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The Twins had their first scheduled off-day of the season on Thursday. They were in Minnesota watching the snow fall. As they look forward to a weekend, interleague series against the New York Mets, the forecast is for snow to fall in Minneapolis throughout the day on Friday. Hopefully they will be able to get some games in. Inclement weather caused the Cedar Rapids Kernels to postpone a game for the third straight night. Three affiliates did play last night. Kyle Gibson was on the mound for the Red Wings and Oswaldo Arcia had a couple more hits. Josmil Pinto reclaimed the organization’s early home run lead. And, one of Twins Daily’s own had a big game for Ft. Myers. Find out if the Miracle were able to remain perfect on the season. All of that and more are below in today’s Twins Minor League Report.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] If you’d like to hear some discussion on the Mets and Twins, I was on the MetsMusings.com podcast last night. Listen here. Rochester Red Wings 4, Pawtucket Red Sox 5 Box Score Kyle Gibson got off to a good start on Thursday night. The right-hander had a 1-2-3 first inning that included strikeouts of Jose Iglesius and a rehabbing David Ortiz. However, in the third inning, Iglesius hit a two-run homer to left field. In the fifth inning, Ortiz singled in a run and another run scored on a double before Gibson was replaced by Caleb Thielbar who allowed one of his inherited runners to score. In all, Gibson gave up five runs on either hits. In 4.1 innings, he gave up one walk and struckout six. Thielbar struckout three in 1.2 innings. Michael O’Connor gave up one hit in 1.1 scoreless innings. Luis Perdomo struckout both batters he faced. Oswaldo Arcia continues his torrid start. He went 2-4 and knocked his third home run of the young season. Mark Sobolewski hit his first home run. The two accounted for three of the team’s five hits in the game. Ortiz went 2-3 in his first rehab appearance. Shairon Martis will start for the Red Wings against Pawtucket tonight. New Britain Rock Cats 3, Portland Sea Dogs 9 Box Score Pat Dean struggled again in his second outing of the season. The lefty from Connecticut gave up five runs (2 earned) on seven hits and a walk in 3.2 innings. Marty Popham came on and gave up two runs on a hit and three walks in one inning. He did strikeout two. Nelvin Fuentes went the next 2.1 innings. He gave up two runs on four hits and a walk. AJ Achter struckout three in the final two innings. The pitchers were hurt by four errors by their defense. Jason Christian committed two errors at third base, but he did go 2-4 with his first double. Josmil Pinto launched his fourth home run of the year. Alex Meyer is scheduled to pitch for the Rock Cats against Portland on Friday. Ft. Myers Miracle 6, Jupiter Hammerheads 5 Box Score In a lineup that includes Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario, on Thursday night, it was Twins Daily and Minnesota’s own, AJ Pettersen, who played hero and helped the Miracle improve to 7-0 on the season. Pettersen, batting ninth and playing shortstop, was -3 with a stolen base already when he came up with a runner on in the bottom of the 8th inning. His RBI double gave the Miracle a 6-5 lead. Pettersen is now hitting .353 on the season. Things didn’t start out so well for the Miracle. Jason Wheeler started and gave up five runs on six hits and two walks in just three innings. Chad Rodgers came in and struckout two in two scoreless innings. Ryan O’Rourke went two scoreless innings. Once the Miracle got the lead, Zack Jones was brought in and struckout two in a perfect ninth inning for his third save. O’Rourke, the Vulture, picked up the win to improve to 3-0 out of the bullpen. The big bats at the top of the Miracle batting order contributed as well. Angel Morales was 3-5 with his third double. Eddie Rosario hit his third and fourth doubles in five at bats. He’s now hitting .367. Miguel Sano struckout three times, but when he made contact, he launched a towering home run, his second of the season. He’s hitting .393. Matt Koch was also 2-4. Cedar Rapids Kernels, Clinton LumberKings The Kernels were rained/snowed out for the third straight night on Thursday. After missing the final two games in Wisconsin, the Kernels lost last night’s game to Clinton. The two teams will attempt to play two, seven-inning games on Friday night, starting at 5:00 p.m. View full article

