Twins Minor League Report (6/1): Saints March In, Cedar Rapids Did What?

Fajardo and Kiersey are really playing well in the Wichita OF. Does St. Paul have room for them to move up in July? Not if you have Wallner in RF, Celestino back in CF and Larnach coming down and playing LF. 

7 hours ago, FlyingFinn said:

Fajardo and Kiersey are really playing well in the Wichita OF. Does St. Paul have room for them to move up in July? Not if you have Wallner in RF, Celestino back in CF and Larnach coming down and playing LF. 

I've also noticed those guys playing well, particularly Kiersey, Jr. Seems like there's not much room for him at AAA right now, but you never know when someone will get injured. But yeah, right now, he's playing very well for Wichita. 

Fort Meyers has 3 SPs that have been very good so far.  Mathews / Culpepper and Lewis.  Anyone have thoughts on which one has the best chance of making it to the ML level?  

Wow, what a night in Lansing for the Kernels hitters!  I think they had a couple full weeks earlier in the season where they didn't even score close to 24 runs. It seems the 8 runs in the 9th were off of a position player, so take those stats with a grain of salt but still a great night for many guys.

Watching Tanner Schobel earlier this year he looked like a guy who could punch above his weight though the stat line didn't really show it at the time.  He's been coming on lately though.  7 game hit streak in which he is 14 for 33 and now HR in back to back games.

I also commented a few weeks ago that Rosario seemed like a guy that could be a minor tweak away from a breakout and it seems like it may have happened.  5 HR in the last 2 and 1/2 weeks and the plate discipline numbers continue to trend in the right direction.

The best news in my eyes was ERod going 3-6, plus a walk.  Granted, the Kernels weren't facing Cy Young.  But any great night for this young man should be a step in the right direction.

Appears Thielbar should be ready to stay on the West side of the river.  After a few good outings that are now well in the rear view mirror, not certain Balazovic will ever make that drive.

We keep reading stories and comments about how well Wallner is hitting.  My interest would be peaked if I could learn something, or anything, about what he is doing to improve his D.

1 hour ago, Major League Ready said:

Fort Meyers has 3 SPs that have been very good so far.  Mathews / Culpepper and Lewis.  Anyone have thoughts on which one has the best chance of making it to the ML level?  

Matthews got the first promotion and he'd be my pick too at this point based off statcast and stat-line data.

His FB is generally in the mid 90s averaging over 93 mph and he's topped out at 96.3.  Seems like he can spin a good breaking ball too though he probably needs to refine into one or two consistent shapes.  His changeup didn't get a ton of whiffs in low A so he probably still needs to work on it and that probably adds to to his reliever risk somewhat.  His control seems to already be really good though which helps to put him over the top.  He had a miniscule 3.3% walk rate against low A hitters while striking out over 35%.

Lewis is right behind him for me.  The fastball only averages around 90.5 mph and has topped out at 93, but it has been pretty effective so I think it may have some good secondary characteristics.  The knuckleball has unsurprisingly baffled low-A hitters getting whiffs on over half of the swings.  But his slider has also been really effective so he's really got a full repertoire to go with the knuckle ball and it makes me interested to see how his stuff plays as he moves up.

Culpepper is definitely intriguing beyond the stat line as well.  He's the hardest thrower of the bunch averaging around 94 mph and having topped out at 97.5 in game.  I don't know what he was throwing pre-draft, but based on where he was drafted I'm guessing he added a bunch of that velocity in the Twins' off-season camp.  He probably has the most refinement still needed on his pitches and command, but he has the profile of that late round pick from a smaller baseball program that they develop into something solid.

1 hour ago, Major League Ready said:

Fort Meyers has 3 SPs that have been very good so far.  Mathews / Culpepper and Lewis.  Anyone have thoughts on which one has the best chance of making it to the ML level?  

Probably Matthews, Lewis, then Culpepper in that order. But how likely is it that any make it? tough to say at this point. Matthews and Lewis are near the top of the minor league leaderboard when it comes to K%-BB% which is very promising 

18 minutes ago, 2wins87 said:

Matthews got the first promotion and he'd be my pick too at this point based off statcast and stat-line data.

His FB is generally in the mid 90s averaging over 93 mph and he's topped out at 96.3.  Seems like he can spin a good breaking ball too though he probably needs to refine into one or two consistent shapes.  His changeup didn't get a ton of whiffs in low A so he probably still needs to work on it and that probably adds to to his reliever risk somewhat.  His control seems to already be really good though which helps to put him over the top.  He had a miniscule 3.3% walk rate against low A hitters while striking out over 35%.

Lewis is right behind him for me.  The fastball only averages around 90.5 mph and has topped out at 93, but it has been pretty effective so I think it may have some good secondary characteristics.  The knuckleball has unsurprisingly baffled low-A hitters getting whiffs on over half of the swings.  But his slider has also been really effective so he's really got a full repertoire to go with the knuckle ball and it makes me interested to see how his stuff plays as he moves up.

Culpepper is definitely intriguing beyond the stat line as well.  He's the hardest thrower of the bunch averaging around 94 mph and having topped out at 97.5 in game.  I don't know what he was throwing pre-draft, but based on where he was drafted I'm guessing he added a bunch of that velocity in the Twins' off-season camp.  He probably has the most refinement still needed on his pitches and command, but he has the profile of that late round pick from a smaller baseball program that they develop into something solid.

Thanks.  I noticed both Mathews and Lewis had very impressive K to BB ratios.  It will be interesting to see how Lewis does with that knuckleball at higher levels.  Obviously, a unique pitch mix in today's game.  

That's a really big night for Cedar Rapids!

I've been on Team Rosario for a while now and he keeps doing everything right to get himself promoted: hitting for power, good contact rates and a strong batting average, taking walks, and a more than reasonable K-rate. And this isn't a older player beating up on a bunch of kids: he's still only 20 (for now)! He looks like an easy choice to move up to Wichita at midseason to me.

E-Rod had a great night. He's so talented, but we shouldn't be surprised that it's taking him a while to find consistency coming off a knee injury at his age while adjusting to a new level of competition. He's still taking walks and his overall approach at the plate is sound. He's still so young (just barely turned 20) but the ball explodes off his bat and he's going to be really fun to watch all year. Looking forward to a few more 3-hit nights!