Article: Twins Minor League Report (6/10): Tough Day For The Bats

[Seth Stohs]

Four Twins minor league affiliates played on Sunday. They combined to score five total runs on the day. That’s overall some really non-good offense. That said, some of their top hitting prospects had solid days (and several others just had days off). Also, a couple of right-handed starting pitchers had really strong games.Keep reading to find out more on the night in the Twins minor league system on Sunday. As always, please feel free to discuss and ask questions.

 

 

 

TRANSACTIONS

• Tyler Duffey returned to Rochester. To make room on the roster, infielder Leonardo Reginnato was placed on the DL (ankle).
• Following their Sunday win, the Twins announced that Joe Mauer is scheduled to begin a rehab assignment in Rochester on Tuesday.

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 1, Durham 6

Box Score

 

Zack Littell made his first start for the Red Wings since his major league debut earlier in the week. It started out well, but he struggled in a three-run fourth inning. On the day, Littell gave up four runs on five hits and four walks in four innings. He struck out three. Tyler Duffey came on and threw two scoreless innings. He gave up two hits and struck one out. Nick Anderson pitched the seventh inning. He gave up two runs on three hits. He walked one and struck one out. Alan Busenitz dropped his ERA to 0.38 with two more scoreless innings.

 

Zack Granite and Willians Astudillo each went 2-for-4. LaMonte Wade went 1-for-2 with two walks. Former Twins prospect Chih-Wei Hu got the win. He gave up one run on four hits and two walks in five innings. He struck out two. He improves to 2-5 with a 4.87 ERA.

 

The Red Wings are now 28-30 on the season.

 

 

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 1, Montgomery 2

Box Score

 

Things started out well for the the Lookouts. The second batter, Brent Rooker hit a solo home run to give the team a 1-0 lead. It was his ninth home run. Unfortunately, the team had just two more hits, both by Edgar Corcino who also stole his third base. Mitchell Kranson made his Double-A debut and went 0-for-2 and was hit by a pitch.

 

 

Kohl Stewart put together one of his best starts of the season. In seven innings, he gave up two runs on just six hits. He walked two and struck out nine. Cody Stashak worked one perfect inning.

 

The Lookouts are now 34-29.

 

 

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers 2, Dunedin 1

Box Score

 

Right-hander Tyler Wells put together a second straight very strong start for the Miracle. He gave up just three hits over seven scoreless innings. He walked two and struck out four to improve to 5-3 with a 2.47 ERA. Ryan Mason picked up his second Miracle save with two innings of work. He gave up one run on two hits.

 

The Miracle scored their two runs in the third inning on back-to-back RBI singles from Joe Cronin and Travis Blankenhorn. Jimmy Kerrigan went 2-for-3 in the game.

 

The Miracle are now 24-36. They are about to begin their final series before the All- Star Game.

 

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 1, Wisconsin 5

Box Score

 

The Kernels had a bullpen game started by Melvi Acosta. The right-hander gave up three runs (one earned) on three hits over just two innings. He walked one and struck out two. Jovani Moran came on and gave up one run on two hits and two walks in his two innings. He struck out one. Tanner Kiest went the final four innings. He gave up one run on two hits and a walk while striking out two.

 

Alex Kirilloff went 2-for-4 with his fifth triple. Jose Miranda and Andrew Bechtold went 2-for-4. Trey Cabbage went 1-for-3 with a walk and his first stolen base.

 

Royce Lewis started at DH. He batted once and then was replaced in the game by Jacob Pearson. No reports yet on the reason that Lewis left the game.

 

The Kernels are now 28-34.

 

 

STARS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Hitter of the Day: Brent Rooker, Chattanooga Lookouts (1-3, BB, HR(9))

Twins Daily Pitcher of the Day: Tyler Wells, Fort Myers Miracle (7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K)

 

PROSPECT SUMMARY

Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:

 

#1 - Royce Lewis (Cedar Rapids) - 0-1, left game

#2 - Fernando Romero (Minnesota) - 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K)

#3 - Nick Gordon (Rochester) - Did not play.

