Twins Minor League Report (6/10): A Near Sweep

[Lucas Seehafer PT]

The Minnesota Twins farm system was witness to great success on Friday, with all teams save for Fort Myers picking up wins. 

SAINTS SENTINEL 
St. Paul 6, Rochester 4
Box Score

The Saints picked up a well-earned win against the Red Wings on Friday. Alex Kirilloff led off for St. Paul and remained hot, going 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI. Jermaine Palacios—who performed quite well during his cup of coffee with the Twins—also went 2-for-5 with his four home run of the season. Jose Godoy rounded out the team’s multi-hit games, going 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI.

Josh Winder made his first rehab start on his path back to the parent club, and unlike teammate Joe Ryan the previous night, his outing did not go so well. Winder surrendered a home run and gave up two runs in his one inning of work. (Though, it should be mentioned that he did strike out three batters.)

After Ariel Jurado was touched for two runs of his own in four innings, Tyler Viza, Jake Petricka, and Austin Schulfer shut down the Rochester bats over the game’s final four frames to help St. Paul pick up the win.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 8, Arkansas 0
Box Score

While the six-run eighth inning didn’t technically win the game for the Wind Surge, it sure didn’t hurt.

Chris Williams (2-for-3, 2B, 4 RBI, 2 BB) led the charge as his grand slam in the penultimate frame pushed Wichita from a likely victory to one that was guaranteed. Anthony Prato (2-for-4, 2B) and Edouard Julien (2-for-4, BB) joined Williams in the multi-hit club, wrangling the remainder of the Wind Surge’s hits.

Louie Varland put together perhaps his nicest start of the season, striking out nine across six innings of work. Melvi Acosta and Argenis Angulo tossed the final three innings and allowed only four Travelers to reach base. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 6, South Bend 1
Box Score

The Kernels bounced back from their shoutout loss on Thursday by claiming a definitive win against the Cubs. Aaron Sabato’s solo home run—his eighth of the season—gave Cedar Rapids a 2-1 lead in the third inning, one they would not surrender.

Wander Javier (2-for-4, 3B, RBI) and Christian Encarnacion-Strand (1-for-4, 2B, RBI) picked up the Kernels other extra-base hits. (A quick not-so-positive note on Encarnacion-Strand: While the Twins third base prospect has been solid at the plate, he has a long way to go in the field. He committed his 18th error of the season Friday night and owns a putrid .838 fielding percentage in 43 career games at the hot corner.)

Brent Headrick continued his hot start to the season, pitching 5 ⅔ innings, allowing only one earned run and striking out seven. Miguel Rodriguez and Bobby Milacki threw 3 ⅓ innings of scoreless ball out of the pen.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Daytona 6, Fort Myers 1
Box Score

The Mighty Mussels bats were silenced by Tortugas on Friday as Carlos Aguiar (1-for-2, 2B, BB) was the only obstacle standing between Daytona and a no-hitter. 

Travis Adams started on the bump for Fort Myers and pitched well enough to give his team a fighting chance. He struck out eight and surrendered two runs in five innings. Unfortunately, the Tortugas touched Matt Mullenbach for four runs—three earned—over the next 1 2/3 innings, effectively closing the door on any potential Mighty Mussels victory.

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
FCL Twins 5, FCL Red Sox 1
Box Score

There was a doubles party and everyone in the FCL Twins’ lineup was seemingly invited on Friday as the Twins blew past the Red Sox. Alexander Pena (3-for-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI), Fredy Michel (2-for-4, BB), a rehabbing Daniel Robertson (2-for-4), Gregory Duran (1-for-3, 2 BB), and Ricardo Olivar (1-for-4, 2 RBI, BB) all hit for extra bases to fuel the Twins offense.

Jose Olivares threw four innings and struck out four to pick up the win. Tomas Cleto also struck out four and earned the save.

DOMINICAN DAILIES
No Game

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Louie Varland (Wichita): 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K
Hitter of the Day – Chris Williams (Wichita): 2-for-3, 2B, 4 RBI, 2 BB

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) - 0-3, 2R, BB, K
#3 - Jose Miranda (Minnesota) - Did Not Play
#7 - Spencer Steer (St. Paul) - Did Not Play
#9 - Noah Miller (Ft. Myers) - Did Not Play
#13 - Ronny Hendriquez (St. Paul) - Did Not Play
#15 - Matt Wallner (Wichita) - 0-4, RBI, BB, R
#16 - Edouard Julien (Wichita) - 2-4, BB, R
#18 - Christian Encarnacion-Strand (Cedar Rapids) - 1-4, 2B, RBI
#20 - David Festa (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Play

FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Rochester @ St. Paul (7:07PM CST) - RHP Jordan Balazovic (0-2, 8.82 ERA)
Wichita @ Arkansas (5:35PM CST) - RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (2-2, 3.00 ERA)
Cedar Rapids @ South Bend (6:05PM CST) - LHP Aaron Rozek (5-2, 4.62 ERA)
Fort Myers @ Daytona (6:05 PM CST) - RHP Pierson Ohl (2-2, 4.80 ERA)

 

View full article

[FlyingFinn]

CES - didn't realize he was quite that bad in the field at 3B. If he is going to be a DH candidate don't draft Berry this year as he sounds like a carbon copy of CES.

