Minor Leagues

If I’m being honest, the Snappers game tonight was pretty bad for the hometown nine, at least for eight-and-a-half innings. However, in the bottom of the 9^th, the Snappers bats woke up. The team had scored just one run in the first eight innings. The ninth frame started with walks to the eight and nine hitters. JD Williams singled to right field to load the bases. Wang-Wei Lin struck out. Eddie Rosario worked the count to 3-1 before drilling a two-run single of the middle. Miguel Sano came up and worked a walk to again load the bases. Kennys Vargas came up representing the game-tying run. On the first pitch, he uncoiled a huge swing but missed. The second pitch was offspeed and on the outside corner, and he drove a two-run single to the left centerfield gap. AJ Pettersen pinch-ran for Vargas, but Drew Leachman and Stephen Wickens both popped out to end the comeback and end the game.

Day 1 of the Beloit Trip was a long one, and yet a lot of fun. ...

An outcome that has long seemed inevitable became a reality today when it was announced that pitching prospect Alex Wimmers was slated to undergo Tommy John surgery. It's a major setback in a career that hasn't really been able to get off the starting block.

The story leading up to this news is a familiar and frustrating one. Back in April, Wimmers landed on the disabled list after one start with what was thought to be a minor elbow strain. An MRI exam in early May revealed a partial tear in his UCL. The Twins opted for rehab.
...

One of my favorite days of the year is the day I open my mailbox and see a cardboard box just big enough to hold the Baseball America Prospect Handbook. The first thing I do is read each of the 30 capsules about the Twins prospects. Then I proceed to read each of the other 870 reports in the book, usually a few times.

This year they added a new feature: the BA Grade along with the Risk Factor. Essentially, it makes it possible to compare all 900 prospects. If you want a general idea of where Miguel Sano would rank in the Rangers system, you take his grade (70/high) and find where that would fit (below all the other 70s – only Profar at #1 – and higher than all the other “high risks” – Leonys Martin at #4). He would slot in somewhere between Profar and Martin, most likely in between Martin Perez (65/medium) and Mike Olt (60/medium). ...

Being a minor league baseball player has taught me to be an expert packer. I travel with a baseball bag and a backpack, what goes into my backpack has to serve a purpose because everything takes up space and there isn’t very much of it.

Game Glove
My glove gets treated well. I often use the phrase, "treat your glove well and it will treat you well." On airplanes it is carried on, if it is a passenger in my car it usually rides shotgun. Ask many infielders and they will tell you something similar.
...

The Twins finished their sweep against the Indians this afternoon (in dominant fashion too, outscoring the Indians 28-6), but that’s not nearly the biggest news to transpire since Saturday evening’s convincing win.

At exactly 10pm last night – exactly the time I decided to go to bed a little early – the White Sox announced on their Twitter account that they had acquired Francisco Liriano for Eduardo Escobar and Pedro Hernandez.

It didn’t take long for everybody to hate the deal. The Twitter-world turned upside-down and mostly everybody began (or continued) to question whether or not Terry Ryan is capable of doing the job that he currently holds (or is the “interim”). You can read Baseball America's take here which may get you to come back in from the ledge. ...

For the first time in quite awhile, the Twins game was very enjoyable to watch on Friday night. Scott Diamond had his best pitching performance in his big league career by throwing a complete game shutout with only three hits surrendered. He was remarkably efficient by throwing less than 100 pitches during his nine innings on the mound. With some not so smooth outings in his last few appearances, it was good to see Diamond get a fantastic start under his belt and hopefully he can stay on track for the rest of the season.

While Diamond was busy tossing a gem, the Twins offense blew up for 11 runs on the strength of 15 hits. Justin Morneau crushed a huge 3-run home run in the first inning to put the Twins up from the early going. Later in the game, Josh Willingham hit his team leading 26th home run of the season by sending one into the bullpen and he now has 76 RBI. Joe Mauer had two ...