Twins Minor League Report (6/19): Brooks Lee Doubles Saints to 8th Straight Win

[Seth Stohs]

The Saints just keep on winning. A former first-round pick is finding his swing in Wichita. Cedar Rapids... well, Payton Eeles continues to rake after his promotion. Fort Myers got a tremendous start from a guy the organization signed about three weeks ago. A jam-packed minor league report for Wednesday. 

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 41-33
St. Paul Saints: 35-35
Wichita Wind Surge: 28-37
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 37-27
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 30-34
FCL Twins: 16-15
DSL Twins: 5-7

TRANSACTIONS
RHP Travis Adams was activated from the Development List. To make room, RHP Cory Lewis was transferred to the Development List. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 8, Toledo 7
Box Score
A five-run third inning, and a three-run seventh inning provided just enough offense for the Saints to hang on for the afternoon win at CHS Field. 

Down 2-0 going into the bottom of the third inning, Will Holland started things with a one-out double. Edouard Julien walked. After a double steal put runners on second and third, Brook’s Lee doubled to drive in both runners. After a strikeout, Yunior Severino walked. Jair Camargo then crushed an opposite-field homer to give the Saints a 5-2 lead. 

It was a bullpen game for the Saints. Ronny Henriquez started and gave up one run on two hits. Ryan Vilade hit a first-inning homer off of him. Jordan Balazovic came on and in 1 2/3 innings, he was charged with four runs on four hits and a walk. He had three strikeouts. Jeff Brigham came in and allowed an inherited runner to score and one more run on three hits over two innings. Nick Wittgren worked two innings out of the bullpen. He gave up a run on three hits.  

After the crowd sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” the Saints again found themselves behind, this time by a score of 7-5 with the top of the lineup ready to hit. Julien started things with a walk. He went to third on Brooks Lee’s third double of the game. After a Matt Wallner walk, Severijno walked to drive in Julien. However, the next two batters got out without moving the runners. Fortunately, Diego A. Castillo came through with an infield single to score Brooks Lee and tie the game. The Saints took the lead when Wallner scored on a Wild Pitch.  

Now with the lead, Toby Gardenhire turned to Hobie Harris. He walked the first batter that he faced but then got three quick outs to end the eighth frame. In the ninth, Kody Funderburk came in. He got a strikeout, issued a walk, and then struck out the final two batters to end the game. 

Brooks Lee led the offense. He had three doubles in five at-bats. He had two RBI and scored two runs.  Yunior Severino went 2-for-2 with two walks. Camargo’s home runs was his fifth of the season. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 9, Arkansas 2 
Box Score
The Wind Surge jumped to an early lead with a four-run third inning. They added on from there. They also got some great pitching in this one to put together a very nice team win. 

Pierson Ohl has struggled to find the consistency that made him so great late last season with the Surge, but he knows how to pitch. In this game, he gave up one run on five hits over five innings. He walked one and struck out two batters. 

From there, the bullpen took over. John Stankiewicz gave up one hit over two scoreless innings. Regi Grace got the three batters he faced. Travis Floyd gave up one run on two hits in the ninth inning. 

With one out in the top of the third, Ben Ross singled and advanced to third base on a Dalton Shuffield double. Luke Keaschall lined a single to left to score Ross. Jake Rucker followed with a sacrifice fly to score Shuffield. After Jeferson Morales reached on an error, Aaron Sabato doubled to drive in two more runs. 

In the fifth inning, Sabato hit his seventh homer of the season to make it 5-0. 

In the sixth frame, Tanner Schobel had a leadoff single. He stayed at first base until there were two outs. That’s when Shuffield hit his first Wind Surge homer of the season which made it 7-1. 

In the ninth inning, the first two hitters (Shuffield and Keaschall) were hit by a pitch. With one out, Morales’s 13th double drove in both to give the Surge the 9-1 lead. 

Sabato has been playing very well of late. In this one, he was 2-for-5 with his eighth double, seventh homer, and three RBI. His six June homers is second to Matt Wallner's nine for the Saints. In his last eight games, he has hit .258/.303/.710 (1.013) with two doubles, four homers and 10 RBI. The six extra-base hits have come in his past four games, starting with his walkoff blast on Saturday. 

