Twins Minor League Report (4/12): Ober Dominates, Lee and Rodriguez Homer

[Theodore Tollefson]

Three of the four Twins minor-league affiliates won their games on Wednesday. Two of the top three prospects hit homers. The Number 5 prospect made his MLB debut. It was a good day in the Twins organization. 

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge

TRANSACTIONS 

• Edouard Julien was officially called up from the Saints to the Twins. 
• Ernie Yake was promoted from Cedar Rapids to take Julien’s on the Saints roster.
• Wichita activated catcher Frank Nigro from the Development List and placed Aaron Sabato on the 7-day injured list

SAINTS SENTINEL 
St. Paul 5, Indianapolis 1 
Box Score

Bailey Ober was on the mound for the third time this season and had his best start so far. The 6’9" righty dominated Indianapolis hitters striking out six while only allowing two runners to reach base through six innings pitched. Ober threw only 67 pitches with only 20 of those missing the strike zone, a great improvement from his previous start when he walked four batters through 3 2/3 innings. 

The offense was carried by a couple of two-run home runs by two Andrews; Bechtold and Stevenson. Stevenson had the first home run following the Saints' first run of the game, which came courtesy of a throwing error by Indianapolis catcher Grant Koch in the top of the fourth. 

The Saints only needed two relievers out of the bullpen Wednesday afternoon, Randy Dobnak and Trevor Megill. Dobnak threw two innings and allowed two hits, a walk, and Indianapolis’s only run in the game. Megill had his best inning of the spring in the ninth. He struck out the side on just 13 pitches. 

Mark Contreras led the offense. He went 2-for-3 and walked twice. He also stole his third base. Stevenson went 2-for-5

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 8, Naturals 2 
Box Score 

The Wind Surge had a fantastic day on offense led by Twins Daily top prospect Brooks Lee. Lee hit his first Double-A home run in the bottom of the fourth inning, extending his team’s lead to 6-0 over the Naturals. The home run may have been Lee’s only hit but was enough to extend his hitting streak to five games. 

Jake Rucker went 2-for-4 with a walk. Alex Isola was 2-5 and hit his first home run of the season. Pat Winkel and Anthony Prato each walked twice. 

Blayne Enlow made his second start of the season for Wichita. He threw 4 2/3 innings and struck out eight batters. However, he walked three batters and gave up four hits. 

The bullpen remained consistent keeping the Naturals bats quiet. Tyler Beck threw three scoreless innings out of the bullpen, allowing just one hit and two walks. He also struck out five batters. Jordan Brink recorded the final four outs for the Wind Surge, but not without giving up one run. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 10, Quad Cities 5
Box Score

Twins Daily’s #3 prospect Emmanuel Rodriguez followed up his walk-off grand slam from Tuesday night by crushing a three-run home run in his second at-bat on Wednesday. He struck out three times and is hitting just .167, but he has a .971 OPS and seven of his nine RBI came in those two at-bats. 

Noah Miller continued his hot start and has more than validated his spot at the top of the lineup. In this game, he went 2-for-2 with three walks. 2022 fifth-round pick Ben Ross went 2-for-5 including his first home run of the season. Jeferson Morales went 2-for-2 with two walks and his first double and home run of the season.

Jaylen Nowlin made his second start of the year and struggled. In just 3 1/3 innings, he was charged with four runs on five hits and three walks. Orlando Rodriguez came in and recorded four walks, but no hits, over 1 2/3 scoreless, hitless innings. John Stankiewicz was next out of the ‘pen. He struck out four over two innings. He gave up only a solo homer. Regi Grace finished by getting all six batters he faced out, two on strikeouts. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Clearwater 5, Ft. Myers 3
Box Score

The main news with the Mighty Mussels on Wednesday may have been who was not playing in their game, rather than who was. Jorge Polanco and Alex Kirilloff, who began rehab assignments with the team in the last week, were both on a scheduled rest day on Wednesday. They are expected to be in the lineup on Thursday. 

Starting on the mound for the Mighty Mussels was C.J. Culpepper, making his first-ever professional start. Culpepper tossed a strong four innings, but his command of the strike zone was inconsistent.  He walked three batters and gave up two hits. 

