Twins Minor League Talk

Figured I'd start a forum thread for in-season Twins minor league transactions... This weekend, the Twins signed RHP Ariel Jurado RHP Tyler Viza. Today, they released RHP Seth Pinkerton, C Collin Hopkins, 1B Gabe Snyder and OF Ernie De La Trinidad. No surprises. You just feel bad for them. Hopefully, they are able to catch on somewhere else or with their next profession.

With the start of the college baseball season this past weekend it is time to get an official 2014 MLB draft thread. Here is what you need to know about the upcoming draft. The draft will be held in New Jersey on June 5th through June 7th. The draft will be broadcasted on the MLB Network. The first round, comp round A, competitive balance round A, and the second round will be on the 5th. The 3rd through 10th rounds will be on the 6th followed by the next 30 rounds on the 7th. The Twins will have the 5th overall pick in the upcoming draft. Their second round pick is currently the 45th overall pick but with 5 players left with pick compensation attached to them things …

Baring some sort of scenario where the Twins manage to win the next 8, the Braves lose the next 8, and win the tie breaker, we'll be picking first overall for the first time since 2001 when we drafted some kid named Mauer. It's the Twins, so hoping for a once a generational type talent is probably asking too much, as the baseball gods clearly hate us.. Looking at the early results won't say much. There will be tons of movement. Given the org's pitching needs, it might be nice to see some outstanding seasons from a college pitching or catching prospect. A college pitcher in particular could suddenly make the rotation interesting in a hurry. Here are some names to v…

Fresh Mock Draft From Dan Kirby (MLB.com/TTFBaseball) TOP 5 1. Houston Astros — Carlos Rodon, LHP, North Carolina State 2. Miami Marlins — Trea Turner, SS, North Carolina State 3. Chicago White Sox — Jacob Gatewood, SS, Clovis HS (CA) 4. Chicago Cubs — Jeff Hoffman, RHP, East Carolina 5. Minnesota Twins — Tyler Kolek, RHP, Sheppard HS (TX) After selecting flamethrower Kohl Stewart fourth-overall this year, the Twins can add another power arm in Kolek, a 6’-6”, 240 pound right-hander who can touch triple-digits with his fastball. I got to see him throw at Wrigley and he was hitting 99 mph with ease. He also shows a good feel for a slider that has plus potential…

From a variety of sources... -The Twins have released Ps Scott Elarton, Jason Lane and Hung-Yi Chen. There will be more, but those have happened in the last couple days. -The RockCats will start Logan Darnell in their opener and have some combination of Andrew Albers, Pat Dean and BJ Hermsen in their rotation. Trevor May and Alex Meyer also appear headed to New Britain as well. -The Red Wings will start PJ Walters in their opener and have a rotation of Kyle Gibson, Pedro Hernandez, Virgil Vasquez and Shairon Martis joining him. -Joe Benson is expected to head to Rochester but is still having some issues with the hamate bone that he broke last year and may not be…

While Kennys Vargas has been recalled, as the Twins FO inevitably acknowledged that the current status quo for the Twins offense was untenable, how long will they maintain the 13 man pitching staff, if it becomes obvious that even more potential offensive production is needed? Although it seems impossible that Miguel Sano can do anything "quietly", without much fanfare, he has put up a very impressive set of numbers since his very slow start coming off of the 1.5 year layoff. And yet, the Twins are on record saying he's still not ready, overall. Rob Antony even acknowledged that he hasn't even begun working on OF throwing drills (with the presumption that a 2015 call-u…

I should have started this a week ago, and I'm sure I'll miss a few. Earlier this week, the Twins called up Caleb Thielbar and Ryan O'Rourke was moved from Chattanooga to Rochester. Nate Hanson has been taken off the Disabled List and played on Saturday for Rochester. John Curtiss has been placed on the Cedar Rapids Kernels' Disabled List with a concussion. Miles Nordgren has been promoted from Extended Spring Training.

The first round of the draft gets underway on Monday night at 6PM CT. The Twins will pick second overall, and then again at No. 32 and No. 42 in the supplemental round. Discuss the picks made by the Twins (and other teams) throughout the evening on this thread.

Tomorrow is the big day. Post your comments, thoughts, and player breakdowns here in preparation for tomorrow's draft. Twins Daily draft page: http://twinsdaily.com/list.php/category/43-MLB-Draft-2014 Player write-ups Alex Jackson, C: http://twinsdaily.com/content.php/3052-Twins-Draft-Preview-Alex-Jackson Carlos Rodon, LHP: http://twinsdaily.com/content.php/3048-Twins-Draft-Preview-Carlos-Rodon Nick Gordon, SS: http://twinsdaily.com/content.php/3047-Twins-Draft-Preview-Nick-Gordon Tyler Kolek, RHP: http://twinsdaily.com/content.php/3034-Twins-Draft-Preview-Tyler-Kolek Brady Aiken, LHP: http://twinsdaily.com/content.php/3029-Twins-Draft-Preview-Brady-Aiken Ky…

