This week, we'll be taking a look at the Twinkie Town-voted top 25 Minnesota Twins prospects and how their last week has played out. As the minor league seasons wind down, the Twins have the opportunity to call up some of these minor leaguers, and that will give management (and fans) a great chance to see what they may be working with in the next couple of years.
Jumping right in, we'll start with...
1) Miguel Sano: While Sano's batting average dipped a bit since his moved up to AA-New Britain, he's actually hit more home runs since the move-16 in Fort Myers, 19 with the Rock Cats. His batting average fell from .330 to .236, but his OPS hasn't taken too much of a hit, going from 1.079 to .915. I was hoping the Twins would call Sano up this month just to give fans something to look forward to in another lost season, but it appears that won't be the case. We will, however, hopefully be hearing more about him come Spring Training time.
2) Oswaldo Arcia: Arcia's been cooling down a bit as the season goes on. In the past week, he's only played a couple games with the Twins, but he hit .253 in those two games with no xbh or homers. Arcia is another player we'll likely have an extended look at in Spring Training.
3) Byron Buxton: Buxton is still hitting the ball well-about .300 over the past week-but one of the more exciting things we've been hearing about him is his speed on the basepaths. In one of his games last week, Buxton stole second base, and then when the ball was thrown in to CF in an attempt to catch him stealing, he managed to score from second. From the account, his speed was "legendary". I'd say that 's pretty promising.
4) Alex Meyer: Meyer's had just one start this past week, where he went 4 innings and gave up 6 hits, but no walks. He also struck out 6 batters. His season ERA is now down to 3.21 with the Rock Cats and he's 4-3 with 84 Ks in 78 1/3 innings pitched.
5) Aaron Hicks: Oh, Aaron Hicks. The star-that-was-meant-to-be-but-really-wasn't-yet. Over the past week, he's actually hit .305 for the Red Wings, including a couple triples and 3 doubles. He's also striking out (a little...) less, with only 6 Ks over the past week. His season OPS is now .597 for his time in Rochester.
6) Eddie Rosario: Rosario has had a rough week--he hit just .165 over the past 7 games he's played, and only had one extra base hit. His season OPS is now .810 with the Rock Cats.
7) Kyle Gibson: Gibson had just one start as well over the past week--a 4 inning, 2 hit and 4 walk effort against Buffalo on Friday. Gibson did strike out 4 batters, but the walk-to-inning ratio isn't looking great for this performance. His season ERA is now 2.92 with the Red Wings and he has a 7-5 record with 87 Ks in 101 2/3 innings pitched in Rochester.
8) Max Kepler: Max Kepler didn't have the best week in Cedar Rapids--he hit just .225 over the 3 games he played--but he did hit a homer in one game and got at least one RBI in each game over the week. In Monday's game, though, he did strike out in 3 of his 5 at-bats. Kepler's season OPS is now .736 (.237 season BA with 9 home runs, 40 RBI and 2 stolen bases).
9) Jose Berrios: Berrios, the Cedar Rapids Kernels' righty, had a pretty rough start this week against Kansas City. He went just 5 innings, giving up 5 earned runs (2 home runs), 5 hits, and 3 walks. He did strike out 4 batters, but his game ERA was 9.00. Ouch. His season ERA is now 3.99. He has a 7-7 record, with 100 Ks in 103 2/3 innings pitched.
10) Trevor May: May's last start, Saturday evening, was not the best he's had this season by any means. He did go deep into the game, 7 IP, but he also gave up 6 hits, 4 earned runs, and a walk. The upside? He struck out 10 batters. I usually get pretty excited when I see May's K numbers, but this game was pretty good, even for him. His season ERA is now 4.51 (eek...), and he's 9-9 with 159 Ks in 151 2/3 innings pitched.
11) Joe Benson: Who? J/K, Benson is with the Texas organization now. Good luck to him.
12) J.T. Chargois: Still rehabbing his elbow issues. Hopefully get a peek of him at Spring Training--he posted good numbers in Elizabethton last year.
13) Jorge Polanco: Polanco's had a pretty good week-he's hit .308 over his past 4 games, including a homer and 3 RBI. His season OPS is now .813 and he has 78 RBI and 4 stolen bases on the year.
