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In July, Twins fans watched Byron Buxton and Luis Arraez get elected to the All-Star team, Spencer Steer and Matt Wallner’s representation at the All-Star Futures Game, and too many bad outings by Twins relievers, and starters. However, the minor-league hitters did not disappoint as they continued to dazzle fans with brilliant offensive performances across the organization. Here are the top performers of the month. Previous Hitters of the Month: April: Christian Encarnacion-Strand May: Spencer Steer June: Matt Wallner July: Keep Reading Honorable Mention III: Miguel Sanó; St. Paul Saints & FCL Twins Yes, that Miguel Sano. The one you know and perhaps love. Contrary to popular belief, he does count as a Minor League hitter this month, considering he spent almost the entire month of July in an extended rehab assignment in St. Paul. Prior to his move to the 60-Day IL earlier this week, Sanó seemed ready for his return to the big stage, batting .348/.423/.826 (1.249). Although Sanó struck out 10 times in his 23 at-bats in St. Paul, he put his power on display through three home runs and two doubles. He displayed similar numbers as an FCL Twin, hitting two homers in five games. It's likely that Sanó took his last at-bat as a Twin this month, so let's end this one on a sentimental and much happier note. Honorable Mention II: Yunior Severino; Cedar Rapids Kernels This 22-year-old former Braves prospect didn’t crack the top 20 of our Top Prospects Ranking but his performance did not go unnoticed in July. Severino led the Kernels in home runs with seven and RBI with 23, while batting .303/.446/.682 (1.128). Severino also took a page out of the aforementioned Arraez’ book, drawing almost as many walks than strikeouts (13 BB, 17 SO). As a bonus, he also contributed two doubles and one triple this month. There is no hotter player on the Kernels than Severino. If he can stay healthy, keep your eyes on this switch hitter as another prospect to watch. Honorable Mention I: Chris Williams; Wichita Wind Surge In the year of the long ball, no one did it better this July than catcher Chris Williams. Williams is another non-ranked prospect who had a career month. He led the Wind Surge in homers by hitting 11 in 23 games. Although offense often plays second fiddle to defense for catchers, Williams has defied the norm, hitting .306/.423/.729 (1.152) throughout the month. With the Twins’ need for catching depth, we could see Williams in the big leagues sooner than many other prospects if he can continue producing at this rate offensively. Minor League Hitter of the Month: Christian Encarnacion-Strand; Cedar Rapids Kernels, Wichita Wind Surge Alexa, play a sad song for us as we walk through this one. Although Christian Encarnacion-Strand was promoted mid-month from the Kernels to the Wichita Wind Surge, his hot streak moved with him across the country. This is a repeat win for Encarnacion-Strand, who was also our Minor League Hitter of the Month in April. Encarnacion-Strand’s performances for both teams didn’t go unseen. He was included this week in the Tyler Mahle trade with the Reds. The Twins will be missing out on his raw power and incredible talent and ability to get on base. In Cedar Rapids, Encarnacion-Strand batted .320/.452/.800 with one stolen base. He also drew five walks and hit three home runs in seven games. The 22-year-old was also the Kernels’ OPS leader this month prior to his promotion. As mentioned, his offensive prowess did not stop there. In fact, Encarnacion-Strand somehow surpassed his previous performance after his promotion. In his fourth game with Wichita, Encarnacion-Strand became the first player in Wind Surge history to hit for the cycle. In his 12 games in Wichita, Encarnacion-Strand batted .327/.375/.692 (1.067) with five home runs, besting even his previous performance in Cedar Rapids. According to CBS News, he has been at least 60% better than the average hitter in wRC+ in every league he has ever played in, further marking the loss in prospect depth with his departure. He will be joined by another former Hitter of the Month, Spencer Steer, and Steven Hajjar in the Reds organization. This top prospect will be missed greatly. Share your thoughts on the Hitter of the Month as well as the Honorable Mentions. Who was missed? How would your ranking go for top hitters in July? View full article

Times are desperate when “any NBA team” hits the list

....at least it wasn't a perfect game... THE Gary Sánchez bat flip When you order buffalo wings with ranch but accidentally get blue cheese instead Seeing a beardless Josh Donaldson for the first time Going to the dentist, which is a wholly underrated experience. Every Eddie Rosario error ever made Gotti The week after the Will Smith slap, when no one talked about everything except for the Will Smith slap Whatever this was Losing on Opening Day Going to the game on Dollar Dog Night only to realize Dollar Dog Night is tomorrow Leaving your Eddie Rosario bobblehead at the office before the pandemic only to have it stolen *Sigh* Accidentally doing weird things with your mouth in public because you forgot that you’re not wearing a mask The ACT’s AND the SAT’s Somehow this too, because time heals all wounds View full article

Thank you PopRiveter! I really appreciate it! Your comment was the cherry on top of my day.

