Article: Twins Minor League Report (8/6): Kohl Stewart Wins!

[Eric R Pleiss]

It was a beautiful Saturday across the upper Midwest. There was a full slate of games in the Twins system. While there weren't any standout performances there were a lot of players worthy of recognition on this night.

 

Please feel free to ask questions about anything you read today or anything in the Twins farm system in the comments.Continue reading to find out more detail about Saturday in the Twins farm system:

 

 

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester @ Lehigh Valley IronPigs

Box Score

 

Kind of a forgettable night for the Red Wings, except for Trevor Plouffe, who played first base and hit third. He was 2-4 with a home run, a double and a pair of RBIs. Unfortunately the rest of the Red Wings went a combined 1-26 with 12 strikeouts. Byung Ho Park was 0-4 with a pair of strikeouts.

 

Starter Andrew Albers was tagged with his fifth loss of the year to fall to 9-5 after four innings of five-run ball. He gave up eight hits, walked three, and didn't bother to strike anyone out. He also gave up a pair of home runs. D.J. Baxendale pitched great in relief, giving up just a pair of hits over 3.0 scoreless innings. J.T.Chargois gave up two runs (one earned) in the eighth inning to finish things up for the Red Wings staff.

 

Final: Red Wings 2, IronPigs 7

 

 

LOOKOUTS LOOK-IN

Jacksonville Suns @ Chattanooga

Box Score

 

Chattanooga scored all of their runs in one inning, putting a three-spot on the board in the bottom of the sixth. That sixth inning included a Levi Michael triple, a hit batsman, a sacrifice bunt that left the bunter on second base, a single, a pitching change, a stolen base, a strikeout, a ground out, a walk, another stolen base, and it finally ended with a strikeout of the eighth man in the inning to bat.

 

Starter Kohl Stewart picked up the win to move to 6-5 with eight innings of solid work. Stewart struck out just two and walked four and gave up seven hits, including a home run, but yielded just two runs. Jake Reed came on for the ninth and pitched a 1-2-3 inning to earn his third save of the year.

 

Final: Jacksonville 2, Lookouts 3

 

 

MIRACLE MATTERS

Fort Myers @ Charlotte Stone Crabs

Box Score

 

The Miracle used a three-run first to get out in front of the Stone Crabs, but then did not score again. Their pitching staff gave up a pair of runs in the bottom half of the first, another run in the second, and fell behind after giving up another run in the third. They would give up one more run in the eighth, to give Charlotte some insurance.

 

No Miracle hitter had more than one hit, but DH Tanner English (hitting leadoff) picked up three walks as part of an 0-2 night and T.J. White hit a two-run home run as part of that three-run first inning.

 

Starting pitcher Fernando Romero pitched only three innings, giving up five hits, four runs, three earned, with two walks, one strike out and zero home runs (if only he had managed to pitch 6 innings we'd have a lovely 6/5/4/3/2/1/0 line). Todd Van Steensel gave the Miracle 2.1 scoreless innings, Randy Rosario did the same over 1.2, and then Luke Bard gave up a run in the eighth to end the night.

 

Final: Miracle 3, Stone Crabs 5

 

 

KERNELS KORNER

Peoria Chiefs @ Cedar Rapids

Box Score

 

Christian Ibarra (2-4 with a home run, a walk, and two runs scored) led the way for the Kernels in defeat, and Nelson Molina (3-4 with an RBI) helped out, but otherwise the Kernels bats were quiet, garnering just one more hit from the rest of the team.

 

Starter Lachlan Wells earned a no-decision despite leaving after seven innings while down three runs when the Kernels rallied to tie the game in the eighth. Reliever Logan Lombana pitched a scoreless eighth. Unfortunately the Chiefs got to reliever Anthony McIver in his second frame, the tenth inning, giving up three runs on three hits and a pair of walks. He struck out one.

 

 

Final: Chiefs 7, Kernels 4

 

 

E-TWINS E-NOTES

Elizabethton @ Johnson City Cardinals

Box Score

 

Not much doing in Elizabethton as the Twins lost by three runs (and committed three errors), despite out-hitting the Cardinals 9-6. The Twins didn't manage any extra- base hits, just 9 singles. Lewin Diaz was 2-4 and Roberto Gonzalez was also 2-4, the only hitters with multiple hits. Twins starter Sean Poppen fell to 2-3 with the loss, pitching 5.0 innings giving up six hits, five runs, four earned. He struck out four, walked two and gave up a home run. He was replaced by Austin Tribby and eventually Tribby gave way to Quin Grogan. The two relievers combined to throw 3.0 innings of no-hit baseball, but the game was already out of hand.

 

Final: E-Twins 2, Cardinals 5

 

 

 

GCL TWINS TALK

GCL Red Sox @ GCL Twins

Box Score

 

Ten hits for the GCL Twins, including a 3-4 night from Justin Hazard (great name), which included a double. Heiker Meneses had a nice night as well, going 2-4 with a walk.

