Article: Twins Minor League Report (6/7): Felix Jorge Carries Chattanooga, Strikes Out Nine

[Eric R Pleiss]

A day after five Chattanooga Lookouts players were named to the North Division All-Star Team, six Cedar Rapids Kernels players are headed to the Midwest League All-Star game as members of the West team, including four position players. Travis Blankenhorn was selected as the starting third baseman, Lewin Diaz was selected as the starting first baseman, Mitchell Kranson was named the starting designated hitter, and Jermaine Palacios was named the starting shortstop. Pitchers Clark Beeker and Sean Poppen were named as reserves.

 

Find out everything that happened in the Twins minor league system on WednesdayTransactions: The Twins claimed Chris Heston off waivers from the Dodgers and placed him on the active roster and to make room, the Twins released Nick Tepesch. Additionally, the Twins placed Jorge Polanco on the bereavement list, and Kennys Vargas recalled from Rochester. In Cedar Rapids, the Kernels released Zack Tillery; no corresponding roster move announced at this time.

 

RED WINGS REPORT

Scranton/WB @ Rochester

Box Score

 

With the game tied 1-1 in the top of the seventh inning, Red Wings starter David Hurlbut made quick work of the first two batters on a called third strike and lazy fly ball. Then things went south. The next two batters singled to put runners on the corners and Hurlbut left the game, replaced by Trevor Hildengerger to face Gleyber Torres. Hildenberger, who hasn’t given up an earned run of his own since May 16^th, gave up a double, plating both runs, and hanging two additional earned runs on Hurlbut. Hildenberger struck out the next batter to close the inning with the Wings now down 3-1. Hurlbut’s day should have given Rochester a chance, 6.2 innings, eight hits, three earned runs, one walk and 11 strikeouts.

 

Unfortunately the bullpen didn’t have their best stuff on Wednesday afternoon.

In the top of the ninth the Wings got into more trouble and Kevin Chapman and Kam Mickolio each gave up a run. Down 5-1 in the bottom of the ninth, with their 3-4-5 hitters due up, Rochester managed only a single from clean-up man Matt Hague, while Niko Goodrum and ByungHo Park went down on strikes, and designated hitter John Ryan Murphy ended the game, forcing Matt Hague out at second on a grounder to the shortstop.

 

The Red Wings had just four hits of their own on Monday, led by Zack Granite, leading off, with a 2-4 night that included a triple and a run scored. In addition to Hague’s single, the only other player with a hit was Leonardo Reginatto with a single of his own. The Wings struck out 12 times as a team and walked just twice. ByungHo Park was 0-4 with four strikeouts, winning himself a Golden Sombrero.

 

 

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Jackson 2 @ Chattanooga 7

Box Score

 

The Lookouts used 12 hits to defeat the Generals on Wednesday afternoon in Chattanooga. The Lookouts took the lead in the third with a three-spot and never looked back. The game was as close as 4-2 after six innings, but another three-spot in the seventh inning put the game out of reach for Jackson.

The Lookouts were led by Dan Gamache 2-3 with a triple, a walk and three RBI, and every Lookouts player recorded a hit with the exception of Ryan Strausborger, but Strausborger contributed on the defensive side of the ball with an outfield assist on a force play at second base. Levi Michael, Edgar Corcino and T.J. White all had multiple hits.

 

Lookouts starter Felix Jorge had another strong start, his fourth quality start in a row, giving up just two runs over 6.2 innings. He gave up seven hits, including a solo home run, struck out nine and walked just one. Jorge appeared to have things under control in the seventh inning after striking out Colin Walsh for the second out of the inning and a man on first, but with the game in hand, and Jorge at 104 pitches, Jake Mauer made the call for Raul Fernandez to come in and face the General’s designated hitter. Frenandez did his job inducing a ground out to end the inning. Fernandez pitched two more innings to earn the seven-out save. He struck out four, walked one and gave up one hit.

 

 

MIRACLE MATTERS

Tampa @ Fort Myers

 

Postponed due to rain. Game will be made up on Thursday as part of a doubleheader with two 7-inning games, starting at 4:30pm Central.

 

 

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids @ Clinton

Box Score

 

The Kernels raced out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first thanks to run scoring doubles from Mitchell Kranson (two RBI) and Caleb Hamilton (one RBI). The Lumberkings got two runs back in the second inning, and then took the lead with a three-run fourth. The Kernels then tied the game at 5 in the top of the fifth on a Jaylin Davis double that scored a pair of runs. Unfortunately, the Kernels then gave up four runs in the sixth, putting them down 9-5, a deficit they could not overcome, despite a ninth inning rally.

 

Kernels’ starter Sean Poppen was tagged with the first five runs of the game over 4.2 innings. He gave up six hits, two walks and struck out three. He was replaced by Alex Robinson who gave up three runs in just a third of an inning despite not giving up a single hit, just a pair of walks and a hit batsman as he left with the bases loaded and no outs in the sixth. Hector Lujan allowed those three runs to score, after replacing Robinson, and then gave up a run of his own as well. Ryan Mason came in and got the Kernels back on track, 2.0 innings, two hits and five strikeouts.

