also available at www.SethSpeaks.net –
Be sure to listen to last night’s Twins Minor League Weekly. Travis Aune and I were joined by the play-by-play man of the Ft. Myers Miracle, Alex Margulies. We discussed many of the players on the Miracle roster. Later, we were joined by New Britain infielder Steve Singleton who is on a tear. In the Rockcats double header on Tuesday night, he went 3-5 with a home run. Since May 6, he is 27-73 (.370) and has raised his average from .192 to .279. Travis and I then discussed all four Twins full-season affiliates. Travis asked me for mini-scouting reports on what I saw in Beloit over the weekend. Finally, after the show’s live stream ended at 11:00, Travis and I spent about another 20 minutes podcasting, which you can listen to now as well. Each of us discussed the five Twins prospects that would move up our prospect lists the most right now. Listen to ours and then discuss yours. Which Twins minor leaguers have made the strongest impression and moved up your lists so far this season?
The Twins and Yankees were tied at zero through five innings last night when the rains came. After a long delay, the game was suspended and will be continued at 4:05 on Wednesday. Here are some more links to Twins blogs:
· Aaron Gleeman posted several Twins notes.
· Nick Nelson says that Kevin Slowey really needs to step it up.
· Parker, at Over the Baggy, wrote about the selectivity and connectivity of Justin Morneau this year.
· Between Phil Mackey and Tom Pelissero, they are doing a tremendous job covering the Minnesota Twins at 1500espn.com.
· Ed Thoma speculates on the Twins interest in Roy Oswalt.
Here is a quick glance at what happened on Tuesday in the Twins minor league system:
SethSpeaks Tuesday Minor League Hitter of the Day – Steve Singleton – New Britain Rockcats, Anderson Hidalgo – Beloit Snappers
SethSpeaks Tuesday Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Kyle Gibson – New Britain Rockcats
Red Wings Report
Tuesday – Rochester 1, Norfolk 2 – Anthony Swarzak returned to the Red Wings rotation. He gave up just one run on three hits and two walks in four innings. Jose Lugo came in and gave up one run on one hit in three innings. Tim Lahey pitched a scoreless inning. Jason Repko went 2-5. Dustin Martin and Brock Peterson were each 1-3 with a walk.
New Britain Notes
Tuesday – Game 1 – New Britain 5, New Hampshire 7 – Tyler Robertson returned to the Rockcats after one AAA start. He gave up seven runs on 11 hits and three walks in six innings. Santos Arias struck out two in a scoreless inning. Erik Lis was 2-4 with his first double. Rene Tosoni hit his third homer and drove in two runs. Steve Singleton was 1-2, was hit by a pitch, hit his fourth home run and drove in two runs.
Tuesday – Game 2 – New Britain 2, New Hampshire 1 – Kyle Gibson was again this story in this game. Gibson gave up only an unearned run (thanks to his own error) in seven innings. He gave up seven hits, but he walked none and struck out four. He recorded 11 groundball outs to five fly outs. In the bottom of the seventh, Steve Singleton singled, advanced to 2B on a sacrifice bunt and to 3B on an error. Ben Revere reached on an error that allowed Singleton to score the winning run. Rene Tosoni was 1-2 with a walk.
Miracle Matters
Tuesday – Ft. Myers 2, Bradenton 6 – Blake Martin made another start for the Miracle. In 5.2 innings, he gave up four runs on ten hits. He walked one and struck out four. Andrei Lobanov gave up two runs on two hits in 1.1 innings. Jose Gonzalez made his first appearance with the Miracle and pitched a scoreless inning, despite two hits. Dan Rohlfing went 2-4 with his eighth double. Nick Romero was 2-4 with his fifth double.
