Tom Froemming

Sergio Romo is must-see TV.

Here's what that looked like, if you were curious.

That's a question I ask a lot when a college guy pitches really well in Cedar Rapids. Is he just much more refined than the competition? I continue to ask that question as he jumps up to Fort Myers. Is he just performing so well because it's such a great pitching environment? For me, Double A is where the picture really becomes more clear for guys like Ober and the questions start to fade. It's one thing to live in the zone and not pay for it in the lower levels, but if you can do that in the high minors it's really impressive. Ober's career K:BB ratio is now 9.85, so he has quite a bit of room to slide back and still be incredibly good in that regard. The Southern League average is a 2.57 K:BB ratio. The season is winding down, so we won't get much of a sample, but it's fun to see him shove in Double A.

*one-hit ball. Fixed, thank you

Willians Astudillo has been in Pensacola for two games. He’s homered in both of them. La Tortuga hit a bomba, Wander Javier had a four-hit night, Bailey Ober impressed in his Double-A debut and Matt Canterino had the most impressive outing of his young career. Come check out what else happened across the system Friday.TRANSACTIONS Lewis Thorpe recalled by the Twins to replace Devin Smeltzer on the roster. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 5, Louisville 2 Box Score Kohl Stewart: 5.0 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 6 K, 53.4% strikes (39 of 73 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: Wilin Rosario (2-for-4, 2B) A couple of pitchers on the Twins 40-man roster had encouraging outings. Kohl Stewart wasn’t particularly efficient, but he was effective. The six strikeouts he recorded are the most he’s had in an outing since mid-May. Both runs that scored while Stewart was in the game came in the first inning. Fernando Romero pitched around a leadoff single to record a scoreless ninth inning, earning his second save for the Red Wings. Of his 13 pitches, 10 were strikes. Between Stewart and Romero was D.J. Baxendale, who hadn’t pitched in more than two weeks. He showed no signs of rust, delivering three shutout innings of one-hit ball. It was a relatively quiet night for the bats, but they managed to build the 5-2 lead by the top of the third inning. Wilin Rosario had a pair of hits and picked up a two-out RBI in the first inning. Mike Miller, Ian Miller, Zander Wiel and Ronald Torreyes all also drove in runs. Rochester was 4-for-9 with runners in scoring position. BLUE WAHOO BITES Pensacola 4, Chattanooga 1 Box Score Bailey Ober: 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 8 K, 72.7% strikes (64 of 88 pitches) HR: Willians Astudillo (2) Multi-hit games: Astudillo (2-for-4, HR), Caleb Hamilton (2-for-3), Jimmy Kerrigan (2-for-3) Here is your La Tortuga update: So that’s two homers in two games for Willians Astudillo on his rehab assignment. He was the designated hitter today, and did appear to be trying to stretch out his oblique, so I’m not sure an activation is coming anytime too soon. Still, really fun to see him back out there playing again and making progress toward a return. Bailey Ober made his Double-A debut and was outstanding. He surrendered one run on two hits over seven innings pitched. He struck out eight batters, walked one and threw an impressive 72.7% of his pitches for strikes. Basically, he looked like Bailey Ober. He now has 197 strikeouts and just 20 walks in 164 2/3 innings over his minor league career. MIRACLE MATTERS Jupiter 4, Fort Myers 2 Box Score Jordan Balazovic: 4.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 K, 62.9% strikes (56 of 89 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: None Jordan Balazovic continued a trend of alternating between outstanding starts and less stellar outings. He gave up five hits, which isn’t a lot, but his season high is six hits surrendered on the season. Puts into perspective how excellent he’s been this year. To make matters worse, the Miracle bats could only muster five hits themselves. Gabriel Maciel hit a leadoff triple and scored on a Jacob Pearson sacrifice fly in the first inning. Their only other run came in the ninth inning. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 4, Wisconsin 0 Box Score Matt Canterino: 5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, 65.3% strikes (47 of 72 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: Wander Javier (4-for-5, 2 2Bs), Spencer Steer (2-for-5) Matt Canterino, J.T. Perez and Erik Cha combined to throw a two-hit shutout, striking out 11 batters in the process. The Twins had been limiting Canterino’s workload, allowing him to throw just 10 innings over his first four outings as a professional, but they loosened the reins a bit tonight. Canterino, who the Twins drafted in the second round this June, gave up just one hit over his five innings. He had five strikeouts and zero walks. Wander Javier was the star at the plate, going 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles. Yunior Severino hit a big two-run double in the first inning, advanced to third on an error and scored on a groundout. Up 3-0, Cedar Rapids was able to cruise to victory from there, thanks to the impressive pitching performance. E-TWINS E-NOTES Danville 2, Elizabethton 1 Box Score Ryley Widell: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 3 K HR: None Multi-hit games: None Tough night for the E-Town bats, as the lineup combined for just four hits. Their only run scored on a Parker Phillips double that scored Matt Wallner. On the plus side, the pitching was solid. Ryley Widell gave up a pair of runs in the first and the staff combined for a shutout from there. Widell finished his outing with four clean innings, Owen Griffin recorded the next five outs and Tyler Beck the final four outs. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Twins POSTPONED STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Bailey Ober, Pensacola Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Wander Javier, Cedar Rapids TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Prospects performed: 1. Royce Lewis (PNS): 1-for-4, R, K 2. Alex Kirilloff (PNS): 0-for-4, 2 K 4. Trevor Larnach (PNS): 1-for-4 5. Wander Javier (CR): 4-for-5, 2 2Bs, R, RBI 6. Jordan Balazovic (FM): 4.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 K, 62.9% strikes (56 of 89 pitches) 15. Matt Wallner (ELZ): 1-for-4, 2B, R, K 20. Travis Blankenhorn (PNS): 0-for-4, 2 K SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester at Louisville, 5:30 pm CT (Adam Bray) Pensacola vs. Chattanooga, 6:05 pm CT (TBD) Fort Myers at Jupiter, 4:30 pm CT (Chris Vallimont) Cedar Rapids at Quad Cities, 6:35 pm CT (Tyler Palm) Elizabethton at Danville, 5:30 pm CT (Tyler Benninghoff) GCL Twins at GCL Red Sox, 9:00 am CT (TBD) GCL Twins at GCL Red Sox, Game 2 (TBD) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games. Click here to view the article

