Twins Minor League Week in Review (5/27-6/2): Wallner Busts Out; Keaschall, Santos Continue to Roll

[Ted Schwerzler]

It was Luke Keaschall's first week at Double-A, and Brooks Lee's rehab assignment progressed to Fort Myers. Royce Lewis wrapped up his rehab assignment, and Matt Wallner went crazy. There were more than a handful of exciting performances on the farm for the Twins this week.

Image courtesy of William Parmeter (photo of Nolan Santos)

TRANSACTIONS:

• INF Edouard Julien optioned to Triple-A St. Paul

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
Game 1: FCL Rays 2, FCL Twins 1
Box Score

Anthony Narvaez made the start today for the FCL Twins and he allowed just a single unearned run across four innings. Allowing three hits and a walk, Narvaez struck out nine. Walker Jenkins was not in the lineup today because he is joining Fort Myers tomorrow and being activated off the injured list.

Down 1-0 in the fifth inning, Javier Roman doubled to score Omari Daniel and the Twins tied the score with their first run. A sixth inning error by Hendry Chivilli allowed the Rays to score what wound up being the game winning run.

Roman and Anderson Nova were the only Twins players to get a hit.

Game 2: FCL Rays 7, FCL Twins 0
Box Score

Playing a makeup game for the May 16 rainout,  Yency De Jesus drew the start for the Twins. He worked three innings giving up two unearned runs. The bats were cold for the home club though as Giovanny Rivero was the only Twin to record a hit, and while it was a double, that wasn't going to get it done.

DOMINICAN DAILIES
The Twins were set to kick off their Dominican Summer League schedule on Monday against the Washington Nationals. Unfortunately weather caused a suspension of the game.

WEEK IN REVIEW
Triple-A: St. Paul Saints

• Overall: 25-31 (3-4 last week) Eighth place in the IL West
• Overview: Royce Lewis wrapped up his rehab assignment with St. Paul as they faced the former Twins Triple-A affiliate.
• Matt Wallner was joined by Michael Helman as the only players to appear in all seven games this week. He was dialed in with a 1.331 OPS, three doubles, and four home runs.
• Diego A. Castillo (.417), Tony Kemp (.391), Yunior Severino (.333), and Michael Helman (.333) all batted above .300.
• Adam Plutko turned in a scoreless start working four innings and striking out four.
• Louie Varland’s six strikeouts were a team high on the bump.
• What’s Next: It remains a New York state of mind but this time at CHS Field. St. Paul hosts Syracuse this week.

Double-A: Wichita Wind Surge

• Overall: 19-31 (1-5 last week) Fifth place in the Texas League North
• Overview: Facing the top team in the Texas League North, it was tough sledding for the Wind Surge.
• Aaron Sabato posted a .471 average and 1.232 OPS with a double and a homer.
• Kyler Fedko also batted over .400, going 5-for-12 with three doubles.
• Luke Keaschall made his Double-A debut and acted like nothing had changed. He was 8-for-25 (.320) with a double.
• Austin Brice worked 2 2/3 innings of relief and posted a 7/1 K/BB.
• Jaylen Nowlin had a highlight start working 5 2/3 innings scoreless.
• What’s Next: NW Arkansas is just above Wichita in the Texas League North standings, and the Wind Surge will face them for a road series this week.

High-A: Cedar Rapids Kernels

• Overall: 30-20 (2-4 last week) First place in the Midwest League West
• Overview: Facing the top team on the East side of the Midwest League, the Kernels had a losing week.
• Misael Urbina and Dillon Tatum each had a pair of doubles and a dinger.
• Ricardo Olivar hit three longballs and his 17 total bases were nearly double the next closest teammate.
• Juan Mendez threw four scoreless innings in relief and his five strikeouts were a team high.
• A.J. Labas pitched a team high six innings across two relief outings allowing just a single run.
• What’s Next: Going to Great Lakes for a series, Cedar Rapids plays against the second best team in the Midwest League East.

Low-A: Fort Myers Mighty Mussels

• Overall: 24-27 (5-1 last week) Fourth place in Florida State League West
• Overview: Going up against a Bradenton team near them in the standings, Fort Myers handled business losing just one of the six games.
• Payton Eeles and Carlos Aguiar were on fire with each batting over .400 and posting a 1.200 OPS. Eeles also had the only Fort Myers homer and four stolen bases.
• Poncho Ruiz and Brandon Winokur each had a pair of doubles this week.
• Brooks Lee was with the Mighty Mussels on a rehab assignment and owned an .818 OPS.
• Ross Dunn worked a three inning start allowing just one (unearned) run while striking out four.
• A bunch of Fort Myers pitchers had scoreless weeks but Nolan Santos did so across five innings with an 11/1 K/BB.
• Samuel Perez had 10 strikeouts across 6 2/3 scoreless innings.
• What’s Next: Traveling to Tampa, the Mighty Mussels squad off against the bottom team in the Florida State League West division.

