Twins Minor League Report (4/10): Saints Bats, Kernels Pitching Standout in Victories

[Theo Tollefson]

The first week of the Saints season and first weekend series for all other Twins affiliates concluded with impressive wins and a hard loss for Wichita. Read about it in today’s Minor League Report.

TRANSACTIONS 

Catcher Jose Godoy cleared waivers and was outrighted to St. Paul. 

SAINTS SENTINEL 
St. Paul 15, Louisville 6
Box Score
SP: Jake Faria - 3 1/3 IP, 2 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 5 K
HR: Curtis Terry (1), Kyle Garlick (1), Mark Contreras (2), Daniel Robertson (1)
Multi hit games: Robertson (2-5 2 R, HR, 2 RBI, BB), Garlick (2-5 R, HR, 3 RBI, BB), Terry (2-3 3 R, 2B, HR, RBI, 2 BB), Contreras (3-5, 2 2B, HR, 3 RBI), Jermaine Palacios (2-5 2 R, 2B, 2 RBI), Chance Sisco (3-5 2 R, 2 2B, RBI)

The Saints finished their series in Louisville with a bang as six Saints hitters tallied multiple hits in their 15-6 victory over the Bats. 

The offense was balanced for the Saints with everyone except Derek Fisher getting a hit and top prospects Royce Lewis and Jose Miranda being the only ones without multiple hits. This gave an opportunity for all the other hitters in the Saints lineup a chance to shine, especially the likes of Sisco and Contreras who tallied two doubles each in their three-hit games. 

Louisville starter Ben Lively struggled with his control in this game as he hit three batters, one to Miranda and two to Lewis. Fortunately for both Miranda and Lewis the pitches they took did not result in any serious injuries that removed them from the game. 

Jake Faria struggled in his first two innings but recovered during his final inning and a third on the mound. Coming in to replace Faria was Chi Chi Gonzlaez, who had a notoriously bad spring training with the Twins posting an 18.69 ERA in just 4 1/3 innings pitched. A bad spring training did not carry over into Gonzalez’s Saints debut as he gave up two earned runs on three hits and a walk in 4 2/3 innings pitched. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 3, Tulsa 7
Box Score
SP: Chris Vallimont 2/3 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: Edouard Julien (2-4)

The Wind Surge took the only loss for the Twins minor league affiliates on Sunday. Chris Vallimont couldn’t find his way out of the first inning in his 2022 season debut. The Drillers tallied five runs off of him to knock him out early. Following Vallimont’s struggles, Kody Funderburk came in from the bullpen to stop the bleeding. Funderburk only surrendered one run in three innings of relief. 

The Wind Surge were able to get a run back in the bottom half of the first inning thanks to a Spencer Steer double that drove in Austin Martin. But the Drillers were able to keep the Wind Surge scoreless until the seventh inning when they scored two more runs. 

All nine Wind Surge hitters were able to get on base this game but still did not have enough juice in the bats to pull together a win. Wichita has yet to win a game this season, falling to 0-3. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 2, Beloit 0
Box Score
SP: Sawyer Gipson-Long 4 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: None

Christian Encarnacion-Strand had been the star of the Kernels first two games but his bat cooled off just a little bit in Sunday’s game going 1-for-4 with an RBI double. However, the pitching stepped up in a big way on Sunday. 

The Kernels had five pitchers work on Sunday afternoon, and they combined to shutout the Sky Carp in a 2-0 victory. The starter for the Kernels was Sawyer Gipson-Long who hurled four scoreless innings and gave up two hits, walked two, and struck out five batters. 

Following Gipson-Long from the bullpen were Bobby Milacki, Melvi Acosta, Denny Bentley, and Osiris German. They combined for five innings pitched of no-hit baseball giving up only two walks and striking out four Sky Carp batters. German earned the save for the Kernels. 