One Minnesota Twins' affiliate won 4-3, in 12 innings. Another lost 4-3 on an unearned run in the 9th inning. The Twins' top minor league pitcher this season was back on the mound and didn’t disappoint. Chris Colabello and Andrew Albers are two players who came to the Twins organization via the Can-Am League. They both have pretty impressive streaks with the Red Wings right now. So much happened in the Twins farm system on Friday that I haven't even mentioned Miguel Sano hitting another ball a long way! See what else happened on Friday night in the Twins minor leagues:[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Rochester Red Wings 11, Durham Bulls 6 Box Score There is no question that the best pitcher this year for the Rochester Red Wings has been Canadian left-hander Andrew Albers. On Friday night, he threw 6.2 scoreless innings. He gave up five hits, walked three and struck out six. He extended his scoreless innings streak to 20.2 innings. He also recorded his first win of the year and reduced his ERA to 2.34. Luis Perdomo came on and gave up six runs (5 earned) on five hits and two walks in 1.1 innings. Shairon Martis pitched the final 1.1 innings and gave up two hits, but no more runs while striking out two. Catcher Eric Fryer had the big hit to give the Red Wings the early lead. Fryer was 1-2 with two walks; that one hit was a grand slam in the second inning. Antoan Richardson went 3-5 with his first two AAA doubles of the season and is now hitting .381 for the Wings. Chris Colabello was 2-4 with a walk and his 14th and 15th doubles. Doug Bernier was 2-5. Joe Benson walked three times and scored three runs. Colabello extended his hitting streak to nine games. In that span, he is hitting .485 with seven doubles and three home runs. In other news, Rafael Perez was released. New Britain Rock Cats 3, Bowie Baysox 4 Box Score This game went to the 9th inning tied at three. Michael Tonkin came on to pitch. He gave up an unearned run on a Danny Santana error and two hits. He struck out two, but unfortunately, the Rock Cats were unable to score in the ninth. Alex Meyer made the start. He gave up two runs on five hits in 5.1 innings. He walked none and struck out four. Edgar Ibarra came on and gave up one run on two hits and a walk in 1.2 innings. AJ Achter walked and struck out one in a scoreless eighth frame before Tonkin came in for the ninth. Josmil Pinto went 3-4 with a walk and his ninth double. Danny Santana went 2-5 with his sixth double. James Beresford came off of the disabled list and went 2-5. Ft. Myers Miracle 8, Charlotte Stone Crabs 0 Box Score DJ Baxendale was the minor league pitcher of the month for the Twins in April. He was the Florida State League Pitcher of the week in the first full week of May. On Saturday night, he improved to 6-0 while reducing his ERA to 1.07. The right-hander gave the Miracle seven innings of shutout ball. He yielded three hits, walked two and struck out three. Matt Hauser came in for his first appearance of the 2013 season and worked two perfect innings. Angel Morales drove in three runs, going 3-4 with his third and fourth triples. Kennys Vargas was 2-3 with his seventh homer of the year and Miguel Sano launched his 11th. Cedar Rapids Kernels 4, Kane County Cougars 3 (12 innings) Box Score It took 12 full innings to decide, but the Kernels got a walk-off win for the second straight night. This time, it was third baseman Travis Harrison who played hero. In the 12th, Jorge Polanco worked a leadoff walk. Clean-up hitter Dalton Hicks laid down a perfect bunt. Harrison came up and on a 0-1 pitch, lined a single down the third base line to score Polanco for the win. Polanco and JD Williams accounted for six of the Kernels’ nine hits in the game. Polanco was 3-5 with a walk and his 11th and 12th doubles. Williams went 3-4 with his seventh double and his first two triples of the season. Along with his sacrifice bunt, Dalton Hicks also added his 13th double. Tyler Duffey made the start for Cedar Rapids. He gave up three runs (2 earned) on six hits in 7.2 innings. He walked none and struck out five. David Hurlbut came on in the 8th and got the team through the 11th inning. He gave up three hits in his 3.1 scoreless frames. He walked none and struck out one. Manuel Soliman is credited with the W, pitching a scoreless top of the 12th. Please feel free to comment or ask questions below. View full article

In the past couple days, as we are leading up to an exciting draft for the Minnesota Twins, we are also looking back at the top performers in the Twins' farm system for May. In the past two days, we have named Cole Johnson the Reliever of the Month and DJ Baxendale the repeat-winner of the Starting Pitcher of the Month. Today, we swing our attention (see what I did there?) to the bats. Although there wasn’t a battle for the top spot as there was in April, there were still plenty of strong performances. The runner-up for this month, a member of the Ft. Myers Miracle, would win most months. I gave strong consideration to him, but the guy at the top put up some incredible numbers… and didn’t even spend the whole month as a minor leaguer. