Article: Twins Minor League Report (8/9): Palacios, Wickens, Vargas and LeBlanc Shine

[Seth Stohs]

Plenty of action on a Sunday in the Minnesota Twins minor leagues. Which prospect knocked in six runs on this day? Which prospect had a four-hit game? Which reliever finally got a chance to start… and pitched just as well as he had out of the bullpen? There was a blowout, and there were three, one-run games.All that and more can be found as you work your way through Sunday’s minor league report.

 

 

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 6, Charlotte 5

Box Score

 

Michael Bowden made his third start for the Red Wings and got his first win. He gave up four runs on eight hits and a walk over six innings. He struck out six. Alex Meyer walked two but did not allow a run in his inning. Mark Hamburger gave up a solo home run in his inning. Michael Tonkin gave up one hit in a scoreless inning to record his 11^th save.

 

Xavier Avery went 2-4 with his fourth home run. Argenis Diaz was also 2-4. Reynaldo Rodriguez hit his 13^th home run. Byron Buxton went 1-4 with a walk.

 

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 14, Mobile 2

Box Score

 

The Lookouts bats showed up for this game as they got contributions from almost everyone in the lineup. Stephen Wickens had a very productive day. The infielder went 3-5 with his 11^th double. He also drove in six runs. He had a two-run single and a bases-clearing double. Kennys Vargas went 2-4 with a walk and his seventh Lookouts home run. Heiker Meneses went 2-5. Stuart Turner and Niko Goodrum were each 1-2 with two walks.

 

The team scored their 14 runs on 11 hits and seven walks. They were ahead 7-1 after just three innings before scoring seven runs in the fourth frame.

 

DJ Baxendale was solid and recorded the win. He gave up two runs on seven hits over six innings. He walked one and struck out three. Brandon Peterson gave up one hit in a scoreless inning. Alex Wimmers struck out two over two perfect innings.

 

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers 2, Palm Beach 3

Box Score

 

Not much offense for the Miracle, but they held a late 2-1 lead. Ryan Eades started. He gave up one run on five hits and a walk in 5.2 innings. He struck out four. Corey Williams got the final out of the sixth and three more outs in the seventh. Holding a 2-1 lead in the eighth, Trevor Hildenberger gave up two runs on three hits to take the loss.

 

The Miracle took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when a Marcus Knecht ground out scored Engelb Vielma. In the sixth inning, In the sixth Mitch Garver provided the second run. He doubled in Aderlin Mejia, who had walked. Garver was 2-4 with his 17^th double.

 

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 4, Bowling Green 0

Box Score

 

Randy LeBlanc has been one of the top relief pitchers in the Twins system all year. He leads all relievers in Innings pitched. On Sunday, he finally was given the opportunity to start. He came through as hoped. He worked five shutout innings. He gave up just one hit, walked three and struck out two. He recorded ten groundouts to just one fly out. Ethan Mildren and Yorman Landa each pitched two scoreless innings in relief.

 

Pat Kelly went 3-4. TJ White hit his first home run of the year, a two-run shot in the seventh inning. Tanner English went 2-4 with a walk and his 35^th stolen base.

 

E-TOWN E-NOTES

Elizabethton 6, Bluefield 5

Box Score

 

Jermaine Palacios continues his incredible season. He went 4-5 in this game to raise his Twins batting average to .455. AJ Murray went 3-5. LaMonte Wade was 2-3 with two walks. He also stole his fourth base. Brad Hartong was 2-5. Amaurys Minier was 2-2 with a walk.

 

However, the E-Twins had four errors which kept the game close. Palacios committed his fifth and sixth errors in his ninth game with the E-Twins. Nelson Molina also had two errors.

 

Miles Nordgren got the starting nod for the Twins. He gave up just two unearned runs on three hits over 6.2 innings. He walked one and struck out three. Tyler Stirewalt came on and was charged with three unearned runs on three hits in one inning. Kuo Hua Lo struck out three and walked one in 1.1 scoreless innings.

