Twins Minor League Report (4/14): Wichita Power Surge Leads to Win

[Sherry Cerny]

Joey Gallo played for the Saints. Wichita powered their way to a win. Cedar Rapids' comeback came up short. The Mighty Mussels got a great start. Several 2022 draft picks compiled firsts. There were some good starts, lots of homers and much more. Find out everything that happened in the Twins minor leagues on Friday night. 

Image courtesy of William Parmeter (Jorel Ortega), Ed Bailey (Travis Adams)

TRANSACTIONS

• 1B/OF Joey Gallo was added to the Saints roster on major-league rehab assignment (right intercostal strain).
• RHP Cole Sands was optioned from Minnesota Twins to St. Paul Saints.
• RHP Louie Varland was recalled by the Minnesota Twins.

Saints Sentinel
St. Paul 4, Indianapolis 2
Box Score
Twins fans who watched the Saints got the opportunity to watch major leaguer Joey Gallo play during a rehab assignment. He batted second and played first base for the first seven innings. He went 1-for-3 with a double off the wall in his first at-bat. 

However, there was not much on-base action due to the impressive mound work by both teams. Aaron Sanchez started and almost inexplicably tossed five scoreless innings despite allowing six hits and three walks. He received a lot of help from his infield which turned three double plays behind him. Indianapolis shuffled quickly through their pitching staff, reaching into the bullpen early, but managed to keep the Saints bats quiet through seven innings. 

The Saints kept a steady rotation of players on base in the top of the eighth inning which started with two walks, and ended with three runs on the board. The first came when Chris Williams was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Andrew Stevenson added a two-run single. Just for good measure, the Saints added an insurance run in the top of the ninth inning on a Mark Contreras double. 

The Saints pitching was outstanding. The bullpen was nearly flawless. Cody Laweryson tossed two scoreless innings, and Patrick Murphy pitched a scoreless eighth frame. Brock Stewart gave up two runs but recorded the final three outs to lock down a Saints win.  

Wind Surge Wisdom
Wichita 7, NW Arkansas 4
Box Score 
With an ominous forecast which caused the Wind Surge to postpone their post-game fireworks show, the game started on time. In the bottom of the first, Yoyner Fajardo provided some fireworks with a lead off homer to give Wichita a 1-0 lead. It was a sign of things to come. 

Travis Adams made his second Double-A start on Friday night. He was unable to complete the first inning in his first start, but he was much better in start number two. He completed five innings and gave up two runs on two hits (both solo homers). He struck out seven batters without issuing a walk. 
 
The Surge put distance between themselves and the Naturals in the third inning. Two home runs from Jake Rucker and Yunior Severino with players on base, pushed the Surge ahead 5-1. Alex Isola added his second homer of the season in the fifth inning to give them a 7-2 lead. 

 

Right-hander Jose Bravo replaced Adams and gave up one run on two hits over 2 2/3 innings. Lefty Kody Funderburk came on and got a strikeout to end the eighth inning. He gave up a run in the ninth, but added two more strikeouts to finish the game. 

Fajardo went 2-for-5 with a double and a homer. DaShawn Keirsey went 2-for-3 with a walk and two stolen bases. Yunior Severino went 2-for-4 with a double and homer.

Kernel Nuggets
Cedar Rapids 4, Quad Cities 6
Box Score 
The Quad City River Bandits scored a run in the first inning, but the Kernels answered in the second inning, tying up the game 1-1 where it stayed until both teams got busy in the fifth inning scoring three runs a piece, tying up the game again. 

Jordan Carr started the game on the mound and provided a solid four innings. He was charged with one run on four hits and a walk. He struck out four batters. Malik Barrington came in and allowed three earned runs to give the River Bandits the lead in the fifth inning. The lead did not last long. In the bottom of the inning, the Kernels answered in like with three runs of their own, to tie up the score. Emmanuel Rodriguez drove in one with a double. Ben Ross and Kala’i Rosario drove in the other runs. 

