Twins Minor League Report (6/29): Adams Notches High-Quality Start, Varland Back on Track, Kernels Power

[Seth Stohs]

The Saints and Wind Surge got really good starting pitching on Saturday night. The Kernels powered their way to four home runs and a win. Rain was again the winner in Fort Myers. See what happened in the Twins minor leagues on Saturday. 

Image courtesy of Seth Stohs, Twins Daily

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 44-36 (game in progress)
St. Paul Saints: 41-38
Wichita Wind Surge: 32-42
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 43-29
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 36-36
FCL Twins: 18-22
DSL Twins: 10-10

TRANSACTIONS
The Saints placed RHP Jay Jackson on the temporarily inactive list. 

Fort Myers activated C Wilfri Castro from the 7-Day IL. IF/OF Brandon Winokur was placed on the 7-Day IL  

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 8, Iowa 2
Box Score
In his previous start, Louie Varland was charged with 12 runs over 2 1/3 innings of work. To say he was much improved in this outing is a bit of an understatement. 

Of course, the wind in Des Moines wasn’t blowing out like it was a week ago in St. Paul. However, he was still blessed with plenty of run support. 

In the first inning, Brooks Lee doubled and scored on a single by Yunior Severino. In the second inning, Chris Williams hit a long home run to make it 2-0 Saints. 

The Saints put a “4” on the scoreboard in the fourth inning. Alex Isola reached on an error and advanced to second on a passed ball. Anthony Prato drove him in with a double. Edouard Julien followed with a single to center to score Prato. After the inning’s second out, Wallner singled to right. Julien advanced to third. Severino singled to drive in Julien. 

Varland completed five shutout innings. He gave up four hits, walked two and struck out seven batters.

Josh Winder worked the next two innings. He gave up two runs on three hits. He walked one and struck out four batters. Ryan Jensen and Jeff Brigham each pitched a scoreless inning. Brigham struck out the side. 

DaShawn Keirsey went 3-for-4 with his 14th double and 18th stolen base. Julien went 2-for-5 with a walk. Severino went 2-for-5. Williams’ home run was his fifth of the year.  

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 2, NW Arkansas 3 
Box Score
Travis Adams gave up two runs early, but he really settled on and had a high-quality start. He gave up a run in each of the first and second innings. However, he ended up going 6 2/3 innings and gave up just those two runs on six hits. He had nine strikeouts without issuing a walk. Miguel Rodriguez came in and got the final out of the seventh inning on a strikeout. 

Travis Floyd came on and pitched the eighth and ninth innings. He had four strikeouts, but he gave up one unearned run and took the loss. 

With one out in the third inning, Luke Keaschall walked. He stole second base. Jake Rucker walked. Then Jeferson Morales singled to drive in Keaschall with the team’s first run. 

In the fourth inning, Andrew Cossetti worked a one-out walk. He stole second, and with two outs, he scored on a Ben Ross double to tie the game at 2-2. 

Carson McCusker went 3-for-4 with his fifth stolen base. The rest of the Surge hitters combined for four more hits. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 4, Beloit 2
Box Score
The Kernels powered their way to a nice, 4-2 win. 

In the first inning, Rayne Doncon’s third Kernels homer gave the Kernels a 1-0 lead. 

In the second frame, Misael Urbina hit his fourth homer of the year. With one out, Agustin Ruiz hit his fifth homer to make it 3-0. 

John Klein started and gave up two runs on six hits over five innings. He struck out eight batters and didn’t walk any. Both runs scored in the top of the third inning to make it 3-2. However, in the fifth inning, Ricardo Olivar knocked his 11th home of the season to make it 4-2. 

Sheldon Reed worked two scoreless innings. Ricardo Velez struck out three batters in a scoreless eighth frame. Gariel Yanez then pitched a scoreless ninth for his sixth save. 

The Kernels had just seven hit including the four home runs. In addition, Gabriel Gonzalez added a triple. Kevin Maitan had two walks. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 2, Tampa 0 (suspended in 2nd inning)
Box Score
Things started out quite well in Ft. Myers for the Mussels, well, after the game was delayed to start.. First,Jose Oliveres put a zero on the board. Then Walker Jenkins led off the bottom of the first by launching a 3-2 pitch over the wall in right field for his second homer of the season. 

