Article: Twins Minor League Report: 4/26: Dean Dominates, Ricky Rehabs

[Kevin]

In the minors on Sunday, Twins affiliates saw a solid rehab appearance from starter Ricky Nolasco in Cedar Rapids, and eight dominant innings from a left-hander in Rochester. Multiple games had dramatic finishes, but just one team would bring home a victory.

 

Read on to find out what happened and where!RED WINGS REPORT

Syracuse 4, Rochester 6

Box Score

 

Rochester plated four runners in the third inning, and two in the fourth to provide just enough offense for the bullpen in the ninth, after starter Pat Dean had delivered eight dominant innings.

 

Dean allowed just six hits (all singles) and walked two, while striking out seven. He retired the first ten Syracuse hitters, and his lone earned run against came in the fourth inning. Tony Gwynn Jr. singled with one out, moved to second on a walk and was brought home by a Kila Ka'aihue single. Dean struck out the next hitter to end the inning.

 

Rochester's offense brought all nine hitters in the lineup to the plate in the third, resulting in their big inning. Aaron Hicks led off with walk, then stole second base and scored the first run of the game on a Josmil Pinto single. A Brock Peterson single later loaded the bases for Danny Ortiz, whose ground out went 3 to 2 to prevent a run but kept the bases loaded with two outs. Jose Martinez then singled to bring in two runs and chase starter Taylor Jordan from the game. James Beresford brought Ortiz home with the final run of the inning with a double.

 

 

A Reynaldo Rodriguez triple to left field in the fourth inning scored Hicks and Pinto to provide the needed offense for the ninth, when Stephen Pryor relieved Dean with a 6-1 lead.

 

The first three batters loaded the bases after a double, walk and single. The Red Wings then conceded the run for a double play that made the score 6-2 with two outs and a runner on third. The next hitter, Cutter Dykstra, hit his first home run of the season to make the score 6-4. Rochester went back to the bullpen for closer Michael Tonkin. He struck out the final batter for his fifth save of the year.

 

 

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 2, Tennessee 5

Box Score

 

The Lookouts scored first and last in this one, but lack of anything in between led to their sixth loss in their last seven games to put them at 7-9 on the season, and in fourth place in the Southern's Leagues North Division.

 

Dalton Hicks hit his second home run of the year in the first inning for the early 1-0 lead, and a ninth inning double from Adam Brett Walker put runners on second and third. A Stephen Wickens ground out then brought in the game's last run.

In between, the Lookouts managed just three singles and Tennessee starter Frank Batista retired the last twelve hitters he faced to complete seven innings.

 

Chattanooga starter Tyler Duffey ran into trouble with two outs in the fifth inning and the game tied 1-1. With runners on first and third, four consecutive singles plated runs to put the Smokies up for good 5-1.

 

Adrian Salcedo came on for the sixth inning, and pitched three scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and striking out three to finish the game.

 

 

MIRACLE MATTERS

Palm Beach 4, Fort Myers 2

Box Score

 

Starter Brett Lee came off the disabled list to make his first start of the season for the Miracle, and left the game down 4-0 after five innings. He surrendered the four runs on 11 hits, while striking out four.

 

It was a flurry of singles that caused problems for Lee in the fifth (and all game for the Miracle), when four walks led to three runs on the scoreboard.

 

Dereck Rodriguez made his Florida State League and 2015 season debut when he came on for the sixth inning. He pitched two innings of scoreless ball, allowing one hit and walking two, with two K's. Brandon Peterson allowed two hits while collecting the first two outs of eighth inning, before being replaced by Madison Boer who finished the game with 1.1 scoreless.

 

The Miracle scored both their runs in the sixth, when with two outs a Jason Kanzler single moved Chad Christensen to second. Logan Wade brought him home with a single of his own, and Marcus Knecht followed with a double to bring in Kanzler. The Miracle wouldn't collect another hit until there were two outs in the ninth inning when Mitch Garver singled to center. The next hitter, Bryan Haar flew out to left to end the game.

 

Despite all of the Cardinals hits being singles, the Miracle were outhit 14-7 and fell to 6-12 on the season. Palm Beach got a complete game effort from Jimmy Reed, who improved to 2-0.

