Article: Twins Minor League Report (8/17): Pitchers Dominate

[Seth Stohs]

What a night in the Twins system! The Twins found another way to lose to the Yankees. Byron Buxton continued to hit. Two top-ten prospects threw complete games for the Ft. Myers Miracle. With that true, the top pitching performance of the night came from Cedar Rapids. That says a lot when you consider the Elizabethton starter didn’t give up a hit.All that and more can be found as you work your way through today’s minor league report.

 

TRANSACTIONS

 

There were a couple of transactions in the Twins system on Tuesday:

• Lefty David Hurlbut, promoted to Rochester over the weekend for one start, was returned to AA Chattanooga.
• RHP Matt Summer was sent down to Ft. Myers.
• Danny Santana was activated from the 7-day disabled list. Eric Farris was placed on the DL for Rochester.
• In former Twins minor league news, as of last week when he was released from the Rochester roster, Nate Hanson has signed with the 62-19 St. Paul Saints. He was in their lineup on Tuesday night.

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 6, Buffalo 5

Box Score

 

Byron Buxton extended his hitting streak to all 12 games he’s spent with the Red Wings. He went 2-4 with his second double. Danny Santana was 2-4 with his seventh double and fourth triple. James Beresford was also 2-4. Kennys Vargas’s fifth double drove in two runs.

 

Logan Darnell made the start and the lefty worked into the sixth inning. In 5.2 innings, he gave up three unearned runs. He allowed three hits, walked five and struck out three. Tim Shibuya, the Twins 23^rd round pick in 2011, made his AAA debut. He gave up two hits over 1.1 scoreless innings in relief. Aaron Thompson came on to start the eighth, but he gave up two hits and walked a batter without recording an out. Mark Hamburger came in and allowed two of the inherited runners to score on a hit, but he got through the eighth inning holding a one-run lead. Michael Tonkin came on and pitched a perfect ninth for his 14^th save.

 

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 4, Pensacola 8

Box Score

 

Greg Peavey had a rough one. He gave up six runs on four hits and four walks and recorded just four outs. Alex Wimmers came on and struck out three over 2.2 perfect innings. Brandon Peterson struck out one in a flawless inning. Nick Burdi gave up two runs on three hits and two walks over 1.2 innings. He struck out two. DJ Johnson got the final out with a strikeout.

 

The Lookouts went 1-2-3 in the first two innings. Niko Goodrum led off the third inning with his fifth home run. He went 2-3 in the game. Max Kepler was 1-3 with a walk.

 

MIRACLE MATTERS

Game 1 – Ft. Myers 4, Charlotte 1

Box Score

 

Stephen Gonsalves continues a remarkable 2015 season. The left-hander went all seven innings of game one. He gave up just one run on four hits. He walked one and struck out seven. He improved to 6-1 with a 2.23 ERA with the Miracle.

 

Josmil Pinto was added to the Miracle roster after DHing in four games with the GCL Twins. He was the DH and third hitter in this game. He went 1-4 but hit a solo home run. The other big hit came off the bat of Tanner Vavra. He hit a two-run single in a three-run fifth inning. Logan Wade hit his 17^th double.

 

Game 2 – Ft. Myers 5, Charlotte 2

Box Score

 

Kohl Stewart followed Gonsalves’s complete game with one of his own. He gave up two runs on six hits over seven innings. He did not walk a batter. He struck out two and recorded 13 groundouts. He is now 6-7 with a 3.21 ERA on the season.

 

Tanner Vavra again led the way. He went 2-2 with a walk. Aderlin Mejia went 1-2 with his eighth double and two RBI

 

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 0, Kane County 1

Box Score

 

Keaton Steele deserved better. The right-hander gave up just one run on three hits over eight innings. He walked none and struck out four. However, he took the loss.

 

The Kernels bats just couldn’t get anything going. They managed just six hits in the game. Zach Larson went 2-3 with his 18^th double. Edgar Corcino went 2-4.

 

E-TOWN E-NOTES

Elizabethton 6, Danville 2

Box Score

 

Cody Stashak was back on the mound. Through five innings, he gave up only an unearned run. He gave up no hits, walked two and struck out six. He came out of the game and was replaced by Logan Lombana. He gave up one run on four hits over two innings. He struck out two and didn’t walk a batter. Kuo Hua Lo struck out four over the final two innings to drop his ERA to 1.03. Stashak improved to 5-1 with a 1.58 ERA.

 

Kamran Young led the offense. He went 2-4 with his sixth double, his second triple and four RBI. LaMonte Wade went 1-2 with two walks. He also stole his sixth and seventh bases. Manuel Guzman walked twice. He stole his 16^th, 17^th and 18^th bases.

 

GCL TWINS TAKES

GCL Twins 3, GCL Orioles 5

Box Score

 

Christian Cavaness led off the game by being hit by a pitch. He stayed in the game and scored a run, but he was replaced by Jorge Andrade who went 3-3 for the rest of the game. He also stole his ninth base. Roberto Gonzalez went 2-4 in the game. Ariel Montesino had a single and a walk. Blake Schmit went 1-4 and drove in two runs. He has hit .324 in his rehab stint.

 

Williams Ramirez started and gave up three runs (two earned) on six hits. In 4.2 innings, he walked once and struck out four. Max Cordy came on and worked the next 2.1 innings. He gave up one run on two hits. He struck out two. Johan Quezada gave up one run on one hit and one walk in his inning.

