Minor League Report 6/5 Jordy Blaze Debuts

TRANSACTIONS

• RHP Griffin Jax promoted to the Twins. 
• RHP Juan Minaya DFAd. 
• LHP Bryan Sammons promoted to AAA St. Paul
• RHP Matt Mullenbach promoted to AAA St. Paul from the Ft. Myers complex. (He was just signed on Friday from an independent league)
• RHP Bailey Ober promoted to Twins from AAA St. Paul
• RHP Matt Canterino placed on the 7-day IL for A+ Cedar Rapids (right elbow strain)
• LHP Lewis Thorpe placed on the 7-day IL for AAA St. Paul (left shoulder strain)

Saints Sentinel

St. Paul 3, Louisville 6

Box Score

Bryan Sammons 4 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 2 K

HR: Brent Rooker (7), Mark Contreras (1)

Multi-hit games: Mark Contreras (2-for-4, HR, 2B, R, 2 RBI)

Bryan Sammons' AAA debut did not go exactly as he likely would have preferred. The lefty struggled to throw strikes consistently over his four innings of work as he was worked for four walks on top of six hits. Hopefully this is an example of a pitcher getting a stinker outing out of the way before settling into a groove.

The night started off hopeful as Brent Rooker launched a solo blast in the first inning to kick off the scoring. The notoriously snarky Saints twitter account claims the ball went 449 feet and who am I to call them liars?

If you want to try to measure for yourself, here is the video: 

I wish the good news could continue but it does not. The appropriately named Bats came back to score two in the first inning. Although, one of the runs came via a walk, so maybe the name is not quite as appropriate as I thought (petition to create a team named the “Walkers” can be created by someone else who is less lazy). 

A Mark Contreras homer in the sixth inning put the game in reach for the Saints but the Bats fortified their lead with runs in the bottom half of the inning as well as the eighth. 

A rehabbing Joey Votto went 3-for-4 with a double and a triple. Naturally, the only way to beat the Saints is to have an MLB All-Star play for your team. 

Wind Surge Wisdom

Wichita 6, Arkansas 4

Box Score

Jordan Balazovic: 3 ⅓ IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K

HR: Caleb Hamilton (1, 2), Andrew Bechtold (2)

Multi-hit games: Jose Miranda (2-for-3, R, BB), Jermaine Palacios (2-for-4, R), Roy Morales (2-for-4, R), Caleb Hamilton (2-for-4, 2 HR, 2 R, 4 RBI)

The big news of the day in Wichita was the debut of Jordan Balazovic. The righty, along with Jhoan Duran, creates what most consider a future 1-2 punch that will lock down the Twins rotation for a number of years. That might be looking too far forward, how did he do today?

Balazovic threw 62 pitches to nab 10 outs. Half of them came via the strikeout. That’s just how he does things. Unfortunately, this also came with two walks and two hit batters. That’s not how he does things. But this start was just an effort in shaking off any potential rust that Balazovic may have had and to that point he was quite successful.

That was the main story on the mound, what about in the box? That belonged to Caleb Hamilton who blasted not just his first homer of the season for Wichita, but also his second. Good things do come in bunches. Not to be overshadowed, Andrew Bechtold had a home run of his own sandwiched in between Hamilton’s vulgar display of power.

I should also point out that Jose Miranda dropped two hits in the game along with a walk and now is up to a terrifying .950 OPS. I cannot imagine trying to be a pitcher against Miranda during his incendiary start to the season. 

Kernels Nuggets

Cedar Rapids 11, Fort Wayne 5

Box Score

Andrew Cabezas: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K

HR: Alex Isola (1)

Multi-hit games: Wander Javier (4-for-6, 3B, 2B, 4 R, 2 RBI), Trey Cabbage (2-for-4, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB), Alex Isola (2-for-3, HR, 2B, R, 4 RBI, BB), Max Smith (2-for-5)

Remember all those snarky things that I said last week about the Kernels offense? Well, evidently they were not too pleased by them because they gave the TinCaps the business on Saturday.

