Article: Twins Minor League Report (6/1): Niko Goodrum Doubles Down On Season-Long Hitting Streak

[Eric R Pleiss]

The Twins needed a couple of fresh arms in the aftermath of the Astros series, so they’ve promoted a couple of minor league arms, with ripple effects all through the system. The new names on the Twins to know are Alex Wimmers and Randy Rosario, but the full list of transactions is below.Transactions: Jake Reed assigned to Chattanooga from Rochester, Ryan Pressly optioned to Rochester from Minnesota, Jason Wheeler designated for assignment from Minnesota, Alex Wimmers promoted to Minnesota from Rochester, Randy LeBlanc promoted to Chattanooga from Fort Myers, Nick Anderson promoted to Chattanooga from Fort Myers, Randy Rosario promoted to Minnesota from Chattanooga, Andrew Vasquez promoted to Fort Myers from Cedar Rapids.Logan Lombana returns to Cedar Rapids from extended spring training.

 

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 3 @ Durham 6

Box Score

Rochester's bullpen has a 1.08 ERA over the last seven games, including 19.2 consecutive scoreless innings headed into Thursday night’s game and Niko Goodrum has a nine-game hitting streak. The scoreless innings streak came to an end as Alan Busenitz gave up a run in the seventh inning, but Goodrum extended his streak on a 3-4 night that included a double and a pair of RBI. Leonardo Reginatto also had a pair of hits, including a double and a walk, but the rest of the Red Wings squad had just two hits. ByungHo Park was 0-3 with two strikeouts and a walk.

 

The Red Wings were down 6-0 before they pushed three runs across in the eighth to make the final score look respectable. Red Wings starter Nik Turley gave up five runs over 6.1 innings, including three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Turley struck out seven to go along with just one walk. Busenitz was charged with an earned run over 1.2 innings of work, he struck out three and walked none.

 

 

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 1 @ Birmingham 3

Box Score

 

Nick Gordon entered the game leading the Southern League in extra-base hits (23) and got to enjoy the night off in Birmingham. The Lookouts bats sputtered without him, just 1-11 with runners in scoring position, and scoring just a single run despite FIVE doubles. Ryan Strausborger was 2-3 with a double and a run scored, the only Lookout with more than one hit.

 

Lookouts starter Matt Tracy pitched very well, 7.0 innings, just five hits, two runs (both earned) and he struck out four against just one walk. Unfortunately for Tracy, he gave up a pair of solo home runs, and without any run support was tagged with his fourth loss of the season. Mason Melotakis gave up a run on two hits in one inning of relief.

 

MIRACLE MATTERS

Fort Myers 1 @ Bradenton 5

Box Score

 

Before the game it was announced that Chris Paul, Dereck Rodriguez, Sam Clay, and Brian Navarreto were all selected to the Florida State League All-Star Game. The Miracle could have used some all-star bats on Thursday night as they stranded 13 runners! The Miracle bunched their hits at the top of the order with leadoff man Max Murphy picking up three singles on a 3-5 night (he also scored the lone run), and the next batter up, Nelson Molina, was 3-5 as well. Zander Wiel the third hitter in the lineup, had a pair of hits and a walk on a 2-4 night. The three combined for 8 of the Miracle’s 10 hits.

 

Brady Anderson was tagged with his first loss of the season after giving up four runs (all earned) in 5.0 innings. He gave up nine hits, including a home run, walked two, and struck out three. He was replaced by Tom Hackimer for 2.0 innings. Hackimer gave up three hits, a run and two walks. Michael Theofanopoulos closed out the pitching for the Miracle with three strikeouts in the eighth inning.

 

KERNELS NUGGETS

Quad Cities 1 @ Cedar Rapids 11

Box Score

 

The Kernels made up for the lackluster hitter performances in the rest of the system on Thursday night, exploding for 11 runs. Travis Blankenhorn led the way (and hit leadoff, how perfect) with a 2-4 night that included a triple and a home run. Jermaine Palacios had three hits, Jaylin Davis, Mitchell Kranson and Aaron Whitefield each had a pair of hits for the Kernels, and Lewin Diaz and Caleb Hamilton each had a hit of his own. In addition to Blankenhorn’s solo home run in the fifth inning, Aaron Whitefield hit one too.

