Fort Myers Miracle

In part 3 of my series on the Twins organization for the month of April i will be looking at the Fort Myers Miracle. Fort Myers went 15-10 for the month of April and did some good things and some things they need to work on.

• Starting Pitching:The Starting pitching has been as good as advertised posting a 3.62 starting pitcher ERA. They were led by starters Jeff Manship, Tyler Robertson and newcomer Deolis Guerra. Manship went 4-0 with a 3.27 and was the leader of the staff. Robertson went 0-1 with a 2.84 era and was much better than his record striking out a team high 29 strikeouts in 30 innings. Deolis Guerra started out strong, but has slumped of late to come in with a 4.61 era if you count his last start. Deolis has the most electric stuff on the staff who throws a good changeup and throws in the low 90's. The biggest surprise has been Alex Burnett going 2-1 with a miniscule 2.28 era and throwing good solid innings. The only one who has struggled a bit has been Cole Devries who has a 5.08 era on the season but the good thing is he has been better of late. Overall the Miracle have done what they have too because they have the cream of the crop in their rotation and have done what they needed to do. GRADE: A-

• Relief Pitching: The Relief Pitching for the Miracle has been excellent with a relief pitcher ERA of 3.61era on the season. They have been led by Anthony Slama's 0.56 and Danny Vais' 0.92. Also helping out has been Robert Delaney's 0.57. There have been a few disappoinments in Matt Fox with a 6.91era and Jose Lugo's 7.62. When you have Slama, Vais and Delaney if you have a lead in the late innings your going to win. The end of that bullpen is the most dynamic in the FSL and if the starters can get them the ball they are going to win. GRADE: A

• Hitting: This is an interesting thing to look at it has been up and down with pretty much everybody struggling to start the year and now they are running on all cylinders. They have been led by Brian Dinkelman, Rene Tosoni and Danny Valencia. Dinkelman hit .330 with a homer and 12 rbis. Tosoni hit .337 with 9 rbi's and the guy that is the thumper in the middle of the order is Valencia who hit .290 with 3 homeruns and 27 rbi's. 1-9 there are many good hitters who on any given night can carry the Miracle offense. The only guy that i expected to hit better that hasn't is Wilson Ramos who hit only .213 with a homer and 15 rbi's and i look for him to rebound because he is too good of a hitter to keep that going. I look for the Miracle to continue their good hitting and get Ramos and a few other people going and scoring more runs. GRADE: B

• Defense: Defense has not been the Miracle's strong point this year with 28 errors in 25 games. They were led in errors by 5 from Danny Valencia and everybody that has played much has contributed to the terrible defense. If they dont get better defense it doesn't matter how good they pitch or hit t hey will lose games and they are too good of players to make dumb errors like that so i look for the team defense to improve alot but right now its not very good. GRADE: F

• Baserunning: The Miracle have been decent running the bases with 18 stolen bases in 25 April games. They have alot of speed and have taken advantage of it led by Brian Dinkelman's 5 and Rene Tonosi's 3. I think they should be running more with the speed they have. But they are in most games so they have the ability to steal bases so they should steal 2 to 3 bases a game. Grade C

• Overall: The Miracle have done some good things and some things that they need to work on to contend for a division title. They have pitched really good and need to continue that, but if they dont play better defense it won't matter how good they pitch. I think they have some talented players but i would like to see some of their talented players take the next step in their careers and make the Twins move they up. I think they will have personall losses, because there is so much more talent at Fort Myers than there is at New Britain so i think some of the guys will get moved up and it will be interesting to see how the new players do. Grade C

• Player of the Month: Danny Valencia- Danny was the most consistant player and run producer for the Miracle in April. He hit .290 with 3 homeruns and a team high 27 rbi's. He is the 3rd basemen of the future for the Twins and is the run producer for the Miracle. He needs to work on his Defense but if he continues to produce offensively he will be with the Twins in a couple of years.

• Pitcher of the Month: Jeff Manship- I know this must come as a surprise with the highly touted pitchers they have on their staff but Jeff has been the most consistent pitcher on the staff going 4-0 with a 3.23era. He leads that staff and has improved every start this year and is the person that when the Miracle need to break a losing streak thats the guy they will look to. I look for Jeff to move up to New Britain sometime this year and will be very good and a future Twin.