Article: Twins Minor League Report: Miracle Win Again, Kernels Win Twice, Rock Cats Walk Off

[Seth Stohs]

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?r=1577-Twins-Minor-League-Report-Miracle-Win-Again-Kernels-Win-Twice-Rock-Cats-Walk-Off

[clutterheart]

Cedar Rapids pitching has been on fire this year!

Will Berrios be pitching on Thursday?

[Seth Stohs]

They say he'll be arriving on Thursday... No word on if he will start right away, or what his timeline and role will be.

[clutterheart]

If he starts will they go to a 7 man rotation?

Is someone moving up?

[Larsbars08]

Could anyone have imagined a better start for the Twins top prospects?

[glunn]

Thanks for this report. What a great day for the Twins system, except Rochester, and even Rochester provided good news with Gibson's performance.

[jokin]

Seth-

 

Brett Lee continues to impress, now as a Starter.

 

Is it soon time to upgrade his prospect status? Any idea how the Twins plan to use him?... and what does his promotion timetable looks like?

 

For the record, he might be a little old for this group at age 22, but his control and power are impeccable thus far in his career, he's now walked only 12 in 51+ innings and struck out 55! What's he throwing? (Lots of dead weight SPs in the upper-tier minor league teams)

[zenser]

Any word on what happened in the 8th inning in the Rochester game? I see both managers and Rochester's hitting coach were ejected.

[Seth Stohs]

Still trying to learn what they'll do, but they won't go with a 7-man rotation, for sure.

 

Brett Lee is a good prospect. He must be. I think he was drafted two previous times before signing with the Twins as a 11th or 12th rounder. He looks solid. I just saw him strikeout the side in a relief appearance in CR, so I don't have much to go off of. He's a decent prospect. He's left-handed and throws fairly hard (90-92). I don't think he's a top prospect, but he's certainly worth watching as a future reliever. And, if he continues to throw strikes, maybe he can be a rotation guy.

 

But, let's see how he does over a little more extended time in the full seasons.

[bird]

Cedar Rapids and Ft. Myers are a combined 21-3. Impressive.

[SurroundedByTigers]

This is shaping up as a beautiful spring, even if the weather is crappy. Who woulda thunk the Twins take two from Angels, and the franchise's minor league teams are on fire (except Rochester). Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

[jay]

Could anyone have imagined a better start for the Twins top prospects?

 

No. Outside of Hicks in MLB, it's seriously been insane.

 

Combined 2013 MiLB hitting stats for Twins prospects that made Top 100 Lists (Buxton, Sano, Rosario, Arcia):

45 G, 166 AB, 39 R, 69 H, 10 HR, 35 RBI, 114 TB, 17BB, 7 SB, .474 OBP, .687 SLG, .416 AVG, 1.102 OPS.

 

And that's not to mention similarly great starts by Hicks, Polanco, Ortiz, Pinto, and Colabello.

[James]

Could anyone have imagined a better start for the Twins top prospects?

If you would have predicted that they would be doing this well before the season started, I would have told you to be a little more realistic with your numbers. That being said, they are off to a great start and this is definitely making for an exciting April.

[ashbury]

Could anyone have imagined a better start for the Twins top prospects?

 

*sigh* Joe Benson, my adopt-a-prospect for 2013, is no longer a top prospect. C'mon Joe.

[Dance with Disco Dan]

The unbelievably strong starts of Arcia, Sano, Buxton, and Rosario have done wonders for my prospect loving heart which has barely survived Hicks looking unbearably over-matched. I mean who was he hitting in spring training? Were they all AA pitchers? Anyway, dropping him down in the line up might help things and it seems to have cleared Mauer's mind. I think Joe was going up to the plate just feeling plain old bad for Hicks and was swinging and missing in sympathy.

 

I think Parmelee better wake up before the All-Star game or I am personally driving Arcia from Rochester to the Twins Cities and dropping him at Ryan's door step.

[jokin]

The unbelievably strong starts of Arcia, Sano, Buxton, and Rosario have done wonders for my prospect loving heart which has barely survived Hicks looking unbearably over-matched. I mean who was he hitting in spring training? Were they all AA pitchers? Anyway, dropping him down in the line up might help things and it seems to have cleared Mauer's mind. I think Joe was going up to the plate just feeling plain old bad for Hicks and was swinging and missing in sympathy.

