Seth Stohs

Find out everything that happened happened in the Twins system on Monday, starting with the transactions of the day. AWARDS Griffin Jax was named the Southern League Pitcher of the Week. https://twitter.com/BlueWahoosBBall/status/1145724353469980674 TRANSACTIONS RHP Casey Legumina has been transferred from the Twins GCL roster to Elizabethton. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 9, Syracuse 7 Box Score Most of tonight’s Twins affiliate scores were low. Not this one. The Red Wings offense showed up and the bullpen did a nice job of keeping the Mets at bay. Drew Hutchison started and gave up five runs on eight hits and a walk in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out seven. Ryan Eades gave up two runs on two hits and two walks in 1 1/3 innings. Yes, he struck out two. Cody Stashak improved to 4-0 after throwing 2 1/3 scoreless innings. He struck out three batters. With the lead, Ian Krol came in and pitched a scoreless ninth inning to record his fifth save. Brent Rooker’s strong June continued on July 1st. He went 3-for-5 with his 13th home run of the season. Nick Gordon was also 3-for-5 with his 17th double. Tomas Telis went 3-for-4 with his 11th and 12th doubles. Jaylin Davis celebrated his 25th birthday with two doubles in four at-bats. Drew Maggi went 2-for-4 with his third triple. https://twitter.com/RocRedWings/status/1145885067048345600 BLUE WAHOO BITES Pensacola 1, Mississippi 0 Box Score After spending the entire 2018 season in Cedar Rapids, Randy Dobnak has been a travelin’ man in 2019. He began in Ft. Myers but it wasn’t long before he moved up to Pensacola. He quickly moved up to Rochester where he made a couple of spot starts before returning to the Blue Wahoos. On Monday night, he put together one of the best starts of his career. In seven shutout innings, he gave up just three hits, walked one and struck out nine. Hector Lujan and Sam Clay each pitched an inning to maintain the shutout and give the team a 1-0 win. It was Clay’s seventh save. The game’s lone run came in the bottom of the third. Lewin Diaz doubled in Alex Kirilloff. Diaz went 2-for-3 with a walk and two doubles. He now has nine doubles in 12 games since joining Pensacola. Caleb Hamilton and Brian Schales each went 1-for-3 with a walk. Schales added his fifth double. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 6, Clearwater 0 Box Score Cole Sands was very good again for the Miracle. On Monday night, he threw six scoreless innings. He gave up two hits and struck out seven batters. It was a terrific follow-up to his previous start in which he threw five no-hit innings. Cody Allen came in for the seventh inning. He gave up two singles in a scoreless inning. Alex Phillips came on and threw two scoreless innings to complete the shutout. Royce Lewis led the offense. He went 2-for-4 and drove in four runs. Trey Cabbage and Michael Helman also went 2-for-4. Helman hit his tenth double. Gabriel Maciel had two hits and stole his fifth base with the Miracle. Ernie De La Trinidad walked three times in the game. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 4, Kane County 1 Box Score The game was tied at one a piece going into the bottom of the eighth. Gilberto Celestino doubled to lead off the inning and scored when Chris Williams followed with his 11th double. A couple of batters later, Gabe Snyder’s sixth home run of the season gave the Kernels a 4-1 lead. Daniel Ozoria went 2-for-3 and drove in the team’s first run of the game. He also stole two bases in the game. Kai-Wei Teng started and gave up one run on four hits in six innings. He walked two, hit one and struck out two batters. Carlos Suniaga came on and threw two scoreless innings, allowing just one hit. Moises Gomez came on and struck out two in a scoreless