This week, we'll be discussing how some of the Twins top minor league prospects are doing at their respective levels. If you recall, last week we talked about Aaron Hicks joining the big club, how good of a week Niko Goodrum had been having, and what talents we'd started to see forming in Byron Buxton. This week, we'll cover those players, and even more of the Top 25 Twinkie Town prospects (the link will remind you of who they all are).
Starting with the Cedar Rapids Kernels...
-Byron Buxton continues to tear it up in the Midwest league, now posting a .563 batting average. In the Kernels' game against the Beloit Snappers on Sunday, the young player went 4-for-5 with a run scored and was just a home run shy of a cycle. Travis Harrison, the 14th ranked prospect, also had a good game, going 2-for-4 with 2 RBI. The team posted a combined no-hitter over the former Minnesota Twins affiliate during the same game.
-Jorge Polanco, the 13th ranked prospect, went just 1-for-5 in Sunday's game, but did score 2 runs as the team's DH. He's hitting .278 on the season so far.
-Niko Goodrum didn't have as great of a week so far as last week, going just 1-for-4 and striking out once in Sunday's match. He is now hitting .267 this season.
Fort Myers Miracle
-Eddie Rosario, 6th ranked prospect, continues to look good in the field and decent at the plate. In Tuesday's game against the Jupiter Hammerheads, he went 1-for-3 with a double and one strikeout. His season BA so far is sitting at .381.
-Miguel Sano, top ranked prospect for the Twins, also continues to play well in the FSL, going 1-for-3 with a homerun (and 2 Ks) in Tuesday's game. His season batting average is still sitting at a crazy .421. The team beat the Hammerheads 1-0 and have now started their season with a 5-0 record.
New Britain Rock Cats
-Danny Santana, short stop and 15th ranked prospect had a good game against the Harrisburg Senators on Tuesday night, going 3-for-5 with a triple, 2 runs scored, and an RBI. He's now hitting .333 on the season and continue to look well on the field.
-Michael Tonkin (19th ranked) pitched an inning on Tuesday night as well, giving up 3 hits, 2 ER, 2 BB, but did manage to strike out two. His ERA is sitting at a less-than-savory .675 so far.
-On Sunday, the Rock Cats took on the Richmond Flying Squirrels, and Alex Meyer (4th ranked prospect) pitched 5 innings to start the game. He gave up 6 hits, walked one, and had 1 ER. How many did he strike out in those 5 innings, however? Eight. Eight Flying Squirrels were K'd by Meyers, whose ERA is at a pretty decent .180 so far.
-Michael Tonkin also pitched in Sunday's game, going 2 innings, giving up 1 ER on 2 hits, but also striking out two batters. The Rock Cats ended up losing the game, 3-2.
Rochester Red Wings
-Oswaldo Arcia, 2nd ranked prospect, continued his hot streak at the plate in Monday's game against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (no, I promise I did not make that up). Arcia went 3-for-4 with 2 runs scored as the team's DH on Monday, and in Tuesday's game against the same team, went 0-for-1 as a pinch hitter. His batting average is now down to .450.
-Chris Herrmann, 21st ranked prospect, caught Tuesday night's game, going 1-for-3, and retains his solid batting average of .300.
-Not a ranked prospect by any means, but I know some of you are concerned about the well-being of Brian Dinkelman, and I'll just let you know--his current batting average is a paltry .167. The Dink clearly needs to work some things out in AAA.
Minnesota Twins
-Aaron Hicks has now recorded two hits on the season, both ending up being game deciders. Go figure. Sometimes enjoyable to watch in the outfield, and sometimes cringe-worthy, the hope is that Hicks soon finds his stride in the ML. His batting average is sitting at .067, with an OBP of .125. Ouch.
Make sure to check back Saturday to find out who will be the Twins Minor League Player of the Week!