Article: Twins Minor League Report (4/29): Jax Continues Strong Start

[Seth Stohs]

Monday was a much-needed day off for a couple of the Twins affiliates, but Red Wings and Blue Wahoos played. One game was a pitcher’s duel. The other provided a bit more offense. More strong pitching and a few big home runs. And Miguel Sano (and possibly others?) will begin a rehab assignment on Tuesday with the Miracle.Find out everything that happened happened in the Twins system on Monday, starting with the transactions of the day

 

TRANSACTIONS

• LHP Daniel Camarena was released by the Twins (Blue Wahoos roster). Camarena is another pitcher from Cathedral Catholic in San Diego, the same high school as Twins pitchers Stephen Gonsalves and Alex Schick as well as Cleveland minor leaguer Brady Aiken.

AWARDS

• International League Pitcher of the Week - Rochester LHP Lewis Thorpe

The Twins named Thorpe the organization’s minor league pitcher of the week on Sunday. On Monday, the International League named Thorpe their pitcher of the week.

 

 

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 10, Scranton/Wilkes Barre 6

Box Score

 

After back-to-back strong starts, Lewis Thorpe was back on the mound on Monday night. His overall line probably isn’t real indicative of how well he threw. Through six innings, he gave up just one run on four hits. He went back out for the seventh inning.It started with a double, followed by an infield single. He recorded a strikeout but then followed it with a walk to load the bases. Gabriel Moya came in. He struck out the first batter he faced. But then he hit the next batter and gave up a grand slam before Jake Reed came on to get the final out.

 

Fortunately, the Red Wings bats came up big and scored ten runs, something that has happened frequently in Red Wings games this season already.

 

 

Ronald Torreyes went 2-for-4 with his third home run, three runs scored and three RBIs. Luke Raley went 2-for-5 with his fourth homer and three RBIs. Zander Wiel was 2-for-5 with his fourth double. John Andreoli was 1-for-3 with two walks. LaMonte Wade went 1-for-2 with two walks and two RBIs. Drew Maggi had a walk and a triple.

 

Thorpe’s final line shows that he was charged with four runs on five hits over 6 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out five. Moya gave up two runs on one hit (and one hit batter) in 1/3 of an inning. Jake Reed got four outs before Preston Guilmet pitched a scoreless ninth inning.

 

 

BLUE WAHOO BITES

Pensacola 1, Jackson 3

Box Score

 

The Blue Wahoos played a morning game in Jackson, Tennessee, the final game of the five-game series.

 

Travis Blankenhorn got things going well in the first inning. He hit his first AA home run in the top of the first inning to give Pensacola the 1-0 lead.

 

In the bottom half of the inning, Blue Wahoos starter Griffin Jax gave up a two-out, solo home run to Jeffrey Baez. At the time, his season ERA jumped from 0.40 to 0.79. But that was all that the Diamondbacks’ affiliate was able to score off him. Jax went 5 1/3 innings and gave up four hits, walked two and struck out two.

 

Jovani Moran came on and got out of the sixth inning. He gave up two runs in the seventh inning. Jeff Ames worked a scoreless eighth inning.

 

The Blue Wahoos had just four hits in the game. Ernie De La Trinidad walked and had a bunt single. Brian Navarreto walked twice. Luis Arraez was 1-for-3 with a walk.

 

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers

Box Score

 

The Miracle had Monday off. They had played in 23 of 24 days before Monday. On Tuesday, Miguel Sano will begin his rehab with the Miracle in Ft. Myers.

 

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids

Box Score

 

Like Ft. Myers, Cedar Rapids has played 23 games in the first 24 days, so a scheduled day off on Monday comes at a good time.

 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

 

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day - Griffin Jax, Pensacola Blue Wahoos

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Ronald Torreyes, Rochester Red Wings

 

PROSPECT SUMMARY

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

 

#1 - Royce Lewis (Ft. Myers) - No Game Scheduled

#2 - Alex Kirilloff (Pensacola) - Injured List, early May return

#3 - Brusdar Graterol (Pensacola) - Did Not Pitch

#4 - Trevor Larnach (Ft. Myers) - No Game Scheduled

#5 - Wander Javier (EST) - Injured, early May return

#6 - Brent Rooker (Rochester) - Did Not Play, hamstring

#7 - Jhoan Duran (Ft. Myers) - No Game Scheduled

#8 - Lewis Thorpe (Rochester) - 6.1 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 K (96 pitches, 64 strikes)

