Twins Minor League Report (6/27): Dobnak Deals in Saints Loss, Kernels and Mussels Crush

[Ted Schwerzler]

The Minnesota Twins farm system saw a promotion of one of their top arms on Thursday, and the organization still turned in a handful of strong performances. The lower levels grabbed a handful of wins as well.

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 45-36
St. Paul Saints: 40-37
Wichita Wind Surge: 32-30
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 41-29
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 36-35
FCL Twins: 18-19
DSL Twins: 9-9

TRANSACTIONS

• RHP David Festa contract selected by Minnesota Twins.
• RHP Ronny Henriquez optioned to St. Paul.
• RHP Jay Jackson reported to St. Paul.
• RHP Pierson Ohl was placed on the 7-Day IL for Wichita. 
• OF Gabriel Gonzalez reinstated from the IL for Cedar Rapids.
• RHP Kyle Jones rehab transferred from FCL to Fort Myers.
• Former Twins 1st round pick Keoni Cavaco has been signed by the Astros and assigned to the FCL. Apparently he is going to pitch.

SAINTS SENTINEL
Iowa 11, St. Paul 9
Box Score
Randy Dobnak took the ball for St. Paul on Thursday night and worked five innings of three (unearned) run baseball. He scattered six hits while walking just one and striking out six. His run of strong performances continued.

Matt Wallner blasted a first inning dinger that scored Brooks Lee to give St. Paul a 2-0 lead. Chris Williams then homered in the second inning, scoring Will Holland, and pushing the lead to 4-0. Yunior Severino’s 15th home run of the season, coming in the third inning, made it 5-0 before Iowa could respond.

The Cubs grabbed three in the fifth inning, but all were unearned. After knotting things at five in the sixth inning, the Saints got back to work. Severino scored Edouard Julien on a sacrifice fly before DaShawn Keirsey Jr. singled home Lee. Tony Kemp then drove in Wallner and Keirsey with a single of his own, and St. Paul had a 9-5 lead headed to the bottom of the seventh.

Unfortunately Austin Brice gave up four runs on four walks without getting an out in the seventh inning, and Nick Wittgren allowed two more. Down 11-9 headed to the eighth inning, St. Paul had work to do. Kemp reached with two outs in the final frame, and Anthony Prato walked, but Williams struck out and the comeback came up short.

Lee was 3-for-5 while Keirsey had two hits of his own. The Saints also drew five walks on the evening as a club.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
NW Arkansas 7, Wichita 2 (F/10)
Box Score
It was another Zebby Matthews night on the bump for Wichita, and he worked 5 2/3 innings allowing two runs on five hits. He gave up a walk but struck out five during the outing.

Ben Ross started the scoring with a third inning sacrifice fly that brought home Noah Cardenas. The Naturals plated a run in both the fourth and sixth innings to take the lead. Ross responded with his fifth home run of the season, a seventh inning solo shot, to tie the game.

Headed to the tenth inning with an inherited runner, things went way wrong for Wichita. The Naturals put up a five-spot in their half, and then blanked the Wind Surge in the bottom of the frame. An otherwise tight game got ugly. Wichita wound up with just five hits, and they carried a 16/10 K/BB on the evening.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 4, Beloit 1
Box Score
The Kernels kicked off the contest by watching alum David Festa make his debut for the Twins. Jeremy Lee then did a great impression by throwing six innings of one-run (unearned) ball, while scattering five hits. He walked none and struck out three.

Agustin Ruiz started the scoring in the second inning with his fourth home run of the season. Jay Harry scored on the big fly and Cedar Rapids was out to a 2-0 lead. Returning from a stint on the injured list, Gabriel Gonzalez singled home Payton Eeles to make it 3-0 in the third inning. After giving a run back in the fifth inning, Eeles drove home Jose Salas with a single of his own in the bottom half.

