Twins Minor League Report (6/17): It's a Miracle

It was a relatively slow day in the world of Twins Baseball with only two of the five ball clubs active, though that didn't keep us from hearing some pretty newsworthy things.

Twins first round draft pick Kohl Stewart is en route to the Twin Cities. In fact, at 9:28 pm, he tweeted a photo of Target Field from the Twins dugout. He's obviously not yet signed, sealed and delivered. But he's well on the way. I'm holding out hope that the deal gets done by tomorrow afternoon and he throws out the first pitch tomorrow night.

[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

Top 10 Twins' prospect Max Kepler will be joining the Cedar Rapids Kernels after the All-Star break. The speculation on ensuing moves is near endless. My take: Buxton goes to Fort Myers with D.J. Hicks. Rory Rhodes joins Cedar Rapids. Kennys Vargas takes a step up to New Britain, which could easily clear a roster spot or two. There will be many more moves, but that could be how a few dominoes fall when Kepler moves up.

Hein Robb was sent from Cedar Rapids to Elizabethton to make room for Kepler.

The Roster & Payroll page shows up-to-date rosters from the top of the organization to the bottom.

ROCHESTER RED WINGS 10, SCRANTON/WB RAIL RIDERS 1 (Game 1)

Box Score

After an extremely slow start to the season, the Red Wings closed to within one game of .500 (35-36).

Vance Worley pitched a seven-inning complete game for the win. He struck out two and gave up nine hits.

The top of the order certainly delivered for Rochester, as well.

Antoan Richardson was 2-for-2 with a double. He also walked three times. It's an impressive feat for a guy with no home runs to have an OPS of .871. It does make it a little easier when you get on base almost half of the time you come to the plate. At a minimum, Richardson's presence is going to make it that much easier to expose Clete Thomas to waivers when that time comes... because we all know that time will come. At the other end of the spectrum, is Richardson competing with Hicks (and Mastroianni?) for the center field job in 2014? (Come on, like we can't at least pretend that Hicks could use some AAA seasoning.)

Chris Herrmann was 2-for-4 with a triple and two runs batted in. Chris Colabello added two more hits to raise his average to .372 (!). Deibinson Romero added two hits as well.

ROCHESTER RED WINGS 3, SCRANTON/WB RAIL RIDERS 5 (Game 2)

Box Score

Virgil Vasquez spotted the Rail Riders three runs in the second inning (on a three-run home run) and that was more than the Wings could come back from, falling short in their quest to reach .500.

Vasquez allowed six hits and a walk over four innings. He struck out one.

Shairon Martis allowed two runs in two innings.

The bats weren't as good in Game 2. Antoan Richardson eclipsed the .300-mark, going 1-for-3 with a triple (his fifth in only 120 at-bats) and two RBI.

James Beresford was the only Red Wing with a muli-hit game. Chris Herrmann doubled.

LP Andrew Albers (who looks shockingly like Justin Morneau) will be on the hill tomorrow. The southpaw is 5-2 with a 3.01 ERA. Terry Ryan is on record saying that Albers - and not Kyle Gibson - is the next pitcher in line to start for the Twins. He's originally from Canada (the Twins love Canadians), then playing for Kentucky - the Twins also love Wildcats - of course, he's next in line.

FORT MYERS MIRACLE 6, PALM BEACH CARDINALS 5

Box Score

The Miracle started off their second half with a bang. After scoring four seventh-inning runs to give themselves a 5-3 lead, Zack Jones allowed two inherited runners to score for his second blown save of the season.

Andy Leer started the bottom of the ninth with a single and Candido Pimentel made his Miracle debut, as a pinch-runner. After a Levi Michael walk advanced Pimentel to second, Aderlin Mejia attempted a sacrifice bunt to move Pimentel to third. Only a sacrifice it was not. The third baseman threw the ball past the first baseman allowing Pimentel to score the game-winning run in walk-off fashion. Not a bad way to finish your first game in Fort Myers, eh?

Aderlin Mejia is putting himself on the prospect map. In what had been assumed to be a short stay with the Miralce, Mejia is proving that he belongs. Batting leadoff and playing shortstop, Mejia went 2-for-4 with 2 RBI. Over his last four games, Mejia is 9-for-15 (.600) with 6 RBI. People were worried about the Miralce offense with Sano and Rosario gone... Mejia is filling those shoes admirably.

Also picking up the slack was Stephen Wickens. Wickens went 3-for-4 with a double and a home run. Jairo Rodriguez went 3-for-4.

Manuel Soliman allowed three runs on seven hits in four innings. He struck out four and walked two. The choice to start Soliman is intriguing, to say the least. Coming off the All-Star break, they obviously have a rested rotation and none of the five starters appears headed to New Britain. (Three have come up from Cedar Rapids since the beginning of the year, the two who started in Fort Myers both have WHIPs over 1.30 and K/9s under 6.5.)

If the Miracle were in need of a starter, Adrian Salcedo would seem to be a much more obvious option. Salcedo pitched in relief tonight, allowing two hits in two innings. He struck out two. Salcedo continues to show near-impeccable control. In 29 innings this year, he's struck out 33 and only walked five.

Chad Rodgers left with runners on base before giving way to Jones. Jones struck out three in getting five outs and picking up the win.

Fort Myers' starter for tomorrow night's game is TBD.

NEW BRITAIN ROCK CATS - off today. Back at it tomorrow night with a starter TBD.

CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS - All-Star Game tomorrow with many Kernels scheduled to play.

If you questions or comments, please comment below.