Young Twins Tracker: April 21 edition

By foxsports
Published

Top prospects Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano are contributing at the major-league level after years of anticipation. Others such as Jose Berrios and Max Kepler are knocking on the door while others are working their way through the minors.

Every Thursday for the rest of the season, FOX Sports North will take a closer look at some specific young players -- as well as noting others who might be stepping up -- measuring, highlighting and evaluating their progress. Please note the glossary of advanced stats at the bottom of the story.

This is the initial edition of the Young Twins Tracker.

Batters

Byron Buxton, OF, Twins

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB K AVG OBP SLG OPS OPS+ BAbip WAR
14 33 3 5 2 1 0 2 2 0 15 .152 .176 .273 .449 27 .278 0

Recap: Buxton has struggled from the plate in his second major-league stint, hitting well below his career .301 minor-league average. The 22-year-old has shown great speed but will need more time to develop into a major-league-caliber hitter.

Nick Gordon, SS, High Single-A Fort Myers

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB K AVG OBP SLG OPS
13 55 8 18 5 1 1 7 3 1 9 .327 .351 .509 .860

Recap: Gordon, the Twins first-round pick in 2014, has started his season strong. The 20-year-old shortstop is at least a couple years away from the major leagues, but this is a good sign.

Max Kepler, OF

League G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB K AVG OBP SLG OPS OPS+ BAbip WAR
MLB 6 7 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 2 .143 .333 .286 .619 81 .200 0.1
Triple-A Rochester 2 6 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 .167 .143 .167 .310 N/A N/A N/A

Recap: Kepler began the year in Rochester but was called up April 10 after Danny Santana went on the disabled list. The 23-year-old has played just one full game for the Twins, going 0 for 4 with two strikeouts on April 13. He had a double in a pinch-hit at-bat Wednesday against the Brewers.

Jorge Polanco, SS

League G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB K AVG OBP SLG OPS OPS+ BAbip WAR
MLB 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 -100 .000 0
Triple-A Rochester 10 35 4 10 0 3 1 2 0 2 2 .286 .316 .543 .859 N/A N/A N/A

Recap: Polanco began the season in Rochester and hit safely in eight of his first 10 games. The Twins called him up Tuesday, and he recorded his only at-bat of the season in Wednesday's 10-5 loss.

Eddie Rosario, OF, Twins

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB K AVG OBP SLG OPS OPS+ BAbip WAR
14 45 5 8 2 0 2 4 1 3 13 .178 .229 .356 .585 65 .200 -0.3

Recap: Rosario struggled through the first nine games of the year but has performed a little better as of late. He has hit home runs in consecutive games, both of which gave the Twins a tie with the Brewers.

Miguel Sano, OF, Twins

G AB R Hits 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB K AVG OBP SLG OPS OPS+ BAbip WAR
15 51 5 11 2 0 1 3 0 9 20 .216 .333 .314 .647 88 .333 -0.4

Recap: Sano also has struggled to begin the season but is 4 for 12 in the Milwaukee series. The power is down and the strikeouts are slightly up, but once he gets going, look out.

Adam Walker, OF, High Single-A Fort Myers

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB K AVG OBP SLG OPS
6 22 2 4 1 0 1 1 0 1 8 .182 .217 .364 .581

Recap: Walker is hitless in his past three games after recording three hits on April 10. The 24-year-old is just a .253 career hitter in the minor leagues, so slow starts are expected for him.

Pitchers

Jose Berrios, Triple-A Rochester

W L ERA G GS SV IP OBA H/9 BB/9 K/9 WHIP
1 0 1.80 2 2 0 10 .227 5.4 6.3 11.7 1.30

Recap: Berrios went five innings in both his starts while allowing one earned run in each. He struck out nine batters in his first start but hit two batters and walked four. He walked three more in his second start.

Stephen Gonsalves, High Single-A Rochester

W L ERA G GS SV IP OBA H/9 BB/9 K/9 WHIP
1 1 1.89 3 3 0 19 .201 4.7 1.9 8.5 0.737

Recap: The 21-year-old Gonsalves has allowed just one earned run in his past two starts, which included a seven-inning, eight-strikeout performance on Tuesday. He's allowed just 10 hits on the season and so far has dramatically impoved his WHIP from last year

Tyler Jay, High Single-A Rochester

W L ERA G GS SV IP OBA H/9 BB/9 K/9 WHIP
1 0 2.70 2 2 0 10 .218 5.4 3.6 9.9 1.00

Recap: Jay went five innings in both his starts, walking four while allowed three earned runs. Both runs in his latest start came on solo home runs. The 22-year-old first-round pick in 2015 is converting to a starting role after pitching out of the bullpen in college.

Alex Meyer, Triple-A Rochester

W L ERA G GS SV IP OBA H/9 BB/9 K/9 WHIP
1 1 1.04 3 2 1 17.1 .237 5.7 2.1 9.9 0.865

Recap: The 26-year-old Meyer allowed two runs in seven innings in his start Wednesday, walking two while striking out seven. He went 6 1/3 innings on April 15, allowing just three hits, no earned runs, no walks and striking out seven.

Kohl Stewart, High Single-A Fort Myers

W L ERA G GS SV IP OBA H/9 BB/9 K/9 WHIP
1 0 2.60 3 3 0 17.1 0.177 5.7 1.6 10.9 0.808

Recap: Stewart struck out eight in his start Wednesday but allowed six hits and three runs in 5 1/3 innings. He allowed no runs and just one hit in his April 14 start while striking out six.

A glossary of some of the advanced statistics used:

OPS: On base percentage + slugging percentage

OPS+: OPS compared to league average of 100, adjusted to the player's ballpark

sOPS+: OPS for the split (in our case the last 7 days) compared to the league's split OPS (100 being average).

BAbip: Batting average on balls in play.

WHIP: Walks plus hits divided by innings pitched.

ERA+: ERA compared to league average of 100, adjusted to the player's ballpark

FIP: Fielding Independent Pitching. Measures a pitcher's effectiveness at presenting home runs, walks and hit by pitches while causing strikeouts. The MLB average FIP is the same as the MLB average ERA.

WAR: Wins Above Replacement value. Represents the number of wins the player added to the team above what a replacement player would add (we are using WAR from baseball-reference.com).

Statistics courtesy baseball-reference.com and milb.com

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