Minor League Report 6/16 Jaylen Nowlin Cruises; Matt Wallner and Nate Baez Crush

TRANSACTIONS
RHP Louie Varland recalled as the 26th man 

Saints Sentinel
St. Paul 6, Louisville 3
Box Score
Caleb Boushley: 6 ⅔ IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
HR: Edouard Julien (2), Matt Wallner 2 (15, 16)
Multi-hit games: Matt Wallner (2-for-5, 2 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI), Yunior Severino (3-for-5, HR, 2B, R, RBI), Alex Isola (2-for-5, R), Anthony Prato (2-for-5), Will Holland (2-for-4, RBI)

The Saints swept the Bats on Sunday.

Caleb Boushley continued to impress on the mound. The 30-year-old native of Hortonville, Wisconsin, worked 6 ⅔ innings, allowing three runs while punching out a trio in a start that came one out away from tying his season-high in frames. No matter; he’ll settle for his seventh win (against just one loss) and the seventh-best ERA amongst qualified International League hurlers.

Starting opposite Boushley was Brandon Leibrandt, son of Charlie. In a cruel nod to Father’s Day, Matt Wallner played the role of Kirby Puckett: the lefty walloped a pair of homers, the first a 481-foot rocket the cameraman could only catch after it bounced off the scoreboard. 

The second was a more casual shot off reliever Alex Young.

Edouard Julien and Yunior Severino also cracked long balls off of Leibrandt. 

Somewhere, Charlie likely shuttered and cursed Bobby Cox for putting him into that damn game in the first place. 

The laser show perfectly complemented St. Paul’s relief effort, as Scott Blewett, Ryan Jensen, and Ronny Henriquez combined to shut out the bats for the game’s final seven outs. Henriquez needed just seven pitches to elicit three outs.

Wallner is slashing .397/.453/.931 in June. Yes, that is his slugging percentage at the end. 

The Bats are led by Noelvi Marte, the 28th-best prospect in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline. He went 0-for-4. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 6, Midland 0
Box Score
Jaylen Nowlin: 8 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
HR: Aaron Sabato (6)
Multi-hit games: Kyler Fedko (2-for-4, 2 RBI), Aaron Sabato (3-for-4, HR, 2B, R, 2 RBI)

Wichita shut out the RockHounds on Sunday.

For eight innings, it was the Jaylen Nowlin show. The lefty shed his usual brand of pitching and, for an afternoon, became a modern Tom Glavine, mowing down Midland’s hitters with shocking efficiency and a plethora of ground balls; he exited the game with just 84 pitches. A 5th-inning infield single that went nowhere served as the lone runner to reach base against him. Pure dominance from the 23-year-old.

Cody Laweryson pitched a perfect 9th to conclude the shutout.

The Wind Surge offense didn’t need to do much, but they decided to go above and beyond in support of their dealing starter. Kyler Fedko plated a run with a 1st inning single and coaxed home two more runs with a knock in his next at-bat. Then, Aaron Sabato entered: Minnesota’s 1st round pick in 2020 blasted an RBI double in the 5th before clearing the wall in right-center for his second extra-base hit of the day. He also walked. And he stole a base. For real.

The RockHounds are led by Oakland’s 11th-ranked prospect, Colby Thomas. He—like nearly every other hitter—went 0-3. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 9, Lansing 8
Box Score
Ty Langenberg: 5 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 7 K
HR: Nate Baez 2 (6, 7), Rubel Cespedes (8)
Multi-hit games: Ricardo Olivar (2-for-4, R, BB), Rubel Cespedes (2-for-5, HR, 2 R, RBI), Nate Baez (2-for-3, 2 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB)

The Kernels hung on in a thriller.

Urbandale, Iowa native Ty Langenberg earned the nod for his home-state team for the first time in his career. After decimating A-Ball in May and early June, Langenberg greeted the next level with a promising yet lukewarm start. He struck out seven but walked three. He allowed just a trio of hits but matched them in runs. Ultimately, it was ok showing for a player likely battling nerves and excitement on top of the hitters in the batter’s box. 

