Twins Minor League Report (4/24): Wahoos Walk Off, Jax Cruises

Hitters have been pretty disappointing so far this season. With the way the Twins pitchers are dealing, I have to wonder if offense is down across the leagues in the minors?

Who is the first to be promoted? Jax or Graterol? Both have been dominant, but Jax is more physically mature

I'm not excited to see Lewis struggling out of the gate and Rooker striking out 2-3 times a game. 

I wonder if Moya will be a factor at some point. The Twins have been terrible at developing these fringe relievers over the past few years, so I wouldn't be surprised if he flames out just like the others.

“Despite taking his third loss of the season, Duran owns a quality 3.63 ERA to begin 2019.”

Except that ERA is below league average in the FSL. Still, the only place it seems he’s struggling is in keeping the ball in the park. Not many hits or walks, but stung by long balls a bit...in a league where they are rare. And the HR ball got him tonight as well.

Keep waiting for a bat...someone...ANYONE...on any team...to take off.

Like. Watching. Paint. Dry.

Malique Ziegler, the outfielder received in the Tyler Austin trade, doesn't appear to have been assigned anywhere yet. Any idea why? 

Not being critical, however, curious about your decision to have Moran as the pitcher of the day rather than Jax?

See that Sano is now playing baseball in EST games.  Does anyone know if Kirilloff is also playing in EST?  

Looking at today's starters, have the feeling Enlow hasn't pitched in awhile.  Did he miss a start?  Or has C.R. had some cancellations?

Jax might my favorite prospect outside of the consensus top 20. I really like this guy, and this feels like it's going to be a major breakout year for him. The fact that he can concentrate on baseball full-time and not have any of that uncertainty hanging over him is bigger than people realize, I think. And he can really pitch.

No need to muck around with him right now, just keep running him out there on his turn in the rotation and evaluate around midseason whether to fast track him up a level.

Hitters have been pretty disappointing so far this season. With the way the Twins pitchers are dealing, I have to wonder if offense is down across the leagues in the minors?

I looked at that the other day. The Florida State League hitters are really struggling. Median batting average (6 teams above, 6 below) is .228. Only one team has a BA over .236. Median OPS is .647. In 2018, team medians were .253 BA and .696 OPS. FSL is pitcher friendly but that's really low.

An example - Akill Badoo's slash line is a fairly miserable .203/.286/.406. His Fangraphs WRC+ is 114. He's 14% better than the league in hitting production. Doesn't seem possible.

The Southern League and MWL hitters are down between 5 and 10% too. 

Pensacola, as a TEAM, has a 1.77 ERA.  They are almost 1.5 runs better than second place Montgomery at 3.23.  They also have 210 k's (10.5 a game), most in the league by 25 (Mobile at 185, which is 9.7 a game).

Cabbage... Diaz... 

Arraez is doing some interesting things--.321 Avg, .384 OBP with as many walks as strikeouts.

Schales has a .905 OPS, despite striking out in nearly half his AB's

Rortvedt has an .817 OPS (fangraphs puts him at a 154 wRC+), and also has as mnay walks as strikeouts, with half of his hits going for extra bases.

The Twins move to drop Cave and go with the three person bench has to be discouraging to players like Wade and others looking for a chance at the big leagues.  This is one reason I am happy to have the teams pull up lots of players in September.  They all deserve to have a chance.

I do hope something changes to create a bench again.  

Enlow last pitched on the 16th, ,so it''s been about 7-8 days. Six man rotation and a rain out probably is the big thing. 

 

I have seen Kirilloff is playing in EST. Hoping he will be back soon. I would think he''ll play a couple of games for the Miracle before moving up to Pensacola too. It is his bobblehead night on Saturday in Ft. Myers, so maybe he'll play that day.

 

And my vote would absolutely go to Jax. 0.41 ERA. One earned run over 22 innings to start the season. Much more than I would have guessed. 

Forgot that the Kernels use a six man rotation.  Great hearing that Kirilloff is playing in EST.  That means he has to be close to being back on the field for games.  Best news I have heard all day.

As I was reading the comments for the third time today, was thinking about strikeouts and Lewis Thorpe.  Took a look and saw that his 33 K's are second in the IL, one behind the leader who has pitched 2.1 innings less than Thorpe.

Who was the last Red Wing to lead the IL in strikeouts?  Was it Liriano however many years ago?  Decided to go back and look and saw that Liriano didn't lead the league, although he probably was in the lead when called up.

Taylor Rogers was second and Alex Meyers tied for the league lead several years ago.  Hopefully, Thorpe can keep this up and be a real asset for the Twins late this year and beyond.

Arraez is doing some interesting things--.321 Avg, .384 OBP with as many walks as strikeouts.

 

Schales has a .905 OPS, despite striking out in nearly half his AB's

 

Rortvedt has an .817 OPS (fangraphs puts him at a 154 wRC+), and also has as mnay walks as strikeouts, with half of his hits going for extra bases.

I was referring to those on our daily update top 20 prospect list.

But, yes there are a few below that line, that are doing well. FWIW, when I say I'm looking for someone to 'take off'...I'm thinking maybe an OPS over 800. It's been Rortvedt. Arraez doesn't have that (actually not very close), Diaz doesn't. Cabbage is probably the best example right now of a relatively high prospect that is putting up some numbers early. The mitigating factors are the injuries (if that can be considered 'good') to top prospects...and the fact that, apparently, a 700 OPS is great if it happens in the FSL.