Twins Minor League Report (9/19): Midwest League Championship Series Halted by Rain

[Steve Lein]

Game 2 of the Midwest League Championship Series between the Cedar Rapids Kernels and Great Lakes Loons wasn’t able to be completed on Tuesday night, but it was a great game until the rain moved in. The Saints game in St. Paul saw a plethora of rehabbers play a role, including a couple fantastic outings from rehabbing pitchers you may be interested in.

Image courtesy of William Parmeter, Fort Myers Mighty Mussels (photo of Andrew Morris)

TRANSACTIONS
The Saints had an active day in transactions, with a bunch of major league rehabbers joining the team across the river in St. Paul.

•  RHP Chris Paddack, RHP Jorge Alcala, and LF Joey Gallo were all sent on rehab assignments with Saints. RHP Carlos Luna was transferred to the development list. 
• RHP Curtis Taylor was promoted from the Wichita Wind Surge to the Saints.

SAINTS SENTINEL
Toledo 2, St. Paul 4
Box Score
With the plethora of major league rehabbers joining the roster, the St. Paul Saints went with a bullpen game of sorts on Tuesday. The entire staff of seven who made an appearance was basically lights out against the Mud Hens.

Hunter McMahon served as the opener and delivered a scoreless inning, working around one hit and two walks by inducing an inning-ending double-play. That would be a theme for the night, as the Saints completed four of them in total, while Toledo added three more.

Austin Schulfer was the next man up and walked one and struck out one in a scoreless second inning.

In the bottom half of the frame the Saints got their scoring started. Yunior Severino led off with a walk, and two-batters later Jair Camargo clubbed his 20th home run of the season for a 2-0 lead.

The home team then turned the ball over to their first rehabber, in right-hander Chris Paddack. It didn’t go so well after a strikeout to his first batter, as a walk and two singles loaded the bases with one out, but Paddack  bore down and struck out the next two hitters to keep the Mud Hens scoreless in the third. He went on to retire the final eight hitters he faced, picking up another strikeout in each inning to finish with five in his outing. Overall he allowed two hits, walked one, and struck out five while topping out above 98 MPH with his fastball.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Saints extended their lead to 4-0 when DaShawn Keirsey Jr. led off with a single, rehabber Nick Gordon was hit by a pitch, and rehabber Joey Gallo delivered an RBI single. Trevor Larnach followed with a single of his own to complete their two-run inning and add insurance.

After Paddack’s exit Michael Boyle (1 IP, 2 K) delivered a scoreless inning before giving way to Brock Stewart. Stewart ratcheted his fastball up to 99 MPH in his inning of work, walking one in striking out one in another scoreless frame for the pitching staff.

Another rehabber, Jorge Alcala then did the same in the eighth, giving up one hit but inducing another double-play ball. In the ninth, Jordan Balazovic allowed two walks to start the inning, but got a big double-play grounder himself to keep this one from going sideways. It could have done that, because the next batter slugged a two-run homer for Toledo’s only runs of the game. Balazovic struck out the final hitter to close out the win.

Nick Gordon (2-for-3, R, 2B, K) and Trevor Larnach (3-for-4, RBI, K) led the way with multiple hits. Joey Gallo finished 1-for-3 with a walk, RBI, and no strikeouts. Yunior Severino drew two walks and scored a run.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Great Lakes 1, Cedar Rapids 0 (Suspended in the 5th inning - Rain)
Box Score
Well, I’m not going to be able to crown the Cedar Rapids Kernels the Midwest League Champions tonight, as their game with the Great Lakes Loons was suspended in the fifth inning.

The Kernels came into the game with a 1-0 lead in the three-game series, and sent right-handed pitcher Andrew Morris to the mound. He was excellent in his five innings before the suspension, with his only blemish being a solo home run in the fourth inning. He set the Loons down in order in each of the first and third innings, needing just five pitches in the third to do so. He finished with the one run allowed on three hits, no walks, and struck out seven.

Both teams have just three hits to this point, with Emmanuel Rodriguez, Jorel Ortega, and Luke Keaschall all delivering singles. Rodriguez also stole a base but the Kernels are only 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position thus far.

Game two of this championship series will resume tomorrow at 5:30 PM, with the Kernels up to bat in the bottom of the fifth, and Luke Keaschall due up. If Cedar Rapids is unable to make a comeback, game three will be a seven inning contest after this one’s completion.