The Kernels were able to pull off the sweep of the Sky Carp on only three hits thanks to the master class pitching from their rotation on Sunday. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 6, Clearwater 3
Box Score
SP: Travis Adams 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
HR: Noah Cardenas (1)
Multi-hit games: Kyler Fedko (2-3 1 R, 3B, 3 RBI, BB, K)

The Mighty Mussels completed their sweep of the Clearwater Threshers on Sunday bringing them to a 3-0 record to start the season. Mussels starter Travis Adams contributed a strong first outing of the season keeping Clearwater to one run in his five innings pitched. Jaylen Nowlin came into the game after Adams and surrendered the Threshers two runs, but the rest of the Fort Myers bullpen kept the game scoreless. Jackson Hicks pitched a scoreless eighth inning, and Juan Mendez came on and recorded his first save of the season. 

Kyler Fedko had the big hit of the game for Fort Myers. Fedko smacked a bases-clearing triple in the top of the seventh that gave the Mussels the lead making it a 6-3 game. Mussels catcher Noah Cardenas also had a big hit getting his first home run of the season in the second inning. 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day –  Travis Adams (Ft. Myers) - 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
Hitter of the Day – Mark Contreras (St. Paul) - 3-5, 3 R, 3 RBI, HR

PROSPECT SUMMARY
We will again keep tabs on the Twins' top prospects. You’ll probably read about them in the team sections, but if they aren’t there, you’ll see how they did here. 

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

#1 - Austin Martin (Wichita) - 1-4, 2B (2), K
#2 - Royce Lewis (St. Paul) - 1-4, 2B (3), 2 R, 2 K, RBI, CS, 2-HBP
#3 - Jose Miranda (St. Paul) - 1-5, K, RBI (4), HBP
#10 - Noah Miller (Ft. Myers) - 1-4, BB, 3 K, CS (1) 
#12 - Matt Wallner (Wichita) - 0-3,  BB, K, CS (1)
#15 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Ft. Myers) - 0-3, 2 BB, SB (1)
#18 - Spencer Steer (Wichita) - 1-4, 2B (2), RBI
#19 - Edouard Julien (Wichita) - 2-4, K

TUESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
All Twins Minor League Affiliates are off on Monday and will resume their games on Tuesday, April 12. The only Monday in which there will be minor-league games is July 4th (and some for the Saints in September). The Saints and Mighty Muscles will be hosting their home openers on Tuesday. 

Indianapolis @ St. Paul (6:37 PM CST) - RHP Daniel Gossett (0-0, 7.36 ERA, 1.36 WHIP)
Wichita @ NW Arkansas (7:05 PM CST) - RHP Brandon Lawson 
Cedar Rapids @ Quad Cities (6:30 PM CST) - LHP Cade Povich 
Jupiter @ Fort Myers (6:00 PM CST) - RHP Marco Raya (first professional start) 

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Sunday’s games as the first weekend of the Minor and Major League seasons has concluded.

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[The Mad King]

Thanks for keeping us informed. Back in my day.... We had to wait for The Sporting News to update us on last week's games...

[PDX Twin]

I asked this in the Twins' game thread but got no response: What the heck is a Sky Carp?

[Squirrel]

15 minutes ago, PDX Twin said:

I asked this in the Twins' game thread but got no response: What the heck is a Sky Carp?

Google is your friend ?

Plus, I was curious, too.

https://www.mlb.com/news/beloit-sky-carp-rebrand

[goulik]

Sky Carp!! Lol, that is funny! Thanks for sharing the link Squirrel 

[Squirrel]

7 minutes ago, goulik said:

Sky Carp!! Lol, that is funny! Thanks for sharing the link Squirrel 

Reading what it was, I'm not sure I'd want that name ... but then we have Mighty Mussels in our system ... I mean, mussels are squishy and icky, not so mighty, so why not Sky Carp. (Assume they mean the Canadian goose ... those birds are kind of nasty)

[gil4]

13 minutes ago, Squirrel said:

Reading what it was, I'm not sure I'd want that name ... but then we have Mighty Mussels in our system ... I mean, mussels are squishy and icky, not so mighty, so why not Sky Carp. (Assume they mean the Canadian goose ... those birds are kind of nasty)

From the article:  "Thousands of fans cast their votes for their favorite name in September 2020, with Sky Carp edging out Supper Clubbers -- by less than 50 votes." 

