Delmon Young Socks for Twins; Chris Capuano on Comeback Trail

Players of the Day for Saturday, March 19, 2011

American League

Delmon Young

The Minnesota Twins smacked around the Tampa Bay Rays in a 9-2 win, improving to 12-9, good for 4th place in the Grapefruit League.

Minnesota had 13 hits, three of them by Delmon Young, who the Twins acquired from Tampa Bay in 2008. Young socked his first home run of the exhibition season, drove in four runs and scored twice, going 3-for-4. He raised his batting average to .368.

Young had a solid season with the Twins in 2010, batting .298 with 21 home runs and 112 RBI.

National League

Chris Capuano

Chris Capuano looks like a keeper in the Mets' starting rotation.

Picked up following a 2010 campaign with Milwaukee in which he went 4-4 in nine starts, Capuano turned in his best effort of the Spring, working over the Nationals for 5 1/3 innings without allowing a run. He surrendered three hits and struck out five, paving the way to a 7-4 victory.

Following a few good seasons with the Brewers, Capuano missed all of 2008 and 2009 due to injury, but worked his way back to the majors last season. If he continues making progress, he could wind up as one of the steals of the off-season.

He did fan 54 batters in 66 innings last season, much of that in relief, so there's reason to believe he's got the goods.