Twins Minor League Report (6/20): Kernels Pop and Wichita Surges

[Steve Lein]

A power hitting prospect in Triple-A continued his home run binge while the lineups of Cedar Rapids and Wichita both led their teams to huge wins. An early-season standout pitcher also continued to dominate opposing hitters with his unusual repertoire.

Image courtesy of Ethan Chapman (photo of Cory Lewis)

 

TRANSACTIONS

• RHP Oliver Ortega had his contract selected by the Minnesota Twins, and pitched against the Red Sox. In a corresponding move, Louie Varland was optioned to St. Paul.
• The Twins signed veteran catcher Mark Kolozsvary to a minor-league deal and assigned him to the Saints. He takes the roster spot of catcher Tony Wolters, who was placed on the injured list with a right MCL sprain.
• SS Alex De Goti was also activated from the Development List.
• The Minnesota Twins released Wind Surge RHP Osiris German to make room for RHP Owen Griffith, who was promoted from the Cedar Rapids Kernels after completing his rehab stint.
• The Surge also transferred outfielder Armani Smith to the Development List, and received infielder Ernie Yake from the Kernels.
• In the Midwest League, the Kernels transferred first baseman Keoni Cavaco to the Development List, and received second baseman Jorel Ortega from Fort Myers.
• At the Spring Training complex and Hammond Stadium, the Mighty Mussels added OF Andres Centeno and placed RHP Juan Mendez on the injured list with a right forearm strain. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 6, Toledo 2
Box Score
Another Tuesday, and another home run for Chris Williams. His 14th of the season came in his first at-bat as the reigning International League Player of the Week in the second inning. Jair Camargo followed with a solo shot of his own for back-to-back bombs that made it 2-0 Saints early.

Simeon Woods Richardson was on the bump for St. Paul looking to course-correct his season. He pitched into the fifth inning but ran up his pitch count so he was only able to complete 4 2/3 innings. It was much better than his last time out (6 ER in 3 1/3), however, as he allowed just one earned run on three hits and a pair of walks, while picking up four strikeouts. 

Josh Winder came out of the bullpen to relieve him, and besides giving up a solo home run, kept the Saints out front. He gave up two hits, one walk, and struck out four in his two innings.

St. Paul’s wrecking crew added a pair of runs in the fourth inning to extend their lead to 4-1 when Winder took the mound. Anthony Prato had an RBI single and a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt allowed Camargo to scamper home.

Left-hander Kody Funderburk got a strikeout for the final out of the seventh inning, but he did not come out for the eighth after allowing a hit and a walk. Patrick Murphy closed out the final two innings for the save, allowing two hits, striking out four, and consistently hitting 98 MPH with his fastball.

Jose Miranda tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the top of the ninth with a two-run single, and finished the game 2-for-5. 

Andrew Stevenson (2-for-5, R, 2B, K), Miranda, and Williams (2-for-3, 2 R, HR, RBI, BB) had multiple hits. Camargo and Williams each scored two runs. Matt Wallner and Trevor Larnach were each 0-for-4 with a walk.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Arkansas 4, Wichita 12
Box Score
The Wind Surge took an early lead with a big inning, and piled on another one late to blow out the Travelers at Riverfront Stadium.

A bases-clearing double from Alerick Soularie and two-run sac fly from Brooks Lee in the second gave Wichita an early 5-0 lead. If you had to read that sentence again, I don’t blame you. Because yes, Lee drove in two with his flyout as DaShawn Keirsey Jr. made the savvy and speedy play to score from second.

Soularie and Aaron Sabato added solo home runs in the fourth and fifth innings respectively, with Sabato’s blast extending his on-base streak to 15 games.

Wichita starter Aaron Rozek pitched into the fifth inning, but wasn’t able to complete it as a solo home run, double, single, and sac fly put an end to his outing. In all he was charged with two runs on three hits and a walk in 4 2/3 innings, striking out six.

Relievers Alex Phillips (1 1/3 IP, H, ER, 2 BB) and Taylor Floyd (1 2/3 IP, 3 H, ER, BB, K) pitched the next three innings, giving way to Regi Grace with two outs in the eighth. Grace closed it out, allowing one hit, one walk, a hit-batter, and striking out two. 