Snappers Snippets
Tuesday – Beloit 7, Cedar Rapids 13 – BJ Hermsen was in line for a win when this game was delayed after the top of the 6th inning. He had allowed three runs (2 earned) on five hits and a walk through five innings. He went back out to start the sixth inning, after the delay, and gave up two hits and two walks and all four came around to score. Matt Tone relieved him and got two outs, but not before he gave up five runs (2 earned) on three hits and two walks). Dakota Watts gave up an unearned run in 1.1 innings. Kane Holbrooks pitched a scoreless inning. Anderson Hidalgo went 3-4 with three more doubles and now has 14 on the year. Josmil Pinto went 2-4 with his seventh double. Angel Morales was 2-3 with a walk and his 14th stolen base. Reggie Williams hit his seven home run and drove in four runs. Steve Liddle hit his fifth homer.
If you have any thoughts, please feel free to comment here.
SethSpeaks.net 
Moving up the most, off the top of my head:
Hidalgo
Hendricks
Stuifenberg
Hermann
Pugh
Should be interesting to see, some of the pitchers have pretty small sample sizes right now as they have been injured for part of the year.
Hidalgo should certainly be in the top 50, but he does not have prototypical size/power and he does not walk a lot. Then again, maybe that makes him perfect for the Twins organization!
I think Gibson will be a big mover, I assume he will be the #1 prospect. Going from 5 to 1 is only 4 spots, but he is moving over some highly regarded people.
Gibson has to be number 1. While Hicks or Morales or Ramos have great upsides as every day players, Gibson is looking like a lock, and to be a number 2 type starter (or 1/2 with luck). None of those hitters are the lock he is to be in the big leagues (though i’d be shocked if any of those three failed to be in the show, and failed to be effective).
Revere’s complete lack of power, and continued defensive issues (3rd year as an OFer?) concern me. He’s below the four above for sure for me (and I think he’s a trade high candidate). Hunt is back on the radar. Guttierez is better than I thought. Delaney is dropping fast for me. I am beginning to think he is a number 5/6 bullpen guy at his peak, not a 3 type.
Shocked that two guys hitting sub .260 in Lo A don’t make it to the majors?
I think Ramos is the guy who is a sure bet to be a major league player. He has all the tools to be a plus major league defensive catcher once he gets a little more experience. And he is going to have power, the only question is whether he will hit enough to make good use of it. That makes his extreme downside a solid major league backup catcher. The reason we aren’t that excited is we have Joe Mauer.
Where Gibson ranks depends on how he does the rest of the year. Its not just sample size, but how he holds up to a professional schedule and what happens when scouts start to really pay attention to him. The other thing is “there is no such thing as a pitching prospect.” The jump to the big leagues always seems more perilous for pitchers.
Delios Guerra may actually be ahead of Gibson. He’s already at AAA and is a couple years younger. I think this is one of those cases where people gave up on him too quickly.
DH in Philly, I agree with you. Actually, I don’t care how well players are doing in low A ball, it isn’t going to be a shock if they don’t make it to the majors. Morales and Hicks are both athletic with great tools, but that doesn’t mean they will ever learn to hit a breaking ball. Most players’ projected major league upside in A ball is never reached. Even if they make it as major league players, they usually have flaws that only become apparent later in their development.
TT and DH: sure, they could fail, but you wouldn’t be shocked if Hicks did fail? So, basically, your logic is if they aren’t already in AAA and close, we should never expect them to make it? Not until they nearly make it should we have any expectations that they will make it? That seems to be your logic. I could be reading that wrong, though.
mww –
My logic is simpler than that (and I hope I didn’t sound like an internet donkey with such a curt response)
1. I don’t get to see farm hands until they get to AA (since NB plays in both Reading and Trenton) so I can’t fully assess anyone based on stats or press clippings wihtout seeing them. Period.
2. I’m old! I’ve seen way too many can’t-miss prospects miss. Maybe I’d jaded but I wouldn’t be SHOCKED in any case.
3. Prospects progress at different rates and in different ways. I’ve seen guys who rocket up the lists only to suddenly top out as AAA guys. I’ve also seen guys with meh stats continuously and slowly improve and have fine MLB careers.
To me, there is a HUGE gap between projectability and actuality. To me, that gap is so wide that nothing would shock me. Maybe it’s semantics, but there is no one in A ball in any system that I would be shocked if they didn’t make it.
Thanks DH, I generally agree with you.