Twins Minor League Report (7/26): Marco Raya, Andrew Morris Combine for Gem in Wichita

[Ted Schwerzler]

Marco Raya may have just turned in his best outing of the season for Double-A Wichita. Adam Plutko continued a string of strong starts for the St. Paul Saints. The Twins farm system had plenty of performances jumped off the page.

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 57-45
St. Paul Saints: 50-49
Wichita Wind Surge: 38-55
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 53-39
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 49-41
FCL Twins: 28-31 (Season finished on Thursday) 
DSL Twins: 19-18

TRANSACTIONS

• INF Royce Lewis returned to Minnesota from MLB rehab assignment
• INF Diego A. Castillo cleared waivers and has reported to St. Paul
• Justin Topa had his rehab assignment transferred to St. Paul 
• C Jair Camargo was officially optioned to St. Paul
• 1B Aaron Sabato was activated from Wichita's Injured List  

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 6, Omaha 1
Box Score
Veteran big leaguer Adam Plutko was on the bump for the Saints, and he turned in his best start in the Twins organization. Six innings of scoreless baseball were punctuated by just a single hit and one walk. Plutko also struck out eight. A night after Randy Dobnak shoved for St. Paul, the next man up did the same thing.

Both sides remained scoreless for the first four innings but Patrick Winkel kicked things off in the fourth inning. His two-run blast scored Wynton Bernard and made it 2-0. Dalton Shuffield followed with a two-run dinger, scoring Payton Eeles, and the Saints suddenly had a 4-0 lead.

Shuffield singled home Anthony Prato in the sixth inning and Winkel drove home Chris Williams in the eighth inning. Ryan Jensen started the ninth inning but was able to record just a single out before loading the bases and giving up a run. Matt Bowman came on to replace him and struck out Nelson Velazquez to set Omaha up against their final out. He got a ground out from Ryan Fitzgerald and capped off the victory.

Bernard, Winkel, and Shuffield each had two hits for the Saints on Friday night. St. Paul drew more walks(5) than they took strikeouts(4), and came out victorious because of it.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 4, Amarillo 1
Box Score
If the Twins were interested in trading Marco Raya, watching him make arguably the best start of the season was certainly ideal. Working five innings of one-hit ball, Raya allowed no runs or walks while striking out five.

Luke Keaschall did as he has done multiple times this season and led off the game with a home run. His sixth of the year at Double-A made it a 1-0 game. Ben Ross drove in Aaron Sabato with a fourth-inning single before Jorel Ortega plated Tanner Schobel with the same type of hit. Up 3-0, a sixth inning Sod Poodles run didn’t hurt.

Ross blasted a solo shot in the ninth inning to get the run back and make it a 4-1 game. Andrew Morris closed it out. The starter came on for four innings of relief and allowed only a single run while striking out six. He lowered his ERA to 1.28 in the process. He earned his first Save in professional baseball, and his first Save since his freshman year at Mesa State (Colorado) in 2019. 

Ross racked up three hits, accounting for half of the total on the night. The Wind Surge struck out only four times while drawing three walks.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Quad Cities 3, Cedar Rapids 2
Box Score
The D-Bo Show put up a strong performance on Friday. Darren Bowen went four scoreless innings and allowed just two hits and a walk. He also struck out three batters.

Cedar Rapids opened the scoring during the fifth inning when Kyle Hess tripled home Jay Harry. Dillon Tatum cashed him in with a single, and the good guys led by a 2-0 tally. 

Quad Cities got a run back during the sixth inning, but they had work to do. They loaded the bases against closer Gabriel Yanez. With one out, Justin Johnson singled to complete the River Bandits comeback and walk it off.

Rubel Cespedes joined Harry with a pair of hits, accounting for four of the nine by Cedar Rapids. The Kernels racked up 12 strikeouts while drawing just two walks. Misael Urbina’s double and Hess’s triple were the lone extra-base hits. Yanez’s fifth blown save also negated Mike Paredes’ four innings of one-run (unearned) relief.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Dunedin 11, Fort Myers 10 (F/12)
Box Score
Tanner Hall drew the start while Yasser Mercedes played alongside Walker Jenkins in the outfield for the first time. Hall worked four innings and allowed five runs on four hits. He gave up a walk but struck out five batters.

