Article: Twins Minor League Report (8/21): Sam Gibbons Says Hello!

[Eric R Pleiss]

The Minnesota Twins resumed their winning ways and came up with a 4-1 victory against one of the hottest pitchers in baseball. The Twins ended a 20-inning scoreless drought when Kennys Vargas homered to give the Twins a 1-0 lead in the forth off of Corey Kluber. The Twins picked up a couple more runs against Kluber and thanks to a magnificent performance from Phil Hughes the Twins cruised to victory.Red Wings Report

Rochester 1, Syracuse 1, Suspended - Rain

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The game in Syracuse was suspended because of rain, they'll resume things on Friday.

 

Rock Cats Review

New Britain 1, Richmond 10

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Jose Berrios picked up his fourth loss of the year in AA (2-4, 3.89 ERA in seven starts). Berrios lasted 5.2 innings, gave up eight hits, four runs (three earned), he struck out four and walked one. He was relieved by Mason Melotakis who was hit hard, giving up three runs (two earned) in just an inning. Edgar Ibarra did not fare much better, finishing the game for the Rock Cats with 1.1 innings of three run (two earned) baseball.

 

With a 10-1 loss, there are not a lot of positives. The Rock Cats managed just seven hits as a team, and even their hottest hitter, Levi Michael, was held hitless on an 0-3 night. Mike Gonzales had a pair of hits, 2-3 with a strike out, and Tony Thomas and Brandon Waring were both 1-4 with a double. Waring's double drove home the only run of the evening for NEw Britain. Waring, 28, has spent part of the last seven years bouncing around the Minor Leagues. He was originally drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the seventh round of the 2007 draft. Waring eventually moved over to Baltimore and split time between AA and AAA between 2009 and 2013 before joining the Twins organization this winter. Waring is having one of his worst professional seasons, hitting just .201/.302/.395, all in AA. The primary hole in Waring's game is strike outs, he has 146 of them in 378 at bats, 38.6%.

 

Miracle Matters

Fort Myers 5, Bradenton 2

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The Miracle played a bullpen game, using six different pitchers, none more than the three innings from the scheduled starter, Madison Boer. Boer did not give up a run, scattered two hits, struck out one, and walked no one. He was replaced by Todd Van Steensel to start the fourth. Van Steensel went two hitless innings, giving up a lone walk and he struck out four. Van Steensel now has a 1.89 ERA over 14 innings at AA. Van Steensel is having a spectacular season, before the promotion to High-A he made 23 appearances for Cedar Rapids with a 1.30 ERA spread over 34.2 innings with 45 strike outs and nine walks. But I digress, after Van Steensel, Tyler Jones entered and coughed up the lead. He gave up two earned runs in the sixth on three his, a walk and a strike out. D.J. Johnson pitched the seventh and the eighth, giving up just two hits while he struck out five and picked up the win. Nick Burdi picked up his first save in High-A, he gave up a hit but struck out the other three batters he faced, and no walks!

 

The Miracle rallied to score four runs in the top of the ninth to win, capped by a Max Kepler grand slam to right field. That was Kepler's only hit of the evening, but he made it count. The Miracle had only four hits last night, with Travis Harrison, Tyler Grimes and Bryan Haar also contributing.

 

Kernels Nuggets

Cedar Rapids 6, Burlington 5

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Lewis Thorpe has his ERA moving in the wrong direction after a tough outing in Burlington, Iowa. Thorpe lasted just 4.2 innings giving up five runs. He struck out seven and walked just one, but he gave up six hits and was hurt by a couple of errors leading to three unearned runs. Brandon Bixler came on in relief and pitched 1.2 innings of 1 hit baseball before Dallas Gallant came on and had 1.2 hitless innings, including three strike outs. Jake Reed picked up his third save with a scoreless ninth inning. Gallant and Reed are pitching great since they were promoted to Cedar Rapids, both sporting ERAs under 1.

 

The Kernels used a four run seventh inning to take the lead, three runs coming on a bases loaded triple from Jonatan Hinojosa. Hinojosa would score on the next batter on a passed ball. That run proved to be the difference maker. In addition to his three-run triple, Hinojosa had an RBI single in the fifth and finished the night 2-5 and two strike outs. Hinojosa was signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2010 and has played just 10 games above Rookie ball in his career, all coming in the last week and a half and he's off to a red hot start hitting .364/.378/.545. Hinojosa has been used all over the field, but has settled in to spend most of his time at 3B in 2014. Mitch Garver was 2-3 with a double and a walk, and Ryan Walker also had two hits from the ninth spot in the order 2-4, with an RBI and two runs scored.

