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| 1 | Byron Buxton | CF | Fort Myers (A+) |
| It's good to see that Buxton is finally back on the field. That's the good news this week. | |||
| 2 | Miguel Sano | 3B | New Britain (AA) |
| Sano was just dubbed out for the season, which is the bad news. It's not a bad thing, considering there is nothing to gain by rushing him back. He could be available for winter ball, but the Arizona Fall League is also out. I'm happy to wait and see what Sano has in spring training. | |||
| 3 | Alex Meyer | RHP | Rochester (AAA) |
| Meyer is back on form, striking out ten yesterday en route to a six-inning, two-run performance. That makes a total of four runs allowed in his last three starts, with 20 strikeouts and nine walks in 18 innings. | |||
| 4 | Eddie Rosario | CF/2B | New Britain (AA) |
| It's strange to see Rosario struggle to adjust as he has so far this season. He's hit safely in six of eight games so far in July, but his triple slash is still trending in the wrong direction. For New Britain this season he's now batting .229/.278/.331 with two homers and six doubles in 30 games. Overall for Rosario: the strikeouts are higher than we've seen, the walks are lower, the power is down, the BABIP is down. At 22 Rosario is still two and a half years younger than most of his competition, but there's clearly a big adjustment that needs to take place. | |||
| 5 | Kohl Stewart | RHP | Cedar Rapids (A) |
| His defense really let him down his last time out, with a pair of errors leading to four unearned runs, but at this point it's barely a blemish on his record this year. His ERA in his last ten starts is 2.60, not far off his season mark of 2.67. He's only allowed three home runs this season, with all of them coming within his last seven starts. At this point I expect Stewart to finish the year in Cedar Rapids, with a fresh crack at Fort Myers in 2015 at age 20. | |||
| 6 | Josmil Pinto | C | Rochester (AAA) |
| Offensively, Pinto is ready. At least he looks like it in Rochester. He's tallied nine walks and six strikeouts in 12 games for the Red Wings, with five of his 11 hits going for extra bases. His triple slash of .282/.417/.513 speaks for itself. Base runners are two out of three in stolen base attempts | |||
| 7 | Jose Berrios | RHP | New Britain (AA) |
| Berrios has been promoted to Double-A after destroying hitters in the Florida State League. His final line for Fort Myers includes a 1.96 ERA in 16 starts (96.1 innings) with 109 strikeouts and 23 walks. There's no doubt that he's leapfrogged Stewart on most prospect lists at this point in the season, but he could be pushing Meyer for the best prospect in the system. Let's see how he does at Double-A as a 20-year old. | |||
| 8 | Jorge Polanco | SS/2B | Fort Myers (!+) |
| After a very impressive few days with the Twins, Polanco was returned to Fort Myers where he's begun to really tear the cover off the ball. Since his return he's 11-for-30 with three doubles and two triples, bumping his season line to .297/.368/.423. It wouldn't be surprising to learn that his time in Minnesota boosted his confidence. | |||
| 9 | Max Kepler | CF/LF/1B | Fort Myers (A+) |
| Kepler looked like he was starting to bounce back when we last checked in on our top 30 prospects, and that's continued. It's all relative, but improvement is improvement, and he's 7-for-25 since June's final update. His triple slash is still just .231/.316/.352. Will we see him turn another corner this year? | |||
| 10 | Lewis Thorpe | LHP | Cedar Rapids (A) |
| The talent is there, and it's beginning to shine through the clouds. A week ago today he struck out eight while shutting out his opponent, and yesterday he struck out five and walked three over four innings. His ERA is 5.40, but for an 18-year old in Single-A he's coping just fine. He's struck out 20 in 26.2 innings. | |||
| 11 | Trevor May | RHP | Rochester (AAA) |
| An calf strain has shut down May for the time being, but we don't know how long he'll be out at this point. So far this season May has recorded a 2.94 ERA in 14 starts (79.2 innings), including 81 strikeouts and 31 walks. He's given up just four home runs. | |||
| 12 | Adam Brett Walker | RF | Fort Myers (A+) |
| Walker has put forward a strong performance over the last few days, and is hitting .263/.349/.579 in his last ten games with four home runs and 11 runs driven in. His 18 home runs on the season lead the system, but the 22-year old hasn't been able to build on what had been a promising resume coming into the season. Contact, or perhaps more accurately swinging and missing, continues to be an issue. | |||
| 13 | Felix Jorge | RHP | Elizabethton (R) |
| Three starts into his stint with Elizabethton and Jorge has yet to allow a run. In three starts (15 innings) he's struck out 12 and walked seven, allowing just seven hits. He might get another opportunity with Cedar Rapids this season, but I doubt it will be before Elizabethton's season is close to ending. | |||
| 14 | Stephen Gonsalves | LHP | Elizabethton (R) |
| In four starts, Gonsalves has struck out 19 in 19 innings, walking just six and giving up 17 hits. He just turned 20 yesterday, but I'm not sure the team will move him along quite yet. You have to love the numbers that he's putting up, but the real question will be how his stuff plays as he climbs the ladder. | |||
