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I recall seeing the Cedar Rapids Kernels in late June. They had not been a strong team in the first half and their pitching staff was a mess. Pretty much since that time, they have played really well. In fact, their magic number for a Midwest League playoff berth is currently just five. They’ve been receiving much improved pitching. SD Buhr was able to speak to Kernels manager Jake Mauer and his coaches, Tommy Watkins and Ivan Arteaga to discuss the turnaround.Ft. Myers already has a spot in the playoffs, but they had a great night of power and pitching. New Britain is probably out of playoff contention, but they had a great game too. Find out more about those games and who played well throughout the Twins minor league system on Wednesday. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 4, Buffalo 5 Box Score This game was tied going into the bottom of the ninth, but the Bisons were able to walk-off against the Red Wings. Alex Meyer made the start for the Red Wings. He gave up four runs, three earned, on eight hits. In 5.2 innings, he walked none and struck out ten. 62 of his 89 pitches were strikes. Aaron Thompson came on and got the next four outs, two of them on strikeouts. Deolis Guerra threw a perfect eighth frame. Mark Hamburger came on for the ninth. He recorded two outs, but the winning run scored on a single just out of the reach of a diving Aaron Hicks. Leading the Red wings offense, Chris Colabello went 3-5 and homered for the tenth time this season, Hicks went 2-4 in the game and hit his third double. He’s now hitting .298 with Rochester. James Beresford went 2-4. ROCK CATS REVIEW New Britain 7, Richmond 0 Box Score The Rock Cats got another very good start from the recently returned Taylor Rogers. He threw five shutout innings, giving up three hits, walking four and striking out three. Alex Wimmers struck out three over two perfect innings. Jim Fuller struck out four over two scoreless innings. Nate Hanson led the offense. He went 2-5 with his 20th double. He drove in three runs and he was credited with his first stolen base of the year. Tony Thomas went 2-4 with his 14th stolen base. Matt Koch was also 2-4. Eddie Rosario doubled for the 17th time. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 7, Bradenton 1 Box Score Power and pitching are always a good combination for a winning strategy. The Miracle got both on Wednesday night. Steven Gruver started and threw five shutout innings. He gave up five hits, walked none and struck out three. It was his eighth start of the year (with 32 relief appearances). With this start, he has worked five innings in each of his last four starts. He has given up just four earned runs in those 20 innings. Alex Muren came on for the sixth and threw two shutout innings. He gave up just one hit and he struck out two. BJ Hermsen was charged with one run on three hits in his inning. He struck out two. Brandon Peterson struck out the side in the ninth inning. The power in this game came, but not from the players that you might have expected. Tyler Grimes led the way. He went 2-4 with his second triple and his third home run. Stuart Turner was also 2-4. Max Kepler went 1-3 with a walk and his fourth home run. Jason Kanzler hit his third Miracle home run. Niko Goodrum walked twice and stole his 34th base. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 2, Quad Cities 5 Box Score The Kernels home stand ended and so did their eight-game winning streak. Stephen Gonsalves started. The lefty gave up two runs, one earned, on six hits and two walks over five innings. He struck out seven. Hudson Boyd gave up three runs in the sixth inning on three hits and two walks. Chris Mazza struck out four over two scoreless innings. Brian Gilbert struck out two in the ninth. Engelb Vielma and Jonatan Hinojosa each went 2-4. Max Murphy hit his sixth double, while Michael Quesada hit his 12th double. Mitch Garver walked twice and stole his seventh base. E-TWINS E-NOTES The E-Twins had a scheduled off day. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Twins 7, GCL Orioles 8 Box Score Josh Guyer put together a very solid start in Ft. Myers. He worked five innings and was charged with two unearned runs. He gave up five hits, a walk and had two strikeouts. Seth Wagner worked the sixth and got just two outs. He gave up three runs on two hits and two walks. Trevor Hildenberger got the next four outs and was charged with one run. Leonel Zazueta gave up two runs on two hits and two walks in the eighth inning. Manuel Guzman and Nelson Molina were each 2-4 in this game. Amaurys Minier hit his ninth double. Rafael Valera doubled for the eighth time of the year. Rainis Silva drove in three runs with his ninth double of the year. Silva is now hitting .351 over his last ten games while driving in six in the last two games. He is one of the youngest players on the roster. He turned 18 years old in March. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Steven Gruver, Ft. Myers Miracle Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Tyler Grimes, Ft. Myers Miracle THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Syracuse (6:00 CST) – Logan Darnell New Britain @ Richmond (6:05 CST) – TBD Ft. Myers @ Bradenton (5:30 CST) – TBD Cedar Rapids @ Burlington (6:30 CST) – Lewis Thorpe Elizabethton @ Pulaski (6:00 CST) – Sam Gibbons GCL Orioles @ GCL Twins (11:00am CST) – TBD Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Wednesday games. Click here to view the article

