Twins Minor League Report (7/11): Kernels Hit a Home Run Sandwich

[Tom Froemming]

FRIDAY’S RESULTS
Iowa 8, St. Paul 7 (called in the eighth due to rain)
San Antonio 7, Wichita 2
Cedar Rapids 4, Peoria 3
Cedar Rapids 6, Peoria 5 (called in the sixth due to rain)
Fort Myers 4, Clearwater 1
FCL Twins 3, FCL Red Sox 2
FCL Twins, Game 2: Suspended in the third due to rain
DSL Phillies 4, DSL Twins 1

TRANSACTIONS
None. Wait … is that a real thing? Seems fake. It’s pretty rare to have a day with zero moves across the system.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY 
Hitter of the Day: Jaime Ferrer, Cedar Rapids (2-for-3, 2 HRs, 2 R, 2 RBI)

Ferrer was the meat of a home run sandwich for the Kernels. Yes, I’m trying to create some new baseball lingo. Home run sandwich rolls off the tongue better than back-to-back-to-back homers. OK, maybe it’s not my most inspired creative moment, but I’m trying here. We as a baseball community need to up our nomenclature! Let me know in the comments what suggestions you have to re-name back-to-back-to-back homers. Anyway …

In the first game of the Kernels doubleheader, Andy Lugo opened the scoring in the second inning with a solo homer. Ferrer followed with a home run of his own, then Kendle provided a third-consecutive Cedar Rapids tater.

Ferrer also went deep in his next at-bat, giving the Kernels a 4-1 lead with all of their runs scored on solo homers. The second blast Ferrer provided turned out to be the difference, with Cedar Rapids hanging on to win 4-3.

After logging just one inning at catcher in his three seasons at FSU, Ferrer is trying to convert back to the position he was more familiar with prior to his collegiate days. He’s made 18 starts at catcher, 18 at first base, eight in right field, seven in left field and seven as the designated hitter this season.

There have been several good pieces written on Ferrer’s journey in baseball while navigating Type 1 diabetes, including one from Jeff Johnson of the Cedar Rapids Gazette last month. He’s an easy guy to root for.

Pitcher of the Day: Christian MacLeod, Wichita (5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K)

MacLeod got ahead 0-2 of the first batter he faced tonight and ended up walking him. That seems like an awfully bad omen, but the 25-year-old lefty managed to get right and retired the next three batters in order. The leadoff man reached again in the second inning, but MacLeod managed to post another zero.

San Antonio got the first two batters aboard in the third, and MacLeod ran out of magic. The Missions scratched across three runs on some dinks, dunks and an error committed by left fielder Ricardo Olivar. MacLeod allowed the leadoff man to reach again in the fourth, but struck out the next two batters on a total of eight pitches before getting the final out of the frame on a fly out.

In his fifth and final inning, MacLeod retired not only the leadoff man, but also the side in order. While he was constantly pitching out of the stretch, it’s not like he gave up much loud contact tonight. All five hits MacLeod surrendered were singles.

MacLeod has been quietly consistent for the Wind Surge this season. This was just the second time in 11 Double-A outings this year that he’s surrendered as many as three runs. Tonight’s outing increases his ERA to 2.25 over 40 innings with Wichita this year. He has a 2.97 ERA, 1.25 WHIP and 9.2 K/9 in 78 2/3 career Double-A innings.

Taking a look at the big picture, the only lefties currently on the Twins roster are Danny Coulombe, a logical trade candidate, and the recently-promoted Anthony Misiewicz, a 30-year-old crafty journeyman. Aside from those two, Kody Funderburk is the only other southpaw on the 40-man roster.

If I had to pick an under-the-radar minor leaguer who could debut later this season, MacLeod would be on my shortlist. Maybe that says more about the Twins’ current stable lefties than it does MacLeod, but still. While MacLeod’s velocity is not impressive, he features a competitive spirit and a big, beautiful bender. It’s Kershaw-esque, at least in terms of appearance.

