Twins Minor League Report (4/7): Everyone Gets a Win!

[Sherry Cerny]

The Twins and their affiliates have all had the chance to start their seasons. The Twins had a great home opener with Kyle Farmer providing a walk-off against the Houston Astros. 

The affiliates continued to carry the torch into the evening, and with every team winning their game, it was a great day for Twins baseball!

 

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints

 

Let’s get to the report. As always, please feel free to discuss and ask questions! 

TRANSACTIONS

• RHP Patrick Murphy activated from the Development List
• RHP Josh Winder has been assigned to Low-A Fort Myers on MLB Rehab. 

Saints Sentinel
St. Paul 6, Iowa 2
Box Score
Louis Varland had a phenomenal first game of his season. He threw five innings and allowed only one run, one walk, and he struck out nine batters. Jordan Balazovic, Trevor Megill and Brock Stewart each recorded four outs. Balazovic made his first appearance of the year. He gave up one run on one hit and two walks. Megill walked two. Stewart recorded his first save which gave Varland his first win of the season. 

Kyle Garlick is the top story today for the St. Paul Saints. The outfielder has been driving in the runs early in the season and Edouard Julien and Matt Wallner setting the table for the middle of the lineup, specifically Tyler White and Mark Contreras to drive them in. 

Hernan Perez gave the Saints a 2-1 lead in the fifth inning with a solo home run. Mark Contreras came up big in the bottom of the sixth inning. With Garlick and Julien on second and third, he drove them home with a two-run home run which gave the Saints a 5-1 lead. 

The Saints had just four hits and six walks. Julien had one of the hits and walked twice. Garlick and Contreras each drove in two runs. 

Wind Surge Wisdom
Wichita 2, Springfield 0
Box Score 
This was a battle of the pitchers for most of the game. In the third inning, Twins top prospect Brooks Lee and Yunior Severino got on base. Catcher Alex Isola drove in Lee with a double and first baseman Aaron Sabato followed with a sacrifice fly to drive in Severino. The Wind Surge had a 2-0 lead, and that was it for run scoring. As you would expect, this game finished in just two hours and five minutes.

In his first Double-A start, David Festa pitched a clean, scoreless five innings. He gave up only one hit and struck out eight batters. Hunter McMahon came on and struck out three batters over two perfect innings. Jordan Brink worked a hitless eighth from, and Michael Boyle he save with a hitless ninth frame. 

The Wind Surge had seven hits. Isola and Yoyner Fajardo were both 2-for-4 in the games. 

Kernel Nuggets
Cedar Rapids 5, Peoria 4 (10 innings) 
Box Score 
The Cedar Rapids Kernels kept the baseball night alive for the Twins affiliates. The Kernels needed 10 innings to beat the Peoria Chiefs. 

In the third inning, the Kernels got on the board first with a three-run home run from Tanner Schobel off of  Cooper Hjerpe. 

Kyle Jones started for Cedar Rapids. The 2022 draft pick went five innings without giving up a run. However, he was charged with three runs in the sixth inning. In 5 1/3 innings, he gave up six hits. He struck out six batters without giving up a walk. 

Matt Mullenbach struck out two batters without giving up a run, though one of two inherited runners scored. Matt Swain got the eighth inning. He walked three batters but gave up a run on a sacrifice fly which put the Kernels down 4-3. In the top of the ninth inning. Keoni Cavaco and Kyler Fedko got things started with singles. Charles Mack laid down a sacrifice bunt and the bases were loaded because of an error. After a strikeout, Emmanuel Rodriguez drove in pinch-runner Willy Joe Garry with the game-tying run. 

Regi Grace pitched a scoreless ninth inning. Misael Urbina began the top of the 10th as the Manfred Man on second base. Kala'i Rosario singled to score Urbina. Unfortunately, that was the only run they scored. Fortunately, Regi Grace remained in and kept Peoria off the scoreboard to give the Kernels the win. 

Rosario led the way. He went 2-for-4 with a walk. Noah Miller went 2-for-5. Fedko went 1-for-2 with two walks. 

Muscle Matters
Dunedin 3, Fort Myers 4
Box Score
Through four innings, the Mussels held a 4-3 lead. Fortunately, that was a lead they kept the remainder of the game. 

