Twins Minor League Report (4/21): Wallner, Garlick Power Extra-Inning Walkoff for Saints

[Sherry Cerny]

There has been a lot of movement between the Saints and the Twins in recent days. With Jorge Polanco completing his rehab assignment, he returned to the Twins. The Twins do have some depth, and some of that depth helped the Saints to a dramatic win on Friday night. 

 

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints

TRANSACTIONS

• RHP Jorge Alcala and INF Edouard Julien (Twins Daily’s #5 prospect) were optioned to the Saints
• Twins Daily’s #6 prospect RHP Simeon Woods Richardson recalled by the Minnesota Twins
• INF Jorge Polanco has completed his Major League rehab and returned to the Minnesota Twins 
• INF Tyler White placed on the Saints Development List
• OF Alex Kirilloff and RHP Josh Winder continue to rehab with St. Paul

Saints Sentinel
St. Paul 10, Scranton-Wilkes/Barre 9 (11 innings)
Box Score
Starting pitcher Dereck Rodriguez had a rough first inning. He gave up two home runs.  In the second inning, two walks and a hit batter loaded the bases. RailRiders (and former Saints) catcher Jose Godoy scored their third run of the night. After he settled in, he had a third and fourth scoreless inning, managing the damage, allowing the Saints bats to go to work. 

In the second inning, the Saints offense gave the fans early fireworks. With  the bases loaded, walks from Alex Kirilloff and Kyle Garlick gave the Saints two runs. Twins Daily’s #11 prospect Matt Wallner followed Garlick and drove a deep grand slam to put the Saints up 6-3. Wallner went 3-for-4 with a walk, a double and the home run. 

The Saints pitching staff made the decision to replace Rodriguez. In four innings, Rodriguez gave up three earned runs. The bullpen was not able to stifle the RailRiders bats and allowed three runs to tie up the game in the sixth inning. The Saints answered back immediately with an Andrew Stevenson home run to get back out in front.

Trevor Megill came in to finish the game, but the RailRiders came back and tied up the game taking the Saints into extra innings. SWB scored to go ahead of the Saints in the 11th on a home run from Godoy scoring Rodolfo Duran to pull ahead of the Saints. 

The Saints continued to battle. They began the bottom of the 11th inning with Alex De Goti on second base. Edouard Julien coaxed a walk. Chris Williams grounded into a force-out, but with one out, the Saints got the big hit they were looking for. The Saints won in walk-off fashion on a three-run home run from Kyle Garlick to end the game!

Quick Note: Shortstop Elliot Soto was hit in the face with a fastball early in the game and immediately replaced by De Goti. No update yet on Soto’s condition. However, he was in the Saints dugout at the end of the game and participated in the Saints on-field celebration. Presumably, that's good news. 

Wind Surge Wisdom
Wichita 5, Tulsa 6
Box Score 
The game started out with a solo home run for both teams.  Dodgers outfield prospect Jonny DeLuca led off the bottom of the first inning with a homer off of lefty Aaron Rozek. When the Wind Surge came to bat in the second, outfielder Armani Smith (minor-league Rule 5 pick in December) answered with his first homer in the Twins organization.  

The Surge offense struggled to get on the board after the one run in the second inning. A majority of the batters were connecting with the ball and getting on base, but being stranded at the end of each inning from a defensive play of Tulsa. 

Aaron Rozek made his second start of the season and tossed four innings. His third inning started with a homer from Josh Stowers, the second he allowed of the night, but didn’t allow any further runs in his appearance. The Surge defense showed up huge, giving the offense a chance to try and pull ahead. 

Jordan Brink struck out two batters in a scoreless fifth frame. Jose Bravo came on and was charged with three runs on two hits and three walks over 2 1/3 innings. He struck out two batters. Alex Scherff recorded the final two outs of the eighth inning.  

Jake Rucker hit his second home run of the season in the fifth inning, giving the Surge the nudge they needed to get back into the game. Tulsa tied the game in the eighth inning putting the Surge in a position to close out the game at the top of the ninth, but Tulsa managed to get one more run on the board to win the game. 