14) Travis Harrison: The Twins' minor league 3B prospect has had a rough week. He's had 4 0-fer games in his last 6 appearances, and he only got one hit in each of the other games. He did draw some walks (3), but his plate appearances were rather ugly. His season OPS is now down to .782 and he's got just 59 RBI and 2 SB for the season.
15) Danny Santana: Santana, the Twins' minor league SS prospect, had a pretty good week, hitting .281 over 6 games. He didn't have any extra base hits, but he did get a couple RBI. Santana did strike out nearly once a game, though that's not too unusual. His season OPS is now .719 and he has 45 RBI and--get this--30 stolen bases. Whew!
16) Mason Melotakis: Melotakis hasn't pitched in the last week, but his last outing two weeks ago included a scoreless inning of relief with a strikeout, so that's encouraging. His season ERA is 3.16 with an 11-4 record and 84 Ks in 111 1/3 innings pitched.
17) Luke Bard: Bard pitched 1 inning of scoreless relief on Sunday, while striking out 2 batters.
18) Hudson Boyd: Boyd has had two scoreless relief appearances in the past week. The first was a 2 inning effort where he gave up just one walk and struck out another, and the other appearance was 1 inning with no hits or walks allowed and another strikeout. Boyd's season ERA is down to 4.98, with a 4-5 record and 72 strikeouts in 103 innings pitched.
19) Michael Tonkin: Two things about Tonkin--the first is that he had two pretty good relief appearances over the past week and two pretty not-good appearances (we'll get to those in a moment) and the second is that his new player profile picture is hilarious. Observe:
I don't know if it's the stoned look, or the 'stache, or...I don't know. Just wonderful. Anyway, he had two scoreless appearances, one an inning and one just 1/3 of an inning. Then...then he had an appearance that lasted just 2/3 of an inning with 3 hits, 3 earned runs, and a walk. Ouch. The last appearance from Tonkin was Sunday, with another 1 inning effort. He gave up 2 hits and an earned run, but did strike out 2 batters. His season ERA is now 4.41 with a 1-2 record and 36 Ks in 57 IP.
20) Niko Goodrum: Goodrum's had a great week, though he's only played in 3 games. However, he is hitting .350 over those 3 games with a double, a homer, and 3 RBI. Goodrum's season OPS is now .732 and he has 45 RBI and 20 SB.
21) Chris Herrmann: Since being called up to the big club, Herrmann hasn't been outstanding with his hitting (as he had struggled much of the season in the minors...), but over the past week, he did come up big for the Twins with a 2-run blast on Friday in Texas against the Rangers. Herrmann's MLB OPS is .626 now.
22) Alex Wimmers: Wimmers is still on the DL and hasn't pitched in nearly a month. There seems to be a distinct lack on information on his injury.
23) DJ Baxendale: As excited as I was about Baxendale early on in the season, he's certainly started to struggle in the past couple of months. Over the last week, he had 2 starts--both at least 7 innings, but both with at least 3 earned runs. His start on Monday was particularly rough, as he gave up 12 hits (but managed to give up just 3 earned runs). He did, however, strike out another 9 batters in his 7.1 inning appearance. His season ERA is now 5.63 with a 5-7 record and 64 Ks in 92 2/3 innings pitched in New Britain.
24) Levi Michael: The first-round SS draft pick had a pretty good week, as he hit .367 over a 5-game time frame. He didn't get any extra base hits, and didn't do anything particularly fantastic over the week, but he was getting on base, and that's always a good sign. Michael now has a season OPS of .670 with 4 HR, 28 RBI, and 21 SB in 94 games played.
25) Adam Walker: Walker had a decent week at the plate--nothing too special. He hit .221 with a double, home run, and 3 RBI over his past 6 games. His season OPS is now .844 with 27 HR, 109 RBI, and 10 SB. Not a bad year in Cedar Rapids for the 25th ranked prospect at all.
Of Note:
The Rochester Red Wings completed their first triple play since 2006 this week, with Ray Olmedo starting all the fun. The Red Wings won their game, clinching themselves a wild card spot in this season's playoffs. Here's a video of the action:
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