Bob Sacamento

With camp officially starting in just a couple of days, more and more players are arriving (Milone, Rosario, Benson just to name a few) thus more and more is going on in the backfields. Infielders/Pitchers could be seen fielding grounders on the half field while pitchers were throwing under Hammond Stadium, this day however I was not pulling myself away from the Sano and Arcia outfield drills and workouts on Field Four. It was a definitely a sight to see, defensive outfield drills followed by batting practice, a little over three hours condensed into less than 20 minutes of videos.
The two slugging outfielders, Arcia and Sano, took to the field around 9am and started off with just some simple long tossing. From 120 feet out Miggy shows off a strong accurate arm but as Arcia keeps backing up and increasing their distance, Sano starts to break out the crow hop early to get the ball to Arcia.
Afterwards, Coach Lepel started rolling balls to the outfielders and having them throw it back to the cutoff man at second. It’s one of the more basic fundamentals that all outfielders know how to do to prevent a hitter from taking an extrabase. From the get go Sano was having obvious difficulties especially when compared to Arcia. Miggy was repeatedly charging and throwing as if he was a third baseman. It got to the point where Coach Lepel called the outfielders in to talk to Sano about his technique and even Arcia gave some advice. They returned to the field, where it was solely Sano working over and over again on the technique until he started showing improvement.
The next drill up was a little more challenging in a roller to the glove side then spin and throw to hit the cutoff man. In this task Miguel performed better which I take as he has done it before as an infielder. Next up flyball over the shoulder, spin and throw.
Then Lepel started throwing flyballs straight on with the two throwing to the cutoff man. Once again a basic fundamental that outfielders know how to do: position yourself with forward motion on a catch. Again Sano had issues often catching the ball behind him. Lastly, Sano, Arcia, and Jorge Fernandez took flyballs from a jugs machine in rightfield with the wind blowing in and gusts of 30 mph. In Leftfield, Eddie Rosario, Adam Brett Walker, and Travis Harrison. In Centerfield, Joe Benson, Tyree Davis, Darin Mastroianni.
 

Other Sano notes: there were numerous times Sano could be see massaging and stretching his throwing arm and was asked a few times by Lepel if he was okay. Sano likes to hit, I counted three times in the hour plus of defensive drills where he asked Lepel when are we hitting. Smartly, Lepel used it as a carrot with Baki (sp?) telling him after this drill, nope after this drill. As anyone can see Sano has ALOT to still LEARN to be ready for the outfield on Opening Day. So this puts to rest that Miguel has been practicing his outfield drills this offseason.
 

Finally, it was Sano’s favorite time, hitting in the cage where he did not disappoint. Lifting a few balls but never clearing the fences with the strong wind. Sano likes to hit so much, he jumped Rosario in the batting order. Talk about a murder’s row of a batting practice lineup: Arcia, Sano, Park, Rosario followed by AB Walker, Harrsion, Buck Britton, Mastroianni. Even with all those power bats, Byung Ho Park was the only one to lift a ball through the 30mph gusts blowing in from RF to take it out of the park.
Notes on Arcia, he looked good in the field and if I hadn’t seen him prior I’d think it was more due to fielding with the extremely raw Sano but Oswaldo has worked hard on his defensive game. Namely that first step and working on his reads. On of my favorite things to watch is while he shags in BP, he’s actually putting forth effort runnings routes. In one instance, a flyball off Britton’s bat, Arcia blazed past Sano and caught the would be gapper.
 

 

 

With camp officially starting in just a couple of days, more and more players are arriving (Milone, Rosario, Benson just to name a few) thus more and more is going on in the backfields. Infielders/Pitchers could be seen fielding grounders on the half field while pitchers were throwing under Hammond Stadium, this day however I was not pulling myself away from the Sano and Arcia outfield drills and workouts on Field Four. It was a definitely a sight to see, defensive outfield drills followed by batting practice, a little over three hours condensed into less than 20 minutes of videos.
The two slugging outfielders, Arcia and Sano, took to the field around 9am and started off with just some simple long tossing. From 120 feet out Miggy shows off a strong accurate arm but as Arcia keeps backing up and increasing their distance, Sano starts to break out the crow hop early to get the ball to Arcia.
Afterwards, Coach Lepel started rolling balls to the outfielders and having them throw it back to the cutoff man at second. It’s one of the more basic fundamentals that all outfielders know how to do to prevent a hitter from taking an extrabase. From the get go Sano was having obvious difficulties especially when compared to Arcia. Miggy was repeatedly charging and throwing as if he was a third baseman. It got to the point where Coach Lepel called the outfielders in to talk to Sano about his technique and even Arcia gave some advice. They returned to the field, where it was solely Sano working over and over again on the technique until he started showing improvement.
The next drill up was a little more challenging in a roller to the glove side then spin and throw to hit the cutoff man. In this task Miguel performed better which I take as he has done it before as an infielder. Next up flyball over the shoulder, spin and throw.
Then Lepel started throwing flyballs straight on with the two throwing to the cutoff man. Once again a basic fundamental that outfielders know how to do: position yourself with forward motion on a catch. Again Sano had issues often catching the ball behind him. Lastly, Sano, Arcia, and Jorge Fernandez took flyballs from a jugs machine in rightfield with the wind blowing in and gusts of 30 mph. In Leftfield, Eddie Rosario, Adam Brett Walker, and Travis Harrison. In Centerfield, Joe Benson, Tyree Davis, Darin Mastroianni.
 

