Minnesota Twins Minor League Stars of the Week

This week we go into the Minnesota Twins minor league organization to find the shining talent that we name the Minor League Stars of the Week.  Read on to see who we have named for this week's stars and take a moment to answer the poll and comment on any other players you feel that should have been named.

Cedar Rapids Kernels (A - Low) - LaMonte Wade (OF) - Our star for the Kernels this week is LaMonte Wade, outfielder for Cedar Rapids.  Wade continues to impress in Cedar Rapids both as an offensive player and his ability to play solid defense in the outfield for the Kernels.   On the season, Wade is leading the Kernels with a .341 batting average also leads Cedar Rapids in Hits, Total Bases, OBP, SLG, OPS, and is tied for the lead in the RBI and Stolen Bases categories.  For this past week, LaMonte is hitting .333 (6/18) with four runs scored, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 6 BB, and 1 SB.  Wade is definitely showing that he is excelling at Low-A and with the offensive struggles that Fort Myers has been dealing with, I will be surprised if Wade is not promoted to the Miracle by July or August at the latest.

Fort Myers Miracle (A - High) - Edgar Corcino (OF) - This week's star from Fort Myers is Edgar Corcino, outfielder for the Miracle.  The Miracle have really struggled as a team offensively in 2016 and have been lead by their remarkable pitching staff but one bat that has started to heat up recently is the bat of Edgar Corcino.  While only hitting .262 on the 2016 season, Edgar has been one of the main run producers for Fort Myers over the past week.  Corcino is hitting .364 (8/22) over his last seven games with 4 R, 2 HR, 8 RBI, and 3 BB.  Edgar mixed in a grand slam along with back to back 4 RBI nights to help push the Miracle into first place in the Florida State League South.  Keep an eye on Corcino in 2016 as if the power surge continues, he could be a late season promotion to Chattanooga.

Chattanooga Lookouts (AA) - Aaron Slegers (P) - Our star from the Lookouts this week is Aaron Slegers, starting pitcher for Chattanooga.  Slegers has started to look like he will be the top starting arm in Chattanooga for 2016, at least until either Stephen Gonsalves or Kohl Stewart get their due promotions to AA.  Aaron is 2-1 on the season with a 2.90 ERA over 31 IP.  In his lone start this week, Slegers pitched eight strong innings to notch the victory for the Lookouts, allowing just five hits and no runs in this impressive start.  Aaron also struck out five batters while walking just one and over his last two starts has a 11 SO/2 BB ratio.  It will be interesting to see Slegers in Chattanooga along with Gonsalves and Stewart when they are promoted, this could give the Lookouts one of the better starting rotations in the Southern League when it does happen.

Rochester Red Wings (AAA) - Byron Buxton (OF) - This week's star from the Red Wings is Byron Buxton, outfielder for Rochester.  I will preface this by stating that with his talents, Buxton should be the start almost every week in Rochester but it was definitely earned this week as he is only one of two hitters hitting over .300 for the Red Wings (Jorge Polanco being the other).  Buxton needs to heat up while in Rochester in terms of getting on base at a more prolific clip and reducing the strikeout percentage, which go hand in hand.  Over the past week Byron has started to get in a groove, hitting .323 (10/31) with 6 R, 3 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, and 2 RBI.  The strikeouts are still high with nine over the past week so he still need to work on pitch selection and contact to get back to Minneapolis so we hope to continue to see more weeks like this and improvement from Buxton so that he can be in a Twins uniform and productive again soon.