Minor League Report (8/4): Wichita Literally Walks it Off

[Matt Braun]

There were some other games, but we don't have to talk about them. 

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge

TRANSACTIONS
C Alex Isola activated from the development list (AAA St. Paul)

Saints Sentinel
St. Paul 9, Iowa 10 (10 Innings)
Box Score
Caleb Boushley: 5 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
HR: Payton Eeles (3)
Multi-hit games: Edouard Julien (2-for-5, 2B, BB), Wynton Bernard (2-for-5, 3B, 2 R, RBI, BB), Diego A Castillo (3-for-5, 2 2B, 2 R), Payton Eeles (3-for-4, HR, R, 4 RBI)

The Saints lost a heartbreaker on Sunday.

This game proved that, yes, it is much worse to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. Hope kills us all eventually. 

St. Paul and Iowa tussled for a few frames before the Saints landed the first blow: two runs in the 3rd thanks to a lead-off triple from Wynton Bernard sparking an energetic inning. Dalton Shuffield landed a beautiful sacrifice bunt. The art isn’t dead.

Unfortunately, that lead lasted all of three batters, as the Cubs smacked a homer to get on the board before taking the lead outright after a trio of hits put Caleb Boushley on the defensive. Those would be the only runs he allowed on Sunday.

The teams traded runs before Payton Eeles stepped to the plate down a score in the bottom of the 9th. With one mighty swing, 5’5” Eeles blasted a sinker way out to right field, clearing the wall to push the game into extras.

That’s where the trouble began. It should have been easy: St. Paul plated four in the 10th despite a critical double play erasing the Manfred Man before he could score, pushing the Saints into a brutal position. They answered. Four straight hits—including a two-run knock by the hero, Eeles—gave the Saints an 8-4 lead, which should have been plenty for their pitching to handle in the bottom half of the inning.

 

 

“Should have been” is the crucial wording. Caleb Baragar allowed the free runner to score before Scott Blewett—no jokes allowed—surrendered three back-breaking runs to score, including a horrifying game-tying two-strike two-run shot off the bat of Chase Strumpf. 

St. Paul scored in the 11th, but the juice wasn’t there; Hobie Harris allowed a two-run shot to ice the game for Iowa, sending the Saints home empty and distraught.

Rehabbing big-leaguer Justin Topa pitched a scoreless inning with a strikeout.

Iowa right fielder Owen Caissie is the third-ranked prospect in the Cubs system. He doubled and homered in five at-bats.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 3, NW Arkansas 2
Box Score
Travis Adams: 6 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: Jake Rucker (2-for-4, 2 RBI, BB)

Wichita won a thriller on Sunday.

For seven innings, the Wind Surge looked dead in the water. Their full offensive force totaled two hits and two walks—barely enough to score one run just by themselves; fractured, they added up to nothing. Wheels began to turn in the 8th, though—and as one thing turned to another—Wichita suddenly, stunningly had two runs, enough to tie the game.

That could only become true in large part to Travis Adams, who almost completely neutralized NW Arkansas. The Sacramento State product tacked on a third six-inning outing to his streak, giving him 18 combined frames across his last three starts with just four earned runs total. His ERA dropped over half a run over this stretch. 

And he saved the best for last: Sunday’s outing was a gorgeous 74-pitch efficient buzzsaw, as Adams allowed just three baserunners and even eliminated one of those runners with a pickoff. Masterful stuff.

The Wind Surge landed the knock-out punch in the 9th by not punching at all; the Naturals simply hit themselves. Aaron Sabato walked and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Tyler Dearden was walked intentionally, Ben Ross popped out, Luke Keaschall was hit by a pitch, and, finally, Jake Rucker took a pitch inside by a hamster whisker to win on a walk-off walk. Talk about manufacturing a run.

The Naturals are members of the Royals organization, and their best prospect—outfielder Gavin Cross—is ranked fifth in the system. He walked once in four trips to the plate.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 2, Great Lakes 3
Box Score
Ty Langenberg: 6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: None

The Kernels lost a low-scoring affair on Sunday.