Other Sano notes: there were numerous times Sano could be see massaging and stretching his throwing arm and was asked a few times by Lepel if he was okay. Sano likes to hit, I counted three times in the hour plus of defensive drills where he asked Lepel when are we hitting. Smartly, Lepel used it as a carrot with Baki (sp?) telling him after this drill, nope after this drill. As anyone can see Sano has ALOT to still LEARN to be ready for the outfield on Opening Day. So this puts to rest that Miguel has been practicing his outfield drills this offseason.
 

Finally, it was Sano’s favorite time, hitting in the cage where he did not disappoint. Lifting a few balls but never clearing the fences with the strong wind. Sano likes to hit so much, he jumped Rosario in the batting order. Talk about a murder’s row of a batting practice lineup: Arcia, Sano, Park, Rosario followed by AB Walker, Harrsion, Buck Britton, Mastroianni. Even with all those power bats, Byung Ho Park was the only one to lift a ball through the 30mph gusts blowing in from RF to take it out of the park.
Notes on Arcia, he looked good in the field and if I hadn’t seen him prior I’d think it was more due to fielding with the extremely raw Sano but Oswaldo has worked hard on his defensive game. Namely that first step and working on his reads. On of my favorite things to watch is while he shags in BP, he’s actually putting forth effort runnings routes. In one instance, a flyball off Britton’s bat, Arcia blazed past Sano and caught the would be gapper.
 

 

 

With camp officially starting in just a couple of days, more and more players are arriving (Milone, Rosario, Benson just to name a few) thus more and more is going on in the backfields. Infielders/Pitchers could be seen fielding grounders on the half field while pitchers were throwing under Hammond Stadium, this day however I was not pulling myself away from the Sano and Arcia outfield drills and workouts on Field Four. It was a definitely a sight to see, defensive outfield drills followed by batting practice, a little over three hours condensed into less than 20 minutes of videos.
The two slugging outfielders, Arcia and Sano, took to the field around 9am and started off with just some simple long tossing. From 120 feet out Miggy shows off a strong accurate arm but as Arcia keeps backing up and increasing their distance, Sano starts to break out the crow hop early to get the ball to Arcia.
Afterwards, Coach Lepel started rolling balls to the outfielders and having them throw it back to the cutoff man at second. It’s one of the more basic fundamentals that all outfielders know how to do to prevent a hitter from taking an extrabase. From the get go Sano was having obvious difficulties especially when compared to Arcia. Miggy was repeatedly charging and throwing as if he was a third baseman. It got to the point where Coach Lepel called the outfielders in to talk to Sano about his technique and even Arcia gave some advice. They returned to the field, where it was solely Sano working over and over again on the technique until he started showing improvement.
The next drill up was a little more challenging in a roller to the glove side then spin and throw to hit the cutoff man. In this task Miguel performed better which I take as he has done it before as an infielder. Next up flyball over the shoulder, spin and throw.
Then Lepel started throwing flyballs straight on with the two throwing to the cutoff man. Once again a basic fundamental that outfielders know how to do: position yourself with forward motion on a catch. Again Sano had issues often catching the ball behind him. Lastly, Sano, Arcia, and Jorge Fernandez took flyballs from a jugs machine in rightfield with the wind blowing in and gusts of 30 mph. In Leftfield, Eddie Rosario, Adam Brett Walker, and Travis Harrison. In Centerfield, Joe Benson, Tyree Davis, Darin Mastroianni.
 

Other Sano notes: there were numerous times Sano could be see massaging and stretching his throwing arm and was asked a few times by Lepel if he was okay. Sano likes to hit, I counted three times in the hour plus of defensive drills where he asked Lepel when are we hitting. Smartly, Lepel used it as a carrot with Baki (sp?) telling him after this drill, nope after this drill. As anyone can see Sano has ALOT to still LEARN to be ready for the outfield on Opening Day. So this puts to rest that Miguel has been practicing his outfield drills this offseason.
 

Finally, it was Sano’s favorite time, hitting in the cage where he did not disappoint. Lifting a few balls but never clearing the fences with the strong wind. Sano likes to hit so much, he jumped Rosario in the batting order. Talk about a murder’s row of a batting practice lineup: Arcia, Sano, Park, Rosario followed by AB Walker, Harrsion, Buck Britton, Mastroianni. Even with all those power bats, Byung Ho Park was the only one to lift a ball through the 30mph gusts blowing in from RF to take it out of the park.
Notes on Arcia, he looked good in the field and if I hadn’t seen him prior I’d think it was more due to fielding with the extremely raw Sano but Oswaldo has worked hard on his defensive game. Namely that first step and working on his reads. On of my favorite things to watch is while he shags in BP, he’s actually putting forth effort runnings routes. In one instance, a flyball off Britton’s bat, Arcia blazed past Sano and caught the would be gapper.
 

