Minor Leagues

A week after Royce Lewis faced Casey Mize in a Battle of #1 Overall Picks, he (and his Miracle teammates) faced Brendan McKay who was taken three picks after the Twins took Lewis. Lewis and Kirilloff each had one hit off of the talented left-hander. Griffin Jax put together another quality start. Edwar Colina put together one of the best starts of his career (and he was part of a no-hitter earlier in the season). The E-Twins began their night with back-to-back home runs.

There wasn’t much offense in the system on Sunday afternoon, as the five affiliates in action combined for just 12 runs on 27 hits. Those equate to averages of 2.4 runs per game and 5.4 hits. But it wasn’t all bad, as the bullpens of four of them had strong efforts and even led their teams to a couple of wins.

To find out how all your favorite prospects did on Sunday, as well as just how strong those bullpens pitched, keep reading and be sure to add to the discussion in the comments!

The Twins signed Michael Pineda to a two-year deal in December, and I’ve been constantly forgetting about him ever since. Nothing against Pineda, it’s just really hard to remember a guy who’s recovering from a surgery. But, if his 2018 debut is any indication, Pineda could serve as the baseball version of finding a loose $20 bill in a pair of jeans you’ve had lying around.

One of the new Miracle players hit a huge home run in the ninth inning to help the team to a come-from-behind win. Another newcomer fell a double away from a cycle. A 2018 draft pick was a home run from a cycle. And another prospect whose name has graced these minor league reports nearly every day this season had yet another multi-hit game. And a former top pick and top prospect found out that he is heading to the big leagues.

A couple of close games and a couple of laughers in the system on Thursday night, including a strong start from Stephen Gonsalves and a combined shutout from Elizabethton. Come check out what else happened across the minors.

Willians Astudillo is one savvy motherforker.

He’s not even 27 years old yet but he’s got the savvy moves of a much older, wiser veteran.

We already know that Astudillo is sneaky. Behind the plate during spring training, Astudillo caught the Yankees’ Shane Robinson napping off first base with a brilliant no-look throw. It was a move Astudillo has pulled out several times in his winter league career in Venezuela. On Wednesday night, however, he was at third base and the crafty Astudillo pulled the hidden ball trick out in broad daylight.

Trevor Larnach made his debut for the Cedar Rapids Kernels tonight, and did so with an impressive game at the dish. Up a level, Lewis Thorpe spun a great game from the mound to position the Lookouts for a victory. In a busy night on the farm, there was plenty to write home about.

Regi Grace was the Twins 10th-round pick in the June 2018 draft out of high school in Mississippi. The talented, hard throwing pitcher had a commitment to Mississippi State, but the Twins found a way to convince him to start his professional career (they went well over slot to sign him). Recently, Regi Grace was kind enough to take some time to answer questions for us. Continue reading to Get To Know more about a very young, very intriguing pitching prospect in the Twins system.

With two affiliates traveling, there were only four games on tap for Tuesday. There was little offense in a few of those games, but the action in the others more than made up for it. A starter in Fort Myers delivered another strong performance in a shutout victory, while bombs went off in Elizabethton led by a standout performer drafted nearly two months ago to the day.

To find out how all the Minnesota Twins prospects who were in action on Tuesday fared, read on!

On Monday night, 2017 #1 overall pick Royce Lewis faced 2018 #1 overall pick Casey Mize in Lakeland, Florida. It was the Florida State League debut for Mize. It was Lewis’s 21st game with the Miracle. On this night, Lewis went 2-for-2 with a home run against Mize, and 4-for-6 with two home runs overall as the Miracle topped the Flying Tigers 13-0.

Obviously it was a fun matchup, but it is a matchup that fans of the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers hope to see a lot of over the next decade, or more. As a hard-throwing right-hander, Mize is likely to fly through the Tigers system and could debut as early as midseason 2019. But it gets me wondering just when we might see that match up at Comerica Park or Target Field.

It’s safe to say that the first Battle of #1 Picks went in favor of Royce Lewis. The Miracle were in Lakeland, the Florida State League affiliate of Detroit Tigers.On the mound to face the Miracle was 2018 #1 overall pick Casey Mize, a right-hander from Auburn. Lewis led off with a single, and in his second at-bat, he drilled a two-run homer. Mize went just three innings, and Lewis and the Miracle went on to a big win. Hopefully we'll be following Casey Mize/Royce Lewis at-bats for many years.

The top six affiliates in the Twins’ minor league system combined to score a grand total of just nine runs Saturday night. On the bright side, there was still a multi-home run game from Jaylin Davis, a walk-off homer from Mark Contreras and a dominant pitching performance from Andro Cutura.