Culpepper was replaced by fellow 2022 draft pick Ben Ethridge. He gave up one run on two hits over two innings. Hard-throwing Juan Mendez took the loss. He gave up two runs on two hits and two walks in the seventh inning. Lefty Zach Veen needed just six pitches to work a perfect inning. 

The Mussels lineup had a great game getting on base eight times via the walk, but their hitting game did not translate into as great a performance. The Mussels five hits came at the wrong times (they were 0-for-12 with Runners in Scoring Position). 

2022 sixth-round draft pick Jorel Ortega went 0-for-2, but he walked three times. He also stole his third base of the season.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Bailey Ober (St. Paul) - 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K
Hitter of the Day – Noah Miller (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-2, 2 R, 2 H, RBI (2), 3 BB

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

#1 - Brooks Lee (Wichita) - (1-3, HR(1), 2 R, 2 RBI, K)
#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Cedar Rapids) - (1-for-4, HR(2), R, 3 RBI, BB, 3 K) 
#5 - Edouard Julien (Minnesota) - (0-for-2, BB) 
#8 - Jose Salas (Cedar Rapids) - (0-for-4, R, K)
#11 - Matt Wallner (Minnesota) - (0-1, pinch hit for Julien)
#14 - Noah Miller (Cedar Rapids) - (2-for-2, 2 R, 2 H, RBI, 3 BB)
#20 - Misael Urbina (Cedar Rapids) - (1-for-5, R, 3B, RBI)

THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

• The Saints will play their third game in Indianapolis with Louie Varland on the mound. The game starts at 6:37 p.m. CT
• The Wind Surge will have their third game of the homestand against Northwest Arkansas. David Festa will pitch against Jonathan Bowlan with first pitch set for 7:05 p.m. CT
• The Kernels will play another game at home against the Quad Cities River Bandits. First pitch (from Kyle Jones) is set for 6:35 p.m. CT. 
• Develson Aria is set to make his season debut for the Mussels on Thursday night against the Threshers with first pitch set for 5:15 p.m. CT> 

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Wednesday’s games. 

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[Mike Sixel]

Love these. Thanks

[jkcarew]

Yep. Enlow’s start not as good as his first start was…but still kind of encouraging…only one XBH, lots of K’s.

Would love to see him have a strong season, and put himself right back into the 2024 conversation.

Also, would have expected a 2nd appearance for the Saints by Balazovic by now?

[twinstalker]

I've always been Noah Miller's biggest fan and supporter!

[FlyingFinn]

6 hours ago, jkcarew said:

Yep. Enlow’s start not as good as his first start was

I will have to disagree for the most part. He threw more than 80 pitches, I believe for the first time since his surgery. As would be expected, he probably tired at the end. He left the mound with a 6-0 lead and had 8 K's. Too many pitches for 5 innings, sure. But for him, he is progressing.

E-Rod is struggling a bit right now. He does basically three things at the plate, walk, strike out, or hit a home run. He's younger than the other guys so this is stretching him a bit.

[wabene]

Miller is off to a nice start. If he keeps getting stronger the doubles power will come and we'll have a player. 

[mikelink45]

The name Ernie Yake meant nothing to me.  Now he is in AAA, I see he is 25.  Can you tell me more?

[Trov]

1 hour ago, FlyingFinn said:

I will have to disagree for the most part. He threw more than 80 pitches, I believe for the first time since his surgery. As would be expected, he probably tired at the end. He left the mound with a 6-0 lead and had 8 K's. Too many pitches for 5 innings, sure. But for him, he is progressing.

E-Rod is struggling a bit right now. He does basically three things at the plate, walk, strike out, or hit a home run. He's younger than the other guys so this is stretching him a bit.

Think a little early, 5 games, to say E-Rod is struggling.  He has 3 hits, all extra base hits, and has 9 RBI, so he is making good on at bats with runners on.  yes, he has 11K's but he also has 5 walks.  He will always have high ks but balanced with good walks.  He is not going to be a .300 plus hitter, but he will be a .350 plus OBP and .850 plus OPS.  5 games is just not long enough to say struggles or not. 

[Seth Stohs]

1 hour ago, mikelink45 said:

The name Ernie Yake meant nothing to me.  Now he is in AAA, I see he is 25.  Can you tell me more?