 

 

With camp officially starting in just a couple of days, more and more players are arriving (Milone, Rosario, Benson just to name a few) thus more and more is going on in the backfields. Infielders/Pitchers could be seen fielding grounders on the half field while pitchers were throwing under Hammond Stadium, this day however I was not pulling myself away from the Sano and Arcia outfield drills and workouts on Field Four. It was a definitely a sight to see, defensive outfield drills followed by batting practice, a little over three hours condensed into less than 20 minutes of videos.
The two slugging outfielders, Arcia and Sano, took to the field around 9am and started off with just some simple long tossing. From 120 feet out Miggy shows off a strong accurate arm but as Arcia keeps backing up and increasing their distance, Sano starts to break out the crow hop early to get the ball to Arcia.
Afterwards, Coach Lepel started rolling balls to the outfielders and having them throw it back to the cutoff man at second. It’s one of the more basic fundamentals that all outfielders know how to do to prevent a hitter from taking an extrabase. From the get go Sano was having obvious difficulties especially when compared to Arcia. Miggy was repeatedly charging and throwing as if he was a third baseman. It got to the point where Coach Lepel called the outfielders in to talk to Sano about his technique and even Arcia gave some advice. They returned to the field, where it was solely Sano working over and over again on the technique until he started showing improvement.
The next drill up was a little more challenging in a roller to the glove side then spin and throw to hit the cutoff man. In this task Miguel performed better which I take as he has done it before as an infielder. Next up flyball over the shoulder, spin and throw.
Then Lepel started throwing flyballs straight on with the two throwing to the cutoff man. Once again a basic fundamental that outfielders know how to do: position yourself with forward motion on a catch. Again Sano had issues often catching the ball behind him. Lastly, Sano, Arcia, and Jorge Fernandez took flyballs from a jugs machine in rightfield with the wind blowing in and gusts of 30 mph. In Leftfield, Eddie Rosario, Adam Brett Walker, and Travis Harrison. In Centerfield, Joe Benson, Tyree Davis, Darin Mastroianni.
 

Other Sano notes: there were numerous times Sano could be see massaging and stretching his throwing arm and was asked a few times by Lepel if he was okay. Sano likes to hit, I counted three times in the hour plus of defensive drills where he asked Lepel when are we hitting. Smartly, Lepel used it as a carrot with Baki (sp?) telling him after this drill, nope after this drill. As anyone can see Sano has ALOT to still LEARN to be ready for the outfield on Opening Day. So this puts to rest that Miguel has been practicing his outfield drills this offseason.
 

Finally, it was Sano’s favorite time, hitting in the cage where he did not disappoint. Lifting a few balls but never clearing the fences with the strong wind. Sano likes to hit so much, he jumped Rosario in the batting order. Talk about a murder’s row of a batting practice lineup: Arcia, Sano, Park, Rosario followed by AB Walker, Harrsion, Buck Britton, Mastroianni. Even with all those power bats, Byung Ho Park was the only one to lift a ball through the 30mph gusts blowing in from RF to take it out of the park.
Notes on Arcia, he looked good in the field and if I hadn’t seen him prior I’d think it was more due to fielding with the extremely raw Sano but Oswaldo has worked hard on his defensive game. Namely that first step and working on his reads. On of my favorite things to watch is while he shags in BP, he’s actually putting forth effort runnings routes. In one instance, a flyball off Britton’s bat, Arcia blazed past Sano and caught the would be gapper.
 

 

 

Once again, the Twins and Red Sox took to the diamonds for Instructional League ball. Yet there was a new giddiness in the air as the League is done as of Tuesday and a good deal of these players will head home for the winter. Everyone already has their plans set and everyone has something different in store. Still for now there was baseball to be played and talent to be evaluated. This weekend the Twins front office were visible in the stands with GM Terry Ryan, Special Assistant Bill Smith, Scouting Director Deron Johnson, and head of Player Personnel Mike Radcliffe. The Red Sox top brass was also in the stands with GM Dave Dombrowski being the most noticeable.
 
 

 
On the rubber for the Twins Friday was Williams Ramirez who was facing one of the Red Sox's top pitching prospects in Michael Kopech. The two matched each other pitch for pitch in the first two innings before Ramirez gave up a couple hits and a run. For the duration of Instructs, the Twins have either let their starter go two or four innings dependent upon their seasonal workload. Ramirez went 4 IP and was relieved by Logan Lombana (1 IP), John Curtiss (2 IP), and Yorman Landa (1 IP). Landa once again was 93-95 mph spotting his fastball on both corners while breaking off a couple decent sliders.
 

 
So I know this might sound like a broken record but Nick "Flash Jr" Gordon is really good not only in the field but at the plate. In the field, he showed slick fielding going far into the hole jumping and showing off a strong accurate throw to first. Later in the game, he charged a soft grounder barehanded and threw out the runner while never getting his feet under him. At the plate, he hit the ball hard and up the middle with a compact stroke that is designed to take advantage of his speed. Additionally, he worked on his bunting skills. This wasn't a sacrifice style bunt yet rather a run and tap ala Otis Nixon/Brett Butler style. After the game, I asked Gordon about his bunt earlier, he said that's part of his game that he really wants to improve and feels it adds another part to his game. He plans on working on it this offseason with his brother who's one of the better bunters in baseball today and has been coached by some of the best. Another hitter, I'm continually pleased to see is Lamonte Wade with his beautiful lefthanded swing and advanced approach at the plate. He really has some good at bats.
 
