Twins Daily Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Month - June 2024

[Ted Schwerzler]

A handful of Minnesota Twins pitching prospects showed out over the last month, and for a big-league club that needs more in the rotation, that’s great to see. Check out who took the minor league starting pitcher of the month honors for June.

 

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge

Recent updates to prospect lists have had Twins prospects David Festa and Zebby Matthews showing up among the top 100. They aren’t the only arms who have had standout seasons throughout the system, though, and June brought some stellar performances.

Let’s get into it:

4. Jose Olivares (Fort Myers) - 4 G, 16.1 IP, 2.76 ERA, 14 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 20 K
Signed as an international free agent out of Venezuela, Olivares started with a rehab assignment in the Complex League and then quickly elevated back to Fort Myers. He was virtually lights-out in June, and for a rotation seeking a level of stability, he was able to provide it. Olivares is 21 years old and could be an option to see Cedar Rapids by the end of the season, if he is going to continue pitching like this.

3. Randy Dobnak (St. Paul) - 5 G, 25.1 IP, 2.13 ERA, 20 H, 10 R, 6 ER, 12 BB, 29 K
Dobnak’s story is well-documented, and he has certainly been through the wringer trying to get back to the big leagues. Pitching well this season for the Saints, his June had him in consideration to replace Chris Paddack in Rocco Baldelli’s rotation. Ultimately the spot went to top prospect David Festa, but Dobnak could be among the next pitchers considered. He would need a 40-man spot, and his walks still leave a bit to be desired, but the repertoire now includes an impressive changeup and he’s racking up strikeouts.

2. Zebby Matthews (Wichita) - 4 G, 23.2 IP, 1.90 ERA, 16 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 26 K
Showing up on Baseball America’s top 100 prospects, Matthews is exploding onto the scene with his ridiculous strikeout-to-walk numbers. It would be impressive to see him give 2014 Phil Hughes a run for his money. Matthews is already 24, and was an eighth-round pick, but he’s making quick work of Double-A Wichita this season. Despite beginning the year with High-A Cedar Rapids, it still stands to reason that he could earn a promotion to Triple-A St. Paul before the calendar turns. He is certainly a part of Minnesota’s pitching pipeline at this point, and Matthews presents another future rotation option.

Pitcher of the Month - Andrew Morris (Wichita) - 5 G, 26.2 IP, 1.01 ERA, 16 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 5 BB, 27 K
Racking up multiple minor league pitcher of the week honors in June, it’s not a shock that Morris would be the choice for pitcher of the month. Taken in the fourth round of the 2022 Major League Baseball Draft, the same year that Matthews was drafted, the Texas Tech product has continued to make his name known throughout the system. Now 22 years old, Morris is in a similar spot to Matthews. He has pitched at both Cedar Rapids and Wichita this season, and continued performance wouldn’t take a trip to St. Paul out of the question.

During 2024 as a whole, Morris has pitched virtually the same amount at both High-A and Double-A. Surprisingly, he has gotten even better with the rise in level. While his strikeout rate has dipped slightly, he is allowing even fewer hits and simply dominating opposing hitters. Morris is someone that wouldn’t have been extremely notable on organization prospect lists even a year ago, but at this point he is a name to be reckoned with.

What do you think of the starting pitcher of the month choice for June? How would your list look?

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[Dman]

Morris looks like he is ready to come out of Zebby's shadow and one up him.  It's a nice battle they both are having.  Really great to see some elite arms bubbling up through the system.

[ryan189]

you guys forgot travis adams

[FlyingFinn]

Argh! Olivares makes the pitcher of the month list and minutes later is on the IL.

[Trov]

It is nice to see guys put up some good numbers to start to push for chances in next year or too.  You can never have too much pitching as guys get hurt or fall off production. 

[4twinsJA]

AA has some nice starting pitching at the moment- Morris, Matthews, Lewis, Nowlin, Adams, and Jones. Agree can't have too much pitching, not all these will be successful MLB pitchers.

[ryan189]

1 hour ago, ryan189 said:

 

https://x.com/TwinsPlayerDev/status/1807478700663034230?s=01

[mark sills]

A great stat in July to make a run for back to back pitchers of the month. Last two starts Nine strike outs with no runs allowed. I think both Andrew and Zebby need to go to the next level.

