Interesting. He wasn't really hitting in Rochester during rehab, and it wouldn't surprise me at all to find out the team was looking for a reason to just keep him down there after his rough MLB start.

But he's a real life centerfielder and Clete Thomas is not. I think what's kind of funny about this is that it shows the youth movement occurs in small moments and moves and not big ones. Want to make sure we get a good look at all the young(er) players we need to evaluate? Then don't buy into Clete Thomas' hot run and give them some playing time. This move says that seeing how Hicks and Arcia and Parmelee (who is probably running out of time himself) is more important than whatever marginal 2013 value that Clete Thomas provides over Aaron Hicks. And I fucking love it.

It also says that Byron Buxton is coming fast. Maybe faster than anybody is comfortable with. Hicks needs a good, long look before the storm starts.

edit: because it's not really worth it's own post, Max Kepler is hitting .295/.392/.659 in Cedar Rapids right now. And a 17 year old making his stateside debut, Amaurys Minier, is at .345/.394/.621 for the GCL Twins. In a system that will be hit hard for the best possible reason, graduation of top-100 guys like Hicks, Arcia, and Gibson, those two are big upside players that could replace them in the Twins top-10 this next winter. I think that Kohl Stewart is supposed to debut sometime this week too, but I'm not sure when.