Twins Minor League Report (6/14): Williams Power Propels Saints Offense... Again!

[Seth Stohs]

Chris Williams is really good at hitting a ball a long way. The first baseman and the Saints have been an offensive juggernaut. And nice wins for the Wind Surge and Kernels too. Find out everything that happened in the Twins minor leagues on Wednesday. 

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints

The Twins completed their sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday afternoon. The St. Paul Saints continued to crush baseballs, especially first baseman Chris Williams. Wichita got a great start from a lefty from Minnesota. Cedar Rapids had another terrific start from a certain knuckleballer drafted in 2022. And, well, we won’t spend too much time talking about the Mighty Mussels game on Wednesday. 

And the Twins completed a trade with the Brewers while they were in town. 

STANDINGS
St. Paul Saints: 38-26
Wichita Wind Surge: 25-33
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 34-25
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 31-28 
FCL Twins: 3-4
DSL Twins: 1-6

Let’s get to the report. As always, please feel free to discuss and ask questions. 

TRANSACTIONS
The Twins optioned outfielder Trevor Larnach to St. Paul after the game on Wednesday afternoon. Presumably, he is making way for the return of Byron Buxton. 

In April, the Twins traded reliever Trevor Megill to the Brewers for a Player to be Named Later. On Wednesday, that player was named. The Twins received right-handed relief pitcher Taylor Floyd and assigned him to Double-A Wichita. He was that Brewers 10th-round pick out of Texas Tech. After a missed 2020 season, he spent most of 2021 at High-A Wisconsin before ending the season at Double-A Biloxi. Following the season, he went to the Arizona Fall League. He split the 2022 season pretty evenly between Wisconsin and Biloxi. This year, the 25-year-old has pitched in 23 2/3 innings over 15 appearances at Wisconsin. He has a 3.04 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP. He has 32 strikeouts to go with just seven walks. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 11, Louisville 3 
Box Score

On Tuesday night, the Saints scored 18 runs on 21 hits. On Wednesday morning, they played again and the offense continued. They had 11 runs on 13 hits and eight walks in this game. 

Speaking of positive things that continued from the night before… Chris Williams knocked three home runs on Tuesday night. In his first at-bat on Wednesday, he hit a two-run homer that gave the Saints a 3-0 lead. Then in the sixth inning, he hit another two-run homer. He now has 12 homers on the season (and five homers over the past two days!). In this game, he went 2-for-3 with two walks, two homers and four RBI. 

Jair Camargo also continues to play well. The catcher went 2-for-5 with  fifth double and 10th home run and three RBI. Andrew Stevenson went 2-for-6 with his fourth homer. He also stole his 24th base. Alex De Goti had two hits. Anthony Prato went 2-for-4 with a walk, his third double and first Triple-A home run, a solo shot against former Twins reliever Alan Busenitz in the ninth inning. Gilberto Celestino continued his rehab as the team’s DH today. He went 1-for-5 with two RBI.

Randy Dobnak got the start and pitched well. He gave up three runs in the bottom of the first inning, but they were all unearned. He went 5 1/3 innings and gave up nine hits and a walk, and he struck out seven batters. Kody Funderburk finished the sixth and the seventh innings. He got all five batters out, three of them on strikeouts. Austin Schulfer struck out four batters over the final two scoreless innings.   

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 8,Midland 1
Box Score

The Wind Surge got a strong start and plenty of offense in a really well-played game. 

Aaron Rozek was the Twins Daily Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Month for May. He was tremendous in this game. The southpaw tossed six shutout innings and had five strikeouts. He gave up just one hit and one walk. Hunter McMahon and Alex Scherff each threw a scoreless inning. Jordan Brink gave up a solo homer in the ninth. 

Will Holland played centerfield. He went 2-for-3 with a two-run home run, his third of the season. Brooks Lee had two doubles over his five at-bats and drove in two runs. Alerick Soularie went 2-for-3 with a walk. Aaron Sabato had two doubles on Tuesday night and another on Wednesday. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 7, South Bend 2
Box Score

Cory Lewis was great again in his second Kernels start. In this one, he gave up one run on two hits. He walked two and struck out nine batters. Over his two Kernels starters, he is 2-0 with a 0.90 ERA. In 10 innings, he’s given up one run on five hits. He has 17 strikeouts and just three walks. 