Morales was 2-for-5 and drove in two. Shuffield was 2-for-2 with a walk and was hit by a pitch. He scored three runs. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 0, Peoria 7
Box Score
It was a bullpen game for the Kernels on Wednesday. Jacob Wosinski gave up three runs on four hits over the first two innings. Then Michael Paredes came on and struck out three batters over two scoreless innings. Juan Mendez gave up two runs on three hits in his inning. Rafael Marcano gave up two runs on four hits over two innings. He had two strikeouts. Juan Mercedes struck out three batters over the final two innings. Combined, they gave up seven runs on 14 hits. 

The offense was unable to tie things together in this game. They had seven hits in the game, but went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left eight batters on base. 

Payton Eeles went 3-for-4 in his second game with the Kernels. Kevin Maitan went 2-for-4.  

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 3, St. Lucie 7
Box Score
The Minnesota Twins signed Ricky Castro to a minor-league contract on May 29th. That same day, the Purdue and Tulane alum was added to the Fort Myers roster. In his first three appearances, he came in out of the bullpen. In his first outing, he struck out four batters in two innings. Next, he earned a three-inning save with four strikeouts. In his previous outing, he tossed three scoreless innings. So on this night in St. Lucie, he made his first start. 

Keeping to the pattern, Castro was bumped up to four innings. He gave up just one hit, walked none and struck out nine batters. In nearly Zebby Matthews-like fashion, he has issued just one walk and struck out 19 batters over his first 12 innings as a pro. 

Danny Moreno came in to start the fifth innings. He gave up three runs (1 earned) on two hits and two walks and recorded just one out. Ben Ethridge came on with the bases loaded and allowed one inherited runner to score. He went two more innings and gave up three runs on five hits. Nolan Santos came on and stranded a runner in the seventh. He gave up one run on two hits. Of the four outs he recorded, three came on strikeouts. 

Nick Lucky manufactured a run in the third inning. He singled and stole second base. After a walk, Lucky stole third base and scored on a ground out by Walker Jenkins. The run gave the Mussels a 1-0 lead. They didn’t score again until the ninth when they scored two runs that gave the final score of 7-3. With one out, Isaac Pena lined a single to center. He moved up a base on defensive indifference. Lucky then singled to right to score Pena. With two outs and after a Maddux Houghton single and a Walker Jenkins walk, Lucky scored on a balk. 

Lucky went 2-for-4, as did Matthew Clayton and Houghton.. Rixon Wingrove was 2-for-3 with a walk and his fourth double. Byron Chourio went 2-for-5. The Mussels had 11 hits and three walks, but they went just 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position. 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Ricky Castro (Fort Myers) - 4 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, 53 pitches, 38 strikes (71.7%)
Hitter of the Day – Aaron Sabato (Wichita) - 2-for-5, 2B(8), HR(7), R, 3 RBI.

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-for-4, BB, RBI 
#2 – Brooks Lee (St. Paul) – 3-for-5, 3-2B(4), 2 R, 2 RBI, K
#9 – Luke Keaschall (Wichita) – 1-for-4, BB, 2 R, RBI, K
#13 – Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 1-for-4, R . 
#18 – Yunior Severino (St. Paul) – 2-for-2, 2 BB, R, RBI

THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Toledo @ St. Paul (7:07 PM CST) – RHP David Festa (2-2, 3.50 ERA)
Wichita @ Arkansas (6:35 PM CST) – RHP Andrew Morris (2-1, 1.61 ERA)
Peoria @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CST) – RHP Jeremy Lee (0-3, 7.71 ERA)
Fort Myers @ St. Lucie (5:05 PM CST) – RHP Tanner Hall (1-0, 2.63 ERA)
FCL Twins @ FCL Rays (11:00 AM CT) - TBD
DSL White Sox White@ DSL Twins (10:00 AM CST) - TBD 

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

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[cmoss84]

How does the development list work?

Thanks

[Fatbat]

30 minutes ago, cmoss84 said:

How does the development list work?

Thanks

Its a try to fix the phantom injured list in MiLB.  It allows a team to monitor/restrict the innings played by anyone on the”list”.  Its been around since 2021 and it will likely stick around because it does help with development and fix issues that young guys have in their journey to the show.  Sometimes its as much of a mental fix as it is a physical one.  In short. Just another tool box drawer to place an MiLB future star into while shaping his career. 

