Twins Minor League Report (7/6): Another Big Game for Tanner Schobel

[Ted Schwerzler]

There weren't a lot of runs scored throughout the Twins organization on Thursday, but there were a couple of really nice wins. 

Image courtesy of Jean Pfiefer (aka, go4twinkies on Instagram)

TRANSACTIONS

• C Tony Wolters activated from IL for St. Paul
• RHP Austin Schulfer placed on Development List by St. Paul
• C Mark Kolozsvary placed on Development List by St. Paul
• OF Luis Baez was placed on Ft. Myers' 7-Day Injured List with a left hand fracture. 

SAINTS SENTINEL 
St. Paul 3, Iowa 5
Box Score
Kyle Garlick gave the Saints a 3-1 lead in the third inning when he hit a long, three-run homer, but that was it, and it wasn't enough to hold off the Cubs. 

Blayne Enlow started and gave up four runs on six hits and a walk over five innings. He struck out four. He was hurt by the long ball. Matt Mervis hit a solo homer in the first inning, and Nelson Velazquez his his 12th home run, a three-run shot that put the Cubs back on top for good. Josh Winder came on and gave up one run on four hits over 1 2/3 innings. He struck out three batters and, more important, walked none. Kody Funderburk got the final four outs, two on strikeouts. 

Andrew Stevenson led off the game with a single. Garlick's home run in the third inning was the team's second hit of the game. They then went hitless over the final six innings of the game. Two hits. However, they did take eight walks and hit by two pitches which presented them with some opportunities. Garlick went 1-for-2 with his ninth homer and two walks. Catcher Tony Wolters also had two walks in the game. 

The Iowa Cubs roster includes several of the Top 20 Cubs prospects at North Side Baseball: 
SP Jordan Wicks ranks as the Cubs #5 prospect. The team's first-round pick in 2021 from Kansas State made his second Triple-A start in this game. 
1B Matt Mervis ranks as the Cubs #6 prospect. The slugger made his MLB debut earlier this season and has been up and down a couple of times, as recently as three weeks ago. Not bad for a guy drafted in the 39th round out of high school, who went to Duke and did not get drafted in 2020. 

And, just for fun: 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 8, Tulsa 2
Box Score
Tied 2-2 through five innings, Wichita's offense surged with three runs in both the sixth and the seventh innings to take a commanding lead. 

The Wind Surge had just five hits in the game, but they showed patience and took 13(!) walks. Eight of the ninth batters in the lineup had at least one walk. 

A Patrick Winkel single drove in DaShawn Keirsey, Jr with the team's first run. Alerick Soularie hit a solo homer in the top of the fifth inning, his fifth homer of the year. 

Then came the sixth inning. The inning started with two walks. After a foul pop out, a third walk loaded the bases. After a pitching change, Soularie walked to put the team back on top 3-2. Will Holland followed with a single that scored Winkel and Seth Gray. 

In the seventh inning, Alex Isola led off with a solo homer, his 10th longball of the season. It was followed by a walk, a fielder's choice with an error, and another walk to load the bases. Winkel scored on a wild pitch, and Holland drove in another run with another single. 

Holland went 2-for-3 with a walk and three RBI to lead the way. Soularie walked twice to go with his home run. Isola and Winkel were each 1-for-3 with two walks, two runs scored and an RBI. Seth Gray reached three times with walks. 

Chad Donato was activated and tossed four shutout innings. He gave up two hits, walked none and struck out six batters. Jordan Brink came in and gave up two runs on three hits and a walk. He recorded just one out before being replaced by Hunter McMahon who stranded two runners. He went 2 2/3 perfect innings and struck out four of the eight batters he faced to earn the win. Denny Bentley then struck out three batters over the final two scoreless innings. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 9, Quad Cities 6
Box Score
This was quite the back and forth affair. Through three innings, the teams were tied at 1-1. Both teams had four-run fourth innings. Quad Cities went ahead 6-5 in the top of the sixth, but the bullpen shut them down over the final three innings. The Kernels took the lead with two runs in the sixth inning, and then had single runs in the seventh and eighth frames. 

Tanner Schobel was named the Midwest League's Player of the Month for June earlier in the day on Thursday. He responded by going 3-for-3 with two walks, and his 13th home run of the season was a two-run shot that gave the team their 7-6 season in the bottom of the sixth. 

(since the Kernels don't post game video on Twitter, let's just take a fun look back at his first home run at Virginia Tech which includes a great home run celebration. 