Hehehe sorry

You’ve had four days to marinade in every delicious note. With the departures of Taylor Rogers (The Chain), pre-extension Byron Buxton, (Return of the Mack), and Mitch Garver (Shining Star), the best tune is anybody's to take. Author’s Note: you may be wondering, my incredibly strong musical credentials include playing the violin for twelve years, which led me to eventually sit near Twins’ beat writer Do-Hyoung Park when we participated in the same orchestra eleven years ago. He doesn't remember this. 10. Jorge Polanco - “Te Siento en Para” by Liro Shaq, Ceky Viciny, Bulin 47 Is this song actually good, or has it just been around long enough that we can’t live without it? The number of times I’ve hummed the hook to myself in the past few years was enough to secure a spot for this tune, tattooed forever in our eardrums. This music video has a modest 8.8M views on YouTube, with at least half contributed to the Twins’ gameday staff themselves. We do not recommend watching this video at work or in public. 9. Max Kepler - “London Calling” by The Clash This song was re-released twice before Kepler himself was born. This was the highest-charting single by The Clash until their monstrous hit, “Should I Stay or Should I Go.” Rolling Stone has it ranked as one of their “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.” I can’t argue with greatness, but this tune doesn’t have the average fan busting out of their seat quite like some of the others on this list. Or at least this fan, who is under the age of 50 (sorry). The intro is catchy, though. 8. Nick Gordon - “Came and Saw (feat. Rowdy Revel)” by Young Stoner Life & Young Thug Full disclosure, I didn’t know this song or any of these artists before today. However, this made me root for more Gordon at-bats. The background trumpets and strong beat bring any couch potato to their feet. 7. Bailey Ober - “Public Service Announcement” - Jay-Z “Public Service Announcement” was one of the many hits from Jay-Z’s 2003 album, “The Black Album,” which included other hits such as "Encore" and "Dirt off Your Shoulder." As YouTube user NATO FORCE RECORDS said three months ago, “2022 and I’m still here.” Allow Ober to reintroduce himself this season as one of the aces of this pitching staff. 6. Luis Arraez - “Ojos Colorau” by Mora “Ojos Colorau”, which translates to “colored eyes”, starts off as a slow ballad but abruptly picks up the pace after the first chorus. Mora is a young artist, hailing from Bayamón, PR, the hometown of José Berríos. May all of our young rookies who start the season off slowly also abruptly pick up the pace. 5. Josh Winder - “Please Take Me Home” by Blink 182 Like many others born between 1990 and 1998, Winder is an elder millennial who stomped around their bedroom listening to the greatest genre of all time, emo pop. Although this isn’t one of Blink 182’s bigger hits, “Please Take Me Home” has everything you’d need in one stop. With Travis Barker drum riffs and “my” pronounced like “moye”, your head will uncontrollably bop when Winder takes the mound. 4. Caleb Thielbar - “Wake Up” by Rage Against the Machine Great alarm clock song. Great tune all around by an all-time band. Fun fact, this song was never released as a single, but it is usually played as the final song of every Rage Against the Machine show. All Thielbar needs now is a trench coat and black sunglasses. Kashmir is a no-go for that trench coat. 3. Danny Coulombe - “Come and Get Your Love” by Redbone Even if you don’t think you know this one, you absolutely do. This kid-friendly tune will bring a smile to every face in the ballpark, and how can you not love that? Thank you, Danny…and Starlord. 2. Carlos Correa - “25/8” by Bad Bunny Bad Bunny was the most streamed artist on Spotify in the last two years and is one of the best-selling Latin artists of all time. Unfamiliarity with Bad Bunny is a character flaw, and Correa’s pick of "25/8" brings us one of his best sleeper hits. This music video has 88.3M views on YouTube, and while I didn’t do the math, that is probably more views than most of this list combined. 