| 15 | Michael Tonkin | RHP | Rochester (AAA) |
| He strikes out a better per inning and has walked just four batters in 24.1 innings out of the Red Wings' bullpen. It must be frustrating to be ready to contribute to the Major League team but to be stuck in the minor leagues, but the opportunity will come. | |||
| 16 | Travis Harrison | 3B | Fort Myers (A+) |
| The 21-year old third baseman continues to hit well, posting a .314 batting average in his last ten games. He's even posted four doubles in that same time frame, although he's still sitting on one home run for the year. More good news: he's started taking walks again. In 280 at-bats he's recorded 23 doubles, 58 strikeouts, and 30 walks. The contact skills look solid. Can the power develop if given more time? Harrison is batting .279/.349/.379 this year. | |||
| 17 | Danny Santana | CF/SS | Minnesota (MLB) |
| Santana is still on the disabled list. | |||
| 18 | Kennys Vargas | 1B | New Britain (AA) |
| The slump continues for Vargas. When he hits bottom, he doesn't bounce. He's 4-for-36 (.111) in his last ten games with one walk, six strikeouts, no extra base hits and no runs batted in. The question is: is this just an ugly slump, or does he need to make an adjustment to how he's being pitched? | |||
| 19 | Ryan Eades | RHP | Cedar Rapids (A) |
| Eades has posted an 8.12 ERA in his last ten starts, recording all of one quality start. The biggest issue is how easily batters are seeing his stuff, as he's allowed 64 hits in 44.1 innings this year. | |||
| 20 | Zack Jones | RHP | Fort Myers (A+) |
| Jones is supposedly rehabbing, and could be throwing live in the next couple of weeks. A rehab stint somewhere like the GCL Twins will be likely, but he could still close out the season with the Miracle. | |||
| 21 | Fernando Romero | RHP | Cedar Rapids (A) |
| Romero is out for the year and should be going in for Tommy John surgery, which should keep him out for most of 2015. The 19-year old made three starts for Cedar Rapids, going 12 innings and striking out nine while walking three en route to a 3.00 ERA. | |||
| 22 | Sean Gilmartin | LHP | Rochester (AAA) |
| Five starts into his tenure in Triple-A, and Gilmartin has posted a 4.44 ERA in 26.1 innings. He's been perfectly serviceable, which is more or less what we can expect of him as a minor league starting pitcher right now. It's too early to look past him entirely, but this is his age-24 season. He'll be likely to be in Rochester's rotation to start 2015. | |||
| 23 | Stuart Turner | C | Fort Myers (A+) |
| It's been an up and down season for Turner. As a collegiate pick who had some offensive potential, that aspect of his game hasn't come to fruition this season. He's hitting .234/.313/.370 this year. Will the Twins bring him back to Fort Myers to start 2015, or will they attempt to push him along? | |||
| 24 | Amaurys Minier | 3B | GCL Twins (R) |
| Having gone 10-for-28 since our last update, Minier continues to rake. Considered a highly-sought after international prospect when he signed with the Twins, his biggest tool is his bat and it's delivering so far: .333/.411/.479 in 14 games to date. | |||
| 25 | D.J. Baxendale | RHP | Fort Myers (A+) |
| It hasn't gotten better for Baxendale over his last few starts, and owns a 6.67 ERA in six starts for the Miracle. Command doesn't look like an issue unless we're talking about inside of the strike zone. He's given up 38 hits in 29.2 innings pitched. | |||
| 26 | Niko Goodrum | SS | Fort Myers (A+) |
| Taking three walks on Saturday has helped boost Goodrum's on-base percentage to .356 over his last ten games. Power isn't likely to ever be a big part of his game, but he's cut down on strikeouts and is working at getting on base more - which is where his potential lies. He's hitting .250/.325/.337 this year. | |||
| 27 | Mason Melotakis | LHP | Fort Myers (A+) |
| Melotakis entered his break with a 2.93 ERA as a reliever in 40 innings and 23 appearances, including 39 strikeouts and 19 walks. At 23, it's likely that the Twins will try to push him to Double-A next season to see how he responds out of the bullpen. | |||
| 28 | Lewin Diaz | OF | DSL Twins (Summer) |
| Diaz has had better results in his last five games (7-for-20) with a pair of doubles, a homer, and four walks. He's hitting .254/.313/.407 in 15 games. | |||
| 29 | Logan Darnell | LHP | Rochester (AAA) |
| If you're a fan and you don't love Logan Darnell, what's wrong with you? He owns a 3.15 ERA on the summer, and has allowed more than two runs just three times in his last ten outings. Opponents are batting just .253 off of him this year. He's the epitome of the capable Triple-A starter, or at least he has been this year. | |||
| 30 | Adrian Salcedo | RHP | New Britain (AA) |
| Salcedo had been improving but had a hiccup two outings ago, allowing an earned run in 1.1 innings of work. But in his last ten appearances his ERA has been just 2.08, and on the season it's sunk to 5.66. The strikeouts are coming and the command looks like it's improving, but he has a big hill to climb before his overall numbers look good for 2014. | |||