Twins fans could use some good news following Mike Pelfrey’s disastrous outing in which he gave up 8 runs in two innings in an 11-7 loss to the Reds Monday night.
Actually, couple that game with a June swoon that’s seen nearly twice as many losses as wins for the Twins (10 wins, 17 losses) and an injury to Byron Buxton that will keep the high-level prospect out for a minimum of a month, and the bad news has been slightly overwhelming of late.
But the bad news is not filtering down to the minor league stars, specifically Miguel Sano and J.O. Berrios.
Sano is on fire
Seth Stohs from Twins Daily put together a midseason profile of the slugging third baseman, and the results are staggering.
On May 1, Sano was hitting .152. In 46 games since that day, he has hit .320/.398/.616 (1.014) with 16-2B and 11 HR. https://t.co/qz88SMN5LQ
— Seth Stohs (@SethTweets) June 30, 2015
The power hitting star from the Dominican was slow to go at the beginning of the season, but he’s since caught fire, as Stohs notes in the above tweet.
For the season, he’s hitting .274 with 15 homers, 18 doubles and 48 RBI; but even with his surge at the plate, the Pioneer Press reports that Twins General Manager Terry Ryan isn’t in a hurry to promote Sano to the big leagues, like he did with Buxton earlier this month.
In Buxton’s case, he was called up because Aaron Hicks went on the disabled list.
Congrats to @SLeagueBaseball Player of the Week MIGUEL SANO!
STORY: http://t.co/nxsthnHiyD pic.twitter.com/4gXTx2tYPt
— Chattanooga Lookouts (@ChattLookouts) June 29, 2015
Berrios promoted
In 15 starts at Double-A Chattanooga, Berrios has only had one start in which he’s allowed more than three earned runs, Twins Daily notes. His outstanding season earned him a promotion to Triple-A Rochester on Tuesday, Aaron Gleeman reports.
Twins promoting 21-year-old Jose Berrios to Triple-A. He made 15 starts at Double-A with a 3.08 ERA and 92/24 K/BB ratio in 91 innings.
— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) June 30, 2015
With his promotion, Jose Berrios will be the youngest player on the @RocRedWings roster. He's 21. Next closest, 24 year old Oswaldo Arcia
— Ted (@tlschwerz) June 30, 2015
What’s next for Berrios? Twins Daily says the current logjam in the Twins’ starting rotation, coupled with the return of Ervin Santana from suspension this weekend, makes it unlikely that Berrios could find himself pitching for the Twins this season.