 

The Kernels scored their six runs on just four hits, which is a pretty impressive feat considering they had just four walks as well, but all four of their hits were doubles and all came with runners in scoring position. No Kernels player had more than one hit, just doubles from Davis, Kranson Hamilton and Whitefield (ninth inning).

 

 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

 

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Felix Jorge, Chattanooga Lookouts

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Dan Gamache, Chattanooga Lookouts

 

 

FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

 

Rochester - Aaron Slegers (4-3, 6.23)

Chattanooga – Ryan Eades

Fort Myers – Dereck Rodriguez (4-2, 2.66) & Brady Anderson (2-1, 4.01)

Cedar Rapids – Domenick Carlini (3-3, 4.85)

 

Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Wednesday's games.

 

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[puckstopper1]

What is the deal with Park?  Is he still not healthy?  He certainly hasn't set the world on fire in AAA.  It would not shock me if we has back in Korea next year.

[DocBauer]

Wish I knew what to make of Jorge long term. For the most part, he seems to be a model of consistency the past couple of season's and has made steady progress. Reports of his stuff are solid, Managers and coaches say positive things, as do teammates. But with the exception of a few games here and there, his SO numbers are so-so. Is this youth and growth still taking place? You don't have to be a dominate K machine to be a quality starter, but SO absolutely help. Is he a potentially solid back end starter? Or is he a long/swing man?

[John Kelsey]

 

Wish I knew what to make of Jorge long term. For the most part, he seems to be a model of consistency the past couple of season's and has made steady progress. Reports of his stuff are solid, Managers and coaches say positive things, as do teammates. But with the exception of a few games here and there, his SO numbers are so-so. Is this youth and growth still taking place? You don't have to be a dominate K machine to be a quality starter, but SO absolutely help. Is he a potentially solid back end starter? Or is he a long/swing man?

 

He's got a pretty good guy to model himself after in Big Erv. Very similar build and stuff. 

[Tommygun921]

Granite has to be the 1st outfielder up if someone where to go down with injury, right? Is it close to time to try a swap of Buxton and Granite to get his bat going? His defense can't be that much better than Granite to justify his slumping bat can it?

[jimbo92107]

Felix Jorge is a classic under-the-radar developmental prospect. Nothing flashy, no high-90's heat, but a rail-thin control pitcher since he was acquired in 2011 out of the Dominican Republic at the age of 17. Imagine how thin he was then if you consider that today Jorge is 6'2" tall and has bulked himself up to a whopping...170 pounds. How does a guy like that throw a baseball hard enough to get anybody out? Here's the neat part - he doesn't. Jorge learned from early on to be a pitcher, not a thrower.

 

The results are sneaky good. With his excellent command and ability to eat innings, Jorge could become a very valuable back of the rotation starter. Meanwhile, he has matured physically to the point where he can indeed bring respectable heat, sometimes touching 95, with good command. But he's not a big K guy; he gets batters out by mixing it up and using his fielders.  

 

Considering the clunkers the Twins have plopped into the rotation this season, I'm beginning to wonder if they're looking to give Felix Jorge a cup of coffee sometime this year. He won't throw shutouts, but it looks like he won't cough up 5-run innings, either, and he can last into the 6th or 7th inning. 

[bluechipper]

 

Granite has to be the 1st outfielder up if someone where to go down with injury, right? Is it close to time to try a swap of Buxton and Granite to get his bat going? His defense can't be that much better than Granite to justify his slumping bat can it?

I don't think it's close to time to send Buxton to AAA, but I do agree Granite is the call up if an injury occurs. He's in a really good stretch right now, hitting .390 in his last 10 games

[nater79a]

What, no Jaylin Davis to the Midwest League All-Star game?  I realize he strikes out at a fairly high clip, but still.... .271 avg, 11 HR, .507 slugging is nothing to sneeze at.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Granite has to be the 1st outfielder up if someone where to go down with injury, right? Is it close to time to try a swap of Buxton and Granite to get his bat going? His defense can't be that much better than Granite to justify his slumping bat can it?

 

Yes, Granite would easily be the first outfielder up if there were an injury.

 

No, it's not close to time for that.

 

Yes, Buxton's defense is that good.

[Seth Stohs]

 

What, no Jaylin Davis to the Midwest League All-Star game?  I realize he strikes out at a fairly high clip, but still.... .271 avg, 11 HR, .507 slugging is nothing to sneeze at.

 

Yeah, I would consider that one a miss... 

[twinswatch]

Got to agree with nater79a on J. Davis.... (don't know to much about his past stats, just recently started to follow after those

homerun cycles). I was really looking forward to seeing what tricks he would pull out his hat at the Homerun Derby. So far he seems like a player to keep your eye on.

[gunnarthor]

Man, I realized I've been sort of combing Granite and Wade together for a few years now. Both are late round college guys, LH, OFers. I mean, I knew they were two different guys but I haven't really differentiated them.

[ashbury]

Imagine how thin he was then if you consider that today Jorge is 6'2" tall and has bulked himself up to a whopping...170 pounds.

I took a look at his 2012 Adopt-A-Prospect page. Back then, at 17, he was 6'4" and 175.

 

He shrank.