The game was tied in the third when Alec Sayre got out on a sacrifice fly to score Rubel Cespedes, advancing Mikey Perez to third. Dylan Nuese drew a walk. With men on the corners, and then stole second while Dunedin catcher Sammy Hernandez threw to third base to try and catch Mikey Perez. Perez saw an opportunity and took off, stole home and gave the Mussels a 3-1 lead. 

Designated Hitter, Andrew Cossetti got his first professional hit during the game, which secured the lead for the Mussels when he hit a line-drive to right center-field to give the Mussels a 4-1 lead. 

Starting pitcher, Andrew Morris threw 4 1/3i innings, striking out seven batters but gave up the only three earned runs of the game before getting pulled in the fourth inning. 

The bullpen really shone through to carry the rest of the game. The Blue Jays attempted to catch up to the Mussels, but the bullpen kept that from happening, shutting out the Jays the rest of the game. Twins bullpen pitcher Josh Winder joined the Mussels on a rehab assignment and threw two innings, giving up two hits, He walked two and struck out three batters.. 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – David Festa (Wichita) - 5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K
Hitter of the Day – Edouard Julien (St. Paul) - 1-for-2, 2 R, 1 RBI, HR (1), 2 BB, K 

PROSPECT SUMMARY
The Twins Prospect Tracker  is the best way to see how each of the Twins top prospects performed during their games; but in case you wanted a quick look, Here is how each of the top 20 performed today: 

#1 - Brooks Lee (Wichita) - 1-for-4, 1 R, BB, K
#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-3, RBI, SF, 2 K
#5 - Edouard Julien (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, 1 R, BB, K
#8 - Jose Salas (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-5, 2 K
#9 - Louie Varland (St. Paul) - 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 9 K
#11 - Matt Wallner (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, 1 R, BB, K
#14 - Noah Miller (Cedar Rapids) -  2-for-5, R, K
#16 - Jordan Balazovic (St. Paul) - 1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 0 K 
#18 - Tanner Schobel (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-5, HR, R 3 RBI, 2 K
#20 - Misael Urbina (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-3, R, 2 BB, K

UPCOMING SATURDAY SCHEDULE AND PITCHING PROBABLES:
Iowa @ St. Paul (DH at 1:00) - RHP Aaron Sanchez (0-0, 2.70); GAME 2 -  RHP Randy Dobnak (0-0, 1.93)
Wichita @ Springfield (6:00PM CST) -  RHP - Travis Adams, (0-0, 0.00)
Cedar Rapids @ Peoria (6:35PM CST) - LHP Connor Prielipp (professional debut)
Dunedin @ Fort Myers (6:00PM CST) - RHP Zebby Matthews (0-0,0.00)

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss today’s game!

 

 

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[Melissa]

I so appreciate these detailed summaries of our minor league affiliates! Thanks!

Keeps me more informed and thus more interested in these teams and players.

Great to see the strong pitching from Louie Varland for the Saints and David Festa for the Wind Surge.

Putting a report like this together and making it interesting the way you do must take a lot of effort - thanks so much, Sherry!

[Doctor Wu]

2 hours ago, Melissa said:

I so appreciate these detailed summaries of our minor league affiliates! Thanks!

Keeps me more informed and thus more interested in these teams and players.

Great to see the strong pitching from Louie Varland for the Saints and David Festa for the Wind Surge.

Putting a report like this together and making it interesting the way you do must take a lot of effort - thanks so much, Sherry!

I agree. These minor league reports are MUCH appreciated! And great to see some impressive strikeout numbers by both Varland and Festa. Keep 'em coming ... both the strikeouts and these detailed reports!

[jmlease1]

good starts to the year for Varland (who we will see in MLB this year and seems to be making his case to be in the rotation from Day 1 in 2024) and Festa (who took a big step forward in his first full season). Both pitchers are looking like real developmental success stories right now: not high draft picks, not heralded prospects, but they've done the work and team has supported their development and look at where they are now.

Love seeing Noah Miller get some hits. How his bat develops this season is going to say a few things about his future ceiling. He already looks like a guy who can really pick it, but if he can get enough hits?

[FlyingFinn]

Happened to listen to the end of the Cedar Rapids game, wow. Better coaching by the Twins minors than the opposition.