 

I didn't care for the Sky Carp name either until I saw what the next alternative was. By comparison, Sky Carp is an awesome name. 

[RpR]

Three Twins Rookies:

Cave .474

Garlick .375

Larnach .118

I wonder which one will come up if Kiriloff is sent down.

[darwin22]

Theo:  Nice work on today's games by our minor league players.  A few thoughts:

1.  Good to see SP get out to a great start to season.  Will be interesting to see how SP rotation works out when Balazovic comes off the IL.  I sure hope Kirilloff gets his bat (currently 0-12) heated up soon as I can't bear the thought of seeing Cave back in the lineup.

2.  Bummer to see Wichita off to such a poor start.  Martin has struggled mightily so far, which I hope he'll turn around soon.  Seeing Vallimont get rocked today is not a good sign.  I'm wondering if his "head is right" starting the his 2nd year in Wichita.  I can't see how he can feel snubbed by not starting at AAA as his 2021 numbers (5+ ERA) sure wouldn't validate a promotion, especially with Sands and Balazovic earning their promotions.

3.  Great to see the Kernels open up with a sweep!  Not to over-hype the production of Encarnacion-Strand, but wondering if his bat continues to rake over the next month, how long will it take to see him promoted to Wichita.

Also great to see the performance of Gipson-Long today.  Planning to make a late July road trip to see CR play Peoria.  Would be great to see him in-person, along with a bunch of his teammates that look--so far-- to be legit prospects.

 

 

[Danchat]

Wow, what a day for AAA! Gotta wonder if Contreras is going to get a shot in the majors at some point, problem is he's yet another lefty OF and we already have too many of those. 

I thought they'd have Vallimont in the bullpen, as I don't think he has what it takes as a starter. A few more bad starts and maybe they can sneak him off the 40 man roster.

[Seth Stohs]

11 minutes ago, darwin22 said:

Theo:  Nice work on today's games by our minor league players.  A few thoughts:

1.  Good to see SP get out to a great start to season.  Will be interesting to see how SP rotation works out when Balazovic comes off the IL.  I sure hope Kirilloff gets his bat (currently 0-12) heated up soon as I can't bear the thought of seeing Cave back in the lineup.

2.  Bummer to see Wichita off to such a poor start.  Martin has struggled mightily so far, which I hope he'll turn around soon.  Seeing Vallimont get rocked today is not a good sign.  I'm wondering if his "head is right" starting the his 2nd year in Wichita.  I can't see how he can feel snubbed by not starting at AAA as his 2021 numbers (5+ ERA) sure wouldn't validate a promotion, especially with Sands and Balazovic earning their promotions.

3.  Great to see the Kernels open up with a sweep!  Not to over-hype the production of Encarnacion-Strand, but wondering if his bat continues to rake over the next month, how long will it take to see him promoted to Wichita.

Also great to see the performance of Gipson-Long today.  Planning to make a late July road trip to see CR play Peoria.  Would be great to see him in-person, along with a bunch of his teammates that look--so far-- to be legit prospects.

Balazovic is a prospect they make room for, so they'll start him and move one of the veterans to long-relief/bullpen. 

Vallimont's head is just fine. He's a smart guy. He knows why he in Wichita. He gets it. Today, just a bad game... Unless we're worried about Berrios and his head for being in Toronto for a second year. 