Cedar Rapids wasted no time getting the scoring started on Saturday as they burst out of the gates with three runs in the first. Gabe Snyder grounded out to plate the first run before Wander Javier decided that triples are cooler than nerdy outs. While ground outs are nerdy, scoring on passed balls are what all the popular kids do and no kid was more popular today than Javier as he waltzed home later in the inning. 

Things were relatively silent on the Western front in the game until the fifth inning. Trey Cabbage blasted an opposite field double that plated Javier for the second time in the game (he would score an absurd four times). 

The Kernels offense decided to give the TinCaps pitching staff a short breather before storming back in the 7th and 8th innings with an almost insulting amount of runs. The seventh inning saw a Cabbage single, a wild pitch, and an Alex Isola double to add three runs to their total. The eighth inning was more efficient as far as run scoring went. Javier doubled home Snyder before Alex Isola delivered his first homer of the year over the left-center field fence. 

While the entire focus is on the offense (as it typically will be in an 11-5 game), Andrew Cabezas deserves a shout out as well. He fired off five quiet innings with just four baserunners allowed. His season ERA now sits at an impressive 2.42.

Mussel Matters

Fort Myers 9, St. Lucie 4

Box Score

Miguel Rodriguez: 4 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K

HR: None

Multi-hit games: Yunior Severino (2-for-5, R, RBI)

Normally I would talk about something great that happened in the game or would say something vague like “the Mighty Mussels lost a close one on Saturday” but I wanted to start out by mentioning that the St. Lucie Mets committed seven (!!!) errors. Seven. How is that even possible?

The Mighty Mussels took full advantage of those errors by plating nine runs during a comfortable win. Six players nabbed an RBI while all but two scored a run. That kind of consistently great output can only be matched by David Bowie.

Oddly enough, only two times did the Mighty Mussels score a run off of a hit. Yunior Severino’s first inning single and Kyle Schmidt’s seventh inning triple were the sole culprits. Every other run was scored via a sacrifice fly, a ground out, or an error. Truly an unusual way to win a ballgame but hey, a win is a win. If the other team is handing you runs, then all you can do is thank them. 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Andrew Cabezas, Cedar Rapids Kernels 

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Wander Javier, Cedar Rapids Kernels 

PROSPECT SUMMARY

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

#1 - Alex Kirilloff (Minnesota) – 1-4, R

#2 - Royce Lewis (Rehab) - Out for Season (torn ACL)

#3 - Trevor Larnach (Minnesota) – Did not play

#4 - Ryan Jeffers (Minnesota) – 1-4, HR, R, 2 RBI, K

#5 - Jhoan Duran (St. Paul) – Did not pitch

#6 - Jordan Balazovic (Wichita) – 3 ⅓ IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K

#7 - Keoni Cavaco (Ft. Myers) – 1-5, RBI, K

#8 - Aaron Sabato (Ft. Myers) – 1-3, 2 R, 2 BB, K

#9 - Matt Canterino (Cedar Rapids) – IL (right elbow strain)

#10 - Blayne Enlow (Cedar Rapids) – IL (right elbow strain)

#11 - Gilberto Celestino (Minnesota) – 0-3, K

#12 - Brent Rooker (St. Paul) – 1-3, HR, 2 R, RBI, BB, K

#13 - Matt Wallner (Cedar Rapids) – IL (wrist/hand) 

#14 - Misael Urbina (Ft. Myers) – 0-4, RBI, K

#15 - Cole Sands (Wichita) – Did not pitch

#16 - Edwar Colina (Rehab) - 60-Day IL (elbow surgery - not Tommy John)

#17 - Ben Rortvedt (Minnesota) – Did not play 

#18 - Alerick Soularie (Complex) – N/A

#19 - Jose Miranda (Wichita) – 2-3, R, BB, K

#20 - Bailey Ober (Minnesota) – Did not pitch

SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

St. Paul @ Iowa (11:00 AM) - TBD

Arkansas @ Wichita (12:05 PM) - RHP Chris Vallimont

Cedar Rapids @ Fort Wayne (11:05 AM) - RHP Ben Gross

St. Lucie @ Fort Myers (10:00 AM) - LHP Brent Headrick