Tuesday, April 8th

I will be continuing my series on the Twins position by position look into the Twins organization. Today i will be moving onto 2nd base position hope everyone enjoys it and let the comments continue.



Twins

• Brenden Harris- Brenden is a interesting player that just came into the Twins organization in the Delmon Young trade. I really like how flexible he is in that he can play 2nd,ss,and 3rd which is a must for infielders in the Twins organization. I know he hasnt shown it yet this year, but i think he will bring an improvement over Jason Bartlett. He is a good hitter with decent power and a good glove. Last year was his first full season in the Majors and put up good numbers he hit .286 with 12 HR's and 59 rbi's in 137 games. He was a journeyman early in his career going to 5 different organizations before his breakthrough season last season. With not alot of depth at 2nd base i think Brenden has a chance to start at 2nd for the next few years. What he needs to do is show last year was not a fluke and if he can do that he will be fine.

Rochester

• Matt Macri- Matt is a very flexible infielder who plays 2nd,ss,and 3rd also. He was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the 4th round of the '04 draft and joined the Twins in a late season trade for Ramon Ortiz. His best position is 3rd base but i wanted break him down because we really dont have a 2nd basemen at Rochester. Howie Clark gets alot of playing time but i dont see much future for him so i thought i would write about Macri because i see a brighter future for him. He is a career .282 hitter who plays good defense and has a little pop in his bat. I dont look for him to have huge upside but its possible for him to make it to the majors as a utility man as early as next season.

New Britain

• Steven Tolleson- He is a solid second baseman that has worked his way up to the Rock cats. He hit .285 last season with 79 BB's and 27 stolen bases to earn the promotion to the Rock Cats. For him to improve he needs to work on cutting down his strikeout total he had 97 strikeouts in 487 at bats. It was a real credit for him to rebound when he got demoted from Ft Myers back down to Beloit. I dont see much of a outlook for him but every organization needs solid players to show how to play the game the right way and should be commended for it.

Fort Myers

• Brian Dinkelman- He was selected by the Twins in the 6th round of the '06 draft and has been pretty solid so far in his Twins career. He is a career .277 hitter who plays good defense and is finding his swing. He is slowly working his way up going from elizabethton to beloit and now to fort myers. He has a very good eye at plate which helps the team and he is off to a good start this season so hopefully he can keep it up. Its a little early to judge how he is going to be but he is off to a good start and worth keeping an eye on.

Beloit

• Steven Singleton- The Snappers don't really have a natural 2nd base so Steve has been playing there this season. Steve was a 11th round selection in the '06 draft. He put up a decent '07 season with the Snappers and is back for another season. He hit .271 in 102 games so he has shown that he can hit, but for him to take the next step he needs to get better discipline at the plate. Look at last year he only had 8 walks compared to 47 strikeouts you would like to see that ratio close to 50-50 in a middle infielder. Its too early to tell but its worth keeping an eye on him.

To be all honest our 2nd base position is weak by any standards and was hurt worse when the decision to move Alexi Casilla to shortstop was made. The Twins have to hope Brenden Harris turns out and they need improvement at 2nd out of every level in the system.