Unfortunately, in the top of the seventh, Matt Mullenbach gave up a two run homer to put the Kernels behind 7-5. John Stankiewicz got the final seven outs for Cedar Rapids. 

Ben Ross, Noah Cardenas and Willie Joe Garry each had two hits. Garry had a double. 

Mussels Matters
Fort Myers 5, Clearwater 1
Box Score
The Mussels started the game off with a bang. Jorel Ortega led off the first with his first professional home run on the second pitch of the game off Clearwater’s Alex McFarlane. 

The Mussels were aggressive on the base paths throughout the game. In the fourth inning, Mikey Perez, who led the organization with 48 stolen bases a year ago, was hit by a pitch, then stole second and third and scored when Dalton Shuffield hit a line-drive single to right field.

Cory Lewis, the Twins ninth-round pick a year ago out of UC-Santa Barbara, made his second start of the season on Friday night. In his first start, he gave up four runs on six hits, two walks and a hit batter over 4 1/3 innings. He was much better in this game. He didn’t give up a hit until the fourth. Overall, he gave up one run on two hits and a walk over five innings. He struck out eight batters. 

The Mussels bats broke out with a three-run seventh inning. The scoring started with an Ortega line-drive single with the bases loaded which scored Maddux Houghton. That was followed by a walk by minor-league Rule 5 draft pick Yohander Martinez that scored Dalton Shuffield. Finally, Carlos Aguiar drove in Alec Sayre with a sacrifice fly. The Mussels now had a 5-1 lead going into the 7th inning stretch and maintained the lead to end the game.

Hard-throwing Juan Mendez came on and gave up just one hit over two scoreless innings. Gabriel Yanez struck out the side in the eighth inning. He then struck out one more in a perfect ninth inning.  

Ortega, Martinez and Shuffield each had two hits in the game. 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Aaron Sanchez (St. Paul) - 5 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 2 K
Hitter of the Day – DaShawn Kiersey, Jr.  (Wichita) - 2-for-3, 2 R, 1K, 2 SB. 

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) - Did Not Play 
#2 - Royce Lewis (Minnesota) - Injured List 
#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Cedar Rapids) - 1-5, 2B(1), R, RBI, 3 K
#4 - Marco Raya (Cedar Rapids) - Injured List 
#5 - Edouard Julien (Minnesota) - 0-3, K
#6 - Simeon Woods Richardson (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch 
#7 - Connor Prielipp (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Pitch 
#8 - Jose Salas (Cedar Rapids) - 1-4, RBI, SB (3)
#9 - Louie Varland (Minnesota) - 6 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 K (3 HR)
#10 - Austin Martin (St. Paul) - Injured List 
#11 - Matt Wallner (Minnesota) - 0-0 (defensive replacement in 9th)
#12 - Yasser Mercedes (Extended Spring Training) - 
#13 - David Festa (Wichita) - Did Not Pitch 
#14 - Noah Miller (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not play. 
#15 - Matt Canterino (Wichita) - Injured List 
#16 - Jordan Balazovic (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch. 
#17 - Ronny Henriquez (Minnesota) - Injured List 
#18 - Tanner Schobel (Cedar Rapids) - 2-5, R, K
#19 - Jose Rodriguez (Extended Spring Training) - 
#20 - Misael Urbina (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Play. 

SATURDAY SCHEDULE AND PITCHING PROBABLES 
St. Paul @ Indianapolis (5:35PM CST) - RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (0-1, 4.91)
Wichita @ NW Arkansas (2:05PM CST) -  LHP Aaron Rozek (first start)
Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (1:05PM CST) - RHP Alejandro Hidalgo (first start) 
Fort Myers @ Clearwater (5:30PM CST) - RHP Jose Oliveros (first start) 

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

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[ashbury]

More wins than losses, and contributions from the good prospects.  Plenty to like!

