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

[Dman]

1 hour ago, MN_ExPat said:

0-3 for a strike???

😉

oops 3-0.  Lost my  mind......

[saviking]

Varland needs to go back to the pen. 

Emmanuel Rodriguez OBP is sick. Almost one in every 2 bats. Hits for tremendous power but if he walks he can steal bases. 

[jmlease1]

1 hour ago, DocBauer said:

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.

The best part of this list of pitchers is how many are on the list. because sadly, injuries and ineffectiveness are going to cut it down as they move up levels. Pitching development really is a numbers game.

But it's hard not to like what's going on with Matthews, and it will be very encouragoing if Raya & Festa start handling heavier loads.

[ashbury]

3 hours ago, Dman said:

In this at bat the pitcher did throw 0-3 strike down the middle but that was it.

Sometimes my head hurts after reading this site, but I go lie down and it gets better.

[Dman]

7 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Sometimes my head hurts after reading this site, but I go lie down and it gets better.

lol.  I was trying to type that up quick and just didn't go back and check what I wrote.  I just had it in my head that it was right.  Pretty crazy how when you just mind dump it can come out wrong and not even realize it until pointed out. 😱

[ashbury]

29 minutes ago, Dman said:

lol.  I was trying to type that up quick and just didn't go back and check what I wrote.  I just had it in my head that it was right.  Pretty crazy how when you just mind dump it can come out wrong and not even realize it until pointed out. 😱

I knew you were better than that, and also pretty sure you can take a joke.