The lineup poured it on again in the seventh thanks to a two-run double off the bat of Jake Rucker that was followed by a Keirsey Jr. three-run home run, his ninth of the season, later in the inning to make it the final of 12-4.

Pat Winkel (2-for-5, 2B, K), Rucker (2-for-3, R, 2B, 2 RBI, BB, K), Yoyner Fajardo (2-for-4, R, 2 K), and Soularie (2-for-3, 3 R, 2B, HR, 4 RBI, BB) all had multiple hits. In addition to the home run, Sabato drew three walks and scored three runs. In the 15 games of his on-base streak, Sabato has drawn 18 total walks (.454 OBP) along with 13 runs scored, seven doubles, and two home runs.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Beloit 3, Cedar Rapids 11
Box Score
“Pitcher who also throws a knuckleball”-Cory Lewis took to the hill for the Kernels, and continued to shove, holding the former Minnesota Twins affiliate to just one unearned run on three hits and a walk in his five innings. He struck out three, picked up his third win, and lowered his ERA to 0.60 in three High-A starts.

While the final score ended up being a blowout, when Lewis exited it was just 3-1 Cedar Rapids. The lineup scored those runs on a two-run double from Kala’i Rosario in the third, and an RBI groundout from Jose Salas in the fourth.

Matthew Swain was the first reliever summoned for the sixth inning, and the Snappers got him for one earned run on a pair of hits in his lone inning. He struck out one. Alejandro Hidalgo came on for the seventh and went the next 2 1/3 innings, allowing just one run of his own despite five walks. He also gave up one hit and struck out three. Niklas Rimmel got the final two outs and allowed one hit.

The Kernels blew this one open in the bottom of the seventh, batting around and plating six runs. The big hits were a two-run double from Ben Ross, and consecutive RBI doubles from Noah Miller and Salas. In the eighth, Emmanuel Rodriguez added on two more with his eighth home run of the season.

Leading the way with multiple hits in the game were Tanner Schobel (2-for-3, 3 R, 3B, 2 BB, SB), Rodriguez (2-for-4, 3 R, HR, 2 RBI, BB, K), and Miller (2-for-4, R, 2B, RBI). Making his High-A debut, Jorel Ortega was 1-for-4 with a run scored.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 6, Tampa 8
Box Score
Toeing the rubber for the Mighty Mussels was Miguelangel Boadas, and he was solid for the first four innings. In the fifth, he ran into some trouble after an error and was lifted with just one out. In all, he finished 4 1/3 innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits and two walks, while striking out two. 

Fort Myers got on the scoreboard first in the second inning, when Mikey Perez hit his third home run of the season, a solo shot to left field. Rubel Cespedes made it 2-0 Mighty Mussels in the third with an RBI double.

Zach Veen came on in relief of Boadas in the fifth, and got the next four outs. He was charged with one earned run on two hits and two walks in his 1 1/3 innings. He struck out one.

In the top of the sixth Fort Myers took a 4-2 lead thanks to a two-run single from Kyle Schmidt, but then the bullpen continued to have some trouble.

Johnathan Lavallee got the final out of the sixth, but the Tarpons jumped on him in the seventh. Before it was over they had taken a 6-4 lead, with Lavallee getting hit with the blown save and three earned runs allowed on four hits and two walks, striking out one.

The Mighty Mussels offense again battled back, tying it at six in the eighth thanks to another two-run single from Schmidt, but the Tarpons were determined to get off their hook.

Wilker Reyes delivered a one-two-three eighth inning and got two quick outs in the ninth, but a walk led to a two-run homer to walk it off in Tampa.

Schmidt (3-for-4, 4 RBI, K, SB), Cespedes (2-for-5, R, 2 2B, RBI), and Perez (2-for-4, 2 R, HR, RBI, K) collected multiple hits in the loss.

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
FCL Orioles 1, FCL Twins 6
Box Score
The Twins scored one run in each of the first four innings, and the pitching staff held the Orioles in check for the entire game to pick up the win.