ninth inning to record his fourth save. Check out Jeff Johnson’s article in The Gazette on Teng and his translator, mentor and friend “Jay.” (Jen-Chieh Hsu) E-TWINS E-NOTES E-Twins 4, Pulaski 8 Box Score There were some pretty cool “firsts” for the Elizabethton Twins on Monday night. The E-Twins also committed five errors which hurt them on Monday night. Prelander Berroa started and gave up five runs (four earned) on six hits and a walk in five innings. Steven Cruz came on and threw the next two innings. He was charged with two runs on three hits and three walks in two innings. He struck out four batters. Denny Bentley gave up an unearned run on one hit in his inning. Willie Joe Garry, Jr., had a strong game. The speedy centerfielder went 3-for-3 with a walk. Tyler Webb went 3-for-4 in the game. Spencer Steer went 2-for-5 with his fourth double. Matt Wallner went 2-for-4. In the ninth inning, fifth-round pick Will Holland connected for his first hit as a pro, a home run. It was followed immediately by the first home run of fourth-round pick Seth Gray’s career. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Twins 9, GCL Rays 0 Box Score Donny Breek’s time in the GCL may not be too long this season. Don’t be surprised if he quickly moves up to Elizabethton. On Monday, the right-hander from The Netherlands tossed another five scoreless innings to give him nine on the season. On this day, he gave up two hits, walked two, hit one and struck out three. Jose Guevara and Tyler Beck each threw two scoreless innings. Guevara gave up two hits, walked one and struck out two. Beck gave up one hit while striking out two batters. Jesus Feliz led the offense. He went 2-for-5 with three RBI. Victor Heredia was also 2-for-5. Sergio Toribio had a double and drove in three runs. Erick Rivera walked twice. He had come in to replace Bryson Gandy who had previously walked. He was hit by a pitch on a bone in his foot and was removed for precautionary reasons. Wander Valdez also had a double. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day - Randy Dobnak, Pensacola Blue Wahoos (and Cole Sands, Ft. Myers Miracle too) Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Brent Rooker, Rochester Red Wings PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 - Royce Lewis (Ft. Myers) - 2-4, 4 RBI, SF #2 - Alex Kirilloff (Pensacola) - 1-4, K #3 - Brusdar Graterol (Pensacola) - Injured List (shoulder) #4 - Trevor Larnach (Ft. Myers) - 0-5, 4 K #5 - Wander Javier (Cedar Rapids) - 0-4, K #6 - Brent Rooker (Rochester) - 3-5, HR(13), R, 2 RBI, 2 K #7 - Jhoan Duran (Ft. Myers) - Did Not Pitch #8 - Lewis Thorpe (Rochester) - Did Not Pitch #9 - Blayne Enlow (Ft. Myers) - Did Not Pitch. #10 - Akil Baddoo (Ft. Myers) - Injured List (Tommy John surgery) #11 - Nick Gordon (Rochester) - 3-5, 2B(17), R, 2 RBI #12 - Stephen Gonsalves (Rochester) - Injured List (elbow) #13 - Ryan Jeffers (Ft. Myers) - 0-4, BB, K #14 - Ben Rortvedt (Pensacola) - Did Not Play. #15 - Yunior Severino (Cedar Rapids) - Injured List (thumb) #16 - Gilberto Celestino (Cedar Rapids) - 1-3, BB, 2B(14), R #17 - Zack Littell (Rochester) - DId Not Pitch. #18 - LaMonte Wade (Rochester) - 0-4, BB, R, K #19 - Jorge Alcala (Pensacola) - Did Not Pitch #20 - Jose Miranda (Ft. Myers) - 0-4 TUESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Syracuse @ Rochester (6:05 CST) - LHP Devin Smeltzer (0-2, 2.62 ERA) Mississippi @ Pensacola (6:35 CST) - LHP Charlie Barnes (0-2, 3.94 ERA) Ft. Myers @ Clearwater (6:00 CST) - RHP Jhoan Duran (1-7, 3.19 ERA) Cedar Rapids @ Burlington (6:30 CST) - RHP Austin Schulfer (5-4, 2.65 ERA) Elizabethton @ Pulaski (5:30 CST) - TBD GCL Twins @ GCL Rays (11:00 CST) - TBD Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Monday games or any other minor league topics you would like.

