SethSpeaks.net Top 50 Twins Prospects: Part 1 (36-50)

also available at www.SethSpeaks.net -

Good morning Twins Fans. Thanks as always for stopping by this site. Normally, I have my Top 50 Twins prospects ready and made in mid-September, shortly following the end of the minor league seasons. So, I apologize for being a little late. But that is alright. I have had more time to give it some thought. Several things have been updated, a player or two signed. So, this is a good time to update my Top 50 Prospect lists. With the TwinsCentric Offseason GM Handbook now available, my attention quickly turns to the Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook – 2010. I hope for that book to be available either in late December or early January, certainly before Twins Fest.

There are many purposes for doing a Top 50 prospect list. Will all fifty of these guys make the Twins roster at some point? Of course not. I gave some thought, due to my schedule of late, of just doing a Top 20 list. But I fully believe that all of the minor leaguers deserve to be recognized. They all work incredibly hard to get to where the big leaguers are, so they should be noticed as well.  Also, these types of lists are fun because they can create discussion on these players and others. I encourage your thoughts. The Twins do generally build from within, so more than other organizations, these types of lists can provide a little incite into which players can help the Twins out in coming years.  With that, in the next days, I will continue to work my way up the Twins prospect list until finally giving you my selections for the Top 10 Twins prospects. I hope you enjoy this and again, please feel free to comment.

(Please note – for the bios/details on each of these players, you will need to go to www.SethSpeaks.net)

#50 – Shooter Hunt – RHP – 23 (8/16/86) 

#49 – Joe Testa – LH RP – 23 (12/18/85)

#48 – Reggie Williams – IF – 21 (11/5/88)

#47 – Brad Tippett – RHP – 21 (2/11/88)

#46 – Winston Marquez – LHP – 22 (8/19/87)

#45 – James Beresford – SS – 20 (1/19/89)

#44 – Deibinson Romero – 3B – 23 (9/24/86)

#43 – Evan Bigley – OF – 21 (3/9/87)

#42 – Derek McCallum – 2B – 21 (3/22/88)

#41 – Liam Hendriks – RHP – 20 (2/10/89)

#40 – Brian Dozier – SS – 22 (5/15/87)

#39 – Chris Herrmann – OF/C – 22 (11/24/87)

#38 – Steve Hirschfeld – RHP – 24 (9/8/85)

#37 – Ramon Santana – 3B/SS – 23 (6/20/86)

#36 – Rob Delaney – RH RP – 25 (9/8/84)

 So there you have it, my selections for Twins prospects 36-50. Be sure to check back tomorrow for my choices for #21-35, and later in the week, you will also get my Top 20. If you have any feedback, comments, opinions or suggestions, please feel free to Send me an e-mail, or leave your questions or comments here.

Minor League Awards

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On Thursday, the Twins announced their Minor League award winners. David Bromberg was the choice for the Jim Rantz Award for top minor league pitcher in the Twins system. For the second straight year, Ben Revere was named the recipient of the Sherry Robertson Award for the organization’s top hitter.

David Bromberg had another terrific season, and although there were several very good pitchers in the Twins system in 2009, this was really an easy choice. Bromberg went 13-4 with a 2.70 ERA. In 153.3 innings this year, he struck out 148 batters, which was the most in the organization. In 2008, Bromberg led all minor league pitchers with 177 strikeouts while pitching for the Beloit Snappers. He was named, by Baseball America, the top pitching prospect in the Florida State League. Bromberg spent the entire 2009 season at the age of 21 and is clearly a Top 10 Twins prospect.

Here are some others who were likely considered:

