Twins Minor League Report (5/6): Promotion Season Is Here

[Lucas Seehafer PT]

A bevy of promotions this week have left the St. Paul Saints offense without many of their key bats. Wichita and Fort Myers crush, Cedar Rapids gets popped.

 

TRANSACTIONS

• SS Royce Lewis promoted to Minnesota Twins
• 1B/OF Alex Kirilloff activated from IL, promoted to Minnesota Twins
• RHP Cole Sands promoted to Minnesota Twins
• LHP Jovani Moran optioned to Triple-A St. Paul
• INF Kevin Merrell promoted to Triple-A St. Paul from Double-A Wichita
• SS Daniel Robertson placed on IL (concussion)

SAINTS SENTINEL 
Iowa 6, St. Paul 2
Box Score

The Saints suddenly found themselves without multiple key members of their offense on Friday as Royce Lewis and Alex Kirilloff were sent across town to join José Miranda, Trevor Larnach and Gilberto Celestino with the parent squad. As such, St. Paul struggled to drive home runs despite registering eight hits against the Cubs.

Caleb Hamilton hit his first home run of the spring—on the same night Miranda hit his first MLB dinger; I guess you could say that neither athlete was going to miss their shot—and drove in the team’s only runs. Cole Sturgeon and Curtis Terry each contributed two hits, with all four being singles.

Jake Faria tossed the first four innings for the Saints but struggled to keep the ball in the park. He surrendered two home runs and four earned runs in the loss. Juan Minaya, Jordan Gore, Trevor Megill, and Jharel Cotton struckout six and allowed only one earned run in five innings of relief.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Game 1: Wichita 7, Tulsa 2
Game 2: Wichita 10, Tulsa 0
Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

It finally stopped raining long enough in Kansas on Friday for the Wind Surge and Drillers to fit in two contests, with the Twins’ Double-A affiliate coming out on top in both. Game one featured brothers and Minnesota natives Louie and Gus Varland facing off against one another on the mound. Louie pitched five innings and struck out six, though he did give up two runs. Gus didn’t fare quite as well, allowing six earned runs in only three innings. Still, it was a night that neither brother nor the entire family will forget.

Matt Wallner (1-for-2, 3 RBI) and Spencer Steer (2-for-4, 2 RBI) each went deep in the first contest while Edouard Julien (2-for-3, BB) drove in the Wind Surge’s other two runs. Alex Scherff and Evan Sisk each threw a scoreless inning in relief.

Wallner topped his performance in the first game with an even more dominant showing in the second. He finished the game 4-for-4 with a home run, two doubles, and four RBI, raising his batting average to a respectable .243 and OPS to .896. He has now hit 14-for-29 with three doubles and five home runs since beginning the season 3-for-41.

Andrew Bechtold clobbered his third home run of the season while Julien contributed another 2-for-3 game with two RBI and a walk.

Matt Canterino pitched four scoreless innings with four strikeouts for Wichita. Ben Gross was credited with the win following 1 ⅔ scoreless innings in relief. Austin Schulfer pitched the final 1 ⅓ and picked up three strikeouts.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Quad Cities 6, Cedar Rapids 2
Box Score

The Kernels mustered only three hits against the River Bandits, though two of them went for extra bases. Anthony Prato hit a solo home run—his third of the spring—and Jeferson Morales’ double drove in the team’s only other score.

Aaron Rozek’s string of rough outings continued on Friday as the lefty served up two more home runs and surrendered five earned runs in four innings. Bradley Hanner and Melvi Acosta each pitched two innings in relief, striking out four and allowing one more run. Tyler Palm pitched a scoreless ninth.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 9, Lakeland 1
Box Score

The Might Mussel’s bats exploded for nine runs on 15 hits on Friday to pick up the win. Noah Miller had himself a particularly good game, going 3-for-5 at the plate with a double, home run, and three RBI. Kyler Fedko (2-for-3, 2 BB, 2 R), Keoni Cavaco (2-for-5, RBI), Jake Rucker (2-for-5, 2 2B, RBI), and Daniel Ozoria (3-for-5) also put forth multi-hit efforts.

The Fort Myers pitching staff—led by starter Pierson Ohl, who earned the win—pitched a gem, striking out five and allowing only six Flying Tigers to reach base.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – RHP Matt Canterino (Wichita): 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
Hitter of the Day – RF Matt Wallner (Wichita): 5-for-6, 2 2B, 2 HR, 7 RBI

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Here’s a look at how the current Twins Daily Top 20 performed:

#1 - Austin Martin (Wichita) - 2-for-6, SB
#2 - Royce Lewis (Minnesota) - 1-for-4
#3 - Jose Miranda (Minnesotal) - 1-for-3, HR, RBI, BB
#6 - Matt Canterino (Wichita) - 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
#9 - Josh Winder (Minnesota) - 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K
#10 - Noah Miller (Ft. Myers) - 3-for-5, 2B, HR, 3 RBI
#11 - Gilberto Celestino (Minnesota) - 1-for-4
#12 - Matt Wallner (Wichita) - 5-for-6, 2 2B, 2 HR, 7 RBI
#14 - Louie Varland (Wichita) - 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
#15 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Ft. Myers) -1-for-4, BB, R
#18 - Spencer Steer (Wichita) - 3-for-8, HR, 2 RBI
#19 - Edouard Julien (Wichita) - 4-for-6, 4 RBI, 2 BB

SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul vs. Iowa( 2:07 PM CST) - RHP Mario Sanchez (1-0, 2.92 ERA)
Wichita vs. Tulsa (6:05 PM CST) - RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (2-0, 0.00 ERA)
Cedar Rapids vs. Quad Cities (6:35 PM CST) - LHP Cade Povich (1-1, 4.50 ERA)
Fort Myers vs. Clearwater (5:00 PM CST) - TBD

 

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[RJA]

Great update. Thanks. It is great to see Wallner heating up. Actually, it was a great day for the top 20. Fun times for sure watching so many prospects starting to hit the bigs. I can’t remember a time when so many have arrived together. 

[mikelink45]

Love a day like this for all our prospects shine

[Karbo]

Seems odd our minor league POD only went 4 IP

[Omgbenji]

Anyone know when Raya is going to pitch again?

[Lucas Seehafer PT]

33 minutes ago, Karbo said:

Seems odd our minor league POD only went 4 IP

The Twins have been bring Canterino along very slowly to start the season and can't say I disagree. He's been great when healthy for his career, but staying healthy for a full season has been tough.

 

As far as the other options, no one else really performed all that great! Varland was the other option but even he didn't have a a dominant night, just simply good.

[2wins87]

Wallner has been so streaky, I don't know what to think of him. I have a hard time believing the success will translate to the majors with a K rate consistently above 35%. When he's on he just produces though.

[2wins87]

22 minutes ago, Omgbenji said:

Anyone know when Raya is going to pitch again?

He pitched on Tuesday. Probably again next Tuesday.

[Lucas Seehafer PT]

10 minutes ago, 2wins87 said:

Wallner has been so streaky, I don't know what to think of him. I have a hard time believing the success will translate to the majors with a K rate consistently above 35%. When he's on he just produces though.

I've made the comp to left-handed Brent Rooker before. He had a similarly high K-rate (though it was closer to the upper-20s, low-30s) and power profile. Could see him developing into left-handed 4th outfielder type. 

[stringer bell]

Wallner and Miller have had nice weeks. I think Wallner’s upside is more than Rooker. 

[bighat]

Noah Miller with a big day. Looking forward to seeing him move up the ladder soon.

[roger]

So happy to see Canterino pitching this well.  Understand keeping him on a short pitch count.  Kid could be that ACE every team dreams of.

So after going 4-4 on Thursday, Miller goes 3-5 with a double and home run.  Continue believing in this kid’s future.

Julien and Martin are similar players.  Versatile in the field, very fast with limited power.  My question is who will be the better big league player?

[Seth Stohs]

2 hours ago, roger said:

So happy to see Canterino pitching this well.  Understand keeping him on a short pitch count.  Kid could be that ACE every team dreams of.

So after going 4-4 on Thursday, Miller goes 3-5 with a double and home run.  Continue believing in this kid’s future.

Julien and Martin are similar players.  Versatile in the field, very fast with limited power.  My question is who will be the better big league player?

Very happy for Canterino. When I chatted with him briefly earlier in the week, he gets the plan and he's on board. He also thought he was going to have a couple more 3 innings outings, so good to see them letting him go 4. 

Miller was barely hitting .200 before this, so it is good to see him put a couple of strong games together, even if just for his confidence. What he has been doing is playing strong defense. And he has done a nice job taking walks. 

Martin is 'very fast.' Julien more has 'good speed.' I still believe Martin can be a 15 homer type of guys, and Julien can be a 20-25 home guy. I mean, basing it on prospect rankings, even with Martin sliding, he's still the significantly higher-ranked prospect. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean he'll actually be the better big leaguer, but I think it's very much likely. 

[The Mad King]

Shouldn't the Twins call ups create a chain reaction down the line? Shortstops need to move up to replace Lewis etc...

[Lucas Seehafer PT]

3 hours ago, The Mad King said:

Shouldn't the Twins call ups create a chain reaction down the line? Shortstops need to move up to replace Lewis etc...

It will soon, I'd imagine. There are a couple of low-level prospects who play the same spot and are probably going to move first (i.e. Merrell was called up to St. Paul). But, I think Spencer Steer and perhaps Edouard Julien could be the next notable name on the move up.

[The Mad King]

CES needs to move up too

[Major League Ready]

On 5/7/2022 at 4:53 PM, The Mad King said:

Shouldn't the Twins call ups create a chain reaction down the line? Shortstops need to move up to replace Lewis etc...

Lewis is going back to St. Paul if Correa is able to come back relatively quickly.