Speaking of hitting, the Kernels did a lot of it on Sunday: Cedar Rapids cracked 10 hits, took four walks, and scored nine runs, six of which came in the 3rd. Nearly everyone got in on the fun; centerfielder Kyle Hess was the only batter who didn’t reach base.

The most prolific hitter of the day was easily Nate Baez, who—despite now only claiming 12 professional home runs—scored his third career multi-homer game. Half of his home runs have come in just three games! The righty out of Arizona State is slugging .788 in June.

Entering the 8th with a 9-3 lead, Cedar Rapids nearly melted down and lost a guaranteed win when Sheldon Reed and Ricardo Velez (he is human, after all) allowed five runs in the final two frames. In fact, all three of Velez’s runs came with no one out; he then settled down to coax a pair of groundouts and a game-winning strikeout. 

The Lugnuts are the A+ affiliate of the Oakland Athletics, so while the Twins and A’s duked it out over the weekend, the Kernels became familiar with Henry Bolte, the franchise’s 10th-ranked prospect. The outfielder singled twice in five trips to the plate. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 4, Lakeland 6 (Seven Innings)
Box Score
Jose Olivares: 4 ⅔ IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: Payton Eeles (2-for-3, 2B, 3 R)

The Mighty Mussels lost the first game of their doubleheader on Sunday.

Starter Jose Olivares was cromulent—somewhere in the realm of acceptable but not quite good. His command oscillated early before escaping altogether in his final two frames. Those innings saw a mess of baserunners, stolen bases, and a few too many free passes for manager Brian Meyer. Olivares exited, and an error brought home a fourth (but unearned) run against his ledger.

Stolen bases were a problem all day: Lakeland stole seven bags against the Mighty Mussels (in just seven innings!), exposing a flaw in Fort Myers’ base running strategy. 

The bats were mostly silent, but they nearly scored enough to threaten the Flying Tigers’ lead thanks to a chaotic 5th. Yohander Martinez singled, Payton Eeles singled, advancing an extra base for both men off a Lakeland error, Walker Jenkins sent those runners to home and third, respectively, with a sacrifice fly, and Eeles scored on a balk. Now, that’s the kind of manufacturing that would make Henry Ford proud.

The shenanigans ended there, though, and two more Flying Tigers runs iced the game.

Eeles—apparently the second coming of Chuck Knoblauch (hopefully just on the field)—scored three runs and pushed his Fort Myers OPS to .990. He also stole a base. The 5’7” infielder plucked from Indy ball has been a terror since joining the organization in early May. 

The Flying Tigers are led by Max Clark, the 3rd overall pick from the 2023 MLB Draft. He lived up to the billing, cracking a homer while swiping his 17th base of the season. 

Game Two: Fort Myers 2, Lakeland 6 (Seven Innings)
Box Score
Tomas Cleto: 1 ⅓ IP, 1 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 0 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: None

The Mighty Mussels came up empty in game two, as well.

While the Twins found success against a lefty named “Sears,” Fort Myers could elicit no such luck; Lakeland’s hurler, Andrew, held his opponents at bay, totaling five innings with just two earned runs against him. Oakland’s JP allowed two runs after just two batters.

Tomas Cleto could not match his mound foe. He was wild early and pitched himself out of the game after acquiring just four outs. Paulshawn Pasqualotto entered to establish some sort of order, but he too struggled to quell Lakeland’s bats; he allowed a pair of runs thanks to a 4th inning homer.

Fort Myers’ offensive display was brief. If you blinked, you could have missed it. They flashed discipline by taking five walks, but their bats only found three hits, none of them of the run-scoring variety. 

Clark flashed his prospect status once again, singling thrice while stealing two more bases. What a terror. 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Jaylen Nowlin
Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Nate Baez

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:
#1 - Walker Jenkins (Fort Myers) - 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI, K
#2 - Brooks Lee (St. Paul) - 1-5 R
#9 - Luke Keaschall (Wichita) - 0-4, 3 K
#18 - Yunior Severino (St. Paul) - 3-5, HR, 2B, R, RBI, K
#20 - Ricardo Olivar (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-4, R, BB

MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
DSL Rockies @ DSL Twins (9:00 AM) - TBD
DSL Rockies @ DSL Twins (Game Two) - TBD
FCL Orioles @ FCL Twins (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!