Local minor league notes

Jamie Hoffmann: Spring
training with the Yankees,
Triple A for the Dodgers

The NUN — New Ulm Native Jamie Hoffmann — never got back to the majors this season. The outfielder spent the year at Albuquerque, the Dodgers Triple A affiliate, where he hit .310/.369/431. Those numbers look better than they are, as Albuquerque's a great place to hit.

Tough year for the NUN. I thought he had a real shot to make the Yankees roster as a reserve outfielder after they arranged a Rule 5 draft-and-trade for him. But he wound up back with the Dodgers and never cracked their 40-man roster.
He's 26 now, and his window of opportunity may be closing.

Mark Dolenc, an outfielder out of MSU, spent the season in Double A New Britain for the Twins. New Britain had a terrible season, and Dolenc's numbers fell off from his High A stats of the year before. It is a tough place to hit, but almost nobody looks good on a 44-98 team.

Left-handed pitcher Clint Dempster, former MoonDog, signed with the Twins this summer as their 16th round pick. He pitched seven-plus innings at Elizabethton (Rookie ball) and 40 innings at Beloit (Low-A). His BB/K ratio in Beloit — 20 walks, 32 strikeouts — suggest that he has command issues to work on.

Alex Burgos, another MoonDogs lefty, spent his first professional season with the Tigers complex league team. Eleven innings at that level, even dominant innings — and the numbers are good — is pretty meaningless.

Twins sign Wimmers and local minor league notes

The deadline isn't particularly close, but Alex Wimmers signed Friday and is to report to Fort Myers to pitch for the Miracle, the Twins High-A team.

The right-hander out of Ohio State is viewed as a prototypical Twins pitcher — a strike-throwing machine, albeit with better stuff than a Nick Blackburn. (The better stuff is why he went 21st overall.)

According to Baseball America, the Twins have now signed their first 10 picks.

* The Twins' 16th-rounder, former MoonDog Clint Dempster, threw six shutout innings the other day Beloit (Low-A). The lefty is 2-2 for the Snappers with 4.00 era — and 14 walks in 18 innings.

I'm going to guess that fastball command is a priority for him.

* Mark Dolenc, a former MSU standout, is hitting .259/.305/.350 for New Britain, the Twins Double A affiliate. The Twins have a number of well-regarded outfield prospects there, including Ben Revere and Joe Benson, but Dolenc's getting plenty of playing time.

*The NUN, New Ulm Native Jamie Hoffmann, has spent the season at Albuquerque, the Dodgers' Triple A affiliate, and has a deceptively good .318/.377/.435 line. (It's a notoriously good place to hit.) He remains off the 40-man roster.