Article: Twins Minor League Report (6/11): Balazovic, Cabbage Key Kernels Win

[Seth Stohs]

The Miracle played two, one-inning games on Monday night. The Red Wings had a rough start, though Chris Carter continues to hit home runs. A couple of veterans led the Lookouts offense, and they got a quality start, but it wasn’t enough. Luis Arraez continues to stay hot at the plate for the Miracle. Tyler Watson pitched well again in his second Miracle start. Trey Cabbage had a big game at the plate for the Kernels, and Canadian Jordan Balazovic put together one of the best starts in the Twins system in 2018.Keep reading to find out more on the night in the Twins minor league system on Monday. As always, please feel free to discuss and ask questions.

 

 

TRANSACTIONS

• Things were quiet on the transaction front in the Twins system on Tuesday.

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 3, Scranton/Wilkes Barre 10

Box Score

 

For Stephen Gonsalves at Rochester, his starts have either been very good or very, well, non-good. Unfortunately on this night, he had one of the latter. In four innings, Gonsalves gave up nine runs on nine hits (including two home runs). He walked five and struck out three. With a doubleheader on Tuesday, I’m sure manager Joel Skinner had hoped to get more innings from the lefty. Gonsalves threw 91 pitches. Just 47 of them were strikes.

 

Jake Reed came on and provided three strong innings of relief. He gave up one run on three hits. He struck one batter out. Luke Bard pitched a scoreless inning.

 

Chris Carter led the offense. He went 2-for-4 with his fifth home run. LaMonte Wade was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Cameron Rupp added a single and a walk.

 

The Red Wings are now 28-31 on the season.

 

 

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 2, Montgomery 4

Box Score

 

Sean Poppen’s first two starts for the Lookouts were rough. In eight innings, he gave up 11 runs. On Monday, he posted a quality start. He gave up three runs on seven hits in six innings. He struck out two and didn’t walk anyone. Sam Clay worked the final two innings. He gave up one run on one hit and one walk. He struck out two.

 

James Ramsey led the offense. He went 2-for-3 with a walk and his third home run. He also stole his first base. Andy Wilkins picked up his first walk and his first two hits, including a double, of the season after returning from the disabled list (hamate bone surgery). Edgar Corcino was also 2-for-3 in the game.

 

The Lookouts are now 34-30.

 

 

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers 4, Palm Beach 3 (completion of suspended game)

Box Score

 

On Monday, the Miracle resumed a game that started last week against Palm Beach. Their game was suspended in the bottom of the seventh inning with the score tied at three. Griffin Jax had started the game last week and gave up three runs on seven hits over 6 2/3 innings. He struck out six and didn’t walk any. That is when the game was suspended.

 

Fast-forward to Monday. Tom Hackimer “started” for the Miracle, and he worked 3 1/3 perfect innings to earn the win.

 

With Brandon Lopez starting the bottom of the tenth inning at second base, Luis Arraez singled to center to score Lopez and end the game.

Arraez went 2-for-3 in the game. Shane Carrier and Joe Cronin each went 2-for-4 with a home run. It was Carrier’s second and Cronin’s fourth.

 

Ft. Myers 4, Palm Beach 5 (regularly-scheduled game)

Box Score

 

Lefty Tyler Watson started the second game with four scoreless innings. He gave up two runs in the fifth frame. Those were the only runs he gave up in 5 2/3 innings. He gave up six hits, walked two and struck out four. Hector Lujan came on. He got the final out of the sixth inning. He gave up an unearned run in the seventh inning. Then in the bottom of the eighth, he gave up a double and a single but got two outs. Kevin Marnon was brought in, but he gave up a two-run double to give Palm Beach the lead before getting the final out.

 

Luis Arraez went 3-for-5 with his second triple. He also stole his first bag. Travis Blankenhorn went 2-for-4 with his 12th double and an RBI.

 

With the split, the Miracle are 25-37 on the season.