Tied 4-4 in the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs and 2 strikes on the batter. The Kernels are in the field. Swing and a miss but Charles Mack misses the ball and it goes to the backstop. The runner from third comes home, steps on the plate and apparently joins the batter in celebrating the win. What's the problem?

Mack knows. He picks up the ball and fires it to 1st base. That would be a force out since the batter never ran to first base on strike 3. That run does not count. The Kernels win in the 10th 5-4.

[FlyingFinn]

Great games by Varland and Festa. Festa picked up where he left off last year, throwing 97 in the 1st inning. 1 hit allowed, no walks, 8 K's. 51 total pitches of which 43 were strikes!

Nice game by Isola as he had 2 hits and played catcher. 

Balazovic pitched one great inning and then ran into trouble, allowing a triple and a couple walks. Megill bailed him out before allowing the bases loaded the next inning (walks way too many batters) but Stewart bailed him out.

4-0 on the farm. Gotta love that.

[Sherry Cerny]

4 hours ago, Melissa said:

I so appreciate these detailed summaries of our minor league affiliates! Thanks!

Keeps me more informed and thus more interested in these teams and players.

Great to see the strong pitching from Louie Varland for the Saints and David Festa for the Wind Surge.

Putting a report like this together and making it interesting the way you do must take a lot of effort - thanks so much, Sherry!

I *absolutely* loved doing this!  1. I learn SO much, 2. I feel like I know the club better, 3. I love being able to talk to other awesome people about it! Thank you for reading! I’m super stoked about Varland, Wallner and Garlick!

 

35 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

Great games by Varland and Festa. Festa picked up where he left off last year, throwing 97 in the 1st inning. 1 hit allowed, no walks, 8 K's. 51 total pitches of which 43 were strikes!

Nice game by Isola as he had 2 hits and played catcher. 

Balazovic pitched one great inning and then ran into trouble, allowing a triple and a couple walks. Megill bailed him out before allowing the bases loaded the next inning (walks way too many batters) but Stewart bailed him out.

4-0 on the farm. Gotta love that.

It was AWESOME to watch in real time, bouncing back and forth. Haha

[saviking]

So I'm eating at Potbelly's in Peoria yesterday for lunch. 4 big dudes come. I said, you guys must pay for Cedar Rapids. Had the tell me their names. Last one was Connor Prielipp.

The kid is really big. Tall and thick. His demeanor was different than the others. Very confident but not conceded. Good mental make up for the big league.

It get's better. Connor makes his first major league debuted tonight and I will be sitting in the stands. Pretty cool

[Twodogs]

I was wondering if any of you guys know of an easy way to look up the stats in our minor league affiliates?  I know way way back when I was young that on the ESPN boards there would be links to the minor league stats.  Just wondering if there is an easy way to look that stuff up still?  Or do we need to dig in and go through the minor league websites.  Just looking for the easy way out I guess.  

[terrydactyls]

My favorite column on Twins Daily.  One little nitpick.  How did Contreras hit a two-run HR with Galick and Julien on base to give the Saints a "two-run difference" with the score 5-1?  What actually happened?

[terrydactyls]

Just now, Twodogs said:

I was wondering if any of you guys know of an easy way to look up the stats in our minor league affiliates?  I know way way back when I was young that on the ESPN boards there would be links to the minor league stats.  Just wondering if there is an easy way to look that stuff up still?  Or do we need to dig in and go through the minor league websites.  Just looking for the easy way out I guess.  

Baseball-reference.com provides all the stats you want.  Milb.com should also have them but they haven't posted any yet. 

[roger]

Thanks, Sherry.

The highlite for my read this morning is that Connor Prielipp is making his first professional start tonight.  Got my fingers crossed that this kid is special.  Just have to wait for the results to confirm.

Great seeing Varland pitch so well first time out.  Is it possible that he could be the first starter called up if/when needed?  Also great seeing Miller with a couple hits.  Anyone that plays D as well as he supposedly does just needs to be an average hitter to be a valuable Twins starter someday.  Hopefully, this will be the year his bat breaks out.

Also love how Lee and Julien's bats are beginning the year hot, very hot.

[Monkeypaws]

Glad to have these reports back.

