Minor League Report.....Elizabethton Twins

I will be travelling tomorrow morning, so I am posting this week's report early.

With 101 votes (66%), Aaron Hicks was the run-a-way winner of the Twinkie Town Beloit Snappers Player of the Year.  Beloit's Brodie Trophy Player of the Year, James Beresford, was a distant second with 24 votes (15%).

One has to wonder if the New Britain players took their losing mentality with them to Arizona and the Peoria Saguaros, who after Friday's win are 2-7-1 early in this short AFL season.  The good news is that they are only 3.5 games out of first in their division.

Ben Revere went hitless in his last two games dropping his average to .371/.450/.486, which is the twelfth highest average in the league.  His four stolen bases in four attempts are second most in the league and he has the third most hits, 13.  Chris Parmelee saw his average drop to .265/.359/.412 while Joe Benson was one for four yesterday, raising his average to .200.

All four of the Twins pitchers have 9.00 ERA's.  David Bromberg had an excellent first outing followed by a rough one on Thursday when he lasted only 2.0 innings with nine hits and five runs.  Bromberg and Kyle Waldrop have both pitched 6.0 innings while Tyler Robertson has pitched 5.0 innings and Carlos Gutierrez has pitched 3.0 innings.  The Saguaro pitching staff has a team ERA of 5.90, so the Twins members of the staff need to have a few good outings to get their ERA's in line with their teammates.     

 

The Elizabethton Twins again found their way to the Appy League championship series.  After winning their division the last five years and the league championship in three of the last five, Manager Ray Smith's Twins missed winning their division by a game.  With the Appy League playoffs expanded to two rounds for the first time, the Twins quickly took care of the Pulaski Mariners in two games.  Unfortunately, they weren't as successful against Johnson City and another championship was not to be as the Cardinals took two from the Twins in their best of three series.

In the past, the Twins had been one of the older teams in the league.  That was not the case this year as they had one of the youngest pitching staffs in the league while their every day lineup was a couple months older than league average.  This youth movement included their biggest star, Oswaldo Arcia, who turned ninteen shortly before the Appy season opened.  Arcia, who was voted the Twinkie Town Player of the Year was also recently selected as Baseball America's third ranked prospect in the league (BA's first two prospects were both left handed pitchers).  Arcia had a season unlike any seen in the Appy league for many years.  He led the league in most hitting categories, including batting average (.375, compared with .323 for the next best hitter), on base percentage (.424, compared with .393), and slugging percentage (.672, compared with .610).  Arcia led the league in runs batted in (51), hits (97) and at bats (259).  He also had the league's second most home runs (14), tied for second most triples (7), and third most doubles (21).  Had he not suffered an injury in early August that hampered his play the last few weeks of the season, Arcia had a legitimate chance of hitting for a .400 average!

Other Twins players of note included Nate Roberts, another outfielder who was the Twins fifth round selection this year out of High Point University.  Roberts, who didn't sign until after Appy League play began, hit .336/.444/.547 in 128 at bats while not making a single error in 35 games.  Although not selected in Baseball America's Top 20, he did receive mention amongst other players to watch.  Lance Ray was an outfielder/first baseman selected in the eighth round of this year's draft out of the University of Kentucky.  Ray hit .314/.360/.414 in 70 at bats for the ETon Twins before moving on to Beloit.  Brian Burke and Andy Leer were two other picks from this years draft (29th round and 25th round, respectively) to play important roles in the Twins success.  Burke hit .286/.343/.437 in 231 at bats with six home runs.  Leer, who is a third baseman from North Dakota, hit .266/.312/.403 with five home runs and the third most RBI on the team, 36.       

Another big bat for the Appy League Twins was Daniel Ortiz.  Ortiz, who was the Twins fourth round pick out of Puerto Rico in 2008, missed all of 2009 following a knee injury.  Ortiz returned with a big year including the team's second most home runs (11), runs batted in (43), and triples (4).  Ortiz, who hit .259/.299/.498 in 239 at bats, was one of the team's best hitters the last few weeks of the season when Arcia was battling his injuries.  Together with Angel Morales the year before and Eddie Rosario this year, Ortiz one of this trio of young Puerto Rican outfielders who were high draft picks and exciting Twins' prospects.

