TWINS MINOR LEAGUE REPORT: Maza making big strides

Finding middle infield depth through their minor league system has been an ongoing process for the Twins.

One player who appears to be taking a step forward is Class AA second baseman Luis Maza. The Twins signed Maza as an undrafted free agent in 1997. He has spent the past six seasons playing in the low minors but is playing consistently in Class AA for the New Britain Rock Cats.

Maza, of Venezuela, was batting .342 heading into play this weekend. More important, he hasn't committed an error.

"When we first got him, he also played shortstop," said Jim Rantz, the Twins' director of minor league operations. "He played at short for a couple of years, but we feel he's better at second base. He's quick enough with his feet to make the double play, and his range is good. He has just done everything better this year. He's putting together a good year."

Last year, Maza hit .290 in 111 games for the Class A Fort Myers Miracle. He drove in 61 runs, the highest total in his minor league career.

His.342 batting average is 73 points higher than his .269 career average over his first six minor league seasons.

Trickle-down moves: All the injuries the Twins have suffered have caused a shakeup throughout their minor league system.

Class AAA first baseman Justin Morneau is up with the big club, and to replace him on the Rochester Red Wings roster, the Twins promoted Class AA outfielder Jason Kubel.

It's not a bad tradeoff for the Red Wings. Morneau was batting .356 with 10 home runs and 29 runs batted in. Kubel was hitting .377 with six homers and 29 RBIs for New Britain.

"We replaced the guy who was leading the International League in hitting with a guy who was leading the Eastern League in hitting," Rantz said.

Injury update: Denard Span, the Twins' first-round draft pick in 2002, was placed on the disabled list this week with a sprained right wrist. Class A Quad Cities will be without the speedy leadoff hitter for seven to 10 days.

Before the injury, Span raised his batting average from the .190s to the .250s. Span suffered the injury swinging at a pitch.

Quad Cities third baseman Matt Moses, the Twins' first-round draft pick in 2003, is expected to miss the next two weeks because of a bulging disk. Moses received a pain-killing injection this week.

Last week New Britain activated from the disabled list first baseman Billy Munoz, who broke his ankle in April.

Starting pitching prospect J.D. Durbin underwent surgery to repair frayed shoulder cartilage. He is expected to return to action by mid-July.

Nice debut: Pitcher Scott Baker, promoted from Fort Myers to New Britain, was impressive at the Class AA level last Tuesday.

Minor league doubleheaders are seven-inning games, and Baker was perfect through 6 1/3 innings before allowing a base hit. He retired the next two batters to complete a 1-0 victory.

Kubel homered for the game's only run.

Briefly: Carlos Pulido decided to remain with the Twins' Class AAA team in Rochester, N.Y., rather than become a free agent after being designated for assignment last week. Pulido, who opened the season on the major league roster, won his first game since returning to the Red Wings last week, throwing 96 pitches in seven innings.