Cesar Lares started on the mound and completed the first three innings. He allowed just one hit and struck out five. Ricardo Velez was credited with the win after a scoreless fourth inning, where he struck out two. Juan Mercedes (2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 5 K), Carlos Gutierrez (IP, 2 H, BB, K), and Jacob Wosinski (2 IP, H, 2 BB, K) finished out the dominating pitching performance, as the staff struck out 14 Orioles in total.

The Twins drew eight walks as a team, but had some trouble bringing the runners in as they had just one extra base hit, a double from Frank Nigro, and were 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position. Isaac Pena was 1-for-4 with a run scored, RBI, walk, and stole two bases out of the leadoff spot. Harold Grant and Anderson Nova collected the teams other two RBI’s.

DOMINICAN DAILY
DSL Phillies Red 7, DSL Twins 2
Box Score
The Phillies Red squad utilized a four-run third inning, to put the Twins away early.

Right-hander Adrian Bohorquez made the start for the Twins and was on the receiving end of that scoring. In his 2 1/3 innings pitched, he was charged with five earned runs on four hits and four walks. He also struck out four.

The bullpen trio of Leonardo Lugo (3 2/3 IP, 3 H, ER, BB, 4 K), Jeicol Surumuy (2 IP, H, R, 3 K), and Jose Betancourt (IP, 2 BB) finished out the game for the home team.

As an offense, the Twins managed just three singles in the loss but did collect seven walks. Jayson Bass was 1-for-3 with an RBI, walk, and his fourth stolen base. Ewing Matos was 1-for-4 with a run scored. Ariel Castro (0-for-2, R, 2 BB) and Dameury Pena (0-for-2, 2 BB) each drew a pair of walks from the top two spots in the lineup. 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day - Cory Lewis, Cedar Rapids Kernels (W, 5 IP, 3 H, R, BB, 3 K)
Hitter of the Day - Alerick Soularie, Wichita Wind Surge (2-for-3, BB, 2B, HR, 3 R, 4 RBI)

PROSPECT SUMMARY
#1 - Brooks Lee (Wichita) - 0-for-4, SF, 2 RBI
#2 - Royce Lewis (Minnesota) - 3-for-4, R, HR, RBI
#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-4, 3 R, HR, 2 RBI, BB, K
#4 - Edouard Julien (Minnesota) - 1-for-5, R, K
#9 - Matt Wallner (St. Paul) - 0-for-4, BB, K
#12 - Jose Salas (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, 2 RBI, K
#13 - Noah Miller (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-4, R, 2B, RBI
#15 - Brent Headrick (Minnesota) - 1 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, BB
#18 - Jose Rodriguez (FCL) - 0-for-5, R, 2 K
#19 - Yunior Severino (Wichita) - 1-for-5, 2 K

WEDNESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Louisville (11:05 AM CDT) - RHP Randy Dobnak (3-3, 5.51 ERA)
Wichita @ Midland (7:05 PM CDT) - RHP Pierson Ohl (0-1, 7.59 ERA)
Beloit @ Cedar Rapids (12:05 PM CDT) - LHP Christian MacLeod (1-0, 3.86 ERA)
Fort Myers @ Tampa (5:30 PM CDT) - RHP Andrew Morris (1-1, 4.15 ERA)

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

 

 

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[jkcarew]

DaShawn Keirsey is making himself a viable candidate for getting on someone’s 40-man roster at some point in 2024.

Aaron Sabato’s minor league career OBP sitting at 359.

Just say’in…he’s suddenly not seeming like the total disaster a lot of us had already labeled him.

[FlyingFinn]

Lewis continues to dominate, up one level. And Rosario seems to always have the early, key RBI's. He's not doing his damage in garbage time. Both very impressive this year.

Time to make room for Kiersey in St. Paul (and for Rosario to move up). Get rid of Kepler, call up Wallner or Larnach and give Kiersey their spot with the Saints.

Ortega gets the call to Cedar Rapids as everyone was predicting.

[weitz41]

Man, a lot of good things happening in the minors. Lewis, Williams, E Rod had a good night, Miranda is back to form. Keirsey is pushing his way up to AAA. Helps even out the ugly Twins game when so many things are going well on the farm.

[nclahammer]

I always love seeing things I've never seen before in 50+ years of watching baseball.  TWO runs scoring on a sac fly?  It was fun to watch the replay (several times), boy that DaShawn Keirsay Jr. can fly!  I'll be down to CR this weekend for three games, hopefully Lewis will pitch again on Sunday?