[stringer bell]

Other third basemen have come to the majors for the Twins with bad fielding reps (Koskie and Plouffe to name a couple) and turned into acceptable or better defenders. 

Varland had a very nice game. I've seen some saying he is going to end up in the bullpen, but outings like today might give some pause.

I presume if he feels all right, the Twins will want to give Winder another rehab start.

[Monkeypaws]

Anyone else think Julien could be a Twin someday?

Like the speed, and throw in some power, and what look to be pretty sure hands in the field....

[h2oface]

"Winder surrendered a home run and gave up two runs in his one inning of work. (Though, it should be mentioned that he did strike out three batters.)"

.... not to mention also 2 other hits that were both doubles, and he walked one and hit a batter. Faced 8. He did leave the bases loaded as he finished the inning with 2 Ks. I would bet he gets another rehab start. Best to go more than one inning, too, and amp up with more than 30 pitches. 

[mikelink45]

Any chance Varland can jump up and take Sands spot for one game? 

[jmlease1]

32 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

Any chance Varland can jump up and take Sands spot for one game? 

Oof. that's asking a LOT out of Varland. He's been having a good season and he's on a good developmental track right now, but it's not like he's been unhittable in his 10 starts in AA, and his control has not always been there. Is he really going to be that much better than Sands at this point, and do you want to throw him in the fire for one game, having him make a 2-level jump? (It really didn't go well for Celestino last year) He's also not on the 40-man, so you'd have to make a move there too. I'd say no to this idea.

CES is definitely butchering it at 3B right now, but this is what A-ball is for. Probably too early to move him off there already, but if he has to move down the defensive spectrum, he's got the bat to do it. Hopefully he shows some signs of improvement by the end of the season. 

[Rosterman]

1 hour ago, mikelink45 said:

Any chance Varland can jump up and take Sands spot for one game? 

If he was on the 40-man, yes. But he is not. And if they added him, he would be like Enlow, Strotman, Balazovic, Henriquez...taking up space but not ready for extensive major league action (think Vallimont). 

Also, isn't there some new rule where a player has to be on the AAA roster before jumping to the majors?

Transactions the last couple of days

Outfielder Carlos Aguiar added to Fort Myers from FCL

Catcher LaRon Smith added to Ft. Myers from FCL

Pitcher Matt Canterino put on Wichita 7-day IL

Centerfielder Zach Huffins signed our of Rays system and assigned to Ft. Myers

Pitcher Ariel Jurado activiated from IL for St. Paul

Pitcher Juan Minaya outrighted to St. Paul

Outfielder Derek Fisher activated from Saints

Pitcher Luis Rijos sent from Kernels to FCL for rehab

Pitcher Jon Olson sent from Kernels to FCL for rehab

[roger]

Curious about Canterino.  You mentioned his elbow, someone said the other day it was an illness?

See that after a couple games where Severino hit very well, he is now down around Javier territory.  Ouch!

Exciting to see the start Alexander Pena is off to again.  A bit surprised to see him still with the Complex League team after what seemed to be a great year last year.  Expect some will question his power seeing his only extra base hits last year were 6 doubles in 84 at bats.  That sure seems to have been addressed as he has 3 doubles, a triple and home run in 12 at bats early this year.  Gotta believe he is due to move across the parking lot to the Mussels...soon! 

[Cornholio]

3 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Any chance Varland can jump up and take Sands spot for one game? 

With the Covid rules, it could happen. I don’t think it will, but it could.

[FlyingFinn]

3 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Any chance Varland can jump up and take Sands spot for one game? 

No. I see Varland as a duplicate of Sands (AA stats from Sands last year are actually slightly better than Varland's AA stats this year). They need to work one level at a time as they don't have the stuff of a Canterino, who I think could make the jump if healthy.

[puckstopper1]

"Louie Varland put together perhaps his nicest start of the season, striking out nine across six innings of work."

Sorry to be pedantic, but this quote in the write-up continues to propagate the fact that some feel pitching is all and only about strikeouts. The strikeouts were only part of the story of Varland's night.  IMO this is a more informational recap of how Varland's night went...

"Louie Varland put together perhaps his nicest start of the season. He tossed 6 shutout innings allowing only 3 hits.  He struck out nine with no walks.  Of his 75 pitches, 58 were strikes."

[MN_ExPat]

23 hours ago, FlyingFinn said:

CES - didn't realize he was quite that bad in the field at 3B. If he is going to be a DH candidate don't draft Berry this year as he sounds like a carbon copy of CES.

His stats at OSU were... well ok

Last year he only committed 1 Error.

NOT defending that he is having a really rough year with the glove, just hard for me to make any kind of educated observation about what kind of defender he is overall without seeing more.