Twins Minor League Report (4/10): Pitching and Polanco

Jeremy Nygaard, Cody Christie and I are excited about the start of the 2015 Minor League season and are offering the 2015 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook in paperback right now at a 15% discount. Get your copy today, if you haven’t already. It’s also available as an electronic book which is available for immediate download.

We have had two days’ worth of Twins Daily readers participating in this year’s Adopt-A-Prospect. At this point, feel free to adopt more players – whether you have or haven’t – and start by posting their initial bio/profile in the Adopt-A-Prospect 2015 forum.

Let’s get to today’s report. First things first. BJ Hermsen had his Tommy John surgery earlier in the week. On Friday, lefty Lewis Thorpe had his Tommy John surgery. Both will now begin that long road back.

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester, Buffalo (PPD)

Box Score

The Rochester Red Wings were set to make their home debut of 2015, but the weather was what won on Friday afternoon. The two teams will make up the missed game as part of a doubleheader in late May. They return to action on Saturday afternoon.

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 6, Montgomery 2

Box Score

As has been written many times, this Chattanooga roster is full of incredible talent and prospects. I do recall talking to Kyle Gibson when he was the organization’s top prospect earlier this decade. I asked him what it meant to him to be considered a top prospect. He said (paraphrasing): It’s nice and I appreciate it, but being a prospect means that I haven’t done anything yet. This Lookouts group is talented, but they’re not all big league ready, and they all have things that they can continue to improve upon. But man, the talent is remarkable.

Things always start on the mound, and on this night, JO Berrios made his 2015 debut and came through with an excellent start. He went 6.1 innings and gave up just one run on six hits and a walk. He struck out 11 batters. He threw 89 pitches, and 63 of them were strikes. DJ Johnson came on in relief and got the next five batters out. Zack Jones came on for the ninth inning. He gave up a run on two hits in the inning, but he also struck out three.

The Lookouts didn’t generate a lot of offense, but Jorge Polanco generated all the power they would need on this night. Polanco came to the plate in the fifth inning with no score and the bases loaded. He proceeded to blast a long home run, a grand slam, which gave the team a 4-0 lead. Polanco went 3-5 with a double and a stolen base in addition to the big blast. Dalton Hicks was 3-4 with a walk and a double in the game. Mike Gonzales went 2-4.

On the other side of the spectrum, there were some tough games as well. Byron Buxton went 0-5 with three strikeouts. Travis Harrison was 0-5 with four strikeouts. Adam Brett Walker went 1-5 but struck out three times. Miguel Sano went 0-3 with two strikeouts, though he also walked twice.

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers 3, Charlotte 0

Box Score

Earlier in the day, David Dorsey of the News-Press talked to Aaron Slegers about several topics. In the article, we learned that the 6-10 Slegers was actually cut from his high school basketball team as a sophomore, but he was just fine with that. Baseball was his first love. He had the honor of making the start for the Miracle on Friday night in their home opener. He responded well. He threw six shutout innings. He gave up just two hits, walked none and struck out three to record his first win of the year. Alex Muren came on and threw a scoreless inning. Brian Gilbert walked two, but he didn’t give up a run in his inning.

Finally, JT Chargois entered the game in the ninth and pitched a perfect inning, including two strikeouts. It had to be a special moment for Chargois (pronounced SHA-gwa). It was his first appearance in a regular season game since 2012 in Elizabethton. That is the year he was drafted. The last two years, he has been rehabbing elbow issues and had Tommy John. He returned to the mound at Instructional League last fall, but this had to be a special outing for the triple-digit throwing right-hander.

In my Ft. Myers Miracle Roster Preview, I wrote that I thought that repeating at Ft. Myers was the best thing for Niko Goodrum. He did all right with the Miracle last year. The hope is that having that year of experience and learning, he will be able to perform better and more consistently in 2015. With that, more confidence could be developed and he could take the next step in his career. He’s off to a good start so far. After having two hits on Opening Night, Goodrum had two more hits on Friday night. His early two-run home run gave the team a lead they were able to hold on to. Later, he added his first double of the season. Alex Swim also went 2-4 in the game.

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 6, Kane County 4

Box Score

The Kernels improved to 2-0 on the very young season with a 6-4 win. Nick Gordon had a second straight strong game. He went 3-5 with two RBI and is now 5-9 (.556) on the season. Jorge Fernandez made his first appearance for the Kernels. He went 3-5 with an RBI double. Zack Larson and TJ White also doubled for the Kernels.

If you look at John Curtiss’s baseball-reference page, it shows that he only pitched for Elizabethton in 2014 after being the Twins sixth-round pick out of Texas. However, Friday night was not his first start for the Kernels. He made a start for the team in the second round of the Midwest League playoffs a season ago. In that game, he got a no decision despite giving up just one hit in five shutout innings. On this night, he received a decision, his first win. He was charged with four runs (three earned) on nine hits over 5.2 innings. He didn’t walk anyone, and he struck out seven. Mike Theofanopoulos came on and shut the door over the next 2.1 innings. He gave up a hit and a walk, but no runs. CK Irby recorded the save. He struck out three and gave up one hit in the ninth inning.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Aaron Slegers, Ft. Myers Miracle

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Jorge Polanco, Chattanooga Lookouts

SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Buffalo @ Rochester (12:35 CST) – LHP Taylor Rogers

Chattanooga @ Montgomery (7:05 CST) – RHP Greg Peavey

Charlotte @ Ft. Myers (5:05 CST) – RHP Chih-Wei Hu

Cedar Rapids @ Kane County (1:00 CST) – LHP Stephen Gonsalves

Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Friday games.