 

Sean Poppen picked up his fourth win of the year to move to 4-1 and lowered his ERA to 2.12 with 6.1 innings of five-hit baseball. He gave up one run, unearned, struck out five, and did not walk anyone. Logan Lombana went 2.2 perfect innings to finish off the River Bandits, striking out five of the seven batters he faced (he induced a double-play to the first batter he faced in the seventh).

 

 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

 

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Matt Tracy, Chattanooga Lookouts

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Niko Goodrum, Rochester Red Wings

 

 

FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

 

Rochester @ Norfolks (6:05pm) – David Hurlbut (2-3, 3.41)

Chattanooga @ Birmingham (7:05pm) – Felix Jorge (5-1, 3.48)

Ft. Myers @ Bradenton (5:30pm) - Dereck Rodriguez (3-2, 2.95)

Cedar Rapids @ Burlington (6:30pm) – Domenick Carlini (2-3, 5.65)

 

Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Thursday's games.

 

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[Steve Lein]

Gordon is a Monster! 

 

Goodrum though, had a nine-game hitting streak after game 1 of their double-hitter on Tuesday, I wrote about it then. He didn't have a hit in the night cap, so he's only at a 2 game streak now He's been very impressive lately, however!

[mikelink45]

Where does Goodrum fit in the Twins plans?  He seems to have worked his way through the minors like he is supposed to and clearly shows talent, but I see no discussions on where he will fit, if ever, on the major league roster. 

 

Busenitz sure seems like a better call up than Wimmers.  Why the hesitancy?  In fact why is Melotakis not called up?  Do we have such a great pen there is no room for these arms (yes that is sarcasm)?

[Seth Stohs]

Goodrum is a utility guy. He's a yes at least 5 positions already this year. Great athlete, very strong.

 

Melotakis struggled some in May. Rosario was incredible.

Edited June 2, 2017 by ChiTownTwinsFan
Corrected auto correct

[goulik]

I think Busenitz should get a shot soon as well but you cannot argue against Wimmers and Rosario getting shots. Wimmers has worked his way up and had his first shot at the show last year. I would like to see him get an extended shot this time around and see if he can settle in. We just need a couple of these relievers to really come through at the next level.

[drivlikejehu]

I think Busenitz should get a shot soon as well but you cannot argue against Wimmers and Rosario getting shots. Wimmers has worked his way up and had his first shot at the show last year. I would like to see him get an extended shot this time around and see if he can settle in. We just need a couple of these relievers to really come through at the next level.

It's actually very easy to argue against the Wimmers call up - I did so on another thread, so I speak from experience.

Edited June 2, 2017 by ChiTownTwinsFan

[Mike Sixel]

 

Wow! How disappointing that you all would be entertained by such an insulting typo! Seth knows exactly how to spell NIKO GOODRUM's name. He's been writing his opinions of him since 2010. And to call the only African American player on the Twins AAA roster Hoodlum is very offensive! Seth, shame on you as a writer, and blogger for the Twins organization that you did not correct the typo ASAP! Not a good look for you or the Twins!!!

 

Maybe Seth hasn't been here. And, it was an auto correct, they happen all the time. Also, you can only edit your posts for 1 hour, so it's too late now. No one thinks he's a hoodlum, or bad person, least of all Seth. And, if you think some of us are, I don't know, whatever, you don't know us at all. It was clearly an innocent mistake. Wow.

 

I had hoped that by quoting it, Seth would see that, since you get notified on quotes. Alas, he did not. Again, wow. Judge simple mistakes much?

Edited June 2, 2017 by Mike Sixel

[ashbury]

Wow! How disappointing that you all would be entertained by such an insulting typo! Seth knows exactly how to spell NIKO GOODRUM's name. He's been writing his opinions of him since 2010. And to call the only African American player on the Twins AAA roster Hoodlum is very offensive! Seth, shame on you as a writer, and blogger for the Twins organization that you did not correct the typo ASAP! Not a good look for you or the Twins!!!

