Jeremy Nygaard

If you’re just joining us for the first time in a few days, there’s plenty to catch up on. It’s all started at the big league level as the Twins have made numerous changes to their roster. Casey Fien is now a Dodger. Tommy Milone has been outrighted to Rochester. John Ryan Murphy has been optioned to Rochester. Eduardo Escobar was placed on the disabled list. Ryan O’Rourke and J.R. Graham wait in DFA limbo. The Twins have welcomed #oldfriend Darin Mastroianni, Juan Centeno, Pat Dean and Brandon Kintzler and welcomed back Ervin Santana from the disabled list and Jorge Polanco - for the seventh time - from Rochester Those moves have sent ripples through the system, as Rochester was forced to activate their bullpen catcher and both Chattanooga and Fort Myers have added indy ball players in the last few days. And on Saturday night both Byung Ho Park and Kurt Suzuki left the game. It. Never. Ends.RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 0, Pawtucket 8 (Game 1) Box Score Yuck. There’s not much more to say. Kennys Vargas provided Rochester’s only hit and the team only took three at-bats with runners in scoring position. (And they obviously went “oh-fer”.) The pitching of David Martinez was equally inept. In 4.2 innings, Martinez allowed 12 hits - including three home runs - and eight runs crossed the plate. He struck out three. Dan Runzler ended the fifth inning, stranding both inherited runners, but allowed a double in the scoreless final frame. Luckily for the Red Wings, this game was done after six and half innings because it was the first leg of Saturday’s double-header. Rochester 3, Pawtucket 2 (Game 2) Box Score The bats didn’t come roaring back in the second half of Saturday’s pair of games, but the four hits were just enough. Max Kepler tripled for the third time of the season to start the fourth inning and later scored on a - you might want to sit down for this - John Ryan Murphy single. The Red Wings scored twice more in the fifth on a Kennys Vargas double that drove James Beresford (single) and Max Kepler (walk) in. Byron Buxton went a combined 0-for-6 on Saturday, dropping his batting average in AAA to .278. Jason Wheeler struck out six in five innings, but allowed three hits and walked four. The two earned runs pushed his ERA up to 1.80. Marcus Walden was credited with the save. Walden allowed two hits in two scoreless innings, striking out three. The 14-16 Red Wings finish their series with Pawtucket on Sunday afternoon. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 0, Mobile 1 Box Score Though I don’t have research to back it up, what Chattanooga did on Saturday has to be some sort of statistical anomaly. Getting shut out happens. But how often does a team with nine hits get shut out? How many times does a team reach base in eight out of nine innings and never score? And how, with nine hits, did they manage only four at-bats with runners in scoring position? The offense was led by Leo Reginatto and Travis Harrison, who each collected two hits. Zach Granite got a hit and stole his 13th base. Aaron Slegers pitched well enough to give his team a good chance to win, allowing seven hits in six innings, the lone run of the game was charged to Slegers in the first inning. He struck out two. Corey Williams walked two and struck out two over the final two frames. Chattanooga finishes their series in Mobile on Sunday before traveling home. