Article: Twins Minor League Hitter Of The Month - April 2016

[Seth Stohs]

In our final minor league award for the month of April, we will hand out the award for the top minor league hitter. As you saw the last two days there were a lot of strong pitching candidates in April, but there were many fewer candidates for the hitting award. However, there were a few guys that definitely are worthy of the award and deserve to be recognized.

 

Keep reading to find out who we named the Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Month.

 

Before we get to the hitters, if you missed the first two articles, they are here:

• Starting Pitcher of the Month - Stephen Gonsalves
• Relief Pitcher of the Month - John Curtiss

Offense is down across baseball again in 2016. That has been a trend for the last several years. Also, the Twins have clearly used the draft in recent years to accumulate arms, which is never a bad strategy.Before we jump to the top hitters of the month, here are some other hitters deserving of recognition. These guys had a strong April, however, they just had fewer plate appearances by a significant margin.

• C Stuart Turner (Chattanooga) – .256/.407/.419 (.824). 11-43 with four doubles, one homer and eight RBI.
• 2B Luis Arraez (Cedar Rapids) – .313/.393/.479 (.872). 15-48 with two doubles, two homers and five RBI
• C AJ Murray (Cedar Rapids) - .231/.370/.400 (.770). 15-65 with five doubles, two homers and 10 RBI.

THE TOP FOUR HITTERS

 

Number 4 - Cedar Rapids – 2B/C Rafael Valera - .239/.365/.437 (.801). 17-71 with six doubles, four triples and eight RBI.

 

 

 

 

Valera came up to Cedar Rapids midway through the 2015 season and ended up being their primary second baseman the remainder of the season. At Instructional league, however, he spent his time working behind the plate. To start this season, Valera has already played second base, third base, left field and catcher. The 21-year-old didn’t hit for average, but he got on base and showed a lot of extra base power. He walked 12 times in the month. He was a triples machine early in the month. He had two in one game.

 

Number 3 – Ft. Myers – SS Nick Gordon - .333/.363/.483 (.845). 29-87 with six doubles, two triples, one homer and nine RBI.

 

The Twins top pick from 2014, Gordon has moved up another step in 2016. A year ago, he hit .277/.336/.360 (.696) in 120 games in Cedar Rapids. He came to Ft. Myers for spring training having added 15 pounds this offseason and it helped him get off to a strong start. Gordon played most days, hitting second or third in the order for the Miracle. While he didn’t walk a lot, he drove the ball a little more than he did a year ago in Iowa. He went on the 7-day concussion list yesterday after a collision on Tuesday night.

 

Number 2 – Chattanooga – OF/1B Daniel Palka - .338/.424/.538 (.961). 27-80 with seven doubles, three homers and 15 RBI.

 

Palka was the third-round pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2013 out of Georgia Tech. As a 23-year-old last year, he hit .280/.352/.532 (.885) with 36 doubles, 29 home runs, 90 RBI and 24 stolen bases in High-A ball. Following the season, Terry Ryan was able to acquire Palka straight up for Chris Herrmann. First impressions are always nice. When Palka got an opportunity to play with the big league club in a spring training game, he launched two home runs in a game and then added a third the next time he joined the team. Now 24, Palka missed the first few Lookout games, but he has been hitting at the top of their order since. He had one stretch during the month when he reached base in 14 straight plate appearances. Palka has a chance to really fill up a stat sheet, including the strikeout column. He walked 11 times and struck out 25 times also.

 

And the Twins Minor League Hitter of the Month is:

 

Cedar Rapids – OF LaMonte Wade - .361/.430/.542 (.972). 26-72 with six doubles, two triples, one home run and ten RBI.

 

LaMonte Wade was the Twins ninth-round draft pick last June out of the University of Maryland. Many experts, including Twins Daily’s draft guru Jeremy Nygaard, believe he could have been drafted much higher if not for a broken hamate bone that cost him significant playing time in his junior season.

In 64 games at Elizabethton last year he hit .312/.428/.506 (.934) with eight doubles, five triples and nine home runs. As impressive, he walked 46 times while striking out just 34 times. That ability has continued into his 2015 season. In April, he walked ten times and struck out just eight times.

However, Wade doesn’t go to the plate looking to walk, and he isn’t just a contact-hitting slap hitter. Wade explained, “I’m always looking for a fastball elevated up over the plate to drive until I get two strikes. Then I just try to get the ball in play and do a job for the team.”

Following his E-Town season last year, Wade was promoted to Cedar Rapids where he played for the Kernels through their run to the Midwest League championship series. The half-dozen games helped prepare him for the league.

“Every game is hard-fought and filled with talented players. It comes down to which team can do the little things more consistently and play clean defense.”

What playing in Cedar Rapids in September couldn’t prepare him for was playing in Cedar Rapids in April. As you can tell, based on him being our choice for Twins Minor League Hitter of the Month, he handled the conditions just fine.

“The weather has been fine for the most part. Some days are better than others as far as the cold, but we don’t use that as an excuse because we know the other team has to compete in it as well.”

