Minor League Report (5/5): Doncon Makes it Rayne

[Matt Braun]

Maybe we'll finally see a Sunday without at least one game postponed.

Image courtesy of William Parmeter

TRANSACTIONS
No moves were made on Sunday.

Saints Sentinel
St. Paul 6, Louisville 7
Box Score
David Festa: 3 1/3 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 8 K
HR: Alex Isola (2)
Multi-hit games: Matt Wallner (2-for-5, R), Michael Helman (2-for-4, 2 2B, 2 R, RBI, BB), Yunior Severino (2-for-4, R, RBI)

The Saints failed to complete their comeback on Sunday.

David Festa suffered a strange fate. He struck out eight batters, the second-highest single-game total of the season for the righty, but allowed a flurry of hits and runs—seven and five, respectively. Two went for homers. Hopefully, the whiffs will outweigh the traffic his next time on the mound.

St. Paul’s bats flashed an impressive combination of patience and damage; they walked six times and banged out nine hits. Most of the damage came in the 3rd when Alex Isola capped a hectic frame with a three-run shot to left center, his second homer of the season.

The Saints could have scored more later—they loaded the bases in the 8th—but that opportunity begat a lone run. They scored once more in the 9th. That was it for the bats.

Justin Topa made his probable final rehab outing; the 33-year-old struck out one in a scoreless inning of work. The Twins will have to make a roster decision regarding their reliever tomorrow. 

Jordan Balazovic looked positively electric over two innings of work on Sunday, whiffing four with excellent command. He topped out at 96.3 MPH and earned nine swings-and-misses over just 33 pitches. 

Matt Wallner snapped his three-game homer streak as he nearly sent one out of CHS stadium, but the ball twisted a little too far foul. He had to settle for a two-hit outing. Both balls left his bat at over 109 MPH.

Technically, outfielder Blake Dunn was the best prospect to play for the Bats on Sunday, but since he only pinch-ran, pitcher Lyon Richardson deserves a mention as well. He allowed four runs over three innings. The two are ranked 11th and 14th, respectively, on Cincinnati's MLB Pipeline list. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Because early May is still April in spirit, rain washed away Wichita’s match on Sunday, moving the game to some time in June. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 6, Peoria 0
Box Score
Jordan Carr: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
HR: Nate Baez (1), Danny De Andrade (2)
Multi-hit games: Nate Baez (2-for-3, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB)

The Kernels continued their drumming of the Chiefs with a fifth straight win against Peoria. Even the minor league teams are streaking.

He wasn’t quite Darren Bowen from the day before, but Jordan Carr put forth a gorgeous, efficient start, shutting down Peoria’s lineup for four innings. He struck out two and allowed three baserunners. Kyle Bischoff, Jacob Wosinski, and Juan Mercedes carried the pitching effort the rest of the way; they combined for five shutout innings, six strikeouts, and one lone baserunner allowed. 

The Kernels—not wanting their pitching to receive all the attention—hit about as well as they threw if such a thing could be quantified. Democracy ruled: every hitter outside of Jose Salas earned a knock, and six batters reached base at least twice. Nate Baez and Danny De Andrade homered. Luke Keaschall swiped his 11th base of the season. 

Two numbers alone can detail the dominance: Chiefs pitchers needed 170 pitches to survive eight innings; Kernels hurlers threw just 116 over nine. 

The usually talented Cardinals farm system sent one notable prospect out on Sunday: pitcher Brycen Mautz. St. Louis’ 20th-ranked prospect started the game and allowed two runs over three innings. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 4, Bradenton 5
Box Score
Aaron Holiday: 1/3 IP, 0 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 0 K
HR: Rayne Doncon (4)
Multi-hit games: Rayne Doncon (3-for-5, HR, 2B, R, RBI), Brandon Winokur (2-for-5, RBI), Omari Daniel (2-for-4, 2 R)

The Mighty Mussels couldn’t rally strong enough to win on Sunday.

Starter Aaron Holiday wasn’t wild; he was untamable. His start lasted 29 pitches—11 strikes—and Brian Meyer mercifully pulled the plug following Holiday’s fourth walk of the inning. He earned one out. 

