Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Sunday, June 18, 2017
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Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Sunday, June 18, 2017 Twins swept in doubleheader, fall from division lead. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 1 Top overall pick Royce Lewis signs $6.7 million contract with Twins. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 2 Scoggins: Twins' Gimenez takes 'much-traveled' status in stride. Star Tribune (Scoggins) p. 3 Sunday interview with the Twins' Joe Mauer. Star Tribune (Staff) p. 4 Many MLB draft picks must decide between money or college. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 5 Boras' career as agent started in contract battle with Twins in 1983. Star Tribune (Reusse) p. 6 Pressly optioned, Wimmers and Wilk added as Twins play doubleheader. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 7 Doubleheader sweep knocks Twins out of first place. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 8 Top pick Royce Lewis already feels like a ‘perfect fit’ with the Twins. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 9 Twins fall into first-place tie after 9-3 loss to Cleveland Indians. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 10 Why don’t relievers work both games of doubleheaders anymore? Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 11 Gibson riding win streak, aims to slow Indians. MLB (Jackson) p. 12 Minn. rolls Royce out, 'couldn't be happier'. MLB (Jackson) p. 13 Twins can't keep Tribe from storming ahead. MLB (Bastian and Jackson) p. 13 Buxton reflects on dad's impact on and off field. MLB (Jackson) p. 15 Wilk, Twins unable to contain Tribe in Game 1. MLB (Bastian and Jackson) p. 16 Wilk up, but DFA'd after loss; Pressly optioned. MLB (Jackson) p. 17 Report: Royce Lewis’ signing bonus with Twins is a new record for a high schooler. ESPN 1500 (Wetmore) p. 17 Ryan Pressly, Adam Wilk sent out as Twins shuffle through pitchers, add Alan Busenitz. ESPN 1500 (Wetmore) p. 18 Mining the Minors: Is Zack Granite ready for a call-up to the Twins? ESPN 1500 (Depue) p. 18 Twins sign No. 1 pick Royce Lewis. FOX Sports (FSN) p. 19 Twins drop to 2nd with rain-soaked loss to Indians. Associated Press p. 20 2017 MLB Draft: Twins sign No. 1 pick Royce Lewis to reportedly under-slot deal. CBS Sports (Axisa) p. 21 Twins sign No. 1 draft pick Royce Lewis. NBC Sports (Varela) p. 21 Twins Designate Adam Wilk For Assignment. MLB Trade Rumors (Wilmoth and Byrne) p. 22 Twins Sign Compensation Pick Brent Rooker. MLB Trade Rumors (Wilmoth) p. 22 Twins Youth Baseball Clinic Comes To Waseca. KEYC (Clark) p. 22 Twins swept in doubleheader, fall from division lead Phil Miller | Star Tribune | June 18, 2017 The Twins’ strategy-by-necessity of starting three consecutive rookie pitchers against the defending American League champions is turning out about as well as could have been reasonably expected. Meaning, not well at all. Adam Wilk was battered by Cleveland in the first game, Adalberto Mejia was spring-showered out of his chance in the second, and the Twins fell out of first place in the AL Central for the first time since May 9 with a pair of losses to the Indians, 9-3 and 6-2 at soggy Target Field. “We kind of anticipated having some fun this series, and competing, and it hasn’t really worked out,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said. “Our pitching hasn’t really given us much of a chance.” It’s sort of reached a breaking point, actually. Injuries and a relentless schedule have left the Twins to dredge their farm system for starting pitching, just as their chief competition for the division lead has arrived, and the results have been ugly: Three outcomes that felt preordained from the first pitch. “You have a lot of momentum coming in here, a lot of excitement for the big weekend, and it didn’t bode so well for us today, on all accounts: pitching, defense, swinging the bats,” said second baseman Brian Dozier, who contributed a home run in the nightcap, about the only offense the Twins could generate in that game. “Really, they beat us in every facet, both games.” Wilk, making his fifth major league start, fared even worse than Nik Turley one night earlier, surrendering six runs, eight hits and three walks while recording only 10 outs in Game 1. The lefthander, called up from Class AAA Rochester before the game and designated for assignment immediately after it, was a best-of-bad-options choice for the Twins, considering he had given up six runs in 12 innings for the Red Wings. “We don’t have a lot of experienced options, at least big-time experience, but he’s got a little bit,” Molitor