Twins Minor League Report (6/4): Jenkins and Lee Return, DSL Season Kicks Off

[Steve Lein]

If you are into top prospects returning from rehab assignments, Tuesday was your night! Unless that top prospect was Brooks Lee with the St. Paul Saints, as CHS Field was rained out. Walker Jenkins did get back into the action with Fort Myers, but it was a surging pitcher for the Mighty Mussels that pushed them to a win. The Dominican Summer League season also kicked off for the Twins’ squad.

Image courtesy of William Parmeter, Fort Myers Mighty Mussels (photo of Walker Jenkins)

TRANSACTIONS

• Across the river from Target Field, SS Brooks Lee and 2B Edouard Julien officially returned to the Saints. Lee from his rehab assignment, and Julien being optioned from the Minnesota Twins to make room for 3B Royce Lewis. RHP Austin Schulfer was  transferred to the development list.
• In addition, OF/2B Yoyner Fajardo was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Cash Considerations. He was one of the Twins minor league Rule 5 picks in December of 2022 from the Pirates organization. 
• In the Texas League, the Wind Surge activated RHP Scott Engler, and in a corresponding move assigned RHP Mike Paredes down to Cedar Rapids.
• Down in Florida, Twins top prospect OF Walker Jenkins was activated from his rehab assignment and the 7-day injured list. The Mighty Mussels also transferred OF Jose Rodriguez from the 7-day to the 60-day injured list. Rodriguez had been there since May 18th with a thumb injury.

SAINTS SENTINEL
Syracuse @ St. Paul, Postponed - Rain
The series opener for the Saints against the Mets was postponed on Tuesday, as heavy rain made its way through the Twin Cities.

So Saints fans will have to wait at least another day to check out the returns of Brooks Lee and Edouard Julien. This one will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Thursday, with first pitch coming at 5:07 PM CDT. Both contests will be seven innings.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 1, NW Arkansas 10
Box Score
It’s always fun to wonder which version of Jaylen Nowlin you will see on any given night, as he can be the epitome of “effectively wild” and keep opposing lineups off-balance in dominating fashion, or struggle with consistency and serve up a bunch of meatballs. This one was of that second variety, but there’s always a lot of strikeouts!

The Naturals took an early 1-0 lead with a double followed by an RBI single in the bottom of the first. In the bottom of the third Nowlin got two quick outs, including a strikeout, but then the next three hitters all launched home runs to make it 4-0. Nowlin came back out for the fifth, but his day was finished after allowing a one-out single. In his 4 1/3 innings, Nowlin was charged with five earned runs on seven hits, one walk, while punching out six. 

The Wind Surge got their lone run in the top of the fifth, as Ben Ross led off with his third home run of the season. That was their lone extra-base hit of the game, and as a team they managed just five at-bats with runners in scoring position (going 1-for-5), and leaving eight men on base. 

Taylor Floyd came on in relief of Nowlin in the fifth and got them through the sixth, allowing a home run of his own, but striking out three. Cody Laweryson couldn’t get out unscathed either, surrendering four earned runs on five hits in his 1 1/3. He struck out one. Scott Engler recorded their final two outs, inducing a double-play ball to keep the Naturals from reaching a “mercy rule” lead.

The Wind Surge were outhit 13-7 by the Naturals, and four home runs allowed as a pitching staff loomed large. Tanner Schobel (2-for-4, K) and Carson McCusker (2-for-4) each had two hits. Luke Keaschall finished 0-for-3 with a walk and three strikeouts.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 5, Great Lakes 2
Box Score
The Kernels got a solid effort from starter John Klein on the road on Tuesday, as he got them into the sixth inning. In his 5 1/3 he was charged with two earned runs on four hits and a walk, while striking out seven. He left the game with his team up 5-2 after surrendering a solo home run to the Midwest League’s home run leader, Chris Newell. 

