Twins Minor League Report (7/27) Griffin Jax or Kai-Wei Teng? Why not both?

TRANSACTIONS

Twins acquired RHP Sergio Romo, RHP Chris Villamont and a PTBNL from the Marlins in exchange for 1B Lewin Diaz.

OF Jake Cave optioned to AAA Rochester

LHP Devin Smeltzer optioned to AAA Rochester

RHP Cody Allen reinstated from the Temporary Inactive List

LHP Gabriel Moya transferred to AA Pensacola

OF Jimmy Kerrigan transferred to AA Pensacola

RHP Dakota Chalmers returned to A+ Fort Myers from rehab assignment and activated

OF Aaron Whitefield transferred to A+ Fort Myers from AA Pensacola

2B Yunior Severino sent to GCL Twins for rehab assignment

1B Taylor Grzelakowski sent to GCL Twins for rehab assignment

SS Royce Lewis promoted to AA Pensacola

https://twitter.com/morsecode/status/1155294494201470976

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 6, Indianapolis 7 (10 innings)

Box Score

Kohl Stewart: 4 ⅔ IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 60.3% strikes (44 of 73 pitches)

HR: Jaylin Davis (14), Drew Maggi (10)

Multi-hit games: Jaylin Davis (2-for-5, HR, 2B, R, 2 RBI)

The Red Wings lost an extra-innings affair this Saturday.

It was another game that needed to be played so it was another game where Jaylin Davis hit a home run. This was his fourteenth homer in just his thirty-eighth game at AAA, that’s almost a sixty homer pace over a full season, ridiculous. This one was off top prospect Mitch Keller as well.

https://twitter.com/RocRedWings/status/1155274333465522176

Cody Allen worked a pair of scoreless innings with two strikeouts, he may still be a potential cog in the Twins bullpen later in the season despite being passed up recently for other players.

Jeremy Bleich made his Rochester debut and pitched a scoreless inning that came with two strikeouts.

BLUE WAHOO BITES

Pensacola 7, Jacksonville 1

Box Score

Griffin Jax: 7 ⅓ IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, 65.5% strikes (57 of 87 pitches)

HR: Mark Contreras (7), Jimmy Kerrigan (7), Ryan Jeffers (1), Ivan De Jesús Jr. (1)

Multi-hit games: Ryan Jeffers (3-for-4, HR, 2 R, RBI), Jimmy Kerrigan (2-for-4, HR, 2B, R, RBI),

The Blue Wahoos won a comfortable game this Saturday against the Jumbo Shrimp.

Griffin Jax gave up a homer in the 1st inning but that was basically it as he silenced the Jumbo Shrimp offense the rest of the way. I watched some of the game and his command looked great while the slider was sharp, somehow he may be one of the more underrated arms in the Twins system which is wild to say about a guy with an ERA of 2.34 at AA.

The Blue Wahoos offense refused to be shown up as they combined for four homers and seven runs in support of Jax. Ryan Jeffers was the biggest bat as he not only hit his first AA home run but also added a pair of singles for a nice three-hit performance.

Andrew Vasquez came on in relief of Jax and ended the game without allowing a run, a good step in the right direction.

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers 4, Lakeland 3

Box Score

Bailey Ober: 6 ⅓ IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, 70.5% strikes (62 of 88 pitches)

HR: None

Multi-hit games: Aaron Whitefield (2-for-4, RBI), Jacob Pearson (2-for-4, 2B, RBI), Andrew Bechtold (2-for-4, R, RBI), David Banuelos (2-for-4, 2B, R)

The Miracle won a close game this Saturday.

Bailey Ober made his first home start since being activated from the IL and he was dominant as he allowed no earned runs in his start while striking out nine. When he has been healthy, he has been impressive to watch.

All of the damage offensively came in the middle and a bit lower down in the lineup as each batter 4-7 had a single RBI in a collective effort to put together the runs needed to win the game.

Jacob Pearson was one of the batters with a multi-hit game and he now holds an OPS of .804 at A+ since being promoted, he also stole a base.

In total, the Miracle pitchers struck out twelve Lakeland batters while only walking one.