[Hheimer]

Should we give Mr. Matthew's and Mr. Morris a shot at the bigs this year, if they keep up there great numbers? 

[gman]

Seemingly the top of the pitching pipeline could get crowded next year. What a terrible problem to have.

[bean5302]

Spencer Bengard FTM (A) - 5 G, 2 GS, 21.0 IP, 1.71 ERA, 2.09 FIP, 9.43 K/9 (27%), 1.29 BB/9 (4%).
Travis Adams WCH (AA) - 4 GS, 22.0 IP, 2.05 ERA, 2.57 FIP, 11.05 K/9 (31%), 2.86 BB/9 (8%)
 
Nice honorable mentions.

[Otaknam]

Some information on their repertoire would be nice. What is the speed of their fastball and how do their other pitches rate. You mention Zebby threw a pitch at 98.6, so we know he is more than a control pitcher despite the ridiculous strikeout to walk ratio. What else does he throw? 

[LambchoP]

Mathews and Morris should start the year at AAA next year and possibly earn a call up at some point if they continue to have success. Both these guys should be untouchable at the trade deadline. I'd rather offer Raya or anyone in the lower minors like Soto, Lewis or Culpeper 

[DocBauer]

Seriously, if Varland heads to the pen come September...if not sooner...and the Twins need/want someone to make some starts to rest an arm or two as they did late last year, is it automatically Festa? I mean, no offense to Festa, I think he's got a world of potential. But could Dobnak be an August/September option for that fill in arm?

A lot of good arms deserving of praise, including some not listed in the OP but mentioned elsewhere. 

[LyleCole]

Watching Andrew Morris on the mound reminds me 100% of Jack Morris.  

[twinstalker]

First, because I'm probably deemed a downer, I want to say Andrew Morris is my favorite Twins prospect, and wow, he's been killing it.

I ran across a disturbing stat the other day, and that is his swinging strike rate is only 2.4% at AA.  As you can imagine, the stat itself is pretty predictive.  To put some context to it, it's foremost a smaller sample size, but unfortunately not small enough.

Zebby's rate is 14.2% at AA.

Morris was 14.3% at A+.

Varland is 12.6% at AAA

Keoni Cavaco's as a pitcher was 7.1% for Cedar Rapids.

Anyway, 2.4% is a horrible rate; he's not missing bats.  How he gets 9 k's in a game or two is beyond me, but I doubt he could repeat whatever he's doing in an MLB game.

That all said, his SwStr rate was good (not great) at A+, and it provides hope that this is somewhat of an aberration.  But at this moment, it's a cross your fingers sort of thing, imo.

 

 

[mark sills]

22 hours ago, twinstalker said:

First, because I'm probably deemed a downer, I want to say Andrew Morris is my favorite Twins prospect, and wow, he's been killing it.

I ran across a disturbing stat the other day, and that is his swinging strike rate is only 2.4% at AA.  As you can imagine, the stat itself is pretty predictive.  To put some context to it, it's foremost a smaller sample size, but unfortunately not small enough.

Zebby's rate is 14.2% at AA.

Morris was 14.3% at A+.

Varland is 12.6% at AAA

Keoni Cavaco's as a pitcher was 7.1% for Cedar Rapids.

Anyway, 2.4% is a horrible rate; he's not missing bats.  How he gets 9 k's in a game or two is beyond me, but I doubt he could repeat whatever he's doing in an MLB game.

That all said, his SwStr rate was good (not great) at A+, and it provides hope that this is somewhat of an aberration.  But at this moment, it's a cross your fingers sort of thing, imo.

 

 

He threw 95 pitches, with 67 going for strikes (71%), including a double-A leading 20 swings and misses on the day. This was is last game so not to sure about that stat

[twinstalker]

4 hours ago, mark sills said:

He threw 95 pitches, with 67 going for strikes (71%), including a double-A leading 20 swings and misses on the day. This was is last game so not to sure about that stat

As I dig, I think it might be a broken stat on milbtracker.com.  Though this site has been around for a few years, there are often glitches.  It's possible the 2.4% is how he started at AA and is truncated to whatever point that was.

Thank you for bringing that to my attention.