 

 

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 3, Wisconsin 1

Box Score

 

In a get-away afternoon game in Wisconsin, the Kernels got a fantastic start from a guy making his first Midwest League start. Jordan Balazovic came up on Memorial Day and worked 3 2/3 shutout innings in relief. After a brief stint back in extended spring training, he was called back up and made his first start on Monday. The right-hander from Canada gave the Kernels seven strong innings. He gave up one run on three hits. He struck out 11 batters without issuing a walk.

Jared Finkel and Calvin Faucher each threw a scoreless inning which included a strikeout. Faucher recorded his first save.

 

Trey Cabbage provided most of the Kernels offense. He had three of the team’s six hits including his eighth double and his fifth home run.

 

Royce Lewis, who left the Kernels game on Sunday with an apparent leg injury, did not play on Monday afternoon.

 

The Kernels are now 28-35.

 

 

STARS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Hitter of the Day: Trey Cabbage, Cedar Rapids Kernels (3-3, 2B(8), HR(5))

Twins Daily Pitcher of the Day: Jordan Balazovic, Cedar Rapids Kernels (7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 11 K)

 

PROSPECT SUMMARY

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

 

#1 - Royce Lewis (Cedar Rapids) - Did not play

#2 - Fernando Romero (Minnesota) - Did not pitch

#3 - Nick Gordon (Rochester) - 0-4, 2 K

#4 - Stephen Gonsalves (Rochester) - 4 IP, 9 H, 9 ER, 5 BB, 3 K

#5 - Alex Kirilloff (Cedar Rapids) - 1-4, R, 2 K

#6 - Wander Javier - out of for the season

#7 - Brent Rooker (Chattanooga) - 0-4, 2 K

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

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

#10 - Akil Baddoo (Cedar Rapids) - 0-4, RBI, K

#11 - Zack Littell (Rochester) - Did not pitch

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

#13 - Lewin Diaz (Ft. Myers) - 1-5, K

#14 - LaMonte Wade (Rochester) - 2-4, 2 RBI

#16 - Ben Rortvedt (Ft. Myers) - 0-1

#17 - Travis Blankenhorn (Ft. Myers) - 2-4, 2B(12), 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 (DH @ 4:00 CST) - RHP Aaron Slegers (5-3, 3.43 ERA), LHP Gabriel Moya (0-0, 2.11 ERA)

Chattanooga @ Montgomery (12:05 CST) - RHP Todd Van Steensel (5-1, 1.60 ERA)

Ft. Myers @ Palm Beach (5:30 CST) - RHP Clark Beeker (1-4, 3.59 ERA)

Cedar Rapids @ Kane County (6:30 CST) - RHP Randy Dobnak (3-2, 4.65 ERA)

 

 

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

 

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[nater79a]

Good to see the bats of Cabbage,  Bechtold and Miranda start to heat up for the Kernels.   They will need all the production they can get what with Kirilloff and Lewis heading to southern climes here soon.

[kengrosz]

Where is the development??? Scouting sucks, maybe ist time to chance the whole scouting/development system! Tabula rasa....

[GameDay]

Unpopular opinion: Lewin Diaz isn't a top 20 prospect. 

 

Extremely excited for Kirilloff to hopefully get the call up to FTM soon! He's been raking and deserves it. Also nice to see Arraez heating up in FTM right now. He's had great success every year in the minors thus far in his young career. Nice to see him getting that feel back.

[mikelink45]

Not much to say about this report except that I really enjoy them.  The detail that jumped out at me is how Wade keeps getting hits.  There is a major league team that could use that kind of production.

[Han Joelo]

Quite a few guys are heating up or moving up.  I too am concerned about Lewin.

 

Great game for Balazovic.  I was checking box scores on my phone and accidentally hit the "log" button instead of the "box". I could tell from the log he had a lot of strikeouts (and a good game) but wasn't sure until I saw the line.

[2wins87]

 

Unpopular opinion: Lewin Diaz isn't a top 20 prospect. 

 

Extremely excited for Kirilloff to hopefully get the call up to FTM soon! He's been raking and deserves it. Also nice to see Arraez heating up in FTM right now. He's had great success every year in the minors thus far in his young career. Nice to see him getting that feel back.

