Minor League Report (8/5): The Bats Are Alright

TRANSACTIONS
INF Kamron Willman reinstated from Development List (Fort Myers)
C Wilfri Castro activated from 60-day Injured List (FCL Twins)

Saints Sentinel
St. Paul 7, Columbus 3
Box Score
Louie Varland: 5 2/3 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: Anthony Prato (3-for-5, 2B, RBI, BB), Trevor Larnach (4-for-5, 3B, 2B, 3 R), Austin Martin (3-for-5, 2B, R, 2 RBI), Chris Williams (2-for-3, R, 3 RBI, BB)

The Saints won handily on Saturday.

I believe it’s a good thing when you out-hit your opponent 14 to six. Anthony Prato was a nuclear offensive force; the 25-year-old cracked a trio of hits and walked, pushing his Triple-A OPS to an unthinkable 1.119. He wasn’t even the best hitter, somehow, as Trevor Larnach tripled, doubled, and singled twice to give him his first four-hit game since July 13th, 2019. Austin Martin also had three hits. Sure. 

Louie Varland wasn’t quite himself on the mound—what with the walking three hitters and all. He still avoided allowing any earned runs thanks to some poorly-timed errors (aren’t they all?), and came one excruciating out away from earning a quality start.

His bullpen had his back, though; Cole Sands, Michael Boyle, and Oliver Ortega carried the game to its final out without allowing another run to score. They combined to strike out five.

St. Paul’s bats added eight walks on top of their 14 hits.

Technically old friend, Chris Vallimont, pitched for the Clippers, although he probably wishes he didn’t: he allowed three runs over 2 2/3 innings. 

Cleveland’s best prospect—outfielder George Valera—walked once in five plate appearances. 

Wind Surge Wisdom
Wichita 9, Tulsa 5
Box Score
Jaylen Nowlin: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K
HR: Dalton Shuffield (1, 2), Willie Joe Garry Jr. (1), Patrick Winkel (7)
Multi-hit games: Yoyner Fajardo (3-for-5, 2B, RBI), Pat Winkel (3-for-4, HR, 2 R, RBI, BB), Dalton Shuffield (2-for-3, 2 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB)

An explosive sixth inning guided the Wind Surge to victory on Saturday.

No pitcher was safe. Well, Denny Bentley was; but he was the only hurler on either team to not see runs cross the plate on his watch. It was the kind of walk-fest that would make a DSL team pink in the cheeks. Fortunately, Wichita was able to come out on top.

They did it by air and by land; the team blasted four homers while swiping eight bases, surely giving them some sort of superlative record this writer is far too lazy to look up. In any case, the attack proved mightily effective, giving Wichita nine runs off just 10 hits—more than enough to best the Drillers on Saturday.

But it wasn’t easy on the pitching side of things, as Jaylen Nowlin was inefficient, placing a burden onto the bullpen to scrape together five innings. They weren’t clean—both Alex Scherff and Aaron Rozek allowed runs—but it was enough. When Bentley elicited a pop out to end the game, every pitcher likely breathed in relief, finally happy to not have this game’s tyranny ruining their ERAs anymore. 

Tulsa is typically the zenith of the Dodgers’ excellent farm system, and catcher Diego Cartaya—ranked 18th in MLB—is their finest offering. He homered in the fifth off Scherff. 

Kernels Nuggets
Cedar Rapids 3, Lansing 1
Box Score
Andrew Morris: 6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 K
HR: Carson McCusker (1)
Multi-hit games: None

The Kernels won a pitcher’s duel on Saturday.

Andrew Morris was brilliant, dominant. The righty shook off a poor introduction to A+ ball in his previous start, punching out nine with 16 total swings and misses—good for a swinging strike % of 19.5. That’s Spencer Strider territory. The Lugnuts appear fortunate to have even scored once off the righty from Texas Tech.

Cedar Rapids needed the start, because the offense could only muster a minimal amount of runs. Mikey Perez knocked in one in the first, Carson McCusker plated two in the second, and then… nothing. McCusker’s homer concluded the day’s hits, and a third inning walk by Emmanuel Rodriguez proved to be the final baserunner for the Kernels.