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 5, St. Lucie 15 Box Score The offense certainly did enough, but the pitching left a lot to be desired and the Miracle fell to 17-13 on the season. Newcomer Tanner Witt took three games to figure out the Florida State League. It might not completely be that, as Witt did struggle in Baltimore’s system last year, but on Saturday Witt looked like he had completely adjusted. Witt went 3-for-4 with a triple and three runs scored. Edgar Corcino continues to hit the ball really well, driving in four runs on two hits and adding a triple of his own. Kevin Garcia and Chad Christensen also had two-hit games. Randy Rosario had his worst start as a professional. Failing to make make it out of the third inning, Rosario allowed more hits (9) and runs (10) than he got outs (7). Four of those runs were unearned as Fort Myers committed three errors. Brandon Peterson allowed four runs in two innings. Luke Bard allowed a run in 1.2 innings. John Curtiss struck out three across the final three scoreless frames. The Miracle can lick its wounds on Sunday before starting a road series in Bradenton. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 10, Great Lakes 7 Box Score LaMonte Wade is a stud. He walked to the plate five times on Saturday and reached safely all five times. He drove in a run. He tripled and scored twice. His batting average is back up to .352 after dropping all the way to .329 after going hitless in two games (six at-bats) on Wednesday and Friday. Wade’s OBP is back up to 44%. It hasn’t been higher since his batting average dropped below .400. But that happens with you take 10 walks in the last nine games. Luis Arraez (two runs), A.J. Murray (two runs, double, two RBI) and Zander Wiel (run, triple, 4 RBIs) all had two-hit games as well. Despite walking six in four innings, Dereck Rodriguez was damaged only by a solo home run. The only run he allowed… on the only hit. He struck out six. Zach Tillery walked four and allowed two hits. He was chased after allowing five runs, all earned. C.K. Irby relieved Tillery, allowing two inherited runners to score and giving up his first run of the season. Irby still picked up the win though. Nick Anderson closed the game, picking up the save and was absolute garbage. Not bad garbage... but nasty garbage. Six batters faced. Six strikeouts. (Four swinging, one called, one foul-tip.) 25 pitches, 20 strikes. Not a bad way to end it. The Kernels return home to host Kane County starting on Monday. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Nick Anderson, Cedar Rapids Hitter of the Day – LaMonte Wade, Cedar Rapids SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Pawtucket @ Rochester (12:05PM CST) – LHP Logan Darnell (2-3, 4.66 ERA) Chattanooga @ Mobile (2:05PM CST) – RHP Ryan Eades (0-2, 7.43 ERA) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Saturday’s games. Click here to view the article

