Twins Minor League Report (8/19): Stewart Pulled As a Precaution

jokin · August 20, 2014

Burdi and Zack Jones first time together to shut things down in Florida in the 8th and 9th. Hopefully a prelude of things to come in Minnesota in the near future.

AScheib50 · August 20, 2014

Does anyone else feel like Tyler Duffy has completely flown under the radar on a pretty quick rise through the system? I feel like he was in Ft Myers just yesterday and now he is knocking on the door. What is the scouting report on him? Probably more of a 4th starter type? his K numbers seem pretty good as he has moved up, too, which is nice. He was one of the college relievers, right? Because he has seemed like a nice innings eater so far, too.

drock2190 · August 20, 2014

Ugh why cant we just have healthy pitchers?

I can see Kohl resting and then learning next season he needs surgery or something and missing a significant amount of time. Thats the Twins luck at play.

Thegrin · August 20, 2014

The Red Wing has 7 former Twins in the lineup. Hicks, Pinto, Florimon, Colabello, Hermann, Wilken Ramirez & Doug Bernier. Also Pino, Darnell & Johnson have all started for the Twins. They should be in the AAA playoff

Pius Jefferson · August 20, 2014

When it rains...round up two of every animal.

h2oface · August 20, 2014

Young Kohl just got tired again fast. Third pick of 2014, Carlos Rodon, now in AAA, looks like he will be brought to the show in September for the White Sox, fast tracked like Sale in 2010. I wonder if he is tired?

70charger · August 20, 2014

Burdi and Zack Jones first time together to shut things down in Florida in the 8th and 9th. Hopefully a prelude of things to come in Minnesota in the near future.

Burdi only struck out one guy though. I think we should cut him.

Thegrin · August 20, 2014

Young arms need protecting. Protecting Kohl is the right thing to do. Nick Burdi, on the other hand, is not so young, and i would love to see him fast tracked directly to the Twins in September.

diehardtwinsfan · August 20, 2014

Young Kohl just got tired again fast. Third pick of 2014, Carlos Rodon, now in AAA, looks like he will be brought to the show in September for the White Sox, fast tracked like Sale in 2010. I wonder if he is tired?

Rodon is also a college player. Stewart was a HS player. Rodon is a bit more used to the work load.

diehardtwinsfan · August 20, 2014

Does anyone else feel like Tyler Duffy has completely flown under the radar on a pretty quick rise through the system? I feel like he was in Ft Myers just yesterday and now he is knocking on the door. What is the scouting report on him? Probably more of a 4th starter type? his K numbers seem pretty good as he has moved up, too, which is nice. He was one of the college relievers, right? Because he has seemed like a nice innings eater so far, too.

He has quietly flown under the radar, and yes, he's more a back end guy. He was one of those hard throwing relievers that were drafted in 2012 and turned into a starter. The real question is if he can figure out how to get more Ks. His career minor league rate is around 7. That's not bad, but that's going to drop in the majors. If he can improve there, there could be more of a ceiling.

Badsmerf · August 20, 2014

Rondon is 2 years older, so not the same comparison. We might be on the verge of seeing Stewart in 2 years too if things go right. Berrios is more than on track for that timeframe.

alskntwnsfn · August 20, 2014

Ugh why cant we just have healthy pitchers?

I can see Kohl resting and then learning next season he needs surgery or something and missing a significant amount of time. Thats the Twins luck at play.

He's probably just getting tired. Let's cross our fingers, but its the time of the year that it wouldn't be surprising to have some dead-arm stuff going on. Probably just needs rest. This is different than the stuff we heard about Sano's elbow late last summer. Totally understandable for Stewart to be fatigued but I remember thinking something was wrong when Sano was having trouble throwing last year. That shouldn't happen to a position player for an extended period of time at this point in the year.

gunnarthor · August 20, 2014

Levi Michael has really reemerged as a prospect. Obviously we have SSS in AA but he's not struggling there and his bb/k numbers have been great all year. He could turn into a decent on-base utility type guy for a MI. Nice to see.

Steve Lein · August 20, 2014

I hope Stewart is just "tired," and I'd be more worried about something serious if there were drastic control problems tied in with a drop in velocity. But this does bring up a topic I know a bit about, and that is diabetes and what it can affect physically.

It's a known fact we are more susceptible to problems with joints, and in particular, shoulders. Mine is basically shot from playing and throwing a baseball, and I'm barely over 30. I would think this should be far-less of an issue for a professional athlete who has access to all the strength and conditioning tools he could possibly need, but that also means he's throwing a baseball a heck of a lot more than I ever would.

