Twins Minor League Report (8/24): Andrew Morris, Christian MacLeod Toss Quality Starts Again

[Seth Stohs]

The pitching pipeline looked good in the minor leagues on Saturday. The three starting pitchers at the top three levels of the system are all part of that pipeline and did well on Saturday. We've got extra-innings, rain delays, several transactions, a doubleheader, and more. 

Image courtesy of William Parmeter (photo of Jaime Ferrer)

Check out the tweets included within each team's section showing who the youngest players were at each level. It's always a fun look at which players are well younger than the average age. 

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 72-57
St. Paul Saints: 59-65
Wichita Wind Surge: 51-68
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 62-55
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 62-52
FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete)
DSL Twins: 30-25 (season complete) 

TRANSACTIONS
The Twins DFAd lefty Steven Okert on Saturday morning and purchased the contract of Scott Blewett. 

St. Paul announced that outfielders Carson McCusker and Jeferson Morales were promoted from Wichita to the Saints. C/1B Alex Isola was assigned to the Wind Surge. 

In addition, outfielder Wynton Bernard was released by the Saints. 

Brooks Lee joined Alex Kirilloff on rehab assignment with the Saints. Although it was later announced that Kirilloff was removed from the rehab assignment. 

 SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 3, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 6 
Box Score
The Saints got on the board in the bottom of the first. Diego A. Castillo doubled, and Brooks Lee followed with a home run to make it 2-0. 

Andrew Morris is the youngest player on the Saints roster, but he put together another Quality Start. The 22-year-old gave up three runs on six hits and a walk over six innings. He had four strikeouts. He gave up a single run in the third inning, but in the fifth inning, he gave up a two-run homer to Oscar Gonzalez that put the team down 3-2. 

Josh Winder came on and threw two scoreless innings. He gave up just one hit and struck out two batters. 

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Jeferson Morales doubled for his first Triple-A hit. Payton Eeles later switched spots with him to tie the game at 3-3. 

Jeff Brigham was brought in for the ninth inning. He gave up three runs on two hits and a walk. The big hit was a three-run homer off the bat of Caleb Durbin. 

Eeles went 2-for-4 with his seventh and eighth doubles. Morales had two hits in four at-bats. Carson McCusker went 1-for-3 in his first Triple-A game. Diego A. Castillo went 2-for-5 with his 20th double. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 1, Midland 1 (10 innings)
Box Score
For the third time in the series' first five games, it took extra innings to decide the winner. 

Christian MacLeod was fantastic yet again for the Wind Surge. He gave up an unearned run on two hits. In six innings, he walked three and struck out eight innings. And, he got some help from his catcher Andrew Cossetti. 

Kyle Bischoff struck out three batters over two perfect innings. Taylor Floyd then gave up one hit over two scoreless innings including the 10th inning. Impressive because there was a 30-minute delay in the bottom of the ninth inning. 

In the top of the eighth inning, Wichita got on the scoreboard. Noah Cardenas hit his fifth home run to tie the score at 1-1. 

In the top of the 10th inning, Kyler Fedko started at second base. Ben Ross bunted him over to third base. Jorel Ortega followed with an RBI double. 

Ortega went 2-for-3 with a walk and his 11th double. He had two of the team’s four hits. He also stole his 10th base. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 7, Dayton 4 (10 innings)  
Box Score
There were several interesting things that came out of this game. The starting pitcher for the Kernels was lefty Connor Prielipp, and he looked really impressive. In three scoreless innings, he gave up just one hit. He walked none, hit one, and had four strikeouts. 

The Kernels got on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth. Gabriel Gonzalez led off with a walk. Rubel Cespedes followed with a single. A Nate Baez single loaded the bases. Rixon Wingrove drove in two runs with a single. Poncho Ruiz doubled to score Baez and make it 3-0. After a walk loaded the bases, with two outs, Kaelen Culpepper dropped a single into left field to score the fourth run of the inning. 

Jeremy Lee took over on the mound for the Kernels in the fourth inning. He gave up four runs (3 earned) on six hits (2 homers) over 3 1/3 innings. He walked none and had two strikeouts. Gabriel Yanez came into the game with a runner on, and that runner scored. He got five outs, two on strikeouts.He gave up one hit, was charged with no runs and walked two batters. 

Mike Paredes came on and tossed a scoreless bottom of the ninth inning.

Culpepper started the top of the 10th inning on second base. Walker Jenkins led off with his eighth double. After two outs, Nate Baez drilled his 11th home run to make it 7-4. 

Paredes came out and threw a scoreless bottom of the 10th as well.

