Twins Minor League Report (6/14): Festa K's 10 Again; Wind Surge and Mighty Mussels Win

[Ted Schwerzler]

The St. Paul Saints turned to top pitching prospect David Festa, who put up another double-digit strikeout performance. Marco Raya was solid for the Wichita Wind Surge and the Twins system grabbed wins at multiple levels on Friday night.

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 38-32 
St. Paul Saints: 31-35
Wichita Wind Surge: 25-36
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 34-26
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 29-30
FCL Twins: 15-14
DSL Twins: 4-4

TRANSACTIONS
None to report

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 9, Louisville 5
Box Score
David Festa took the ball on Friday night, and he showed why he’s a top prospect for the Twins. In six innings, he allowed just two runs on four hits while walking none and striking out 10. These are the types of performances that will quickly have him in the big leagues.

The Saints started the scoring early with a five-run first inning. Matt Wallner, recently passed over for a call-up in favor of Austin Martin, singled home Edouard Julien. Yunior Severino then brought Brooks Lee home with a single before Tony Kemp drove in Wallner. A Patrick Winkel double, his eighth of the season, scored Severino and Kemp to make it 5-0.

A Bats two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning got them on the board, but the Saints added again in the second inning. Michael Helman brought Julien home with a single before Jair Camargo’s double plated Wallner and Helman. Up 8-2, the Saints were in the driver’s seat, and their catcher continues to push for the big leagues.

Camargo drove in Helman again with a sixth-inning single to make it 9-2, and a few eighth-inning runs for Louisville weren’t enough to change the result. St. Paul picked up 16 hits on the night, and seven of their nine starters had two. Helman stole his ninth base, and Severino walked a couple of times.

Austin Brice was tagged for three runs in relief, but Jeff Brigham threw two scoreless innings allowing just a single hit and walk while striking out four.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 6, Midland 1
Box Score
Marco Raya made the start on Friday for Wichita, and he worked four innings of one-run baseball. Scattering three hits, the top prospect walked one while striking out five. It was a nice bounceback performance. Andrew Morris piggybacked with him and threw five scoreless innings allowing just two hits while striking out four to get the win.

Kyler Fedko opened the scoring with a first-inning single that brought home Luke Keaschall. Midland tied it in the second inning and things remained that way until the seventh inning. Aaron Sabato homered for the fourth time in 2024, driving in Carson McCusker and making it a 3-1 game. Dalton Shuffield doubled home Noah Cardenas before Keaschall drove in Ben Ross on a sacrifice fly. Jeferson Morales then brought home Shuffield on another sacrifice fly, and the 6-1 lead was enough to stand up.

Wichita had nine hits on the evening, and it was McCusker as the lone batter with a pair.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Lansing 4, Cedar Rapids 1
Box Score
A night after being no-hit, the Kernels responded by out-hitting Lansing 7-6. Unfortunately, they didn’t make the most of their opportunities and came up short. Jeremy Lee worked four innings while allowing a pair of runs on four hits. He walked three and struck out five batters. Gabriel Yanez and Juan Mercedes both gave up an additional unearned run.

Lansing took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, and it wasn’t until the fourth inning that Cedar Rapids mounted an answer. Misael Urbina grounded out, but Agustin Ruiz was able to score and made it a 2-1 game.

The Kernels couldn’t respond to either of the Lugnuts fifth or eighth inning runs, and ultimately came up short. Ricardo Olivar and Kevin Maitan each had a pair of hits in the losing effort.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Game 1: Fort Myers 1, Lakeland 0 (F/7)
Box Score
Tanner Hall started Game 1 Friday for Fort Myers and worked four innings of scoreless baseball. He allowed three hits, walk none, and struck out two. Ricky Castro worked three scoreless innings of relief and struck out two while scattering three hits.

The sides remained scoreless through 6 1/2 innings. With Walker Jenkins at the dish, and two outs, a wild pitch put runners on second and third. The top prospect had a 3-1 count and drew a walk to load the bases. Brandon Winokur stepped in with a chance to walk it off. Getting plunked by Eiker Huizi, the Mighty Mussels drew a win the hard way.

 

Rixon Wingrove was the lone Fort Myers hitter to record a pair of hits. 

Game 2: Lakeland 9, Fort Myers 4
Box Score

Cesar Lares started game two of the Mighty Mussels double header on Friday and he worked 4 2/3 while giving up three runs on five hits and three walks. The Fort Myers starter did strike out a pair. Both Xander Hamilton and Nolan Santos allowed three runs in relief to sink the squad.

