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Home , Jared Burton, Kennys Vargas, Kohl Stewart, Lewis Thorpe (baseball), Miguel Sano, Nick Gordon

Minnesota Twins Daily Clips

Monday, February 2, 2015

➢ Buxton reigns as No. 1 overall on Top Prospect list. MLB.com (Bollinger) p. 1 ➢ MLB.com names as ’s top prospect for second straight year. NBC Sports (Short) p. 2 ➢ This Week In Twins links: Wrapping up TwinsFest and glancing at 2015. 1500espn.com (Wetmore) p. 2 ➢ After season defined by injuries, Twins farm system appears strong. 1500espn.com (Wetmore) p. 4 ➢ Twins 2015 outlook: Will return to lights-out form? 1500espn.com (Wetmore) p. 5 ➢ ’ A.J. Achter Prepared For Bigger Role In 2015. Baseball Essential (Crawford) p. 6

Buxton reigns as No. 1 overall on Top Prospect list.

Rhett Bollinger | MLB.com | January 30, 2015

MINNEAPOLIS -- Despite an injury-plagued 2014 campaign, Byron Buxton remains MLB.com's No. 1 overall prospect, and he is joined by five other Twins prospects on MLB.com's Top 100 Prospects list, released Friday night.

Buxton, 21, played in only 31 games in the Minor Leagues last year due to a left wrist injury and a concussion sustained in his first career game at Double-A in mid-August before suffering a broken finger that required surgery while he was playing in the Arizona Fall League. But the center fielder still emerged in front of Cubs prospect to be ranked as the game's No. 1 overall prospect for the second straight year.

The fellow Twins prospects joining Buxton are third baseman Miguel Sano (No. 11), right-hander Alex Meyer (No. 29), right-hander Jose Berrios (No. 32), shortstop (No. 33) and right-hander (No. 36) on the Top 100 list. Only the Pirates had more prospects ranked with seven, while the Cubs were tied with the Twins with six prospects making the cut.

The annual ranking of baseball's Top 100 Prospects is assembled by MLBPipeline.com Draft and prospect experts Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis, who compile input from industry sources, including scouts and scouting directors. It is based on analysis of players' skill sets, upsides, proximity to the Majors and potential immediate impact to their teams. The list, which is one of several prospect rankings on MLBPipeline.com's Prospect Watch, only includes players with rookie status in 2015. Team-by-team Top 30 Prospects lists for 2015 will be unveiled in March.

Mayo: Breaking down the Top 100 | Callis: Best tools in the Top 100

Buxton entered last year as the No. 1 overall prospect, but he struggled to stay healthy, hitting .240/.313/.405 with four homers, four doubles and 16 RBIs in 30 games at Advanced Fort Myers before sustaining his concussion in an outfield collision in his first game at Double-A. Buxton is now healthy and is expected to start the year at Double-A Chattanooga.

Sano, 21, also missed time due to injury last year, as he underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery on his right elbow in March. But Sano will also enter healthy and, like Buxton, is expected to start the year at Double-A. But Twins hasn't ruled out Buxton and Sano making their Major League debuts this season.

"That would be a realistic point of view from my vantage point," Ryan said. "They're both very talented, and if they have the type of years that you would hope with their type of skill set, there's no reason not to say, 'Oh, they have a chance this year.' So yeah, they do."

Meyer, 25, had a solid year at Triple-A Rochester, posting a 3.52 ERA with 153 in 130 1/3 . He's a strong candidate to make his big league debut this year, but he is likely to start out at Rochester again.

Gordon, the club's first-round pick in last year's First-Year Player Draft, .294/.333/.366 with 11 stolen bases in 57 games at Rookie-level Elizabethton. The 19-year-old son of former closer is expected to start the year with Class A Cedar Rapids.

Stewart, 20, had a 2.59 ERA with 62 strikeouts in 87 innings at Cedar Rapids. The 2013 first-round Draft pick said at TwinsFest he's hopeful to start the year at Class A Advanced Fort Myers.

MLB.com names Byron Buxton as baseball’s top prospect for second straight year

DJ Short | NBC Sports | January 31, 2015

For the second straight year, MLB.com has ranked Twins center field prospect Byron Buxton as the No. 1 prospect in the game.

Buxton got top honors despite appearing in just 31 games in the minors last season due to a left wrist injury and a concussion. The 21-year-old then suffered a small fracture in his left middle finger during the Arizona Fall League and required surgery. However, the injuries aren’t considered a long-term concern and the tools remain. When he’s healthy and on the field, he can do it all.

Rounding out MLB.com’s top five, Buxton was followed by Kris Bryant of the Cubs, of the Astros, of the Indians, and Addison Russell of the Cubs.

