Minor League Report (4/8): Connor Prielipp Debuts in Twins' System; Zebby Matthews Silences for Fort Myers

[Matt Braun]

(Bangs table) Connor Prielipp, Connor Prielipp, Connor Prielipp!

And Zebby Matthews too. 

Image courtesy of William Parmeter (photo of Zebby Matthews)

TRANSACTIONS
OF Matt Wallner recalled from Triple-A St. Paul to Minnesota 

Saints Sentinel
Game One (7 Innings): St. Paul 7, Iowa 9
Box Score
Aaron Sanchez: 4 IP, 2 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 4 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: Ryan LaMarre (3-for-3, 2 2B, R, 4 RBI), Andrew Bechtold (3-for-4, 2B, RBI)

The Saints lost a nasty, brutish, and short opening game of their doubleheader on Saturday.

It was a match neither side excelled in; both pitching staffs allowed seven walks, finding themselves outside of the strike zone and reliant on poor discipline to earn outs. Success with this strategy wavered.

The Cubs struck first, ambushing starter Aaron Sanchez in the third for a pair of runs; they could now claim the lead. The Saints responded—immediately softly; eventually prevailing—as a run-scoring wild pitch broke ground for a go-ahead two-run Ryan Lamarre double in the following frame. 

The fifth was chaos; a trio of Cubs runs were countered by four overwhelming Saints scores, handing St. Paul a two-run cushion heading into the sixth inning. They needed more. 

Iowa scored twice in the sixth, then ran it back in the seventh, finally burying St. Paul for good with nine runs to their seven; no Saints’ pitcher escaped without damage to their ERA and egos.

Seiya Suzuki played five innings on a rehab assignment; he collected a single and a walk. Technically old friend, Nick Burdi, struck out the side in the seventh to end the game. 

Iowa’s best prospect—Brennan Davis—walked once in four trips to the plate.

Game Two (7 Innings): St. Paul 8, Iowa 5
Box Score
Randy Dobnak: 1 2/3 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 3 K
HR: Andrew Bechtold (1)
Multi-hit games: Edouard Julien (3-for-4, 2B, 2R), Kyle Garlick (2-for-4, R, RBI), Andrew Bechtold (2-for-3, HR, R, 2 RBI)

Game two was a similarly sloppy pitching performance by St. Paul, but one they were able to overcome. 

Randy Dobnak struggled. A passable first frame begat a dreadful second filled with walks, hits, and runs—a pitcher’s worst nemesis. Dereck Rodriguez was forced to save his friend early, entering the game with two outs and soaking up 13 outs to save his team from potential disaster.

Nick Neidert—Iowa’s starter—fared no better. Allowing an astounding 11 hits over 2 1/3 innings, Neidert coughed up eight runs (four earned) and couldn’t escape the third, needing Anthony Kay to graciously relieve him. 

The game entered a strange quiet stage following the third; neither team scored as a scattered selection of baserunners all found themselves stranded, unable to find their way home. 

Andrew Stevenson, Hernán Pérez, and Andrew Bechtold all collected two RBIs; Edouard Julien enjoyed a trio of hits.

Manager Toby Gardenhire spoke highly of Bechtold after the game. “Bech's one of those guys where he's had a lot of success going up the minor leagues at different levels,” he said. “He's got a lot of tools, he's got a lot of power, he can do a lot of things. Him having days like this, I just hope it's a building block toward him consistently being able to do what we all know he can do. Because he's got a lot of tools and I hope he can just build off of this one and keep it rolling a little bit longer.” (Quote via Twins Daily’s resident journalist, Theo Tollefson.)

Old friend, Tyler Duffey, tossed a scoreless inning with two strikeouts.

Wind Surge Wisdom
Wichita 4, Springfield 9
Box Score
Travis Adams: 2/3 IP, 5 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: None

Wichita lost an uncompetitive match on Saturday.

Travis Adams… well, the line speaks for itself. After receiving a duo of first innings runs, Adams struggled to collect outs in the first, watching line drives shoot around the field as Springfield put up seven runs before Wichita could find the elusive third out. 

The game became a slog; the closest the Wind Surge came to threatening the lead came after a fifth-inning Aaron Sabato sacrifice fly moved the game to an 8-4 affair; Springfield tacked on another score the following frame out of spite. 

DaShawn Kiersey Jr. sparked in the three-hole, reaching base twice, stealing twice, and scoring twice to give him an aesthetically pleasing—and offensively stimulating—box score line. 