1.5 Chris Archer - “Voodoo Child” by Jimi Hendrix Full disclosure, the announcement of this walk-up song came after I was already done writing this. I couldn’t pick a tune to remove from the list nor disrespect Hendrix. Therefore, I made an executive decision to put him here. Please send all complaints to renabanenacomplaints@gmail.com. Honorable Mentions: Joe Ryan - “Fire on the Mountain” by the Grateful Dead Self-explanatory. Kenta Maeda - “Hikoutei” by King Gnu This song would’ve topped the list if Maeda was in the rotation this season, but it didn’t feel right putting this one in if it couldn’t be heard at a ballpark. Spotify just isn’t the same. Jorge Alcala - “Entro Con la U” by Monkey Black This one has arguably the most catchy beat out of this entire list, but the repetitiveness took it out of the top ten. 1. Tyler Duffey - “Electric Feel” by MGMT I didn’t read into the lyrics until I had to take a deep dive into the list of walk-up songs, and I’d recommend against doing so. Your toes will uncontrollably tap, and your mood will instantaneously lift anytime this tune comes on. It’s the perfect vibe for a Sunday afternoon at the ballpark. Check out the full list of all the Twins’ 2022 Walkup music: And teammates supporting one another is always good! View full article

And you thought Spring Training stats were pointless. However, looking back on some of MLB’s 2021 Opening Day overreactions, the future was painted pretty clearly despite the non-existent sample size. If not, you’ll have some great ammo on this humble writer come September. It’s a win-win for all, minus the Twins today. Stop losing sleep over pitching Out of the 16 pitchers on the roster, only three appeared on last season’s Opening Day roster (Caleb Thielbar, Tyler Duffey, Jorge Alcala). This reformation came quietly, with the Twins choosing to promote from within and to sign smaller names in larger quantities. The biggest changes came from trades, which have already reaped some benefits (@ Twins legend, Gio Urshela). This is the most pitchers that Minnesota has carried on their roster in the past five years, with the Twins opting to add exclusively pitching to their expanded roster. The Twins learned the hard way last season that quantity can override quality. This new approach prevents a single point of failure, such as when the Twins were forced to consistently use Alex Colomé after the mass exodus in the bullpen. It doesn’t hurt that the Twins supplemented quantity without compromising quality. Jhoan Duran’s performance made fans forget about Brusdar Graterol and Taylor Rogers. Jorge Alcala is coming into his own, putting away the Mariners in 13 pitches. Going into tomorrow, the Twins have eight completely fresh bullpen arms, which is equal to the total number of pitchers in the bullpen last season. The pitching may not be the best in the AL Central, but the Twins have taken the necessary steps to prevent a nuclear meltdown. Alex Kirilloff will lead the team in strikeouts This is not necessarily a bad thing, with Shohei Ohtani, Randy Arozarena, and Salvador Perez appearing collectively in the top 10 strikeout leaderboard last season. The Twins’ strikeout leader in Miguel Sanó struck out a career-high 185 times but also walked a career-high 59 times last season. He continues to trend in this direction. Gary Sánchez lived a very similar narrative in New York. However, the young rookie has the most to prove in this group. He was on a hot streak before a season-ending injury last year, with some doubting his impact on the team post-injury. Alex Kirilloff wants to be in the elite class of the Buxtons and Correas of the world, and he has the talent to back it up. There is no doubt that Kirilloff will swing for the fences if given the opportunity. Joe Ryan is the real deal The bats were quiet, but Joe Ryan had a good outing in his first Opening Day start and sixth start overall against a much improved, playoff-hungry Seattle Mariners team. Even though his one mistake to Mitch Haniger cost the game, he worked himself out of every other jam. Outside of pitch count, Ryan’s stats today don’t fall too far behind Robbie Ray’s, with Ray collecting one more strikeout. However, Ryan’s composure falls in the footsteps of the Cy Young winner. One of Ray’s biggest assets is his ability to regain control after a mistake on the mound. On paper, Ryan had the worst start of his career, but his ability to minimize damage and regain control are all signs of a future ace like Ray. Today, Ryan showed maturity in his experience beyond his years. The Front Office (probably) knew what they were doing Although it would’ve been nice to have Mitch Garver or Josh Donaldson’s bat in the lineup today, things have shaken out decently thus far. Gio Urshela was the hero of the game, and Carlos Correa was in mid-season form. Promoting Jhoan Duran has given fans someone exciting to root for. As mentioned above, the brand new pitching staff looks to be an improvement from last season. Even though the season is long and many things can still go wrong, the Front Office had done a passable job of addressing some of the biggest concerns from last year. As Penny Lane once said, “it’s all happening.” …and Jose Berríos getting pulled in the first inning didn’t hurt this argument. Fan-favorite Frankie Montas didn’t fare too well either… View full article