Cedar Rapids built that lead with crooked numbers in two of their prior innings. In the fourth, Jay Harry led off with a double, and scored on a two-run shot from Rubel Cespedes, his seventh home run of the season. In the sixth the Kernels loaded the bases with a pair of walks and a single, and Dalton Shuffield cleared them with the help of the Loons defense. The misplay by their center fielder allowed all three runners to come around to score, and Shuffield ended up on third.

Jordan Carr came on in relief of Klein and got them through the seventh inning. His only baserunner allowed was a walk in his 1 2/3 innings as he was credited with a hold. Gabriel Yanez finished off the final two innings to pick up the save. He gave up just one hit and struck out two, lowering his ERA on the season to 1.05.

Harry’s double and Cespedes home run were the only extra-base hits of the game for the Kernels, with them totaling just six as a team. But they were 4-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left only five men on base, so they made them count.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 4, Tampa 2
Box Score
Center fielder Walker Jenkins made his first appearance with the Mighty Mussels since MiLB Opening Day, after a nine-game rehab stint with the FCL Twins that started on May 20th. He was in center and batting second against the same team they were playing back when he crashed into the outfield wall. He hit .393/.417/.571 in that time with the FCL, so I’d expect him to hit the ground running back in the Florida State League, as well.

Just not beginning with this game, as he finished 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts, and was pinch-hit for in the eighth inning.

Despite that, Fort Myers scored the first four runs of this game, and took that 4-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning. In the second Poncho Ruiz reached on an error, and Rixon Wingrove drove him in with a double two batters later for the game’s first run. In the fourth it was Brandon Winokur’s fourth home run of the season that put them up by two.

They were able to build that lead as starting pitcher Jose Olivares was again excellent. In his five innings, he scattered four singles, walked nobody, and struck out six. Of his 62 pitches, 46 went for strikes (74%), including a whopping 15 swinging strikes. He peaked at over 96 MPH with his fastball, averaging nearly 95.

Spencer Bengard followed with two scoreless innings of his own, retiring all six hitters he faced, including a strikeout.

The Mighty Mussels lineup added insurance runs in each of the seventh and ninth innings to push their lead to 4-0. In the seventh Byron Chourio led off with a triple (that the RF misplayed into the sun), and scored on a groundout from Isaac Pena. In the ninth Chourio drew a one-out walk, stole his ninth base of the season, and scored on a single from Pena to account for all their scoring.

Xander Hamilton worked around a leadoff double in the eight to keep the Tarpons off the scoreboard, but back out for the ninth they reeled off some line against him, and those insurance runs were needed. Hamilton allowed a pair of solo home runs that made the final, but got all three outs to ensure the victory. He struck out three in his two innings.

Payton Eeles (2-for-3, BB) had multiple hits from the leadoff spot and is batting .364 in his 25 games as a pro thus far. Maddux Houghton was the pinch-hitter for Jenkins, and launched a triple off the top of the wall in his lone at-bat.

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
FCL Twins 4, FCL Rays 1 (7 innings)
Box Score
On the mound for the Twins was RHP Eduardo Soriano, looking to reign in his bloated ERA a bit early in the season. He did so on Tuesday, holding the Rays scoreless for his three innings. He allowed two hits, walked one, and struck out three. 

The Twins got on the scoreboard first in the top of the fourth inning after Hendry Chivilli clubbed his fourth double of the season. That was followed by a single from Jayson Bass to drive him in for the first run, and Bass later scored on a single from Javier Roman to make it 2-0.

Cleiber Maldonado came on for the Twins in the bottom of the fourth, and went the next two innings. He allowed one unearned on two hits, walked one, and struck out three to pick up the win. Devin Kirby finished off the game for the Twins, allowing no hits and striking out two in his two innings for his third save.

The Twins extended their lead to 4-1 in the sixth, as the first four hitters of the inning reached base to score one, and Omari Daniel lifted a sac fly to account for the final score.

Chivilli (2-for-3, 2 R, 2B, K) and Roman (2-for-3, 2 RBI) had multiple hits to lead the way.

