Starting today, we’ll be coming out with weekly reports on the Minnesota Twins’ top performers of the week and checking in on the club’s top prospects.

Top Performers:

AAA

Jose Miranda, 3B
6 Games, .328 BA (9/28), 3 HR, 6 RBI, 1 BB, 4 SO

• Jose Miranda continues to dominate at every level this season in the minors. In 24 games with the St. Paul Saints, he’s hitting .337 with eight home runs and 22 RBIs. He continued that this week, smashing three home runs and batting in six RBIs.

AA

Roy Morales, C
6 Games, .500 BA (11/22), 5 RBI, 5 BB, 3 SO, 1 SB

• Morales might have had the best week out of anyone in the Twins’ minor league system. He continued to dominate offensively, batting .500 this week. He won’t hit for power and is still looking for his first home run. Nonetheless, have yourself a week.

D.J. Burt, 2B
4 Games, .533 (8/15), 1 RBI, 2 SO

• Entering July 20, D.J. Burt was batting .191. This week he found his groove and collected eight hits over 15 at-bats – raising his batting average to .253.

Chris Vallimont, SP
1 Game, 1-0, 6 IP, 0.00 ERA, 3 H, 3 BB, 8 SO

• Chris Vallimont pitched well against the Arkansas Travelers in his start on July 22. He struck out eight of the 18 batters he faced and didn’t give up a run. This was a nice bounce-back game, after he was roughed up on July 17 (3.1 IP, 5 R).

High-A

Gabriel Maciel, OF
4 Games, .500 BA (6/112, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 1 SO

• Gabriel Maciel is currently riding a six-game hitting streak. He’s played15 games in July and has hits in 12 of them. The speedy outfielder enjoyed a nice game against the Beloit Snappers on July 24, going 3-for-4 and collecting three RBIs.

Louie Varland, SP
1 Game, 0.00 ERA, 5 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 9 SO

• Louie Varland has enjoyed a nice season for the Cedar Rapids Kernels. In 12 games he’s 4-2 and has a 1.70 ERA. On July 21, the Minnesota native continued that, striking out nine in five innings.

Ben Gross, SP
1 Game, 0.00 ERA, 5 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 8 SO

• Ben Gross has had a nice season as well for the Kernels. He’s settled in nicely after having a rough first three outings to his standards. Gross dominated the Snappers on July 24, striking out 53 percent of the batters he faced.

Zach Featherstone, LHP
2 Games, 1-0, 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0.00 ERA, 6 SO

• Zach Featherstone had a brief outing on July 20, pitching only 0.2 innings, but striking out the two batters he faced and picking up a win against Beloit. On July 22, he went two innings and struck out four.
  

A

Sawyer Gipson-Long, SP
1 Game, 0-1, 2.00 ERA, 6 H, 2 BB, 11 SO

• Despite losing on July 21, Sawyer Gipson-Long still had a nice outing. The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels were unable to match the Daytona Tortugas offensively and their relief pitching wasn’t great. Gipson-Long gave up two solo home runs, but struck out 11 of the 18 batters he faced.

Top Prospects

Jordan Balazovic, #2, SP
2 Games, 1-0, 12 IP, 2.25 ERA, 9 H, 6 BB, 10 SO

Aaron Sabato, #3, 1B
5 Games, .125 BA (2/16), 1 RBI, 7 BB, 10 SO

Keoni Cavaco, #7, SS
4 Games, .158 BA (3/19), 3 RBI, 1 BB, 8 SO

Misael Urbina, #8, CF
6 Games, .200 (5/25), 2 RBI, 2 BB, 6 SO, 1 SB

Matt Wallner, #11, RF
5 Games, .238 BA (5/21), 2 HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 6 SO

Josh Winder, #12, SP
1 Game, 5.1 IP, 6 H, 7.05 ERA, 3 SO

Wander Javier, #20, SS
5 Games, .100 BA (2/20), 8 SO

Will Holland, #21, SS
6 Games, .133 (2/15), 7 BB, 4 SO, 2 SB

Seth Gray, #23, 3B
5 Games, .176 BA (3/17), 2 BB, 8 SO

Luis Rijo, #24, RHP
1 Game, 1.2 IP, 30.00 ERA, 5 H, 1 BB, 2 SO

Spencer Steer, #26, SS
6 Games, .130 (3/23), 1 HR, 1 RBI, 8 SO

Yennier Cano, #27, RHP
2 Games, 3.2 IP, 9 H, 11.25 ERA, 5 SO

Yunior Severino, #28, 2B
6 Games, .280 BA (7/25), 3 RBI, 3 BB, 9 SO

Beau Burrows, #29, RHP
1 Game, 1-0, 3 IP, 3.00 ERA, 3 H, 2 SO

Jovani Moran, #30, LHP
2 Games, 1-0, 3.2 IP, 5.63 ERA, 1 H, 2 BB, 6 SO