Florida Instuctional League Game 9/21/13 and Interview with Alex Meyer

[Bob Sacamento]

On Saturday 9/21/13, the Twins FIL squad took to the field at 9am for warmups/stretching before their game at the Hammond Complex against the Boston Red Sox at 10am.

 

Alex Meyer started for the Twins going 3 innings giving up no hits, 1 walk and striking out 7. Meyer looked sharp with his fastball maxing out at 98 mph and registering 93-95 mph. His slider showed flashes of really good bite at times and was good enough against the much younger BoSox lineup. What Alex worked on the most was his changeup which registered 81-84mph on the gun. It still needs worked upon and he'll be the first to tell you that, more on that later.

 

Outside of Meyer, the star of the game was Twins' catcher Mitchell Garver who went 3-3, a single, a triple, 2 run homer, and a sac fly. His reward...getting to run wind sprints after the game by himself for missing a sign. CK Irby threw three innings, followed by one inning by Madison Boyd and Randy Rosario, and Luke Bard who threw the 9th and the 10th. Bard was hitting 92-94mph with his fastball with modest control. The movement on his fastball is impressive but the ride and motion is so much that he can't control it all the time. Still he completely overmatched the BoSox lineup with his stuff. It went 10 innings due to the lack of the number of at bats for the BoSox players.

 

After Meyer's appearance on the mound, he joined the rest of the pitcher's not available for the game on the old school steel bleachers behind home plate. Meyer sat next to Wimmers who was charting and starting the game on 9/23 against the Rays at Hammond Complex. Kohl Stewart was responsible for watching the gun since he's not competing at all during Instructional League; he's there to get in the flow of MLB life and to work on fielding fundamentals. He's also pretty much a Diva and his own teammates talk about it.

 

For those of you who don't know, Instructional League is a rare time in baseball. Remember those times as a kid where you had ghost runners etc well Instructional League games are not that far off. At any point you can reinsert a hitter in the lineup to get him an extra at bat, you can change up the order, reinsert a player etc.

 

After his session, Alex Meyer joined the rest of his teammates on the bleachers where I engaged him in conversation that somehow lasted from the 6th to the 10th inning. Despite the video I took on him, he's not trying out a splitfinger, just wanted to know how it felt. He said he's never thrown one in a game and doesn't plan to. The biggest thing he worked on in the game was his changeup which had the BoSox prospects really off balanced with his fastball. He was really upset with himself for giving up the one walk.

 

Alex said when he was notified of the trade by the Nationals front office he didn't know what to say, "Do I thank him? Do I say **** off? So I just said okay." He said the trade from the Nationals was a blessing because the opportunity he was far greater. Everyone in the Twins organization has treated him great and he looks forward to contributing.

 

When asked about this Fall, he was really excited to see rest of this Twins core. On Buxton, he said at first he didn't know if he was just some really athletic kid with a bunch of tools but when seeing him in Spring Training, Alex said he is better than the hype. He's just so fast and at the plate he can beat you several different ways whether he takes you yard, hits it in the gaps, bunts or walks. He hopes the Twins put him on a Trout/Harper path because he think Buxton can help the big league club now.

 

On Rosario, Meyer said he can flat out hit and that Eddie's 5 for 5 game in New Britain was one of the best hitting displays he's witnessed in the minors. Alex said he feels comfortable on the mound with Rosario at second and that Eddie worked really hard all season on his defense. On Sano, his power is so impressive, his batting practice was a show itself. Alex says he is the closest on the team with Trevor May who will also be joining him in the Arizona Fall League. May will not join Buxton and others who will report to Instructs this week before leaving on October 2nd for Arizona.

 

Meyer feels the Twins are on the right path, the guys they have coming up are players who can contribute now and for the future. There was alot more from his golf game, offseason regime, love life, being a giant, the Chicago Cubs and Kentucky baseball, I just didn't include it because it's not Twins related. Definitely a great guy who makes it hard not to root for him, I wish him nothing but success and luck in his future.

 

[ashbury]

Wow, outstanding report, Bob. I really loved the quote about the trade, "do I thank him..." - captures a lot.

 

Next go get a little of Stewart's time and give him a chance to change your mind about him.

[Bob Sacamento]

Wow, outstanding report, Bob. I really loved the quote about the trade, "do I thank him..." - captures a lot.

The way Alex talked about it made me envision one of the scenes out of Moneyball. "Here's Terry Ryan's number he's looking forward to talking to you"...

 

Next go get a little of Stewart's time and give him a chance to change your mind about him.

I don't want to start bashing Kohl or any other player but his demeanor/attitude is polar opposite to that of Byron Buxton. Buxton would go out of his way to talk to fans and sign and take pictures with. Stewart wouldn't give his time and is very standoffish. I hope it's an aberration but he was that way on Camp day as well.

 

Just a question out there, if I can get Meyer on video saying hi to Twins Daily would anyone be interested?

[James]

Just a question out there, if I can get Meyer on video saying hi to Twins Daily would anyone be interested?