10th round pick, a senior sign, in 2021 out of Gonzaga. He did this same thing last year, playing in Ft. Myers, Wichita, and St. Paul... Solid defense, good approach at the plate. He's one of the guys that moves around to where there is need. Like Dalton Shuffield playing for the Saints a year ago after getting drafted. 

[Dman]

2 hours ago, FlyingFinn said:

E-Rod is struggling a bit right now. He does basically three things at the plate, walk, strike out, or hit a home run. He's younger than the other guys so this is stretching him a bit.

Yeah that is what I see as well.  He doesn't look quite the same as last year yet, IMO.  Yep like everyone is saying it is early and April is generally a tough month for hitters as pitchers arms are strong and in good shape and the weather can make a hitter cold in more ways than one.  Still he isn't making as much contact as he normally does to this point. Hopefully he warms with the weather.

[Larsbars08]

4 minutes ago, Dman said:

Yeah that is what I see as well.  He doesn't look quite the same as last year yet, IMO.  Yep like everyone is saying it is early and April is generally a tough month for hitters and pitchers arms are strong and in good shape and the weather can make a hitter cold in more ways than one.  Still he isn't making as much contact as he normally does to this point. Hopefully he warms with the weather.

Gotta think the first week of the season was also the coldest temps he's ever played in. Coming from the DR to Florida to Iowa (even though it wasn't that cold) was a bit of a difference. Also everything else you mentioned is very likely relevant.

I've watched a two or three games on MILB.tv and I've seen 2-3 strikeouts looking where it was a very iffy 3rd strike call. He seems to have a very strong sense of the strike zone, and I imagine he's still adjusting to Midwest League umps. 

[Dman]

Happy to see Ober back on track.  The control problems had me worried there for a second.  Probably just the cold weather that was bothering him some. Wondering and hoping if Bechtold can keep his bat hot enough to get called up at some point.  He looks really good at third base defensively.  He looks like a beast at the plate and has been hitting like one to start the season.

Really happy to see Miller hitting well to start the season. He started hot last year as well so consistency will be key. Ben Ross hitting for power is also good to see.  If he keeps this up he will be moving up the top 30 list.

Enlow looked real good through 4 and then it looked like he ran out of gas.  If he can get back to where he was or slightly better pre surgery he could be valuable number 4 or 5 or long reliever.

Lot's of guys off to good starts just hope everyone stays healthy.

[roger]

3 hours ago, twinstalker said:

I've always been Noah Miller's biggest fan and supporter!

You are going to have to share being his biggest fan/supporter with this Wisconsinite, twinstalker.

But what a night, 2-2 with 3 walks.  Did see he was at second base last night.  Was that his first game not at short?  Could his arrival at Target Field coincide with the time Correa is ready to move off shortstop, maybe three years from now?

Great start by Ober.  Got to believe his first couple hiccups were related to weather and his disappointment with not being with the Twins.

[ashbury]

14 hours ago, Theo Tollefson said:

Twins Daily’s #3 prospect Emmanuel Rodriguez

Got the wrong E-Rod in your link.  Are you using ChatGPT to flesh out your articles?

/ edit - checking something else later, I see the same thing thing happened on Noah Miller's link. WTWhat?

5 hours ago, Seth Stohs said:

10th round pick, a senior sign, in 2021 out of Gonzaga. He did this same thing last year, playing in Ft. Myers, Wichita, and St. Paul... Solid defense, good approach at the plate. He's one of the guys that moves around to where there is need. Like Dalton Shuffield playing for the Saints a year ago after getting drafted. 

It would be an interesting study to try to dig into why some players get opportunities like Yake does, and others don't. With absolutely no evidence to back it up, I'll speculate the team views him as a strong possibility to be a good coach by his late 20s.

 

[Alex Schieferdecker]

Twins future tough decisions to make in the infield will be even tougher if Miller keeps hitting well.

[FlyingFinn]

2 hours ago, roger said:

Was that his first game not at short? 

Yes.

[twinstalker]

6 hours ago, roger said:

You are going to have to share being his biggest fan/supporter with this Wisconsinite, twinstalker.

You win because I was joking.  I'd love to be wrong about him (me: "upside is utility infielder bat").