You have to love a summer day game during the week! It's a great day to be unproductive at work. 

Lewis Thorpe is making his return today, his first appearance with the major league team since May 20th. I'll be hoping his fastball velocity is over 90 mph, but he should have a chance to make-it-or-break-it for the next 1.5 months of the season. He's out of options next year, so this is a pivotal time for the Aussie. The Twins won't be able to send him down under to the minors after 2021. 

Speaking of Aussies, who is your favorite from the list of ex-Twins below?  (Whitefield is still in the Twins org, and still very, very fast)

1. Grant Balfour

2. Luke Hughes

3. Liam Hendricks

4. Aaron Whitefield*

5. James Beresford

6. I'm sure I'm missing a few more!

 

LINEUPS

Cleveland Soon-To-Be Guardians

1. Myles Straw (R) CF
2. Amed Rosario (R) SS
3. Jose Ramirez (S) DH
4. Franmil Reyes (R) RF
5. Oscar Mercado (R) LF
6. Owen Miller (R) 1B
7. Yu Chang (R) 3B
8. Austin Hedges (R) C
9. Ernie Clement (R) 2B

 Zach Plesac (RHP) - SP

Minnesota Twins

1. Max Kepler (L) RF
2. Brent Rooker (R) LF
3. Jorge Polanco (S) 2B
4. Josh Donaldson (R) DH
5. Luis Arraez (L) 3B
6. Miguel Sano (R) 1B
7. Nick Gordon (L) CF
8. Ryan Jeffers (R) C
9. Andrelton Simmons (R) SS

Lewis Thorpe (LHP) - SP

 

3 minutes ago, TwerkTwonkTwins said:

6. I'm sure I'm missing a few more!

Career .452 hitter Glenn Williams!

I think LHP Brad Thomas and 1B Justin Huber round out the Australian contingent of Twins MLB players.

Just now, Otto von Ballpark said:

Career .452 hitter Glenn Williams!

I think LHP Brad Thomas and 1B Justin Huber round out the Australian contingent of Twins MLB players.

King of small samples! 

Come on boys, keep the series winning streak alive...

1 minute ago, Otto von Ballpark said:

Career .452 hitter Glenn Williams!

I think LHP Brad Thomas and 1B Justin Huber round out the Australian contingent of Twins MLB players.

Hey, you're forgetting a certain White Sox closer on that list...

Just now, Brock Beauchamp said:

Hey, you're forgetting a certain White Sox closer on that list...

I was just adding to the OP's list!

1 minute ago, Otto von Ballpark said:

I was just adding to the OP's list!

Me no read so good.

Honorable mention to Aussies Ryan Rowland-Smith, once selected by the Twins in the Rule 5 draft but returned during spring training, and Trent Oeltjen, a Twins minor leaguer who went on to play in MLB for other teams:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/bio/Australia_born.shtml

24 minutes ago, Otto von Ballpark said:

Honorable mention to Aussies Ryan Rowland-Smith, once selected by the Twins in the Rule 5 draft but returned during spring training, and Trent Oeltjen, a Twins minor leaguer who went on to play in MLB for other teams:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/bio/Australia_born.shtml

I think the Twins have had one of the, if not the largest, Australian presence in the league. I know Howard Norsetter helped bring a lot of the talent into the organization from Australia, but was let go by Falvey/Levine a few years back. 

https://www.startribune.com/twins-fire-international-scouting-coordinator-howard-norsetter/446164983/

32 minutes ago, TwerkTwonkTwins said:

I think the Twins have had one of the, if not the largest, Australian presence in the league. I know Howard Norsetter helped bring a lot of the talent into the organization from Australia, but was let go by Falvey/Levine a few years back. 

https://www.startribune.com/twins-fire-international-scouting-coordinator-howard-norsetter/446164983/

I thought I'd read somewhere that they were the first to really tap that area of the world? Or maybe I'm making stuff up in my head, which happens

26 minutes ago, Squirrel said:

I thought I'd read somewhere that they were the first to really tap that area of the world? Or maybe I'm making stuff up in my head, which happens

People often accuse me of making stuff up from a different part of my anatomy.

Anybody else get the feeling that Thorpe is going to get utterly shelled today

18 minutes ago, Dave The Dastardly said:

People often accuse me of making stuff up from a different part of my anatomy.

Yeah thanks for sharing 

What was on my mind? Gee I hope my nephew Zach doesn’t ask any dumb questions.

9 minutes ago, LVTwinsfan said:

Anybody else get the feeling that Thorpe is going to get utterly shelled today

I’ll have an onion on this after I see the gun on Thorpe’s fastball. 

Well, just looked and I guess Gordon is starting in CF and Thorpe is pitching. I guess that's some progress on the let's evaluate the younger guys train. Wish Gordon was playing SS, but at least he's playing. 

4 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I’ll have an onion on this after I see the gun on Thorpe’s fastball. 

I think we’ve seen it

Sano really crushed that one

I just took a look at the Cleveland lineup. Thorpe shoudl be able to navigate through this collection of offensively challenged players. I think it's fair to have some real questions about him as a starter if he can't.   

This is going great 

Eeesh.  Looks like I picked the wrong time to tune into the game!

Always good to have to blow through the bullpen right before a 4 game series in New York 

Is Thorpe injured? Gameday says injury delay and that they changed pitchers

I can't watch the game but saw "Injury Delay" and then saw Thorpe replaced. Is he hurt?

Tomorrow is supposed to be the bullpen day? Yikes 

1 minute ago, Aggies7 said:

Tomorrow is supposed to be the bullpen day? Yikes 

Ha!  That sounds like a recipe for success.

Lewis Thorpe has topped out at 89.4 mph on his Fastball, per StatCast. The lowest fastball reading has been 85.9 mph... 

1 minute ago, TwerkTwonkTwins said:

Lewis Thorpe has topped out at 89.4 mph on his Fastball, per StatCast. The lowest fastball reading has been 85.9 mph... 

That's not good ... I wonder if this is the end of Lewis Thorpe with the Twins

5 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

Tomorrow is supposed to be the bullpen day? Yikes 

Beau Burrows would be available to start on regular rest. Although perhaps that would warrant an additional "yikes."

Just now, Otto von Ballpark said:

Beau Burrows would be available to start on regular rest. Although perhaps that would warrant an additional "yikes."

Might be less painful to forfeit!