Complex League: FCL Twins

• Overall: 13-7 (2-2 last week) First place (tied) in Florida Complex League South
• Walker Jenkins continued his rehab assignment and lit up the FCL with a .462 average and 1/6 K/BB.
• Ricardo Pena, Dameury Pena, and Anderson Nova each went deep this week and all three had an OPS north of .900.
• Yilber Herrera, Yasser Mercedes, and Harold Grant each had a pair of steals.
• Cory Lewis continued his rehab assignment with a scoreless three-inning start. He struck out four.
• Dylan Questad made the best start of his young career going three scoreless innings and striking out five.

PROSPECT SUMMARY

#1– Walker Jenkins (Fort Myers) – Rehab with FCL - 6-13, 5 R, 2 2B, 3 RBI, 1 K, 6 BB
#2 – Brooks Lee (St. Paul) – Rehab with Fort Myers - 6-18, 2 R, 2B, 3 RBI, 3 K, 3 BB, SB
#3 – Emmanuel Rodriguez (Wichita) – DNP, IL
#4 – David Festa (St. Paul) – 4.0 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 5 K
#5 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – DNP, IL 
#6 – Marco Raya (Wichita) – 1.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, BB, K
#7 – Charlee Soto (Fort Myers) – 2.2 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
#8 – Austin Martin (St. Paul) – 5-18, 5 R, 2 RBI, 2 K, 5 BB
#9 – Luke Keaschall (Wichita) - 8-25, 3 R, 2B, 2 RBI, 5 K, BB, SB
#10 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – 4-13, 4 R, 2 2B, 3 RBI, 3 K, 4 BB
#12 – Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) – 4-20, 2 R, 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 8 K, 5 BB
#13 – Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 3-19, 3 R, HR, 2 RBI, 6 K, 1 BB
#14 – Zebby Matthews (Wichita) – 5.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
#15 – Cory Lewis (Wichita) – Rehab with FCL - 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
#18 – Yunior Severino (St. Paul) – 6-18, 2 R, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 7 K, 3 BB
#19 – C.J. Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) – 3.0 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
#20 – Ricardo Olivar (Cedar Rapids) – 8-26, 3 R, 3 HR, 5 RBI, 6 K

Hitter of the Week - Matt Wallner (St. Paul) - 7-24, 8 R, 3 2B, 4 HR, 10 RBI, 7 K, 4 BB

Pitcher of the Week - Nolan Santos (Fort Myers) - 5.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 11 K, 2 SV

 

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[roger]

Best report of the year, Ted.  Royce is healthy and will be with the Twins in NYC.  Jenkins is healthy and will be back with the Fort Myers team tomorrow.  Hoooorah!

[mikelink45]

The batters all look good, the pitching prospects were a mixed bag - overall the pitchers did not have a good week. Glad to see good bats, but the arms have to start performing too.

[Twodogs]

Is there anywhere where I can find a good stat page on individual minor league teams?  I mean when I go to MILB team stats it just shows home runs?  I liked being able to follow and see all of the stats back in the day, I just can't find that stuff anymore, at least they really seem to make it hard to find.

[High heat]

Twins organization is going to have to thin out the upper minors at the deadline.  Have a log jam of COF and utility “prospects” in there mid 20s.  Going to have to find a spot for them or move on to make space and ABs for prospects to move

[Major League Ready]

32 minutes ago, Twodogs said:

Is there anywhere where I can find a good stat page on individual minor league teams?  I mean when I go to MILB team stats it just shows home runs?  I liked being able to follow and see all of the stats back in the day, I just can't find that stuff anymore, at least they really seem to make it hard to find.

Just go to the team site and look under the "Team" tab in the menu and then Individual Stats.

