The Rochester Red Wings announced their roster and to my untrained eye, it looks like a team that is going to pitch well and hit OK. If you remember last year the team started out horribly and on paper looked the part. However under the guidance of the Best Manager in the Twins Organization Gene Glynn, the team did not fold. They did not panic, sulk and hope for a call up or trade. Instead they bore down, earned a wild card spot and played in the playoffs.
From all the accounts I read Glynn kept the team focused, loose and played good ball in the end. Gene Glynn should be considered to be the manager of the Twins when Gardy steps down. In my opinion he is one of the top "prospects" in the organization and I hope he can get his chance.
Overall I would say this team should have some buzz. Considering the age of the Twin's 25 man roster, and the holes in the lineup, we could see the Wings provide some quality depth to the Twins this year. The Red Wings have 2 ranked prospects in the starting rotation, 1 ranked prospect in the infield, and an OF consisting of guys with MLB experience. There are lots of reasons to check the AAA box scores. Can Parmelee hit, can Santana field with consistency? Will Meyer step up and dominate? Will May translate his SO’s and durability into keeping hitters off the bases? This is the spearpoint of the next prospect wave. Now these kids need to knock the doors down!
This year’s starting rotation looks to be lefty heavy with: Logan Darnell, Scott Diamond & Kris Johnson. All three have some upside and before Twins went on their buying binge in the offseason, I was certain that 2 of these guys would be pitching for the Twins sometime in 2014. Now, I am not sure unless calamity strikes – especially with Darnell. Obviously the pitching to watch on this team are the right handed starting pitchers, Alex Myer and Trevor May.
The bullpen looks pretty interesting and this team should be able to pitch OK. Ibarra, Pressly, Hoffman & Guerra all project to be at least decent AAA arms. And the top relief pitcher in the system is Michael Tonkin. The 25 man roster number crunch put him down in AAA and this weakened the Twins. However, fortune smiles on the elite and he made the opening day roster as Brian Duensing is on paternity leave.
The Starting OF will be Mastroianni, Ramirez & Parmelee. We should expect the corner guys to hit and Mastroianni is looking to prove he belongs on the 25 man roster to back up Hicks. So I expect a motivated group here.
In the infield we have top prospect Danny Santana. If he cuts down on errors, walks and SO’s he could be elite, but that’s a lot for him to overcome. The Switch Hitting International FA is youngest player on the club, so I expect him to have an adjustment period. But any offensive potential he shows might get him a quick call up. Since Santana is already on the 40 man roster, I expect him to get a shot this year. Beresford had a nice batting average and could be good in the field. If he is able to repeat and if Dozier goes down, we could see him added to the 40 man and called up sometime this year. Deibinson Romero was aggressively added to the 40 man roster several years ago after a breakout season in the low minors. He broke his leg the following year and has never been able to recover. He has power and isn’t a butcher in the field, so if Trevor Plouffe has a Plouffe like season, then we could see him get a shot.
Behind the plate, Chris Herrmann will be wanting to get back to the bigs. He is going to have to improve at the plate, as his numbers last year just were not good.
Good Luck Red Wings!
Below is last year's stats of the current AAA roster:
Pitchers | Age | Levels Last Year | ERA | IP | SO | BB |
Trevor May | 25 | NBR | 4.51 | 151.2 | 159 | 67 |
Logan Darnell | 25 | NBR,ROC | 3.22 | 153.2 | 120 | 45 |
Edgar Ibarra | 25 | NBR,ROC | 1.93 | 60.2 | 54 | 29 |
Alex Meyer | 24 | NBR,TWN | 2.99 | 78.1 | 100 | 32 |
Scott Diamond | 28 | ROC,FTM | 2.93 | 46.0 | 22 | 9 |
Aaron Thompson | 27 | ROC,NBR | 2.76 | 58.2 | 53 | 16 |
Deolis Guerra | 25 | TWN | 4.50 | 4.0 | 3 | 1 |
Matt Hoffman | 25 | New! | 2.06 | 35.0 | 35 | 16 |
Ryan Pressly | 25 | Not in Minors | 3.87 | 76.2 | 49 | 27 |
Kris Johnson | 29 | New! | 2.39 | 135.2 | 94 | 43 |
Yohan Pino | 30 | New! | 3.26 | 121.1 | 107 | 30 |
Brooks Raley | 26 | New! | 4.46 | 141.1 | 95 | 45 |
Catchers | Age | Levels Last Year | PA | BA | OBP | SLG | SO | BB |
Eric Fryer | 29 | ROC | 243 | 0.215 | 0.339 | 0.365 | 47 | 35 |
Chris Herrmann | 26 | ROC | 275 | 0.227 | 0.297 | 0.312 | 61 | 24 |
Dan Rohlfing | 25 | NBR,ROC | 432 | 0.267 | 0.352 | 0.341 | 96 | 48 |
Infielders | Age | Levels Last Year | PA | BA | OBP | SLG | SO | BB |
James Beresford | 25 | ROC,NBR | 403 | 0.306 | 0.363 | 0.346 | 51 | 30 |
Doug Bernier | 34 | ROC | 353 | 0.295 | 0.370 | 0.407 | 74 | 31 |
Eric Farris | 28 | ROC,NBR | 452 | 0.249 | 0.303 | 0.313 | 54 | 32 |
Brad Nelson | 31 | New! | 485 | 0.271 | 0.346 | 0.467 | 90 | 49 |
Deibinson Romero | 28 | ROC,NBR | 393 | 0.275 | 0.374 | 0.448 | 82 | 51 |
Danny Santana | 23 | NBR | 587 | 0.297 | 0.333 | 0.386 | 94 | 24 |
Outfielders | Age | Levels Last Year | PA | BA | OBP | SLG | SO | BB |
Darin Mastroianni | 29 | ROC,FTM,TWN | 86 | 0.254 | 0.407 | 0.299 | 13 | 14 |
Chris Parmelee | 26 | ROC | 198 | 0.231 | 0.318 | 0.370 | 32 | 22 |
Chris Rahl | 30 | New? | 419 | 0.293 | 0.308 | 0.431 | 97 | 10 |
Wilkin Ramirez | 28 | NBR,TWN,FTM | 54 | 0.184 | 0.259 | 0.286 | 10 | 5 |