Twins Minor League Report (8/26): Way to Go, Willie Joe!

[Seth Stohs]

The #MNTwins broke their six-game losing streak with a big win at home against the Giants. There were some terrific starts on the mound in the Twins minor leagues too, and one speedster was a triple away from the cycle. See what all happened in the Twins system on Friday. 

TRANSACTIONS 
Recently signed non-drafted free agent LHP Michael Boyle was assigned to Ft. Myers. 

So was MLB veteran RHP Brock Stewart who has worked his way back to affiliated ball after recovering from injuries the past few seasons? 

SAINTS SENTINEL 
Iowa 6, St. Paul 5
Box score 

Ronny Henriquez has been coming out of the bullpen for the Saints the past couple of months, generally still working multiple innings situations. He returned to the starting rotation this week and put together arguably his best start of the season. The right-hander gave up one run on three hits over five innings. He struck out six batters, and maybe most important for his development, he walked none. 

The bullpen came on and had some moments. Juan Minaya recorded the first two outs in the sixth inning. But, he gave up one run on two walks. Austin Schulfer came on and got the final out of that inning. Jharel Cotton gave up a run on one hit and one walk in the seventh inning. 

Heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, the Saints held a 5-3 lead. Jovani Moran came on and struck out two in the eighth inning. Unfortunately, he gave up three runs on two hits and two walks, and a hit batter to blow the save and take the loss. The outing bumps his Saints season ERA up to 6.00. Just 15 of his 31 pitches were strikes. There are openings in the Twins bullpen, and he certainly isn’t putting up the Triple-A numbers to force the Twins’ hand. 

Matt Wallner went 2-for-4 with a walk and his sixth double since joining the Saints. Jermaine Palacios went 2-for-5. Nash Knight went 2-for-4. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Frisco 2, Wichita 1
Box Score 

Lefty Kody Funderburk gave up two runs in the third inning, and that was it for the Frisco run-scoring on this night. Unfortunately, it was one run more than the Wind Surge were able to muster. 

Funderburk gave up those two runs on two hits and two walks. He struck out four. The bullpen followed with four scoreless, hitless innings. Denny Bentley walked one and struck one out over two innings. Alex Phillips and Steven Cruz each worked one inning. Cruz struck out two batters. 

The Wind Surge batters had twice as many hits as Frisco, but just half as many runs. Wichita had four hits, but the lone run came in the top of the seventh inning in the form of Jair Camargo’s eighth Double-A home run. Austin Martin found three different ways to get on base. He was hit by a pitch, walked, and had a single. He also stole his 31st bag.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Lake County 1, Cedar Rapids 5
Box Score

Cedar Rapids got some great pitching and kept the offense rolling, scoring their five runs in four different innings. 

Let’s start on the mound where David Festa improved to 7-2 with a 2.25 ERA with 5 2/3 scoreless innings. He gave up two hits, no walks, and he struck out six batters. Matt Mullenbach got four of the five batters he faced out. He did hit one batter. Bobby Milacki struck out four batters over the final two innings. The lone run allowed came on a ninth-inning home run. 

It’s been a tough season for outfielder Willie Joe Garry. He missed more than two months with injury, but since his return, the speedster has been playing very well. On this night, he went 3-for-4 with a single, double, and a home run. He drove in two of the Kernel runs and scored three runs. Jake Rucker went 2-for-3 with a walk and was hit by a pitch. 

If not the fewest in the league, the Minnesota Twins big-league club has very stolen bases. On Friday night, infielder Mikey Perez stole his 12th base since joining the Kernels. He had 32 stolen bases in Ft. Myers earlier in the season. 

Here are the organization’s Top 10 leaders in Stolen Bases in 2022: 

  Mikey Perez - 44
  DaShawn Keirsey, Jr. - 34
  Austin Martin - 32
  Michael Helman - 30
  Yasser Mercedes - 30
  Will Holland - 26
  Daniel Ozoria - 20
  Anthony Prato - 20
  Luis Baez - 19
  Noah Miller - 19

MUSSEL MATTERS
Lakeland, Fort Myers (Game Suspended in the 3rd inning)
Box Score

The Mighty Mussels played two games on Thursday but only completed two innings on Friday night due to rain. We’ll have more on this game when it is completed (hopefully on Saturday), but we’ll show you a little of what happened. 

30-year-old Brock Stewart started for the Mussels and went the first two innings. He gave up two runs on just one hit. Immediately following a hit batter in the second innings, he gave up a home run to Mike Rothenberg. 

But all that is the background to a potentially great story. Stewart was drafted by the Dodgers in the 6th round in 2014 out of Illinois State. Just two years after signing, he made his big-league debut. Between 2016 and 2019, he pitched in 36 games for the Dodgers, including 11 starts. He went 6-3 with a 6.05 ERA over 105 2/3 innings. When the Dodgers let him go, the Blue Jays claimed him and he went 4-0 over 10 late-season appearances. After that season, he was selected by the Cubs in the Rule 5 draft, but they let him go in late May of 2020 as the season was in doubt. He pitched in six games for the Chicago Deep Dish of the City of Champions Cup League.  The Dodgers signed him before the 2021 season, but he had Tommy John surgery in May of 2021 and rehabbed the rest of the season. He hadn’t pitched at all this year either, but after a tryout, the Twins signed him in mid-July to a minor league deal. 

Maybe it’s a long shot, but maybe he works his way back and gets to the big leagues in a bullpen role. Those are the kind of stories that are fun to tell when a game is suspended in the bottom of the third. 

