Article: Twins Minor League Report (5/1): Murphy, Rodriguez Lead Miracle

[Seth Stohs]

Monday was a pretty quiet day in the Twins organization. The big news might have been that former Twins GM and long-time Twins executive Bill Smith was hired as an Assistant to the President and CEO of Minor League Baseball, Pat O’Conner. As you know he did a ton of work for the Twins organization, establishing the minor league academy in Ft. Myers and recently the new academy in the Dominican Republic.

 

Jose Berrios was named the Pitcher of the Week in the International League for the second time in three weeks. Outfielder Max Murphy was named the Player of the Week in the Florida State League. And, if you missed it, Miguel Sano was named the American League Hitter of the Week.The Twins had an off day on Monday. So did the Rochester Red Wings and the Cedar Rapids Kernels. But Chattanooga played an early game and the Miracle had a very nice win in the evening. Find out more of what happened in the Twins system on Monday.

 

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester

Box Score

 

No Game Scheduled.

 

 

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 5, Jackson 2

Box Score

 

The Lookouts played an afternoon game, a get-away day before an off day on Tuesday. They were able to leave Jackson with a win.

 

Felix Jorge improved to 3-1 on the season. The right-hander gave up two runs on seven hits and three walks in six innings. He struck out two. Luke Bard came on and struck out three over two perfect innings. Mason Melotakis - our choice for Twins Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Month - tossed another scoreless inning to earn his third save. He now has thrown 11.2 scoreless innings to start the season.

 

Edgar Corcino certainly helped the team to a win. He had an RBI double, his fifth of the season. He also gave the Lookouts some cushion in the ninth with a run-scoring sacrifice fly. Dan Gamache drove in a run in the ninth inning also on a 2-5 day from the third baseman. Engelb Vielma went 2-5. Levi Michael had a strong game. He went 1-2 with two walks and his second double. Nick Gordon went 1-3 with two walks.

 

 

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers 4, Daytona 1

Box Score

 

On Monday, Max Murphy was named the Florida State League Player of the Week. His first game of the new week was pretty good too. The outfielder from Minnesota went 3-4 with his fifth double and first triple. He was a homer shy of a cycle.

 

Shane Kennedy went 2-4 with his first home run and two RBIs. It was his first home run in affiliated ball, in just his second game. The utility player played for three colleges including his two final college seasons at Clemson. Undrafted, he spent the 2016 season playing for Southern Illinois of the Frontier League where he hit .363/.465/.513 (.978) with 24 doubles and five homers. The Twins signed the 25-year-old this spring to a minor league deal. He went to extended spring training but was called up to the Miracle on Sunday.

 

Dereck Rodriguez was terrific again. The right-hander gave up just one run on five hits in seven innings. He walked one and struck out six. It gave him his first win of the season and dropped his ERA to 2.78. Williams Ramirez pitched a perfect eighth inning. Nick Anderson recorded his first save with a perfect ninth inning which included two strikeouts.

 

 

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids

Box Score

 

No Game Scheduled.

 

 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

 

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Dereck Rodriguez, Ft. Myers Miracle

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

 

 

TUESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

 

Rochester @ Buffalo (5:05 CST) - LHP David Hurlbut

Chattanooga - No Game Scheduled

Daytona @ Ft. Myers (5:35 CST) - RHP Cody Stashak

Lake County @ Cedar Rapids - RHP Eddie Del Rosario

 

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

 

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[NoCryingInBaseball]

 Max Murphy seems to come up a lot lately, is he for real or streaky and in teh middle of a hot streak?

[Seth Stohs]

 

 Max Murphy seems to come up a lot lately, is he for real or streaky and in teh middle of a hot streak?

 

I'd say his career has been pretty streaky. He moved up to Ft. Myers middle of last year, so maybe he's just making that adjustment... that's certainly possible. Or, it was a nice 10-day stretch. So hard to know. 

[Dman]

Mad Max is back!  I had totally given up on him as he has had some pretty brutal stats for the last year and a half.  Hopefully he got rid of the hitch in his swing and can get back to smacking the ball around like he did when he first started in MILB.

[big dog]

#Free Max Murphy!

 

Been a while since I got to write that.

[Clear Lake Twinsfan]

What were the corresponding moves that opened up the spots for Kennedy and Granite to be added to the Miracle roster?

[nater79a]

I noticed that Chattanooga, and the Southern League in general, has a lot of weekend series that carry over into Monday. Do they schedule longer series because of the distance between cities and the long bus rides? Cuts down on travel over the course of a season?

[biscuit]

Please pardon my ignorance.  Is there any news on Byung-Ho (Sp?) Park's rehab from pulled hammy?

[ashbury]

Mad Max is back!  I had totally given up on him as he has had some pretty brutal stats for the last year and a half.  Hopefully he got rid of the hitch in his swing and can get back to smacking the ball around like he did when he first started in MILB.

He's the kind of hitter you don't give up on, IMO, until he's had absolutely every opportunity. The ability to really punish a pitch when it's where and how you want it isn't there for just everybody. I remember at Spring Training a couple of years ago, I arrived at the back field to see someone power a ball over the right field fence. "That's Murphy, right?", I asked one of the young men in a Twins uniform on the aluminum bleachers, to confirm what I thought without a roster sheet in hand. "Yeah. He can hit," the guy said in genuine admiration. The players know. That doesn't guarantee success of course; there are a lot of Max Murphys out there, and most still don't make it. Age 24 in high-A isn't good, but still they should stick with him.

[clutterheart]

 

I noticed that Chattanooga, and the Southern League in general, has a lot of weekend series that carry over into Monday. Do they schedule longer series because of the distance between cities and the long bus rides? Cuts down on travel over the course of a season?

 

Southern League Series are often 5 games at once.  I would guess its cheaper

[Seth Stohs]

 

Please pardon my ignorance.  Is there any news on Byung-Ho (Sp?) Park's rehab from pulled hammy?

 

There hasn't been much. He's in Ft. Myers, and that's really all we know.

[Seth Stohs]

 

I noticed that Chattanooga, and the Southern League in general, has a lot of weekend series that carry over into Monday. Do they schedule longer series because of the distance between cities and the long bus rides? Cuts down on travel over the course of a season?

 

All Southern League series are five-game series.There can be some distance between the cities, so lots of morning games. There have been several days off too.