Delmon Young’s minimal major league home run numbers are startling compared to what he did in the minor leagues. Young has one home run so far this season, even though he is the team’s regular left fielder and has 241 at-bats. He hit 13 last year for Tampa Bay before being traded here in the off-season. His major league home run total is 17. In 353 games in the minor leagues he hit 59 home runs with 273 RBI and a batting average of .317. With the Twins he’s hitting .266 with 20 RBI.
Former Twins Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett, part of the Young trade, continue to impress with the surprising Rays (second in the East Division). Garza is 4-3 with a 4.38 ERA. He is tied for third in most wins on the staff. Bartlett has been a contributor to the Rays’ defense playing shortstop and has seven errors in 61 games.
To use a Denny Green phrase, the Twins appear to be who we thought they were. A lot of opinion before the season had this team finishing at about .500. Despite losing six consecutive games, the Twins are within three games of .500 with a record of 31-34.
Viable Twins’ candidates for the American League all-star team are closer Joe Nathan, catcher Joe Mauer and first baseman Justin Morneau. No one else is close.
At least one local media report speculated earlier this spring that the Twins might trade Francisco Liriano. He’s trying to work his way back to the major league. At Rochester he has a 2-2 record, 3.94 ERA, walking 23 in 59.1 innings and striking out 47. Just two years ago, before he missed part of the 2006 season with his elbow injury, Liriano was better than Johan Santana or any other Twins pitcher. The two might have pitched the Twins into the 2006 World Series.
The MIAC has hired Brittany Feser as the conference’s assistant director. A native of Springfield, Minnesota, Feser has spent the past two years as a graduate assistant at Wisconsin-La Crosse. The assistant director position is available through the NCAA Ethnic Minority and Women’s Internship Grant. The grant is designed for Division III institutions and conference offices to hire a 10-month full-time individual for two years.