Twins Winter League Update

Below you will find how they’re doing.

AUSTRALIAN BASEBALL LEAGUE

There are six current Twins players who are participating in the Australian Baseball League. There are a lot of former Twins and Twins farmhands. For instance, Luke Hughes is hitting under .200, but he’s in the middle of the Perth lineup. Allan de San Miguel, twice a member of the organization, has six home runs. He spent time with Rochester last year. There are several, such as Josh Dean and Jacob Younis who didn’t get out of the rookie leagues with the Twins.

• For Melbourne, Tanner Vavra has played primarily shortstop and second base and bats second. He is hitting .317/.430/.416 (.846) with five doubles, a triple and a home run. He has 12 walks to go with 12 strikeouts. He has also been hit by a pitch eight times in 33 games.
  
• Trey Vavra has primarily been playing first base, but has made a handful of starts at second base as well. In 34 games, he is now hitting .281/.363/.469 (.832) with six doubles and six home runs. He has walked 14 times and struck out 16 times.
  
• Logan Wade has returned for Brisbane after missing about a month with injury. In 13 games, he has hit .256/.304/.349 (.653) with a double and a homer.
  
• Aaron Whitefield has played in 15 games for Brisbane. He is hitting .325/.325/.350 (.675) with a double.
  
• Aaron Thompson, who spent much of the first half of 2015 with the Twins, has pitched 8.1 innings over seven games with Canberra. He’s 1-0 with a 5.40 ERA. He’s given up nine hits, walked seven and struck out 12.
  
• Loek Van Mil has pitched just four times so far for Adelaine. He’s 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA. In 3.2 innings, he has given up three hits, walked one and struck out three.
  
• Todd Van Steensel just returned to the mound for Sydney. He’s pitched just three times over the last week. He has given up two runs on two hits and three walks in just 2.1 innings.
  

DOMINICAN WINTER LEAGUE

The Dominican League can be tough as well. There are eight current members of the Twins organization who have played in the league at some point this winter. Five of them spent time with the Twins in 2015.

• Recently-signed Buck Britton played two games in the DWL in late October and early November and went 1-5.
  
• Miguel Sano played 15 games before being shut down to concentrate on his conditioning and learning the outfield. In that time, he hit .241/.344/.426 (.770) with four doubles and two homers. He walked eight times.
  
• Danny Santana has settled in at second base after playing around the diamond early in the season. In 25 games, he has hit .305/.320/.411 (.730) with five doubles, a triple and a home run.
  
• Eduardo Nunez just recently started playing. He has played in just five games, but he is hitting .316/.356/.368 (.718) with a double in those games.
  
• Jorge Polanco has played in 37 games. He is hitting .238/.329/.320 (.648). He has one doubles, three triples and a home run thus far.
  
• Catcher Carlos Paulino has played in 35 games. He is hitting .259/.322/.463 (.785) with five doubles, a triple and five home runs.
  
• Ryan O’Rourke pitched in four games in a one-week stretch in the Dominican. He worked three innings. He gave up three earned runs on three hits and a walk. He struck out two.
  
• Recently-signed Fernando Abad has pitched six times including two starts. He has worked a total of eight innings. He’s given up nine earned runs on 13 hits and four walks. He has also struck out ten.
  

MEXICAN WINTER LEAGUE

As of right now, just one Twins player is playing in the Mexican Winter League.

• Reynaldo Rodriguez has already had 162 at bats over 46 games played. He is hitting .247/.346/.494 (.839) with eight doubles, a triple and ten home runs.
  

VENEZUELAN WINTER LEAGUE

There are a lot of current, former and future Minnesota Twins playing in the Venezuelan Winter League.

• Eduardo Escobar has played in 14 games. In 51 at-bats, he has hit .314/.327/.412 (.739) with five doubles.
  
• Heiker Meneses was brought back and gets a second-straight spring training invite with the Twins. He’s played in 39 games already and has hit .230/.322/.270 (.592) with four doubles.
  
• Another non-roster invite to spring training in Wilfredo Tovar. He’s now played in just two games and is 2-8.
  
• Engelb Vielma began the year playing. He played in 18 games and hit .208/.269/.250 (519) with two doubles. He then spent some time in Ft. Myers working on his strength.
  
• Luis Arraez was an intriguing name to get to know in the GCL this year. He has played in 10 games and is 6-22. He’s hitting .273/.333/.364 (.697) with a triple.
  
• Levi Michael got off to a slow start in Venezuela, but through ten games, he is now hitting .314/.467/.400 (.867) with three doubles. He has eight walks to go with nine strikeouts.
  
• Omar Bencomo has made 11 starts in the VWL. He is 3-3 with an impressive 2.97 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP. In 57.2 innings, he’s given up 57 hits, walked 12 and inexplicably struck out just 18.
  
• Logan Darnell has pitched in ten games including six starts. In 37.2 innings, he has allowed 39 hits, walked six and struck out 20. He is 1-2 with a 2.87 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP.
  
• Yorman Landa was recently added to the Twins 40-man roster. He’s pitched in 8.1 innings over 10 appearances. He’s given up five earned runs on five hits and five walks. He’s struck out four. He is 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA but a 1.08 WHIP.
  
• Recently signed Buddy Boshers has pitched 32 innings over 25 appearances already. He is 3-0 with a 2.25 ERA and a 0.94 WHIP. He has given up just 22 hits, walked eight and struck out 35.
  
• David Hurlbut has made the most of his opportunity in Margarita. Last night, he threw five shutout innings. A week earlier, he threw five shutout innings. Six days prior to that, he gave up one run in five innings. So, in 15 total innings, he has given up just one run on ten hits. He has walked seven and struck out just five. He is 1-0 with a 0.60 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP.
  
• Sometimes opportunities are brief in Venezuela. DJ Baxendale made two appearances before Thanksgiving. In just 1.1 innings, he gave up five earned runs on four hits and two walks.
  
• Brett Lee made two appearances early in the season as well. In 6.1 innings, he gave up four runs on four hits and two walks. He struck out two.
  

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