Minor League Recap (8/13): Varland Shines in Saints Debut

TRANSACTIONS

• 2B Jorel Ortega placed on the 7-Day IL (wrist).

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 5, Columbus 1
Box Score

St. Paul native Louie Varland dominated during his Triple-A debut in front of the home crowd. Varland—Twins Daily’s number 12 Twins prospect—struck out eight and allowed only three Clipper batters to reach base across 5 ⅓ innings, marking arguably his best start of the season.

While the Twins are developing Varland as a starter and have ever since he signed out of Concordia University, some talent evaluators believe he is best suited for the bullpen long-term. An athlete is only ever a couple of good outings away from the Majors once they reach Triple-A and should the Twins continue to need pitching help as the season winds down Varland’s name may begin to seriously come up in conversations.

At the plate, Mark Contreras went 1-for-4 with a home run and two RBI. Roy Morales drove in the Saints other three runs, going 1-for-4 with a double.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 7, Corpus Christi 3
Box Score

The Wind Surge got tremendous production from the bottom of their lineup on Friday as they took down the Hooks with relative ease. Will Holland, Anthony Prato, and Leobaldo Cabrera—Wichita’s 7-8-9 hitters—combined to go 5-for-8 with four RBI, three runs scored, and four walks; Prato led the charge by contributing a double and triple to raise his average to .307. Alex Isola also brought the boom, driving in two with his seventh home run of the season.

Brent Headrick put together five solid innings, striking out six and allowing one earned run. Alex Phillips and Denny Bentley each struck out the side during the eighth and ninth innings, respectively.  

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 5, Quad Cities 0
Box Score

Kyler Fedko (1-for-4, RBI, R) contributed Cedar Rapids’ lone extra-base hit on the night, but although offense was at a bit of a premium in Iowa, the Kernels ultimately came out on top with ease. Mikey Perez added the team’s lone multi-hit game, going 2-for-5 with two RBI. Brooks Lee went 0-for-3 but drew two walks.

David Festa started on the bump for the Kernels but was removed after three shutout innings. Hunter McMahon was awarded the win after throwing 3 1/3 innings of hitless ball in relief. He struck out three and his ERA dropped to 0.65.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Jupiter 3, Fort Myers 1
Box Score

It was a quiet night in Jupiter with no offensive hurricanes to be found. 

Noah Cardenas led the Mighty Mussels at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a double. Dillon Tatum (1-for-4) also contributed a double. 

The Fort Myers pitching staff also had a quiet night as they managed to strike out a meager two batters while walking four and surrendering three earned runs.

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
FCL Red Sox 1, FCL Twins 0
Box Score

The FCL Twins managed to pick up eight hits against the FCL Red Sox on Friday, but unfortunately, none were able to drive in any runs. Dalton Shuffield—the Twins 10th round pick out of Texas State—went 3-for-4 and picked up his first professional hits. 

Five pitchers—led by Pierce Banks—saw action for the Twins and struck out 12 while surrendering only a single run. 

DOMINICAN DAILIES
DSL Twins 3, DSL Mariners 0
Box Score

Bryan Acuna’s RBI double in the sixth inning gave the DSL Twins a 1-0 lead, an advantage they would never surrender. Jesus Peraza singled home two more in the seventh to extend the Twins lead.

DSL Twins pitchers struck out eight while only walking two to earn the shutout. 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Louie Varland (St. Paul): 5 1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R/ER, 2 BB, 8 K
Hitter of the Day – Anthony Prato (Wichita): 2-for-3, 2B, 3B, 2 RBI, BB, 2 R

PROSPECT SUMMARY
We will again keep tabs on the Twins top prospects. You’ll probably read about them in the team sections, but if they aren’t there, you’ll see how they did here. Here’s a look at how the current Twins Daily Top 20 performed:

#2 - Brooks Lee (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-3, 2 BB

#7 - Noah Miller (Fort Myers) - 0-for-3, BB
#9 - Matt Wallner (St. Paul) - 0-for-2, 2 BB
#12 - Louie Varland (Wichita) - 5 1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R/ER, 2 BB, 8 K
#13 - David Festa (Cedar Rapids) - 3 IP, 3 H, 0 R/ER, 3 BB, 3 K
#14 - Edouard Julien (Wichita) - 0-for-4
#18 - Tanner Schobel (Fort Myers) - 1-for-4
#20 - Kala'i Rosario (Fort Myers) - 1-for-4

SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul vs. Columbus (7:07 PM CST) - LHP Devin Smeltzer (2-2, 4.98 ERA)
Wichita vs. Corpus Christi (6:05 PM CST) - RHP Daniel Gossett (1-1, 2.59 ERA)
Cedar Rapids @ Quad Cities (6:30 PM CST) - RHP Luis Rijo (0-1, 11,81 ERA)
Fort Myers @ Jupiter (5:00 PM CST) - RHP Pierson Ohl (4-6, 4.13 ERA)