Twins Minor League Report (7/27): Severino Goes Yard Again, Winokur Makes a Statement

Good to hear that a few of our new draftees are making there debut  , we drafted quite a few pitchers  , they will probably  bring them along aliitle slower ...

It seems to be the norm for drafted pitchers in their first year of professional ball  ...

Happy to see Woods-Richardson with a good outing, even though it wasn't a very lengthy one. Nevertheless, it seems like he's had more good games than duds lately. 

The $1.5M signing bonus for Winokur was $640K over slot so they apparently thought highly of him.  Hopefully, this early statement is a good indication they are right.  I am wondering if they will go over their draft allocation to get their 19th or 20th round picks.  Parker is another huge power guy.  Larson is a higher profile prospect.  Have they ever gone over?  They could spend up to $850 without losing picks.  They obviously set themselves up with these two picks at the end they knew would require more than the $150K limit.

25 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

I have to wonder what an up and down season like Larnach has suffered does to confidence and performance?  Wallner seemed to handle his demotions well, but I think he is the exception.  The Twins getting the AAA team next door has not been a great success for some players.

Very good point. I can't imagine that being sent up and down repeatedly is very helpful to a player's development. I'm sure a psychologist out there might have better insight, but if I'm the player being shuttled back and forth I would get very frustrated if not feeling angry at being treated that way. Sure, that's the nature of the game, but most players in that situation would start to wonder if he is truly valued by the team. 

Does this mean finally Noah Miller has been taken off the top 20? 

42 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

I have to wonder what an up and down season like Larnach has suffered does to confidence and performance?  Wallner seemed to handle his demotions well, but I think he is the exception.  The Twins getting the AAA team next door has not been a great success for some players.

Probably is not a good thing for a not so good player.  What might be worse, though, were if he were continually exposed to MLB pitching.

1 hour ago, mikelink45 said:

I have to wonder what an up and down season like Larnach has suffered does to confidence and performance?  Wallner seemed to handle his demotions well, but I think he is the exception.  The Twins getting the AAA team next door has not been a great success for some players.

Have no idea about the psychological aspects, but I'm wondering for some guys it allows them to continue to work on a new pitch in the minors against live competition, but in lower leverage situations? Or they learn something about approach at the plate.  Julien seemed to get better each time he got recalled.

53 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

The $1.5M signing bonus for Winokur was $640K over slot so they apparently thought highly of him.  Hopefully, this early statement is a good indication they are right.  I am wondering if they will go over their draft allocation to get their 19th or 20th round picks.  Parker is another huge power guy.  Larson is a higher profile prospect.  Have they ever gone over?  They could spend up to $850 without losing picks.  They obviously set themselves up with these two picks at the end they knew would require more than the $150K limit.

Signing deadline was Tuesday.  One of the last two high school picks is going to JC, thus they can sign him next spring following his season to a maximum contract of $225,000.

Continue to be pleasantly surprised by Bechtold, who had another clean inning of relief.  Caught your comment, Ted, about Lee.  Have you heard something about his moving up to St. Paul?  Or just your belief that it is time for the move?

Will second those above comments that it is great to see some of this year's draft picks in action.  Heck of a first game for both Winokur and the second baseman from ASU.

43 minutes ago, Dman said:

Pretty cool that Winokur's first professional hit was a HR!  I had and still have my questions about the bat but if it is for real the Twins got a steal in the 3rd round.

Severino 2nd in HR's and 5th in OPS for the Texas League.  I keep saying the K rate is too high and his BABIP should come down, bringing down his stats and yet here we are more than half way through the season and he is still a league leader with the bat.  Twins have a lot of good hitters at 2nd base in the system and Severino has the best power profile.

Nice to see Miller with a couple of hits keeping his July in the .700 OPS range.  Hoping he can get that hit tool going so he can start moving up levels.

Twins have some really good hitters in the system but pitching is not a strength.  There are a few arms that look good but I don't know that I see an elite arm in this system right now.  Hopefully guys figure stuff out and things change but they could use more help on the pitching side.  Hoping the new crop of players strengthens everything.

 

Unfortunately, the two most elite arms in the system are probably Canterino and Prielipp.  Will either be healthy next year and get back on track?  Canterino should be ready in spring, Prielipp not likely.

26 minutes ago, roger said:

Signing deadline was Tuesday.  One of the last two high school picks is going to JC, thus they can sign him next spring following his season to a maximum contract of $225,000.

Continue to be pleasantly surprised by Bechtold, who had another clean inning of relief.  Caught your comment, Ted, about Lee.  Have you heard something about his moving up to St. Paul?  Or just your belief that it is time for the move?

Will second those above comments that it is great to see some of this year's draft picks in action.  Heck of a first game for both Winokur and the second baseman from ASU.