Brooks Lee and Jake Rucker both doubled; Aaron Sabato earned three RBIs. 

Springfield’s best prospect—Mike Antico—tripled and drove in two runs; he also struck out three times. 

Kernels Nuggets
Cedar Rapids 8, Peoria 4
Box Score
Connor Prielipp: 4 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: Noah Miller (2-for-5, 2B, R, RBI), Kala’i Rosario (2-for-5, R), Tanner Schobel (2-for-5, R), Keoni Cavaco (2-for-4, 2B, R, 2 RBI)

Cedar Rapids won comfortably on Saturday.

Connor Prielipp hadn't seen a competitive game in two years, and he pitched like it. With rust fully set in still, Prielipp got knocked around a bit, unwinding in the fourth as a singles-focused attack proved too much for the lefty, dirtying his line with three earned runs. Still, the relief for Prielipp must be immense; he can continue to find his footing in the coming months; Saturday’s start was simply a way to wet his toes.

Fortunately, the Kernels were up to the challenge offensively, as their bats totaled 11 hits and eight runs—more than enough to best the Chiefs. It was an all-around effort, with every starter outside of Willie Joe Garry Jr. scoring a run; he offered an RBI, proving that no batter would be left behind.

Cedar Rapids’ bullpen proved worthy as well; Orlando Rodriguez, John Wilson, Niklas Rimmel, and Charlie Neuweiler combined to toss five scoreless frames, carrying the to its ninth-inning conclusion. 

Mussel Matters
Fort Myers 8, Dunedin 5
Box Score
Zebby Matthews: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 K
HR: None

Multi-hit games: Ricardo Olivar (2-for-5, 2 R, RBI), Carlos Aguiar (2-for-4, R, RBI), Jorel Ortega (2-for-5, 2 2B), Rubel Cespedes (2-for-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB), Andrew Cossetti (2-for-3, 2B, R, BB), Dalton Shuffield (2-for-3, 2 RBI, BB)

Fort Myers escaped a ninth-inning nightmare, walking away on Saturday with a closer win than they hoped.

Zebby Matthews was magnificent. Minnesota’s 8th-round pick in 2022 eviscerated the Blue Jays lineup, punching out seven batters over five tidy innings; three measly singles served as the only blemishes on his line. The Western Carolina product—the college of Greg Holland and current Saint, Tyler White—may make a name for himself this season with more outings like this. 

And his offense had his back—but it did take a while.

Four empty innings only proved to be the build-up towards a fifth-frame eruption; the Might Mussels plated five runs off a flurry of knocks, releasing more hit singles than Earth Wind and Fire. 

With three more runs in their back pocket, Fort Myers nearly ruined the operation; reliever Gabriel Yanez struck out the first batter he faced before allowing four hits—including a stomach-sinking two-run shot to pull the game within four. Fortunately, Zach Veen clogged the bleeding, ending the deathbed rally before it could reverse the roles.

Jorge Polanco played seven innings, doubling and walking twice in four trips to the plate. 

Dunedin’s best prospect—Tucker Toman—singled, walked, and struck out twice in four plate appearances. 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Zebby Matthews
Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Andrew Bechtold

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:
#1 - Brooks Lee (Wichita) - 1-5, 2B, R, 2 K
#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Cedar Rapids) - 1-4, 3B, R, RBI, BB, 3 K
#5 - Edouard Julien (St. Paul) - 3-8, 2B, 2 R, BB, 4 K
#7 - Connor Prielipp (Cedar Rapids) - 4 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
#14 - Noah Miller (Cedar Rapids) - 2-5, 2B, R, RBI, 3 K
#18 - Tanner Schobel (Cedar Rapids) - 2-5, R, K
#20 - Miseal Urbina (Cedar Rapids) - 1-5, 2B, R, RBI, 2 K

SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Iowa @ St. Paul (2:07 PM) - RHP Simeon Woods Richardson

(Most of MiLB is off for Easter Sunday)

 

 

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[FlyingFinn]

There was someone on TD that was on the Zebby Matthews bandwagon (wish I could remember and give you credit). Great game for him. Cedar Rapids was pounding the ball. Nice to see Miller hitting great as too many people wanted to give up on him at such a young age. And he is indeed playing SS every day.

On the rough side, our guys who might come up to start an emergency game or two from the Saints were mostly terrible. Dobnak is struggling to throw strikes. DeLeon and Sanchez weren't much better. Rodriguez was great today, saving game #2.