There’s an old Chinese proverb that “a good horse will never return to eat grass it's walked past”. Whoever came up with this proverb clearly didn’t know about the cutthroat free-agent market. After a whirlwind weekend of trades, the Twins are still left with gaps to address in their bullpen. However, there are still many available arms left on the market, many of whom donned Twins uniforms in the past. Here are four free-agent relievers that the Twins should re-sign without having to give up the Trevor Story fund. Tyler Clippard Twins’ Tenure: 2020 Tyler Clippard celebrated his fifteenth season in the majors with the Arizona Diamondbacks last year, where he quietly had one of his best seasons yet. In the most competitive division in baseball, Clippard held a 3.20 ERA, 1.303 WHIP, and 1.9 K/W ratio. At age 37, Clippard is one of the oldest relievers on the market and unlikely to get a long-term contract with any team. This makes him a cost-efficient and effective addition to the team as an alternative to Taylor Rogers or Caleb Thielbar in short relief scenarios. Blake Parker Twins’ Tenure: half of 2019 Blake Parker was designated for assignment during the height of the Bomba Squad era and was quickly picked up by the Philadelphia Phillies. Last season, we briefly saw him in Cleveland’s bullpen, where he was, dare we say, pretty good! It’s as close to a 180 as we’ve seen since his last days in Minnesota. His 3.09 ERA, 142 ERA+, and 2.64 SO/W in 43 innings last season are fairly comparable to Tyler Duffey’s statistics. Similar to Clippard, his age is a disadvantage on paper, but his price tag is unlikely to break the bank. Kohl Stewart Twins’ Tenure: 2018 - 2019 The Twins selected Kohl Stewart fourth overall in the 2013 MLB Draft, over the likes of Tim Anderson, Aaron Judge, and Twins’ legend Isiah Kiner-Falefa. He demolished the Minor Leagues until he was called up to the Majors in 2018, where he fizzled out almost immediately. Things have been challenging for Stewart since his release in 2019. He opted out of the 2020 season due to having Type 1 Diabetes, pitched for two months last year with the Cubs until he was placed on the 60-day IL, and was offered only a minor league assignment with the Cubs. With that said, Kohl Stewart is only 26 years old, making him over a decade younger than the others on this list. With the addition of a Cutter last season, Stewart has a six-pitch repertoire with varying degrees of success. He currently relies heavily on his Sinker, which is by far his least effective pitch. If the Twins can focus Stewart on perfecting his virtually unhittable Slider and newly-added Cutter, Stewart can become a Sergio Romo-esque reliever with a Thielbar-esque story. Due to his recent misfortunes, Stewart is likely also the cheapest addition on this list, Signing Stewart to another Minor League assignment is low-cost with a high upside. Sergio Romo Twins’ Tenure: 2019 - 2020 Speaking of Sergio Romo, this fan-favorite has spent time with almost every team in the league with no signs of stopping. Last season, opponents had a paltry .219 batting average against his infamous Slider. Romo also pitched 61 2/3 innings last year, one inning more than his All-Star season in 2013. Romo is a workhorse who seems to defy time and gravity. His return to Minnesota will be a welcome relief (pun intended) for fans who have lost so many other favorites this past week. Who else would you like to see the Twins reunite with? Leave a comment below! View full article

In the early 2000s, five baseball-lovers met in Saturday detention (sort of) and discovered that they have more in common than they thought. Driven by their love of the sport, these aficionados wanted to create a non-traditional space for the average fan. This led to the inception of Twins Daily in 2012. Over the past decade, this humble space evolved from a small group of writers and readers to a media empire. This is the origin story of how John Bonnes, Parker Hageman, Nick Nelson, Seth Stohs, and Brock Beauchamp turned their simple love of the game into Twins Daily. Starting from the basics, all five of the founders were born and raised around Minnesota. Their childhoods played an influential role in their love of the Twins. Seth: My dad played baseball and softball, and we watched games on TV together sometimes too. Kirby Puckett debuted when I was eight and I was hooked on the Twins for life. Brock: I was ten years old when the Twins made a surprise