Pitz

I get it. I don't think McKay would be the top of my list either. My post was mostly in jest - wondering what the opposite of tar and pitchforks would be. From what I've seen, the Twins draft team has been very diligent - and I'm excited to see how their entire draft looks, especially with 3 picks in the top 40.

Very intrigued by this ... would love to hear more about what things Falvine are doing/saying that are so impressive.

What should we prepare if he succeeds?

My apologies that I never officially adopted any prospects, and I'm going a bit out of the box by not doing a single player. But I've been intrigued by the DSL Twins and find myself checking their box scores, rosters, and stats regularly. I figured that I might as well make a post about them and this seemed like the best place to do so. I'll plan to highlight a few things from the DSL Twins - tracking notable performances and such. Obviously, these guys are a looooong way from the big leagues and their stats in the DSL are mostly irrelevant. So here goes my dive into irrelevancy. The DSL Twins season began on June 3 and as of this posting have played 6 games. Here's some early returns: Michael Montero - The 17 year old right-handed pitcher from Venezuela got the opening day start and started again 5 days later. Montero is listed at 6' 3" 190. His first two starts have been tremendous. He has pitched 9 innings across the two starts. In those 9 innnings he's surrendered only 3 hits and 1 walk (no runs). He has recorded 9 strikeouts. I haven't seen any signing bonus info on Montero. Luis Bellorin - The left-handed pitcher from Venezuela is now in his third season with the DSL Twins, but is still only 19 years old. Bellorin is listed at 6'1" 175 and in a tiny sample size so far in 2017 is showing some signs that he may be putting some things together. In 5 innings across two appearances, Bellorin has struck out 10 batters while giving up 1 walk and 1 hit. Luis Gil - The 6'3" 176 pound right-handed pitcher from the DR made his debut in the DSL in 2015, but did not pitch in 2016. Gil turned 19 on June 3rd. Gil has made two 3 inning appearances so far in 2017. He has given up 3 hits and 1 walk along with 2 runs (both unearned). He has recorded 7 K's. Wander Valdez - The 3B prospect was the Twins' top international signing for the 2016 period with a 500K bonus. The 17 year old right-handed hitter from the DR is listed at 6'2" 200. In 4 games, Valdez has gone 4 for 12 with a double and a triple. He has also drawn 6 walks while striking out 3 times. He is at .250/.500/.500 through the first week of action. Estamy Urena - The 18 year old SS from the DR was signed for 130K. He is listed at 6'0" 175 and has begun his DSL career with a 4 game hitting streak, going 8 for 17 with 2 doubles and 1 triple. He is slashing .471/.474/.706 in the tiny sample. Alberoni Nunez - Another 2016 signing from the DR, Nunez has a 6 game hitting streak going. The CF is 18 and listed at 6'1" 180. He is 8 for 21 with 2 triples and 1 stolen base with a .381/.364/.571 line. In future posts I'll look to provide updates on these players, and include some others as well.

Cavaness must have decided to save his bat for a time when hits are more needed. Smart thinking.

Really appreciate your reports and videos. Do you have any intel on where Javier will be assigned? I expected he'd be in the GCL but I was just perusing the E'town Roster and saw his name listed there. Of course that roster is very incomplete, so I wasn't sure what to make of it. Edit: Was just looking at some of the Twins history. It seems fairly likely that if Wander had stayed healthy last year, he probably would have seen time in the GCL. (Maybe this has been noted elsewhere). Both Sano and Polanco split time between the DSL and GCL in their first seasons. Sano started the next year in the Appy league while Polanco remained in the GCL for his second season. Edit #2: After looking some more I see that Wander was assigned to Elizabethton on June 2. It appears that the guys who were in the DSL last season were reassigned on June 2 - I'm assuming because the DSL roster had to be set with their season starting June 3.

Against a pretty talented Yankees affiliate.