[FlyingFinn]

Nice pitching from the starters tonight - Sanchez, Adams (great bounceback), Carr and Lewis (another good bounceback). 

The prospects the major league teams like always bat near the top of the order on the minor league teams. Poor Dalton Shuffield. He hits good everywhere including with the Saints as he filled in last September. Hitting .385 for Fort Myers, he bats 8th. So early in his minor league career and he already appears destined to be a career minor leaguer at best.

[h2oface]

Gallo said he was good to go, But the Management said no. Yet, he plays 7 innings to re-hab immediately? What kind of re-hab is that. How is that an injury re-hab? He is just playing games in St. Paul, instead of with the Twins. He gets taken out sometimes in the 7th in the show, too. I don't really get it. But I don't really care, either. Good to see Julien playing in New York.

Cavaco is playing 1B now. What's up with that?

The St. Paul Box Score link is the Wichita game, too. Try this one:

https://www.milb.com/gameday/saints-vs-Guardians/2023/04/14/723605#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=box,game=723605

[nclahammer]

Thank you Twins Daily for another outstanding minor league report.  You are the French vanilla creamer for my coffee each morning.

[2wins87]

Nice to see Severino hitting homers again. My opinion of him changed a lot last year when he looked like a legit switch-hitting slugger. If he keeps it up we will need to pay a lot more attention to him.l, and hopefully he'll be in St. Paul before too long.

 

[Doctor Wu]

2 hours ago, h2oface said:

Gallo said he was good to go, But the Management said no. Yet, he plays 7 innings to re-hab immediately? What kind of re-hab is that. How is that an injury re-hab? He is just playing games in St. Paul, instead of with the Twins. He gets taken out sometimes in the 7th in the show, too. I don't really get it. But I don't really care, either. Good to see Julien playing in New York.

Cavaco is playing 1B now. What's up with that?

The St. Paul Box Score link is the Wichita game, too. Try this one:

https://www.milb.com/gameday/saints-vs-Guardians/2023/04/14/723605#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=box,game=723605

I'm a bit confused --- maybe even shocked --- about this sudden Gallo "rehab" too. Seems like he only had this injury a few days ago, and now he's back in the field again, albeit with St. Paul. Not upsetting, just sort of odd. But as you noted, it's a bonus to have Julien called up to show his stuff. 

[miracleb]

Wasn't Connor Preilipp supposed to pitch yesterday?

[FlyingFinn]

4 hours ago, h2oface said:

Cavaco is playing 1B now. What's up with that?

Look at that roster. It's stacked. You have 4 guys drafted as SS's - Miller, Salas, Schobel, and Ross. They are taking up 2B, 3B and SS. Cavaco is probably now projected lower than any of these guys and gets 1B. If anyone is going to complain about the Twins drafting him in the 1st round, we should also be giving credit for drafting the Julien's and Festa's in the double digit rounds.

[FlyingFinn]

7 hours ago, miracleb said:

Wasn't Connor Preilipp supposed to pitch yesterday?

Yes he was. Not on the IL so hopefully it wasn't anything to do with that.

Edit: And now he has indeed been put on the IL. Bummer!

[DJL44]

Ugh, bad uniforms. Could be called the Wichita Eyesores

[Riverbrian]

6 hours ago, h2oface said:

Gallo said he was good to go, But the Management said no. Yet, he plays 7 innings to re-hab immediately? What kind of re-hab is that. How is that an injury re-hab? He is just playing games in St. Paul, instead of with the Twins. He gets taken out sometimes in the 7th in the show, too. I don't really get it. But I don't really care, either. Good to see Julien playing in New York.

Gallo was placed on the 10 Day disabled list retroactive to April 8th. He isn't allowed to cross the white lines in a major league park league until the 18th. 

 

[gil4]

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

Ugh, bad uniforms. Could be called the Wichita Eyesores

In the photo at the top (Travis Adams?), I was wondering why they have a picture of Marvin the Martian (from Bugs Bunny) on the side of the uniform.  It turns out he was just twisted funny and those are just flowers and leaves there.  That was disappointing, because that would have been the only redeeming part of those hideous jerseys.  