 

E-Town E-Notes

Elizabethton 7, Pulaski 1

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Sam Gibbons had one of his strongest outings of the seasons for the Twins, pitching seven scoreless innings, yielding just one hit, two walks and eight strike outs. Flamethrower Brandon Poulson struck out three batters in his inning of work, but also gave up a solo home run. Kuo Hua Lo pitched a scoreless ninth to wrap things up.

 

Nick Gordon was 2-5 with two runs scored, but the biggest contributor last night for the Twins was Tyler Kuresa whow as 2-4 with a double, a run scored, and three RBIs. If you've never heard of Tyler Kuresa, don't be alarmed. He was a 16th round draftee in the most recent MLB draft. Interestingly enough, Kuresa was originally drafted in the 10th round by the Twins coming out of high school, but elected to head to the University of California in Santa Barbara. He was then drafted in the 14th round as a junior, but returned to school before being taken by the Twins this spring, four years and six rounds later than his original selection. Kuresa is a 1B/DH type, and as a college senior, is not having any trouble in Rookie Ball, posting an .807 OPS through his first 37 games.

 

GCL Twins Takes

GCL Orioles 7, GCL Twins 4

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Michael Theofanopoulos (which is just plain fun to say) started for the Twins and pitched three innings. He struck out three, walked one, gave up five hits and two runs. He was replaced by Reyson Zoquiel who pitched just a third of an inning while walking three and giving up a hit. Callan Pearce went 4.2 innings of scoreless relief, which is quite a task for any reliever, and then Eduardo Del Rosario pitched the ninth. Del rosario gave up three hits, two runs, a walk and he struck a batter out. Outside of Pearce, a pretty rough day on the bump for the GCL Twins.

 

The Twins did not do much with the bats either, picking up six hits, six walks, and nine strike outs. Joel Polanco was the only hitter with multiple hits, he was 2-4 with a run scored and an RBI.

 

Twins Daily Players of the Day

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day - Max Kepler, Fort Myers

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day - Sam Gibbons, Elizabethton

 

Friday's Probables

Rochester @ Syracuse (6:00 CST) – Sean Gilmartin

New Britain @ Altoona (6:00 CST) – TBD

Ft. Myers @ Charlotte (5:30 CST) – Matt Tomshaw

Cedar Rapids @ Burlington (6:30 CST) – Ryan Eades

Elizabethton @ Pulaski (6:00 CST) – Felix Jorge

GCL Twins @ GCL Red Sox (11:00am CST) – TBD - DOUBLEHEADER

 

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[Paul Pleiss]

Is Todd Van Steensel the best name in the organzation right now? Zach Granite is pretty good too, but TVS takes the cake for me.

 

-P

[Eric R Pleiss]

Not even close, brother. 

 

Will Hurt, 2B, ETown,

Mat Batts, P, Cedar Rapids,

Rando Rosario, P, Cedar Rapids,

David Hurlbut, P, Fort Myers,

Dan Rohlfing, C, Rochester

 

I like all of those better.  

[diehardtwinsfan]

Thorpe's ERA is now below 4. His K rate is climbing and his walk rate is dropping. He didn't go 5 innings, but unearned runs kill regardless. Overall, he's doing pretty well for an 18 year old in the MWL.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Yeah, I'm not the least bit worried about Thorpe. He's holding his own in a league of much older players.

[Mike Sixel]

Great writeup, thanks! this continues to be the best part of Twins daily......

[Dman]

You have got to like the K rate for Thorpe.  To me it says he has got nasty stuff he just needs to refine things a little bit and he should be dominant.  I am very excited about his potential I just hope he stays healthy.

[jokin]

Max Kepler is making a serious bid in turning the corner on his professional career.   In his last 26 games he's now hitting with a .341 BA, a .516 SLG and a .928 OPS.  On the first stretch of this run, Max was mostly hitting singles, but he's added 10 XBH in August (6 doubles, 2 triples, 2 HR).... and in the process, his LD% has jumped to 28.3%, while his K% is half of his season average before this run, with an ISO of .176.

