Twins Minor League Report (6/7): Gipson-Long Shucks Cubs, Steer Stays Hot

[Ted Schwerzler]

Sawyer Gipson-Long got the start for Cedar Rapids tonight and was nothing short of dominant in a win for the Kernels. St. Paul faced a former Twins affiliate and got the win thanks, in part, to Spencer Steer’s bat.

Transactions:

• RHP Cole Sands recalled by Minnesota
• C Roy Morales placed on injured list by St. Paul
• INF Kevin Merrell placed on temporary inactive list by Wichita
• INF Ernie Yake placed on injured list by Wichita
• LHP Jordan Carr transferred to Fort Myers from FCL
• RHP Anthony Escobar reinstated from 60-day injured list for Fort Myers

SAINTS SENTINEL 
St. Paul 10, Rochester 6
Box Score

Facing the former Twins Triple-A affiliate, Daniel Gossett was on the bump for St. Paul. He worked around traffic for five innings allowing just four runs (three earned) on eight hits. Gossett struck out two and walked one.

Trailing 2-0 after the top half of the 1st inning, recently-healthy Tim Beckham got the run scoring going. A double to center drove in Spencer Steer before Jake Cave drove in Beckham with a single of his own.

Allowing Rochester to regain the lead in the top of the 2nd inning, the Saints took over for the first time in the bottom of the 3rd inning. Steer launched his 7th dinger at Triple-A (in just 14 games) to knot things up. Then Mark Contreras followed up later with his 8th double to score Cave. 

Sick of the back and forth, following the Red Wings tying it in the 4th inning, Beckham got separation. His third homer, a grand slam, brought Caleb Hamilton, Steer, and Alex Kirilloff all across the plate. Cole Sturgeon wasn’t satisfied with the breathing room and his 5th inning single made it 9-4 when Contreras scored, before Jose Godoy plated Sturgeon on a single of his own.

Still looking to claw back, the former affiliate got a two-run blast in the 7th inning to draw within four. Former Twins utility man Ildemaro Vargas scored on the play. That's where this one ended with the new good guys taking game one.

Steer, Beckham, Contreras, and Hamilton all posted two-hit nights.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Arkansas 5, Wichita 1
Box Score

The Wind Surge turned to Bryan Sammons tonight as their starter. Unfortunately it was a tough outing with Sammons able to work just 2 1/3 innings while allowing four runs on four hits. He walked two and struck out two for Wichita.

Arkansas got to Sammons in the 3rd inning and struck for four runs to put up a crooked number. Wichita couldn’t answer, and needed until the 5th inning to get on the board. Recently promoted Anthony Prato drove a single to left field allowing Daniel Ozoria to score.

The Travelers got the run back on a 7th inning error by Edouard Julien and Wichita once again found themselves trailing by four. An 8th inning home run by the opposition pushed the deficit to five, and that’s where this one ended. Wichita managed just four hits on the evening.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 7, South Bend 1
Box Score

Sawyer Gipson-Long was nails tonight for the Cedar Rapids Kernels, and he lowered the season ERA to a sparkling 1.99 with the strong effort. Working six innings, Gipson-Long allowed just a single run on three hits and a walk. He also picked up six punch outs. The lone run against him was a big fly.

Cedar Rapids took an early lead on a Wander Javier single in the 2nd inning. After a throwing error by the catcher, Kyle Fedko was able to cross home plate. In the 3rd inning Seth Gray came up and did damage. A line drive to left scored both Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Aaron Sabato, in part thanks to yet another throwing error.

The Kernels continued to take advantage of poor play from South Bend as a wild pitch gave Fedko the opportunity to spring home before a balk sent Gray strolling across the plate. When the inning closed, they led by a 5-0 tally.

Giving one run back in the 4th inning, Fedko added back to the lead in the 5th inning. His fourth double at High-A drove in Sabato before Pat Winkel crushed his first homer of the year; a solo blast in the 6th inning.

Gray was the lone batter to record two-hits on the night for Cedar Rapids, but both Fedko and Sabato drew two walks. Derek Molina and Ryan Shreve were great in relief allowing just one hit and striking out a pair, each, in three innings.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Daytona 5, Fort Myers 2
Box Score

Steven Hajjar went tonight for the Mighty Mussels and put in two innings of perfection before giving way to the bullpen. He punched out two of the six batters he faced and the ERA now sits at 2.04 this season.