The Kernels had 10 hits and four walks. Baez went 2-for-5. Wingrove went 2-for-5. Jenkins hit a double and walked once. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Game 1: Fort Myers 7, Tampa 8
Box Score
After a rare scheduled Friday night off, the Mussels played two games at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. 

The Mussels bat didn’t miss a beat in Game 1. They scored at least once in each of the first five innings. Let’s summarize: 

Top of 1st: Kyle DeBarge walked and stole second. He scored on a Brandon Winokur double. Billy Amick walked and Jaime Ferrer was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. Jose Rodriguez flew out to left to drive in Winokur with the second run. 2-0. 

Top of the 2nd: With one out, Byron Chourio walked and DeBarge was hit by a pitch. With two outs, the two runners advanced on a balk. Amick walked to load the bases, and then Chourio scored another balk. 3-0. 

Top of the 3rd: Jaime Ferrer singled and stole second. After a pitching change, Rodriguez walked. Both runners advanced 90 feet on a wild pitch. Derek Bender reached on catcher’s interference to load the bases. With two outs, DeBarge singled to drive in two more runs. 5-0. 

Top of the 4th: With one out, Khadim Diaw struck out, but went to first base on a wild pitch. He stole second and scored on a Ferrer single. 6-0.  

Top of the 5th: Derek Bender hit his second career home run. 7-0. 

Jose Olivares started the game with four shutout innings. He gave up a single and a double to give up the first run. Paulshawn Pasqualotto came on and gave up a hit and two walks which allowed an inherited runner to score. In total, Olivares gave up two runs on five hits and a walk in 4.0+ innings. He had two strikeouts. 

Unfortunately, Pasqualotto was only able to get one out in the sixth inning. He gave up a walk, an RBI single, and a two-run homer before he came out. Pasqualotto gave up three runs on three hits and three walks in 1 1/3 innings. 

Wilker Reyes came in and after getting the second out, he gave up a single, a single, and a two-run double which tied the game at 7-7. 

The Mussels went scoreless in both the top of the sixth and top of the seventh innings. In the seventh, the Mussels had runners on second and third with one out but were unable to reclaim the lead. 

Reyes returned for the bottom of the seventh inning. He struck out the first two batters, but then gave up a line-drive single. The runner stole second base. Roderick Arias followed with a double to score the winning run.

Fort Myers had seven hits and seven walks. They were twice hit by a pitch. Once on base, they aggressively stole six bases. Jaime Ferrer led the way. He went 3-for-3 and was hit by a pitch. He stole his fourth base. Kyle DeBarge went 1-for-3 with a walk. He was also hit by a pitch and stole his 12th base. Along with his second home run, Derek Bender also walked. Among the stolen bases, Byron Chourio reached 20. So did Angel Del Rosario who pinch ran in the seventh inning and stole two bases. 

Game 2: Fort Myers 7, Tampa 6 (8 innings)  
Box Score
Adrian Bohorquez was on the mound to start this game. He gave up one run on two hits and a walk over 1 1/3 innings. He had three strikeouts. Unfortunately, with a lengthy rain delay, his day was complete.

Sam Perez came on in relief. He went 2 2/3 perfect innings and had six strikeouts. 

The Mussels got on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth inning. Brandon Winokur led off with his 16th double. Billy Amick walked. Next, Jaime Ferrer singled to load the bases. Daniel Pena, quietly one of the youngest players on the roster, came through with a big, grand slam to give the Mussels a 4-1 lead. 

Tampa scored two unearned runs in the fifth inning off of Cleiber Maldonado. The teams exchanged runs in the sixth inning. The Mussels got their run on Jay Thomason’s second home run. 

Jack Noble came on and worked two innings. He gave up two runs on three hits and three walks, and yes, he had three strikeouts. 

Tampa tied it at 5-5 with a run in the bottom of the seventh inning. 

The Mussels reclaimed the lead in the top of the eighth inning. Winokur started the inning on second base. Amick walked again. Ferrer flew out to center, deep enough for Winokur to advance to third base. With one out, Tampa’s catcher tried to pick off Winokur at third but threw the ball away. Winokur scored from third base and Amick, who was off with the pitch, raced all the way around to score a second run. 

Tomas Cleto came on for the bottom of the eighth inning. He gave up an unearned run but easily recorded his first save of the season. 

Pena went 2-for-4 with his third home run and four RBI. Thomason went 2-for-4 with his second pro home run. Billy Amick walked three times. 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Christian MacLeod (Wichita) - 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, 85 pitches, 48 strikes (56.5%).
Hitter of the Day – Jaime Ferrer (Fort Myers) - Game 1: 3-for-3, HBP, R, RBI. Game 2: 1-for-4, K.  

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our recently-updated Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Saturday.

