Twins Minor League Report (9/19): Saints' Hitters Provide Support for Cory Lewis's Triple-A Debut

[Seth Stohs]

A Top 20 Twins prospect made his Triple-A debut with the Saints on Thursday night. He was strongly supported by the Saints offense and earned a win. Speaking of wins, help the Wichita Wind Surge to a win in a huge MILB award! 

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints (photo of Cory Lewis)

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 80-73 (9 games to go)
St. Paul Saints: 69-77 (3 games to go)
Wichita Wind Surge: 58-80 (season complete)
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 67-63 (season complete)
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 66-59 (season complete)
FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete)
DSL Twins: 30-25 (season complete) 

TRANSACTIONS
Randy Dobnak has rejoined the Saints active roster after accepting his outright assignment after being DFAd. To make room on the roster, RHP Andrew Morris was placed on the Development List. Morris made his final start of the 2024 season on Wednesday, so that is really just a formality.   

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 8, Indianapolis 3 
Box Score
The big story from CHS Field on Thursday night was the Triple-A debut for right-hander Cory Lewis. He gave up two runs, one in the second inning and one in the fifth inning. He gave up seven hits, walked three and had two strikeouts. 

Lewis threw 86 pitches including 26 sliders, 26 four-seam fastballs, 15 changeups, 10 curveballs, and nine knuckleballs. He had just four Whiffs, all on his slider. 

His fastball velocity averaged 89.8 mph with a max of 91.5. His slider came in at an average of 81 mph. The changeup average was at 80.7 mph, about nine less than the fastball which is where one would like to be. The slow curveball came in at 79.1 mph on average. And, the pitch you’re most curious about, the knuckleball averaged 83.3 mph with a maximum of 85.8 mph. 

I think with Lewis’s pitch mix, it has to be somewhat difficult to differentiate the various pitches without seeing the data, the movement, the spin and the break.

The one pitch that should be easiest to differentiate is the knuckleball. That is the fifth row in the above chart. As you can see, the spin on his knuckleball was between 114 and 419 RPM, an average of 243 on the nine pitches that were coded as a knuckleball. However, as you can see, that 213 wasn’t a slider, and that 153 wasn’t a slider. Those were obviously knuckleballs. Add those two pitches to the knuckleball category, and removed them from the other two categories and those averages will change significantly. So, the Twins minor-league staff has a little postgame work to do to just verify some of these numbers (as they always do). 

Lefty Aaron Rozek came on in relief and tossed two scoreless innings. He gave up two hits. Rozek was terrific and only needed 24 pitches. He threw just one four-seam fastball. It was his fastest pitch at 89.6 mph. He threw nine cutters. 

Diego Castillo pitched the eighth inning, and as he tends to do, he struggled quite a bit. He gave up one run on one hit and two walks

Jorge Alcala came in for the bottom of the ninth to hold onto a five-run lead. He gave up a leadoff single before getting a groundout and two strikeouts to end it. He was consistently touching triple digits with the fastball but the second strikeout came on a very nice slider. 

The Saints had a three-run, fifth inning, but as impressive, they scored in five of their eight innings at the plate.  

In the bottom of the first inning, Payton Eeles led off the game with his eighth home run since joining the Saints. The game was tied by Indianapolis in the top of the second. 

The Saints reclaimed the lead in the third when DaShawn Keirsey led off with a double and came in to score on a Michael Helman double. 

In the fourth inning, 2024 Killebrew Award recipient Chris Williams crushed his 15th home run of the season. 

Lewis gave up a run in the top of the fifth inning which cut the team’s lead to 3-2. But the Saints batters must have sensed Lewis’s will to get a win in his Triple-A debut. They added three runs in the bottom of the inning to provide some cushion. Keirsey led off with a single. With one out, Yunior Severino went to the opposite field for his 21st home run of the season. That homer tied him with Williams and Jair Camargo, both from 2023, for the franchise single-season home run record. He will have three games remaining to break that record. 

Diego A. Castillo Followed with a walk and moved to second on a ground out. After a pitching change, Patrick Winkel singled to drive in Castillo with the third run of the inning. 

The Saints maintained that 6-2 lead until the eighth inning when Indianapolis scored a run to make it 6-3. However, in the bottom of the inning, the Saints responded. Jeferson Morales led off with a walk. He stole second. Winkel flew out to left, deep enough to allow Morales to tag and advance to third base. Chris Williams walked. Then Eeles singled to right field to drive in Morales. 

Williams then led a double steal to move runners to second and third with one out. Austin Martin walked to load the bases. Keirsey followed with a line drive toward center that Jack Suwinski dove and caught, but Williams scored the team’s eighth run on the play. 

