righty8383

Looking at Kirillof's stats, one thing is for sure, when he's up, the ball (almost always) gets put in play. Just 11 strike outs and 2 walks in 90 AB's. Not sure if I should be concerned about the lack of walks, but I do like the everything else so far. Maybe they should give him a taste of the midwest league before the season is over.

Didn't know that, thank you

So will the Twins let this kid get his feet wet in the DSL or will they just wait till next year?

I just get the feeling that Thorpe will look great for a month or 2. Then he'll get pulled in the 2nd inning and soon after we'll hear the news we've been dreading. I'm sorry but its so rare these days that a player is able to successfully rehab even a partially torn UCL and have it hold up long term.

Stereotypes are often based on some level of truth. But often becomes exaggerated to make arguments stronger or to put a negative light on the subject. In the Twins case, there are many stereotypes that have stemmed from some kind of truth but winds up becoming exaggerated to the point that some people just look silly. Hitting the other way: It seemed to start when David Ortiz criticized the Twins for trying to get him to hit to the opposite field. I think one of his quotes from his book was "they wanted me to hit like a bitch." I'm paraphrasing a bit because I can't remember the exact words he used. Funny thing is, some of Ortiz' biggest hits have been to the left side of the field. JJ Hardy perpetuated things when he brought up some of the methods the Twins would use in BP. Having him spray balls around the field while his coaches in Baltimore encouraged him to go ahead and yank everything into the seats. He would later back off these claims and even credit Joe Vavra for helping reinvent his swing after a disastrous 2009 season. The damage had been done though. People went to the forums and used Vavra as another reason toe blast the Twins hitting methods. Twins' hitting coaches throughout the system teach pretty much the same way all high level coaches do. They want players to utilize their strengths and improve on their weaknesses. While using a balanced approach and having the ability to use the whole field. Pitch to contact, don't go for strike outs: "pitch to contact" has become a focal point of ridicule for the Twins over the last few years. Some of it is deserved. Not because of the way they teach guys to pitch, but because they had acquired an army of pitchers who could do nothing BUT pitch to contact. However, I have read on forums and comment sections, people who are concerned that the strikeout pitchers the Twins have acquired lately (Alex Meyer, Trevor May, Jose Berrios) will be discouraged from striking people out. This is a preposterous claim that has stemmed from the "pitch to contact" stereotype. Rick Anderson recently got so tired of the criticism that he banned the term "pitch to contact" throughout the organization. I'm sure he wasn't serious but it just goes to show how annoyed he was with it. Anyway, any smart baseball mind should tell you that pitching to contact is not always such a bad thing if done properly. Just ask last year World Series Champions San Francisco Giants. Twins are too slow promoting players: This is not entirely baseless, but it is often exaggerated. In the last 5 or 6 years, the Twins deserve some criticism for prospects moving slowly. Not because those prospects deserved to move faster, but because the Twins had so few players that deserved to move faster. This is a product of some poor drafting and lack of good international signings. Last year when Byron Buxton was drafted, I couldn't believe how many people expected him to take at least 5 or 6 years to reach the bigs. The truth is, if he performs, he will rise fast and could easily be up by 2015. Aaron Hicks was drafted in '08 and is expected to make the club this year. That is kind of slow for such a high pick. But who would argue that based on his production prior to last year, he should have moved faster? I have also read on more than one occasion that if Mike Trout was in the system, he would be in single or double A this year. Another claim based on virtually nothing. We have not had a position player dominate the minors at the same level Trout did. The last high drafted pitcher we had that really dominated, made his ML debut a year after he was drafted. That was in '06. This is just a few. Anybody else have any Twins' stereotypes that they would like to share, positive or negetive?