 

GCL TWINS TAKES

GCL Twins

Box Score

No GCL games scheduled on Sundays.

 

 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

 

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Randy LeBlanc, Cedar Rapids Kernels

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Stephen Wickens, Chattanooga Lookouts

 

 

MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

 

Rochester @ Buffalo (6:05 CST) – RHP Tyler Duffey

Mobile @ Chattanooga (6:15 CST) – RHP Tim Shibuya

Ft. Myers @ St. Lucie (5:30 CST) – LHP Mat Batts

Cedar Rapids – No Game Scheduled

Greeneville @ Elizabethton (DH @ 5:00 CST) – RHP Andro Cutura

GCL Rays @ GCL Twins (11:00 CST) – TBD

 

 

Feel free to leave any questions or comments below

 

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[big dog]

Arcia, 0-4 with 3 strikeouts.  His head must be really messed up.  I hope he can pull something together out of this season.  I also hope he eventually quits swinging so hard he hurts himself.

[HitInAPinch]

Don't know what it is with Arcia.  Probably best to shut him down for the year and get him some time in the Winter Leagues.

 

Vargas seems to be moving in the right direction.

Jermaine Palacios:  is his long term position 3B? 

[Mike Sixel]

Whatever they are trying.......it isn't working with Arcia, unfortunately. I thought he'd be here all year, and be a 105 OPS guy.......

 

I really think moving him out of RF was a bad idea, but I can't prove that caused all this.....nor can I prove sending him down while he was hot caused this, nor can I prove not calling him back up when healthy caused this, but I can wonder.....

[Guest]

I think it's natural to wonder what happened to Arcia and fair to question somewhat how he's been handled this season.

 

That said, I generally believe that the players themselves have to accept primary responsibility for their own successes and failures. Unless some coach is screwing with a guy's mechanics or trying to make a player in to something he clearly is not, the player needs to just do his job so well that the rest takes care of itself. Only the best of the minor leaguers even get a taste of an opportunity in the big leagues. When they get that taste, they need to prove they deserve to stay. If they stumble at all, there's a long line of guys behind them that are waiting to take that spot.

Edited August 10, 2015 by SD Buhr

[jokin]

Since Arcia is out of options, I get the feeling that both sides are more or less resigned to a parting of the ways in the offseason.

[HitInAPinch]

 

Whatever they are trying.......it isn't working with Arcia, unfortunately. I thought he'd be here all year, and be a 105 OPS guy.......

 

I really think moving him out of RF was a bad idea, but I can't prove that caused all this.....nor can I prove sending him down while he was hot caused this, nor can I prove not calling him back up when healthy caused this, but I can wonder.....

There is something about being a Right fielder:  It's sort of a glamor position.  Like Reggie Jackson.

I just can't get a grip on an outfield with no power like the one most are projecting/clamoring for:

Rosario, Buxton and Hicks. 

[clutterheart]

 

There is something about being a Right fielder:  It's sort of a glamor position.  Like Reggie Jackson.

I just can't get a grip on an outfield with no power like the one most are projecting/clamoring for:

Rosario, Buxton and Hicks. 

The OF defense was really bad last year with Willingham & Arcia at the corners and its fun to watch athletic OF'ers going after a ball instead of tripping over feet

[nytwinsfan]

 

There is something about being a Right fielder:  It's sort of a glamor position.  Like Reggie Jackson.

I just can't get a grip on an outfield with no power like the one most are projecting/clamoring for:

Rosario, Buxton and Hicks. 

