Twins Minor League Report (5/9): Helboy? No, He Is a Helman!

[Steve Lein]

The Minnesota Twins farm went undefeated on Tuesday night, with the bats coming out in a big way in multiple games. But none of them were bigger than that of Michael Helman.

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints (photo of Michael Helman)

TRANSACTIONS

• The Saint Paul Saints transferred SS Alex De Goti to the development list, activated 3B Andrew Bechtold from the temporary inactive list, and were sent RHP Ronny Henriquez from the Minnesota Twins on a rehab assignment.
• RHP Matthew Swain was placed on the temporary inactive list at Cedar Rapids, and the Kernels were assigned RHP Gianluca Dalatri from the FCL Twins in his place.
• The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels placed RHP Tomas Cleto on the injured list and transferred CF Luis Baez to the development list. In their place, they were assigned RHP Jarret Whorff and SS Rafael Cruz from the FCL Twins.

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 11, Indianapolis 3
Box Score
The Saints jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, when Edouard Julien led off the game by getting hit by a pitch, and was promptly driven in by a double off the bat of Michael Helman, whom you’ll be hearing from repeatedly in this summary.

Starter Jordan Balazovic continued to trend in the right direction, though he probably would have liked to have gone deeper into this one. He allowed no runs on three hits in his four innings, exiting a bit early as his pitch count got run up to 77 (45 for strikes). He did strike out five but his first win at the Triple-A level still eludes him.

The top of St. Paul’s lineup got to work again in the third inning, as Edouard Julien followed Tony Wolter’s walk with a single to put multiple runners on base, and Helman brought them all home with his fourth home run in 15 games with the Saints this season to make it 4-0.

In the fourth Helman’s bases-loaded single scored the first run of the inning, before Trevor Larnach's double emptied them to make it 8-0. They tacked on a single run in the seventh thanks to a Mark Contreras RBI single, and Chris Williams punctuated their scoring outburst with a two-run bomb in the eighth.

Helman finished 3-for-5, a triple shy of the cycle, and drove in five runs in the game. More than half his hits on the season have gone for extra bases, and speed is still showing up as he has also stolen five bases so far on the year. Joining Helman in the multi-hit club were Julien (2-for-2, 3 R, 2 BB), Larnach (2-for-5, R, 2B, 3 RBI, K), Williams (2-for-5, 2 R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, K), and Contreras (2-for-5, 2B, RBI). 

After Balazovic’s exit, Patrick Murphy delivered two scoreless innings to pick up the win. He allowed one hit and two walks. Connor Sadzeck allowed three earned runs on two hits and three walks in 1 2/3 innings, striking out two. Oliver Ortega finished off the blowout with 1 1/3 frames, allowing one hit, walking one, and striking out one.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 5, Frisco 4 (10 innings)
Box Score
The RoughRiders struck first against Wind Surge starter Aaron Rozek, as he gave up a solo home run and RBI single in the second inning. He went on to finish 4 1/3 innings, being charged with those two runs on five total hits and no walks, while striking out four.

Wichita had taken the lead 4-2 at that point, as Pat Winkel tied the game at two in the top of the fourth with a two-run home run, before a Brooks Lee RBI double and DeShawn Keirsey Jr.  RBI single in the fifth put them out front 4-2.

In the bottom of the fifth, a leadoff double preceded a groundout before Rozek was replaced by Hunter McMahon from the bullpen. He allowed an inherited runner to score, before giving up one of his own, and the game was tied back up at four. Tyler Beck came on in relief to start the sixth and delivered three scoreless frames to keep the game tied. He allowed just one hit and struck out four in the outing.

Still tied after nine, this one went to extra innings, which the Wind Surge wasted no time taking advantage of. In the top of the 10th with the speedy Will Holland starting on second base, Yoyner Fajardo hit a ball deep enough to center to move him to third, before Lee’s groundout to second base allowed him to come home for a 5-4 lead.

Righthander Jordan Brink delivered a scoreless ninth and was back out for the 10th, looking to seal the win. After a strikeout and a flyout, the tying run was on third base when a pitch got away from catcher Pat Winkel. He was quick enough to track it down and feed it back to Brink in time to beat the runner home, and the out at the plate ended the game.

