1. Jhoan Duran As has been the case for over a year now, Jhoan Duran tops the list of Minnesota Twins relievers when it comes to confidence level. After posting a 1.86 ERA in a magnificent rookie season in 2022, Duran has an even lower ERA through 16 appearances in 2023 at 1.62. Though Duran has a lower ERA than last year, the underlying statistics say that Duran has had luck on his side to start the year. In fact, according to FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) his ERA should be closer to 4.

https://twinsdaily.com/news-rumors/minnesota-twins/power-ranking-every-member-of-the-minnesota-twins-bullpen-r14240/

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Simeon Woods Richardson was drafted out of high school and was a rare top prospect traded multiple times before reaching the majors. First to Toronto, then to the Twins, all before age 21. His minor-league career began as a low to mid-90s thrower with well over a strikeout per inning, and both of these skills have fallen precipitously as he's moved up the ladder. Having totaled just over nine innings at the MLB level, it's impossible to judge Woods Richardson. That being said, the brief results haven't been awe-inspiring, nor has the eye test.

https://twinsdaily.com/news-rumors/minnesota-twins/checking-in-on-simeon-woods-richardson-r14153/

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As a reminder, here's a link to the board that was published at the end of April. 2023 Consensus MLB Draft Board V1 A Consensus Top Five I've been tracking the draft boards since an initial Top 30 in February. With recent updates, it's clear that there's currently a consensus top five players, split into tiers. Dylan Crews is in a world by himself. He's ranked number one by every board that I use for the Consensus Board. Wyatt Langford and Paul Skenes are two and three (although I think Skenes may go number two overall), followed by outfielders Walker Jenkins and Max Clark .

https://twinsdaily.com/news-rumors/minnesota-twins/3-trends-from-the-latest-mlb-draft-rankings-r14209/

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Everyone loves prospect rankings, and every time that a new list gets released it is always exciting to peruse the list and find out where the Minnesota Twins players landed. Mid-season lists are always extra interesting because players are graduating from the list throughout the year so new players are being added, and a new season of Minor League statistics are being taken into account which creates more movement than normal.  In the latest iteration of MLB.com's prospect rankings, four Minnesota Twins players made the top 100.

https://twinsdaily.com/news-rumors/minnesota-twins/rankings-update-4-twins-prospects-crack-mlbs-top-100-r14236/

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Michael Helman was drafted in the 11th round of the 2018 draft, 334th overall. He's been an above-average hitter in every season aside from 82 games in A ball in 2019 and is now pestering opposing pitchers in St. Paul at the age of 27. It's unclear how the skills would translate to the MLB level, though he may soon be deserving of a look. 2022 was a banner year for Helman who split time between Double-A Wichita and Triple-A St. Paul. In just under 600 plate appearances between the two stops, Helman accumulated 20 homers and 40 stolen bases.

https://twinsdaily.com/news-rumors/minnesota-twins/respect-michael-helman-r14222/

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Brock Stewart has been a pleasant surprise. After dominating in St. Paul for just under nine innings, the right-hander got the call to the big leagues for the first time since 2019 and hasn't missed a beat. He's overcome an unsightly 15.5% BB rate with his 28.2% K rate in order to post a 1.06 ERA. He would have been a nice supporting piece to an already quality bullpen, but instead, he's been a big reason it's stayed afloat. It's safe to say the Twins bullpen has not shaken out in the way they intended.

https://twinsdaily.com/news-rumors/minnesota-twins/the-twins-have-struck-gold-with-brock-stewart-r14366/

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Everyone from Ada to Zumbrota has experienced this phenomenon. As a party or family get-together is starting to wind down, some guests will plant their hands on their knees demonstrably. They'll make sure to say a key phrase out loud to nobody in particular.  'Welp, it's gettin' to be that time.' 'Better hit the ol' dusty trail.' 'Well, dear? Whadya say?' They'll make their way towards the door, but they will inevitably find themselves unable to actually leave. They start new conversations, get into forgotten stories and exchange pleasantries in an accent that is so quintessentially midwestern that it would make the Coen brothers blush.

https://twinsdaily.com/news-rumors/minnesota-twins/it-feels-like-the-twins-and-max-kepler-are-stuck-in-a-minnesota-goodbye-r14113/

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Major League Baseball's trade deadline isn't until August 1st, but that doesn't stop teams from looking ahead at how to address roster flaws. Minnesota's pitching has been fantastic to begin the year, so the Twins seem likely to look for offensive upgrades. There are reinforcements on the horizon , but there are no guarantees with players like Alex Kirilloff , Royce Lewis , and Brooke Lee. Here are four bats that might be traded before the deadline.  Christian Walker , Arizona Diamondbacks As the season started, Walker looked like a no-doubt trade target because few projections had the Diamondbacks in playoff contention, and he was coming off a tremendous season.