 

 

KERNELS NUGGETS

Kane County 3, Cedar Rapids 2

Box Score

 

Cedar Rapids made a late effort to avoid a series sweep, but would left a runner in scoring position in the ninth to be handed a series sweep by rival Kane County.

 

Ricky Nolasco made the start in his first rehab appearance, and was solid in five innings. He allowed just one unearned run on three hits and zero walks. while striking out five. He completed his outing with a 1-2-3 fifth inning, with the final two hitters going down looking. A Tanner English error in center field in the first inning led to the only blemish in the run column.

 

The Kernels tied the game in the fifth, when Nick Gordon brought home English after he had singled and stole second base (his seventh of the year). This tied the game at one and made up for the early misplay.

 

It was then quiet until the seventh inning, when reliever Michael Theofanopoulus ran into some issues. A double from Fernery Ozuna put the Cougars up 2-1, and then two consecutive wild pitches brought him home to make it 3-1.

 

In the ninth inning Cedar Rapids had a chance after English led off the frame with his first home run of the year, making it 3-2. Zach Granite drew a walk and moved to second on a wild-pitch to put the tying run in scoring position, but a Max Murphy ground out ended the game.

 

English and Granite each collected two hits to lead the Cedar Rapids offense, but as a team the Miracle were just 1-11 with runners in scoring position and stranded twelve men on base.

 

 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY

 

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Pat Dean, Rochester Red Wings (W, 8.0IP, 1 R, 6 H’s, 2 BB, 7 K’s)

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Tanner English, Cedar Rapids Kernels (2-4, 2 R's, HR, RBI, SB)

 

MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Columbus @ Rochester (5:35 PM CST) – LHP Taylor Rogers (1-0, 2.37 ERA)

Chattanooga @ Tennessee (6:05 PM CST) – RHP J.O. Berrios (1-1, 3.94 ERA)

Fort Myers @ Tampa (6:06 PM CST) – LHP Luke Westphal (0-1, 5.40 ERA)

Cedar Rapids - Scheduled Day Off.

 

 

Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Sunday games.

 

Click here to view the article

[mudcat14]

Pinto for Vargas?  Oliveros for Stauffer, Boyer or Thielbar?  Need some pop in the middle of the order and some K's in the 'pen.

[h2oface]

It continues to amaze me how disappointing the Lookouts are with all the "great" prospects. 

The good news...... Nolasco can dominate at the low A level.

[benji21]

I've always wondered, and this isn't a shot at Nolasco, why major leaguers pitching in the minors don't completely demolish lower league hitters. I always expect a line like 7 IP, 3 hits 9 K. Anyway, another tough day on the farm.

[clutterheart]

 

It continues to amaze me how disappointing the Lookouts are with all the "great" prospects. 

The good news...... Nolasco can dominate at the low A level.

 

Patience!  The average age of a player in the Southern League is 24 years old, average age of a Southern League pitcher is 24 1/2 years old.  

Buxton is 21

Polanco is 21

Sano is 21

Kepler is 22 

Harrison is 22 

There is lots of rust to work off from the injured of last year and the younger guys have to adjust to the better pitching.

 

Maybe Twins prospects will never get a hit again and Twins fans will begin planning for the apocalypse.  But patience is warranted before we start filling the bathtubs full of water.

[gil4]

Rochester's offense brought all nine hitters in the lineup to the plate in the third

 

Yeah, but did they bat around?

 

 

[Mike Sixel]

Average age is not my favorite thing.....what is the average age of the actual good players? that's more important......but ya, they are youngish. 

[Seth Stohs]

 

Yeah, but did they bat around?

 

 

Yes... bat around = all 9 bat.

[Steven Buhr]

Video of Nolasco's media session after he pitched, if you're interested.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X_h10kQiSU&feature=player_detailpage

 

 

[Seth Stohs]

 

Video of Nolasco's media session after he pitched, if you're interested.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X_h10kQiSU&feature=player_detailpage

 

Thanks for sharing!

[Tibs]

Any way Dalton Hicks gets a chance if he keeps hitting? He is certainly off to a good start this year.

[Steven Buhr]

 

Any way Dalton Hicks gets a chance if he keeps hitting? He is certainly off to a good start this year.

 

He's come out of the gate on fire. I guess the, "if he keeps hitting," thing is the big part of your question. Pretty hard to imagine him continuing to hit at the pace he has been, but if he does, he'll certainly open some eyes and rocket up the prospect list for 1Bs.

