Twins Minor League Report (5/9): Matthews Shines in Double-A Debut

[Ted Schwerzler]

Zebby Matthews took the mound for the first time at Double-A and looked every bit as dominant as he did to earn the promotion. Matt Wallner stayed hot for the Saints.

 

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge

TRANSACTIONS

• Minnesota signed RHP Austin Brice to an MiLB deal and assigned him to Double-A Wichita. Brice has 144 big-league games under his belt between 2016-2022, spread out between the Marlins, the Reds, the Marlins again, the Red Sox, and the Pirates. Of course, you may recall that he pitched in 32 games for the St. Paul Saints in 2023. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
Toledo 5, St. Paul 1
Box Score
Louie Varland took the mound Thursday for the Saints. It wasn’t pretty. In just 4 2/3 innings, Varland gave up five runs on seven hits and three walks. He struck out eight batters.

Toledo scored a pair of runs in the 2nd inning and three more during the 3rd inning. It wasn’t until a Matt Wallner, 8th inning home run that the Saints found their way onto the scoreboard.

Both clubs wound up with eight hits on the evening, but it was the Mud Hens that pushed across the runs with theirs. The Saints were just 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left eight on base. 

Wallner was joined by Alex Isola as the only Saints hitters to record a pair of hits. Both were 2-for-4. Isola hit his fourth double. Patrick Winkel added his sixth double. 

Jordan Balazovic gave up one hit over 1 1/3 scoreless innings. He had two strikeouts. Scott Blewett and Diego Castillo each had one strikeout in their 1-2-3 innings. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 6, Arkansas 2
Box Score
Zebby Matthews was on the mound for his Wind Surge debut on Thursday night. The 23-year-old pitched well. He was charged with two unearned runs on three hits in 6 2/3 innings.  He had nine strikeouts and, as you would expect, he had zero walks. That gives him a total of 37 strikeouts this year without issuing a single walk. 

27-year-old Wichita native Scott Engler got the final out of the seventh inning, and just because that's how baseball works, the Wind Surge took the lead the next half-inning and Engler gets the Win. Jarret Whorff pitched a scoreless eighth frame, and Jared Solomon did the same in the ninth. 

Andrew Cossetti opened the scoring with his fourth home run of the year. The 2nd inning solo shot made it 1-0 before Kyler Fedko drove in Jake Rucker with a single. The 2-0 lead held until the 7th inning when Arkansas plated a pair of unearned runs.

6-8 outfielder Carson McCusker has been huge for the Wind Surge all week. In the seventh inning, he ripped a bases-loaded double to score Emmanuel Rodriguez, Noah Cardenas, and Cossetti, making it a 5-2 ball game.

Rodriguez recorded his ninth double of the season to drive in an 8th inning run.. Both Rodriguez and McCusker recorded went 2-for-4 with a double in the game. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 8, South Bend 1 (F/5, Rain)
Box Score
The Kernels turned to Andrew Morris on Thursday night, and he gave them five innings of one-run ball. He scattered six hits and two walks. He struck out four on the evening. The 22-year-old out of Texas Tech improved to 2-1 with an ERA of 2.64. 

Cedar Rapids put up a three-spot in the first inning. Rubel Cespedes singled home Ricardo Olivar before Jay Harry drove him in with a single. An Agustin Ruiz groundout brought in Danny De Andrade before the inning was over.

Keoni Cavaco launched his fourth home run of the season, and the 2nd inning solo shot made it 4-0. Ruiz recorded another RBI in the 3rd inning when his single allowed Cespedes to score. After giving a run back in the bottom of the 3rd inning, Cedar Rapids answered with three more in the 4th inning. Cespedes was responsible again for doing damage, this time with his first triple of the year, to score Cavaco and Luke Keaschall. De Andrade singled in Cespedes, and the Kernels led 8-1. As the 5th inning was completed, the game went into a lengthy delay due to rain and eventually was called.

Cedar Rapids racked up 11 hits. Rubel Cespedes was 2-for-2 with a walk and triple. He scored three runs and drove in three runs. Danny De Andrade was 2-for-3. Keoni Cavaco was 2-for-3 and homered for the second straight game. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Dunedin 8, Fort Myers 3
Box Score
Paulshawn Pasqualotto took the ball Thursday night for the Mighty Mussels. In 4 1/3 innings, he allowed six runs (five earned) on seven hits while walking two and striking out just one batter.