Ty Langenberg was sensational on the mound. The Iowa product befuddled the Loons with deftness and precision; he allowed zero walks, struck out five, and likely would have walked away with an even cleaner line had his defense not failed him at critical junctures. In any case, he had a hell of a day on the mound in his best start as a Kernel.

The compliments don’t extend to Cedar Rapids’ offense, though, as hitting eluded them all day. There were plenty of ducks on the pond—the bats took six walks and a hit by pitch—but the hits did not fall, at least not when it counted; they only had one run-scoring hit the entire game. The other hit with a runner in scoring position resulted in Gabriel Gonzalez getting thrown out at home. So it goes. 

Walker Jenkins earned a Jenkinsian hitting line, going 0-2 with a pair of walks and a hit by pitch. It’s like his soul is tethered to first base. 

Great Lakes’ DH Josue De Paula is the 63rd-ranked prospect on MLB Pipeline’s top 100 list. He was held at bay, going 0-5 with a strikeout.

MUSSEL MATTERS
The Mighty Mussels were scheduled to play a doubleheader, but Tropical Storm Debby canceled both games. They will not be made up.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Travis Adams
Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Payton Eeles

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:
#1– Walker Jenkins (Cedar Rapids) - 0-2, R, 2 BB
#4 – Luke Keaschall (Wichita) - 0-3, R, BB, K
#7 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) - 1-4, K
#17 – Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 0-3, K

MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
DSL Rangers Blue @ DSL Twins (10:00 AM) - TBD

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[FlyingFinn]

I think it's Topa time for the Twins. Topa up and Dobnak DFA'd so he ends up back with the Saints.

[ryan189]

if I were dobnak I would elect free agency he could get a chance to start in the bigs on another team not going to happen with twins

[mnfireman]

I see Julien was mentioned as having a multi-hit game (2), but not for having multiple K's (3). For the series he was 8-25 (.320 BA) with 5 BB's (.433 OBP) and 2 doubles (.400 SLG), but also had 13 K's (43.3%). Progress for sure, but tempered with frustration.

 

[twinstalker]

This game proved that, yes, it is much worse to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.

I like this line in this context, thank you.

The Dobber didn't look good today.  

I'm not loving the season Jenkins is having and really hope next year shows a ton of growth.  Unless they refuse to throw him any strikes in an AB, and I don't believe that's the case, he needs to figure out how to punish pitchers.  He's 19 at A+, so I understand it's really hard, but a future superstar would be crushing, a future star would be punishing, and a future good player would be having the season he's having.  I hoping for the first, willing to settle for the second, and am already expecting "good player" as a baseline.  C'mon, WJ!

(actually, "future superstar" looks out of the question, given the standard set by those who are)

Oh, and for context, I believed Brooks Lee in the minors was showing future mediocre starter to average starter in the bigs, at least hitting-wise.

[SaberNerd]

At what point does Eeles transition from a feel-good story into a legitimate prospect?  At the lower levels I thought it was just an older player dominating kids, but he's hitting at AAA with more walks than strikeouts.

[FlyingFinn]

8 hours ago, ryan189 said:

if I were dobnak I would elect free agency he could get a chance to start in the bigs on another team not going to happen with twins

I don't believe that will happen as that will cost Dobnak millions of dollars.

[Doctor Wu]

8 hours ago, FlyingFinn said:

I think it's Topa time for the Twins. Topa up and Dobnak DFA'd so he ends up back with the Saints.

I was about to ask how much longer they will wait to call up Topa from this rehap stint. No reason not to call him up this week. 

[Patzky]

8 hours ago, mnfireman said:

I see Julien was mentioned as having a multi-hit game (2), but not for having multiple K's (3). For the series he was 8-25 (.320 BA) with 5 BB's (.433 OBP) and 2 doubles (.400 SLG), but also had 13 K's (43.3%). Progress for sure, but tempered with frustration.

 

Is this always going to be the risk reward with Julien? Maybe it is, how much is tolerable v. Tradeable.

