Pino to Rochester. Kepler in America
Posted on July 18th, 2009 – 10:02 AMBy La Velle
Heard this morning that righthander Johan Pino has been promoted to Class AAA Rochester. Pino, who has spent most of the season in the bullpen but was in the rotation recently, was 5-1, 3.19 at Class AA New Britain. As you can see here, he’s been on a pretty good run lately.
Max Kepler, the German outfielder the Twins signed earlier this month, was in Fort Myers, Fla. last week to meet the staff and look for a place to go to school. Kepler is only 16, and his parents (his mother is from Texas) are looking for the best situation for him. Kepler returned to Germany while his mother remained in the area,
South Fort Myers High, which opened a few years ago, is right across the street from the Twins complex (that’s where Wilson Ramos’ blast landed a couple years ago) but the Keplers are combing through the whole school system. He’ll probably return in the fall and debut during instructional league play.
The Twins, by the way, were expected to meet with first-round pick Kyle Gibson this week to try to get a contract hammered out. Sounds like Gibson wants to be paid closer to where he was ranked vs where he was selected. The Twins might have to go over slot to get this one done but I suspect they will.
40 Responses to "Pino to Rochester. Kepler in America"
At least Kepler will have a nickname when he come over
-the astronomer
Wonder if Gibson has fully recovered from his injury. If so, and assuming he has demonstrated pre-injury performance, the Twins should go over slot.
thank you for the updates La Velle! That is good news about getting Keppler over here and the promotion of Pino. Hopefully Pino will continue to improve. I hope that Gibson doesn’t wait until the last second to get signed. He probably feels he can afford to wait a little anyway to rehab his arm..
La Velle
Do you have any recent updates on how Wilson Ramos is doing with overcoming his injury and all??
I’m going to become a Rock Cats fan, just to thank them for sending us all these great players lately LOL
Happy about Pino. He could be good
But I still can’t figure out why slama is at AA
It is great news that Yohan Pino has been promoted to AAA. He really has been one of the Twins best minor league pitchers for several years with only a bit of a struggle last year when he moved up to AA. He has a career record with the Twins of 51-20, with much of the time coming out of the bullpen. Congrats Yohan!
So where does this put Pino on the “ready for prime time” slider?
2011?
I’ll hazard a guess (emphasis on guess) about Slama: the org don’t think he can locate well enough. His K/9 is phenomenal (12.7); his BB/9 is not (4.0).
Another thing worth mentioning about Pino is his 9.3 K/9 and 4.00 K/BB, which are higher than any Rochester starter. I would not be surprised if he is a Sept. call up this season. Also, RHB hit only .211 off him, which makes him fairly valuable off a pen. Here is a scouting report from scout.com
Thanks 98. Sounds like Pino is a Slowey type.
Sounds like Pino is a Slowey type
not even close 
I wish…
Slowey has one of the all-time best career minor league line:
1.94 ERA, 0.849 WHIP, 8.8 K/9, 6.94 K/BB
Fair enough. Slowey lite.
LaVelle what is the latest on Sano? Has he signed with anyone?
re: Sano:
His age got finally authenticated this morning by MLB as indeed being 16. Mike Radcliff is in the DR since yesterday. Nothing happened yet, but expect news this weekend. His preference is to play for the Pirates, his agent seeks the most $… We’ll see.
Has anyone heard how the shortstop from Southern Miss. collar bone is healing or if he is playing ball yet? I saw his coach say at the CWS that he was the best defensive player that he has coached in thirty years. Or something to that effect.
“Has anyone heard how the shortstop from Southern Miss. collar bone is healing or if he is playing ball yet?”
Brian Dozier is hitting .286 (4-14) for Elizabethton.
Thanks sane.
Jeff,
Chasing you from JoeC’s blog.
“the Seattle Mariners open tryout this weekend at Santiago High in Chino Ca?? My kid is scheduled tomorrow so I thought I would see if your going to be around..”
I am now coaching a Pony team during their All-Star tournament run, so I don’t have a grasp of what showcases or tryouts our players are attending this weekend.
I will be in Fullerton, while you are in Chino. (I thought Santiago HS was in Corona)
BTW, great job on your Billy Martin story for Howard.
Many great people become LESS great when they are drunk.
Sounds like he was a prime example.
“Max Kepler, the German outfielder the Twins signed earlier this month, was in Fort Myers, Fla. last week to meet the staff and look for a place to go to school. Kepler is only 16, and his parents (his mother is from Texas) are looking for the best situation for him”
If he is interested in a nice California high school, near the ocean……….huh?
Recruiting violation?
Never mind!
Brainfreeze,
I read the stats wrong on Dozier.
I better let you read them for yourself.
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?pos=SS&sid=t576&t=p_pbp&pid=572821
Looks good to me. Even though it’s a small sample in the low minors, I like that he has more walks than strike outs at both levels.
ps: thank you mr. moderator.
