Twins Minor League Report (8/6): Affiliates Feast on Home Cooking

[Allen Post]

All four full-season clubs collected wins at home tonight, and the FCL Twins haven't lost yet, so come celebrate by reading tonight's Minor League Report!

TRANSACTIONS
No transactions today.

 

SAINTS SENTINEL 
St. Paul 1, Louisville 0 
Box Score

The Saints’ pitchers were untouchable tonight and the Louisville arms were only a little bit less untouchable in this pitchers duel. Saint Paul gets Louisville back for last night, winning this one 1-0.

Chandler Shepherd was nothing short of dominant in his start tonight. The St. Paul starter went six full innings and didn’t allow a run. Unfortunately for the Saints, Shepherd’s Louisville counterpart, Michael Mariot, matched his every move (literally) and when Shepherd gave way to Yennier Cano to start the seventh, both starters had allowed four hits and no runs.  

Mariot was taken out after the seventh and Sherman Johnson, for one, was happy to see him go. Johnson gave the Saints the first lead of the ballgame in the eighth with a clutch solo shot to right center.

In contrast to their opponents, the Saints bullpen did not let them down tonight. Cano walked his first two batters in the seventh but struck out a couple to get out of the inning unscathed. Then, Kyle Barraclough hurled a hitless eighth and Nick Vincent closed the game with a strong ninth. One run was all the Saints needed in this one.   

Thomas Telis and home run hero Sherman Johnson had the only multi-hit games for the St. Paul.

 

Winder Shut Down
Saints starter and Twins Daily’s #8 prospect Josh Winder will be shut down for the following few weeks with shoulder fatigue. Winder hasn’t pitched since July 21st and the Twins have decided to protect their asset by resting him an additional two or three weeks.

Thorpe Finishes Rehab Stint

In positive news, Lewis Thorpe finished his rehab stint with the FCL Twins and is set to start for the Saints on Sunday.

 

 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 11, Midland 4
Box Score

Trey Cabbage led the Wind Surge bats to a big night and Chris Vallimont was an exciting watch on the mound. It was a good night for Wichita as they take this one in blowout fashion.

The best way to start a ballgame is to put a crooked number up in the first, and that’s exactly what the Wind Surge did tonight. Wichita put up four in the opening frame, with an RBI each coming on Cabbage and Jermaine Palacios singles and two runs scoring on Andrew Bechtold’s double.

After giving up a four spot to hard-hit Wichita liners, Midland got one back in the third off a weak infield single from Devin Foyle. However, Cabbage responded with two more RBI on a deep blast to right that extended the Wichita lead to 6-1.

Midland got an additional run back in the fourth, but Cabbage had another two-run shot up his sleeve in the fifth, giving him his fourth and fifth RBI of the night.

While Cabbage and the Surge were mashing, Vallimont was dealing on the mound. He struggled a bit with walks (he had four, two came around to score), but his swing-and-miss stuff was on full display as he had eight strikeouts over five innings. Just check out the Rock Hounds’ facial expressions for confirmation for how filthy he was tonight:

Midland got a two-run homer of their own in the seventh, but, like they did all night, the Wichita bats had an answer. Austin Martin drove in two with a double in the eighth, and this one ended 11-4 in Wichita’s favor.

After Vallimont left the ballgame, Alex Phillips allowed two earned runs over two innings and Jordan Gore took care of the eighth and ninth without allowing a baserunner. Cabbage's big night was the only multi-hit showing for Wichita.

 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 4, Quad Cities 2
Box Score

The Kernels jumped in front early and held on for the rest of the game, taking a tight one tonight, 4-2.

The Kernels’ first trip to the plate was quite a productive one, as they sent eight men to bat and pushed three runs across. The big hit came in the form of a two-run Yunior Severino single, and Seth Gray also notched an RBI on a groundout. Matt Wallner helped Cedar Rapids add on in the second, with an RBI single of his own.

Quad Cities finally got on the board in the fifth, using a Maikel Garcia triple to score Gavin Stupienski from first for their first run. Then, in the sixth, Jake Means doubled and drove in another run to cut the Cedar Rapids lead to 4-2. Kernels’ starter Louie Varland left the ballgame shortly after. At the end of his outing Varland had gone 5 ⅔ innings and allowed two earned runs on five hits and two walks while striking out five. 