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 3, Clinton 0

Box Score

Kai-Wei Teng: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 66.7% strikes (60 of 90 pitches)

HR: None

Multi-hit games: Spencer Steer (2-for-4, 2B, R, BB), Trevor Casanova (2-for-4, 2B, RBI), Alex Isola (2-for-4)

Hey look, the Blue Wahoos were not the only Twins minor league team with a great pitching performance! Kai-Wei Teng was electric as he threw seven scoreless innings en route to probably his best performance to date.

Spencer Steer continues to be otherworldly as he had yet another multi-hit effort. His OPS at Cedar Rapids now sits at 1.029 and honestly that might not even fully reflect how well he has done so far.

In addition to the Kernels’ eight hits, they also walked six times, giving them an impressive fourteen times on base in the game.

How do you win games? Well just put up offense and have a great start from your starter, seems simple enough, more teams should try this.

E-Town E-Notes

Elizabethton 0, Bristol 1

Box Score

Prelander Berroa: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K

HR: None

Multi-hit games: Will Holland (2-for-3)

The Elizabethton Twins lost a close game this Saturday.

Elizabtheton’s hitters had just four hits total and none went for extra bases. They also struck out ten times and took no walks.

Will Holland had the best game of any Elizabthton position player as he knocked two singles and stole a base.

GCL Twins Takes

GCL Twins 14, GCL Red Sox 13 (11 innings)

Box Score

Donny Breek: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

HR: None

Multi-hit games: Jeferson Morales (2-for-3, 2B, 4 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB), Francisco Martinez (2-for-5, 3B, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB)

The GCL Twins had one absolutely wild game against the GCL Red Sox that included twenty-five total hits in the game. Somehow, neither squad hit a homerun so it was all the balls in play that ended up doing the damage.

Yunior Severino played in first game since April, he went 0-for-2 before being replaced but this is just the start of his rehab assignment so his playing time will be ramped up soon before hopefully joining the Cedar Rapids Kernels soon.

Yennier Cano threw two perfect innings with a pair of strikeouts, a much better outing than his first GCL appearance a few days ago that was disastrous.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Kai-Wei Teng

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Ryan Jeffers

PROSPECT SUMMARY

Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:

#1 - Royce Lewis (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-4

#2 - Alex Kirilloff (Pensacola) - 0-for-5, K

#3 - Brusdar Graterol (Pensacola) - IL

#4 - Trevor Larnach (Pensacola) - 0-for-5, 3 K

#5 - Wander Javier (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-2, 2 R, 2 BB, K

#6 - Jordan Balazovic (Ft. Myers) - Did not pitch

#7 - Keoni Cavaco (GCL Twins) - 0-for-3, BB, K

#8 - Brent Rooker (Rochester) - Injured list

#9 - Jhoan Duran (Pensacola) - Did not pitch

#10 - Blayne Enlow (Ft. Myers) - Did not pitch

#11 - Lewis Thorpe (Twins) - Did not pitch

#12 - Nick Gordon (Rochester) - 1-for-5, 2B, R, 2 K

#13 - Ryan Jeffers (Pensacola) - 3-for-4, HR, 2 R, RBI

#14 - Luis Arraez (Twins) - Did not play

#15 - Matt Wallner (Elizabethton) - 1-for-4, R, BB, 2 K

#16 - Ben Rortvedt (Pensacola) - Did not play

#17 - Akil Baddoo (Ft. Myers) - Out for year with Tommy John surgery

#18 - Jorge Alcala (Pensacola) - Did not pitch

#19 - Misael Urbina (DSL Twins) - 0-for-5, 2 K

#20 - Travis Blankenhorn (Pensacola) - IL

SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Indianapolis @ Rochester (12:05 A.M.) - RHP Randy Dobnak

Pensacola @ Jacksonville (2:05 P.M.) - RHP Jhoan Duran

Lakeland @ Fort Myers(12:00 P.M.) - LHP Lachlan Wells

Clinton @ Cedar Rapids (2:05 P.M.) - RHP Austin Schulfer

Elizabethton @ Bristol (5:00 P.M.) - LHP Ryley Widell

Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Saturday’s games.