Twins Minor League Report (8/18): Diaz Does It

Jake told Jeff Johnson and I in his postgame interview that Ivan Arteaga has a new name for Hu.... Hu-dini.

 

I like it. Think it could stick. The kid is unflappable.

Good stuff, JC.  Out of curiosity, in reading your interview (and BTW, great interview on your blog) with Arteaga,  the man was incredibly insightful on the subject of the history of pitch selection and the effect of specific pitches on young arms.  How would you grade his job with all of the great pitching coming through Cedar Rapids the last couple years, and how good is his English?.... the interview gives the impression that he's also a great communicator, as does the Hu-dini pun, very clever.

(On the English matter, how is Hu's grasp of the language?).

1.) I really like the Hu-dini nickname. Good stuff!

 

2.) I had the chance to talk to Ivan Arteaga when I was there. He is a tremendous communicator. I asked him 3-4 questions and he was great for 20 minutes. Very deep. Very thoughtful responses. He has the passion. His English is very good, and he talked about how important that is for him, but also for the players who do not speak English as their primary language. 

Thanks Seth.  You and SD are very helpful in learning about the man being more than just a name on the program.   He's still relatively young (44), would you consider Ivan a comer for the Twins?  Obviously, the need for good bilingual communicators in the organization is only going to continue to increase.  

Here's a link to Arteaga's splendid interview with "Jim Crikket":

http://knuckleballsblog.com/2014/08/12/ivan-arteaga-on-change-ups-sliders-and-curves/

Hu does throw low 90s anyway with the fastball, so he's no soft-tosser. But he's got like five pitches (at least) and everything he throws has movement. He's still just 20 years old and has plenty of room to grow, yet, so adding another couple ticks wouldn't be out of the question. Sometimes, though, adding velo means the fastball straightens out and he wouldn't want to see that, imo.

 

His English is a work in progress, but he's clearly making an effort with the language. Jeff Johnson and I were able to interview him after last night's game and while we had to "interpret" a bit of what he said, he was able to communicate his thoughts to us in a way we could understand. I heard a while ago that he's supposedly sitting in on the English classes the Latino players take while they're here, which must be real interesting.

 

We were interviewing him in a little hall between the players' locker area in the clubhouse and just outside the coaches' room where Tommy and Ivan are. While we were talking to Hu about the work he and Ivan Arteaga have been doing, Ivan stuck his head out of the door and just flashed his big smile.

 

As Seth said, Arteaga is an excellent communicator. I'm working on a piece, which should be up on Knuckleballs and TD in the next day or so, which discusses the Kernels turnaround from a poor first half to, at this point, a near-certain playoff spot in the second half. All 3 coaches shared their thoughts on what went in to turning things around and Arteaga, as is often the case, went in to considerable depth with his response.

 

As for what Arteaga's future is with the Twins organization, I've almost given up trying to figure out what the front office thinks about things like that, but absent a Kernels collapse in the next 2 weeks, this will be the 3rd straight season the team he was coaching makes the playoffs. Must be doing something right.

Based on this interview, Arteaga's obvious depth of understanding of the pitching aspects of the game, his  successes- both developmentally and on-the-field results- with the club, his strong bilingual communication skills, plus his relationship to Jake Mauer the last couple of seasons doesn't hurt... taken as a whole, it seems to bode well for his Twins future.

If you'll indulge a little self-promotion, the aforementioned new article is now posted both at Knuckleballsblog.com and here on TD.

You're work is much appreciated, JC, no matter the venue.