Twins Minor League Report (6/19): Complex Games and Some Week in Review

[Seth Stohs]

There was no minor league week in review article this week, so along with writing about the Twins' Florida Complex League and Dominican Summer League games find out which Twins minor leaguers played well last week. 

It was an interesting week in the Twins farm system. With the big-league team still in first place and struggling to find any consistency, there were several players who moved up and down this past week. Brent Headrick came back to the Twins and earned his first big-league Win. Jordan Balazovic pitched well in his MLB debut on Sunday. 

The Twins had two minor-leaguers earn Player of the Week honors from their leagues. Another affiliate clinched a playoff spot. 

And then the Twins FCL and DSL teams each had a game on Monday morning, so we'll update you on how they did. There was an 11-strikeout game (by a Twins minor league pitcher, not a Twins big-league hitter). 

Let's start today with a look at the current records of each of the six Twins affiliates.  

St. Paul Saints: 40-28 
Wichita Wind Surge: 27-35
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 37-26
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 32-31
FCL Twins: 5-5
DSL Twins: 3-8

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

TRANSACTIONS
Fort Myers played infielder Yohander Martinez on the 7-day IL with a thigh strain.
In addition, Mussels outfielder Alex Sayre was placed on the 7-day IL with a fractured right thumb.

SAINTS SENTINEL
No surprise here, but Saints first baseman Chris Williams was named the International League Hitter of the Week. 

Williams played in five of the six Saints games and went 7-for-19. He hit .368/.500/1.316 (1.816) with six home runs and 14 RBI. In addition, he was willing to take five walks.

On Tuesday, he hit three home runs in Louisville. In a morning game on Wednesday, he hit two more long balls. Then on Thursday, he had one more.

Overall this year, Williams is hitting .281/.386/.595 (.980) with seven doubles, 13 homers and 41 RBI in 44 games.  

The 26-year-old was the Twins eighth-round pick in 2018 out of Clemson. He has been a catcher at various times in his career. This year, he has played just three games behind the plate this year. 

Others in St. Paul who had solid weeks last week include: 

• Andrew Stevenson hit .400/.455/.800 (1.255) with a triple and two homers (plus three SBs)
• Anthony Prato played in five games and hit .391/.440/.652 (1.092) with three doubles and a homer. 
• Matt Wallner played in five games and hit .294/.480/.529 (1.009) with a double, a homer and six walks.
• In three games, Trevor Larnach hit .333/.357/.583 (.940) with a homer. 
• Randy Dobnak made a start and was charged with three unearned runs over 5 1/3 innings. He struck out seven batters. 
• Kody Funderburk struck out five batters over 3 1/3 scoreless, hitless, walkless innings. Should I mention that he did hit a batter?

WIND SURGE WISDOM
The Wind Surge had a player of the week as well. Lefty Aaron Rozek was named the Texas League Pitcher of the Week. The southpaw made one start in Midland and tossed six shutout innings. He gave up one hit, walked one, and he hit a batter. He struck out five batters. 

The 27-year-old from Burnsville and Minnesota State-Mankato has had an up and down season for the Wind Surge so far. He struggled early in the season, but then in May he was selected the Twins Daily Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Month. So overall, he is 1-3 with a 6.14 ERA over 10 starts and 44 innings. 

• Regi Grace’s season has continued to go well since his promotion to Wichita. He worked twice last week and worked 3 1/3 innings of scoreless ball. He gave up one hit, walked two and struck out three batters. He recorded the save in one of the games. 
• Hunter McMahon was back in 2022 form last week. In 3 2/3 innings, he gave up no runs, no hits, no walks, and he struck out four batters. 
• I tweeted it over the weekend, and a couple of times earlier this season, but DaShawn Keirsey might be the most underrated prospect in the organization. He played all six games last week. He went 10-for-24 and hit .417/.440/.833 (1.273) with two triples and two home runs. 
• Yunior Severino played in five games and hit .400/.478/.550 (1.028) with a double and a triple. 
• Aaron Sabato was a doubles machine last week. The burly first baseman played in five games and hit .316/.435/.632 (1.067) with six doubles and four walks. He had six hits during the week, and each was a double. 
• Seth Gray hit .333/.455/.611 (1.066) with two doubles, a homer, and four walks in five games. 
• Will Holland hit .308/.412/.538 (.950) with a homer. Brooks Lee hit .333 with four doubles. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
The Twins moved their Low-A affiliate to Cedar Rapids in 2012. In 2021, the Midwest League was bumped up to the High-A level. They have been managed by Jake Mauer, Tommy Watkins, and now Brian Dinkelman. The constant through all of those seasons has been providing the Kernels fans wins and playoff berths. This week, the Kernels clinched the first-half Western Division title which means they will continue their streak of making the playoffs every year since they’ve been a Twins affiliate. 

• Misael Urbina played in five games and hit .412/.474/.529 (1.003) with two doubles. 
• Andrew Cossetti hit .267/.294/.733 (1.027). He had four hits including a double and two home runs. 
• Kala’i Rosario went 4-for-15 (.267) in five games, but he walked seven times so his on-base percentage was .500. 
• Noah Cardenas hit .313 over four games. 
• It is fair to say that the Kernels got great starting pitching last week. So much so that Zebby Matthews was used in long relief as a bulk pitcher. He worked the final six innings of a game started by Marco Raya and gave up five hits and walked none while striking out four. 
• Jordan Carr earned a win in his start. The lefty worked five scoreless innings and gave up just one hit. He walked three and struck out three batters. 
• Kyle Jones tossed four scoreless innings in his start. He gave up just two hits and a walk with four strikeouts. 
• Cory Lewis gave up one run on two hits over five innings in his start last week. He had nine strikeouts. 
• Christian MacLeod struck out six batters over four innings of one-run ball. 
• Raya again went three innings in his start. He gave up one run on two hits and struck out six batters. 

