Article: Twins Minor League Report (7/20): Bats Bats Bats 2 Electric Boogaloo

[Matt Braun]

Unfortunately the Twins game decided to be really good and also really, really, really bad so the minor league report is brought to you with great sadness as my sad Spotify playlist plays in the background. The current track is Pearl Jam’s “Black” if you want to know how I am doing. Moving forward, there were many great hitting performances in the minor league system and one exceptional pitching performance especially, all that and more in this edition of the minor league report.TRANSACTIONS

-Catcher Kyle Schmidt promoted from the GCL to Elizabethton.

-GCL Twins activated Regi Grace from the IL.

 

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 1, Gwinnett 5

Box Score

 

D.J. Baxendale: 1 IP, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K (opener for Devin Smeltzer)

HR: None

Multi-hit games: None

 

A quiet game from the Red Wings that ended in a loss to the Gwinnett Stripers.

 

Devin Smeltzer was the primary pitcher (or bulk pitcher, whatever you prefer) after D.J. Baxendale and he gave up four runs over his four innings of work. He struck out none and walked two batters. Fernando Romero came on in relief of Smeltzer and fired off two scoreless innings while allowing just one hit, walking one and striking out four.

 

The Red Wings offense was stagnant all game as they put together just four hits with none going for extra bases while striking out eleven times. A rare off day for a typically great offense that is missing Brent Rooker’s presence in the lineup.

 

BLUE WAHOO BITES

Pensacola postponed vs Mississippi

 

The rain came in and made sure that no game would be played today which is great for my laziness but not great for the people who wanted a game to be played, shame. A doubleheader will be played tomorrow.

 

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers 5, Florida 0

Box Score

 

Lachlan Wells: 6 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 72.9% strikes (62 of 85 pitches)

HR: None

Multi-hit games: Royce Lewis (2-for-4, R, BB), Jacob Pearson (2-for-4)

 

The Miracle played a well-rounded game this Saturday that ended in a win.

 

Lachlan Wells was dominant but so were Calvin Faucher and Zach Neff who each pitched scoreless outings in relief of Wells. Combined, they gave up just three hits, walked just one hitter, and struck out ten hitters. A well-pitched game indeed by the Miracle.

 

The Miracle bats didn’t want the pitching to steal the thunder as they smacked eight hits and walked more than they struck out on their way to scoring five runs. Both Ryan Jeffers and David Banuelos had two-run doubles and Jose Miranda had an RBI single following Ryan Jeffers’ double in the first. That was all the scoring that was done but hey, why score runs you don’t need?

 

Royce Lewis continued his hot streak by knocking a pair of singles and taking a walk, a good sign for the top prospect who has had to work through a tougher season than most anticipated.

 

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 6, Fort Wayne 4

Box Score

 

Kai-Wei Teng: 3 ⅔ IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 58.2% strikes (39 of 67 pitches)

HR: Yeltsin Encarnacion (2)

Multi-hit games: Spencer Steer (2-for-4, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI), Yeltsin Encarnacion (2-for-5, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI), Gilberto Celestino (3-for-5, 2 2B, RBI), Gabe Snyder (2-for-5), Daniel Ozoria (3-for-5)

 

I made some snarky comment here about close games last week so the Kernels decided to spite me and actually have a close game, this one ended with another win for them so I guess we all can be happy.

 

Spencer Steer has continued to just rake even after the promotion as his OPS with the Kernels is now .993 after another multi-hit game. Shoot, he might be major league ready already!

 

Gilberto Celestino has also started to heat up recently as his OPS now sits at .680 after a slow start to the season. He had an OPS of .913 in July coming into the game and that will go up even higher thanks to his three-hit effort that came with a pair of doubles.

 

Jose Ramirez relieved Teng and got ten outs without allowing a run. Rickey Ramirez received the save after he threw two scoreless innings that came with four strikeouts and just two hits.

 

E-Town E-Notes

Elizabethton 10, Bluefield 7

Box Score

 

Prelander Berroa: 5 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K

HR: Willie Joe Garry Jr. (2), Kidany Salva (1), Seth Gray (5)

Multi-hit games: Willie Joe Garry Jr. (2-for-5, HR, 2B, 2 R, 4 RBI), Max Smith (2-for-5, 3B, 2B, R), Charles Mack (3-for-5, R, RBI)

 

It was quite the offensive game as both teams dropped twelve hits and a combined seventeen runs. The difference, however, was that Bluefield foolishly had only one hit of the extra-base variety while the intelligent Elizabethton Twins had five including three home runs. All but one Elizabethton batter had a hit.

 

Willie Joe Garry Jr. and Max Smith played the part of the bash brothers as they combined for four extra-base hits and would have had a combined cycle had either of them bothered to get a single. Oh well, their slugging percent thanks them anyway.

 

There wasn’t much to talk about on the pitching side of things but Dylan Thomas had a scoreless outing that included four outs and three strikeouts.

 

GCL Twins Takes

GCL Twins 3, GCL Red Sox 5

Box Score

 

Regi Grace: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K

HR: None

Multi-hit games: Jim Caceres (2-for-4)

 

The GCL Twins struck out 14 GCL Red Sox hitters on Saturday. I feel like I have noted something similar for both the GCL Twins and Elizabethton Twins every week so be happy that the Twins are punching tickets and taking names in the early stages of development.

