Monday Minor League Report

The squads started their day with their morning routine. They get to the field around 9:30 to stretch. Then there is baserunning, throwing, ground balls, fly balls, PFPs, pickoff plays, situational plays, all the stuff from a normal baseball practice.

They had lunch, but at noon, Work Group 4 (the guys who will most likely be sticking in Ft. Myers for Extended Spring Training) took on Bethel University. The Minnesota college in St. Paul has played five games previously in Florida the last few days and will play a few more. But, it’s a good challenge for both teams.

The head coach of the Bethel team is New Ulm native, former Gopher, and former Minnesota Twins player Brian Raabe. For his team, it is an opportunity to play against some really good, talented players. However that talent is very raw, and they have only been practicing officially for the last four or five days together.

As the game was starting, Tom Kelly walked slowly across the field, fungo in tow, and watched the first inning while talking to Raabe. I noted several times that even as pitches were being made, his back was to the batter, and they were standing outside the dugout.

For the young Twins players, it’s a chance to play a team of 19-22 year olds who have been practicing for at least six weeks together. It’s also playing against someone other than yourselves.

The EST Twins scored four runs over the last couple of innings to take a 7-4 win, but again, that is the least important part of the game.

As has been mentioned many times, Tom Kelly and his fungo love to teach the fundamentals of the game. After catching up with Raabe, Kelly took 2015 draft pick Kolton Kendrick to a side field and worked with him on some things around first base.

I looked back 45 minutes later… still instructing…

Awhile later, Kendrick got into the game at first base… and Kelly was right there with him.

That’s not an unusual happening at Twins minor league camp. When Kelly comes down from the big league side, he’s got his fungo and he takes time with players whenever he sees a coachable moment.

At 1:00, Work Group 1 - which is currently comprised of players who will start 2016 in AAA or AA but will change as players move down from big league camp - played Work Group 2 (comprised of AA and Hi-A players) on the next field. The next field pitted Work Group 3 (comprised of Hi-A and Low-A players) against Work Group 4 (Low-A and some Extended Spring players).

A lot of pitchers threw between the two games. Most worked just one inning, but three guys who will be starters also pitched. Stephen Gonsalves, Randy LeBlanc and David Hurlbut all threw 60 pitches, getting through four innings. Someone with direct knowledge told me that the starters will throw 60 pitches this time out. In their next outing, they’ll try to get to 75 pitches. Then 95 pitches. Then they’ll drop back to 75 pitches and be ready to roll for Opening Day.

From watching Gonsalves, it is clear that adding a slider this offseason could be great for him. It can be death to left-handed hitters.

It’s interesting as the Twins pitchers are just completing their third time through the spring rotation. They were to get 60 pitches in. In their fourth start, the goal will be 75 pitches. So, minor league starters aren’t given a lot of time to build arm strength.

There were a couple of scary moments on the day. Early in one game, Levi Michael lined a ball right back at David Hurlbut. The left hander was fortunately able to get his glove up just in time and was unscathed.

Infielder Tanner Vavra was facing Alex Wimmers later in the game. A pitch got away from Wimmers and hit Vavra right in the helmet. Vavra went down, but as people were trying to help him, he jumped up. He went to first base under his own power. He soon came out of the game and had to go through concussion protocols. Fortunately, he is all right and the tests came back fine.

The next batter, Logan Wade, crushed a pitch well beyond the right field fence.

Mike Berardino had the nugget on Twitter on Sunday about Levi Michael giving up left-handed hitting. He will only bat right-handed at this point. That’s what he did on Monday.

Some Other Notes

I chatted with Niko Goodrum for a little while before lunch. He definitely looks bigger and stronger. I asked him about Elite Metro Sports and Cages. It is a place in his home town of Fayetteville, Georgia.

Goodrum wanted a way to give back in his community and thought that having a training facility for youth in his city was a good idea. He told me that he really didn’t have anything like that when he was growing up. Throughout the offseason, Niko worked with hundreds of kids of all ages in the cages, but also on all aspects of the game. They held several clinics. His uncles Donell and Otis Nixon came and helped at some base stealing clinics as well. His cousin, a third former big leaguer in the family, also has been a big influence on Goodrum. Niko said that he just really enjoys working with the kids.

To be a good teacher, it helps to be a good learner. Here Goodrum is taking some instruction from former big leaguer (and GCL hitting coach) Javier Valentin.

I chatted with Lewis Thorpe a little bit before lunch as well. He had thrown a bullpen that morning and said it felt really good. He feels like he is back to normal but he knows they will be patient with him in his return. It’s clear that he’s been working hard this spring. He has lost a lot of weight that had been gained throughout the injury. He expects that he’ll start throwing more and getting into a routine before joining a team later this spring. They’ll build up his in-game pitch count in the same way that others do in spring training, but just at a little slower pace.

While Thorpe has lost some weight, there are a few guys who gained weight. We’ve already discussed that Nick Gordon has added 15 pounds in the offseason. In chatting with Mike Radcliff, he noted that it’s almost even more. He had been sick and lost a bit of weight so the fact that he’s gained 14 is encouraging.

Ryan Walker missed time early last season with an injury. The gifted-defensive middle infielder has always been skinny and has tried to add weight. However, he often loses some during the season. He came to Twins spring training last year at about 170 pounds but by the end of the season, he was at closer to 160 pounds. He worked really hard in the offseason and is now sitting between 180 and 185 pounds and hopes to maintain it through the season. He may start the season in Chattanooga, but could return to Ft. Myers for some of the season depending upon the rosters above.

The 12 players that were sent down from big league camp did not participate in the games on Monday. 40-man roster guys actually have the right to take a couple of days off after the are optioned. My guess is that they will be at practice today. Teams can expect non-roster guys to go straight to minor league camp. My guess is that the Twins (Terry Ryan) encouraged them to take Monday off.

The Twins big league club has their one scheduled day off of the spring. They’re there for six to seven weeks officially and get just one day off, so I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.

Not me though. I’ll be again spending the day at minor league camp. I did take about 400 pictures yesterday. We’ll see how many turned out. I’ll take more today and get to editing tonight. Again pictures taken here in Ft. Myers will be used throughout the season in Minor League reports. Some of them will be posted to the Twins Daily Facebook Page, the Twins Daily Twitter account, and I’ll also post some on my Twitter account. So, click those links, follow us on Twitter and “Like” us on Facebook.