Twins Minor League Report (9/13): Severino's Special Season Continues

Wow, thanks for the post June #'s on SWR. In a hitter's league, an ERA under 3.00 for three months is impressive. Maybe we were too down on him.

I just noticed that in Triple-A, winning a half-season division title is meaningless per the playoffs -- only the best half-season record overall in the entire International League goes to the postseason. So it will be Norfolk v Durham for the league title, with the Saints needing to surpass the Bulls and not merely stay ahead of Nashville. Why have divisions then?

At Double-A, where the traditional rules apply, Wichita now trails Springfield by two games in the North Division second-half race with four games remaining. It appears that Wichita owns the tiebreaker, so pulling even would secure a playoff spot. Time is obviously running out.

Superb season for the farm system from Fort Myers upward. The fruits are finally becoming evident at the top.

3 hours ago, FlyingFinn said:

Wow, thanks for the post June #'s on SWR. In a hitter's league, an ERA under 3.00 for three months is impressive. Maybe we were too down on him.

Yeah agreed. I almost gave up on Martin and SWR. It’s important to be patient with minor leaguers, especially young players like Martin and SWR. 

Wing on the all time Milb Twins HR list does not look like a good long term career move to gain stardom

9 hours ago, Seth Stohs said:

Only seven players in Twins minor-league history (62 seasons) have hit more home runs in a season than Severino. And he’s got nine games remaining to move up the lists. 

I may be back with thoughts on a few others on the list but let’s start with Moe Hill.

The year he hit 41 home runs followed three season where he had hit over 30. All fours seasons were with Wisconsin Rapids where he was never promoted. He spent most of the decade at Wisconsin Rapids. You might wonder if everyone hit home runs in Wisconsin Rapids. The year he hit 41 the rest of the team combined for 59. Future majors leaguers Scott Ullger hit 5 and Mark Funderburk 3 (in 130 PAs). Why didn’t he get a chance? That’s a mystery. Former teammate Terry Ryan didn’t have an answer. Moe has thoughts.

Another prolific hitter stuck in the minors more than a decade earlier is Chuck “Spoony” Weatherspoon. He had a season with 7 grand slams. That season he hit 31 home runs (the rest of the team 37), scored 121, drove in 123 and led the team in stole bases with 21. He played catcher and outfield.

I was thinking the same thing as Old Nurse.  I got deflated about Severino...... after seeing the other names on that list!

Just now, miracleb said:

I was thinking the same thing as Old Nurse.  I got deflated about Severino...... after seeing the other names on that list!

The main reason for this is generally if they are good enough they will be up at the big league club before they can set the records. Normally, if they are young enough they lack the power, and by the time they are old enough to hit that many HR they will get up to MLB club.  Severino though is in an interesting boat because he was at one point a top guy, but fell off a ton, but now coming into power.  However, his K rate is a little too high to suggest he will be anything that Joey Gallo at MLB level if he ever gets there.  

9 hours ago, FlyingFinn said:

Wow, thanks for the post June #'s on SWR. In a hitter's league, an ERA under 3.00 for three months is impressive. Maybe we were too down on him.

Personally, I think it took SWR a bit to adjust to the robo ump.  He also may have been dealing with a little injury because he did miss some time, then came back doing pretty well overall. 

It’s good that SWR has seemingly bounced back from a slow start. I do wonder why he averages 4-5 innings per start during this stretch. If it is pitch count that’s not a good sign that he has a hard time getting through five innings. That’s not the pattern of a starter. He is still young though so there is time. 

Thanks for a very interesting report, Seth.

Looking at that home run list, I was a bit surprised that Laudner had that type of power while in the minors.  Think of him mostly as a broadcaster and tend to forget he was a first rate big league catcher.

Will double down on the comments about SW-R.  It is encouraging that he appears to have conquered AAA.  That should put him at front of the list, possibly with Varland, of top AAA starters who will battle for the #5 spot as they head into the 2024 season.  

Also excited about Ohl and Lewis.  If the Twins are going to be like Cleveland, they will need one or two guys like this duo to get to AAA every year.  Considering top guys like Canterino and Prielipp continue to get injured, they need guys picked lower to step up to fill those spots as needed.  What are your thoughts on Canterino?  Has he missed so much baseball that his future is limited to a future bullpen role?

Am curious, Seth, what your personal thoughts are on what type of player Severino is likely to develop into?

30 minutes ago, roger said:

Looking at that home run list, I was a bit surprised that Laudner had that type of power while in the minors.  Think of him mostly as a broadcaster and tend to forget he was a first rate big league catcher.

Laudner really wasn't a first-rate big league catcher. He was just a Twin for 9 years and part of the magical 1987 WS. His all-star appearance was driven by a small sample size hot first half in 1988, plus the fact that TK was picking the reserves and Kent Hrbek refused to go if he couldn't get voted in. (He immediately cratered at the plate for the second half of the season) For all that people have taken shots at Joe Mauer's lack of durability, Laudner never played 120 games in a season and never had 400 ABs. And frankly, he's been overrated defensively, which was supposedly his calling card. while WAR isn't the end-all be-all of stats, 3.2 bWAR/4.0 fWAR over 9 seasons of work is pretty close to replacement-level.