Good for Yohan Pino… After over 2 years at AA, it’ll be good to see what he can do at AAA. Not sure he can be much worse than any of the Rochester starters right now (with the exception of Manship). He’s at that stage in his career that you just have to see what he can do. He’s a pitcher, but doesn’t throw hard at all, and he’s so small that he certainly doesn’t project into much. But, you never know.
Didn’t the Twins confirm they had offered $3mm for Sano, which was higher than the Pirates or Orioles would go?
They should still have a shot at him…
LaVelle, thank you very much for these updates. I am looking on to the comments area with real bemusement over the past few weeks. Twins fans are getting fiery over the fact that the team is unlikely to make a trade. Though I take issue with Bill Smith, not nearly to the extent of some fans. The Twins are built on their drafting, scouting, and minor league development. That’s why coverage like this is so appreciated. Remember that we *always* have to be building for the future. We have very little trade bait. Mauer, Morneau, our five starters and Nathan. . . that’s it. Would we really want to trade any of these guys, particularly when what are mostly for sale are guys at the end of contracts that we likely won’t be able to re-sign? Bill Smith does not really play his hand very well (he should read Bill James every morning at breakfast), but let’s be clear too that he gets dealt one of the most difficult hands in baseball every year.
And this is why it’s great to hear what’s going on in our farm system. Thanks!
Can we talk about how good Danny Valencia has been playing?
Goodness.
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?pos=&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=502143
The past 10 games at AAA he is hitting .410 (16 for 39) with 3 homers and 9 RBI.
I would say he is making the adjustment.
RyanW,
Danny Valencia is doing great at AAA.
Unfortunately, he is one year older than Gomez and Delmon, so his time is running out.
I hope Twins fans have some patience with this career minor leaguer.
KIDDING!
Seth speaks says Mark Grudzielanek has been signed by the Twins……
http://talkintwinsbb.wordpress.com/2009/07/19/twins-sign-mark-grudzielanek/
I mean, Seth Stohs of “Seth Speaks” …
Man Valencia has been tearing it up. The guy has an OBP right around .400 in Rochester, and yet has only drawn two walks. The guy has simply been raking…
La Velle and La Velle readers.
I’m a Twins fan stuck living in the desert. I’m taking my 15 year old son to LA this weekend to support the Boyz. Planning on going to Friday and Saturday games. I’m looking for tickets near the Twins dugout and, does anyone know where to team stays out there. We’d like to get in the same hotel.
Thank you in advance for any assist.
Joe
joe@secureopportunities.com
How does signing a 16 year-old work? Will Kepler play during the summer and go to high school in the Fall-Spring?
Will the Twins be helping the young Mr Kepler land a prom date? Who will drive him to the ballpark? Lot’s of question on him.
What if he misses practice due to detention at school will this be misconstrued as not getting after it?
Sorry, I guess I should have asked about his VORP or OPS.
“How does signing a 16 year-old work? Will Kepler play during the summer and go to high school in the Fall-Spring?”
My guess is that he will go to school from the start of the school year (in September) until February; then he will go to work (play baseball) from February until September, while being tutored.
Gardy and TK will be his English teachers (”we played GOOD today”), so the kid will flunk out of high school and be forced to work full time.
How does signing a 16 year-old work? Will Kepler play during the summer and go to high school in the Fall-Spring?
Most of the 16 year old players who are signed by major league teams (including Hein Robb, the Twins’ signee who played with South Africa in the WBC this year) continue to live their lives as usual (with baseball in their clubs) until they get out of high-school. The Kepler case is curious, since he is coming to the States. And there are many levels to consider here: Since he is 16, he cannot come over with a work visa (like Gomez and Castillo or all the foreign players in the Twins minor league system) but probably has to come with a student Visa as an exchange student. This means that he will have to attend a school full-time and resume the baseball activities after school or at the summer.
Great scouting now lets win it… We cant wait for ever!
Matt Moses, Chris Parmalee, heck Banks, Mahomes list of flops.. The draft is a crap shoot for everyone.
Lets not make a move and piss off our stars that makes sense. Mauer will be playing in Boston with that approach -makes no sense.
Given up prospects in baseball is different then in any sport. The draft picks are endless and you have minimum 5 minor league teams to develop talent.
It not like losing picks in the other major sports. More flops in the first round of baseball and more flops in cant miss minor leaguers then in any other sport.
Like I said earlier the Morneau comments, Gardys comments and the indirect comments from Mauer suggest the clubhouse would like help.
Great 2012 Mauer will be in Boston but we will still have our prospects.
What’s going on here.
First of all,Kepler is a Dual National.
He has US and German passport, so he doesn’t need a visa/work permit.
I heard he will go to High School and train with the Twins after school.Don’t forget, he is only 16 and not old enough to play on the Rookie Ball Team yet.His mom is American,dad Polish.Max speaks fluent English,German.
Also speaks some Polish and French.
