Twins Minor League Report (5/21): Matt Wallner's Rehab Halted by Rain

[Matt Braun]

Image courtesy of Kirby Milam, Wichita Wind Surge (photo of Aaron Rozek)

 

TRANSACTIONS
LHP Connor Prielipp transferred to development list (Wichita)
RHP Brent Francisco assigned to FCL Twins
OF Matt Wallner sent to AAA St. Paul for rehab assignment
Twins recall INF Mickey Gasper as 27th-man 
RHP Cole Peschl promoted from A Fort Myers to A+ Cedar Rapids

Saints Sentinel
The Saints were rained out for the 13th time this season. They will play doubleheaders on Thursday and Saturday.

Wind Surge Wisdom
Wichita 6, San Antonio 4
Box Score
Aaron Rozek: 4 ⅔ IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: Kala’i Rosario (2-for-4, 2B, 2 R), Aaron Sabato (2-for-5, RBI), Andrew Cossetti (2-for-5, 2B, 2 RBI)

The Wind Surge eked out a win on Wednesday.

Wichita’s batters stole the story early, plating a pair of runs in the game’s opening frame before returning for two more in the third.

Andrew Cossetti was the catalyst: he doubled in a score in his first at-bat and singled home another runner in his second trip to the plate. He alone netted half of the team’s hits with runners in scoring position before the game was ⅓ over.

Aaron Rozek delivered an unusual outing; his 4 ⅔ frames with just one earned run was ideal, but he also surrendered seven hits and a walk, forcing the lefty to labor for his outs and sweat for his runs allowed. Still, it worked. And he lowered his Wichita ERA to 3.67. His three strikeouts were tied for a season-low.

Gabriel Gonzalez walked in the sixth to push across a fifth run, and a sixth and final run scored in the eighth off a wild pitch. 

Gonzalez was a force all night: the recently promoted outfielder walked twice, singled, stole a base, and scored two runs in a critical evening as the team’s cleanup hitter. 

Mike Paredes earned the win to push his record to a perfect 6-0 out of the bullpen. That’s one hell of a good luck charm. 

The Missions are an affiliate of the San Diego Padres. While their uber prospect Ethan Salas plays for them, he has been injured since the middle of April, leaving their 17th-ranked player, Romeo Sanabria, as their best prospect on Wednesday. He singled twice and drove in a run. 

Kernels Nuggets
Like their AAA counterparts, Cedar Rapids found the weather too hazardous for baseball; they will make up the match with a doubleheader on Friday.

Mussel Matters
Fort Myers 3, Lakeland 5
Box Score
Michael Carpenter: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: Yasser Mercedes (2-for-3, R, RBI), Poncho Ruiz (2-for-4, 2B, RBI), Angel Del Rosario (2-for-2, 2B, R)

Fort Myers came up short on Wednesday.

Despite his team’s fortunes, starter Michael Carpenter likely walked away from the game relieved. May had been a sore sport; the lefty trudged through back-to-back stinkers that ballooned his numbers and flattened his ego. Yet—after four quality innings without a single earned run—he appears to have put the pain behind him, at least for one day. 

Unfortunately, Josh Bortka saw a different fate. Evidently drenched in nerves, the recent minor league signee made his Fort Myers debut, and walked four batters while netting just two outs. A run scored on a balk. Another via a sacrifice fly. A third and final run dashed home off an RBI groundout. One is reminded of Yennier Cano’s erratic Fort Myers debut six years ago; if he can recover, so can Bortka.

The bats never found chemistry. They cracked nine hits—including a trio of doubles—but almost always at inopportune times; the Mighty Mussels only scratched across three runs, all in single-score intervals. 

Rehabbing minor league Payton Eeles singled in three trips to the plate. 

Rehabbing big leaguer Matt Vierling played 3rd base for Lakeland, driving in a run and walking in four plate appearances. 

MLB.com’s 46th-ranked prospect, Bryce Rainer, played shortstop for the Flying Tigers. He singled and struck out in four at-bats. 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Michael Carpenter
Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Gabriel Gonzalez

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:
#14 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Wichita) - 1-3, 2 R, RBI, BB
#17 – Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 1-4, BB, K
#18 – Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers) - 2-3, R, RBI
#19 – Carson McCusker (Twins) - 0-1, K

THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Norfolk @ St. Paul (5:07 PM) - RHP Simeon Woods Richardson 
Norfolk @ St. Paul Game Two - RHP Marco Raya
Wichita @ San Antonio (7:05 PM) - RHP Ricky Castro
Cedar Rapids @ Fort Myers (6:05 PM) - RHP Jeremy Lee
Fort Myers @ Lakeland (5:30 PM) - RHP Dylan Questad
FCL Pirates @ FCL Twins (11:00 AM) - TBD

 

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[thelanges5]

Prielipp to the development list. Normal transaction or getting ready for a move to AAA?

[DJL44]

2 hours ago, thelanges5 said:

Prielipp to the development list. Normal transaction or getting ready for a move to AAA?

