Minor League Report 8/14: Will Holland Makes History

[David Youngs]

Will Holland's speed and power put him in Wind Surge history on Sunday afternoon. Get the latest updates and scores from Sunday's endeavors across the farm!

 

TRANSACTIONS
No transactions on Sunday within the organization!

SAINTS SENTINEL
Columbus 5, St. Paul 3 (10)
Box Score

 

Extra innings, man.

Per Saints broadcaster and Vice President Sean Aronson, St. Paul has played more extra-inning games than any professional baseball team in their 2022 campaign. In their 17th extra-inning game of the season, the Saints dropped a 5-3 contest to Columbus on Sunday afternoon. 

St. Paul scored their runs on a pair of solo homers from Mark Contreras (12) and Chris Williams (1) alongside a sac-fly from John Andreoli that scored Caleb Hamilton. 

 

 

St. Paul starter Aaron Sanchez was magnificent, pitching five scoreless innings with striking out four, allowing just three hits and one walk. Sanchez shined in his one appearance with the Twins earlier this summer and it's great to see him continue to shine with St. Paul. 

Saints' relievers Tyler Thornburg and Jharel Cotton were solid on the day; Thornburg was perfect in the sixth inning, striking one one while Cotton was solid on the back end, pitching 1  1/3 innings of scoreless ball between the eighth and ninth innings. 

 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 10, Corpus Christi 4
Box Score

The bats were buzzing in Kansas. An inside-the-park homer from Will Holland led the Surge to a dominant win on Sunday afternoon at Riverfront Stadium in Wichita. 

Holland's homer took place in the second inning and was truly a spectacular sight. 

Holland also tallied an RBI single in the seventh inning and his inside-the-parker was the first in franchise history. 

DaShawn Keirsey Jr. also had a stellar day at the plate, going 3-for-5 with an RBI and a towering solo home run in the third inning. 

The Surge were just as electric on the bump; starter Kody Funderburk (W, 8-4) tossed five shutout innings, striking out four and allowing zero walks. Cody (with a C) Lawyerson followed suit with a scoreless sixth inning. Highly-touted prospect Blayne Enlow was effective in relief as well, tossing a scoreless eighth inning. 

The win continues a hot streak for the Surge. Wichita has one nine of its last ten and 15 of its last 18 games.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Quad Cities 6, Cedar Rapids 5
Box Score

 

A pair of ninth-inning runs from Quad Cities kept the Kernels out of the win column on Sunday afternoon. Despite the loss, there were a myriad of standout performances. 

Recent first-round pick Brooks Lee continued his impressive debut in pro ball, tallying four singles on the day.

 

 

Alerick Soularie and Seth Gray each had rock-solid days at the office; Soularie launched a two-run homer along with an RBI single and Gray laced an RBI double along with a single.

Starting pitcher Ryan Shreve was excellent, tossing three shutout innings and striking out two while walking none.

 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Jupiter 9, Fort Myers 4
Box Score

 

After surrendering four runs in the first inning, Fort Myers mustered together some momentum with a four-run response in the second, all of which came with two outs. 

Unfortunately, that would be the only noise that the Mussels would make at the plate in a 9-4 loss on Sunday afternoon. 

Despite the loss, the second-inning frenzy was a beauty. Rubel Cespedes led off the inning with a four-pitch walk and advanced to second on a single from Kal’ai Rosario. Following a pair of fly outs, Daniel Ozoria laced a 3-1 pitch for a single into center to score Cespedes and move Rosario to third. 

The party started in the next at-bat; with Luis Baez at the plate, Rosario and Ozoria whipped up a double-steal, scoring Rosario and moving Ozoria to second. Ozoria would later score on a passed ball and Baez would eventually cross home as well thanks to a walk. 

Small ball at its finest. 

Fort Myers relievers Regi Grace and Anthony Escobar were outstanding for the Mussels. After a rocky two-thirds of an inning from starter Tomas Cleto, Grace went 2 1/3 innings, allowing just one hit and a walk while striking out four. Escobar followed with two innings of perfect baseball, striking out one.

 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day: Will Holland (Wichita) - 2-for-4, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, K
Pitcher of the Day: Kody Funderburk (Wichita) - 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K

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

#2 - Brooks Lee (Cedar Rapids) - 4-for-5, R
# 7 - Noah Miller (Fort Myers) - 0-for-4, BB, 2 K
#9 - Matt Wallner (St. Paul) - 1-for-3, HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB
#14 - Edouard Julien (Wichita) - 3-for-5, R, RBI, K
#15 - Blayne Enlow (Wichita) - 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
#18 - Tanner Schobel (Fort Myers) - 0-for-3, RBI, BB, K
#19 - Alerick Soularie (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-4, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI
#20 - Kala'i Rosario (Fort Myers) - 2-for-4, R, SB, K

MONDAY'S GAMES
FCL Twins @ FCL Braves (11:00am CST)
DSL Twins @ DSL Nationals (11:00am AST)

 

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[roger]

Holland's inside the park home run and Lee's huge day got the headlines.  But Julien's 3 hit game following yesterday's 4-4 game hardly gets a mention.  So happy that Lee is starting his career on fire and hope like heck he is special.  But Julien is so close to helping.  That tops my wish list for the Twins.

