Twins Minor League Report (9/14): Saints Steal the Show in Lone Action

[Ted Schwerzler]

With both the Cedar Rapids Kernels and Fort Myers Mighty Mussels dealing with a day off before resuming their championship series action at home, the St. Paul Saints were the lone team in action thanks to a Wichita Wind Surge rain out.

 

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints

 

TRANSACTIONS

• Catcher David Banuelos placed on the 7-day IL retroactive to September 13 (concussion)

SAINTS SENTINEL 
Louisville 5, St. Paul 1
Box Score
Simeon Woods Richardson made the start tonight for the St. Paul Saints and was dominant. He worked six scoreless innings allowing just two hits and one walk while striking out four. He kept Louisville off the scoreboard.

Lifted after six strong innings for reliever Drew Strotman, the Saints allowed a run after their new pitcher gave up a hit and a walk. The 7th inning Louisville single broke up the scoreless tie. Answering in the bottom of the 7th inning, Nash Knight ripped a line drive single to drive in Mark Contreras and even the score at one.

Unfortunately, the Saints couldn’t hold the tie and in the 8th inning, a Bats single from Cristian Santana drove in two putting the good guys behind 3-1. Louisville then added another two runs in the 9th inning and pushed the lead up to 5-1.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Postponed

Due to inclement weather, Wichita and Midland were postponed tonight.

KERNELS NUGGETS
No Game

The Kernels are off tonight as they prepare for game two of the Midwest League Championship Series. They trail 1-0 and Travis Adams will start tomorrow night at home.

MUSSEL MATTERS
No Game

The Mighty Mussels are off tonight as they prepare for game two of the Florida State League Championship Series. They trail 1-0 and Marco Raya will start tomorrow night at home.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Simeon Woods Richardson (St. Paul) - 6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER,1 BB, 4 K
Hitter of the Day – Nash Knight (St. Paul) - 2-4, RBI, K

PROSPECT SUMMARY
We will 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:

#6 - Simeon Woods Richardson (St. Paul) - 6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER,1 BB, 4 K
#9 - Matt Wallner (St. Paul) - 0-3, BB

THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Louisville @ St. Paul (7:07PM CST) - RHP Jordan Balazovic
Wichita @ Midland (7:00PM CST) - RHP Brent Headrick
South Bend @ Cedar Rapids (6:35PM CST) - RHP Travis Adams
Dunedin @ Fort Myers (6:00PM CST) - RHP Marco Raya

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Wednesday’s games! It sure is exciting to have all four Twins full-season affiliates back and playing.

 

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[puckstopper1]

Woods Richardson may eventually provide the Twins with some value as a result of the Berrios trade.

[Linus]

SWR has had a very good season. Consistent performance across AA and AAA and good health. He’s quickly running out of things to prove in the minors. 

[Doctor Gast]

It was great to see SWR step up in AAA and perform. Have great expectations for him.

[RJA]

We have three interesting prospects on the mound tonight--Balazovic, Headrick, and Raya.  Hopefully, Balazovic has another good performance tonight so he has something to build on next year.  He and SWR could both put themselves in a position to help next year at some point. 

[Alex Schieferdecker]

Not having watched him pitch, SWR's lack of strikeouts feels concerning. Should I actually be worried, or is he just very very good at getting soft contact?

[jmlease1]

1 hour ago, Alex Schieferdecker said:

Not having watched him pitch, SWR's lack of strikeouts feels concerning. Should I actually be worried, or is he just very very good at getting soft contact?

He's averaging over a K/inning this season, which is down a little for him but I'm not sure it's something to worry about it at this point. He hasn't been at elite levels this year, but his K/9 would be higher than any Twins starter this season outside of Louie Varland (who has one game under his belt, but has a higher K/9 in the minors as well). I'm very happy with SWR's season: he's pitching late into the year, he's been mostly healthy (except for a bout with COVID I believe), he's pitched more innings than any year since he was 18, and he absolutely earned the promotion to AAA and performed really well since moving up.

 

[Steve Lein]

2 hours ago, Alex Schieferdecker said:

Not having watched him pitch, SWR's lack of strikeouts feels concerning. Should I actually be worried, or is he just very very good at getting soft contact?

No. Have watched several of his starts this year, including multiple where he was absolutely dominant.

What you should take notice of in Triple-A for SWR so far, is his WHIP.

