Twins Minor League Report (7/13): Daiyer Barboza Continues to Get On Base

[Nate Palmer]

Image courtesy of Thieres Rabelo

TRANSACTIONS
C Irvin Nunez assigned to Fort Myers Mighty Mussels from Cedar Rapids Kernels.
St. Paul Saints activated OF Walker Jenkins.
RHP Ty Langenberg assigned to Wichita Wind Surge from St. Paul Saints.
LHP Jake Higginbotham assigned to Wichita Wind Surge from St. Paul Saints.
Wichita Wind Surge transferred C Poncho Ruiz from the 7-day injured list to the 60-day injured list.
Wichita Wind Surge released RHP Nick Mikolajchak.
Wichita Wind Surge released RHP Sam Ryan.

With it being the All-Star break, most of the Twins affiliates also get to enjoy some time off, with their first game of the week coming on Friday. Here, then, is a preview of the short week ahead for the Twins top affiliates. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
The trip down I-35 was not kind to the Saints, as they went 2-4 with bookend wins against the Iowa Cubs. The Saints will return to St. Paul for four games against the Louisville Bats. The Saints did have success against the Bats at the end of June, and hopefully that will get the hometown club back on a series win. 

OF Hector Rodriguez continues to be a bat to keep an eye on. The 22-year-old is currently hitting .284/.364/.546 (.910 OPS) with 23 home runs. Fellow outfielder Carlos Jorge fits right on the edge of being a top-10 prospect for the Reds and was recently promoted to Triple-A. Since the promotion, he has been hitting .182/.250/.295 (.545 OPS) in 11 games, but had been hitting much better at Double-A before his promotion .330/.402/.452 (.854 OPS). 

RHP Jose Franco experienced his early-season work with the major league club, but now he's getting his reps with the Bats. Last time out, the Saints were able to put up three runs against Franco over five innings. Something the Saints would like to replicate or better their performance in order to bump up Franco’s current 3.97 ERA over 45 ⅓ innings at Triple-A. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
The Wind Surge wanted to be just like the Saints and also went 2-4 with bookend wins as they hosted Northwest Arkansas this past week. When play resumes Friday, the Wind Surge will travel to take on the Seattle Mariners affiliate, the Arkansas Travelers. 

The Wind Surge bats will be tested by two organizational top-10 pitching prospects. RHP Ryan Sloan pitched against the Wind Surge back in April, going four innings and limiting the Wind Surge to one earned run, two total runs. Sloan has a 4.04 ERA on the season over 62 ⅓ innings, 29.7% K-rate, and a 4.6% walk-rate. 

LHP Kade Anderson is the other pitcher to keep an eye on. In Anderson’s April start against the Wind Surge, he allowed no hits, no runs, walked two, and struck out 11. That is right in line with some near video game type numbers for a starter that is carrying a season-long 1.36 ERA, with a 41.4% K-rate, and 3.8% walk-rate over 72 ⅔ innings. 

KERNEL CHRONICLE
As is the running theme this week, the Kernels went 2-4 while facing the South Bend Cubs. The Beloit Sky Carp are next up for the Kernels, and they will look to improve upon their 2-3 week record against them from mid-June. The two top-10 organizational prospects that are on the Sky Carp roster have been losing ground in prospect rankings since last month. Starlyn Caba has dropped a spot to #7 on our sister site Fish on First’s rankings, and Dillion Head has dropped two spots to #11.

On the season, the switch-hitting Caba is hitting .250/.395/.394 (.789 OPS). While Head, a left-handed hitter, is hitting .263/.360/.416 (.776 OPS). 

MIGHTY MATTERS
To round out a losing week, Fort Myers went 1-4 against Bradenton. Up next will be three games against Lakeland. The Flying Tigers brought winning ways to the Fort Myers clubhouse last month, and hopefully that will be the case again after the All-Star break. 

The Flying Tigers do bring with them a 19-year-old shortstop prospect in Jordan Yost, who lands in the top-10 of their organization. Yost has 50 games under his belt and is hitting .255/.387/.340 (.727 OPS) with 39 runs scored and nine stolen bases. 

