Devon Young

Ok, so I’m finally finding time to make some updates. So I’m going to throw out some random things I’m noticing.

I’ve complained so much about Phil Humber, that I actually feel obligated to point out that he’s suddenly pitching very good. Really, he is. Check this out:

…now if that ain’t improvement, I don’t know what is. he’s nearly cut his ERA in half. I remember watching him on TV, when he pitched the July 10th game in Syracuse and was pretty surprised he had a good outing. Not just that his numbers were good, but that he actually kept the Syracuse batters off balance and really pitched well. At the time, I figured “even bad pitchers have their good days”. That’s all I thought it was. The Twins might call him up in September just because he’s doing well and he was part of the Santana trade. It’d be a nice way of saying to the fans “see, something we got for Johan is working out”…good pr.

Danny Valencia went into a slump just after I last blogged. At one point, he was hitting an awful .105 over a 10 game stretch. This, after hitting close to .400 for about a month since being called up from New Britain. He’s come out of it though, and has been .324 over his last 10 as of today. I’m glad about all this. Why? Because how a player deals with a slump, tells you a lot about the player. What did we learn about Valencia from his slump? Well, we learned he doesn’t give up and that he survives it. He doesn’t just fall apart and fall down and stay there. Everybody goes through slumps. His average is back up to .301 now. I believe you twin fans will see your third baseman of the future during September in the dome. Minnesota would be nuts not to get him up there. He seems to thrive on tough situations, so…I’m convinced being thrown into an AL division race, would just make him play a little harder. My only concern about Valencia is that he does not walk, and that’s a big concern to me. I’ve been noticing this the entire time he’s playing for Rochester.

Yohan Pino hasn’t been the pitcher (yet?) that I thought he’d be. He was awful in July, but he’s cut his ERA by 2 runs already this month while pitching more innings than he did last month. So, perhaps he was just caught up in the emotions of being in AAA? Let’s hope. So far in August, he’s 2.89 in 18 2/3 IP with 17 K’s to his name. If the offense could just score a little, he’d have more than 0 wins in his 3 August starts. My biggest concern with Pino, is his righty/lefty splits. Against right handed batters, his ERA is a nice 2.45, but when he faces lefties, his ERA balloons to 6.23. Yikes! If that doesn’t change, then he should go back to the bullpen and be a right-handed batter specialist when he goes major league. And yes, I do think he has major league stuff. It would be nice to see him as a September callup, but I don’t think they’ll do it if they have a shot at the division title.

Trevor Plouffe, Dustin Martin, and Matt Macri, are all batting beneath .250 for the season. I have no idea what’s wrong with them, but I know they’re better than that. I don’t even know what to say about that. It’s pithetic that 3 of your main prospects in AAA can’t even average 1 hit out of every 4 at-bats. Maybe they’re all just having an off year at the same time? Let’s hope. They’ve had their moments, but they’ve failed to be consistently solid at the plate.

Reid Santos should go back to the ‘pen and be the left-handed batter specialist. ERA of just 3.32 against lefties. As a starter, his overall stats are 1-5 with a 5.19 ERA. If Twins brass asked me… I’d say that Santos be good in the major league bullpen next year if used as a situational pitcher.

The only reason Jose Morales is in Rochester is because Joe Mauer is in Minnesota. I don’t know why Morales isn’t the backup for the Twins. Morales has a .410 OBP here in AAA. That’s phenomenal & wasteful to leave him in AAA. If they don’t want to use him as a backup, they should trade him for another peice of the puzzle they need desperately.

Last player I want to bring up is Rob Delaney. He should be another guy the Twins will call up in September. Since the All-Star break, he’s been killing the International League with a 1.62 ERA and opponents are batting just .203 off him. That’s domination. he’s ready for the majors.