[Major League Ready]

33 minutes ago, High heat said:

Twins organization is going to have to thin out the upper minors at the deadline.  Have a log jam of COF and utility “prospects” in there mid 20s.  Going to have to find a spot for them or move on to make space and ABs for prospects to move

The only OFer that needs to be moved up to AAA is Rodriguez.  They don't have any utility prospects in Wichita making a strong case for a promotion.  DFA Margot and bring up either Walner, Martin, or Keirsey and that takes care of it.  Hopefully Brooks Lee pushes the issue but he needs to put together 6-8 weeks before we need to cross that bridge.  When we do, hopefully they can find a trade partner for Farmer before the deadline if he plays well enough to merit a trade or he could be DFAed as well.

[LambchoP]

Nice to see Royce Lewis, Brooks Lee and Walker Jenkins all healthy again. Wallner sure looks like he's figured it out finally. I'd say call up him, Keirsey Jr or Austin Martin and DFA Margot. It's past time. Then E-Rod could get the well deserved promotion to AAA. Looks like twins have quite a few bats looking good in the minors. Maybe we can use some of them to get some impact pitching, because pitching side of our minor leaguers don't look nearly as good.

[High heat]

43 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

The only OFer that needs to be moved up to AAA is Rodriguez.  They don't have any utility prospects in Wichita making a strong case for a promotion.  DFA Margot and bring up either Walner, Martin, or Keirsey and that takes care of it.  Hopefully Brooks Lee pushes the issue but he needs to put together 6-8 weeks before we need to cross that bridge.  When we do, hopefully they can find a trade partner for Farmer before the deadline if he plays well enough to merit a trade or he could be DFAed as well.

Gotta make a decision if Prado, Helman, and Kiersey are big leaguers or just AAAA guys.  Walner, Larnach and Kiriloff are all mid to late 20s and are all very similar. 1 of them has to go this offseason. 

[chpettit19]

49 minutes ago, High heat said:

Gotta make a decision if Prado, Helman, and Kiersey are big leaguers or just AAAA guys.  Walner, Larnach and Kiriloff are all mid to late 20s and are all very similar. 1 of them has to go this offseason. 

I'd say leaving all 3 of those guys unprotected in the Rule 5 and having none of them picked shows the Twins, and league, have made their decision and likely won't go out of their way to get them to the bigs. Not saying those guys don't deserve a shot, but 26, 28, and 27 year olds who go unselected in the Rule 5 don't often have teams going out of their way to give them that shot.

[Guest]

Wish I could figure out what adjustment Wallner made to (apparently) turn it around.  Still has the leg kick that in my mind keeps him from keeping his head still.  But that shot to the opposite field is very encouraging.

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, High heat said:

Gotta make a decision if Prado, Helman, and Kiersey are big leaguers or just AAAA guys.  Walner, Larnach and Kiriloff are all mid to late 20s and are all very similar. 1 of them has to go this offseason. 

Those are not the names I thought you would give. I was thinking more of Schobel and Keaschall. Prato and Helman are minor league utility players who the Twins would gladly trade to fill a hole on the MLB roster.

Looking at players who have to be added to the roster this winter or risk losing to Rule 5:

David Festa, Kalai Rosario, Marco Raya, Travis Adams, Pierson Ohl, Andrew Morris, Jaylen Nowlin

They won't protect all of those players and there is some interesting pitching on that list. Ricardo Olivar was available last year but was too raw to get selected. Catchers who can hit are scarce, he would likely get selected this winter.

[High heat]

50 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Those are not the names I thought you would give. I was thinking more of Schobel and Keaschall. Prato and Helman are minor league utility players who the Twins would gladly trade to fill a hole on the MLB roster.

Looking at players who have to be added to the roster this winter or risk losing to Rule 5:

David Festa, Kalai Rosario, Marco Raya, Travis Adams, Pierson Ohl, Andrew Morris, Jaylen Nowlin

They won't protect all of those players and there is some interesting pitching on that list. Ricardo Olivar was available last year but was too raw to get selected. Catchers who can hit are scarce, he would likely get selected this winter.

Yes you move one group or move on makes way for guys further down to move up.  Kai Rosario and shobel to move up if Keaschall keeps hitting he will likely move to AAA.  
 

Have to move one of Walner, Larnach Kirilloff while they have trade value.  
 

If Keirsey and Helman can provide you the same value as Farmer and Margot you can save yourself 10 million next yr.  You have to give them an opportunity and see 

[Doctor Wu]

17 hours ago, High heat said:

Have to move one of Walner, Larnach Kirilloff while they have trade value.

Yes to that idea. One of those guys will certainly bring a lot more back than trying to unload someone like Farmer or Vasquez. But back to the outfield, or DH types, we definitely have more bodies than we need. Time to make some moves.