Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch

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For a few years now, I have been doing a feature, pretty much on a monthly basis, which was called "Who is hot in the Twins' minors" (you can see last seasons' versions here.) This included a list of the best players in the Twins' system, based on cumulative performance year to date, broken down by position.

I am giving it a new twist this year: I am listing the best team of 25 players in the Twins' organization, by position based on cumulative performance. This is listed as a 25-man roster squad with starters and bench and a rotation an a pen. No batting order. Ages, handedness and team are also listed along with the stats. This is the first one and I will be doing those every 3-4 weeks.

This first version of the Twins' top 25 in the minors is dominated by players from the Fort Myers Miracle and Cedar Rapids Kernels teams that dominate their leagues, but there is a good representation from the Rochester Red Wings and New Britain Rock Cats squads. This is pretty small sample size and the results can be skewed, especially on the pitching side. And of course there are some surprises.

The 2013 Twins minors' best 25 are:

Starters:

C - Josmil Pinto (RHB, 24, AA) : .294/.400/.544, 4 HR, 15 RBI, 80 PA

1B - Chris Colabello (RHB, 29 AAA) : .328/.377/.642, 6 HR, 14 RBI, 77 PA

2B - Eddie Rosario (SHB, 21, A+) : .338/.368/.500, 2 HR, 13 RBI, 1 SB, 87 PA

3B - Miguel Sano (RHB, 20, A+) : .384/.439/.740, 7 HR, 19 RBI, 1 SB, 82 PA

SS - AJ Petersen (RHB, 24, A+) : .345/.418/.448, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 2 SB, 68 PA

OF - Byron Buxton (RHB, 19, A) : .404/.514/.614, 2 HR, 10 RBI, 7 SB, 70 PA

OF - Clete Thomas (LHB, 29, AAA): .347/.448/.571, 3 HR, 11 RBI, 2 SB, 58 PA

OF - Danny Ortiz (LHB, 23, AA): .313/.356/.582, 3 HR, 13 RBI, 73 PA

DH - Mike Gonzales (LHB, 25, A+) : .238/.338/.476, 4 HR, 15 RBI, 77 PA

Bench:

C - Kyle Knudson (RHB, 25, A+) : .432/.512/.649, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 43 PA

IF - Nate Hanson (RHB, 26, AA/AAA) : .317/.405/.429, 2 HR, 11 RBI

1B - DJ Hicks (LHB, 23, A): .310/.385/.586, 3 HR, 12 RBI

OF - JD Williams (SHB, 22, A): .270/.429/.514, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 6 SB, 49 PA

UT - Matt Koch (RHB, 24, A+) : .405/.490/.548, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 49 PA

Rotation:

Tyler Duffey (RHP, 22, A) : 2-1, 2.29 ERA, 3 GS, 19.2 IP, 3 BB, 17 K, 0.661 WHIP (.184 BABIP), 7.78 K/9, 5.67 K/BB

DJ Baxendale (RHP, 22, A+) : 2-0, 1.04 ERA, 3 GS, 17.1 IP, 3 BB, 15 K, 0.750 WHIP (.200 BABIP), 7.79 K/9, 5 K/BB

Alex Meyer (RHP, 23, AA) : 1-0 , 1.69 ERA, 3 GS, 16 IP, 7 BB, 19 K, 1.250 WHIP (.317 BABIP), 10.69 K/9, 2.71 K/BB

Kyle Gibson (RHP, 25, AAA) : 0-1, 4.43 ERA, 4 GS, 20.1 IP, 1.279 WHIP (.321 BABIP), 8.41 K/9, 2.71 K/BB

Andew Albers (LHP, 27, AAA): 0-0, 3.09 ERA, 3 GS, 11.2 IP, 1.286 WHIP (.314 BABIP), 8.49 K/9, 2.75 K/BB

Bullpen:

Corey Williams (LHP, 22, A+) : 2.08 ERA, 7 G, 8.2 IP, 4 Sv, 0 BB, 3 K, 0.692 WHIP (.231 BABIP), 3.12 K/9 INF K/BB

Adrian Salcedo (RHB, 22, A+): 4.82 ERA, 6 G, 9.1 IP, 0 BB, 11 K, 1.179 WHIP (.407 BABIP) 10.61 K/9, INF K/BB

Caleb Thielbar (LHP, 26, AAA) : 3.68 ERA, 8 G, 14.2 IP, 2 BB, 18 K, 1.364 WHIP (.405 BABIP), 11.05 K/9, 9 K/BB

Steven Gruver (LHP, 24, A) : 0.64 ERA, 4 G, 1 GS, 14 IP, 1 Sv, 2 BB, 16 K, 0.714 WHIP (.258 BABIP), 10.29 K/9, 8 K/BB

Tyles Jones (RHB, 23, A) : 0.96 ERA, 5 G, 9.1 IP, 2 Sv, 2 BB, 11 K, 0.750 WHIP (.217 BABIP), 10.61 K/9, 5.50 K/BB

Ryan O'Rourke (LHP, 25, A+) : 0.00 ERA, 5 G, 9 1P, 1 BB, 7 K, 0.333 WHIP (.100 BABIP), 7 K/9, 7 K/BB

Zach Jones (RHB, 22, A+) : 1.00 ERA, 7 G, 9 IP, 5 Sv, 2 BB, 13 K, 0.667 WHIP (.176 BABIP), 12 K/9, 4 K/BB

Real nice. Thanks for this.

Thanks