First of all, all three have power (as does Kepler who should also be included in that list), just a lot of it is in doubles and triples. They also provide defense. Look at KC to see how that kind of outfield works. So far the Royals outfielders have hit approximately 30 HR combined, but yet they have provided about 10 WAR, which is fantastic for 2/3 of the way through a season. If we could get that kind of output out of Rosario/Buxton/Hicks/Kepler (which I think we can) it would be absolutely huge and give us one of the best outfields in baseball.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=of&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=150&type=8&season=2015&month=0&season1=2015&ind=0&team=7&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0

 

BTW, note the Royals are the best outfield in defense by WAR right now, and that is while missing Alex Gordon for a while. Shows just how little HR power is required to have a great outfield.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=of&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2015&month=0&season1=2015&ind=0&team=0,ts&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0

Edited August 10, 2015 by nytwinsfan

[HitInAPinch]

 

The OF defense was really bad last year with Willingham & Arcia at the corners and its fun to watch athletic OF'ers going after a ball instead of tripping over feet

Arcia tripped over his feet, how many times?

[HitInAPinch]

 

 

First of all, all three have power (as does Kepler who should also be included in that list), just a lot of it is in doubles and triples. They also provide defense. Look at KC to see how that kind of outfield works. So far the Royals outfielders have hit approximately 30 HR combined, but yet they have provided about 10 WAR, which is fantastic for 2/3 of the way through a season. If we could get that kind of output out of Rosario/Buxton/Hicks/Kepler (which I think we can) it would be absolutely huge and give us one of the best outfields in baseball.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=of&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=150&type=8&season=2015&month=0&season1=2015&ind=0&team=7&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0

 

BTW, note the Royals are the best outfield in defense by WAR right now, and that is while missing Alex Gordon for a while. Shows just how little HR power is required to have a great outfield.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=of&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2015&month=0&season1=2015&ind=0&team=0,ts&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0

 

IF  Yeah, I'll stop you right there.  Where a player is ranked on a prospect list doesn't mean anything when you're talking statistics.  If we're counting the current MLB stats of Rosario, Buxton and Hicks,  it's not pretty.  If we give them a mulligan because of their age/experience, then we're not talking statistics again.

 

WAR, too me, is more of a diluting of the pool.  Take a player, compare them to the league average player.  Good concept.  Keeps things like "fear factor" out of the game:  Being a hitter facing a N. Ryan or a R. Johnson.  Or a pitcher facing a R. Jackson or a B. Bonds.

 

There's a pretty big difference in what you and I think of as "power".  A Home Run get's me at least 1 run.  Doubles and Triples are extra base hits.  Something else has to be in place or needs to happen to get that run. 

 

Extra Base Hits, of course, are more democratic

[nytwinsfan]

 

IF  Yeah, I'll stop you right there.  Where a player is ranked on a prospect list doesn't mean anything when you're talking statistics.  If we're counting the current MLB stats of Rosario, Buxton and Hicks,  it's not pretty.  If we give them a mulligan because of their age/experience, then we're not talking statistics again.

 

WAR, too me, is more of a diluting of the pool.  Take a player, compare them to the league average player.  Good concept.  Keeps things like "fear factor" out of the game:  Being a hitter facing a N. Ryan or a R. Johnson.  Or a pitcher facing a R. Jackson or a B. Bonds.

 

There's a pretty big difference in what you and I think of as "power".  A Home Run get's me at least 1 run.  Doubles and Triples are extra base hits.  Something else has to be in place or needs to happen to get that run. 

 

Extra Base Hits, of course, are more democratic

 

You can say you don't think that minor league stats have much correlation with major league stats and you don't consider them very relevant. And you can say that WAR isn't an important or relevant stat. And you can say that doubles and triples don't count as "power."  You can even ignore the tremendous amount of value that Rosario and Hicks have provided on both sides of the ball in limited playing time this year. I don't have much to say to you then, since I think we see the game incredibly differently. We may as well be watching different sports.

 

 

[sane]

What is the backstory on Christian Cavaness of the GCL Twins?

He was NOT drafted, but was signed by the Twins after the draft.

He has started out with a (small sample) OPS of 1.200.

Is he a prospect?

Is he a player?

Is he a JAG? (just a guy)

[diehardtwinsfan]

He's 21 and has put up a .455 average in 15 at bats. As a college sign, I'd expect him to do better than the GCL, as he's old for the league. But this is also SSS. I'd say way too soon to tell.