Alejandro Hidalgo gave up one hit over a scoreless innings. John Stankiewicz gave up one hit over two scoreless innings. Miguel Rodriguez was charged with an unearned run on one hit in the ninth inning. 

Fellow 2022 draft pick Andrew Cossetti was behind the plate again for the Lewis start. Not only did he catch another strong game, but he went 2-for-4 with his fourth double and second home runs since joining the Kernels. Emmanuel Rodriguez went 2-for-3 with a walk. Ben Ross had the big hit of the game. In the fifth inning, he drilled a three-run homer. He now has 10 homers on the season.  

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 9, Bradenton 18 
Box Score

Former Gophers pitcher J.P. Massey made the start for the Pirates Low-A affiliate on Wednesday afternoon. The 23-year-old was the Pirates’ seventh-round pick a year ago after four seasons with the Gophers. Coming into the game, he was 2-3 with a 2.84 ERA. In this one, he struggled with control. However, he worked five innings. He gave up four runs on four hits and four walks. He struck out five batters. He was certainly helped by some run support and is now 3-3 with an ERA at 3.28. 

This section was started with a paragraph on a prospect who isn’t in the Twins organization in large part because it was not a good game for Mussels pitchers. Miguelangel Boadas started and gave up six runs (4 earned) on five hits over three innings. He had four strikeouts and no walks. Front here, it didn’t get better. Gabriel Yanez gave up three runs on two hits and a walk in his inning. He had two strikeouts. Juan Mendez then went 1 1/3 innings. He gave up two runs on one hit and three walks. Johnathan Lavallee gave up four runs on four hits and three walks in 1 2/3 innings. 

I think it’s fair to assume that if a team needs to have two position players pitch, the game didn’t go too well. Mikey Perez came in and was charged with three runs on four walks. He didn’t record any outs. Yohander Martinez came on and allowed two of three inherited runners to score, but he issued only one walk and recorded two strikeouts. 

The Mussels offense did well in the game, but we’re still going to talk about a Pirates prospect who had a big game for Bradenton on Wednesday afternoon. Termarr Johnson was the fourth overall pick in the 2022 draft out of high school in Atlanta. To say he had a big, breakout game is probably a huge understatement. He went 4-for-4 with two walks, two doubles, and a long home run. Coming into the game, Johnson was hitting .230/394/.349 (.743). After this game, he was hitting .254 and his OPS jumped to .824. 

Alright, now to the Mighty Mussels’ offense. Jorel Ortega went 2-for-6 with his 20th double and sixth home run .He drove in four runs. Frank Nigro went 2-for-3 with two walks and a double. Danny De Andrade went 1-for-3. He was hit by a pitch twice, and drilled his fourth home run of the season. The Mussels had 10 walks to go with nine hits in the game. Outfielders Alec Sayre and Luis Baez each walked twice, as did infielders-turned-pitchers Mikey Perez and Yohander Martinez.  

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Aaron Rozek (Wichita) - 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, 83 pitches, 52 strikes.
Hitter of the Day – Chris Williams (St. Paul) - 2-for-3, 2 BB, 2 HR(12), 3 R, 4 RBI

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on the new Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Wednesday.

#1 - Brooks Lee (Wichita) - 2-for-5, 2-2B(21), R, 2 RBI, K
#2 - Royce Lewis (Minnesota) - 0-for-2, K
#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-3, BB, R, RBI.  
#4 - Edouard Julien (Minnesota) - 1-for-3, BB, R, K
#9 - Matt Wallner (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, BB, K, 2-R
#11 - Austin Martin (Rehab Ft. Myers) - hasn’t played since last Thursday.
#13 - Noah Miller (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, K
#19 - Yunior Severino (Wichita) - 1-for-4, BB.

THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE AND PITCHING PROBABLES
St. Paul @ Louisville (5:35 PM CST) - RHP Cody Laweryson (2-1, 4.45 ERA)
Wichita @ Midland (7:00 PM CST) - RHP Pierson Ohl (0-1, 10.38 ERA) 
South Bend @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CST) - LHP Christian MacLeod (1-0, 4.50 ERA)
Fort Myers @ Bradenton (5:30 PM CST) - TBD
FCL Braves @ FCL Twins (11:00AM CST) - TBD
DSL Phillies Red @ DSL Twins (10:00AM CST) - TBD

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

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[Mike Sixel]

Would love an update on Martin.... There are some guys really playing well right now. 

[Tiantwindup]

De Andrade has his batting average up to .259 and just turned 19 in April. Gotta believe he will be moving up the prospect list in the next update. 