 

Bo Hellquist had a nice start, giving up one run over 6.0 innings. He gave up five hits, walked no one and struck out a pair. Callan Pearce was tagged with the loss giving up a run in 2.1 innings or relief. Garrett Kelly recorded the final two outs of the night and gave up a run as well.

 

Final: GCL Red Sox 3, GCL Twins 2

 

 

DSL TWINS TAKES

DSL Twins @ DSL D-backs2

Box Score

 

The DSL Twins pitched a one-hitter, giving up a double to the leadoff batter in the bottom of the ninth inning. I'm not sure what happened, and sometimes weird things happen in the DSL, but despite not recording any outs in the bottom half of the ninth inning, the game ended after the double. Juan Mojica pitched six innings of no-hit ball, walked one, and struck out six to start the night for the Twins. Frandy Torres pitched two more hitless innings, and then Amilcar Cruz gave up the only hit of the game, that leadoff double in the bottom of the ninth.

 

Four DSL Twins had 2-4 nights, as the Twins racked up 11 hits and two walks against just four strike outs. Darling Cuesto and Antonio Tovar each had identical 2-4 nights with a run scored, a double, and an RBI. Jorge Parra was 1-3 with a double and three RBIs.

 

Final: DSL Twins 6, DSL D-backs2 0

 

 

 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY

 

Hitter of the Day - Trevor Plouffe, Rochester Red Wings

Pitchers of the Day - DSL Twins Staff

 

 

SUNDAY'S PROBABLES

 

Rochester - Jason Wheeler (9-2, 2.81)

Chattanooga - Omar Bencomo (3-6, 4.41)

Fort Myers - Dereck Rodriguez (Fort Myers Debut)

Cedar Rapids - Tyler Beardsley (Cedar Rapids Debut)

E-Twins - TBD

GCL Twins - OFF

DSL Twins - OFF

 

Please ask questions and discuss the Saturday games.

 

-ERolf

 

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[clutterheart]

Romero:

Is he throwing his off speed pitches? Or is he throwing a superior FB and getting single A hitters out?

This is the first time i remember him struggling this year. Hope he bounces back.

[Pitz]

Victor Tademo's DSL performance seems worthy of mention. He went 2-4, stole 3 bases and scored 3 runs.

[Jballer]

Baxendale, 3 IP, 2 hits, 0 R, 4 k, 0 bb

[Jham]

Is it safe to say that Kohl Stewart's stuff will never translate into strike out ability?  He showed a little glimpse, the way Gibson showed a glimpse last year, but really, he seems pretty highly ranked in prospect lists but the lack of K's would indicate a fairly low ceiling as he gets closer to the big leagues, I would think.

[Mr. Brooks]

Is it safe to say that Kohl Stewart's stuff will never translate into strike out ability? He showed a little glimpse, the way Gibson showed a glimpse last year, but really, he seems pretty highly ranked in prospect lists but the lack of K's would indicate a fairly low ceiling as he gets closer to the big leagues, I would think.

Yeah I'd say Gibson is probably a pretty good comp for him, actually.

[goulik]

With 8 innings I would think Kohl Stewart worthy of pitcher of the day...

[Mr. Brooks]

With 8 innings I would think Kohl Stewart worthy of pitcher of the day...

He gave up 11 baserunners. That's a pretty messy start. Combined 1 hitter for the DSL Twins, I think that's the right call.

[twinssouth]

I was looking at Stewart's stat line for the game. It just seems very workmanlike which is not bad. He never seemed to have been in trouble. He pitches 8 innings, throws 103 pitches, gets 12 groundouts to 3 fly outs, faced 32 batters. Only gave up 7 hits, he did walk 4 but only gave up 2 runs on just 2 strike outs. It almost seemed like he was toying with the batters like try to hit this. And if they did, he would just get a ground out on the next batter.

 

 

 

There maybe similarities to Gibson but Stewart just seems to have more talent. It seems like he's pitching based on how the game is going and what the hitters are giving him. I maybe under estimating him. I have a hunch that if he wanted, he could raise his stike outs but probably didn't see the need. Or, it could also mean he didn't have his best stuff last night but still got great results. Based on this, he should have been pitcher of the day. I'm going to try to not get hung up with his SO's from here on out.

[Bob Sacamento]

GCL notes on 8/6:

 

Bo Hellquist threw the ball well, his 3/4 delivery slings across his body allowing his 84-88mph FB to play up with good run in on RHH.  His curveball was on as well at 73-75mph with good slow bend.  As a lefty with his delivery, to a LHH the ball seems two feet behind your head.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2i87BVb2q0

 

RHP Callan Pearce FB was 88-91mph

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k68x59uuWjY

 

Aaron "Whitey" Whitefield hitting 8/5 and 8/6:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--INojZU0CA

[Seth Stohs]

I love the balance that Whitefield shows in the videos, even with the leg kick.