[Doctor Wu]

Can we get excited about Ricky Castro yet? Sure, it's VERY early days, but it sounds like the Twins found a true diamond in the rough with this guy. As Seth wrote, he's putting up some Zebby-like numbers so far. Keep it up, Ricky  ... and don't lose that number!

[Doctor Wu]

Like many fans on this board, I'm obviously excited about the potential of Brooks Lee. But I was never really clamoring for a sudden call-up to the big team. We've got a fairly full roster, with no real health issues other than Kiriloff right now, and I'm still a bit puzzled as to where we will put Lee when he actually is called up. But hey, I don't think the Twins can put off this decision TOO MUCH LONGER. Lee is performing as well, or even better than expected and his bat would be a very welcome addition to the Twins lineup. Of course I'm just saying the same things that so many other people on this board have been saying for a while, but I think we've been patient enough; the time to call him up should be ASAP. 

[Doctor Gast]

36 minutes ago, Doctor Wu said:

Can we get excited about Ricky Castro yet? Sure, it's VERY early days, but it sounds like the Twins found a true diamond in the rough with this guy. As Seth wrote, he's putting up some Zebby-like numbers so far. Keep it up, Ricky  ... and don't lose that number!

Looks very promising! The trickle from the pipeline seems like it'll turn into a gusher with pitchers like Castro. Don't know how many will turn into high-end MLB SPs but we can hope.

[Fatbat]

35 minutes ago, Doctor Wu said:

Like many fans on this board, I'm obviously excited about the potential of Brooks Lee. But I was never really clamoring for a sudden call-up to the big team. We've got a fairly full roster, with no real health issues other than Kiriloff right now, and I'm still a bit puzzled as to where we will put Lee when he actually is called up. But hey, I don't think the Twins can put off this decision TOO MUCH LONGER. Lee is performing as well, or even better than expected and his bat would be a very welcome addition to the Twins lineup. Of course I'm just saying the same things that so many other people on this board have been saying for a while, but I think we've been patient enough; the time to call him up should be ASAP. 

Its pretty simple to play Lee and 2nd and put Castro in LF. Martin can split time between CF and LF.  All of the young guys can rotate to a certain level and Margo is worth at least a bag of balls to a team …somewhere…

[Doctor Gast]

Lee is keeping up the pressure. Martin shouldn't be sent down. FO should make some difficult decisions for them that should be easy. Along with Lee is Wallner, Kiriloff will heal & Julien when he figures things out. It's time for FO to undo at least in partial, the mistakes they made in the off-season, They can't completely undo everything.

Eeles is hungry, IMO he wants to make the most of the opportunity that he has. Seth, would love to see an interview with him.

Balazovik is frustrating, after a good outing he follows up with a clunker

[Doctor Wu]

8 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

Balazovik is frustrating, after a good outing he follows up with a clunker

He's been frustrating us for a few years now. I've pretty much lost all hope for him. 

[Doctor Wu]

9 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

FO should make some difficult decisions

As much as we want to see Lee in the Twins lineup soon, you are right, it WILL require some difficult decisions by the front office. Sure, removing Farmer from the roster is easy enough, but as others have pointed out, that doesn't give Lee the everyday playing time that he really needs. Short of some sort of wild trade, I suppose, as others have suggested, Lee ends up playing a combination of positions until another injury necessitates him playing one position only. 

[Trov]

Good for Sabato on his hot run.  If he can have a good rest of the season he may get a chance to take a first base/dh roll for a few years.  He may have just been a real late bloomer. I know very SSS so not getting to excited but with AK never being able to be healthy, there will be a spot soon. 

[Dman]

Lee has been good at AAA in his brief time there.  He is off to that .900 OPS we all like to see to prove he can dominate the last level before being called up, but I think it is going to be at least another month before we see him.  First they'll want to give him some time to prove the injury is behind him.  They will also want to make sure he can sustain these numbers. And finally they need to find a 40 man spot for him and I don't see them moving on from Farmer as he hits lefties better than Lee.  Maybe at the trade deadline they can make moves to clear some space, but I think its gonna be a while yet before they make room for him. 

