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In each of the past several seasons, the Cedar Rapids Kernels have held an “Autism Awareness Night” at Veterans Memorial Stadium, with the Kernels wearing special jerseys that are auctioned off to benefit The East Central Iowa Autism Society.The Society’s web site reports that the rate of autism is currently 1 in 88. However, as the site goes on to point out, “To most Americans, 1 in 88 is a number. To the families of a child with autism, our 1 in 88 has a face and a name.” For one Kernels player, that face is his younger brother’s and that name is Max. Cedar Rapids outfielder Zack Larson doesn’t need to wear a special jersey to remain aware of autism. In the unlikely event that Larson would require such a reminder, he needs only to look at his own right arm and the tattoo there consisting of the puzzle piece logo, widely used to promote autism awareness, along with his brother’s name. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Larson2015c.jpgZack Larson carries brother Max's name with him via the tattoo on his arm. (Photo: SD Buhr)Larson’s a native of the Bradenton, Florida, area, but moved to Virginia with his family when he was just five years old. “I lived there for four years,” Larson recalled in a recent interview,” “then, my little brother was born in Virginia and was diagnosed with autism. So we moved back down to Florida where we found a school for him to go to. That’s where we’ve been since.” Max and the rest of Larson’s family follow Zack and the Kernels as closely as possible from Florida. “They bought that (MiLB.tv) package so they watch the games on TV that are there to watch and they listen to every game with Morgan (Kernels radio broadcaster Morgan Hawk). My mom came (to Cedar Rapids) in May, so it was good to see her.” If, as you’d expect, Max looks up to his big brother the ballplayer, it’s equally apparent that Zack admires Max, as well. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/ZackMaxLarson.jpgZack Larson grew a mustache in high school and his brother Max got one, too. (Photo: courtesy Zack Larson)“He has pretty severe autism,” Larson explained. "He doesn’t talk very well but he knows words. He’s really brilliant on the computer. He knows how to work every electronic thing you can think of. My dad won’t know how to turn on something and Max will go in there and turn it on right away. My dad’s like, ‘what the heck?’ He’s a genius when it comes to electronics and computers and stuff. “Not many people totally understand what it’s all about. It was eye-opening for me when I first started to understand what my brother was diagnosed with. I was still young. It made me a better person, it made my family better people and it’s a blessing to have my brother.” Larson was signed out of high school in 2012 after being drafted by the Twins in the 20th round. Like virtually all high school players that are drafted, he had to choose between starting his professional career immediately or going to college first and trying to improve his future draft status. It really wasn’t a difficult decision for Larson, however. “I signed with a junior college, but ever since I was a little kid, I always wanted to be a professional baseball player and the Twins gave me the opportunity,” Larson recalled. “I didn’t want to pass on it. I could have gone to college and got hurt and could have never gotten another chance to play professional baseball.” Larson said he did discuss options with his family, but, in the end, “it was always my childhood dream to play pro ball, so I did it.” Had Larson gone to a four year college instead, he’d have been a draftable junior in this year’s draft. That’s not something he gives any thought to, however. “I don’t play any ‘what if’ games. I just did what I wanted to do. I just followed my dream and I haven’t looked back since.” Is he happy with how that dream has turned out, so far? “Yeah, absolutely. It’s awesome.” http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Larson2015b.jpgZack LarsonLarson played 41 games with the Kernels a year ago, but missed much of the season with a hamstring injury. The result of missing so much time with an injury was being assigned, again, to Cedar Rapids this spring as he works to resume his rise up the Twins’ organizational ladder. “My goal was just to have good quality at-bats, not to give any at-bats away,” Larson said, of his plans for 2015. “Just get on base however I can. I never really set any number goals or any of that. I wanted to get to the playoffs the first half and we did.” Larson got off to a slow start in April, hitting just .211 for the month, but he and Kernels hitting coach Tommy Watkins have been working together and that work is starting to show results. “I’m working with Tommy just on staying through the ball, working down to the ball instead of lifting the ball,” Larson explained. “I’ve been getting under it and lifting it. I’ve just been working with Tommy every day in the cage and starting to improve.” Larson has been particularly effective at driving in runs for the Kernels, hitting .347 with runners in scoring position and leading his team with 39 RBIs headed in to the July 4 weekend. Watkins said he likes what he’s seeing from his pupil. “He’s got