Right-hander Cory Lewis is the scheduled starter for game three, but there could be some shuffling of that due to this suspension.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day - Andrew Morris, Cedar Rapids Kernels (5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 7 K)
Hitter of the Day - Jair Camargo, St. Paul Saints (1-for-3, R, HR, 2 RBI)

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out our full top 20 list here and how they performed on Tuesday below!

#1 - Brooks Lee (St. Paul) - 0-for-4
#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-2, K (game suspended)
#7 - Austin Martin (St. Paul) - 1-for-3
#10 - Luke Keaschall (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-1 (game suspended)
#13 - Kala’i Rosario (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-2 (game suspended)
#14 - Yunior Severino (St. Paul) - 0-for-2, R, 2 BB, K
#16 - Jordan Balazovic (St. Paul) - 1 IP, H, 2 BB, K

WEDNESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Toledo @ St. Paul (6:35 PM CDT) - RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (6-6, 4.92 ERA)
Great Lakes @ Cedar Rapids, Game 3 (if necessary) - RHP Cory Lewis (0-0, 2.25 ERA)

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

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[Fat Calvin]

Larnach continues to rake.  I'd like to see him brought up for the last week of the season.  See how he does.  And if all goes well, with CC and now Royce going down, we might be able to use his bat in the post season.

[mikelink45]

Paddock does not look like the answer for the Twins BP.  Right now I do not see any rehabbers helping the team except Stewart.  Keep the chemistry.  If Lewis is down then things change, but Larnach is not a good substitute for Lewis.  We need a 3B.

[Trov]

I hope Stewert can get enough rehab to play in playoffs.  I am a little worried because he has never had the track record he did early in year that he can be depended on, but who knows. 

[Patzky]

Right now the Twins have a depleted bench. If catching Houston is a possibility I'd love to replenish it with Larnach but I have a feeling Joey G is going to get the call. And Brock Stewart looks ready as ever. 

[Dman]

Nice to see Paddack with a really good outing.  Having his fastball velocity at that level bodes well for the future.  I don't know that I trust him for the playoff stretch having been out of action for so long but it is good to see him doing well.

Very encouraging to see Stewart back to do doing what he was doing before.  He would be a much needed addition for the playoffs if his arm doesn't go sideways again.

[Steve Lein]

1 hour ago, mikelink45 said:

Paddock does not look like the answer for the Twins BP.  Right now I do not see any rehabbers helping the team except Stewart.  Keep the chemistry.  If Lewis is down then things change, but Larnach is not a good substitute for Lewis.  We need a 3B.

Curious why you have this opinion? He has been fantastic in his rehab, and was excellent last night. Fastball velocity is great, changeup basically unhittable. I think he could be a great ace in the hole for the bullpen.

My intent in that first sentence about him was not to diminish his outing, because it was again fantastic!

Edited September 20, 2023 by Steve Lein

[roger]

Really need the Kernels to come back and win game two and take the crown.

Have to believe that Stewart's next appearance will be with the Twins sometime this weekend.  Does Paddack make one more appearance, then join the Twins next week?  Have to believe they will want to see him pitch in a game or two for the Twins before being added to the playoff roster.  

Thanks for the report, Steve, they are appreciated.

[mikelink45]

26 minutes ago, Steve Lein said:

Curious why you have this opinion? He has been fantastic in his rehab, and was excellent last night. Fastball velocity is great, changeup basically unhittable. I think he could be a great ace in the hole for the bullpen.

My intent in that first sentence about him was not to diminish his outing, because it was again fantastic!

We see something different.  Stewart looks good. Paddock is improving, but he has never been iin the BP and is still rehabbing - I would not experiment when we have so much at stake. 

2023	27	0.0	St. Paul	IL	AAA	MIN	0	0		0.00	0.00	1	0	0	0	0	0	3.0	2	0	0	0	1	0	5	0	0	0	12	1.000	6.0	0.0	3.0	15.0	5.00
2023	27	2.4	Wichita	TL	AA	MIN	0	1	.000	4.50	4.50	1	1	0	0	0	0	4.0	4	2	2	1	0	0	6	0	0	1	15	1.000	9.0	2.3	0.0	13.5
2023	27	4.8	Fort Myers	FLOR	A	MIN	0	0		6.75	6.75	1	1	0	0	0	0	2.2	2	2	2	0	2	0	4	0	0	0	12	1.500	6.8	0.0	6.8	13.5

[LonelyseatinMOA]

28 minutes ago, Steve Lein said:

Curious why you have this opinion? He has been fantastic in his rehab, and was excellent last night. Fastball velocity is great, changeup basically unhittable. I think he could be a great ace in the hole for the bullpen.