If I would have written the article today instead of yesterday, I may have went with Arcia. He's five for his last twelve, but hasn't hit for any power. I'll always think it's an approach thing with him too. When he's getting hits in bunches (like recently), he's not hitting for power or striking out much. When he's striking out in bunches, he's hitting home runs. And that's what he's been oscillating between this year. My personal opinion is that he wants to be a power hitter like Park and Sano, but just isn't. I didn't look at all the launch speeds of Twins hitters, but Arcia's is the lowest I saw (around 85 and MLB average is 89). The thing with Ozzie is that he was such a good hitter in the minors and put up decent power numbers too... but it seems (to me anyway) that he just really fell in the love with the longball and everything else suffered because of that. The good hitter, though, still shows up on occasion.

For sure. He'll be the best starter in the rotation by the end of the year (if not sooner... if he's not already).

It's been a mostly down start to the season. But there's still been plenty of - or at least a few - good things that have happened. Today's edition focuses on a big league hitter, a big league pitcher and a minor leaguer who, despite flying under the radar, could make an impact this summer.Byung Ho Park, designated power hitter If you haven’t been paying attention and I told you that Byung Ho was on fire, you might think that I just ate some hot wings. And while you might not be wrong, that’s not what I’m talking about in this particular case. Over his last seven games, Park is batting 8-for-25 (.320) and has increased his batting average from .216 to a more respectable .250. More impressively, though, is that we’ve started to see more glimpses of the advertised power. In his first 15 games, Park had six extra-base hits (two doubles, four home runs) and a slugging percentage of .532 (which would still lead the team). But since April 26, Park has erupted for two more doubles, a triple and three more home runs. He’s now run his slugging percentage up to .605 which is good for sixth in all of the American League. And though you’ll typically get lots of strikeouts with power guys - and Park does have 25 - he has improved in that regard as well. In his first seven games, 13 strikeouts. In his last seven games, seven strikeouts. Park is proving to be a legitimate middle-of-the-order masher who has risen to the top - at least for the time being - of Twins contenders for American League Rookie of the Year. Fernando Abad, relief pitcher There’s not even a specific time period to talk about with Abad. He’s been a filthwad to hitters all season. As a lefty-on-lefty guy, Abad has retired 15 of the 16 hitters he’s faced… and the only batter who has reached was on a walk. Right-handed hitters are batting .231 off of him, but all of the hits have been singles . With Kevin Jepsen’s struggles and no return in sight for Glen Perkins, could Abad be the best internal option to fill the closer role? His ERA of 0.00 is backed strongly by a 1.47 FIP. His WHIP is 0.75 and his K/9 is over 9.0. In the beginning of a season filled with sour grapes, Abad has been one of the lone bright spots. The 30-year-old Abad will remain under team control for 2017 as well, eligible for his third and final year of arbitration. Juan Centeno, Rochester catcher Way back in early December of 2015, the Twins claimed John Hicks off waivers from Seattle and he immediately became the “depth” of the catching position. With options remaining, he’d be sent to Rochester and whenever the need for a catcher popped up, Hicks would be recalled and on the major league team. And then a funny thing happened. Despite batting over .300 (but having an OBP under .300) and outplaying the newly-acquired John Ryan Murphy, Hicks was sent to AAA and lost on waivers to the Tigers in late April in Retiregate. But no one panicked. And Centeno is a big reason for that. Centeno crushed it in spring training, batting .375 and demonstrating extra-base power. He wasn’t going to make the team, but he made a lasting impression. He’s continued to hit well after getting more regular playing time (.273 over his last ten games with a home run and three walks compared to two strikeouts) and could figure prominently into the Twins season if John Ryan Murphy continues to not hit a nine-year-old's weight let alone his own and/or Kurt Suzuki continues to get dinged and hits the disabled list. Let’s just hope that in the event the Twins clear a roster spot to add Centeno that he doesn’t instead decide to retire. Who’s impressed you? Click here to view the article

Are you saying that John Ryan Murphy's username is "Geneb"?

Funny... as I was writing the recap I wrote "sacrifice" and immediately thought, "but that's not a sacrifice". I was going to double-check but obviously didn't. It's fixed now. You can't make mistakes around Twins fans!

His first hit (third inning) came off of a fastball. He fouled off a few slow curveballs. No swings-and-misses. His second hit (eighth inning) was off of Trevor Gott and was a breaking ball that he hit weakly to the shortstop for an infield hit. The previous pitch, however, was a fastball that he turned on and missed hitting a home run by probably twenty feet.

That's true. I was thinking he came into the game with a 1.50 ERA. But I'd still be wrong, cause his ERA yesterday was 1.50. It's still pretty crazy, though. Give up a run in six innings and see your ERA increase. He's gotta move up soon, it's time!