[ryan189]

47 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

I don't believe that will happen as that will cost Dobnak millions of dollars.

twins would still have to pay him 3 million next year they are not picking up his options after that so wouldn't cost him any money

[2wins87]

9 hours ago, ryan189 said:

if I were dobnak I would elect free agency he could get a chance to start in the bigs on another team not going to happen with twins

1) He has 3 options left so the Twins can simply option him rather than DFA him if they don't need a 40-man spot

2) He has less than 5 years of service time, so he cannot reject an assignment to the minors if he is DFA'ed to remove him from the 40-man.

He's not going anywhere for the remainder of his guaranteed contract. He could be traded, but his contract has negative value at this point.  I don't see the Twins eating money or giving away something of value just to do him a favor.

I don't get the impression that either Dobnak or the organization is unhappy with the other side, its just a contract that didn't work out for either due to injury.

[mnfireman]

1 hour ago, Patzky said:

Is this always going to be the risk reward with Julien? Maybe it is, how much is tolerable v. Tradeable.

Well, Buxton did K 50% of the time and Lewis 35.5% of the time while on their rehab assignments, so maybe!!

[MMMordabito]

1 hour ago, ryan189 said:

twins would still have to pay him 3 million next year they are not picking up his options after that so wouldn't cost him any money

He doesn't have 5 years of service time, so if he elects free agency, his contract will be terminated. The Twins wouldn't have to pay him next season. 

Randy will be with the Twins or Saints through 2025.

[Major League Ready]

10 hours ago, ryan189 said:

if I were dobnak I would elect free agency he could get a chance to start in the bigs on another team not going to happen with twins

Dobnak is guaranteed $3M next year.  The Twins would trade him for a case of Gatorade if another team was willing to give him a chance to start,

[Doctor Gast]

10 hours ago, mnfireman said:

I see Julien was mentioned as having a multi-hit game (2), but not for having multiple K's (3). For the series he was 8-25 (.320 BA) with 5 BB's (.433 OBP) and 2 doubles (.400 SLG), but also had 13 K's (43.3%). Progress for sure, but tempered with frustration.

 

We all know that Julien can mash in AAA but SOs are my main concern.

[Doctor Gast]

7 minutes ago, mnfireman said:

Well, Buxton did K 50% of the time and Lewis 35.5% of the time while on their rehab assignments, so maybe!!

Buxton & Lewis were rehabbing & Julien is resetting IMO there's a difference.

[DJL44]

8 hours ago, SaberNerd said:

At what point does Eeles transition from a feel-good story into a legitimate prospect?  At the lower levels I thought it was just an older player dominating kids, but he's hitting at AAA with more walks than strikeouts.

With his height it is probably 2B or bust for Eeles.

[mnfireman]

Just now, Doctor Gast said:

Buxton & Lewis were rehabbing & Julien is resetting IMO there's a difference.

I was being sarcastic (my phone lets me use emoji's but my laptop does not)...

[Doctor Gast]

There were some hard-fought battles in the MiLBs, Eeles had a great game in AAA. Only AA was able to squeeze out a win. 

[DJL44]

8 minutes ago, MMMordabito said:

 

Randy will be with the Twins or Saints through 2025.

The Twins are hoping someone grabs him when he is passed through waivers.

[ryan189]

10 minutes ago, MMMordabito said:

He doesn't have 5 years of service time, so if he elects free agency, his contract will be terminated. The Twins wouldn't have to pay him next season. 

Randy will be with the Twins or Saints through 2025.

really so you need to have 5 years of service time to have your contract you agreed to guaranteed interesting learn something new everyday then of course no one will claim him and he will take the demotion 

[ryan189]

24 minutes ago, 2wins87 said:

1) He has 3 options left so the Twins can simply option him rather than DFA him if they don't need a 40-man spot

2) He has less than 5 years of service time, so he cannot reject an assignment to the minors if he is DFA'ed to remove him from the 40-man.

He's not going anywhere for the remainder of his guaranteed contract. He could be traded, but his contract has negative value at this point.  I don't see the Twins eating money or giving away something of value just to do him a favor.