Kernels Nuggets
Cedar Rapids 3, Beloit 4
Box Score 
The highlight of this game was the first start of the season for Twins Daily’s #4 prospect Marco Raya. He went 2 2/3 innings and was charged with two runs on one hit. He walked three batters, hit one, and struck out four. Reports from a couple of people who were at the game in southern Wisconsin indicate that, despite the cold temperatures, Raya was consistently hitting 97 mph on the radar gun. 

Lefty John Wilson finished the third inning and also pitched a scoreless fourth frame.  19-year-old Alejandro Hidalgo came on to start the fifth inning. He was really good. He was charged with two unearned runs on five hits over his four innings. He struck out four batters without issuing a walk. 

Noah Cardenas was 2-for-4 with a triple. Kala’i Rosario had an RBI double. Willie Joe Garry hit a double and his first home run in the game, but it wasn’t enough and the Kernels fell to 5-6 on the young season.  

Mussels Matters
Fort Myers 13, Jupiter 2
Box Score
Andrew Cossetti continued to be the talk of the town. He extended his hitting streak to five games with a line-drive single to center in the bottom of the second. Coming into the game, he led the Florida State League in home runs (4), RBI (16), Slugging (.806) and OPS (1.280). 

This is the second start of the season for Mussels RHP Jose Olivares. In his first appearance, Olivares pitched five innings and only allowed one run. As one of the pitchers who led the 2022 FCL Twins in strikeouts (39), he seemed to struggle with the strike zone tonight early in the game. In the fourth inning, He gave up a run in the fourth inning on a triple followed by a wild pitch 

The Mussels tied the game at one in the bottom of the fourth inning. Danny DeAndrade and Cossetti drew walks. Then on a double-steal, the catcher threw the ball into left field which allowed a run to score.  

The Mussels bats came to life in the bottom of the fifth inning. The Mussels scored five runs. The first came on a Dylan Neuse single. Jorel Ortega doubled in two runs, and DeAndrade singled in two more runs.

The Mussels continued to put on a show scoring another seven runs over the next two innings. Cossetti, who was the victim of walks twice, got his bat on a ball in the seventh and hit a sharp line-drive double to left and scored De Andrade. Rubel Cespedes followed with a two-run double. Michael Helman singled in a run, and the final two runs came on a Jorel Ortega double. 

2022 draft pick Ben Ethridge closed it out with three strikeouts over two scoreless innings. 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Jose Olivares (Fort Myers) - 5.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 4 K
Hitter of the Day –Kyle Garlick  (St. Paul) - 1-for-5, 2 R, BB, 2K, 4 RBI. (including walkoff homer)

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) - 2-for-5, R, BB, 1K
#4 - Marco Raya (Cedar Rapids) - 2.2 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K. 51 pitches, 28 strikes. 
#5 - Edouard Julien (St. Paul) - 0-4, 1R, 2 BB, 2 K
#8 - Jose Salas (Cedar Rapids) - 0-4, 2 K
#11 - Matt Wallner (St. Paul) -  3-4, 1R, 1 BB, 1K
#14 - Noah Miller (Cedar Rapids) - 0-5, R, 2 K, E
#18 - Tanner Schobel (Cedar Rapids) - 1-4, RBI, SB(1), K 
#20 - Misael Urbina (Cedar Rapids) - 0-2, 2 BB, K, CS 

SATURDAY SCHEDULE AND PROBABLE STARTERS: 
Scranton @ St. Paul (2:07PM CST) - RHP Sean Boyle (1-1, 4.97) vs RHP Louie Varland (1-0, 1.80)
Wichita @ Tulsa (7:05PM CST) -  RHP Chad Donato (0-1, 27.00)  vs. RHP Emmett Sheehan(1-1, 3.09)
Cedar Rapids @ Beloit (3:05PM CST) - RHP Orlando Rodriguez will make his first start of the season.  
Jupiter @ Fort Myers (5:00PM CST) - RHP Zebby Matthews (2-0, 0.00) vs RHP Jacob Miller (0-0, 0.00)
 

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Friday's games! 

