The Twins just can’t seem to get over the hump. Making the playoffs isn’t the problem, but winning a playoff series is. Still, the Twins had some help this year from the minor league system and even more help is on the way. In fact the Tigers thought so much of their pitching development that they hired the top Twins minor league pitching guy as their pitching coach.
There were some high expectations for Ben Revere and he lived up to the hype. He won Midwest League MVP honors, hit .379 and finished with a very impressive .433 OBP. Michael McCardell was the top pitcher. He had just a 2.86 ERA and he struck out 139 in 135 1/3 innings. Oh yeah, he only 25 guys too. These guys are a couple of years away, but man is help on the way.
One of the biggest disappointments was Phillip Humber. He was one of the bigger names in the Johan Santana deal but he had just a 4.56 ERA at Triple A and it was above 5.00 before he had a couple of decent starts to close out the season.
In the meantime, Aaron Hicks, the Twins first round draft pick this year, did a fine job in the Gulf Coast League. He belted .318, homered four times and stole 12 bases in 45 games. It’ll be nice to see what he can do when he makes his full season debut.
Even with things getting cold up here, I like to get inside and get some work in the with my kid. He plays catcher in middle school right now and I found that the best place to pick up baseball equipment is Baseball Rampage. Top notch, quality service the name of the game over there and they have an outstanding selection of catchers equipment.
