Article: Twins Minor League Report (5/14): Kepler, Granite Remain On Fire

[Seth Stohs]

On Thursday in the Minnesota Twins minor league system, there were some really strong offensive performances. The pitching wasn’t on par with Wednesday when three starting pitchers threw at least six innings of shutout baseball. However, one starter looks like he could be turning his season around in a positive way.RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 5, Lehigh Valley 6 (11 innings)

Box Score

 

Alex Meyer was back on the mound. Though the results weren’t great, it was certainly a step in the right direction, an improvement. The right-hander gave up five runs (just three earned) on seven hits. He walked two and struck out four. His fourth strikeout was the first out in the seventh inning. He walked the next batter and was removed from the game. Logan Darnell came in and gave up a single. Mark Hamburger replaced him and gave up two hits, one allowing a run, the other resulted in a runner thrown out at the plate. Tim Stauffer continued his rehab. He threw two quick, scoreless innings and struck out one. Caleb Thielbar pitched a scoreless tenth inning, but the takes the loss after giving up one in the 11^th.

 

Reynaldo Rodriguez went 2-5 with his third home run. Jose Martinez was also 2-5 with his first home run. Eric Farris went 2-5. Josmil Pinto hit his fourth double.

 

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 5, Birmingham 1

Box Score

 

Greg Peavey’s season couldn’t have started much worse. Through his first five starts (22.1 innings) he had 10.48 ERA and opponents had a 1.048 OPS off of him. In his last start, he gave up just one run over five innings. On Thursday night, he continued that positive trend. He gave up just one run on four hits over seven innings. He walked none and struck out three. Zack Jones finished things up with two scoreless innings in relief. He struck out two.

 

Max Kepler continued to rake. He went 2-4 with his seventh and eighth doubles. Travis Harrison went 2-3 with a walk and his league-leading 11^th double. Mike Gonzales went 2-3 with a walk. Adam Brett Walker hit his first triple of the season.

 

One To Watch: In his last 12 games, Kepler is hitting .422/.447/.622 (1.069) with seven doubles and a triple. In his current six-game hitting streak – during which he has four multi-hit games – he is hitting .522/.522/.826 (1.348) with seven doubles.

 

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers 3, Dunedin 6

Box Score

 

Ryan Eades has been very good this season, but he had a clunker on Thursday night. He gave up six runs in the game’s first two innings. He did settle down and gave up only those six over five innings. He gave up ten hits, walked three and struck out two. Alex Muren came on and struck out three in two scoreless innings. Todd Van Steensel then struck out two more over the final two innings.

 

The Miracle bats came to play. They had 11 hits and walked four times. However, they were only able to muster three runs in the game. Jason Kanzler went 2-5 and hit his third home run of the season. Zach Granite went 2-4 with a walk and his first FSL double. Alex Swim’s 16-game hitting streak came to an end on Wednesday, but he started a new one. He went 2-5 in this one. Mitch Garver went 2-3 with a walk. Logan Wade was 2-4 with his sixth double.

 

One To Watch: Earlier this week, the Minnesota Twins named Zach Granite their minor league hitter of the month for April. In 19 games with Cedar Rapids in April, he hit .358/.463/.463 (.925) with five doubles and a triple. He also walked 12 times while striking out just six times. When the calendar changed to May, he was promoted to Ft. Myers. He had just one hit in his first 14 at bats (three games) with the Miracle, but since then, he has been terrific. In ten games since, he is hitting .425/.500/.525 (1.025) with a double and his first professional home run.

 

 

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids, Peoria (Game Suspended in fourth inning)

Box Score

 

There was rain at Perfect Game Field at Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids most of the day. The tarp was removed from the field about thirty minutes before game time. They were able to get through three innings, but in the top of the fourth, the rains came and the game was suspended. It will continue where it left off next Monday in Peoria before their regularly-scheduled game.

 

Stephen Gonsalves started and gave up two first-inning runs. Through four innings, he gave up just those two runs on four hits. He walked none and struck out four. Trey Vavra gave the Kernels a lead in the second inning when he launched his fourth home run of the season, a three-run shot. Tanner English had a triple and a walk in the game.

 

 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

 

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Greg Peavey, Chattanooga Lookouts

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Reynaldo Rodriguez, Rochester Red Wings; Jose Martinez, Rochester Red Wings; Jason Kanzler, Ft. Myers Miracle

 

FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

 

Lehigh Valley @ Rochester (6:05 CST) – LHP Jason Wheeler

Chattanooga @ Birmingham (7:05 CST) – RHP DJ Baxendale

Ft. Myers @ Jupiter (5:35 CST) – LHP Brett Lee

Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 CST) – RHP Michael Cederoth

 

 

LEADERBOARD

Be sure to check back on Saturday morning to see who is leading the Twins organization in many of the statistical categories.

 

 

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

 

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[tobi0040]

Over his last five starts, Meyer has shown pretty good control.  10 BB's in 26 IP.  Four of those were in one start (he had 11 in his first two starts).  That is a rate of 3.7 per 9 in his last five, but he has been very hittable this year.  44 hits in 34 innings.  I wonder if he is constantly behind in the count and grooving his fastball a lot? It is still hard to imagine his grooved fastball at 97 giving up that many hits to AAA hitters.  But that is what the folks at fangraphs are telling me.

 

He has never given up a ton of hits, so hopefully if he keeps the BB's in check the numbers will normalize for him.