#9 - Blayne Enlow (Cedar Rapids) - No Game Scheduled

#10 - Akil Baddoo (Ft. Myers) - No Game Scheduled

#11 - Nick Gordon (Rochester) - Injured List, early May return

#12 - Stephen Gonsalves (Rochester) - Injured List, late-May return possible

#13 - Ryan Jeffers (Ft. Myers) - No Game Scheduled

#14 - Ben Rortvedt (Ft. Myers) - No Game Scheduled

#15 - Yunior Severino (Cedar Rapids) - Injured List

#16 - Gilberto Celestino (Cedar Rapids) - No Game Scheduled

#17 - Zack Littell (Rochester) - Did Not Pitch

#18 - LaMonte Wade (Rochester) - 1-2, 2 BB, R, 2 RBI, SB(4)

#19 - Jorge Alcala (Pensacola) - Did Not Pitch

#20 - Jose Miranda (Ft. Myers) - No Game Scheduled

 

 

TUESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

 

Rochester @ Scranton/Wilkes Barre (5:35 CST) - RHP Kohl Stewart (1-2, 6.00 ERA)

Pensacola - No Game Scheduled

Clearwater @ Ft. Myers (5:30 CST) - LHP Bryan Sammons (3-0, 0.42 ERA)

Bowling Green @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 CST) - RHP Luis Rijo (0-2, 4.20 ERA)

 

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

 

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[ScooterDance]

Heyyyyy! Another day where Royce event 0-fer!

 

Too soon for pessimism?

[gunnarthor]

 

Heyyyyy! Another day where Royce event 0-fer!

Too soon for pessimism?

Way too soon

[rdehring]

You hit it on the head, Seth, that Thorpe's overall line didn't indicate how well he threw.  Saw he had 96 pitches, do you think he just ran out of gas early in the season?  Also would have helped if Moya hadn't let all three of his runners score.  His rehab hasn't gone that well, which is probably why he was optioned to AAA.

 

Have liked Jax for a long time.  Another very good outing from a pitcher I expect will surprise many of us.  Don't have a clue exactly what type of pitcher he is, but foresee his success at the big league level being similar to someone like Scott Baker.

 

Will be curious tonight to see how Stewart backs up his start in Houston back at Rochester?

[jokin]

 

Heyyyyy! Another day where Royce event 0-fer!

Too soon for pessimism?

 

Even too soon for sarcasm.

[Seth Stohs]

 

You hit it on the head, Seth, that Thorpe's overall line didn't indicate how well he threw.  Saw he had 96 pitches, do you think he just ran out of gas early in the season?  Also would have helped if Moya hadn't let all three of his runners score.  His rehab hasn't gone that well, which is probably why he was optioned to AAA.

 

Have liked Jax for a long time.  Another very good outing from a pitcher I expect will surprise many of us.  Don't have a clue exactly what type of pitcher he is, but foresee his success at the big league level being similar to someone like Scott Baker.

 

Will be curious tonight to see how Stewart backs up his start in Houston back at Rochester?

 

Nah... Thorpe gave up the double, but then the single was deflected off of Cesar's glove. Probably means it was inches from being a potential double play. Then he got a strikeout, but then the walk... 

 

I've only seen Jax throw a couple of bullpens and then watched him a few innings in milb.tv. So I'm not too sure either... but the Scott Baker comp seems fair... 

 

Moya will probably be fine. He wasn't going to make the big league roster out of spring training, so once he made a couple of rehab appearances, he was just optioned. Probably nothing to worry about with him. Just a bad game. 

 

 

[jmlease1]

 

 

I've only seen Jax throw a couple of bullpens and then watched him a few innings in milb.tv. So I'm not too sure either... but the Scott Baker comp seems fair... 

 

 

If Jax turns out to be Scott Baker, that's a pretty good thing! People forget how effective he was before the elbow blew out on him: 15 bWAR in 5 full seasons (20 starts or more) is pretty darn good.

 

I like Jax, hope he continues to do well. I suspect he'll spend the year in AA, but that's fine: he needs innings against solid competition and AA is the right spot for him to develop and refine his pitches and approach.

[nytwinsfan]

Royce Lewis has got to be hiding a nagging injury, right?

[nicksaviking]

How hard does Jax throw? He's not missing many bats.

[nater79a]

 

How hard does Jax throw? He's not missing many bats.

 

Think Jax sits at 92-93 but can bring it at 95 if he needs to.   Yeah, he's not a big strikeout guy but he has a lot of other positives that offset that.   Very good control, HR rates that are almost miniscule (Monday's homer notwithstanding), and a ground ball rate north of 50% throughout his pro career.

[Seth Stohs]

 

How hard does Jax throw? He's not missing many bats.

 

90-94.