It’s hard to believe that the baseball season has completed three months already. As we enter July, it’s time to take a look at the top hitters, starting pitchers and relief pitchers in the Minnesota Twins minor league system during June. We will start with the relief pitchers. In May, there were not many strong bullpen performances, but in June things were much better. About one year ago, Michael Tonkin and AJ Achter were working out of the bullpen in Beloit. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] They both pitched (and dominated) the second half of the 2012 season in Ft. Myers. I selected Achter narrowly over Tonkin as my 2012 Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Year. This year, they both began their season in New Britain. Tonkin moved up to Rochester at the end of May, and Achter will now join him with the Red Wings as July begins. The 24-year-old Achter was the Twins 46th round pick in 2010 out of Michigan State. 23-year-old Tonkin was the Twins 30th round pick in 2008 out of high school in California. He was known as Jason Kubel’s brother-in-law until last year when he really made a name for himself. Both have put themselves in position to help a now-struggling Twins bullpen. Let’s get to the list. Here are my choices for the Top 5 Twins Minor League Relief Pitchers in June (starting with three Honorable Mentions): Aaron Thompson (Rochester) – 12 G, 12.2 IP, 1-0, 2.84 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 11 H, 2 BB, 12 K AJ Achter (New Britain) – 8 G, 10.0 IP, 1-0, 0.90 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 9 H, 4 BB, 11 K Tim Atherton (Cedar Rapids) – 6 G (1 GS), 13.0 IP, 1-0, 1.38 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 7 H, 8 BB, 12 K Number 5 – Ft. Myers – RHP Zack Jones - 6 G, 1.23 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 7.1 IP, 4 H, 3 BB, 13 K Jones has been on this list in the first two months. He was the Reliever of the Month in April. Last month, he made the list despite walking a batter per inning. We all know that Jones throws very hard, reaching into the upper 90s with his fastball. He is working diligently on his slider and it is a very important pitch for him. In limited duty in June, he did improve his control while striking out nearly two batters per inning. Number 4 – Rochester – RHP Luis Perdomo - 9 G, 2.30 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 15.2 IP, 9 H, 7 BB, 12 K The 29-year-old right-hander has a 4.60 ERA on the season, but as you can see, he was solid in June. Still too many walks, but he did well in a lot of innings for the Red Wings. He was able to limit base runners. Will he get another shot with the Twins this season? It’s possible, but he’ll have to be better yet. Number 3 – Ft. Myers – LHP Jose Gonzalez - 6 G, 2.00 ERA, 0.67 WHIP, 9.0 IP, 5 H, 1 BB, 12 K Gonzalez began the season in New Britain but was sent back to the Miracle after posting a 6.20 ERA in 16 appearances. In his first month with the Miracle, he was very good. He gave up few hits, walked only one and struck out 12. He is a fastball/slider guy who, despite not being real tall, has a chance to move up. He has been in the organization since 2007 and is still just 23 years old. Number 2 – Ft. Myers – Steven Gruver - 7 G, 1.29 ERA, 0.50 WHIP, 14.0 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 12 K Gruver just turned 24 over the weekend. He remains in Cedar Rapids despite pitching pretty well for Beloit a year ago. He’s been very, very good out of the Kernels bullpen again this year. He was named to the Midwest League All-Star game. The left-hander just did not allow many base runners in June. He shows very good control and the ability to miss bats when needed. And the Twins Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Month is: Rochester Red Wings – Michael Tonkin - 8 G, 0.00 ERA, 0.51 WHIP, 11.2 IP, 5 H, 1 BB, 11 K For the second straight June, Tonkin is the Reliever of the Month. He very easily could have been the Pitcher of the Month in June, as well. Back in May, in AA, he posted a 0.00 ERA and in 12.1 innings he walked three and struck out 20. Tonkin throws hard and gets sink. He induces a lot of ground balls and also gets lots of strikeouts. It may not be very long before we get to see Tonkin at Target Field. So what do you think? I’ve listed several relievers here that deserve be recognized for their terrific performances this past month. Who would your choice be? How would you rank these guys (and feel free to include others)? Be sure to check back later for the Twins Minor League Starting Pitcher and Hitter of the Month of June. View full article

After going through the top performing Hitters and Starting Pitchers from April, it's now time to check out which relief pitchers performed best in April. The Twins announced their choices of Byron Buxton and DJ Baxendale as their Hitter and Pitcher of the Month, respectively.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] As we saw with the starting pitcher list, using a beginning and ending point (such as a month) can alter how the numbers look. Alex Meyer may have be been #1 or #2 on the list if not for one inning in which he gave up four runs. Instead, he was #4. With relief pitchers, the low number of innings in a given month means that having one bad outing can really affect the numbers. However, we have a healthy list of relievers who started the 2013 season with a strong first month. Let's get to the Top 5 Relief Pitchers in April: Number 5 – Cedar Rapids – Tim Atherton - 0.82 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 11.0 IP, 9 H, 3 BB, 13 K The 23-year-old from Australia originally signed with the Twins in 2007 as a position player. He was released a year later for some off-field stuff, but re-signed with the Twins, this time as a pitcher, in 2011. He has been quite good since then, and that was the case in April. He pitched the ninth inning of the Kernels’ early-season no-hitter. He struggled some with control last year with the Snappers, but has shown good control