Twins Minor League Report (9/17): Eeles and Saints Take Down Chandler

[Steve Lein]

The St. Paul Saints faced one of the top pitching prospects in all of the minor leagues to begin their last series of the 2024 season at CHS Field. It was a pitchers duel early, but one player who has proved himself all season, perhaps put himself over the top to lead his team to victory.

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson (photo of Payton Eeles)

TRANSACTIONS
In addition to the roster shuffling announced yesterday to get lefty Cole Irvin on the Minnesota Twins roster, RHP Jorge Alcala was optioned to the Saints officially on Tuesday.

SAINTS SENTINEL
Indianapolis 2, St. Paul 4
Box Score
The St. Paul Saints had a few big reinforcements sent their way for the final series of the season at CHS Field. In addition to Alcala from the Twins, they received highly regarded pitchers Marco Raya and Cory Lewis from the Wichita Wind Surge on Monday.

Starting on the hill for them on Tuesday however, was right-hander Caleb Boushley, looking for his 10th Triple-A win of the season. He had a tall order in front of him as his lineup was facing Bubba Chandler, the top prospect in the Pittsburgh Pirates system (according to MLB.com).

They had faced each other already this season back on August 16th, and Boushley was fantastic in that one, matching Chandler for their six innings. The Saints ended up losing that one 3-2, could they come out on top in the rematch?

Boushley gave up a one-out walk to the MLB rehabbing Endy Rodriguez in the first, but catcher Jair Camargo cut him down at second on a steal attempt for the second out. After a single, Boushley induced a groundout to complete a scoreless first inning.

After Payton Eeles drew a leadoff walk against Chandler, the next three hitters went down in order, including a pair of strikeouts. Boushley then matched that output by going one-two-three in the second, including his first two strikeouts of the game.

Carson McCusker got a threat going in the bottom of the second, lining a 97 MPH fastball up the middle past Chandler and a shift at 109 MPH. Jair Camargo was then hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second, but Diego Castillo and Chris Williams both went down swinging.

Both pitchers worked around baserunners for the next two innings, but neither allowed any damage to the scoreboard through four. In the top of the fifth the Indianapolis lineup finally put something together against Boushley. A leadoff single and one-out double led to the first run of the game, and another RBI single followed to put the visitors up 2-0. Boushley then loaded the bases to prompt a mound visit, then got a popout to end any further threat. That’s as far as he would go, finishing five innings and allowing two earned runs on six hits and four walks, while striking out three.

The Saints weren’t about to let Boushley be the only one to allow any runs. Specifically, Payton Eeles.

He took Chandler deep for just his second home run allowed at Triple-A, going the opposite way for his seventh home run of the season with the Saints.

Austin Martin followed with a single but Chandler struck out the next two hitters to keep his team in front.

Reliever Jeff Brigham came on in the sixth and pitched a scoreless frame, allowing one hit and walking one. In the bottom half Yunior Severino and McCusker started the inning with back-to-back singles. Camargo was then hit by a pitch for the second time by Chandler to load the bases, but Camargo wasn’t happy about it as his helmet ended up in two pieces in the aftermath. After a strikeout Chandler’s outing was done, and Chris Williams drew a bases loaded walk to tie the game at two, but that’s all they would get.

The rehabbing Kody Funderburk came in from the bullpen for the seventh, and delivered two scoreless innings. He allowed just one hit and struck out two.

With Chandler out of the game the Saints took the lead in the bottom of the seventh, after Michael Helman delivered a one-out double and stole third base. An error off the bat of McCusker allowed him to score to put the home team ahead.

They tacked on another run in the bottom of the eighth thanks to the overall baseball skill of Eeles. His picture perfect bunt for a two-out hit led to a throwing error on a pickoff attempt that put him in scoring position. After a walk to Martin, Dashawn Keirsey sent one through the infield for an RBI single to make it 4-2 Saints. 

The ninth inning went to Steven Okert, and he made it a bit more interesting than it needed to be. A leadoff single and an error put the tying run on base. He beared down and struck out the next two hitters before issuing a walk to load the bases. This situation may sound familiar to Twins fans, but Okert got the job done with another strikeout to end the game.

Boushley once again matched the heralded Chandler, but this time his team came through with the victory. Eeles (2-for-4, 2 R, HR, RBI, BB), Martin (2-for-4, BB, K), Keirsey Jr. (2-for-5, RBI, 2 K), and McCusker (2-for-4, K) each had two hits to lead the way.