Top pitching prospect Jose Berrios made his second start for the Twins on Monday night and recorded a pretty significant milestone. Will he hold on to his job for another start? Trevor Plouffe is expected to be activated before Tuesday’s game. Sunday marked the first time since April 17 since there hadn’t been a transaction. Monday’s games came and went without any moves either (at least until the Plouffe move). There was plenty of activity on the fields though. Let’s take a look at the minor league action.RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 0, Syracuse 1 Box Score Jason Wheeler twirled a gem. Tossing a complete game, featuring seven strikeouts with no walks and only six hits allowed, Wheeler allowed one only run to cross the plate - a Trea Turner single followed by a stolen base and then another single. But it was more than the Red Wings could muster and Rochester falls to 11-14. It wasn’t that the offense was bad - though it wasn’t good - the Red Wings had opportunities to score. In the seventh inning, Max Kepler singled to start the inning and promptly stole second… but the next three batters struck out. In the eighth inning, Juan Centeno and Byron Buxton both singled with one out, but Wilfredo Tovar ended the threat by grounding into a double play. And finally, in the ninth inning, James Beresford singled to start the inning and tagged up to advance to second on a fly ball. But after an intentional walk to Kennys Vargas, Adam Walker struck out and Buck Britton grounded out to end the last threat and the game. Buxton singled twice and, most importantly, didn’t strike out at all. Kennys Vargas reached base three times (two singles and a walk). Rochester will get back at it Tuesday evening. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 9, Montgomery 6 Box Score All nine starters reached the plate in the first inning and three of them crossed it. The Lookouts pushed four more runs across in the seventh. The two big innings were exactly what Chattanooga needed to hold off the Biscuits. The Lookouts had a chance to blow it open in the first inning thanks to three walks, two errors and a wild pitch, but failed to do so. Daniel Palka singled in Zach Granite. Travis Harrison’s ground out scored Levi Michael. Palka later scored on a Mitch Garver sacrifice. Montgomery put up crooked numbers twice in the middle innings to take a 6-4 lead. But then Chattanooga had a big seventh inning. Leo Reginatto doubled to drive in Travis Harrison, who had been hit by a pitch. Joe Maloney doubled to drive in Garver and Reginatto. And finally, Maloney scored on the third double of the inning, this one by T.J. White. Granite, Harrison and Reginatto all had two-hit nights. Garver drew three walks. Levi Michael tripled. Ryan Eades gave up four runs in five innings. He allowed six hits and three walks. Three of the fours runs he surrendered were earned. Eades struck out four. Jake Reed picked up the win despite allowing the Biscuits to take the lead. (#KillTheWin.) Mason Melotakis and Trevor Hildenberger relieved, with the latter picking up his first AA save, while each struck out one in scoreless frames. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 8, Palm Beach 3 Box Score Fort Myers improves to 14-11 after beating Palm Beach in “grand” fashion on Monday night. Edgar Corcino was the hero after hitting a two-out grand slam in the fourth to blow the game open expanding the Miracle lead to 6-2. Fort Myers got on the board early due to some wild pitching and poor fielding. Corcino singled and Nick Gordon reached on an error. Trey Vavra was hit to load the bases and Chris Paul, the next batter, was hit to drive Corcino in. Alex Swim grounded out, but Gordon scored anyway, to give the Miracle a 2-0 lead. Stephen Gonsalves allowed his one and only run in the third inning. He wasn’t his normal dominant self, but he did only allow four hits in six innings. He battled command issues (three walks) and only struck out three, but improved to 3-1 and dropped his ERA to 1.45. Chattanooga, please? Corcino blew it up in the fourth with the aforementioned grand slam. Todd Van Steensel allowed two runs (one earned) in the eighth, but the Miracle quickly got it back with an Alex Real home run and another run scoring on an error. Raul Fernandez ended it with a perfect ninth, which included two swinging strikeouts. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 1, Lansing 4 Box Score The Kernels got on the board and took a 1-0 in the third due to, again, poor fielding and wild pitching, but once the Lugnuts figured it out, the offense couldn’t string any more run-producing hits together. And that’s exactly what it was. The Kernels were 0-for-16 with runners in scoring position. So despite getting three hits, including a double, from Rafael Valera and a single and double from Zander Wiel, the Kernels pushed across exactly zero earned runs and fell to 13-11. Cody Stashak had a very good start. In 5.2 innings, Stashak punched out eight, issued only one walk and allowing six hits. The two earned runs, which raised his ERA to 1.66, were more than he could afford to allow and he lost his first decision of the season. Zach Tillery allowed two more runs in his 2.1innings of work. Tillery struck out three. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Jason Wheeler, Rochester Hitter of the Day – Edgar Corcino, Fort Myers TUESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Syracuse (5:35PM CST) – LHP Logan Darnell (2-2, 3.04 ERA) Fort Myers @ Palm Beach (5:30PM CST) – RHP Kohl Stewart (1-0, 1.93 ERA) Cedar Rapids @ Lansing (9:35AM CST) – RHP Randy LeBlanc (2-2, 1.50 ERA) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Monday’s games. Click here to view the article

The Twins got Miguel Sulbaran for Butura who was later moved for Eduardo Nunez. Hu was an IFA signee.

