Minor League Report (4/15): Ben Ross and Emmanuel Rodriguez Rake in a Dismal Minor-League Day

[Matt Braun]

You can't win 'em all; and sometimes you don't win at all.

Image courtesy of William Parmeter

TRANSACTIONS
OF Matt Wallner optioned from Minnesota to AAA St. Paul
C David Bañuelos moved to development list

Saints Sentinel
St. Paul 2, Indianapolis 9
Box Score
Simeon Woods Richardson: 3 1/3 IP, 10 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: Andrew Bechtold (2-for-4, 2B, R)

The Saints were blown out on Saturday.

It was not Simeon Woods Richardson’s day; the Sugar Land native couldn’t find the right answers against Indianapolis' lineup, allowing 10 hits—the most he’s relinquished in his minor-league career. Randy Dobnak relieved Woods Richardson—probably emotionally as well as physically—after the starter allowed a pair of hits in the 4th. Dobnak quickly learned that Indianapolis’ hitters didn’t mind the pitcher, though, and he subsequently saw four runs score against him.

St. Paul’s hitters faced a Quinn Priester that was sharp and effective, punching out nine times against the top prospect; a pair of runs blemished his stat line but make no mistake: this was a dominating performance from Priester. 

And Indianapolis' bullpen continued the trend, adding 4 1/3 scoreless frames with seven extra strikeouts; the Saints only collected one extra-base hit off Indianapolis relievers. 

Andrew Bechtold and Connor Sadzeck served as the two bright spots, with the former adding two more hits—a double included—to his early-season stash; the latter pitched 2 1/3 innings without allowing a run. He struck out three.

Beyond Priester, Indianapolis boasts a talented squad, enjoying the unique talents of catcher/infielder/outfielder Endy Rodriguez and the piranha-ish Nick Gonzales. Rodriguez earned three hits while Gonzales collected four; they totaled four extra-base hits. 

Joey Gallo struck out all four times he stepped to the plate; Chris Williams pinch-hit for him in the 9th inning and walked. 

Wind Surge Wisdom
Wichita 3, NW Arkansas 12
Box Score
Aaron Rozek: 2 1/3 IP, 9 H, 8 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
HR: Yunior Severino (2), Alerick Soularie (1)
Multi-hit games: Brooks Lee (2-for-3), Yoyner Fajardo (2-for-4)

The Wind Surge experienced a good old-fashioned butt-kicking on Saturday.

It started out bad and only got uglier. The Naturals pounced on Aaron Rozek for two runs in the 1st before coming back with vigor in the 2nd, smacking three extra runs onto his ledger. That would normally be enough to punish a pitcher—five runs wins you most ballgames—but NW Arkansas felt especially spicy on Saturday; they plated five more runs in the 3rd, this time splitting the damage between Rozek and reliever Seth Nordlin. 

Wichita’s offensive burst, while soft in comparison, was admirable, as both Yunior Severino and Alerick Soularie blasted homers in support of their ailing pitchers. 

Severino’s shot was a classic pulled meteor; but Soularie’s was incredible: he somehow pushed a casual fly ball deep enough to clear the fences the other way. You don’t see that every day.

Unfortunately, the good news ends there. Wichita’s offense set a season-high for strikeouts with 16 and have now struck out at least 12 times in five consecutive games. 

The NW Arkansas Naturals are typically led by catcher Luca Tresh, the Royals’ 13th-best prospect according to MLB.com, but since he had the day off, Andrew Hoffmann—the starter who mowed down seven batters over five innings—served as their finest prospect representative. 

Kernels Nuggets
Cedar Rapids 3, Quad Cities 5
Box Score
Alejandro Hidalgo: 1 2/3 IP, 0 H, 1 ER, 6 BB, 3 K
HR: Emmanuel Rodriguez (3)
Multi-hit games: Ben Ross (4-for-4, 2 2B, R)

The Kernels could not get out of their way on Saturday.

Alejandro Hidalgo—fresh-faced, still just a teenager—took the mound for the first time in the Twins’ system. The Venezuelan change-up specialist found no fortune with command; walking six and hitting one in a curt, ineffective start. Strangely, all of his walks came with two outs. Hopefully, Hidalgo, who joined the Twins following an off-season deal with the Angels that sent Gio Urshela out west, will find more fruitful days in his future. 