#1– Walker Jenkins (Cedar Rapids) – 1-for-4, BB, 2B(8), R, RBI.
#2 – Brooks Lee (Minnesota) – Rehab St. Paul: 1-for-4, HR(8), R, 2 RBI (DH, bat 2nd)
#7 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – 1-for-4, BB, R, K.     
#9 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-5, R, RBI, K. 2 E.  
#11 - Andrew Morris (St. Paul) - 6 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 86 pitches, 61 strikes (70.9%)
#12 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – Game 1: 1-for-5, 2B(15), R, RBI, 2 K. Game 2: 1-for-4, 2B(16), 2 R, 2 K. 
#16 - Kyle DeBarge (Fort Myers) - Game 1: 1-for-3, BB, R, 2 RBI, 2 K, SB(12). Game 2: 0-for-4, K 
#17 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 0-for-5, 2 K.
#20 – Connor Prielipp (Cedar Rapids) – 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 4 K. 30 pitches, 24 strikes (80%)

SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Scranton/Wilkes Barre @ St. Paul (2:07 PM CST) – LHP Aaron Rozek (9-6, 7.67 ERA)
Wichita @ Midland (1:00 PM CST) – RHP Cory Lewis (1-2, 2.98 ERA) 
Cedar Rapids @ Dayton (12:05 PM CST) – RHP Darren Bowen (2-8, 5.81 ERA)
Ft. Myers @ Tampa (11:00 AM CST) – LHP Ross Dunn (1-4, 5.50 ERA) 

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

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[Guest]

About time for The Legend to appear on the prospect lists.  Eeles should make Julien and Lee nervous.

[mikelink45]

Thanks for the lists of youngest.  I really enjoyed seeing this.

 

[Doctor Wu]

The recent outings by Prielipp are short, but still very encouraging. I also liked your description of his performance as "almost effortless." It would be wonderful to see more of this before the season comes to an end. 

[thelanges5]

Any updates or news to share on Canterino or Headrick?

[terrydactyls]

No ages for the Mussels?

[roger]

Highlight for me last night, Seth, was Prielipp.  Thirty pitches with twenty-four strikes is almost unheard of.  Is it possible he throws too many strikes?  Is that possible, Seth?

Also great seeing Jenkins with another double, rbi and run scored.  Obviously seeing Lee play and put one out helps making for a good night.  Question.  With Lee and Buxton close to returning, who gets sent down/or/out?

[LambchoP]

Canterino, Headrick and Emmanuel Rodriguez are a complete question mark . We've had no updates almost all year on these guys:(

[Fatbat]

CP is gonna be climbing the org chart quickly since he is finally healthy! We need a LHP in MLB!!

Is Erod on the shelf for the rest of ‘24?

Jenkins is showing off his immense talent.  
 

these 3 guys should be in St. Paul by June 2025! 

[Mike Sixel]

4 hours ago, Doctor Wu said:

The recent outings by Prielipp are short, but still very encouraging. I also liked your description of his performance as "almost effortless." It would be wonderful to see more of this before the season comes to an end. 

I'd consider seeing what he can do in AAA, and putting him on the 40... In case he can pitch in relief

[DJL44]

2 hours ago, roger said:

With Lee and Buxton close to returning, who gets sent down/or/out?

Rosters expand on Friday. They let Okert go. Maybe they'll finally be willing to cut Kyle Farmer if Lee is healthy.

[roger]

4 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Rosters expand on Friday. They let Okert go. Maybe they'll finally be willing to cut Kyle Farmer if Lee is healthy.

Watching Julien today I wouldn’t be surprised if Lee is back tomorrow and Julien is in St Paul.

[Doctor Wu]

On 8/26/2024 at 1:22 AM, DJL44 said:

Rosters expand on Friday. They let Okert go. Maybe they'll finally be willing to cut Kyle Farmer if Lee is healthy.

Farmer just heard you ... and promptly homered! 😄

[Doctor Wu]

On 8/26/2024 at 1:22 AM, DJL44 said:

Rosters expand on Friday. They let Okert go. Maybe they'll finally be willing to cut Kyle Farmer if Lee is healthy.

I had almost forgotten about the roster expansions. Who do you think might be called up?

[DJL44]

2 hours ago, Doctor Wu said:

I had almost forgotten about the roster expansions. Who do you think might be called up?

Buxton and Lee.

[twinstalker]

I drafted Eeles in my simulation league, just in case the Twins got tired of throwing the same old out at 2B.  Unfortunately, I won't be able to keep him, but I'll likely get him late next March.

As for the age list.  De Andrade is young, but I think he'd be at Wichita at age 20 if he hadn't gotten hurt.  That age vs level thing is no joke.  Another guy I'll draft at some point next year, likely in supplemental drafts.