Michael Boyle pitched a scoreless top of the third. He is 28 years old and hasn’t pitched since 2019 with the Dodgers’ Double-A affiliate in Tulsa. He’s healthy and attempting to come back. Hopefully we’ll continue to write about him the next year or so and get to know more about his story too. 

Noah Cardenas hit a solo home run in the second inning, his ninth of the year. In the bottom of the third inning, Misael Urbina led off with a double. Ben Ross drove him in with a double. One batter later, Ross stole third base and then scored on a Cardenas single. Kala’i Rosario followed with an RBI double, his 20th two-bagger of the season. And that’s when the game was delayed by rain. 

The teams will attempt to finish this game as part of a modified doubleheader on Saturday late afternoon. That will be a nine-inning game. The regularly-scheduled game will then be a seven-inning game. 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day –  David Festa (Cedar Rapids) - 5.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, (73 pitches, 47 strikes)
Hitter of the Day – Willie Joe Garry, Jr. (Cedar Rapids) - 3-4, 2B (9), HR (2), 3 R, 2 RBI, K

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

#2 - Brooks Lee (Cedar Rapids) - 0-4, BB, RBI 
#4 - Austin Martin (Wichita) - 1-2, BB, HBP, SB (31)
#9 - Matt Wallner (St. Paul) - 2-4, BB, R, RBI, 2 K 
#13 - David Festa (Cedar Rapids) - 5.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, (73 pitches, 47 strikes) 
#14 - Edouard Julien (Wichita) - 0-4, 2 K
#16 - Ronny Henriquez (St. Paul) - 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K (67 pitches, 45 strikes)  
#18 - Tanner Schobel (Fort Myers) - 0-2, 2 K
#20 - Kala'i Rosario (Fort Myers) - 1-2, 2B(20), RBI K

SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Here are the start times and probables for their games. 

St. Paul @ Iowa (6:08 PM CST) - RHP Simeon Woods Richardson
Wichita @ Frisco (7:05 PM CST) - LHP Aaron Rozek 
Cedar Rapids @ Lake County (5:35 PM CST) - LHP Jaylen Nowlin 
Lakeland @ Fort Myers (DH starting at 3:30 PM CST) - TBD, RHP Tomas Cleto

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Friday's games

 

 

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[RJA]

Three thoughts.  It was nice to see Henriquez pitch well.  His stuff is better than his stat line, and we have to remember he is still only 22 years old and pitching in AAA, so he has time to develop.  He is one of those players who could put it all together and have a breakout year.  Second, I wish stolen bases were still an important part of baseball.  I am old enough to remember Maury Wills and his chase for 100, and Ricky Henderson causing chaos on the bases, and of course, our own Rod Carew stealing home.  Maybe if shifts are restricted, stolen bases will come back.  I think the game would be richer for it.  Finally, Stewart and Boyle are what minor league baseball is all about.  Young guys working their tails off, experiencing injuries and disappointments, and have the character and strength of will to fight back.  I am looking forward to interviews with these guys in the offseason.  I am in their corners.

[mikelink45]

Moran has really disappointed this year.  Not as much as Balazovic, but we need these quality arms to come around and help the team - soon.  Both would be in Minneapolis if they had performed as we expected.  

I too love the SB.  Excitement!  Manufacture runs.  We have seen it happen in the past.  Maybe Rocco needs a Whitey Herzog biography to read. 

[FlyingFinn]

Henriquez great, Moran terrible and that is a trend. Martin and Cruz also trending in the right direction this month. Festa continues his fantastic year. Urbina, Cardenas and Ross continue to do well, the first two becoming more than just a trend now.

SB - Mikey Perez is interesting. Great SB and has some pop in his bat. The negatives appear to be a low batting average and is he more than a 2B, where we have a ton of prospects? Martin would be on top of the list if he didn't miss a month. Emma Rodriguez would also be on the list if he didn't get injured. The Twins have some very exciting but very young OF's - Mercedes (wow, didn't realize he also stole bases like this!), Rosario, and I'm missing someone else to go along with Rodriguez.

If MLB increases the base size, thus decreasing the distance between bases, SB's will be much more important. Most bases stealers who are thrown out in MLB are on close plays. I believe the base size increase will have a bigger impact than most people think.

[roger]

A couple surprises, at least to me, when reading the stolen bases totals.  Did not realize Helman had 30+ steal speed.  Miller with 19 tells me he is quicker than I thought.  Mercedes hasn’t played as much as most of the others, has he?  With 30 steals, he must have elite speed, right?  A bit surprised Julien isn’t on the list, assume he is close?

[terrydactyls]

19 minutes ago, roger said:

A couple surprises, at least to me, when reading the stolen bases totals.  Did not realize Helman had 30+ steal speed.  Miller with 19 tells me he is quicker than I thought.  Mercedes hasn’t played as much as most of the others, has he?  With 30 steals, he must have elite speed, right?  A bit surprised Julien isn’t on the list, assume he is close?

According to MiLB.com, he has 15.

[Rosterman]

Some base stealers in the system. But recently signed Billy Hamilton will tell you that you can't steal a base if you don't get a hit or walk in the majors. 

Henriquez is still a keeper. We forget that he (like Balazovic) is still young. Have to keep them on the roster for another season. But I would try Henriquez out of the bullpen (or, do we send him to the Arizona Fall Leagu - can we - as a starter?).

[Monkeypaws]

Glad to see Willie Joe back in action. He is a fun guy to watch play baseball.