That score held the rest of the way and Cedar Rapids tacked on another victory. Gonzalez returned to the lineup with a pair of hits and he was joined by Salas in the effort. Kyle Bischoff and Ricardo Velez combined to throw a scoreless final three innings.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 6, Tampa 2
Box Score
Kyle Jones made a start for the Mighty Mussels on a rehab assignment and he was perfect. Working three hitless innings, he didn’t walk anyone and struck out four. Spencer Bengard piggybacked his start, and despite giving up two runs across five innings, he struck out six.

Brandon Winokur remained out of the lineup after being removed last night following another hit by pitch to the same arm that sidelined him for a week. Nick Lucky kicked off the scoring with a three-run homer in the second inning that scored Isaac Pena and Yohander Martinez.

Up 3-0 in the fourth inning, Fort Myers added again. Martinez drove home Pena on a single before Maddux Houghton plated Martinez with a single of his own. Up 5-0 entering the seventh inning, Fort Myers gave a pair back, but still held a commanding lead. Daniel Pena got a run back in the bottom of the seventh inning that scored Poncho Ruiz, and the 6-2 tally was how this one ended. The Mighty Mussels evenly distributed their six hits, but Ruiz reached twice on a pair of walks.

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
FCL Braves 3, FCL Twins 2 (F/7)
Box Score
Adrian Bohorquez started on Thursday for the Twins and worked 4 1/3 innings while allowing three unearned runs on two hits. He gave up five walks but also struck out five. 

Ariel Castro kicked off the scoring in the first inning with his third home run of the season. The two-run shot scored Jayson Bass and put the good guys in front. Unfortunately the second inning saw the Braves respond with a three-spot and the lead was gone.

That’s where things ended, and Bass was joined by Anderson Nova as the lone batters with two hits.

DOMINICAN DAILIES
DSL Twins 9, DSL Phillies Red 5 (F/7)
Box Score
Melvin Rodriguez drew the start and turned in 3 1/3 innings of one-run baseball. He gave up three hits and two walks while striking out five. With a 2.87 ERA this season, he has been a standout for the DSL squad.

Luis Fragoza scored the game’s first run on an errant pickoff attempt in the first inning. After the Phillies tied it in the second inning, the Twins added on in the third inning. A wild pitch scored Fragoza again and a Victor Leal single scored Eduardo Beltre and Yandro Hernandez.

Up 5-1 in the fifth inning, Yandro Hernandez scored on another errant pickoff throw to make it 6-1. Leal drove in Merphy Hernandez with a sixth inning sacrifice fly before an Alver Medina single scored Beltre and Ricardo Paez to put the Twins up 9-1 through six innings.

Jose Vasquez has six strikeouts through 2 2/3 of relief before hitting a wall in the seventh inning. He gave up four runs but ultimately the Twins held on for a victory with Daniel Manzueta shutting down the Phillies.

No Twins hitter recorded multiple hits, but Luis Rodriguez and Beltre both walked three times.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Jeremy Lee (Cedar Rapids) - 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
Hitter of the Day – Brooks Lee (St. Paul) – 3-4, 2 R, BB

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on the Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Thursday. 
#2 – Brooks Lee (St. Paul) – 3-4, 2 R, BB
#4 – David Festa (Minnesota) - 5.0 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
#5 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – 2-4, RBI, 2 K
#9 – Luke Keaschall (Wichita) – 1-3, 2 BB, K
#13 – Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 0-4, BB, 2 K
#14 – Zebby Matthews (Wichita) – 5.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, BB, 5 K
#18 – Yunior Severino (St. Paul) – 1-3, R, 2 RBI, HR(15), BB

FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Iowa (7:08 PM CST) – RHP Caleb Boushley (8-1, 3.52 ERA)
Wichita vs NW Arkansas (7:05 PM CST) – RHP Marco Raya (0-1, 4.78 ERA)
Cedar Rapids vs Beloit (6:35 PM CST) – RHP Ty Langenberg (2-0, 4.50 ERA)
Fort Myers vs Tampa (6:05 PM CST) – RHP Charlee Soto (0-2, 5.94 ERA)

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

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[Doctor Wu]

Zebby actually walked a batter?! I guess he is mortal after all. 

