Twins Minor League Week in Review: Walkoff Wins of Change in Wichita

[Seth Stohs]

It was a good week on the road for the Twins. In the minor leagues, there were some new prospects making their first impressions, some walk-off wins, multi-homer games, transactions, and some graduations. Find out more in this week’s Twins Minor League Week in Review.  

Be sure to read Nick’s Twins Week in Review from yesterday, and then jump into the minor league week. 

Before we get started, let’s check out the FCL Twins game and the transactions from Monday. 

TRANSACTIONS

• RHPs Tyler Beck and Erik Manoah, Jr. were promoted from Cedar Rapids to Wichita. 
• RHP Sawyer Gipson-Long was promoted from Ft. Myers to Cedar Rapids. 

 

FCL Twins Talk
FCL Twins 1, FCL Braves 5
Box Score 
The FCL Twins managed just five hits on Monday. Alerick Soularie had three of them including his first double. Shouldn’t be long before he joins the Mighty Mussels. A rehabbing Anthony Prato had one hit as well. 

Juan Mendez made the start. He went 3 1/3 innings and gave up two runs on one hit and one walk. He struck out six batters. John Wilson got the next five outs and gave up just one hit. Jackson Hicks made his affiliated-ball debut. He gave up two runs (1 earned) on two hits over three innings. He struck out three. Hicks signed with the team last month out of the USPBL. Rafael Feliz gave up an unearned run in his inning. 

With that, let’s look at Week 14 in the Twins minor leagues: 

RESULTS

Triple-A: St. Paul Saints: Week (4-2, hosting Louisville), overall (44-39)
Double-A: Wichita Wind Surge: Week (5-1, hosting Midland), overall (49-35)
High-A: Cedar Rapids Kernels: Week (1-5, hosting Quad Cities), overall (45-39)
Low-A: Ft. Myers Mighty Mussels: Week (3-3, hosting Dunedin), overall (43-38) 
Complex League FCL Twins: Week (1-1), overall (7-19)
 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Here are the week’s Twins minor league-related articles. 

• Twins Minor League Week in Review: Complex Struggles but Success Everywhere Else 
• The Twins Bought Low on Austin Martin
• Twins Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Month - July 2021  
• Tuesday: Austin Martin Makes Twins Debut 
• Twins Claim RHP Ralph Garza Jr. 
• Wednesday: Sabato’s Blasts, Martin’s Heroics 
• Thursday: Shootout in Wichita, Pitcher’s Duel in St. Paul 
• Friday: Affiliates Feast on Home Cooking 
• Scouting Twins Prospects: Cole Sands 
• St. Paul to Stardom: Louie Varland is the Real Deal 
• Saturday: Walk-off Winners 
• Sunday: (Gonna Make You Sweat) Everybody Pitch Now
• TD Top Twins Prospects (Post Draft and Post Trade Deadline): 26-30 

HIGHLIGHTS
We will start with the Twins choices for the organizational hitter and pitcher of the week, and then mention several other Twins prospects who had good Week 14 performances

Twins Player of the Week: Jermaine Palacios, Wichita Wind Surge      
A former Twins top prospect, Palacios was sent to the Rays in exchange for Jake Odorizzi. He struggled with Tampa, especially in Double-A. The Twins outbid teams to bring back Palacios this offseason. He signed with the Twins with the understanding that Royce Lewis would be the Wichita shortstop to start the season, and he would need to move around the diamond. Instead, Lewis hurt his knee and Palacios played shortstop nearly every day. He plays great defense there, and he has provided strong offense as well. Then last week, the Twins acquired shortstop/center fielder Austin Martin from the Rays, and Palacios needed to move around the infield. He played a game at second base. Then he played a game at third base. Then Martin moved out to center, and Palacios got to play some games at shortstop. It’s fair to say that Palacios handled it well, and was out to prove something. In six games, he hit .304/.385/.783 (1.167) with two doubles, three homers and seven RBI. He also stole two bases. In 76 games this season, he has hit .261/.351/.467 (.818) with 12 doubles and 16 home runs. 