Apparently, Gonsalves last outing was Thursday where he went two innings and he said he felt good but was excited to shut it down for the rest of the year. As he said this was the most he's ever threw and by the end of the regular season he was tiring, throwing in Instructs just added even more fuel to the fire. Also throwing on Thursday was Fernando Romero who went two innings hitting 93-95 mph.
 
 

 
In side notes, 2015 draftee and reliever Rich Condeelis was sidelined with several stitches in his chin as he was hit by a ball thrown by fellow pitcher Zach Tillery. Unlike most of the pitchers in camp, Condeelis is going to continue to throw for another month or so to stretch out his arm. Unbeknowst to me, Rich has only been pitching for the last 6-7 months as he spent much of his career as a first baseman. The organization is supportive of his sidearm delivery and will let him continue to throw in that fashion. As it turns out, the player I've been sitting and talking Spanglish with over the entire summer was Fernando Romero (he would never give his name other than "Paul"), he saved me a front row seat next to Deron Johnson and Mike Radcliff so that was nice of him. He absolutely hates his picture taken and thought I was a scout for the beginning of the GCL season.
 
 

 
On Saturday, lefty Sam Clay started for the Twins going 4 innings, his fastball was continually 89-91 mph maxing out at 92 mph with a slider around 76-78 mph. I was sitting next to two AL East Scouts (one amateur, one pro), and they were comparing notes on Clay. Last year, Clay's fastball was continually 92-95 mph when he first joined the Twins. They jokingly said that's the Twin's for you, I asked them what they meant and they said happens alot with Twins pitchers. Clay was relieved by an inning of Wilfredy Liranzo and Brandon Poulson for an inning before the game was called due to rain. Poulson threw one slider, the rest were fastballs at 90-95 mph averaging 93.
 

 
In the box, Tyree Davis got some of his first game action of the 2015 season. Tyree has really bulked up, adding 20 lbs of muscle over the year as he's been regulated to much of the weight room due to his elbow injury. He luckily avoided surgery and is said that it feels 100%. He wants to continue his season in the Caribbean but is unsure if the team will give the okay. Also getting some at bats was former first rounder Levi Michael, who looked very rusty out on the field. Levi's a great guy and I'll always root for him but his baseball career is looking bleek.
 
 

Overall, it was a great summer of the GCL and Instructs, the Twins wrap up their season hosting the Orioles on Monday and visiting the Red Sox on Tuesday. Til February!! In the meantime, I'll be getting my baseball fix and a foothold on the 2016 draft with all the showcases in South Florida.

It was another beautiful weekend for baseball in sunny Southwest Florida. The baseball gods were smiling down as there was a rematch of last weekends pitching prospect phenoms of Stephen Gonsalves of the Twins vs 17 year old wunderkid Anderson Espinoza. Before the matchup, I got a little video of Gonsalves warming up in the bullpen where he appeared a little wild. After his two innings of pitching, where he showed off his plus changeup that upticked his 90-92 mph fast and the feel of a good curveball (~74 mph). When I asked about his bullpen warmups, he said he wasn't feeling the slider so scraped it for the outing. When asked to order his comfortability with his pitches Stephen said usually it's a FB/CH/SL/CV order as his curveball is a fourth pitch offering that he's working on to give the hitters another look. As soon as Instructional League is over with Gonsalves said he'll shut it down pitching wise until January when he'll start long tossing and by February he'll be ready for his bullpen sessions, in the meantime he'll be ramping up his workout schedule.
 

Making an appearance over the weekend was Twins' masher Adam Brett Walker II, he's only gotten bigger since I saw him in Spring Training, truly a man-child. Walker was impressive at the plate working deep counts, making pitchers work while taking his big cuts. Adam left the game on Friday after four at bats with slight soreness in his wrist but was good enough to play on Saturday while maning leftfield at Fenway South.
He got to face some advanced pitching in BoSox prospects Anderson Espinoza, Logan Allen, and Michael Kopech before he heads out to the Arizona Fall League to face even better competition.  
Another prospect in town getting some reps before the AFL was righty power reliever Jake Reed. Reed looked real good at times in his one inning outing showing off a nasty slider with a hard 95mph fastball yet having a little command issues.
 

Yet one Twins prospect got the lion's share of the praise from the 20 or so scouts that were on hand this weekend, and that would be SS Nick Gordon. Gordon sat out on Friday but played SS and batted second on Saturday. The scouts I talked to raved about Nick, one AL East scout echoed the same sentiments I heard from BoSox coach Joe Oliver in that Nick's going to be better than his older brother Dee. The comp that the scout put on him might be unfair but should make Twins' fan overjoyed was that of pinstripe legend Derek Jeter. The scout elaborated for me that Gordon has all the tools across the board (he's going to stay at SS, can get on base, can steal, can hit and has some pop that he'll grow into), has great leadership, and great overall makeup.
 

