Front Page: Twins Minor League Report (8/15): Tortuga (Rehab) Time

[Seth Stohs]

The big story is that Willians Astudillo (aka, La Tortuga) made his first rehab appearance on Thursday night with the Pensacola Blue Wahoos, and he made an immediate impact on the prospect-laden lineup. There was also a first win in Rochester. There was a first save in Cedar Rapids where a young pitching prospect continued to pitch great. There was a walkoff in the Elizabethton game too.Find out everything that happened happened in the Twins system on Thursday, starting with the transactions of the day.

 

TRANSACTIONS

• Before Thursday’s game, the Twins activated RHP Michael Pineda and RHP Randy Dobnak was optioned to the Red Wings.
• Following the Twins win in Texas, Devin Smeltzer was optioned to AAA Rochester. A corresponding move will be made on Friday. Who will it be?
• Edouard Julien (Elizabethton) and Seth Pinkerton (GCL) were moved to the 60 day injured lists.

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 7, Indianapolis 3

Box Score

 

The Red Wings got off to a fast start and used a big fourth inning to help lefty Charlie Barnes to his first Triple-A win.

 

In his second Red Wings start, Charlie Barnes gave up two runs on seven hits over five innings. He struck out five without walking any. Jake Reed came on and pitched a scoreless sixth inning. He gave up one run in the seventh. Sam Clay got the final two outs or that seventh inning and worked two more scoreless innings to record his second Red Wings save.

 

Already up 3-0, the Red Wings scored four runs in the fourth inning. The big blow was a three-run homer off the bat of Ramon Flores. It was his second homer since joining the Red Wings recently. Flores also had a single and a walk. Tomas Telis went 3-for-4. Zander Wiel went 2-for-5 with his 33rd double. Mike Miller went 2-for-4.

 

BLUE WAHOOS BITES

Pensacola 13, Chattanooga 0

Box Score

 

Willians Astudillo began his rehab assignment with the Blue Wahoos. He batted second and was the catcher. He helped get things going on the right note right away. In the first inning, he hit a long home run to put the Wahoos on the scoreboard. Soon after, Ryan Jeffers knocked his third Pensacola homer, a two-run shot.

 

 

After that, the offense just kept putting up runs. Royce Lewis went 2-for-4 and scored three runs. Trevor Larnach went 2-for-4 with a walk and his third double and drove in two runs. Ryan Costello went 2-for-5 with his second double and sixth home run. Mark Contreras added his ninth homer.

 

Astudillo homered in his first plate appearance. His second plate appearance resulted in a walk. He hit into a double play before being replaced by Caleb Hamilton.

 

Marcos Diplan was the opener in this game. He gave up a hit and walked one without giving up a run in the first inning. Edwar Colina came in and struck out four batters over three scoreless innings. Gabriel Moya worked the next three innings and struck out three batters. Anthony Vizcaya completed the shutout with two innings.

 

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers, St. Lucie (Cancelled)

Box Score

 

The final game of the Miracle vs. Mets series was called due to rainy conditions. The game will not be made up.

 

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 2, Wisconsin 1

Box Score

 

The Kernels got a great start, a couple of home runs and then held on for a nice win in Wisconsin.

 

Luis Rijo continues to pitch really well for the Kernels. On this night, he tossed seven shutout innings. He gave up just two hits. He didn’t walk a single batter and he struck out nine. He improved to 5-7 on the season and reduced his season ERA to 2.63.

 

Gilberto Celestino has been red hot for nearly two months now. He got the Kernels off to a fast start with a first-inning solo homer. It was his tenth of the season. He went 2-for-2, walked and was hit by a pitch as well. In the fourth inning, Wander Javier hit a long home run, his ninth of the season, to give the Kernels a 2-0 lead. That was about it for the Kernels offense as they had just five hits in the game.

 

Austin Schulfer pitched a scoreless eighth inning. He gave up one run in the ninth inning but stranded a runner to record the save. It was the first save of his professional career.

 

E-TWINS E-NOTES

E-Twins 3, Danville 4

Box Score

 

Sawyer Gipson-Long started and gave up three runs (two earned) on six hits and a walk in four innings. He struck out five. Ryan Shreve worked the next four innings and gave up just three hits. He gave up no runs, walked none and struck out three. Osiris German came into a tie game in the bottom of the ninth. He got two outs, but he hit a batter and gave up two hits to take the loss.

 

Ruben Santana led off and led the offense by going 4-for-6 with a stolen base in this game. Max Smith went 3-for-4 with his third stolen base. Anthony Prato went 2-for-3 with a hit batter and his sixth double. Will Holland added his sixth home run.

