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One of the great things about being a baseball fan is you can always find plenty to be positive about if you’re willing to look hard enough. While 2016 has been a bleak year for the Twins, having 100-plus players in the organization means there are 100-plus opportunities to find some bright spots. It’s no secret that the biggest issue for the Twins has been their pitching. While some of the prospects like Jose Berrios and J.T. Chargois have struggled in their brief time in the major leagues, there are plenty of other pitchers in the system trending in the right direction. If you’re looking for the brightest stars shining in the system, Stephen Gonsalves (1.97 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 9.9 K/9) and Fernando Romero (1.89 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, 9.0 K/9) are having as good of seasons as anyone in the entire minor leagues. But there has been and will be plenty of coverage about those two as they rocket their way up the Twins prospect rankings. Digging a bit deeper, you can find a few less heralded pitchers who have really put things together over the past couple months. Unlike Gonsalves and Romero, these guys aren’t going to be in the running for pitcher of the year awards or sit atop any prospect lists, but what they’re doing shouldn’t be ignored. Here is a list of one pitcher from each of the Twins’ top four affiliates who has turned things up as the minor league season is winding down. Rochester: D.J. Baxendale Baxendale began the season in the Chattanooga Lookouts’ rotation and pitched well enough to be named a midseason Southern League All-Star. He had a 3.44 ERA and displayed excellent control (1.8 BB/9), which has been his calling card throughout his professional career. That performance earned him a promotion, but it wasn’t to the Rochester rotation. Along with a new team, Baxendale shifted to a new role out in the bullpen. After averaging 6.6 K/9 as a starter in Double A, the Arkansas product is now averaging over a strikeout per inning out of the Rochester pen. Over 30 ⅓ innings with the Red Wings, Baxendale has a 1.19 ERA and 34 strikeouts. He’s pitched at least two innings in seven of his 22 appearances. A former 10th-round pick, the 25-year-old Baxendale has never been viewed as much of a prospect, but the way he’s pitched at the highest level of the minor leagues has to have captured the attention of the front office. With a new regime expected to take over, however, it’s anyone’s guess whether Baxendale will remain in relief or go back to starting next season. Chattanooga: Ryan Eades Eades’ totals for the year don’t look like much to get excited about, but since returning to the Lookouts’ rotation, he has been on a nice roll. The former second-round pick was bumped to the bullpen in early July and saw his ERA balloon to 5.13 in the middle of that month. He smoothed things out and managed to get back into the rotation on Aug. 14, partially due to performance but luck also played a big role. While he may not have technically earned his way back into the rotation, he’s certainly pitched like he intends to stay there since. Maybe being sent to the pen was a wakeup call, maybe he learned some things out there, maybe it’s as simple as he has a fresh arm ... whatever it is Eades has looked like a different pitcher. Over four starts, the LSU product has a 2.42 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and four times as many strikeouts (20) than walks (5). His 8.1 K/9 over that period is a nice increase over his career mark of 6.6. Eades hasn’t lived up to his impressive college resume or $1.3 million bonus up to this point, and this could just be him getting hot over a small sample, but I wonder if we are seeing his turning point. Fort Myers: Dereck Rodriguez Rodriguez started the year in Cedar Rapids and got off to a rough start. Coming off a season in which he was named the Appalachian League Pitcher of the Year, Rodriguez looked lost, pitching to a 7.71 ERA through June 2. From there he really turned things around. The Twins took notice and quickly bumped him up to Fort Myers. The 24-year-old has carried that momentum over, and through four starts in the Florida State League has a 2.36 ERA and 0.97 WHIP over 26 ⅔ innings. He isn’t posting as many strikeouts since the promotion (just 5.1 K/9), but he has issued just two walks. That’s not two walks as in per nine rate, that’s two walks as in total. While the FSL is a notorious pitcher’s haven, that kind of control is impressive no matter the setting. Since hitting that low point in early June, Rodriguez has pitched at least six innings in all 13 of his starts. That’s an especially impressive feat considering this is just his second season as a starting pitcher and third overall since being converted from the outfield. Cedar Rapids: Eduardo Del Rosario Much like Rodriguez, Del Rosario’s 2016 got off to a rotten start. His season started in June, but the lanky 21-year-old didn’t really get rolling until the start of July. Here’s a breakdown his numbers by month. June: 6.58 ERA, 1.58 WHIP, 5.2 K/9 July: 2.83 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 9.4 K/9 Aug.: 1.69 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 11.5 K/9 Del Rosario has pitched out of his mind over his last eight starts in particular, tallying a total of 58 Ks against just 14 walks over that stretch of 44 ⅔ innings. He is far and away the most intriguing prospect on this list, but it’s important that Del Rosario keeps logging innings and developing his body before he really shoots his way up the rankings. Regardless, he has definitely established himself as a guy to keep an eye on. Aside from Berrios and Chargois, there has been plenty of frustration over the lack of progress from other highly-touted prospects like Tyler Jay, Kohl Stewart, Nick Burdi and the handful of other relievers the Twins took with high draft picks. But luckily in baseball hope springs eternal. All those guys will get another shot to breakout next year. But in the meantime, Gonsalves and Romero are reason enough to be excited and there are plenty of under the radar guys beyond the four listed above taking big steps forward right before our eyes.

