Minor League Players of the Week 6/15

Written by Travis Aune | 15 June 2010

After missing a week I am back with another edition of the Twins Minor League Pitcher and Hitter of the week at every level.  Every Monday or Tuesday I will look at each of the affiliates and who has been good the last week to 10 days.  I welcome your comments and you can leave a comment in the comment box or shoot me an email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Rochester Red Wings

• Hitter of the Week: Matt Macri- The grizzled veteran had quite the week for the Red Wings as the Red Wings won three games in a row this week and Macri was the catalyst as he hit .389 on 14 for 36 along with five doubles and a homerun with four rbi’s.  Macri had two walks while striking out nine times.  Macri had a very good .421 on base percentage with a very good .611 slugging percentage for a 1.032 OPS.  Matt Macri started the season the disabled list, but has been very good since coming off the DL to get his average above .300 on the year.  The 27 year old from Des Moines, Iowa is so versatile as he can play anywhere on the infield and the outfield to help the team.  He probably won’t see the field with the Twins after they took him off the 40 man roster last year, but he is a very good AAA player and every organization needs a guy like Matt Macri.

• Pitcher of the Week: Kyle Waldrop- Kyle Waldrop continued his miraculous season on the mound with another stellar week.  In his last 10 ball games Waldrop is 2-0 with a miniscule 0.47 era in 19.1 innings of work.  In those 19.1 innings Waldrop has only given up one run on only 11 hits.  In that stretch he has walked only four batters while striking out 12.  The most impressive thing about Waldrop is he had a 5.29 groundball to fly out rate the last 10 days.  I know I could go on and on about how impressed I am with Waldrop, but he really deserves it after coming off of shoulder surgery in 2008 he has come all the way back and is now one of the top relief prospects in the Twins organization.  The 24 year old out of Knoxville, Tennessee is someone all Twins fans should keep an eye on because he will be with the Twins sometime this season.

New Britain Rockcats

• Hitter of the Week: Brandon Roberts- The 25 year old out of Bakersfield, California had a nice stretch for the Rockcats.  I am sure he is disappointed that he is spending his 4^th straight year in New Britain, but he is not showing it on the field.  In his last 10 games Roberts is hitting .14 for his last 34 for a .412 batting average along with three doubles and drove in five runs.  He walked six times while only striking out five times.  He also stole three bases the last 10 games in three attempts.  Most impressively Roberts has a .524 on base percentage in this stretch along with a very nice .500 slugging percentage for a great 1.024 OPS.  Roberts has really gotten it going in a time the Rockcats were missing Ben Revere and Rene Tosoni so he kept them in some games with his strong offensive output.  Roberts needs to get to AAA soon if he wants to get a cup of coffee with the Twins and if that is not what the Twins are thinking they should do whats best for the both of them and give him his release so he can look for a job with another team.

• Pitcher of the Week: David Bromberg- After getting off to a little bit of a rough start to begin the year Bromberg has been pretty good lately.  The 32^nd round draft pick by the Twins in the 2005 draft out of Santa Monica, California came into the season with much pub after winning the Twins minor league pitcher of the year in 2009.  He has improved as the season has gone on and the 22 year old righty has hit his stride the last three starts.  In those starts Bromberg has gone 2-1 with a 2.95 era in those starts.  He has worked 18.1 innings which is a little over 6 innings a start for the big righty.  In those starts he has six walks and 10 strikeouts.  The main reason for concern for Bromberg is that he is walking to many batters this year as he has walked 31 batters in 68.2 innings of work in 2010.  That is the main thing that will keep him from pitching with the Twins, but I have no doubt that he will work through it because he has too much god given talent and he works too hard for him not to work it out.

Fort Myers Miracle

• Hitter of the Week: Esterlin De Los Santos- It is pretty obvious that De Los Santos was not quite ready to move up to AA and he is only 22 years old he is fine to be in Fort Myers.  He struggled in AA hitting only .170 in 29 games, but was then demoted back down to Fort Myers and has been very good since his demotion.  De Los Santos the last 10 games has been especially hot for the Miracle.  In his last 10 games he is hitting .343 on 12 for his last 35 along with a double and triple and four rbi’s.  He drew six walks while striking out seven times and stole two bases.  He had a very good .429 on base percentage along with a .429 slugging percentage for a .857 OPS.  I don’t think it will be long before De Los Santos is back up in New Britain after spending some time in New Britain.  He quite possibly could be the shortstop of the future for the Twins as he is a young guy that reminds some of a young Christian Guzman so the future is very bright for Esterlin De Los Santos.

• Pitcher of the Week: Liam Hendriks- Liam Hendriks continued his unbelievable season this week by continuing his dominance on the mound.  In his last three starts he has been even better as he went 2-0 with a ridiculious 0.38 era in 24 innings he only gave up one earned run.  He held opponents to a .226 opponents batting average.  Hendriks has really been awesome this year and he kept it up lately.  He has a good future in the Twins organization and it will be interesting to see how he does as he goes forward in the organization.

Beloit Snappers

• Hitter of the Week: Angel Morales- Angel Morales was good pretty much the whole first half but the last 10 games he was red hot.  He is that type of hitter as he will go in stretches where he is awful and then he will go on stretches where you can’t get him out.  In his last 10 games Morales is 18 for his last 37 a .486 average along with five doubles, two triples, and a homerun with 12 rbi’s.  Morales walked 10 times while striking out 10 times and stole four bases.  Morales had a .596 on base percentage along with a incredible .811 slugging percentage for a 1.407 OPS.  Angel Morales had done everything that is possible to do in Beloit I believe it is time for the Twins to move Morales up to Fort Myers as he is definitely ready for the move.

• Pitcher of the Week: Michael Tonkin- There was some doubt how Tonkin would do when he got up to Beloit as he was in the GCL last season and the thought was he would just move up to Elizabethton.  He was pushed and so far he has done great.  In his last three starts he is 0-3 with a very good 2.04 era, he has three losses because the Snappers have not scored any runs.  In 17.2 innings he has given up only four earned runs on 11 hits.  He has walked 6 while striking out 10.  Tonkin held opponents to a .229 batting average.  Michael Tonkin has earned the right to stay in Beloit even though there are some that think he should go back to Elizabethton, but I think he should stay in Beloit.