STARTING PITCHING LINES
Randy Dobnak (St. Paul): 4 2/3 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 90 pitches (65.6% strikes)
Christian MacLeod (Wichita): 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 84 pitches (70.2% strikes)
Cole Peschl (Cedar Rapids, G1): 5 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 66 pitches (72.7% strikes)
Chase Chaney (Cedar Rapids, G2): 3 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 62 pitches (61.3% strikes)
Christian Becerra (Fort Myers): 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 49 pitches (73.5% strikes)
Sam Rochard (FCL Twins): 2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 36 pitches (69.4% strikes)
Juan Figaro (DSL Twins): 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

HOME RUNS
St. Paul: Edouard Julien (9), Jose Miranda (4).
Wichita: Ricardo Olivar (11).
Cedar Rapids: Jaime Ferrer 2 (3), Andy Lugo (2), Caden Kendle (5), Maddux Houghton (2).
Fort Myers: Angel Del Rosario (2).
DSL Twins: Ramiro Dominguez (3), Jayson Bass (1).

MULTI-HIT GAMES
Austin Martin (St. Paul): 3-for-4
Edouard Julien (St. Paul): 2-for-4, HR
Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul): 2-for-4, 2B
Ricardo Olivar (Wichita): 2-for-3, HR, BB
Jaime Ferrer (Cedar Rapids, G1): 2-for-3, 2 HR
Caden Kendle (Cedar Rapids, G1): 3-for-3, HR
Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids, G1): 2-for-3
Maddux Houghton (Cedar Rapids, G2): 2-for-3, HR, 3B
Angel Del Rosario (Fort Myers): 3-for-3, HR
Cristian Bonifacio (DSL Twins): 2-for-3, 2B

ADDITIONAL NOTES
Weather disrupted three different games across the system tonight, with the Saints and Kernels both having a game called early and the FCL Twins having a game suspended and to be completed tomorrow.

St. Paul: Carson McCusker was robbed of an outfield assist. He put his throw right on the money, but third baseman Jose Miranda was called for interfering with the runner. Saints broadcaster Sean Aronson referred to the call as both “terrible” and “horrendous.” I agree. Here’s a link to the replay, if you’d like to be annoyed.

After adding three more hits tonight, Austin Martin has a .375/.477/.458 slash line (.935 OPS) in 21 games for the Saints this season.

Wichita: There was no Walker Jenkins or Kaelen Culpepper in the Wind Surge lineup tonight. Culpepper will be participating in the All-Star Futures Game tomorrow. The game starts at 3 pm CT and is available to watch on MLB Network, MLB.TV, MLB.com and the MLB app.

Cedar Rapids: Samuel Perez protected a one-run lead in the first game of today’s doubleheader to earn his second save of the season for the Kernels. 

Fort Myers: In his 56th game of the season for the Mussels, Yasser Mercedes stole his 25th base. He’s yet to be caught stealing in FSL action this season, though he did oddly get thrown out twice during a five-game rehab assignment with the FCL Twins. Go figure. 

FCL Twins: Jayson Bass’ home run was a walk-off shot. The 19-year-old has a .303/.425/.515 batting line in 13 games (a .940 OPS). He also stole his fifth base of the season today.

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for more. 

3. Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul): 2-for-4, 2B, 2 R, RBI
9. Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-3, 2B
10. Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-7, 3B, RBI, K
12. Billy Amick (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-7, R, RBI, 4 K
13. Gabriel Gonzalez (Wichita): 1-for-4, K
15. Eduardo Beltre (FCL): 0-for-4
18. Ricardo Olivar (Wichita): 2-for-3, HR (11), BB, R, RBI, K
19. Danny De Andrade (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-7, RBI, 2 K
20. Payton Eeles (St. Paul): 0-for-3, BB, K

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 46-48
St. Paul Saints: 41-48
Wichita Wind Surge: 46-39
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 49-35
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 35-48
FCL Twins: 31-15
DSL Twins: 9-20

TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul vs. Iowa, 6:37 pm CT: Connor Gillispie
Wichita vs. San Antonio, 6:05 pm CT: C.J. Culpepper
Cedar Rapids at Peoria, 7:05 pm CT: Ty Langenberg
Fort Myers at Clearwater, 5:30 pm CT: Dasan Hill
FCL Twins vs. FCL Red Sox, 9 am CT: TBD
FCL Twins at FCL Red Sox: Completion of Friday’s game
DSL Twins vs. DSL Tigers 2, 9 am CT: TBD

 

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[randy_moist]

(small) straight crush, with 4 in a row being a large. When KC does it, it's a royal crush.

[Tiantwindup]

Tri-tater?

4-bagger 3-peat?

Triple homer?

[FlyingFinn]

I would think a HR sandwich would have something in the middle. Therefore, I think it would be HR, non-HR hit, and HR consecutively.