Until moving on to Beloit in early August, the Twins most effective starter was Martire Garcia.  Garcia had a perfect 6-0 record with an excellent 1.75 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 63 strikeouts and 15 walks in 46.1 innings.  Had he remained with the ETon Twins for another few weeks, the Twins just may have won their fourth league championship in six years.  

Baseball America ranked Adrian Salcedo as their eighth best prospect, fellow Twin Manuel Soliman tenth best, and 2010 third round pick, Pat Dean, sixteenth best.  Salcedo began his season in EST, then moved to Ft. Myers when they needed an extra starter.  When the Elizabethton season began, Salcedo moved to the Appy League where he led the Twins with 66.0 innings.  The ninteen year old Dominican Republic native had a 4-3 record with a 3.27 ERA, the league's third best WHIP, 0.98, 65 strikeouts and only 10 walks.  Dean joined the Twins late, however, pitched like several of the high picks currently pitching with the Twins (Slowey and Duensing) pitched while in the Appy League.  Dean had a 2-2 record with a 2.59 ERA, 0.74 WHIP, 32 strikeouts and only one walk in 24.1 innings. 

Perhaps the biggest surprise to fans was the pitching of Manuel Soliman, who moved straight to Elizabethton following his 2009 season in the Dominican Summer League.  Soliman had a 5-2 record with a 3.48 ERA in 64.2 innings with 74 strikeouts and 21 walks.  What makes Soliman's success exciting is that this was only his second year of pitching after converting from third base prior to the 2009 season in the DSL.  For this reason, there are some who consider Soliman the best young pitching prospect in the lower levels of the organization.  

Other pitchers who had good years in the Appy League include Blayne Weller who led the staff with thirteen starts, picking up a 3-6 record with a 4.57 ERA in 65.0 innings.  B. J. Hermsen and Michael Tonkin moved back to Elizabethton after the Appy season opened.  Hermsen made six starts for a 2-2 record with a very good 3.32 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 39 strikeouts and only 4 walks in 38.0 innings.  Tonkin worked out of the bullpen, making ten appearances (25.0 innings) for a 1-0 record, an excellent 1.08 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, 26 strikeouts and 4 walks in 25.0 innings.  Logan Darnell was the Twins 6th round pick this spring out of the University of Kentucky.  Darnell had one of the team's best ERA's (2.08) and WHIP (0.98) in eleven games (34.2 innings).  Darnell and Dean are two lefties out of major college programs who should move quickly through the system the next few years. 

Jose Gonzalez led the bullpen with six saves while picking up one win in two decisions.  Gonzalez, who is a twenty year old lefty from Venezuela, finished his season as my ninth ranked pitcher in the system based on his 1-1 record, 0.41 ERA, 0.64 WHIP, 33 strikeouts and only 6 walks in 22.0 innings.  Gonzalez also appeared in 8 games with the Ft. Myers Miracle where he had a 1.17 ERA and 0.85 WHIP in 15.1 innings.  Other relievers who had good seasons include Jean Mijares, David Gutierrez and Nelvin Fuentes.  Mijares appeared in 15 games (33.2 innings) with a 2.67 ERA, 45 strikeouts and 17 walks.  Gutierrez is the younger brother of Carlos who was drafted in this year's eighteenth round (he had previously been drafted by the Twins in the 37th round of the 2009 draft), and is also out of the University of Miami.  Gutierrez worked exclusively out of the bullpen, appearing in 15 games (28.2 innings) with a 2.51 ERA, 25 strikeouts and 8 walks.  Fuentes split his summer between Beloit and Elizabethton.  While in the Appy League, he appeared in 9 games with a 0.61 ERA and 0.82 WHIP with 20 strikeouts in 14.2 innings.  This year's seventh round pick, Matt Hauser, appeared briefly in the Appy League before moving on to Beloit.  While with the Twins, he appeared in eight games, pitching 9.0 innings with 13 strikeouts, 2 walks and a 1.00 ERA.         

Poll

Who is the Elizabethton Twins Player of the Year?

80%

Oswaldo Arcia

150 votes

3%

Nate Roberts

7 votes

9%

Adrian Salcedo

17 votes

4%

Manuel Soliman

9 votes

2%

Jose Gonzalez

4 votes

187 votes | Poll has closed