The Twins enjoyed an off-day on Thursday after taking a three-game set from the division leading Kansas City Royals. In the Minor Leagues, the postseason is now in full swing. Lookouts Look-In Montgomery Biscuits @ Chattanooga Lookouts Jamie Schultz vs. D.J. Baxendale Final: Biscuits 3, Lookouts 4 In the first game of the best-of-five series the Lookouts secured the victory on a walk-off single from Southern League MVP, Max Kepler. With two on and two out, Kepler hit a line drive single to right scoring a pair of runs and earning the Lookouts the victory. In front of a home crowd of 1,279 at AT&T Field in Chattanooga, Tennessee, D.J. Baxendale gave the Lookout fans seven and two-thirds innings of hope. Baxendale gave up a pair of early runs in the second, and another in the sixth but pitched into the eighth inning, before being lifted after 101 pitches. Baxendale gave up seven hits, three runs all earned. He walked none and struck out four. Baxendale was lifted for Nick Burdi, who struck out three in an inning and a third of work, but had to get four outs in the top of the ninth after a dropped strike three and an errant throw to first base from Stuart Turner. Leadoff man Shannon Wilkerson, and cleanup hitter Travis Harrison were both held hitless, as were D.J. Hicks, Adam Brett Walker, Stephen Wickens and Stuart Turner. The Lookouts offense only generated five hits, but managed to earn NINE free passes from the Biscuits pitching staff, leaving the Lookouts with plenty of chances to score. Jorge Polanco was 2-4 plus a walk with a run scored. Max Kepler's ninth inning hit was his only one of the game, capping a 1-4 night that include a walk and a pair of strike outs. The Lookouts are back on the diamond Friday night in Chattanooga for game two. The series then heads to Montgomery for the conclusion of the five-game series. Kernels Korner Cedar Rapids Kernels @ Quad Cities River Bandits Sam Gibbons vs. Brock Dykxhoorn Final: Kernels 3, River Bandits 1 The Cedar Rapids Kernels have advanced to the Midwest League semifinals with a 3 to 1 victory over the Quad Cities River Bandits on Thursday night in front of 1,555 fans at Modern Woodmen Park. The Quad Cities River Bandits had the best winning percentage of all full-season teams in Minor League Baseball prior to being swept out of the postseason by the Kernels. Sam Gibbons gave the Kernels everything he had on Thursday night, pitching eight innings of four-hit one-run baseball. He struck out four and walked zero. Yorman Landa pitched two scoreless innings, struck out three, walked zero and gave up just a single. Nick Anderson came in to pitch the bottom of the eleventh and shut down the River Bandits to lock up the game and series victory for the Kernels. The Kernels went ahead 3-1 in the top of the eleventh inning on a bizarre series of plays, culminating with a Chris Paul single that plated T.J. White and LaMonte Wade. After a T.J. White walk to start the inning, LaMonte Wade dropped down a sac bunt right in front of home plate but the River Bandits' catcher Garrett Stubbs thought he had a chance to nab White at second but his throw was late and low and bounced into center field. White advanced to third on the throwing error and then Wade advanced to second after the throw to third got by the Bandits, putting runners at second and third for Chris Paul. The game winning hit capped a big night at the plate for Chris Paul. He was 3-4 with all three Kernels RBIs, plus a walk. No other Kernels hitter had multiple hits. Edgar Corcino, who had a chance to win the game for the Kernels in the tenth with two on and two out, struck out for the fourth time in five attempts on the evening, a frustrating 0-5 night for Corcino. The Kernels will travel to Peoria, Illinois to take on the Peoria Chiefs in the semi-finals. That series begins on Saturday night. TwinsDaily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Chris Paul - Cedar Rapids Kernels TwinsDaily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Sam Gibbons Cedar Rapids Kernels Friday's Probables Montgomery Biscuits @ Chattanooga Lookouts - Jacob Faria vs. TBD