The Twins have renewed their Player Development Contract with the Class AA New Britain Rock Cats, but both Rochester (AAA) and Beloit (A) are up for renewal, as well. The time is approaching when teams declare whether they wish to investigate new affiliations and there's no shortage of speculation concerning whether the Rochester and Beloit agreements will be renewed. Here in Cedar Rapids, where the local Class A Kernels have been affiliated with the Angels for 20 years, there's growing sentiment for a change to a closer MLB franchise. http://thegazette.com/2012/07/21/locals-express-their-opinions-on-what-kernels-should-do-with-pdc/

It will probably be a few days before the Twins start signing players they just drafted. If you hear about a player signing, please post it here along with any other infomation avaliable. I will update this post regularly. 1-4 Kohl Stewart, RHP, SIGNED AT $4.5 million(slot) 2-43 Ryan Eades, RHP, SIGNED AT $1.29 million(slot) 3-78 Stuart Turner, C, SIGNED AT $550k(153K under slot) 4-110 Stephen Gonsalves, LHP, SIGNED AT $700K(232K over) 5-140 Aaron Slegers, RHP, SIGNED AT $380K(29.5K over) 6-170 Brian Navarreto, C, SIGNED AT $262K(slot) 7-200 Brian Gilbert, RHP, SIGNED AT $120K(76K under slot) 8-230 Dustin DeMuth, 3B, unsigned 9-260 Mitchel Garver, C, SIGNED AT $40K(108K…

Here it is: our thread for Day 1 where we'll all race to update the various picks and live and die with each rumor and choice. I'm going to try and close the various other threads. Let's gather here. (I'm feeling like somehow the Twins end up with Mark Appel. And I will NOT tolerate any calls for a return to reality.)

Birthday: May 11, 1993 (currently 18). Bats: Right, Throws: Right, Plays: 3B. Height: 6-3, Weight (Listed): 195, Weight (Actual): 230ish. Acquired: Signed as a free agent from Dominican Republic in October, 2009. Signing Bonus: $3.15 million. 2010 GCL Stats: .291/.338/.466 (.804) with 14 doubles, 4 home runs (41 games). 2011 ETown Stats: .292/.352/.637 (.988) with 18 doubles, 7 triples, 20 home runs (66 games). 2012 Beloit Stats: .310/.444/.707 (1.151) with 3 doubles, 1 triple, 6 home runs (17 games so far). Baseball America Prospect Ranking: Pre-2010: 94, Pre-2011: 60, Pre-2012: 18 SethSpeaks.net Twins Prospect Ranking: Pre-2010: 1, Pre-2011: 1, Pre-2012: 1 St…

If you hear about the Twins signing a draft pick, please post it here along with any additional info that may be avaliable (such as dollar amount or team assignment or whatever).

Round. Player - Slot Value - Signing Bonus 1. Nick Gordon - $3,851,000 - $3,851,000 2. Nick Burdi - $1,218,800 - $1,218,800 3. Michael Cederoth - $703,900 - $703,900 4. Sam Clay - $476,100 - $400,000 5. Jake Reed - $356,400 - $350,000 6. John Curtiss - $266,900 7. Andro Cutura - $199.900 - $175,000 8. Keaton Steele - $161,300 - $115,000 9. Max Murphy - $150,600 - $130,000 10. Randy LeBlanc - $140,700 - $90,000 Post here if anyone signs and I'll update the list.

Thought it might make sense to start a thread on random notes we come across.

http://m.startribune.com/doug-mientkiewicz-is-fired-as-minor-league-manager-for-twins/444772903/?section=sports Bummer. He sounds pretty pissed about it. Best of luck to him in the future.

As of this morning the Twins are 54-69 and if the season ended today would have the 6th overall pick in the 2014 mlb draft. Why should fans pay attention this early to something that is 9 months away? While giving his top 10 draft prospects for next year Jim Callis at BaseballAmerica proved why it is at least reasonable to care about early lists: "Much can happen between the end of the summer circuit of college leagues and showcase circuits and the draft nine months later. Players can progress and regress, they can get hurt, they can emerge from relative anonymity, they can develop signability concerns. That doesn’t stop us from projecting future drafts well in advance, h…

MLB Draft Day 2 kicks off at 11AM Central. Twins start the day with picks #63, #72 and #97. Let's use this thread to talk about it.....

Starting at 10AM CST on Monday 4/23, you can adopt a Twins prospect in this thread. Just put down the players name and submit it and THEN CHECK TO MAKE SURE NOBODY POSTED THAT NAME BEFORE YOU. If someone has, you didn't get that player, but it's not big deal - just submit another post with someone else's name - and then make sure nobody posted THAT name before you. Lather, rinse and repeat until you get a name that nobody else did. Once you reserve a name, you can start a thread. Just title the thread the name of the prospect like "Miguel Sano." First post must be an introduction of the player. The format of the post is up to the individual, but please be sure to get a…

Keith Law recently updated his Top 50 prospects. He still has Buxton at #1 with Zunino, Appel, Zimmer and Correa rounding out the Top 5. After scrolling through and reading a little about each guy, I found his last couple sentences to be the most interesting to a Twins fan: "If I had to guess right now, I'd say the draft's first four picks go Buxton, Zimmer, Zunino, Appel, but if the Astros decide to pass on Buxton, the Twins could take him and push one of those college arms down to Kansas City at No. 5." I don't put a ton of stock into Keith Law most of the time, but he seems to think the Twins have Zimmer and Buxton as 1 and 1A on their board right now.