[jmlease1]

Can we just swap Kiersey for Martin, please? Martin's looking all the way back from his injury and while I don't expect him to set the world on fire at the plate, he's almost certainly going to be a better option than Kiersey, and gives the team even more positional flexibility, while still providing speed off the bench.

Stop waiting for Keaschall.

[rdehring]

Although not a dominant start, MacLeod had another solid outing.  Continue to believe he potentially could help the Twins beginning some time in 2026.

Saw that Austin Martin had another good night with three hits.  As mentioned by jm above, agree that it is time to get him back with the Twins.  Wondering that with the All-Star break beginning Monday, do they put C4 on the IL and bring Martin back?  They could then decide who goes down when C4 returns soon after the break.  

Also, is there any information on Mike Canterino's rehab?  After DFA'ing him off the 40-man, the Twins signed him to a two-year minor league contract.  Expect he will rehab this year with the intent or hope that he can be healthy in '26.  Just curious how his rehab is going and if he is on schedule for a return by next spring?

[Jeff K]

1 hour ago, jmlease1 said:

Can we just swap Kiersey for Martin, please? Martin's looking all the way back from his injury and while I don't expect him to set the world on fire at the plate, he's almost certainly going to be a better option than Kiersey, and gives the team even more positional flexibility, while still providing speed off the bench.

Stop waiting for Keaschall.

I would like that too.  I would be remiss if I did not give props to Kiersey's tremendous outfield play last night.  

[LambchoP]

Keirsey is good in the OF but that's IT. He's an automatic out at the plate and even with his plus speed he's not a very good base stealer. Martin is looking healthy and is hitting like .340 in AAA. I'd much rather see him up with the Twins than Keirsey. Should be much better offensively. Plus he has more defensive flexibility being able to cover 2nd as well as the OF. 

[Major League Ready]

24 minutes ago, LambchoP said:

Keirsey is good in the OF but that's IT. He's an automatic out at the plate and even with his plus speed he's not a very good base stealer. Martin is looking healthy and is hitting like .340 in AAA. I'd much rather see him up with the Twins than Keirsey. Should be much better offensively. Plus he has more defensive flexibility being able to cover 2nd as well as the OF. 

Martin is hitting .375 with a .477 OBP.  

[Tom Froemming]

5 hours ago, Tiantwindup said:

Tri-tater?

4-bagger 3-peat?

Triple homer?

I like tri-tater. That one is the leader in the clubhouse.

5 hours ago, FlyingFinn said:

I would think a HR sandwich would have something in the middle. Therefore, I think it would be HR, non-HR hit, and HR consecutively.

Good point. I may have been thinking more with my stomach than my head. I gotta make sure to eat something before sitting down to write these things. 

2 hours ago, rdehring said:

Also, is there any information on Mike Canterino's rehab?  After DFA'ing him off the 40-man, the Twins signed him to a two-year minor league contract.  Expect he will rehab this year with the intent or hope that he can be healthy in '26.  Just curious how his rehab is going and if he is on schedule for a return by next spring?

I haven't heard anything, but he's waaay off my radar these days. Now that he's off the 40-man roster, it's even less likely any updates will be relayed.

[Mike Sixel]

3 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

Can we just swap Kiersey for Martin, please? Martin's looking all the way back from his injury and while I don't expect him to set the world on fire at the plate, he's almost certainly going to be a better option than Kiersey, and gives the team even more positional flexibility, while still providing speed off the bench.

Stop waiting for Keaschall.

Agreed. It's ridiculous at this point. 

[Doctor Gast]

6 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

Can we just swap Kiersey for Martin, please? Martin's looking all the way back from his injury and while I don't expect him to set the world on fire at the plate, he's almost certainly going to be a better option than Kiersey, and gives the team even more positional flexibility, while still providing speed off the bench.

Stop waiting for Keaschall.

Martin is healthy & is doing well in AAA. Everybody knows a hitter, especially a raw rookie, needs regular ABs. Kiersey hasn't been getting any. Kiersey's hitting development has been ret**ded this year, he needs regular ABs in AAA. Martin can provide what Kiersey can, yet Martin has had the regular ABs. After Kiersey gets his regular ABs, he'd be ready to start his MLB hitting adjustment again on a better footing.

[Doctor Gast]

I miss the box scores & more gameplay on each team. Martin is a spark plug & could help the Twins, bring him up.