After their first sub .500 week of the season last week, the system turned it around this week with a record of 14-8 (84-73). All information about player performance will include results for the past two weeks.
Transactions
Chris Heintz was placed on the disabled list by Rochester, with Steve Lomasney moving up from New Britain as his replacement. Jose Leger was promoted from Ft. Myers to New Britain to replace Lomasney. New Britain placed pitcher Justin Olson on the DL. He was replaced by J.T. Thomas who moved up from Ft. Myers. Colby Miller was removed from the DL and was added to the Ft. Myers starting rotation. Adam Hawes returned to Beloit's roster from the DL. New Britain and Ft. Myers exchanged starting pitchers with Justin Jones moving to Ft. Myers and Matt Garza being promoted to New Britain. The Twins optioned Kyle Lohse to Rochester, with Boof Bonser being promoted to the Twins. Andrew Thompson was placed on the DL after he was knocked unconscious during a 50-man fight in Beloit. He was replaced by outfielder Josh Land who joined Beloit from EST.
Play of the Week
Rochester won Wednesday when Jason Hart hit a bottom of the 10th walk off home run in the Red Wings 4-3 win over Scranton.
Rochester Red Wings (AAA) (2-4, 23-17, 2nd/-1.0)
The Red Wings lost three of four games this week with Scranton, enabling Scranton to move into first place with a 1 game lead over the Red Wings.
Josh Rabe continues to be Rochester's top hitter, going 9 for 36 during the past two weeks with 3 doubles and 2 rbi. Jason Tyner has been one of the hottest hitters in the organization, extending his current hitting streak to 12 games last night. Jason was 20 for 46 with 2 doubles and a triple. Luis Maza is beginning to break out of his early season slump, going 12 for 39 with 3 doubles and 7 rbi...raising his average to .230. Garrett Jones continues to struggle and is now hitting only .190 with 4 home runs and 37 strikeouts in 142 at bats.
Jason Bartlett continues to play as well as anyone can expect, going 17 for 47 with 7 doubles, a triple and 4 rbi. Jason Kubel also continues to shake off the rust of missing last season, going 15 for 50 with 4 doubles, 1 triple, 2 home runs and 12 rbi.
Boof Bonser had two starts (1-1) prior to his promotion to the Twins (12.2ip, 11h, 6r(5er) with 14K/7BB). Boof had a 2.01era in 49.1ip while at Rochester. J.D. Durbin was 2-1 in three good starts (18.2ip, 16h, 5er with 17K/9BB). Lefty reliever Ricky Barrett appeared in 4 games (9.0ip, 3h, 0er with 9K/3BB), showing the best control of his season. Closer Pat Neshek continued to dominate, appearing in 5 games, earning 3 saves (9.2ip, 4h, 3er with 13K/2BB).
New Britain (AA) (5-1, 17-19, 3rd/-5.0)
The Rock Cats currently have a 5 game winning streak and are now in sole possession of 3rd place, 5 games behind current opponent Connecticut.
Denard Span was 14 for 52 with 5 rbi and 3 stolen bases in 3 attempts. Top prospect Matt Moses was 13 for 57 with a double, 2 home runs and 8 rbi. Moses also had 2 errors for a team leading 10 for the season. Middle infielder Felix Molina continues to impress, going 12 for 33 with 3 doubles and 2 home runs...raising his average to .293/.489SLG. Outfielder Trent Oeltjen has also been hot, going 11 for 36 with a double, triple and 5 rbi.
Errol Simonitsch won both of his starts without allowing a run (16.0ip, 9h, 0er with 13K/1BB), lowering his era to 2.51. Matt Garza was promoted from Ft. Myers and promptly went out and pitched 7.2 innings, allowing 0 runs with 13K/2BB in his first start at AA. Glen Perkins was 1-1 in three good starts (19.0ip, 17h, 6er with 26K/6BB), lowering his era to 3.12. Levale Speigner appeared in 4 games (4.2ip, 3h, 0er with 4K/0BB).