 

Good guy, hard worker, who gets largely overlooked when people talk about Twins prospects. It would be great to see him succeed, but I suspect the organization will want to see him do so at AAA, in addition to AA, for an extended period before they give him a taste of the big leagues over some of the guys ahead of him in line.

[h2oface]

 

Yes... bat around = all 9 bat.

Ah.......... but I was always of the understanding that    

bat around = the batter that starts the inning gets to the plate again, or 10 plate appearances.

But maybe there is an inside joke going on here and "but did they bat around?" is a rhetorical question?

[jokin]

 

Ah.......... but I was always of the understanding that    

bat around = the batter that starts the inning gets to the plate again, or 10 plate appearances.

But maybe there is an inside joke going on here and "but did they bat around?" is a rhetorical question?

 

Search for the other thread in the non-Twins baseball discussion forum.

[h2oface]

 

Average age is not my favorite thing.....what is the average age of the actual good players? that's more important......but ya, they are youngish. 

I agree. It is well documented and understood what ages these guys are. If you are going to be great, age means nothing. They have all been playing ball for years and years. That is what concerns me. Matt Harvey was out for a year, and that didn't get him rusty.  The greats are rust resistant. All of baseball has anointed Buxton and Sano as "going to be great", and not just another top prospect. Buxton has been anointed 'Mike Trout great'. With Chattanooga as loaded as they are in addition to these two, the ball the Lookouts are playing still surprises and disappoints me. Even if I accept that patience is in order, and not overrated, I find it disappointing at this point.

Edited April 27, 2015 by h2oface

[Steven Buhr]

Guess I'm just not too worried about that Chattanooga group yet. I recall that when most of that group was in CR, they had a stretch to finish the first half of the season where they only won about 40% of their games over a 3 week period. Everybody seemed to slump at once. They slump, they start to press, they slump more. Eventually, the talent clicks back on.

 

I like that Mientkiewicz has been giving some guys two games in a row off when he rests them. Not sure if that's something he's always done or if it has to do with the 5-game series they play in that league or what, but getting a couple days off to just work in the cage and take some BP without stressing over game performance might be a good thing for some guys.

Edited April 27, 2015 by Steven BUHR

[Mike Sixel]

I'm not worried yet......just a bad tingly feeling in the back of my brain I'm trying to ignore.....because I bought into the HYPE on both. And Ryan indicated he felt Buxton would be up this year......so I got my hopes up. They aren't UP anymore, just kind of there.

[DAM DC Twins Fans]

Seth: 2 questions--you mentioned in your Ft. Myers story that 4 walks led to 3 runs in the 5th inning--but both box score and Ft. Myers release said that Brett Lee walked nobody.  (He did give up a bunch of hits and didn't get his usual high volume of ground outs.)  Also what was the reason he was on the DL--if you know--couldn't find out anything...

 

While Brett is not my AAP this year--I am still following him--hoping he moves up to Chattanooga--last night wont help.

[ShouldaCouldaWoulda]

I read in a few places that Nolasco's velocity was up from last year (90) and this year (89), to now being 92-94 in his rehab start. That has to be a flaw in the lower level ball park, right?!? No way he can all of a sudden gain velocity over a week or so, after declining last year, and in the offseason. Or, did they fix something with him; mechanics, a shot, therapy stuff, or other medical fix? This can't be due to just rest, as he wouldn't have been even tired at this point. I'm guessing faulty radar and exaggerated information.

[Steve Lein]

 

Seth: 2 questions--you mentioned in your Ft. Myers story that 4 walks led to 3 runs in the 5th inning--but both box score and Ft. Myers release said that Brett Lee walked nobody.  (He did give up a bunch of hits and didn't get his usual high volume of ground outs.)  Also what was the reason he was on the DL--if you know--couldn't find out anything...

 

While Brett is not my AAP this year--I am still following him--hoping he moves up to Chattanooga--last night wont help.

 

Hey, I wrote this one! Seth doesn't write all of these, guys, haha! He'd be WAY overloaded!!! Jeremy Nygaard, Cody Christie, and Eric Pleiss also contribute q;-)

 

Anyway, good catch on that. Not sure why it got changed here, it's not written that way in the original post on my own blog. It was the "flurry" of four singles that scored the runs, not walks.

