top 10 prospects

from now until the end of the season i am going to update who i think is my top 10 prospects every month because things can change in a hurry.


1. Deolis Guerra P Fort Myers (1)
2. Anthony Swarzak P New Britain (5)
3. Tyler Robertson P Fort Myers (3)
4.Kevin Mulvey P Rochester (4)
5.Luke Hughes 3b New Britain (-)
6.Trevor Plouffe SS New Britain (9)
7.Jeff Manship P Fort Myers (8)
8.Ben Revere Cf Beloit (6)
9. Danny Valencia 3b Fort Myers (-)
10.Anthony Slama P Fort Myers (-)

added:Luke Hughes, Danny Valencia, Anthony Slama
dropped: Carlos Gomez, Alexi Casilla, Philip Humber

thats my top ten i welcome your comments on how you would of done it differently and what you think of the top 10

Rochester Red Wings

In part 2 of my series on the Twins organization for the month of April i will be looking at the Rochester Red Wings. Rochester went 13-14 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 leading the international league in team era with a 2.95 era. They were led by starters Brian Duensing who was 2-3 with a 2.75era and Kevin Mulvey who was 2-2 3.21era. The only negatives in the starting starting staff were Glen Perkins who walked 15 batters in only 28 innings of play and Philip Humber who has a 5.63 era and was recently sent to the bullpen. Overall the Starting pitching has been very good and should continue to be good the wildcard is Francisco Liriano as he trys to recover from Tommy John surgery and if he can get it going it will be a short stay for Rochester. Grade:B+

• Relief Pitching: The relief pitching has been very good also with a bullpen era of 2.78 as a team led by Bobby Korecky before he got recalled by the Twins and now Tim Lahey they have only given up 27 runs in 94 innings. The only disappointment has been Julio Depaula who has walked 12 batters in only 15 innings so far. They will be helped out by the imminent return of Korecky and the good left handed work of Gomez and Barrett. The bullpen of Rochester is something i have been really happy with and probably the strength of the team along with the starting staff. Grade:A-

• Hitting: This has been terrible this year there has been maybe 2 or 3 hitters that have actually done what you expected them to do and thats the problem with journeymen minor leaguers their in the minors for a reason. On the good side of things after a slow start Jason Pridie really did some good things hitting .311 for the month with 13rbi's and Darnell Mcdonald when he came off the DL was really good hitting .318 with 14rbi's. The disappointments are many but the biggest one was Jose Morales who many thought, myself include, was still a good prospect and he's only hitting .234 with only 5rbi's he needs to do better than that. Also Randy Ruiz had a good spring training and since then he has done nothing for Rochester hitting only .266 with 1hr. I guess i shouldnt be surprised in him because he is a journeyman but i was expecting more. Overall it was terrible hitting by the Red Wings only averaging 4.1 runs a game. I know the pitching has been good but they need to do better than that because it puts too much pressure on the pitching. Grade:D-

• Defense: Now this has been the ugly part of the team with 29 errors in only 27 games this far. Nobody has been spared from committing errors the worst have been Matt Macri with 8 and Alexi Casilla with 5. There is no excuse not to make the plays defensively because if any of them think they are going to make it to the majors they need to fix this or they won't make it guarantee. With the Twins you can by with not hitting much or not being too fast but you can't survive with making errors. Hopefully, its just an anomaly and will even out but right now its bad. Grade: F-

• Baserunning: The Red Wings have been decent running the bases with 22 stolen bases in 27 April games. They have alot of speed and have taken advantage of it led by Jason Pridie's 9 sb and Denard Span's 5. I think they should be running more with the speed they have. 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 Red Wings 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 hit better it won't matter how good they pitch. I think they have some talented players but i would like to see them jettison the journeymen and give real prospects a chance to see what they can do at a higher level. Grade C

• Player of the Month: Jason Pridie- Jason got off to a really slow start but as the month went on he got better and better. For the Month Jason hit .311 with an obp of .443 which is really good. He hit 1 hr with 13 rbi's and stole 9 bases for the Red Wings. He was really solid for the month and the interesting thing is to see if he can keep it up for a whole season.

• Pitcher of the Month: Brian Duensing- Brian doesn't get the pub that the rest of the pitchers get but he is the most consistant. Brian went 2-3 with a 2.75era in 36 innings. He walked 6 and struck out 20. Brian is going to keep you in the game pretty much every start and give up 2 or 3 runs and you won't notice it until after the game. He has developed into the leader of the staff and i think will continue to give the Red Wings a chance to win.

Friday, May 2nd

Twins Talk
Minnesota 13-14 1.5 games back

• The Twins had yesterday off and begin a 3 game weekend series with Detroit at the Metrodome. Gametime is at 7:10pm with Livan Hernandez getting the start for the Twins.