I have often used a comparison to Jose Berrios for SWR in the minors. Basically have been the same ages at levels, and SWR's numbers are better, in my opinion. Some significantly, like overall K-rate (11.0 vs 9.6)

[Steve Lein]

3 hours ago, RJA said:

We have three interesting prospects on the mound tonight--Balazovic, Headrick, and Raya.  Hopefully, Balazovic has another good performance tonight so he has something to build on next year.  He and SWR could both put themselves in a position to help next year at some point. 

I'm going to the Saints game tonight. Am really interested to watch this year's version of Balazovic in person.

[Rosterman]

SWR is soooooo young. Between him and Ronny Henriquez, plus Balazovic, the Twins have three young studs. If they make "The Show" is the question.

[MplsFan]

Who is Nash Knight?

[MN_ExPat]

5 hours ago, Steve Lein said:

I'm going to the Saints game tonight. Am really interested to watch this year's version of Balazovic in person.

You suck (not jealous at all ).  Would totally love to see him in person.  If for no other reason than just to be able to break down and dissect his mechanics, body language, etc. 

I still feel (hopefully) that he'll be fine in the long run; that he just needs some time to heal up, reset and get his mind right. Baseball is tough, and that's when you're fully healthy.  I can't even imagine what's been running though his head this year (and yes pitchers are often a bit of a head case ).

[RJA]

6 hours ago, Steve Lein said:

I'm going to the Saints game tonight. Am really interested to watch this year's version of Balazovic in person.

I would love to hear your impression of his performance if you can post it.  I saw him earlier this year and he really struggled.  I hope he is righting the ship.  We need him.

[ashbury]

3 hours ago, MplsFan said:

Who is Nash Knight?

A 29-year old who has not tasted the majors yet.  Minor league free agent signing in July.  I can't find a TD article that mentions the signing, though.

[MN_ExPat]

15 hours ago, RJA said:

I would love to hear your impression of his performance if you can post it.  I saw him earlier this year and he really struggled.  I hope he is righting the ship.  We need him.

While I wasn't there in person, it did watch the game on MiLB TV.  Honestly, he looked ok.  Enough so, that I feel he will be ok going forward.

[RJA]

8 minutes ago, MN_ExPat said:

While I wasn't there in person, it did watch the game on MiLB TV.  Honestly, he looked ok.  Enough so, that I feel he will be ok going forward.

Thank you!  It sure would be great if he gets back on track next year.  The stuff is definitely there.

[Steve Lein]

22 hours ago, MN_ExPat said:

You suck (not jealous at all ).  Would totally love to see him in person.  If for no other reason than just to be able to break down and dissect his mechanics, body language, etc. 

 

21 hours ago, RJA said:

I would love to hear your impression of his performance if you can post it.  I saw him earlier this year and he really struggled.  I hope he is righting the ship.  We need him.

I'd describe his outing as a bit inconsistent, but overall he was pretty good. Dropped some pitches on corners to catch guys looking, as well as some swings-and-misses.

He came out firing 97 MPH fastballs (which is in line with last year), but I say inconsistent because in the innings that followed his velocity (on all his pitches) was all over the place.

Fastball was down 90-92 in the second and third innings (when he gave up some loud contact) after those 97's, then in his last inning was back up to 96. The lowest reading I saw was a 76 (curveball) but it was really hard to correlate the readings to his pitches because of their variation. To my non-scout eyes, I'd say his slider was anywhere from 80-89, FB 90-97, etc...

I'd say he looked confident and throwing 97 says there's not a physical ailment, but could definitely be something mechanical that gets out of whack at times.

[RJA]

56 minutes ago, Steve Lein said:

 

I'd describe his outing as a bit inconsistent, but overall he was pretty good. Dropped some pitches on corners to catch guys looking, as well as some swings-and-misses.

He came out firing 97 MPH fastballs (which is in line with last year), but I say inconsistent because in the innings that followed his velocity (on all his pitches) was all over the place.

Fastball was down 90-92 in the second and third innings (when he gave up some loud contact) after those 97's, then in his last inning was back up to 96. The lowest reading I saw was a 76 (curveball) but it was really hard to correlate the readings to his pitches because of their variation. To my non-scout eyes, I'd say his slider was anywhere from 80-89, FB 90-97, etc...

I'd say he looked confident and throwing 97 says there's not a physical ailment, but could definitely be something mechanical that gets out of whack at times.

Thanks, Steve.  I greatly appreciate your response.  When I saw him there were glimmers of great stuff, but the same inconsistency you noted, only probably worse.  In one case he threw three almost unhittable pitches to get a punch out, and followed it with walks and multiple hits on pitches he left hanging.  I suspect he will get a lot of tutoring and help this off season.