Twins Minor League Report (5/15): Monster Miguel Is Back!

On Friday afternoon, the Rochester Red Wings roster showed a new name. The name Ryan Wheeler showed up. A day earlier, reliever Stephen Pryor had knee surgery and went on the Disabled List. Wheeler is an infielder, though he has also spent time in the outfield too. The 26-year-old made his MLB debut in 2012, playing in 50 games with the Diamondbacks. He then played in 59 more games for the Colorado Rockies between the 2013 and 2014 seasons. He split the 2014 season between the Rockies and Angels organization. He was with the Angels AAA-affiliate in 2015 but was released last weekend.

The neat thing about this signing? Wheeler is the older brother of Rochester starting pitcher Jason Wheeler. The younger sibling was on the mound for the Red Wings on Friday night.

The other interesting piece of information that came out on Friday was that Chih-Wei Hu will make a spot start for Rochester on Tuesday in their double-header. Eric Rasmussen, Twins minor league pitching coordinator said they believe he will be able to handle it and that he is very competitive. He said that if Hu gives up one run in seven innings, he is upset about the one run.Hopefully he can pitch alright and head back to Ft. Myers after the game ready to continue his dominance.

Continue below to see how the Twins affiliates did on Friday night.

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 5, Lehigh Valley 4

Box Score

James Beresford has been in the organization since signing in 2005. He has long been an overlooked prospect. He’s in his third season at Rochester, and he’s hitting .317. On Friday night, he finished off a big comeback and helped the Red Wings improve to 19-15.

The Red Wings entered the bottom of the ninth inning down by a score of 4-2. With the bases loaded, Eric Farris singled in a run to cut the deficit to one. Then Beresford came to the plate and singled in the tying run and the winning run.

Beresford went 2-5 with his fifth double in the game. Farris led the way by going 3-5 with the other three RBI. Danny Ortiz doubled for the fifth time this year. Argenis Diaz went 1-2 with two walks.

Reportedly Ryan Wheeler arrived at the stadium in Rochester after the game started. Younger brother Jason went the first 5.2 innings. He gave up four runs on eight hits. His issued no walks and struck out two. Ryan O’Rourke came on and faced four batters and recorded four outs. He struck out three. Lester Oliveros finished the game with two scoreless innings. He gave up one hit, walked none and struck out one.

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 7, Birmingham 5 (10 innings)

Box Score

The Lookouts needed an extra inning, but they got a couple of big blasts from a big prospect to improve their season record to 22-13.

Since May 1, Miguel Sano has been hitting really well. In the first inning of this game, he hit his seventh home run of the season. He came to the plate in the 10^th inning with a runner on base and a tie game. He launched his second home run of the night, his eighth of the year, and propelled the Lookouts to the win. He went 3-5 on the day. Jorge Polanco also went 3-5 in the game. Travis Harrison went 2-5 with his 12^th double Adam Brett Walker and Miguel Gonzales both had two hits as well.

DJ Baxendale made the start. He went five innings and was charged with four runs on eight hits. He walked none and struck out two. Dallas Gallant came on and threw two scoreless innings. Nick Burdi pitched a scoreless eighth inning. He was given the ninth inning as well, trying to protect a one-run lead, but he gave up one run to send the game to extra frames. With the two-run lead in the 10^th, DJ Johnson came on and recorded his third save of the season, all within the last two weeks.

Since May 1, Miguel Sano is hitting .315/.375/.630 (1.005) with five doubles, four homers and 11 RBI.

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers 1, Jupiter 2

Box Score

Brett Lee was again very good in this game, but he ended up getting another loss as the offense could muster just one run.

The southpaw started the game and threw seven scoreless innings. He went out to start the eighth frame. He got the first batter out. Then a single, a stolen base and another single, and he had given up a run that tied the game at one. He was replaced by JT Chargois who struck out the first batter he faced. However, the next batter doubled in another run and the Miracle were down 2-1. Chargois struck out the next batter to end the inning.

A great outing by Lee, but the Miracle were able to score just one run despite recording eight hits. Engelb Vielma returned to the lineup after missing two games and had three of the hits. He also stole his ninth base. Zach Granite did his job at the top of the order. He went 1-2 and walked twice. Jason Kanzler went 2-4 with his seventh stolen base. Chad Christensen added his fifth double.

Lee’s final line: 7 innings, two earned runs on six hits, one walk and four strikeouts.

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 3, Quad Cities 10

Box Score

It was a tough night for the Kernels on Friday. Michael Cederoth made the start and went just three innings. He gave up six runs (5 earned) on four hits, three walks and a hit batter. He also struck out two. Sam Clay came on and gave up one run over the next three innings. He gave up three hits, walked two and struck out three. CK Irby gave up two runs on four walks in his inning. He struck out one. Mike Theofanopoulos gave up one run on two hits and a walk over his two innings.