Twins Pitcher of the Week: Jovani Moran, St. Paul Saints  
Moran has had a terrific season, and his adjustment to Triple-A has gone swimmingly. This past week, he tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings over two games. He gave up no hits. He issued zero walks. He did hit a batter. He also struck out six batters. In seven games since joining the Saints, he is 1-0 with a save. He’s got a 1.80 ERA and a 0.47 WHIP. In 15 innings, he has four walks and 23 strikeouts. (13.8 K/9) That is after he worked 20 games in Double-A Wichita to start the season. There, he went 2-1 with two saves and a 1.91 ERA and 0.74 WHIP. In 37 2/3 innings, he walked 14 and struck out 64 batters (15.3 K/9). So, overall, he’s got a 1.88 ERA, a 0.67 WHIP, just 3.1 BB/9 and 14.9 K/9. Yes, in his 52 2/3 innings, he has 87 strikeouts. The 2015 seventh round pick from Puerto Rico appears to be ready for one more promotion this season. 

Other Strong Performances this Week

St. Paul Saints

Ben Rortvedt is getting much more playing time now with the Saints, and he’s performing. This past week, he played in five games and hit .357/.400/.857 (1.257) with a double and two home runs including a pinch-hit, extra-innings, walk-off, two-run homer.  

Mark Contreras played in five games. He hit .294/.316/.706 (1.022) with a double and two home runs, including a game-tying home run in the ninth inning of the Rortvedt Walkoff Game. 

The Saints also got some very nice bullpen work. Kyle Barraclough struck out six batters over five scoreless innings. He gave up just one hit. Edgar Garcia also worked in three games. He threw four scoreless innings and gave up two hits and a walk. Chandler Shepherd had a terrific start, tossing six shutout innings. He gave up just four hits and walked none. Andrew Albers gave up one run over seven innings in his start. Drew Strotman gave up just one run on four hits over five innings in his start.  

Wichita Wind Surge

Trey Cabbage had a big week. He played in all six games and hit .375/.423/.875 (1.298) with a double, triple and three home runs. 

In his first week with the Twins organization, Austin Martin played in all six games and hit .400/.571/.500 (1.071) with two doubles. He also walked six times and struck out just once. BJ Boyd played just twice and went 3-for-7 (.429) with a double and a home run. Caleb Hamilton played in three games and had a double, triple and home run. 

Martin and Hamilton each had a walkoff this week. 

 

Jordan Gore worked three scoreless, hitless innings and gave up only a walk. He struck out four. Austin Schulfer provided a solid start. He gave up one run on five hits and two walks over five innings. He struck out six. Cole Sands struck out 11 batters over 8 2/3 innings in his two starts while posting a 3.12 ERA. 

Cedar Rapids Kernels

Max Smith had a strong week again. He played in five games and hit .357/.471/.571 (1.042) with a home run and three walks. DaShawn Keirsey, Jr, hit two home runs. Yunior Severino went 9-for-24 (.375) with a double over his six games. 

Breckin Williams worked three innings over two relief appearances. He gave up only an unearned run and struck out four. Osiris German struck out four batters over three innings over two games. In addition, he also received his high school equivalency through the Twins academy on Monday.

Ft. Myers Might Mussels

Aaron Sabato played in four games this past week. He went 2-for-11 (.182), but the two hits were both home runs, one in each game of a doubleheader. 

The highlight for the organization was the return of Matt Canterino. He worked two perfect innings on Sunday in his first rehab appearance. Matthew Swain struck out five batters over a three-inning performance. Bobby Milacki made one start and gave up just one earned run over four innings. He struck out five batters. Aaron Rozek worked twice out of the bullpen and gave up just one run over four innings. He also struck out five batters. 

FCL Twins 

Emmanuel Rodriguez had just seven at bats, but he had four hits including two doubles and a home run. Alerick Soularie finally got to make his professional debut after hurting his foot in spring training. In his three rehab games, he is 5-for-9 (.555) with a double and a home run. Ricardo Olivar also hit a home run. 

 

Lowlights

We are talking about small samples for these six-game weeks, so it’s important not to make any big decisions or develop a full impression on a player from this small size. It’s just a reminder of the fact that baseball is hard, and all players have good and bad stretches.  