The sudden need for a rag-tag mis-mash of pitchers to cover the rest of the game put Fort Myers in a hole they never climbed out of. Jack Noble ended the opening frame but allowed two runs. Julio Bonilla, the man who took the loss, swallowed two runs—one of them earned—but, really, neither should have been. The first run scored after the runner advanced on an interference error by first baseman Wilfri Castro on a pickoff attempt; the second, thanks in part to a throwing error by Maddux Houghton (which should have been an error placed on second baseman Rafael Cruz, for an extreme lackadaisical effort on the play.)

Fort Myers’ offense nearly won them the game, though. Rayne Doncon continued his bludgeoning habits with a 108.4 MPH scorching double and a relatively tepid 94.5 MPH solo homer. 

Other runs scored thanks to a scalded single by Byron Chourio, a run-scoring double play by Doncon, and a beautifully-stroked liner by Brandon Winokur.

11 hits couldn’t overcome eight allowed walks; the bevy of free passes bit Fort Myers one too many times, leading to a narrow defeat.

Bradenton right-fielder Shalin Polanco is Pittsburgh’s 16th-ranked prospect. He homered and walked in four plate appearances. 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Jordan Carr
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:
#6 - David Festa (St. Paul) - David Festa: 3 1/3 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 8 K
#10 - Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) - 2-5, RBI
#12 - Luke Keaschall (Cedar Rapids) - 1-3, R, 2 BB
#15 - Danny De Andrade (Cedar Rapids) - 1-5, HR, R, 2 RBI
#16 - Yunior Severino (St. Paul) - 2-4, R, RBI

TUESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Toledo (5:05 PM) - TBD
Arkansas @ Wichita (7:05 PM) - RHP Travis Adams
Cedar Rapids @ South Bend(5:05 PM) - TBD
Dunedin @ Fort Myers (6:05 PM) - TBD
FCL Twins @ FCL Pirates (11:00 AM) - TBD

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[FlyingFinn]

Some decent reports from the farm, especially Doncon's hitting. But the Cory Lewis announcement that he's moving to the 60 day IL probably more than sours any good news of the day. How long before Brooks Lee and Walker Jenkins join him on the 60 day. With Prielipp and Canterino also on the 60 day IL, this is 25% of our top 20 prospects not participating so far this year. No wonder our MiLB records haven't been great.

[mikelink45]

When does Rayne Doncon make the prospect list/

[Doctor Gast]

IMO the point of sending Wallner down to AAA, shouldn't be to see how many HRs he can hit there. It's to change his swing so that he doesn't SO so much in the MLB. If he does that then it'll be a success. It's so easy to get distracted from that.

[LambchoP]

I know it's still really early, but Festa is looking more and more like a BP arm. Can strike out a ton of hitters, but seems to run out of gas pretty early. Same with Raya. We'll see what we can get out of them. Real bummer Cory Lewis looks to be seriously hurt, he was someone I really wanted to follow this year...

[jmlease1]

odd start from Festa, but it's one of those where you look at it and can see why he's a top prospect and why he's still in AAA. He's still under 150 total innings in the high minors, so there's work to be done. but the talent is there.

Chourio and Doncon are both doing all right in the FSL, and Winokur is a nice fit along with them. Wish Jenkins was back, but there's no way the Twins take any chances with that hammy of his, so I'm not expecting him back until June.

[roger]

Cedar Rapids is the only team with a winning record.  I know not all of last year's team moved up to Wichita, but continue to wonder where all that winning went.

What happened to Balazovic yesterday?  Seems like he was the stud we have watched for all those years.  Has he been better of late?  Or was yesterday a flash in the pan?

How long will the Twins continue to play Cavaco before admitting the obvius?

[FlyingFinn]

49 minutes ago, roger said:

I know not all of last year's team moved up to Wichita, but continue to wonder where all that winning went.

If you just look at the hitters and the starting pitchers they are essentially performing like Cedar Rapids last year. But the bullpen for Wichita has been blowing five run leads consistently (about 5 times or more already this season).

Don't know much about the Wichita manager but Brian Dinkelman in Cedar Rapids seems to get the most of his team every year.