[2wins87]

6 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Would love an update on Martin.... There are some guys really playing well right now. 

I would too.

I've tried searching for any news to figure out why his rehab assignment was shut down last week but haven't found anything.

Doesn't help that his name is so similar to Aston Martin.

[RJA]

Thanks for the summary, Seth. Thus far this summer it seems some top prospects are struggling while some new/less heralded players are doing very well. Who among the position players and pitchers have the most helium and might climb in the next prospect rankings?  

[Doctor Gast]

Happy about Cossetti's progress. Also interested in Martin's progress & how soon is Richardo Olivar ready to return to action. 

[tony&rodney]

Emmanuel Rodriguez finally has the average over .200. He has cut the strike outs down a little bit but he has a long way to go and much work to accomplish with the bat.

[Dman]

Man the Saints are a lot of fun to watch.  Always seems to be a lot offensive action. If the pitching was a bit better that team would be a juggernaut.  Williams has his confidence back and seems to think he can put everything over the fence right now.  He isn't just taking wild swings either as he walked after starting 1-2 in the count so he has patience and a good eye at the plate.  I know he will have to show this batting mastery for a longer amount of time and just 1st baseman types are not easily added to the 40 man but he is looking good right now with the best OPS on the team that don't have small sample sizes.

Really nice job by Rozek for the Surge.  I tend to underestimate him but he generally keeps the score close and pitches well. I still see him as a pen arm but he keeps doing well as a starter.  Was great to see Lee with a couple of nice hits.  His over all number look really strong with a good walk rate excellent K rate in the teens and BABIP is a normalized. 320 but the slugging is going to have to be better to get from good to great.  He still looks rock solid but needs a bit more time to tap into more power.

Lewis was outstanding again.  It feels like he could pitch at AA easy right now. If he keeps this up maybe he gets promoted to AA in mid July.  Would be nice to have another diamond in the rough find.

Cossetti's bat is finally starting to pick up at High A.  Hopeing he gets back to his .900 OPS ways and finds his way to AA later in the year. He looks like he might be a find as well.

Fun night on the farm with 3 solid wins.  Hoping they keep it going.

[FlyingFinn]

38 minutes ago, Dman said:

Really nice job by Rozek for the Surge.  I tend to underestimate him but he generally keeps the score close and pitches well.

Half the time. He is terribly inconsistent. One game is great and the next terrible and it keeps going like that, which is why his ERA is high.

[Dman]

12 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

Half the time. He is terribly inconsistent. One game is great and the next terrible and it keeps going like that, which is why his ERA is high.

Agreed that he can give up a big inning.  Not sure what happens he can be pitching so well and then one bad inning he can't get out of.

[Steve Lein]

2 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

Happy about Cossetti's progress. Also interested in Martin's progress & how soon is Richardo Olivar ready to return to action. 

Olivar was activated and in the lineup on Tuesday. 1-for-3 with a pair of walks and RBI.

[roger]

I believe the Twins have only two catchers on the 40-man right now.  They have dodged the bullet with neither of their two guys getting injured.  Expect Wolters will be added and called up should someone get hurt.  But longer term, is either Williams or Camargo good enough to be that third man, say next year?  I took note that you referred to Williams as a first baseman.  Is that because he was playing first yesterday?  Or do you not view him as an option behind the plate?

Have been noticing that Brooks Lee has been hitting a lot of doubles.  Isn't setting the world on fire with his average, but considering he was finishing his college career a year ago a mid-.260's average at AA may be good.  Also elated that ERod has been hitting very, very well the last month or so.

[jmlease1]

Cossetti is an interesting prospect. He's unlikely to make any national lists (too old, no pedigree, etc) but catchers sometimes develop later and if he can keep hitting as he advances through the minors and stick at catcher as a good receiver back there he could get very interesting. Took Mitch Garver a while to make it to the majors, but that worked out pretty well for the Twins.

Soularie is having a decent season at AA as well. I think if he's going to K this much that he's going to need to show most consistent pop in his bat, but it'll be fun to see where he finishes the year. He struggled at the plate last season, so it's nice to see him doing better even after moving up a level again.

I would like Brooks Lee to keep pushing the average up, but it's good to see him knocking doubles out there. I'll be interested to see how his splits wind up by the end of the season; so far he's been significantly better hitting from the left side; if he can tick up the OBP and SLG a bit from the right I'll be feeling more confident about his ability to be weapon from both sides of the plate in the future.