https://twinsdaily.com/news-rumors/minnesota-twins/4-early-trade-targets-that-can-upgrade-the-twins-offense-r14130/

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When the Minnesota Twins signed Christian Vazquez as a free agent this offseason, it was under the premise that he would garner the bulk of the starts behind the plate. So far that has been the case for manager Rocco Baldelli . The unexpected outcome has been an extremely productive Ryan Jeffers , and he's arguably off to the best start of his career. Gary Sanchez provided the Twins with 1.3 fWAR a season ago, but it still came with rather empty offensive production, and defense that left plenty to be desired.

https://twinsdaily.com/news-rumors/minnesota-twins/is-ryan-jeffers-for-real-r14152/

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Injuries were one of the main storylines for the 2022 Twins, and that's why the front office focused on adding depth to the starting rotation. Entering the season, there were questions surrounding Kenta Maeda and Tyler Mahle since both ended last year on the injured list. Maeda is returning from Tommy John surgery, and Mahle dealt with shoulder issues after being traded to the Twins. Last week, Maeda left his start early with a right elbow issue. His injury can allow the Twins to give Maeda time to rest on the injured list, especially since pitchers returning from Tommy John need to monitor their workload.

https://twinsdaily.com/news-rumors/twins-minor-league/next-man-up-4-rotational-options-behind-bailey-ober-and-louie-varland-r14151/

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This originally began as a look at a few prospects having great seasons, something of an off-setting on Matthew Taylor 's piece from the other day. I already knew of some of the names I could target, but a search revealed a fascinating pattern: nearly all the minor leaguers crushing the season are not well-regarded. That isn't an insult to these young men—prospect evaluation is far from a perfect science, and internal synopses likely vary greatly from the public lists—but I found it worthy of mentioning that the 'non-prospects' have been the ones performing the best in 2023.

https://twinsdaily.com/news-rumors/twins-minor-league/prospect-outsiders-dominating-minnesotas-minor-leagues-in-2023-r14315/

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Brent Headrick wasn't one of the Twins locks to be added to the 40-man roster this winter but made the cut along with Casey Legumina who was later traded to Cincinnati. Despite being somewhat of an afterthought, the left-hander has been one of the more impressive up-and-down pitchers on the roster this season. The Twins could possibly start looking for a way to get him up for good soon. Headrick's MLB career is in its infancy having only made three appearances to date. We can be cautious given the incredibly small sample size, but the early results are encouraging.

https://twinsdaily.com/news-rumors/minnesota-twins/brent-headrick-the-starter-r14124/

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The Minnesota Twins made their mark on the mound for most of the month of April. Even though the pitchers showed up in spades for the Twins to start the year, there were a number of qualified candidates for hitter of the month. Let's dive in. Honorable Mention #2: Max Kepler 18 G, .242/.319/.452 (.771) 4 2B, 3 HR, 8 RBI From popular DFA candidate to honorable mention for hitter of the month, it was quite the roller coaster of a month for Max Kepler. Ever since a breakout season in 2019, Kepler has experienced his fair share of struggles at the plate, posting a below-average 98 OPS+ from 2020-2022.

https://twinsdaily.com/news-rumors/minnesota-twins/twins-daily-hitter-of-the-month-april-2023-r14149/

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Just before Opening Day last season Derek Falvey and Thad Levine decided to part ways with Taylor Rogers . The timing may have been odd, but he was an aging-and-injured-closer coming off of a down year and heading into free agency. It was an opportunity to grab a controllable starter, even with injury history, in Chris Paddack while seeing Emilio Pagan as a throw in. Oh, and Brent Rooker went to San Diego in the deal as well. Fast forward to today, and things have changed. Rogers is pitching with his twin Tyler Rogers for the San Francisco Giants.

https://twinsdaily.com/news-rumors/minnesota-twins/was-it-the-brent-rooker-trade-after-all-r14154/

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We've all experienced it in some way, shape or form. Whether we come up short of the expectations we set for ourselves or drop off from previously-established performance expectations, being in a slump is real. Being in a slump has wreaked havoc on baseball players for as long as the game has been around. It's an uncomfortable topic because there is one step higher from the slump where you start talking about the "yips," which, if you're in a clubhouse that's like saying Voldemort at Hogwarts.  Some of the stories of players trying to break out of a slump produce the best stories the game has to offer.

https://twinsdaily.com/news-rumors/minnesota-twins/a-slump-thats-not-on-the-spreadsheet-r14207/

