Article: Twins Minor League Report (4/28): Transactions And Tough Losses

[Seth Stohs]

On Thursday, all four Minnesota Twins minor league affiliates won their games. Things weren’t so favorable for the teams on Friday, however. All four teams lost their games. Three of them were blowouts, and the other was a tough extra-innings loss. But there were several silver linings including a nice AAA start for Adalberto Mejia, his first since his demotion.Find out everything that happened in a busy day in the Twins minor league system, starting with a whole bunch of transactions.

 

 

TRANSACTIONS

Friday was a busy day in terms of transactions throughout the Twins organization. Here is a quick rundown:

• Hector Santiago placed on bereavement list.
• LHP Buddy Boshers recalled to Twins.
• RHP JT Chargois placed on the Rochester DL (elbow impingement)
• LHP Nik Turley added to the Rochester roster.
• RHP Randy LeBlanc added to the Chattanooga roster.
• RHP Chris Anderson added to the Ft. Myers roster.
• LHP Domenick Carlini added to the Cedar Rapids roster.
• RHP Quin Grogan sent from Cedar Rapids to extended spring training.

 

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 1, Louisville 2 (10 innings)

Box Score

 

Adalberto Mejia made his first start for the Red Wings since being demoted from the Twins. And he was terrific. The left-hander struck out the side in the first inning. He went seven shutout innings and gave up just two hits. He struck out six without issuing a walk. Raul Fernandez came on. He gave up one run on two hits over two innings. Trevor Hildenberger came on for the tenth inning. He gave up a run on two hits to take the loss.

 

The Red Wings bats did little in the game. They managed just four hits, though they did take seven walks. However, they just weren’t able to come up with any big run-scoring hits. Ehire Adrianza, who started in left field for the second straight game, drove in the lone run with an eighth inning single. Bengie Gonzalez had two hits. Mitch Garver walked twice.

 

 

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 3, Jackson 10

Box Score

 

Randy LeBlanc was called up early in the day and made his first start. In 21 innings over his first three starts in Ft. Myers, he gave up just one run. With the Miracle last year, he posted a 4.70 ERA, but he ended last season with ten shutout innings with the Lookouts. So, how did his initial 2017 start in AA go? Well, not quite so well. The right-hander from Tulane gave up eight runs on eight hits and three walks in just two innings.

 

Randy Rosario came on and gave up one run on three hits and two walks in three innings. Mason Melotakis came on and threw two more scoreless innings in relief. That pushes his streak to 10.2 innings to start his season. Nick Burdi came in for the eighth inning, having started the season with 7.1 scoreless inning. The first batter of the inning, Colin Walsh, ended the streak with a solo home run. But Burdi got the next three batters out.

 

LaMonte Wade led the offense. He went 3-4 with just his first double of the season. Engelb Vielma went 2-4 with his fifth double. Dan Gamache went 2-4.

 

 

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers 4, Dunedin 8

Box Score

 

It was another rough start for Keaton Steele. The right-hander went the first four innings. He gave up seven runs on nine hits. He walked four and struck out just one. Williams Ramirez came on and struck out three over two shutout innings. He gave up a hit and walked two. Jonny Drozd came on and gave up a run on two hits over two innings. He struck out three. Michael Theofanopoulos worked a scoreless inning.

 

Max Murphy had a strong game. He went 2-3 with two walks and his third double. Chris Paul also had two hits in the game. Kevin Garcia went 1-2 with a walk and a sacrifice fly. Nelson Molina added his first double.

 

 

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 2, Peoria 5

Box Score

 

Domenick Carlini made a start for the Kernels last week, then was sent back to extended spring. Quin Grogan pitched a bit out of relief, but before this game, Carlini was added to the roster to make another start. The left-hander gave up five runs on five hits and four walks over 3.2 innings. He struck out one. Logan Lombana came on and gave up three hits and a walk but no runs over 2.1 innings. He struck out three. Max Cordy then struck out three over two scoreless innings. He walked two and gave up one hit.

 

Jermaine Palacios stayed hot. The shortstop went 3-5 in the game to bump his batting average up to .395. Jaylin Davis went 2-3 with a walk. Travis Blankenhorn and Aaron Whitefield each hit their fifth doubles of the season. Blankenhorn and Ben Rortvedt had the two RBIs for the Kernels.

 

 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

 

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Adalberto Mejia, Rochester Red Wings

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Max Murphy, Ft. Myers Miracle

 

 

SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

 

Louisville @ Rochester (12:35 CST) - RHP Aaron Slegers

Chattanooga @ Jackson - (6:05 CST) - RHP Kohl Stewart

Dunedin @ Ft. Myers (5:05 CST) - LHP Lachlan Wells

Cedar Rapids @ Peoria (6:30 CST) - RHP Clark Beeker

 

Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Friday night’s games.

