Cedar Rapids Opening Day Roster Preview

[Seth Stohs]

Today, the Cedar Rapids Kernels announced their first Opening Day roster as the High Class-A affiliate of the Twins. After eight seasons as the team’s Low-A affiliate, the Kernels earned their promotion. Find out which players will start their season in Iowa.The Kernels became the Twins Low-A Midwest League affiliate in 2013. In 2021, they are now the team’s High-A affiliate. It’s an interesting case where a lot of the players who spent time in Cedar Rapids in 2019 are moving up the organizational ladder to start 2021, but remain with the same team. This roster has a lot of talent and should be fun to watch. Find out who is on their Opening Day roster, starting with the coaching staff.

 

The Coaching Staff:

Manager: Brian Dinkelman

Pitching Coaches: Mark Moriarity, Richard Salazar

Hitting Coach: Bryce Berg

Coach: Jairo Rodriguez

 

The Pitchers

 

LHP: Kody Funderburk (24), Tyler Watson (23), Zach Featherstone (25)

 

RHP: Melvi Acosts (25), Tyler Beck (25), Andrew Cabezas (24), Matt Canterino (23), Jonathan Cheshire (26), Blayne Enlow (22), Ben Gross (24), Jordan Gore (26), Tyler Palm (26), Derek Molina (23), Jon Olsen (23), Owen Griffith (23).

 

The starting rotation of the Kernels is very exciting. Canterino and Enlow are also Top 10 Twins prospects and have high ceilings. Ben Gross was a tenth round pick in 2019 out of Duke. Jordan Gore is starting his transition from shortstop to pitcher.

 

Inactive: Cody Laweryson (injured list), Luis Rijo (temporary inactive list).

 

The Catchers

 

Jair Camargo (21), Alex Isola (22), Chris Williams (24)

 

Isola and Williams were in big-league spring training, though Williams hurt his shoulder playing some first base early in camp. Camargo came to the Twins in the Maeda/Graterol trade.

 

 

The Infielders

 

Seth Gray (22), Michael Helman (24), Wander Javier (22), Spencer Steer (23), Yeltsin Encarnacion (22), Gabe Snyder (26),

 

Spencer Steer was part of big-league spring training. The 2019 third-round pick can play second and third base. Gray is an exciting third base prospect from the 2019 draft. Snyder was a Midwest League All Star in 2019 and provides a lot of power. Helman struggled with the Miracle in 2019, but he’s back in Cedar Rapids where he played great during his 2018 draft season. Wander Javier moves up to Cedar Rapids after his struggles with the Low-A Kernels in 2019. He remains a high ceiling prospect. Encarnacion is quietly a solid shortstop prospect with the glove and a developing bat.

 

 

The Outfielders

 

Trey Cabbage (24), DaShawn Keirsey (23), Gabriel Maciel (22), Matt Wallner (23),

 

Minnesota native and 2019 first-round pick Matt Wallner returns to Cedar Rapids to start the 2021 season. Cabbage started showing his massive power potential in 2019 and looks to continue that. Keirsey had a great offseason and looks to stay on the field and produce in 2021. Maciel came to the Twins in the Eduardo Escobar trade. He’s got a lot of skills.

 

Check out these Cedar Rapids Kernels sites and social media:

 

Team Website

Team Store

Kernels on Twitter

Kernels on Facebook

Kernels on Instagram

Kernels on YouTube

All Ears podcast

 

Minnesota Twins 2021 Top 20 Prospects with the Kernels

 

13. Matt Wallner, OF:

10. Blayne Enlow, RHP:

9. Matt Canterino, RHP:

 

Click here to view the article

[rdehring]

Is this the year Javier breaks out and becomes the player we all hope he can be? Expect Canterino to spend less than a month is Cedar Rapids.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Is this the year Javier breaks out and becomes the player we all hope he can be? Expect Canterino to spend less than a month is Cedar Rapids.

 

Javier is still just 22... just so much missed time... talent is certainly still there. 

 

I expect the same with Canterino, but they'll let them pitch. 

[rdehring]

 

Javier is still just 22... just so much missed time... talent is certainly still there. 

 

I expect the same with Canterino, but they'll let them pitch. 

That Javier is still just 22 is mind blowing. Seems like we have been talking about him for the past decade.  

[DocBauer]

With further thought and reflection, I'm over the ages of some of these guys, though I TRY not to focus on that aspect. Losing an entire season even with taxi/reserve units and the fall development period, every team is undoubtedly looking at rosters that are about a year older than normal...average age...simply because you have to plug your prospects in SOMEWHERE that makes sense to begin the year.

 

Without getting to AA yet, I am a little surprised to see Enlow and Canterino at high A. I'm guessing not for long for either of them.

 

I hope the injury to Chris Williams is minor. Through no fault of his own he's a little long in the tooth after being a college senior draftee and then missing a season. IIRC, a shoulder injury in college had him debuting at 1B with the Twins before transitioning back to catcher in 2019.

[DocBauer]

Any additional information on Laweyson's injury or Rijo's temporary inactive status? I thought Rijo had at least a decent chance to start at AA this year.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Any additional information on Laweyson's injury or Rijo's temporary inactive status? I thought Rijo had at least a decent chance to start at AA this year.

 

I don't know a lot of  specifics...

 

Laweryson expects to be in Cedar Rapids by about late May.

 

Rijo had some visa issues so he got to spring training late.  

[Monkeypaws]

I expect to be down there in early June. Pretty excited that they are high A now. Lots of interesting prospects to boot.