Daytona got up 2-0 with a home run in the 4th inning, but Fort Myers was able to halve the deficit on Kala’i Rosario’s fifth home, a solo shot in the 5th inning. That’s where the bats went quiet for the Mighty Mussels though. Rosario contribute two hits, but only Noah Miller joined him in reaching base twice.

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
FCL Pirates 12, FCL Twins 6
Box Score

Daniel Robertson got in another rehab game for Triple-A St. Paul today. He was 0-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout. Danny De Andrade recorded a three-hit game with a double, and Alexander Pena had a four-hit day with a triple.

DOMINICAN DAILIES
DSL Twins 6, DSL Houston Blue 1
Box Score

Bryan Acuna was 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts. He’s still looking for his first professional hit. Pitchers Miguel Olivares and Roger Duran combined to give up just three hits while striking out 10 and walking one. Rafael Cruz and Jesus Peraza both had two hits.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Sawyer Gipson-Long (Cedar Rapids) - 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K
Hitter of the Day – Spencer Steer (St. Paul) - 2-4, 3 R, RBI, HR(7)

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:

#2 - Austin Martin (Wichita) - 0-4
#3 - Jose Miranda (Minnesota) - Did Not Play
#7 - Spencer Steer (St. Paul) - 2-4, 3 R, RBI, HR(7)
#8 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Ft. Myers) -
#9 - Noah Miller (Ft. Myers) - 1-3, BB, 2 K
#15 - Matt Wallner (Wichita) - 1-3, BB, 2 K
#16 - Edouard Julien (Wichita) - 1-3, BB, K
#17 - Cole Sands (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch
#18 - Christian Encarnacion-Strand (Cedar Rapids) - 1-4, R, BB, K
#19 - Steve Hajjar (Ft. Myers) - 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

WEDNESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Rochester @ St. Paul (7:07PM CST) - RHP Aaron Sanchez
Wichita @ Arkansas (6:35PM CST) - RHP Matt Canterino
Cedar Rapids @ South Bend (6:05PM CST) - RHP John Stankiewicz
Fort Myers @ Daytona (6:05 PM CST) - TBD

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Tuesday’s games! It sure is exciting to have all four Twins full-season affiliates and the two Complex Season affiliates back and playing.

 

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[FlyingFinn]

Why was Haijar pulled after a perfect two innings?

[JimPohlad1]

Our lower minor league teams are stacked this year! Let’s not take that for granted

[terrydactyls]

20 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

Why was Haijar pulled after a perfect two innings?

Inquiring minds want to know.  Seems very odd to take him out so early.  Probably just a major arm/shoulder injury.

[Mike Sixel]

Hard to argue Steer has really been great this year. 

[Cap'n Piranha]

Say, didn’t you use to be Austin Martin, top prospect?

[TwinsDr2021]

Why is a 24 year pitcher mowing players down to the tune of a 1.99 era averaging less than 5 innings a start and  still in high A?

[jmlease1]

LOL, Cole Sands did pitch: he got he butt kicked in MLB.

Glad to see Noah Miller get a hit; he's been scrabbling at the plate recently. Reminder that he's still just a kid and is going to have some struggles.

Wallner keeps getting it done: will he get promoted to AAA soon?

[Major League Ready]

I wonder if having the draft so late is going to hold up some promotions.  

[roger]

Also curious why Hajjar only threw 2.0 innings?

Absolutely fantastic that DeAndrade is beginning his career Stateside with lots of hits.  Remember seeing A. Pena ripping the cover off the ball early last summer.  See he is off to another great start.  Also curious why he is repeating in the FCL.  With the year he had last year, shouldn't he be playing with the Mussels?

Speaking of the draft, when is it?

[Dman]

Steer and Kirilloff have really injected some offense into the St Paul lineup add in Beckham and a surging Hamilton and suddenly they have a formidable lineup.  If the pitching was half way decent they would have a very balanced club.