It's his first full season, and I think he's thrown a reasonable amount of innings already, so hopefully it's nothing, or just something that ends up pushing he and the team to realize they'll have to do extra work and maintenance to keep his arm in shape.

LaBombo · August 20, 2014

Lost year for Sano and Buxton.

Pinto demoted.

Hicks demoted.

Again.

May a disaster so far.

Meyer still in AAA.

Stewart's arm hurt.

Santana and Vargas have been nice surprises, but otherwise this rebuilding

year (or according to some, bridge-to-contention year) has been as

disappointing as getting socks for Christmas.

Vervehound · August 20, 2014

duffey's stuff has ticked up this year and he's a legit no.3-type at this point. he's a flyball guy and will give up his share of gopher balls, but the guy can miss a decent amount of bats and is proving durable. think scott baker for a comp stuff-wise, but hopefully not durability-wsie.

he'd be knocking on the tail end of any twins top ten list i did, even with our stacked system.

Boone · August 20, 2014

Lost year for Sano and Buxton.
Pinto demoted.
Hicks demoted.
Again.
May a disaster so far.
Meyer still in AAA.
Stewart's arm hurt.

Santana and Vargas have been nice surprises, but otherwise this rebuilding
year (or according to some, bridge-to-contention year) has been as
disappointing as getting socks for Christmas.

You forgot Rosario getting suspended for the first half and going back to the outfield, plus some

But the amazing thing about all this, which goes to show how good our farm system is, is that it's still been a good year.

Berrios has dominated and is now a legit top-50 prospect.

Polanco has had another good year, while playing SS (BA called him best defender at that position in FSL), and will probably be a top-100 guy

Thorpe skipped the Appy League and, after a few shaky starts has been great.

We've had guys come out of nowhere to become legit prospects: Chih Wei Hu and Sean Gilmartin to name a few

Our 2014 draft picks have been impressive, namely Gordon and Burdi (plus Reed and Batts)

Throw in the likes of Vargas, Rogers, Duffey, Oliveros, Turner, Mejia, Michael, and many more and the Twins farm system is significantly deeper than it was a year ago.

Also, getting demoted might might be the best thing that has ever happened to Aaron Hicks.

oldguy10 · August 20, 2014

A good farm system as mentioned here does NOT translate automatically to a good MLB team in a few years, time for a lot of us to put aside the rose-colored glasses. And time to get realistic about exactly how management intends to cobble together a decent team in the years to come. Commenters in this forum are far too easy on Twins management both in the front office and on the field. And we are even easier on ownership who promised to spend more on the on-field product and have not even come remotely close to delivering on that promise.

Seth Stohs · August 20, 2014

My point has always been that accumulating prospects is important because so few pan out as hoped.

In other words, let's say you've got 10 prospects that are really highly touted. That likely means that maybe 1 will become an All Star type. Hopefully two will become every day regulars. Hopefully 3 of them can become role players, and then you know 3-4 of them will fizzle before the big leagues... And that's before factoring in the injury factor which is pretty much completely unpredictable.

I have never seen anything like this though.

Steven Buhr · August 20, 2014

A good farm system as mentioned here does NOT translate automatically to a good MLB team in a few years, time for a lot of us to put aside the rose-colored glasses. And time to get realistic about exactly how management intends to cobble together a decent team in the years to come. Commenters in this forum are far too easy on Twins management both in the front office and on the field. And we are even easier on ownership who promised to spend more on the on-field product and have not even come remotely close to delivering on that promise.

We must not read the same comments. I haven't seen much evidence of commenters being "far too easy" on management.

I bet if you polled people here, 9 of 10 would want Gardy gone by next year, if not immediately. Probably 8 of 10 would predict a change. About half would probably express a desire for a change in GM and, even among those who wouldn't argue for a change, there's no shortage of comments critical of Terry Ryan's decisions.

I would agree that there's more balance in comments concerning management than you'd see in Strib comment sections, for example, but I don't think that's bad.

Comments in the minor league section tend to be less critical of Ryan than those in the major league board, probably because Ryan has done a better job of restocking the minor league organization than he has of putting a competitive team together at Target Field.

The money thing and the Pohlads gets plenty of mention, I think, during the offseason when the roster is being assembled for the following year. Once the roster is set, however, the payroll issue is kind of moot. I also think it's natural for payroll to drop during a rebuild, especially a rebuild being overseen by Terry Ryan. It's quite possible that Jim Pohlad would be fine with spending more money to be competitive, but that's just not how Ryan builds a team.