[Doctor Wu]

52 minutes ago, nclahammer said:

I always love seeing things I've never seen before in 50+ years of watching baseball.  TWO runs scoring on a sac fly?  It was fun to watch the replay (several times), boy that DaShawn Keirsay Jr. can fly!  I'll be down to CR this weekend for three games, hopefully Lewis will pitch again on Sunday?

I also loved that video of the 2 runners scoring on the sac fly. Man, you said it: Keirsey can fly! 

[Doctor Wu]

Good to see the minor league teams winning some games. Also a somewhat encouraging performance by Woods-Richardson. I really hope he gets back on track and can go deeper in games. 

[Trov]

Is Sabato just on a SSS hot streak, or has he figured something out?  I know he has fallen off all prospect lists, but over last 11 games he is on a very hot streak.  He has not played much this year, only 21 games, and only 6 before June.  However, since June 6th, he has a .500 OBP, walking more than striking out, only 2 HR, but 7 doubles in 54 plate appearances, but only 38 at bats due to all the walks. 

I hope it is something just started clicking for him and he can be something down the road, but need to see this carry for longer than a couple of weeks.  To me the more walks than K's is the important part though.  If you include all of June he still has more walks than K's. His slugging on the year is not what you want from him, but clearly he was injured and maybe will start showing some growth. 

[Trov]

Happy to see E-Rod starting to heat up too.  I was not too worried about him, being he was coming off knee injury then had core issue early on.  He seems to be heading back in the right direction as well.  I would not ask if he was SSS heating up because he has shown the ability in the past. 

[roger]

Thanks for a great read, Steve.

With Wolters out for awhile, increases the likelihood that Camargo or Williams would get the call should/when either of the Twins catchers go on the IL.  Do you agree?  Or would they more likely go out to the garbage bin and find someone to sign or trade for?

After another good game from Sabato, his batting average is where it would fit right in with the Twins.  Great seeing Reggie Grace continue putting up zeros on the scoreboard.  Can he, could he, might he be a key part of the pen starting next year?

Also great seeing ERod hitting like we all hoped.  Still has time to end the season with great numbers and a move up to AA.  Expect Rosario should/will get the first callup, however.  Lewis sure has gotten my attention.  Hopefully, the Twins Braintrust won't include him when they trade for someone next month.

Also thanks for including that video.  Truly amazing!

 

[2wins87]

9 hours ago, jkcarew said:

Aaron Sabato’s minor league career OBP sitting at 359.

Just say’in…he’s suddenly not seeming like the total disaster a lot of us had already labeled him.

A couple of incredibly slow starts have sort of disguised the fact that his overall his minor league numbers actually aren't that bad.  He's got somewhere around a 120 wRC+ for his minor league career.

Not what you want from a 1B/DH but probably better than most of us would think.

The interesting thing is, if you just compared BB%, K%, and ISO to someone like Wallner, you would probably come away thinking Sabato has been just as good if not better.  It's weird because these are generally pretty meaningful peripherals. 

Sabato's BABIP has just been consistently so much lower.  I can't diagnose exactly why but I think after this much time it's fair to say Sabato has had meaningful quality of contact issues.  It's not that he's been a more extreme flyball guy either, he just seems to have a pretty low line drive rate.  That would explain the results, but I don't know the reason behind the low line drive rates.  Could certainly be a swing thing.

As we've seen with Kepler, (and with Miranda this year, who had seemed to figure it out for a couple years), poor contact quality is not exactly an easy issue to fix.  It hasn't been as simple as him just being a total bust, but at this point it still doesn't look like he could sustain even his modest success in the majors.  Not that there isn't still some potential there, just hasn't really shown the adjustment yet.

[Steve Lein]

8 hours ago, jkcarew said:

DaShawn Keirsey is making himself a viable candidate for getting on someone’s 40-man roster at some point in 2024.

Aaron Sabato’s minor league career OBP sitting at 359.

Just say’in…he’s suddenly not seeming like the total disaster a lot of us had already labeled him.

Keirsey has a good case to be in triple-A...If every outfielder there also wasn't having a pretty good season.