• In 51 games at AA New Britain, Anthony Slama struck out 93 in 65.1 innings. He was 4-2 with 25 saves and a 2.48 ERA. He pitched in 11 games at AAA Rochester. He was 0-2 with four saves and a 3.45 ERA. He struck out 19 in 15.2 innings. He gave up five of those six runs in one outing. Overall, he was 4-4 with 29 saves, a 2.67 ERA, and 112 strikeouts (with 40 walks) in 81 innings.
• Alex Burnett was moved from being a starter and into the bullpen. In 18 games in Ft. Myers, he went 2-1 with a 1.99 ERA. Then in 40 games after being promoted to New Britain he was 1-2 with a 1.79 ERA. Overall, he was 3-3 with a 1.85 ERA. In 78 innings, he had 78 strikeouts and just 26 walks.
• Steve Hirschfeld went 7-7 with a 2.2 ERA. He pitched in 15 games out of the bullpen before making 17 starts.
• Santos Arias was 6-3 with a 2.15 ERA in 100.2 innings. He made 29 relief appearances before ending the season with nine starts.
• Joe Testa spent the first half of the season pitching in Beloit. In 25 games, he was 0-2 with a 2.56 ERA in 45. 2 innings. Then in Ft. Myers, he was 5-0 with a 1.22 ERA in 21 games, and 37 innings. Altogether, in 82.2 innings, he struck out 116, and walked 41.
• Adrian Salcedo (3-2, 1.46 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 3 BB, 58 K in 61.2 IP), Blayne Weller (5-1, 1.58 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 8 BB, 49 K in 57 IP), BJ Hermsen (6-2, 1.35 ERA, 0.68 WHIP, 4 BB, 42 K in 53.1 IP) and Andrei Lobanov (2-1, 0.82 ERA, 0.68 WHIP, 1 BB, 35 K in 22 IP) all had strong showing for the short-season GCL Twins.

The choice for hitter of the year was much more difficult, so it is hard to argue the selection of Ben Revere for winning for the second straight season. Revere finished second in the Florida State League in batting average in 2009 with a .311 average. He was on base 37.2% of the time and had 19 extra base hits. He also stole 45 bases in 62 attempts. Something I like to see in a top of the order hitter, he walked 40 times with just 34 strikeouts. No question, Revere has proven a lot of critics wrong through his first two full minor league seasons.

There are several other hitters who warranted strong consideration:

• After a strong showing during big league spring training, Danny Valencia started his season back where he ended the 2008 season, in New Britain. There, he hit .284/.373/.482 with 14 homers, four triples and seven homers. That earned him a promotion to AAA where he got off to a fast start before tailing off late. He hit .286/.305/.454 with 24 doubles and seven home runs. All together, he his .285/.337/.466 with 38 doubles, four triples and 14 home runs.
• Brian Dinkelman spent the entire 2009 season at New Britain. He played primarily in 2B, but in the 2^nd half of the season, he played several games in LF as well. With the bat, he had a very strong season. He hit .296/.383/.440 with 38 doubles, two triples and eight home runs.
• Rene Tosoni hit .271/.360/.454 with 25 doubles, four triples and 15 home runs for the New Britain Rockcats.
• Also at AA was Erik Lis for the second straight full season. He hit .283/.353/.462 with 29 doubles and 17 home runs.
• Chris Parmelee hit .258/.359/.441 with 27 doubles and 16 home runs for the Ft. Myers Miracle.
• Ramon Santana spent most of the season at Beloit for the third season. There he hit .296/.384/.453 with 25 doubles, three triples and nine home runs. He went 4-15 in four games at AA New Britain at the end of the season.
• In short season Elizabethton, Josmil Pinto hit .332/.387/.610 with 14 doubles, two triples and 13 home runs in just 53 games. Brian Dozier hit .353/.417/.431 with 17 doubles.

There were several very good performances in the Twins minor league system, some that I didn’t mention here. It’s hard to argue with either of the Twins choices. So, congratulations to both David Bromberg and Ben Revere. If you would like to share your thoughts, please click here.

Arizona Fall League Update – Yesterday, the Mesa Solar Sox lost 12-5 to Surprise. Rene Tosoni was 0-4 with a walk. Chris Parmelee went 0-3 with a walk. Steve Singleton went 1-4 with his second double in two games.

Weekend Game Reports

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I’ve got a few postings in the works, so I’m going to post the Game Notes from Saturday and Sunday here. I also posted the Friday Game notes here. It was a fun weekend. I was at the Twins game on Friday night and had a good time. On Saturday, I went to the Stick & Ball Guy Convention, which is always a great time. It was good to see people again! And on Sunday, it was back to the Twins game, sitting in the nosebleed section out in the left field.  