 

Probably not actually a very unpopular opinion on these boards.  There was probably more skepticism on Diaz than any other player in the top 20 coming into this season.  This has so far been his worst season in the professional ball too, so I'd expect that his stock is dropping among scouts as well.

[rdehring]

I think you have the scores flipped for Cedar Rapids, Seth.  The Kernels won 3-1.

 

Took a look at the splits for Arraez.  June is almost half over and he has 6 walks compared with only 3 strikeouts (38 ab), for a .447 average and .500 OBP.  If he keeps this up for another 30 days, does he move up to Chattanooga?

 

And I will second the comments above about Wade.  Moves up a level and nothing changes, hits around .300 with an OBP over .400.   Trey Cabbage is someone some of us have forgotten about, at least I had.  Much like Arraez, he had a terrible April and has been hitting well since.  

 

Did any of us expect this type of pitching to start his season for Balazovic?  After a couple years in the GCL, could he become a real diamond in the ruff?  

[ThejacKmp]

 

Unpopular opinion: Lewin Diaz isn't a top 20 prospect. 

 

Agreed. Get he's young and could develop but as a plodding 1B/DH he's gotta hit for power and strike out less. It'll be interesting to see if he drops in midseason lists.

[jokin]

 

 

Did any of us expect this type of pitching to start his season for Balazovic?  After a couple years in the GCL, could he become a real diamond in the ruff?  

 

Yep. IMO, besides Wade, this is the Twin MiLB story of the day. I had completely forgotten about this 2016 5th round pick. Two years in GCL, only 2 appearances this year, the club seems to be really protecting this mystery Canadian. An 11/0 K/BB game in his first A level start- and still only 19 years old in the ML...

 

It all really begs for a "what's up with this kid!?" story!

[Doctor Wu]

Okay, Carter is an "older" player and strikes out a lot, but since we DID decide to sign him to a minor league contract and he IS producing well thus far, is it not conceivable that he might be called up to the big leagues again sometime soon? I

[Seth Stohs]

 

I think you have the scores flipped for Cedar Rapids, Seth.  The Kernels won 3-1.

 

Took a look at the splits for Arraez.  June is almost half over and he has 6 walks compared with only 3 strikeouts (38 ab), for a .447 average and .500 OBP.  If he keeps this up for another 30 days, does he move up to Chattanooga?

 

And I will second the comments above about Wade.  Moves up a level and nothing changes, hits around .300 with an OBP over .400.   Trey Cabbage is someone some of us have forgotten about, at least I had.  Much like Arraez, he had a terrible April and has been hitting well since.  

 

Did any of us expect this type of pitching to start his season for Balazovic?  After a couple years in the GCL, could he become a real diamond in the ruff?  

 

If Arraez keeps hitting .450 and getting on base 50% of the time, he'd be in line for a promotion. However, I expect him to spend the full season in Ft. Myers. It took him a bit to get going, and I think the biggest thing is just to get him back to his old self. He appears to be either there or very close to it, which is great. 

 

I tweeted yesterday about how disappointing Balazovic's 2017 was... But when I saw him in spring training, he was very impressive. I mentioned him to Toby when I was in Cedar Rapids, and he said really good things about his development since the disappointment last year. But that was a day before he was called up there, and I don't think anyone could have thought he'd do this well. Then again, it's' two games,, but more important than the results, he just seems back to full strength with the velocity and command. 

[Seth Stohs]

 

Okay, Carter is an "older" player and strikes out a lot, but since we DID decide to sign him to a minor league contract and he IS producing well thus far, is it not conceivable that he might be called up to the big leagues again sometime soon? I

 

When it comes to the big leagues, age to level of competition shouldn't matter at all. Carter was acquired in a trade as a depth piece, and I don't think the front office would hesitate to promote him if they feel he can help the big league team. He's very one-dimensional, like Sano, and he will strike out as much as Sano... He's great depth.