[Linus]

When did Enlow start pitching in relief?  This won’t be popular but let’s move Lee to third right now and have him get ready to be a gold glove third baseman. Keeping guys at short when their long term future is elsewhere seems counterproductive. It sure isn’t doing Martin any favors. 

[DJL44]

15 minutes ago, roger said:

Holland's inside the park home run and Lee's huge day got the headlines.  But Julien's 3 hit game following yesterday's 4-4 game hardly gets a mention.  So happy that Lee is starting his career on fire and hope like heck he is special.  But Julien is so close to helping.  That tops my wish list for the Twins.

I agree that Julien seems closer but Lee is only one level behind and could potentially debut earlier than Julien. Lee is moving that fast.

[Teflon]

Guessing it's not really this guy from the story link, right? It would make his recent performance all the more incredible, though.

[Dman]

Jullien batting .300 with a .438 OBP and .950 OPS what is left for him to work on in AA?  That is as dominant a stat line as you will find in the upper levels.  He has a well rounded bat and and great eye at the plate.  They should give him more time in left field so he has a better path to the MLB club.

Really nice to see Lee making better contact.  I know it was only a game or two but the weak contact he was making was worrisome.  If his advanced hit tool is for real no reason they can't move him faster than most prospects.

 

[raindog]

I can't wait to buy a Keirsey shirsey.

[FlyingFinn]

1 hour ago, Linus said:

When did Enlow start pitching in relief?

My guess is that this was his bullpen throwing day (didn't actually look when he started this week) between starts and they decided to just throw him in for an inning of relief instead. Seems to happen with a few guys in the minors on Sundays, possibly because of the Monday off day and how the rotation falls the next week.

[tony&rodney]

Julien needs to get some starts for the Saints. There is room for him at 2B and I would hope he might be available to learn the outfield (LF) as well.

[Trov]

2 hours ago, Dman said:

Jullien batting .300 with a .438 OBP and .950 OPS what is left for him to work on in AA?  That is as dominant a stat line as you will find in the upper levels.  He has a well rounded bat and and great eye at the plate.  They should give him more time in left field so he has a better path to the MLB club.

Really nice to see Lee making better contact.  I know it was only a game or two but the weak contact he was making was worrisome.  If his advanced hit tool is for real no reason they can't move him faster than most prospects.

 

Julien may get moved up to AAA after AA season is over. With this close to end of season organizations tend to look to not make too many moves unless they have to.  I would agree he is ready to move up at the plate, but as he would not be making the MLB this year does it make much of a difference today, next month, or next year to be in AAA?  

In terms of defense he has played all year at 2b or dh, only 18 games in LF last year.  From everything I read on him is his defense is what will keep him from being regular starter, unless his bat is super elite he may be settling into 1b/DH.  They may look back to LF if there is a spot there in future, but that could be addressed more in off-season.  Although his defense at 2b on paper does not look to be terrible this year so maybe he has made improvements.  

Polonco is close to end of his contract so 2nd base is not as locked up as it may seem.  Overall, I am sure it will work itself out.

[MN_ExPat]

2 hours ago, Trov said:

In terms of defense he has played all year at 2b or dh, only 18 games in LF last year.  From everything I read on him is his defense is what will keep him from being regular starter, unless his bat is super elite he may be settling into 1b/DH.  They may look back to LF if there is a spot there in future, but that could be addressed more in off-season.  Although his defense at 2b on paper does not look to be terrible this year so maybe he has made improvements.  

Pretty much along the same lines I was thinking as well.  I've caught a few Wichita games on MiLB TV and (along with his BRef stats) his defense at 2B has looked fairly solid this year. 

He looks like a very solid, athletic kid and I'm sure he could play LF in a pinch or as an off day fill in, but I have the feeling that he isn't 100% comfortable in the big grass.

[bean5302]

7 hours ago, Linus said:

When did Enlow start pitching in relief?  This won’t be popular but let’s move Lee to third right now and have him get ready to be a gold glove third baseman. Keeping guys at short when their long term future is elsewhere seems counterproductive. It sure isn’t doing Martin any favors. 

Not sure about that. Enlow last started a game on 8/6. 4.0 innings, 4 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks, 1 ER. It was a decent start, but the Twins have clearly been keeping his pitch count to about 60-65 max. He's been used a reliever a little earlier this year as well but last night was the first time he's ever been asked to pitch a single inning.