Noah Miller went 2-for-5 with his third triple. Misael Urbina went 2-for-4 and drove in two runs. He also stole his fifth base.  

Kyle Jones started for the Kernels. He gave up five runs on five hits over four innings. Two of the hits were home runs. He walked one and struck out four batters. Matthew Swain came in and gave up one run on two hits and a walk over two innings. He had two strikeouts. Niklas Rimmel walked one over two scoreless innings. A.J. Labas gave up a hit and two walks in the ninth inning, but he didn't give up a run and recorded his second save since joining the Kernels about a week ago. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 1, Jupiter 4
Box Score
The Mighty Mussels took the 1-0 lead in the second inning when Dylan Neuse singled in Rubel Cespedes. Unfortunately, that was the lone run for the team in the game and they dropped to .500 on the season for the first time in a long time, at 39-39. 

Jarret Whorff signed with the Twins in May out of the independent leagues and immediately assigned to the Mussels. He made his first start in this game and gave up one run on one hit over four innings. He walked four and struck out five batters. Fellow southpaw Zach Veen came in and gave up one run on one hit, a solo homer, over his two innings. He walked one and struck out two batters. Johnathan Lavallee gave up two runs on five hits over 1 1/3 innings. Develson Aria came in with the bases loaded in the eighth inning and got the final two outs, one via the strikeout. 

The Mussels had plenty of baserunners. They had seven hits and eight walks. Unfortunately, the team went 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position and left 13 runners on base. Cespedes led the way. He went 2-for-3 with two walks. Neuse had an RBI single and two walks. 

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
FCL Twins 7, FCL Orioles 3
Box Score
Matt Gabbert was on the mound for the Twins and he worked four innings while allowing three runs on five hits. Gabbert did give up five hits and three walks with four strikeouts.

Down two after the top half, the Twins answered with a run in the bottom half. Byron Chourio doubled to score Isaac Peña and make it a 2-1 game.

After giving up another run to the Orioles, Omari Daniel singled in Giovanny Rivero before Chourio drove Duncan Hewitt home with a single of his own. Leaving the fourth inning, things were knotted at three.

Giovanny Rivero singled home Yasser Mercedes to kick off the seventh in and Daniel brought Andres Centeno across the plate. Now up 7-3, the Twins had this plenty in hand.

Chourio grabbed three hits on the day with Daniel adding a pair of his own.

DOMINICAN DAILY
DSL Rockies 19, DSL Twins 8
Box Score
Luis Rincon only last four outs today and the Dominican Summer League Twins dealt with a blowout. Despite scoring four runs, punctuated with a Ewing Matos triple, they were run off from that point forward.

The Rockies tied things up in the second inning before adding two in the fourth inning. They scored another pair in the seventh inning while adding seven in the eight inning and another four in the ninth. The Twins were staring at a mess.

Dameury Peña and Matos both recorded three hits during the game. Unfortunately, they couldn’t add more with their twelve hits and it wound up being the 16th loss on the season.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Chad Donato (Wichita) - 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K. 46 pitches, 33 strikes. 
Hitter of the Day – Tanner Schobel (Cedar Rapids) - 3-for-3, 2 BB, HR(13), R, 3 RBI. 

PROSPECT SUMMARY
We will again keep tabs on the Twins top prospects. You’ll probably read about them in the team sections, but if they aren’t there, you’ll see how they did here. Here’s a look at how the current Twins Daily Top 20 performed:

#1 - Brooks Lee (Wichita) - 0-for-4, BB, K. 
#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, BB, RBI, 3 K. 
#9 - Matt Wallner (St. Paul) - 0-for-4
#10 - Yasser Mercedes (FCL) - 0-for-4, 4 K, R
#11 - Austin Martin (St. Paul) - 0-for-3, BB, played 2B, batted second. 
#12 - Jose Salas (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-3, BB, R, 2 K.
#13 - Noah Miller (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-5, 3B(3), R, CS(1) 
#17 - Blayne Enlow (St. Paul) - 5.0 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, BB, HBP, 4 K. 83 pitches, 51 strikes (61.4%) 

FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Iowa (7:08PM CST) - LHP Dallas Keuchel (0-0, 1.08 ERA)
Wichita @ Tulsa (7:05PM CST) - RHP Marco Raya (first AA start) 
Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (6:35PM CST) - RHP C.J. Culpepper (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Fort Myers @ Jupiter (5:30PM CST) - RHP Jack Noble (0-1, 3.60 ERA)
FCL Red Sox @ FCL Twins (DH at 9:00AM CST) - TBD, TBD 
DSL Twins @ DSL Cardinals (10:00AM CST) - TBD 

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

 

View full article

[FlyingFinn]

What's happened to the Saints bats? After scoring 10 runs per game for a week, they can hardly get a hit in the last few games. Enlow not very good either.