My intent in that first sentence about him was not to diminish his outing, because it was again fantastic!

I agree. I understand why people are hesitant to trust Paddack at this point but... wow his stuff looks crazy. Upped fastball velo, the big curveball, and the wiffleball changeup. I mean, he cant be worse than winder or floro 

[FlyingFinn]

10 minutes ago, LonelyseatinMOA said:

I mean, he cant be worse than winder or floro

Exactly! That's why you get him up to the Twins for a couple bullpen games. If he looks good, put him as that 11th man in the pen or at least get him ready when we add a pitcher for, hopefully, round 2 of the playoffs.

[Steve Lein]

52 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

We see something different.  Stewart looks good. Paddock is improving, but he has never been iin the BP and is still rehabbing - I would not experiment when we have so much at stake. 

2023	27	0.0	St. Paul	IL	AAA	MIN	0	0		0.00	0.00	1	0	0	0	0	0	3.0	2	0	0	0	1	0	5	0	0	0	12	1.000	6.0	0.0	3.0	15.0	5.00
2023	27	2.4	Wichita	TL	AA	MIN	0	1	.000	4.50	4.50	1	1	0	0	0	0	4.0	4	2	2	1	0	0	6	0	0	1	15	1.000	9.0	2.3	0.0	13.5
2023	27	4.8	Fort Myers	FLOR	A	MIN	0	0		6.75	6.75	1	1	0	0	0	0	2.2	2	2	2	0	2	0	4	0	0	0	12	1.500	6.8	0.0	6.8	13.5

It's a fair opinion on him rehabbing, but these stats are a bit misleading.

I watched him pitch with Wichita last week and St. Paul last night. He's throwing a ton of strikes (72% in those two games), and getting swings and misses in bunches (17 total in those 7 innings, or 16.5%, which matches his strikeout rate like it should so not a mirage). The velocity is up from where he's been in the shorter bursts. I definitely think he can be a weapon. Especially if the Twins have to pull a starter early, he can potentially lengthen the bullpen to their studs.

[Patzky]

2 hours ago, Patzky said:

Right now the Twins have a depleted bench. If catching Houston is a possibility I'd love to replenish it with Larnach but I have a feeling Joey G is going to get the call. And Brock Stewart looks ready as ever. 

Didn't take long to get help, I'm glad they made the move. Larnach back up, Correa to IL eligible to return during the Colorado series.

[Patzky]

9 hours ago, Fat Calvin said:

Larnach continues to rake.  I'd like to see him brought up for the last week of the season.  See how he does.  And if all goes well, with CC and now Royce going down, we might be able to use his bat in the post season.

You got your wish!

[mikelink45]

If they keep Kuechel I cannot see them adding Paddock.  For me it is one or the other. 

[DocBauer]

2 hours ago, FlyingFinn said:

Exactly! That's why you get him up to the Twins for a couple bullpen games. If he looks good, put him as that 11th man in the pen or at least get him ready when we add a pitcher for, hopefully, round 2 of the playoffs.

Now this I can go with. 

Not saying Paddack for the playoffs is a mistake. He's looked very good so far. And he might be a secret weapon, as stated. But he's also been gone for well over a year, never pitched from the pen, IIRC, and is going to have limited innings/appearances this season.

Assuming 8 arms in the pen for the opening round: Duran, Stewart, Jax, Thielbar. Pagan, Varland, and more than likely 1 of Ryan/Maeda/Ober. That leaves 1 spot left and it might belong to Funderburk, looking good so far, and providing a 2nd LH.

So while I don't disagree about the possibility of Paddack, I'm just not sure if I see the fit either. Maybe the 2nd round?

[MN_ExPat]

2 hours ago, DocBauer said:

Now this I can go with. 

Not saying Paddack for the playoffs is a mistake. He's looked very good so far. And he might be a secret weapon, as stated. But he's also been gone for well over a year, never pitched from the pen, IIRC, and is going to have limited innings/appearances this season.

Assuming 8 arms in the pen for the opening round: Duran, Stewart, Jax, Thielbar. Pagan, Varland, and more than likely 1 of Ryan/Maeda/Ober. That leaves 1 spot left and it might belong to Funderburk, looking good so far, and providing a 2nd LH.

So while I don't disagree about the possibility of Paddack, I'm just not sure if I see the fit either. Maybe the 2nd round?

I don't doubt that this is one of the many conversations that are going on behind the scenes.  Paddock is a bulldog and could bring some fire and grit to the pen.