Eeles led off and went 2-for-4 with a walk, the home run, and two RBI. He also stole two bases to give him 16 with the Saints. Keirsey went 2-for -4 with his 21st double and two RBI. He also had an outfield assist from right field to third base that you’ll want to see. 

Williams went 1-for-2 with two walks and his 15th homer. He also joined the 5-15 club when he stole his fifth base of the season. 

---

Three more games remain in the Saints season. Head on out to CHS Field for some quality, Triple-A baseball and see some big leaguers and much more. Here’s the schedule, and where you can get your tickets.

Friday, 6:37 pm: Teacher Appreciation Night with post-game fireworks. (You’ve got to love the theme for the fireworks display, the music will feature prom night ballads!)
Saturday, 5:07 pm: Fan Appreciation Night with post-game Monster Food Truck Rally and Fireworks Super Show!
Sunday, 12:07 pm: Last Game of the Season. 

---

WIND SURGE WISDOM
The Twins affiliate in Wichita had a few alternate uniforms and team names. Most minor-league teams do. At MILB.com, the Wichita Chili Buns are up for the award for Best Alternate Identity. Vote for them here, and see what other names were also considered for the award. 

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day - Payton Eeles (St. Paul) - 2-for-4, BB, HR(8), R, 2 RBI, K, 2 SB(16).
Pitcher of the Day - Cory Lewis (St. Paul) – 5 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 85 pitches, 50 strikes (58.8%)

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

#13 – Cory Lewis (St. Paul) – 5 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 85 pitches, 50 strikes (58.8%)

FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Indianapolis @ St. Paul (6:37 PM CST) – RHP Marco Raya (first Triple-A start)

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

View full article

[mikelink45]

I feel bad that the saints season is coming to an end before the twin season. Reading the minor league reports is a break from the heartache of the twins? Frustrating. Streak.  

[cmoss84]

Oppo bombs everywhere. Good sign.

[Obie]

Payton Eeles. Legitimate prospect? Quite apart from his fascinating personal journey, his record through all levels this year seems to suggest he is more than just a curiosity.

[old nurse]

6 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

I feel bad that the saints season is coming to an end before the twin season. Reading the minor league reports is a break from the heartache of the twins? Frustrating. Streak.  

You would feel worse if the season ended for the Twins long before the Saints

[Doctor Wu]

46 minutes ago, Obie said:

Payton Eeles. Legitimate prospect? Quite apart from his fascinating personal journey, his record through all levels this year seems to suggest he is more than just a curiosity.

I was just about to comment on his fast rise through the system this season. I honestly couldn't have told you who he was 5 months ago. But yeah, a good story. And like you, I'm also wondering if the Twins see him as a legit prospect or not?

[Doctor Gast]

53 minutes ago, Obie said:

Payton Eeles. Legitimate prospect? Quite apart from his fascinating personal journey, his record through all levels this year seems to suggest he is more than just a curiosity.

IMO he definitely is. A lot would have to change for him to stick with the Twins but  he's a definite MLBer.

[terrydactyls]

Another two-bit night for Kiersey, Jr.  And an outfield assist to boot.  Too bad Margot is having such a an outstanding season and blocking Kiersey, Jr's path to the majors.  

SARCASM

[LambchoP]

Keirsey should have taken Margots roster spot a long time ago, but he hits left handed so we can't have that. Lots of our young guys had a real solid season at AAA. Keirsey, Eeles, Mccusker, Severino. Not to mention Rosario and Rodriguez. If just a few of these guys pan out they should be able to help the big league club next year. Either on the field or as trade bait for pitching help. I'm glad Cory Lewis got a AAA start under his belt. Does he always only throw 88-90 mph though? Chances are that won't fly in the bigs.

[DocBauer]

Nice job of pitching and mixing things up by Lewis. Love his repertoire. But if the velocity readings are correct, his fastball was way down. Perhaps he's tired from the late start to his season, rehab and the such, and he's just running out of gas.

AAA staff is STACKED for 2025!

Nice to see Alcala respond with a good inning and hitting triple digits.

This feels weird to say, but how can you not think of Eeles as a legitimate prospect at this point? He's not too old for AAA, has raked at every level, and does everything offensively except mash, but he's still got plenty of XB and occasional HR power. Lee may or may not need a little more time after an interrupted season. Julien needs a major bounce back. Keaschall, even fully recovered and 100%, probably needs at least a little AAA time. Could Eeles be a realistic option for some 2B in 2025?

If Keirsey sticks around...and I hope he does...I think he's got a real shot at some time with the Twins. He takes Kepler's place on the roster as a LH reserve OF. That allows the Twins to replace Margot with a RH bat with solid offense that only has to play the corners. That's your 5 man OF with Castro also contributing as well.