Minor League Recap (8/13): Varland Shines in Saints Debut

[Lucas Seehafer PT]

A graduate of North St. Paul High School, and Concordia University in St. Paul, Louie Varland made his first Triple-A start for his hometown S.t Paul Saints. Plus wins by Wichita and Cedar Rapids and a big night for the Twins 10th round pick. 

 

TRANSACTIONS

• 2B Jorel Ortega placed on the 7-Day IL (wrist).

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 5, Columbus 1
Box Score

St. Paul native Louie Varland dominated during his Triple-A debut in front of the home crowd. Varland—Twins Daily’s number 12 Twins prospect—struck out eight and allowed only three Clipper batters to reach base across 5 ⅓ innings, marking arguably his best start of the season.

While the Twins are developing Varland as a starter and have ever since he signed out of Concordia University, some talent evaluators believe he is best suited for the bullpen long-term. An athlete is only ever a couple of good outings away from the Majors once they reach Triple-A and should the Twins continue to need pitching help as the season winds down Varland’s name may begin to seriously come up in conversations.

At the plate, Mark Contreras went 1-for-4 with a home run and two RBI. Roy Morales drove in the Saints other three runs, going 1-for-4 with a double.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 7, Corpus Christi 3
Box Score

The Wind Surge got tremendous production from the bottom of their lineup on Friday as they took down the Hooks with relative ease. Will Holland, Anthony Prato, and Leobaldo Cabrera—Wichita’s 7-8-9 hitters—combined to go 5-for-8 with four RBI, three runs scored, and four walks; Prato led the charge by contributing a double and triple to raise his average to .307. Alex Isola also brought the boom, driving in two with his seventh home run of the season.

Brent Headrick put together five solid innings, striking out six and allowing one earned run. Alex Phillips and Denny Bentley each struck out the side during the eighth and ninth innings, respectively.  

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 5, Quad Cities 0
Box Score

Kyler Fedko (1-for-4, RBI, R) contributed Cedar Rapids’ lone extra-base hit on the night, but although offense was at a bit of a premium in Iowa, the Kernels ultimately came out on top with ease. Mikey Perez added the team’s lone multi-hit game, going 2-for-5 with two RBI. Brooks Lee went 0-for-3 but drew two walks.

David Festa started on the bump for the Kernels but was removed after three shutout innings. Hunter McMahon was awarded the win after throwing 3 1/3 innings of hitless ball in relief. He struck out three and his ERA dropped to 0.65.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Jupiter 3, Fort Myers 1
Box Score

It was a quiet night in Jupiter with no offensive hurricanes to be found. 

Noah Cardenas led the Mighty Mussels at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a double. Dillon Tatum (1-for-4) also contributed a double. 

The Fort Myers pitching staff also had a quiet night as they managed to strike out a meager two batters while walking four and surrendering three earned runs.

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
FCL Red Sox 1, FCL Twins 0
Box Score

The FCL Twins managed to pick up eight hits against the FCL Red Sox on Friday, but unfortunately, none were able to drive in any runs. Dalton Shuffield—the Twins 10th round pick out of Texas State—went 3-for-4 and picked up his first professional hits. 

Five pitchers—led by Pierce Banks—saw action for the Twins and struck out 12 while surrendering only a single run. 

DOMINICAN DAILIES
DSL Twins 3, DSL Mariners 0
Box Score

Bryan Acuna’s RBI double in the sixth inning gave the DSL Twins a 1-0 lead, an advantage they would never surrender. Jesus Peraza singled home two more in the seventh to extend the Twins lead.

DSL Twins pitchers struck out eight while only walking two to earn the shutout. 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Louie Varland (St. Paul): 5 1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R/ER, 2 BB, 8 K
Hitter of the Day – Anthony Prato (Wichita): 2-for-3, 2B, 3B, 2 RBI, BB, 2 R

PROSPECT SUMMARY
We will again keep tabs on the Twins top prospects. You’ll probably read about them in the team sections, but if they aren’t there, you’ll see how they did here. Here’s a look at how the current Twins Daily Top 20 performed:

#2 - Brooks Lee (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-3, 2 BB

#7 - Noah Miller (Fort Myers) - 0-for-3, BB
#9 - Matt Wallner (St. Paul) - 0-for-2, 2 BB
#12 - Louie Varland (Wichita) - 5 1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R/ER, 2 BB, 8 K
#13 - David Festa (Cedar Rapids) - 3 IP, 3 H, 0 R/ER, 3 BB, 3 K
#14 - Edouard Julien (Wichita) - 0-for-4
#18 - Tanner Schobel (Fort Myers) - 1-for-4
#20 - Kala'i Rosario (Fort Myers) - 1-for-4

SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul vs. Columbus (7:07 PM CST) - LHP Devin Smeltzer (2-2, 4.98 ERA)
Wichita vs. Corpus Christi (6:05 PM CST) - RHP Daniel Gossett (1-1, 2.59 ERA)
Cedar Rapids @ Quad Cities (6:30 PM CST) - RHP Luis Rijo (0-1, 11,81 ERA)
Fort Myers @ Jupiter (5:00 PM CST) - RHP Pierson Ohl (4-6, 4.13 ERA)

 

 

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[FlyingFinn]

Very good night of pitching for our minor league teams led by Varland. Sisk keeps doing real well. If both were on the 40 man, would he actually be ahead of Moran, whose ERA is over 5.00 with St. Paul?

The Twins are short on LH starters. Headrick seems to have adjusted well to AA. I'm thinking the Twins have to add him to the 40 man or lose him in the Rule 5 draft. Bentley looking good in relief. Gore, not so much. Nice story on his conversion to pitcher but he may not be around after this year. Prato has been really hitting this month.

Festa did well to not allow any runs with 6 base runners in 3 innings. McMahon, wow, he has been dominating in the pen. I don't know anything about him.

[Blyleven2011]

Nice to see varland dominate in AAA  , probably a September call up if he continues to pitch well and gets acclimated to AAA ....

[roger]

Like FlyingFinn, I had to lookup more info of McMahon.  Was surprised to see he was the player the Twins got in the Ryan Harper trade.  Wow, that seems like forever ago.  Kid is a tad old for A ball, but he is sure getting it done before and after his promotion.

Acuna got another key hit.  Sure hope he and Mercedes are the real deal.

[Danchat]

Methinks Varland has a ceiling as a #4 starter, but the problem is that our rotation will already be full of those types next year... but of course, injuries will happen and he'll get a shot then. I'd keep him as a starter and experiment with the others (primarily Sands) to see if they can work as relievers.

[D.C Twins]

Sabato's promotion to AA is confusing at best....

Sisk not getting a chance in our MLB bullpen is frustrating at best....

[puckstopper1]

Louie looked great.  The write-up failed to mention that he had a no-hitter thru 5 1/3.

This song has a totally different meaning but Varland certainly brings the catchy Chorus (1:40 into the video) to mind.

BTW - This song was very popular in the U.S. in the 1970's.  It was played frequently on the radio, and reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US and sold a million-plus copies to earn a gold disk.

 

[Rosterman]

Varland, like Ober and Sands, are one of those you hope can make the backend of the rotation.

 

[Rosterman]

Moran is a good example of NOT believing everything that happens at AAA ball. Including batting averages. Major league baseball is a whole new experience. Minor leagues are for training, trying things out, and where you might rather have a player fail by trying soemthing, or working on something, than the major leagues.

[FlyingFinn]

We have an Austin Martin sighting! Rehab assignment for FCL Twins.

[Mortimerkenny21]

1 hour ago, Rosterman said:

Varland, like Ober and Sands, are one of those you hope can make the backend of the rotation.

 

If they Twins don't find room for him at the back end of the rotation it sounds like he would be solid as a reliever too.  Which even with our recent improvement's through trade in the BP it would certainly help to have another quality arm!

[stringer bell]

5 hours ago, Blyleven2011 said:

Nice to see varland dominate in AAA  , probably a September call up if he continues to pitch well and gets acclimated to AAA ....

Only two players can be added in September.  One of them will probably be Jeffers and there are a few rehabbing pitchers. I really don’t think Varland would/will get a chance this season, but he’s only one stop away. 

[Seth Stohs]

Why are so many limiting Varland's potential to #4 starter? 

Yes, that's the likely high point for any pitching prospect... But when a guy sits 95-96 and touches 99, and has a wipe out slider, there's more potential. Yes, the changeup will obviously need to continue to develop for him to be a starter at all, but that can happen. 

[Danchat]

2 hours ago, Seth Stohs said:

Why are so many limiting Varland's potential to #4 starter? 

Yes, that's the likely high point for any pitching prospect... But when a guy sits 95-96 and touches 99, and has a wipe out slider, there's more potential. Yes, the changeup will obviously need to continue to develop for him to be a starter at all, but that can happen. 

I had it in my notes that Varland threw softer, I didn't realize he was hitting those numbers consistently. Maybe that gets him bumped up to #3. ?

When it comes to Twins pitching prospects, always have low expectations, since most of the time they will not be exceeded. I'd love to get my hopes up but I have a hard time justifying it.