 

Edit to add:  They don't have a lot of great options:  https://windsurge.milbstore.com/collections/jerseys 

 

[Cory Engelhardt]

So the minor league report from yesterday (4/13) lists Connor Prielipp as the potential starter for Cedar Rapids Friday night, but then Friday night comes around and he wasn't the starter for Cedar Rapids. He also is not listed as the projected starter for tonight (Saturday) or tomorrow. 

Anyone have any word why? 

[Cap'n Piranha]

7 hours ago, h2oface said:

Gallo said he was good to go, But the Management said no. Yet, he plays 7 innings to re-hab immediately? What kind of re-hab is that. How is that an injury re-hab? He is just playing games in St. Paul, instead of with the Twins. He gets taken out sometimes in the 7th in the show, too. I don't really get it. But I don't really care, either. Good to see Julien playing in New York.

Cavaco is playing 1B now. What's up with that?

The St. Paul Box Score link is the Wichita game, too. Try this one:

https://www.milb.com/gameday/saints-vs-Guardians/2023/04/14/723605#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=box,game=723605

The Twins needed help with their roster.  When they IL’d Gallo, Correa had also been out multiple days, leaving the Twins with only 2 bench players, one of which was the backup catcher.  If everyone else had been healthy, they probably let Gallo heal on the active roster; but since everyone else was not, they needed to do something to get another body up, and Gallo will lose out in that calculus v Correa every day of the week, and twice on Sundays.

[Cap'n Piranha]

1 hour ago, Riverbrian said:

Gallo was placed on the 10 Day disabled list retroactive to April 8th. He isn't allowed to cross the white lines in a major league park league until the 18th. 

 

Oh, I’m sure Gallo would be allowed to take BP or fielding practice at a major league park any time before the 18th.

[Obsvr]

1 hour ago, Cap'n Piranha said:

Oh, I’m sure Gallo would be allowed to take BP or fielding practice at a major league park any time before the 18th.

if we're going to nitpick, he said CROSS the white lines, not be on the field pregame.

[h2oface]

3 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

Gallo was placed on the 10 Day disabled list retroactive to April 8th. He isn't allowed to cross the white lines in a major league park league until the 18th. 

 

Right. So. The Twins didn't want to play him for another day so ship him out for another 6 or so? Like I said, I don't really care, but it seems that it is not a re-hab, just a weird move to get rid of him for a few days, which is fine with me, but not in the spirit of the IL rule. The re-habbing comes at the end of the IL stay, and can even extend the 10 or 15 day for, what, another 10 (something like that?) before they must be activated. It is a weird move. It appears that he is and was..... "good to go" and not in need of the move the day the did it, like he told them. They had already waited the days pervious. Hey, the Twins aren't the only ones that do this move.

Probably a silly thing to wonder here. All the answers I can get are from those who don't really know the answer anyway, but pretend to, and just make some guess up. They may be right, but they may not. 

[Seth Stohs]

Much ado about nothing... Gallo was placed on the IL, retroactive for three days. He continued to work for 2-3 days. He plays a rehab game. Assuming it went well, he won't play tonight. Then he'll play Sunday, and then he can be activated on Tuesday. 

[Riverbrian]

12 minutes ago, h2oface said:

Right. So. The Twins didn't want to play him for another day so ship him out for another 6 or so? Like I said, I don't really care, but it seems that it is not a re-hab, just a weird move to get rid of him for a few days, which is fine with me, but not in the spirit of the IL rule. The re-habbing comes at the end of the IL stay, and can even extend the 10 or 15 day for, what, another 10 (something like that)? before they must be activated. It is a weird move. It appears that he is and was..... "good to go" and not in need of the move the day the did it, like he told them. They had already waited the days pervious. Hey, the Twins aren't the only ones that do this move.

