Most of the work that Sam Clay and AJ Murray did together during their shared time at Georgia Tech was confined to the bullpen, but this season the pair of former Yellow Jackets have played critical roles together for the Midwest League Western Division-leading Cedar Rapids Kernels. Clay, a lefty who was the Minnesota Twins’ fourth round draft pick in 2014, carries a 3-1 record and a 1.10 ERA into his Wednesday night start at Burlington. He has averaged more than a strikeout per inning in his
While the current edition of the Cedar Rapids Kernels have been making their way through the Midwest League playoffs this week, a group of 20 Kernels alumni are on the verge of claiming the first Florida State League championship in franchise history for the Fort Myers Miracle. (Click here for David Dorsey's story on the Miracle's pursuit of a championship) http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Walker1.jpg Adam Brett Walker lines a home run vs Clinton on September 2,
The Cedar Rapids Kernels sported a 9-7 record as they departed for Peoria Monday for the first of seven road games before returning to Veterans Memorial Stadium on Monday, April 28. They enter the week just two games behind Kane County in the Midwest League’s Western Division standings. One reason for the success they’ve had thus far has been a power surge in the heart of their batting order. The Kernels lead the MWL in slugging percentage entering this week’s games largely due to powe
I've never been someone that pays an enormous amount of attention to the MLB First-Year Player Draft. Most years, I would glance at a few writers focusing on who the Twins might draft in the first round, but the draft itself just held little interest for me. I suppose, like many people, it just seemed to me that it was going to be several years before I would ever see any of the young players drafted in a given year put on a Twins uniform, so there was little point in spending much of m
A little over a year ago, I sat in the Cedar Rapids Kernels dugout before a Sunday game and did an interview with then-Kernels infielder Jorge Polanco - the same Jorge Polanco that just spent the past weekend wearing number 11 for the Minnesota Twins. I’d been told that, of the Kernels’ Latin American players, Polanco was one of those most familiar with the English language. Since the only familiarization I have with a foreign language comes from the two years of high school French class that
Cedar Rapids Kernels outfielder JaDamion (J.D.) Williams is in his fourth season with the Minnesota Twins organization. He was drafted by the Twins in the 10th round of the 2010 amateur draft. After a very productive 2011 season at Rookie League level Elizabethton, where he hit .324, Williams hit only .237 for the Beloit Snappers a year ago and accumulated an on-base percentage of .311. In his second year in the Midwest League, Williams is off to a much better start for the Kernels. Hittin
Cedar Rapids Kernels middle infielder Niko Goodrum was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the second round of the 2010 First Year Player Draft and spent the past two years playing for the Twins short season rookie league team in Elizabethton. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Goodrum1.jpg Niko Goodrum The 21 year old switch-hitter from Georgia got off to a good start with the Kernels, most often batting second in Manager Jake Mauer’s batting order, behind lead
One of the things the Minnesota Twins and Cedar Rapids Kernels organizations have in common is an emphasis on community service and that commonality was on display Saturday morning on Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/WilsonTheofanopoulos2-600x400.jpg Jared Wilson and Michael Theofanopoulos working in the bullpen with young pitchers After playing a night game on Friday night, Kernels hitting coach Tommy
Hall of Famer Paul Molitor was in Cedar Rapids over the course of most of the past homestand in his capacity with the Twins organization. Molitor was gracious enough to answer some questions last Thursday, the first day of his stay in Cedar Rapids, as well as a few follow-up questions Monday afternoon after the final game of the Kernels’ homestand. I used several excerpts from the Thursday interview in an article posted at MetroSportsReport.com last week, but there was so much good mate
Welcome to life as a minor league manager. The Cedar Rapids Kernels have some of the best pitching in Class A baseball right now. So why isn't Jake Mauer smiling and confident heading in to the MWL playoffs next week? Jim Ecker's report (click to read) following Thursday night's loss to Kane County reflects one of the challenges Mauer and other minor league managers face at this time of year. One night, your team is popping chamgagne corks (or in this case, sparkling cider), celebrating earn
Cedar Rapids Kernels hitting coach Tommy Watkins knows his way around a minor league field, having spent parts of 11 seasons as a player in the Minnesota Twins minor league system. Toward the end of the 2007 season, he got to live the dream of every player who ever put on a minor league uniform when he was called up to the Big Leagues by the Twins. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/WatkinsHarrison.jpg Tommy Watkins hitting ground balls to third baseman Travis Harrison
It occurs to me that since I’ve been a little preoccupied with writing about the Cedar Rapids Kernels the past five months, I have written very little about the Minnesota Twins. Now that the Kernels’ season has come to a close, I’m going to try to remedy that situation and I’m going to begin by posing a question to the Twns’ front office: Why the heck have you not announced that you are shutting Joe Mauer down for the season? I mean it. Shut Joe Mauer down and do it right frigging now!