run at the postseason in 1987. It suddenly became fashionable to like the Twins and I HAD to have one of the new “M” hats the team wore that year (in retrospect, I hate that M design). Nick: My parents definitely instilled a love of the game in me. We used to frequently catch the bus on Bloomington Ave to go catch Twins games at the Metrodome. Baseball has also always been my favorite sport to play — from tee-ball through high school. John: Starting at about seven years old, I started listening to every Twins game on the radio, often while throwing a tennis ball against a garage door to pretend I was fielding it. Parker: My parents would tell me that I had some MLB sticker book as a toddler and they would trot me out as a party favor in front of their friends, and they’d quiz me on team names. Supposedly I had them down pat. Each founder also dabbled in content creation and entrepreneurship throughout their teenage years. Seth wanted to own a sports card shop (although he preferred buying them to selling them), Nick created his own newspaper called “The Daily Mouse”, which he sold door to door, and Brock was always working on a new project, mostly artistic endeavors. Most commonly, each spent innumerable hours consuming Twins coverage, which was limited to mostly newspaper and radio in the 1990s. However, baseball coverage was often a footnote to football and basketball. This lack of content availability led Nick, Seth, Parker, and John to start writing and blogging in the early 2000s. As some of the only independent Twins’ writers, meeting one another was fate waiting to happen. Seth: John and I exchanged some e-mails when I started blogging in May 2003, I believe the first time we met in person at the state fair in maybe 2005 or 2006. We had done some two-minute Twins spots with Rita Maloney on WCCO, and we were invited to their booth at the state fair. Or was it when John let me write for the Gameday magazine and help sell them outside the Metrodome? There were a lot of Twins bloggers and we often linked to each others' sites. Nick: I don’t remember exactly how I met these guys, other than that it happened kind of organically because we were all writing about the team. When John recruited me to write for the Gameday program, sold outside of the Metrodome, that was definitely an inflection point. It made me realize there was a more serious business concept behind this hobby. Parker: I think I started writing about the Twins in 2006 after my first kid was born. I had a lot of time at home and not a lot of money. I’d watch a game and chart stuff like swinging strikes and other things. At some point, I got connected with Seth and Aaron Gleeman. John’s TwinsGeek site linked to other Twins blogs, so I remember reaching out to him to have him post mine. Bonnes asked me to write an article for a GameDay program (my Mom took a copy of that article and had it framed, it felt like such a huge deal then). I know there were bloggers getting together in various capacities, but I remember pushing for us to get together to drink beer and watch games. John: I started writing about the Twins in 2002 and at the time, nobody else was really doing that locally. I remember the rest of us getting together kind of organically. Someone would start a Twins blog and we would reach out and keep in touch online. The outing that we decided to really work together was arranged by Parker in 2007. Brock: In 2005 or so, I launched the Battle Your Tail Off forum. From that forum, I met Nick Nelson and was later introduced to John, Seth, and Parker when we started talking about merging my forum into Twins Daily, which had just launched a month or two prior. Although the spark was instantaneous, it took another five years and more beers to put their brands together into one. Throughout the 2000s, each individual grew their own name and following in the Twins’ sphere. During this, the idea of a collaborative effort started to float around. Parker: We had a couple of group projects including an Offseason Primer ebook and the Star Tribune’s TwinsCentric blog that we had worked together on, but we also kept our separate blogs. It was like a trial run to see if we could all function together. John: Seth and Nick talked about how we came together to produce some content, but that wasn’t when we decided to do the website. Between 2007 and 2011, we did produce a lot together: pdfs that we sold directly, some hard copy annual programs that we produced for Maple Street Press, and also we often copied and pasted stories from our individual blogs to a blog we had at StarTribune.com. But the site wasn’t a thought until 