St. Paul Saints

Nick Gordon will finally get every day playing time. In his return to the Saints, he played four games and went 2-for-15 (.133). Keon Broxton went 1-for-10 (.100). JT Riddle played in three games and went 0-for-8. 

Rafael Garza’s first appearance with a Twins affiliate didn’t go great. He gave up three runs on two hits and two walks and recorded just two outs. 

Wichita Wind Surge

Both Aaron Whitefield and Andrew Bechtold went 3-for-20 (.150), though each had a home run, and Bechtold also had a double.  

Sean Gilmartin gave up four runs on four hits in his innings of work before going on the Injured List. Jordan Balazovic went 4 2/3 innings in his start. He gave up six runs on eight hits, two walks and a hit batter. Alex Phillips gave up four runs on four hits (2 HR) over 3 2/3 innings over two appearances. 

Cedar Rapids Kernels

Seth Gray went 3-for-23 (.130). Michael Helman went 2-for-18 (.111). Gabriel Maciel went 1-for-9 (.111). Edouard Julien went 1-for-10 (.100). Matt Wallner went 2-for-22 (.091). 

Tyler Watson has been really good this season, but he had a rough one this past week. The lefty gave up six runs on four hits and two walks over 3 1/3 innings in his start. Cody Laweryson gave up four runs on six hits and three walks over just 2 2/3 innings in his start. Even Ben Gross had an off start. He gave up seven runs on eight hits (3 HR) and a walk in 4 1/3 innings. He’s been pretty terrific of late.  

Ft. Myers Might Mussels

Ruben Santana played in all six games and went 0-for-16. Misael Urbina went 1-for-18 (.056) over his six games. The one hit was a home run. Keoni Cavaco played in five games and went 2-for-19 (.105). Will Holland was 2-for-16 (.125) though he had a home run. 
 

TRENDING STORYLINE  

One very cool benefit of the Twins academies both in Ft. Myers and in the Dominican Republic is that beyond baseball work, they are able to take classes. There is a program which allows players to take classes and receive their high school equivalency and graduate. On Monday, there was a virtual celebration of the graduates from 2020 (were not able to celebrate in person) and 2021. Here is the list of Twins players who have received their diplomas.

2021 Graduating Class 

• Carlos Aguiar
• Luis Baez
• Miguelangel Boadas
• Rubel Céspedes
• Gregory Durán
• Osiris Germán
• Oscar Paredes
• Alexander Peña
• Emmanuel Rodríguez
• Endy Rodríguez
• Malfrin Sosa

2020 Graduating Class 

• Develson Aria
• Rafael Feliz
• Giovahniey Germán
• Argenis Jiménez
• Jeferson Morales
• Juan Pichardo
• Breilin Ramírez
• Wilker Reyes
• Carlos Suniaga
• Wander Valdez

Join us in congratulating each of these, well, student-athletes. 

 

PROSPECT SUMMARY

This Prospect Summary shows our Midseason Twins Top 20 Prospect Rankings. As you have seen, we have started to share the Twins Daily Top 30 Prospect rankings after the draft and trade deadline. Here is Part 1.  

#1 - Royce Lewis (Wichita) - Out for Season (torn ACL)
#2 - Jhoan Duran (St. Paul) – 5 G, 4 GS, 16.0 IP, 16 H, 13 BB, 22 K, 5.06 ERA, 1.81 WHIP (on IL with a right forearm strain) 
#3 - Jordan Balazovic (Wichita) – 12 GS, 57.1 IP, 55 H, 21 BB, 68 K, 4.24 ERA, 1.33 WHIP
#4 - Matt Canterino (Cedar Rapids) – 4 GS, 18.0 IP, 10 H, 3 BB, 35 K, 1.00 ERA, 0.72 WHIP (went on the IL with right elbow strain, made first rehab appearance for Ft. Myers, 2 perfect innings)
#5 - Jose Miranda (St. Paul) – 82 games, .337/.401/.587 (.987) with 19 doubles, 22 homers, 63 RBI, 30 BB, 52 K
#6 - Keoni Cavaco (Ft. Myers) – 45 games, .249/.323/.341 (.664) with 6 doubles, 2 triples, 2 homers, 19 RBI, 17 BB, 57 K, 5 SB
#7 - Gilberto Celestino (St. Paul) – Wichita (21 games, .250/.344/.381 (.725) with 5 doubles, 2 homers. 11 BB, 24 K), St. Paul (7 games, .250/.276/.464 (.740) with 2 homers, 6 RBI, 1 BB, 6 K), Minnesota (22 games, .140/.183/.298 (.482) with 3 BB, 13 K)
#8 - Josh Winder (St. Paul) - 14 GS, 72.0 IP, 55 H, 13 BB, 80 K, 2.63 ERA, 0.94 WHIP
#9 - Aaron Sabato (Ft. Myers) – 75 games, .185/.364/.309 (.674) with 13 doubles, 6 homers, 32 RBI, 67 BB, 101 K
#10 - Matt Wallner (Cedar Rapids) – 33 games, .279/.338/.558 (.896) with 5 doubles, 2 triples, 9 homers, 23 RBI, 10 BB, 49 K.