Tuesday night is Jose Berrios night and what might be the longest wait of our life is finally over. While you watch his debut - and keep your fingers crossed that the rain stays away - take a look at three players in the organization who had good showings over the last seven days.Miguel Sano, right field/third base (?) Sano got off to a dreadful start to the season, predictably struggling in his new assignment as a right fielder but also having a disappointing month of April with the bat. With the Twins losing their first eight and Sano sporting a .125/.300/.125 triple-slash line that included a home run drought that would last three more games, many started to question whether or not the move to the outfield had affected Sano mentally; the early returns were a mess. But then things started to turn around. Over the last seven games, Sano is 9-for-27 (.333) with seven walks, two home runs and six RBI. The young slugger has increased his batting line to .243/.371/.392. While he’s off his 2015 pace, Sano is having great at-bats - but still striking out a lot - and is definitely trending toward a return to the nasty run producing threat (52 RBI) that he was during his run in 2015. With the early returns on Joe Mauer as promising as they’ve been, there will be plenty of opportunities for Sano to double the run production he provided last season. Oh, and did I mention that he's been very solid in his handful of games at third base? Casey Fien, relief pitcher Fien has been the target of many Twins fans over the last few season, questioned regularly why he’s even tendered a contract each offseason. He didn’t do much to dispel those complaints as he got roughed up in the season opener against the Orioles and then again by the Royals five days later. Only three outings into the season, Fien had allowed almost as many hits (7) as he had recorded outs (8). Toss in two walks and you have a WHIP in excess of 3.00. And that’s really bad. Fien then started coming into games and asked only to get an out or two and the results started to improve. Over the past seven days (four games), Fien has mostly returned to getting three outs and the results have been positive. Against the Brewers, with a large lead, Fien recorded a 1-2-3 inning to finish the inning. Two days late, against the heart of the Nationals order, Fien struck out Bryce Harper and Stephen Drew (around a single). The following day Fien was summoned to replace Tyler Duffey and gave up a leadoff hit. But he then retired the next three batters he faced. And then on Tuesday night - the most impressive feat - Fien was called in to replace Ricky Nolasco who had just surrendered a double. Fien struck out both Carlos Santana and Jason Kipnis with a barrage of mid-90 mph, four-seam fastballs. If Fien can continue to throw strikes at a high rate (39-of-50, 78% in his last four outings) the results will trend in a much more positive direction that early in the season (56-of-96, 58%) when he was struggling to get the ball over the plate and into the catcher’s mitt. Daniel Palka, right field In the last seven days, Palka has 13 hits in 27 at-bats. For comparison sake, Engelb Vielma has the same number of hits on the season in 42 at-bats… and is hitting .310. Palka slashed .280/.352/.532 last year and led his league (high-A) with 29 home runs before the Twins acquired him for backup catcher Chris Herrmann. It seemed a steal at the time and he’s done nothing since then to disappoint. After going 1-for-5 last Wednesday, Palka saw his OPS hit a season-low .655. Then the hits started. Palka did mix an 0-for-4 into his last seven games, but has hit the aforementioned 13-for-27 with four doubles, two home runs, five walks and four strikeouts. He’s increased his line to .338/.405/.563 and put himself in the pole position to win Southern League Player of the Week. But when you reach base safely 14 consecutive times over the course of nearly three complete games, people recognize you. Using his cameo in the big league camp to help people take notice, Palka is definitely trending in the right direction. He’ll have to obliterate AA to force a move into the already-crowded Rochester outfield, but it could certainly happen. Players like Palka, though, tend to run very hot and very cold, so don’t be too surprised if Palka backs up this torrid stretch with a run of strikeouts. Who have you been impressed by over the last week? Click here to view the article

Hugs are free.