Schobel, after a slow start this season, is on fire. Make room for him in Wichita by July.

[weitz41]

Maybe is something I'm doing but the box score are all from the 4th not the 6th.

[mikelink45]

Overall not a good day for our top prospects.

[Karbo]

What is the development list and how does it work?

[Doctor Wu]

2 hours ago, FlyingFinn said:

What's happened to the Saints bats? After scoring 10 runs per game for a week, they can hardly get a hit in the last few games. Enlow not very good either.

Schobel, after a slow start this season, is on fire. Make room for him in Wichita by July.

Yeah, Schobel looking like a keeper this year, whereas Enlow is losing traction quickly. Not what we hoped for when we drafted Enlow. 

[terrydactyls]

1 hour ago, weitz41 said:

Maybe is something I'm doing but the box score are all from the 4th not the 6th.

I went to milb.com/GameDay, selected which level of play I wanted, and found the corresponding Twins team.

[Seth Stohs]

1 hour ago, Doctor Wu said:

Yeah, Schobel looking like a keeper this year, whereas Enlow is losing traction quickly. Not what we hoped for when we drafted Enlow. 

Schobel's been good. 

Enlow had a rough first start in St. Paul, and last night wasn't great (but he still got through 5)... the two games in between were terrific. I don't think he's hurt his stock at all. In fact, he's probably raised it back up a little bit. 

[Dman]

Have to say at the time I didn't really love the Schobel pick.  A short player with mainly pull side power and all average tools.  Seemed kind of ho hum for a supplemental 2nd round pick. It is early but have to say that pick is looking pretty good right now..

It is past time to move Schobel up.  He is tied for 1st in HR's in his league and second in OPS.  He managed that after a brutal April and first part of May where his OPS was .600 and I don't think he had a HR.   So his collective numbers don't tell you just how hot he has been the last month and a half.  He isn't getting any younger as a college bat and being at the top of his league he doesn't have much left to prove IMO.  Keep him moving as he might be a special bat.

Rosario has been in a deep July slump.  Not sure if he lost some of the discipline he had early in the year or maybe dealing with a slight injury? Hopefully he gets the bat going again.

Rodriguez also having a tough time and slumping.  Need those two young guys to get their mojo back as they could be two difference making bats.  Still young so plenty of time but would be nice to see them get going again.

I love the AAA box scores but I think the Saints finally ran into some good pitching and it shows that those numbers don't tell the full story.  Good pitching has shut down those good bats.  Hopefully they can learn from that.

 

[DJL44]

Schobel is the new Spencer Steer.

Enlow's best shot at the big leagues is in the bullpen.

[jmlease1]

2 hours ago, Doctor Wu said:

Yeah, Schobel looking like a keeper this year, whereas Enlow is losing traction quickly. Not what we hoped for when we drafted Enlow. 

The injury combined with the lost pandemic year really hurt Enlow, and makes it hard to evaluate where he really is right now. He's probably having some adjustment challenges to the new level, so let's see where he lands at the end of the season. If he finishes the year healthy and has some good starts to show his ability I think he'll get a lot of consideration going forward. If he can keep the walks under control I think he'll be fine.

Schobel is definitely on a roll after a bit of a slow start: 4 XBH in April, 7 in May, 10 in June, and 3 already in July. Good to see he can be more than just a slap hitter. Same kind of progression on BBs: 5 in April, with 11 each in June & July. Multi-hit games: only 3 in April, but 7 in May, 8 in June (and that includes three 3 hit games and a 4 hit game), so it really looks like all the pieces are coming together at the plate for Schobel. He's even brought his Ks down every month.

We're seeing a lot of early value emerging form the 2022 draft: Lee & Schobel, Morris, Jones, Lewis, Matthews (all interesting pitchers), Cossetti is doing well...Prielipp looks like he needs more time and rehab, but there's oodles of talent in his arm and he's the only guy who hasn't really performed yet. ben Ross has been solid, Jorel Ortega pasted low-A so hard he got a quick promotion. Could end up being a really deep draft, which is always exciting.