Fortunately, the rest of the pitching staff cleaned up Lansing’s batters; Jordan Carr worked two clean frames before Mike Paredes earned the final three outs with a lone walk serving as his only traffic. 

Clark Elliott—Oakland’s 15th-best prospect—went 0-for-3 with a strikeout.

Mussel Matters
Ft. Myers 3, Dunedin 4
Box Score
Jack Noble: 6 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: Ricardo Olivar (2-for-5, R), Kyle Schmidt (2-for-4)

The Mighty Mussels lost a close game on Saturday.

Jack Noble was good, but not good enough; the righty worked six frames, allowing a trio runs—a total lower than he should have, but we’ll talk about that later—off seven hits. He threw 83 pitches.

A pair of 2023 draftees—Luke Keaschall and Jay Harry—collected hits on Saturday, with Harry earning his first A-ball double and Keaschall reaching base twice. 

In one of the stranger things that can happen at a ballpark, Dunedin centerfielder Jaden Rudd was thrown out at home twice, with the two corner outfielders each adding to their collection of assists. 

The Mighty Mussels offense was actually very well-rounded, walking five times while only punching out in six at-bats, but they couldn’t quite string together the hits needed to break through Dunedin’s meager lead. 

The Blue Jays have a pair of excellent pitching prospects at A-ball, but neither played in Saturday’s game, making shortstop Tucker Toman the best representative of Toronto’s farm system in this game. He earned two RBIs on a third inning double.

Complex Chronicles
FCL Twins 2, FCL Red Sox 7
Box Score
John Klein: 4 2/3 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 
HR: None
Multi-hit games: Brandon Winokur (3-for-4, 2B, R, RBI), Walker Jenkins (2-for-4, RBI)

Two 2023 draft picks had big days on Saturday.

Brandon Winokur—selected in the third round out of Edison High School—collected three hits, one of them being a double; Walker Jenkins singled twice. 

Pitching was less fortunate, though, as both John Klein and Matt Gabbert were roughed up, despite impressive K/BB numbers.

One of the main culprits? Kyle Teel. Boston’s first-round pick in 2023 filled up the box score, homering, singling twice, and walking to give himself a perfect day at the plate.

Dominican Dailies
DSL Twins 5, DSL Nationals 6
Box Score 
Joel Garcia: 4 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: None

The DSL Twins were walked-off on Saturday.

It was another classic DSL slopfest; the Twins scored five runs, but only acquired three RBIs, earning two of their runs off a fielder’s choice/fielding error double whammy. It wasn’t enough, though, as the team literally walked away their chances of winning, handing out five free passes in the final frame—including two to tie and lose the game.

Big-name international signing, Hendry Chivilli, has an OPS of .582 after going 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts. 

Dameury Pena, however, now holds an OPS of 1.020, and he swiped a base in Saturday’s game.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Andrew Morris
Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Trevor Larnach

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:
#1 - Brooks Lee (St. Paul) - 0-5, K
#2 - Walker Jenkins (FCL Twins) - 2-4, RBI
#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Cedar Rapids) - 1-2, R, BB
#5 - Matt Wallner (Minnesota) - 3-5, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI, K
#8 - Austin Martin (St. Paul) - 3-5, 2B, R, 2 RBI
#10 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 0-5, K
#12 - Luke Keaschall (Ft. Myers) - 1-3, BB
#13 - Brandon Winokur (FCL Twins) - 3-4, 2B, R, RBI
#15 - Jordan Balazovic (Minnesota) - 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
#16 - Kala’i Rosario (Cedar Rapids) - 0-3, 3 K
#17 - Yunior Severino (St. Paul) - 1-5, R, K
#20 - Jose Rodriguez (FCL Twins) - 0-4

SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Columbus (3:05 PM) - LHP Brent Headrick
Tulsa @ Wichita (1:05 PM) - RHP Chad Donato
Lansing @ Cedar Rapids (1:05 PM) - RHP Cory Lewis
Fort Myers @ Dunedin (11:00 AM) - TBD

Interested in learning more about the Minnesota Twins' top prospects? Check out our comprehensive top prospects list that includes up-to-date stats, articles and videos about every prospect, scouting reports, and more!