Catcher Wilson Ramos and shortstop Trevor Plouffe homered on Wednesday for Class AAA Rochester. Third baseman Danny Valencia, also at Rochester.
Relievers Anthony Slama and Kyle Waldrop are being watched closely there. And you wonder if Ben Revere, at Class AA New Britain, will end up contributing in the majors before the season ends.
But some of the more compelling stories are at Class A Fort Myers right now.
KELLY, THOMPSON WON'T GIVE UP
The Twins drafted shortstop Paul Kelly in the second round in 2005 and really thought they had a player. Kelly has shown all the skills to be a good shortstop prospect, but he's been held back by a slew of knee problems. He didn't play at all last season and was limited to 33 at-bats over the two seasons before that!
Kelly hasn't given up on the dream and is 8-for-20 in six games with Class A Fort Myers. He must stay healthy and start moving up the ladder. He's been slowed in recent days by a sore ankle suffered when a runner rolled it during a force play at second.
Second baseman Drew Thompson is in a similar situation. Thompson, a second round sandwich pick in 2005, suffered a stress fracture in his back in 2006 and other back problems knocked him out of the 2007 and 2008 seasons. He was able to play 91 games for Class A Beloit last season. Now he's one half of an interesting middle infield combo at Fort Myers. Thompson, 23, is batting .282 in 10 games.
``He's moving around better than he was his first year," Fort Myers manager Jake Mauer said.
Both Kelly and Thompson will have to fight for playing time, as Yangervis Solarte and Chris Cates are middle infielders there too.
GIBSON SHAKES OFF POOR DEBUT
Righthander Kyle Gibson, the Twins first round pick, didn't make it out of the fourth inning in Fort Myers' season opener, also his pro debut, giving up three runs on six hits and two walks in 3.2 innings. He did strike out seven. ``In his defense, they didn't catch the ball behind him," said Jim Rantz, the Twins' director of minor leagues.
Gibson came back with six shutout innings in his next start. On Monday, he held Charlotte to one run over seven innings.
Gibson is on the fast track, with some in the organization thinking he could reach the majors by next season. He has very good control and a very good sinking fastball.