Minnesota Twins place two on the Florida State League final All-Star team
Minor leagues have begun to wrap up, and many are announcing their end-of-season awards. The Minnesota Twins received notice on Monday.
The Minnesota Twins have enjoyed a very positive season in the minor leagues with all affiliates currently in position to qualify for the postseason with roughly 10 days remaining on the regular season for stateside leagues and the Dominican Summer League regular season completed.
The Florida State League announced their end of season All Stars on Monday, and the Minnesota Twins had two representatives from their Fort Myers Miracle team mentioned on the roster:
Max Murphy
Murphy was originally drafted by the Twins out of Bradley University in the 9th round of the 2014 draft. He opened his pro career in Elizabethton in the advanced rookie Appalachian League, but he performed well enough there to earn a promotion up to Cedar Rapids. Combined on his first season, he hit .309/.403/.556 with 14 doubles, 14 home runs, and stole 5 bases in just 67 games.
The team was hoping for big things from Murphy in his second pro season after that big first year, but Murphy could not stay healthy in 2015 with Cedar Rapids, playing 93 games on the season and only going on the disabled list once for roughly a month, but playing banged up most of the year, hitting .225/.302/.349 with 15 doubles, 8 triples, 4 home runs, and 8 stolen bases.
The injury bug bit again in 2016 as Murphy was held to just 70 games, hitting .236/.289/.358 between Cedar Rapids and Fort Myers with 11 doubles, 2 triples, 5 home runs, and 5 stolen bases.
This season, Murphy was finally healthy again, and it showed. He opened the year with Fort Myers, and his stellar play until his promotion to AA Chattanooga in July was enough to earn him the spot on the final All-Star roster. His numbers with Fort Myers this year were a .307/.390/.430 slash line with 16 doubles, 3 triples, 5 home runs, and 9 stolen bases. Overall, he’s put up a line on the year of .294/.367/.413 with 27 doubles, 6 triples, 6 home runs, and 9 steals.
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Doug Mientkiewicz
Yes, the same Doug Mientkiewicz that starred on the field years ago was selected as an All-Star in the Florida State League this season, however this time not as a player, but as a coach.
This is actually Douggie Baseball’s second go-round as the manager of the Miracle, as he was the manager in 2013-2014 before moving up to double-A Chattanooga for two seasons. He chose to return to Fort Myers to be closer to family in Florida.
Mientkiewicz was a finalist for the Twins managerial job in 2014, and as it’s certainly feasible that the Twins could open up the position again this offseason, he could have a chance to manage at the big league level soon!
Next: Patience pays off with Buxton
More of the Minnesota Twins affiliate leagues should be announcing their end-of-season awards soon, and as the Twins have some very good teams this year, you can bet there will be more players receiving notice!