[mikelink45]

Looking at the prospect results - a short list today Zebby continues to impress, but I wonder if Boushley will be the next pitcher called up for a start?

[chpettit19]

Wow, Yunior.

[Launch Angle]

26 minutes ago, Doctor Wu said:

Zebby actually walked a batter?! I guess he is mortal after all. 

It's crazy that when I looked at his stat line I was actually a bit disapointed in is performance yesterday. That's just how dominant he's been this year.

[LambchoP]

Why waste anymore time? It's long past due to dump Farmer, especially after last night when he was the only twin not to get on base. Get Lee up here and let him run with the second base job. Keaschal can take his place in St Paul. Both Wallner and Severino are smashing this month and look like legit HR champions. I know Severino doesn't really have a position on the twins right now, but it'd be nice to see if his power plays in the bigs. I also think he's probably our best trade bait.

[jmlease1]

Yunior is on a real heater right now. But he need to sustain his production for more than just June. It doesn't have to be at this level, but right now his season is one great month: he had a terrible start to the season and even in May he was just ok. But this is what we hoped for from him.

Keaschall continues to do well. I like that he's taking his walks, and I think a little more power will come along, but it's great to see him making good contact, getting on base and staying within himself. He's having an excellent season and it's hard to believe this is his first full professional season.

[stringer bell]

21 minutes ago, LambchoP said:

Why waste anymore time? It's long past due to dump Farmer, especially after last night when he was the only twin not to get on base. Get Lee up here and let him run with the second base job. Keaschal can take his place in St Paul. 

Brooks Lee isn't going to be recalled to be a part-time player. He's a top prospect and if recalled, he'll be in the lineup almost every day. Kyle Farmer is starting against left handed pitchers (approximately 25% of the games), so Lee replacing Farmer to take his plate appearances isn't going to happen. 

Add in that Lee has about 50 plate appearances in St. Paul so far this year. We've seen hot streaks from guys for short periods and then have them struggle. It could happen with Lee. Also, Lee has played just a handful of games at second base and asking him to be a full-time second sacker with such little experience could easily go sideways. 

The idea that Lee can take over second base and Willi Castro can play elsewhere makes sense to a point, but if Castro is elsewhere, he is taking plate appearances from other good to excellent hitters--Santana, Miranda, Larnach or perhaps Castro himself would not be in the game. 

[2wins87]

1 hour ago, jmlease1 said:

Yunior is on a real heater right now. But he need to sustain his production for more than just June. It doesn't have to be at this level, but right now his season is one great month: he had a terrible start to the season and even in May he was just ok. But this is what we hoped for from him.

He has an .851 OPS on the season now.  29% K rate is still high but better than last year.  He's having a good season, full stop.

He still has defensive limitations and the K rate is still something to worry about translating to the majors, but I don't think the timing of his production really matters all that much. 

He's a good AAA hitter at the very least.  Not sure how he gets a shot in the majors with the Twins any time soon and his trade value is never going to be super high with his limitations, but still just a solid hitting prospect.

[bean5302]

Severino feels like a AAAA hitter to me. His wRC+ 120 overall performance in AAA is good, but not elite. I'm not sure why the Twins felt the need to add him to the 40 man last year. Sure, he had a bunch of home runs in a short stint with St. Paul, but his bat was only league average and he's far removed from being the 2B prospect he was years ago. Maybe the Twins can capitalize on this hot streak to get a small return for him this year? 

Really nice game out of Dobnak. Skipping him and Boushley to call up Festa, and after Varland has gotten some chances makes it pretty clear what the pecking order is. I think both Dobnak and Boushley look great as emergency depth guys at this point. Makes more sense to move Varland to the 'pen with that considered.

