Article: Twins Minor League Report (7/12): Trey Cabbage and Bailey Ober Dominate in Cedar Rapids

[Eric R Pleiss]

Just skip ahead to the Kernels report, because ooo boy, fireworks! Trey Cabbage and Bailey Ober were the stars of the day, but there were a few other players who had big nights for Cedar Rapids.Transactions

Taylor Motter promoted to Rochester from Chattanooga, Rochester’s Luke Bard activated from the DL, and Chattanooga’s Todd Van Steensel activated from the DL.

 

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 2, Scranton/WB 1

Box Score

 

Coming off of three-straight extra innings games, the Red Wings were happy to get this one done in regulation, scoring the go-ahead run in the seventh inning and hanging on for a narrow 2-1 victory. Thursday’s victory was the Wings’ 27th road win, the most in the International League. Byron Buxton was 0-for-2 with a strike out, and was forced out of this one due to injury.

Nick Gordon was 2-for-5 with a pair of RBIs and a strike

out, providing all of the firepower.

 

Starter Adalberto Mejia moved to 5-2 with six innings of one-run baseball. He gave up just three hits, struck out three and walked three. Trevor May pitched an inning of relief sending down all three batters he faced. Gabriel Moya earned a six-out save, giving up a hit and striking out two.

 

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 7, Montgomery 6

Box Score

 

Chattanooga had the game well in hand, leading 7-1 after just three innings and their lead slowly trickled almost all the way away and they barely held on for a 7-6 win, including a pretty scary ninth inning that saw Montgomery put three runs on the board with the game-tying run on second base before they were retired.

 

The Lookouts scored seven runs on just five hits and Ryan Walker committed three errors, one throwing and two fielding, but still managed to win. No hitter had more than one hit, but Ryan Walker made up for his defensive miscues with one swing, sending a 3-run home run out of the park in the third inning. Walker was 1-for-3 with a home run, a run scored, four RBIs, and a walk.

 

Six pitchers all helped get the Lookouts a win on Thursday night, with Paco Rodriguez picking up the win with two innings of scoreless relief. Lewis Thorpe started the game and went 1 2/3 innings giving up an unearned run, no hits, and striking out a pair. Ryan Eades came in next and went 2 1/3 innings giving up a pair of hits and another unearned run.

 

Todd Van Steensel fresh off the DL walked a pair and struck out a pair in an inning of work. Ryne Harper gave up four runs on four hits in 1 2/3 innings and was replaced by Cody Stashak who earned a save despite giving up a run-scoring double before getting the final out of the game.

 

MIRACLE MATTERS

Palm Beach 4, Fort Myers 2

Box Score

 

The Miracle dropped the last game of their four-game set against Palm Beach and lost the series three games to one. The Miracle managed just five hits and three walks against 10 strikeouts and only took four at-bats with runners in scoring position. No one had more than one hit, and Mark Contreras (1-for-4) had the team’s only extra-base hit, a double. Alex Kirilloff was 0-for-4, as was Lewin Diaz (who had a worse line as it also included three strikeouts). Miguel Sano was 1-for-2 with a pair of walks and two runs scored.

 

Starter Tyler Wells went six innings and gave up four runs on five hits. He walked two, struck out six and gave up two home runs. Ryan Mason (1.0 IP), Colton Davis (1.2 IP) and Alex Robinson (0.1 IP) kept Palm Beach off the board the rest of the way, but their bats couldn’t dig them out of an early hole.

 

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 6, Fort Wayne 2

Box Score

 

Thursday night belongs to the Cedar Rapids Kernels. The Kernels had Trey Cabbage absolutely destroying baseballs. Cabbage was 4-for-4 with a run scored, a home run, and two RBIs. Meanwhile, on the mound, Bailey Ober turned in 6 2/3 innings, scattering five hits, giving up no runs and STRIKING OUT TEN!

 

On top of those two stellar performances, Akil Baddoo had a pair of hits on a 2-for-5 night that included a double and two RBIs, and Robby Rinn added a pair of hits as well. In the bullpen Jose Martinez threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings, and Jared Finkel gave up a pair of runs over a full inning of work, but he had a six-run lead to work with and kept the victory intact.

 

ELIZABETHTON TWINS TALK

Elizabethton 7, Johnson City 2

Box Score

 

Tyler Webb was 4-for-5 with a run scored and a pair of RBIs, Alex Robles was 3-for-5 with an RBI, and Michael Helmen was 3-for-4 with three runs scored and a triple. On top of those three strong days at the plate, Lean Marrero and Michael Davis also had multi-hit nights.