You can see the full top 100 here, complete with write-ups and video.

This Week In Twins links: Wrapping up TwinsFest and glancing at 2015

Derek Wetmore | 1500 ESPN | January 31, 2015

Twins and catchers report to Fort Myers, Fla., in 23 days.

We're ramping up our Twins coverage in advance of spring training, and with TwinsFest this past weekend, there's plenty to talk about.

If you missed any important Twins news in the past week, let's get you caught up. 2

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--Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano likely won't break camp with the Twins in April. But they could be in the Majors by the end of the season, Twins general manager Terry Ryan said.

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--The Twins agreed to a one-year deal with left-handed reliever Brian Duensing.

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--We've begun our Twins' 2015 outlook series. Here are the first four players in our series:

Is Tommy Milone worthy of a rotation spot?

Will Kennys Vargas back up his debut?

Can Ricky Nolasco rebound from a bad 2014 season?

Will Casey Fien lock down the8th role?

Certainly more to come in this series between now and spring training.

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Former Twins player latched on with the Orioles on a minor league deal.

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--New Commissioner Rob Manfred made a few waves in an interview with ESPN's Karl Ravech, when Manfred brought up the possibility of eliminating defensive shifts in baseball. I'm willing to listen to any and all proposals that could make baseball better, and I'm glad Manfred is willing to talk change.

Banning shifts sounds to me, though, a little bit like banning card counters from casinos for being too good at blackjack.

5 thoughts.

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--Terry Ryan knows Mauer was an ordinary Joe in 2014, writes Judd Zulgad.

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-- impressed during TwinsFest. His intangibles will make him worth the investment, Judd Zulgad writes.

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--Keith Law of ESPN is rolling out his must-read prospect series this week.

The Twins have the second-best farm system in all of baseball, according to Law.

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--Byron Buxton is still among baseball's best prospects (No. 2 overall, according to Law), despite missing most of 2014 with a variety of injuries.

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--Is it possible never bounces back?

Phil Mackey wonders.

After season defined by injuries, Twins farm system appears strong

Derek Wetmore | 1500 ESPN | January 31, 2015

While the Twins have trotted out a lousy overall product the past four seasons, the minor league system has slowly become robust.

The minor league system is stocked with top prospects at multiple positions, who should eventually make their way to Target Field. Not all of them will pan out. Baseball's minor league ladder sees plenty of attrition every year.

But based on the number of high-quality prospects in the Twins organization, probability dictates a few of them will make an impact with the Twins.

We talked to Brad Steil, the Twins farm director, over the weekend at TwinsFest. The organization finished sixth in baseball in cumulative win percentage, combining the records of each of the minor league affiliates. That's relatively good news. But 2014 also marked a year in which the Twins' top minor league talent was wrecked by injury.

Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano, it seemed, were just the start of the Twins injury woes a season ago.

"It seemed at times like we were a little snakebitten," Steil said. "Not only Byron and Miguel, but even Nick Gordon broke his finger in the playoffs. We lost Kohl Stewart and in the playoffs, Mitch Garber in the playoffs in Cedar Rapids. So we had our fair share of injuries last year. Hopefully we'll have that regression to the mean this season and have a little better luck with our health."

In other words, maybe that bad injury luck will even out over time.

"To our guys' credit in the minor leagues, they didn't use that as an excuse," Steil said. "We did win our fair share of games last year."

Keith Law, a former baseball executive and current prospect evaluator for ESPN, published a three-part series this week. The news is likely encouraging for Twins fans, even if they're tired of waiting around for the future to just hurry up and get here.

On Wednesday, Law published his top-10 minor league systems, based on depth and top-end talent. The Twins were second only to the loaded . Thursday the Twins fans got more good news. Law published his top-100 prospects and the Twins had more representation than any other organization, with six prospects among the top 100.

Now, Law has published his top-10 prospects for each organization. Here's the Twins list (requires ESPN Insider account).

I won't publish the top-10 list here, because that would be giving away information that ESPN has decided to charge for. If you're into prospects in baseball, these three posts might be worth the annual subscription fee on their own.

The injuries may have artificially helped the Twins farm system grade better this season, because so few of the organization's top prospects graduated to the big leagues. From last season's list, only Josmil Pinto, Danny Santana and Kennys Vargas made it to the show.

But the Twins were encouraged by the winning ways in the minor leagues, especially that the affiliates did well without full seasons from Sano, Buxton, Gordon, Stewart, Lewis Thorpe and , all of whom appear on Law's version of the team's top-10 prospects.

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"I think it speaks to the depth our system right now and I give our scouting department a lot of credit for the drafts they've had the last few years, and the guys we've brought in from the international [free agency pool]," Steil said. "I think fans are going to be excited when these guys start to trickle up to the big leagues here in Minnesota and they get a look at some of these guys."