Dunedin scored early and often to jump out front 7-0 by the bottom of the 5th inning. Rafael Cruz singled home Payton Eeles to put the Mighty Mussels on the board for the first time. In the bottom of the 7th inning, Isaac Pena brought home Cruz with a sacrifice fly for Fort Myers’ second run. Jose Rodriguez added a sacrifice fly in the 8th inning to score Rayne Doncon , but it remained a five-run deficit.

While seven of the nine Mussels' starters had a hit, Cruz is the only one with two hits. Along with his RBI single, he hit his first triple. Doncon added his 10th double which ties him with Wichita's Kala'i Rosario for most in the organization. 

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
FCL Orioles 4, FCL Twins 2
Box Score
Eduardo Soriano made his first start of 2024 on Thursday for the FCL Twins. In two innings, he was charged with four runs (two earned) on four hits while walking two and striking out a pair.

Miguel Cordero came on and struck out four batters in his three perfect innings. Lefty Wilker Reyes worked the final two innings. He gave up one hit and had two strikeouts. 

All four of the Orioles runs came in the 2nd inning which put the Twins in an early deficit. They didn’t answer until the 7th inning, and it was too little too late. Bryan Acuna singled home Yasser Mercedes before Hendry Chivilli drove in Dameury Pena with a sacrifice fly. Mercedes went 2-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base. All seven hits were singles.

The Twins went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left nine runners on base, not exactly a winning recipe.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Zebby Matthews (6.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K)
Hitter of the Day – Rubel Cespedes (Cedar Rapids) - 2-2, 3 R, 3 RBI, 3B(1), BB

PROSPECT SUMMARY
#3 – Emmanuel Rodriguez (Wichita) – 2-4, 2B, R, RBI, BB, K
#7 – Austin Martin (Minnesota) – 0-3, R, BB, 2 K
#10 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – 1-4, 3 K
#11 – Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 1-5
#12 – Luke Keaschall (Cedar Rapids) – 1-4, R, K
#15 – Danny De Andrade (Cedar Rapids) – 2-3, R, RBI
#19 – Ricardo Olivar (Cedar Rapids) – 1-3, R

FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Toledo (6:05 PM CST) – RHP Randy Dobnak (2-3, 5.28 ERA)
Wichita vs Arkansas (7:05 PM CST) –RHP Marco Raya (0-0, 3.07 ERA)
Cedar Rapids @ South Bend (6:05 PM CST) – RHP Darren Bowen (2-2, 4.00 ERA)
Fort Myers vs Dunedin (6:05 PM CST) – RHP Ty Langenberg (0-3, 5.75 ERA)

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

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[nclahammer]

Great report Ted & TD.  Can't wait to see the Kernels in person again later this summer.

[Doctor Wu]

That gives him a total of 37 strikeouts this year without issuing a single walk. 

Man, I'm getting excited about Zebby! 

[FlyingFinn]

Zebby Matthews was even better than his final stats. Through 6 innings, he threw 67 pitches and had 8 K's with, of course, no walks and one hit. Maybe got a little tired but he had the last batter but Schobel threw wildly to first base with two outs and two runs scored on the play.

[tony&rodney]

Wichita has some good second basemen playing shortstop and the ball keeps finding them. I'm wondering if DeAndrade will be ready for a promotion in June.

[stringer bell]

How far can Matthews advance in one year? He has to be advancing on prospect lists as well, given his performance.

[Doctor Gast]

Zebby is one step closer. Wallner had a good game but still struck-out twice, still the Mudhens' pitching was pretty awesome. 

[Dman]

1 hour ago, FlyingFinn said:

Zebby Matthews was even better than his final stats. Through 6 innings, he threw 67 pitches and had 8 K's with, of course, no walks and one hit. Maybe got a little tired but he had the last batter but Schobel threw wildly to first base with two outs and two runs scored on the play.

Thanks for the context I was watching that game as well. If Schobel doesn't screw everything up Zebby escapes pitching 7 innings giving up zero walks and zero runs.  It did look like maybe he got a little tired or extra aggressive in the 7th where he gave up the hits, but that was still an excellent performance for his first AA outing. 

Nothing changed level to level.  Zero walks, the K's were there and he even kept the hits to a minimum.  Watching the stuff it doesn't look all that impressive to me, but the results certainly are.  We'll see how the next couple of months go, but since he has command and control he is likely on the fast track if he keeps preforming even close to last night.

[FlyingFinn]

37 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Wichita has some good second basemen playing shortstop and the ball keeps finding them. I'm wondering if DeAndrade will be ready for a promotion in June.