Find out everything that happened happened in the Twins system on Sunday, starting with the transactions of the day. AWARDS Every Sunday, the Twins announce their weekly Player and Pitcher of the Week. Here are this week’s winners: Player of the Week: Rochester 1B Zander Wiel. For the week, he went 13-for-30 (.433) with five doubles and two home runs. He had five multi-hit games. And his alma mater, Vanderbilt, won another College World Series championship. He was the Twins 12th-round pick in 2015. Pitcher of the Week: Ft. Myers RHP Cole Sands. The right-hander made one start and threw five no-hit innings. He struck out six batters. Sands was the Twins fifth-round pick last year out of Florida State. TRANSACTIONS Outfielders Jake Cave and LaMonte Wade, Jr., were back on the Rochester roster. 3B Brian Schales was returned to Pensacola. LHP Lachlan Wells has been added to the Ft. Myers Miracle roster. OF Malique Ziegler was placed on the Miracle IL. Following Sunday's game in Chicago, Lewis Thorpe was optioned to Rochester. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 5, Pawtucket 10 Box Score Things started out well for the Red Wings. Ronald Torreyes gave the team a 2-0 lead with a single in the bottom of the second. Kohl Stewart started with two scoreless innings. However, he gave up two runs in the third, another run in the fourth and five runs in the fifth inning before Sean Poppen got the final out of that inning. In total, Stewart gave up eight runs on nine hits and three walks in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out four. Poppen struck out five batters over the next 3 1/3 innings. He gave up two runs on four hits. Andrew Vasquez gave up a hit and two walks but did not allow a run in the ninth. Jake Cave went 2-for-5 with his 13th double. LaMonte Wade went 1-for-3 with two walks. Wynston Sawyer hit a double and was hit by a pitch twice. BLUE WAHOO BITES Pensacola 7, Mississippi 5 Box Score Jordan Gore has provided strong defense for the Blue Wahoos all season. On Sunday, Gore provided the offense for a Pensacola win. The shortstop went 2-for-4 with his seventh double and four RBIs. He also stole a base. Adalberto Mejia made another rehab appearance for the Blue Wahoos. He pitched the first inning and it was a perfect frame. He has now pitched 6 games during his rehab. He's given up zero runs on four hits, one walk and he's struck out ten batters.His first rehab appearance was June 10th, so there are approximately ten more days in his rehab assignment. Andro Cutura came on and gave up three runs on six hits in six innings. He walked one and struck out five. He also hit three batters. Zack Weiss gave up two runs on three hits over the last two innings. Caleb Hamilton went 2-for-3 with a walk and drove in two runs. The catcher also stole his sixth base. Alex Kirilloff went 3-for-3 with a walk . Kirilloff also made a game-saving catch in the ninth inning. https://twitter.com/BlueWahoosBBall/status/1145502475027451904 MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 4, Bradenton 7 Box Score Lachlan Wells last pitched for the Miracle on September 2, 2017. He had Tommy John surgery last May and pitched three innings in a GCL game as part of his rehab a week ago. On Sunday afternoon, Well returned to the Miracle mound. The left-hander gave up three runs on four hits over five innings. He struck out six batters without a walk, though he did hit one batter. Melvi Acosta came on and struck out eight batters over the next three innings. However, he gave up two runs on three hits and two walks. Zach Neff gave up two runs on three hits in the ninth inning. He struck out two batters. Trey Cabbage and Andrew Bechtold hit back-to-back RBI singles to get the Miracle on the board in the second inning. Cabbage hit his third home run with the Miracle, his ninth overall in 2019. Bechtold and Michael Helman each went 2-for-4 as well. Gabriel Maciel went 2-for-5 with his fourth stolen base. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 1, Kane County 5 Box Score Lack of offense in this game by the Kernels made RHP Andrew Cabezas the tough-luck losing pitcher. The Twins Daily’s 2018 short-season Minor League Pitcher of the Year threw eight innings and gave up just one run on three hits. He walked one and struck out seven batters. However, the Kernels managed just four hits in the game and only scored one run. Jacob Pearson hit his 10th double. Yeltsin Encarnacion had a single and a walk. Trevor Cabezas had the lone RBI on his second double since joining the Kernels. In the ninth, Jose Martinez was charged with four runs (three earned) on four hits to take the loss. E-TWINS E-NOTES E-Twins 4, Greeneville 2 (10 innings) Box Score In a well-pitched game, the Elizabethton Twins just couldn’t mount any offense. At least not until the 10th inning. Charlie Mack gave the team a 1-0 lead that lasted until the bottom of the ninth inning. Cody Laweryson threw three perfect innings, striking out three. Tyler Benninghoff gave up one hit in a scoreless innings. Osiris German came on and struck out five batters Nate Hadley pitched a scoreless eighth inning. However, the ninth inning started with a double. After a sacrifice bunt, Greeneville tied the game. So it was off to extra innings. In the tenth inning, the E-Twins scored three runs on a couple of walks, a hit batter, a wild pitch and a single from Alex Isola. Isola had two doubles in the game before the big hit in extra frames. Dylan Thomas came on and gave up one run in the bottom of the tenth but locked down the save. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Twins Box Score The GCL does not play games on Sundays. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day - Andrew Cabezas, Cedar Rapids Kernels Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Trey Cabbage, Ft. Myers Miracle PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 - Royce Lewis (Ft. Myers) - 0-5, K, RBI, SF #2 - Alex Kirilloff (Pensacola) - 3-3, BB #4 - Trevor Larnach (Ft. Myers) - 1-5, K #6 - Brent Rooker (Rochester) - 1-4, BB, 2B(14), K, 2R #8 - Lewis Thorpe (Minnesota) - (MLB Debut) 5 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K (70 pitches, 47 strikes) #11 - Nick Gordon (Rochester) - 0-4, RBI, SF, 2K #13 - Ryan Jeffers (Ft. Myers) - 1-4, R, K #18 - LaMonte Wade (Rochester) - 1-3, 2 BB #20 - Jose Miranda (Ft. Myers) - 1-4 MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Syracuse @ Rochester (6:05 CST) - RHP Drew Hutchison (6-4, 5.01 ERA) Mississippi @ Pensacola (6:35 CST) - RHP Randy Dobnak (3-0, 3.00 ERA) Ft. Myers @ Clearwater (6:00 CST) - TBD Kane Country @ Cedar Rapids (1:05 CST) - RHP Kai-Wei Teng (2-0, 2.57 ERA) Elizabethton @ Pulaski (5:30 CST) - TBD GCL Rays @ GCL Twins (11:00 CST) - TBD Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Sunday games or any other minor league topics you would like.