Stereotypes are often based on some level of truth. But often becomes exaggerated to make arguments stronger or to put a negative light on the subject. In the Twins case, there are many stereotypes that have stemmed from some kind of truth but winds up becoming exaggerated to the point that some people just look silly. Hitting the other way: It seemed to start when David Ortiz criticized the Twins for trying to get him to hit to the opposite field. I think one of his quotes from his book was "they wanted me to hit like a bitch." I'm paraphrasing a bit because I can't remember the exact words he used. Funny thing is, some of Ortiz' biggest hits have been to the left side of the field. JJ Hardy perpetuated things when he brought up some of the methods the Twins would use in BP. Having him spray balls around the field while his coaches in Baltimore encouraged him to go ahead and yank everything into the seats. He would later back off these claims and even credit Joe Vavra for helping reinvent his swing after a disastrous 2009 season. The damage had been done though. People went to the forums and used Vavra as another reason toe blast the Twins hitting methods. Twins' hitting coaches throughout the system teach pretty much the same way all high level coaches do. They want players to utilize their strengths and improve on their weaknesses. While using a balanced approach and having the ability to use the whole field. Pitch to contact, don't go for strike outs: "pitch to contact" has become a focal point of ridicule for the Twins over the last few years. Some of it is deserved. Not because of the way they teach guys to pitch, but because they had acquired an army of pitchers who could do nothing BUT pitch to contact. However, I have read on forums and comment sections, people who are concerned that the strikeout pitchers the Twins have acquired lately (Alex Meyer, Trevor May, Jose Berrios) will be discouraged from striking people out. This is a preposterous claim that has stemmed from the "pitch to contact" stereotype. Rick Anderson recently got so tired of the criticism that he banned the term "pitch to contact" throughout the organization. I'm sure he wasn't serious but it just goes to show how annoyed he was with it. Anyway, any smart baseball mind should tell you that pitching to contact is not always such a bad thing if done properly. Just ask last year World Series Champions San Francisco Giants. Twins are too slow promoting players: This is not entirely baseless, but it is often exaggerated. In the last 5 or 6 years, the Twins deserve some criticism for prospects moving slowly. Not because those prospects deserved to move faster, but because the Twins had so few players that deserved to move faster. This is a product of some poor drafting and lack of good international signings. Last year when Byron Buxton was drafted, I couldn't believe how many people expected him to take at least 5 or 6 years to reach the bigs. The truth is, if he performs, he will rise fast and could easily be up by 2015. Aaron Hicks was drafted in '08 and is expected to make the club this year. That is kind of slow for such a high pick. But who would argue that based on his production prior to last year, he should have moved faster? I have also read on more than one occasion that if Mike Trout was in the system, he would be in single or double A this year. Another claim based on virtually nothing. We have not had a position player dominate the minors at the same level Trout did. The last high drafted pitcher we had that really dominated, made his ML debut a year after he was drafted. That was in '06. This is just a few. Anybody else have any Twins' stereotypes that they would like to share, positive or negetive?

Buxton may not start the season in Cedar Rapids but he will be up there before July. Probably in mid-May.

One mistake that you made Mnfan, was giving Credence to the prospect rankings submitted by mlb.com. Looking at the list, there are a lot of odd rankings 6-20. IMO Seth Stohs and several others on this site are way better at ranking prospects.

69 games is NOT a small sample size for the minor leagues.

It would be ridiculous for Arcia to start in AA. If that happens I will be more willing to submit to those who accuse the Twins of being far too conservative with prospects. Honestly, there is absolutely nothing for him to prove in AA. Also, to the author of this blog, our midwest league affiliate is Cedar Rapids, not Quad Cities.

What would really be cool is if the Twins would let the Kernals host a series at Target Field. I know other teams have done this.

Hey JC, are you in that area where you don't get the Twins on cable, but you would also get Twins' games blacked out on the mlb.tv package? I know there was a poster on another message board that had this issue. Total BS... Edit: I just read the link you posted in the article so my question had been answered.

Reading the last paragraph in this sentence, normally I would call that an extreme view reserved for the most cinical of Twins fans. But honestly, the case of Anthony Slama has me thinking on the same lines. If I were to meet Terry Ryan I think the 1st thing I would ask is "what the hell does Anthony Slama have to do to get a chance with the big club?"

So everytime the Twins get off to a crappy start we can just go back to '06 for hope? Forgive me if I'm not so optimistic. Do you see Justin Morneau turning it up and having an MVP year? I don't. Do we have an ace that can win a CY Young? Not even close. It goes on. The Twins got off to a bad start in '06 but they had the pieces to get back in the race making it one of the most exciting seasons of baseball I've ever watched. This team does not have those pieces so stop kidding yourself. This may be true about the offense, but the pitching is just as bad as what we've seen. Worst starting staff in all of baseball with little hope on the farm

Looks like his AA debut was delayed