a pretty good swing,” Watkins observed. “We’re just working with him on using the whole field, trying to drive some balls to the gap. Right now, just trying to get him to stay on top of the ball and use the middle to the opposite way. To pull the ball, let that happen on its own. “He’s a student of the game and he’s a guy that I look to lead our club, being here last year. He’s more of a quiet guy and he’ll lead more by example than anything, but I look for him to be a leader on this team. Great guy with runners in scoring position. He hunts out those RBIs and that’s a good thing.” Larson and his teammates put together a 41-29 record in the first half of their Midwest League season, good enough to lock up a playoff spot by finishing second in the Western Division, but they know they have more work to do. “We had a pretty good first half, but we think we can do better,” Larson said. “We had a meeting with Jake (manager Jake Mauer) and he said that if we had averaged four runs per game, we could have won 50 games in the first half. So, we were like, ‘what the heck, we can score four runs.’ “We don’t want to take the second half lightly, we want to show the teams that we’re playing some ball and we’re ready for the playoffs, that we can push it all the way into the playoffs and make a run.” (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com) Click here to view the article

After a busy week last week with the Minnesota Twins naming their new manager, we are returning to our look at the Twins organizational depth chart. This week, we’ll be reviewing the outfielders throughout the system. Since there are nearly fifty outfielders, I am going to split it into two parts. Today, I’ll look at that outfield depth in the Twins four lowest affiliates; Dominican League Twins, GCL Twins, Elizabethton Twins and the Cedar Rapids Kernels. Later this week, I’ll discuss the players in the upper levels.Coming Soon - The Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook 2015 will be available soon here at Twins Daily. In it, there will be much more detailed prospect profiles and much more.> Dominican Summer League Down in the DSL, there were six players that got significant time in the outfield. Looking at the statistics in the lowest levels can be quite fruitless, but it’s always interesting to get to know the names. A couple of these players could wind up coming to the States and playing in the GCL or even Elizabethton in 2015 or beyond. Francisco Hernandez led the DSL team with 31 games in centerfield. He was 18-years-old this year and in 42 games he hit .210/.369/.210. At 5-10 and 160 pounds he has very little power (no extra-base hits) and had just seven stolen bases. 18-year-old Antonio Tovar spent his second season in the DSL in 2014. The 6-0, 195 pounder was the leader in games played in left field with 32, though he played 26 games in centerfield as well. He hit .253/.381/.335 (.716) with six doubles and five triples. After going 12-13 in stolen base attempts in 2013, he went just 9-20 in 2014. He walked 41 times and struck out 35 times. Junior Amarante turned 19 before the 2014 season started. It was his third season with the DSL Twins and by far his best. He played 31 games in right field and eight games in left. He hit .287/.383/.337 (.720) with five doubles and two triples. He was also 22 of 24 in stolen base attempts. He is 5-11 and 185 pounds. Edgar Herrera is a 17-year-old from Venezuela. He played 26 games in right field and 13 games in left field. At 6-0 and 170 pounds, he hit .259/.361/.302 with two doubles and two triples. He walked 23 times and struck out 23 times, as well. Jorge Parra is 6-0 and 176 pounds. In his second DSL season, he played in 52 games and hit .260/.356/.345 (.700). He added nine doubles and three home runs. He played 19 games in left field and 15 more in right field. Luis Martinez was an 18-year-old in his first DSL season. He played in 23 games and hit .328/.443/.414 (.857) with three doubles and a home run. He also stole 14 bases and walked as much as he struck out. He played 15 games in centerfield and one in right. Gulf Coast League Tyree Davis was the Twins 37th round draft pick in 2014. The now-19-year-old played 36 games in centerfield for the GCL Twins. In 38 total games, he hit just .087/.210/.146 (.356). He went 9-103, but he had two doubles and two triples. He is a great athlete, a five-tool athlete. The graduate of Centennial High School in Compton, California, is looking to become the school’s 11th major league player and the first since Lonnie Smith retired in 1994. At 6-3 he has a lot of power potential. Amaurys Minier was the Twins top international signing in 2012. He debuted in the GCL in 2013 and went back to the GCL in 2014. He had offseason shoulder surgery, and he moved from third base to left field where he started 34 games. In 53 games, he hit .292/.405/.520 (.925) with 11 doubles, two triples and eight home runs. At 6-2 and 190 pounds, he has terrific power. He also spent a lot of time at first base. Frank Encarnacion led the GCL in games played at right field with 16, though he also played seven in left field. After a year in the DSL, he moved to the States where he played in 26 games and hit .198/.244/.235 (.479) with three doubles. 