 

The GCL offense was sporadic as only two hitters reached base multiple times and they only reached base nine times all day. The end result was three runs, all of which scored in the fourth inning.

 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

 

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Lachlan Wells

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Willie Joe Garry Jr.

 

PROSPECT SUMMARY

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

 

#1 - Royce Lewis (Ft. Myers) - 2-for-4, R, BB

#2 - Alex Kirilloff (Pensacola) - Postponed game

#3 - Brusdar Graterol (Pensacola) - Postponed game

#4 - Trevor Larnach (Pensacola) - Postponed game

#5 - Wander Javier (Cedar Rapids) - Did not play

#6 - Jordan Balazovic (Ft. Myers) - Did not pitch

#7 - Keoni Cavaco (GCL Twins) - 0-for-2, 2 BB

#8 - Brent Rooker (Rochester) - Injured list

#9 - Jhoan Duran (Ft. Myers) - Did not pitch

#10 - Blayne Enlow (Ft. Myers) - Did not pitch

#11 - Lewis Thorpe (Rochester) - Did not pitch

#12 - Nick Gordon (Rochester) - Did not play

#13 - Ryan Jeffers (Ft. Myers) - 1-for-5, 2B, R, 2 RBI, K

#14 - Luis Arraez (Twins) - 0-for-3

#15 - Matt Wallner (Elizabethton) - 1-for-4, R, BB, 2 K

#16 - Ben Rortvedt (Pensacola) - Postponed game

#17 - Akil Baddoo (Ft. Myers) - Out for year with Tommy John surgery

#18 - Jorge Alcala (Pensacola) - Postponed game

#19 - Misael Urbina (DSL Twins) - 0-for-5

#20 - Travis Blankenhorn (Pensacola) - Postponed game

 

SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Rochester @ Gwinnett (12:05 A.M.) - RHP Sean Poppen

Pensacola @ Mississippi (5:05 P.M.) - RHP Jorge Alcala

Fort Myers @ Florida (11:00 P.M.) - RHP Bailey Ober

Cedar Rapids @ Fort Wayne (12:05 P.M.) - RHP Austin Schulfer

Elizabethton @ Bluefield (4:30 P.M.) - TBD

 

Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Saturday’s games.

 

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[AlwaysinModeration]

Royce still rolls.

 

Yeltsin Encarnacion is quite the name.

 

Is there any word on Brusdar?

[mikelink45]

Nice to see Lewis going so well.  He is still two years away, but I want him to get hot and push for a promotion.

I was curious about the slash lines for some of our prospects so I chose only those that had a game yesterday:

Keoni Cavaco -  .239 .256 .495

Ryan Jeffers   -  .255 .331 .405

Misael Urbina -  .286 .391 .446

Matt Wallner   -  .311 .421 .453

Royce Lewis  -  .242 .297 .369

Luis Arraez    -  .370 .444 .491

 

 

[DocBauer]

Great to see Lewis continue to do well. We just have to be honest and realize there is nothing wrong with him. He reached A+ as a 19yo, the league made adjustments, he was slowed by injury, and now he's healthy and adapting.

 

How sad is it that I want to give Romero and honorary pitcher of the day for 2 nice IP out of the pen?

[rdehring]

Great seeing Wells have his first great outing since returning from his long absence.  Could he be a second Aussie starting pitcher to push his way to the Twins over the next couple years?

 

Second, or third everyone's comments about Lewis.  Also fun following Willie Joe Garry, Jr's second year with the organization.   Could he?  Could he?

[Monkeypaws]

Echo Willie Joe Garry being fun to follow - he moved from batting 9th to leadoff and came through big time.

[jkcarew]

 

Nice to see Lewis going so well.  He is still two years away, but I want him to get hot and push for a promotion.

I was curious about the slash lines for some of our prospects so I chose only those that had a game yesterday:

Keoni Cavaco -  .239 .256 .495

Ryan Jeffers   -  .255 .331 .405

Misael Urbina -  .286 .391 .446

Matt Wallner   -  .311 .421 .453

Royce Lewis  -  .242 .297 .369

Luis Arraez    -  .370 .444 .491

Keoni Cavaco is .186 /.239 /.256...his OPS is .495

 

It's an extremely small sample. But, some reports at draft time had him as extremely raw. And he doesn't seem to be exactly ahead of the competition so far in the GCL.

Edited July 21, 2019 by jkcarew

[goulik]

So only 6 of 20 prospects were active yesterday? That’s .300 avg, so pretty good for baseball!!

[mikelink45]

 

Keoni Cavaco is .186 /.239 /.256...his OPS is .495

 

It's an extremely small sample. But, some reports at draft time had him as extremely raw. And he doesn't seem to be exactly ahead of the competition so far in the GCL.

Makes me wonder why he is so high on the prospect list. 

[Mr. Brooks]

Makes me wonder why he is so high on the prospect list.

His ranking is based on his tools, and being the 13th overall draft pick.

His first 46 plate appearances in the GCL have zero relevance.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Makes me wonder why he is so high on the prospect list. 

 

Yeah, his rankings have almost nothing to do with any stats in the GCL, whether he was hitting .180 or .380 or anywhere in between. Sample size just way too small.. and he's so young.