Other tidbits from Instructs, Mike Cederoth has a very "unique" delivery if you've never seen it, where most pitchers push off the rubber, Mike takes a little hop and actually pushes off an inch or two in front of the rubber. The Red Sox players/coaches were shouting from the bench that "he's cheating" but the umpire said he was within the guidelines of "the book". By doing so, Cederoth is able to increase his extension and release point which in turn makes that 93 mph look like it's 95 mph.
 

Lamonte Wade shows an advanced approach at the plate, working counts and puts good wood on the ball often; keep on eye on him. Tyree Davis is itching to get on the ballfield and from the sounds of it might be ready for the last week of Instructs. If you don't know, Davis injured his elbow and elected for rehab for the torn joint instead of surgery. Tyree has bulked up while he's been off the field, adding 20 lb of muscle; he wants to play winter ball but is unsure if he'll get the okay from management. Yorman Landa saw some game action that had his fastball at 94-95mph and threw for two innings. Pitchers on Friday included Stephen Gonsalves (2IP start), Yorman Landa (2IP), Alex Robinson, Logan Lombana, and Johan Quezada. Pitchers on Saturday included Sam Clay (4IP start), Brandon Poulson, Jake Reed, Mike Theofanopoulos, Mike Cederoth, and Rich Condeelis.
 
I'll be back next weekend as the Twins wrap up their Instructional League play and players either head home for the winter or off to Arizona, Mexico, Austraila, or the Caribbean for more playing time.

It was another beautiful weekend for baseball in sunny Southwest Florida. The baseball gods were smiling down as there was a rematch of last weekends pitching prospect phenoms of Stephen Gonsalves of the Twins vs 17 year old wunderkid Anderson Espinoza. Before the matchup, I got a little video of Gonsalves warming up in the bullpen where he appeared a little wild. After his two innings of pitching, where he showed off his plus changeup that upticked his 90-92 mph fast and the feel of a good curveball (~74 mph). When I asked about his bullpen warmups, he said he wasn't feeling the slider so scraped it for the outing. When asked to order his comfortability with his pitches Stephen said usually it's a FB/CH/SL/CV order as his curveball is a fourth pitch offering that he's working on to give the hitters another look. As soon as Instructional League is over with Gonsalves said he'll shut it down pitching wise until January when he'll start long tossing and by February he'll be ready for his bullpen sessions, in the meantime he'll be ramping up his workout schedule.
 

Making an appearance over the weekend was Twins' masher Adam Brett Walker II, he's only gotten bigger since I saw him in Spring Training, truly a man-child. Walker was impressive at the plate working deep counts, making pitchers work while taking his big cuts. Adam left the game on Friday after four at bats with slight soreness in his wrist but was good enough to play on Saturday while maning leftfield at Fenway South.
He got to face some advanced pitching in BoSox prospects Anderson Espinoza, Logan Allen, and Michael Kopech before he heads out to the Arizona Fall League to face even better competition.  
Another prospect in town getting some reps before the AFL was righty power reliever Jake Reed. Reed looked real good at times in his one inning outing showing off a nasty slider with a hard 95mph fastball yet having a little command issues.
 

Yet one Twins prospect got the lion's share of the praise from the 20 or so scouts that were on hand this weekend, and that would be SS Nick Gordon. Gordon sat out on Friday but played SS and batted second on Saturday. The scouts I talked to raved about Nick, one AL East scout echoed the same sentiments I heard from BoSox coach Joe Oliver in that Nick's going to be better than his older brother Dee. The comp that the scout put on him might be unfair but should make Twins' fan overjoyed was that of pinstripe legend Derek Jeter. The scout elaborated for me that Gordon has all the tools across the board (he's going to stay at SS, can get on base, can steal, can hit and has some pop that he'll grow into), has great leadership, and great overall makeup.
 

Other tidbits from Instructs, Mike Cederoth has a very "unique" delivery if you've never seen it, where most pitchers push off the rubber, Mike takes a little hop and actually pushes off an inch or two in front of the rubber. The Red Sox players/coaches were shouting from the bench that "he's cheating" but the umpire said he was within the guidelines of "the book". By doing so, Cederoth is able to increase his extension and release point which in turn makes that 93 mph look like it's 95 mph.
 

Lamonte Wade shows an advanced approach at the plate, working counts and puts good wood on the ball often; keep on eye on him. Tyree Davis is itching to get on the ballfield and from the sounds of it might be ready for the last week of Instructs. If you don't know, Davis injured his elbow and elected for rehab for the torn joint instead of surgery. Tyree has bulked up while he's been off the field, adding 20 lb of muscle; he wants to play winter ball but is unsure if he'll get the okay from management. Yorman Landa saw some game action that had his fastball at 94-95mph and threw for two innings. Pitchers on Friday included Stephen Gonsalves (2IP start), Yorman Landa (2IP), Alex Robinson, Logan Lombana, and Johan Quezada. Pitchers on Saturday included Sam Clay (4IP start), Brandon Poulson, Jake Reed, Mike Theofanopoulos, Mike Cederoth, and Rich Condeelis.
 
I'll be back next weekend as the Twins wrap up their Instructional League play and players either head home for the winter or off to Arizona, Mexico, Austraila, or the Caribbean for more playing time.