Rochester Wrap

Toledo 5 Rochester 1

Rochester 13-15 5.5 games back

• POG:Darnell Mcdonald- Darnell continued his strong start to the season going 2-4 in a game the Red Wings only were able to get 4 hits on the game. With the 2 hits Darnell raised his average to .318 on the season. Darnell has become the most consistant hitter on the Red Wings team and will be the key if the Red Wings are able to turn it aroung offensively.
• Kevin Slowey made a rehab start and was very good going 5 innings and only giving up 2 runs on 3 hits. I think he is ready but i think he will make one more start on short rest so that he is ready to make the start on may 10th. He is scheduled to pitch on Tuesday for Rochester and i think he will make that start and only throw 40-50 pitches so that he can come back on Saturday for the Twins. I am amazed how much he dominates in the minor leagues. In 13 innings in the minor leagues he has only given up 3 runs in 3 minor league starts. I look for big things ahead for Kevin and look forward to seeing him up with the Twins.
• Philip Humber continued his struggles giving up 2 runs on 3 hits in just 2/3 of an inning last night. Philip's ERA rose to 5.63 on the season and you have to hope that he can break out of this because honestly he has not been very good this season.
• Tonight, the Rochester continues their series with the Mud Hens in Toledo. Gametime is at 6pm with Glen Perkins getting the start for the Red Wings.

New Britain Business

New Britain 7 Binghamton 4

New Britain 13-12 3.5 games back

• POG:Luke Hughes- If you thought Luke Hughes was just a 1 month wonder well you were dead wrong. Luke went 4-5 with a triple and his 9th homerun of the year along with an rbi and 4 runs scored. With the 4 hits it raised Luke's average to a crazy .375 on the season and has 39 hits already wow! I really did not see thing coming but sometimes the light just comes on for players. It would be easy if you could say with certainty that this player is going to be good and this one won't but it is an inexact science it depends on how hard the player is going to work to get better so hopefully Luke can continue this all year long.
• Ryan Mullins got his 2nd win of the year even though he wasn't exactly sharp, but a win is a win. Ryan went 5.1 innings and gave up 4 runs on 6 hits while walking 5 batters and striking out 3. It was not a terrible start just not the type of start we are used to seeing out of Ryan.
• With the win last night they were able to sweep a 3 game series with Binghamton to bring themselves within 3.5 games of first
• Tonight, New Britain begins a 3 game series with last place New Hampshire in New Hampshire. Gametime is at 5:35pm with Phenom Anthony Swarzak getting the start for the Rock Cats.

Fort Myers Musings

Fort Myers 11 Clearwater 6

Fort Myers 16-11 First Place

• POG:Danny Valencia- Danny continued his steady excellence last night going 2-4 with 2 doubles and walk and 4 rbi's to bring his rbi total up to 23 on the season. With the 2 hits Danny brought his average up to .295 on the season. Danny went through a rough spot midway through the month but has been the most consistant hitter on the team and continues to be a good run producer getting 23 rbi's in only 27 games.
• Jeff Manship was stellar again for the Miracle going 6.1 innings and only giving up 2 runs on 4 hits while walking 1 and striking out 6 to lower his era to 3.27. Jeff improved his record to 4-0 on the season. Jeff has been really good this year and probably been the best pitcher this year on a great staff.
• Danny Hernandez really struggled last night facing 3 batters and giving up 2 hits and a walk and 2 of them ended up scoring. With the bad outing his era is 13.50 on the year and momma said there would be days like this. Danny will come out next time and will get the job done he just had a bad night.
• Today, the Miracle finish their series with Clearwater as the Miracle go for the sweep. Gametime is 9:35am with phenom Deolis Guerra getting the start trying to rebound from his last start.

Beloit Beat

Beloit 5 Great Lakes 2 Final 10 innings

Beloit 11-16 9.0 games back

• POG:Chris Parmalee- Chris continues his rebound from his 2-32 slump with a 3-4 night with a walk and an rbi with a run scored. Chris raised his average to .250 with the 3 hits last night. Chris is the difference in the Snappers offense and when he hits good they normally win and when he doesn't its hard for the Snappers to win much. I think he has alot of talent and i have alot of hope for him, but he is going to have to get the job done if he wants to keep moving.
• David Bromberg was excellent going 6 innings and only gave up a run on 2 hits while walking 3 and striking out 9. With the good outing it dropped David's era to 5.70 on the season. David is the key to the Snappers pitching staff he is the most talented and alot is expected out to him and so far he hasn't lived up to it so it will be interesting to see how he does from here.
• Ben Revere had another solid game going 1-4 with a rbi to bring his average down to .333 on the season.
• Tonight the Snappers try to continue their 3 game winning streak with game 2 of their series with Great Lakes. Gametime is at 6:05 with Micheal Tarsi getting the start for the Snappers.