The Twins really only have two players in the minor league system who I see as a future MLB SS and that is De Andrade and Brooks Lee. That said, his bat isn't that much further ahead of where Noah Miller was last year at this time. De Andrade needs time at high A for his bat to develop.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Goooooooo Zebby. The Twins need another North Carolina native on the major league roster. Zebby lives in Cullowhee, NC  located in western N.C. Zebby will soon be in the rotation with Bailey Ober, who grew up in Huntersville, NC, just north of Charlotte in the western Piedmont region of North Carolina. They can both pitch to Ryan Jeffers from Raleigh, NC, located in the center of North Carolina. And the number ONE Twins' prospect, Walker Jenkins, is from Southport, NC, which is on the coast of North Carolina.  Since I also live in North Carolina in the hometown of 1987 World Series Championship team member,   Mark "Country" Davidson (Statesville, NC) and have been a huge Twins' fan since  "the move" in 1961, when I transferred my 8 year boyhood team loyalty from the lowly Washington (my birthplace) Senators to the mighty Minnesota Twins. I will remind you that the Charlotte, NORTH CAROLINA minor league franchise had a long history of being a Senators'/Twins' farm team where Harmon Killebrew once played, after his 2 year sentence of riding the Senators' bench as a signed bonus baby. That rule was a poorly conceived "bonus baby" rule back then. Any bonus baby signed had to be on the major league roster for 2 years immediately after the signing. This discouraged the owners from signing bonus babies, because the bonus babies had to take up a roster spot on the major league team. However the Washington Senators teams of the 1950's were consistently in last place (Washington Senators' motto was - "First in War, First in peace and Last in the American League"), so 18 and 19 year old Killebrew's presence on the Senators' bench for 2 years really didn't hurt the Senators.  Long live the North Carolina - Minnesota Twins' pipeline !

[wabene]

Zebby is an example of the quality product being pumped out of the vaunted Minnesota Twins pitching pipeli... nevermind.

Zebby does have me excited, he is getting closer. From here anything can happen. 67 pitches, FF? That's impressive. Interesting about the look of his stuff DMan. I get it. Yes he's tossing mid 90's heat, but with the walk totals he's obviously right around the plate. It'll be interesting to see how this translates up the ladder. I've got to find the time to watch a few innings of this performance on MiLB TV.

[2wins87]

Zebby looked great, totally unfazed by the step up in competition.

One of his breaking balls, I think the curveball, was a great out pitch last night.  Looked to have really good depth, staying in the zone a long time but just continuing to dive below the hitters bats.

I also liked how the few times he did fall behind he had multiple pitches to get back into the at bat.  There were two 2-0 counts in the last inning where he just grooved a back door slider into the outer third.

I don't think I saw too many changeups, which was one of the main weaknesses for Matthews last year and probably still the pitch he most needs to work on.

But just a fantastic, exciting start.

[jmlease1]

Great to see Matthews have an excellent first start in AA. Looking forward to seeing how he does against that level of competition and pitching in a hitter's environment in the Texas League. 

Pleased to see Balazovic have a good outing. He's been good the last several times out after a rocky start, so maybe he's starting to settle in to the season and is getting his legs under him as a reliever. He's got talent and those Ks are shiny; he just can't get himself in trouble with the walks. He could still be a bullpen option, and I'm glad he made it through waivers.

[wabene]

Yes I forgot to mention Balazovic, the forgotten man could be a key depth piece for this bullpen.

[2wins87]

Don't know about the stuff yet, but I believe Miguel Cordero is the 3rd youngest player (by just a few days) to appear in the FCL this year, and by far the youngest pitcher (who are on average more than a year older than the hitters).

First appearance perfect with 4 punch outs in 3 innings.

Definitely going to be watching his progress.

The org has not really developed much pitching from their international signings at all, and I'm hoping that can start to change.

[mikelink45]

The pitching line for the major league has Varland next, most then say Festa.  Where does Zebby go on the next man up list?

[LambchoP]

Will be fun to keep an eye on Zebbys progression. Varland really is fighting it. I think they give him two or three more starts. If he can't find any success by then, move him to the bullpen where he can be a power throwing weapon for the Twins like he was in the playoffs last year. We could use another good bullpen arm anyways...

[wabene]

Correction: just watched Tom F's video and Zebby had 90 pitches. On the season 38 strikeouts ZERO walks, smh.

Hitting 98 with the fastball.... Wowsers

[roger]

Also noticed that Balazovic appears to have put together several very good outings in a row.  Kid was awfully good a few years ago at Wichita.  Does he still have it?  Sure would be nice if he helped the pen later this summer?