SATURDAY – TWINS 3, CLEVELAND 7

SUNDAY – TWINS 4, CLEVELAND 7

So after Scott Baker two-hit this Cleveland team on Friday night, both Anthony Swarzak and Nick Blackburn were unable to get the Twins through even five innings. The Twins biggest problem all year lied under the surface longer than it probably should have. It wasn’t the bullpen. It wasn’t the bottom of the lineup. The Twins biggest problem this entire season has been any consistency from the starting pitching staff. There was small glimmer of hope on Saturday night. Scott Baker has been very good of late. Francisco Liriano’s last game was actually good. Those were the two we expected so much from coming into this season. Kevin Slowey is out for the year. Nick Blackburn, who pitched so far over his head in the first half, is getting destroyed in the second half. And the weaknesses in Anthony Swarzak’s pitching repertoire have certainly been found by advanced scouts… or anyone who realizes that he doesn’t have much beyond a fastball, which he can’t always locate either.

Now some will complain about the Twins inability to hit Cleveland’s barrage of soft-tossing lefties, and they have every right to do so. David Huff and Aaron Laffey made most of the Twins hitters just look silly. How many of those same types of pitches has Cleveland had in recent years?

Joe Mauer continues to amaze. After getting on base all five plate appearances on Friday night, he was 3-5 on Saturday and extended a hitting streak to 12 games with a single on Sunday. 

How demoralizing for the Twins it had to be on Sunday when the Twins hitters gave the team a 3-0 lead after two innings only to see Nick Blackburn give up three home runs, and six runs in the top of the 3^rd. Jesse Crain did fine when he came in. Then Jeff Manship, Jose Mijares, Matt Guerrier and Joe Nathan combined for five shutout relief innings. I was at that game, and the boo birds were definitely out in full force. (By the way, congratulations to Jeff Manship who made his major league debut with a scoreless innings on Saturday night that included a strikeout of Shin Soo Choo, his first batter faced.)

It’s official. It is time to start thinking about 2010. Too much was made of the Twins needing to go 6-0 against Kansas City and Cleveland on this home stand. That’s not realistic to expect, but I do believe 5-1 was needed. Going 2-4 on this home stand pretty much puts the nail in the coffin of the 2010 season. Sure, it was actually over weeks earlier, but like most Twins fans, I wanted to hold on to even just a glimmer of hope. At this stage, all hope is gone. I seriously, seriously hope that I am wrong.

Now, in a blog article to be written later, I will try to give an idea of what I would do with this team for the remainder of the 2009 season in preparation for 2010, so please be sure to check back for that.  

MINOR LEAGUE REPORT

Saturday – SethSpeaks.net Hitter of the Day – Brian Dozier, Elizabethton Twins

Saturday – SethSpeaks.net Pitcher of the Day – Matt Fox, New Britain Rockcats

Sunday – SethSpeaks.net Hitter of the Day – Justin Huber, Rochester Red Wings

Sunday – SethSpeaks.net Pitcher of the Day – Armando Gabino, Rochester Red Wings

ROCHESTER REPORT

Saturday – Rochester 3, Syracuse 9 – Steve Tolleson went 4-4 with his 17^th double. Matt Tolbert was 2-5 with his seventh double. Brian Buscher was 2-4. That was about it for the offense. R.A. Dickey was again on the mound, and again was not very good. He gave up seven runs on 11 hits and two walks, but he at least was able to give seven innings. Tim Lahey then gave up two runs on two hits in an inning.

Sunday – Rochester 8, Syracuse 1 – Justin Huber has been the main offensive source for the Red Wings throughout this season. In this game, he was 3-4 with his 17^th and 18^th home runs. He drove in three runs. The other bat for the team this year has been David Winfree. In this game, he was 3-3 with a walk, three doubles and three RBI. He now has 30 doubles on the season. Brian Buscher went 2-3 with a walk. Matt Tolbert was 2-5 with his seventh stolen base.   

ROCKCAT RECAP

Saturday – New Britain 4, Akron 1 – Matt Fox evened his record at 8-8 in this game. He threw seven shutout innings, allowing just two hits and two walks. He struck out six. Frank Mata gave up a run on two hits and got no outs. Spencer Steedley got an out but also allowed a hit. Alex Burnett came in and got all five batters he faced out for his fourth save.