It was another beautiful weekend for baseball in sunny Southwest Florida. The baseball gods were smiling down as there was a rematch of last weekends pitching prospect phenoms of Stephen Gonsalves of the Twins vs 17 year old wunderkid Anderson Espinoza. Before the matchup, I got a little video of Gonsalves warming up in the bullpen where he appeared a little wild. After his two innings of pitching, where he showed off his plus changeup that upticked his 90-92 mph fast and the feel of a good curveball (~74 mph). When I asked about his bullpen warmups, he said he wasn't feeling the slider so scraped it for the outing. When asked to order his comfortability with his pitches Stephen said usually it's a FB/CH/SL/CV order as his curveball is a fourth pitch offering that he's working on to give the hitters another look. As soon as Instructional League is over with Gonsalves said he'll shut it down pitching wise until January when he'll start long tossing and by February he'll be ready for his bullpen sessions, in the meantime he'll be ramping up his workout schedule.
 

Making an appearance over the weekend was Twins' masher Adam Brett Walker II, he's only gotten bigger since I saw him in Spring Training, truly a man-child. Walker was impressive at the plate working deep counts, making pitchers work while taking his big cuts. Adam left the game on Friday after four at bats with slight soreness in his wrist but was good enough to play on Saturday while maning leftfield at Fenway South.
He got to face some advanced pitching in BoSox prospects Anderson Espinoza, Logan Allen, and Michael Kopech before he heads out to the Arizona Fall League to face even better competition.  
Another prospect in town getting some reps before the AFL was righty power reliever Jake Reed. Reed looked real good at times in his one inning outing showing off a nasty slider with a hard 95mph fastball yet having a little command issues.
 

Yet one Twins prospect got the lion's share of the praise from the 20 or so scouts that were on hand this weekend, and that would be SS Nick Gordon. Gordon sat out on Friday but played SS and batted second on Saturday. The scouts I talked to raved about Nick, one AL East scout echoed the same sentiments I heard from BoSox coach Joe Oliver in that Nick's going to be better than his older brother Dee. The comp that the scout put on him might be unfair but should make Twins' fan overjoyed was that of pinstripe legend Derek Jeter. The scout elaborated for me that Gordon has all the tools across the board (he's going to stay at SS, can get on base, can steal, can hit and has some pop that he'll grow into), has great leadership, and great overall makeup.
 

Other tidbits from Instructs, Mike Cederoth has a very "unique" delivery if you've never seen it, where most pitchers push off the rubber, Mike takes a little hop and actually pushes off an inch or two in front of the rubber. The Red Sox players/coaches were shouting from the bench that "he's cheating" but the umpire said he was within the guidelines of "the book". By doing so, Cederoth is able to increase his extension and release point which in turn makes that 93 mph look like it's 95 mph.
 

Lamonte Wade shows an advanced approach at the plate, working counts and puts good wood on the ball often; keep on eye on him. Tyree Davis is itching to get on the ballfield and from the sounds of it might be ready for the last week of Instructs. If you don't know, Davis injured his elbow and elected for rehab for the torn joint instead of surgery. Tyree has bulked up while he's been off the field, adding 20 lb of muscle; he wants to play winter ball but is unsure if he'll get the okay from management. Yorman Landa saw some game action that had his fastball at 94-95mph and threw for two innings. Pitchers on Friday included Stephen Gonsalves (2IP start), Yorman Landa (2IP), Alex Robinson, Logan Lombana, and Johan Quezada. Pitchers on Saturday included Sam Clay (4IP start), Brandon Poulson, Jake Reed, Mike Theofanopoulos, Mike Cederoth, and Rich Condeelis.
 
I'll be back next weekend as the Twins wrap up their Instructional League play and players either head home for the winter or off to Arizona, Mexico, Austraila, or the Caribbean for more playing time.

It's that time of year again, where the minor league season is winding down but new life and a new season are just around the corner. Just like adolescence, the Instructional League is often an awkward yet still pivotal period in a player's developmental process.
 
The bulk of the players that are in the FIL are new to the organization, they were taken in the 2015 draft and just got their feet wet in the GCL and Short Season Elizabeton. Pretty much they were coached on the fly, now in the FIL the coaching staff gets to work in-depth with the players and their deficiencies. Of the 44 players in camp, 16 of them were drafted this year.

 
The new draftees aren't the only ones in camp. The rest of the roster is comprised of players who missed time due to injuries, players getting ready for AFL/Winterball, players working on new positions, pitchers working on new pitches then there are the headscratchers. A player who had a great season, reached career highs, has been to Instructs before and seemingly doesn't have much to work on.
 
Over the past four seasons of watching Instructs, I've seen the light bulb go on in quite a few players and make amazing strides in their game. I've seen Jose Berrios further develop his changeup, I've seen "roving coach" Paul Molitor show off his abilities to inspire, I've seen Derek Rodriguez the hitter and Derek Rodriguez the pitcher, I've seen Adam Brett Walker work on his bunting, and it goes on and on.