Down 2-0 through the first two innings, the Mighty Mussels took a lead in the third inning thanks to a four-spot. Angel Del Rosario doubled home Nick Lucky for the first run before Jenkins scored him on a sacrifice fly. Brandon Winokur then homered for the seventh time, and for the second straight night. His two-run shot brought home Mercedes to make it a 4-2 game.

Lucky’s fourth-inning solo blast put Fort Myers up 5-2. Dunedin’s four-run fifth inning gave them the lead, but Rixon Wingrove doubled home Poncho Ruiz in the eighth inning to tie things at six. The Mighty Mussels couldn’t grab a go-ahead run in the ninth inning, and Jack Noble got the final two outs to push the game into extras.

With one out in the tenth, Ruiz brought Mercedes home on a sacrifice fly to score the go ahead run. That wouldn’t hold through the bottom half though, so Fort Myers tried again in the 11th inning. Wingrove scored on an errant throw and Del Rosario drove him in. The 9-7 lead didn’t hold up either, and it was on to the 12th.

Jenkins started at second base and moved to third with two outs. A balk from pitcher Yondrei Rojas brought him home, and once again Fort Myers had a lead. Of course, Dunedin scored in the bottom half to even things at 10-10. The Blue Jays pushed a second run across and were able to secure the walk-off victory.

Lucky went 3-for-3 on the night, with Wingrove, Ruiz, and Del Rosario each picking up a pair of hits. The Mighty Mussels put up a 10/2 K/BB and were just 4-for-15 with runners in scoring position.

DOMINICAN DAILIES
DSL Twins 7, DSL Arizona Black 4
Box Score
Leonardo Rondon worked five innings allowing just two runs (one earned) on four hits. He walked a pair but struck out two as well.

Ramiro Dominguez started the scoring with a solo shot in the first inning, his first professional home run. After Arizona tied things in the bottom of the first, the Twins answered with four runs in the second inning. Singles from Irvin Nunez and Dominguez, along with a Merphy Hernandez triple, did all of the damage. Nestor Urbina’s third-inning single drove in another and made it a 6-1 game.

Arizona scored a run in the fifth inning, and two more in the sixth inning to draw closer. Rather than wilt like the previous day, the Twins added another run in the seventh inning to stretch their lead. Hernandez raced home on a wild pitch to provide the breathing room.

Hernandez, Dominguez, and Urbina all posted a pair of hits for the Twins. Eudy Garcia worked the final two innings.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Adam Plutko (St. Paul) - 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K
Hitter of the Day – Nick Lucky (Fort Myers) 3-3, 2 R, RBI, 2B, HR(4)

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) – 0-5, R, RBI
#2 – Brooks Lee (Minnesota) – 3-4, R, RBI, BB
#5 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – 0-4, K
#6 – Marco Raya (Wichita) – 5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K
#9 – Luke Keaschall (Wichita) – 1-5, R, RBI, HR(6)
#10 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – 1-6, R, 2 RBI, 2 K
#13 – Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 0-3, R, BB
#20 – Ricardo Olivar (Cedar Rapids) – 0-2, K

SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul vs Omaha (6:37 PM CST) – RHP Zebby Matthews (1-0, 3.60 ERA)
Wichita @ Amarillo (7:05 PM CST) – RHP Cory Lewis (0-2, 4.50 ERA)
Cedar Rapids @ Quad Cities (6:00 PM CST) – LHP Connor Prielipp (0-0, -.-- ERA)
Fort Myers @ Dunedin (5:30 PM CST) – RHP Charlee Soto (0-3, 5.73 ERA)

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

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[South Dakota Tom]

Coming from Sioux Falls to see the Saints play tomorrow night- excited to see Zebby is toeing the rubber.  Heck, good day to see pitchers throughout the system tomorrow.

[mark sills]

Nice to see Raya with no walks. Great win with finally completing five innings.  Both Andrew Morris and Raya strike out the side. Nice to see Andrew finish out strong., and now has his strikeouts in double a over one per inning. Also wondering what type of leash they will have on Prielipp. I would bet maybe fifty pitches.