It's the top of the seventh inning and his team is leading by two runs. There are two outs, but the bases are loaded with opposing base runners. It's the kind of situation the best relief pitchers almost seem to relish coming in to face. Lefty Steve Gruver and right-hander Tyler Jones have been among the most reliable bullpen arms in the Midwest League this season and have presented a formidable lefty-righty combination out of the Kernels bullpen. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-
Tuesday night was a big deal at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids. Twins Joe Mauer and Ricky Nolasco were in the Kernels’ line up together and at least twice the usual Tuesday night crowd squeezed in to the ballpark to watch them. I don’t know that from witnessing it first hand, but only from accounts from media and family members that used my season tickets that night. Seems I had foolishly committed to making a business trip to St. Louis Sunday through Wednesday this week. So I
After having four straight games postponed by weather last week, the Cedar Rapids Kernels found themselves playing a lot of baseball in just a few days' time. The Kernels played back-to-back doubleheaders in Clinton on Saturday and Sunday. Midwest League rules prohibit a team from playing doubleheaders on three straight days, so they played a single game against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Monday night, despite having two games in Wisconsin postponed a week ago. Tuesday night, it was anothe
Cedar Rapids Kernels pitcher Mason Melotakis and first baseman Dalton (DJ) Hicks are roommates this summer, sharing the same host family during their stay in Cedar Rapids. Both players played major roles with the Kernels as the team qualified for the Midwest League Playoffs by finishing second in the league’s Western Division during the first half of the season and both could be candidates for promotion at some point this summer. Melotakis leads the Kernels pitching staff in wins with six and
Minnesota Twins super-prospect Byron Buxton led the Cedar Rapids Kernels through a pretty amazing first half of their Midwest League season. They led the league’s West Division almost from wire to wire. Almost. But on Sunday, June 16, the Kernels gave up a late lead to the Peoria Chiefs and sealed their fate as the Division Runner-Up. That was the last day that Buxton wore his Kernels home whites on Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium. After returning from the MWL All-Star Ga
The Cedar Rapids Kernels dropped an ugly 5-2 game to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers back on July 9 and Kernels manager Jake Mauer clearly was not a happy man afterward. His line up had left eight runners stranded in scoring position on the night and played some shoddy defense in a loss on a night when Kernels pitching combined to strike out 13 opposing hitters. “We’re going to have some changes,” Mauer promised that night, in a post-game interview. (This article originally was posted at
There is no shortage of great story lines through the first three weeks of the Cedar Rapids Kernels' inaugural season as the Minnesota Twins Class A affiliate in the Midwest League. To begin with, the Kernels (12-5) sit atop the MWL Western Division standings, with a one-game lead over the Quad City River Bandits (Astros). Cedar Rapids has had success both at home (5-2) and on the road (7-3). The biggest story of the first three weeks of the MWL season has undoubtedly been the weather. The K
I made the 3+ hour trip to Beloit this week for the Kernels' three-game series with the Snappers. Cedar Rapids entered the game tied for second place in the MWL Western Division with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, both a single game behind Divison leaders Kane County. Outside of how it would be nice to be able to say the Twins' Class A club won their Division in the second half of the season, it really doesn't matter where the Kernels finish relative to Kane County because the Cougars won a
Weekend Wrap Up: Kernels Clinch, Pub Crawl, MLB BlackoutsA lot of stuff has happened over the past few days. Kernels are Playoff bound First, the Cedar Rapids Kernels clinched a Midwest League playoff spot. Whether they did this Saturday or Sunday is a bit hazy, but what's certain is that the Kernels will be playing baseball beyond the scheduled end of the regular season on Labor Day. This makes the Kernels a perfect 2 for 2 qualifying for playoff work since affiliating with the Minnesota
A number of this year's Cedar Rapids Kernels have had to make an adjustment to wearing a Kernels uniform this summer after playing last season for the Beloit Snappers, who were the Minnesota Twins Midwest League affiliate during the eight prior years. It no doubt felt a little odd to some of them. But to Tyler Grimes, who was the Snappers primary shortstop much of last season, the change in geographic location was far from the most drastic of the adjustments he's had to make. http://kn
With Tuesday night's rainout in Wisconsin, the Kernels have five games under their belts. It's far too soon to draw any firm conclusions about this year's club, but those games were enough to make some first impressions. First of all, they've put up a 4-1 record, so that's a pretty good first impression, in itself. With the obvious “small sample size” warning label appropriately affixed, here are just a few more things that have stood out to me over the first five games of the season: 1) Byro
I got a bit video crazy Thursday night and if you'd like to see a bit of the result, click here to head over to Knuckleballsblog.com for a look. Video of Jake Reed's work on the mound in the 9th. Mitch Garver's leadoff double in the 11th. Bryan Haar's game winner, driving in pinch runner Jon Murphy to beat Kane County 4-3.
It may surprise some Twins and Kernels fans to learn that, even with the promotion of fan-favorite Byron Buxton on Sunday, the Kernels still have an outfielder in their line up that was ranked among the Top 10 prospects of the parent Minnesota Twins coming in to the season. The reason for the surprise is that few fans have seen that prospect on the ball field yet this year. Max Kepler was promoted to Cedar Rapids last week and arrived just in time to join the team for their trip to Appl
I really hold back what I would like to say about then payroll arguments here. The fact that people don't accept the amount taken in dictates the amount going out requires one of two things. Extreme financial ignorance or fanatical bias that prevents the acceptance of something some basic. I did not change the argument. It's the same idiocy over and over. Do you really want to be on the side that suggests revenues does not determine spending capacity?
At this point in the pre-season, I’m just so happy to be seeing games again, I don’t care about the Twins record in 2023. I think they’ll win it all, unrealistically speaking 🙂
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I really hold back what I would like to say about then payroll arguments here. The fact that people don't accept the amount taken in dictates the amount going out requires one of two things. Extreme financial ignorance or fanatical bias that prevents the acceptance of something some basic. I did not change the argument. It's the same idiocy over and over. Do you really want to be on the side that suggests revenues does not determine spending capacity?· 0 replies