FCL TWINS
Twins 2, Braves 4
Box Score

The Twins ran into three major league players as they lost 4-2 to the Braves on Monday. Ronald Acuna Jr., Ha-Seong Kim, and Andrew McCutchen rounded out that trio. Kim was able to hit a home run in the first inning, putting the Braves up 1-0, and they didn’t look back from there. 

The Twins were unable to muster much of anything in the way of offense, recording only one hit and being buoyed a bit by six walks. The pair of runs scored by the Twins came in the top of the sixth inning, where Yovanny Duran walked, Jake Rucker was hit by a pitch, and then each of them executed a double steal to put runners on second and third. It was Carlos Taveras and the Twins lone hit, a single, that drove both Duran and Rucker in to bring the score to 4-2. 

Halton Hardy was the Twins starter and went 4 innings, allowed two earned runs, struck out eight batters, and only walked two. Carter Holjes came on in relief, tossing two innings, allowed two runs with one of those earned, struck out two, and walked none. 

DSL Twins
Twins 3, Rangers Red 7
Box Score

Early on, the Twins took the lead, and it looked like the game could go their way, but the Rangers bounced back and grabbed a 7-3 victory. It was an early two-out rally that got the Twins on the board and gave them a lead. Anibal Beltre singled, and in the following at-bat. Beltre was able to go first to home and score thanks to a Luis Duarte double. Jefferson Abreu came up next and traded places with Duarte, putting the Twins up 2-1. Beltre had an impressive day, going 2-for-2 with two walks and the run scored. 

The Twins wouldn’t score again until the top of the sixth inning. Jhon Gonzalez hit a double. Two batters later, Enmanuel Merlo singled to drive Gonzalez in. At the time, it brought the Twins within two runs, as the Rangers led 5-3, before the Rangers eventually tacked on two final runs. 

Daiyer Barboza didn’t figure into any of the scoring but had a good day, going 2-for-3 with two walks, raising his average to .311 (1.095 OPS). Agustin Campusano started and was certainly roughed up by the Rangers. In three innings, Campusano allowed eight hits, three earned runs, and two walks while collecting three strikeouts. Aldwin Morillo had the cleanest pitching line as the final reliever to appear for the Twins. Morillo went 1 ⅓ innings, allowing no hits, no runs, three walks, with one strikeout. 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Anibal Beltre: 2-2, 2 BB, 1 R 
Aldwin Morillo: 1 ⅓ IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 3 BB, 1 K

TOP 20 PROSPECT WEEK IN REVIEW
#1- Walker Jenkins (Saints)- .313/.389/.438, .826 OPS, 2 2B
#4- Eduardo Tait (Kernels)-  .150/.227/.200, .427 OPS, 1 2B
#5- Marek Houston (Wind Surge)- .385/.448/.769, 1.218 OPS, 2 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR
#6- Riley Quick (Kernels)- 4 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 5 K
#7- Kendry Rojas (Twins)- 2 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K
#8- Hendry Mendez (Saints)- .222/.333/.333, .667 OPS, 2 2B 
#9- Dasan Hill (Kernels)- 2 ⅔ IP, 0 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
#10- Gabriel Gonzalez (Saints)- .222/.222/.222, .444 OPS
#12- Brandon Winokur (Kernels)- .217/.308/.435, .742 OPS, 1 3B, 1 HR
#13- Khadim Diaw (Wind Surge)- .200/.261/.250, .511 OPS, 1 2B
#14- Quentin Young (Mussels)- .071/.133/.071, .205 OPS 
#15- Ryan Gallagher (Saints)- 3 ⅔  IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
#17-C.J. Culpepper (Saints)- 2 ⅔ IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K 
#18- Yasser Mercedes (Kernels)- .240/.296/.440, .736 OPS. 2 2B, 1 HR
#19- Billy Amick (Wind Surge)- .353/.381/.353, .734 OPS 
#20- Kyle Debarge (Wind Surge)- .211/.318/.368, .687 OPS, 1 HR 

TUESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
FCL Braves @ FCL Twins - TBD
DSL Phillies @ DSL Twins- TBD

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