Pitz

Several good candidates for hitter of the day: Because of the double header, Palka and Paulsen both got extra plate appearances to help their cause and both hit two homers: Palka - 3 for 6 with 2 homeruns, 4 RBIs, 2 BBs, 2 Ks Paulsen - 3 for 6 with 2 homeruns, 4 RBIs, 2 Ks While Gordon and Blankenhorn couldn't match the homerun totals, they did match the hit totals and didn't have as many plate appearances to do so. Gordon - 3 for 4 with 1 homerun, 2 RBIs, 1 BB, 1 K Blankenhorn - 3 for 4 with 1 homerun, 2 RBIs, 1 K

Maybe this was posted elsewhere but seems relevant to the discussion in this thread. New hitting coach James Rowson seems pretty pleased with Sano's work ethic. http://www.twincities.com/2017/03/27/twins-coach-james-rowson-tries-to-help-miguel-sano-take-the-next-step/

Is Alex Faedo considering changing his name to Jacob deGrom? That would be kind of weird, but to each his own I guess. I'm not sure what the Twins scouts will think of this name change. What kinds of questions will it raise about his makeup?

Quite the Miracle debut for Rodriguez. He has made a really impressive turn around this season.

I like that you included Victor Tademo. Of course its never easy to assess guys so young and playing the DSL, but he's a guy that caught my attention early as he got off to a hot start and I've been paying attention to his box scores ever since. He's put together a very impressive season at a young age. Thru 41 games: .312/.380/.440 16 strikeouts / 14 walks 17/18 in stole base attempts I asked Seth back in June if he had any info on the youngster and this was his response: "I'm told that Tademo has a strong feel for hitting and there is a thought that he could develop power over time. His best position is 3B though he could also play SS and 2B."

Victor Tademo's DSL performance seems worthy of mention. He went 2-4, stole 3 bases and scored 3 runs.

Interesting to see Rortvedt get promoted as his results haven't been there as of yet. Nice to see Whitefield show a bit of pop. He's been tearing it up on the basepaths. Would like to see him and Kirilloff each get a taste of the next respective level this year. Also, Amaurys Minier has displayed some good plate discipline drawing 12 walks in his last 10 games. He's got a strong OPS despite a low batting average. .235/.369/.494/.863

Buxton's bunt was horrendous. With 2 outs, Sano just figured it was a good time to make sure to remind everybody that he's not an outfielder. Gibson settled down after the first - batter. That was really the only mistake he made in the game. It looked like the first could get ugly, but remember that he actually struck out Pedroia,though he still reached base, and Xander reached on an infield hit. Great to see Gibby get the double play and get out of the inning. Was definitely an impressive pitching performance against the league's best offense.

E'town's pitching staff has been pretty dismal. Perhaps Brady Anderson could help them out. Is there a good reason why the 23-year old is in the GCL? Also, with Wander Javier not playing in the DSL, Victor Tademo has caught my box score watching attention. The recently turned 17-year old hit his first home run yesterday and is slashing .320/.383/.476 through 30 games. He's drawn 10 walks to 9 strikeouts and is perfect in 8 stolen base attempts.

Slegers has pretty quietly put together a strong showing in AA. Some of the early struggles of Stewart and Gonsalves have shown that AA is an adjustment for pitchers (especially coming out of the pitcher-friendly FSL). Good to see Slegers putting together a solid season thus far. Also, the E-town roster seems to be fairly full with bats with some potential and it appears that guys are competing for playing time. Guys like Lewin Diaz and Roberto Gonzalez have not played a whole lot. I know its still early, but I'm wondering if we might see a quicker promotion or two to allow guys more playing time. At the very least, it will be interesting to see how playing time is juggled going forward.

Did I miss any news on Tyler Jay? Hasn't pitched since June 23rd.

Of course its tough to glean much from the DSL, and even more so with a small sample size. But I'm wondering if anyone has any info on a couple of young players. Victor Tademo is still only 16 (til July 9) and has put up some pretty impressive numbers thus far. I see from his player page that he signed as a SS last September, he's listed as a 2B on the roster, but I think he's been playing mostly 3B. .378/.429/.533 Agustin Marte (17) signed in February as a SS also putting up good numbers drawing 11 walks in 12 games (with 8 k's). .371/.522/.429

Will Goodrum be getting playing time all over both the infield and outfield? Seems like super-utility may be his best shot at a big league career.

Based on tonight's game, these E-town hitters are ready for Target Field. They'd fit right in.

Thanks for that read - does help to regain a little more optimistic long term outlook for this Twins club. I don't know what is best for Buxton, but I think I would like to see them just stick with him the rest of the year. Maybe a trip back to AAA could be beneficial but I don't like seeing him bouncing back and forth. My feeling is that the more big league pitches he sees in this year where results really don't matter, the better off he is going to be in the long run, when hopefully results do matter. He may be flailing at times, but I don't think that means he's not learning. Let the young players play.

Well, Jeremy posted Wolfson's tweet that says his signing "will be official soon enough." Beyond that, if they don't sign him they would lose that slot money and they wouldn't receive a compensation pick next year. Pretty important for the Twins to get that deal done (and they likely had a pretty good idea of what it would take to do so when they selected him).

It better not, if they don't sign him they lose that slot money, no? Does Benninghoff's deal mean that Kirilloff is coming in fairly significantly under slot?

Jorge has been impressively consistent - not giving up more than 3 earned runs in any of his starts (and that only once).

He has three walks in his last four games, including one to lead off the ninth inning last night which led to his scoring the game winning run.

Jeremy, thank you for all your work surrounding the draft! Great info - much appreciated!

Just checked out the DSL Twins who played a double header. Wander Javier only played in the first game and went 3 for 4 with two doubles and a strikeout. All three hits were line drives according to the play-by-play.

If the draft is reworked in the new CBA, when do those changes take effect? Would next year's draft be different or would it take another year before changes are implemented? Just wondering if the Twins shouldn't just draft a guy that has slid because he appears to have an overslot agreement already in place. Offer him slot, take it or leave it, and if he leaves it take the 16th pick and additional pool money/flexibility next season. I suppose it's unlikely with job security likely being tenuous.

At the pace he's going, it will be never.

I have no problem with a person with terminal cancer complaining about a hangnail. But it seems like you're saying we shouldn't be complaining about this bunt, but rather we should be complaining that we are Twins fans.

This argument continues to make little sense to me for a variety of reasons. I really don't think it's much of an issue. First and foremost, I would think that the prospect of playing for 100-loss team would be much more of a deterrent to a free agent wanting to sign. Wouldn't a majority of players like to be traded to more competitive teams? Also, if players are worried about being traded, can't they negotiate such things in their contracts?