Article: Twins Minor League Report (6/19): Lewis Launches and Widell Deals on Sparse Night

[Ted Schwerzler]

The Minnesota Twins still have a couple of affiliates in the midst of their All-Star breaks this evening. Royce Lewis stole the show offensively with a double-dinger night including a walkoff, while Ryley Widell looked strong in his 2019 debut for Elizabethton. Read about the action below.Transactions:

Rochester Red Wings-

RHP Adam Bray transferred from Double-A

OF Jaylin Davis transferred from Double-A

INF Brian Schales transferred from Double-A

C Willians Astudillo recalled by Minnesota

RHP Sean Popped contract selected by Minnesota

Pensacola

1B Lewin Diaz promoted from Fort Myers

RHP Hector Lujan promoted from Fort Myers

Fort Myers

RHP Tanner Howell transferred to Cedar Rapids

RHP Derek Molina promoted from Cedar Rapids

LHP Zach Neff promoted from Cedar Rapids

 

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 1, Columbus 1 (Game suspended in bottom 5th)

The Red Wings and Clippers will resume this game and make it up tomorrow as part of a quasi-doubleheader.

 

Before the game was put on hold, Brent Rooker kept up his hot hitting.

 

 

BLUE WAHOOS BITES

ALL STAR BREAK

 

MIRACLE MATTERS

Fort Myers 4, Charlotte 3 (7 innings, Game 1)

Box Score

 

Playing a doubleheader tonight Edwar Colina got the nod for Fort Myers in the first game. Working one out into the 6th inning he left in line for the win. Alex Phillips did allow a trio of inherited runners to score, but the Miracle held on to get the victory.

 

This one was like a page out of the big league book. Ryan Jeffers returned from the home run derby blasting his ninth dinger in the first inning. The two-run lead was added to in the second thanks to a Royce Lewis solo blast. Tied at three in the final frame Lewis stepped in again. His second dinger of the day came in walk-off fashion and doubled his homer output in 2019.

 

 

Charlotte 5, Fort Myers 0 (7 innings, Game 2)

Box Score

After racking up eight hits in the earlier game against the Stone Crabs offense was non-existent in the nightcap. Melvi Acosta and Joe Record allowed five earned and Trevor Larnach accounted for the only hit in the game.

 

KERNELS NUGGETS

ALL STAR BREAK

 

E-TWINS E-NOTES

Bluefield 6, Elizabethton 0

Box Score

 

Ryley Widell made his 2019 debut tonight for the E-Twins and looked sharp. Working four complete he gave up just one run on two hits while fanning six and walking none. After a strong eight game debut with Elizabethton in 2018, that’s a great note to begin this campaign on.

 

Unfortunately the E-Twins were able to generate just five hits on the evening and didn’t push any runs across. Bluefield got to the bullpen late and the five runs scored after thesixth inning was enough to do the home team in.

 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Pitcher of the Day – Ryley Widell (Elizabethton) – 4.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K

Hitter of the Day – Royce Lewis (Ft. Myers) – 2-7, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 HR, K

 

PROSPECT SUMMARY

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

#1 - Royce Lewis (Ft. Myers) – 2-7, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 HR, K

#2 - Alex Kirilloff (Pensacola) - Injured list

#3 - Brusdar Graterol (Pensacola) - Injured list

#4 - Trevor Larnach (Ft. Myers) – 2-6, R, 4 K

#5 - Wander Javier (Cedar Rapids) - No game (All-Star Break)

#6 - Brent Rooker (Rochester) – Game suspended

#7 - Jhoan Duran (Ft. Myers) – Did Not Pitch

#8 - Lewis Thorpe (Rochester) – Did Not Pitch

#9 - Blayne Enlow (Fort Myers) - Did Not Pitch

#10 - Akil Baddoo (Ft. Myers) - Injured list (Tommy John surgery)

#11 - Nick Gordon (Rochester) – Game suspended

#12 - Stephen Gonsalves (Rochester) - Injured list

#13 - Ryan Jeffers (Ft. Myers) – 1-6, R, 2 RBI, HR, K

#14 - Ben Rortvedt (Pensacola) - No game (All-Star Break)

#15 - Yunior Severino (Cedar Rapids) - Injured list

#16 - Gilberto Celestino (Cedar Rapids) - No game (All-Star Break)

#17 - Zack Littell (Minnesota via Rochester) - Did not pitch (as of this writing)

#18 - LaMonte Wade Jr. (Rochester) – Game suspended

#19 - Jorge Alcala (Pensacola) - No game (All-Star Break)

#20 - Jose Miranda (Ft. Myers) – 0-6, K

 

THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Rochester @ Columbus (11:05AM CST) - RHP Kohl Stewart (5-3, 4.56 ERA)

Pensacola @ Jacksonville (6:05PM CST) - TBD

Fort Myers @ Jupiter (5:30PM CST) – TBD

Cedar Rapids @ Peoria (6:35PM CST) – LHP Kody Funderburk (0-0, 2.03 ERA)

Bluefield @ Elizabethton (5:30PM CST) - TBD

 

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Wednesday’s games!

 

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[108Stitches]

Just wanted to say I called it about Poppen. *humbly smiles with pride

[jrod23]

Thanks Ted.  Loved listening to the Lewis walk-off.  2 things...very random. 

 

1.) How is it that the Florida State League is the home to so many spring trainings, but very few have the MiLB telecasting capabilities?

