Twins Minor League Report (8/16): Adams Takes No-No into the 7th, Isola Stays Hot

[Seth Stohs]

Louie Varland was back on the mound in St. Paul. Travis Adams had one of the best starts in the Twins minor leagues this year, and Alex Isola is on fire. Rough one for the Kernels, and late-season rain "wins" a lot of games in Florida in August. And, we have an updated Top 20 prospect ranking. 

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge (photo of Travis Adams)

Before we get to the Wednesday game recaps, you may have noticed on Tuesday that the Twins Daily Prospect Rankings have been updated. A few quick notes on the updated rankings: 

• Matt Wallner has graduated from 'prospect' status as he surpassed the 130 at-bat threshold this week. 
• No change at the top. Brooks Lee moved up to St. Paul and has remained atop our rankings. Walker Jenkins stayed at #2, and Emmanuel Rodriguez stayed at #3. 
• Several players moved up a rung or so due to Wallner's graduation. Brandon Winokur and Luke Keaschall have made strong first impressions and are now in the organization's top ten prospects. 
• Fort Myers shortstop Danny De Andrade jumps into the Top 20 at #17. He is one of the youngest players in the Florida State League and has more than held his own.
• The other next player in the Top 20 is 2022 draft pick and Kernels starting pitcher Cory Lewis. The pitcher with the knuckleball is much more than that one pitch, and he has found success in his promotion to the Kernels. 
• The biggest drop in the rankings is Simeon Woods Richardson. He has had a tough 2023 season with the Saints, but he has actually been pretty solid in the past month. 

Here are the records of the Twins and their six affiliates through games played on Wednesday. 

    Minnesota Twins: 63-59
    St. Paul Saints: 66-49 
    Wichita Wind Surge: 49-60
    Cedar Rapids Kernels: 67-43
    Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 53-56
    FCL Twins: 21-27
    DSL Twins: 14-33 

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

TRANSACTIONS
There were no transactions in the Twins organization on Wednesday. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 3, Indianapolis 4
Box Score
In his previous start, Louie Varland had his best start of the season. He wasn’t quite to that level in this game, but he posted another Quality Start. In 6 2/3 innings, he gave up three runs (just one earned) on six hits. He walked three and struck out five batters. 

Jovani Moran got the final out of the seventh inning and worked a scoreless eighth frame. He gave up one hit and walked two batters. Of course, that lack of command is why he was returned to St. Paul recently and what has kept him from becoming a consistently-dominant reliever. He needed 35 pitches to get four outs, and just 19 were strikes. 

Oliver Ortega came on for the ninth inning of a 3-3 game. He gave up an unearned run on two hits and an intentional walk. 

The Saints got on the scoreboard in the third inning. DaShawn Keirsey led off the inning with a single and went to third base on a double off the bat of Hernan Perez. Keirsey scored on an Andrew Stevenson single. Perez scored on a Brooks Lee double play. Then down a run in the sixth inning, Gilberto Celestino hit a one-out double. Walks by Yunior Severino and Austin Martin loaded the bases for Chris Williams. Williams hit a sacrifice fly to score Celestino and tie the game. 

Andrew Stevenson again led the Saints offense. The leadoff man went 3-for-4 with his 20th and 21st doubles and an RBI.

The big difference in this game was the four errors committed by the Saints, three by better-than-average outfielders. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 5, Springfield 1
Box Score
Let’s jump straight to the big story of the day. Travis Adams came into the game with a 2-8 record and an ERA of 6.24. Selected as a starting pitcher with incredible control, Adams worked hard and in 2022 was touching 97 mph. He gave up four or more runs in five of his 20 starts coming into the night, but he didn’t complete the fifth inning very often (seven times). He had one game in which he went six innings and gave up just one run. 

On this night, Adams was absolutely on his game. In fact, Adams had a no-hitter through six innings in this game. He only had two strikeouts, but he got nine ground outs and four pop outs to infielders. He had three walks and two strikeouts. 

Of his outing, Adams said, "I just continued to get weak contact like I have been really all season. Struggled getting first-pitch strikes throughout the game, so just kind of battled and executed some good pitches to get that weak contact."

He's been putting in a lot of work over the past months. "The splitter has been a pitch I've worked on for the last couple of months, and it worked good for most of the game... until the home run." Adams said with a chuckle. He continued, "The curveball was effective, as well, throwing it hard tonight. Fastball later in the count helped me a lot tonight to get swing and misses and soft contact jamming guys." 

Thomas Saggese led off the top of the seventh inning by knocking his 20th homer of the season on an 0-2 pitch. Adams responded by getting the next two batters out. After a two-out single, Taylor Floyd came in and gave up a single, but he got the third out before another run scored. 

Hunter McMahon and Francis Peguero each pitched a scoreless inning to close out a 5-1 win. 

Adams was given some early run support as well. Yoyner Fajardo tripled to start the bottom of the first. Tanner Schobel knocked him in with a sacrifice fly. In the second inning, Willie Joe Garry’s first Wind Surge double drove in Jake Rucker and Alerick Soularie. 

In the third inning, Alex Isola hit his 16th homer of the season (and fourth in his past three games). Isola led the way with a 3-for-4 day. He now has a five-game hitting streak. He is now 10-for-17 with a double and four home runs. He also has five walks with just two strikeouts. 