If Enlow is going to be a reliever, there's limited reason to keep him at AA. Just fast track him to the big show.

[DocBauer]

Super late to this, but have to comment anyway.

Surprised by the Holland and Sabato promotions. Numbers say they don't deserve the promotions. Both have been, frankly, disappointments. But age and talent seems to indicate a new challenge. (Not to mention additional moves, promotions, and the influx of draft picks). I'm 100% at this point with both players being challenged. They are both college players, high picks, and talented. Time to show up guys!

I remain STUNNED Julien isn't already at AAA. I know there are defensive/best position issues, but his game is ready. 

NICE to see Lee raking at A+. I expected that. And I'm OK if he stays at CR to finish the year because it's STILL an indoctrination to pro ball and playing daily. He's got about 4 weeks left in this year. I don't see a need to go to AA unless it's to help with the playoffs. He'll go to IL, and probably be at AA Wichita to begin 2023. As to a previous comment about him immediately transitioning to 3B, why would you ever do that this early? Unlike Martin, he's not being asked to learn SS, he IS a SS. Not every good/great SS was a smaller, speedster type. My goodness, current Twin Correa is an example and there are many others. Let him play SS for now and see what happens over more than a couple of weeks.

In regard to Enlow, very possible he pitched in a game instead of throwing a bullpen. Also very possible he's now on an every 6th day starting rotation just to monitor IP to finish the season strong. You want to build up his arm. But with the way the milb system works, you only get 1 start a week, and 2 only every few weeks. (6 game schedules). So why not make his bullpen an actual game appearance between starts? Not uncommon, and I like the approach.

[Monkeypaws]

Saw some Will Holland on my trip to Cedar Rapids in May, and he looked a very athletic ballplayer. He was playing a very good CF. Love to see the bat come to life.

[Seth Stohs]

On 8/15/2022 at 11:39 AM, Trov said:

Julien may get moved up to AAA after AA season is over. With this close to end of season organizations tend to look to not make too many moves unless they have to.  I would agree he is ready to move up at the plate, but as he would not be making the MLB this year does it make much of a difference today, next month, or next year to be in AAA?  

In terms of defense he has played all year at 2b or dh, only 18 games in LF last year.  From everything I read on him is his defense is what will keep him from being regular starter, unless his bat is super elite he may be settling into 1b/DH.  They may look back to LF if there is a spot there in future, but that could be addressed more in off-season.  Although his defense at 2b on paper does not look to be terrible this year so maybe he has made improvements.  

Polonco is close to end of his contract so 2nd base is not as locked up as it may seem.  Overall, I am sure it will work itself out.

There really aren't any minor league moves after the season is over. Julien would seem to a be a lock to get added to the Twins 40-man roster. But, I agree with the rest of your paragraph. There is no rush to get him to St. Paul. He's unlikely to get called up to the Twins this season and he can go into next spring competing for a big-league utility role anyway. Most likely, he starts 2023 on the 40-man, in St. Paul, ready to be called up whenever he's needed. 

Last paragraph though... Polanco is signed through next season AND has two option years at reasonable dollars. He'll be around. Maybe you're thinking he'd be traded, and of course, that is always possible sometime in the future. 

[Seth Stohs]

On 8/15/2022 at 8:40 AM, Linus said:

When did Enlow start pitching in relief?  This won’t be popular but let’s move Lee to third right now and have him get ready to be a gold glove third baseman. Keeping guys at short when their long term future is elsewhere seems counterproductive. It sure isn’t doing Martin any favors. 

Since coming back from missing a month with Covid. I think he's made one start and worked out of the bullpen a couple of times. They're monitoring him in his return from Tommy John and obviously just want to keep him healthy going into the offseason. 

As for Lee, keep him at SS as long as there is any chance he can play there. There aren't a lot who can, so if you can find one, even if it's unlikely long-term, let them keep working there. If he's legitimately worth considering at SS, then any transition to 3B will be no problem. 

[Linus]

16 hours ago, Seth Stohs said:

Since coming back from missing a month with Covid. I think he's made one start and worked out of the bullpen a couple of times. They're monitoring him in his return from Tommy John and obviously just want to keep him healthy going into the offseason. 

As for Lee, keep him at SS as long as there is any chance he can play there. There aren't a lot who can, so if you can find one, even if it's unlikely long-term, let them keep working there. If he's legitimately worth considering at SS, then any transition to 3B will be no problem. 

Disagree. With his hitting profile Lee could be in the majors in two years.  He’s not gonna play SS in the big leagues and if he does he will be sub par. While the positions have similarities there are enough differences that he should play third now and be polished on both sides of the ball when he makes the bigs.