Twins Minor League Report (4/16): Fort Myers Shines Brightest

Look at Zebby Matthews, even better than the last game - 5 IP, no hits, 1 BB, 7 SO.

Why did Will Holland pitch, anyone know? 2 outs in the 9th, down 11-5 and Scherf went 2/3's of an inning and hadn't given up a run. Weird, unless Scherf got hurt.

5 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

Gallo is on top of his form - 7 Ks in two games.

Cole Sands does not look like the answer - hopefully we have someone else who can take that role for the Twins. 

I like the idea of a SP for the Twins being named Zebby!

Now for a question for the TD experts - how long before Brooks gets promoted?

I would like to see Winder get a shot at the long relief role.  Henriguez is off the IL as of a day or 2 ago.  Hopefully, he is OK and will also compete for that spot.

3 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Now for a question for the TD experts - how long before Brooks gets promoted?

Nobody else answered this yet so you get a non-expert. End of June is my guess for going to St. Paul. For the Twins, the Farmer injury does make a path for Brooks to go to the Twins if either Correa or Miranda get hurt and Farmer is out a long time. Some people have never liked Miranda and want him sent to St. Paul. I am not one of them. If Brooks goes to the Twins, it will be before the end of June because of an injury, because Farmer isn't back and Royce Lewis isn't ready yet. And, in that situation, I don't think the Twins would be afraid of jumping him from AA to the Twins. They would plan to send him back to St. Paul when the injury to whomever is healed unless he pulls an Arraez and hits so well that they keep him. Anyone else want to guess?

1 hour ago, FlyingFinn said:

Nobody else answered this yet so you get a non-expert. End of June is my guess for going to St. Paul. For the Twins, the Farmer injury does make a path for Brooks to go to the Twins if either Correa or Miranda get hurt and Farmer is out a long time. Some people have never liked Miranda and want him sent to St. Paul. I am not one of them. If Brooks goes to the Twins, it will be before the end of June because of an injury, because Farmer isn't back and Royce Lewis isn't ready yet. And, in that situation, I don't think the Twins would be afraid of jumping him from AA to the Twins. They would plan to send him back to St. Paul when the injury to whomever is healed unless he pulls an Arraez and hits so well that they keep him. Anyone else want to guess?

I mean, I doubt seriously that they’re in a hurry to move him to AAA. He’s played all of 10 games now at the AA level…and it’s a level at which most organizations have their very best, most talented, young prospects…including pitchers. They’re not close to handing him the big-league starting 3B, 2B, or SS jobs…so no need to have him in the wings at St Paul. If something happens and they do want to give him one of those roles, they’d probably be willing to move him directly from AA. That’s not that unusual.

But that’s a long-term injury or two from happening…or a half-season of drastic underperformance from Miranda from happening (and maybe even not then if Lewis is back and healthy). Certainly, nothing imminent.

The ability to watch the minor league games on milb.com has made for some interesting views in recent years. One can easily see both the athleticism and inexperience of the younger players. For example, Emmanuel Rodriguez has an impressive OPS but a near 50% K-rate. He looks both intimidating and hopeless at the plate because he needs a ton of polish to unlock his gem of a swing. Lee looks like he has trouble with his bat quite often and then has other moments like he knows what is coming. Young Brooks has looked very smooth in the field. I would say his glove is well ahead of his bat. 

Is anyone else concerned about the strikeouts? 41 in three games yesterday seems like an issue. Of particular interest is how futile Joey Gallo looks right now. The Twins saw his value early in a single game, but now minor league pitchers are throwing the ball right down the middle and dispatching him in a quick fashion. Sure hope an adjustment can occur because three or four pitches and back to the dugout looks bad and the Twins could sure use some offense.

Personally I don't think I need to see much more from Lee in AA to think he could be promoted.  He's been very tough to strikeout there.  I want to see him hit a few more out, and the walk rate is low right now but in a small sample, so he hasn't missed a beat playing at that level.

I count playoff games, so he's had 14 in AA, and only had 28 in high-A last year before being promoted (though the promotion was probably largely just to get additional playing time by making him eligible for the AA playoffs).  Given his path so far, I don't necessarily think they wouldn't be willing to promote him in June, though I have no insight into their actual plans and opinions on it.

I've been checking out a lot of statcast data for low-A this year; Matthews is an interesting guy.

The velocity is good, averaging 93.8 in his two starts.  Statcast actually classifies 6 pitches for him: 4-seam, sinker, cutter, curveball, changeup, and slider.  The sinker and slider aren't thrown very often, so for the slider in particular I don't know if it is just inconsistency with his cutter/curveball, but they did show up in both starts.

The cutter and curve have both missed quite a few bats, and the change missed a couple too, which isn't always true for pitchers at that level.

40 minutes ago, terrydactyls said:

Is there any update on Connor Prielipp?

I guess there is concern about his repaired elbow right now, so probably some discomfort.  On the IL now, still in the evaluating phase from what I've read.

55 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

As far as the "Lee promotion" talk goes, I'd think him being up in June is probably a bad sign for the Twins offense. They aren't going to call him up for anything other than a fulltime starting spot. That would come at SS, 3B, or 2B.

I don't think anyone is suggesting he skip AAA

Brooks Lee has looked better than I anticipated in the field. He has shown range to both sides and come in on slow rollers past the pitcher with an accomplished aggressiveness seldom seen from someone with little pro experience. Lee fields everything with confidence.

At the plate, Lee fights with two strikes and puts the ball in play. I wish the Twins would incorporate this into their batting style. Brooks does look a little rough with a bat despite decent numbers. The swing looks choppy. He needs experience and repetitions. I will gladly take the results however.

My amateur impressions are based on watching most of the Wichita games thus far and made with a grain of salt.

The comment in a post above about seeing Brooks Lee at Target Field is right on, in my opinion. If the Twins call up Lee in June, so much has gone wrong that the season is likely well off the rails with the team hoping for another high draft choice in 2024. I do think a call is possible in August or more likely September. 

3 hours ago, 2wins87 said:

I guess there is concern about his repaired elbow right now, so probably some discomfort.  On the IL now, still in the evaluating phase from what I've read.

Went on the IL to "go see the doctor"

Unless the doctor is in Japan.....it seems like he could go to the Dr....today!  This can't be good ......and I had very high hopes for him!!   :(