 

2.) Where is Landon Leach?  He was part of that crop where we "saved money early on in the draft to spend money on people later" back in 2017.

[Aerodeliria]

As usual, I am grateful to receive these minor league reports.

[ScooterDance]

I’d feel an awful lot better if Royce rakes for a month and got a promotion before end of year.

[h2oface]

Half a season is over, and Lewis clocks in hitting .224 with a .619 OPS even with a 2 home run night. That is downright pathetic in general, and for a number one overall pick, even worse. I don't know how anyone can put any frosting on it, but I am sure it is coming. Totally disappointing. Kirilloff still out. Graterol out. The top three are making this year a slow track, albeit injuries are never in the plan.

[rdehring]

Was good seeing Benninghoff pitch for ETon last night, although the results weren't good.  Widell was a pick I thought had promise back when selected in the 7th round of the 2017 draft.  Was last night his professional debut?  Would have sworn he pitched one of the last two years.

 

Saw that Diaz was promoted to AA, but not Larnach.  Hopefully, that is a sign that Kirilloff will be active when they resume play later this weekend.

 

The DSL Twins lost 8-4, dropping them to 6-8 for the season.  Urbina didn't play. Another 17 year old outfielder, Rhodery Diaz, was 1-4 with an RBI.  Diaz has been one of the Twins top hitters early this season.

[mikelink45]

How about giving us the year totals for each of the top 20. It's nice to see the daily efforts but I'm curious at this stage to see what they're collective stats are. Seeing Lewis statistics means more to me than the fact that he had a two home run game. If that continues as a trend for the next month that's exciting what is it now season is it disappointment. I look at Carol off and I know he's been out more than he's been in since we've signed him and I hope that is not a sign of future issues. Like the others I'm disappointed to see our top three not performing this year whether injuries or not. And I'm looking forward to seeing Seth revised listing. These minor league reports are excellent and I really appreciate the effort that you put into doing this.

[Doctor Wu]

 

Half a season is over, and Lewis clocks in hitting .224 with a .619 OPS even with a 2 home run night. That is downright pathetic in general, and for a number one overall pick, even worse. I don't know how anyone can put any frosting on it, but I am sure it is coming. Totally disappointing. Kirilloff still out. Graterol out. The top three are making this year a slow track, albeit injuries are never in the plan.

Good to see some positive results from Lewis for a change. But yeah, it's been a struggle for him this year. Let's hope he's shaken off the rust, or whatever the problem is/was, and starts producing like he did last year.

[jorgenswest]

Diaz is one of the few prospects that have taking a step forward this year.

 

His .243 ISO mixed with a 17.1% K rate is encouraging. It is a key step moving to AA. We need to get him on the list of prospects we follow at the bottom.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Half a season is over, and Lewis clocks in hitting .224 with a .619 OPS even with a 2 home run night. That is downright pathetic in general, and for a number one overall pick, even worse. I don't know how anyone can put any frosting on it, but I am sure it is coming. Totally disappointing. Kirilloff still out. Graterol out. The top three are making this year a slow track, albeit injuries are never in the plan.

 

I would think everyone would agree it's disappointing. Doesn't affect his prospect status, but I don't think anyone would tell you that it's been good.

[terrydactyls]

How about giving us the year totals for each of the top 20. It's nice to see the daily efforts but I'm curious at this stage to see what they're collective stats are. Seeing Lewis statistics means more to me than the fact that he had a two home run game. If that continues as a trend for the next month that's exciting what is it now season is it disappointment. I look at Carol off and I know he's been out more than he's been in since we've signed him and I hope that is not a sign of future issues. Like the others I'm disappointed to see our top three not performing this year whether injuries or not. And I'm looking forward to seeing Seth revised listing. These minor league reports are excellent and I really appreciate the effort that you put into doing this.

Go to MiLB.com and you can find all the individual player details you desire by team.

[Seth Stohs]

 

How about giving us the year totals for each of the top 20. It's nice to see the daily efforts but I'm curious at this stage to see what they're collective stats are. Seeing Lewis statistics means more to me than the fact that he had a two home run game. If that continues as a trend for the next month that's exciting what is it now season is it disappointment. I look at Carol off and I know he's been out more than he's been in since we've signed him and I hope that is not a sign of future issues. Like the others I'm disappointed to see our top three not performing this year whether injuries or not. And I'm looking forward to seeing Seth revised listing. These minor league reports are excellent and I really appreciate the effort that you put into doing this.

 

Mike sure wants to see those full season stats, I guess... Posting it five times is pretty telling!

 

It has come up from others as well. It is a request we get. 

 

The rankings will be updated in the next two weeks. 

[Thegrin]

NOTE: Derek Molina RHP & Zach Neff LHP were jumped from Cedar Rapids (A) to the Wahoo's (AA).

Big jump or typo ?

[mlhouse]

I have been trying to figure out what was going on with Ryley Widell for a while.  

[Mike Sixel]

 

I would think everyone would agree it's disappointing. Doesn't affect his prospect status, but I don't think anyone would tell you that it's been good.

 

I'd guess it changes the ETA, given he's not getting promoted to AA any time soon. I really wanted to believe that the Twins finally had their fast riser. 

[Seth Stohs]

 

I'd guess it changes the ETA, given he's not getting promoted to AA any time soon. I really wanted to believe that the Twins finally had their fast riser. 

 

Maybe... I still assume he'll get to Pensacola this year... and he doesn't turn 21 until early June next season. He should debut before he turns 22. That's pretty fast.