DOMINICAN DAILY
DSL Mets Orange 8, DSL Twins 5 (7 innings)
Box Score
The Mets Orange squad took an early lead and never looked back against the DSL Twins in their season opener.

Starting pitcher Yoel Roque was roughed up for four earned runs in his 2 2/3 innings. He allowed four hits and walked three, but also struck out four. Eudy Garcia went the next three innings, allowing four runs of his own (three unearned) on four hits and three walks. Fabian Herrera got the final four outs, giving up just one hit, one walk, and striking out one.

A Yandro Hernandez double in the fourth inning scored the Twins first run of the game, but they went to the bottom of the seventh inning down 8-1. The Twins did mount an attempt at a comeback, though. Two one-out walks and a pair of singles made it 8-3, before another walk and two more singles made it 8-5 with the tying run on base. Unfortunately, that’s where their luck ran out.

Hernandez was the only Twins hitter with multiple knocks, going 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI. As a team the Twins had just five hits, all of which came with runners in scoring position, but had those hits in just two of their seven innings.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day - Jose Olivares, Fort Myers Miracle (W, 5 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K)
Hitter of the Day - Javier Roman, FCL Twins (2-for-3, 2 RBI)

PROSPECT SUMMARY
#1 – Walker Jenkins (Fort Myers) – 0-for-3, 2 K
#9 – Luke Keaschall (Wichita) – 0-for-3, BB, K
#10 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – 1-for-4, R, HR (4), RBI, 2 K
#12 – Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) – 0-for-4, K
#13 – Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 2-for-4, K
#20 – Ricardo Olivar (Cedar Rapids) – 0-for-4, 2 K

WEDNESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Syracuse @ St. Paul (7:07 PM CDT) - RHP Adam Plutko (0-1, 4.26 ERA)
Wichita @ NW Arkansas (7:05 PM CDT) - RHP Travis Adams (2-4, 5.85 ERA)
Cedar Rapids @ Great Lakes (6:05 PM CDT) - LHP Christian MacLeod (0-0, 2.70 ERA)
Fort Myers @ Tampa (6:05 PM CDT) - RHP Ty Langenberg (2-3, 3.56 ERA)
DSL Twins @ DSL Nationals (10:00 AM CDT, completion of 6/3 postponement)

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

View full article

[Doctor Wu]

A very good pitching performance by Jose Olivares for Fort Myers. I realize it's early days, but what's the outlook for him?

[roger]

It is so good seeing Jenkins' name in these reports.  Also seeing Lee will be equally exciting.  Now we need to start seeing Canterino and Priellip and all will be good!

[Dman]

1 hour ago, Doctor Wu said:

A very good pitching performance by Jose Olivares for Fort Myers. I realize it's early days, but what's the outlook for him?

I kind of gave up on him a little after last years numbers.  His WHIP this year is still high, but his ERA at A ball is a shiny 1.80 although FIP and xFIP see it a run or two higher.  Still he has good numbers to start this year just not dominant one's.  At the minor league level each teams lineups is so variable it can be hard to know what you have until much further down the line.  Still for a 21 year old throwing 95 and only likely to get better the future looks bright for Olivares right now. We'll just have to wait and see how bright.

[LambchoP]

Glad to see our guys getting healthy. What's up with Em Rod, he's been out a few games now, hopefully nothing too serious. I wish we had some news or updates on Canterino as well. Coming out of spring training I thought he looked great and could be a weapon in our bullpen. He went down and then no news since.

[Steve Lein]

14 minutes ago, LambchoP said:

Glad to see our guys getting healthy. What's up with Em Rod, he's been out a few games now, hopefully nothing too serious. I wish we had some news or updates on Canterino as well. Coming out of spring training I thought he looked great and could be a weapon in our bullpen. He went down and then no news since.

Word I saw from Doogie is he took BP yesterday and could be back in the lineup today. Canterino's stuff is shoulder related (which is good in that it's not his elbow), but also not something quickly recovered from. Note I saw from Do-Hyoung is he could be throwing off a mound this month (was throwing at 90 feet).