19-year-old Roberto Gonzalez is another five-tool outfielder whom the Twins drafted in 2014 (15th round) out of Orlando. He played in just 13 games due to knee surgery. In 43 at-bats, he hit .233/.313/.302 (.615) with three doubles. At 6-0 and 195 pounds, he has very good speed and a lot of power potential. He stole four bases in five attempts. He will need to be able to make more contact. Rafael Valera came to the States in 2014 after two seasons in the DSL. He played in 47 games for the GCL Twins, but he also had a couple of stints (and three games played) in Ft. Myers. With the GCL, he played eight games in right field solely and three games in right and left. He also played around the infield. He hit .254/.370/.341 (.710) with eight doubles and two triples. After four seasons in the Dominican Summer League, 21-year-old Dubal Baez finally got to move to the States. He played 40 games in the GCL and hit .281/.351/.331 (.681) with six doubles. He played 18 games in centerfield, 11 games in right field and nine games in right field. After a season in the DSL, Ariel Montesino hit .165/.233/.220 (.454) with four doubles and a triple. He also stole 10 bases. He played 13 games in left field and 10 games in right. He turned 19 since the end of the season. Elizabethton Twins Max Murphy was the Twins ninth round pick in 2014 out of Bradley. The 21-year-old Minnesotan was the Appalachian League Player of the Year and spent only 35 games with the E-Twins, but he hit .378/.483/.723 (1.206) with seven doubles, two triples and ten home runs. He then played 32 more games with the Cedar Rapids Kernels where he hit .242/.314/.395 (.709) with seven doubles and four home runs. Combined, he played 35 games in centerfield, 20 games in left field and six games in right. Tanner English was the Twins 11th round pick in 2014 out of South Carolina. He played in 32 games for the E-Twins and hit .316/.439/.474 (.913) with five doubles, two triples and three homers. He was also five for six in stolen base attempts. Despite being just 5-10 and 160 pounds, he is far from a slap-hitter. All 26 games he played defense, he played in centerfield. Austin Diemer was the Twins 26th round out of Cal State Fullerton. He played 37 games in centerfield for Elizabethton and another 18 games in left field. In 55 games, he hit .227/.305/.286 (.591) with six doubles and two homers. He stole ten bases. Jeremias Pineda spent most of the 2013 season with the Cedar Rapids Kernels, minus his 50-game suspension. He began 2014 in Cedar Rapids, but he was sent back down to Elizabethton where he played 58 of his 73 games. In all, he hit .224/.301/.295 (.597) with six doubles, four triples and two homers. He has good speed and stole 27 bases in 34 attempts. Trey Vavra was the Twins 33rd round pick in 2014 out of Florida Southern. He primarily played first base for the E-Twins, but he also played 13 games in left field. He hit .319/.392/.454 (.846) with 20 doubles, a triple and a home run. Cedar Rapids Kernels JD Williams advanced to Ft. Myers in the second half of 2013, but a spring training broken thumb and rehab sent him back to the Kernels. He played 52 games in left field. In 75 games total, he hit .245/.330/.383 (.713) with 19 doubles, four triples and three homers. The 23-year-old will need to get to Ft. Myers to start 2015. Zach Granite began the season in Cedar Rapids, but unfortunately the centerfielder missed time with two injuries and played in just 21 games with the Kernels. The 21-year-old hit .291/.321/.367 (.689) with two doubles and two triples for the Kernels. He is very fast and has the skill set to be a good leadoff hitter. Zach Larson began the season as the Kernels right fielder. The 20-year-old hit .265/.325/.358 (.683) with 11 doubles and a homer. Unfortunately, he dealt with a hamstring issue most of the rest of the season. Despite being a 20th round draft pick out of high school in 2012, he is a very good hitting prospect. Chad Christensen primarily played first base for the Kernels, but the versatile athlete also played 20 games in left field, ten games in right field and six games in center. The 24-year-old was the Twins 25th round pick in 2013 out of the University of Nebraska. In 127 games total with the Kernels, he hit .272/.339/.404 (.744) with 24 doubles, seven triples, nine home runs, 73 RBI, 84 runs scored and 30 stolen bases. Alex Swim had almost solely been a catcher until mid-June when he came up to the Kernels. He went on a hot streak and then he was moved out to right field to keep his bat in the lineup. He played 46 games in right field. In 63 total games, he hit .311/.352/.349 with nine doubles. SUMMARY In Part 2 of the outfield depth chart later this week, we’ll discuss players who are closer to the big leagues. However, Part 1 does show a lot of players with some big-time potential. A few have the potential to be great. Of course, at the low levels, the odds are markedly against them. Amaurys Minier and Zach Larson are arguably the two top prospects in this list. Players like Max Murphy, Chad Christensen and Tanner English have the opportunity to advance after strong showings. Players like Tyree Davis and Roberto Gonzalez have a long way to go, but they are two players that legitimately have five tools. Click here to view the article