Article: Twins Minor League Leader Board (through June 19)

[Seth Stohs]

Byron Buxton was promoted one week ago. He remains in the lists below and will for some time. There are some names who have started to really move up these lists of late. The biggest mover of the week is, without question, Max Kepler. As the league All-Star games take place, expect to see several promotions.

 

Here is a look at the updated Twins minor league standings and statistical leaders through Friday, June 19. Feel free to discuss.STANDINGS

 

Here is a quick look at where the teams rank in their divisions as the first half for three of the Twins affiliates seasons come to a close very soon.

 

Rochester is 34-32, 3-3 since last week. They remain 3.5 games behind Scranton/Wilkes Barre in the International League North Division. They are two games ahead of Pawtucket for second place.

 

Chattanooga is 41-25. They went 5-1 in the last week and on Thursday night they clinched a playoff berth with their win over Jacksonville. They currently have a 4.5 game lead over Tennessee. Their All-Star Game is on Tuesday, June 23.

 

Ft. Myers has gone 4-2 since last week. They are 35-32 and still nine games back of Charlotte despite another good week. They were eliminated from playoff contention a week ago. The Florida State League All-Star Game is tonight.

 

Cedar Rapids is 40-28, and they went 4-3 the last seven days. They are five games behind Quad Cities. Earlier this week, they were able to clinch a playoff berth as the runner up in the West Division of the Midwest League. Their All-Star Game is on Tuesday, June 23.

 

 

HITTERS

 

For batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, IsoD and IsoP, we used a minimum of 175 plate appearances.

 

Plate Appearances: Zach Granite (282), Byron Buxton/Jorge Polanco (268), Nick Gordon (265), Travis Harrison/Adam Brett Walker (263)

 

Batting Average: Trey Vavra (.346), James Beresford (.335), Max Kepler (.330), Alex Swim (.320), Jorge Polanco (.301)

 

On-Base Percentage: Trey Vavra (.406), Max Kepler (.391), Travis Harrison (.376), James Beresford (.372), Zach Granite (.370)

 

Isolated Discipline: Mitch Garver (.125), Niko Goodrum (.114), Travis Harrison (.110), Tanner English (.108), Miguel Sano (.100)

 

Slugging Percentage: Adam Brett Walker (.581), Max Kepler/Trey Vavra (.538), Miguel Sano (.491), Byron Buxton (.469), Danny Ortiz (.465)

 

Isolated Power (IsoP): Adam Brett Walker (.311), Miguel Sano (.239), Max Kepler (.208), Byron Buxton (.206), Danny Ortiz (.197), Trey Vavra (.192)

 

OPS: Trey Vavra (.944), Max Kepler (.929), Adam Brett Walker (.904), Miguel Sano (.842), Byron Buxton (.840)

 

Hits: Alex Swim (77), Jorge Polanco (75), Max Kepler/James Beresford (70), Zach Granite (69), Byron Buxton (67)

 

2B: Max Kepler (19), Danny Ortiz (18), Adam Brett Walker (17), Travis Harrison (16), Reynaldo Rodriguez (14), Three with 13.

 

3B: Byron Buxton (12), Max Kepler (8), Max Murphy/Tanner English (6), Aaron Hicks/TJ White (4)

 

HR: Adam Brett Walker (18), Miguel Sano (12), Danny Ortiz (7), Byron Buxton/Trey Vavra/Josmil Pinto (6)

 

Runs: Adam Brett Walker/Miguel Sano (45), Byron Buxton (44), Zach Granite (43), Max Kepler (39), Travis Harrison/Nick Gordon (38)

 

RBI: Adam Brett Walker (57), Danny Ortiz (39), Miguel Sano (38), Zach Larson (35), Mike Gonzales (31), Travis Harrison (29)

 

SB: Byron Buxton (20), Tanner English (19), Engelb Vielma (16), Nick Gordon (15), Jorge Polanco/Zach Granite (14).