 

On the mound, Carlos Suniaga earned his first win of the season with five innings of one-run baseball. He gave up six hits, walked no one and struck out three. Andrew Cabezas went 3 2/3 innings and gave up an unearned run on three hits, and Seth Pinkerton closed the game out, getting the only guy he faced to fly out to left.

 

GCL TWINS TAKES

SCHEDULED OFF DAY

 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Bradley Ober, Cedar Rapids Kernels

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Trey Cabbage, Cedar Rapids Kernels

 

TOP 20 PROSPECT PERFORMANCE

1.Royce Lewis, Cedar Rapids – 0-3, 1 R, 1 K

3. Nick Gordon, Rochester – 2-5, 2 RBI

5. Alex Kirilloff, Fort Myers – 0-4

7. Brent Rooker, Chattanooga – 0-3, 1 BB, 2 K

10. Akil Baddoo, Cedar Rapids – 2-5, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 K

11. Lewis Thorpe, Chattanooga – 1.2 IP, 1 R, 2 K

13. Lewin Diaz, Fort Myers – 0-4, 3 K

14. LaMonte Wade, Rochester – 0-3

15. Ben Rortvedt, Fort Myers – 1-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K

17. Travis Blankenhorn, Fort Myers – 1-4, 1 K

 

FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Rochester (6:05pm) – Stephen Gonsalves (5-3, 3.86

Chattanooga (6:15pm) – Lewis Thorpe (4-4, 3.95)

Fort Myers (5:30pm) – Griffin Jax (1-1, 3.47)

Cedar Rapids (6:35pm) – Blayne Enlow (0-2, 3.73)

 

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

 

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[h2oface]

Even when Buxton doesn't strikeout, someone does it for him! Yikes.  

 

Looking forward to the update on Buxton's condition.

It seems that having him play in Rochester might keep him from helping the Twins all year! First his toe, now this.

 

Hey! Sano didn't strikeout again. And two walks. There is a positive. Looks like he can manage A ball. How is his conditioning and weight doing?

[twinstalker]

Our best pitching prospect (or two) goes 1.2 innings and no one asks why?

 

Why????

[slash129]

Bailey Ober has been quite dominant, especially of late. 22/1 K/BB his last two games and 74/8 on the season! The TD prospect book mentioned hope that he could back to pre-TJ form. It looks like he's doing just that.

 

Also, any word on the Thorpe injury/exit?

[markos]

 

Our best pitching prospect (or two) goes 1.2 innings and no one asks why?

 

Why????

I'm guessing everyone was planning on a very short outing because he is slated to pitch in the Future's Game on Sunday. 

[benji21]

I’m always confused when established MLB players go on rehab and don’t destroy minor leaguers. Sano hit like 250 and 30ish homers last year but can’t figure out A ball? He probably hit 300+ there when he was younger. Mauer can hit like 300 I’m the big leagues but when he was on rehab he didn’t mash minor leaguers either. Same with Santana. Same with so many major leaguers. Can anyone tell me why they don’t always go like 3-4 with a double and a home run evry night in the minors? Shouldn’t MLB pitchers eat minor leaguers alive? What’s up?

[TRex]

 

I’m always confused when established MLB players go on rehab and don’t destroy minor leaguers. Sano hit like 250 and 30ish homers last year but can’t figure out A ball? He probably hit 300+ there when he was younger. Mauer can hit like 300 I’m the big leagues but when he was on rehab he didn’t mash minor leaguers either. Same with Santana. Same with so many major leaguers. Can anyone tell me why they don’t always go like 3-4 with a double and a home run evry night in the minors? Shouldn’t MLB pitchers eat minor leaguers alive? What’s up?

 

I assume it is like why I always find my keys in the LAST place I look (I stop looking after I find them).

 

I also think that if they are there for injury rehab, their goal is not to destroy minor leaguers, but just get their innings in.

[rdehring]

 

I'm guessing everyone was planning on a very short outing because he is slated to pitch in the Future's Game on Sunday. 

After seeing that in the box score last night, I was looking to come here and find the answer.  Was it an injury?  Or something else...like maybe he is being called up for Sunday's game? 

 

I view Thorpe as the best starting pitching prospect in the organization who is close (Graterol is the best prospect, in my opinion).  With so many injuries this year, the Twins can't take another hit like a serious injury would be to Thorpe.

 

And an injury to Buxton too last night?  Maybe everything will realign next year after this year from h.....

[slash129]

 

I'm guessing everyone was planning on a very short outing because he is slated to pitch in the Future's Game on Sunday. 