Many were surprised that Adams is up in Wichita to start the year. He had a very rough time. For Cedar Rapids, it was great just to see Preilipp pitch three innings, as he gave up most of the his runs in the 4th.

[twinstalker]

Thanks for these!  Is Emmanuel Rodriguez not one of your top 20 prospects?

[h2oface]

Tell De Leon we are playing Israel in the WBC.

What.

Danny Valencia is on the team!  And Joc Pederson!

[h2oface]

7 hours ago, FlyingFinn said:

There was someone on TD that was on the Zebby Matthews bandwagon (wish I could remember and give you credit). Great game for him. Cedar Rapids was pounding the ball. Nice to see Miller hitting great as too many people wanted to give up on him at such a young age. And he is indeed playing SS every day.

On the rough side, our guys who might come up to start an emergency game or two from the Saints were mostly terrible. Dobnak is struggling to throw strikes. DeLeon and Sanchez weren't much better. Rodriguez was great today, saving game #2.

Many were surprised that Adams is up in Wichita to start the year. He had a very rough time. For Cedar Rapids, it was great just to see Preilipp pitch three innings, as he gave up most of the his runs in the 4th.

My thoughts exactly. Our depth. Yikes. At least the Twins don't need them yet.

Polanco playing 7 innings with a double and 2 walks..... I like that.

[Doctor Wu]

52 minutes ago, h2oface said:

My thoughts exactly. Our depth. Yikes. At least the Twins don't need them yet.

Polanco playing 7 innings with a double and 2 walks..... I like that.

Yes indeed, another encouraging game for Polanco. When do we expect he'll be back with the big club?

[Doctor Wu]

the Might Mussels plated five runs off a flurry of knocks, releasing more hit singles than Earth Wind and Fire. 
 

That was my favorite line of the week! Thank you! Keep Your Head to the Sky!

[mikelink45]

One pitcher had a good game, one got back on the mound and the rest look like they need spring training.  Good thing we have so many good pitchers in reserve.  

[jmlease1]

Great to see Prielipp back on the mound and pitching. I think it's going to be very interesting to see where he's at by midseason.

Miller is having a nice start to the season so far.

[FlyingFinn]

13 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

Good thing we have so many good pitchers in reserve.  

Yes, like Ober, Varland, SWR, and Festa.

[bunsen82]

Priellip after his last outing I was expecting to be dominant.  He was good through 3 with only one run then thing fell apart in the fourth. Most likely a little nerves and not being fully stretched out and still working a bit on the feel.  Zebby is definitely one I will be keeping an eye on.  Not mentioned here listened to the Kernels game for an inning and they had high praise for Cavaco, seemed to have better plate discipline contact, and was playing outstanding defense at first. Still not expecting much, was more surprised to hear the name.  

[DJL44]

Dobnak is still lousy. Why hasn't Woods Richardson pitched yet this season?

[FlyingFinn]

53 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Why hasn't Woods Richardson pitched yet this season?

I think the postponements messed things up (though they certainly could have fit him in before now so there must be a reason - best guess as he's still very young is that they have an innings cap on him and they might need some of those with the Twins at the end of the year??). The Twins are determined to keep Ober on schedule in the rotation as he is the first man up. Therefore, Ober has pitched twice and SWR finally gets to pitch today.

[roger]

Great seeing Polonco getting game ready.  Should be back in what, a few days?  Or a week?  On a related note, does anyone know anything about how Kirilloff is doing?

Fantastic seeing Prielipp pitching in a game.  Looked at the recap and saw he had mostly ground ball outs the first two innings.  Seemed to tire a bit in the third before getting into trouble in the fourth.  Also great seeing Miller with a multi hit game.  That's two in a row, right?

Must admit I did not recall ever hearing Zebby's name, although I must have seen it when he was drafted.  Let's hope he is a good one.

[Dman]

11 hours ago, FlyingFinn said:

There was someone on TD that was on the Zebby Matthews bandwagon (wish I could remember and give you credit). Great game for him. 

I am pretty sure it was @DocBauer (maybe he will confirm) who was the only one I remember being high on Matthews.  He has a starters build but his college stats kind of screamed reliever to me.  Maybe he has that third pitch to make it. So hard to know how drafted pitchers will work out.  Doc seemed pretty convinced he would be a good one.  Maybe he had some better info on him.  Have to say that was the best debut out of the starting pitchers in their first look so far.  Not sure why they held what looks like their best arm for the third start but he looked great last night.