The short start placed Cedar Rapids’ bullpen in a tough spot, needing 7 1/3 frames of work to finish the game, but they nearly pulled it off. Regi Grace established order by ending the 2nd and pushing the effort to the 5th, making Miguel Rodriguez the next crucial cog. He faltered. The Kernels’ second Venezuelan hurler of the night breezed through the 5th, but stepped into a 6th-inning ambush, leading to three runs and a burned ego; Cedar Rapids never recovered.

But they put up a solid fight: Noah Cardenas bounced into a run-scoring double play in the 2nd and Emmanuel Rodriguez continued his habit of only hitting homers to the deepest parts of the ballpark. He now leads the Midwest league in RBIs with 12. That was all, though, and a run-scoring balk in the 8th nailed the Kernels into their coffin.

Ben Ross, Minnesota’s 5th-round pick in 2022 out of Notre Dame College—no, the other one—collected four hits, doubling twice in an effective day from the cleanup spot.

The River Bandits are led by outfielder Gavin Cross—the Royals’ best prospect and the 56th-best prospect according to MLB.com. He tripled and walked in five plate appearances. 

Mussel Matters
Fort Myers 1, Clearwater 3
Box Score
Jose Olivares: 5 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: None

The Mighty Mussels lost an offensive-deficient game on Saturday.

Jose Olivares owned the mound; the Venezuelan righty worked five efficient innings, striking out a trio of batters while allowing a lonely run to score off a solo homer in the 4th. Not bad for the first start of the season at an elevated level.

The bats, though, were locked up, evidently tossed away or hidden as the Mighty Mussels only collected three hits—all singles—on top of five walks; a Jorge Polanco sacrifice fly in the 3rd served as the only run they could muster. Catcher Ricardo Olivar caught the worst of it, striking out all four times he stepped up to the plate; left-fielder Dalton Shuffield punched out three times. 

Josh Winder tossed 1 2/3 innings in relief of Olivares, allowing one run and three hits while striking out three. 

Alex Kirilloff drew two walks and played seven innings in the field at first base; Polanco played the full game at second base, drawing a walk on top of his sacrifice fly in four trips to the plate. 

The Threshers are led by outfielder Justin Crawford—son of Carl, and the fourth best prospect in the Phillies system; he tripled, singled, and scored a pair of runs from the lead-off spot. 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Jose Olivares
Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Ben Ross

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:
#1 - Brooks Lee (Wichita) - 2-3
#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Cedar Rapids) - 1-4, HR, R, 2 RBI, 3 K
#5 - Edouard Julien (Minnesota) - 0-4, 2 K
#6 - Simeon Woods Richardson (St. Paul) - 3 1/3 IP, 10 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
#8 - Jose Salas (Cedar Rapids) - 1-4, K
#11 - Matt Wallner (St. Paul) - 1-5, 2B, 2 K 
#14 - Noah Miller (Cedar Rapids) - 1-4, R, BB
#18 - Tanner Schobel (Cedar Rapids) - 0-3, BB, K
#20 - Misael Urbina (Cedar Rapids) - 1-4, 2 K

SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Indianapolis (12:35 PM) - LHP Brent Headrick
NW Arkansas @ Wichita (1:05 PM) - RHP Chad Donato
Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (1:05 PM) - RHP Orlando Rodriguez
Fort Myers @ Clearwater (11:00 AM) - RHP Zebby Matthews

View full article

[Dman]

Yeah pretty brutal day with loss's all around.  Happy to see Ben Ross with a big 4 for 4 day.  He is looking like a steal right now.  Just needs to tap in to more power and he is on his way up. Hopefully Sunday is a better day.

[FlyingFinn]

Brutal starting pitching - Hidalgo allowed no hits but walked 6 and hit a batter in less than 2 innings, someho9w giving up only one run. SWR, Dobnak (in relief) and Rozek were the reverse, throwing strikes that got hit all over the park.

Olivares in Fort Myers was the exception. I think it was his debut in Class A and 5 innings with 2 hits and a BB. I'm watching him this year.

Some guys are really struggling with the bat (SSS I know) - Camargo with the Saints, Holland and Prato with the Wind Surge, Salas and Urbina with the Kernels and De Andrade with the Mighty Mussels.