Doubtful he goes to AAA. More like a way to get him time off from pitching to protect his arm.

[jmlease1]

3 hours ago, thelanges5 said:

Prielipp to the development list. Normal transaction or getting ready for a move to AAA?

Yeah, I saw this and immediately thought "uh-oh." Hope this is just part of their plan to build him up carefully and not an indicator of a problem.

[tony&rodney]

Prielipp is likely going to get a week off from competition while working to tweek a couple of his pitches and further refine his delivery. It serves as a rest, recovery, and reset period. We all like to guess so I'm expecting Prielipp to resurface in St. Paul on June 2.

[bean5302]

5 hours ago, thelanges5 said:

Prielipp to the development list. Normal transaction or getting ready for a move to AAA?

Not normal, can't imagine it's related to a promotion.

The development list was designed as a tool to remove guys from the competition roster while allowing them to stick with the team. It lets them continue to practice and work on issues outside of a game environment or going onto the IL. The actual rules are pretty undefined so teams can pretty much use it for anything, and it wouldn't surprise me if the Twins were using it for roster manipulation. A player has to stay on the list for 7 days.

It might be more related to other roster moves while the Twins figure out who belongs in AA since Prielipp just pitched. The Twins have used it before with pitchers to build them up (like SWR after we acquired him).

[bean5302]

Carlos Correa began baseball activities. I think he'll be back at the minimum 7 days. Buxton is a little behind him, apparently.

https://www.mlb.com/news/carlos-correa-byron-buxton-concussion-il-progressing-after-collision

[jorgenswest]

The Twins seem to have an intentional plan about Prielipp. I think the plan is to build a healthy arm with a regular routine of work. Baseball America wrote a Prielipp in their recent Twins organizational report. Zoll talked about the regular once a week work and Falvey said they haven’t ruled out the rotation but that internally he profiles as hard throwing lefty reliever. For now the plan seems all about his health and not developing role for him. I did notice that he progressed from pitching every seventh day to every sixth day. He last pitched for Wichita on the 20th. They have an off day the 26th. Perhaps it is nothing more than being on the developmental list to both work on pitches and simulate a game on the 26th to keep on the 6 day schedule. Let’s see if he returns on June 1.

The Twins use of Prielipp is similar to the one the Rangers used with Ragans when he returned in 2021. He was throwing in the covid year of 2020 so maybe he began 2021 more built up but he hadn’t pitched in a game since 2017. He was initially used every 7th day in high A. After 10 appearances he moved to AA after a break of 12 days.

The Twins appear to be very intentional about their use of Prielipp. It can be argued that they should be developing him as a reliever and use him from the pen or develop him as a starter and lengthen his outings. I think the Twins will view this as a successful season if he comes out of it with a healthy arm. Hopefully this stay on the developmental list is part of the health plan and not a concern about an injury.

[bean5302]

1 hour ago, jorgenswest said:

...It can be argued that they should be developing him as a reliever and use him from the pen or develop him as a starter and lengthen his outings. I think the Twins will view this as a successful season if he comes out of it with a healthy arm...

I think it's clear Prielipp is following Raya's use path from last year. If the organization was developing him as a reliever, Prielipp would be pitching 3x a week, one inning at a time rather than 1x per week for 3.0-4.0 innings and 50 pitches at a time.

Falvey's been clear he thinks Prielipp will be in the 'pen eventually, but Falvey's not the pitching coach or involved in the day to day development process of prospects. The people who are involved want Prielipp starting, and that's absolutely the right call for a guy with potentially 3 plus pitches because those guys are your upper rotation options if they can stay healthy.

Quote

“There’s no obvious year-end goal, other than him finishing on the mound healthy and performing in September, if not October,” MacPhail said. “We want that to be an option too, if they’re given the call. That’s not specific to him, but to all pitching prospects in Double-A. We want him to log the most innings he’s ever had, the most starts he’s ever had and go the farthest into a game he’s ever gone. We hope he’ll pitch the most he’s ever pitched this year.”

https://www.mlb.com/news/connor-prielipp-impressing-at-double-a-after-dealing-with-injuries

[jorgenswest]

@bean5302 Thanks for the link. It is consistent with the Baseball America article.

Quote

The goals for Prielipp, who pitches again on Thursday, as he’s shifting from a seven-day schedule to a regular Minor League rotation six-day schedule, are pretty simple: Stay on the mound.

I think their use of him going every 7th day and now every 6th day is focused on that goal: Stay on the mound.

It doesn’t close the door on starting. It doesn’t close the door on relieving. A significant injury probably closes the door on both. 

[Seth Stohs]

10 hours ago, thelanges5 said:

Prielipp to the development list. Normal transaction or getting ready for a move to AAA?

Normal transaction. Likely part of the plan that he would have worked with Twins pitching coaches and coordinators to get everyone on the same page. Most likely, he may skip a start and then rejoin the rotation. We've seen the Twins and other organizations use this strategy.