[Mike Sixel]

3 hours ago, Doctor Wu said:

Yeah, Schobel looking like a keeper this year, whereas Enlow is losing traction quickly. Not what we hoped for when we drafted Enlow. 

exactly what some expected though....

The Cubs have a 2021 pick in AAA? Is that allowed?

Twins are so stacked with guys in AAA that should be in the majors that everyone else is just stuck at their level right now.....

[twinsfan02]

yet another 0-4 night for brooks lee. Yikes

[Mike Sixel]

37 minutes ago, twinsfan02 said:

yet another 0-4 night for brooks lee. Yikes

Ya, I had high hopes, but he's like fifth in league OPS among SS.......to be clear, I'm not giving up at all, still a believer, I just believed he'd be great and in AAA already....and he's not close.

[RpR]

Kyle Garlick at First Base, that is different.

[Seth Stohs]

5 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

exactly what some expected though....

The Cubs have a 2021 pick in AAA? Is that allowed?

Twins are so stacked with guys in AAA that should be in the majors that everyone else is just stuck at their level right now.....

The Twins had two 2022 draft picks in AAA in 2022. They had a 2021 draft pick in AAA in 2021. 

[Seth Stohs]

2 hours ago, RpR said:

Kyle Garlick at First Base, that is different.

Yeah, he's played there 4-5 times in the last two weeks after pretty much never playing there before. But a good idea for him and the Twins. 

[Mike Sixel]

3 minutes ago, Seth Stohs said:

The Twins had two 2022 draft picks in AAA in 2022. They had a 2021 draft pick in AAA in 2021. 

for a game or two? Are they still there? Genuinely curious.....

[Seth Stohs]

10 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

for a game or two? Are they still there? Genuinely curious.....

2022 pick Dalton Shuffield played 14 games there last year and hit .271/.314/.542 (.855) with 3 doubles, 2 triples, 2 homers. 

2021 pick Mikey Perez played one game and got one pinch hit at-bat and hit a game-winning, three-run homer.

2021 pick Ernie Yake played in 6 games. 

Both are currently on the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels roster (Shuffield on the IL). 

Yake has played a game with the Saints this year too. 

[Seth Stohs]

5 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

exactly what some expected though....

The Cubs have a 2021 pick in AAA? Is that allowed?

Twins are so stacked with guys in AAA that should be in the majors that everyone else is just stuck at their level right now.....

Also, Wicks was a Top 10 pick overall in 2021. Likewise, Brooks Lee was a Top 10 pick in the draft in 2022. Do we think he'll be up at Triple-A by this time next year? Some context needs to go into that. 

But from that 2021 draft, Christian Encarnacion-Strand is already at AAA (and would be there, at least, with the Twins). Cade Povich (3), Travis Adams (6), Jake Rucker (7), Patrick Winkel (8), Ernie Yake (10), David Festa (13), Pierson Ohl (14). 

This old narrative that the Twins are slow in promoting players is no longer even close to being accurate anymore. With hitters or pitchers. But people have to understand the context of where players are drafted. 

[Mike Sixel]

58 minutes ago, Seth Stohs said:

2022 pick Dalton Shuffield played 14 games there last year and hit .271/.314/.542 (.855) with 3 doubles, 2 triples, 2 homers. 

2021 pick Mikey Perez played one game and got one pinch hit at-bat and hit a game-winning, three-run homer.

2021 pick Ernie Yake played in 6 games. 

Both are currently on the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels roster (Shuffield on the IL). 

Yake has played a game with the Saints this year too. 

So, not really AAA players then. 

[Mike Sixel]

47 minutes ago, Seth Stohs said:

Also, Wicks was a Top 10 pick overall in 2021. Likewise, Brooks Lee was a Top 10 pick in the draft in 2022. Do we think he'll be up at Triple-A by this time next year? Some context needs to go into that. 

But from that 2021 draft, Christian Encarnacion-Strand is already at AAA (and would be there, at least, with the Twins). Cade Povich (3), Travis Adams (6), Jake Rucker (7), Patrick Winkel (8), Ernie Yake (10), David Festa (13), Pierson Ohl (14). 

This old narrative that the Twins are slow in promoting players is no longer even close to being accurate anymore. With hitters or pitchers. But people have to understand the context of where players are drafted. 

I thought that too.....but I see no hitters advancing this year, other than college guys that were in low A. Hoping that changes after the draft, but Severino has no business in AA at this point. Especially with Miranda in MLB. No OFers can be promoted, because they are full of AAAA and MLB players in St. Paul, which is holding back every other level.