 

[DocBauer]

How crazy is it to see Matthews throw 5 2/3 with 2 R allowed, a single walk, and 5 K's and feel "ho hum" about it? He and Morris and Festa are providing a lot of excitement! Best part is, they're not the only arms having good seasons. They're just at the top right now.

 I can't wait to see Lee at the ML level, but agree it's not as easy as just saying "cut Farmer and give him the job" on a daily basis. It doesn't hurt for him to get some more time at AAA at the plate, and time at 2B, with how much of the season he's missed. But it's only a matter of time. And then Castro goes back to every day but also everywhere as well. 

Don't know how Severino's career is going to end up. But what he's been doing this month, and even a solid May, shows that April was an aberration after a solid 2023. His June has been other worldly. HE obviously won't keep it up, but he's reminding us all there's some potential there. I don't believe he gets a shot until next season at some point. And right now he's behind a couple guys. But if he's at least decent at 1B and the bat continues to play, he's going to get an opportunity at some point. Seems he's been around forever, but he's not quite 25yo yet.

[jmlease1]

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

Severino feels like a AAAA hitter to me. His wRC+ 120 overall performance in AAA is good, but not elite. I'm not sure why the Twins felt the need to add him to the 40 man last year. Sure, he had a bunch of home runs in a short stint with St. Paul, but his bat was only league average and he's far removed from being the 2B prospect he was years ago. Maybe the Twins can capitalize on this hot streak to get a small return for him this year? 

 

Because they would have lost him in the Rule 5 Draft for nothing if they didn't add him to the 40-man? Someone would have taken a flier on him, it's not like Sabato who was still down in AA. Maybe he makes it maybe he doesn't, but if you're a bad team why wouldn't you take a shot at him and see if you might find a hitter?

We'll see how he finishes the year. If he keeps hammering the ball and has reasonable K rates then he has a chance to compete for a spot or be more than a throw-in for a trade.

[RpR]

4 hours ago, stringer bell said:

 Also, Lee has played just a handful of games at second base and asking him to be a full-time second sacker with such little experience could easily go sideways. 

The idea that Lee can take over second base and Willi Castro can play elsewhere makes sense to a point,

Lee is not a good fielder at SS or 3rd where he has played all but a whopping 2 games in his Minors career.

Twins already have bat first/only players at 3rd and are not going to put Lee at 2nd which would make the Twins infield have gaping holes except at 1st and SS.

[chpettit19]

29 minutes ago, RpR said:

Lee is not a good fielder at SS or 3rd where he has played all but a whopping 2 games in his Minors career.

Twins already have bat first/only players at 3rd and are not going to put Lee at 2nd which would make the Twins infield have gaping holes except at 1st and SS.

The Twins put Lewis at 3B after a whopping 13 games played there in the minors. Put him in CF after 2 minor league games (and 5 fall league games) there.

The Twins put Luis Arraez at 1B in the majors despite having played only 1 game there his entire minor league career (and that was in rookie ball as a 17 year old). Put him in LF after 10 minor league games there (6 of which were in rookie ball as an 18 year old). 

The Twins put Nick Gordon in CF with 0 games played there in the minors.

The Twins put Jorge Polanco at 3B with about 15 games played there in the minors. 

The Mariners put Tim Beckham in LF for 12 games with 0 games played there in the minors. 3 years later the Twins put him back out there with no more games played in the OF between those stints. 

You keep saying the Twins "are not going to put Lee at 2nd" because he hasn't played there in the minors much. I think it's pretty clear the Twins aren't on the same page as you on not playing guys at spots in the majors they don't have a lot of experience with in the minors.

[RpR]

2 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

The Twins put Lewis at 3B after a whopping 13 games played there in the minors. Put him in CF after 2 minor league games (and 5 fall league games) there.

The Twins put Luis Arraez at 1B in the majors despite having played only 1 game there his entire minor league career (and that was in rookie ball as a 17 year old). Put him in LF after 10 minor league games there (6 of which were in rookie ball as an 18 year old). 

The Twins put Nick Gordon in CF with 0 games played there in the minors.