The bullpen took over from there for Cedar Rapids. Melvi Acosta grabbed the last out of the sixth and pitched a hitless seventh, and Zach Featherstone allowed the bases to fill in the eighth, but got out of the inning without allowing a run. Then, Featherstone shut down the River Bandits one more time, securing the 4-2 win for Cedar Rapids.

Alex Isola and Severino had multi-hit games for the Kernels tonight.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 4, Dunedin 3
Box Score

This one looked to be headed towards slugfest territory after the first inning, but in what turned out to be a quiet offensive game, the Mussels edge out the Blue Jays, 4-3

Dunedin got two runs right away in the top of the first, with RBI coming on a Jesus Feliz fielding error and a P.K. Morris sac fly. But, Fort Myers had a first-inning run of their own, on a Charles Mack RBI groundout that scored Misael Urbina.

The score stayed at 2-1 until the fourth, when the Mussels grabbed a run to tie it up. Urbina was involved again, this time driving in a run on a sac fly.

After the rocky first inning, Mussel’s starter Bobby Milacki settled down well and allowed no runs over the next three innings, and when Matthew Swain took over in the fifth, he dominated the Blue Jays bats with three hitless innings and five strikeouts. 

The solid pitching paid off in the seventh, when Fort Myers took their first lead of the ballgame. Jeferson Morales hit his seventh bomb of the year, driving in himself and Charles Mack to give the Mussels a two-run advantage.

However, that lead got cut in half in the eighth, after a Miguel Hiraldo sacrifice fly scored Dunedin’s third run of the game. Dunedin got two baserunners on in the ninth, but they couldn’t bring them across. Denny Bentley gets credit for the six-out save and the Mussels win 4-3. 

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
FCL Red Sox 5, FCL Twins 5 (Suspended/7)
Box Score

Today’s game between the Twins’ and Red Sox’ Complex League sides was suspended due to lightning with no outs and one man on in the bottom of the seventh inning, with the score tied at five runs apiece. Of note in this one, is that Alerick Soularie made his pro debut for the FCL Twins. So far, he is 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.

The game will be resumed tomorrow, so check back in tomorrow’s report for a full recap!

 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day - Chandler Shepherd (St. Paul) 6 IP, 4 H, 0 BB, 3 K
Hitter of the Day - Trey Cabbage (Wichita) 3-for-4, 3 R, 5 RBI, 2 HR (9), SO

PROSPECT SUMMARY

Take note that we have finished our midseason update, so there is a new list! Here is a look at how the Twins Daily Midseason Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:

#1 – Royce Lewis (Rehab) – Out for season (torn ACL)
#2 – Jhoan Duran (St. Paul) – Injured List (elbow strain)
#3 – Jordan Balazovic (Wichita) – Did not pitch
#4 – Matt Canterino (Cedar Rapids) – Injured List (right elbow strain)
#5 – Jose Miranda (St. Paul) – 1-for-4 
#6 – Keoni Cavaco (Fort Myers) – 1-for-4, K
#7 – Gilberto Celestino (St. Paul) – 1-for-3
#8 – Josh Winder (St. Paul) – Did not pitch 
#9 – Aaron Sabato (Fort Myers) – Did not play
#10 – Matt Wallner (Cedar Rapids) – 1-for-3, R, RBI, BB
#11 – Blayne Enlow (Cedar Rapids) – Out for Season (Tommy John surgery)
#12 – Bailey Ober (Minnesota) – 5.0 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, BB, 5 K
#13 – Cole Sands (Wichita) – Did not pitch
#14 – Brent Rooker (Minnesota) – 0-for-5, K
#15 – Misael Urbina (Fort Myers) – 0-for-2, R, RBI
#16 – Spencer Steer (Wichita) – 0-for-3, 2 R, K
#17 – Wander Javier (Cedar Rapids) – 1-for-4, K
#18 – Alerick Soularie (Complex) – 0-for-3, BB, K (game suspended)
#19 – Edwar Colina (Rehab) – Injured List (elbow)
#20 – Chris Vallimont (Wichita) – 5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 8 K

 

SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Louisville @ St. Paul (7:05PM CST) – RHP Ian Hamilton (2-1, 2.61 ERA)
Midland @ Wichita (7:05PM CST) – RHP Austin Schulfer (3-7, 4.58 ERA)
Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (6:35PM CST) – RHP Tyler Beck (2-1, 2.06 ERA)
Dunedin @ Ft. Myers (6:00PM CST) – RHP Miguel Rodriguez (2-2, 3.62 ERA)

 

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[Danchat]

Another injury to a key pitching prospect... such is the 2021 season.

