Minor League Report (4/7): Rayne Doncon Redeems a Strange Day on the Farm

[Matt Braun]

Anyone know where to find some pitching?

Image courtesy of William Parmeter (photo of Rayne Doncan)

TRANSACTIONS
LHP Aaron Rozek transferred to AAA St. Paul
RHP Jeff Brigham placed on 7-day IL retroactive to April 6 with a left oblique strain (St. Paul)

Saints Sentinel
St. Paul 1, Nashville 8
Box Score
Simeon Woods Richardson: 3 ⅓ IP, 7 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
HR: Will Holland (1)
Multi-hit games: None

Oh, if you could remove just one inning.

Through three frames, Simeon Woods Richardson looked marvelous. He dazzled the Sounds with his overhand off-speed stuff, leading to a pair of strikeouts and a slate you could eat breakfast off. Everything appeared fine until the 4th went as follows: walk, single, strikeout, single, walk, double, single, double. Joe Gunkel was summoned to earn the final two outs. He allowed a home run. So it goes. 

That story would have been more painful had St. Paul’s offense been anything but dreadful, as it was on Sunday. Their lone run came when Will Holland plopped a fly ball into left field, inspiring Nashville’s Chavez Young to ungracefully slide around the ball as Holland dashed around the bases to score an inside-the-park home run—perhaps the most fitting score for a game like this.

New Saint Diego A. Castillo went 0-for-3 in his second game with the squad.

St. Paul’s bullpen combined for 4 2/3 quality innings of relief, striking out five without a walk.

Tyler Black—the 43rd prospect in baseball and 4th-best player in Milwaukee’s farm system—went 1-for-4 while scoring a run. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 8, Frisco 12
Box Score
Pierson Ohl: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K

HR: Kala’i Rosario (2), Noah Cardenas (1)

Multi-hit games: Tanner Schobel (2-for-3, R, 2 BB), Andrew Cossetti (2-for-4, R, RBI), Carson McCusker (3-for-4, 2 2B, 2 R)

The Wind Surge lost a wild one on Sunday.

If you tuned in at the start of the 2nd inning and left following the 6th, you’d probably think this was the most boring game of baseball ever played; assorted walks and hits scattered to give those frames some noise, but the action never grew beyond pianissimo, as the pitchers kept everything in order.

Outside of those frames? Hell. Pure chaos. The kind of mayhem that drives a manager crazy.

Frisco kicked off the game with a three-spot in the 1st, only to be doubled in effort by the Wind Surge, who plated six before their half of the inning ended. Kala’i Rosario stroked his second three-run shot of the season. Noah Cardenas drove one out to right. All appeared settled.

 

And so it was, for a time; Pierson Ohl regained his composure and fended off the Rough Riders for four more frames, eventually walking away with just one hit allowed beyond his nightmare opening inning. Frisco did the same, keeping Wichita at bay during the middle innings.

Then, the 7th. The dam broke. Frisco plated two, then scored two more in the 8th, and finally capped their onslaught with a drumming of Wichita’s Miguel Rodriguez in the 9th, handing him a 135.00 ERA to start his season (that is not a typo). The Wind Surge did claim a small lead when Frisco played hot potato with the baseball in the 8th, but they could not overcome their late mistakes.

Abimelec Ortiz claims the title as Frisco’s best prospect. The man ranked 12th in the Rangers’ system by MLB Pipeline went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and a walk. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Mother nature objected to a second relevant Iowa sporting event on Sunday, leaving the Kernels sopping and baseball-less. Their game will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Saturday, April 27th.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 5, Tampa 2
Box Score
Tanner Hall: 1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
HR: Rayne Doncon (1)
Multi-hit games: Byron Chourio (2-for-4, 2 R, RBI), Rayne Doncon (2-for-4, HR, 2B, R, 3 RBI), Wilfri Castro (2-for-3, 2B, R, RBI)

The Mighty Mussels breezed to a victory on Sunday.

It did not start pleasantly. Starter Tanner Hall walked Tampa’s lead-off man, George Lombard Jr. (now that’s a baseball name), and watched him reach third base on a botched throw attempt to halt his steal attempt. He scored two batters later. Another run scored when Dylan Jasso tripled to right. Hall’s day concluded at the end of the frame—and the Mighty Mussels needed to respond quickly.

They did just that. Byron Chourio smacked a single to center before Rayne Doncon's big, twitchy bat summoned him home on Fort Myers’ first homer of the season. 

That 0-2 hanger begat a 98.9 MPH, 388-foot shot for Doncon. 

