Pitz

It seems that Gordon is more in the Polanco mold of prospects then. Its great to have a mix of guys with "loud" tools like Buxton and Sano, and guys who can just flat play baseball like Gordon and Polanco.

Really encouraging to see such an impressive start from Felix Jorge after his struggles last year. I know it's just one start, but hopefully it's a sign of a big season for him.

Does Berrios regularly do a lot of fidgeting and shaking his arm? It caught my attention in the video of his 11th K and made me a little nervous that he was experiencing some discomfort. But maybe its something he does, maybe his jersey didn't feel quite right or maybe it was the weather.

36 strikeouts for the lookouts lineup in 2 games. Yikes! Hopefully they get their timing down quickly. Yet they still almost won both of the games. Also, While going 2 games without striking out is not amazing, the fact that Polanco doesn't own any of those 36 is pretty impressive.

I think the number of pitches he had already thrown probably factored into the decision.

Video - Sano HR Video - Hicks Diving Catch

Gotcha, I see what you are trying to say. But I think it makes more sense to compare Giolito to the guys available at 6th in the 2012 draft and compare Aiken to guys in this draft. Each draft class is different. Its also tough to make the comparison in hindsight. Would I rather have Giolito or Addison Russell (drafted 11th)? Probably Russell. Will Aiken or somebody else be the better pick at 6? Who knows?

Lucas Giolito was drafted in 2012 not 2014. So its not really a comparison of him vs. Nick Gordon. Would you rather have Giolito or Byron Buxton? As far as Aiken, maybe he's worth the risk at 6, but I highly doubt the Twins would take him there.

Just a note on Gordon - I believe the picked off and caught stealing were the same play and not two separate instances.

Thorpe's ERA actually moved in the right direction (by .01) since only two of the runs were earned.

I know he's a higher profile prospect, but I have to disagree with Gordon as hitter of the day over Fernandez.

I'm not sure you're memory is serving you correctly. Perhaps you are thinking of Roni Tapia signed last year. I believe Alexis was a pretty under the radar signing. I can't find his actual bonus, but I'm pretty sure it was under 100k. Ben Badler who's probably the most on top of international signings doesn't even include him in this brief article: http://www.baseballamerica.com/online/prospects/international-affairs/2013/2614701.html Tapia caught my attention last year with his excellent K/BB rate in the DSL along with his good size. I've yet to find anything regarding what he throws and how he projects. Obviously a long way to go, but definitely encouraging to see him having success in the GCL. (2 IP 1 H 1 K today). His success does show as you pointed out that the Twins were right to sign him ... maybe more right than your memory would have you think

Interesting to see the promotions of Batts and Slegers. The (deserved) promotions of Thorpe, Hu, Gonsalves, and Batts seem to have left the rookie level clubs pretty thin on starting pitching though, but I guess thats not surprising given how many RPers the Twins keep drafting. Any word on who will take Batts' spot in the E'town rotation?

Perhaps, I took a cheap shot at the Academy of Art's coaching staff, but Balbuena (the coach credited with helping Poulson) was not his pitching coach at the university. Anyway, I was just wondering why teams wouldn't at least take a chance with a late round pick on a guy with 'wow factor' athleticism and clearly raw mechanics rather than a clear organizational filler. Likely his age was a deterrent. In any event, I'm glad that the Twins were able to find and sign Poulson and it will be interesting (and hopefully very exciting) to see his story unfold. A great signing for sure, hopefully with more coaching he can continue to refine his arsenal.

I continually read from the various media prospect guys that people have to be leary of scouting stat lines. It just seems like one of the scouts seeing his build and athleticism would have pondered what he might be capable of with the help of some professional pitching coaches rather than the coaches at an art school.

Did you read my post?

Sell high, like before his next AB.

Certainly a cool story and a good get for the Twins. I'm just curious how this guy went undrafted. I read the stories earlier so maybe I'm not remembering them correctly, but in my recollection he blew scouts away with his size and athleticism, but they were turned off by bad mechanics and poor results in his college season. It just seems like at least one team would take a chance on trying to fix his mechanics to see if they could tap into the potential of this "physical specimen." Seems like it would be abetter use of a pick then a guy who you can pretty clearly see has reached the limits of their physical ability and doesn't project as anything more than organizational filler.

Yeah, I can understand being disappointed in the strategy or some of the picks - that's why I suggested the statement may have been incomplete. I was getting a little frustrated with all the RPs as well and would have liked to have seen them take a shot on a tough sign. But maybe the Twins talked with some of those tough signs and didn't feel good about what it would take to get them out of their commitments. Playing the system with tough signs is not without its risks.

It may be a small sample size, but it's large enough for a college bat in rookie ball. He's striking out quite a bit, but when you are raking otherwise it doesn't really matter. He needs to face more advanced competition so that he can start making necessary adjustments.

I guess I'm of the mind that there is very little reason not to trade Suzuki no matter what the return is. Obviously, I hope the return is great, but any return is better than no return. They should use the final two months to see what Pinto can do with more regular playing time. There's no guarantee that Suzuki will sign a longer deal with the Twins if he is not traded. They will likely still be able to negotiate with him even if he is traded. I see very little downside to trading him and I will personally be disappointed if he isn't traded for something. I'm not saying I'm right, but I don't think its in the best interest of the Twins to keep him for 2 months of meaningless baseball. Again, I hope they get a good return, but no return would be the worst possible outcome imho.

Does anyone have any type of scouting report on Alexis Tapia? He caught my attention last year with his exceptional K/BB ratio in the DSL. Yesterday, he issued his first walk of the season (now 16.2 innings) compared to 17 K's. After so-so numbers in his first 2 outings in the GCL, his last 3 outings look very impressive: 10 IP, 4 Hits, 1 ER, 1 BB, 12 K's. Obviously, its only rookie ball and he's still got a long way to go, but I've been cautiously excited about him. But I've only been able to 'scout the box scores' as I haven't found anything about what he throws and what kind of stuff he's got. Does anybody have any insight, and is there any chance he logs some innings in E'town this year?

I'm not really sure why its disappointing that they left some money on the table... maybe the statement is just incomplete. They could have easily offered the rest of their bonus pool to one of the players they did sign and then they wouldn't have any of that pool money left. Signing 18 of their top 20 picks (including the first 17) seems pretty decent.

I believe someone started a thread concerning him, but I don't think it got a reply. Is Tanner English hurt? He hasn't played for awhile, but I haven't seen any info on why.

My non-expert suggestion would be to swap Ricky and Deduno for a few passes through the rotation.