Brink picked up his first win of the season with his two scoreless innings, allowing just a hit batter and striking out three. Keirsey Jr. (2-for-5, RBI, 3 K, 2 SB) and Yunior Severino (2-for-5, R, 2B, 2 K, SB) each had multiple hits in the victory.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 7, Quad Cities 3
Box Score
The 19-year-old Alejandro Hidalgo took the mound for the Kernels on Tuesday, looking to build on his last outing where he gave up just three hits and struck out nine in 5 1/3 innings. He wasn’t nearly that dominant again, but he kept his team in the game with a four-inning effort. He allowed two runs (one earned) on two hits and three walks, while striking out just two. 

When he left the game, the Kernels had built a three-run lead. Three consecutive singles in the third inning put their first run on the scoreboard before they busted out the lumber in the fourth. Misael Urbina started the four-run outburst with a double, Jose Salas traded places with him after a double of his own, and then Jeferson Morales and Keoni Cavaco went back-to-back with home runs, making it 5-2 Kernels.

They tacked on two more in the fifth inning after an RBI double from Tanner Schobel was followed by an RBI single from Urbina, and that was all the scoring Cedar Rapids would need.

The bullpen quartet of Niklas Rimmel (2 IP, H, BB, 2 K), John Wilson (1 IP, 3 H, ER, K), John Stankiewicz (1 IP, H, K), and Regi Grace (1 IP, H) kept the River Bandits at bay for the final five innings. Rimmel picked up his third win of the season.

Urbina led the offense with three hits in five at-bats, including a double. Noah Miller finished 1-for-4 with a run scored, a walk, and stole two bases. Emmanuel Rodriguez recorded his first hit since returning from the injured list.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 8, Tampa 7 
Box Score
The Mighty Mussels jumped all over the Tarpons early in this one, taking a 5-0 lead after two innings. They scored three in the first behind a sac fly from Carlos Aguiar, and RBI doubles from Ricardo Olivar and Rafael Cruz, freshly bumped up from the FCL Twins roster. In the second, it was an RBI groundout from the reigning Florida State League Player of the Month, Andrew Cosetti, and an RBI single from Aguiar that extended their lead.

The Tampa lineup finally got to Fort Myers starter Jose Olivares in the top of the fourth, getting a two-run home run to cut the lead to three. Olivares finished the fourth, allowing those two runs on three hits and three walks in total, striking out two in the start. 

The Mighty Mussels got one back in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single from Cosetti, making it 6-2.

Gabriel Yanez chipped in two innings of relief, allowing an unearned run on two hits while striking out three, before giving way to A.J. Labas to begin the top of the seventh. Before it was over the Tarpons had taken a 7-6 lead as five straight hitters reached base, with a two-run homer and an error included. Labas came back on for the eighth and delivered a one-two-three inning to give his lineup a chance. 

They did so in the bottom half. Alec Sayre drew a one-out walk before coming around to score on Jorel Ortega’s second triple of the season. Ortega then scampered home on a wild pitch to give Fort Myers the lead 8-7.

Lefty Zach Veen was summoned to close the game out for the home team and set the Tarpon lineup down in order, including a strikeout to punctuate the win and pick up his second save of the season.

Ortega led the offense by reaching base in all five of his plate appearances, finishing 4-for-4 with a triple and a walk, scoring four runs, and driving in one. Joining him with multiple hits on the game were Danny De Andrade (2-for-4, R, 2B, BB, K) and Olivar (2-for-4, R, 2B, RBI, 2 K). Cosetti and Aguiar each drove in two runs.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day - Tyler Beck, Wichita Wind Surge (3 IP, H, 4 K)
Hitter of the Day - Michael Helman, St. Paul Saints (3-for-5, 2 R, 2B, HR, 5 RBI, K)

PROSPECT SUMMARY
#1 - Brooks Lee (Wichita) - 1-for-5, R, 2B (12), 2 RBI
#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-5, 3 K
#5 - Edouard Julien (St. Paul) - 2-for-2, 3 R, 2 BB
#8 - Jose Salas (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, R, 2B, RBI, 2 K
#14 - Noah Miller (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, R, BB, 2 SB
#16 - Jordan Balazovic (St. Paul) - 4 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 5 K
#18 - Tanner Schobel (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, R, 2B, RBI, BB
#20 - Misael Urbina (Cedar Rapids) - 3-for-5, R, 2B, RBI, K

WEDNESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Indianapolis @ St. Paul (6:37 PM CDT) - TBD
Wichita @ Frisco (11:05 AM CDT) -RHP Chad Donato (0-3, 12.79 ERA)
Cedar Rapids @ Quad Cities (6:30 PM CDT) - RHP Orlando Rodriguez (3-1, 1.10 ERA)
Tampa @ Fort Myers (6:00 PM CDT) - TBD

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Tuesday’s games!

 

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[FlyingFinn]

Nice to see all of our prospects chipping in tonight. When they do well the teams do well, 4-0.

[Blyleven2011]

Nice to see there are wins in twins territory  even if it is the minor leagues ...

thanks for the details ...

[Cory Engelhardt]

Wanted to add that you had an A+ headline for this update. Thanks!

[mikelink45]

Lots of notes about adding Helman to the major league roster - I think that would be fine and I would want Julien too now that he has heated up.  Castro and Solano can be the cuts. 

[miracleb]

The Box score for the Saints brings you to Twitter.  :)

[John Belinski]

It appears Helman who can hit and run would help the Twins. I think he could take Solano's spot.

[roger]

Thanks for the report, Steve.

Another clean inning from Reggie Grace.  One earned run in 10 games is a heck of a start for this young man.  I see he was a 2018 draft pick.  That mean's he was Rule 5 eligible last fall.  If he keeps pitching like this, will he be added this November?  Won't he have to get higher than Hi-A to be added?  Your thoughts?

Another name I wasn't all that familiar with is Jorel Ortega.  See he is another Tennessee player to find his way to the Twins.  Long road ahead, but sure is whacking the ball the first month of the season.

[Dman]

Man, Helman has started with a bang.  If he keeps on getting those extra base hits the Twins are going to have to find room on the 40 man.  With only a 13% K rate and 11% walk rate he is starting to look a bit like Spencer Steer, a very well rounded hitter.  Like Steer he just needed to add a little more pop to the bat and I think he has shown that last year and so far this year but in a SSS.  Just needs to keep it going and he should get his shot.

Ortega with a really nice night as well.  hard to go 4 for 4 and he is one of the few guys batting .300 in A ball. Cossetti has cooled down quite a bit but catchers have it tough especially as the season wears on.  Happy to see Cruz back in A ball and hoping this year is better than last year for him.  He has the tools just needs to up the contact.

Lot's of good hitting and some solid pitching for a change.  Here is hoping guys are starting to catch fire.,

[jmlease1]

3 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Lots of notes about adding Helman to the major league roster - I think that would be fine and I would want Julien too now that he has heated up.  Castro and Solano can be the cuts. 

Helman is really interesting. I think I'd be up for giving him a shot on the MLB roster once Farmer is back (we'd be awfully thin at SS if Castro goes down and Farmer isn't on the team). Unusual for a guy to break out at 27, but it can happen, and it's not like Castro is offering much other than flexibility at this point.

The utter lack of pop in Solano's bat so far and his generally poor defense makes him a reasonable candidate to move on from, but this club seems to struggle with sunk costs sometimes.

Julien is rolling at AAA to be sure.

[Steve Lein]

4 hours ago, Cory Engelhardt said:

Wanted to add that you had an A+ headline for this update. Thanks!

Thank you, that is much appreciated 😂

[Steve Lein]

2 hours ago, miracleb said:

The Box score for the Saints brings you to Twitter.  :)

Fixed. Thank you!

[Steve Lein]

1 hour ago, John Belinski said:

It appears Helman who can hit and run would help the Twins. I think he could take Solano's spot.

He is definitely a Swiss army knife. Use him where you need him!

[Steve Lein]

1 hour ago, roger said:

Another clean inning from Reggie Grace.  One earned run in 10 games is a heck of a start for this young man.  I see he was a 2018 draft pick.  That mean's he was Rule 5 eligible last fall.  If he keeps pitching like this, will he be added this November?  Won't he have to get higher than Hi-A to be added?  Your thoughts?