 

 

Rixon Wingrove opened the scoring with a first inning home run, his first of the season, that scored Byron Chourio and Isaac Pena. Up 3-0 the Flying Tigers chipped away in the top of the third inning with a pair of runs. Wingrove homered for the second time, and his fourth inning solo shot gave Fort Myers a 4-2 lead.

 

 

Allowing seven runs for there, the Mighty Mussels couldn’t keep Lakeland down and split the doubleheader. Wingrove was the lone batter with a pair of hits, but both left the yard.

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
FCL Red Sox 3, FCL Twins 0
Box Score
Making his first rehab appearance, Kyle Jones went two innings and gave up just one hit and a walk while striking out three batter. Miguel Cordero working the next three innings of relief, he allowed three runs on four hits while striking out three. That was enough to do the Twins in.

All of the Red Sox runs came in the sixth inning. A solo home run, balk, and sacrifice fly did the damage. The Twins got just two hits, one from Yasser Mercedes and one from Javier Roman.

DOMINICAN DAILIES
DSL Angels 9, DSL Twins 3
Box Score

Ramiro Villanueva got the start and worked a scoreless first inning. Daniel Manzueta and Cristian Hernandez then combined to give up six runs over the next five innings. Manuel Compres gave up three in the eighth inning as well.

Luis Fragoza kicked off the scoring with a first inning ground out that scored Daiber De Los Santos. Alver Medina doubled in the second inning to score Victor Leal, and De Los Santos scored Medina with a base hit of his own. Up 3-0, that was where things went downhill.

Giving up two in the bottom of the second inning, one in the third inning, and three each in the sixth and eighth innings, the Angels ripped off nine straight runs. De Los Santos and Ramiro Dominguez both recorded two-hit days.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – David Festa (St. Paul) - 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 10 K
Hitter of the Day – Jair Camargo (St. Paul) - 2-5, 3 RBI, 2B(4), K

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on the Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Thursday. 
#1– Walker Jenkins (Fort Myers) – 0-3, BB, K
#2 – Brooks Lee (St. Paul) – 2-5, R
#4 – David Festa (St. Paul) – 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 10 K
#6 – Marco Raya (Wichita) – 4.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
#8 – Austin Martin (Minnesota) – R
#9 – Luke Keaschall (Wichita) – 1-3, R, 2B, RBI
#10 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – 0-3, RBI, 2 K, HBP
#11 – Simeon Woods Richardson (Minnesota) – 4.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 4 K
#18 – Yunior Severino (St. Paul) – 2-3, R, RBI, 2 BB, K
#20 – Ricardo Olivar (Cedar Rapids) – 2-4, K

SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Louisville (6:15 PM CST) – RHP Randy Dobnak (4-5, 5.02 ERA)
Wichita vs Midland (6:05 PM CST) – RHP Zebby Matthews (1-1, 1.21 ERA)
Cedar Rapids @ Lansing (6:05 PM CST) – RHP Jordan Carr (2-1, 4.12 ERA)
Fort Myers vs Lakeland (6:05 PM CST) – RHP Spencer Bengard (2-1, 1.75 ERA)

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

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[FlyingFinn]

Lots of good pitching performances - Festa, Raya, Morris, Hall, Castro, Yanez. 

[TopGunn#22]

Where is Matt Canterino in all these reports?  Is he hurt AGAIN??  

[wabene]

💣'd

[ashbury]

I'd feel better if our struggling major leaguers currently at AAA hadn't fattened up on a young, highly touted prospect who unaccountably has encountered a wall in AAA and can't get anybody out all season.  Last year he wasn't as bad as this, even at AAA.  Not a true test for us.

[Dman]

Festa was dealing and he reminds me a little of Bieber in that guys at the plate can't tell what's coming  Is it his fastball or slider that drops off just before hitting the plate.  Lot's of swings and misses all night for him.  Still when they did guess right they could hit his fastball hard.  HIs one blemish on the night was getting behind 3-0 and putting a fastball down the middle. I assume he expected the batter to take and he promptly sent it out for a HR. Other than that he was in complete control the whole time he was in there and racking up the K's.  If he has his control under control I have to believe he will get his chance this year.

Morris with a Zebby night. Absolute domination giving up just two hits, no walks and no runs over his 5 innings.  That is ridiculously good.  I generally ding Morris because he gives up a fair amount of hits but not last night. It is a pretty tight race Between him and Matthews for best arm at AA.  They have both been really, really good so far this year.

Raya pitched well too.  Better control this time out and it showed.  Hoping this is the start of better consistency for him.