I don't get the impression that either Dobnak or the organization is unhappy with the other side, its just a contract that didn't work out for either due to injury.

the guy at the top comment said they need to dfa him so when I looked it up you have 3 years of options and he is past his 3 years so I figured he was right . my thought was dobnak would not want to stay because there is no real path to a starter with festa varland now zebby plus the rotation all signed he would have a better chance in a different organization

[roger]

Reggie Grace continues to get the 'silent treatment' from both the writers at TD and those of us who comment nearly every day.  This young man has a 1.80 ERA in 20 games (30 innings) at AA.  Why haven't we seen him mentioned in the reliever of the month talk?  Or was he earlier in the year?  Is 20 games this late in the season too little work?    

Gotta believe it is time to start considering him an option in the Twins pen.  Perhaps not this year, but surely next.  Curious if anyone knows more about what he throws, how hard he throws, etc.  Is he a candidate to be a mid to late inning reliever?

[ryan189]

16 minutes ago, roger said:

Reggie Grace continues to get the 'silent treatment' from both the writers at TD and those of us who comment nearly every day.  This young man has a 1.80 ERA in 20 games (30 innings) at AA.  Why haven't we seen him mentioned in the reliever of the month talk?  Or was he earlier in the year?  Is 20 games this late in the season too little work?    

Gotta believe it is time to start considering him an option in the Twins pen.  Perhaps not this year, but surely next.  Curious if anyone knows more about what he throws, how hard he throws, etc.  Is he a candidate to be a mid to late inning reliever?

there are a lot of guys these sites leave out dosen't mean the twins don't consider these guys important. the team knows what the guys really have. grace is good has had a few injuries just needs to stay healthy.

[DJL44]

50 minutes ago, ryan189 said:

the guy at the top comment said they need to dfa him so when I looked it up you have 3 years of options and he is past his 3 years so I figured he was right

Dobnak has all 3 options according to Fangraphs. They need the 40 man spot to bring Topa back.

[jmlease1]

25 minutes ago, roger said:

Reggie Grace continues to get the 'silent treatment' from both the writers at TD and those of us who comment nearly every day.  This young man has a 1.80 ERA in 20 games (30 innings) at AA.  Why haven't we seen him mentioned in the reliever of the month talk?  Or was he earlier in the year?  Is 20 games this late in the season too little work?    

Gotta believe it is time to start considering him an option in the Twins pen.  Perhaps not this year, but surely next.  Curious if anyone knows more about what he throws, how hard he throws, etc.  Is he a candidate to be a mid to late inning reliever?

It's just so hard to know with relievers in the minors whether they can keep translating as they move up the ladder. Grace is doing terrific this season in results, but the underlying peripherals are a little concerning: k/9 is way down this season and he still walks guys. The WHIP is excellent, but it wouldn't take much to change that. He's 24 as a reliever in AA. 

I thought Cody Laweryson was going to be a real relief prospect for the Twins in 2022 and a few of us around here got pretty hyped about him. He struggled in Saint Paul in 2023 and got demoted back to AA this year and suddenly looks like he's going nowhere.

If Regi Grace finishes the season strong and stays healthy, he will likely get a chance in AAA next season, but who knows if he's got the chops to make it to MLB. It's a tough road for minor league relievers i think.

[ryan189]

35 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Dobnak has all 3 options according to Fangraphs. They need the 40 man spot to bring Topa back.

I think that's option years on his contract

[chpettit19]

2 hours ago, ryan189 said:

the guy at the top comment said they need to dfa him so when I looked it up you have 3 years of options and he is past his 3 years so I figured he was right . my thought was dobnak would not want to stay because there is no real path to a starter with festa varland now zebby plus the rotation all signed he would have a better chance in a different organization

If Randy is DFA'd he'll be put on unconditional waivers. Meaning any team can claim him and the Twins can't stop them from taking him. But since he doesn't have 5 years of MLB service time he has no option to choose free agency and reject the assignment. He does have 3 option years left so the team can option him to AAA without taking him off the 40-man, but since they likely don't care if they lose him (and his contract with him) he's likely the first DFA candidate when they need a 40-man spot.