The Twins put Jorge Polanco at 3B with about 15 games played there in the minors. 

The Mariners put Tim Beckham in LF for 12 games with 0 games played there in the minors. 3 years later the Twins put him back out there with no more games played in the OF between those stints. 

You keep saying the Twins "are not going to put Lee at 2nd" because he hasn't played there in the minors much. I think it's pretty clear the Twins aren't on the same page as you on not playing guys at spots in the majors they don't have a lot of experience with in the minors.

And they all were lousy afer being put there.

The reason Polanco played a career total of 20 games at 3rd and when they put Arraez at 3rd,  he literally threw a game away.

If it were not for his bat, Lewis would not be at 3rd , he is well below average there, and with his weak arm there is no where else he could play.

Twins are in contention, they cannot afford games lost by closing their eyes and praying a player will not stink up the field or lose a game for them playing where he has never played before.

This is not injury replacement emergency, at least not yet.  They are not going to play stupid what-if games to do so would be asinine.

Twins have had too many pee-poor fielders recently and are not going to stick Lee where he does not belong no matter how much gents here want them to.

[chpettit19]

6 minutes ago, RpR said:

And they all were lousy afer being put there.

The reason Polanco played a career total of 20 games at 3rd and when they put Arraez at 3rd,  he literally threw a game away.

If it were not for his bat, Lewis would not be at 3rd , he is well below average there, and with his weak arm there is no where else he could play.

Twins are in contention, they cannot afford games lost by closing their eyes and praying a player will not stink up the field or lose a game for them playing where he has never played before.

This is not injury replacement emergency, at least not yet.  They are not going to play stupid what-if games to do so would be asinine.

Twins have had too many pee-poor fielders recently and are not going to stick Lee where he does not belong no matter how much gents here want them to.

Yet the Twins do it. Maybe start saying "I hope they don't" or "I wouldn't" instead of "the Twins won't." Because the Twins do. They put Sano in RF for goodness sake. The Dodgers put Mookie at SS this year despite only having played 13 games there in the minors over a decade ago. You wouldn't do these things, but major league teams do it. A lot. Including the Twins. The Nats put Trea Turner in CF after 6 minor league games there. It happens all the time. Whether you'd do it or not. The Twins would and have done this. The Padres made 20 year old Jackson Merrill their starting CFer this year despite having never played there in a game in his life.

[jmlease1]

35 minutes ago, RpR said:

If it were not for his bat, Lewis would not be at 3rd , he is well below average there, and with his weak arm there is no where else he could play.

Is he? seems to be about average so far this season, but it's all a small sample size. Arm appears good enough for 3B, but of course if it is too weak for 3B then 2B would be an option. (Miranda is the one with the poor arm) Royce looks like he'll have good range at 3B and he's doing a good job learning the position on the fly.

Pretty much every professional talent evaluator out there thinks that Brooks Lee would be above average defensively at 2B or 3B, with several thinking he could be elite at 3B, so I'm confused why you think he's trash defensively. He's been able to hold his own at SS past people thinking he was going to get moved off it too.

Teams drop players in all the time at positions they didn't play much in the minors or previously, particularly when they're moving down the defensive spectrum. Polanco had no trouble handling 2B when they moved him off SS and was immediately a solid defender there. 

[bean5302]

2 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

Because they would have lost him in the Rule 5 Draft for nothing if they didn't add him to the 40-man? Someone would have taken a flier on him, it's not like Sabato who was still down in AA. Maybe he makes it maybe he doesn't, but if you're a bad team why wouldn't you take a shot at him and see if you might find a hitter?

We'll see how he finishes the year. If he keeps hammering the ball and has reasonable K rates then he has a chance to compete for a spot or be more than a throw-in for a trade.

Anthony Prato was a lot more impressive last year IMHO, and he didn't go anywhere when left exposed.

So what if the Twins had lost him in the rule 5 pick, btw? You think a team was going to keep Severino on the 26 man the full season, especially the way he played out of the gate? The Twins would have just gotten him back again.

