 40 man roster until after the 2011
season, and from there, he has three option years. There is absolutely no rush
with Shooter Hunt, and I hope the
Twins continue with him on this path. Hunt is currently 1-1 with a 4.34 ERA on
the season. He has nine walks and 29 strikeouts in 18.2 innings. If you take
out his first outing of the year, he is 1-1 with a 1.93 ERA. He has six walks
and 29 strikeouts in 18.2 innings. Even better, in his last seven games, he has
two walks and 24 strikeouts in 15.1 innings.
Snappers Snippets
Monday – Beloit 8, Burlington 7 (10) – The Snappers scored
three runs in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game and then won it in the
10th. Down three runs in the 8th inning, Angel Morales came to bat with the
bases loaded. He drilled a two run single to left field, and a throwing error
scored the third run on the same play. Advance to the bottom of the 10th
inning, Josmil Pinto came to the plate with the bases
loaded. He was hit by a pitch for the walk off run! Pinto was 2-4 with his
fourth double in the game. Angel Morales
was 2-4 with his tenth stolen base. Brian
Dozier was 2-5 with a walk. Steve
Liddle
went 2-3 with three walks. Edgar Ibarra
started and gave up three runs on two hits and four walks in four innings. He
struck out three. Dakota Watts came
in and gave up four runs on three hits and two walks in 2.1 innings. Matt Tone entered and threw 1.2
scoreless innings in relief. Kane Holbrooks struck out two in the 9th inning. Eliecer Cardenas struck out two in a scoreless
tenth frame to record his first win.
Any questions? Leave
your comments here.