Ouch...4.2 innings and 10 hits? This is one of those outings that you need to put behind you if you are Jason and we need to look at his ERA with a large grain of salt. 6 runs on those 10 hits, 1 earned. So Mr. Wheeler still maintains a ERA under 2. Well one good outing and one ugly one. Miracle still won thanks to Tim Shibuya coming in with 2.1 innings of scoreless work and the bats, Adam Walker, Jorge Polanco and Nikko Goodrum in particular.

4 games into the season and Jason sits at 1 and 1 with a 3.86 ERA, 30 hits, 11 k's and 7 BB's in 21 innings. Not how to get to AA. Two of his starts have gone less then 5 innings. This in a league he is repeating. He goes again tonight. Hopefully we will have a imporved set of numbers to talk to tomorrow.

Congrats to Jason on his first career Complete Game shutout. On a night the minor league pitchers sent a strong message up the food chain, Jason delivered a 2 hitter at home. The workhorse went 9 innings, struck out 3, walked none and facing just one batter more then the minimum. What a game!

In a interview from MILB.com Jason said, "I would say I was just attacking a lot more, even the mentality was just like, 'Here we go. Here it is, my best stuff. Let's see if you can hit it.' And let's go to the next hitter."

Jason shared some of the credit with his catcher, Stuart Turner.

"My catcher and I were pretty much on the same page all night," Wheeler said. "Those are the best kinds of games when you can just keep going and you're not taking a lot of time between pitches and shaking off the catcher. It was just, I don't know, it was a lot of fun."

Turner also threw out one of the guys who got a hit when the Bradenton player tried to advance on a ball in the dirt.

At one point Wheeler retired 15 in row and simply controlled the game from the first pitch.

"No walks helps, but the key was just really getting after guys with fastballs," he said. "I think I threw 80 percent fastballs or something. So that was really it, just being able to establish the fastball to both sides of the plate early, showing them that I wasn't afraid to go inside. I think that was the key, and that's usually what it is when I have a good outing, is being able to establish that fastball command to both sides of the plate."

Jason picked a good time to go into shut down mode with Twins pitching coordinator Eric Rasmussen in the house.

This lowered the Big Lefty's ERA to 2.70, brought him to 2 and 1 for the season, and brought his WHIP back down to 1.30 after a couple of substandard games. Hopefully he will build off of this and find a groove.

"Probably the best outing of my career," Wheeler said. "I know I had a couple outings in college [at Loyola Marymount] where I threw a complete game. But this is a pretty memorable one, being the first complete-game shutout in pro ball, and it was against better hitters than college guys."

As someone who has blogged about your career since meeting you in Beloit, there is no probably about it Jason. That was the best game of your career. Great work!!

The rollercoaster is on for Jason Wheeler this year. Last we wrote about Jason he was coming off the best pitching performance of his career. Since then, not so good.

May 4th- 5.2 innings, 2 earned runs, 7 hits, 1 walk and 5 Strike outs.

May 10th- 6.2 innings, 3 earned runs, 10 hits, 2 walks, 3 strike outs

May 17th- 2.2 innings pitched, 4 earned runs, 8 hits, 2 walks and 1 strike out.

The numbers pretty much speak for themsleves here. To say that last one was awful probably underplays how Wheeler felt after only 2.2 innings. But now we get to see if he can right the ship and get some consistency down.

Jason followed up a couple of clunkers with a good start and a dominating one. Last night Mr. Wheeler was nasty, eight innings with no runs scored, 2 hits, 1 walk and 7 strike outs. Ok. Can't be much better then that. So in 10 starts Jason has given up 6 runs twice (one of these was 5 unearned) and then shut out the other team twice. Right handed hitters are having the best success against the Miracle lefty, hitting .309 off him, while the guys on the left side are only hitting .233. Both homers have been hit by righties. Jason is showing glimpses of what he can do, and hopefully we can see that continue into June.

Two stellar starts in a row for Jason Wheeler. 7 innings pitched, no runs, 2 hits, 2 walks and 5K's. Jason has not allowed a run in 16 innings. During that run he has struck out 16 while walking 4 and giving up 4 hits. Over this stretch Jason has been what you would expect from a college pitcher entering a year and a half in the Florida State League, ready to move up to AA. He has had a couple of hiccups during the year, but his overall performance over the last two months is of a pitcher ready to be challenged by the Eastern League. Whether in the rotation or the pen, Jason should be moved up. If he is blocked...could he be part of a trade? Maybe in order to take a Willingham or Suzuki and get a higher ranked prospect or two does a team need a promising lefthander? Just saying.

Yesterday the Jason Wheeler turned in 7 innings, gave up 1 run, on 4 hits, Struck out 8 and walked 1. But he got stuck with the loss bringing his record to 5 and 5. For the season 73 innings pitched, 47 strike outs, 17 walks, 72 hits and a 2.47 ERA. How long in Fort Meyers. Will things start to break lose in June with changes to the Twins rotation, dumping one or two of the starters to make room for May and Meyers? Then will changes happen all the way down the line and create a place in New Britain for Wheeler? Guess we will see.

Jason Wheeler to AA please! He has spent a year and a half in High A. He has pitched 79 innings, given up 77 hits, 22 earned runs, Struck out 57 and walked 19. His ERA is 2.51. His last 5 starts he has given up 4 earned runs, struck out 34 in 34 innings (including 10 last night), with 20 hits and walking 7. For the season he has given up 2 home runs. Get this guy to New Britain, I know Berrios is the hotter prospect and is pitching lights out too...So maybe New Britain needs to shed a couple of pitchers.

Jason Wheeler promoted to AA today. I know some are going to be upset it was not Berrios, but Wheeler has earned this spot with his performance the last year and a half in Fort Meyers and deserves the slot with the Rockcats. Berrios will be there and he is only 20. Congrats to Jason on moving one step closer to the dream of the Majors. Good luck in New Britian.

Jason Wheeler had his first AA start on Saturday night. His transition from High A to AA went pretty good, 6.1 innings, 2 runs on 7 hits, 1 walk and 7 strikeouts. Not liking the 7 hits too much, but the Walks and Strike outs are promising that the jump won't be too big of a issue. This is just one game and we need to get more to see before things really focus, but I am feeling positive about his abilities to get AA hitters out.

Welcome to AAA Jason Wheeler! With upheaval on the major league level, a spot starter was needed in Rochester. The Twins tapped Jason to be the guy to pickup the ball for the Red Wings and he responded with a pretty good outing, 5 innings with 2 runs on 5 hits, 2 walks and strikeouts. What a year for Jason, starting in Fort Meyers now on the final level before the Majors. Though probably just a temp job for now it feels real good. Jason had not been dominating AA with just a 4.21 ERA in 6 starts after a putting up a 2.51 in Fort Meyers. We will see where this takes him, probably back to New Britain, but for now let's bask in the bright lights of AAA! Congrats Jason.

Congrats to Jason Wheeler on being added to the 40 man roster today. Well deserved considering the work he has put in and the consistency of his performance. Great news Jason!!!!