MUSSEL MATTERS

• Jackson Hicks pitched twice and gave up a walk and hit a batter over three scoreless, hitless innings last week.

• Ben Ethridge gave up just one run on two hits and a walk over four innings. 
• It was a 2-4 week for the Mussels, so no surprise that the pitching struggled. Two position players got to work on the mound during the week.  
• Yohander Martinez returned from the IL and went 6-for-12 (.500) with a double and a homer in his three games played. Unfortunately, as you saw above in the transactions section, he is now on the IL. 
• Jorel Ortega continues to hit really well in Fort Myers. The Tennessee alum played in all six games. He went 10-for-29 and hit .345/.367/.690 (1.057) with four doubles and two home runs. 
• Maddux Houghton got a chance to play. In five games, he hit .353/.476/.412 (.888) with a double and four walks. 

COMPLEX THOUGHTS from FLORIDA
FCL Twins 0, FCL Orioles 1
Box Score
As you can see from the score, there was not much offense in this game for either team. Or, if you choose, we can credit the pitching of both squads. The difference in this game is that the Orioles had no errors while the Twins committed four. The O’s lone run came in the eighth inning, and it was unearned. 

So let’s start with the positive, the pitching. John Klein started and gave up just one hit over three scoreless innings. He walked one and struck out three batters. Owen Griffith continued his rehab assignment with two scoreless innings. He gave up three hits, but walked none. Jeferson Lopez worked the final three innings. The 18-year-old from Caracas gave up the unearned run on three hits. He had two strikeouts. 

The Twins batters managed just five hits in the game, and they walked four times. Omari Daniel went 1-for-2 with a walk and his first double. Bryan Acuna walked twice and stole his second base of the season. 

COMPLEX THOUGHTS from BOCA CHICA
DSL Twins 9, DSL Mariners 2
Box Score
The Twins Dominican Complex team scored five runs in the first inning and added more throughout the game to capture their third win of the season.

Dameury Pena and Jayson Bass pulled off a double steal and thanks to a throwing error, Pena scored the first run of the game. Then with two outs in the top of the first, Ricardo Pena singled in Bass for the second run. Yilber Herrera and Carlos Silva walked to load the bases. Then Javier Roman walked to score Ricardo Pena. At that point, there was a pitching change. Angel Trinidad hit an infield single to score Herrera. And finally, Silva scored on a wild pitch. That is an inning that happens fairly often in the DSL.

The Twins managed just five hits in the game, but they also added 11 walks and took advantage of wild pitches, a couple of errors, three hit batters, six stolen bases (in seven attempts) and more. 

Bass led the way with a single and two walks. Dameury Pena, Herrera and Silva each walked twice.  

Ledwin Taveras started and struck out five batters over the first three innings. He gave up two runs on four hits and didn’t issue a walk. Eduardo Soriano came on and worked the next five innings. The 20-year-old gave up just one hit, no walks, and he struck out 11 batters. He now has 19 strikeouts and just one walk in 11 innings this season. Jose Ojo, a 22-year-old just signed a year ago, worked a scoreless ninth and struck out two batters. 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Eduardo Soriano (DSL Twins) - 5 IP, 1H, 0 R, 0 BB, 11 K, 71 pitches, 52 strikes.
Hitter of the Day – Omari Daniel (FCL Twins) - 1-for-2, 2B(1), BB, CS 

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

#4 - Edouard Julien (Minnesota) - 0-for-4, 2 K, E(2)
#10 - Yasser Mercedes (FCL Twins) - 0-for-4, 2 K, E
#18 - Jose Rodriguez (FCL Twins) - 1-for-4

TUESDAY’S SCHEDULE AND PITCHING PROBABLES
St. Paul @ Toledo (6:05 PM CST) - RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (0-5, 8.08 ERA)
Arkansas @ Wichita (7:05 PM CST) - LHP Aaron Rozek (1-3, 6.14 ERA) 
Beloit @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CST) - RHP Cory Lewis (2-0, 0.90 ERA)
Fort Myers @ Tampa (5:30 PM CST) - RHP Miguelangel Boadas (0-2, 5.63 ERA)
FCL Orioles @ FCL Twins (11:00AM CST) - TBD
DSL Phillies Reds @ DSL Twins (10:00AM CST) - TBD

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

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[roger]

Thanks so much, Seth.  Love these weekly reports.

Are you serious, this kid struck out 11 batters in five innings?  With their bullpen problems, why hasn't he been called up to help the Twins?  [trust you know that is said with tongue in cheek]

The highlight of this report to me was the hitting of Sabato and Urbina.  Was this Sabato's best week as a professional?  And after a slower than slow start, exciting to see Urbina begin to whack the ball around a bit.  Also good seeing Cossetti hitting like we expect after a couple rough weeks following his move up to Hi-A.

[DJL44]

Looks like the Saints saw some really bad pitching last week.

[FlyingFinn]

19 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Looks like the Saints saw some really bad pitching last week.

Not really much different than the rest of the games for the Saints this month as they are averaging more than 7.5 runs/game.

[FlyingFinn]

Good to see some of our prospects who have had poor seasons have a great week. If those young guys at Cedar Rapids keep it up like this, that will be a dominant team........and they already won the first half of the league.

And Regi Grace is really having a dominant season in the bullpen at two levels this season. Maybe he moves another level and makes the Twins consider putting him on the 40 man roster this winter.

[FlyingFinn]

Jorel Ortega called up to Cedar Rapids as many predicted. Schobel not going up to Wichita, at least not yet. Cavaco, a complete bust, goes to the development list. Maybe Ortega plays 1B for awhile.