#11 - Blayne Enlow (Cedar Rapids) – 3 GS, 14.2 IP, 13 H, 6 BB, 23 K, 1.84 ERA, 1.30 WHIP (underwent Tommy John surgery on June 9th)
#12 - Bailey Ober (Minnesota) – St. Paul (4 GS, 16.0 IP, 13 H, 5 BB, 21 K, 2.81 ERA, 1.13 WHIP), Minnesota (12 GS, 52.1 IP, 53 H, 15 BB, 56 K, 4.99 ERA, 1.30 WHIP)
#13 - Cole Sands (Wichita) – 12 G, 11 GS, 49.1 IP, 33 H, 21 BB, 64 K, 2.79 ERA, 1.12 WHIP
#14 - Brent Rooker (St. Paul) – St. Paul (58 games, .239/.368/.566 (.934) with 8 doubles, 1 triple, 19 homers, 37 BB, 74 K), Minnesota (23 games, .176/.235/.374 (.608) with 6 doubles, 4 homers, 6 RBI, 6 BB, 27 K)
#15 - Misael Urbina (Ft. Myers) – 73 games, .193/.295/.294 (589) with 7 doubles, 4 triples, 4 homer, 46 RBI, 37 BB, 60 K, 12 SB)
#16 - Spencer Steer (Wichita) - 79 games, .255/.363/.497 (.860) with 11 doubles, 2 triples, 19 homers, 48 RBI, 45 BB, 67 K)
#17 - Wander Javier (Cedar Rapids) - 77 games, .219/.273/.415 (.688) with 12 doubles, 9 triples, 10 homers, 41 RBI, 20 BB, 112 K)
#18 - Alerick Soularie (FCL Twins) – 3 games, .556/.636/1.000 (1.636) with 1 doubles, 1 homer, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K)
#19 - Edwar Colina (Minnesota) - 60-Day IL (had surgery on his right elbow to remove bone chips)
#20 - Chris Vallimont (Wichita) - 15 GS, 64.1 IP, 60 H, 40 BB, 102 K, 4.76 ERA, 1.55 WHIP

LOOKING AHEAD
Ft. Myers @ Bradenton (Sean Mooney, Landon Leach, Casey Legumina, Miguel Rodriguez, Bobby Milacki, Aaron Rozek):
Cedar Rapids @ Peoria:(Ben Gross, Louie Varland, TBD, Jon Olsen, Sawyer Gipson-Long, TBD)
Wichita @ Tulsa: (Jordan Balazovic, Bryan Sammons, Chris Vallmont, Austin Schulfer, Cole Sands, Jordan Balazovic)
St. Paul @ Indianapolis: (Andrew Albers, Drew Strotman, Chandler Shepherd, TBD, TBD, TBD)

Feel free to ask any questions you like.

 

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[bean5302]

Lots of underdogs performing well lately and that's nice to see. The Twins need some guys to step up in the minors given how thin the top ranked players are in the system.

[mikelink45]

This was not the most uplifting of the weekly reports.  Gordon is depressed and played like it.  

Balazovic was auditioning to be a Twin and blew it.

Moran looks great so the Twins start Burrows.

Miranda looks great so we keep Donaldson off the IL and he does not play in the field all week.