 
During the past week, I was fortunate enough to see a Camp Day in addition to two games against the Red Sox. Camp Days are often various offensive, defensive, baserunning and pitching drill sessions broken up into groups sets. When I showed up the offensive players in camp (minus a few playoff bound team players) were participating in various slide drills. Instructor Joel Lepel was in charge and had Jermaine Palacios as his lead example for every technique. Lepel always picks a few players out and razzes them more than others. The day's pick was Kolten Kendrick or as Joel referred to him as "Cottontop", the meaning could be several different choices but we'll just go with Kolten's hair looks like a red cottonball.
 

The slide difficulty slowly progressed from straight hands up, to sliding past the bag with extended arm, to barrel-rolling, and finally breaking up a double play. Visually, it was appeasing as the player's starting points were staggered off in domino fashion, starting to run as the other descended for his slide.Catcher Robert Molina took the sliding serious enough that he split his pants, literally. Afterwards, the players took to the batting cages.

Later on, Twins took on the Red Sox at JetBlue Park where the game was highly attended by nearly 20 scouts, everyone from Twins' front office members Scouting Director Deron Johnson, Lead Scout Mike Radcliff as well as scouts from the Rays, Astros, MLB.com, Yankees. Fernando Romero started the game going 2 inning before being relieved by Brandon Poulson for two and flamethrower Johan Quezada. Of the bunch, Romero looked the sharpest, locating his fastball while Poulson and Quezada were both erratic yet also popping 98 mph. I swear I've seen Poulson throw every weekend this summer, he shows off a high octane fastball but he doesn't know where it's going most of the time and his slider's even worse. It got bad enough at times that he was strictly throwing fastballs. Still the organization sees enough raw talent that they've kept him around despite his numbers.
 
Johan Quezada is another strong arm in camp who is still growing into his body and frame, yet still throws up big velocity numbers. On several outings in the GCL, Quezada showed a fastball that hit 100mph and a slider in the upper 80's. As one would expect, with all the moving parts to a 6'6 and still growing physique that repeating his delivery has been a problem.
 
The hitting side was lackluster for the most part, but Nick Gordon collected a couple hits, and Zander Weil took a charge into the deepest part of the park for a flyout. In the field, Flash Jr. displayed extremely quick hands and a strong accurate arm while covering plus lateral ground. Gordon has a first step in the field that allows him to have plus range. Jorge Fernandez was behind the plate and threw out a couple of would be baserunners with his strong accurate arm. The lineup consisted of CF Christian Caverness, SS Nick Gordon, DH Jermaine Palacios, 1B Zander Weil, C Jorge Fernandez, DH Brian Navarreto, LF Lamonte Wade, RF Daniel Kihle, 2B Sean Miller, 3B Luis Arraez. Rafael Valera was the warmup catcher for the weekend, just trying to reps as he put it.
 
On Saturday, the small crowd was treated to a special matchup of Twins top pitching prospect Stephan Gonsalves and Red Sox phenom Anderson Espinoza. Both held the opponents scoreless for two innings and looked good. Deron Johnson came away saying he was impressed with what he saw from Gonsalves in his brief stint where he walked one and as he put it "picked off his first baseman". Stephan has a good move to first and Kolten Kendrick was not expecting it.
 

After the game and the trainer got to stretch him out , I talked to the big lefty about his year and what he's doing for Instructs. According to the Catholic Cathedral HS grad, the key to his season was his changeup. Going into this year, Gonsalves threw his fastball maybe 10% of the time. After working with coaches last year in Instructionals, he started to feel more comfortable with the offering and threw it 27% of the time this year. That impressed me, not only seeing his change take a step forward but also that he knew exactly how often he threw it this year which tells me they stressed it in is exit interview at the end of the regular season. The biggest question I think both of us had was, what is he doing in instructionals. He's not working on a new pitch, he hit career highs in innings pitched already; the consensus that the two of us drew was that he's just getting further stretched out for next year.

 
All in all, I'll be back next weekend as the Twins and Red Sox will once again take on each other!

It's that time of year again, where the minor league season is winding down but new life and a new season are just around the corner. Just like adolescence, the Instructional League is often an awkward yet still pivotal period in a player's developmental process.
 
The bulk of the players that are in the FIL are new to the organization, they were taken in the 2015 draft and just got their feet wet in the GCL and Short Season Elizabeton. Pretty much they were coached on the fly, now in the FIL the coaching staff gets to work in-depth with the players and their deficiencies. Of the 44 players in camp, 16 of them were drafted this year.

 
The new draftees aren't the only ones in camp. The rest of the roster is comprised of players who missed time due to injuries, players getting ready for AFL/Winterball, players working on new positions, pitchers working on new pitches then there are the headscratchers. A player who had a great season, reached career highs, has been to Instructs before and seemingly doesn't have much to work on.
 
Over the past four seasons of watching Instructs, I've seen the light bulb go on in quite a few players and make amazing strides in their game. I've seen Jose Berrios further develop his changeup, I've seen "roving coach" Paul Molitor show off his abilities to inspire, I've seen Derek Rodriguez the hitter and Derek Rodriguez the pitcher, I've seen Adam Brett Walker work on his bunting, and it goes on and on.