17 year old Venezuelan signee Michael Montero got the 'opening day' start for the DSL Twins on Saturday and was impressive in his debut. The 6'3" 190lb righty pitched 4 innings giving up one hit and one walk while striking out 5. Fellow Venezuelan signee Fernando Sanchez (also 17 and right handed) pitched two innings in relief. He gave up 1 hit and 1 walk with 2 strikeouts in 2 innings. Sanchez is listed at 5'9" 155. A third 17 year old Venezuelan pitcher saw action in Monday's game. Lefty Jesus Toledo (5'11" 180) pitched 2 innings giving up two hits and a walk and recorded one strikeout. Toledo was also credited with the win. I don't have a Baseball America subscription so I don't have much for details on their signings - but I do see Michael Montero listed so I imagine he received one of their higher bonuses.

Longenhagen mentioned something to this effect in his prospect notes from 5/17: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/instagraphs/daily-prospect-notes-517/ "Gordon is slashing an impressive .322/.383/.507 at Chattanooga but remains erratic and mistake prone on defense and now profiles as a bat-first middle infielder for scouts with increasing sentiment that he might need to move to second base."

Twins took 4 HS bats with their first four picks last year. Don't know exactly, but it looks like Kirilloff and Rortvedt were both fairly old while Baddoo and Miranda were both fairly young. Edit: Kirillof and Rortvedt were both 18 when drafted. Baddoo and Miranda were both 17.

"Defensible"? - yeah, sure, whatever "Wise" or "Savvy"? - nope, not so much

Rough day for Park. Not only was he the only Red Wings hitter not to reach base, he was responsible for all three outs in their huge 4th inning - flying out to start the inning and grounding into a double play to end it. Also, I think I'd vote for Davis as the hitter of the day - I sense a Midwest League Player of the Week award in his near future. Lastly, great to see Lewis Thorpe will finally be taking the mound in game action - been a long road for that young man.

I.look forward to that article. The thing that has mr puzzled is how his soft hit percentage can be so low and his K percentage as high as it is. Havent looked too closely. But it seems a bit weird that he either stings the ball or misses it completely.

Wade is second in all MILB in OBP

Yeah, I knew he'd be splitting time with Murphy at catcher. I'm just a bit surprised Garver is not playing more at 1B/DH, especially with Park & Vargas not currently on the roster.

Mitch Garver seems to be playing pretty sparingly. Anybody have any insights into why that might be?

LaMonte Wade's last 18 games: .420/.557/.680 4 doubles, 3 homeruns, 17 walks, 11 strikeouts

I wish Kyle Gibson was better at pitching.

I was going to predict that DanSan was going to homer when I saw this ... I could have looked brilliant ... now I just look like an attention seeker.

Here's another thing I enjoyed reading: Soft Hit % - 2.1% (that is ridiculous) Med Hit % - 42.6% Hard Hit % - 55.3% I'm thinking this probably has something to do with why he is the Exit Velocity leader.

I have enjoyed reading the quotes from Sano about his at bats recently. They show that he is continuing to learn and grow as a hitter - and committed to making adjustments to be successful. From Bollinger's report : "My first at-bat, I didn't see the ball very good so I put on my sunglasses," Sano said. "I watched video on the computer and his last pitch was a fastball away. In my second at-bat, I knew he'd try to go with the fastball inside and I was able to pull the ball." "The other night, he threw me a lot of sliders and changeup," Sano said of Moylan. "Today, I let the ball come to me and tried to hit to right field. It was a 2-0 fastball away." "I've been working really hard every day," Sano said. "I know I need to improve every day. I've been working hard and putting it into the game." From Berardino: On the single against Moylan: “The other night when I faced him, he threw me a lot of sliders, a lot of changeups,” Sano said. “He didn’t throw me any strikes, but I don’t want to say anything about the umpire’s calls. Today I worked the count in that situation. I let the ball come to me and hit it to right field.”

... decided to stop being lazy (well maybe actually start being lazier) and look it up. I believe it is 20 days. It looks like his rehab assignment will be up around May 11th (I don't know exactly). Will be interesting to see how much time in the OF he gets.

Replying to my own post because I see that Adrianza is playing LF today. First career start in the OF according to @joshwhetzel

How much longer can Adrianza be on rehab assignment? What will the Twins do with him at that time? If everyone's still healthy, they don't really have a strong need for him with the big club. As much as TD'ers would like to see DanSan off the roster, Adrianza isn't really his replacement since he doesn't play OF.

Millenials don't know anything. That's what google is for.