AA and AAA: Where is the Offense??



The look of a displaced man who will
never again see Target Field



For purposes of this post, I need to start of with 2 limitations: First, I'm thinking about players in the upper levels of the minor leagues that have yet to "make it" with the Twins in any real sense of that phrase. I'll exclude from this discussion Brian Dozier, Chris Parmelee and Darin Mastroianni, because they are all playing for the Twins right now, and Sean Burroughs, because he is too old to be a legitimate prospect. Second, for simplicity, I'm just going to look at batting average. I have linked to each player's stats, so you can explore in greater depth their production this season. Although I recognize that things like on-base percentage and OPS are also great measurements -- perhaps even better indicators of batting prowess -- I'm just focusing today on these position players' ability to hit for average. With those caveats . . . where is the offense in the upper levels of the Twins minor league system?

Let's start in Rochester. Right now, the Red Wings' highest batting average comes from Matt Carson, who is going to turn 31 in less than a month and is batting .296. It's a pretty steep drop after that. Ray Chang (turning 29 in August) and Pedro Florimon (25 years old) are batting .248. Wilkin Ramirez, 26 and with major league experience, is hitting .242. And possibly the worst stats come from two players Twins fans wish they could be counting on in 2012: Danny Valencia is hitting .238, and Tsuyoshi Nishioka is batting .223. Finally, remember Brian Dinkelman? Hitting .186. Based on the player age and level of experience, it might be a safe bet to call Pedro Florimon our best hitting "prospect" at AAA right now.

The circumstances in New Britain are better, but not by leaps and bounds. James Beresford, 23 years old and teetering around .300 last week, is hitting a respectable and solid .286. Nathan Hanson, 25, is hitting .279. Both players have been very hot the past couple weeks, raising their averages by 20 points or so. Catcher Chris Herrmann, 24, has been streaky this year, and is currently at an even .260. Deibinson Romero, 25, has shown power, and is batting .250. Aaron Hicks, only 22, is hitting .244 and is currently sidelined with an ankle injury. Finally, Evan Bigley, 25, is hitting .234. In terms of legitimate prospects and batting production, I might order the top few AA players Herrmann, Hicks, Beresford and Romero -- based on what they have done this season.

I have omitted some players, but none that have impressive offensive stats or are young enough to be considered legitimate major league prospects. The bottom line is that, midway through the 2012 season, there isn't a AA or AAA player batting .300 (incidentally, the highest OPS at AA is Romero's .769; at AAA it is Carson's .825). This post isn't intended to be an indictment on the Twins' farm system as much as it is a quick evaluation of where our best hitters are. And the answer to that question appears to be the lower levels of the minors. Just today, Oswaldo Arcia was promoted to New Britain. Hopefully he can inject some life into the recently sputtering Rock Cats offense. I'm hoping his .309/.376/.517 line at Ft. Myers can carry over into central Connecticut.

Monday Morning Rock Cats Update

Wilkin Ramirez is not long for AA if he keeps up
his 1.228 OPS

Like their parent club, the Rock Cats split a 4-game series over the weekend against the Reading Phillies. I attended Thursday night's game, a 10-3 loss. You can find my game recap here. Apparently, I picked the one bad game to go to. The rest of the series was pretty evenly matched, and featured some excellent pitching performances.

New Britain won 4-1 on Friday. In that game, hits were at a premium, with the teams combining for only 5 all night. David Bromberg, starting, and Lester Oliveros, out of the bullpen, were great for the Rock Cats. Chris Herrmann had a double, and Wilkin Ramirez hit his 3rd home run of the season for New Britain.

The Rock Cats also won Saturday, 8-4. New Rock Cat starter BJ Hermsen was excellent, going 7 innings and giving up only 2 runs, striking out 3 and walking 2. He earned his first AA win. Wilkin Ramirez was a 1-man wrecking crew, hitting 2 triples and another home run. Aaron Hicks also contributed 2 doubles. He had 3 RBIs and 2 stolen bases (9 on the season). Every starter except for Joe Benson and Estarlin De Los Santos had at least one hit.