 

 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

 

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Keaton Steele, Cedar Rapids Kernels

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Tanner Vavra, Ft. Myers Miracle

 

 

WEDNESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

 

Buffalo @ Rochester (12:35 CST) – LHP Pat Dean

Chattanooga @ Pensacola (6:35 CST) – LHP Brett Lee

Ft. Myers @ Charlotte (6:00 CST) – TBD

Cedar Rapids @ Ft. Myers (6:35 CST) – RHP Felix Jorge

Elizabethton – No Game Scheduled

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

 

Feel free to leave any questions or comments below

 

Click here to view the article

[nytwinsfan]

Wow, great game from Gonsalves. Really good to see after his strikeouts had been down in FM earlier.

[Vance_Christianson]

Do any of our Single A starters get bumped here at the end of the Season to help out AA with their starting pitching? AA starters have kind of been all over the place this season. Just a thought.......

[USMCTwin]

Stashak is off to a tremendous debut. ERA is down to 1.58 over 40 IP. SO9 sits at 10.4 with BB9 at 1.6. I hope his success continues!

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=stasha000cod

[LimestoneBaggy]

In former Twins minor league news, as of last week when he was released from the Rochester roster, Nate Hanson has

 

The suspense is killing me

[Badsmerf]

Stashak is off to a tremendous debut. ERA is down to 1.58 over 40 IP. SO9 sits at 10.4 with BB9 at 1.6. I hope his success continues!

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=stasha000cod

Nice start indeed. Thanks for the link. About time to move up a 21yo college prospect from rookie ball?

[Badsmerf]

Nice showing by the dangerous duo! I think having them together will push them to be better. Is there a pitch count somewhere? I'm curious to see how many each threw. Looking through Stewart's game log, one of his strike outs was in a key spot. Likely saved him at least a run.

[DJL44]

Gonsalves is having a great year. He's younger than Tyler Jay and having better results at the same level of competition.

[Seth Stohs]

 

In former Twins minor league news, as of last week when he was released from the Rochester roster, Nate Hanson has

 

The suspense is killing me

 

Ha! Not sure what happened there. I just updated it. He signed with the Saints.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Wow, great game from Gonsalves. Really good to see after his strikeouts had been down in FM earlier.

 

Yeah, it took him 3-4 starts to figure things out in the FSL. He and Batts have both been remarkable in the FSL since moving up.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Gonsalves is having a great year. He's younger than Tyler Jay and having better results at the same level of competition.

 

Not apples to apples, but I know which one I will rank higher (probably) in my rankings. A lot will depend on what happens when Jay begins to start next year.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Nice showing by the dangerous duo! I think having them together will push them to be better. Is there a pitch count somewhere? I'm curious to see how many each threw. Looking through Stewart's game log, one of his strike outs was in a key spot. Likely saved him at least a run.

 

I'm sure they're able to throw 100-105, though that can change from start to start depending on how they did previously, rest, how things are going, etc.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Do any of our Single A starters get bumped here at the end of the Season to help out AA with their starting pitching? AA starters have kind of been all over the place this season. Just a thought.......

 

Slegers was already moved up which should help. Eades may have been close, but now with the oblique injury, it's doubtful. I don't think Stewart or Gonsalves move up this year. Batts possibly could. 

[nytwinsfan]

 

Gonsalves is having a great year. He's younger than Tyler Jay and having better results at the same level of competition.

 

Not apples to apples, but I know which one I will rank higher (probably) in my rankings. A lot will depend on what happens when Jay begins to start next year.

 

Yeah, but results are not all that matters in the short run. Gonsalves' FIP at A+ is 3.43 wheras Jay's FIP at A+ is 2.03. Obviously Gonsalves' is a starter and Jay is a reliever, so all else being equal you would expect Jay's FIP to be lower, but the reality here is that there is absolutely NO reason to be down on Jay, who is the victim of a .421 BABIP in a tiny sample size of 12.1 innings. Let's also remember he is coming off of a college season where he started for the first time ever in multiple games. His arm is probably being pushed more than it has in previous' years. And despite that, Jay's strikeouts (11.68 per 9) look great. If there is any slight criticism of Jay, it is he has walked too many batters, but again, tiny, small sample size. Really, we should be excited about BOTH Gonsalves and Jay. Now if Thorpe can bounce back strong in 2016, we'll have three truly promising lefties in our system, which hasn't been the case since . . . I don't know when.

[Seth Stohs]

I'm not down on Jay at all... I just don't make much of first-year numbers, good or bad. 

[twinssouth]

Yeah, but results are not all that matters in the short run. Gonsalves' FIP at A+ is 3.43 wheras Jay's FIP at A+ is 2.03. Obviously Gonsalves' is a starter and Jay is a reliever, so all else being equal you would expect Jay's FIP to be lower, but the reality here is that there is absolutely NO reason to be down on Jay, who is the victim of a .421 BABIP in a tiny sample size of 12.1 innings. Let's also remember he is coming off of a college season where he started for the first time ever in multiple games. His arm is probably being pushed more than it has in previous' years. And despite that, Jay's strikeouts (11.68 per 9) look great. If there is any slight criticism of Jay, it is he has walked too many batters, but again, tiny, small sample size. Really, we should be excited about BOTH Gonsalves and Jay. Now if Thorpe can bounce back strong in 2016, we'll have three truly promising lefties in our system, which hasn't been the case since . . . I don't know when.

 

We have a bright lefty future:

 

Gonsalves

Jay

Thorpe

Melotakis (I love that 97 FB)

 

Anybody I missed?

[diehardtwinsfan]

I would think Bats would be the next guy up if someone gets promoted to AA yet this season.  He's a college pitcher who has absolutely dominated the lower levels (which I'd expect).  His arm is probably also a bit more used to the rigors.  I'd imagine that both Gonsalves and Stewart are getting to a point where they will be shut down.