said. “Cleveland’s hot right now. A lot of their guys are swinging well from the righthand side, I get that. But of all the people we could consider, his name kept coming up.” The Indians wasted no time revealing the flaw in that logic. After two quick outs in the first inning, Jose Ramirez smashed a long home run. Wilk immediately began pitching more tentatively, walking two of the next three hitters, then giving up a two-run single to Bradley Zimmer. “We’ve done this more common as of late — [giving up] two-out rallies and still putting up crooked numbers,” Molitor said. “They can really hurt you.” They all but ended this game early. Wilk threw 37 pitches in the first inning, passed 60 in the second and wound up throwing 92 in his 3⅓-inning stint. His day ended when he gave up a single and two doubles in the space of four batters to open the fourth inning, the last a Ramirez double that drove in two more runs. The Twins hoped to fare better in Game 2 behind Mejia, whose eight previous career starts had alternated between promising and petrifying. He escaped a bases-loaded situation in the first inning, surrendered solo homers to Austin Jackson and Lonnie Chisenhall in the fourth, but was keeping it close when rain interrupted with Cleveland leading 2-1 in the fifth. When the game resumed 75 minutes later, Mejia was on the bench, and the Twins’ hopes were sunk by a couple more homers: Chisenhall’s second of the game was a three-run blast off Tyler Duffey, and Francisco Lindor added a solo shot off newly recalled Alan Busenitz. “It seemed like when we made mistakes today, they hit them over the fence,” Molitor said. “And when they made mistakes, we hit them to the [warning] track.” Top overall pick Royce Lewis signs $6.7 million contract with Twins Phil Miller | Star Tribune | June 18, 2017 To hear agent Scott Boras tell it, he was certain the Twins would draft Royce Lewis with the first pick in baseball’s amateur draft when he saw General Manager Thad Levine grow impressed by how the 18-year-old shortstop could … do absolutely nothing. “I saw Royce take a 3-2 slider, a very difficult pitch for a high school player to take,” Boras recounted, but the JSerra Catholic High School star in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., checked his swing, accepted the walk, then stole second and third bases and scored on a pop-up to deep short. “I kind of knew from Thad’s gleam in his eye — he had seen everything that we had seen for years.” That gleam grew into the decision to choose Lewis on Monday, and Saturday, it paid off with a contract worth $6.725 million, a source with knowledge of the contract confirmed. Lewis signed at a news conference between games of the Twins’ doubleheader, and he will soon report to the Twins’ Gulf Coast League rookie team in Fort Myers, Fla. “I believed in my ability. I always knew I can reach the top, I never had any doubts,” Lewis said. “It’s been amazing, a child’s dream. I’m having such a great time. It’s so much fun. I just met [manager] Paul Molitor — whoa, over 3,000 hits, .306 career batting average. I’d like to do that someday.” Boras, who has represented Alex Rodriguez, Bryce Harper and Greg Maddux, among many others, assured them Lewis has that sort of makeup. “Many years ago, [Royce’s father William] Lewis came to me at a restaurant with another major league player and said: ‘You know, I think my son is pretty good. Do you know of anybody that can maybe evaluate him and have him play travel ball?’ ” Boras recounted. “I gave his name to a coach and Royce went and worked out. The coach called me and said: ‘This is the best youth player I’ve ever seen.’ So from that day forward, nothing surprised me about Royce and what his capacity is.” 2 By agreeing to accept $1 million less than the “slot” bonus assigned to the No. 1 pick, Lewis helps the Twins sign other players to above-slot amounts, which may convince some to forgo college and turn pro. Pressly sent down Since returning from Class AAA Rochester last week, Ryan Pressly had pitched twice, both times effectively. He struck out three with no walks in four innings, giving up one run and two hits. “We saw fairly good performances,” Molitor said. “Maybe more confidence, better mound presence. He threw it over.” That’s why Molitor’s message for the reliever Saturday morning — pack your bags, you’re headed back to Rochester — must have come as a shock. But the Twins, furiously trying to staff their bullpen with enough arms, decided they had little choice. Pressly was demoted in order to make room for Game 1 starter Adam Wilk, who was in turn designated for assignment after taking the loss so the Twins could add another reliever, Alan Busenitz, for Game 2.