Notes, quotes and comment

That was quite the power display the Twins put on Tuesday night. Seven homers, one apiece in each of the first seven innings -- the first time, we are told, that's happened in a major league game.

Two of the homers came from Jason Castro. I had been looking at his numbers earlier in the day and thinking that he was a little light on the homers. I expected him to get into double digits this year. Now he's at nine with more than two weeks to go, so he's not far off the 11 he hit each of the last two years -- and he's got his best batting average and on-base percentage since his All-Star year, 2013.

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A few weeks ago I posted about Amaurys Minier's floundering career. Cedar Rapids' season ended Monday night when Quad Cities eliminated the Kernels in the Midwest League playoffs.

On Tuesday morning, from a Baseball America scribe:

#Twins release 21-year-old switch-hitting Dominican 1B Amaurys Minier, who signed for $1.4MM in 2012. Topped out at Low A this year.

— Matt Eddy (@MattEddyBA) September 12, 2017

Message: Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

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The Twins did indeed add Gabriel Moya to the 40-man roster and the bullpen Tuesday. To make room they designated shortstop Engelb Vielma for release or assignment.

The Pioneer Press' Mike Berardino called that a surprise on Twitter. I'm not sure why. There's always been a question about Vielma's bat, and he hit .206/.233/.260 in more than 300 plate appearances at Triple A.

He had Jorge Polanco, Eduardo Escobar and Ehire Adrianza ahead of him and Nick Gordon on his heels -- plus some interesting shortstop prospects in at the A and Rookie levels.

Moya threw a scoreless ninth inning under essentially no pressure, so he got his feet wet.

Whether he'll see any leverage situtations is uncertain, My guess is not; Paul Molitor needed a month or so to start trusting Trevor Hildenberger, and we'll run out of time before Moya gets there. Even if he does earn a prominent role in the bullpen by season's end, Moya's ineligible for the postseason as he wasn't on the 40 before September.

A trip to Cedar Rapids: An Amaurys Minier jersey

The Kernels wore these jerseys Friday
to honor the University of Iowa Hawkeyes.
I'm a University of Minnesota grad.
What am I doing?

For the second year in a row, I wound up winning a jersey of a player for the Cedar Rapids Kernels.

It's quite possible that for the second year in a row, that player will get dropped by the organization before next season opens.

Last year it was Michael Cedaroth, a third-round draft pick (2014) who was released during spring training this year. This year, Amaurys Minier.

Minier is (supposedly) a first baseman and switch-hitting power bat. The Twins signed him in 2012 as a 16-year-old out of the Dominican for a bonus of $1.4 million. He's hit .220/.314/.403 in five seasons in the Twins system, .142/.276/.292 this season for Cedar Rapids. Right now he's on the disabled list.

Healthy or not, a 568 OPS in low A ball doesn't cut it.

The new regime has no personal investment in Minier. They have no particular need to make that $1.4 million pay off. It's dead money, somebody else's mistake.

Minier is only 21. Certainly he could turn it around. But my guess is that if he does, it won't be with the Twins organization.

Prospect stuff

Monday opened the "international signing period," and the Twins inked Amaurys Minier, a 16-year-old Dominican, for $1.4 million -- about half their allotment under the new labor deal for international free agents this year.

Minier is a switch-hitter who is listed as a shortstop but generally reckoned to be destined (quickly) for another position. Baseball America ranks him as the No. 12 international prospect; MLB.com as the No. 4.

Twelve or four, he's 16. He's a long ways away from Target Field.

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Miguel Sano reportedly committed three errors Monday night for Beloit, and that makes 31 E's for the super prospect. Seth Stohs astutely noted some time ago, back when there were Internet voices calling for Sano to move up to High A, that nobody who'd actually seen him play thought he was ready for a higher level.

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The deadline to sign 2012 draft picks is July 13, and the Twins have inked 12 of the 13 players they selected in the first 10 rounds. The only holdout, according to Baseball America, is L.J. Mazzilli, son of fomer big league player and manager Lee Mazzilli. The younger Mazzilli is a collegiate second baseman, selected in the ninth round.

While I'm sure the Twins would rather sign him than not, I'm not too concerned either way. As a rule, amateur second basemen don't make it to the majors. If you're an infielder talented enough to play in the majors, you were almost certainly a shortstop in amateur ball.

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I hesitate to mention this, because it means nothing -- nothing -- but Byron Buxton, the No.2 overall pick last month, is just 1-for-23 so far for the GCL Twins.