 

That was brought up during the game thread (while we waited through the rain) ... I'm not going to call Gameday the all-telling application, but it did list the situation as an "Injury Timeout" when Thorpe was pulled.  I'm hopeful that he had a 20 pitch limit going into the futures game too.

[Doctor Wu]

Trevor May pitched an inning of relief sending down all three batters he faced.

 

Okay, I'll be annoying and ask: what does "sending down" mean? Did he strike out all three batters?

[Seth Stohs]

 

Our best pitching prospect (or two) goes 1.2 innings and no one asks why?

 

Why????

 

Yup, that should absolutely have been part of the report... He was on a pitch count so that he can pitch in the Futures Game on Sunday. 

 

(Sorry, I should have commented on that last night here. I was writing the other article and I think I answered that question on twitter 4-5 times too.)

[rdehring]

 

Yup, that should absolutely have been part of the report... He was on a pitch count so that he can pitch in the Futures Game on Sunday. 

 

(Sorry, I should have commented on that last night here. I was writing the other article and I think I answered that question on twitter 4-5 times too.)

Thanks Seth.  I don't know how I would have handled another injury to this young man.

[FormerMinnasotan]

Is Bailey Ober similar to Tyler Wells? I mean both are quite tall at 6’8”. Is their pitching style similar? I can’t help but to see that Ober has a penchant for getting strike outs and his overall stats were hurt by his first couple of starts this season.

[ashbury]

Trevor May pitched an inning of relief sending down all three batters he faced.

 

Okay, I'll be annoying and ask: what does "sending down" mean? Did he strike out all three batters?

An out to LF, a dribbler to the catcher, and a routine grounder to second.

 

The batters looked so bad in doing this that all three were demoted to AA Trenton before the game was over.

[Seth Stohs]

 

I’m always confused when established MLB players go on rehab and don’t destroy minor leaguers. Sano hit like 250 and 30ish homers last year but can’t figure out A ball? He probably hit 300+ there when he was younger. Mauer can hit like 300 I’m the big leagues but when he was on rehab he didn’t mash minor leaguers either. Same with Santana. Same with so many major leaguers. Can anyone tell me why they don’t always go like 3-4 with a double and a home run evry night in the minors? Shouldn’t MLB pitchers eat minor leaguers alive? What’s up?

 

When Sano went back to Ft. Myers, his swing was completely out of whack, so he had to build that back up, and it just takes some time. 

 

Big league rehabbing pitchers are working on things. Like Santana's first rehab start, he was likely just throwing fastballs. He's' still working his way back. Minor leaguers can hit fastballs. Minor Leaguers can hit changeups and curveballs,, so if theyr'e not 100% sharp, they''ll get hits.

 

Also,, baseball isn't easy. 

 

 

[slash129]

 

Is Bailey Ober similar to Tyler Wells? I mean both are quite tall at 6’8”. Is their pitching style similar? I can’t help but to see that Ober has a penchant for getting strike outs and his overall stats were hurt by his first couple of starts this season.

 

Yeah, the BABIP on him was quite high for awhile.  xFIP of 2.76, so what you're seeing about his overall stats is correct.  These last couple of starts are helping to normalize the overal stats closer to the way that he's been pitching.  He'll need to be challenged soon.

[slash129]

 

Yup, that should absolutely have been part of the report... He was on a pitch count so that he can pitch in the Futures Game on Sunday. 

 

(Sorry, I should have commented on that last night here. I was writing the other article and I think I answered that question on twitter 4-5 times too.)

 

Thanks, Seth.  I (and I believe several others) don't do a lot of Twittering, so this response is appreciated.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Trevor May pitched an inning of relief sending down all three batters he faced.

 

Okay, I'll be annoying and ask: what does "sending down" mean? Did he strike out all three batters?

 

I've never heard the phrase "sending down", but he did have a 1-2-3 inning. No strikeouts. Maybe Eric meant 'setting down'?

[puckstopper1]

 

Yup, that should absolutely have been part of the report... He was on a pitch count so that he can pitch in the Futures Game on Sunday. 

 

(Sorry, I should have commented on that last night here. I was writing the other article and I think I answered that question on twitter 4-5 times too.)

 

Yup, that should absolutely have been part of the report... He was on a pitch count so that he can pitch in the Futures Game on Sunday. 

 

(Sorry, I should have commented on that last night here. I was writing the other article and I think I answered that question on twitter 4-5 times too.)

 

Good info Seth.  Thanks!

 

Also - Thorpe obviously started on Thursday but is also listed as today's Probable Starter at the end of the recap.  i don't believe that is accurate unless they are turning him into a RP!