Twins Minor League Report (7/20): DSL Twins Beat DSL White Sox, Catchers Win Awards

[Andrew Mahlke]

Despite a couple of days off, the Dominican Summer League Twins won Wednesday with an offensive explosion. Two Twins’ affiliate catchers won player-of-the-week awards in their respective leagues. Read about this and more in Wednesday’s Minor League Report!

 

The only game Wednesday was the DSL Twins, who were victorious over the Dominican Summer League White Sox. The FCL Twins will be back in action Thursday against the FCL Rays. The rest of the Twins affiliates will be back in action on Friday

Pair of Catchers Named Player of the Week
Wichita Wind Surge (AA) catcher/first baseman Chris Williams was named the Texas League Player of the Week on Tuesday for his historic week. Over the last week, Williams was 12-for-26 (.462) with three doubles, six homers, and 20 RBI. He slashed .462/.500/1.269 (1.769) over the week. Williams is now hitting .297/.383/.599 (.982) with 14 doubles and 16 home runs across 58 games for Wichita this year. His .982 OPS ranks fifth in the Texas League this year among all qualified hitters. His 16 homers are tied for sixth, and his .599 slugging percentage ranks fourth.

Another catcher who won Player of the Week for his league was Fort Myers (Low-A) catcher Noah Cardenas. Cardenas was 9-for-25 (.360) with two doubles, three homers, six runs, and five RBI. Cardenas slashed .360/.440/.800 (1.240) over the week. Cardenas is hitting .236/.410/.387 (.797) for Fort Myers this year as a 22-year-old.

DOMINICAN DAILIES
DSL Twins 11, DSL White Sox 7
Box Score

Starting Pitcher: Miguel Olivares (5 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K)
Winning Pitcher: Ledwin Taveras (3 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 5 K)
Multi-Hit Games: Yasser Mercedes (3-for-5), Anderson Nova (2-for-5), Harold Grant (2-for-4)
2B: Jose Rodriguez (11), Mercedes (6), Grant (5)S
SB: Rafael Cruz (5)

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Miguel Olivares (DSL Twins) - 5 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K
Hitter of the Day – Yasser Mercedes (DSL Twins) - 3-for-5, R, 2 RBI, 2B (6), K

UPCOMING GAMES
St. Paul @ Indianapolis (6:05 PM CST Friday)
Wichita @ Tulsa (7:05 PM CST Friday)
Peoria @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CST Friday)
Fort Myers @ Dunedin (5:30 PM CST Friday)
FCL Rays @ FCL Twins (12:00 PM CST Thursday)
DSL Twins @ DSL Giants Black (11:00 AM CST Thursday)

I hope you all are surviving well with a few days off from baseball!

Thank you for reading, and Go Twins!

 

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[DocBauer]

Really nice to see Williams healthy and hitting well and hitting with power. He was a potential steal when drafted as a senior signing who couldn't play catcher his senior year due to injury. He's basically struggled with the bat since being drafted until this year. I've heard a couple reports here and there that suggest he's OK behind the dish, and one young pitcher, I think Winder but can't recall for sure, spoke about his knowledge and loving to throw to him. He's playing a lot of 1B right now. 15 games started at catcher, (17 games total), and 41 starts at 1B. So can he really catch or not? 

Cardenas was the Twins 8th pick in the 2021 draft, and the first of 3 catchers selected, and was off to a rough start this year. Seeing him heat up is really nice! Despite a poor BA and too many SO, he's also walked almost as much as he's K'd and showed some power. A strong finish along with the solid year of Pat Winkel, drafted right after, makes catcher in the lower minors much stronger going in to 2023.

[Dman]

1 hour ago, DocBauer said:

Really nice to see Williams healthy and hitting well and hitting with power. He was a potential steal when drafted as a senior signing who couldn't play catcher his senior year due to injury. He's basically struggled with the bat since being drafted until this year. I've heard a couple reports here and there that suggest he's OK behind the dish, and one young pitcher, I think Winder but can't recall for sure, spoke about his knowledge and loving to throw to him. He's playing a lot of 1B right now. 15 games started at catcher, (17 games total), and 41 starts at 1B. So can he really catch or not? 

Cardenas was the Twins 8th pick in the 2021 draft, and the first of 3 catchers selected, and was off to a rough start this year. Seeing him heat up is really nice! Despite a poor BA and too many SO, he's also walked almost as much as he's K'd and showed some power. A strong finish along with the solid year of Pat Winkel, drafted right after, makes catcher in the lower minors much stronger going in to 2023.

Nice writeup Doc!  Couldn't agree more.  He has been a different hitter this year. Seems more well rounded and really hitting the ball hard.  That is an amazing week not sure I have ever seen one quite like it,  Things are looking up for the 25 year old Williams.

[Seth Stohs]

Williams was 5-for-50 to start the 2021 season in Cedar Rapids... 

