Minor League Report (4/1) Four Homers Lead St. Paul to First 2023 Victory

[Matt Braun]

Not sure why the Saints didn't try this yesterday.

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson

TRANSACTIONS
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Saints Sentinel 
St. Paul 6, Toledo 1
Box Score
Aaron Sanchez: 3 1/3 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K
HR: Chris Williams (1), Tony Wolters (1), Ryan LaMarre (1), Matt Wallner (1)
Multi-hit games: Kyle Garlick (2-for-4), Chris Williams (2-for-5, HR, 2 R, RBI)

It was a day of homers. Despite Toledo’s best efforts to keep the ball in the park—and they tried nearly everything—the Saints darkened the sky with baseballs, swatting four home runs on their way to besting the Mud Hens. 

The sources varied from the predictable—Chris Williams and Matt Wallner—to the downright shocking: Tony Wolters’ solo shot was his first homer since August 30th, 2021. Ryan LaMarre’s bomb exited his bat at 110.1 MPH.

 

Truly absurd power from Wallner; he appeared to fall over himself while swinging and still hit the ball nearly 400 feet.

Between the animal hide rain lived a deeply appreciative Aaron Sanchez. The Saints’ starter worked inefficiently, walking a trio of batters on his path towards 10 netted outs. Dereck Rodriguez was summoned to bridge the gap between the early and late frames. Rodriguez suffered from a similar affliction, allowing a pair of free passes over 2 2/3 innings, but he performed well enough to pass the lead to the late-inning specialists. 

Trevor Megill continued the shutout and did so with overpowering success, striking out five over two shutout frames with a lone walk serving as his only blemish. Brock Stewart closed the game with a scoreless inning and three strikeouts. 

Old friends Akil Baddoo and Matt Wisler played for Toledo. Baddoo walked once in four plate appearances while Wisler pitched a scoreless inning.

Justyn-Henry Malloy is the best prospect on the Mud Hens. He walked and singled in four plate appearances. 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Trevor Megill
Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Chris Williams

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:
 #5 - Edouard Julien (St. Paul) - 0-5, 4 K
#11 - Matt Wallner (St. Paul) - 1-4, HR, R, RBI, BB, 2 K

SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Toledo @ St. Paul (1:05 PM) - RHP Randy Dobnak 

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[darwin22]

Nice to see the Saints bats come alive today with a big power display!  

Impressive because it proved to me that IT REALLY IS ALLOWED to hit the ball out of the park.  Forgot that after watching the Twins flail away the last 2 games in KC.

Will be interesting to see how long management commits to Kepler (now a goose egg for 9) if Wallner's bat has a hot start at SP.  

A rough day for Julien (maybe he borrowed a few of Gallo's bats), but his performance in AZ fall league, WBC and ST warrants a possible callup in May.  That assumes he hits and Buxton can return to CF duty at least 3-4 games per week.

Finally, count me in the camp of rooting for Dobnak to have a strong start tomorrow.  Dude is due for good fortune after the last 2 years of misery.  Twins are going to need a long man in bullpen as the season progresses.  IMO, Dobnak can be that guy if he pitches well at SP.  Not much confidence in Maeda holding down the 5th SP slot for long.  Ober, assuming he can pitch better than yesterday, will need a handoff if he takes over for Maeda.

 

 

[mikelink45]

Wallner in RF - Gallo in St Paul and Kepler on the bench - already dreaming and the Twins are 2 - 0.  

[jmlease1]

Remember when people were falling all over themselves to proclaim how the front office had made the most disastrous mistake in the world leaving Akil Baddoo exposed to the Rule 5 draft? Hmmm...

[Jocko87]

Julien with the reality check.  I'm fine with seeing a couple months at AAA to get him level.  Big numbers mean big attention from advance scouts.

[Omgbenji]

These are some hot takes in the comments today! I’m no Kepler fan, but I’d still give him more than two games to prove himself before I dance on his grave. 

[miracleb]

Julien's homer yesterday.... cost him 4 strikeouts today.  Probably trying to do too much......he will get it figured out!

[puckstopper1]

11 hours ago, Omgbenji said:

These are some hot takes in the comments today! I’m no Kepler fan, but I’d still give him more than two games to prove himself before I dance on his grave. 

Sorry Omgbenji - it is not just 2 games for Kepler.  It is the last 3 seasons and 2 games that he has been putrid at the plate.

[puckstopper1]

@Matt Braun wrote "Old friends Akil Baddoo and Matt Wisler played for Toledo. Baddoo walked once in four plate appearances while Wisler pitched a scoreless inning."

Don't forget about our old friend / former Twin and Saint Jermaine Manuel Palacios!

[jorgenswest]

So many Julien comparisons to Arraez since Luis was traded. I wonder if Luis ever struck out four times in a game.

I believe Julien will be a good major leaguer but I think his minor league numbers in context of era and league are a closer comp to Bobby Kielty than Luis Arraez.

[Seth Stohs]

14 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

Remember when people were falling all over themselves to proclaim how the front office had made the most disastrous mistake in the world leaving Akil Baddoo exposed to the Rule 5 draft? Hmmm...

It wasn't a bad decision then. It wasn't a bad decision even if he had become an All Star. At that time, it wasn't easy, but not protecting him was the right move based on where he was and that the hadn't played in two years. 

[Seth Stohs]

13 minutes ago, jorgenswest said:

So many Julien comparisons to Arraez since Luis was traded. I wonder if Luis ever struck out four times in a game.

I believe Julien will be a good major leaguer but I think his minor league numbers in context of era and league are a closer comp to Bobby Kielty than Luis Arraez.

Julien fills up a box score... including the strike outs. He's had well over 100 strikeouts the last two years. 

[Seth Stohs]

5 hours ago, miracleb said:

Julien's homer yesterday.... cost him 4 strikeouts today.  Probably trying to do too much......he will get it figured out!

The two aren't related... this is just the player that he is. He walks a lot. He strikes out a lot. He has good power. He has good speed. He may hit .280 sometimes. 

[Trov]

1 hour ago, jorgenswest said:

So many Julien comparisons to Arraez since Luis was traded. I wonder if Luis ever struck out four times in a game.

I believe Julien will be a good major leaguer but I think his minor league numbers in context of era and league are a closer comp to Bobby Kielty than Luis Arraez.

Not sure who has been doing an Arraez for Julien comp, because they were not even close as a comp other than both came up as second base prospect.  Arraez had high OBP like Julien, but they did it very different ways.  Julien walks a ton, but strikes out a ton too.  Arraez would put everything in play.  Julien has much more power than Arraez as well.  So really anyone trying to make a comp between 2 are making a huge stretch. 

[Trov]

Crazy how after 2 games people are calling to release Kepler for Walner because Walner hit 1 HR.  Walner is a hitter only, can play no defense in RF.  At least Kepler brings great defense even if he leaves some guys on base he will save many runs in field.  

[Doctor Wu]

On 4/2/2023 at 9:21 AM, jmlease1 said:

Remember when people were falling all over themselves to proclaim how the front office had made the most disastrous mistake in the world leaving Akil Baddoo exposed to the Rule 5 draft? Hmmm...

Yeah, baseball is a funny game. For his first month in Detroit that year, Baddoo was on fire, looking like an all-star in the making. But then he cooled off and came back down to earth. I still think he's a good player, and he should be back in Detroit before the summer is over, but maybe those all-star plans will have to wait.