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The Twins were on the road again on Saturday. They made the trip to Bradenton to play the Pirates and got a win. I spent the full day over at the minor league practice. In fact, if you follow Twins Daily on Twitter or “Like” Twins Daily on Facebook, you can see that a LOT of pictures (probably 500) were taken of minor league players whom you have seen in box scores or the Twins Daily minor league reports each day through the season, but now you can put a face to them. I’ve been asked on numerous occasions what happens in a day at minor league camp. They definitely put in some work. Here is an approximation of a daily schedule as well as some of my observations. I included a few minor league notes at the end as well.There are 55 rooms in the new dormitory at the Twins complex, with two players in each room. Most of the younger players stay there. Some of the more veteran players or some of the guys who think they’ll play for the Miracle this season will find a place to live off-site. At the dorms, they are able to eat breakfast. At about 9 a.m., they will generally have a meeting to discuss the day’s practice. Before Friday’s first official practice, all of the minor leaguers and staff met in the new auditorium to go through things they would need to know. At around 9:30, the players will come out onto the fields. The pitchers will all go to one field and the hitters will go to the area that includes Perry’s Hill. The strength and conditioning coordinators go through a series of stretching exercises as well as some short jogging, just to loosen up. They have weights and stretchy bands as well as some devices that are essentially shake weights. They definitely get a full body stretch and a small workout to get everything ready for a full day of practice. When they’re done, the players split into four work groups. Work Group 1 is the most veteran group with a lot of players who will spend the season at AA or AAA. Work Group 4 is a lot of the guy who will likely begin the season in extended spring training. The hitters go to a field and usually start with some base running work. They’ll run from home to first, through the bag. They’ll start at first and work on their cross-over steps to steal second. They’ll go first to third. Finally they’ll go second to home. They’ll maybe do each thing a couple of times. At that point, the infielders break into ground ball drills. They put them through every situation imaginable, throwing to first and throwing to second. They’ll spend 10 minutes just working on backhands. The middle infielders will work with each other on flips, or giving each other a good target for a double play. You will see a coach with a fungo standing by third base, hitting line drives and one or two hoppers at the first basemen so that they can work on stretching and scooping baseballs. Pitchers will get ground balls shot out of a pitching machine to work on their reactions and hands. They make it a competition to keep it enjoyable. On their days, pitchers will throw their bullpens. They’ll work from the windup and from the stretch. As the spring wears on, those bullpen sessions will likely become more intense and pitchers will be working on more things. At the end of each pitcher’s bullpen, he and his catcher will meet in the middle, shake hands and talk for a minute about what they saw. Outfielders may be in the batting cages taking swings. At some point in the morning, they get that pitching machine and launch fly balls from it positioned near the left field line to the outfielders who are standing in centerfield. They will make them come forward or go backwards. It’s all about repetition and getting to see the ball in the air. Pitchers fielding practice (PFP) is something that we hear about all of the time. On Friday, the pitchers worked on it on all three fields. Infielders will help with it as well. The pitchers need to do a variety of things in preparation for what could happen during the season: Covering first base on a grounder to the first baseman.Fielding a bunt to each the first or third base line.Fielding grounders straight back to them.Communicating with the first baseman on grounders that way that maybe the pitcher can field.Finding a ball that is near the mound and calmly throwing to first base.Getting a ground ball and throwing to second base for a force out, or maybe even a double play.Fielding a bunt down the third base line and throwing to third.Pick off throws to first, second or even third base. I’m certain that I left out some of the scenarios. They go through some I hadn’t even thought of and yet that scenario may come up during the course of the season. In fact, on Saturday, they worked on where to go to back up a play if they have picked off a runner from one of the bases, starting with how to run toward them and make the runner commit to a base. It’s really amazing to watch the precision of a minor league practice with four work groups on five fields. They have stations. They have certain things that they need to do and they get them done. On Saturday before lunch, all of the pitchers had to do the shuttle run. Mini-cones were placed 25 yards from each other. A