"I think we're going to see some pretty good rosters in the minor leagues this year. The other thing you're going to see from our pitching is we got a lot more velocity and strikeouts coming than maybe what we're used to up here," Steil said.

General manager Terry Ryan weighed in last week and suggested he didn't think we'd see Sano or Buxton in the Majors before September this season, considering how much time each prospect missed in 2014.

Steil suggested the Twins are in wait-and-see mode, especially with Sano, who missed the full 2014 after he had Tommy John surgery to replace ligaments in his right (throwing) arm.

"Most guys need a year at Double-A," Steil said. "Miguel might not be most guys."

"We'll just have to see how rusty he is, sitting out a whole year like that. I don't want to put any date or anything like that on it because it could change."

Twins 2015 outlook: Will Glen Perkins return to lights-out form

Derek Wetmore | 1500 ESPN | January 31, 2015

Glen Perkins is the first name one writes down in pen when trying to guess what the Twins bullpen will look like this season. Among a group of relievers that features some returners, some hoping to secure a spot and a handful of intriguing names, Perkins is probably the surest thing. The Twins more or less know what they have with Perkins, and that's a really good reliever. When he's healthy, that is.

Even great relievers are prone to have up seasons and down seasons, but since 2011 Perkins has been among the best. In that four-year stretch, 20 relievers have logged more innings, which speaks to Perkins' ability to stay on the field and to be trusted to log at least 60 innings* a season.

The Twins closer has struck out more than a batter per inning in that four-year span, an average of 10.04 per nine innings. He's also been good at limiting walks. Combine those two factors and Perkins has struck out more than 4 1/2 batters for every free pass issued since 2011 -- the sixth-best -to-walk ratio in the Majors over that stretch (minimum 200 innings).

So Perkins is good and he's on a team-friendly contract that will keep him in Minnesota through at least 2017.

The biggest question we'll have to see answered as the season unfolds is how well he'll bounce back from the injury that prematurely ended his 2014 season. He had nerve issues in his neck and a left forearm injury and it hurt his pitching. He was not pitching to his usual standard at the end of the year when the Twins decided to shut him down, rather than risk further injury pitching for a team that wasn't headed to the playoffs.

Perkins said during TwinsFest that he's fully recovered, according to reports, and he expects to be ready for spring training just like any other year.

It's too early, in my opinion, to start questioning if he'll hit a decline with age. Perkins will turn 32 next month, and all relievers wear down eventually. But I'd guess Perkins is years away from that decline.

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The won the A.L. pennant in 2014, and in the process showed how valuable a back end of the bullpen can be. The Royals were not even a great team but the made it to the World Series in part because if they had the lead after the six innings the game seemed effectively over.

Perkins didn't slam the door on opponents in 2014 the way the Twins had grown accustomed to. He saved 34 games in 41 chances (83 percent), which is good but not great. The season before he saved 36 of 40 (90 percent), which is great. Just for comparison, Mariano Rivera converted 89 5 percent of his chances in the final 10 seasons of his Hall of Fame career with the Yankees; made good on 90 percent of his save chances in his seven seasons with the Twins.

It's worth noting that the Twins came back to win three of those seven games in 2014 in which Perkins blew a save opportunity. Still, he didn't do his job on those days.

For the most part, Perkins has been an ace reliever since making the switch from a starter and moving to the back end of the Twins bullpen.

Some observers have used the comparison when suggesting a move to the bullpen could help revive Mike Pelfrey's career. Perkins is the perfect example of a who didn't work out as a starter, moved to the bullpen, bumped up his velocity and became a lights-out reliever.

It's still amazing to think how far he's come from an ineffective starter seemingly at odds with the organization, to the hometown hero earning a save in the All-Star game at Target Field. I'd count that save on a perfect weather night in Minneapolis as one of the brightest moments for the Twins in 2014.

Provided he's healthy to start the season, Perkins is one of the legitimate building blocks of a Twins team that could contend in the near future.

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*We could make the argument that Perkins, the Twins' best reliever, should have pitched more innings in that time. There's a bit of a catch-22 with the way some elite relievers are used these days. For example, Perkins has been Minnesota's best reliever the past two seasons, but because manager Ron Gardenhire often decided to hold onto Perkins primarily for save situations, three relievers have pitcher more innings than Perkins - Casey Fien, Jared Burton and Anthony Swarzak. (Swarzak makes some sense, because he was a spot starter and often was the "mop-up" guy, who simply pitched innings to save the rest of the bullpen when the game got out of hand. Fien and Burton, however, were late- inning relievers in front of Perkins.)

I'll be curious to see how Paul Molitor and Neil Allen approach Perkins' usage.