David Price and the Blue Jays carved up the Twins on Monday afternoon, and to make matters worse, every affiliate in action on Monday night lost. All of the games were close, with only the Red Wings losing by more than one run, but outside of Elizabethton, there was not a lot of run scoring. Let's get to it. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester Red Wings @ Gwinnett Braves Box Score The Red Wings struck first, a solo home run in the second inning off the bat of Xavier Avery, to put the Red Wings up 1-0. Unfortunately, Rochester had just four other hits the rest of the way. James Beresford, Danny Ortiz, Argenis Diaz and Chris Herrmann had the rest of the hits. Danny Ortiz was the only Red Wings player other than Avery to have an extra base hit, a double. Danny Santana and Oswaldo Arcia were both 0-4, but neither dude struck out, what are the odds?! Jose Berrios pitched seven innings of three run baseball. He gave up seven hits, walked one and struck out four. Unfortunately he also gave up a pair of long balls, a solo shot in the fourth and a two run dinger in the sixth, both with two outs. Berrios was replaced by A.J. Achter, who pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, including a strike out. Final: Red Wings 1, Braves 3 LOOKOUTS LOOK-IN Chattanooga Lookouts @ Jackson Generals Box Score The Lookouts had OWNED the Generals this year, holding a 10-1 record against Jackson going into the Monday evening contest. It seemed like the Lookouts would bring that winning attitude again on Monday night, scoring a run in the top of the first on a Jorge Polanco solo home run, but that was the last run the Lookouts scored on Monday, and they recorded just five hits on the evening. No Lookout hitter had multiple hits, though both D.J. Hicks and Stephen Wickens reached safely twice, both 1-3 with a walk. Kennys Vargas was 0-4 with three strike outs. The big fella is hitting just .232 at AA, but he's still walking a fair amount so his OBP is still north of .350. He has 28 strike outs in 28 games, which doesn't seem like nearly enough, but he did have a nice stretch of games in the middle of July where he went four games in a row without any strike outs. On the mound the Lookouts received a nice performance from D.J. Baxendale, who was saddled with a tough luck loss to fall to 4-3. Baxendale pitched seven innings and gave up just four hits and two runs. He walked one and struck out two. He threw just 85 pitches and sent down the side in the order in the seventh, but was not given a chance to pitch any deeper into the game. J.T. Chargois pitched a clean eighth inning in relief, recording three straight ground balls. Final: Lookouts 1, Generals 2 MIRACLE MATTERS SCHEDULED OFF DAY KERNELS KORNER SCHEDULED OFF DAY E-TWINS E-NOTES Elizabethton Twins @ Johnson City Cardinals Box Score Down 9-3 in the top of the eighth inning, the E-Town Twins put up a five spot to crawl within one run, but could not score the tying run in the ninth and fell to 19-21 on the season. Leadoff hitter Jermain Palacios was 2-5 with a pair of doubles and a pair of RBIs and still could not claim to have the best night for the Twins. That honor goes to cleanup hitter Chris Paul, who was 2-5 with a double, a home run (of the two-run variety) and FOUR RBIs. A.J. Murray (2-5), and Brad Hartong (2-4) also had multi-hit nights for the Twins. Twins starter Miles Nordgren gave up three runs on eight hits over five innings before giving way to Nate Gercken. Gercken gave up six runs, all earned, in two innings, incuding a pair of Cardinals home runs. Kuo Hua Lo pitched the eighth, facing the minimum and picking up a strike out to boot. Final: Twins 8, Cardinals 9 GCL Twins GCL Twins @ GCL Orioles POSTPONED DUE TO RAIN TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day - Chris Paul, Elizabethton Twins Pitcher of the Day - D.J. Baxendale, Chattanooga Lookouts FRIDAY'S PROBABLES Rochester @ Gwinnett - Michael Bowden (7-3, 2.27) vs. Sugar Ray Marimon Chattanooga @ Jackson - Jason Wheeler (2-2, 3.38) vs. TBD St. Lucie @ Fort Myers - TBD vs. TBD (Chih-Wei Hu's rotation spot) Dayton @ Cedar Rapids - Tejay Antone vs. Keaton Steele (2-3, 3.88) Elizabethton @ Johnson City - Andro Cutura (2-1, 1.03) vs. Ramon Santos Gulf Coast @ Orioles (Double Header) - TBD vs. TBD, TBD vs. TBD

The Twins finally won a game thanks to a three run dinger from Trevor Plouffe and a spectacular eight-inning start from Erving Santana. The Twins return home this weekend to face a red-hot Yankees team. Image courtesy of Tommy GIlligan, USA Today RED WINGS REPORT Gwinnett Braves @ Rochester Red Wings Box Score Jose Berrios earned his first Triple-A win with a seven-plus inning start. He gave up just four hits, he struck out one and walked two. Berrios faced two batters in the eighth, giving up a single and hitting a batter before being lifted for Thielbar. The Redwings used four pitchers to get through the eighth inning, Berrios, Thielbar for a third, Alex Meyer for a third, and Aaron Thompson for a third. A.J. Achter pitched a scoreless ninth to finish the game. Eric Farris