Minor League Report (8/25): Y'all Got Any Runs?

[Matt Braun]

Also, I think Brooks Lee is ready to go now. 

Image courtesy of William Parmeter (photo of Brandon Winokur)

TRANSACTIONS
OF Alex Kirilloff returned from rehab assignment to Minnesota Twins (that’s byzantine roster speak for the team shutting down his rehab)

Saints Sentinel
St. Paul 2, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 5
Box Score
Aaron Rozek: 6 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: Diego A. Castillo (2-for-5, 2B RBI), Brooks Lee (3-for-4, 2 2B, RBI) 

A disastrous 7th inning sank the Saints on Sunday.

You can’t blame Aaron Rozek for the loss: the Burnsville native turned in a fine start, a six-inning, one-run work of art that goes down as one of his finest outings of the year. Of course, there’s often no recourse for pitchers—helpless as they are to support themselves—and the lefty was forced to swallow the loss for his effort. No one ever said this game was fair.

St. Paul’s offensive vigor was almost entirely supplied by one Brooks Lee. You may know his work. The rehabbing big-leaguer shot three hits around the field collected a pair of doubles, and some smooth 2nd base defense on an awkward chopper. 

 

Lee did leave the game in the 8th, but it’s unclear whether it was:

1. An act of mercy by Toby Gardenhire
2. The Twins seeing enough from the youngster to deem him ok
3. Lee’s injury acting up

(2) seems like the most likely answer.

The Saints may have been able to win with their lackluster scoring, but Caleb Baragar’s 7th-inning implosion put the game well out of reach; St. Paul scored two in the bottom half of the frame but didn’t plate another run the rest of the game.

The RailRiders are the AAA team for the Yankees, and their finest prospect is sometimes known as “The Martian.” Ranked 17th on MLB.com’s Top 100 list, Jasson Dominguez collected two hits in four at-bats.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 1, Midland 4
Box Score
Cory Lewis: 3 ⅓ IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 6 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: Jorel Ortega (2-for-4, BB)

The Wind Surge didn’t pitch well on Sunday, but they made up for it by not hitting. 

Cory Lewis endured a rare off day on the mound. The Santa Barbara product—so dominant following his early season injury issues—couldn’t locate the strike zone. He searched all day and collected just 44 hits against 76 tries—a success rate below 60%. Lewis didn’t make it out of the 4th. Hopefully, the start will be a rare hiccup in an otherwise excellent minor-league career.

Wichita’s bats weren’t much better off. Nine innings of work could only total four hits—one, a double, for extra bases—four walks, and one run. Hitting with runners in scoring position wasn’t the problem; the Wind Surge rarely had a guy poised to score on a knock. 

(Yes, the only highlight you get from this team is a bases-loaded walk.)

The lack of scoring is nothing new for Wichita and the Texas League as a whole this year. What was once a hitter’s paradise has grown tepid; Wichita’s .712 team OPS—5th out of 10 teams—would have been 2nd worst in 2023 and dead last in 2022. For whatever reason, the league evolved into a damning muck, a quagmire that has given hurlers the upper hand. 

The Rockhounds are the AA squad for the Oakland Athletics. While their recent first-round pick Nick Kurtz is on the team, the best prospect to play for them on Sunday was 5th-ranked Henry Bolte. He singled twice and scored a run in four at-bats.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 2, Dayton 7
Box Score
Darren Bowen: 4 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
HR: Gabriel Gonzalez (4)
Multi-hit games: Gabriel Gonzalez (2-for-5, HR, R, RBI), Kyle Hess (2-for-4)

The Kernels fell handily on Sunday.

You likely won’t win many games with bookended three-run frames. I think Tommy La Sorda said that. In any case, Darren Bowen set the mood early by allowing a lead-off triple, eventually scoring on a sacrifice fly. He nearly escaped with simple mild damage, but a critical two-out walk begat a crushing two-run shot. So it goes.

The rest of Bowen’s day was ordinary. He allowed another lead-off triple the next inning (when was the last time THAT happened), but punched out the side, and finished four frames with just one more unearned run against him.

Cedar Rapids’ bats weren’t up to the fight, with a plethora of goose eggs defining most of their offensive effort. Gabriel Gonzalez did blast his fourth homer of the year—and Walker Jenkins doubled for the ninth time in 22 games with the Kernels—but the lineup went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. That’s not good.

The Dragons must have had intel on Nate Baez and/or Cedar Rapids’ pitchers; the Dragons swiped six bases without being caught.