Sunday, New Britain wasn't as lucky. They lost 6-4, and were only 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Andrew Albers delivered a quality start, tossing 6 innings and giving up 3 runs, but took the loss. New Rock Cat Caleb Thielbar had a rough appearance, giving up 3 runs on 5 hits in just 1 and 1/3 inning. You can't help but think that this is one game New Britain would like to have back: they had a chance to increase their division lead, but instead are now back in second place; they scored 4 runs, but only managed 4 hits (3 singles and a Chris Herrmann home run). As it stands, they are still doing well, sitting at 22-14, just 1/2 game back from Reading. They are off today, and then go back to work tomorrow with a double-header comprised of 2 7-inning games.

Here are some current slash lines of players you might be keeping an eye on:

Aaron Hicks: .258/.347/.414, 4 HR, 6 2B, 21 RBIs.

Chris Herrmann: .246/.288/.415, 4 HR, 10 2B, 13 RBIs.

Deibinson Romero: .264/.350/.430, 3 HR, 9 2B, 21 RBIs.

Wilkin Ramirez (in 49 at-bats): .388/.412/.816, 4 HR, 3 3B, 3 2B, 7 RBIs.

Joe Benson: (in 21 at-bats): .095/.174/.095, 2 RBIs.

Twins No-Hit by Weaver; Rock Cats Keep Winning

It was a late night, and an awful night, to be a Twins fan. I'm curious at the end of the season -- with the benefit of hindsight -- if Jered Weaver's no-hitter against the Twins will be viewed as just another bad memory from a bad season, or whether it's going to be remembered the symbolic indictment on the state of affairs of the Twins' pitching, hitting, front office and field management.

Instead of dwelling on that, I'll give you a Rock Cats update. They won last night, as they have done often this season, and are now 17-9. I wrote Wednesday's Minor League Daily report for TwinsDaily (check it out here), and here's what I mentioned about New Britain's performance:

"NEW BRITAIN 5, HARRISBURG 4

New Britain has been involved in many close contests lately. Tonight, they eeked out a victory against the Harrisburg Senators. Chris Colabello, an 8-year independent league baseball player until 2012 (primarily with the Worcester, MA Tornadoes), had a great night offensively. He went 2-for-5 for New Britain, with his 5th home run of the year, a 3 run shot in the third inning with two outs. Wilkin Ramirez and Pedro Florimon each had two hits, including a double, Estarlin De Los Santos picked up 2 singles, Evan Bigley had a run-scoring single and a walk, and Nathan Hanson had a sacrifice fly. Definitely a team effort on offense. De Los Santos stole his 5th base of the season. Aaron Hicks was 0-for-3 with a walk, was caught stealing, and is batting .268 on the year.

Andrew Albers got the start for New Britain tonight. The bad: he gave up 3 home runs and 4 runs on 7 hits. The good: he lasted 6 innings, issued 0 walks, and struck out 5. The bullpen was better, though. Bobby Lanigan pitched 2 and 1/3 innings, gave up 0 runs, allowing 3 hits and striking out 1. Luis Perdomo picked up the win tonight (2-2), tossing 1 and 2/3 innings, allowing 1 hit and striking out 1."

If you're ready to officially jump off the Twins' bandwagon this season, or are just sick of them, I can't blame you. I'll always be a fan -- win or lose -- but I'm certainly paying less attention to the Twins than I was a few weeks ago. I wholeheartedly recommend throwing your support behind the Rock Cats. Thus far, they have the best record of any of the Twins affiliates, and have already had 2 players (Lucas French and Deolis Guerra) bumped up to AAA. Get to know the names and faces now -- you'll probably be seeing several of these guys in Minnesota -- both out of necessity and on their own merit -- in the next year or so.