Wade may not have any one tool that is elite, but he also doesn’t really have a glaring weakness in his game. He can hit for average. He has a good approach at the plate. He isn’t a big home run hitter, but he does have gap-to-gap power. He has a little above average speed. He is a good defensive outfielder, capable of playing center field, though he profiles more in the corners. He also has an average-to-slightly above average arm.

Wade’s goals for the season include “to be more consistent at the plate and get back to the playoffs and win it all this time. I believe we have the team to do it.”

Wade is off to a fast start, which is great to see. What will be very interesting is to see how long he stays in Cedar Rapids, particularly if he continues at a similar offensive pace. It may not be real long before he joins the Miracle in Ft. Myers.

 

While there were not a lot of great performances offensively in the Twins system, there were a couple of guys that got started with a very strong April. IF you were to make an argument that Daniel Palka should have been out choice for April Hitter of the Month, I wouldn’t put up a big argument. I asked the other Minor League Report authors for their thoughts, and each agreed that the numbers are so similar that they went with the guy that controls the strike zone so well, and that was LaMonte Wade.

 

Congratulations to the April Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Month for 2016, LaMonte Wade.

 

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[clutterheart]

Come on Turner!

Keep that OPS above .800!  You are our best hope at ending this catcher nightmare we are facing

[DocBauer]

The top five starting pitchers? ☺

[Han Joelo]

 Wade strikes me as a Span/Fowler type guy.  Not as flashy/high-ceiling as some prospects we've been following the last few years, but maybe someone with a higher floor?  Still early, I suppose, but nice to see him doing well.

[Mike Sixel]

Wade should be promoted soon. There is no reason for him to spend much more time in low A.

[Seth Stohs]

 

The top five starting pitchers? ☺

 

Oops!

[bluechipper]

 

Come on Turner!

Keep that OPS above .800!  You are our best hope at ending this catcher nightmare we are facing

It's already down to .744 unfortunately.

[Seth Stohs]

Vote for your pick on twitter:

 

 

[Twigg]

I'm still just amazed that Arizona pretty much gave us Palka. That is turning out to be one of the better trades in recent memory even if we had to give up a catcher and our catching situation is a mess.

[nytwinsfan]

Seth, you made the right call. Has to be Wade over Palka. Here is why:

 

              2016 BABIP:          

Wade:       .356

Palka:       .446

 

Not only does Wade have a higher OPS, Palka's is being heavily fueled by luck.

[ScrapTheNickname]

I hope Wade progresses quickly though the system. He's already 22 1/2 years old. I'm not kidding. Somebody - ala Chuck Knoblauch - has to make the leap into stardom. Why not Wade? 

Edited May 5, 2016 by ScrapTheNickname

[Taildragger8791]

I'm interested in Palka but I've held off on looking into him while waiting for the sample size to grow. Without knowing anything about the guy and just looking at numbers, he falls on the spectrum somewhere between ABW III and Kennys Vargas as far as recent comps, while being at an older age for each league. The general narrative is that Walker & Vargas have no major league future; so what is the projection for Palka? We've seen our share of poor K/BB ratio guys with power flame out at AAA or after a taste of the bigs, and I'm hesitant to get invested in another one.

 

I hope for the best and want to root for the kid, but I feel like setting appropriate expectations is necessary for everyone right now.

[Taildragger8791]

 

I'm still just amazed that Arizona pretty much gave us Palka. That is turning out to be one of the better trades in recent memory even if we had to give up a catcher and our catching situation is a mess.

 

I don't know much about the guy, but my initial guess is that 28.8% strikeout rate at AA right now has something to do with it. Would you trade ABW III or Vargas straight up for a backup big league catcher today? That's about what you're looking at from the other side of it.

[Twigg]

I actually wouldn't right for somebody hits with power. A prospect yes. But we traded a good defensive catcher who can't hit for another power prospect. Why not? Trade a minor prospect for a major league catcher sure. But I also think Herrmann falls into AAAA

[Deduno Abides]

Sorry to be a downer, but I find it disappointing that a minor league system that's supposed to be so great has only four or five batters with notable Aprils and that three (including Arraez) of them are Low A, which is a weak predictor of success. Turner's stats are a yawn, especially in his second year in the league. Beresford (AAA) could be included, too, but he's not much of a prospect anymore.

 

Hope to see Polanco, Buxton and Kepler at the top of the May list. There's no hurry to bring them back, unless they hit like Willie Mays 1951. It would be good to see something from Vargas and Walker, too.

[John Kelsey]

 

Sorry to be a downer, but I find it disappointing that a minor league system that's supposed to be so great has only four or five batters with notable Aprils and that three (including Arraez) of them are Low A, which is a weak predictor of success. Turner's stats are a yawn, especially in his second year in the league. Beresford (AAA) could be included, too, but he's not much of a prospect anymore. Hope to see Polanco, Buxton and Kepler at the top of the May list. There's no hurry to bring them back, unless they hit like Willie Mays 1951. It would be good to see something from Vargas and Walker, too.

 

Walker has been about as good as you could have expected him to be in AAA IMO.