Minor League Report (4/1) Four Homers Lead St. Paul to First 2023 Victory

Nice to see the Saints bats come alive today with a big power display!  

Impressive because it proved to me that IT REALLY IS ALLOWED to hit the ball out of the park.  Forgot that after watching the Twins flail away the last 2 games in KC.

Will be interesting to see how long management commits to Kepler (now a goose egg for 9) if Wallner's bat has a hot start at SP.  

A rough day for Julien (maybe he borrowed a few of Gallo's bats), but his performance in AZ fall league, WBC and ST warrants a possible callup in May.  That assumes he hits and Buxton can return to CF duty at least 3-4 games per week.

Finally, count me in the camp of rooting for Dobnak to have a strong start tomorrow.  Dude is due for good fortune after the last 2 years of misery.  Twins are going to need a long man in bullpen as the season progresses.  IMO, Dobnak can be that guy if he pitches well at SP.  Not much confidence in Maeda holding down the 5th SP slot for long.  Ober, assuming he can pitch better than yesterday, will need a handoff if he takes over for Maeda.

Wallner in RF - Gallo in St Paul and Kepler on the bench - already dreaming and the Twins are 2 - 0.  

Remember when people were falling all over themselves to proclaim how the front office had made the most disastrous mistake in the world leaving Akil Baddoo exposed to the Rule 5 draft? Hmmm...

These are some hot takes in the comments today! I’m no Kepler fan, but I’d still give him more than two games to prove himself before I dance on his grave. 

Julien's homer yesterday.... cost him 4 strikeouts today.  Probably trying to do too much......he will get it figured out!

11 hours ago, Omgbenji said:

These are some hot takes in the comments today! I’m no Kepler fan, but I’d still give him more than two games to prove himself before I dance on his grave. 

Sorry Omgbenji - it is not just 2 games for Kepler.  It is the last 3 seasons and 2 games that he has been putrid at the plate.

@Matt Braun wrote "Old friends Akil Baddoo and Matt Wisler played for Toledo. Baddoo walked once in four plate appearances while Wisler pitched a scoreless inning."

Don't forget about our old friend / former Twin and Saint Jermaine Manuel Palacios!

So many Julien comparisons to Arraez since Luis was traded. I wonder if Luis ever struck out four times in a game.

I believe Julien will be a good major leaguer but I think his minor league numbers in context of era and league are a closer comp to Bobby Kielty than Luis Arraez.

1 hour ago, jorgenswest said:

So many Julien comparisons to Arraez since Luis was traded. I wonder if Luis ever struck out four times in a game.

I believe Julien will be a good major leaguer but I think his minor league numbers in context of era and league are a closer comp to Bobby Kielty than Luis Arraez.

Not sure who has been doing an Arraez for Julien comp, because they were not even close as a comp other than both came up as second base prospect.  Arraez had high OBP like Julien, but they did it very different ways.  Julien walks a ton, but strikes out a ton too.  Arraez would put everything in play.  Julien has much more power than Arraez as well.  So really anyone trying to make a comp between 2 are making a huge stretch. 

Crazy how after 2 games people are calling to release Kepler for Walner because Walner hit 1 HR.  Walner is a hitter only, can play no defense in RF.  At least Kepler brings great defense even if he leaves some guys on base he will save many runs in field.  

On 4/2/2023 at 9:21 AM, jmlease1 said:

Remember when people were falling all over themselves to proclaim how the front office had made the most disastrous mistake in the world leaving Akil Baddoo exposed to the Rule 5 draft? Hmmm...

Yeah, baseball is a funny game. For his first month in Detroit that year, Baddoo was on fire, looking like an all-star in the making. But then he cooled off and came back down to earth. I still think he's a good player, and he should be back in Detroit before the summer is over, but maybe those all-star plans will have to wait.