Dayton is an affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds and is led by a former Twin draft target in Cam Collier. The 2022 18th-overall pick walked and singled in five trips to the plate.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 10, Tampa 8 (10 Innings)
Box Score
Ross Dunn: 4 IP, 2 H, 6 ER, 5 BB, 3 K
HR: Billy Amick (2), Jose Rodriguez (5)
Multi-hit games: Brandon Winokur (3-for-6, 3B, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI), Billy Amick (2-for-5, HR, R, 2 RBI), Khadim Diaw (3-for-5, 2B, RBI)

The Mighty Mussels won in extras on Sunday.

It was a good day to be a top-of-the-order hitter; Fort Myers’ first four batters combined to go 9-for-22 with four runs, seven RBIs, and five extra-base hits. That’s some quality table-setting, not a fork or a napkin out of place. 

(Perhaps some credit goes to Tampa’s right fielder for butchering Winokur’s flyball. We take those.)

Thank goodness for the runs because Ross Dunn did not have it. Not even close. The lefty handed out a career-high five free passes, plunked a guy, uncorked a wild pitch, and suffered a balk. He even fired wildly while fielding: a 1st inning error on a pickoff attempt portended a pair of runs when Hans Montero cracked a double the other way.

The Mighty Mussels’ pitching staff did settle in after Dunn exited the game, though, as Devin Kirby, Juan Mercedes, and Ben Ethridge combined for six frames with one lone earned run allowed. They struck out four and walked three.

Fort Myers took the lead for good when Kyle DeBarge tripled in two runs in the 10th, opening the door for Winokur to extend the lead even further with a double.

The Tampa Tarpons are a member of the Yankees franchise. The typically talented system is no different in 2024; their number four prospect, Roderick Arias, walked twice and scored a run across five plate appearances. 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Aaron Rozek
Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Brandon Winokur

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:
#1– Walker Jenkins (Cedar Rapids) - 1-4, 2B, RBI, BB, K
#2 – Brooks Lee (St. Paul) - 3-4, 2 2B, RBI
#5 – Zebby Matthews (Minnesota) - 5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K
#7 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) - 2-5, HR, R, RBI
#9 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 0-0 (Defensive replacement)
#12 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) - 3-6, 3B, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 K
#13 – Cory Lewis (Wichita) - 3 ⅓ IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 6 K
#16 - Kyle DeBarge (Fort Myers) - 1-6, 3B, R, 2 RBI, K
#17 – Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 0-4, K

TUESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Omaha (6:35 PM) - RHP Caleb Boushley
Springfield @ Wichita (7:05 PM) - TBD
Cedar Rapids @ Lake County (5:35 PM) - TBD
Clearwater @ Fort Myers (6:05 PM) - TBD

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[FlyingFinn]

"Lee did leave the game in the 8th, but it’s unclear whether it was:

1. An act of mercy by Toby Gardenhire
2. The Twins seeing enough from the youngster to deem him ok
3. Lee’s injury acting up"

No, it's probably #4. Like an unwritten rule - every rehabber (hitters) seems to leave the game in about the 7th or 8th inning.

[jkcarew]

Wichita’s lineup these days…yikes. Like watching paint dry…really good paint. The kind that never causes runs.

[thelanges5]

Don’t mess around with Kepler and his knee. Put him on the IL and get Lee back across the river.

[mikelink45]

I keep thinking about Billy Amick's name - Amik in Ojibwe is beaver swimming by.  Is Billy part indigenous?

[LambchoP]

If Lee is healthy and ready, get him to the majors and send Julien back down NOW. I realize he's been hitting better as of late, but his defense at second base is going to cost our pitchers runs and cost us games like he did Sunday night. Lee will out hit him too. As far as Kepler goes, if he's going to be out awhile, IL him and finally give Keirsey his chance. We need a good outfielder who can play all three positions. He could be a real spark plug for our lineup, at least until Buxton comes back maybe next weekend.

[High heat]

I know Jorge Polanco has been terrible this season and we have Topa for another season but sure hope Gonzalez can turn a corner next season otherwise that was just a terrible trade for the twins. 
 

I wonder where Brandon Winokur lands in offseason prospect rankings.  He might be a big helium prospect guy in 2025.  6’6 and plays up the middle position with speed and power.

[tony&rodney]

2 hours ago, High heat said:

I know Jorge Polanco has been terrible this season and we have Topa for another season but sure hope Gonzalez can turn a corner next season otherwise that was just a terrible trade for the twins. 
 

I wonder where Brandon Winokur lands in offseason prospect rankings.  He might be a big helium prospect guy in 2025.  6’6 and plays up the middle position with speed and power.

The Polanco trade was Falvey's worst moment because he panicked.

Winokur is developing and it will be incremental but he has real athleticism and could be special. There are so many moving parts because of his size. I have tuned into a ton of his at bats.