 

GCL TWINS TAKES

GCL Twins, GCL Braves

Box Score

 

For the second straight day, the GCL Twins were postponed by rain. The games will not be rescheduled.

 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

 

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day - Luis Rijo, Cedar Rapids Kernels

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Ryan Costello, Pensacola Blue Wahoos

 

PROSPECT SUMMARY

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

 

#1 - Royce Lewis (Pensacola) - 2-4, 3 R, RBI, SF, SB(4)

#2 - Alex Kirilloff (Pensacola) - 1-4, BB, R, K

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

#4 - Trevor Larnach (Pensacola) - 2-4, BB, 2B(3), 2 R, 2 RBI, K

#5 - Wander Javier (Cedar Rapids) - 1-3, BB, HR(9), R, RBI, K

#6 - Jordan Balazovic (Ft. Myers) - Rained Out

#7 - Keoni Cavaco (GCL Twins) - Rained Out

#10 - Blayne Enlow (Ft. Myers) - Injured List (hamstring)

#11 - Lewis Thorpe (Rochester) - Did Not Pitch

#12 - Nick Gordon (Rochester) - Injured List (lower leg contusion)

#13 - Ryan Jeffers (Pensacola) - 1-1, HR(3), HBP, R, 2 RBI

#14 - Luis Arraez (Minnesota) - 3-5, 2B(10), HR(3), 2 R, 3 RBI

#15 - Matt Wallner (Elizabethton) - 0-3, 2 BB, K

#16 - Ben Rortvedt (Pensacola) - Injured List

#17 - Akil Baddoo (Ft. Myers) - Injured (Tommy John)

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

#19 - Misael Urbina (DSL Twins) - 1-3, BB, 2B(13), R

#20 - Travis Blankenhorn (Pensacola) - 1-5, 2 RBI, K

 

FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Rochester @ Indianapolis (6:05 CST) - RHP Kohl Stewart (6-5, 5.68 ERA)

Chattanooga @ Pensacola (6:35 CST) - TBD

Ft. Myers @ Jupiter (5:30 CST) - RHP Jordan Balazovic (6-3, 2.76 ERA)

Cedar Rapids @ Wisconsin (7:05 CST) - RHP Matt Canterino (0-0, 1.80 ERA)

Elizabethton @ Danville (5:30 CST) - LHP Ryley Widell (1-5, 7.30 ERA)

GCL Red Sox @ GCL Twins (11:00 CST) - TBD

 

Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Thursday games or any other minor league topics you would like.

 

Click here to view the article

[jokin]

Medical report on Jeffers, who left the game after a HBP?

[Seth Stohs]

 

Medical report on Jeffers, who left the game after a HBP?

 

Nothing official. I went back and watched it. He got hit in the elbow area, maybe just above. Definitely and clearly hurt. I'm sure they'll have it x-rayed. 

[AlwaysinModeration]

Hold on a second, did you say that Willians WALKED?

 

How about Brusdar heading to Texas?

[tarheeltwinsfan]

 

Hold on a second, did you say that Willians WALKED?

How about Brusdar heading to Texas?

What is the latest on this?

[gunnarthor]

Kiriloff and Larnich are hitting fairly well at AA - Kiriloff isn't waking enough (6.5%) while Larnich is striking out too much (30%) but both look like they'll be pretty solid ML bats.  And Lewis is walking more than Kiriloff and striking out less than Larnich. 

 

All three are pretty solid in AA right now. Great to see that. 

[Seth Stohs]

They'll announce the pitcher added as soon as he arrives at the ballpark today... assuming he's flying in this morning. 

 

Most think it'll be Thorpe. I would like to see Graterol prove his health for another week.

[Aerodeliria]

I'll take Thorpe. He's my favorite of the Shuttle Twins.

[howieramone2]

Celestino trade looking better every day.

[rdehring]

I am guessing Thorpe as well.  Could be Stewart, but that 3.0 inning outing by Thorpe the other day seemed to set him up for a recall.

 

What is going to be interesting is how many September call ups they make this year.  Wade, Astudillo, Stashak, Stewart, Dobnak, Poppen, Smeltzer, and whomever gets sent down when they activate Cruz.  That's at least seven.  

 

Rijo is looking like a real nice pickup.  

[nicksaviking]

I like that they keep letting Thorpe work as as starter when they send him down to Rochester. This year I want to see Graterol in the pen ASAP, but I like Thorpe as a starting option this year should they need that option. I like the idea of Thorpe as the 5th starter more than I do Smeltzer.

[Trov]

 

Kiriloff and Larnich are hitting fairly well at AA - Kiriloff isn't waking enough (6.5%) while Larnich is striking out too much (30%) but both look like they'll be pretty solid ML bats.  And Lewis is walking more than Kiriloff and striking out less than Larnich. 