Obviously the better he does at AAA he can put more pressure on them to find room.  I just think they will be patient.

[FlyingFinn]

8 minutes ago, Dman said:

He is off to that .900 OPS we all like to see to prove he can dominate the last level before being called up, but I think it is going to be at least another month before we see him.  First they'll want to give him some time to prove the injury is behind him.  They will also want to make sure he can sustain these numbers.

I agree. And if we are waiting another month, might as well wait just a little longer and maintain his rookie status for 2025. Go for ROY and earn an extra first round draft pick. As others are saying, there isn't any need to rush him at this point.

[Fat Calvin]

30 minutes ago, Trov said:

Good for Sabato on his hot run.  If he can have a good rest of the season he may get a chance to take a first base/dh roll for a few years.  He may have just been a real late bloomer. I know very SSS so not getting to excited but with AK never being able to be healthy, there will be a spot soon. 

I'm excited for Sabato too.  We just gave up on another recent first rounder.  It's good to see Sabato making some noise.

[LambchoP]

I think by the trade deadline the twins need to trim the fat off this team if we're going to make a serious post season run. Try to find a trade and get whatever we can for Farmer, Margot, Theilbar. If nothing's there, then DFA. We've got plenty of outfielders to replace Margot.Martin has looked good. Castro is good enough out there. Larnach, Wallner, Kepler. Calling up Lee would be an easy replacement for Farmer, as long as they let him play everyday. Theilbar and Jackson have no business in our bullpen and I think we should look for some relief help at the deadline along with a good starting pitcher with control.

[LambchoP]

Severino has been hitting great lately. He's positionally blocked for us though. I think leading the minors in home runs last year and his recent hot streak, I think we could package him with someone like Kiriloff and another prospect for some pitching help that we really need.

[roger]

55 minutes ago, Dman said:

Lee has been good at AAA in his brief time there.  He is off to that .900 OPS we all like to see to prove he can dominate the last level before being called up, but I think it is going to be at least another month before we see him.  First they'll want to give him some time to prove the injury is behind him.  They will also want to make sure he can sustain these numbers. And finally they need to find a 40 man spot for him and I don't see them moving on from Farmer as he hits lefties better than Lee.  Maybe at the trade deadline they can make moves to clear some space, but I think its gonna be a while yet before they make room for him. 

Obviously the better he does at AAA he can put more pressure on them to find room.  I just think they will be patient.

Commented about Lee yesterday which drew several responses about his hitting southpaws.  Checked his splits this morning and it shows he has literally only a handful of at bats versus lefties.  Well, he had three last night and they all were doubles in the left-center gap.  Will agree with other comments, however, that are ok with his spending another month or so at AAA to gain more experience and get well beyond his injury.

Expect as we get near the trading deadline, the Twins will find an opportunity to get something back for Farmer.  That should open a spot to call Lee up and play him mostly at second.  Willi can return to his super utility role and all should be good.  

Also, add me to those who noticed another terrible outing by Balazovic.  So disappointing.  Also see that Jenkins is struggling with the team formerly known as the Miracle.  That is a bit surprising.

Thanks for the report, Seth.

[Dman]

12 minutes ago, roger said:

.  Also see that Jenkins is struggling with the team formerly known as the Miracle.  That is a bit surprising.

Thanks for the report, Seth.

I looked into Jenkins numbers to see what I could see and it looks more like bad luck than anything else.  K rate 14%. Walk rate 16%. He is being patient and he is hitting the ball but his BABIP is .226.  I am not sure if most of that is weak contact or not, but I think his numbers just need time to shake out.  Doesn't appear to be an approach problem that I can see. Maybe someone else can take a deeper dive into what kind of contact he is generating.

[DJL44]

I was able to watch the Saints game yesterday. The most exciting thing about Lee hitting three doubles is he did it against lefthanded pitching. He hit two off the starter Hurter and one off the reliever Lucas. In contrast, Wallner looked completely lost against Hurter and missed a center cut fastball from Lucas. There is an easy way to get Wallner out right now - use a lefthanded pitcher.

