Twins Minor League Report (7/1): Riley Quick Finds His Groove Again

TRANSACTIONS
RHP Christian Becerra activated from 7-day IL (A+ Cedar Rapids)
RHP Eston Stull placed on 7-day IL with right elbow injury (A+ Cedar Rapids)
SS Kaelen Culpepper added to Future’s Game roster

Saints Sentinel
St. Paul 2, Buffalo 3
Box Score
Ty Langenberg: 4 IP, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
HR: Cody Morissette 2 (4, 5)
Multi-hit games: Cody Morissette (2-for-3, 2 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI)

The Saints fell in a close match on Wednesday.

You ought to know Cody Morrissette, perhaps. The St. Paul second baseman blasted two homers, the only runs of the day for the Saints. The Boston College product joined Minnesota’s organization this season after his fifth season in the Marlins system appeared to be going nowhere in particular. Might his luck be better with the Saints? We shall see. 

Sure, it’s not like rain on your wedding day, but there has to be some sort of irony in his two homers looking near identical. From the pitch location, to the swing, to the ball’s final resting place. 

Ty Langenberg enjoyed his third straight game walking two while striking out three. How unusual. The bizarre streak must bring some good luck: Langenberg has allowed just two earned runs over the 15 1/3 innings that make up his last four starts.

Buffalo infielder Josh Kasevich is the 11th-ranked prospect in the Blue Jays system. He went 0-for-3, with a walk. 

Wind Surge Wisdom
Wichita 3, Tulsa 10
Box Score
Cory Lewis: 3 IP, 8 H, 8 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
HR: Andrew Cossetti (10)
Multi-hit games: Khadim Diaw (2-for-5, 3B, R, RBI), Andrew Cossetti (2-for-4, HR, 2B, R, RBI)

The Wind Surge were thumped on Wednesday.

Whatever warlocks Cory Lewis entered into covenant with to keep his ERA low either deserted or tricked the young righty; he found no fortune or solace in any events on Wednesday. He allowed eight hits and an equal total of earned runs. Josue De Paula alone smoked three hits—a triple short of the cycle—off the hurler.

Andrew Cossetti blasted a solo homer in the bottom of the fourth.

The other notable extra-base hit came in the fifth, when Khadim Diaw smacked a deep fly ball to center that became a triple when the center fielder decided to see how soft the warning track dirt was.

The aforementioned De Paula is the fourth-best prospect in baseball. Solely as a hitter, he might be the most frightening: a strapping 6’3” lefty with power, contact, and the good sense to know when—and how—he should unleash his mighty stroke. He ended the day with four hits, two of them homers. Oh, and he’s only 21. 

Kernels Nuggets
Cedar Rapids 9, Quad Cities 7
Box Score
Riley Quick: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K
HR: Caden Kendle (5), Graham Brown (3)
Multi-hit games: Brandon Winokur (2-for-4, RBI), Yasser Mercedes (2-for-4, R, RBI)

The Kernels won an offensive flurry on Wednesday.

Hey, it finally happened. Riley Quick found his rebound. The righty elicited consternation and nerves—the worries that his early-season success was a fluke—but took a mighty step towards dashing those anxieties, whiffing seven over four innings with no earned runs. It was his first start since April 29th without allowing an earned run. 

The Kernels offense was here, there, and everywhere, plating runs in five separate innings. The scoring started with a two-run Caden Kendle shot in the second before lying dormant for some time. 

The third and fourth passed silently, laying the foundation for the rally to come. In the fifth, Brandon Winokur coaxed home a run on a sacrifice fly and Dameury Pena slapped an RBI single to center. That ended scoring matters until Graham Brown stepped to the plate in the seventh and walloped a two-run shot over the berm in left.

That sent the bats into overdrive. Or at least it spurned a three-inning run of… runs that gave the Kernels the lead. And it was more piranha-ball: the first eighth inning run came off an Enrique Jimenez walk, a wild pitch, a passed ball, and an RBI groundout. Kendle—who walked after Jimenez—touched home later off a Yasser Mercedes single. The final run arrived with a Brown walk, Winokur single, a double steal, and an Eduardo Tait sacrifice fly. All in all, Cedar Rapids went 2-for-7 with runners in scoring position yet plated nine runs. The secret? Two-run homers and run-scoring non-hits.

River Bandits DH Blake Mitchell is the third-ranked prospect in the Royals’ system. He collected two hits in four at-bats.

Mussel Matters
Fort Myers 1, Clearwater 6
Box Score
Ramiro Villanueva: 3 2/3 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
HR: Quentin Young (10)
Multi-hit games: Ramiro Dominguez (2-for-4, 2B)

The Mighty Mussels were thoroughly bested on Wednesday. 

Quentin Young homered in the fourth. This concludes the offensive portion of the evening. 

Mike McKenna provided two quality innings of relief, punching out a pair without allowing a run. Brent Francisco put forth an admirable effort too, yet—like the starter Ramiro Villanueva found out—poor defense would portend unearned runs, with four of them scoring in the game.

Clearwater’s starter Matthew Fisher ranks as the 10th-best prospect in the Phillies’ system; he allowed one earned run in four frames on Wednesday.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Riley Quick
Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Cody Morissette

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:

#1 – Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - 1-4
#4 – Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 0-4, RBI, 3 K
#5 – Marek Houston (Wichita) - 1-3, RBI, BB, K
#6 – Riley Quick (Cedar Rapids) - 4 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K
#8 – Hendry Mendez (St. Paul) - 0-4, K
#12 – Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 2-5, RBI, 2 K 
#13 – Khadim Diaw (Wichita) - 2-5, 3B, R, RBI, K
#14 – Quentin Young (Fort Myers) - 1-2, HR, R, RBI, 2 BB, K
#17 – C.J. Culpepper (St. Paul) - 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
#18 – Yasser Mercedes (Cedar Rapids) - 2-4, R, RBI, 2 K
#19 – Billy Amick (Wichita) - 0-4, 2 K
#20 – Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - 0-4, 2 K

THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Buffalo @ St. Paul (7:07 PM) - RHP John Klein
Tulsa @ Wichita (7:05 PM) - RHP Preston Johnson
Cedar Rapids @ Quad Cities (6:30 PM) - RHP Ivran Romero
Fort Myers @ Clearwater (5:30 PM) - RHP Jason Reitz
FCL Twins @ FCL Orioles (11:00 AM) - TBD
DSL Angels @ DSL Twins (10:00 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!