Matt Wallner continues to hit and he took a walk.  I know I say this every time I talk about him but that 34% K rate along with the .384 BABIP is troublesome and has me thinking regression.  Still he has a .913 OPS after a brutal start to the season and he has managed an .800 OPS every year in the system.  He is the prototypical Hard hitting Twins prospect and it is working for him so far.

My guy Jefferson Morales is having a tough start to the year.  He was on fire last year.  Gotta believe he is going to heat up a bit more yet this year.  Fedko looks like he is starting to adjust to HIgh A.  he has an equal number of walks and K's and solid slugging percentage.  I still think he is going to be a good late draft find along with Mikey Perez.

SGL was the story though with 6 strong innings and just one mistake pitch.  Gonna be hard to keep him down at High A.  He looked like he might have been ready for AA from the start but has certainly confirmed he is ready now.

Rosario with a nice night and moves his OPS back into the .700 range.  Only 1 K as well which is nice to see as he generally has multiple K's per game.  Still it is nice to see his bat come around.

Nice to see Anthony Escobar back and picking up where he left off with 2 K's on the night.  Guessing they will slowly work him back in.

Hope Hajjar is not injured and hopefully someone can fill us in on why only 2 innings.

[Trov]

1 hour ago, TwinsDr2021 said:

Why is a 24 year pitcher mowing players down to the tune of a 1.99 era averaging less than 5 innings a start and  still in high A?

It is still just his second year in profession ball.  My guess he will get moved up soon, but he was not a top prospect and sometimes numbers do not tell the full tale. We have had many pitchers do well in minors and never make it to the MLB level. 

[Dman]

1 hour ago, TwinsDr2021 said:

Why is a 24 year pitcher mowing players down to the tune of a 1.99 era averaging less than 5 innings a start and  still in high A?

Maybe Seth knows the real answer but just spit balling I would say 1) All three affiliates are in the hunt for 1st place in their divisions so losing one of your better players could hurt. 2) A lot of the guys we want to move up have a chance to be All-Stars in their leagues which is an honor and recognition that would be nice for them to get if possible. 3) There is only about a month until the MiLB All Star break and after the break still a solid 2 months for them to get used to their new level so why not wait a bit longer?

Still I see your point with the lost Covid year and SGL being 24 there is no time like the present to get him moving.  If timely development trumps everything then they should move him sooner rather than later because he looks more than ready.

[TwinsDr2021]

32 minutes ago, Dman said:

Maybe Seth knows the real answer but just spit balling I would say 1) All three affiliates are in the hunt for 1st place in their divisions so losing one of your better players could hurt. 2) A lot of the guys we want to move up have a chance to be All-Stars in their leagues which is an honor and recognition that would be nice for them to get if possible. 3) There is only about a month until the MiLB All Star break and after the break still a solid 2 months for them to get used to their new level so why not wait a bit longer?

Still I see your point with the lost Covid year and SGL being 24 there is no time like the present to get him moving.  If timely development trumps everything then they should move him sooner rather than later because he looks more than ready.

It seems like the are treating the minor league pitchers like they do in the majors, couple of times though the lineup with a pretty low pitch count, Seems like they are setting up the pitchers to get injured, 100% effect for a short period. This is my opinion

IMO this is the type of player you fast track though the minors, He is already 24.

[USNMCPO]

Martin seems lost this year. The team knows(?) that he is not a SS yet they continue to play him there. Is it possible that his defensive shortcomings are having a negative effect on his offense? I surely don't know but just spit balling.

[puckstopper1]

Me thinks that I would have given hitter of the day to Beckham (2-4, 2 R, 5 RBI, 1 BB HR (game changing Grand Slam) instead of Steer - (2-4, 3 R, RBI, HR).

But I guess since he is not a top prospect like Steer is...

[operation mindcrime]

5 hours ago, roger said:

Also curious why Hajjar only threw 2.0 innings?

Absolutely fantastic that DeAndrade is beginning his career Stateside with lots of hits.  Remember seeing A. Pena ripping the cover off the ball early last summer.  See he is off to another great start.  Also curious why he is repeating in the FCL.  With the year he had last year, shouldn't he be playing with the Mussels?

Speaking of the draft, when is it?

I think it's Sunday July 17th if memory serves.