Oh no, that was my bad. I probably should have actually shared my opinion in the first place.

I didn't say I endorsed the beaning, but the only reason Kepler got hit was because of Cave. I'm sure he feels awful about it.

Jake Cave might be buying Max Kepler lunch and carrying his bags around tomorrow.

Great preview. I have nothing of substance to add. Just wanted to say I love Danny Santana. That is all.

Cross pollination to create the perfect OF prospect!

Still frustrating to see Gibson struggle so much in the first game, but this one was a huge mismatch in terms of the starting pitching. Overall, Cleveland is 25-10 in games started by Clevinger and Bieber. If the Twins can't win these Odorizzi vs. Plutko and Berrios vs. Civale games, that's big trouble. Not that those guys are gonna be pushovers, or that everything comes down to the starting pitching matchups, but right now you have to win these head-to-head games when your top guys are facing their bottom guys.

Chris Vallimont carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning, Donny Breek had another outstanding start in the GCL, and the prospect-packed Pensacola lineup hit five home runs. Come check out what else happened across the Twins minor league system Friday.TRANSACTIONS Twins recalled RHP Cody Stashak from Rochester. LHP Charlie Barnes promoted to Rochester. RHP Bailey Ober promoted to Pensacola. RED WINGS REPORT Louisville 3, Rochester 1 Box Score Adam Bray: 4.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, 59.7% strikes (40 of 67 pitches) HR: Tomas Telis (8) Multi-hit games: None A great pitching performance from the Red Wings staff was squandered by a quiet night from the bats and a slip up from Fernando Romero. Adam Bray pitched four shutout innings before Jake Reed followed with a pair of clean frames of his own. Romero gave up three runs, two earned, on five hits over 1 2/3 innings. The only Rochester run came on a homer from catcher Tomas Telis. BLUE WAHOO BITES Pensacola 8, Mobile 5 Box Score Edwar Colina: 3.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 6 K, 56.7% strikes (51 of 90 pitches) HR: Alex Kirilloff (7), Trevor Larnach (4), Ryan Costello (5), Mark Contreras (8), Royce Lewis (1) Multi-hit games: Kirilloff (2-for-4, HR, HBP), Larnach (2-for-4, HR, BB), Travis Blankenhorn (2-for-5, 3B), Jordan Gore (2-for-4) What a first inning for Pensacola. Alex Kirilloff led things off with a home run, Travis Blankehorn added a one-out triple and Trevor Larnach brought him around on a two-run homer. The Blue Wahoos continued to serve up tater trot hotdish, as Ryan Costello, Mark Contreras and Royce Lewis would all also homer. It was Lewis’ first Double-A home run. Edwar Colina lasted just 3 1/3 innings, but the Pensacola pen stepped up. Jovani Moran (five outs), Jorge Alcala (six outs), Andrew Vasquez (two outs) and Jonathan Cheshire (four outs) combined to cover the final 5 2/3 innings. That quartet gave up just three hits and Vasquez was the only one of them to surrender a run. MIRACLE MATTERS Jupiter 9, Fort Myers 1 Box Score Chris Vallimont: 7.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 7 K, 67.9% strikes (55 of 81 pitches) HR: Ernie De La Trinidad (3) Multi-hit games: None Life comes at you fast. Chris Vallimont carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning and the Miracle ended up getting blown out. Baseball can be cruel sometimes. Vallimont, who came over from Miami along with Sergio Romo in the Lewin Diaz trade, didn’t make the best first impression with his new org, giving up six runs over 2 2/3 innings in his first start. Tonight, he was brilliant. Entering the eighth inning, the only baserunner Vallimont allowed reached on a walk. Unfortunately, his first pitch of the eighth inning was hit into left field for a single. The next batter hit a double and that was it for Vallimont. Joe Record, who was recently named Twins Daily’s Reliever of the Month for July, couldn’t stop the skid, and the Hammerheads ended up scoring eight runs that inning. Ouch. KERNELS NUGGETS Kane County 10, Cedar Rapids 9 Box Score Matt Canterino: 2.