Minnesota Twins’ A.J. Achter Prepared For Bigger Role In 2015

Brian Crawford | Baseball Essential | January 31, 2015

With spring training less than a month away, players are starting to put their off-season routines into overdrive to be fully prepared to showcase the improvements they have made since last season. While every player hopes to impress their coaches and earn a promotion, not many are as determined to succeed then that of Minnesota Twins right-handed pitcher A.J. Achter.

Reporting to major league camp on February 22nd, Achter is ready to get back to work with the Twins catchers and coaching staff. Focused on building off the success he had as a September call-up last season, Achter feels he’s ready to get to Fort Myers and compete for a spot in the Twins bullpen come opening day.

“My main goal for this year is to come to spring training in the best shape of my life to try to compete for a job on the big league staff,” said Achter. “I have high expectations for myself, but I’m mainly focused on staying healthy and competing at the highest level possible.”

Feeling more prepared than ever to maintain a spot on the big club, the righty feels his chances are better due to the improvements he has made with his slider. Achter began the transition last season in AAA, but he admits that it required some attention this past off-season, as it was 6 still a work in progress at the end of the year.

“I’ve continued to work extremely hard with my slider. I expect the best out of myself, so I continue to make adjustments to all of my pitches, but my slider in particular is the pitch that needs the most improvement,” explained Achter, who also throws a fastball, cutter, and change up. “I made significant strides with the slider last year, but I need to be more consistent with the pitch moving forward.”

Appearing in 11 major league innings last September, Achter made an instant impression on Twins fans going 1-0 with a 3.27 ERA and five strikeouts in his brief stint in Minneapolis. Obviously, every outing in the big leagues has left a footprint in the back of Achter’s mind. But like many professional players his debut really stands out as a moment he will never forget.

Having the opportunity to throw a scoreless inning in relief against the Chicago White Sox at Target Field was a tremendous way to get acquainted with the home fans, but for Achter it was even sweeter sharing the moment with his parents and girlfriend who made the trip from Ohio, as soon as they heard the news of Achter’s call-up.

“Making my debut was an unbelievable experience. It was very emotional for myself personally, and for my parents and girlfriend who were in attendance that day,” stated Achter. “It was an awesome reward for not only myself, but for all the people who sacrificed so much to help me get to that point.”

What makes Achter’s story even more remarkable is the fact that he was selected in the 46th round of the 2010 MLB draft. Even though he was picked late, and most baseball fans probably viewed him as a career minor leaguer, Achter refused to let his draft positioning define the kind of professional that he had the potential to become.

Choosing to use his late round selection as motivation throughout his minor league career, Achter admits his drive to make it to the majors only got higher when the league decided to lower the number of rounds to just 40 in 2012.

“In the minor leagues I tried to use everything I could as motivation daily. Especially after they made the draft 40 rounds,” explained Achter. “I thought everyday how awesome it would be to make it to the big leagues after being drafted in a round that doesn’t exist anymore. I did whatever I could to not become complacent and try to reach a dream I’ve had since I was a young boy.”

Spending part of five seasons in the minor leagues, Achter has performed well at every level he has pitched at between rookie-ball to AAA. Pitching in 320 innings throughout his career, the 26-year old pitcher has a career record of 18-16 to go with a 2.93 ERA and 338 strikeouts. But his success didn’t end there, as his most impressive stats are his advanced ones. Maintaining a 1.13 WHIP and a 9.51 K/9 ratio throughout his entire minor league career speaks volumes for the kind of pitcher Achter has the potential to be for the Twins moving forward.

While he has enjoyed every stop in his minor league journey, the Ohio native feels his time in AAA prepared him the best for the challenges of playing . Spending the majority of his 2014 campaign in the International League really gave Achter some great insight of

7 what to expect during his late season promotion.

“The experience I gained in Rochester was critical for me when facing advanced hitters,” said Achter. “The three hitters I faced in my debut, I had faced the past two years in AAA. The International League is extremely competitive and it’s a challenge every day.”

Achter credits much of his success in on the coaching he received while playing at Michigan State University. Spending three of the most memorable years of his life in East Lansing really helped Achter figure out what he needed to improve on to be successful at the next level.

“I don’t believe that I could’ve picked a better place to attend college than Michigan State,” explained Achter. “I grew so much as a person on-and-off the field there. I can’t thank head coach Jake Boss and pitching coach Mark Van Ameyde enough for turning me into the pitcher I am today. I can say with 100% certainty that I wouldn’t be where I am without the people and the experiences I had at MSU. Making the decision to leave school a year early was the hardest one I’ve had to make thus far.”

Be sure to follow A.J. Achter as he continues his amazing journey in professional baseball in 2015.

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