Tyler Kuresa

 

Born: November 17, 1992 (age 22 this season)

Birthplace: Roseville, California

Drafted 2014 in the 16th round (#470 overall)

School: University of California, Santa Barbara

Height: 6' 3"

Weight: 190

Position: First Base

Bats: Left

Throws: Left

 

http://ucsbgauchos.com/sports/m-basebl/2012-13/photos/Tyler_Kuresa_006.jpg

 

Tyler is your prototypical first baseman: tall, lefty, hits with power, and as a nice bonus he takes pride in his defense. He hit well at Elizabethton after being drafted, with a .298 BA supported with 21 walks, 14 doubles and 5 HR in 189 plate appearances in the short-season Appalachian League. The OPS was a solid .859. Tyler is assigned to full-season single-A Cedar Rapids for 2015.

 

http://www.milb.com/images/592478/t492/180x270/592478.jpg

After a fairly nice April, batting .260 with a sprinkling of extra base hits to give him an OPS of .649, I'm sorry to say Tyler has kind of hit the skids in May.

 

His overall performance thus has his BA just below .200 and his OPS isn't good at .516. He struck out 29 times in his 141 plate appearances. He has hit righties a little better than those numbers, but so far this season he has been absolutely slaughtered by left-handed pitching.

 

His past 6 games have been better, with a batting average of .292 across 24 AB, including a couple of doubles and only 4 strikeouts. Here's hoping this means he's turned a corner and will have a good season from here on out.

I failed to report that Tyler was sent back to extended spring training in Ft Myers at the end of May. Thus his seasonal stats remain as they were.

Per Seth's daily minor league recap of Elizabethton's first game: "Tyler Kuresa went 1-2 with three walks; the one hit was a home run, his first since the first week of the Cedar Rapids season."

 

I don't plan to give a game by game update. But hey, we're supposed to brag now and then about our adoptees, right?

It went pretty well for Tyler at first in Elizabethton, but he's currently mired in an 0-for-17 slump, counting the last three outs after singling in the first inning June 29. He's walking enough (5 in 42 PA) and he's gotten two home runs plus a double, in his 11 games, but his batting average is down to .176 and the OPS has slipped to .692 (from a brief high above 1.000). C'mon big guy!

Per Seth Stohs' transactions page at TD. Tyler has been promoted back to Cedar Rapids. In the five games since last report Tyler went 7-for-20 (.350), including 2 home runs, for Elizabethton. His Appy League OPS thus stands at a highly acceptable .833.

 

Got my fingers crossed for the big lunk.

Tyler's second half of July, spent in Cedar Rapids, was so-so at best. He batted .245, and didn't hit with a lot of authority (3 doubles only). He did take a free pass when it was offered, so that his on-base average was .365. Still, an aggregate .667 OPS isn't going to turn many heads.

 

For the season, he's got his CR batting average back up .200. Let's leave it at that, and hope for the stellar August that I still think he's capable of.

Tyler appeared in only 5 games from August 1 forward, with a paltry .158 BA, 4 walks but no power. At which point, he was released from the Twins organization. It's tough to keep a job as a first baseman if you're just not hitting.

 

Ehhhh... let's dispense with a season summary, OK? You can look up numbers if you really need to.

 

I have a hunch he will try to catch on with another organization, whether a major league affiliate or an independent league. But whatever course he takes, I wish him good luck, because he seems to be a solid individual, with a supportive fiancee whom I had the pleasure of meeting in the stands during Spring Training,