That whole ST Paul lineup has been hitting the snot out of the ball. Not sure what got into them, but they have been fun to watch,

[Doctor Gast]

"Carmargo is pushing his way to the majors". Carmargo didn't even catch unless you mean as a DH. Last night's game was televised. I was disappointed that Carmargo didn't catch, I was hoping to see what his defense was like. Winkel caught & was fine plus his bat was also good. It was very interesting to see Festa pitch. He & Raya both had good games.

[ashbury]

24 minutes ago, Dman said:

Is it his fastball or slider that drops off just before hitting the plate. 

Pretty sure it's the slider that does that.  HTH, HAND.  😀

[mark sills]

Andrew Morris giving Zebby Mathews some competition. Festa had a great outing, but Andrew was class of the day

[bean5302]

My takeaways:
Good first:
Wallner: He's ready. The guy is back on the ball, and he's been doing it every day. He's reached base 18 of his past 20 games, owning a .293/.391/.693 OPS 1.084 wRC+ 169 line over that time including 12 of those games with a wRC+ 143 or higher.
Morris: He's been missing more bats in his last couple of starts/psuedo starts at AA. He's quickly passing Raya on my prospect list along with Zebby Matthews.
Festa: 6.0 IP, 10Ks, 0BBs. 4/5 past starts were okay to great. Yep. He's passed Varland on the rotational depth for me. He's done the things I didn't expect he could do (limit walks while also missing bats). He should be the next rotation call up.
Camargo: Nice to see him playing and hitting. We need a better catching option than Vazquez at the plate.

Less gooder.

Aaron Sabato. Nice homer, and he's had a few nice games this year, but I think his bust status is confirmed alongside Keoni Cavaco. These guys still being in the minors is fallout from the new CBA and increased compensation and benefits for MiLB players. Historically, I think the players were inclined to hang it up, but teams are probably going to need to learn to be more aggressive with releasing players in the future. I know the Twins did officially cut Soularie (now in the Giants' system), but there were some behavioral issues as I recall.

Raya limited to 51 pitches in 4.0 pretty clean innings. Any hope the Twins were stretching him out seems dim at this point.
 

[roger]

Want to see the Saints and Fort Myers get to .500 and then above.  

Looked at several box scores.  When I saw that Cavaco is hitting a buck forty-four, was just shaking my head.

See Lee was again at shortstop and Julien at second.  Seeing Keaschall again in center has me wondering, is he being moved to the outfield full-time?  Have any of you guys in the know heard anything? 

Not a lot of at bats, but Acuna is hitting .450 with a +1,000 OPS.  Doubt the Twins could be lucky enough to have this Acuna be as good as his brother, but we can hope.  Can't we?

[FlyingFinn]

1 hour ago, Dman said:

That whole ST Paul lineup has been hitting the snot out of the ball. Not sure what got into them, but they have been fun to watch,

Adding Julien and Lee just makes that lineup so much deeper.

 

7 minutes ago, roger said:

Seeing Keaschall again in center has me wondering, is he being moved to the outfield full-time? 

No, but see above. If Julien and Lee have 2B covered in the future, Keaschall needs to add some utility to his game. To me it says that the Twins love his bat and they are trying to give him more options to be called up in 2025 and 2026.

[gil4]

Quote

Aaron Sabato peppers a two-run home run to the berm.

It looked like the people on the berm turned to watch it leave the stadium.  

[Dman]

12 minutes ago, roger said:

  Seeing Keaschall again in center has me wondering, is he being moved to the outfield full-time?  

Yeah the future at second is Lee with Julien as a backup there.  Not because they are necessarily better than Keaschall at 2nd but Keaschall has the speed to play in the outfield and they don't. Also center doesn't necessarily require an elite arm though it is nice to have.  I think his best path to the majors is center or left given all the infield talent the Twins currently have. So I wouldn't be surprised to see him out there more.

[Dman]

48 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Less gooder.

Aaron Sabato. Nice homer, and he's had a few nice games this year, but I think his bust status is confirmed alongside Keoni Cavaco. These guys still being in the minors is fallout from the new CBA and increased compensation and benefits for MiLB players. Historically, I think the players were inclined to hang it up, but teams are probably going to need to learn to be more aggressive with releasing players in the future. I know the Twins did officially cut Soularie (now in the Giants' system), but there were some behavioral issues as I recall.

Raya limited to 51 pitches in 4.0 pretty clean innings. Any hope the Twins were stretching him out seems dim at this point.
 

I'll give you Cavaco.  I don't think he will make enough contact to be a good hitter.  His K rate last year was 40% and it is 43% so far this year in his second stint at high A.  He isn't getting better.  It's pretty obvious he is cooked at this point.  He just doesn't have good contact skills and it doesn't look like he is going to develop them.  I'd say they should cut him, but unless they move Eeles up they don't have anyone that much better to replace him.