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[tony&rodney]

Managed to see a few of Wallner's at bats and he is definitely working hard to control himself and have good plate appearances.

[ashbury]

16 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Managed to see a few of Wallner's at bats and he is definitely working hard to control himself and have good plate appearances.

I see a goodly number of walks in his recent game logs for St. Paul.

[D.C Twins]

Cossetti needs to be moved up.

He's 23 years old.... no need to wait too long to see what we have.

[MplsFan]

I’m confused.  Did Cedar Rapids win or lose?  The score you posted says they won 4-3 but the writing says they “fell”

[Major League Ready]

7 hours ago, D.C Twins said:

Cossetti needs to be moved up.

He's 23 years old.... no need to wait too long to see what we have.

Sure looks like it.  The problem is making room in CR.  They already have Cardenas / Mack and Morales.  Wichita has 4 catchers on their roster.  I think he might get held back until they think one of the CR catchers is ready to move up.  One of the Wichita catchers could get cut.

[FlyingFinn]

1 hour ago, MplsFan said:

Did Cedar Rapids win or lose?  

They lost 4-3 on two late unearned runs.

28 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

The problem is making room in CR.  They already have Cardenas / Mack and Morales. 

Mack is not very good defensively and doesn't play that much. I can see Cossetti going there soon. 2 for 2 last night with 2 walks. What a week! As others have asked - how is his defense?

Decent start from Olivares and much better game by Hidalgo. Seems like our minor league teams are having a high number of blown saves this year, 4 more last night plus a loss from the bullpen. Megill is looking terrible so far. Maybe this is where trading away a few pitchers is showing in our lack of depth, as the better pitchers are used as starters.

[roger]

Other than St. Paul, organization is playing pretty much .500 baseball.  Taking a look at the Wichita position players, gotta wonder if any of them, other than Lee, will ever play for the Twins.

Assume that Cossetti can't continue hitting like this week, can he?  Will be fun to see if this was one of those weeks or if he is becoming a legit big time prospect?

Great seeing Raya pitching in a game.  Kid has so much potential and so little actual game experience.  Speaking of young pitchers, does anyone have any information about Prielipp's injury?

[Seth Stohs]

2 hours ago, MplsFan said:

I’m confused.  Did Cedar Rapids win or lose?  The score you posted says they won 4-3 but the writing says they “fell”

They lost. I'll update it. 

[Dman]

Really nice to see Kirilloff take two walks last night.  I love good bat to ball guys but they need a good eye at the plate to stay hot.  He sure seems to love AAA pitching as he always seems to do well at that level.

Wallner looks good at AAA as well.  Needs to see the ball better so am happy he is working walks as well.  Aggressive is good but it also has to be tied to patience as well.  He seems really close to being ready IMO.

Holland with a really tough start to the year with a .142 OPS he isn't walking much and is isn't hitting much.  Hopefully he can pull a Wallner this year and get hot in May.

I had given up on Willy Joe Garry as a hitter but he is off to a good start with a .772 OPS.  Still not completely convinced he has the contact skills to get there but it is nice to see him doing well.  He has all the tools except the bat.

It is the two older guys Cossetti and Schuffield that are doing really well in A ball but it doesn't seem like they belong there.  I guess no room for them elsewhere but hopefully they can move up by early June.

Oliveras is off to a good start.  K rate a little low but having a .66 WHIP means he isn't messing around and throwing strikes.  Wish we knew more about what he throws and how hard but right now he looks better than some of the college arms at A ball IMO.

Still waiting for more breakouts and some guys seem close but April is a hard month for hitters. Once the weather warms hopefully some bats take off.

[jimbo92107]

A little sad to see Eddie Julien get sent back down to St Paul, but he needed it. His bat went cold, and as a result he started acting a little desperate at the plate. He'll be back, tho. Too much talent to stay down for long. 

Meanwhile, it's good to see Polo back. Let's hope he goes on an offensive tear. Team sure could use it.