The teams each had 10 hits on the night, combined to go 2-for-21 with runners in scoring position with one hit apiece, and left 25 total men on base.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day - Kody Funderburk, St. Paul Saints (2 IP, H, 2 K)
Hitter of the Day - Payton Eeles, St. Paul Saints (2-for-4, 2 R, HR (7), RBI, BB, K)

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:

#2 – Brooks Lee (Minnesota) – 0-for-4, K
#5 – Zebby Matthews (Minnesota) – 4 2/3 IP, 5 H, ER, BB, 5 K

WEDNESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTER
Indianapolis @ St. Paul (6:37 PM CDT) - RHP Andrew Morris (1-0, 3.14 ERA)

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Tuesday’s game!

 

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[Trov]

I keep saying Eeles needs to be considered as someone to use next year.  He has shown nothing but an ability to hit all year.  Even shows some power for his size.  I am not saying he will be Jose Altuve, but similar size and similar ability to hit and get on base. 

[jmlease1]

Eeles is a heck of a story. Good for the twins in giving him a chance out of an independent league. Better on Eeles for taking the opportunity and running with it. He crushed A-ball and has been great in AAA. he's essentially created a career for himself in professional baseball. That's pretty amazing. If he can keep hitting like this he's going to get a chance. The next leap is the hardest one, but who can say? he might just do it.

I'd love to know more about his defense: he's playing all over the place and seems to be doing ok? The Twins prize positional flexibility (I'll admit, I'm a big fan of it too) so that certainly will help his cause if he can function in a lot of roles. He's taking walks, swiping bags, and there seems to be enough pop in his bat that he's not just a no-threat singles hitter.

Short doesn't mean you can't play. I doubt they bump him up to AAA if they didn't think he had a chance.

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, Trov said:

I keep saying Eeles needs to be considered as someone to use next year.  He has shown nothing but an ability to hit all year.  Even shows some power for his size.  I am not saying he will be Jose Altuve, but similar size and similar ability to hit and get on base. 

Eeles will get a shot if he keeps up this level of performance. It may take a while since 2B and LF are the only positions he can play and he's competing with Austin Martin for playing time at those spots.

[LambchoP]

I think both Eeles and Mccusker should factor into the big league roster next year. It makes it kind of tough that almost all these young kids coming up hit left handed. With the platoon obsessed Rocco calling the shots it'll be interesting to see how they get at bats for everyone. Management needs to go outside the organization for a good lefty for next year. Okert looks like a DFA and Funderburk, while younger and maybe a bit longer of a leash, hasn't shown much either. With Theilbar probably gone, we need someone else. 

[RpR]

1 hour ago, Trov said:

I keep saying Eeles needs to be considered as someone to use next year.  He has shown nothing but an ability to hit all year.  Even shows some power for his size.  I am not saying he will be Jose Altuve, but similar size and similar ability to hit and get on base. 

Next Spring Training will show who the Twins are truly interested in.

[bean5302]

The inevitable roster shakeup coming this offseason will likely determine Eeles' role next year. He's clearly ready for a shot, but the Twins' front office is paralyzed by desperation to not miss out on the playoffs right now so they're not calling him up and giving him playing time I don't think.

[DJL44]

2 hours ago, LambchoP said:

Okert looks like a DFA and Funderburk, while younger and maybe a bit longer of a leash, hasn't shown much either. With Theilbar probably gone, we need someone else. 

Jovani Moran should be back again.

[Trov]

3 hours ago, bean5302 said:

The inevitable roster shakeup coming this offseason will likely determine Eeles' role next year. He's clearly ready for a shot, but the Twins' front office is paralyzed by desperation to not miss out on the playoffs right now so they're not calling him up and giving him playing time I don't think.

There is also no reason to put him on 40 man until they are ready to call him up.  He has 2 more years he can sit not on 40 man.  I hope for his sake it does not take that long.  He is limited in his defense which will hurt him, but if he can hit they will find a spot. I wonder if they will give him AFL assignment. 

[dougd]

Nice writeup on McCusker on BPro today: "His 110.2-mph 90th-percentile exit velocity would rank seventh among those hitting in front of publicly available machines—yes, including the major leagues, sticking McCusker right behind Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

[chpettit19]

26 minutes ago, Trov said:

There is also no reason to put him on 40 man until they are ready to call him up.  He has 2 more years he can sit not on 40 man.  I hope for his sake it does not take that long.  He is limited in his defense which will hurt him, but if he can hit they will find a spot. I wonder if they will give him AFL assignment. 