2011. Nick: We went to the Swarzak game, and wandered over to nearby Dan Kelly’s Pub for postgame drinks, where we started hashing out ideas for a collective plan to move forward. The rest, as they say, is history. Parker: If you want to make it clean, sure, it was the Swarzak debut game at the Metrodome. We had a small group of bloggers and we went out afterward and did a blood oath to put together a daily Twins website. John: Fox Sports had asked us to combine our sites, but it was subscription-based site, and that made us a little uncomfortable. So I researched options. Rob Litt, who runs GopherHole.com, tutored me in running a site based purely on ad revenue. I found a software package that could do a lot of what we wanted so for about $1,300. So we sold a pdf, used all the money to buy the software, and I programmed the modifications. We tested it, set up a writing schedule for the four of us, and launched it when pitchers and catchers reported. And like the Big Bang Theory, Twins Daily was born. While the first name iteration suggested was TwinsCentric, Nick (or Seth, up for debate) ultimately came up with the catchy moniker used today. Right away, the website took off like wildfire. Just in the first week, Twins Daily built an impressive following. In the first five weeks, there were 1,100 registered users, with nearly 500 regularly contributing through discussion threads and posts, and over half a million page views. For a small-market team with hobby writers, this was an unprecedented feat. Over the first year, organic growth continued, and the site was redesigned for better user experiences. Brock: A funny story… the four of them were *very* proud of the website. I hated it, heh. In fact, I was so aggravated just looking at it that I redesigned their logo without asking (I didn’t even know John, Parker, or Seth at this point), sent it to Nick, and basically said “get that da**ed ugly thing off the site and replace it with this”. Right off the bat, my first large project was redesigning the site and adding new features. As the community grew, a fan-favorite event emerged. John: The first Winter Meltdown was unofficial, where we just bought a keg at Hubert’s. That was Parker’s idea, and I think it was kind of a shared event with DiamondCentric, which was his (and Brock’s) company that made t-shirts. We were shocked 100+ people showed up, including a lot of media. So the next year, we had it more formally, called it the first annual, and included Gleeman & The Geek. It was at Mason’s Barre, which is now The Gold Room. The first speaker was Scott Erickson, which ended up being a legendary night because he stayed and hung out with everyone for several hours. I think we had about 200 people, which packed the place. Although the Winter Meltdowns and the website grew in popularity, there were ebbs and flows along the way. Not surprisingly, they often coincided with the success of the Twins. One of the highest points in viewership and engagement was after the 2019 Bomba Squad season. However, a small global pandemic put a wrench into things, and the drop was precipitous. Fans had much more important things to worry about. Ad revenue, traffic, and morale came to a screeching halt. For any business, this is detrimental. The once-flourishing community was lifeless. However, the Twins Daily writers and founders rallied. The writers continued to produce daily content, and Seth, Nick, John, and Brock continue to find innovative ways to rally the community. From virtual interviews to TikToks, these entrepreneurs had to pivot to navigate the unknown. Regardless of how dire the situation got, they never stopped paying their writers for their contributions. Although monetization is a key challenge, providing a springboard for writers is at the forefront of the founders’ goals. Although the current state of baseball is dire, the Fab Five have a lot to be proud of with what they’ve built in the past ten years. When asked whether Twins Daily is what they envisioned ten years ago, it was a resounding no across the board. None of them predicted that Twins Daily would become not only a large, passionate community but also a legitimate business instead of a modest side hustle. To close, for any fans of the podcast How I Built This by Guy Raz, each founder was asked how much of their success can be attributed to luck and skill. They all agreed that while luck played a factor, a lot of hustle and follow through contributed to the creation of the Twins Daily that we all love so much. Thank you for reading, and thank you John, Nick, Parker, Brock, and Seth for all that you’ve done. View full article