[Monkeypaws]

Cory Lewis is putting up some eye-popping numbers in first year as a pro: 72 Ks in 49 IP, opponents hitting just .174 against him.

[Seth Stohs]

10 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Would love an update on Martin.... There are some guys really playing well right now. 

Still evaluating how quickly he can start playing again before determining if they will reset his 20-day clock. It probably doesn't matter since he's not rehabbing to get to the Twins but instead, in time, to St. Paul... 

Injury was from a collision with the shortstop on a catch, so its not related to the elbow concerns... which are still a concern, of course. 

[Seth Stohs]

5 hours ago, Tiantwindup said:

De Andrade has his batting average up to .259 and just turned 19 in April. Gotta believe he will be moving up the prospect list in the next update. 

He should. 

[2wins87]

46 minutes ago, roger said:

I believe the Twins have only two catchers on the 40-man right now.  They have dodged the bullet with neither of their two guys getting injured.  Expect Wolters will be added and called up should someone get hurt.  But longer term, is either Williams or Camargo good enough to be that third man, say next year?  I took note that you referred to Williams as a first baseman.  Is that because he was playing first yesterday?  Or do you not view him as an option behind the plate?

I have no inside knowledge but honestly I think Camargo, not Wolters, would be the emergency add and call-up right now.

Camargo has a good arm and has always been good at controlling the run game.  I think he is fairly solid at other defensive aspects behind the plate.  Maybe there would be questions about how well he can call a game and handle the pitching staff.  I don't know that he has an issues with that, but it is the one area where Wolter's veteran-ness would give him an edge.

At the plate, Camargo's slash line is never going to be particularly pretty, since swing and miss is just a part of his game.  He's improved at being a little less aggressive this year so that is good.  But when he makes contact, his exit velos are impressive, very much on par with Wallner's, and the two of them are at least a head above every other hitter on the Saints in that area.

I kind of think his ceiling is as a 3rd catcher because he's going to strike out a ton.  But he will also crush some pitches here and there, and if they needed him I think he could do that in the majors right now.

For Williams, I think it's pretty clear from his playing time that the Twins don't really think of him as a catcher anymore.  He's only caught 16 innings this year.

[FlyingFinn]

58 minutes ago, roger said:

Expect Wolters will be added and called up should someone get hurt.  But longer term, is either Williams or Camargo good enough to be that third man, say next year?

Agreed on Wolters. Camargo as a catcher, yes. Williams as a catcher, no. That is a big problem for him to get called up which is the same problem Isola has. If either was a good catcher, they would be on track for MLB.

[FlyingFinn]

1 minute ago, 2wins87 said:

I have no inside knowledge but honestly I think Camargo, not Wolters, would be the emergency add and call-up right now.

I disagree because Wolters will simply be DFA'd when our catchers are healthy and probably get to go back to St. Paul. Camargo is playing well enough that the Twins may not want to DFA him as someone else may claim him. This is all about the 40 man roster. Camargo is better but is actually too good and young IMO. The odd reality of the roster games all teams have to play.

[Seth Stohs]

3 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

Happy about Cossetti's progress. Also interested in Martin's progress & how soon is Richardo Olivar ready to return to action. 

Olivar was back in the Mussels lineup last night. 

[Seth Stohs]

11 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

I disagree because Wolters will simply be DFA'd when our catchers are healthy and probably get to go back to St. Paul. Camargo is playing well enough that the Twins may not want to DFA him as someone else may claim him. This is all about the 40 man roster. Camargo is better but is actually too good and young IMO. The odd reality of the roster games all teams have to play.

Tony Wolters isn't on the 40-man roster either. 

[2wins87]

7 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

I disagree because Wolters will simply be DFA'd when our catchers are healthy and probably get to go back to St. Paul. Camargo is playing well enough that the Twins may not want to DFA him as someone else may claim him. This is all about the 40 man roster. Camargo is better but is actually too good and young IMO. The odd reality of the roster games all teams have to play.

I suppose the 40-man could be a concern.  Probably depends on the nature of the injury and expected timeline.

I think Alcala could probably be put on the 60 day IL at any point too, since his stress fracture sounds like a very tricky injury and he's already at the point where he'd get to 60 days in a full length rehab stint, which seems likely given his ineffectiveness early this year.