If it takes him 2 years to get called up from AAA it's because he's not a major leaguer. He's 26 next year. If he doesn't get a shot next year he's likely never getting a shot. I'd guess they aren't calling him up because they don't trust he's a major leaguer.

I don't think he originally got sent to AAA because they thought he was a real prospect. I think they did it because they saw him as system filler who was older so were just going to be moving him around as needed. But then he hit. And kept hitting. And hasn't stopped hitting. So now they're going to give him a shot next year to see if he can repeat his performance. If he does, he'll get a shot. If he doesn't, he gets put in the system depth bucket and they likely don't look at him again unless injuries absolutely ravage their entire team and top of their system.

They have a few guys I'd like to see get AFL invites so I'm interested to see who gets sent. Eeles certainly amongst the options.

[DJL44]

22 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

They have a few guys I'd like to see get AFL invites so I'm interested to see who gets sent. Eeles certainly amongst the options.

I don't see any upside sending Eeles to the AFL to beat up on A-ball pitching again. Fall instructs, yes.

[chpettit19]

17 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

I don't see any upside sending Eeles to the AFL to beat up on A-ball pitching again. Fall instructs, yes.

I think new environment and just further testing his ability to sustain the performance is upside in sending him. He wouldn't be at the top of my list (Jenkins and Emma are the top 2 by a mile for me) but he'd certainly be on the list. Gaining more data on Eeles would be beneficial to offseason team building, I think. They won't add him to the 40-man at all, but how much faith they put in him could determine other moves.

If there's a trade for a pitcher available that would require trading an offensive piece off your 40-man do you trust Eeles to be a real option at some point in 2025? Having more data on him would be helpful. If you're not considering him at all as an option in 2025 then there's really no upside to sending him. But any different challenge you can present to a guy who came out of nowhere and you may consider for an MLB spot at some point the next season would be helpful in roster management decisions, I think.

[jkcarew]

1 hour ago, chpettit19 said:

I don't think he originally got sent to AAA because they thought he was a real prospect. I think they did it because they saw him as system filler who was older so were just going to be moving him around as needed. But then he hit. And kept hitting.

Based on his age and the results Eeles was posting, he has no business being anywhere below AAA. He was comically dominating in his short stint at A+….3 Ks and 11 BB. Now has basically the best BB/K ratio among any Saints player…along with a 417 OBP. IMO, him skipping AA was very deliberate. And it’s proven to be the right call.

[jkcarew]

With the amateur draft down to 20 rounds and the coinciding reduction in low level affiliated minor leagues, “undrafted free agent” and “independent league player” aren’t going to mean exactly what they used to mean. More guys like Eeles will be slipping through the cracks than used to be the case.
 

Eeles might not end up being a major league player, but he’s light years ahead of a ton of 25-27 year old drafted guys currently playing AA and AAA ball.

[chpettit19]

42 minutes ago, jkcarew said:

Based on his age and the results Eeles was posting, he has no business being anywhere below AAA. He was comically dominating in his short stint at A+….3 Ks and 11 BB. Now has basically the best BB/K ratio among any Saints player…along with a 417 OBP. IMO, him skipping AA was very deliberate. And it’s proven to be the right call.

It's entirely possible. But can you name any other legitimate prospect they've ever done that with? I sure can't. 13 games being enough for a 2 level jump isn't something I can remember them doing with any guy they likely considered a legitimate prospect ever. If they really view him as a legit prospect and are making all their decisions very deliberately based on his performance why didn't they give him any MLB shot while they watched their offense tank and bring their playoff hopes to the brink?

I'm not saying there's no chance it was deliberate because they thought that was the level he deserved to be at, but I can't come up with a single comp to his situation ever. But they have taken guys his age they likely don't view as legitimate prospects and jumped them up and down as needed, even if the guy is performing well at the higher levels.

[bean5302]

19 hours ago, Trov said:

There is also no reason to put him on 40 man until they are ready to call him up.  He has 2 more years he can sit not on 40 man.  I hope for his sake it does not take that long.  He is limited in his defense which will hurt him, but if he can hit they will find a spot. I wonder if they will give him AFL assignment. 

Options cannot be burned anymore. Not enough time. Same with team control, it won't impact his years of service time. If the Twins are worried about 10 days of service time or a 40 man roster spot for next year, LOL... well, maybe the front office is really that incompetent.