Minor League Report (6/23): Winder Wows, Rooker Rakes, Bechtold Blasts

Rooker is the big question mark.  Have we given up on him?  Do we have a trade partner for him?  He is being wasted in AAA.  

I want the job o the person sewing uniform names for the Saints. You gotta be working overtime!

Josh Winder needs to be at AAA. The worry was that prospects might start slow due to missing all of 2020, but he's been a stud through 55 IP. No sense wasting more innings of his arm on AA, especially if the organization plans on babying all the pitchers and keeping them under 120 innings on the year.

Encouraging to see Maciel come up in the clutch. I'm rooting for him.

Winder is the main story from last night he has a sub 2 ERA at 1.98 a sub 1 whip at 0.93 and more K's than innings pitched.  I honestly don't know what more he can do to prove he is ready to move up.  To be honest they could have started him in AAA he was likely already, ready.  Anyway let's see if he can sneak that stuff past some of those older seasoned AAA bats. If he can he looks like one of the few guys that will be ready to pitch in MLB.

What a way for the Kernal to win that first game.  A walk off grand slam and first HR of the season for little man Gabriel Macial.  That is just beautiful baseball.  He battling the pitcher, fouling stuff off and then game over.  David beats Goliath.

Bechtold has really started to heat up.  He is rock solid defensively so if he can get that bat working he has a chance. Anyway another fun night and lots of wins as well.  It has been a fun MiLB season so far.

3 hours ago, Twinfan603 said:

Josh Winder needs to be at AAA. The worry was that prospects might start slow due to missing all of 2020, but he's been a stud through 55 IP. No sense wasting more innings of his arm on AA, especially if the organization plans on babying all the pitchers and keeping them under 120 innings on the year.

Encouraging to see Maciel come up in the clutch. I'm rooting for him.

Totally agree with the sentiment. However, while I would love to see a promotion to AAA and feel that he has done nothing to dissuade that thought, it's not really hurting him to continue to pitch at AA. 

My (grossly uneducated) opinion is that we will most likely see a second half move up to AAA at some point, but if I remember correctly Winder isn't currently on the 40 man roster so where he throws his innings shouldn't matter as much.

But then I am wrong as often (or more) than I am right so we shall see ?‍♂️?

Great night in the organization with Wichita and Fort Myers well into fantastic seasons.

Watched most of the Wind Surge game last night as I wanted to see Winder pitch.  Lead off hitter got a single and was immediately thrown out stealing second.  The next 18 hitters walked up to the plate and back to the dugout, 7 sitting down after striking out.  Didn't get another runner on base until one out in the seventh inning, when it appeared he was tiring a bit and they got their run.  Winder was in total control, seemingly ahead of nearly every hitter with two, maybe three three ball counts all night.  

He was consistently hitting 95-96mph with his fastball, getting lots of swing and misses with his slider that the play-by-play guy saying was around 89mph.  Speaking of the Midland announcer, loved some of the trivia he brought into the game.  He also was gushing over Winder, whom he constantly referred to as the best pitcher in the AA-Central division.  Spent a lot of time talking about the progress he made last year while not pitching and what being from the Virginia Military Institute likely means to his character.  Sure looks like this kid has a huge future in a Twins rotation...hopefully beginning sometime next year.  

Although there didn't seem to be more than maybe 500 people at the game, liked seeing the Midland stadium.  Had a feel more like Cedar Rapids than what I would expect for AA.  Also different seeing advertising for energy companies on the outfield fences and around the ballpark.

The announcer was also raving about Miranda, who didn't do anything special with his bat after I believe a 4-hit night on Tuesday.  Found it interesting that he was at first base, where he did ok defensively.  Seems like the Twins are working to get him experience at several positions as they probably know he has a bat that belongs at Target Field sometime next year.

Winder and Miranda need to be in St Paul 

2 hours ago, MN_ExPat said:

Totally agree with the sentiment. However, while I would love to see a promotion to AAA and feel that he has done nothing to dissuade that thought, it's not really hurting him to continue to pitch at AA. 

