This week brings some interesting stories regarding the Twins top 25 minor league prospects. Let's jump right in, shall we?
1) Miguel Sano - As you may recall , Jesse covered one of the events surrounding one of Sano's at-bats earlier in the week. For the rest of the week, he hit .342, with three home runs total, a double, and 7 RBI total. Sano continues to tear it up in the minors, and continues to be a player to watch as much for his talent as his personality, it appears.
2) Oswaldo Arcia - Arcia's played in another 4 games with the big club, going hitless in all of his appearances except for the first game of Tuesday's doubleheader, where his 3-run home run put the Twins ahead of the Marlins, and winning the game. It was Arcia's first home run of his major league career, and his 4th of the season, including minor league totals.
3) Byron Buxton - Buxton's cooled down a bit in the past week, hitting just .266 in the games he's played. He had just one RBI, though he was able to draw 5 walks from opposing pitchers. His season OPS is still sitting at 1.128, however, and will hopefully continue to rise.
4) Alex Meyer - Meyer has had just one start in the past week, throwing 6 scoreless innings, and giving up just 1 hit. He did walk 4, but he struck out 5 and kept the Portland Sea Dogs off the board for all 6 innings-definitely a good start for the RHP.
5) Aaron Hicks - In the past week, Hicks has stolen his first career base, and got another hit that tied the game, keeping the Twins in it. Though he doesn't have many hits this season (3-for-53), all of his hits have led to RBI, which is more than that lazy Joe Mauer can say.
6) Eddie Rosario - In the past week, Rosario is hitting a cooled-down .250, with one home run and 7 RBI. He's only managed to draw two walks, but he's getting the hits needed to drive batters in, which has been key for the Miracle's continued success.
7) Kyle Gibson - Gibson had a very rough start against Pawtucket on Sunday, going just 5 innings, giving up 3 earned runs, walking 4, and striking out 4. As he continues to bounce back, we'll hopefully start seeing some improvement in his numbers. Though he's had 4 starts this season, he only has 20 innings under his belt, which is something that will also hopefully improve as the season goes on.
8) Max Kepler - Still waiting for Kepler to start playing this season.
9) Jose Berrios - Berrios had his first start this season on Monday, going 5 innings, and giving up 7 hits but just 2 earned runs. He walked two, but did strike out 5, giving him a game (and season) ERA of 3.60. Berrios did earn the win on Monday.
10) Trevor May - May hasn't pitched in the last week, but his season ERA is sitting at 3.14. He currently has 19 strikeouts in 14.1 innings pitched.
11) Joe Benson - Benson continues to struggle at the plate in Rochester, hitting just .125 in the past week, striking out 7 times in 7 games. He did steal his second base of the season on Saturday against Pawtucket, but other than that, Benson is having a rough start to his 2013 campaign. His season OPS is currently sitting at a pretty paltry .389.
12) J.T. Chargois - Elizabethon has not started their 2013 season yet.
13) Jorge Polanco - In the past week, Polanco has hit .206, knocking in just one RBI, but only striking out once as well. He did get 5 hits, but had 23 at-bats as well. Polanco's season OPS is currently sitting at .694.
14) Travis Harrison - Harrison has heated up a little, hitting .300 in the past week, with 6 hits in his last 5 games. Harrison struck out 4 times in the past week, but has picked up a couple more walks as well. His season OPS is now at .820.
15) Danny Santana - Santana's hitting has been light over the past week. He hit just .173 with one triple and 2 RBI. Santana didn't draw any walks, but he did strike out four times over the past week, numbers that need to improve as he continues his stint in New Britain. Santana's current season OPS is .586.
16) Mason Melotakis - In Saturday's game against Peoria, Melotakis pitched 3.1 innings, where he gave up 4 hits and just 1 run. He did walk four batters, and only struck out two, but was able to keep the runs off the board for the most part. Overall this season, he has still struck out more batters than he's walked (11 and 7, respectively).
17) Luke Bard - Still waiting for the Appy League to start.
18) Hudson Boyd - Boyd's last start, Friday against Peoria, went...well, poorly, as he gave up 7 hits and 4 earned runs in just 4.1 innings. He managed to strike out three batters, but he also walked three. It definitely wasn't his best start, by any means, and his season ERA is now sitting at 5.14.
19) Michael Tonkin - Tonkin pitched twice in the past week, one inning in each appearance. In the game on Friday, Tonkin pitched 1 inning and gave up two hits and one earned run, but he also struck out two batters. In the game on Sunday, he pitched one scoreless and hitless inning for the Rock Cats, leaving his season ERA at 6.23.
20) Niko Goodrum - Goodrum's been on fire the past week, hitting .350 in his last 4 games, including 2 doubles and 4 RBI. He also drew 3 walks, but did strike out 6 times. Goodrum's season OPS is now sitting at .768.
21) Chris Herrmann - Herrmann continues to struggle in his 2013 season, as he hit just .186 in the past week over 6 games. He did have a good game last Thursday, going 2-for-3 with an RBI and a BB (and just one strike out). His OPS is now sitting at a low .470 on the season.
22) Alex Wimmers - Wimmers is still on the DL.
23) D.J. Baxendale - Baxendale had a great start on Friday, going 7 innings and giving up just 4 hits and 1 earned run-a home run. He didn't walk any batters, and struck out 4. Another very promising start for Baxendale this season, and this start brought his season ERA down to 1.04 with 17.1 innings pitched.
24) Levi Michael - Michael is currently on the DL.
25) Adam Walker - Walker has been hitting very well over the past week, with a .380 batting average in the past 5 games he's played in RF. He has 3 home runs in his last five games, but needs to focus on the strikeouts a bit, as he's struck out 7 times in the last week, without drawing any walks. His season OPS is sitting at .795 currently.
Make sure to check back on Saturday to see who will be the Twins Minor League Player of the Week!