The Hoffmann watch and other notes

Jamie Hoffmann was
with the Yankees during
spring training in 2010
as a rule V pick but
was returned to the
Dodgers.

The NUN – New Ulm  native Jamie Hoffmann – is back in the majors, having been brought up on Monday by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The outfielder was last in the majors in 2009. He didn't play Tuesday. The LA roster is crammed with outfielders (six on the 25-man roster), so there's hardly a guarantee of playing time, or even that he'll stick.

He had 20 at-bats during spring training with the Dodgers, hitting .350/.409/450.

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A sour development for the Twins in their minor league system: Alex Wimmers, last year's first round pick, a pitcher who was expected to rise quickly through the system in part because of his outstanding command, had a disastrous first outing for High A Fort Myers.

Six batters, six walks, three wild pitches. He threw just four strikes in 28 pitches and hit the backstop on the fly with that many.

He's been put on the disabled list with "flu-like symptoms," but even if he really does have a virus, he appears to have a more serious malady, known in some circles as "Steve Blass disease." Few pitchers recover.

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I ridiculed the Royals front office a few weeks ago for discarding Dusty Hughes, and nothing that happened Tuesday night suggests I was wrong.

Hughes threw a shutout inning Tuesday against his old team and collected his first "W" in a TC cap.  The Royals, who are carrying just one lefty reliever, could have used another against the heavily left-handed Twins.

But just as Hughes is no better than the No. 2 southpaw in the Minnesota pen (and might be the No. 3 lefty), he'd be below Tim Collins in the K.C. depth chart.

Collins is an interesting pitcher — listed at 5-foot-7 but probably considerably shorter than that, he has a mid-90s fastball and an impressive curve. He's racked up silly strikeout rates in the minors — more than 13 K/9 over four minor league seasons, and doing the same so far in the majors — but been traded twice.

Evaluators have a hard time getting past the diminutive stature and judging him strictly on the talent. But he's a good one.