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 5 K, 62.3% strikes (38 of 61 pitches) HR: Gabe Snyder (14) Multi-hit games: Tyler Webb (4-for-5), Snyder (2-for-5, HR) Cedar Rapids entered the top of the ninth inning trailing 6-4. Spencer Steer hit a two-run double to tie the game and Gabe Snyder added a sacrifice fly to put the Kernels up. The Cougars managed to answer and these two teams continued to go blow-for-blow in extras. Both teams scored in the 10th inning, Cedar Rapids added another run in the 11th, but Kane County answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning to win on a walk-off. E-TWINS E-NOTES Johnson City 8, Elizabethton 7 Box Score Ryley Widell: 4.0 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 5 K HR: Willie Joe Garry Jr. (4) Multi-hit games: Matt Wallner (3-for-5, 2B), Janingson Villalobos (2-for-4), Charles Mack (2-for-5) This was a back-and-forth affair. E-Town fell behind 4-1, stormed back to take the lead in the fourth inning, gave it up and fell behind 7-5 in the sixth, tied the game in the bottom of that inning thanks to a Willie Joe Garry Jr. two-run homer, but then relinquished the lead for good in the top of the seventh. Frandy Torres did his best to keep the E-Twins in it, closing things out with four strikeouts over three no-hit innings. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Twins 5, GCL Red Sox 2 (8 innings) Box Score Donny Breek: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K HR: None Multi-hit games: Malique Ziegler (2-for-4), Francisco Martinez (2-for-4, 2B) Scheduled to be Game 1 of a doubleheader, this game was only supposed to go seven innings. The Red Sox managed to knot things up at 2-2 in the bottom of that inning, forcing this one into extras. Though it was only the eighth inning. Minor league doubleheaders get weird. Anyway, Victor Heredia, Malique Ziegler and Franscico Martinez all recorded hits to open the top of the eighth and the Twins managed to tally three runs that inning. Donny Breek gave up one unearned run over his 5 1/3 innings, dropping his ERA to 0.59. Bradley Hanner gave up one run over the final 2 2/3 innings. To make things all the more weird, game 2, which was the makeup of a game originally scheduled for last Sunday, was suspended in the bottom of the first inning and will be completed tomorrow. Third time’s the charm? STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Chris Vallimont, Fort Myers Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Alvor Larnilloff, Pensacola (I couldn't pick one, you decide between Alex Kirilloff and Trevor Larnach) TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Prospects performed: 1. Royce Lewis (PNS): 1-for-4, HR, BB, R, 3 RBI, 2 K 2. Alex Kirilloff (PNS): 2-for-4, HR, HBP, 2 R, RBI, K 4. Trevor Larnach (PNS): 2-for-4, HR, BB, R, 2 RBI 5. Wander Javier (CR): 1-for-4, 2 BB, 2 R, E (throw) 7: Keoni Cavaco (GCL): 0-for-4, R, K 15. Matt Wallner (ELZ): 3-for-5, 2B, 2 R, K 16. Ben Rortvedt (PNS): 0-for-4, BB, 2 K 18. Jorge Alcala (PNS): 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, 59.0% strikes (23 of 39 pitches) 20. Travis Blankenhorn (PNS): 2-for-5, 3B, R SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester vs. Louisville, 6:05 pm CT (Charlie Barnes) Pensacola at Mobile, 7:05 pm CT (TBD) Fort Myers vs. Jupiter, 5:00 pm CT (Blayne Enlow) Cedar Rapids vs. Beloit, 6:35 pm CT (Tyler Palm) Elizabethton vs. Johnson City, 5:30 pm CT (Tyler Benninghoff) GCL Twins vs. GCL Red Sox, 9:00 am CT (TBD) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games. Click here to view the article