#4 - Stephen Gonsalves (Rochester) - Did not pitch

#5 - Alex Kirilloff (Cedar Rapids) - 2-4, 3B(5)

#6 - Wander Javier - out of for the season

#7 - Brent Rooker (Chattanooga) - 1-3, BB, HR(9)

#8 - Blayne Enlow (Cedar Rapids) - Disabled List

#9 - Brusdar Graterol (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Pitch

#10 - Akil Baddoo (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Play

#11 - Zack Littell (Rochester) - 4 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 3 K)

#12 - Lewis Thorpe (Chattanooga) - Did not pitch

#13 - Lewin Diaz (Ft. Myers) - Did not play

#14 - LaMonte Wade (Rochester) - 1-2, 2 BB

#16 - Ben Rortvedt (Ft. Myers) - 0-3

#17 - Travis Blankenhorn (Ft. Myers) - 1-3, RBI

#18 - Yunior Severino (Extended Spring Training) -

#19 - Tyler Jay (Chattanooga) - Did Not Pitch

#20 - Felix Jorge (Chattanooga) - Disabled List, still no official timetable for return.

 

 

MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Rochester @ Scranton/Wilkes Barre (5:35 CST) - Stephen Gonsalves (4-2, 4.13 ERA)

Chattanooga @ Montgomery (6:35 CST) - RHP Sean Poppen (0-2, 12.38 ERA)

Ft. Myers @ Palm Beach (5:30 CST) - LHP Tyler Watson (0-0, 1.13 ERA)

Cedar Rapids @ Wisconsin (12:05 CST) - Jordan Balazovic (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

 

Please feel free to ask any questions about Sunday’s games, or ask any questions you may have.

 

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[nater79a]

Are the Twins waiting till Alan Busenitz has an ERA of negative infinity before they call him back up?

[Mike Sixel]

Are the Twins waiting till Alan Busenitz has an ERA of negative infinity before they call him back up?

They just needed more outfielders.....

[launchingthrees]

Sure doesn't take long for Rooker to figure out a league. OPS now over .800.

[TNTwinsFan]

Sure doesn't take long for Rooker to figure out a league. OPS now over .800.

Rooker has been held hitless in just 2 games since June 1st; in one of those games he went 0 for 1 with 4BB...4! As a side note, he did the the day or two after I posted a comment about him needing to bump his BB% up to around 10%...maybe he read my post? Ha! Hope he has continued success and we see him in a Twins uniform in September!

[rdehring]

 

Rooker has been held hitless in just 2 games since June 1st; in one of those games he went 0 for 1 with 4BB...4! As a side note, he did the the day or two after I posted a comment about him needing to bump his BB% up to around 10%...maybe he read my post? Ha! Hope he has continued success and we see him in a Twins uniform in September!

Rooker has 9 walks in his last ten games.  Even tossing out the 4 walk game, gives him 5 walks in 9 games (42 PA) which is over 11%.  Yes, SSS, but encouraging.

 

Had high hopes for Bechtold coming into the season.  His bat was as cold as ice for much of this season.  He is hitting .313 in his last 10 games with his average sneaking over .200 Sunday.  Although the organization may eventually move some of their shortstops to third, they need someone to step up at third over the next couple years and there is still time for Bechtold.

 

 

[cgreuling]

Overall Kohl's numbers aren't great but when you check out his splits LHB have a .488 BABIP against him this season vs RHB at .308. He's actually been really good vs RHB overall, is that pointing towards him not having an out pitch against lefties? Is the defense letting him down (a lot)? Seems like he still doesn't give up much hard contact and his groundball rate is still absurd (2.5:1 GB/FB ratio).

[scottz]

Kohl Stewart “struck out nine.” That sure is a weird way to misspell “struck out four.”

[Seth Stohs]

Update on Royce Lewis from Doogie:

 

He ran awkwardly into first in his first PA... should be fine.

 

 

https://twitter.com/DWolfsonKSTP/status/1005938315554680838 

[slash129]

Kirilloff certainly has majority ownership of the Midwest League right now.

 

Hits - 1st

Doubles - T-2nd (active leader)

Triples - T-3rd (actively T-2nd)

Home Runs - 1st

RBI - 1st

AVG - 4th (actively 2nd)

SLG - 2nd (active leader)

OPS - 2nd (active leader)

[Han Joelo]

 

Kohl Stewart “struck out nine.” That sure is a weird way to misspell “struck out four.”

What do you mean?  Is the box score wrong?

[Halsey Hall]

I didn't expect much from the FT Myers team, but did for the others.  Disappointing to see those records so far. 

[Vanimal46]

Stewart is looking strong in June after 2 disastrous starts to finish out May.

[Mike Sixel]

Maybe Stewart throws stuff that is hard to square? Maybe? I still hold out some hope for him. Jay is the one I'm really confused on......he can't get out AA hitters, and lots and lots of people said he could maybe be in the bullpen day 1....We always knew Stewart would need time....