picked up yet another hit for the Red Wings, now with hits in eleven of his last twelve games. Reynaldo Rodriguez led the way with a 3-4 afternoon including a double and an RBI. Jemese Beresford was 2-4 with an RBI of his own. Danny Ortiz provided the rest of the Red Wings runs on a two-run shot in the sixth inning. The Red Wings lead the International League North Division at 53-46, a half-game ahead of second place Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The Wings head out on the road for 18 of their next 21 games, where they've played below .500 ball so far this year. Final: Braves 0, Red Wings 4 LOOKOUTS LOOK-IN Tennessee Smokies @ Chattanooga Lookouts Box Score Lookouts starter D.J. Baxendale had one of his best starts of the year on Thursday night. In front of the home crowd at AT&T Field in Chattanooga, TN, Baxendale threw seven innings of two-hit one-run baseball. Baxendale walked five and struck out three. The lone run he gave up came in the top of the first after Baxendale gave up a lead-off walk to start the game. Unfortunately for Baxendale, Jake Reed showed up in the eighth inning and things went haywire. Reed gave up three runs on four hits and a walk before getting out of the inning. After the damage was done in the eighth, the Lookouts turned to another D.J., this time D.J. Johnson, in the ninth to finish the game. Johnson faced the minimum and struck out two. After Baxendale gave up a run in the first the Lookouts came right back and evened the score on a Max Kepler single that scored Levi Michael who doubled the start the game for the Lookouts. After those two hits in the first, the Lookouts had eight more, but stranded ten men on base and could not take advantage of their opportunities. Levi Michael was 2-5, including that leadoff double. Travis Harrison was 2-4 with a double of his own. Kennys Vargas was 0-4 with four strike outs and now has eleven strike outs in his last four games to go along with just two hits. Final: Smokies 4, Lookouts 1 MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers @ Tampa Yankees Box Score Jason Kanzler hit his seventh home run of the year in the seventh inning as the Fort Myers Miracle defeated the Tampa Yankees 7-5. Kanzler was 1-4 on the evening. Ryan Walker was 2-4 with a walk and an RBI, and Mitch Garver was 2-5 with a pair of RBIs and a run scored. Logan Wade also had a pair of hits, an RBI, and a run scored. Mat Batts came into Thursday's game with a 1.66 ERA and after he gave up three earned runs in just over five innings (5.1), he left his his ERA a third of a run higher at 1.96. Batts struck out six and walked just two, but he gave up six hits (five singles and a double). Batts was replaced by Nick Burdi who gave up a wild pitch, allowing a run to score to even the game at 3-3. The wild pitch earned Burdi a blown save, but the Miracle went out and put up a four spot in the top of the seventh. In the bottom of the seventh Burdi picked up a pair of strike outs, threw another wild pitch, and escaped a two-on, two-out jam by inducing a ground ball to second. Todd Van Steensel pitched the eighth and ninth, giving up a run on three hits. He also struck out two. Final: Miracle 7, Yankees 4 KERNELS KORNER Wisconsin Timber Rattlers @ Cedar Rapids Box Score Kernels' starter Zach Tillery faced twenty batters but didn't make it out of the fourth inning, lifted after just 3.2 innings. He gave up nine hits and five runs, all earned. He struck out one batter and did not walk anyone. Michael Theofanopoulos, owner of the longest name in the history of the world, earned a victory with 3.1 scoreless innings in relief. He walked two and struck out four. Jared Wilson earned his first save of the year, the two inning variety, with a pair of scoreless innings on an 80-degree night in Cedar Rapids. Brian Navarreto led the Kernels with three hits on a 3-4 night that included a double and a strike out. Navarreto had the misfortune of hitting at the bottom of the lineup so despite an extra base hit and a pair of singles, he did not have an RBI or a run scored. Nick Gordon was 2-4 with a double, two walks, an RBI and a run scored. Tanner English hit his fifth home run of the year, his only hit on the night. Final: Timber Rattlers 5, Kernels 6 E-TWINS E-NOTES Princeton Rays @ Elizabethton Box Score Trailing 1-0 headed to the bottom of the ninth inning, with just three hits so far in the game, the E-Town Twins rallied for a pair of wins for a walk off victory. Down to their last out with no one on base, the Twins' Travis Blankenhorn walked and was replaced by a pinch runner, Manuel Guzman. Pinch