My (grossly uneducated) opinion is that we will most likely see a second half move up to AAA at some point, but if I remember correctly Winder isn't currently on the 40 man roster so where he throws his innings shouldn't matter as much.

But then I am wrong as often (or more) than I am right so we shall see ?‍♂️?

You are dead right.  AA and AAA generally aren't considered that "different"  to the point that players get promoted directly from AA at times.  They are probably keeping him there for All Star honors and with so many injured pitchers maybe there isn't really anyone to move up and into his spot.  He has to be added to the 40 man at the end of this year so they will add him but they will probably wait until the deadline to make that move though.

I just think it would be nice to see how he handles AAA for a good solid month before they likely try him out at the MLB level.  As you noted what I think likely doesn't matter one way or the other.

14 minutes ago, Dman said:

You are dead right.  AA and AAA generally aren't considered that "different"  to the point that players get promoted directly from AA at times.  They are probably keeping him there for All Star honors and with so many injured pitchers maybe there isn't really anyone to move up and into his spot.  He has to be added to the 40 man at the end of this year so they will add him but they will probably wait until the deadline to make that move though.

I just think it would be nice to see how he handles AAA for a good solid month before they likely try him out at the MLB level.  As you noted what I think likely doesn't matter one way or the other.

I think we all are going to be a bit disappointed on promotions, or lack thereof, and playing with the Twins later this year.  Most of these guys didn't throw an inning last year.  So their total innings this year are going to be limited.  Granted, MiLB starting in May instead of April will help get thru the seasons, but come August a lot of these pitchers are going to be skipping starts and pitching only a few innings each time out.  Is way to risky to push them all summer like normal.

With that said, I expect/hope to see both Winder and Balazovic eventually move up to St. Paul.  Because of his late start, would expect Balazovic to stay in Wichita longer than Winder.  But by August, Winder is going to have around 100 innings on his arm.  How much further does he go?  Another 25, or say four starts?  That would put him at the innings he threw in 2019.  Really don't see him going beyond that, so pitching every fifth/sixth day for the Saints in all of August probably isn't in the cards, much less a callup to the Twins in late August/September.  Considering Balazovic has a history of injuries and missed the start of the season with another, I wouldn't be surprised if he spends all/most of the year in Wichita.  

2 hours ago, roger said:

I think we all are going to be a bit disappointed on promotions, or lack thereof, and playing with the Twins later this year.  Most of these guys didn't throw an inning last year.  So their total innings this year are going to be limited.  Granted, MiLB starting in May instead of April will help get thru the seasons, but come August a lot of these pitchers are going to be skipping starts and pitching only a few innings each time out.  Is way to risky to push them all summer like normal.

With that said, I expect/hope to see both Winder and Balazovic eventually move up to St. Paul.  Because of his late start, would expect Balazovic to stay in Wichita longer than Winder.  But by August, Winder is going to have around 100 innings on his arm.  How much further does he go?  Another 25, or say four starts?  That would put him at the innings he threw in 2019.  Really don't see him going beyond that, so pitching every fifth/sixth day for the Saints in all of August probably isn't in the cards, much less a callup to the Twins in late August/September.  Considering Balazovic has a history of injuries and missed the start of the season with another, I wouldn't be surprised if he spends all/most of the year in Wichita.  

Those are some excellent points and things that hadn't crossed my mind even though they should have.  You are right they will be very careful with innings pitched.

17 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

All the more reason to promote faster......Or not. But if not, good luck getting much help in MN early next year.

The only starters left uninjured that I would like to see in MLB are Winder and Balazovich.  But if they hit their innings limit around the deadline then they won't get much experience anyway.  It is kind of frustrating because they won't start with the big league club next spring either as they want to give them time at AAA before bringing them up. Then they will likely have to wait for an injury to get called up.  It feels like to have any shot next year they need the young pitching to move up but who knows maybe they have another plan?  It is starting to feel more like a mini rebuild now to me.