Following a doubleheader on May 11th against the Detroit Tigers, Ehire Adrianza was hitting .130/.238/.185 (.423) with just one extra base hit. In fairness, that one extra base hit was a big one. Twins fans will certainly recall that Adrianza hit a solo home run off of Astros ace Justin Verlander on April 29th in a Twins 1-0 win at Target Field. It’s fair to say that at that time, things were not going well for Adrianza. One might wonder how close the front office may have been from letting Adrianza go. Recently Adrianza acknowledged, “At the beginning of the season, I was rushing things. I was trying to get three base hits every at bat.” However, manager Rocco Baldelli continued to play Adrianza, showing belief in his offense and certainly in his defense around the infield. Baldelli’s theory and plan to make sure his roster is rested means plenty of playing time for everyone on the roster. The coaches helped as well, and Adrianza recognized assistant hitting coach Rudy Hernandez as being very helpful. “At the beginning of the season, I talked to the guys. I talked to Rudy. They told me to Slow down, the numbers will be there, you just have to trust the process, keep working hard. The results are showing up now. It’s because of those guys and my teammates. When I was struggling, they supported me. They got my back. Obviously the coaching staff too. That’s really important.” Adrianza certainly responded to their confidence. After hitting .130 in his first 22 games of the season, Adrianza hit .415/.500/.623 (1.123) with two doubles and three home runs over his next 21 games. Adrianza noted that he didn’t really change anything mechanically, but he remained confident that if he continued to work hard and concentrate, things would improve. “I never changed my approach from the beginning of the season to this point. I’m just seeing the ball better, maybe being a little more aggressive early in the count. Also I’ve tried to concentrate on what the pitcher is trying to do. Especially with the relievers. Are they trying to go outside or inside? What he’s doing? That’s helping me out a lot.” Part of Adrianza’s daily preparation is usage of video. He noted, “I am a big video guy. I like to see every pitcher in the bullpen. When I’m in the lineup, I like to see the starting pitcher obviously.” Of course, the one given when it comes to Ehire Adrianza is his ability to play sound defense. He understands his role and what got him here. “That’s why I got to the big leagues, because of my defense. I take great pride in my defense. I love playing defense. It’s a big part of my game.” It was a tough start to the season for Ehire Adrianza. But he is able to compartmentalize and learn from his successes and failures. That’s how he has remained in the big leagues and why he should remain for years to come. “I was overthinking too much at the beginning of the season. You don’t want to go 0-for-4 every game. You try to do the best you can to improve your game, to help the team to win. Right now I think I’m doing a pretty good job. I just have to keep working hard.” Adrianza returns to the Twins active roster today after missing the last ten days on the Injured List with a stomach ailment. He is in the Twins lineup, batting seventh and playing shortstop.