Edited May 15, 2015 by tobi0040

[GMinTraining]

Walkers bat is becoming more and more noticeable to me with the addition of his latest triple.  He has 18 XBH in 32 games.  Not bad for the start of a season considering he has so much work to do with improving his strike zone recognition.

 

.311 ISO & a .384 w/OBA  -  

 

Between Walker, Kepler, Buxton, and Harrison, the Twins have an XBH factory brewing in their lower level outfield.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/library/offense/

 

This Fangraph glossary does a great job of qualifying what each of these saber metric statistics represents  in the grand scheme of things.  The above two say a lot to me. 

[gunnarthor]

Really nice to see Kepler coming along.  

[Mike Sixel]

Always been a Kepler fan! So happy to see him healthy and producing.

[ExpectMorePayLess]

 

Walkers bat is becoming more and more noticeable to me with the addition of his latest triple.  He has 18 XBH in 32 games.  

 

Best in Southern League.

[Tibs]

Let's pretend that Max Kepler is still hitting well halfway through the season. Does being on the 40 man give him a chance of being on the Twins before September?

 

His case is interesting to me as he was placed on the 40 man well before he was major league ready.

[ExpectMorePayLess]

 

Always been a Kepler fan! So happy to see him healthy and producing.

Sweetest swing out there

[Tibs]

Over his last five starts, Meyer has shown pretty good control. 10 BB's in 26 IP. Four of those were in one start (he had 11 in his first two starts). That is a rate of 3.7 per 9 in his last five, but he has been very hittable this year. 44 hits in 34 innings. I wonder if he is constantly behind in the count and grooving his fastball a lot? It is still hard to imagine his grooved fastball at 97 giving up that many hits to AAA hitters. But that is what the folks at fangraphs are telling me.

 

He has never given up a ton of hits, so hopefully if he keeps the BB's in check the numbers will normalize for him.

I guess my question is how much is his BB stat being affected by all the hits he is giving up?

[Eephus]

I'm becoming fascinated with Alex Swim and his singles hitting prowess -- 44 singles, 2 doubles. He doesn't strike out much. He doesn't walk much. He hits for almost no power. Interesting hitter. What's his approach?

[James]

 

Always been a Kepler fan! So happy to see him healthy and producing.

Yeah, it's great to see him put some things together so far this year.  I've been a big fan of him since they signed him as well.  Very interesting prospect.  

 

Let's pretend that Max Kepler is still hitting well halfway through the season. Does being on the 40 man give him a chance of being on the Twins before September?

His case is interesting to me as he was placed on the 40 man well before he was major league ready.

 

I'm not sure that he ends up playing on the team before September.  It would probably take a few injuries for that to happen, but I guess it could be possible.  I can't imagine that he keeps this pace up, but if continues to hit decently and keeps showing some power, I could definitely see him earning a September call up.  If that is the case, he'd have his first taste of the big league at the age of 22!  Not too shabby.  

[amjgt]

Kepler could always get the "Polanco treatment" for a  few days if the Twins find themselves in a injury/suspension pinch.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Sweetest swing out there

 

I would agree with this. 

[Seth Stohs]

 

I'm becoming fascinated with Alex Swim and his singles hitting prowess -- 44 singles, 2 doubles. He doesn't strike out much. He doesn't walk much. He hits for almost no power. Interesting hitter. What's his approach?

 

Teammates marvel at his batter's eye. They say he just doesn't swing at pitches that aren't strikes. When I saw him, I see a guy with a very sweet swing (Kepler-esque). I actually saw him crush a double to the gap in right-center in a spring training game. 

[Steven Buhr]

I'm wondering... Gonsalves only threw 4 innings last night because of the suspension due to weather. The game will be picked up on Monday in Peoria with CR hitting in the bottom of the 4th.

 

That would be Gonsalves' 4th day since his start. Keeping in mind, the Kernels use a 6 man rotation, he would probably be doing a bullpen session on Monday anyway, would they consider letting him go ahead and pitch a couple of innings (maybe the 5th and 6th) in the game when it resumes?

 

His next scheduled start would be Wednesday, also at Peoria.

 

I'm guessing the answer is, "no," since they have guys like Zach Tillery who can give them several innings in relief in these situations, but it was just a thought.

[amjgt]

I'd rather have him pitch in the full game that's being played that day. Then, he would have started two games that were completed on the same day.

[h2oface]

The AAA roster is looking bleak right now. I mean, other than some pitchers and Pinto, who in yesterday's box is excepted or hoped to ever be a part of the major league lineup? Not as perhaps emergency replacement players, but in the lineup?

Meyer is down to 2 walks and only 4 Ks in 6.1 innings. So great. Maybe by the time they promote him they can get his Ks down even further. 

[Seth Stohs]

 

I'm wondering... Gonsalves only threw 4 innings last night because of the suspension due to weather. The game will be picked up on Monday in Peoria with CR hitting in the bottom of the 4th.

 

That would be Gonsalves' 4th day since his start. Keeping in mind, the Kernels use a 6 man rotation, he would probably be doing a bullpen session on Monday anyway, would they consider letting him go ahead and pitch a couple of innings (maybe the 5th and 6th) in the game when it resumes?

 

His next scheduled start would be Wednesday, also at Peoria.

 

I'm guessing the answer is, "no," since they have guys like Zach Tillery who can give them several innings in relief in these situations, but it was just a thought.

 

I also would guess that the answer would be no. That said, let's see how Friday, Saturday and sunday go. ha!

[gbg]

I see that Chih-Wei Hu is being sent to Rochester to make a spot start for the Red Wings tonight. Should be fun to see how he fares!