 
During the past week, I was fortunate enough to see a Camp Day in addition to two games against the Red Sox. Camp Days are often various offensive, defensive, baserunning and pitching drill sessions broken up into groups sets. When I showed up the offensive players in camp (minus a few playoff bound team players) were participating in various slide drills. Instructor Joel Lepel was in charge and had Jermaine Palacios as his lead example for every technique. Lepel always picks a few players out and razzes them more than others. The day's pick was Kolten Kendrick or as Joel referred to him as "Cottontop", the meaning could be several different choices but we'll just go with Kolten's hair looks like a red cottonball.
 

The slide difficulty slowly progressed from straight hands up, to sliding past the bag with extended arm, to barrel-rolling, and finally breaking up a double play. Visually, it was appeasing as the player's starting points were staggered off in domino fashion, starting to run as the other descended for his slide.Catcher Robert Molina took the sliding serious enough that he split his pants, literally. Afterwards, the players took to the batting cages.

Later on, Twins took on the Red Sox at JetBlue Park where the game was highly attended by nearly 20 scouts, everyone from Twins' front office members Scouting Director Deron Johnson, Lead Scout Mike Radcliff as well as scouts from the Rays, Astros, MLB.com, Yankees. Fernando Romero started the game going 2 inning before being relieved by Brandon Poulson for two and flamethrower Johan Quezada. Of the bunch, Romero looked the sharpest, locating his fastball while Poulson and Quezada were both erratic yet also popping 98 mph. I swear I've seen Poulson throw every weekend this summer, he shows off a high octane fastball but he doesn't know where it's going most of the time and his slider's even worse. It got bad enough at times that he was strictly throwing fastballs. Still the organization sees enough raw talent that they've kept him around despite his numbers.
 
Johan Quezada is another strong arm in camp who is still growing into his body and frame, yet still throws up big velocity numbers. On several outings in the GCL, Quezada showed a fastball that hit 100mph and a slider in the upper 80's. As one would expect, with all the moving parts to a 6'6 and still growing physique that repeating his delivery has been a problem.
 
The hitting side was lackluster for the most part, but Nick Gordon collected a couple hits, and Zander Weil took a charge into the deepest part of the park for a flyout. In the field, Flash Jr. displayed extremely quick hands and a strong accurate arm while covering plus lateral ground. Gordon has a first step in the field that allows him to have plus range. Jorge Fernandez was behind the plate and threw out a couple of would be baserunners with his strong accurate arm. The lineup consisted of CF Christian Caverness, SS Nick Gordon, DH Jermaine Palacios, 1B Zander Weil, C Jorge Fernandez, DH Brian Navarreto, LF Lamonte Wade, RF Daniel Kihle, 2B Sean Miller, 3B Luis Arraez. Rafael Valera was the warmup catcher for the weekend, just trying to reps as he put it.
 
On Saturday, the small crowd was treated to a special matchup of Twins top pitching prospect Stephan Gonsalves and Red Sox phenom Anderson Espinoza. Both held the opponents scoreless for two innings and looked good. Deron Johnson came away saying he was impressed with what he saw from Gonsalves in his brief stint where he walked one and as he put it "picked off his first baseman". Stephan has a good move to first and Kolten Kendrick was not expecting it.
 

After the game and the trainer got to stretch him out , I talked to the big lefty about his year and what he's doing for Instructs. According to the Catholic Cathedral HS grad, the key to his season was his changeup. Going into this year, Gonsalves threw his fastball maybe 10% of the time. After working with coaches last year in Instructionals, he started to feel more comfortable with the offering and threw it 27% of the time this year. That impressed me, not only seeing his change take a step forward but also that he knew exactly how often he threw it this year which tells me they stressed it in is exit interview at the end of the regular season. The biggest question I think both of us had was, what is he doing in instructionals. He's not working on a new pitch, he hit career highs in innings pitched already; the consensus that the two of us drew was that he's just getting further stretched out for next year.

 
All in all, I'll be back next weekend as the Twins and Red Sox will once again take on each other!

Over the weekend, I got to enjoy a couple GCL games of the GCL Minnesota Twins and GCL Boston Red Sox. Best part of these games are the closeness to the action you can get as well as VIPs lurking around. This weekend, Top Scout Mike Ratcliff was seen timing and evaluating the new talent. The following links are Youtube Videos that I took over the weekend of the prospects.
 
 

 
The following are the pitching lines and charts for the 6/26/15 game, followed by video on Travis Blankenhorn, Trey Cabbage, Kerby Camacho, Lean Marrero, Brian Olson as well as pitcher Callan Pearce

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
The Twins ended up losing the game 6-1 but the bullpen performed well.
 
The following day, Saturday morning I caught the Red Sox vs Twins on Field One at the Twins' Centurylink Sports Complex. Williams Ramirez started the game off and went a strong 4 innings. Here the the pitcher's stat lines and pitch counts followed by video at bat compilation of Travis Blankenhorn, Trey Cabbage, Lewin Diaz, Roberto Gonzalez, and Bryant Hayman as well Rich Condeelis and Andrew Vasquez
 
Here is the pitcher's stat line and pitch count:

 

 
 

 

 

 

 


 
 
 
 
 

 

The Twins ended up losing Satuday's game 3-2 and was quite a pitcher's duel for the most part.