Ft. Myers Miracle (Hi A) (2-4, 22-19, 3rd/-1.0)
The Miracle had a tough week losing their last two games 0-17 and 0-7. They now find themselves in 3rd place, a game behind co-leaders Dunedin and Lakeland.
Alexi Casilla has cooled off with his average dropping to .297. He was only 12 for 48, however, did have 5 stolen bases in 6 attempts. Garrett Guzman was 15 for 52 with 4 doubles and 11 rbi. Catcher Kyle Geiger has been one Miracle who has been hot...14 for 37 with 3 doubles and 3 rbi. Top prospect Trevor Plouffe continues to struggle and is now hitting .214, however, continues to show excellent discipline with 24 walks (27 strikeouts) giving him a respectable .344OBP.
With Matt Garza moving up to New Britain, Kevin Slowey is clearly the top pitcher on the team and perhaps in the entire league. Kevin made 2 starts (13.0ip, 5h, 0er with 19K/0BB). For the season, Kevin has 63K/2BB in 48.1ip with a 0.58WHIP. Kyle Aselton continues to be another quiet but solid starter. Aselton was 3-0 in three starts (18.2ip, 14h, 4er with 14K/6BB). Jose Mijares was inserted into the starting rotation and needs to be stretched out after his first three starts (11.2ip, 11h, 9er with 13K/8BB). Mijares actually pitched well in the 0-17 loss, allowing only 3 hits and 2 earned runs in 5.0 innings before the bullpen opened the flood gates. Dan Powers has been one of their most solid relievers since his promotion from Beloit (4g, 8.0ip, 5h, 3er with 10K/1BB). Colby Miller saw his first action since being placed on the DL last year while at New Britain (2g, 1gs, 7.0ip, 8h, 3er with 3K/3BB).
Beloit Snappers (A) (6-1, 22-18, 2nd/-0.5)
The Snappers currently have a 6 game winning streak and are now in second place, a half game behind Kane County.
Erik Lis continues to tear the cover off the ball, going 21 for 51 with 7 doubles, a home run and 12 rbi. Caleb Moore has cooled of late, 10 for 42, and is now hitting .296. Tarrence Patterson continues to hit well, 12 for 37, with 7 stolen bases in 7 attempts for a system leading 15. Infielder Steven Tolleson has been hot, 12 for 32 with 2 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run and 7 rbi. Top defensive catcher, 18 year old Allan de San Miguel, continues to raise his average with 6 for 24, 1 double and 3 rbi.
Eduardo Morlan was 1-1 in 3 good starts (16.2ip, 8h, 3er with 21K/5BB) including 7.0 shutout innings in last night's win with 11 strikeouts and 1 walk. Brian Duensing continues his campaign for a promotion with a win in his two starts (15.0ip, 11h, 2er with 7K/0BB), lowering his era to 2.06 with a 1.07WHIP. Kyle Waldrip also had 2 solid outings (14.0ip, 13h, 5er with 8K/2BB). Yohan Pino is rapidly becomming their go to guy in the bullpen now that Danny Powers is at Ft. Myers (5g, 9.2ip, 5h, 1r/0er with 12K/1BB). Former GCL closer Frank Mata appears to be recovering from last year's surgery, including hitting a batter resulting in last week's bench clearing brawl (5g, 6.1ip, 4h, 3er with 3K/2BB).
FEATURED PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Paul Kelly was a second round pick in the 2005 draft out of Flower Mound, Texas High School. Paul is a shortstop who according to scouts has all the tools to become a starter for the Twins. Following his rookie season, Baseball America ranked him as the 12th best prospect in the Gulf Coast League. Kelly is putting up solid numbers as Beloit's regular shortstop at the age of 19. Most important however, he has only 4 errors in 40 games (by comparison, Trevor Plouffe has 10 errors in 37 games at Ft. Myers).
2005 GCL Twins 137ab 20rbi 5errors .277Ave
2005 Beloit 16ab 4rbi 1error .313Ave
2006 Beloit 155ab 16rbi 4errors .271Ave
Questions of the Week
Now that Matt Garza has moved up to New Britain, how long will he stay in AA before being promoted to Rochester? Will Garza be one of the September callups to the Twins this fall?