Hard to respond positively after the White Sox just made the MLB team look like it should be an FCL team.

Thanks for the report. 

[wsnydes]

I always forget about the academy classwork that is offered to players.  That is cool. 

Congrats to all of those guys!

[big dog]

Really great to see Canterino back. Hope he stays healthy the rest of the year and gets some work in.

[Seth Stohs]

9 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

This was not the most uplifting of the weekly reports.  Gordon is depressed and played like it.  

Well, that was uplifting. How do we know Gordon is depressed? Because of 3 games? 

[mikelink45]

59 minutes ago, Seth Stohs said:

Well, that was uplifting. How do we know Gordon is depressed? Because of 3 games? 

I guess I was projecting.  He has worked hard for a lot of years.  His performance was dipping, his playing time was getting less and less - then he is in the minors again.  I would be depressed. 

[ToddlerHarmon]

How realistic is Palacios being a future starting SS? And how soon? Among the shortstop-ish players and prospects, it seems the refrain is that they should not be there long term (Polanco, Lewis, Martin, Gordon...) But that doesn't seem to be the case with Palacios.

[bean5302]

1 hour ago, ToddlerHarmon said:

How realistic is Palacios being a future starting SS? And how soon? Among the shortstop-ish players and prospects, it seems the refrain is that they should not be there long term (Polanco, Lewis, Martin, Gordon...) But that doesn't seem to be the case with Palacios.

Palacios is very unlikely to be an MLB caliber starting shortstop. Gordon is blocking him at AAA right now, but I'd be okay with the Twins calling Palacios up directly from AA to get a peek at him. Seth reminded me Palacios is a free agent at the end of the year if he's not on the 40 man roster.

[Dman]

3 hours ago, ToddlerHarmon said:

How realistic is Palacios being a future starting SS? And how soon? Among the shortstop-ish players and prospects, it seems the refrain is that they should not be there long term (Polanco, Lewis, Martin, Gordon...) But that doesn't seem to be the case with Palacios.

I don't view Palacios as a "special" or an All-Star type shortstop but I think he is pretty solid there.  I would say he reminds me a little bit of Escobar who wasn't spectacular at short but got the job done and eventually moved over to third base.  Palacios has some nice peripheral batting numbers. K rate is around 20% Walk rate is OK slugging is good for a shortstop. He looks like a guy that could make it at the MLB level.  Given where he is right now in my mind he doesn't project to be much more than average at the position but that could change if he figures some things out and enhances his skill set but odds are he is average or slightly below average at the position but the thing is he looks like the best thing the Twins have in the system unless Lewis can continue to prove he can hit.  

He would be an ideal utility player because he would be able to play all infield spots average or better than average defensively and his bat should work at those positions as well.  The transition to MLB is hard though and he could easily fail to achieve any of that potential but right now IMO he is the best we have to offer at that position and would like to see what he can do at the MLB level in a lost season.

I like him better than Gordon for short as he has more power and a better eye at the plate his defense might be slightly better as well.  For as strong an arm as Gordon has I never felt like he looked that great at short and with all the errors it kind of confirms he struggles there.  I assume that is why the Twins didn't play him there that much.  At any rate Palacios is doing well enough at AA to get picked in the rule V if not protected so why not add him early bring him up and see what he can do?  If he is horrible then DFA him if good or better than good then they know what they have going into next year.  He isn't getting any younger let's see what the kid can do before we never give him a chance at all and lose him.

[bean5302]

People don't give Escobar enough credit for his fielding at shortstop in my opinion as the metrics suggest Escobar was certainly solid, even arguably above average at the position. His career MLB numbers are .979 (avg .975) and 4.16 RF/9 (4.10 avg). Escobar also owns a career +2.4 UZR/150 at shortstop at the MLB level.

Taking a deeper dive into Palacios' numbers, which look pretty rough this year, they may have been driven by unexpectedly high error rates. Palacios hasn't committed an error in 21 games now and only 3 in the past 44 games so a fielding percentage more like .981 and his RF/9 would probably jump to somewhere around 3.80, but traditionally, his RF/9 has been much higher. 

Escobar was billed as a slick fielding, glove first kind of shortstop whereas Palacios is considered a bit borderline at the position.