hitter Amaurys Minier then doubled home Guzman to even the score at one. After a pitching change, Ariel Montesino singled on a ground ball to right. With two-outs Amaurys Minier was running on contact and came home to score the winning run! Those ninth inning theatrics were the result of a strong pitching performance from the Twins' starter Andro Cutura who went six innings, gave up four hits, walked three and struck out three. He was replaced by C.K. Irby who pitched two innings, giving up a run on three hits, but all six outs he recorded were via strike out. Onesimo Hernandez pitched the top of the ninth and was credited with the win for a scoreless inning of relief. Final: Rays 1, Twins 2 TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day - Jose Berrios, Rochester Red Wings Pitcher of the Day - Nick Gordon, Cedar Rapids Kernels FRIDAY'S PROBABLES Rochester @ Columbus Clippers - Greg Peavey (1-4, 4.68) vs. Will Roberts Chattanooga @ Tennessee Smokies - Jason Wheeler (1-1, 3.09) vs. Ryan Williams Tampa Yankees @ Fort Myers - Dietrich Enns vs. Kohl Stewart (4-5, 3.26) Beloit Snappers @ Cedar Rapids - Joey Wagman vs. Randy Rosario (1-1, 1.15) Elizabethton @ Kingsport Mets - Samuel Clay (0-1, 5.68) vs. Darwin Ramos

I've always assumed that I'd invariably get my baseball news second hand from my younger brother, a fanatical baseball fan and true stats geek, until we no longer lived in the same household and I would be obliged to do the research on my own. That is, until he finally managed to talk me into starting a Twins Daily account last November. At first I rarely visited the site, only doing so when he succeeded in persuading me to post an idea I'd have now and then, but, as time went on and baseball came back for good this spring, I got more consistent and even learned to broaden my horizons to other baseball websites and look up more than just the Twins score every day. When this year's minor league season started, my brother was super excited since it was his first year to be able to participate in Twins Daily's "Adopt a Prospect" feature. He was hoping to be able to take Kohl Stewart, but though he got on just minutes after the thread started, he was disappointed to see that Stewart had already been claimed by another member. But then he noticed that Byron Buxton, the top prospect in baseball, hadn't been claimed yet; I guess everyone else, like my brother, was assuming that he'd already be taken by the time they had a chance to make a pick. Naturally he immediately jumped at that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and took him. I was pretty excited for him. Writing about baseball was something he'd dreamed about doing for some time, and to get Byron Buxton on such a prestigious website as Twins Daily was a huge deal. He told me that I should take someone, but I kind of shrugged it off and said that I wouldn't have time. However, he kept pushing the point, and finally I decided to just take a look at the prospects still available. At the time, I hardly knew anything about the players, and only recognized the top names from hearing him talk about them so much. I decided to choose in an unorthodox manner; scrolling through the Twins minor league rosters, I looked for a player who wore the number 33 on his jersey (I go by "always33" on Twins Daily since Justin Morneau has always been my favorite ballplayer, and I thought it would be kind of fun to have my prospect wear 33, too). The player on the Fort Myers Miracle who wore 33 was at the bottom of the pitchers. It was a name I'd never heard before, Luke Westphal. "Is he any good?" I asked. "Well, it's a kind of cool story," my brother responded. "He's from Wisconsin, but he never got drafted, and then he went to play winter ball in Australia last year, and the Twins signed him during the offseason." That was enough for me. The story caught my attention, and I suddenly wanted to write about this guy who had to go all the way to the other side of the world to sign with a team not four hours from his native town. I signed up and got to work. The next day I spent hours researching Westphal's career from college to independent baseball to Australia winter ball to Fort Myers. I scrolled through pages of Google results and read everything I came across until there wasn't another page to be found. With pages and pages of notes, I organized my information as best I could and put together my first ever Adopt a Prospect page...and my first ever article about a baseball player, much less a minor leaguer who had only made one appearance so far. By the time I was done and had it