I've been digging the inclusion of Twins affiliates on MLB. Some of the MiLB camerawork is wonky, but I can now say I've seen Willie Joe Garry on TV.

[Seth Stohs]

1 hour ago, saviking said:

So I'm eating at Potbelly's in Peoria yesterday for lunch. 4 big dudes come. I said, you guys must pay for Cedar Rapids. Had the tell me their names. Last one was Connor Prielipp.

The kid is really big. Tall and thick. His demeanor was different than the others. Very confident but not conceded. Good mental make up for the big league.

It get's better. Connor makes his first major league debuted tonight and I will be sitting in the stands. Pretty cool

If you happen to have a good camera with a good zoom, please get us some pictures. Maybe we can use it on tomorrows Minor League Report. 

Thanks for sharing your experience. 

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Glad to hear Balazovic is back on the mound.

 

[DocBauer]

My mornings are now much better, much more complete now that milb results are back! 

Echoing every one else, just a great day for the whole organization and what a performance by Varland and Festa! But tip of the cap to Kyle Jones and 5 strong in his 1st start after pitching a single inning post draft last year. And as it appears to be a common theme this season, he's been pushed straight to A+. And really, not a bad 1st start for Andrew Morris either after 2 games and 5 IP after being drafted last year.

It's early, but I've been really excited about the early results. Young prospects being pushed, and so far, a lot of promising results. 

[Sherry Cerny]

2 hours ago, saviking said:

So I'm eating at Potbelly's in Peoria yesterday for lunch. 4 big dudes come. I said, you guys must pay for Cedar Rapids. Had the tell me their names. Last one was Connor Prielipp.

The kid is really big. Tall and thick. His demeanor was different than the others. Very confident but not conceded. Good mental make up for the big league.

It get's better. Connor makes his first major league debuted tonight and I will be sitting in the stands. Pretty cool

That is AWESOME!!!!!!!!! I love that!

 

2 hours ago, saviking said:

So I'm eating at Potbelly's in Peoria yesterday for lunch. 4 big dudes come. I said, you guys must pay for Cedar Rapids. Had the tell me their names. Last one was Connor Prielipp.

The kid is really big. Tall and thick. His demeanor was different than the others. Very confident but not conceded. Good mental make up for the big league.

It get's better. Connor makes his first major league debuted tonight and I will be sitting in the stands. Pretty cool

 

[Sherry Cerny]

46 minutes ago, DocBauer said:

My mornings are now much better, much more complete now that milb results are back! 

Echoing every one else, just a great day for the whole organization and what a performance by Varland and Festa! But tip of the cap to Kyle Jones and 5 strong in his 1st start after pitching a single inning post draft last year. And as it appears to be a common theme this season, he's been pushed straight to A+. And really, not a bad 1st start for Andrew Morris either after 2 games and 5 IP after being drafted last year.

It's early, but I've been really excited about the early results. Young prospects being pushed, and so far, a lot of promising results. 

Absolutely!!! It’s been fun to do them and I also am learning a lot! 

[2wins87]

6 hours ago, terrydactyls said:

Baseball-reference.com provides all the stats you want.  Milb.com should also have them but they haven't posted any 

Baseball reference is my suggestion too. The interface is much better than milb, and you can also get game logs and splits by month, handedness, etc.

Fangraphs also has stats for all the minor leaguers, with a few league adjusted stats that are nice if you like those advanced stats.

[2wins87]

Varland and Festa both looked great. 

Festa in particular was just pumping strikes and the opposing batters basically had no answer. Obviously he throws hard but I think he has a bit of deception that gets on hitters a little extra fast too.

Kyle Jones had a nice start in cedar rapids too. Ended up giving up a string of singles that did some damage in the 4th or 5th, but he pitched better than the final line.

[ashbury]

I can get used to this.  Please use this headline freely during the season.

[jkcarew]

9 hours ago, Twodogs said:

I was wondering if any of you guys know of an easy way to look up the stats in our minor league affiliates?  I know way way back when I was young that on the ESPN boards there would be links to the minor league stats.  Just wondering if there is an easy way to look that stuff up still?  Or do we need to dig in and go through the minor league websites.  Just looking for the easy way out I guess.  

And/or, for the ability to see things a little more real-time, go to milb.com

Go to ‘Teams’…then ‘Teams by Affiliate’