He's #21 on our top 30 prospects for MLB.
He's #40 on Fangraphs' which was just published 3 days ago.

[chpettit19]

28 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Anthony Prato was a lot more impressive last year IMHO, and he didn't go anywhere when left exposed.

So what if the Twins had lost him in the rule 5 pick, btw? You think a team was going to keep Severino on the 26 man the full season, especially the way he played out of the gate? The Twins would have just gotten him back again.

He's #21 on our top 30 prospects for MLB.
He's #40 on Fangraphs' which was just published 3 days ago.

.245/.328/.540/.869 37.5% K rate
.258/.375/.475/.851 34.8% K rate

Which one is the next Bryce Harper and which one is a AAAA hitter?

Last 28 days:
.326/.396/.758/1.154 33.6% K rate
.463/.589/.776/1.365 22.3% K rate

Which one has been "raking for months" and which one is a AAAA hitter?

The first hitter is 26 years old and in his third season at AAA (178 games and 805 PAs). The 2nd hitter is 24 and in his 2nd season at AAA (103 games and 446 PAs).

For the record, this isn't a shot at you or Wallner. Just pointing out that he's doing everything Wallner has at a younger age. That's a player teams take a chance on.

[jkcarew]

7 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

Yunior is on a real heater right now. But he need to sustain his production for more than just June. It doesn't have to be at this level, but right now his season is one great month: he had a terrible start to the season and even in May he was just ok. But this is what we hoped for from him.

Severino's first 39 games: 145/251/303 (555; wRC+ 42); BB%-12.0; K%-35.3

Severino's last 28 games: 424/540/727 (1.267; wRC+ 224); BB%-19.8; K%-20.6

I don't think anyone in the organization has been this hot for this long so far this year. Like any scorching hot streak, the BABiP is unsustainably high (as his BABiP was 'unsustainably' low to start the year.) But look at the BB/K numbers. Has he figured something out? If so, he's going to have value either on the roster, or in a trade.

[RpR]

2 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

Yet the Twins do it. Maybe start saying "I hope they don't" or "I wouldn't" instead of "the Twins won't." Because the Twins do. They put Sano in RF for goodness sake. The Dodgers put Mookie at SS this year despite only having played 13 games there in the minors over a decade ago. You wouldn't do these things, but major league teams do it. A lot. Including the Twins. The Nats put Trea Turner in CF after 6 minor league games there. It happens all the time. Whether you'd do it or not. The Twins would and have done this. The Padres made 20 year old Jackson Merrill their starting CFer this year despite having never played there in a game in his life.

They do it if they have to, no because they want to.

They put Blankenhorn at 2nd and Arraez at 3rd and lost a game because of it.

There is zero reason for them to put Lee at Second and probably have him show he should not have been put there.

Farmer is going nowhere but to Second Base; why he is having hitting trouble is a concern but he is still the best fiedling 2nd  Baseman on the team; his number show he was not a good SS, good at 3rd and very good at 2nd.

 

[chpettit19]

28 minutes ago, RpR said:

They do it if they have to, no because they want to.

They put Blankenhorn at 2nd and Arraez at 3rd and lost a game because of it.

There is zero reason for them to put Lee at Second and probably have him show he should not have been put there.

Farmer is going nowhere but to Second Base; why he is having hitting trouble is a concern but he is still the best fiedling 2nd  Baseman on the team; his number show he was not a good SS, good at 3rd and very good at 2nd.

 

The Dodgers didn't "have to" put Mookie at short. Miguel Rojas is actually one of the better SS defenders in baseball. But he's historically not hit so well so they went with Mookie to get their best offensive team on the field.

And the Twins played Andrelton Simmons at SS and lost a bunch of games because of it. Because he couldn't hit.

Carlos Correa and Royce Lewis are much more than "zero reason." They are a very good reason to put Lee at 2B if they think he's the best all around player available and that's the alignment that is best defensively (plus roster considerations). They actually make the Twins "want to" put him at 2B.