With only one game today, the organization kept busy by making a number of moves. The first trickle began at 12:25pm when Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press reported that Alex Meyer was being recalled by the Twins. Just shy of two hours later, the Twins officially announced the rest of the transaction: Danny Santana would be activated and both Max Kepler and Byron Buxton would be sent down.It came out later in the afternoon that Loek Van Mil was released from AAA and David Murphy had asked for, and was granted, his release. Terry Ryan told the media that John Hicks had been placed on waivers to open up a spot for Murphy. Whoops! Anyway, the Twins played on Monday night with 14 pitchers on their active roster. There could be more moves as only Chattanooga was in action on Monday and, seriously, a two-man bench? Come on. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester - off day The Red Wings will head to Buffalo to start a series on Tuesday. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 7, Birmingham 6 Box Score Travis Harrison had a day. He put the Lookouts on the board with an RBI double that scored Zach Granite who singled to open the inning and moved over on a sacrifice by Levi Michael. Harrison led off the fourth inning with his second double of the night. Daniel Palka moved him to third on a single and Harrison scored on a Mitch Garver single. Stuart Turner loaded the bases with the third single of the inning. An error by the third baseman allowed Palka to score off of Engelb Vielma’s bat. And with two outs, Michael tripled to score Garver, Turner and Vielma, the third, fourth and fifth runs of the inning, pushing the lead to 6-2. Aaron Slegers pitched six innings, giving up a single run in four of them and leaving with a 6-4 lead. He allowed seven hits and walked one. He struck out six. Slegers was relieved and holds were credited to both Mike Strong and Jake Reed, who both pitched to the minimum three batters. Neither allowed a walk or hit and Reed’s defense was able to erase the base runner who was on due to Vielma’s sixth error of the season. Nick Burdi was summoned to attempt to collect his first save of the season and coaxed a fly ball to record his first out. After walking a batter, Burdi allowed a hit and runners were on the corners. He got his second out of the inning with a swinging strikeout, but lost the save chance with the runner of first stole second and the batter followed with a ground-rule double. Burdi blew the save and the 6-4 win turned into a tie game. Burdi retired the next batter and the Lookouts came to bat in the bottom of the ninth. Michael drew a one-out walk and guess who ended the game with a two-out double? None other than Travis Harrison, who hit his third two-bagger of the day. The Lookouts improved to 7-12. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers - off day The Miracle will go to Jupiter to start a series on Tuesday. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids - off day The Kernels will host West Michigan starting on Tuesday. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Aaron Slegers Hitter of the Day – Travis Harrison TUESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Buffalo (5:05PM CST) – TBD Birmingham @ Chattanooga (6:15PM CST) – RHP Ryan Eades (0-2, 6.14 ERA) Fort Myers @ Jupiter (5:30PM CST) – LHP Stephen Gonsalves (1-1, 1.89 ERA) West Michigan @ Cedar Rapids (6:30PM CST) – RHP Randy LeBlanc (1-2, 2.00 ERA) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Monday’s only game. Click here to view the article

Yep. Those would have been my next three, but I figured there would be enough Meyer talk in the minor league report/forums with him pitching yesterday and I beat the Wade drum enough. Curtiss is an interesting case, he had some really good starts before a concussion knocked him out for a few months last year. When he came back as a reliever, he was just ok. I'm glad that he has gotten off to a quick start. Curtiss missed a year at Texas with Tommy John and is super intelligent.

