The Minnesota Twins had plenty of Minor League All-Stars to show off their talents.
The Minnesota Twins single-a teams, the Fort Myers Miracle and Cedar Rapids Kernels, hosted its respective all-star game. The Chattanooga Lookouts didn’t host an all-star game but did have five player representatives. The Miracle had a league high eight players while the Kernels had just three.
All in all, the Twins had 16 minor league players participate in an all-star game.
Southern League All-Star Game
The Lookouts sent position players Daniel Palka, Travis Harrison, Mitch Garver as well as pitchers DJ Baxendale, and Trevor Hildenberger.
Palka and Baxendale lead the group of five as premier first-half performers. Palka led the Southern League with 16 home runs and was top five in RBI while Baxendale was second in the league in innings pitched.
The Lookouts coaching staff, which included former Twins first baseman and Lookouts manager Doug Mientkiewicz was selected to manage the North Division All-Stars.
@ChattLookouts AA All Star Game pic.twitter.com/l99cbfVV4z
— Ivan Arteaga (@ivanarteaga) June 21, 2016
The North Division All-Stars were shutout through most of the game. The team didn’t score until the top of the ninth inning. By that point, it was too late for a comeback.
The South Division All-Stars were propelled to victory by a grand slam hit by Phil Ervin, part of a five-run fifth inning. It was the lone home run of the game and gave the South Division the 5-1 win.
Palka played the entire game as the DH. Batting fourth in the lineup he didn’t do much at the plate. He was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
Garver started the game behind the plate batting sixth. Like Palka, he didn’t have a great day at the plate. He was 0-for-2 with two strikeouts.
Harrison came in as a replacement at left field in the fifth inning. He was able to get two at-bats in the eighth spot. He was 1-for-2 with the one hit an infield single.
Baxendale and Hildenberger combined to pitch one inning. Neither pitcher allowed any base runners and didn’t strikeout any batters.
The Twins single-A all-stars faired better than the double-A all-stars did.
Next: Single-A Teams Host All-Star Games