Front Page: Twins Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Month - July 2019

[Seth Stohs]

In recent days, we have announced our choices for the Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Month (Jaylin Davis) and Starting Pitcher of the Month (Edwar Colina). Today, we will discuss the relief pitchers. Which bullpen arms had a strong July?

 

Previous 2019 Relief Pitchers of the Month:

 

April: Ryan Mason, Pensacola Blue Wahoos

May: Hector Lujan, Ft. Myers Miracle

June: Derek Molina, Cedar Rapids Kernels/Ft. Myers MiracleBefore we get to our Top 4 relievers in the Twins system in July, here are several Honorable Mentions.

• Adam Bray - Pensacola Blue Wahoos/Rochester Red Wings - 8 G, 2 GS, 1.86 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, 19.1 IP, 12 H, 5 BB, 13 K
• Nate Hadley - Elizabethton Twins/Cedar Rapids Kernels - 8 G, 0.75 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 12.0 IP, 7 H, 7 BB, 18 K,
• Jose Martinez - Cedar Rapids Kernels - 7 G, 1.23 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, 14.2 IP, 6 H, 7 BB, 11 K
• Steven Cruz - Elizabethton Twins - 8 G, 1.13 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 16.0 IP, 9 H, 10 BB, 25 K
• Jose Guevara - GCL Twins - 6 G, 0.00 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 9.0 IP, 6 H, 5 BB, 8 K

THE TOP FOUR RELIEF PITCHERS

 

 

#4 - Moises Gomez - Ft. Myers Miracle - 7 G, 1.93 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 9.1 IP, 4 H, 5 BB, 14 K

Runner-up last month, Gomez returns to the top four in July. He was promoted to the Miracle and continued to pitch great. He limited hits. Opponents hit just .133 against him. He was able to get a lot of swings and misses. Though he is in his sixth season in the Twins organization, Gomez is still just 22 years old .

 

#3 - Cody Stashak - Rochester Red Wings - 6 G, 0.87 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, 10.1 IP, 6 H, 3 BB, 12 K

We only included Stashak’s minor league numbers in the above stats, so it is clear why it made sense to give him an opportunity. Batters hit just .158 off of him with a .430 OPS. And he did make his big league debut and threw two scoreless innings against the New York Yankees. Stashak isn’t tall and he is thin, but he’s got a good fastball, a good slider and generally has good control and command. The 25-year-old was the Twins 13th-round pick in 2015 out of St. Johns.

 

#2 - Sam Clay - Pensacola Blue Wahoos/Rochester Red Wings - 9 G, 1.13 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, 9 H, 3 BB, 16 K

Clay was the Twins fourth-round pick in 2014 out of Georgia Tech. He was given an opportunity to start for a couple of seasons but eventually was moved to the bullpen. He spent 2018 in Chattanooga where he posted a 5.88 ERA. He began this year in Pensacola where he posted a 2.70 ERA in 31 games. He was promoted to Rochester in mid-July. He has given up just one run in six outings with the Red Wings so far, and that included an outing in which he threw three hitless innings. For the month, opponents hit just .167 with a .424 OPS against him.

 

 

And the Twins Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Month is:

 

Ft. Myers Miracle – RHP Joe Record - 6 G, 0.00 ERA, 0.65 WHIP, 12.1 IP, 5 H, 3 BB, 13 K

 

Joe Record is having a really nice professional debut season. The 24-year-old was the Twins 28th-round pick in 2017 out of UC-Santa Barbara. His junior season he pitched in just three games before being shut down. The Twins still drafted him, and soon after, he had Tommy John surgery. He spent the 2018 season rehabbing.

 

He began the 2019 season with the Cedar Rapids Kernels and was a very strong candidate for this award in April. In seven games for the Kernels, he did not allow an earned run and recorded five saves. He was promoted to Ft. Myers in early May. He’s had some ups and downs, as you would expect, but in July he was really good. In fact, Florida State League hitters hit just .111 off of him with a .278 OPS.

 

Record is big, strong and he throws the ball into the mid-90s. He’s still working his way back, so expect that he could move quickly in 2020.

 

As you can see, there were several strong relief pitcher performances in July. These guys are all worthy of some recognition. It was a good month for each of these pitchers mentioned today.

 

Congratulations to Joe Record, the Twins Daily Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Month for July 2019.

 

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[mikelink45]

We need strong minor league records to translate to strong Twins records.  So far we are not doing as well as we need.  Since we only traded for a B and a C level reliever at trade deadline we have to have the minors fill our void.

[twinstalker]

Not to be a downer, but a normal distribution of July stats by Twins minor league relievers is going to nearly show on the tail what's shown above, even if all Twins pitchers are exactly of the same abilities.  The ones of interest here are the ones who are repeating it.