[jmlease1]

1 hour ago, Dman said:

I kind of gave up on him a little after last years numbers.  His WHIP this year is still high, but his ERA at A ball is a shiny 1.80 although FIP and xFIP see it a run or two higher.  Still he has good numbers to start this year just not dominant one's.  At the minor league level each teams lineups is so variable it can be hard to know what you have until much further down the line.  Still for a 21 year old throwing 95 and only likely to get better the future looks bright for Olivares right now. We'll just have to wait and see how bright.

He looks like one of those guys that doesn't have enough control when he gets into 3-ball counts can't be sure of finding the zone unless he takes a little off, so he's either giving up hits when he dials it back or giving up walks when he stays full force. But I could be wrong. He's not giving up tons of xbh so we'll see. This was definitely his best start to the year though

 

[Dman]

7 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

He looks like one of those guys that doesn't have enough control when he gets into 3-ball counts can't be sure of finding the zone unless he takes a little off, so he's either giving up hits when he dials it back or giving up walks when he stays full force. But I could be wrong. He's not giving up tons of xbh so we'll see. This was definitely his best start to the year though

 

3 ball 2 Strike counts are tough for both hitter and pitcher.  Hitter has to feel they need to swing at anything that looks like it might be close to the zone and pitcher is hoping to make something look like it will be in the zone only to drop and if the batter doesn't swing leads to ball 4.  To make a hitter chase you have to put balls in the zone otherwise they will never swing in those counts. So there is risk both ways. Putting the ball in the zone could lead to a hit.  Going out of the zone could lead to a walk.

That is a long way of saying perfecting the cat and mouse game at 3-2 takes good pitches, good control and a little luck sometimes IMO. He is still young and has time to get there, but I think you are right he likely needs to perfect his approach in those counts to get his WHIP down which helps everything else.

I didn't look earlier but nice to see he isn't giving up lot's of xbh's as that means his stuff is hard to square up.  Watching these games I have seen my fair share 2 strike counts and the batter essentially just sticks out his bat and manages a weak contact hit.  That has to be tough on a pitcher as you generate the weak contact but don't get the out.  Some hitters are just better at protecting the plate than others and while they don't always win those battles they are going to win some of them. So sometimes it is just tough luck.  Still I think he has things to work on to become more dominant.

[2wins87]

4 hours ago, Doctor Wu said:

A very good pitching performance by Jose Olivares for Fort Myers. I realize it's early days, but what's the outlook for him?

Here's a bit of statcast data from 3 of 4 appearances in low-A (Daytona doesn't have statcast).

Fastball touched 97.4, averaging right around 95.  It's been an ok pitch for him with a 23% whiff rate which is fairly average for a 4-seam.  Last year he averaged 93 and maxed out at 96 with the fastball, so there's definitely been some velocity gains there.

His main breaking ball has mostly been classified as a cutter (there were a few sliders that might be the same pitch).  It's been super effective so far with a whiff rate around 50%.  Throws it in the mid to upper 80s.  Hasn't thrown his curve or changeup too often, the changeup will probably be a big developmental focus for him to have a shot at starting.  The fastball/cutter combo would seemingly play well out of the bullpen if that doesn't work out.

[FlyingFinn]

And wa-la, Zebby Matthews is off the development list and Nowlin goes on it. I swear that list is just a way to inflate your roster limit.

[Dman]

18 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

And wa-la, Zebby Matthews is off the development list and Nowlin goes on it. I swear that list is just a way to inflate your roster limit.

....And Zebby makes the top 100 at Baseball America.  He is on a roll!!

[Doctor Wu]

On 6/6/2024 at 4:13 AM, FlyingFinn said:

And wa-la, Zebby Matthews is off the development list and Nowlin goes on it. I swear that list is just a way to inflate your roster limit.

I think you are correct in that notion. Seems as if this newfangled list is another way to rotate players in and out of the rosters without any penalty.