[Vanimal46]

I didn't expect much from the FT Myers team, but did for the others. Disappointing to see those records so far.

I generally don't care about minor league team records. However, given how much CR was hyped before the season their record is concerning.

[Seth Stohs]

 

What do you mean?  Is the box score wrong?

 

He was being sarcastic. He struck out nine... a bigger number than he usually gets.

[Seth Stohs]

 

I generally don't care about minor league team records. However, given how much CR was hyped before the season their record is concerning.

 

Their prospects were hyped... But prospect status doesn't have much to do with on-field performance, especially in the lower levels. 

 

The Kernels have the 2nd youngest Hitters in the league at 20.8, a full year, on average, younger than the average pitcher in the league.

 

They have the third youngest Pitchers in the league. 

 

I rarely look at W-L record either. I certainly don't' care about it other than adding a sentence at the end of the occasional team story. But I would say that the young guys are more than holding their own. 

 

 

[gunnarthor]

 

Maybe Stewart throws stuff that is hard to square? Maybe? I still hold out some hope for him. Jay is the one I'm really confused on......he can't get out AA hitters, and lots and lots of people said he could maybe be in the bullpen day 1....We always knew Stewart would need time....

Agreed. Not sure what's wrong with him but he's not getting the  number of grounders and strike outs that I think he should be getting. He'll probably eventually get a call up but he's not looking like an big future part of the pen.

 

[bird]

 

Their prospects were hyped... But prospect status doesn't have much to do with on-field performance, especially in the lower levels. 

 

The Kernels have the 2nd youngest Hitters in the league at 20.8, a full year, on average, younger than the average pitcher in the league.

 

They have the third youngest Pitchers in the league. 

 

I rarely look at W-L record either. I certainly don't' care about it other than adding a sentence at the end of the occasional team story. But I would say that the young guys are more than holding their own. 

 

While team records and individual performances by the key prospects ought to be discussed in separate sentences, I will argue that, over a full schedule, team records do in fact correlate meaningfully with the overall quality of the system's depth of C+ and better prospects.

 

I can't help wondering if the system, touted for its depth, and not its star power at the start of the season, isn't slightly over-rated when it comes to depth. And it might have been slightly under-rated in terms of star power given the break-out of Kirilloff, Gordon's performance, the emergence of Romero, Graterol's higher visibility, Lewis's steady play at SS, etc.

[wavedog]

We certainly do have some prospects performing well but the record for the year is significantly worse than last year and I don't think that is from promotions to the big league team.   We just came off of an awful and almost unbelievable 4-23 week which didn't help.    We did have some significant turnover in the coaching staffs didn't we?  Perhaps that is impacting overall performance.      In the end if our prospects are developing, the win/loss is not important but no one likes to see a 4-23 week.      

[108Stitches]

Wells is leading the league in WHIP and 2nd in ERA. Time for a promotion?

[nater79a]

 

Rooker has 9 walks in his last ten games.  Even tossing out the 4 walk game, gives him 5 walks in 9 games (42 PA) which is over 11%.  Yes, SSS, but encouraging.

 

Had high hopes for Bechtold coming into the season.  His bat was as cold as ice for much of this season.  He is hitting .313 in his last 10 games with his average sneaking over .200 Sunday.  Although the organization may eventually move some of their shortstops to third, they need someone to step up at third over the next couple years and there is still time for Bechtold.

 

Bechtold had a really good season last year at Elizabethton so I too had high hopes for him out of the gate this year.    Started slow but now is picking it up in June.  

 

Hopefully he can continue to hit because he's a great 3B with a rocket arm.

[Jnball43]

I think the most likely reason teams are struggling is a renewed focus on development. Someone on here watched Enlow pitch in CR recently and said the kid threw nothing but fastballs. I would find it hard to believe that a kid whose best pitch is a curve would decide to forgo it for an entire start unless he was specifically instructed to do so. To me that shows that, especially at the lower levels (A/AA),they are prioritizing development over winning. Given how many of our big prospects seem to be lacking in some fairly basic fundamentals (fastball command, bunting, baserunning, etc) when being called up, I for one am happy to see this change.

[Doctor Wu]

 

Wells is leading the league in WHIP and 2nd in ERA. Time for a promotion?

Good question. Every time I check these reports it seems like Wells has pitcher another impressive game.