[Dman]

Other than Varland and Rodriguez it seems like the pitchers have struggled at AAA to start the year. I am sure the weather and the fact the iCubs seem to have a good hitters lineup isn't helping but was hoping for a better start on the pitching side.  I don't know why but I have a thing about Rodriguez.  He seems like a MLB pitcher to me.  It felt like last year there were just times he ran out of gas and gave up lots of hits and runs that impacted his numbers.  I don't know how all his pitches rate and how hard he throws so maybe I am missing something but I feel like he proved last year that he should get a shot IMO.

Schuffield 2 for 3 with 1.867 OPS.  I still think they should have started him at AA where they could use better bats.

Miller with his first extra base hit which was nice to see but he K'd 3 times as well. Tough outing for Prielipp but the pen was outstanding.

I felt like moving Adams to AA might not work out well and watching the game on MiLB he did not look good.  In time I am sure he will get better but the Texas league is tough on pitchers.

I don't know how good Peoria is as it is so early but I think the Muscles are going to be hard to beat this year.

[saviking]

So I attended the Cedar Rapids game in Peoria las night. Was disappointed they didn't have their radar gun running. Connor looked very sharp the first two inning. There weren't a lot of swings and misses but he pretty much was sawing off the handle of the bats. I've never seen so many weekly ground balls. In the third he walked the first batter and then gave up a smoking hot triple. Had another rough inning in the 4th but not many hard hits. For a kid that hasn't had any work for several years I think he did a good enough job in his first game back. Physically he's a  big powerful kid who carries a lot of confidence.

As for the fielders the team was loaded with potential big leaguers. Rodrigues, Miller, Schobel, Rosario, Urbina and possibly Cavaco. You don't see that many on a single A team at one time very often. 

I was especially excited to see E. Rodrigues. He's powerfully built but not bulky at all. The kid was a finely honed athlete with a beautiful swing. He has had a tough start at the plate this season and 3 strikeouts last night but how many times do you see a lefty hit a 400 foot shot to the base of the left center wall. Glad they included the video so you all could see it. I also really like Rosario. The kid is powerful.  

[DocBauer]

1 hour ago, Dman said:

I am pretty sure it was @DocBauer (maybe he will confirm) who was the only one I remember being high on Matthews.  He has a starters build but his college stats kind of screamed reliever to me.  Maybe he has that third pitch to make it. So hard to know how drafted pitchers will work out.  Doc seemed pretty convinced he would be a good one.  Maybe he had some better info on him.  Have to say that was the best debut out of the starting pitchers in their first look so far.  Not sure why they held what looks like their best arm for the third start but he looked great last night.

Yep, that was me. FWIW, I'm also high on Cory Lewis as well, drafted a round later. My initial thoughts were I liked this pair above any other 2022 drafted arm not named Prielipp. And pretty much for the same reasons.

I'm not plugged in to any special information but I just love a kid like Matthews who is around 6' 4"+ and 210 lbs...downward plane and arm extension...who already throws in the low to mid 90's with decent control and at least one other solid pitch. He was a juco kid who moved up a level and was as good or better. With pro coaching and able to devote himself full time now, how much more velocity might he gain? If I have any kind of good developmental plan, my coaches should help him refine hisbsecondary stuff and find that 3rd or 4th pitch.

And I see Lewis in nearly the same light, but with the intrigue of his knuckler, which will be interesting to watch. (Pretty hard to have a good one if you don't throw it a lot).

 

[Fatbat]

Polanco on track to be in mpls within 2 weeks would be great. Also need C4 to start hitting after he gets to rest today. Gaaaah. Eyeroll.

[weitz41]

Anyone who made it through middle school with the name Zebby I have to root for. Schuffield is swinging a good bat. Too early to get to up or down on anything though.

Let's get a sweep to today at Target Field! I may overreact to that if it happens.

[jkcarew]

10 hours ago, bunsen82 said:

Not mentioned here listened to the Kernels game for an inning and they had high praise for Cavaco, seemed to have better plate discipline contact, and was playing outstanding defense at first. Still not expecting much, was more surprised to hear the name.  

Also, not expecting much.

Interesting the nice comments...because the organization's ACTIONS say exactly the opposite. Moving Cavaco to 1B...having really never hit at any level...is buying a lottery ticket that he'll go from poor hitter to very, very good hitter. And in the meantime, they're moving him out of the way of Salas, Miller, and Schobel.

FWIW, Cavaco has K'd 6 times in his first 12 PA.