Kyle Farmer isn't holding Brooks Lee back. The Twins won't DFA Farmer to get Lee up for 30 PAs a month. Farmer interestingly has a job still because his role is so small it's not worth replacing him. The Twins put Julien at 2B last year even though he wasn't a good defender. Your belief that they're letting defense outweigh offense is simply wrong. That may be your approach, but it's not how MLB teams operate. If you can hit they'll find you a place to defend even if you're bad.

And we've been over the defensive numbers already. Teams aren't using those to determine who's good on defense. The Twins aren't hopping on fangraphs, baseball ref, or baseball savant to see if they think Brooks Lee (or anyone else) can field a certain position to their standards. They have coaches and other internal personnel to decide that. They aren't using arbitrary grades from dudes deciding how hard a play was to figure out who to play where.

[RpR]

2 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

Is he? seems to be about average so far this season, but it's all a small sample size. Arm appears good enough for 3B, but of course if it is too weak for 3B then 2B would be an option. (Miranda is the one with the poor arm) Royce looks like he'll have good range at 3B and he's doing a good job learning the position on the fly.

Pretty much every professional talent evaluator out there thinks that Brooks Lee would be above average defensively at 2B or 3B, with several thinking he could be elite at 3B, so I'm confused why you think he's trash defensively. He's been able to hold his own at SS past people thinking he was going to get moved off it too.

Santana had to learn to play bounce catch with Lewis' throwing arm; his fielding percentae is .917 but his Minor League numbers show he was never a good fielder.

His bat and his attiude, will keep him in the game, proably for a long , long time.

Talent evaluators crystal balls mean little in the real world.

Lee's numbes show he is below average fielder like Lewis but the gamble is he can hit Major League pitchers as well as he did in the Minors;

Lee' career fielding numbers show him to be a lessor fielder than Juline who was never a good fielder in the minors; Juliens Pro fielding error numbers are pretty good but him making sure he does not screw-up may be one reason he is slower at turning plays.

As others have written here, many Minor League stars never shine in the Bigs.

 

[RpR]

1 minute ago, chpettit19 said:

And they played Andrelton Simmons at SS and lost a bunch of games because of it. Because he couldn't hit.

Yeah right, in your mind.

If that silliness is true then the Twins lost a lot of games because Correa was off kilter last year; because Jeffers has huge slumps; because Wallner is a strike out king only slightly behind Julien and oh yes a certain formerly loved Twins rookie made a very, very bad error at Frst in the Post Season which is one reason Santana is here etc., etc., etc..

 Good defensive keeps runners off bases; runners not on bases cannot score.

[bean5302]

1 hour ago, chpettit19 said:

.245/.328/.540/.869 37.5% K rate
.258/.375/.475/.851 34.8% K rate

Which one is the next Bryce Harper and which one is a AAAA hitter?

Last 28 days:
.326/.396/.758/1.154 33.6% K rate
.463/.589/.776/1.365 22.3% K rate

Which one has been "raking for months" and which one is a AAAA hitter?

The first hitter is 26 years old and in his third season at AAA (178 games and 805 PAs). The 2nd hitter is 24 and in his 2nd season at AAA (103 games and 446 PAs).

For the record, this isn't a shot at you or Wallner. Just pointing out that he's doing everything Wallner has at a younger age. That's a player teams take a chance on.

Severino isn't eligible for the rule 5 draft right now so how he's performing now is not relevant. How he performed last year is relevant.
a25, 299 PA, .302/.452/.539 OPS .990, wRC+ 153 <--- left exposed. Not selected.
a23, 153 PA, .233/.320/.511 OPS .832 wRC+ 100 <--- protected

1) Would a team have selected Severino? Probably not.
2) If a team would have selected Severino, would they have kept him? No way. He opened the year at .145/.251/.303 OPS .555 wRC+ 46 in AAA in 167 plate appearances. Even at 203 plate appearances he was .181/.281/.362 OPS .642 wRC+ 64 in AAA with a long history of being mediocre at the plate.