Trey Vavra continued to hit. He went 2-4. Blake Schmit hit his first triple and drove in two runs. The Kernels also got doubles from Max Murphy (6) and Pat Kelly (4). Murphy now has a seven-game hitting streak and has reached base in 12 straight games.

The Kernels are now 21-13, 6.5 games back of Quad Cities who is now 28-7!

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Brett Lee, Ft. Myers Miracle

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Miguel Sano, Chattanooga Lookouts

SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Lehigh Valley @ Rochester (6:05 CST) – LHP Pat Dean

Montgomery @ Chattanooga (7:15 CST) – TBD

Ft. Myers @ Jupiter (5:35 CST) – LHP David Hurlbut

Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (5:05 CST) – RHP Felix Jorge

LEADERBOARD

Here is a quick look at the statistical leaderboard throughout the Twins minor league system.

HITTERS

Plate Appearances: Niko Goodrum (164), Byron Buxton (152), Zach Granite (150), Alex Swim (146), Miguel Sano (140).

Hits: Alex Swim (46), Zach Granite (43), Jorge Polanco (39), Reynaldo Rodriguez/Trey Vavra (37)

Runs: Zach Granite (25), Travis Harrison/Adam Brett Walker (23), Reynaldo Rodriguez/Byron Buxton/Miguel Sano (22)

RBI: Adam Brett Walker (25), Byron Buxton/Danny Ortiz (23), Nick Gordon (21), Miguel Sano (20)

2B: Travis Harrison (12), Aaron Hicks/Max Kepler (10), Reynaldo Rodriguez (9), Adam Brett Walker (8)

3B: Byron Buxton (6), Aaron Hicks (4), Max Murphy/Levi Michael (3), Six with 2.

HR: Adam Brett Walker (9), Miguel Sano (8), Danny Ortiz (5), Four with 4.

SB: Zach Granite (12), Tanner English (10), Byron Buxton/Engelb Vielma (9), Three with 7.

BA (>100 AB): Zach Granite (.350), Aaron Hicks (.336), Trey Vavra (.333), Alex Swim (.331), James Beresford (.317)

OBP (>100 AB): Zach Granite (.449), Aaron Hicks (.415), Travis Harrison (.403), Trey Vavra (.397), Reynaldo Rodriguez (.362)

SLG (>100 AB): Aaron Hicks (.561), Miguel Sano (.496), Trey Vavra (.495), Reynaldo Rodriguez (.472), Danny Ortiz (.468)

OPS (>100 AB): Aaron Hicks (.975), Trey Vavra (.892), Zach Granite (.888), Adam Brett Walker (.857), Travis Harrison (.852)

PITCHERS

Innings Pitched: Tyler Duffey (45.2), JO Berrios (45.0), Taylor Rogers (43.0), Pat Dean (42.0), DJ Baxendale/Jason Wheeler (41.1)

SP ERA (>26 IP): Chih-Wei Hu (1.03), Stephen Gonsalves (1.41), Pat Dean (1.93), DJ Baxendale (1.96), Jared Wilson (1.98)

RP ERA (>12 IP): Trevor HIldenberger (0.50), Cameron Booser (1.10), Madison Boer (1.31), Adrian Salcedo (1.38), Tim Shibuya/Brandon Peterson (1.45)

SP WHIP (>26 IP): Stephen Gonsalves (0.81), Chih-Wei Hu (0.83), Felix Jorge (0.97), Mat Batts (1.04), Pat Dean/Tyler Duffey (1.05)

RP WHIP (>12 IP): Trevor Hildenberger (0.50), AJ Achter (0.69), Madison Boer (0.73), Zach Tillery (0.77), Tim Shibuya (0.86)

SP K/9 (>26 IP): Stephen Gonsalves (12.1), JO Berrios (10.6), Felix Jorge (10.2), John Curtiss (9.8), Chih-Wei Hu (9.3)

RP K/9 (>12 IP): Cameron Booser (17.1), Zack Jones (14.2), Todd Van Steensel (13.5), Lester Oliveros (13.2), CK Irby (12.9)

SP BB/9 (>26 IP): John Curtiss (1.4), Chih-Wei Hu (1.5), Aaron Slegers (1.6), Tyler Duffey/Felix Jorge/Greg Peavey (1.8)

RP BB/9 (>12 IP): Trevor Hildenberger (1.0), Zack Jones (1.5), Tim Shibuya (1.9), Lester Oliveros (2.1), Cole Johnson (2.2)

Strikeouts: JO Berrios (53), Stephen Gonsalves (43), Tyler Duffey (42), Taylor Rogers (40), DJ Baxendale/Chih-Wei Hu (36)

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