• Quick note – I know that LaVelle reported last weekend that Burnett had broken his hand. It turned out not being broken, and instead just a bad bruise, so he is still able to pitch, which is good because he has been incredible this year.

Sunday – New Britain 1, Akron 8 – Cole DeVries has really had his struggles the second half of this season after a great start. In this game, he gave up seven runs on eight hits (three of them home runs). He walked one and struck out one. Kyle Waldrop gave up a run on a hit in his inning. Loek Van Mil struck out two and walked on hit two scoreless innings. Frank Mata pitched a perfect ninth. Erik Lis went 2-4 with his 22^nd double. 

MIRACLE MEMOS

Saturday – Ft. Myers 3, Sarasota 1 – Evan Bigley not only went 2-3 with two walks, but he had the chance to play hero. Bigley hit his fourth home run of the season, a big two run homer that ended this game with a Miracle win! Chris Cates went 2-4. Santos Arias gave up just one run on five hits over the first seven innings. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out seven. Joe Testa improved to 3-0 with two scoreless innings. He gave up one hit, one walk and struck out five.

Sunday – Game 1 – Ft. Myers 6, Sarasota 3 – Bigley remained hot in the second game. He went 2-3 with his 20^th and 21^st doubles. Joe Benson was 2-3, was hit by a pitch and stole his 11^th base. Ben Revere was 2-4 with his 38^th and 39^th stolen bases. Steve Hirschfeld was back on the mound. He went 6.1 innings and gave up three runs on six hits. He walked two and struck out five. Blair Erickson got the final two outs for the save.

Sunday – Game 2 – Ft. Myers 4, Sarasota 3 (8 innings) – Bobby Lanigan made his first FSL start. He gave up three runs on eight hits in four innings. He walked none and struck out three. Henry Arias pitched the next four innings and gave up just one hit and walked two. Chris Parmelee hit his 15^th homer of the year. Joe Benson got the game-winning hit in the 8^th, a single to give the Miracle a 4-3 win.   

SNAPPERS SNIPPETS

Saturday – Beloit 4, Wisconsin 2 – Dan Osterbrock won for the sixth time this year. He gave up two runs (1 earned) on four hits and a walk in five innings. He struck out seven. Kyle Carr gave up two hits and a walk but did not allow a run while recording five outs. Steve Blevins got the next four outs, two on strikeout. Billy Bullock recorded his sixth save with a scoreless ninth.

Sunday – Beloit 1, Wisconsin 3 – Liam Hendriks had another very good start for the Snappers. In 7.2 innings, he gave up three runs on eight hits. He walked none and struck out eight. But he was tagged with the loss. Thomas Wright came up and issued a walk before getting the final out. Jeff Lanning went 3-4. James Beresford went 2-4. Aaron Hicks hit his tenth double.   

E-TWINS EXTRAS

Saturday – Elizabethton 4, Bristol 5 – Brian Dozier has certainly been on fire of late. That continued this weekend. On Saturday, he went 4-5 with his 11^th and 12^th double. Anderson Hidalgo hit his 10^th double and fourth home run. Jhon Garcia made the start for the E-Twins. He gave up four runs on six hits and a walk in three innings. He struck out two. Then Kelvin Mota relieved him and gave up just one run on one hit over four innings in which he struck out four. Kane Holbrooks struck out two  in a scoreless inning.  

Sunday – Elizabethton 4, Danville 5 – Tom Stuifbergen lots for just the second time this season. He gave up five runs on eight hits in six innings. He walked no one and struck out seven. Peter Kennelly gave up two hits and four walks in just two innings, but gave up no runs. Dakota Watts gave up a walk and a hit in a scoreless inning. The bats managed just four hits in the game. Brian Dozier went 2-4 with a walk and his 13^th double. Josmil Pinto went 0-1 but he walked three times.

GCL TWINS GOINGS ON

Saturday – GCL Twins 2, GCL Red Sox 1 – Adrian Salcedo was on the mound again. He gave up one run on five hits. He walked one and struck out four. Oswaldo Sosa struck out three over two scoreless innings of rehab. Andrei Lobanov recorded his sixth save of the year. Daniel Santana went 2-4 with his seventh double. Trayvone Johnson hit his second double.

Please feel free to Send me an e-mail, or leave your questions or comments here.