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With fifty-one games played in the 2008 Eastern League (AA) season,the Rock Cats have discovered that their roster contains two of the best hitters in the league. The first is Luke Hughes who, with his league-leading 1.137 ops, has torched the opposition thoroughly. In just 169 at-bats Hughes has already surpassed his career-high home run mark of 9 which he hit in 2007 but it took him twice as many at-bats (315). La Velle E Neal noted that Hughes has been the first Rock Cats batter to hit nine home runs in one month since Michael Cuddyer did so in 2001. MLB.com's Kelly Theiser also responded to a reader's inquiry regarding Hughes' ceiling. Theiser wrote that "If this power binge continues, Hughes could find his home at third. Right now, the prospects for third base in the Twins' farm system are lacking and Hughes might help give the organization another option at the spot." Hughes, it would seem, is the darling of the Twins farm system. Meanwhile Steven Tolleson, whose .904 ops is good enough for 7th in the league, has been piecing together a phenomenal first two months of the season positioned comfortably in Luke Hughes' shadow.
The Twins selected Tolleson out of the University of South Carolina with the 165th overall pick in 2005. The Twins had intimate knowledge of the University of South Carolina's baseball program which and eventually targeted several players that played along side Tolleson including Brian Buscher who lead South Carolina in batting with a .393/.453/.644 line in Tolleson's freshman season and Steve Pearce, who the Twins drafted with the 1341th pick in 2003 out of his Lakeland (FL) High School but later led the 2005 Gamecocks with a .358/.420/.703 line with 21 home runs and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates (the Twins passed on Pearce in 2005 to select Tolleson). Tolleson, was no slouch at the plate either. In those two seasons along side Buscher and Pearce, Tolleson hit .302/.373/.446 and .296/.386/.444 respectively. In his senior season, Tolleson swiped 20 bases and was only caught 3 times (86% success rate) playing well enough to be named First Team All-American. During Tolleson's senior stint in one of college baseball's mostly highly touted conference, the SEC graduated such future major leaguers and upcoming prospects as Kansas City's Luke Hochevar, Milwaukee's Matt LaPorta and San Diego's Chase Headley as well as Detroit's Clete Thomas, Oakland's Greg Smith and Los Angeles Angels's Darren O'Day. The talent pool was obviously deep.
In 2005, the 21-year-old Tolleson reported to Elizabethton in the Appelachian League (RK) for his inaugural professional season. Tolleson compiled good numbers in 56 at-bats, accumulating 9 extra base hits among his 18 total hits (50% xbh%) with a batting line of .321/.457/.571. His patience and plate discipline was outstanding as well, obtaining 11 walks and striking out just 4 times. The Twins moved him up to the Beloit in the Midwest League (low-A) where he struggled with the older competition. In 102 at-bats he hit just .176/.311/.284 as Luke Hughes's second base replacement when Hughes was promoted to high-A Fort Myers.
The following season the Twins gave Tolleson a second chance at Beloit, there Tolleson made the most of his opportunities hitting .287/.390/.392 in 171 at-bats and was named to the Midwest League's All-Star team. He played well enough to convince the front office to move him to high-A Fort Myers when the Twins promoted the recently acquired Alexi Casilla to New Britain. In 29 games at second, Tolleson showed better hands than the heralded new-comer (.978 versus .958 fielding percentage) but without the range (4.69 versus 4.93 range factor). Unlike his experience in his intital introduction to low-A Beloit, Tolleson appeared to comprehend the pitching, batting .268/.355/.408 in 157 plate appearances and made decent contact (13% line drive rate).
With Hughes and Casilla moved to double-A New Britain for the 2007, the Twins used Tolleson to alternate between second and short for a full season at Fort Myers. In 132 games, Tolleson played 50 at short, 47 at second and was used as the designated hitter in 30 more. On the field, Tolleson proved to be a slightly better second baseman than a shortstop. At the plate, he came into his own. In 487 at-bats, the most in his professional career, Tolleson batted .285/.388/.382 - well above the Florida State League average in batting (.261) and on-base percentage (.330). Tolleson's 139 hits was 4th in the league (thanks to his line drives hit in play nearly a quarter of the time) and his 79 walks was 3rd - the latter is an attribute that many organizations lust after (Oakland and Boston in particular) but a statistic that the Twins seldom worship.
This season, the Twins relocated Tolleson to the next level, attempting an integration of Tolleson to a roster that would include infielders Hughes and the shortstop heir apparent Trevor Plouffe. In April, Tolleson had a roller coaster beginning to his season, one that included a 0-for-19 stretch and 5 consecutive at-bats of doubles. He recovered enough to finish the month hitting .257/.360/.392. Part of the reason for the slow start was that he was making atypical contact, grounding out in 55% of the time leading to a lowly .288 batting average on balls in play.
"I got off to a little bit of a slow start at the beginning of the year," Tolleson told his hometown Spartanburg, South Carolina paper. "I started learning how pitchers were pitching to me. I made some adjustments, and everything has been going well ever since."
The adjustment included better contact, hitting the ball for a line drive nearly 18% of the time resulting in a babip .392. Admittedly, this is an extraordinarily high average on balls put in play suggesting that there will be a drop in the coming months on his offensive production, however, his plate approach that includes drawing walks also would say that his on-base percentage (currently .412) should remain high, which is 7th in the Eastern League. When Nick Punto, Matt Tolbert and Adam Everett all were on the disabled list at the same time, the Twins balked at calling up Tolleson, essentially because of his two-headed season at the double-A level, opting instead to recall Howie Clark. In the last ten games, Tolleson is 9-for-36 with 3 doubles, a .250 average, and has walked 10 times with just 6 strike outs. His 2008 season probably will regress to his career norm (.279/.382/.402), yet he should get the opportunity in triple-A before the season is finished.
JP the Twins Fan (circa 1981) will be an occasional contributor to the Twins Territory site, highlighting the Twins minor league system in attempts to inform fellow Twins fans of the players below the tip of the ice berg. He currently writes at Over the Baggy.
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