Brian Harper, on the other hand...

2 hours ago, jorgenswest said:

I may be back with thoughts on a few others on the list but let’s start with Moe Hill.

The year he hit 41 home runs followed three seasons where he had hit over 30. All fours seasons were with Wisconsin Rapids where he was never promoted. He spent most of the decade at Wisconsin Rapids. You might wonder if everyone hit home runs in Wisconsin Rapids. The year he hit 41 the rest of the team combined for 59. Future majors leaguers Scott Ullger hit 5 and Mark Funderburk 3 (in 130 PAs). Why didn’t he get a chance? That’s a mystery. Former teammate Terry Ryan didn’t have an answer. Moe has thoughts.

Another prolific hitter stuck in the minors more than a decade earlier is Chuck “Spoony” Weatherspoon. He had a season with 7 grand slams. That season he hit 31 home runs (the rest of the team 37), scored 121, drove in 123 and led the team in stole bases with 21. He played catcher and outfield.

More from @Seth Stohs list of Twin minor leaguer home run leaders.

I saw Stan Holmes play on that 1983 Visalia team. His 37 home runs were nearly half the team total of 84. No one else had more than 10. Kirby Puckett hit 9. Holmes was the MVP of the 1981 College World Series for Arizona State. He played catcher and third base. He wasn’t the only ASU College World Series member the Twins drafted.

Luis Lopez Lagunas played shortstop for the famed 1965 ASU team that won the College World Series. He hit his 35 home runs in his first full season in the minors.

I think the remaining on the list made it into a major league game. The leader Tim Laudner played for the 1981 Orlando team managed by Tom Kelly and included several players that would make an impact on the Twins.

I also want to dispel on notion that maybe these guys started hitting home runs at an older age.

Lagunas was 22 when he his his 35 home runs. Holmes was 23 and the same age as Kirby Puckett when they played together in Visalia. Moe Hill was older when he hit the 41 but he was 23 when he hit 22 of Orlando’s team total of 47 home runs in 1970 and hit over 30 home runs in the three seasons leading up to the 41. They just never got a chance in the major leagues. 

2 hours ago, jorgenswest said:

More from @Seth Stohs list of Twin minor leaguer home run leaders.

I saw Stan Holmes play on that 1983 Visalia team. His 37 home runs were nearly half the team total of 84. No one else had more than 10. Kirby Puckett hit 9. Holmes was the MVP of the 1981 College World Series for Arizona State. He played catcher and third base. He wasn’t the only ASU College World Series member the Twins drafted.

Luis Lopez Lagunas played shortstop for the famed 1965 ASU team that won the College World Series. He hit his 35 home runs in his first full season in the minors.

I think the remaining on the list made it into a major league game. The leader Tim Laudner played for the 1981 Orlando team managed by Tom Kelly and included several players that would make an impact on the Twins.

I also want to dispel on notion that maybe these guys started hitting home runs at an older age.

Lagunas was 22 when he his his 35 home runs. Holmes was 23 and the same age as Kirby Puckett when they played together in Visalia. Moe Hill was older when he hit the 41 but he was 23 when he hit 22 of Orlando’s team total of 47 home runs in 1970 and hit over 30 home runs in the three seasons leading up to the 41. They just never got a chance in the major leagues. 

Thank you for these little stories. Very interesting. 

If I am remembering correctly Severino is a 2b /3b type who isn’t very good defensively. Is this correct and could the guy play left field?

53 minutes ago, Linus said:

If I am remembering correctly Severino is a 2b /3b type who isn’t very good defensively. Is this correct and could the guy play left field?

He's mostly played 2B/3B and while he's not great at either, he's also not a butcher. He's been playing some 1B for the Saints, and last played LF in 2022. He looks like a likely candidate to slide over to 1B but could still potentially play some OF, I guess? Right now he looks like he'll be starting the season next year in AAA and be the likely call up when the Twins need some innings at 1B. His ability as a switch hitter will definitely help him, as so far he's shown ability to hit from both sides of the plate with power. It's been a heck of a season for him and a really easy add to the 40-man.

34 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

He's mostly played 2B/3B and while he's not great at either, he's also not a butcher. He's been playing some 1B for the Saints, and last played LF in 2022. He looks like a likely candidate to slide over to 1B but could still potentially play some OF, I guess? Right now he looks like he'll be starting the season next year in AAA and be the likely call up when the Twins need some innings at 1B. His ability as a switch hitter will definitely help him, as so far he's shown ability to hit from both sides of the plate with power. It's been a heck of a season for him and a really easy add to the 40-man.

Thank you for the info. With the infielders we have I was kind of hoping he could transition to the outfield.