Probably a silly thing to wonder here. All the answers I can get are from those who don't really know the answer anyway, but pretend to, and just make some guess up. They may be right, but they may not. 

No idea. I was sleeping during med school. 

[Riverbrian]

2 hours ago, Cap'n Piranha said:

Oh, I’m sure Gallo would be allowed to take BP or fielding practice at a major league park any time before the 18th.

There will be security in uniform standing guard to keep him from crossing the lines. 😄

[h2oface]

33 minutes ago, Obsvr said:

if we're going to nitpick, he said CROSS the white lines, not be on the field pregame.

Nitpicking a nitpick? Is that 2 degrees or 3? Now we are getting somewhere! 😇

[ashbury]

27 minutes ago, h2oface said:

 just a weird move to get rid of him for a few days, which is fine with me, but not in the spirit of the IL rule.

It's exactly what the IL rule is for.  A player tells the team he's not ready to go, a few days in a row, and they make a move that both lets him recover and puts someone else on the roster who they can use instead.

Plus, they signed him for $11M a few months ago.  They're not already looking for excuses to "get rid of him," for any length of time.  If you didn't like the signing, then maybe you are.  But why project your own negative spin onto the decision makers?

[h2oface]

3 hours ago, ashbury said:

It's exactly what the IL rule is for.  A player tells the team he's not ready to go, a few days in a row, and they make a move that both lets him rest and puts someone on the roster who they can use.

Plus, they signed him for $11M a few months ago.  They're not already looking for excuses to "get rid of him," for any length of time.  If you didn't like the signing, maybe you are; but don't project onto the decision makers.

The move was made not when he was sitting, but when he was good to go and told them that. The second paragraph ( good edit) ..... maybe you are.... projecting? I am not talking about his contract or the signing or whether I liked it or not.

Nobody really knows. But several now have made statements like they are the deision makers. At this point, sorry I brought it up. Sometimes rhetorical questions bring rhetoric.

[h2oface]

.

[Cap'n Piranha]

9 hours ago, Obsvr said:

if we're going to nitpick, he said CROSS the white lines, not be on the field pregame.

How pray would he get on the field pregame without crossing the white lines?  Are those only chalked down as the home 9 is preparing for the imminent first pitch?

[Cap'n Piranha]

8 hours ago, h2oface said:

Right. So. The Twins didn't want to play him for another day so ship him out for another 6 or so? Like I said, I don't really care, but it seems that it is not a re-hab, just a weird move to get rid of him for a few days, which is fine with me, but not in the spirit of the IL rule. The re-habbing comes at the end of the IL stay, and can even extend the 10 or 15 day for, what, another 10 (something like that?) before they must be activated. It is a weird move. It appears that he is and was..... "good to go" and not in need of the move the day the did it, like he told them. They had already waited the days pervious. Hey, the Twins aren't the only ones that do this move.

Probably a silly thing to wonder here. All the answers I can get are from those who don't really know the answer anyway, but pretend to, and just make some guess up. They may be right, but they may not. 

The spirit of the IL rule is to keep teams from constantly trading out players who are only slightly injured for a day or two at a time.  Without the rule, teams could essentially have 40 man rosters, and every game would have 5-7 transactions after it to trade out BP arms, platoon bats, etc.  The calculus is that when a player is too injured to play, but not too injured to guarantee an absence of 10 or more days, a team has to determine where equilibrium falls (is it better to play short-handed for 9 games to get a game, or just give up 10 games for the injured player, but get those 10 games from a different, healthy player).  
 

As I mentioned before, the calculus of the Gallo IL move was altered when Correa needed multiple days off.  Without that, Gallo probably stays active, and plays in Yankee stadium the past 2 days.  With the Correa injury, the Twins were critically short on bench players, and needed to put someone on the IL. Since Correa is far more valuable, and was probably deemed to be on track to be available sooner, the obvious choice for the IL stint was Gallo.