Isaac Pena singled and then scored on a Poncho Ruiz double. Jose Olivares got two outs in the top of the second before the rains came again. That is where the game will continue when it restarts on Sunday morning. 

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
FCL Twins 1, FCL Red Sox 6
Box Score
Liam Rocha made the start for the Twins on Saturday. He gave up four runs on six hits (including two homers). He walked one and had five strikeouts. Eider Machuca came in and gave up two runs (1 earned) on one hit and two walks in the fifth inning. Ezequiel Ventural struck out three batters over two perfect innings. 

The Twins had just four hits in the game. Ricardo Pena went 1-for-2 with a walk and his seventh double. 

Yilber Herrera walked twice, including to lead off the third inning. He advanced to second on an Amilcar Vasquez single. However, he was out when Bryan Acuna lined out to the first baseman who threw behind Herrera to double him up. Yasser Mercedes followed with a single. Vasquez scored the lone Twins run on a wild pitch. 

DOMINICAN DAILIES
DSL Twins 3, DSL Mets Orange 4
Box Score
It was a back and forth game in the Dominican on Saturday. Both teams scored a run in the second inning. The Mets took a one-run lead after three innings, but the Twins tied it up in the fifth. The Mets reclaimed the lead at 3-2 with a run in the bottom of the sixth. The Twins tied it up in the top of the seventh, but the Mets walked it off with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.

The Twins got a one-out single from Victor Leal in the top of the second. He moved to second on a ground out and then scored on a single by Alver Medina. 

With two outs in the top of the fifth inning, Murphy Hernandez singled. He then stole second base on a wild pitch which allowed him to go to third, but a throwing error by the catcher allowed him to score and tie the game. 

With two outs in the top of the seventh, Nestor Urbina reached on a force out. He stole second and scored on an error. That tied the game at 3-3. 

Santiago Rojas started this game. He went four innings and gave up two runs (1 earned) on four hits and a walk. He struck out four batters. Anderson Ramos came in to start the fifth frame. In 2 2/3 innings, he gave up two runs on four hits. He walked one and struck out two batters.  

Merphy Hernandez went 2-for-2 with a walk. He also stole three more bases, giving him 16 total for the season. Leal went 2-for-3 and stole his third base.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Travis Adams (Wichita) - 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 9 K; 91 pitches, 70 strikes (77.0%)
Hitter of the Day – DaShawn Keirsey, Jr. (St. Paul) - 3-for-4, BB, 2B(14), R, RBI, K, SB(18). 

 

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) – Game Suspended (1-for-1, HR)
#2 – Brooks Lee (St. Paul) – 1-for-5, 2B(5), R, K
#5 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – 1-for-4, 3B(2), K
#8 – Austin Martin (Minnesota) – in lineup
#9 – Luke Keaschall (Wichita) – 1-for-3, BB, R, K, SB(4)
#18 – Yunior Severino (St. Paul) – 2-for-5, 2 RBI, K
#20 – Ricardo Olivar (Cedar Rapids) – 2-for-4, HR(11), R, RBI, 2K

SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Iowa (1:08 PM CST) – RHP Adam Plutko (2-1, 4.79 ERA)
NW Arkansas @ Wichita (1:05 PM CST) – RHP Cory Lewis (0-1, 3.86 ERA)
Beloit @ Cedar Rapids (1:05 PM CST) – LHP Christian MacLeod (1-1, 2.70 ERA)
Tampa @ Ft. Myers (DH @ 11:05 AM CST) – LHP Cesar Lares (2-2, 3.30 ERA)

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

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[Doctor Wu]

An encouraging bounce-back outing from Varland. Hope to see more like that, and maybe more of the same when he's called back up. I don't know much about Travis Adams but pitching 6 innings with 9 strikeout and 0 walks is enough for me to start taking notice!

[Dman]

I am always a little down on Adams and viewed him more as reliever.  He has looked pretty darn good the last two times out as a starter.  Seems to be a Zebby affect everywhere he goes.  At any rate great game for Adams.  Very well pitched.