CES... I'm sure they'd keep him for at least 6-8 weeks. There's no reason to move a guy up any quicker than that if he's at a new level and he only had 22 games at the lower level. That said, I mean, if he's still hitting .350 or so at that point, and the team has played 6-8 six-game series instead of three games against one team, I think they'd be happy to move him up. No one is really holding him back in Wichita. The other side is... Miranda's already in AAA, and needs to find playing time. Arraez has been on the bench in 2 of the first 3 games... So, no, CES isn't close to getting called up, so let him keep raking. 

CR has some impressive pitchers, several who could move up to Wichita in the 2nd half of the season. 

[roger]

So happy reading that the three hit batters (Lewis twice) for the Saints didn't sustain any significant injuries.  Confirms that the Bats starter was wild, not head hunting because of the week long beatdown the Bats were receiving.

Highlite today for me is seeing that Povich will make his first start on Tuesday.  And real excited to see how Raya does.

[AceWrigley]

12 hours ago, PDX Twin said:

I asked this in the Twins' game thread but got no response: What the heck is a Sky Carp?

Yeah really.  As if them being in the water isn't bad enough.

[RJA]

Great summary.  Thank you.  I am really looking forward to Raya's first start tonight.  It will be fun to see how he does.

[AKTwins]

So if the Twins sign Upton, I am thinking Villamont is the one to loose his spot in the 40 man.

[PDX Twin]

Re the Cedar Rapids game: The score was 1-0 for most of the game after a most unusual first-inning run. With one out and the bases loaded, The batter struck out, the catcher threw to first to try to catch the runner off base, and the runner on third (leadoff hitter Anthony Prato, who had stolen second earlier in the inning) took off and stole home. That's one way to avoid being shut out with the bases loaded. I could see Buxton doing this (but maybe not Sano).

[2wins87]

One small sample stat that has stood out to me from this weekend is Emmanuel Rodriguez's 6 BB to 2 K.  He did a pretty decent job of talking free passes last year in the complex league, but his strikeout rate over 30% was also a point of caution.

I'm sure that coaches are in every prospect's ear about being more selective, but I'm eager to continue watching to see if maybe something has stuck a chord with him.  I'm already pretty excited about his power.

[MN_ExPat]

16 hours ago, Squirrel said:

Google is your friend ?

Plus, I was curious, too.

https://www.mlb.com/news/beloit-sky-carp-rebrand

I was going to be lazy and say just go fishing with dynamite... that would answer the question.  

[MN_ExPat]

Finally broke down and ordered MiLB.  When I saw that Povich was starting tonight, I thought to myself, "Self... (because that's what I call myself in my inner monologue, self...) Sweet, you get the chance to watch him pitch". 

Nope... games not televised tonight.  Now I feel sad... ?

[roger]

49 minutes ago, MN_ExPat said:

Finally broke down and ordered MiLB.  When I saw that Povich was starting tonight, I thought to myself, "Self... (because that's what I call myself in my inner monologue, self...) Sweet, you get the chance to watch him pitch". 

Nope... games not televised tonight.  Now I feel sad... ?

You are ok and can see him tomorrow.  There are no games on Monday, the starting pitchers listed were for Tuesday's games.

[PDX Twin]

4 hours ago, AceWrigley said:

Yeah really.  As if them being in the water isn't bad enough.

Given their reputation in Minnesota, I found it surprising that they are considered a delicacy in Slovakia, especially for Christmas dinner. Around mid-December large metal tanks (like livestock troughs) appear outside every grocery store and are filled with live carp. Slovaks buy them and keep them alive in their bathtubs until Christmas.

[RpR]

Carp are great tasting but a bitch to clean for frying; smoked Carp is about as good as it gets.

I have had a lot of Whitefish from Northern Minn. and Carp; Carp are better.

[AceWrigley]

Oh man,  give me perch or walleye any day (though smoked carp isn't bad to pick at).

[MN_ExPat]

On 4/11/2022 at 2:42 PM, roger said:

You are ok and can see him tomorrow.  There are no games on Monday, the starting pitchers listed were for Tuesday's games.

Never said I was good with math or reading calenders  

Stoopid math