Lee looked very locked in as a RHB. Unfortunately, he looked like he had trouble making adjustments as a switch hitter during the game and gave away his last at-bat from the left side of the plate. Switch hitting is hard and it will slow down his development but the payoff should be worth the investment.

[2wins87]

1 hour ago, Dman said:

I looked into Jenkins numbers to see what I could see and it looks more like bad luck than anything else.  K rate 14%. Walk rate 16%. He is being patient and he is hitting the ball but his BABIP is .226.  I am not sure if most of that is weak contact or not, but I think his numbers just need time to shake out.  Doesn't appear to be an approach problem that I can see. Maybe someone else can take a deeper dive into what kind of contact he is generating.

Not a lot of batted ball data yet, but his exit velocities have been pretty average for low-A.  He has maxed out at 104 so far, which is decent, but there is a lot of medium and weak contact mixed in.  Same thing was true when he was in low-A last year too.

I saw a tweet on his in-zone contact rate a few days ago, which was 100%.  That's definitely good. So the zone judgement is very good and the contact is elite, but the batted ball data is pretty mediocre, which is a little surprising given his draft profile.

Seems like he might have a sort of similar problem to Jose Miranda where his contact rate is sort of paradoxically too high, and he needs to more selectively hunt for pitches on which he can do damage, rather than just being able to make contact.  Probably still too small of a sample, he could be just missing the barrel and about to break out.  But personally I think he has some adjusting to do, and I don't think he's going to fly through the minors like many hoped.  Not really adjusting my view of his ceiling yet, but I am adjusting my view of his timeline.

[Steve Lein]

59 minutes ago, 2wins87 said:

Not a lot of batted ball data yet, but his exit velocities have been pretty average for low-A.  He has maxed out at 104 so far, which is decent, but there is a lot of medium and weak contact mixed in.  Same thing was true when he was in low-A last year too.

I saw a tweet on his in-zone contact rate a few days ago, which was 100%.  That's definitely good. So the zone judgement is very good and the contact is elite, but the batted ball data is pretty mediocre, which is a little surprising given his draft profile.

Seems like he might have a sort of similar problem to Jose Miranda where his contact rate is sort of paradoxically too high, and he needs to more selectively hunt for pitches on which he can do damage, rather than just being able to make contact.  Probably still too small of a sample, he could be just missing the barrel and about to break out.  But personally I think he has some adjusting to do, and I don't think he's going to fly through the minors like many hoped.  Not really adjusting my view of his ceiling yet, but I am adjusting my view of his timeline.

All this data is really weird to look at for him, haha. His hits have basically all come on stuff out of the zone. Everything in the zone is "cold" but he's put the bat on everything, too. Only 5 swings and misses, but a ton of foul ball results. His timing just might be a tad off still, so I think the "just missing the barrel and about to break out" comment is on the money. Let's hope!

[Beast]

I struggle to see how people conclude that we have no room for one of the best prospects in baseball (Lee).  We aren’t the Dodgers.  The MLB roster is loaded with average to below average players that aren’t meaningful contributors.  With the defensive flexibility of Castro, Lee would certainly be an upgrade over Farmer and Margot.  Larnach and Miranda got off to hot starts but have come back down to earth a bit and are basically positionless.  We shouldn’t have them cemented in a building blocks.  Kepler started off hot and has crashed a bit.  He’s a pending free agent and could be moved.  Jeffers has also crashed, creating less of need for him to DH frequently when not catching.  Martin has been good, but hits for no power and isnt exactly a stud in the OF.  He doesn’t need to play every day.  On top of that, one of Correa, Lewis, and Buxton will almost certainly hit the IL again in the near future.

Im not necessarily advocating for any specific move, here.  But pointing out that there is all sorts of room for Lee if he keeps tearing the cover of the ball and forces the hand.  We need to start worrying more about making the team as good as it can be and less about losing one of our numerous marginal players.  There’s no reason we can’t find a spot for both Wallner and Lee (although they may have already missed the boat on Wallner’s annual hot streak).

If we get to the end of the season and miss the playoffs by 1 or 2 games (a real possibility) because of an unwillingness to shake up the roster, shame on them.  That’s fireable, IMO.  Prime example last night.  One swing from Wallner or Lee could’ve been the difference.