Minor League Report (10/2): Mr. 30, Walks will Haunt

[David Youngs]

The smoking hot bats of Jose Miranda and Gilberto Celestino were extinguished by a plethora of walks from the Saints on Saturday evening in Toledo.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE AWARD WINNERS
2021 was a wild year across the Twins organization. Yet through the ups, downs, and everything in between there were a few individuals that stood out. Congrats to all of our award winners!

Twins Daily 2021 Minor League Hitter of the Year: Jose Miranda
Twins Daily 2021 Starting Pitching of the Year: Louie Varland
Twins Daily 2021 Relief Pitcher of the Year: Jovani Moran

Short Season Awards
Twins Daily 2021 Short Season Hitter of the Year: Kala'i Rosario
Twins Daily 2021 Short Season Pitcher of the Year: Samuel Perez

TRANSACTIONS

• Twins recall LHP Charlie Barnes from Triple-A St. Paul. Barnes will start Sunday's season finale for the Minnesota Twins. John Gant was placed on the Injured List. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
Toledo 8, St. Paul 5
Box Score

A leadoff homer from Jose Miranda and a ninth-inning rally weren't enough to light a flame for the Saints to overcome the Mud Hen bats on Saturday. 

On the very first pitch of the game Miranda launched a high fastball over the left-center field wall to give the Saints an early 1-0 lead. 

Miranda's shot was his 30th on the season. He's now one of only 12 players across Minor League Baseball with 30 or more homers this season. 

Despite the early momentum, Miranda's blast would be one of only the five runs plated for St. Paul. The other four runs came in a ninth inning two-out rally with the Saints trailing 8-1. Miranda led off the inning with a double (24) and eventually scored thanks to a bases-loaded walk from Drew Maggi. B.J Boyd followed that up with a two-run RBI single that scored Mark Contreras and Gilberto Celestino. Sherman Johnson kept the magic alive by following Boyd's lead with an RBI single that scored Maggi from third. 

Yet some happy endings are just too good to be true. In the next at-bat Drew Stankiewicz grounded out to end the valiant comeback effort.

The Saints out hit Toledo drastically (11 to 5) but were plagued by runners left in scoring position (4-for-15) and a decade of walks from the pitching staff

St. Paul starter Drew Strotman lasted only one inning, giving up four walks, three runs, and two hits while striking out one. The performance was Strotman's shortest outing since June 3rd when he was still pitching for the Durham Bulls. The eye sore shouldn't be dwelled on too much as Strotman is 3-1 in five starts in September minus today's outing. 

Strotman wasn't the only St. Paul pitcher that struggled against an electric Toledo offense. Relievers Edgar Garcia and Chris Nunn gave up a combined five runs on two hits and three walks in five innings. Yet despite the struggle reliever Vinny Nittoli provided a bright spot for the Saints pitching staff. Nittoli pitched the final two innings and was perfect, not allowing a single run or hit and striking out four batters. Saturday was Nittoli's best outing for the Saints in his young tenure with the Twins organization. The 30-year-old RHP was signed by the organization on August 31st after a year-long stint with the Mariners organization. 

While it may not have shown in the final score the Saints saw three players record multi-hit games. Miranda and Drew Stankiewicz both recorded two-hit games, with Stankiewicz roping his first triple of the year in addition to a single. Twins Daily Top 20 Prospect Gilberto Celestino tagged two singles and a double on the night, his seventh three-hit game of the 2021 season. 

Despite already being eliminated from playoff contention the Saints look to end their historic season on a high note in tomorrow's season finale.

TWINS DAILY SAINTS PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Hitter of the Game: Jose Miranda- 2-for-5, 2B, HR (30), 2 R, RBI
Pitcher of the Game: Vinny Nittoli- 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 4 K

PROSPECT SUMMARY
#6 Jose Miranda (St. Paul)- 2-for-5, 2B, HR (30), 2 R, RBI
#13 Gilberto Celestino (St. Paul)- 3-for-4, 2B, R, BB, K
#16 Brent Rooker (Minnesota)- 0-for-3, K

SUNDAY'S STARTING PITCHER
St. Paul @ Toledo (12:05PM CST) LHP Andrew Albers (7-4, 3.75 ERA)

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[roger]

Of those dozen guys with 30 home runs, how many hit over .300, way over, with a .400 OBP?  My guess is none.  Biggest question of the winter will be watching to see how the Twins open a spot for him next spring.

Great seeing Celestino’s performance at St. Paul.  No question he should be ready to be a quality fill in when Buxton is injured next year.

Strotman has been a bit disappointing since coming over.  Hopefully he will be better come spring.

[AceWrigley]

39 minutes ago, roger said:

Strotman has been a bit disappointing since coming over.  Hopefully he will be better come spring.

Agreed. A few of his starts were complete ineffectiveness. Don't know if he's just having release point problems or if the year layoff is affecting him (walks have been up all over the minors). He'll probably be invited to MLB camp next spring so it will be interesting to see how he develops.