 

 

STARTING PITCHERS (>50 IP)

 

Innings: Taylor Rogers (90.0), Tyler Duffey (83.0), JO Berrios (78.2), Greg Peavey (73.1), Pat Dean (72.0)

 

ERA: Stephen Gonsalves (1.83), Chih-Wei Hu/Mat Batts (2.10), Felix Jorge (2.44), Ryan Eades/JO Berrios (3.09)

 

WHIP: Felix Jorge (0.90), Stephen Gonsalves (0.94), Mat Batts (1.04), Chih-Wei Hu (1.06), JO Berrios (1.16), Tyler Duffey (1.18)

 

K/9: Stephen Gonsalves (11.4), Alex Meyer (9.7), JO Berrios (9.5), Tyler Duffey (8.9), Alex Wimmers (8.6), Mat Batts (8.3)

 

BB/9: Greg Peavey/Felix Jorge (1.7), Mat Batts/Tyler Duffey (1.8), Pat Dean (1.9), Aaron Slegers (2.2)

 

Strikeouts: JO Berrios (83), Tyler Duffey (82), Stephen Gonsalves (81), Taylor Rogers (64), Alex Wimmers (62), Mat Batts (59)

Wins: Stephen Gonsalves (7-1), JO Berrios (7-3), Greg Peavey/Jared Wilson (6-2), Taylor Rogers (6-4)

 

 

RELIEF PITCHERS (>20 IP,

 

Games: AJ Achter (27), Alex Muren/JT Chargois/Todd Van Steensel (23), Zack Jones/Brandon Peterson/Madison Boer (22).

 

Innings: Todd Van Steensel (40.1), Alex Muren (39.0), Randy LeBlanc (38.1), Madison Boer (37.2), Mike Theofanopoulos (35.2)

 

ERA: Trevor Hildenberger (0.52), Brandon Peterson (0.83), Cameron Booser (1.30), Randy LeBlanc (1.64), Todd Van Steensel (1.79), Alex Muren (1.85)

 

WHIP: Trevor Hildenberger (0.58), AJ Achter (0.59), Brandon Peterson (0.92), Alex Muren (1.00), Tim Shibuya (1.01), Todd Van Steensel (1.09)

 

K/9: Cameron Booser (13.7), Todd Van Steensel (12.7), Brandon Peterson (12.4), Jose Velez (12.2), Trevor Hildenberger/Lester Oliveros (11.7)

 

BB/9: Trevor Hildenberger (1.3), AJ Achter (1.6), Tim Shibuya (1.7), Alex Muren (2.5), Lester Oliveros (2.7), Randy LeBlanc (2.8)

 

Saves: AJ Achter (10), Zack Jones (9), JT Chargois/Todd Van Steensel (8), Trevor Hildenberger/Cameron Booser (7)

 

 

There you have it. The Twins Minor League Leader Board through Friday, June 19.

 

What are your thoughts? What surprised you?

 

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[jimbo92107]

Alex Wimmers, Felix Jorge, and Greg Peavy. These pitchers seem to be stepping on the gas lately. Really cool seeing Wimmers come back from all the crap he's been through. Now he's becoming a strikeout master in AA with a good K/BB ratio. September call-up?

 

I didn't realize how good Max Kepler was getting. Talk about him always revolved around his massive potential, and now it looks like a lot of that is actually happening. How's his defense? A lot of his game sounds like Rosario's, with gap power and excellent foot speed. All those triples are intriguing. Does he steal bases, too? Der Kid is becoming Der Man!

[Cast of Thousands]

Good to see Felix Jorge cranking it up. Hopefully he gets to Ft Myers soon and we see what he can do there. He's got nine Q Starts in a row and really hasn't had a terrible outing all year.

 

Overall, a number of guys that will be moving up soon and it'll be fun watching them in the second half to see how they fare.