[Ghost of Kirby Puckett]

5 hours ago, mark sills said:

Nice to see Raya with no walks. Great win with finally completing five innings.  Both Andrew Morris and Raya strike out the side. Nice to see Andrew finish out strong., and now has his strikeouts in double a over one per inning. Also wondering what type of leash they will have on Prielipp. I would bet maybe fifty pitches.

Probably varies also, depending on how many he throws in an inning. 4 good arms to watch tonight. And Keaschall is gonna see St.Paul in September if he keeps this up. 

[mnfireman]

No Miranda for St. Paul last night, on his way to the Motor City??

[mark sills]

Think Andrew Morris should be following Zebby to triple a. Five earned runs in his last nine games.

47 strike outs with nine walks in 43.3 innings. Competing for back to back pitcher of the month.

[FlyingFinn]

Lots of great pitching in the top 3 levels for the Twins last night - Plutko, Raya, Morris, Bowen, Paredes, just to name the multiple inning guys. I agree with @Ghost of Kirby Puckett, I expect more greatness tonight with Matthews, Lewis, Prielipp and Soto. I'm betting Prielipp goes only 2 innings.

[Doctor Gast]

I trust the process with Raya, In the long run, it'll pay dividends, The piggy-back with Morris proved a success

[LambchoP]

Man, both Mathews and Morris could be future all-stars in the Twins rotation. I think both these guys should be untouchable. If we have to trade pitching, go with Raya, Soto or Lewis. Twins should be set position wise the next few years and with Zebby and soon to be Morris both at AAA we could have some fun competition for rotation spots along with Festa. I still hope they pick up pitching at the deadline. At the very least we need one, preferably two lefties for the bullpen to replace Theilbar and Funderburk.

[roger]

Great seeing Raya go five innings on just 60 pitches.  Guessing that is his current limit?  Was that his best start in his pro career?

Also saw that Keaschall was at first base again.  Has been there a lot of late.

Checked the Saints box score and saw that Justin Topa had a scoreless inning of relief (1 walk and 1 K).  Should be ready to join the Twins in a week or ten days.  Gonna be interesting seeing who gets moved out when Topa comes up.  Likewise will be interesting seeing what moves they make when Miranda returns today and Correa a bit later.  

 

[DocBauer]

4 hours ago, roger said:

Great seeing Raya go five innings on just 60 pitches.  Guessing that is his current limit?  Was that his best start in his pro career?

Also saw that Keaschall was at first base again.  Has been there a lot of late.

Checked the Saints box score and saw that Justin Topa had a scoreless inning of relief (1 walk and 1 K).  Should be ready to join the Twins in a week or ten days.  Gonna be interesting seeing who gets moved out when Topa comes up.  Likewise will be interesting seeing what moves they make when Miranda returns today and Correa a bit later.  

 

Keaschall played a great deal of SS in college but hasn't yet since being drafted. Apparently, despite being a good athlete, he's just not a pro SS. Additionally, I've heard he doesn't have the arm you'd like for 3B, which is why he's only appeared in 2 games there. (all according to B-Ref). He's been splitting his time primarily between 2B and CF, when healthy enough to do so and not DH, so the 1B idea is kind of new. But I love it. The bat is going to play. So finding him a spot or spots to play is a great option. No reason he can't be part of the 1B equation going forward.

[gman]

Starting pitching is becoming a good story for the franchise. I hope they hang unto the guys making this work. I think a few of this guys will have to wait their turn in the bullpen.

[twinstalker]

On 7/27/2024 at 9:18 AM, LambchoP said:

Man, both Mathews and Morris could be future all-stars in the Twins rotation. I think both these guys should be untouchable. If we have to trade pitching, go with Raya, Soto or Lewis. Twins should be set position wise the next few years and with Zebby and soon to be Morris both at AAA we could have some fun competition for rotation spots along with Festa. I still hope they pick up pitching at the deadline. At the very least we need one, preferably two lefties for the bullpen to replace Theilbar and Funderburk.

I wouldn't trade Lewis.  He's recovering and was ahead of the two other prior.  I have Raya ranked lower than 25, many spots ahead of Severino.  I just don't understand some of these rankings.  I have Morris at 6, just behind (for now) 5. Emmanuel Rodriguez, 4. Keaschall, 2.5 Zebby, 2.5 Lee, and 1. Jenkins.

I wouldn't put a draft pick in the top 12.