Article: Twins Minor League Report (4/15): Stewart, White Lead Lookouts

[Cody Christie]

Weather continues to be the story for the Twins and for their affiliates. With the Twin Cities digging out of a blizzard, three minor league games were impacted by weather in some capacity. Even with the rough weather, there were some strong performances in the farm system. Kohl Stewart started on a roll for Chattanooga but first there were multiple roster moves throughout the system.ROSTER MOVES

RHP Alan Busenitz was recalled by Minnesota.

OF James Ramsey was added to Rochester from Elizabethton.

C Mitchell Kranson placed on the 7-day DL with Fort Myers

INF Joe Cronin was reinstated from the 7-day DL at Cedar Rapids and promoted to Fort Myers.

 

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester --, Gwinnett --

Box Score

Fernando Romero, Twins Daily’s number two prospect, was scheduled to take the mound for Rochester on Sunday but the weather didn’t cooperate. Rain started falling early in the day and the field got too wet before the teams could get this one started. The teams will play a single-admission doubleheader in Rochester on Monday, April 23 starting at 4:05 pm CST. Rochester is scheduled to start a series in Charlotte on Monday night.

 

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 5, Pensacola 4

Box Score

Former first-round pick Kohl Stewart was firing on all cylinders to start this game. He was perfect into the fifth inning before a walk on a 3-2 pitch. As you can see below, the 3-2 pitch was very close. One batter later, the no-hitter was gone and a batter after that the shutout was gone.

Stewart came back out for the sixth frame but things got a little dicey. He allowed a one-out single before he committed a throwing error on a pick-off throw. During the same at-bat, he gave up a two-run home run and he was pulled from the game. Overall, he pitched 5.1 innings and was charged with three earned runs. He struck out five and walked one.

 

Zack Jones took over for Stewart and pitched 1.2 scoreless frames. He allowed three walks and struck out one. Ryne Harper pitched a scoreless eighth but ran into some trouble in the ninth. He allowed a run to score to cut the lead to one. Williams Ramirez was called on for one out, a strikeout, as he earned his second save.

 

Chattanooga got things started early. Zander Wiel doubled in the first and came around on a T.J. White single to put the club up 1-0. Wiel and White added to the scoring in the third. With two outs, Wiel singled before White launched a two-run bomb. In the fifth, Ryan Walker smacked a solo home run to put the club up 4-0. With things getting close in the eighth, Wynston Sawyer hit his first home run of the season and it turned out to be the game winner.

 

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers 1, Tampa 6 (7 Innings)

Box Score

Rain was about the only thing that could slow down the Tarpons on this day. Clark Beeker got knocked around for three runs on four hits in two innings of work. Logan Lombana took over for Beeker but didn’t fare much better. Across three innings, he gave up two runs on two hits with three strikeouts and two walks. Max Cordy finished the game by surrendering one run on two hits. He struck out two and walked one.

 

At the plate, the Miracle were limited to three hits and none of their hits were for extra bases. Caleb Hamilton reached base twice in three plate appearances. Jimmy Kerrigan scored the team’s only run after a pair of wild pitches moved him around the bases. Aaron Whitefield went 1-for-3 with a strikeout. As a team, the club went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base.

Fort Myers has an off-day on Monday before beginning a nine-game road trip on Tuesday. Up first on their road trip is a three game series against the Dunedin Blue Jays.

 

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids --, Clinton --

Box Score

For the second Sunday in a row, the Kernels saw snow get in the way of their Sunday baseball plan. The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader on May 26. Game one is scheduled to start at 5:05 pm that night and game two will follow 30 minutes after the conclusion of game one. Monday is a scheduled off-day for Cedar Rapids and they hope to be able to start a three game series with Beloit on Tuesday.

 

STARS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Hitter of the Day: T.J. White, Chattanooga (2-for-3, HR, 3 RBI)

Twins Daily Pitcher of the Day: Kohl Stewart, Chattanooga (5.1 IP, 3 ER, 5 K)

 

TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY

Here is a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:

 

#7 - Brent Rooker (Chattanooga) – 1-4, K

#14 - LaMonte Wade (Chattanooga) – 0-5, K

#17 - Travis Blankenhorn (Ft. Myers) - 0-2, BB, 2 K

 

MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Rochester @ Charlotte (6:04 CST) - RHP Fernando Romero (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

Jacksonville @ Chattanooga (6:15 CST) - TBD

 

Please feel free to ask any questions about Sunday’s games, or ask any questions you may have.

 

Click here to view the article

[Han Joelo]

I checked in on the box scores in progress and saw Stewart's perfect game disappear.  Thanks for giving the rundown of what happened.  There's always more to the story than what the final box reveals.  The K-Man remains intriguing.

[jud6312]

While Stewart's Ks per 9 are nice, it's the BBs per 9 and the SO/W ratio that's got me impressed.

[rdehring]

No where near enough baseball this spring as evidenced by having only three of your top 20 playing on a Sunday.  

 

Zander Wiel has always been an interesting prospect, if maybe a bit of a sleeper.  Sure looks like he is off to a great start this year.  Must say I am a bit surprised seeing him hit in the #3 spot, especially in that lineup.

 

Expect the Vandy product is comfortable playing back in Tennessee.   

[Seth Stohs]

 

No where near enough baseball this spring as evidenced by having only three of your top 20 playing on a Sunday.  

 

Zander Wiel has always been an interesting prospect, if maybe a bit of a sleeper.  Sure looks like he is off to a great start this year.  Must say I am a bit surprised seeing him hit in the #3 spot, especially in that lineup.

 

Expect the Vandy product is comfortable playing back in Tennessee.   

 

He's excited to be in Tennessee. I think he was hitting 3rd, in part, because Nick Gordon got the day off. He's been in the middle of that lineup almost every day though. He can hit a bit. 

 

And yes, it'll be nice when these affiliates,, and the Twins, can get going on a normal schedule and get their games in consistently. 

[PDX Twin]

 

And yes, it'll be nice when these affiliates,, and the Twins, can get going on a normal schedule and get their games in consistently. 

 

And every unexpected off day in April is a doubleheader or a cancelled off day later in the season.

[gunnarthor]

A couple encouraging starts for Stewart. Nice to see.

 

Rooker and Baddoo are struggling a bit more than I thought they would although the season is still pretty young.

[Steve Lein]

 

No where near enough baseball this spring as evidenced by having only three of your top 20 playing on a Sunday.  

 

Zander Wiel has always been an interesting prospect, if maybe a bit of a sleeper.  Sure looks like he is off to a great start this year.  Must say I am a bit surprised seeing him hit in the #3 spot, especially in that lineup.

 

Expect the Vandy product is comfortable playing back in Tennessee.   

 

Wiel is very interesting for sure! Look at his season lines and nothing will really standout until you look at them in aggregate. He fills up every category with respectable totals, and he's going to do damage this year with the group in front of him.

 

   

[AlwaysinModeration]

Zander Wiel has to be in the top five best names in the Twins’ system. Brusdar [any last name would work] Graterol topping that list, of course, with Akil Baddoo up there as well.

 

Is he Zandy from Vandy?

[Brock Beauchamp]

When Falvine was hired, I said Stewart would be a good indication of their implementation of a new pitching philosophy up and down the org. It's only two starts but Kohl is looking good thus far.

 

(they get something of a pass for 2017 - not a complete pass, but something - because organizational overhauls aren't done overnight)

 

If they can turn him into literally anything at the MLB level, that's a big win.