[Cast of Thousands]

Another player to watch in the second half, or so it would appear:

 

David Hurlbut

 

After he moved up from Ft Myers to Chat, he had two rough outings but since then:

 

3-0, 1.71 ERA, a 0.90 WHIP, and 13K/4BB ratio

 

Is he a legit prospect?  It's also a plus that he's a lefthander.  He's not on the current Top 20 obviously.

[blairpaul715]

 

Another player to watch in the second half, or so it would appear:

 

David Hurlbut

 

After he moved up from Ft Myers to Chat, he had two rough outings but since then:

 

3-0, 1.71 ERA, a 0.90 WHIP, and 13K/4BB ratio

 

Is he a legit prospect?  It's also a plus that he's a lefthander.  He's not on the current Top 20 obviously.

I personally had Hurlbut as getting killed in AA and out of baseball by seasons end, but he is a big time surprise to me, but we have had alot of pitchers doing well, it is not easy being the man(Brad Stiel?) who has to say who gets to move up and who has to stay at the level they are in, I guess, a good problem to have

[clutterheart]

Hurlbut

 

Any lefty is a prospect.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Alex Wimmers, Felix Jorge, and Greg Peavy. These pitchers seem to be stepping on the gas lately. Really cool seeing Wimmers come back from all the crap he's been through. Now he's becoming a strikeout master in AA with a good K/BB ratio. September call-up?

 

I didn't realize how good Max Kepler was getting. Talk about him always revolved around his massive potential, and now it looks like a lot of that is actually happening. How's his defense? A lot of his game sounds like Rosario's, with gap power and excellent foot speed. All those triples are intriguing. Does he steal bases, too? Der Kid is becoming Der Man!

 

I think there's a decent chance that Wimmers will be called up in September. Depends on how he's doing but also how the Twins are doing. 

 

Kepler's been tremendous since the beginning of May. He plays good defense at all three outfield positions and at first base. 

 

Similar to Rosario, though Kepler will/should walk quite a bit more.Kepler has good speed, but he's also about 6-4, 240.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Good to see Felix Jorge cranking it up. Hopefully he gets to Ft Myers soon and we see what he can do there. He's got nine Q Starts in a row and really hasn't had a terrible outing all year. Overall, a number of guys that will be moving up soon and it'll be fun watching them in the second half to see how they fare.

 

After his Cedar Rapids experience last year, Jorge has been very good all season. It's reminding people of why he was a top prospect before last year.

[Seth Stohs]

 

I personally had Hurlbut as getting killed in AA and out of baseball by seasons end, but he is a big time surprise to me, but we have had alot of pitchers doing well, it is not easy being the man(Brad Stiel?) who has to say who gets to move up and who has to stay at the level they are in, I guess, a good problem to have

 

 

Hurlbut's a good pitcher, touches 91, mixes really well, pretty good control. And as others have mentioned, left-handed.

 

He missed almost exactly a year with the shoulder issue and didn't get much time in Ft. Myers. I was nervous for him following his first two AA starts, but he's been very good since.Certainly worth watching. 

[benji21]

Wow, looking at those k/9 leaders out of the pen is impressive especially since they are not as highly touted as some others. Van steensel was definitely an all star snub. Hopefully they start to get some attention and promotions. I wonder what it will take in the next season or so for TR to realize he has great in house options for the pen rather than the retreads that he loves so much.

[gbg]

 

 I wonder what it will take in the next season or so for TR to realize he has great in house options for the pen rather than the retreads that he loves so much.

 

Finally having those great in-house options? Seriously, none of those leaders would have been ready to plug in at the start of this major league season.

[Don't Feed the Greed Guy]

To my eyes, the biggest surprise is who isn't on this list, namely Nick Burdi.

 

2014 WHIP @ Cedar Rapids, 1.23 & Ft. Myers, 0.95

2015 WHIP @ Chattanooga, 1.77.

 

With the preseason predictions regarding the Twins bullpen, I was hoping to see Burdi move quickly through AA and AAA, and be called up after the All-Star Break. Not going to happen.