Grace has had a really nasty breaking ball when I've watched him. So nasty in fact, it easily gets away from him at times, but he hasn't let those misses snowball. His WHIP is an electric 0.545, and I'll be curious to see if the bullpen is where he stays from here on out.

He won't be in High-A long at this rate, and then he's a perfectly valid candidate to add to the 40-man if there's a spot for him.

[2wins87]

3 hours ago, Dman said:

Happy to see Cruz back in A ball and hoping this year is better than last year for him.  He has the tools just needs to up the contact.

Saw he hit 2 balls over 100 mph last night including his 107.6 mph double, so he's hitting the ball hard out of the gate.  Definitely a guy I'll be keeping an eye on as well.

[2wins87]

Another pretty good start from Balazovic.  Still walking a few too many, but a really encouraging start to the season.

I wonder if he wouldn't get the call for an emergency start at this point if he lined up for it.  Still as much potential just in terms of stuff as basically any other pitcher in the system.

Seems like all his pitches have been working in AAA, getting lots of whiffs on his fastball, curveball, and slider.  The changeup has clearly been the 4th best option, which is part of why I think he may still be destined for relief long term.  Still, pretty fast turn-around after nothing seemed to work for him last year.

[DocBauer]

I thought Helman had a real shot to make the team out of ST. Heard rumors the Twins were really disappointed he wasn't available to his injury. He can hit, hit with pop/power, and has good speed. And while not saying he's great everywhere, he can play anywhere other than catcher. Being RH doesn't hurt either. The lineup/roster, at this point, is probably better with him, or Garlick, rather than a platoon 1B who isn't hitting and has little power in Solano.

Not predicting greatness, but I think Helman is a late blooming, super utility player with potentially nice overall value.

Super happy to see Bakazovic healthy and throwing well. Can't wait until he's at full strength and stretched out. As I stated just as the season began, I'm more concerned with his long term future after a bad 2022 and his ruined ST, rather than being an impact arm this year. Still, I can see him providing a legitimate rotation depth option the second half of the season.

[jmlease1]

12 minutes ago, DocBauer said:

Super happy to see Balazovic healthy and throwing well. Can't wait until he's at full strength and stretched out. As I stated just as the season began, I'm more concerned with his long term future after a bad 2022 and his ruined ST, rather than being an impact arm this year. Still, I can see him providing a legitimate rotation depth option the second half of the season.

I think if he could finish the season throwing deep into games and re-establishing himself as a potential rotation piece for 2024, it would be a great result for him. Would be wonderful if he continues to settle in and position himself to debut sometime this season, even if it's just for a cup of coffee to get his feet wet (and maybe one or three more metaphors...)

[Jocko87]

5 hours ago, Steve Lein said:

He is definitely a Swiss army knife. Use him where you need him!

I’m warming to Helman as well. Breakouts at 27 do happen and oftentimes it’s related to experience playing all just over just grinding for a spot. That breakout isn’t usually a $100m player but can be a very useful puzzle piece for a big league roster. 

A few weeks ago when we were discussing Gordon heavily I wondered if we could flip him for a RH hitting version with options.  Helman seems like that fit and they would probably even be willing to play him in the infield too.  Speed, defensive flexibility and functional with RH bat would fit really well right now. 

I wouldn’t even expect him to hit much with the big club but high level I would expect really good mature at bats. Never watched him but willing to assume that part of his success now. 

[Riverbrian]

I don't know much about Helman but... Speed, Power and he plays multiple positions. OPS over 1,000. 

If you are going to give a guy a shot... when he is hot is the perfect time. When we need someone... also the perfect time. 

[stringer bell]

Good for Helman, better for Jordy Blaze. It would be great if he can help the Twins either in the bullpen or (if he gets stretched out) as a starter. 

[Doctor Wu]

9 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

I don't know much about Helman but... Speed, Power and he plays multiple positions. OPS over 1,000. 

If you are going to give a guy a shot... when he is hot is the perfect time. When we need someone... also the perfect time. 

I don't know much about Helman either, or at least I didn't (Thanks for another good report!), but any player with speed and hitting skills like that catches my eye!