Continue reading, and then discussing, the Twins Daily choices for the 11th through 15th ranked Twins prospects of the Minnesota Twins below. 15. Matt Wallner - OF Age: 21 ETA: 2022 2019 Stats (College): .323/.446/.681 (1.127 OPS), 12 2B, 0 3B 23 HR, 50 K, 48 BB. 2019 Stats (Rookie-Adv): .286/.400/.286 (.686 OPS), 0 2B, 0 3B 0 HR, 8 K, 1 BB. 2019 Preseason Ranking: NR Seth: 18 | Tom: 8 | Cody: 22 | Ted: 12 | Steve: 16 Wallner grew up in Forest Lake (MN) which is where he went to high school. As a prep, he was Mr. Baseball and the Twins drafted him in the 32nd round three years ago. He was set to go to the University of North Dakota, but when the school dropped baseball, Wallner went to Southern Mississippi where he became a two-way star. Matching incredible power with an upper-90s fastball, his name was on the map. So when the Twins were able to get him with the 39th overall pick, they were thrilled. He fits the mold of recent draft picks like Brent Rooker and Trevor Larnach, an advanced bat with good power potential. 14. Luis Arraez - IF Age: 22 ETA: 2019 2019 Stats (MLB): .452/.538/.595 (1.134), 3 2B, 0 3B, 1 HR, 9 BB, 2 K 2019 MILB Stats (AA/AAA): .344/.409/.401 (.810), 10 2B, 1 3B, 0 HR, 24 BB, 15 K 2019 Ranking: NR Seth: 14 | Tom: 20 | Cody: 11 | Ted: 16 | Steve: 19 Luis Arraez can flat-out hit. He’s done it ever since signing as illustrated by a career minor league batting average over .330. But as we have seen from his brief time in the big leagues, Arraez has the things you look for in a strong top of the order hitter. Arraez knows the strike zone and doesn’t often swing at pitches outside of it. In fact, if it’s not a strike, he will shake his had from side to side to let us all know it’s not a strike. And when he does see a strike, he has incredible bat control and does a great job of hitting line drives all over the field. He is still very young, but he would appear to be the leader in the current race for Twins starting second baseman in 2020. 13. Ryan Jeffers - C Age: 22 ETA: 2021 2019 Stats (A+):.272/.339/.447 (.786), 9 2B, 0 3B, 9 HR, 47 K, 20 BB 2019 Preseason Ranking: 13 Seth: 10 | Tom: 18 | Cody: 13 | Ted: 22 | Steve: 21 The Twins surprised many when they made Ryan Jeffers their second-round draft pick in 2018 out of UNC-Wilmington. And ever since, he has put up big numbers with the bat. After a slow start in Ft. Myers, Jeffers has hit for average and power for the Miracle. There are mixed reports on his defense. Some point out solid pitch framing numbers. Others point out that they wonder if Jeffers can continue to be a catcher moving forward. It’s a wide range in opinions. To be honest, it’s pretty similar to what was said about Mitch Garver as he was working his way up the organizational ladder. It will be Jeffers' bat, however, that propels him to the big leagues. 12. Nick Gordon - SS Age: 23 ETA: 2020 2019 Stats (AAA): .271/.310/.426 (.735 OPS), 14 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 38 K, 9 BB. 2019 Preseason Ranking: 11 Seth: 16 | Tom: 12 | Cody: 19 | Ted: 13 | Steve: 12 Gordon has been talked about since even before the Twins made him the fifth overall pick in the 2014 draft out of high school in Orlando. He kept moving up, one year at a time until 2018 when he started where he left off in 2017, in Chattanooga. He increased his power production and moved up to AAA Rochester where he really struggled for an extended period for the first time in his career. This spring, he started the season on the IL with a stomach ailment. But he has hit well since returning to the Red Wings lineup. Questions remain about his ability to play shortstop, though with all of the shifting done in the organization, it is probably less important now than it may have been in the past. 11. Lewis Thorpe - LHP ETA: 2019 Age: 23 2019 Stats (Low-A): 5.71 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, 11.4 K/9, 2.7 BB/9, 4.2 K/BB 2019 Ranking: 8 Seth: 15 | Tom: 11 | Cody: 12 | Ted: 9 | Steve: 9 2019 has been an up-and-down season for the Australian left-hander. In his first six starts, he posted an 8.19 ERA and opponents hit .287 off of him with an OPS of .851. His next six starts were much better. He had an era of 2.87 and opponents hit just .223 off him with a .634 OPS. The entire time he has shown the ability to miss bats while throwing a lot of strikes. Signed in 2011 out of Melbourne, he quickly reached prospect status with an impressive showing in the GCL. Unfortunately, he missed two seasons after needing Tommy John surgery and dealing with an illness. Once back on the mound, however, he regained his prospect status. He is in his second option year and at Triple-A, and that puts him just one call away. That's it for now. Next week we will jump into our 2019 Midseason Top Ten Twins Prospects! Feel free to ask questions and leave comments below. Twins Daily 2019 Midseason Prospect Rankings Prospects 36-40 Prospects 31-35 Prospects 26-30 Prospects 21-25 Prospects 16-20 Prospects 11-15 Prospects 6-10 (Coming Next Week!)