Hi, baseballmom15, and welcome to the site, as I see it's your first post. (Perhaps you've "lurked" for a while but never felt motivated to post.) If you're new, I should start out by saying that this is a moderated site, and I'm one of the team of moderators.

 

This typo completely slipped past my attention today - there are a lot of posts every day and I just hadn't gotten here. If I had, and if no one else had already commented on it, I'm sure I would have fixed it without mentioning it to anyone. Given the several comments in response already here, I'll just leave it alone.

 

But I know Seth well enough that he would not have been making a wisecrack like that - not even close. As already noted, it looks like an auto-correct snafu, from a device where a mistake can slip past.

 

Similarly, the responses chortling over it don't seem mean-spirited, and were rooted in the incongruity of Seth ever making such a wisecrack on purpose - but, in those cases, it is well for posters to think when making such comments, as they can be prone to misinterpretation by someone not among the community of regular posters. I can see how someone might think the laughter was over the offensive term itself, and I hope the posters see the problem too.

 

The site has a Comment Policy, and if you look there you'll see a section on Inappropriate Language that covers, in particular, "Please be sensitive to the fact that comments relating to racial, cultural, national, gender and sexual identity can be offensive, even when there is no pejorative intent." The owners and moderators at the site take action at even a first offense in a baseball discussion thread. (We do have daily "Game Threads" where the banter is a little more free-wheeling, but even there a malicious comment would not escape moderator attention.)

 

In summary, I am confident the offensive term was completely inadvertent, but I am also very embarrassed that it happened and that the ensuing reponses were ambiguous, and I hope you accept our apology for it and won't think badly of the site.

[baseballmom15]

I am a first time user. Thank you ashburyjohn for the explanation and apology is accepted

[Mike Sixel]

 

So if you are/were aware that Seth may not have been available and you saw the quote, why didn't you state it was an "auto correct" for him since you are defending him now instead of finding it to be funny. And for the record, there was no judgment made, just facts.

 

Well, we maybe have a different sense of humor. Auto corrects happen here A LOT, and people laugh about them occasionally. The reason I found this one that way was, as pointed out, that Seth would NEVER type that about someone. Ever. It was so ridiculously out of character, that it made me laugh.

 

But, as our moderator friend points out, I can see how that could be misconstrued, and it certainly wasn't my intent to offend anyone. 

[Squirrel]

Well, we maybe have a different sense of humor. Auto corrects happen here A LOT, and people laugh about them occasionally. The reason I found this one that way was, as pointed out, that Seth would NEVER type that about someone. Ever. It was so ridiculously out of character, that it made me laugh.

 

But, as our moderator friend points out, I can see how that could be misconstrued, and it certainly wasn't my intent to offend anyone.

 

Thank you.

 

And for all, I corrected the auto correct, which is something I do too often for myself.

[Craig Arko]

Thank you.

And for all, I corrected the auto correct, which is something I do too often for myself.

Good covfefe.

[Squirrel]

Please move on from the tangent of a typo/autocorrect and discuss the article itself. Thank you.

[Seth Stohs]

 

I am a first time user. Thank you ashburyjohn for the explanation and apology is accepted

 

Hi Baseball Mom... Let me start by sincerely apologizing for this happening. I'm very embarrassed. I had an appointment late this morning at a specialists office and decided to read some comments. I rarely comment using my phone, and I thought everything looked good when I hit "Add Comment" but I guess not. That was 9-10 hours ago. I had a good appointment, had another 2+ hour drive and then spent some time with my daugher and my parents. I'm just now getting back online and I see this. Please accept my apology. I'm a big fan of Niko's. He's always been good to me.  I believe he does hav a future with the Twins. 

[Oldgoat_MN]

Historically Niko has hit pretty well. >.800 OPS in A+ and AA last year.

It's been more of a roller-coaster this year, but hopefully we'll see him start hitting with more consistency.

He could be a helpful utility player.