I did not realize the draft and follow rule has a $225K maximum?

2 hours ago, Doctor Wu said:

Happy to see Woods-Richardson with a good outing, even though it wasn't a very lengthy one. Nevertheless, it seems like he's had more good games than duds lately. 

5 walks is pretty rough though. He's really struggled with command, and the stuff just hasn't played well at all.

1 hour ago, Major League Ready said:

The $1.5M signing bonus for Winokur was $640K over slot so they apparently thought highly of him.  Hopefully, this early statement is a good indication they are right.  I am wondering if they will go over their draft allocation to get their 19th or 20th round picks.  Parker is another huge power guy.  Larson is a higher profile prospect.  Have they ever gone over?  They could spend up to $850 without losing picks.  They obviously set themselves up with these two picks at the end they knew would require more than the $150K limit.

Winokur is a five-tool high school kid. Can do it all, but raw. He was very highly rated.

Neither Parker or Larson was signed. The deadline was the 25th, and neither were expected to sign.

35 minutes ago, roger said:

Continue to be pleasantly surprised by Bechtold, who had another clean inning of relief.  Caught your comment, Ted, about Lee.  Have you heard something about his moving up to St. Paul?  Or just your belief that it is time for the move?

Both. I'd guess his days at Double-A are limited to about 4.

1 hour ago, Jocko87 said:

Heading back out tonight to see Raya pitch.

Fun! And you get to see one of Brooks Lee's last four games in Wichita from what Ted is saying.

1 hour ago, Jocko87 said:

Attended the turbo tubs game last night and a few observations.

Firs and foremost, I've now lived about 16 years in Wichita and still don't know what a turbo tub is. I do know it's an abomination.

Yuniors home run was certainly wind aided, it carried hard on everyone. Didn't sound well struck but still nice to see lift the opposite way.

Brooks Lee still looks like Brooks Lee. One beautiful play on defense where Severino cut in front of him. It's was obviously the shortstops ball, dunno what Yunior was doing.

Schoebel looks like a baseball player. Hit a couple of balls hard but his error at 2nd was a stone boot on a slow roller.

Kierseys double was a can of corn lost in the lights by the Rangers #1 prospect Evan Carter. I do think kiersey is in play to be traded shortly.

Heading back out tonight to see Raya pitch.

As with many things one encounters in life, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and that may be the case with the Wichita Turbo Tubs alternate ego/identity uniforms.   Here is the rest of the story/history behind the name and Turbo Tub uniform...https://www.milb.com/wichita/fans/turbo-tubs  These uniforms remind me of the Houston Astro unis they wore back in the mid 70s - mid 80s, which also had its fans and detractors https://www.outsports.com/2020/4/27/21227162/mlb-houston-astros-jersey-1975-1986-lgbt-sports

For the minor leagues especially, I like the different looks and options.  When we road tripped it to Wichita last summer, I knew I was coming back with a Turbo Tub jersey.

2 hours ago, Dman said:

I don't know that I see an elite arm in this system right now. 

Raya would be that elite arm IMO. The Twins are holding his pitch count down but he's moving up levels at a young age.

Nice to see Winokur make an impact in his first professional game.  He did have 2 strikeouts to go along with his homer which fits with the hit tool questions in his scouting report.

It'll be something to watch going forward but right now I'm just excited for the ceiling and eager to follow his development.

4 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

Really hoping to see Canterino moved to the pen, and hope that gives him a near immediate MLB shot once he gets his footing under him. Prielipp is just so hard to judge now. Loved the pick, but didn't expect another elbow surgery after 2 appearances. He's a long ways away at this point. Hoping Canterino can be the next Duran, though (with less octane, obviously), and just come up and dominate out of the pen.

Is Canterino expected to pitch competitively at all this late summer/early fall?

11 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

I have to wonder what an up and down season like Larnach has suffered does to confidence and performance?  Wallner seemed to handle his demotions well, but I think he is the exception.  The Twins getting the AAA team next door has not been a great success for some players.

I doubt moves are made based on anything other than major league active roster needs and nothing else. Frequency not impacted by proximity of the AAA club. The only impact is the player is sometimes (when both clubs are home) immediately available to play…which is a good thing for the player and the clubs the club.

9 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

Really hoping to see Canterino moved to the pen, and hope that gives him a near immediate MLB shot once he gets his footing under him. Hoping Canterino can be the next Duran, though (with less octane, obviously), and just come up and dominate out of the pen.

That should have been the decision a bit ago, but I'm with you. Has the makings of a dominant reliever.

On 7/28/2023 at 8:59 PM, Ted Schwerzler said:

5 walks is pretty rough though. He's really struggled with command, and the stuff just hasn't played well at all.

Thanks for that. I hadn't noticed the high walk total. Hmm... maybe not such an encouraging performance after all.