 

Before this run, I was convinced he'd have to repeat High-A.  It appears he's going to make it hard for the Twins to hold him back.  Next year's team at New Britain looks to be freaking frighteningly good.  And best of all, all of these prospects will, finally, only be one phone call away from the Twins.

[Seth Stohs]

Kepler is definitely playing very well of late. he's healthy. He's playing every day. And there's just so much talent. It's good to see that, including the extra base hits, in the FSL. 

[clank2000]

Actually, Thorpe's ERA creeped down from 3.97 to 3.96 after this game, so I kinda guess that's in the right direction.

[jokin]

Kepler is definitely playing very well of late. he's healthy. He's playing every day. And there's just so much talent. It's good to see that, including the extra base hits, in the FSL. 

 

Seth, in addition to your usual off-season prospect rankings, are you going to do a special piece on the Who? What? and Why? on the September Instructionals? And after that, a projection on who plays where in the system in 2015.  Do you have a good feel for where Kepler starts out in 2015?  New Britain looks to be sporting an incredible lineup, decent-to-great starting pitching, and a downright scary bullpen.  

Edited August 22, 2014 by jokin

[Steve Lein]

I wouldn't be worried about Thorpe.  He's been very impressive, including the game I saw him and wrote about 2 weeks ago.  He's going move up prospect lists for next year.

[Steve Lein]

And I love what Max Kepler has been doing.  Steadily increasing his production over the last 3 months to now excellent status.

[Seth Stohs]

Seth, in addition to your usual off-season prospect rankings, are you going to do a special piece on the Who? What? and Why? on the September Instructionals? And after that, a projection on who plays where in the system in 2015.  Do you have a good feel for where Kepler starts out in 2015?  New Britain looks to be sporting an incredible lineup, decent-to-great starting pitching, and a downright scary bullpen.  

 

We'll be doing a lot of minor league stuff. I'll certainly again try to project rosters (probably after new year's, or at least after the winter meetings). I'll try to get a roster from the instructional league. 

 

I still think Kepler starts next year at Ft. Myers, but that could change too. 

[jokin]

We'll be doing a lot of minor league stuff. I'll certainly again try to project rosters (probably after new year's, or at least after the winter meetings). I'll try to get a roster from the instructional league. 

 

I still think Kepler starts next year at Ft. Myers, but that could change too. 

 

Thanks, Seth!  Great to hear your opinion on Kepler, I'm not sure whose spot in the outfield he could take away in New Britain but assuming Buxton is in CF full-time, Rosario splits time in the OF and 2B with Michael (and maybe Harrison?), Kepler should have a shot at splitting time between a corner OF spot and 1B with the Rock Cats, especially if he keeps up his current pace to season's end and has a strong showing in the fall.  It seems that Sano and Polanco will likely start out there, as well, and perhaps Walker could also split time in the OF and DH.  If Turner also gets promoted, you could actually sport an entire starting lineup of legitimate MLB prospects and not any filler (mostly place holders currently in New Britain, presumably some of them move up to AAA or released).

 

The minor league forum on TD is the place to hang out these days for big-picture positive Twins news, and all of your efforts are hugely appreciated.

Edited August 22, 2014 by jokin

[slash129]

Burdi's numbers are ridiculous.  Even more so, if you take out that 4BB/4R/0IP debut. I hope a waiver trade or two can go through on someone like Burton, so then maybe Burdi gets a chance to make the 40-man and get a September taste.  Heck, I'd even DFA Burton, if you can't find a suitor.  This September seems like as good a time as any to let Burdi get rid of any MLB debut butterflies and see where his game is at the highest level.

[Steve Lein]

Burdi's numbers are ridiculous.  Even more so, if you take out that 4BB/4R/0IP debut. I hope a waiver trade or two can go through on someone like Burton, so then maybe Burdi gets a chance to make the 40-man and get a September taste.  Heck, I'd even DFA Burton, if you can't find a suitor.  This September seems like as good a time as any to let Burdi get rid of any MLB debut butterflies and see where his game is at the highest level.

 

-> http://twinsdaily.com/topic/11821-nick-burdi-2014/

 

Unfortunately, because Fort Myers is in the FSL playoffs, and since the Twins have literally zero reason to promote him, this won't happen.