Can you imagine how his stat line would have looked in MLB with him also being considered a poor defender? .100/.200/.250? A 50% K rate to boot? Nobody is keeping that on the 26 man.

[chpettit19]

1 minute ago, RpR said:

Yeah right, in your mind.

If that silliness is true then the Twins lost a lot of games because Correa was off kilter last year; because Jeffers has huge slumps; because Wallner is a strike out king only slightly behind Julien and oh yes a certain formerly loved Twins rookie made a very, very bad error at Frst in the Post Season which is one reason Santana is here etc., etc., etc..

 Good defensive keeps runners off bases; runners not on bases cannot score.

The Twins did lose games last year because Correa was "off kilter." 

Your defense doesn't matter if they don't hit the ball to you. You know you're going to get ABs every game. You don't know you're going to get the ball hit to you. Defense is important. Absolutely. Nobody is saying it isn't. It is not as important as hitting. Because if you can't score you can't win.

League average defensive chances (putouts, assists, and errors) last year was 5794. League average plate appearances was 6137. The average team had 400 more PAs than defensive plays last year. Nico Hoerner lead non-1B/C position players with 667 chances last year. Marcus Semien lead baseball with 753 PAs. The guy who had the ball hit to him the most in the majors was nearly 100 plays behind the guy who stepped to the plate the most. Nico himself stepped to the plate 688 times. So even the league leader in defensive chances hat more PAs than chances. Semian had 664 chances, for what it's worth. Trea Turner lead the league in errors with 23. That's an error every 6.65 games. Guy at the top of the order would get 4 PAs a game probably. So he had 1 error for every 26.6 PAs he had.

There are more offensive chances, and fewer defensive screw ups. Teams care about defense, but offense is king.

[chpettit19]

22 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Severino isn't eligible for the rule 5 draft right now so how he's performing now is not relevant. How he performed last year is relevant.
a25, 299 PA, .302/.452/.539 OPS .990, wRC+ 153 <--- left exposed. Not selected.
a23, 153 PA, .233/.320/.511 OPS .832 wRC+ 100 <--- protected

1) Would a team have selected Severino? Probably not.
2) If a team would have selected Severino, would they have kept him? No way. He opened the year at .145/.251/.303 OPS .555 wRC+ 46 in AAA in 167 plate appearances. Even at 203 plate appearances he was .181/.281/.362 OPS .642 wRC+ 64 in AAA with a long history of being mediocre at the plate.

Can you imagine how his stat line would have looked in MLB with him also being considered a poor defender? .100/.200/.250? A 50% K rate to boot? Nobody is keeping that on the 26 man.

Their whole lines:
Prato- .255/.402/.435/.837 in 455 PAs
Severino- .272/.352/.546/.898 in 528 PAs 

1. Would a team take a chance on a 23 year old who lead the minors in HRs while playing in the upper minors? Probably.
2. Would he have started the season the same way playing for a major league team? We'll never know. The A's have given Lawrence Butler 147 PAs over 50 games with a 58 wRC+. Seth Brown wRC+ of 64 in 63 games and 195 PAs. 244 PAs in 61 games for Zack Gelof and his wRC+ of 72. All of those guys have options and are still getting run because teams that aren't trying to win give young guys with upside chances.

And just because the other team wanted to take him off their 26-man doesn't mean the Twins would have him back right now. The bigger likelihood is that he'd be putting up these numbers with another team's AAA squad and be getting a chance because the Twins took 150K and put it in their pocket instead of taking him back.

And he OPS'd .907 in 2022. So his age 22 and 23 seasons were a .907 and .898 OPS while leading the minors in HRs playing in AA and AAA as a 23 year old. The A's took Ryan Noda the year before coming off a .904 and .870 OPS the 2 previous years at AA and AAA as a 25 and 26 year old. I think they may have looked at Severino pretty closely.