Baseball Reference --> Gibby's page --> splits.

Not as even of a distribution, but here's Kyle Gibson 2019 splits Castro: 6.75 ERA, 1.57 K:BB ratio, .796 OPS in 36.0 IP Garver: 3.36 ERA, 3.79 K:BB ratio, .673 OPS in 72.1 IP

Kyle Gibson Career Numbers Pitching to Castro: 5.56 ERA, 1.62 K:BB ratio, .788 opponent OPS in 137.2 IP Pitching to Garver: 3.23 ERA, 2.85 K:BB ratio, .665 opponent OPS in 136.2 IP Just something to consider going forward ...

With Colina, I kind of see him as being in a window where you're probably not going to be too worried about his options anyway. There are a lot of other pitchers in this system on a similar timeline, so I don't think you need to milk every ounce of service time/protect options for each and every one of them. But, that's just me, that's a very subjective take, not necessarily the "right" one. It's too bad Alcala hasn't taken off as a reliever because he'd be the perfect guy to go to in this conversation otherwise.

Others have made good points on the options, which is why in the video I said the way that could make the most sense is if they could find away to carry Alex on the roster through the rest of August. Then rosters expand and you don't have to send him down/burn an option. That seems to me like it'd be tough to pull off, but it's possible. It probably wouldn't be the best thing for Kirilloff's development, but I'm pretty comfortable with who he is, despite some largely uninspiring results this season. Basically, I don't think you would be hindering his development much by having him miss the final few weeks of the minor league season. One last thing I want to add in regard to either a potential Graterol or Kirilloff move is at some point you have to do something. I can get behind the idea of building from within and trusting internal options. That's actually a lot of fun if you follow the minor league system. But if you're not going to be active in free agency, and you're not going to be active on the trade market, you have to do something somewhere. At a certain point it does make some sense to push a prospect or two sooner than maybe you had originally intended to. Could end up being a disaster, but every once in a while you fall into a Luis Arraez situation.

It is starting to feel like we're going to see Graterol in some role on this team before the end of the year. He needs to be added to the 40-man at the end of the year anyway. Cody recently wrote about him here, for anybody who may have missed it. I think the jump from High-A to the upper levels of the minors is huge, especially for a pitcher, considering how friendly an environment the Florida State League is. Balazovic is having an excellent year, but I don't think he's a realistic option. If you're looking for new arms to call upon who we haven't seen up with the Twins yet, maybe Edwar Colina could be that guy? Among the guys we have seen, maybe it's time to give Sean Poppen more of a look, as opposed to just using him for bullpen length in the event of an emergency. But that's just my thoughts, I dunno.

I couldn't sleep, so I quick whipped together some speculation on what might happen if Nelson Cruz is forced to the IL.

I agree with Cooper, I'm ready for Lewis Thorpe to take Martin Perez's spot in the rotation. I talked about it here. More Thorpe highlights from tonight in the final 90 seconds of this one.

Make sure to check back in a little later this morning, as we'll be publishing an illuminating piece from Cooper that really does a deep dive into Berrios' arsenal this season.

I chatted a bit about how I'm not worried about Berrios, but also pointed out some things in regard to his curveball in particular that had me a little curious. Check it out:

Fixed, thank you.