I think that would be really cool.

[cmb0252]

Once again, great read and thanks for sharing. I found these quotes from Ryan on Meyers after his second start in instructional league:

 

"I'm not a huge velocity guy, but he's running it up there pretty good," Ryan said before the Twins-A's game at O.co Coliseum. "The best thing I can tell you is he's starting to use his changeup.

"That's one of the things we tried to emphasize in the short amount of time we had him on the mound this spring. If he wants to be one of those big-time starters -- if he can develop that change -- he has a chance to be [one], because he's got the fastball and he's got the curve. And he's got the change -- all we got to do is make sure we polish it up."

Ryan said the Twins don't keep statistics of instructional league games, even internally. The numbers, in this case anyway, don't matter.

"He threw well," Ryan said. "More importantly, he's 100 percent.

"You can't get too excited about results in instructional league. I will be more attentive to what goes on statistically out there in the Arizona Fall League."

 

Twins get good report on prospect Meyer | twinsbaseball.com: News

[Bob Sacamento]

Yeah I looked for Ryan, Radcliffe and others and spotted none of them on campus. There were a couple of scouts in attendance, and I know one of them is an in-house Twins scout because he was there in Camp on Thursday (was quite chummy with fielding coordinator Lepel and instructor Molitor) and was on the field. I did think it was unusual that he kept no written notes though but he did appear to be "old-school" while the younger scout was writing everything down and was very meticulous (saw his notes which also included Dae Eun Rhee (Cubs) and Zach Lee (Dodgers).

[AScheib50]

That was an awesome report...reminds me of my time down there for ST this year and now I am jealous! haha but anyways... The fact that he sat and chatted with you for that long is very cool.

[clutterheart]

Thanks for posting

How did Randy Rosario look?

 

I'm not too worried about Stewart's Divia-ness yet. He's young, rich and talented. Some guys handle it well, some guys internalize. I think a full season in Cedar Rapids might humble him up a bit, or if the Twin's think he is getting too much of an ego they might hold him back in EST just to set him straright.

[clutterheart]

 

Just a question out there, if I can get Meyer on video saying hi to Twins Daily would anyone be interested?

 

I think that would be a yes

Even better would be a Q&A!

But that might be dreaming too much.

[Jeremy Nygaard]

Great write-up Bob. I love the optimism that these younger guys have. It might just start to wear off on others!

[Otwins]

Thanks for the write up. I was going to root for him because the Twins need him worse than any other prospect. Your article makes it that much easier.

[Shane Wahl]

Fantastic article. Thanks a lot. There is some interesting insight and some hope in a dark Twins time at the moment.

[Bob Sacamento]

That was an awesome report...reminds me of my time down there for ST this year and now I am jealous! haha but anyways... The fact that he sat and chatted with you for that long is very cool.

Yeah the big time guys especially one like Meyer don't usually do that but Alex is very approachable. Difference between Instructional and ST, is Instructs is free all around (parking, games, etc) and players are much more accessible of course they are usually low level minor leaguers.

 

Thanks for posting

How did Randy Rosario look?

I'm going to be honest, I didn't watch him very closely I was too involved talking to Meyer. What I did see was an inconsistent fastball 90-92mph and a slurve-like pitch, of all the Twins pitchers he was hit the hardest (and his inning took the longest). I'm not a scout but it looked like he was throwing across his body, the biggest thing is that there was definitely control issues.

 

I'm not too worried about Stewart's Divia-ness yet. He's young, rich and talented. Some guys handle it well, some guys internalize. I think a full season in Cedar Rapids might humble him up a bit, or if the Twin's think he is getting too much of an ego they might hold him back in EST just to set him straright.

Depending on how the rest of his offseason goes (he's not throwing in Instructs), he has the stuff to for them to start him in Low A Cedar Rapids. You never know with the Twins though, you guys love to take your time with your prospects especially high school pitchers but can't blame you. A full season in the minors will do him good with crowds of 1000, bus rides, hotel stays and not being told he's the greatest. One of the best things I can say about the Twins Organization is that they seem to be big on team play and not just individual stars; for example I saw Sano and Buxton treated the same way by staff as AJ Pettersen and Jhon Goncalves. The organization is also pretty big on giving back to the fans who come out and support them which sadly isn't always the case.

 

Other notes I forgot about Meyer, is that he has two more starts of 3 or more innings left in Instructional League before going to AFL. He started on Saturday (9/21) and said he thinks he's throwing every fifth day to keep him on a routine and he is not on any exact pitch count.

[clutterheart]

I'm going to be honest, I didn't watch him very closely I was too involved talking to Meyer. What I did see was an inconsistent fastball 90-92mph and a slurve-like pitch, of all the Twins pitchers he was hit the hardest (and his inning took the longest). I'm not a scout but it looked like he was throwing across his body, the biggest thing is that there was definitely control issues

 

I hope that means he is working on something. I liked his GB rate and his left-handedness