Twins Minor League Report (5/10): Rayne Doncon Delivers Two Mother's Day Gifts

[Matt Braun]

Image courtesy of Malamut Photography (photo of Rayne Doncon)

TRANSACTIONS
LHP Kody Funderburk optioned to AAA St. Paul
LHP Kendry Rojas recalled
INF Quinn McDaniel signed*

Another Indy Ball Star?

On Sunday, news broke that the Twins plucked Quinn McDaniel from the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. A 5th-round 2023 draftee, McDaniel spent two forgettable seasons in Eugene, Oregon, for the Giants' A+ ball squad before striking a path to indy ball. He obliterated the competition. McDaniel was hitting the days in the year, .365 in 14 games before the Twins handed him a minor-league contract.

Saints Sentinel
St. Paul 4, Las Vegas 2
Box Score
Ryan Gallagher: 3 ⅔ IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
HR: David Bañuelos (1)
Multi-hit games: Kaelen Culpepper (2-for-5, 3 RBI), Ryan Kreidler (2-for-3, 2B, BB), Ben Ross (2-for-4, 2B, R)

“This is bat country.” Perhaps, Mr. Thompson, but the bats of this series aren’t from the hallucinations of a drug-fueled madman: rather, the Saints’ wooden cylinders were as real and potent as the mescaline favored by Raoul Duke and his associate. And no one in this story made a beast of himself (except for maybe Aaron Sabato on Tuesday.)

Ryan Gallagher earned the start for the Saints. Though the high-flying ways of the PCL clipped the wings of others before him, the UC Santa Barbara product proved to possess a steeled mettle: he overcame a minor kerfuffle in the first to give his team 3 ⅔ effective frames, punching out six. He threw 74 pitches.

St. Paul supported their hurler early, scoring three in the second inning. Every run came off a rare bases-clearing single from Kaelen Culpepper. Credit goes to Harry Genth for busting it from first with a speed and vigor unseen outside a Mint 400 Motorcycle race. 

Because no Saints game can exist without a blast these days, David Bañuelos shot one over the left-center wall in the ninth off former Twin Who Got Away, Nick Anderson. It’s a mystery what Brian Schales is up to these days.

The Aviators are an affiliate of the Team Formerly Known as the Oakland Athletics. Their fifth-ranked prospect, Henry Bolte, singled once in four at-bats, a notable outcome given he entered the day 12 for his last 12 with nine extra-base-hits, five of them homers.

Wind Surge Wisdom

Unending rain canceled the Wichita game on Sunday.

Kernels Nuggets
Cedar Rapids 10, Quad Cities 5
Box Score
Dasan Hill: 3 ⅔ IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 7 K
HR: Rayne Doncon 2 (4, 5), Jay Thomason (4), Jaime Ferrer (9), Brandon Winokur (3)
Multi-hit games: Brandon Winokur (2-for-4, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB), Miguel Briceno (2-for-4, R), Rayne Doncon (2-for-5, 2 HR, 2 R, 4 RBI)

The Kernels bashed their way to victory on Sunday.

Rayne Doncon started matters with a second-inning blast, soon followed by Jay Thomason, whose homer was so powerful it emitted an “outfielder stopper” 15 feet away from the track. A confused fisherman will find the ball in the coming days.

 

 

Jaime Ferrer’s three-run blast in the third gave Cedar Rapids a 5-0 advantage.

 

 

The Kernels allowed the River Bandits to tie the game—how generous of them—before unleashing a second barrage upon their pitchers. Brandon Winokur joined the fun with his third homer of the season, before Doncon gave the left-field children another souvenir. 

 

 

Christman-born starter Dasan Hill put forth his best start of the season. The talented lefty suffered a dreadful April, allowing 15 runs in 16 innings, but evidently remained sanguine. On Sunday, he earned seven of his 11 outs on whiffs in his first scoreless outing of the year, though control remained an issue, as he walked three. The start was nonetheless a positive outcome for the youngster from Grapevine. 

Catcher Blake Mitchell is ranked as the 58th-best prospect in MLB, according to the league’s website. He went 0-3, with three strikeouts, a sacrifice fly, and a walk. 

Mussel Matters
Fort Myers 5, Tampa 3
Box Score
Matthew Dalquist: 4 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: Dameury Pena (2-for-4, R, 2 RBI), Jayson Bass (2-for-3, R, RBI), Byron Chourio (2-for-4)

The Mighty Mussels took an early lead and never looked back on Sunday.

Has Matthew Dalquist turned a corner? The 18th-round righty found April cold, chilly, and unforgiving; his ERA in the month sat at 5.40, and his WHIP neared 2.00. Through two May starts, though, he has allowed just two runs across nine frames, pushing his ERA down to a serviceable 4.03 mark. That’ll do just fine.

Fort Myers’ offense started immediately. Dameury Pena—after taking a strike on a pitch timer violation—chopped an infield single, and Bruin Agbayani walked. A Ramiro Dominguez flyout did nothing to stop the momentum: Hungry Kusiak shot a single into left field to draw Pena home. Agbayani then scored on a wild pitch.