I was never a Sabato believer, but at least he can make contact and knows the zone. I don't know that what he has is enough to make it to MLB, but he is producing so I am willing to see if something pops for him.  He has plenty of power, but there is enough swing and miss to make it not matter.  I'd give Sabato more time.

[DocBauer]

Never understood some who were so down on Festa because of some control issues. Generally speaking, don't most all pitching prospects have some sort of control issues until they don't? That's why they're in the minors. It seems like the 10-15lbs of muscle he added in the offseason has really helped him as he seems to be maintaining velocity later in the games. I think he's close, but I'm still hoping he's not needed for a while, for obvious reasons. Not sure if I have him or Matthews as my personal #1 choice for top pitching prospect right now, but it's close. Really nice to have Morris, Lewis, and Culpepper not far behind those two though.

Regarding Raya, I really do understand...mostly...how they're using him. He basically didn't throw for 2 years after he was drafted due to covid and then a shoulder issue. Everything I've ever heard or read says his pitches are dynamic, with the standard caveat he's a prospect still working on command. He's been allowed to throw up to 60 pitches this season so far, but apparently only gets 2 turns through a lineup. I get it. He's got an arm that might be special so they're being really, really careful with him. And I'd like to think they're a lot smarter than me, lol, so I can't say they're NOT taking the right approach. But in a prospect podcase I listened to recently here on TD, it was mentioned that Raya will be Rule 5 eligible following the 2025 season. That means, of course, adding him to the 40 man or not. So if they DON'T expand his usage here in 2024, they're going to have a single season in 2025 to evaluate and make a decision. That doesn't make a ton of sense to me. I'm still expecting 70+ pitches and a 3rd time through the order come the 2nd half of this season.

As far as Keaschall in the OF, I believe @Dmanhas it correct. No reason he can't be a quality 2B, and still might end up there. But barring a surprise or two, that spot is going to be held down by Lee and Julien, who themselves can play other spots. And nothing says Keaschall can't continue to back up that spot. But his bat looks pretty special. And when you have a hitter this good....and he's got good wheels...you get him in the lineup and worry about best position later. Unfortunately, if rumors are true, his arm might not be strong enough for 3B, because I think he has the other skills that would allow him to fill in there. But if the instincts are there, and can be honed, I'd really love to see him as a CF/LF option who can STILL cover 2B to increase his flexibility to the lineup. And I think that's exactly what's going to happen.

I don't want Jeffers or Vazquez to have any sort of injury this season. But somewhere, somehow, even if it's an end of the year September promotion, I'd really, really like to see Camargo get some ML time this year. I just really want to watch him behind the plate, working with the staff, and see what kind of approach he takes at the plate against ML pitchers. I want to know if we have a #3 catcher here, or a solid ML catcher who might be a good #2. 

[Danchat]

I'm excited to see Festa pitch in the majors, as it seems to be a rare thing when a top pitching prospect of ours is dealing at AAA. Thankfully the major league rotation has been really healthy so far... knock on wood.

[DocBauer]

Just dawned on me this afternoon that Keaschall and Martin might be fighting for the same spot on the roster a year from now. 

I don't want to get ahead of things here, but we're talking about 2 guys who are RH hitters with contact and OB ability who are...some leanancy here as it's early...projected to play LF/CF/2B. Martin played 3B in college, but it's said his arm isn't great for 3B at the ML level. I'm not sure about Keaschall's arm strength, but I do know he spent a lot of time at DH to start this season while dealing with a minor shoulder issue. As I commented on previously, I have no clue if Keaschall's arm plays at 3B, healthy, or not. 

Martin is in the SHOW, and Keaschall is in AA, tearing it up, and 3 yrs younger. There is an obvious separation there. And Martin's advancement has been affected somewhat due to covid and being pushed perhaps too soon, etc. And it might not be fair to compare the two of them directly, but it's hard not to at this point.

When the Twins received Martin in a trade in 2021, he was 22yo. Keaschall is just shy of being 22yo at AA, same for both. While I understand development is NOT linear, SO FAR, Keaschall trumps Martin in AVG by .60 points, OB% by .44 points, SLG% by a WHOPPING .151 points, and an OPS differential of .195 points. While Martin obviously has played more games and accrued more SB as a result, so far, he is about 6% better in success rate. 

