This article originally was posted at Knuckleballsblog.com

If you follow me on Twitter (@JimCrikket), you know that the Twins’ low-A affiliate, the Beloit Snappers, are making their first trip to Cedar Rapids this week and that I’ve spent the past couple of evenings at the ballpark watching them take on the Kernels (the Angels’ Midwest League affiliate).

They’ve played 1+ games in the series so far (Thursday’s game was suspended by thunderstorms in the 3rd inning and will be resumed at 5:00 today, prior to the scheduled series finale), so I thought I’d put up a quick post with my initial impressions.

The guys who are getting all the attention for the Snappers are infielders Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario. Sano is the consensus #1 ranked prospect in the Twins organization and Rosario is most often listed as either #2 or #3, so they both have some game. They aren’t the only guys on the team with some talent, though.

Wednesday night, I had arranged use of the suite that my company has out at Memorial Stadium, so I hosted a number of my coworkers and their significant others as we watched what started out as a pretty ugly display of baseball, frankly. To give you an idea of how ugly, the Snappers won the game 6-5, but the teams each scored only two earned runs on the night. That’s not pretty.

After two innings, the teams were tied 2-2 in the runs column, but the Snappers “led” 3-2 in errors. Two of those Snapper errors were charged to Rosario and Sano and they both were the kind that made you cringe. The conventional wisdom is that both players have work to do on defense with Sano’s size perhaps making staying at 3B a challenge and Rosario trying to learn a new position at 2B, after being an outfielder throughout his career. The conventional wisdom may be pretty accurate in this case.

But let’s face it, if Sano and Rosario are fixtures in the Twins 2015 lineup, it won’t be because they’re gold glovers, it will be because they’re capable of hitting the crap out of the baseball. Rosario had a tough night at the plate, going 0-4 (no Ks though) before being lifted after hitting in the 7th inning. Sano fared much better, with three hits in 5 at-bats, including a rocket double down the left field line that Kernel 3B Caleb Cowart managed to get a little leather on.

As I mentioned, though, Sano and Rosario aren’t the only players with some baseball talent. Relief pitcher Corey Williams came in to finish off the final two innings and slammed the door on the Kernels, walking one and striking out two hitters, without giving up a hit, to earn his fourth save on the year. Shortstop Tyler Grimes has only played four innings so far this series, but he’s made a couple of pretty impressive plays in the field. Finally, 1B Rory Rhodes may be struggling to get his BA up over the Mendoza line, but he hit a HR Wednesday night that was a monster. It cleared the fence. It cleared the picnic area beyond the fence. From my vantage point, it appeared to clear the street beyond the picnic area. I’m not 100% sure it’s come down yet.

Eddie Rosario was lifted in the 7th inning Wednesday night, for what I assumed was defensive purposes, but when I arrived at the stadium Thursday night, I saw he wasn’t in the lineup for the Snappers. It made me wonder if he was hurt or, perhaps, had been bumped up to Ft. Myers. But he was in uniform warming up with the rest of the Snappers in LF before the game, so the latter clearly wasn’t the case. I’ll be interested to see if he plays tonight.

Here’s another thing I really liked seeing… Sano and Rosario seemed to be enjoying themselves before and during the games. They were loose and smiling during warm-ups and both were generous with their time signing autographs for fans along the wall by the Snappers dugout before the games. That’s not always the case, especially with visiting teams’ “top prospects.” Then again, there was no shortage of fans in Twins caps and shirts at the ballpark this week. It’s always a bit of a “split crowd” when the Twins’ affiliate comes to Cedar Rapids, so the Snappers get plenty of support.

With that, I’ll wrap up with a few pictures from last night’s abbreviated trip to the ballpark.

(Apologies for the size of the photos... Haven't figured out how to make them smaller in this place, but obviously it doesn't work just to copy the smaller versions from our Knuckleballs blog. - JC)

http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Sano2012c-1024x767.jpg Miguel Sano signing a few autographs for fans

http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Rosario2012c-765x1024.jpg Eddie Rosario warming up before the game... he's changed positions once already, but could he really be thinking about pitching?

http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Roario2012b-1024x767.jpg ... or catching? Say it ain't so, Eddie!

http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Snappers2012-1024x659.jpg The Snappers loosen up with that time-honored tradition of a game of "Pepper"

http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Tomshaw2012a-767x1024.jpg Thursday's starting pitcher, Matthew Tomshaw, is off to a nice start for the Snappers, but wouldn't get much of an opportunity to pitch before the rains came

http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Rhodes2012a-767x1024.jpg OK, this was a swing and a miss by Rory Rhodes Thursday night... but on Wednesday, he launched a ball about as far as I've seen one hit at Memorial Stadium in recent years

http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Grimes2012a-1024x767.jpg Tyler Grimes at shortstop for the Snappers in the sunshine... obviously prior to the thunderstorm that was to soon arrive

http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/RainDelay.jpg The thunderstorm may have caused the game to be suspended in the 3rd inning, but the crowd didn't let a little thing like that keep them from enjoying "$1.50 beer night"

OMG.....awesome shots.....man, maybe single A next year or sometime within a few years will be in the Dakotas? instead of Wisconisin?

I'd love to go to many many of these games if they were on the other side of Minny, problem is although not a terrible drive, i just don't have a lot of time to get to wisc. to see them play. I've only been to 1 snappers game ever, and it was when they were on the road.

Great pictures though, man Awesome job.!!!

go again before too long!

Thanks for the compliments, shs... sorry it took me so long to respond. I'm actually holding out some hope that the Twins might change their MWL affiliation to Cedar Rapids next season. I know it won't help you out where you're at, but I know where I'd be spending about 70 nights every summer!