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[TD=class: tr-caption]Wilkin Ramirez is not long for AA if he keeps up

his 1.228 OPS

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[Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar]

Like their parent club, the Rock Cats split a 4-game series over the weekend against the Reading Phillies. I attended Thursday night's game, a 10-3 loss. You can find my game recap here. Apparently, I picked the one bad game to go to. The rest of the series was pretty evenly matched, and featured some excellent pitching performances.

New Britain won 4-1 on Friday. In that game, hits were at a premium, with the teams combining for only 5 all night. David Bromberg, starting, and Lester Oliveros, out of the bullpen, were great for the Rock Cats. Chris Herrmann had a double, and Wilkin Ramirez hit his 3rd home run of the season for New Britain.

The Rock Cats also won Saturday, 8-4. New Rock Cat starter BJ Hermsen was excellent, going 7 innings and giving up only 2 runs, striking out 3 and walking 2. He earned his first AA win. Wilkin Ramirez was a 1-man wrecking crew, hitting 2 triples and another home run. Aaron Hicks also contributed 2 doubles. He had 3 RBIs and 2 stolen bases (9 on the season). Every starter except for Joe Benson and Estarlin De Los Santos had at least one hit.

Sunday, New Britain wasn't as lucky. They lost 6-4, and were only 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Andrew Albers delivered a quality start, tossing 6 innings and giving up 3 runs, but took the loss. New Rock Cat Caleb Thielbar had a rough appearance, giving up 3 runs on 5 hits in just 1 and 1/3 inning. You can't help but think that this is one game New Britain would like to have back: they had a chance to increase their division lead, but instead are now back in second place; they scored 4 runs, but only managed 4 hits (3 singles and a Chris Herrmann home run). As it stands, they are still doing well, sitting at 22-14, just 1/2 game back from Reading. They are off today, and then go back to work tomorrow with a double-header comprised of 2 7-inning games.

Here are some current slash lines of players you might be keeping an eye on:

Aaron Hicks: .258/.347/.414, 4 HR, 6 2B, 21 RBIs.

Chris Herrmann: .246/.288/.415, 4 HR, 10 2B, 13 RBIs.

Deibinson Romero: .264/.350/.430, 3 HR, 9 2B, 21 RBIs.

Wilkin Ramirez (in 49 at-bats): .388/.412/.816, 4 HR, 3 3B, 3 2B, 7 RBIs.

Joe Benson: (in 21 at-bats): .095/.174/.095, 2 RBIs.

Enjoy your updates. What are your thoughts on the possibility of giving Romero a shot with the big club?

Well, offensively he looks good, but defensively not so much. He already has 5 errors on the year, and a .937 fielding percentage in 2012 (incidentally, that was his exact fielding percentage in 2011 for New Britain). I have seen him commit both fielding errors (like a grounder through the legs) and throwing error (just last Thursday night he tried to hurry the throw on a relatively routine 5-3 double play grounder and tossed it down the right field line). He's 25 this year, so at some point, they need to either move him up to AAA and see if the hitting can continue and if the defense can improve, or just consider him minor league depth. It's a stretch to imagine him with the Twins this year. Maybe, best case, pressue to Valencia to improve??

what is going on with Benson? His ability to get hits is dropping about as fast as Valencia's did with the parent club.

what is going on with Benson? His ability to get hits is dropping about as fast as Valencia's did with the parent club.

Physically, he looked fine when I was there Thursday. Mentally, clearly something isn't right. 2 singles, 5 strikeouts and 1 walk in 21 at-bats is definitely alarming. Hopefully he can use today's day off to try to get a fresh start tomorrow.