NONE of this matters ultimately matters at the ML level. You either perform or you don't, with some expected speed bumps along the way. And I'm NOT banging on Martin as a viable and good piece of the Twins roster for the future. But it's really hard to NOT look at what Keaschall is doing at the same age and level and wonder what's to become.

 

 

[DJL44]

10 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

"Carmargo is pushing his way to the majors".

I would be shocked if they optioned Jeffers to bring up Camargo.

[Doctor Wu]

Wingrove? Never noticed that name until today, but if has more games like this one I will be watching. Good to see so many prospects with good games, especially Festa and Raya. They may be the saviors of our pitching pipeline!

[Doctor Wu]

19 hours ago, bean5302 said:

Raya limited to 51 pitches in 4.0 pretty clean innings. Any hope the Twins were stretching him out seems dim at this point.

I know, this "kid gloves" approach to handling Raya, and not letting him pitch more than 3 or 4 innings, remains a bit mystifying. 

[wabene]

Rixon Wingrove, a 24 year old Aussie in low A. 1st base, LF. 6' 4" 260. The Phillies had him from 2021-23 in the FCL and A ball where he OPS 'd in the mid 700's. The Twins signed him this year. He's OPSing .893 and slugging .525 for Fort Myers. G'luck mate.

[LambchoP]

Festa continues to pitch well, I could see him getting a spot start or two just like Varland did last week to get our starters an extra day of rest here or there. I seriously think Keaschals bat will play at the higher levels. Maybe he earns a promotion to St Paul later this year and gets an invite to spring training next year. I think the fact that they're having him play the outfield as well as second base shows that they want to find a way to keep him in the twins lineup any way they can. I'm also curious about Canterino. He was put on 10 day IL I believe early this year. Was reported that it wasn't too serious but now here we are months later with no update or progress report at all, which makes me think the worst. Really sucks they can't keep him healthy because I thought he could have been a real weapon in our bullpen this year...

[JD-TWINS]

On 6/15/2024 at 12:31 PM, bean5302 said:

My takeaways:
Good first:
Wallner: He's ready. The guy is back on the ball, and he's been doing it every day. He's reached base 18 of his past 20 games, owning a .293/.391/.693 OPS 1.084 wRC+ 169 line over that time including 12 of those games with a wRC+ 143 or higher.
Morris: He's been missing more bats in his last couple of starts/psuedo starts at AA. He's quickly passing Raya on my prospect list along with Zebby Matthews.
Festa: 6.0 IP, 10Ks, 0BBs. 4/5 past starts were okay to great. Yep. He's passed Varland on the rotational depth for me. He's done the things I didn't expect he could do (limit walks while also missing bats). He should be the next rotation call up.
Camargo: Nice to see him playing and hitting. We need a better catching option than Vazquez at the plate.

Less gooder.

Aaron Sabato. Nice homer, and he's had a few nice games this year, but I think his bust status is confirmed alongside Keoni Cavaco. These guys still being in the minors is fallout from the new CBA and increased compensation and benefits for MiLB players. Historically, I think the players were inclined to hang it up, but teams are probably going to need to learn to be more aggressive with releasing players in the future. I know the Twins did officially cut Soularie (now in the Giants' system), but there were some behavioral issues as I recall.

Raya limited to 51 pitches in 4.0 pretty clean innings. Any hope the Twins were stretching him out seems dim at this point.
 

I’m encouraged that Festa threw 6 innings and not 4 plus! His stuff seems to be playing well over the past couple months.

Varland hasn’t been passed in the Twin’s mind. He just threw 5 shutout innings in the Show this week…..Rockies aren’t great but they trump the Bats. He’s backup for depth today as well with the doubleheader.

I do think Festa gets a start prior to All-star break.

I think it’s going to be a cold day in ….. before Vazquez gets moved off the roster for a AAA player that’s OK in a Divisional playoff race.

[bean5302]

16 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

I’m encouraged that Festa threw 6 innings and not 4 plus! His stuff seems to be playing well over the past couple months.

Varland hasn’t been passed in the Twin’s mind. He just threw 5 shutout innings in the Show this week…..Rockies aren’t great but they trump the Bats. He’s backup for depth today as well with the doubleheader.

I do think Festa gets a start prior to All-star break.

I think it’s going to be a cold day in ….. before Vazquez gets moved off the roster for a AAA player that’s OK in a Divisional playoff race.

Varland pitched well against the Rockies, but the Rockies were hitting him very hard. Some of the big problems Varland was having while getting rocked were still present vs. Colorado. Festa isn't going to take a start away from anybody so if he get an opportunity, it'll probably be due to injury, but he's getting results far superior to what Varland is doing. Festa's just not on the 40 man.