 

I think Parmelee better wake up before the All-Star game or I am personally driving Arcia from Rochester to the Twins Cities and dropping him at Ryan's door step.

 

Baseball Reference kept ST stats and graded out the average level of competitin faced during the Spring. Those stats appear to be gone now, but I seem to remember that Hicks's level of pitching competition was in the "8s" on a scale meaning "9" was major league experienced. So it does suggest that this is more of a "adjusting to the pressure" thing than an inability to "adjust to the Major League pitcher" thing. He has struggled initially at each level of promotion, it's to be expected that he will have his struggles, especially since he's jumped TWO levels.

[jokin]

Cedar Rapids and Ft. Myers are a combined 21-3. Impressive.

 

It's fun to agree with you birdwatcher- and it's fun to track these phenoms on a daily basis. A special hats off to the manager down in Ft Myers, the "Minty Fresh", "Eye Chart" man, Doug Mientkiewicz. This appears to be a hire that the Twins FO got right. He went to high school with A-Rod, so he is aware of what it's like to be a superstar in the making, coupled with Dougie-Fresh's fundamentally-sound approach to the game, he might be one to watch for- his own star may also be on the rise.

[Seth Stohs]

*sigh* Joe Benson, my adopt-a-prospect for 2013, is no longer a top prospect. C'mon Joe.

 

I still believe in him!!! Not completely certain that all with the organization do, but I do... for what that's worth (which isn't much!).

[Dance with Disco Dan]

Baseball Reference kept ST stats and graded out the average level of competitin faced during the Spring. Those stats appear to be gone now, but I seem to remember that Hicks's level of pitching competition was in the "8s" on a scale meaning "9" was major league experienced. So it does suggest that this is more of a "adjusting to the pressure" thing than an inability to "adjust to the Major League pitcher" thing. He has struggled initially at each level of promotion, it's to be expected that he will have his struggles, especially since he's jumped TWO levels.

 

Jokin, thanks for your post. I didn't realize Baseball-Reference had this type of information. Another cyber rabbit-hole for me to waste a weekend surfing.

 

I know Hicks struggled early at each move up and that this is a 2-level leap. Although I was in the minority on this site (in my strong preference for sending Hicks to AAA at least until Super-2 status was avoided), I was still looking forward to seeing Hicks excel and thought he might after a strong spring. Sadly, my hopes for his at-bats have gone from "hit it hard, big guy" to "oh, for all that's holy, please put it in play before your psyche is crushed beyond repair."

[cmathewson]

Baseball Reference kept ST stats and graded out the average level of competitin faced during the Spring. Those stats appear to be gone now, but I seem to remember that Hicks's level of pitching competition was in the "8s" on a scale meaning "9" was major league experienced. So it does suggest that this is more of a "adjusting to the pressure" thing than an inability to "adjust to the Major League pitcher" thing. He has struggled initially at each level of promotion, it's to be expected that he will have his struggles, especially since he's jumped TWO levels.

 

Some of this is just a good old fashioned slump. He was smokin' hot in spring training. Stayed on the ball really well. He had several hits the opposite way.

 

Now he's cold and pulling off the ball. E,g, the pop-up last night. He was out in front of an outside change-up and his head was actually pointed toward first base when he made contact.

[jokin]

Some of this is just a good old fashioned slump. He was smokin' hot in spring training. Stayed on the ball really well. He had several hits the opposite way.

 

Now he's cold and pulling off the ball. E,g, the pop-up last night. He was out in front of an outside change-up and his head was actually pointed toward first base when he made contact.

 

Possibly. But I think Disco Dan spelled it out exactly right. This slump is so epically bad, there is real danger of full-fetal-position long-term damage if some tweaking isn't done here to change the situation, and possibly short-term, the environment.

[Physics Guy]

Come on guys, three walks in his last five AB and no K. That's a little improvement. He's even laying off some of the two strike breaking balls. Hopefully Dozier will hit like he did last night and allow Hicks to work it out at the bottom of the order.