Then he moved up to Wichita, and he hasn't stopped hitting. And his power stretch in recent weeks is incredible. 

Also, Yasser Mercedes has sure done well to start his career. 

[Dman]

7 hours ago, Seth Stohs said:

Williams was 5-for-50 to start the 2021 season in Cedar Rapids... 

Then he moved up to Wichita, and he hasn't stopped hitting. And his power stretch in recent weeks is incredible. 

Also, Yasser Mercedes has sure done well to start his career. 

I think Merecedes early stats in the DSL are some of the better numbers I have seen from a Twins high level prospect in the year they signed them.  Have to see if he can keep it up though as those guys can be volatile with the generally aggressive swing early and often approach. Still it would be nice to have a young, good sized, fairly speedy centerfielder prospect in the system.  He could be just what this system needs as there isn't much there right now.

[HrbieFan]

28 minutes ago, Dman said:

I think Merecedes early stats in the DSL are some of the better numbers I have seen from a Twins high level prospect in the year they signed them.  Have to see if he can keep it up though as those guys can be volatile with the generally aggressive swing early and often approach. Still it would be nice to have a young, good sized, fairly speedy centerfielder prospect in the system.  He could be just what this system needs as there isn't much there right now.

Was thinking the same about Yasser. The bat depth that has been built in the organization the last 4 years us quite impressive. 

[roger]

Thanks for the report, Andrew.

Will double down on the above comments about Williams and catching, in general.  With the catching situation for the Twins and upper levels, have thought the Twins are in a terrible situation behind the plate.  Maybe there is more in the pipeline than I was aware of.

Will second the above comments about Mercedes and how well he is doing.  Looking at yesterday's box score from the DSL Twins got me wondering, however, is pitching in the DSL exceptionally bad this year?  If memory serves, there were usually very few hitters on the DSL Twins with averages above .300.  Looking at the box score, seems that nearly all of them are above .300.  Seth, have you noticed how much better the Twins kids are hitting?  Are hitters throughout the league hitting much better?  Or is it just that the Twins have a special group this year?

 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

I met Chris Williams when he was just getting started with his pro career in Elizabethton (RIP -sigh). Chris was a very friendly and personable young man who was excited to be in the Twins organization. We kidded each other about our respective schools (UNC and Clemson). Trevor Larnach was also on that team and he had previously hit a homer to help beat the Tar Heels in the college world series. Trevor didn't smile much, but maybe he was having a bad day. . 

[TwinsAce]

11 hours ago, Seth Stohs said:

Also, Yasser Mercedes has sure done well to start his career. 

A bit of an echo chamber in here, but I also have enjoyed seeing Yasser's name in the box scores the past few weeks.  Currently on a 10 game hitting streak.  During that time, he has several 3 or 4 hit days as well!  Before July 7th, he was a bit streakier during his first 13 professional games.

Seth - Any chance Yasser or Jose Rodriguez (who's July box scores look great as well) crack the top prospect lists as early as this offseason? Or any other guys we might expect to make the top 20 in the DSL or FCL? I know it is early...

[2wins87]

3 hours ago, roger said:

Will second the above comments about Mercedes and how well he is doing.  Looking at yesterday's box score from the DSL Twins got me wondering, however, is pitching in the DSL exceptionally bad this year?  If memory serves, there were usually very few hitters on the DSL Twins with averages above .300.  Looking at the box score, seems that nearly all of them are above .300.  Seth, have you noticed how much better the Twins kids are hitting?  Are hitters throughout the league hitting much better?  Or is it just that the Twins have a special group this year?

 

The leaguewide OPS in the DSL is .718, which isn't particularly high and is only a bit higher than the Complex League and Midwest League.

The DSL Twins lead the league with an .815 team OPS, so they have been a very good hitting team.  The majority of organizations have two DSL teams now, so I don't know if the overall talent pool has been diluted a bit, but there are a bunch of young first year guys doing quite well for the Twins.

The next biggest signings behind Mercedes unfortunately have not been among them, with both Herrera and Acuna struggling quite a bit, though I think they've both been a bit better as late.

Jose Rodriguez has really been great.  He's also younger than Mercedes (actually he's one of the youngest in the league) and has hit for more power with fewer strikeouts.  I haven't found any signing bonus information for him but I think he was mentioned in BA's international signing roundup so I'd guess low 6 figures.

Anderson Nova is another young 17 year old who's hitting very well with good plate discipline numbers.

Daniel Pena is about the same age and has also hit pretty well, with little power and few walks but also with a pretty low strikeout rate.

I'll also mention Isaac Pena, a Venezuelan who is already 18 but is also in his first year and basically never strikes while also taking some walks.  Fun fact, his hometown is just about an hour's drive from Arraez's hometown of San Felipe.

As always, DSL stats are the least reliable for statline scouting, so we can expect some of these guys to fizzle out as they move up.  However, the Twins seem to have done very well with the latest signing class.