 

All three are pretty solid in AA right now. Great to see that. 

I personally do not care the walk percentage for Kiriloff, as long as the walk to strikeout rate does not get much worse, right now it is about same as Lewis at a 3 to 1 ratio K to BB.  When players do not walk a lot I always look at how often they strike out, and if the ratio is very high that most likely means they are chasing and missing a lot of pitches.  If both percentages are down then it just means they put a lot of balls in play. 

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

I like that they keep letting Thorpe work as as starter when they send him down to Rochester.

Haven't they done that with all of the AAA shuttle guys, except Littell and his relief conversion?

 

Thorpe's only had one game with more than 42 pitches in the last 30 days, though, and that one was only 69 pitches, so he might need some further stretching before he could start in MLB again? But I guess most of our MLB starters only go ~85 pitches anyway...

[ashbury]

They opened up a spot on the 40-man when Eades was lost on waivers. They could have waited a week on that, if the plan was to add someone next week. Ergo, someone not on the 40-man is coming up to the Show.

 

Unless... the FO is playing Super Inside Baseball and somehow this week was deemed better than next week for trying to sneak someone through waivers. Didn't work, in that case.

 

Anyway, I'm guessing Graterol, who was mentioned by Rob Antony a week or two ago.

[jkcarew]

 

They opened up a spot on the 40-man when Eades was lost on waivers. They could have waited a week on that, if the plan was to add someone next week. Ergo, someone not on the 40-man is coming up to the Show.

 

Unless... the FO is playing Super Inside Baseball and somehow this week was deemed better than next week for trying to sneak someone through waivers. Didn't work, in that case.

 

Anyway, I'm guessing Graterol, who was mentioned by Rob Antony a week or two ago.

But why would the roster situation (one spot open) preclude Thorpe being the callup? I agree that the spot is open for Graterol...and that move will be coming. But I'd guess Thorpe for this one. His last start was only 3 innings and 42 pitches three days ago...and relatively clean. Meanwhile Graterol has had two appearances and 3 innings at Pensacola since his return. In his last, he threw 14 pitches, 6 for strikes, walked two of the four batters he faced. Graterol wouldn't shock me...he's coming...but I've got a case of Grain Belt Premium that I recently found in the garage that says this one will be Thorpe.

[Aerodeliria]

It takes a long time for a turtle to right itself once it's upside down. Welcome back!

[Seth Stohs]

Thorpe was officially called up.

 

I just don't think they call up Graterol until August 31st. Also, the only reason that Graterol is working out of the bullpen is to pitch for the Twins...and because he was hurt for 3 months. He'lll move back to starting in 2019.

[Mr. Brooks]

Thorpe was officially called up.

 

I just don't think they call up Graterol until August 31st. Also, the only reason that Graterol is working out of the bullpen is to pitch for the Twins...and because he was hurt for 3 months. He'lll move back to starting in 2019.

Do you know if the new regime is as married to the arbitrary year over year innings increase limit as the old regime was?

 

It will be interesting to see how they handle him next season, if he looks MLB ready in September, but has an innings limit next year.

[ashbury]

But why would the roster situation (one spot open) preclude Thorpe being the callup? I agree that the spot is open for Graterol...and that move will be coming. But I'd guess Thorpe for this one. His last start was only 3 innings and 42 pitches three days ago...and relatively clean. Meanwhile Graterol has had two appearances and 3 innings at Pensacola since his return. In his last, he threw 14 pitches, 6 for strikes, walked two of the four batters he faced. Graterol wouldn't shock me...he's coming...but I've got a case of Grain Belt Premium that I recently found in the garage that says this one will be Thorpe.

 

Thorpe was officially called up.

You win. Beer's on me next time we're at a game.

[jmlease1]

The Pensacola roster is just stacked right now. 8 of our Top 20 prospects are playing there right now, including the top 4? That's one heck of a wave coming.

 

It's going to be really interesting watching the FO try to figure out the OF/1B spots for the next several years: who they bet on could really change things for this franchise. Will they flip one or more of them for pitching? Will they move on from a veteran already in MLB to free up a spot?

[Seth Stohs]

 

Do you know if the new regime is as married to the arbitrary year over year innings increase limit as the old regime was?

It will be interesting to see how they handle him next season, if he looks MLB ready in September, but has an innings limit next year.

 

If he's starting games in the big leagues, they'll monitor his appearances and his innings and hit pitch counts throughout the season so that he isn't limited late in the year. The absolutely still see him as a starter and that's the direction they'll go with him.