group of six to eight pitchers will get on the line and do six down and backs, about 300 yards. They are timed and the times are recorded. Most finish between 53 and 60 seconds. A few get between 61 and 65. And then after each of the groups does it once, they get to do it a second time. A few of them maintain their mid-50s time, but most are closer to 60 the second time and a few more trickle to just above 60 seconds. It’s actually kind of impressive. The players generally have lunch for about 30 to 45 minutes. At that point, the hitters come out and they take batting practice on three fields. They get a lot of swings. There was even a bunting station on each field where three or four guys would rotate just to work on bunting. It is an impressive showing of efficient use of the field. Pitchers generally will be shagging fly balls throughout this time. On Friday, they hit until about 2:00. At that point, the hitters went over to the area to do their two shuttle runs. You can tell the catchers, but again, the times were typically between 55 and 60 seconds. There were several that trickled over 60 seconds, but for the most part, they did well. When you watch it, the players are generally doing something. However, in the Florida heat, I also think they do a good job of mixing coaching with executing. In other words, not only do they take ground balls or work on different plays, but they will spend a lot of time huddling in a group to discuss what they will be doing and why. If a coach sees something that a guy should work on, he'll work with him right away, or hit him another ground ball so that he can continue to learn. They are encouraged to get water frequently. The players are on the field from basically 9:30 until 2:30 with a 30 to 45 minute lunch, but they are well taken care of and each field has one athletic trainer around in case there is a need. If you get a chance to spend a day watching a full Twins minor league practice during spring training, I would encourage it. Again, I am amazed by the efficiency. They are able to keep somewhere around 140 baseball players busy, but more important, they are coaching them up at every opportunity. I'm certain that I didn't cover it all. There is so much going on. Here are a couple of quick notes: I talked to Luke Bard for a little while. As you know, he had surgery last May and it is expected to be a 12 month recovery. As I’ve written before, once they found the issue, they were amazed that he was able to throw at all. As he said, a lot of really good doctors missed it. Bard said he feels good and is on track to this point. He’s such a good person that you want to see him get healthy and see what he can do. Reports from teammates when he was able to pitch were that he had some really nasty stuff.I also talked to David Hurlbut, a left-handed starting pitcher who was named to the Florida State League All-Star team in 2014. He didn’t pitch from that point forward and was rehabbing throughout the offseason. He told me that he kept having bullpens and thinking he was good and then he wouldn’t be able to pitch again for a couple of weeks. He did say that the last couple of weeks, he has felt very good. He’s now doing bullpens and involved in all activities with the hope to be ready for opening day.Jason Kanzler shaved the mustache for photo day. I actually felt bad. I was chatting with outfielder Zach Granite between fields, and Kanzler walked by on his way to another field. I had to do a double take. We chatted later and Kanzler said, “Yeah, didn’t think you knew it was me.” I agreed and said that I had to do a double-take just to believe that it was him.There is a belief that flame-thrower Brandon Poulson has a chance to be really good, dominating someday as a pitcher. Though he is 25 years old, he hasn’t played a lot of baseball. He’s 6-4, 240 pounds and as Tom Powers of the Pioneer Press wrote today, he has just 8% body fat. Right now, he has trouble with this control, and the Twins will be patient with him. Why? Because he has little problem hitting 98 mph with his fastball. If it takes him a couple of years to gather his control and maybe a second or third pitch, and he could get to the big leagues at 28 years old with a 98 to 101 mph fastball, then it’s all worth it. I know you were wondering the same thing I was, but they were able to get THEOFANOPOULUS on the back of a Twins jersey. Three guys to keep an eye on for years down the road, possibly, are outfielders Roberto Gonzalez, Tyree Davis and Edgar Corcino. All three fit the profile of athlete. They are all very fast. They all have good strength and they’re all baseball guys. Obviously they’re all young and a long way from big league ready, but if you’re looking for some names of sleepers in the low levels, those guys could be very interesting.One thing I’ve noticed in watching so many bullpens the last couple of days: The Twins have a lot of pitchers that throw pretty hard. I know they’re not completely airing it out in the first bullpen sessions, and I’m not necessarily seeing their best secondary pitches either, but it’s very clear that there is more velocity.On Saturday, the Twins are on the road again, this time across the state in Jupiter, so I’ll be at the minor league facilities again. As you can see, I really enjoy this and I hope that passion comes through when you read me write about the Twins minor league system and the players in it. There really is a lot of talent. Then consider that some of their top prospects are still over in the major league camp and that talent pool just continues to grow. Nick Nelson will be arriving in Ft. Myers later this afternoon, so look forward to his terrific writing the next week or so. He and I will both cover the Twins on Sunday, so be sure to check back often. Click here to view the article