Also nice to see Varland bounce back after his horrible outing last time out.

 

 

[FlyingFinn]

Keirsey is having an amazing year. Injured for 3 weeks and picks up right where he left off.

[Aerodeliria]

I'm a big Varland fan. He just needs a bit more time to get things right.

Thanks for the write up!

[jmlease1]

1 hour ago, FlyingFinn said:

Keirsey is having an amazing year. Injured for 3 weeks and picks up right where he left off.

he may be 27, but he's earned a shot. Just don't know if they'll find it for him with the Twins. I wouldn't mind seeing him get a real shot at being the 4th OF in 2025.

Nice to see Severino continuing to rake. He's had a truly awesome June.

Doncon seems to be settling in a bit at Cedar Rapids, nice to see him rip a dinger.

[Doctor Gast]

IDK for sure but IMO maybe Varland was over-eager to return to MLB & over did the change-ups to perfect it. This outing IMO he was conservative with his CUs with much better results. Lee, Keirsey, Julien, Wallner & Severino are having good ABs with very few SOs among them. All of these should be up in the MLB. If there is no room, make room. Put Varland in the BP, trade-off some players but please give our young players an opportunity to shine. Just think of the impact of (SH) Lee & Severino, (LH) Keirsey, Wallner, Julien & Kiriloff when he's healthy will have on predominate RHPs?

I'll start to note Adams. The pipeline that have been trickling is starting to flow.

[FargoFanMan]

“One of the pitchers no one wants to face in this league…CRACK!!!” 
“Home run for Walker Jenkins!!!”

Is he starting to get in a groove after being injured the first part of the year? I hope so!

[LambchoP]

Keirsey sure looks like he's earned a call up. I think if twins trade Kepler at the deadline, Keirsey would be more than capable. He can play all three outfield spots, power speed combo. He'd also be an improvement over Margot as well. Severino has been smashing too. Not sure we have a position for him at the major league level, but I'm sure lots of other teams do. He's probably our best trade bait.

[terrydactyls]

Thanks for the picture of some unknown player wearing a #11 jesey.  Maybe a few readers can recognize every player in the Twins' farm system, but not too many.  I've asked that names be included for several years and several people have asked for names this year.  These appeals seem to have fallen on deaf ears.

[wabene]

29 minutes ago, terrydactyls said:

Thanks for the picture of some unknown player wearing a #11 jesey.  Maybe a few readers can recognize every player in the Twins' farm system, but not too many.  I've asked that names be included for several years and several people have asked for names this year.  These appeals seem to have fallen on deaf ears.

C'mon everyone can plainly see that's a guy with huge thighs

[ryan189]

1 hour ago, terrydactyls said:

Thanks for the picture of some unknown player wearing a #11 jesey.  Maybe a few readers can recognize every player in the Twins' farm system, but not too many.  I've asked that names be included for several years and several people have asked for names this year.  These appeals seem to have fallen on deaf ears.

ricardo Olivar took me 10 seconds to look up

[Doctor Gast]

2 hours ago, wabene said:

C'mon everyone can plainly see that's a guy with huge thighs

I knew who he was but I don't know everybody. So it'd be nice to put a name with a number.

[bean5302]

a20 A+, Rayne Doncon = .250/.345/.411 OPS .756 wRC+ 116
a21 A+, Noah Miller = .250/.328/.348 OPS .676 wRC+ 95

 

[bean5302]

5 hours ago, FargoFanMan said:

“One of the pitchers no one wants to face in this league…CRACK!!!” 
“Home run for Walker Jenkins!!!”

Is he starting to get in a groove after being injured the first part of the year? I hope so!

Yeah, Jenkins has had a pretty awful start to the season without even considering the nasty hamstring pull.

.219/.320/.313 OPS .633 wRC+ 89 with no power in 75 plate appearances. Taking more walks, and striking out a little more than last year in his repeat of Low A, but the big issue has been the evaporation of power. I don't really trust low minors batted ball data, but right now, showing Jenkins with a 40% pop up rate.

Wonder if the Twins are having him work on something which just isn't working?