To make things more convenient, aka I'm lazy, I'm going to link all the Twins draft threads in one place. *College* Mark Appel http://twinsdaily.com/twins-minor-league-talk/5304-potential-2013-twins-draft-pick-mark-appel.html Braden Shipley http://twinsdaily.com/twins-minor-league-talk/5439-braden-shipley-rhsp-university-nevada.html Jonathan Gray http://twinsdaily.com/twins-minor-league-talk/5638-twins-potential-2013-draft-pick-jon-gray.html Sean Manaea http://twinsdaily.com/twins-minor-league-talk/5302-potential-2013-twins-draft-pick-sean-manaea.html Tom Windle http://twinsdaily.com/twins-minor-league-talk/5306-potential-2013-twins-draft-pick-tom-windle.html …

Oswaldo Arcia and Dan Sattler were promoted from Fort Myers to New Britain yesterday. Today, we've learned of three transactions so far: Bobby Lanigan and Caleb Thielbar from New Britain to Rochester and (as expected) Michael Tonkin from Beloit to Fort Myers. These moves put the Red Wings at 25 and leave the Rockcats at 23. The Miracle is at their limit, but the Snappers are short one player. (Cole Johnson, anybody?)

Well, 2014 is in the books. The Bleacher Report has already posted a mock draft for 2015. It's a bit early for anything other than speculation. The draft seems pretty heavy in pitching and middle infielders, both of which are always in high demand. They mocked the Twins taking another HS SS. Should note, I really want the Twins to take Skye Bolt... not for anything mentioned in the scouting report, but because of the name. I think RiverBrian could have some fun in game threads with that name.

Hicks was the Twins 1st round pick in 2008, #14 overall. 6'2", 185 lbs, he's a toolsy OF whose stock had slipped the last few years. Baseball America ranked him # 39, 19 and 45 the first three years but didn't rank him in their top 100 after a somewhat disappointing 2011 season. BA still ranked him the Twins 4th best prospect. MLB's Jonathan Mayo was a bit higher on him, ranking him #72. So far, his 2012 season has been very promising. Currently, he's hitting .276/.362/.534 with 4 doubles, 1 triple and 3 HR at AA. He has a respectable 9BB/15K and his defense is strong. He's always had some split problems, he's better against lefties, but he's showing improvement …

Byron Buxton is making a mockery of Midwest League stat-keeping over his first 17 games played: BA: .419 (First) OBP: .526 (First) SLG: .694 (First) OPS: .1220 (First, obviously) Putting things into "Trout-spective", Mike Trout played 86 games for, coincidentally enough, Cedar Rapids, over parts of 2 seasons, all before he turned 19. Here is his slash line for Low-Single A ball: .358/.452/.514/.966 Buxton turns 19 and a Half on June 18, the same day as the Midwest League All Star Game. If he continues his ridiculous batting numbers above the "Trout Line", is it really worth it to keep him in Cedar Rapids, or maybe move him up to A+ after 50 games or so (end of …

I wanted to start a thread that will include minor league signings. They could come in 3+ forms: 1.) Twins sign a player to a minor league contract, with or without a spring training invite. 2.) Twins re-sign one of their own minor league free agents. 3.) A former Twins player signs a minor league deal with another club... Here is a starting point. Feel free to update this thread when you see any of the above. Twins Sign Players: Dan Runzler Twins Re-sign Players: Reynaldo Rodriguez Jairo Rodriguez Carlos Paulino Twins lose players: Eric Fryer - St. Louis Cardinals Michael Bowden - Doosan Bears (KBO)

According to Paul Molitor This may be the video. Flipped the bat after ball left the park and then decided to head to first.

Across all of Major League Baseball, 212 players made their MLB debut during the short sprint of the 2020 season. The Minnesota Twins accounted for six of those players –hitters Aaron Whitefield, Travis Blankenhorn, Brent Rooker, Ryan Jeffers, playoff surprise Alex Kirilloff, and pitcher Edwar Colina. All of those players were mentioned in this preview after a lengthy delay to the start of the MLB season, and you’ll see quite a few of the same other names in this year’s version. As an immense fan of the minor leagues due to my experiences in those ballparks as a kid, top prospect lists and scouting reports have always been must-read material for me during the w…

Let's get one thing straight, mocks are for the fans. No matter how much analysis there is there is no way anyone is going to get things 100% right. Heck, if you get things 20% right you have done a pretty good job. Look at the Astros last year. They had the #1 pick and had months to figure out who they wanted but didn't decide till the last day who they were taking. Not only did most mocks have them taking Appel but even on draft day there were reports, obviously false ones, that said Appel and the Astros had reached agreement. Why do we care about them then? Obviously because we are fans and they are fun! OK, other than just being fun they gives at least a little …