Minnesota Twins Daily Morning Dip: Intriguing Indy ball arm
Minnesota Twins Daily Dip, January 29th, 2018
Welcome to the January 29th edition of the Daily Dip, your daily piece of news and notes here on Puckett’s Pond, offseason edition. You’ll find the most recent news of the Minnesota Twins organization, stories from around the game, and links to any information you may want to know about the Minnesota Twins or baseball as we work our way through the hot stove season!
Minnesota Twins Organizational Scores
Australian Baseball League Update
Brisbane’s possible makeup game with Canberra was cancelled on Sunday as playoff seeding would not be affected by the outcome of the game. The playoffs begin on Friday, with Sydney eliminated, but Brisbane, pursuing their third straight ABL title, will host Melbourne.
Player Stats:
Todd Van Steensel, Sydney – 6.2 IP, 12.15 ERA, 2.70 WHIP, 4/9 BB/K
Aaron Whitefield, Brisbane – .292/.364/.425, 106 AB, 2 HR, 10 SB, 13/29 BB/K
Dominican Winter League Update
The DWL championship series was rained out again on Sunday.
Player Stats:
Tyler Kinley – Tigres del Licey – 19 IP, 0.47 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, 11/32 BB/K
Adalberto Mejia – Gigantes del Cibao – 21 IP, 3.43 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 8/15 BB/K
Kennys Vargas, Aguilas Cibaenas – .222/.311/.407, 54 AB, 2 HR, 7/20 BB/K
T.J. White – Gigantes del Cibao – .000/.000/.000, 14 AB, 0/5
Minnesota Twins news and notes
Twins jump to 12th in BA’s org ranks
The Minnesota Twins farm system has drastically improved with the new front office. Since taking over in October 2016, they inherited a farm system destined to rank in the bottom 5, made some shrewd moves immediately to acquire talent, and have added plenty of talent to that to move up 10 spots from #22 in last year’s winter rankings to #12 this year. It is certainly feasible that by the end of the season, the Twins will have a top 10 farm system in the major leagues.
More from Puckett's Pond
- Minnesota Twins: After signing with the Mets, Correa spurns Twins again
- Minnesota Twins: You Spin Me Right Round, Right Round
- Minnesota Twins: What happens next at Shortstop?
- Minnesota Twins: Grading the Twins’ Joey Gallo signing
- Minnesota Twins: 4 Possible Trade Chips not named Kepler or Arraez
Notes from around baseball
- New Yankees honored
- New HOFer Vlad honored in Dominican
- Brewers tell fans they’re “all in”
- Top 25 list topped by 1998 Yankees
- Darvish now expected to sign this week
- 10 players who will determine playoffs
- Brewers players fans of Thin Mints (among others)
- Correa’s hurricane-relief efforts honored
- Diamondbacks add Feliz on minor league pact
- Scherzer and Kluber played catch in Central Park
- Gibson signed with Dodgers 30 years ago today
- Judge to be Topps card #1
- Judge lives up weekend in NYC
Next: Would Dozier extension be wise?
One Last Thing
In perusing the statistics of a recent Minnesota Twins minor league signing, there’s a very intriguing arm that could pan out well for the Twins.
Tanner Kiest was signed by the Twins in December and officially announced in January. He’s a right-handed pitcher who went to JuCo in California before being a 28th round selection with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2014.
After two seasons with the Phillies GCL club, where he walked 33 in 25 innings, Kiest was suspended 50 games for a drug of abuse, his second positive test, after he was released by the Phillies. He will have to serve that suspension with the Twins, but after striking out 87 batters in 48 innings (albeit with almost a walk per inning as well) in independent ball in 2017, Kiest will get a chance in the Twins minor league system in 2018.
With his 99 MPH fastball, Kiest will likely get more shots if it doesn’t work out in Minnesota, but here’s hoping he gets on track both on and off the mound.