EDIT: I would also add that the relative lack of organization bashing you see among comments at TD is in part due to the moderators having this pesky rule about keeping comments on topic and thus preventing every article/post from turning in to a "fire everyone" bashing.

Edited August 20, 2014 by Steven BUHR

ashbury · August 20, 2014

EDIT: I would also add that the relative lack of organization bashing you see among comments at TD is in part due to the moderators having this pesky rule about keeping comments on topic and thus preventing every article/post from turning in to a "fire everyone" bashing.

Moderator's note: Yep. I'd add that bashing, as such, usually violates respectful dialog, so that might be why you don't see much. Disrespect and trolling/threadjacking are the two most important taboos highlighted in the TD Comment Policy. OTOH intelligent and constructive criticism of the team, even when highly pointed, has never been grounds for moderator action.

Any thread stands to be subjected to somebody wanting to look at things from a "higher level" or other forms of topic drift, and a certain amount of it makes for lively discussion. But a write-up of a day's minor league results doesn't need to become a referendum on the state of the Twins franchise, because that could be repeated every day. I think that point has been reached now; if someone wants to continue the high-level discussion of the Twins organization, please start a new thread.

gunnarthor · August 20, 2014

My point has always been that accumulating prospects is important because so few pan out as hoped.

In other words, let's say you've got 10 prospects that are really highly touted. That likely means that maybe 1 will become an All Star type. Hopefully two will become every day regulars. Hopefully 3 of them can become role players, and then you know 3-4 of them will fizzle before the big leagues... And that's before factoring in the injury factor which is pretty much completely unpredictable.

I have never seen anything like this though.

A while back, I remember looking at every prospect that the Twins had ranked in the top 100 since Ryan became GM. 20% busted - guys like Joe Benson, Matt Moses, Adam Johnson, JD Durbin. But most of them became useful everyday players - ie, solid starters - and about 20% became all stars - guys like Guzman, Mauer, Morneau, Cuddy, Hunter.

The other interesting thing was that, of the busts, most of them were ranked high by reputation (like Johnson or Moses who were both high picks). Only a few, like Benson, worked their way onto the list by putting up good numbers in the minors but couldn't make the move to the majors.

And the last thing to remember is that, while some top prospects won't pan out, some non-prospects will emerge. These guys were never top 100 prospects - Radke, Santana, Mays, Baker, Koskie, Dougie Baseball, AJ Pierzinski, Jacque Jones, Duensing, Dozier. Maybe Danny Santana gets added to that list next year.

jokin · August 20, 2014

A while back, I remember looking at every prospect that the Twins had ranked in the top 100 since Ryan became GM. 20% busted - guys like Joe Benson, Matt Moses, Adam Johnson, JD Durbin. But most of them became useful everyday players - ie, solid starters - and about 20% became all stars - guys like Guzman, Mauer, Morneau, Cuddy, Hunter.

The other interesting thing was that, of the busts, most of them were ranked high by reputation (like Johnson or Moses who were both high picks). Only a few, like Benson, worked their way onto the list by putting up good numbers in the minors but couldn't make the move to the majors.

And the last thing to remember is that, while some top prospects won't pan out, some non-prospects will emerge. These guys were never top 100 prospects - Radke, Santana, Mays, Baker, Koskie, Dougie Baseball, AJ Pierzinski, Jacque Jones, Duensing, Dozier.

Maybe Danny Santana gets added to that list next year.

It really becomes a game-changer if Santana proves to be more than just a flash in the pan and continues his hitting prowess, even at a more sustainable level in 2015, and just as importantly, proves acceptably competent at SS- which is why I think it behooves the Twins to give him the bulk of the starts at the position in September and finally get some consistent big league reps.

Edited August 21, 2014 by jokin

Otto von Ballpark · August 21, 2014

Levi Michael has really reemerged as a prospect. Obviously we have SSS in AA but he's not struggling there and his bb/k numbers have been great all year. He could turn into a decent on-base utility type guy for a MI. Nice to see.

Of course, most of that improvement so far was a BABIP spike in his 3rd season repeating high-A, at an above league average age too. Seems to be off to a good BABIP start at AA, though.

Could Michael be another Beresford?

Is he considered a legit defender at SS/2B?

jokin · August 21, 2014

Of course, most of that improvement so far was a BABIP spike in his 3rd season repeating high-A, at an above league average age too. Seems to be off to a good BABIP start at AA, though.

Could Michael be another Beresford?

Is he considered a legit defender at SS/2B?

As a former #1 pick, I hope he can end up being a little more than Beresford.

Edited August 21, 2014 by jokin

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