Also noticed Acuna now that the complex team is in action.  Recall he was awesome as a 16-year old in the DSL two years ago, then not so good in Fort Myers last year.  Its only a couple games, but lets hope some of that Acuna talent flowed into this young mans genes. 

[2wins87]

55 minutes ago, LambchoP said:

Will be fun to keep an eye on Zebbys progression. Varland really is fighting it. I think they give him two or three more starts. If he can't find any success by then, move him to the bullpen where he can be a power throwing weapon for the Twins like he was in the playoffs last year. We could use another good bullpen arm anyways...

Varland's 2 starts prior to yesterday weren't successful enough?  12 IP, 1 ER, 1 BB, 13 K

I think there is more time to let him find some consistency.

[Five minute major]

Flying under the radar because of Zebby is ERod who had another productive night.  Time for him to see some AAA AB's.  His very high walk rate indicates he is being pitched around routinely.  

[Dman]

17 minutes ago, Five minute major said:

Flying under the radar because of Zebby is ERod who had another productive night.  Time for him to see some AAA AB's.  His very high walk rate indicates he is being pitched around routinely.  

I don't know if you watched the game last night but I saw the at bat he got walked and ERod looked disinterested after the count went 0-2.  He knew the guy was going to walk him.  Once pitchers get behind in the count to him they seem to have little appetite to put things in the zone. In this at bat the pitcher did throw 0-3 strike down the middle but that was it.  Next ptich Rodriguez took his base.  Rodriguez know what he is doing at the plate.  Just needs to get\keep contact rate up and he is MLB ready IMO.

[jmlease1]

1 hour ago, Five minute major said:

Flying under the radar because of Zebby is ERod who had another productive night.  Time for him to see some AAA AB's.  His very high walk rate indicates he is being pitched around routinely.  

There are still going to be pitchers who will try him in AA. It's hardly going to hurt him to spend another month there: he's literally got 23 games in AA at age 21. he's still on a fast track if he moves up at midseason.

[MN_ExPat]

Every time Whorff has a good moment, I feel oddly compelled to post something akin to this... 🙃

 

[D.C Twins]

Free Cespedes (or explain what exactly he still needs to work on at A)

[MN_ExPat]

1 hour ago, Dman said:

I don't know if you watched the game last night but I saw the at bat he got walked and ERod looked disinterested after the count went 0-2.  He knew the guy was going to walk him.  Once pitchers get behind in the count to him they seem to have little appetite to put things in the zone. In this at bat the pitcher did throw 0-3 strike down the middle but that was it.  Next ptich Rodriguez took his base.  Rodriguez know what he is doing at the plate.  Just needs to get\keep contact rate up and he is MLB ready IMO.

0-3 for a strike???

😉

[CCHOF5yearstoolate]

4 hours ago, wabene said:

Yes I forgot to mention Balazovic, the forgotten man could be a key depth piece for this bullpen.

Not that it's hard to clear a spot, but Balazovic isn't on the 40-man roster as of now. 

[DocBauer]

I liked Cory Lewis better than Matthews initially. The hard knuckleball being just a fun, but functional reason. I just thought he had a little more velocity and pure stuff. And he did have the better 2023 overall. But Matthews has raised his game another level this season, and it's exciting to see. 

Festa has now been unleashed to go 70 pitchers plus, as long as he doesn't have one of those bad 30 pitch innings. Raya moved up to 55 pitches last time out and I'd suspect he'll be 60  plus pretty soon. Matthews is looking great. Culpepper is back on the mound again for Cedar Rapids and a lot of season still ahead. Hopefully, Lewis will be back in time for at least a half season of work to build on last year. Andrew Morris is quietly off to a solid start this season as well. HOPEFULLY, Pierson Ohl will get back on track and start looking like the prospect he was last season.

No more injuries, no more setbacks for this group listed, the second half of this year could have us really excited about what's coming up and really, really close. Matthews keeps rolling like he has been...keep in mind it's not even mid May yet...I could see him  at St Paul come August. But a single really nice start isn't going to get my "hope meter" up and running that he'll be ready sooner than that. 

But it's hard not to be at least a little bit excited about what the rest of this year might bring in terms of younger arms getting pretty close.

[FlyingFinn]

13 minutes ago, DocBauer said:

Hopefully, Lewis will be back in time for at least a half season of work

If we get really lucky, Canterino and Prielipp also pitch this year. Anyone hear anything about either one? They seem to be off everyone's radar, which is a bad sign.

[RpR]

I see Joey Wallner scored the Saints only run.