After taking a week off to lick the wounds of over a half-dozen losses and to take a look at some names that could be in play when the Twins draft in June, the sometimes-popular TRENDING article is back. So what’s been new? This week we’re going to look at some minor leaguers who got off to a very quick start.The Miracle Rotation If you would have been asked to project the ceiling - statswise - for the Miracle starters 13 games into the season, you would be fixing some tiles after the group of Stephen Gonsalves, Kohl Stewart, Tyler Jay, Randy Rosario, Felix Jorge and Keaton Steele went Macklemore all over your ceiling. Through 13 games - stats were compiled before Wednesday’s game - the starters combined to pitch 75.2 innings and strike out 74 batters. They’ve combined for a WHIP below 1.000, allowing only 44 hits and issuing 18 free passes (0.951) for a combined ERA of 1.90. That’s absolute dominance. In about half the innings, the bullpen has allowed only four less runs. With full rotations in both Minnesota and Rochester and Gonsalves and Stewart both pushing towards earning promotions, you wonder how secure some rotation holds are in Chattanooga. Trending towards Chattanooga… right?!? J.T. Chargois, power closer Chargois has been nasty. He’s made five one-inning appearances and has gotten pretty consistent results: No walks, no hits, no runs, and lots of swings-and-misses. On the season, Chargois has thrown 77 pitches (by game: 16, 17, 15, 13, 16) and 50 strikes (65%). Thirteen of those strikes have been swings-and-misses. While it is a very small sample size, a swinging-strike percentage of 26% is very high. In fact, compared to MLB, only one player, #oldfriend A.J. Achter (27.3%), has a higher rate. (Achter has pitched one inning, so even with the inclusion of the smallest of sample sizes, Chargois still has a very high rate.) And did I mention he hasn’t allowed a walk, hit or run? What could be next for Chargois? Well, he is on the 40-man, so he could get a call to the big league if the need presented itself. Could it also be possible that Rochester has a need in the bullpen and summons Chargois, as Chattanooga opens up a spot for the return of Nick Burdi? Trending towards Rochester and, eventually, a future in the Target Field bullpen. Maybe soon. And maybe even sooner if Jepsen doesn’t return to 2015 Jepsen. Nick Gordon, future starting shortstop Entering the offseason, the shortstop position was likely considered the deepest position in the organization, likely boasting a legitimate shortstop prospect at every full-season roster and adding a four million dollar bonus baby, to boot. It didn’t even take until the season started to hear questions of Jorge Polanco’s ability to stick at shortstop. (He hasn’t even played the position this year.) Engelb Vielma suffered a hamstring injury that has kept him from playing for over a week. Jermaine Palacios, who flirted with .400 last season, has seen his full-season career start in a 6-for-35 slump that has offered hardly any power. So who’s left? Nick Gordon. Gordon has 18 hits in 51 at-bats and has hit safely in 10 of the 12 games he’s played. He’s demonstrated the ability to stick at the most difficult position to play defensively. He’s bulked up and shown more pop. (He’s already matched his career-high total in home runs: one.) He hasn’t shown the ability to draw a walk, but, you know, BLOODLINES! Trending towards the top of the Twins prospect lists. The very top? Check in later this summer. Stuart Turner, catcher Before going hitless on Wednesday, Turner had a hit in seven of his first eight games including a three-hit night in the season opening series. There have been many questions about Turner’s hit tool as he’s struggled with the bat as a pro (career .246 batting average) and seen all of his triple slash numbers decrease from Fort Myers to Chattanooga last year. Turner has flashed a little more extra base pop this season as he has three doubles and a home run already in his first 25 at-bats (or one every 6.25 at-bats, compared to last year where he hit one every 18.2 at-bats). Trending towards consideration of being a two-way threat… or at least, not strictly a defense-only catcher. There were many others who could have been included. Who has impressed you with their start to the season? Click here to view the article

All the reports I got about Wade after he was drafted were pretty glowing. Had he not been injured during the season, he would have went higher. The David DeJesus comp was thrown out a number of times. He's a player, for sure.