[mikelink45]

Gallo strikes out four times in game - I guess he is rehabbed.

I am disappointed in Randy Dobnak.  I do not expect him in MN again, but an 8.44 era is really bad.

Indeed - a very bad day throughout the system.

[Mike Sixel]

Really shocked at SWR and Dobnak struggling so much so far this year.

[MMMordabito]

When did the Pirates AAA affiliate decide to assume the same name as the Cleveland MLB team? Pathetic misinformation.

[roger]

About the only good news yesterday was Ross and the fact Gallo, Polo, AK and Winder were on the field.  Gonna have to learn more about who this Ross kid is.

[DJL44]

11 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Really shocked at SWR and Dobnak struggling so much so far this year.

Not surprised at all to see Randy Dobnak struggling this year.

Woods-Richardson has decent K/BB numbers, he's just been very hittable.

[DJL44]

9 minutes ago, MMMordabito said:

When did the Pirates AAA affiliate decide to assume the same name as the Cleveland MLB team? Pathetic.

That actually never happened which makes it very confusing to see in a game recap. They're still the Indianapolis I N D I A N S. They are considering renaming the team but I am pretty sure they won't ever call themselves the Guardians.

edit: I tried typing I N D I A N S and the website did a find and replace with Guardians automatically. That's probably the same issue with the article. Bad code.

[MMMordabito]

5 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

That actually never happened which makes it very confusing to see in a game recap. They're still the Indianapolis Guardians. They are considering renaming the team but I am pretty sure they won't ever call themselves the Guardians.

We can't say Guardians unless we say I N D I A N S.  Orwell is blushing.

[Matt Braun]

30 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

That actually never happened which makes it very confusing to see in a game recap. They're still the Indianapolis I N D I A N S. They are considering renaming the team but I am pretty sure they won't ever call themselves the Guardians.

edit: I tried typing I N D I A N S and the website did a find and replace with Guardians automatically. That's probably the same issue with the article. Bad code.

Yeah I definitely typed in “I N D I A N S” but normal in the write up. Didn’t see the automatic switch until you guys mentioned it. 

[MMMordabito]

24 minutes ago, Matt Braun said:

Yeah I definitely typed in “I N D I A N S” but normal in the write up. Didn’t see the automatic switch until you guys mentioned it. 

Apologies to you Matt, since you were subjected to the same stupid idea as everyone else.  I guess someone thinks it's more important to not offend one person than to not misinform a few hundred people.

[Jocko87]

Don't read too much into Soularie’s home run, check the flags in the replay.  It was a nasty, nasty weather day in Wichita yesterday.  Good for him but it was blowing 25-30 across and out to right. 

[Seth Stohs]

2 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Really shocked at SWR and Dobnak struggling so much so far this year.

2 games for SWR.

3 games for Dobnak after pretty much not pitching for 2 years. 

They'll be fine 

[Mike Sixel]

1 minute ago, Seth Stohs said:

2 games for SWR.

3 games for Dobnak after pretty much not pitching for 2 years. 

They'll be fine 

I'm not sure how I said anything about the future? I'm surprised at the past. 

[Mike Sixel]

1 hour ago, MMMordabito said:

When did the Pirates AAA affiliate decide to assume the same name as the Cleveland MLB team? Pathetic misinformation.

Way to assume it wasn't an accident or auto correct. 

[Seth Stohs]

Obviously when Cleveland changed their name to the Guardians, we put in the correction so that it would be correct in the article.

Frankly, I hadn't used their old nickname in years before that. 

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

Way to assume it wasn't an accident or auto correct. 

In this case it's auto-incorrect

[Beast]

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

Way to assume it wasn't an accident or auto correct. 

You’re upset somebody read an article and didn’t assume something published in the article was a mistake or autocorrect?

I’m not taking sides in this absurd bickering match with attempted low key political flexing and virtue signaling (exhausting).  Just think this is a fascinating outlook on reporting and publishing content.

[jkcarew]

Rodriguez now with 17K in 34PA, for a round 50% K rate.

Just turned 20…I like that the Twins started him at high A, but slightly worried about bad habits. I’m sure there’s some rust involved.