Yoyner Fajardo went 2-for-4 with his fifth triple. Alerick Soularie added his third double. Brooks Lee was a doubles machine in Wichita and added his first Triple-A double in the ninth inning. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 1, Wisconsin 9
Box Score
Christian MacLeod made the start for the Kernels. He gave up two runs through the first four innings. He left the game down 3-0 in the fifth inning with two runners on base. Niklas Rimmel came in and walked three batters which allowed both of MacLeod’s runners to score. So MacLeod was ultimately charged with five runs on six hits and two walks in four innings. He struck out four. Rimmel didn’t give up any runs of his own and recorded the three outs. 

Michael Paredes came on to start the sixth inning. He gave up four runs (3 earned) on five hits and got just two outs. Matthew Swain came on with two runners on and stranded them. He went 1 2/3 innings and gave up no runs on one hit. He walked three and struck out two batters. John Wilson gave up a hit and walked two over 1 2/3 scoreless innings. 

The Kernels offense was pretty well silenced by the Timber Rattlers Cameron Wagoner and Stiven Cruz. Wagoner gave up one run over the first five innings. Andrew Cossetti hit a solo homer in the fourth inning. It was his sixth homer since joining the Kernels. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Jefferson Morales hit his fifth homer of the season. 

Andrew Cossetti finished 1-for-2 with a walk and was hit by a pitch to go with the homer. Keoni Cavaco went 2-for-4, the only Kernels batter with more than one hit. 

If you’re in Cedar Rapids, this would be a fun series to watch. The Brewers affiliate just promoted 18-year-old Luis Lara to Wisconsin. Their 2023 first and third round picks, Brock Wilken and Mike Boeve, were recently promoted to the Rattlers. Robert Moore and Ben Metzinger both went 2-for-2 with three walks in this game. Moore is a Top 20 prospect. In addition, a rehabbing Jesse Winker made the trip to Iowa. And if anyone is able to take photos of Kernels or Timber Rattler players, please send me a message. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 4, Palm Beach 5 (game suspended Top 5)
Box Score
With two outs in the top of the fifth inning and Maddux Houghton at the plate, the rain came. There was a delay before the game was suspended. It will be completed before the regularly-scheduled game on Thursday. 

COMPLEX THOUGHTS from FLORIDA
No Game Scheduled. The regular season for the Florida Complex League concludes in a week. It will be interesting to see how many players are pushed up to Ft. Myers, or maybe even Cedar Rapids, to keep their seasons going. 

COMPLEX THOUGHTS from BOCA CHICA
The Twins and Nationals were supposed to make up a game from July 4th, but it was instead canceled. Time is running out on the schedule. The season ends in a week. 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day – Alex Isola (Wichita) - 3-for-4, HR(16), R, RBI
Pitcher of the Day – Travis Adams (Wichita) - 6.2 IP, 2 H, R, 3 BB, 2 K. 89 pitches, 51 strikes (57.3%)

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on the new Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Wednesday. The rankings were just updated on Tuesday. 

#1 - Brooks Lee (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, 2B(1), K
#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, 2K
#7 - Austin Martin (St. Paul) - 1-for-3, BB, K,
#8 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 0-for-3, SF, RBI, K
#10 - Luke Keaschall (Ft. Myers) - 1-for-2, BB, 2B(4), 2 R, SF, RBI, 
#13 - Kala’i Rosario (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, 3 K
#14 - Yunior Severino (St. Paul) - 1-for-3, BB, 2 K
#17 - Danny De Andrade (Fort Myers) - 0-for-2, RBI

THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE AND PITCHING PROBABLES
Indianapolis @ St. Paul (7:07 PM CST) - RHP Blayne Enlow (2-5, 9.85 ERA)
Springfield @ Wichita (7:05 PM CST) - LHP Aaron Rozek (2-3, 6.11 ERA)  
Wisconsin @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CST) - RHP Andrew Morris (2-1, 2.81 ERA)
Fort Myers @ Palm Beach (2:45 PM CST) - RHP Jack Noble (0-2, 3.26 ERA)
FCL Orioles @ FCL Twins (11:00 AM CST) - TBD 
DSL Twins @ DSL Phillies White (9:00 AM CST) - TBD

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Wednesday’s games or any other Twins minor league topics!

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[ryan189]

[roger]

Thanks for the report, Seth.

Is exciting seeing Varland have another good start following his last start which was excellent.  Seems he is on track as the second option to step in for Kuechel, if he doesn't get it done over the coming weeks.  Am assuming that Ryan moves back into the rotation after a couple starts in St. Paul beginning next week.  

Will be fun to see if Isola is in the midst of a hot streak?  Or has he put it together and will hit like this the rest of the season?

Count me among those who will be eagerly reading these reports the next week to ten days to see if Jenkins and others get promoted.  Will be very disappointed if he and the #3 pick don't keep playing somewhere.  Regarding the draft, Seth, do you see the pitcher taken in the first round getting any action before the season is over?

[IndianaTwin]

Made my first jaunt to Riverfront Stadium to see the Surge and was rewarded with six no-hit innings. 
 

Spiffy stadium, spiffy start. 

[Mike Sixel]

Jenkins and Winokur should also be promoted......