[jmlease1]

9 hours ago, Danchat said:

Another injury to a key pitching prospect... such is the 2021 season.

seriously. that's easily the worst part of the development process this year: how many top pitchers are injured/not pitching. Makes it harder to feel any confidence in immediate help coming through from some of these guys for the MLB squad if they're not pitching after a 2020 where they didn't pitch in competitive games (and in some cases didn't pitch at all).

They're not wrong when they say the best ability is availability.

[Seth Stohs]

Yah, even though we talked and wrote about it a lot this offseason, I don't think we understood just how big of a deal having not pitched competitively for a year. 

That said, Winder did throw a lot this year. Sounds more like he's just dead arm/soreness than anything major, at this point... Let's hope! 

[Alex Schieferdecker]

Varland finally allows his first runs in High A.

[Melissa]

Thanks for such an informative and entertaining report, Allen!

The Wichita squad is especially sounding strong and raising my hopes.

The Twins Daily mid season prospect ranking obviously came three weeks before the trade deadline, so it’s a bit harder to track our most recent shiny stars in the making.

[jmlease1]

Austin Martin is off to an excellent start at Wichita. only a handful of games, but he hasn't missed a beat since being traded and looks terrific at the plate so far. Let's hope he can keep slashing doubles and constantly getting on base and finish the year strong. 

Trey Cabbage has done very well since his promotion: always good to see a player keep the same level of production when they bounce up to better competition. But his K rate worries me a bit? It's much more sustainable if he's slugging .500+ than down around .400, though.

[Mike Sixel]

Guess we can kiss the idea of Winder being in the rotation day one goodbye. At this point B also looks out. Not looking good for the start of next year already, alas.

 

[roger]

Thanks for the report, Allen, on a big day with four W's.

Perhaps the highlight of your report for me was the news on Lewis Thorpe returning to St. Paul to make his next start, Sunday.  The next couple months are going to be huge for this young man.  I would be surprised if his chances of lasting through the 40-man roster cutdown this November is any better than 50/50.  Lots of young men are playing so well that they should be claiming several 40-man spots.  Considering Thorpe's play, or lack thereof, last year and missing much of this season, he needs to be successful beginning with his start this weekend.

If Winder is shut down for three weeks, rather than three more weeks, he could be back in the rotation next week.  Really want to see both he and Ryan pitching two out of every five games for the Saints the last six weeks of the season. 

Has anyone else noticed that Severino is hitting well, really well, since moving up to the Kernel's?  This is one fortunate young man, having signed two contracts with signing bonuses over $2M.  Hopefully, Atlanta's cheating will pay off for the Twins.

 

[Mike Sixel]

11 minutes ago, roger said:

Thanks for the report, Allen, on a big day with four W's.

Perhaps the highlight of your report for me was the news on Lewis Thorpe returning to St. Paul to make his next start, Sunday.  The next couple months are going to be huge for this young man.  I would be surprised if his chances of lasting through the 40-man roster cutdown this November is any better than 50/50.  Lots of young men are playing so well that they should be claiming several 40-man spots.  Considering Thorpe's play, or lack thereof, last year and missing much of this season, he needs to be successful beginning with his start this weekend.

If Winder is shut down for three weeks, rather than three more weeks, he could be back in the rotation next week.  Really want to see both he and Ryan pitching two out of every five games for the Saints the last six weeks of the season. 

Has anyone else noticed that Severino is hitting well, really well, since moving up to the Kernel's?  This is one fortunate young man, having signed two contracts with signing bonuses over $2M.  Hopefully, Atlanta's cheating will pay off for the Twins.

 

I hope Ryan is with the Twins, not saints. 

[roger]

28 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

I hope Ryan is with the Twins, not saints. 

I hear you, Mike.  But expect he will begin with the Saints for awhile for the organization to get a first hand feel for what he has.  But heck, he has been on a pretty big stage the last 17 days...would they bring him to Target Field straight from Tokyo?  Good news is he will take the same flight from Tokyo, to either ballpark.

[Mike Sixel]

15 minutes ago, roger said:

I hear you, Mike.  But expect he will begin with the Saints for awhile for the organization to get a first hand feel for what he has.  But heck, he has been on a pretty big stage the last 17 days...would they bring him to Target Field straight from Tokyo?  Good news is he will take the same flight from Tokyo, to either ballpark.

I'd expect a start or two in St. Paul. Then hopefully with the big league club.