Twins Minor League Report (9/2): Matt Canterino Lives!

[Matt Braun]

Image courtesy of milb.tv (South Bend production)

TRANSACTIONS
RHP Jui-Chieh Lin transferred to Development List (A Fort Myers)

Saints Sentinel
St. Paul 9, Omaha 7 (10 Innings)
Box Score
Ricky Castro: 3 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 3 K
HR: Cody Morissette (14), Jake Rucker (1)
Multi-hit games: Alan Roden (2-for-3, 2B, 2 R, RBI, 3 BB), Kala’i Rosario (2-for-6, 3 RBI), Cody Morissette (2-for-5, HR, R, 2 RBI), Jake Rucker (2-for-4, HR, 2 R, RBI, BB)

The Saints won in extras on Wednesday.

Tuesday was an active day for Emmanuel Rodriguez—what with the cycling and what not—so he spent Wednesday walking. Four times, in fact. It was a day of free passes for the Saints as a whole; they took 11 safe saunters to first base, outnumbering their hits on the day by one. 

Eric Orze, Marco Raya, and Julian Merryweather combined 5 2/4 shutout innings during the game’s most critical juncture. Battered by seven earned runs and a deluge of hits, the three relievers entered, and it was as if a faucet was turned off: one hit off Orze proved to be the only non-rule sanctioned baserunner the Storm Chasers could muster. 

Cody Morissette continued to swing a molten bat, homering for the third straight game.

On the topic of homers, Jake Rucker hit a notable one. As the incoming tweet will say, his blast with the Saints was his first with the team in nearly 1,500 days. That’s an odyssey. Walker Jenkins hadn’t even been drafted by the Twins at that point, and he’s now their starting center fielder. 

Every batter in the Saints lineup reached base safely outside Tanner Schobel. 

Emmanuel Rodriguez is slashing .270/.432/.560 with the Saints in 2026. 

Center fielder Carson Roccaforte ranks as the 17th-best prospect in the Royals’ system; he went 0-5 with three strikeouts on Wednesday. 

Wind Surge Wisdom
Wichita 4, Tulsa 5
Box Score
Chris Vallimont: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: Marek Houston (2-for-4, 2B, R, RBI), Khadim Diaw (2-for-5), Graham Brown (2-for-3, R, RBI, BB)

The Wind Surge lost a tight match on Wednesday.

Like a well-lit beacon, Chris Vallimont’s pitching line sparkles and shines, illuminating an excellent day on the mound for the 29-year-old. He punched out six without allowing an earned run, surrendering just two hits without walking a batter. 

That pesky “earned run” notion proved especially troublesome on Wednesday. Two scored in the third thanks to a pair of errors, one by second baseman Danny De Andrade, and one from the hurler himself. Though ERA looks the other way, those runs matter—and they came into play in the late innings, as Wichita looked to separate themselves from Tulsa.

The Wind Surge already had two runs when their errors occurred, thanks to a run-scoring groundout by Jaime Ferrer, and a single from Graham Brown. They sat silent for three frames before a walk and a single placed a man in scoring position for Marek Houston, who stroked a single into center to break the tie. The Drillers responded with a sacrifice fly in the seventh and a two-run homer in the eighth. A final Brandon Winokur sacrifice fly couldn’t spark more, and Wichita fell one run short of tying the game.

The Drillers, as you probably know, are an affiliate of the regal Dodgers farm system, a group typically bursting with young talent. This team is no different: Josue De Paula—strapping and intimidating—is the sixth overall prospect in MLB, and he went 0-2 with a sacrifice fly on Wednesday.

Kernels Nuggets
Cedar Rapids 3, South Bend 4 
Box Score
Cesar Lares: 4 2/3 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: None

A late Kernels rally came up short on Wednesday.

Down 4-0 in the eighth, Cedar Rapids netted their first run on a groundout by Eduardo Tait, scoring Vahn Lackey. With a sudden taste for scoring, they returned for a pair in the ninth, as an Andy Lugo triple begat a sacrifice fly. Then, Yasser Mercedes walked, stole second, and reached third on a wild pitch. Lackey walked. With a speeding mad man 90 feet away from scoring, the Kernels pulled off a double steal, with Mercedes safely arriving home as Lackey took second. That was all. The next two batters struck out to leave the tying run stranded in scoring position.

Matt Canterino! He’s alive! His last professional game of baseball was on July 30th, 2022, as he pitched for the FCL Twins. And on Wednesday, he rose from the ashes and pitched for the Kernels, striking out one, and walking one in a scoreless inning.

Cesar Lares was effective once more, culling his ERA as it descends from the mountaintops to… a place still pretty close to the top, yet lower. Nonetheless, that’s back-to-back starts of allowing just one earned run for the lefty.

Yasser Mercedes stole three bases, pushing his Kernels total to 41, and his season total to 52. 

MLB’s 39th overall prospect played for the Cubs on Wednesday. First baseman Josiah Hartshorn walked once in three plate appearances. 

Mussel Matters
You’ll never believe it, but the Mighty Mussels were forced to postpone their game on Wednesday due to inclement weather. Mother Nature is mighty—and she is no baseball fan, apparently. They will try to make the game up tomorrow, but you guys already know that is no guarantee. 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Chris Vallimont
Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Jake Rucker

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:

#2 – Vahn Lackey (Cedar Rapids) - 1-3, R, 2 BB, K
#4 – Marek Houston (Wichita) - 2-4, 2B, R, RBI
#6 – Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 0-2, 2 R, 4 BB
#7 – Hendry Mendez (St. Paul) - 1-5, R, BB
#8 – Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 1-5, 2B, RBI, K
#12 – Brandon Winokur (Wichita) - 0-2, RBI, 2 BB
#13 – Khadim Diaw (Wichita) - 2-5
#19 – Yasser Mercedes (Cedar Rapids) - 0-4, R, BB

THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Omaha (6:35 PM) - RHP Germán Márquez
Wichita @ Tulsa (7:00 PM) - RHP Cory Lewis
Cedar Rapids @ South Bend (6:05 PM) - RHP Reed Moring
Fort Myers @ Clearwater (5:30 PM) - RHP Matthew Dalquist

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