The Twins have been bitten by the injury bug early in the season and that has resulted in a Rochester roster that has been depleted of their two top hitting prospects. Max Kepler was recalled when Danny Santana injured a hamstring running last week and word started to trickle out on social media this afternoon that Jorge Polanco would be replacing Trevor Plouffe, who is likely to hit the disabled list before Tuesday's game with Milwaukee. Here's Monday's action around the farm.RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 1, Pawtucket 3 (10 innings) Box Score The 3,320 people in attendance were treated to a duel between two highly-regarded pitchers (who are no longer considered “prospects”). Tyler Duffey completed seven innings (104 pitches, 69 strikes) in picking up a no-decision tonight. He gave up one run on seven hits. He struck out six and, most importantly, walked only one. He lowered his ERA to 1.72. Rochester scored their only run on a 389-foot third-inning home run by Reynaldo Rodriguez. Rodriguez also had a first-inning single and was the only Red Wing to have a multi-hit game. He did strike out twice, though, and the team combined for 12 strikeouts. Adam Brett Walker returned to the lineup for the first time since April 10, but went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts as the designated hitter. David Murphy, who has a May 1st opt-out, also went 0-for-4. Stephen Wickens delivered his first AAA hit and stole his first AAA base. Brandon Kintzler pitched two shutout innings before giving way to J.R. Graham in the 10th inning. After connecting for a leadoff single, the PawSox sacrificed the runner to second and Graham coaxed a fly out for the second out of the innings. Then the wheels fell off. Graham threw a wild pitch and then walked Rusney Castillo to put runners on first and third. A Blake Swihart single put the PawSox ahead with runners on first and second. Castillo and Swihart successfully pulled off a double-steal and Graham walked the next two runners to push another run across the plate. Buddy Boshers had to record the last out. The trio of Wilfredo Tovar, Wickens and Darin Mastroianni - all of who had a hit - went down 1-2-3 to end the game. The Red Wings fall to 4-7 early in the season. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 3, Mississippi 5 Box Score An eighth-inning rally ended in a double-play and the Lookouts dropped Monday’s game to the Braves. D.J. Baxendale took the loss, allowing two runs in six innings on five hits. He struck out six. Brandon Peterson struggled in his inning, giving up three hits and walking two. He surrendered three runs. Brett Lee struck out two in a perfect frame. Stuart Turner hit an eighth-inning two-run home run, his first of the season, and now sports a .360 average. Mitch Garver got the Lookouts on the board with a two-out RBI single in the fourth-inning. Levi Michael contributed two hits in the team’s six-hit effort. Travis Harrison added a single and a stolen base. The Lookouts drop to 4-8. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 1, Daytona 4 Box Score The Miracle struck first, getting Chris Paul on base when he was hit. Paul advanced to third on Ryan Walker’s single and scored on an Alex Real groundout. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much offense after that. Nick Gordon led off the fourth inning with a triple, which extended his hitting streak to six games. He’s also hit safely in ten on his eleven games. You could say that Nick Gordon is swinging a hot bat and you wouldn’t be wrong. The third and final hit was a single in the 6th inning by Chad Christensen. Tanner English stole his fourth base of the season. Randy Rosario threw 48 strikes in 78 pitches. He was relieved in the sixth inning after allowing five hits and two runs. He walked three and failed to strike out any. It was a far cry from his season debut last week when he struck out eight - and walked none - in six shutout innings. Todd Van Steensel allowed one hit and collected five outs. Luke Bard struggled in his frame, giving up three hits and two runs. With the loss, the Miracle fall to 7-5. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 7, Burlington 3 Box Score Cody Stashak made the first full-season start of his career and didn’t disappoint. He struck out five in six one-run, three-hit innings (on only 77 pitches). That’s two runs in ten innings combined so far this season. The offense was equally impressive. Seven runs on 10 hits and five walks, and all but the eight- and nine-hitters contributed in the hits column. Rafael Valera, getting his at-bats as the DH, doubled twice and added a single. He scored once. LaMonte Wade continued to tear up low-A pitchers. He’s hit safely in all 12 games he’s played. On Monday, it was two hits, two runs and an RBI. While Wade is hitting .409, the 2-for-4 night actually dropped his OBP from .469 to .463 and saw his OPS drop by 20 points and now sits at 1.099. Max Murphy and Jermaine Palacios each stole a base. Michael Theofanopoulos struck out three in two innings. Nick Anderson allowed two runs (one earned) in his inning of work. The Kernels improve to 8-4. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Cody Stashak Hitter of the Day – Rafael Valera TUESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Pawtucket @ Rochester (5:35PM CST) – LHP Pat Dean (0-2, 2.06 ERA) Chattanooga @ Mississippi (7:00PM CST) – LHP David Hurlbut (1-0, 4.00 ERA) Jupiter @ Fort Myers (6:05PM CST) – LHP Stephen Gonsalves (1-1, 2.25 ERA) Cedar Rapids @ Burlington (11:30AM CST) – RHP Randy LeBlanc (1-1, 2.45 ERA) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Monday’s games. Click here to view the article