(Originally posted on www.twinsandlosses.com) The Twins know when to Fuld them. They know when to walk away, know when to run. The Twins made moves after they convinced themselves that they were much better off than they actually were. Colabello was red hot to start the season. Gibson was putting up impressive stats for his first month. And Joe Mauer was non-existent. Well Bello cooled off, Gibson isn't the fireballer we thought, and Mauer is still M.I.A. That's not to say the Twins don't have some good pieces in the mix. Perkins has become a fine closer, with a few bouts where he does his best Eddie Guardado impression. Brian Dozier was almost an All Star. An average June, that's continued into July hasn't done much to prove the doubters wrong. Dozier is still one of the better players on the 25 man roster, and it's not even close. Aaron Hicks and Josmil Pinto have been sent to the minors, and haven't been seen or heard from since June. Sam Fuld closed the door on the Aaron Hicks experiment for the time being, and Kurt Suzuki's red hot season has allowed the Twins to let Pinto develop at AAA. Pinto has battled injuries, and his stats have been anything but impressive. Eric Fryer is hardly a threat in the line-up, but Gardy and Co. are more content to roll with Zuke and Fry Guy for this season. Speaking of Gardy, he might be fired this season. His entire staff might go too. And hopefully Terry Ryan is out the door shortly after they've been escorted from the premises. If there's a failure at the major, minor, and managerial levels (4 seasons of 90+ losses would be one example), then the general manager is equally to blame. Bill Smith got his grubby little fingers into the cookie jar and left crumbs for TR during his short tenure as GM. Ryan has done a good job stocking the minors, but some of his major league moves have been questionable at best. I think the fan base is pointing a lot of blame at the manager and pitching coach, and not enough at the GM. One downfall of writing an article all day is that things happen. Things like Sam Fuld being traded to the Oakland Athletics (who also landed Lester and Gomes for Cespedes) for Tommy Milone. Milone was pretty much bumped from the A's rotation with the addition of Jason Hammel, and Jeff Shamallamadingdong (Samardzija). A lefty with a career 3.84 ERA (automatically the lowest on the Twins starting staff FYI), Milone has been sent to AAA. Maybe for a test and tune, but it'd be a shame to keep Milone in the minors for the remainder of the season. It's not like the Twins have done that with any other minor league pitcher this seas... Kendrys Morales, another low cost waiver signing, turned into Stephen Pryor. Between Scott Boras, and personal greed, Morales ended up back in Seattle, playing for a lot less money, on a team that ended up having a good shot at the post-season. Pryor owns a career 2.81 ERA in 34 games pitched. He's been out since 2013, dealing with multiple surgeries. He's the kind of player the Twins can develop into a middle/long reliever, and possibly a set up man. His velocity is down from the high 90's to the low 90's. Hopefully that will come up a few MPH after he's healthy. The Twins also signed undrafted rookie Brandon Poulson earlier this week. The kid's touched 99 and 100 on the radar. He's improved his control since just last fall. Did I mention he ran a 6.60 60 yard dash in his socks? Oh, he's also 6'4". He's been sent to Elizabethton to play rookie ball, and get acclimated with the pros but should see time in Fort Myers in the not-too-distant future. Poulson's legend may grow to Paul Bunyan-esque levels if he continues to improve and impress with each stop on his way to the majors. Kennys Vargas is set to make his major league roster debut, days after Terry Ryan said he'd probably have to make a stop at AAA - Rochester before getting called up. Vargas is a great prospect possessing both power and speed. He'll hopefully be one of the many rookies who help turn this franchise around sooner rather than later. I hope he doesn't struggle like Aaron Hicks did when he jumped from AA - New Britain to the majors. Time will tell, and I personally think Vargas is a better ball player than Hicks could ever hope to be. The tradeline looms like a dark cloud over Twins Territory. Maybe the Twins will get lucky and someone will take Ricky Nolasco off our hands for free. Maybe we could even package JJ Barea in and free up some cap space for the Wolves too. Hell, why not try to find an All Star goalie for the Wild. I'm sure the LA Kings would take Mike Pelfrey for Johnathan Quick. amitire??