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Let’s get to it. Here are my selections for the Top 5 Twins Minor League hitters in May: Number 5 – Ft. Myers – Angel Morales - (27-87) .310/.381/.529 (.910) with four doubles, three triples, three home runs and 17 RBI. It’s been a difficult couple seasons for the talented, athletic centerfielder of the Miracle. However, he has been on a pretty nice hot streak since the early part of May. First things first, his defense in center has never been a question. One of his main issues has been strikeouts. Those numbers were still high, but Morales made up for that with ten extra base hits and a .310 batting average. Although he has lost quite a bit of time in the two past years due to injury, he is now in his fourth season with the Miracle. He’s played 270 games at the level. Now that he’s experiencing success, the time is now to push him to New Britain. Number 4 – New Britain – Josmil Pinto - (33-99) .308/.423/.495 (.936) with seven doubles, no triples, 3 home runs and 18 RBI. Pinto has now been in the top five each of the first two months of the season. Sure, his OPS dropped by about .050 points, but he still posted tremendous numbers, including the ten extra base hits. With Pinto, you don’t even need to add the “for a catcher” qualifier to the batting evaluation. Because of that, he is a legit prospect as he can be a #3 (or #2) catcher and feel OK about him DH'ing. Number 3 – Ft. Myers – Miguel Sano - (28-91) .333/.413/.538 (.962) with seven doubles, a triple, four home runs and 18 RBI. Speaking of guys who were on this list last month, Sano was at the top of the list for me. The Twins themselves went with Byron Buxton and I don’t think anyone complained about that choice. In May, Buxton posted an OPS of .833 which is very good, but Sano again approached the 1.000 mark. He has also become a stolen base threat with eight on the season. People continue to talk about his ever-improving defense, but it’s his offense that will carry him. He was named a Florida State League All-Star recently, and conventional wisdom (and years of seeing how this works with the Twins) says that a promotion to New Britain will be coming shortly. Number 2 – Ft. Myers – Kennys Vargas - (30-96) .313/.407/.646 (1.053) with eight doubles, no triples, eight home runs and 30 RBI. Most months, Kennys Vargas, or anyone who put up these numbers, would be a pretty easy choice for hitter of the month. Unfortunately for Vargas, in May, it was good for #2. There are still some questions about his ability to hit a good fastball, but there should be no questions about his existing power, and his power potential. The FSL is not a hitters league yet Vargas had 16 extra base hits, including eight home runs. When I saw him last year in Beloit and watched him interact with teammates, watched him swing, watched him run the bases, watched him point to the sky after a home run, and yes, watched him around first base, the comparisons to David Ortiz werer obvious. For Twins fans, that’s a lofty expectation, but there is plenty of reason for hope! The May Minnesota Twins Minor League Hitter of the Month is... Photo of Colabello's first MLB hit, by Rick Osentoski Rochester Red Wings 1B Chris Colabello (34-80) .425/.489/.800 (1.289) with 12 doubles, no triples, six home runs and 20 RBI. I struggled with this a bit. Colabello didn’t even play in a minor league game after May 21. Should I give him the #1 spot for the month? Should I factor in his 2-15 performance with the Twins? Does he have enough at- bats to qualify for this ‘award’? Well, he’s got plenty of at-bats, and his numbers are incredible. Didn’t play in the last 9-10 Red Wings games of the month and still accounted for 18 extra base hits. Also, his story is remarkable and for it to culminate with his first big league promotion at the age of 29, after seven years in independent ball, just adds to the reasoning. Look again at the month he had and remember that he also had a very strong April. There is no reason to believe that Colabello can’t be a big league role player. We do know that he can mash AAA pitching, something he’ll be doing again here in June. There were several strong performances in May that weren’t included in the Top 5. Here are some Honorable Mentions: Aderlin Mejia (Miracle) – (28-74) .378/.440/.432 (.873) with four doubles and nine stolen bases. Also nine walks to go with just six strikeouts. Danny Santana (Rock Cats) – (39-115) .339/.353/.435 (.788) with seven doubles, two triples and seven steals. Byron Buxton (Kernels) – (35-119) .294/.380/.454 (.833) with six doubles, two triples, three homers and a remarkable 17 stolen bases. Adam Walker (Kernels) – (30-107) .280/.310/.523 (.833) with eight doubles, three triples, four home runs. It was another very solid month for Twins' minor league hitting prospects. Hopefully, even through several likely promotions, there will continue to be plenty of options in June! Feel free to comment and discuss. View full article