posted, I was feeling pretty exhausted. My brother, who had also adopted Zach Jones, wanted me to take a second player as well, but I put my foot down and said no. One was enough...at least for the time being. But maybe five weeks later, I became interested in another minor leaguer's career: Trey Vavra, son of Twins' bench coach Joe Vavra. He was terrorizing pitchers in low A and had just been awarded Twins Minor League Player of the Week after posting 10 hits (1 double), 8 runs, 2 RBI, and 6 walks in just 19 at bats, earning a .560 batting average on the week. I got excited about him and decided to adopt him, too...and then when I started doing research about him I discovered that he not only wore 33 but had been drafted in the 33rd round of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft. I was pretty thrilled, to say the least. How cool was it that I now had two prospects who shared jersey numbers with my favorite all-time player, however short the time would be that they'd keep them? I got Trey's page up and was rewarded when Seth Stohs, my new writing hero whose articles I always read with enthusiasm almost equal to watching the Twins play, thanked me for doing so and told me that I had done a great job. I don't mean to brag about myself, but I was so excited that I adopted D.J. Baxendale, a starting pitcher for the Chattanooga Lookouts, not twenty-four hours later if my memory serves me right. And he wasn't the last one, either. Just a few days ago I got Todd Van Steensel's page going, and now I have four prospects to follow and update on a minimum of a weekly basis. It's been a lot of fun, and while I was right that it would be time consuming, it's well worth it. I've developed a sort of sentimental attachment for each and every one of those players, and it's going to be pretty sad if I can't get them all again next year, for whatever reason. But I'm enjoying following them now (and all the rest of the Twins' minor leaguers, even though I can't adopt them all), and I'm going to relish every moment of it while it lasts. I've included brief overviews of each of my prospects below, and if you're interested in learning more about them, you can click on their names to read their Adopt a Prospect pages. It's been a lot of fun reading about their careers, and I hope you enjoy reading the pages I've put together for them! D.J. Baxendale, right-handed starting pitcher for the Chattanooga Lookouts, was drafted in the 10th round of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Arkansas by the Minnesota Twins. Since then, he has worked himself up to Double A, and this year he has made nine starts and posted a 3.47 ERA over 49.1 innings pitched, striking out 42 and walking 16. His record currently stands at 3-1. Luke Westphal, left-handed pitcher for the Fort Myers Miracle, was signed by the Twins in early 2015 after being discovered by Twins scout Howard Norsetter when he was pitching for the Doncaster Dragons of Australia’s Baseball Victoria Summer League where he started 14 games and collected 141 strikeouts with an ERA of 0.49 in 80 innings pitched. He was assigned to High A to start the season, and so far he has made 12 appearances, starting 5 games and picking up 2 wins and 2 losses. He currently has 20 strikeouts and 13 walks over 29.2 innings pitched. Todd Van Steensel, right-handed closer for the Fort Myers Miracle, has had a somewhat rocky minor league career but was given a second chance with the Minnesota Twins when they signed him to a minor league deal on February 6, 2014. This year he has played in 16 games at Fort Myers and is currently 1-2 with 4 saves out of 6 opportunities. He has allowed just 24 hits over 29.1 innings pitched, and he already has 42 strikeouts whilst walking 17. Trey Vavra, first baseman, left fielder, and designated hitter for the Cedar Rapids Kernels, was selected by the Twins in the 33rd round of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft out of Florida Southern College. His father, Joe Vavra, and older brother, Tanner, were already parts of the Twins organization, so it was pretty special for Trey to come to the Twins, too. This year he has played in 42 games at Class A, batting 319./.392/.454 (.846) with 10 doubles, 1 triple, 6 home runs, 28 RBI, and 29 runs scored. Unfortunately he was placed on the 7-day DL on May 27 due to a sprained left ankle after banging into the tarp down the left-field line chasing a foul ball. However, the week is almost up, and I'm eagerly anticipating his return to the field. --- Read full entry here: Twins Daily's "Adopt a Prospect" - How I Became Addicted