Top pick impressing Twins, so far

Byron Buxton, who received a $6 million signing bonus two weeks ago as the Minnesota Twins' top draft pick, has yet to get his first professional hit, but he has flied out six times in eight at-bats in the rookie Gulf Coast League in Fort Myers, Fla.

"He's just (swinging) a little bit under the ball," Fort Myers manager Ramon Borrego said Saturday, June 23, after his team lost 9-1 to Boston's rookie club.

"But he's very aggressive, he has got a good swing, and I like him because he plays hard."

Buxton, who leads off and plays center field, is just 18. Borrego said he has made a couple of fine plays in the field.

"He's a very good kid with great potential," the manager said. "He got jammed (at bat) a couple of times but still hit the ball to the warning track the opposite way. He's going to be fine. He's just a kid, very quiet, very coachable, and he has got a great arm."

Borrego said he timed the right-handed swinging Buxton on Saturday running to first base (90 feet) in 4.15 seconds after hitting a ground ball to shortstop.

"He showed me great speed today," Borrego said.

The Texas Rangers on Friday placed pitcher Mark Hamburger on waivers. Hamburger, 25, is the 2005 Mounds View grad who just last season made his major league debut in relief for the American League champions.

Within an hour of being removed from the 40-player Rangers roster to make room for pitcher Roy Oswalt,

The 6-foot-4, 202-pound Hamburger, who got to pitch in five major league games for Texas last season, was signed out of a Twins tryout camp in 2007. In 2008, the Twins traded the right-hander to the Rangers for Eddie Guardado who, when informed of the trade, exclaimed, "What? I was traded for a hamburger?"

Hamburger has been designated for assignment by Texas after going 0-2 with a 6.55 earned-run average at Triple-A Round Rock (Texas) this season, but his fastball has been in the 93-mph range.

During his first week on the job last week, Gophers athletics director Norwood Teague met with about a dozen donors.

"They've been fantastic," Teague said.

Teague was to meet with Gophers alumnus Lou Nanne on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Teague said his new job "already has exceeded expectations. I knew it was going to be busy, and I knew it was going to be a lot of fun," he said. "What comes across over and over to me is the strong passion that our fans and stakeholders have for athletics."

Teague said "somebody told me this is arguably the best AD job in the country, and I kind of chuckled because I agreed. There's so much we can do, so many opportunities."

Negatives?

"There's some impatience that you read with people, and that's fine," he said. "Granted, I'm in a honeymoon period, but it has been very encouraging for me."

Nanne's grandson Louis, a left wing chosen in the seventh round of Saturday's NHL draft by the Wild, will forgo his senior year at Edina High School to play junior hockey for the Penticton Vees in British Columbia this fall.

The son of former Gopher and current Wild scout Marty Nanne has committed to the Gophers and probably will be a freshman for the 2013-14 season.

Vikings center John Sullivan is overjoyed to have four teammates who are fellow Notre Dame alums.

"I spent three years here by myself as the only Notre Dame guy," he said. "Then we drafted Kyle (Rudolph), and John (Carlson) came in free agency, then we got Harrison (Smith) and Robert (Blanton) in the draft.

"It's great. I feel (Notre Dame) is a school that produces guys who know how to do things the right way, who are well-disciplined, high-character guys."

Vikings general manager Rick Spielman, by the way, consulted Sullivan before the Vikings drafted Smith and Blanton in April.

The last time the Timberwolves had the 18th overall pick in the NBA draft, in 2009, they chose Ty Lawson out of North Carolina. They have No. 18 in Thursday's draft, too.

A healthy Trevor Mbakwe should make for a fourth-place Big Ten Conference finish and NCAA tournament berth for the Gophers men's basketball team next season.

Brittany Viola, daughter of former Twins Cy Young Award winner Frank, has a decent chance to qualify for the U.S. Olympic diving team in finals Sunday near Seattle.

Meanwhile, Frank, 52, is the pitching coach for the New York Mets' Class A Savannah, Ga., club.

"I'm having a blast," Viola said Saturday.

Viola had considered becoming a college coach.

"But I've decided to veer away from that," he said. "I'm still 15 credits short from graduating (from St. John's), and you need a degree to even have a possibility to coach. So that's on the back burner right now."

Viola hopes to attend the Twins' jersey retirement of former manager Tom Kelly on Sept. 8 at Target Field.

Fritz Waldvogel, the 5-foot-9 former University of St. Thomas football star, in his first two games playing in Germany this season, has 590 all-purpose yards and eight touchdowns.

Ex-Gopher Kris Humphries, 27, who averaged 13.8 points and 11.0 rebounds a game for the New Jersey Nets last season, can expect a $50 million, five-year contract as an NBA free agent this summer. The 6-9, 235-pound Hopkins grad has the Nets, Golden State and Washington among expected suitors, but not the Timberwolves.