On Saturday, there were several stories to follow for the Twins' minor league teams. Kyle Gibson was back on the mound, looking to put together back-to-back good starts for the first time this season. How did he do? New Britain finished a suspended game and played a second game. Matt Summers was terrific in Ft. Myers. Jorge Polanco was very good and JO Berrios was back on the mound for the Kernels. The big news of the night is that DJ Baxendale has been promoted to New Britain. Baxendale was the Twins' minor league pitcher of the month for April, and in 28 innings in May, he has not allowed an earned run.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Lefty Matt Tomshaw will head to Ft. Myers from Cedar Rapids to make a start for the Miracle. It’s quite possible that there will be more moves. Check out what happened in the Twins minor league system on Saturday: Rochester Red Wings 4, Charlotte Knights 1 Box Score People question the Twins’ brass for saying that Kyle Gibson has not been consistent. Yet even Gibson agrees with that assessment and the stats show it. According to the Red Wings, “Entering the game, Gibson’s ERA in odd starts was 0.50 (2 ER/35.2 IP) but in his even numbered starts he had posted an ERA of 9.00 (17 ER/17.0 IP).” On Saturday, Gibson made his tenth start of the season, coming off his 93-pitch shutout. Could he finally put together a couple quality starts? Yes! Gibson did what he needed to do. The right-hander went eight innings without giving up a run. He gave up just two hits, walked three and struck out seven. Tyler Robertson came on for the ninth. He got one out but was charged with one run on two hits and a walk. Daniel Turpen came on and walked in a run before getting the final two outs. Gibson improved to 4-5 and reduced his ERA to 2.82. He threw 111 pitches, 68 of them strikes. Eric Farris went 3-4 with his fourth double and two stolen bases. Jeff Clement was 3-4 with his fifth double. Deibinson Romero went 0-3 and is now 0-11 with the Red Wings. Game 1 – New Britain Rock Cats 2, New Hampshire Fisher Cats 4 Box Score This game started on Friday night but was suspended due to weather. The teams continued the game on Saturday before finishing this seven inning game. BJ Hermsen started the game on Friday; he worked the first three innings and gave up three runs (two earned) on three hits and three walks. When the game resumed on Saturday, AJ Achter was on the mound. He worked two shutout innings, giving up two hits, walking one and he struck out three. Edgar Ibarra came on for two innings, He gave up one run on one hit and two walks. Bruce Pugh walked one in a scoreless inning. Jordan Parraz went 2-4 and hit his first home run in the Twins' organization. Danny Ortiz went 2-4 with his 17th double. Josmil Pinto was also 2-4. Chris Pettit hit his first double with the team. Game 2 – New Britain Rock Cats 4, New Hampshire Fisher Cats 1 Box Score Pat Dean started the regularly scheduled game. The lefty got the start on his 24th birthday, going 5.1 innings. He gave up only an unearned run on six hits and a walk. He struck out one. Michael Tonkin came on and got the final five outs for his seventh save. He struck out two. Danny Santana went 3-4 with his eighth double and his third triple. James Beresford continued his hot streak, going 2-3 with his fifth double. Josmil Pinto was 2-3 with a walk. Nate Hanson went 2-3. Ft. Myers Miracle 6, Charlotte Stone Crabs 4 Box Score When Matt Summers left the game, there were two outs in the seventh inning. He had not yet allowed a run, but he had just hit a batter in the head to load the bases (the batter, Alejandro Segovia, walked off the field). Chad Rodgers came on and gave up a single and a triple and the Miracle found themselves behind 4-2. Summers was charged with three runs on three hits and two walks in 6.1 innings. He struck out five. Rodgers was charged with one run on two hits and a walk in 1.2 innings. He struck out two. In the bottom of the eighth, the Miracle fought back. Matt Koch led off with a walk. Jonathan Murphy doubled him in. Following a pitching change, Aderlin Mejia got on via an error. Stephen Wickens singled in the tying run. Eddie Rosario, returning to the lineup from his brief benching, drove in the go-ahead run with a single. After the next two batters were retired, Angel Morales drove in the fourth run of the inning with his third single of the game and gave the Miracle a 6-4 lead. Cole Johnson came on for the ninth inning and threw a one, two, three inning to record his second save; his ERA is now 0.82. Angel Morales was 3-4 in the game; Jhon Goncalves went 2-4 in his return to the Miracle. Cedar Rapids Kernels 3, Burlington Bees 6 Box Score JO Berrios was back on the mound for the Kernels, looking to stop the team's three-game losing streak. The right-hander gave up four runs (one earned) on nine hits and a walk in five innings. He struck out eight. Matt Tomshaw, who had been scheduled to start on Sunday, pitched a scoreless inning. Tyler Jones returned to the mound from the DL. He worked a scoreless frame. Josue Montanez pitched the final two innings. He gave up two runs on two hits, walked two and struck out one. The Kernels managed just six hits. Jorge Polanco had three of them, including two doubles. He now has fourteen on the season. Byron Buxton was 1-4 with a walk. Please feel free to comment or ask questions below. View full article