And Sabato has been really good, minus the home runs, since coming off the IL. Nice to see for sure.

[Steve Lein]

40 minutes ago, roger said:

Thanks for a great read, Steve.

With Wolters out for awhile, increases the likelihood that Camargo or Williams would get the call should/when either of the Twins catchers go on the IL.  Do you agree?  Or would they more likely go out to the garbage bin and find someone to sign or trade for?

After another good game from Sabato, his batting average is where it would fit right in with the Twins.  Great seeing Reggie Grace continue putting up zeros on the scoreboard.  Can he, could he, might he be a key part of the pen starting next year?

Also great seeing ERod hitting like we all hoped.  Still has time to end the season with great numbers and a move up to AA.  Expect Rosario should/will get the first callup, however.  Lewis sure has gotten my attention.  Hopefully, the Twins Braintrust won't include him when they trade for someone next month.

Also thanks for including that video.  Truly amazing!

If the Twins need a catcher with Wolters out, I'm sure it would be Jair Camargo coming up, but you never know. Camargo has had tremendous exit velocities this year (on par with Wallner), but strikeouts an issue (he'll fit right in!).

I like the look of Grace a lot in the bullpen this year, but he will need to continue improving his command. His walk rate has spiked significantly in double-A so far, but nobody is hitting him to make those walks hurt. 

[Blyleven2011]

1 hour ago, roger said:

Thanks for a great read, Steve.

With Wolters out for awhile, increases the likelihood that Camargo or Williams would get the call should/when either of the Twins catchers go on the IL.  Do you agree?  Or would they more likely go out to the garbage bin and find someone to sign or trade for?

After another good game from Sabato, his batting average is where it would fit right in with the Twins.  Great seeing Reggie Grace continue putting up zeros on the scoreboard.  Can he, could he, might he be a key part of the pen starting next year?

Also great seeing ERod hitting like we all hoped.  Still has time to end the season with great numbers and a move up to AA.  Expect Rosario should/will get the first callup, however.  Lewis sure has gotten my attention.  Hopefully, the Twins Braintrust won't include him when they trade for someone next month.

Also thanks for including that video.  Truly amazing!

 

Roger  , twins signed veteran Mark kolozsvary to take the place of an injured Wolters ...

I don't know anything about him  but will Google  him later ...

[Dman]

5 hours ago, FlyingFinn said:

Lewis continues to dominate, up one level. And Rosario seems to always have the early, key RBI's. He's not doing his damage in garbage time. Both very impressive this year.

Time to make room for Kiersey in St. Paul (and for Rosario to move up). Get rid of Kepler, call up Wallner or Larnach and give Kiersey their spot with the Saints.

Ortega gets the call to Cedar Rapids as everyone was predicting.

I agree that Kiersey needs to move up to AAA to see if he can handle the pitching there but Stevenson is having an equally good year at center for St Paul.  The stats for Kiersey and Stevenson are almost identical and they are very similar players with Stevenson being slightly faster and Kiersey with slightly more power.  

There are just too many Outfielders at AAA right now so I think Kiersey gets left at AA this year.

I think they can find room for Rosario to move up to AA but they might wait a bit to do that as well.  The Trade deadline is likely when more space will be made.

[FlyingFinn]

2 hours ago, roger said:

With Wolters out for awhile, increases the likelihood that Camargo or Williams would get the call should/when either of the Twins catchers go on the IL.  Do you agree?

Williams is nothing more than an emergency catcher (only caught 3 games all this year).

The Twins really don't want to carry 3 catchers on the 40 man roster long-term in 2023. That is why they keep signing vets to play in St. Paul and, as Blyleven said above, they signed another vet catcher as soon as Wolters got injured. I believe the Twins are liking Camargo more and more but he's actually playing too well (and is too young) to risk bringing him up short-term and then DFA'ing him. They want to put off this decision of adding him to the 40 man until this winter. My opinion is that they would bring up Kolavsvary if one of our catchers got hurt for a short period. If it was the rest of the year, then Camargo would be the choice.

[terrydactyls]

6 hours ago, Dman said:

There are just too many Outfielders at AAA right now so I think Kiersey gets left at AA this year.

And yet, Max Kepler is still playing in right field.