The lead only increased from there: Wilfri Castro poked a double down the left-field line to give the Mighty Mussels the lead, and Chourio singled him home to stretch the advantage to two. 

Doncon’s second extra-base hit of the day gave Fort Myers a three-run cushion, more than enough to support their pitching on Sunday.

Paulshawn Pasqualotto (I take it back; now that is a baseball name) spearheaded the effort on the mound with five clean innings of relief. The Cal Berkeley product made his pro debut, fanning three and topping out at 95.9 MPH while throwing nearly as many changeups as heaters. He earned eight total swings-and-misses.

Tampa is led by Roderick Arias, the Yankees’ third-best prospect and the 81st highest-rated prospect in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline. The second baseman went 0-4 with three strikeouts.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Paulshawn Pasqualotto
Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Rayne Doncon

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:
#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Wichita) - 0-3, R, 2 BB, K
#10 - Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) - 1-3, BB, 2 K
#11 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 2-3, R, 2 BB, K
#13 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - 1-5, HR, R, 3 RBI, 3 K
#16 - Yunior Severino (St. Paul) - 0-2, BB
#20 - Simeon Woods Richardson (St. Paul) - 3 ⅓ IP, 7 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 4 K

TUESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Iowa @ St. Paul (4:07 PM) - RHP Caleb Boushley
Wichita @ Springfield (6:35 PM) - TBD
Dayton @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM) - TBD
Fort Myers @ Clearwater (5:30 PM) - LHP Cesar Lares 

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[Tiantwindup]

Paulshawn Pasqualotto (I take it back; now that is a baseball name)

A pretty poor day on the farm (the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree?)…would not be much fun to read about but saved by Matt’s usual fine writing.

 

[jmlease1]

Schobel struggled a bit at AA last season, but seems to be adjusting nicely. Good for him to be off to such a fast start.

[HrbieFan]

Anyone know why the embedded Tweets just show up as a big X box?  Been that way on my android since opening day 

[wabene]

42 minutes ago, HrbieFan said:

Anyone know why the embedded Tweets just show up as a big X box?  Been that way on my android since opening day 

Android phone and tablet here with no pop-up blocker or antivirus software and no problems.

[jmlease1]

I do not know much about Doncon, but after this fast start, I'm certainly interested in learning more! It'll be interesting to see where he lands at the end of the season in comparison with Noah Miller (also off to a nice start, but still showing absolutely zero power). 

Chourio is also rolling early and if he can hit like this, maybe people will stop complaining about trading Arraez. (Let's be serious: people will never stop complaining about losing Arraez).

I mean, it's only 3 games so you have to pump the brakes on both of these guys, but I'd rather have a fast start than not, especially for a guy like Chourio, getting his first chance at A-ball.

[mikelink45]

I never heard of Rayne - where did he come from?

Richardson is not making the Twins anxious to join the rotation in MPLS

I want to compliment you on the writing and thank you for listing the prospects on the other teams.  I like that.  

I do hope TD at some point starts identifying the players in the photos like you did today.  That helps, I assume there are others who have no face recognition of most of the players.

[roger]

Picked up the Saints game on the radio driving home from a late brunch.  Was in the fourth inning, so I missed SWR's first three.  Although it is tough knowing what is going on listening to the radio, sounded like most of the hits off SWR were not hit hard.  Add Isola's misplay on one ball to left field didn't help.  Is he being converted to an outfielder?  Also thought that young Gardy left SWR in the game a few hitters longer than he should have.  Hopefully, SWR will return to the pitcher he was in spring training and the first three innings yesterday next time out as he may soon be needed by the Twins.

Otherwise yesterday seems to be a replay of Saturday with the best in the organization were Chourio and Rosario.  

[Matt Braun]

25 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

I never heard of Rayne - where did he come from?

Richardson is not making the Twins anxious to join the rotation in MPLS

I want to compliment you on the writing and thank you for listing the prospects on the other teams.  I like that.  

I do hope TD at some point starts identifying the players in the photos like you did today.  That helps, I assume there are others who have no face recognition of most of the players.

Rayne came over from the Dodgers along with Manuel Margot in exchange for Noah Miller. 

[FlyingFinn]

8 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

I do not know much about Doncon, but after this fast start, I'm certainly interested in learning more! It'll be interesting to see where he lands at the end of the season in comparison with Noah Miller

Doncon has to hit much better than Miller. The hitting for power skill is the only thing he is better at (batting average for their careers are .239 vs. .220). He plays some SS but he won't be there if he ever makes it to the Twins. Defense, speed, arm all favor Miller by a wide margin.