Minnesota Twins Morning News: Spring Training Day Three
Puckett’s brings you the freshest catch of Minnesota Twins news from the Pond.
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– Nick Burdi has been experimenting with a new pitch according to Mike Berardino. Burdi already possesses a blazing fastball and a slider but has been working on a splitter. “Burdi said, his splitter should come in at 82-83 mph. That’s nearly 20 mph slower than his fastball.”
– Also from Berardino, comes the report that Molitor is reticent to name an opening day starter. Last year, Molitor was clear from the get go that Phil Hughes would be the man but this year, there is more ambiguity. Other likely options are Ervin Santana and Kyle Gibson.
– From the same article, Berardino also mentions that Danny Santana has been told to focus on playing outfield this spring. Santana had bounced around from the middle infield to the outfield the last two seasons. Oswaldo Arcia will be Santana’s stiffest competition for an outfield bench spot. Other less likely options include: Darin Mastroianni, Joe Benson, Ryan Sweeney and Carlos Quentin
– Might as well throw LaTroy into the bullpen mix
LaTroy looks like he wants to get out there. " This does not bother me. It's when they throw in the bullpen." pic.twitter.com/Q5etjuHENC
— LaVelle E. Neal III (@LaVelleNeal) February 23, 2016
– Byung Ho’s glove: Park Bang
Byung Ho Park has a cool logo of his swing on his glove. Would be cooler if it had him bat flipping though ... pic.twitter.com/IjctUesT3P
— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) February 23, 2016
– Here at Puckett’s Pond, we recently counted down our list of the Top 20 Minnesota Twins Prospects. Here’s the list (click on a player’s name to go to their respective article): Honorable Mentions, #20: Travis Blankenhorn, #19: Wander Javier, #18: Stuart Turner, #17: Jermaine Palacios, #16: Mason Melotakis, #15: Jake Reed, #14: Taylor Rogers, #13: Lewis Thorpe, #12: J.T. Chargois, #11: Adam Brett Walker, #10: Alex Meyer, #9: Nick Burdi, #8: Kohl Stewart, #7: Stephen Gonsalves, #6: Nick Gordon, #5: Jorge Polanco, #4: Tyler Jay, #3: Max Kepler, #2: Jose Berrios, and #1: Byron Buxton.
– Joe Mauer elaborated on his vision issues last season. “I’m not going to lie…there were times it was difficult. But I feel great now, and I think that message got lost. I definitely don’t want that message to get lost because I’ve come a long way and worked too hard to focus on that.” Former teammate and good friend of Mauer’s, Justin Morneau also struggled with vision issues after the concussion he sustained.
Next: Top 20 Prospects: #1 Byron Buxton
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