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On December 16, the Minnesota Twins signed Christian Vazquez to a three-year $30 million deal to have him take over as the team's primary catcher. The two-time World Series champion Vazquez got off to a hot start at the plate and behind the dish. Since then, however, he has cooled off and made some questionable plays defensively. Is it time to adjust the catching timeshare and give Ryan Jeffers more playing time? So far this season, Vazquez has appeared in 26 games to Jeffers' 17. A few of Jeffers' appearances came by way of pinch-hitting, which is why Vazquez has 84 at-bats to Jeffers's 44 at-bats.

https://twinsdaily.com/news-rumors/minnesota-twins/are-the-twins-starting-the-wrong-primary-catcher-r14213/

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The Twins have a mess of established players not answering the bell from Carlos Correa in the lineup to Griffin Jax out of the bullpen. This has shifted some of the pressure onto the less established members of the team to pick up the slack. Luckily, a few of them have. Jovani Morán Morán has been serving as the bullpen's sole lefty since Caleb Thielbar hit the IL, and it appears we have a ways to go until he's ready to return. Morán got off to a dreadful start to the season, with his patented walk issues on display and allowing a few uncharacteristic home runs.

https://twinsdaily.com/news-rumors/minnesota-twins/3-twins-trending-upward-r14284/

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At the beginning of the 2023 season, the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins sat at about even odds of winning the World Series. What a difference a month makes! The Twins enter this three-game tilt at Guaranteed Rate Field with a 17-12 record, and a commanding nine-game lead over the White Sox after only 29 games. On Tuesday night, the Twins begin a six-game AL Central road trip with a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox. Chicago is in free-fall mode, having just benched Luis Robert for not hustling on what he claims is a tight hamstring.

https://twinsdaily.com/news-rumors/minnesota-twins/series-preview-time-to-put-the-chi-sox-out-of-their-misery-r14145/

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The Twins were projected to be a good-not-great team headed into 2023. Betting outlets and websites such as FanGraphs had them projected to finish in the 80-85 win range. 50 games into the season, the Twins are right on par to meet those expectations. Far from a juggernaut, they've been good enough to lead the pack in the AL Central. All that being said, fans having some disappointment thus far is more than fair. The 'AL Central Champions' title hasn't carried much weight in recent seasons, and 2023 is no different.

https://twinsdaily.com/news-rumors/minnesota-twins/its-okay-to-be-disappointed-in-the-twins-r14292/

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What does it take for a starting pitching prospect to torpedo off of global Top 100 prospect lists aside from injury? Jordan Balazovic showed us in 2022, when he spent his entire season in Triple-A St. Paul allowing 2.55 HR/9 innings, and finishing with a 7.39 ERA in just over 70 innings. It was quite the uphill battle to regain the lost prospect status, and that was before he suffered a broken jaw during an off-field altercation at the beginning of spring training, resulting in him being the first player sent out of Major League camp.

https://twinsdaily.com/news-rumors/st-paul-saints-news-rumors/balazovic-is-so-back-r14235/

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What does it take for a starting pitching prospect to torpedo off of global Top 100 prospect lists aside from injury? Jordan Balazovic showed us in 2022, when he spent his entire season in Triple-A St. Paul allowing 2.55 HR/9 innings, and finishing with a 7.39 ERA in just over 70 innings. It was quite the uphill battle to regain the lost prospect status, and that was before he suffered a broken jaw during an off-field altercation at the beginning of spring training, resulting in him being the first player sent out of Major League camp.

https://twinsdaily.com/news-rumors/st-paul-saints-news-rumors/bring-on-balazovic-r14235/

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Twins Video As you've no doubt heard by now, in the 10th inning, with bases loaded, Alex Kirilloff was up to bat when home umpire Phil Cuzzi called two balls well outside the strike zone as strikes. Kirilloff ended up striking out. The calls were so egregious that even the Dodgers announcers, the beneficiaries of the bad calls, spoke out. Adding to the frustration was a questionable David Peralta RBI double down the first-base line that the Twins were not allowed to challenge. Further analysis shows that it was almost certainly a foul ball.

https://twinsdaily.com/news-rumors/minnesota-twins/take-heart-frustrated-twins-fans-%E2%80%9Crobo-umps%E2%80%9D-are-likely-coming-soon-r14239

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Jorge Polanco has dealt with a fair amount of lower body injuries in his career. After knee issues ended his 2022 season, Polanco got off to a late start to 2023 before hamstring issues sidelined him. With the same issue landing him on the IL again, this recent injury is likely to keep him down for a solid stretch. While disappointing for Polanco and the Twins, Edouard Julien is the recipient of a massive opportunity to show why the Twins are such big fans. Julien has been an on-base machine throughout his minor league career.

https://twinsdaily.com/news-rumors/minnesota-twins/opportunity-awaits-edouard-julien-r14408/

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