Ex-Wolves assistant Eric Musselman, a two-time NBA head coach, last week led Venezuela to the South American championship game.

Matt Knoff, son of former Vikings safety Kurt and a standout safety for Eden Prairie last season, is headed to Indiana this fall, but not to play football.

Some Twins players on Monday will model the 1951 Minneapolis Millers uniforms the team will wear when it hosts Kansas City on Saturday. The Royals will wear Kansas City Blues throwback uniforms.

Before Sunday afternoon's Miesville Mudhens-Randolph amateur baseball game in Miesville, the Mudhens will honor late alumni pitcher Dan "Moose" Carey and the University of Minnesota cancer research fund that bears his name. Carey, a fastballing lefty from Hastings who signed with the New York Mets out of high school in 1967, died in 2011 from brain cancer.

By the way, Carey is still the highest-drafted pitcher from Minnesota, going to the Mets in the second round (No. 24 overall) in 1967.

The Minnesota Chapter NFL Alumni charity golf tournament, which attracts many former Vikings, is Monday at Bearpath Country Club in Eden Prairie.

The Gophers' Goal Line Club golf tournament on Wednesday at Medina Country Club is a 144-player sellout. Among golfers: Darrell Thompson, Rickey Foggie, Bryan Cupito, Mike Wright, Adam Weber, Mike Sherels, Jon Hoese, Bob Morgan, George Adzick, Ed Olson, Bob McNamara, John Shevlin, MarQueis Gray, and Eddie and Tommy Olson. Jerry Kill is keynote speaker for dinner.

The University of St. Thomas was the only institution from among 1,000 in the NCAA during 2011-12 to win at least 12 games in football and to have at least 30 victories in baseball, softball and volleyball, as well as 20 victories in men's and women's basketball.

DON'T PRINT THAT

Glen Perkins' effectiveness as Twins closer seems to make a trade of Matt Capps inevitable.

Look for Gophers sophomore defenseman Nick Bjugstad to accept an invitation to the Florida Panthers' developmental camp in two weeks, then make a decision whether to return for his junior season at Minnesota or turn professional.

The Panthers are expected to push hard for Bjugstad, a former first-round draft pick, to sign with the understanding that he'll receive a bona fide chance to play in the NHL next season, if there is a season.

The 6-foot-5, 215-pound center has to consider whether the NHL will lock out players when its labor agreement expires in September and whether it's better then to play for the Gophers or in the American Hockey League.

If Bjugstad turns pro and plays in the NHL, he would receive a $900,000 per season salary plus a $270,000 signing bonus on a three-year deal. Including incentive bonuses, an NHL season for Bjugstad could be worth nearly $1.5 million annually.

Hall of Fame former Gopher Paul Molitor, in the forward of "Dick Siebert: A Life in Baseball," by Joel Rippel: "Coach Siebert came to watch me at Cretin High School during my senior year. We had short hair and were clean cut. He offered me a partial scholarship. I didn't see him over the summer. In the fall when I got on campus, I walked into his office with a full beard. He looked at me and said, 'Who the hell are you? I just want you to know we run things different from the Oakland A's.' "

Don't look for incoming Gophers basketball freshmen Charles Buggs or Wally Ellenson to have impacts on the coming season. Ellenson needs a year of development; Buggs needs to get stronger.

The Timberwolves have 75-to-1 odds to win next season's NBA championship, according to Brovada Las Vegas sports book.

Odds of the Gophers winning the Big Ten football championship this year are 100-to-1, just behind Indiana at 65-to-1. Michigan is favored at 2-to-1.

Ricky Rubio, Maya Moore, Seimone Augustus, Mike Yeo and Christian Ponder have agreed to make cameo appearances wearing a Twins cap for the Twins' new "Treasured Cap" TV commercials that will begin airing soon.

The Timberwolves will take 6-8 small forward Moe Harkness of St. John's with their No. 18 pick in Thursday's NBA draft, NBADraft.net projects. Ex-Gopher Royce White, a 6-8 small forward from Iowa State, is projected at No. 24 by Cleveland.

Incoming Robbinsdale Cooper senior cornerback Malik Rucker committed to Iowa after visiting last week.

Brian Jamros, who is associate athletics director at Concordia-St. Paul, and Mike Powicki, who is assistant AD at Minnesota State Mankato, are among four finalists for the AD job at Wayne State.

The Rochester Red Wings have moved ex-Twins infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka, who is batting .233, from leadoff in the lineup to No. 7.

OVERHEARD

Former North Stars general manager Lou Nanne, 71, on the Wild choosing grandson Louis Nanne, 18, in the seventh round of Saturday's NHL draft: "I'm very excited, first of all to have him drafted, then to be picked by the Wild."