to this point in the season. He has a good fastball and a solid slider. He can be deceptive due to a very animated motion. He should move up to Ft. Myers during the season. Number 4 – Ft. Myers – Cole Johnson – 1.69 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, 10.2 IP, 5 H, 4 BB, 7 K This time last year, Johnson was still toiling in Ft. Myers with the Extended Spring Training group. He was promoted to Beloit when the short-season leagues started. He pitched well for the Snappers in the 2nd half last year and in this spring's minor league camp to earn a spot in the Miracle bullpen. The success has continued through the season’s first month as he gave up just two runs and opponents hit .143 off of him. The 23-year-old from Notre Dame was the Twins 44th round pick in 2011. Number 3 – Cedar Rapids – Steven Gruver – 1.08 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, 16.2 IP, 11 H, 3 BB, 22 K A year ago at this time, the 23-year-old Gruver was in the starting rotation for the Beloit Snappers. Last year he made 18 starts and 12 relief appearances and posted a 3.61 ERA. The lefty began this season in the Kernels bullpen and has been pitching in long relief. He has pitched at least two innings in each of his appearances and has pitched as many as four innings in relief. He did go 4.2 innings in one spot start. The 2011 7th round pick from Tennessee throws strikes, hits 91 and has a good slider. He is another guy who just needs a spot to open in Ft. Myers to move up. Number 2 – Ft. Myers – Corey Williams – 2.31 ERA, 0.69 WHIP, 12.2 IP, 8 H, 0 BB, 5 K In 2012, Williams led the Twins minor leagues with 17 saves while pitching in 47 games for Beloit. The lefty struck out 68 batters in 62.1 innings, but he also walked 33. In his first month in the Florida State League, Williams led the organization with six saves despite sharing save opportunities. However, as you can see, he didn’t strike out many. Encouraging though, he did throw strikes. He was the Twins third round pick in 2011 out of Vanderbilt. He throws hard and has very good stuff. Despite not being promoted last year, Williams is a guy who could move quickly. And the Twins Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Month is: (Photo by Greg Wagner) Ft. Myers – Zack Jones – 1.64 ERA, 0.73 WHIP, 11 IP, 5 H, 3 BB, 13 K Zack Jones is one of the talented bullpen arms that the Twins selected in the 2012 draft. Unlike some, he will not be getting an opportunity to start. He will be a back-of-the-bullpen arm. When fans hear Zack Jones, the first thing you should think is fastball. Reports last year in Beloit said that radar guns consistently hit 98 mph, with several instances reaching triple-digits. In 2013 with the Miracle, the radar guns are consistently between 96 and 99. He has been splitting time pitching with late-inning leads with Corey Williams. Jones has five saves. Opponents hit just .139 off of him in April. Jones is highly touted and has a chance to move up quickly, but his role and level of success could be determined by his ability to continue to develop a second pitch. Jones said, “Right now, just a slider I’ve been working on. Spent some time messing with different grips and what not, but right now, I believe I have a better grasp of the pitch than I have had previously". “His slider is improving,” said Twins Director of Minor League Operations Brad Steil who added, “He’s being aggressive, throwing strikes and not walking many.” To what does Jones credit his first-month success? “In my opinion, a lot of my success this first month really came from attacking the hitter. I’m starting to develop more confidence with my slider and using that periodically in fastball situations so teams can’t just sit on the fastball,” he continued, “For me, I just try to keep it simple. Come into the game ready and throw strikes down in the zone. Do my best to compete with a relaxed intensity and not let the game speed up on me.” The Miracle are 22-4 on the season. They’ve had strong offense, solid starting pitching and, as you can see from this list, their bullpen has been very good. What’s it like to pitch late in games with Corey Williams, and what can he learn from him? Jones says he learns a lot and they push each other. “I’m lucky to be competing with a pitcher like Corey. I believe a lot of our success comes from us competing with each other and backing each other up. He is a well-rounded pitcher and has a very good mound presence. So, from watching from the bullpen, I try and study how he and other pitchers deal with adversity because that is what makes or breaks a pitcher. We both want the ball just as bad as the other at the end of the game, and we will continue to push each other to be the best we can be.” So, when he gets called in for a save situation, what’s his walk-in music? Jones chuckled and said, “Good question. Guys have different ideas on the walkout music. Some like calm, steady songs, but I’m the opposite. I like feeding my adrenaline when I pitch so I go with something heavy like Metallica.” It may be something he’ll have to have played in Target Field in the future! It was a terrific month for the Ft. Myers Miracle. They were the only team in baseball to end April with 20 wins. Miguel Sano was my choice for Twins Minor League Hitter of the Month. (The Twins officially chose Byron Buxton, which is completely understandable.) DJ Baxendale was my choice for Twins Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Month. The Twins made him their pitcher of the month. And today, three of my top five relievers, including the top two, are from the Miracle. Hopefully May can be as exciting for the Twins minor league affiliates and their prospects. As always, please feel free to ask any questions you may have. View full article