 

 

Pena proved to be a magnet for scoring runs, as he singled in another score the following frame. Spoiler: Pena earned a second RBI on a fielder’s choice in the fourth. Even Rickey Henderson would have been impressed by his leadoff production (he also stole a base!)

A middle-innings Tampa skirmish brought the score within one, yet Fort Myers plated an insurance run in the eighth off a Jayson Bass sacrifice fly. The Tarpons never scored again.

The Tarpons are a part of the Great Yankees Talent Machine, the development system that pumps out major leaguers with brutal efficiency. On Sunday, they sent forth lefty Henry Lalane, their 14th-ranked prospect. He surrendered four earned runs in 3 ⅓ innings.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Dasan Hill
Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Rayne Doncon

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:
#2 – Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - 2-5, 3 RBI
#4 – Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 0-2, K
#6 – Dasan Hill (Cedar Rapids) - 3 ⅔ IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 7 K
#7 – Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 1-4
#8 – Kendry Rojas (Twins) - 3 ⅓ IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K
#9 – Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 0-4, R, K
#12 – Andrew Morris (Twins) - 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
#13 – Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 2-4, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB, 2 K
#14 – Quentin Young (Fort Myers) - 0-4, 2 K
#18 – C.J. Culpepper (St. Paul) - 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
#19 – Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids) - 0-0
#20 – James Ellwanger (Fort Myers) - IL

MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
FCL Twins @ FCL Orioles (11:00 AM) - TBD

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[weitz41]

Nice bounce back for Gallagher and Hill. The move up in the minors can be tough on pitchers and position players.

[stringer bell]

I believe the Saints won five of six from Las Vegas, which was in first place in the PCL. This is interesting because their two top prospects are on the Injured List and the team is playing its best baseball.

It appears that Arcia must have gotten injured last night. Too bad because he’s been hitting very well recently. 

[Dman]

After some tough starts for the Kernals and Saints it's nice to see all the affiliates at .500 or above.  Mercedes  Ferrer and Olivar look ready to move up as they are all second in their league for OPS.  Will be interesting to see how the numbers look at the end of May.

[jmlease1]

At some point Hill has to start cutting down on the walks. The stuff is there, he can hunt K's like nobody's business, but he needs to hand out fewer free passes. 16 BBs in 19 2/3 innings tells me he'll be at Cedar Rapids for a while. It's ok, he's 20. 

Good game for Culpepper. He's having a good season so far, which is nice to see in his first season at AAA. It's been a good season so far, not a great one; the team OPS is actually slightly higher than his so have to keep that nice OPS in context. But no real problems yet, which is great. I think they're not feeling pushed to call him up based on his performance yet; the pressure is coming more from the struggles Royce is having in MLB, now that Lee has started to hit.

[rdehring]

Great seeing Houston back on the field.  Also excited that Winokur has begun hitting like the great prospect we believe he is.  With an organization void of any good prospects for first base, could Ferrer be the one?

After a handful of games to adjust to AAA, Ross has begun hitting like, well, hitting like Ben Ross.  Great to see.  Will be interesting what the Twins do with him as the season moves along?  Could we see him in a Twins uniform come September?

[Jeff K]

GREAT write up!  Dasan Hill's performance was encouraging and is hopefully the start of something.

[jmlease1]

1 hour ago, rdehring said:

After a handful of games to adjust to AAA, Ross has begun hitting like, well, hitting like Ben Ross.  Great to see.  Will be interesting what the Twins do with him as the season moves along?  Could we see him in a Twins uniform come September?

I feel like if Ross shows he can keep hitting at AAA he's lining himself up to be the utility guy next season, since he can legit play SS and would be able to back up every spot in the infield. Which would be great: much rather have that guy on a rookie salary than spending $$ on a veteran that might not have that much left. Twins need to be able to graduate talent from their farm system in all kinds of roles...and management will need to trust them to play.

[tony&rodney]

Ross is an interesting player. He is a good base runner and can provide slightly above average defense all over the field. Ross can also drive the ball into the gaps and over fences. Perhaps he is getting better at reading pitches because the one shortcoming (imo from watching him the last few years) is that Ross takes a large number of wild swings and can get caught guessing at times. However, coming from a small college Ross faced quite a change as a professional player and everyone learns at different speeds. The physical skills are decent and he could become quite a valuable utility player if he can control the strike zone in his plate appearances. He looks more confident this year.

[mrguy]

19 hours ago, stringer bell said:

I believe the Saints won five of six from Las Vegas, which was in first place in the PCL. This is interesting because their two top prospects are on the Injured List and the team is playing its best baseball.

It appears that Arcia must have gotten injured last night. Too bad because he’s been hitting very well recently. 

They've generally profiled well offensively, so playing in an area that has statistically been very good to hitters really gave them a big boost offensively(they scored 6+ runs in 5/6 games and double digits in 3/6) and their pitching did well enough to hold Vegas back even in higher scoring games(even though their "stuff" profiled lower than their averages apparently)

[Patzky]

Bolte is being called up to the A's today, so he won't be around to terrorize AAA pitching anymore. Exciting young ballplayer!