[FlyingFinn]

28 minutes ago, Seth Stohs said:

Tony Wolters isn't on the 40-man roster either. 

They would find a spot for him and DFA him when the regular catchers are healthy and a spot is needed on the 40 man. They did that with Godoy and other veteran catchers last year.

[nicksaviking]

It sure would be great if Jeffers and Camargo marginalized Christian Vazquez the way Garver and Jeffers did to Jason Castro. I'd prefer not to carry Vazquez and his contract for two more years.

[Blyleven2011]

4 hours ago, Dman said:

Man the Saints are a lot of fun to watch.  Always seems to be a lot offensive action. If the pitching was a bit better that team would be a juggernaut.  Williams has his confidence back and seems to think he can put everything over the fence right now.  He isn't just taking wild swings either as he walked after starting 1-2 in the count so he has patience and a good eye at the plate.  I know he will have to show this batting mastery for a longer amount of time and just 1st baseman types are not easily added to the 40 man but he is looking good right now with the best OPS on the team that don't have small sample sizes.

Really nice job by Rozek for the Surge.  I tend to underestimate him but he generally keeps the score close and pitches well. I still see him as a pen arm but he keeps doing well as a starter.  Was great to see Lee with a couple of nice hits.  His over all number look really strong with a good walk rate excellent K rate in the teens and BABIP is a normalized. 320 but the slugging is going to have to be better to get from good to great.  He still looks rock solid but needs a bit more time to tap into more power.

Lewis was outstanding again.  It feels like he could pitch at AA easy right now. If he keeps this up maybe he gets promoted to AA in mid July.  Would be nice to have another diamond in the rough find.

Cossetti's bat is finally starting to pick up at High A.  Hopeing he gets back to his .900 OPS ways and finds his way to AA later in the year. He looks like he might be a find as well.

Fun night on the farm with 3 solid wins.  Hoping they keep it going.

Oakland would take Williams in a heartbeat   , he's there kind of player ,,,

Twins would only have a dh spot for him  unless of course there are injuries  ...

Williams was drafted tge same year as jeffers  I believe  ...

[Steve Lein]

3 hours ago, roger said:

I believe the Twins have only two catchers on the 40-man right now.  They have dodged the bullet with neither of their two guys getting injured.  Expect Wolters will be added and called up should someone get hurt.  But longer term, is either Williams or Camargo good enough to be that third man, say next year?  I took note that you referred to Williams as a first baseman.  Is that because he was playing first yesterday?  Or do you not view him as an option behind the plate?

Have been noticing that Brooks Lee has been hitting a lot of doubles.  Isn't setting the world on fire with his average, but considering he was finishing his college career a year ago a mid-.260's average at AA may be good.  Also elated that ERod has been hitting very, very well the last month or so.

Camargo is definitely more catcher than Williams. Good arm. Williams isn't really a catcher anymore, maybe could be an emergency option.

Brooks Lee leads the Texas League in doubles with 21 (next is 17), and is tied for third in all of the minors. Some of those will start turning into homers as he ages, but I expect a lot more Mauer than Morneau in that sense for his career.

[chpettit19]

3 hours ago, FlyingFinn said:

I disagree because Wolters will simply be DFA'd when our catchers are healthy and probably get to go back to St. Paul. Camargo is playing well enough that the Twins may not want to DFA him as someone else may claim him. This is all about the 40 man roster. Camargo is better but is actually too good and young IMO. The odd reality of the roster games all teams have to play.

I think there's way too many variables to make a solid prediction 1 way or the other. Did 1 of the catchers get hurt for the year? He'd go on the 60-day, and they'd probably select Camargo if they feel he's the better player since that 40-man spot will be used all season. Once they get to the offseason they have plenty of guys coming off the 40-man, and Camargo needs to be protected anyways. If they aren't worried about protecting him I don't think DFAing him would be that big of a concern of theirs anyways.

Even if it's just a 10-day stint they can 60-day Alcala, and use Camargo depending on what they feel about the rest of the roster, and who'd they'd be willing to DFA when. Pagan, Garlick, and Kepler are easy DFA candidates (well to everyone outside of 1 Twins Way at least...). I don't think the 40-man concerns are all that great. Plenty of ways to get Camargo on it depending on the overall situation.

[jorgenswest]

If there is a need at catcher the Twins should call up Wolters because he is more ready to help the team win with both the bat and the glove. The Twins are fortunate to have the veteran off the 40 and in AAA as the third catcher.