 

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[Old Twins Cap]

Working Adrianza out in LF at AAA.  Stellar shortstop, so this is looking precarious for Danny Santana as a Minnesota Twin.

 

May the best man win.

[ashbury]

Adalberto Mejia made his first start for the Red Wings since being demoted from the Twins. And he was terrific. The left-hander struck out the side in the first inning.

Too often writers use a watered-down version of "struck out the side". The pitcher can give up a double, and later walk a guy, but as long as all three outs are shown as 'K' in the scoresheet, he struck out the side. Not so, in this case. Three up. Three down. And, even better, all three were of the swinging variety on strike three. No Anthony Slama Syndrome here.

 

Now I wanna see the scoresheet, to know how many pitches that inning.

[FormerMinnasotan]

Not surprised that LeBlanc struggled against tougher competition. To me LeBlanc is one of those pitchers that does good against lower competition despite weak strikeout numbers. Just look at last year, dominated at Cedar Rapids and struggled quite a bit in Ft Myers.

[rdehring]

Any recent news on Thorpe, Seth?

 

I assume he is pitching a limited number of innings in EST.  Any inside information on how he is doing or where he is likely headed once assigned to a team?  What do you think, 100 innings limit in 2017?  Or will it be less?  Do you know how many innings a week he is throwing in EST?

 

For a team that needs pitching as badly as the Twins, I once believed Thorpe was their best internal prospect.  But that was before he missed two years to injuries.   Maybe the Twins and Thorpe will get lucky and he will get back on track to what he might have been.  Thanks Seth.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Working Adrianza out in LF at AAA.  Stellar shortstop, so this is looking precarious for Danny Santana as a Minnesota Twin.

 

May the best man win.

 

They're giving him a shot in the outfield. If he can be OK out there, i think he's got a good shot. 

[Seth Stohs]

 

Not surprised that LeBlanc struggled against tougher competition. To me LeBlanc is one of those pitchers that does good against lower competition despite weak strikeout numbers. Just look at last year, dominated at Cedar Rapids and struggled quite a bit in Ft Myers.

 

 

I wouldn't make too much out of this one start... just like i wouldn't make too much out of his 10 shutout innings in AA last year. He's somewhere in between.

[ThejacKmp]

 

Not surprised that LeBlanc struggled against tougher competition. To me LeBlanc is one of those pitchers that does good against lower competition despite weak strikeout numbers. Just look at last year, dominated at Cedar Rapids and struggled quite a bit in Ft Myers.

 

He is 21 and has shown an ability to adjust.

[ThejacKmp]

Time to get Engelb Vielma up to AAA. He's now got 110 games at Chattanooga with a .684 OPS. There's no one blocking him at AAA (Gonzalez is organizational filler and Adrianza is headed to the majors in the next few days) and Vielma and Gordon both need to be playing SS 75% of the time.

 

Time to see if he can hit AAA pitching. If he holds his own, the Twins have a really nice shortstop ready to take over if they trade Dozier and move Polanco to 2B. He may just keep it warm for Gordon but at the least he's a nice utility option (if not trade bait if he shows he can hit on an MLB level).

[Darius]

Good for Mejia. That's got to feel good after the demotion.

 

Also good to see Melotakis and Burdi putting things together.

 

It would sure be nice to see those 3, and Berrios up with the big club at some point this year. The talent is there for those guys, and I think these guys could have sustained big league success once they're ready.

 

Ideally, I'd like to run out a rotation of Santana, Santiago, Gibson/Hughes (only one of the two), Berrios, and Mejia. That's a respectable rotation in terms of "stuff." Then, get Burdi and Melo in 7th/8th inning roles (instead of guy like Belisle, who really have no business there).

 

I know it's not going to happen tomorrow, but if this team is going to be in contention down the stretch, they need an infusion of arm talent, and get fewer innings for some of these guys who need "guile" to get them through a few innings before the inevitable meltdown.

[Deduno Abides]

They're giving him a shot in the outfield. If he can be OK out there, i think he's got a good shot.

 

Adrianza saved Mejia's shutout by throwing out a fast runner at the plate, who was running from second on a single.

[Seth Stohs]

 

He is 21 and has shown an ability to adjust.

 

Randy LeBlanc just turned 25. He's not young. But he had TJ in college. 

[John Kelsey]

Lamonte Wade kind of reminds me of a slightly slower Denard Span. 

[KirbyDaisy]

Seth, is Palacios good enough to stick at short long term?