[gunnarthor]

 

 

 

Did any of us expect this type of pitching to start his season for Balazovic?  After a couple years in the GCL, could he become a real diamond in the ruff?  

Yep, he's a diamond who had a lot of helium on draft day. mlbpipeline had him #127 on their list in 2016 an they wrote "While still a bit raw, there's a lot to like with this Auburn commit. At 6-foot-3, he's not physically developed yet. There's plenty of room to add strength and velocity. His arm works really well and fires fastballs up to 92 mph already, with heavy sink. He also has a good feel for his changeup. His breaking ball has a ways to go. Right now, it's a slurvy slider kind of caught in between a curve and a slider, with three-quarter break and thrown in the 79-82 mph range. He stays in the strike zone more often than not."

 

BA wrote "Balazovic has a polished changeup that he can locate at the knees with late fade and tumbling action. He throws a breaking ball with 11-to-5 shape in the mid-70s. Balazovic gets his core extended over his front side well and extends his glove hand high for extra deception. Scouts note how rare it is for him to be squared up."

 

Twins signed him for 150k over slot in the 2016 draft. Balazovic was young for his draft class and could have returned to 13th grade in Canada to get drafted the next year, he also had a strong commit to Auburn. He needs to pitch and stay healthy but he has real nice upside.

 

Side note but the 2016 draft is going to push the 2012 draft for the best Twins draft in the last 15 years. The Twins went nuts on high upside and really young high schoolers - 2nd rounders Baddoo and Miranda, 5th rounder Balazovic, 17th rounder Kidany Salva and 28th rounder Matt Jones (also from Canada) were all 17 on draft day. They also picked Kiriloff and Rortvedt and Tyler Benninghoff for over slot in the 11th round.

[slash129]

I see Gordon's OPS has dropped 200 points on a higher unsustainable BABIP after moving from AA to AAA.  He's also added 7 points to his K% and has his lowest career BB%.  I wonder what is is. Trouble with the curve?

[ashbury]

Carter was acquired in a trade...

... for that most-versatile of players, Cash.

[gunnarthor]

 

I see Gordon's OPS has dropped 200 points on a higher unsustainable BABIP after moving from AA to AAA.  He's also added 7 points to his K% and has his lowest career BB%.  I wonder what is is. Trouble with the curve?

Probably too early to know/worry. AAA pitching staffs are better than AA ones, even if on a individual night, a AA starter might be the best pitcher Gordon faces in the minors. So Gordon will have to make some adjustments but the fact that he's hitting .300 with some pop is a good sign, even if he couldn't sustain it without making those changes in the long run.

[Dman]

 

 

Side note but the 2016 draft is going to push the 2012 draft for the best Twins draft in the last 15 years. The Twins went nuts on high upside and really young high schoolers - 2nd rounders Baddoo and Miranda, 5th rounder Balazovic, 17th rounder Kidany Salva and 28th rounder Matt Jones (also from Canada) were all 17 on draft day. They also picked Kiriloff and Rortvedt and Tyler Benninghoff for over slot in the 11th round.

 

Yeah the Twins have some pretty exiting young pitchers to watch.  Graterol, Enlow, Leach and Balazovic are all 19 or under and they all look like they have pretty good stuff.  Would have been nice to pick up one more high end high schooler in this years draft but it is what it is.  Still plenty of guys with high ceilings to watch.

[Mike Sixel]

 

Unpopular opinion: Lewin Diaz isn't a top 20 prospect. 

 

Extremely excited for Kirilloff to hopefully get the call up to FTM soon! He's been raking and deserves it. Also nice to see Arraez heating up in FTM right now. He's had great success every year in the minors thus far in his young career. Nice to see him getting that feel back.

 

I've been typing that first sentence since they spent real money on a DH/1B only prospect. 

 

On the other hand....all Wade does is get on base. Still can't figure out how he was in AA again this year. As for Gordon, he's 22 and hasn't been in AAA all that long....maybe should have started in AAA this year, maybe not. Still not even the slightest worried about him.