 

I wasn't able to find anything out on Lee's injury, just that he was on the 7-day DL to start the season, was placed there on April 6th.

[h2oface]

 

Search for the other thread in the non-Twins baseball discussion forum.

I give up. Nothing comes up in a search for "bat around" in other baseball, all forums or articles. Something tells me I won't be missing anything, anyway.

 

I did find this, though, and I am solidly in the 10 batters camp.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/mlb-heres-a-perplexing-question-to-bat-around-1429571356

 

Edited April 28, 2015 by h2oface

[jokin]

 

I give up. Nothing comes up in a search for "bat around" in other baseball, all forums or articles. Something tells me I won't be missing anything, anyway.

 

I did find this, though, and I am solidly in the 10 batters camp.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/mlb-heres-a-perplexing-question-to-bat-around-1429571356

 

See here if you're missing something, or not-

 

 

http://twinsdaily.com/topic/17788-what-does-batting-around-mean/

 

 

[ashbury]

 

I give up. Nothing comes up in a search for "bat around" in other baseball, all forums or articles. Something tells me I won't be missing anything, anyway.

 

I did find this, though, and I am solidly in the 10 batters camp.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/mlb-heres-a-perplexing-question-to-bat-around-1429571356

I can't believe I didn't think to do this earlier in the discussion, but I looked up the term in The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, copyright way back in 1989. It has "bat around, v.: when all nine batters in a team's lineup come to bat during an inning. First reference: 1880, Chicago Inter Ocean, May 19."

 

It's just one source. But it's a source, and seemingly researched. I remain solidly in the 9 batters camp.

[mikelink45]

It is true that they are young and the pitchers are older, but the really good ones get to the bigs when they are young and I am having a difficult time finding a record of Twins getting young players to the majors and seeing them take off and succeed.  Beyond the Box Score had an article why has MLB been getting younger.  Could be an anamoly but the Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, George Springer examples are starting to become more prevalent than in the days when Griffey jr. surprised everyone. 

 

In Baseball prospectus an article called Overthinking it states: Grant promotions too early or too often, and they risk jeopardizing his future by burying him on the bench or subjecting him to the mental and physical rigors of major-league life before he’s equipped to handle them. Delay advancement too long, and they threaten to sabotage his development in a different way, blunting his talents against inferior competition while more expensive players with shorter shelf lives take up space on the big-league roster.

 

After some good graphs we get this eye-opening statement: As expected, the Twins led the pack in being slow to the bigs. Twins position-player call-ups accumulated an average of 2617 minor-league PA before making it to the Metrodome, roughly 200 more than the next-highest organization (the Angels) and a full season’s worth of action above average.

 

For all of us who think the wait has been too long, this says a lot.  Trying to remember that these reports are about a lot more than Buxton and Sano there are a lot of things to think about - like new management  (not manager) at the top.

[h2oface]

 

See here if you're missing something, or not-

 

 

http://twinsdaily.com/topic/17788-what-does-batting-around-mean/

Thanks..... I got to bolster the 10 camps lead in the poll. I find it weird that the search engine won't find the article with bat around, but it will with batting around. It seems that it should have come up with it for bat around, too.

[h2oface]

 

I can't believe I didn't think to do this earlier in the discussion, but I looked up the term in The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, copyright way back in 1989. It has "bat around, v.: when all nine batters in a team's lineup come to bat during an inning. First reference: 1880, Chicago Inter Ocean, May 19."

 

It's just one source. But it's a source, and seemingly researched. I remain solidly in the 9 batters camp.

Well.... nuclear is now nucular because a president said it.......... and then there is the new accepted definition of literally to also mean the opposite, figuratively. Nothing is safe is something can also mean its opposite. If enough people say it is so, even if it is wrong, it becomes the meaning these days. It looks like 10 is in the lead in the poll here on Twins Daily. Lookout. (Don't even get me started on the silent t in often......... so many said it wrong and pronounced the 't' that it became an accepted alternate pronunciation. just ax all those that say it that way. Jeff Daniels says it right (silent), and he is dumber 2.)

http://www.salon.com/2013/08/22/according_to_the_dictionary_literally_now_also_means_figuratively_newscred/

 

sorry.......... back to the minor league report.