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Minnesota went all-in on Ryan Jeffers being the team’s top catcher for the 2022 season. Will any of these prospects join him at the big-league level in 2023? Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints Last winter, the Twins traded from a position of strength (catcher) for a position of need (shortstop). Ryan Jeffers was handed the keys as the team’s top catcher while the team traded Mitch Garver to the Rangers. Jeffers posted an 86 OPS+, but he was limited to 67 games due to a broken thumb. Following the World Series, Gary Sanchez and Sandy Leon will become free agents, so the Twins need someone else to join Jeffers at the big-league level. Could there be an internal option? Triple-A: Andrew Bechtold (ETA: 2023), David Banuelos (ETA: 2023) Bechtold is an intriguing prospect because of his defensive flexibility. During the 2022 season, he played over 390 innings at catcher and third base. Offensively, he hit .233/.329/.400 (.728) with 16 doubles and 19 home runs in 123 games between Double-A and Triple-A. He is Rule 5 eligible, so the Twins will need to add him to the 40-man roster to avoid the risk of losing him. Banuelos is in his fifth professional season and has played 85 games at Triple-A over the last two seasons. Minnesota acquired him in 2017 for $1 million in international bonus pool money. Defense is his calling card, as he has a .653 OPS in 85 Triple-A games. Like Bechtold, he is Rule 5 eligible, so the Twins need to add him to the 40-man roster before December’s draft. Double-A: Alex Isola (ETA: 2024), Kyle Schmidt (ETA: 2024) Minnesota took Isola in the 29th round of the 2019 MLB Draft, and he has consistently risen through the Twins system since then. In 2022, he was limited to 61 games as he split time between first base and catcher. With Wichita, he hit .286/.377/.471 (.848) with nine doubles and ten home runs. Minnesota sent him to the AFL to recoup some of his missing time this season, but he has seen limited catching innings. Schmidt was a 33rd-round pick in 2019, but his college experience helped him move through three levels for the second consecutive season. He caught over 260 innings in 2022 and made 15 starts at first base. In 56 games, he hit .207/.270/.306 (.576) with four doubles and five home runs. He never played more than 30 games at any level, so it will be interesting to see if the Twins let him get comfortable at one level in 2023. High-A: Pat Winkel (ETA: 2025), Andrew Cossetti (ETA: 2025) Even with college experience, Winkel was younger than the average age of the competition at his level for the second consecutive season. In his second professional season, he got on base over 33% of the time and combined for 15 extra-base hits in 54 games. All his defensive appearances came behind the plate, where he caught nearly 390 innings. He posted an .858 OPS in college, so the Twins hope to see more of that hitter in the future. Cossetti is an intriguing name from the 2022 draft class. Minnesota took Cossetti in the 11th round of the 2022 MLB Draft from St. Joseph's University. After signing, he was limited to one appearance with the FCL Twins. It seems likely for him to get plenty of catching time in Cedar Rapids next season because of his college experience. Low-A: Noah Cardenas (ETA: 2025), Dillon Tatum (ETA: 2025), Nate Baez (ETA: 2026), Ricardo Olivar (ETA: 2026) Cardenas made his full-season debut in 2022 after being drafted in 2021. He played in 99 games for Fort Myers, where he hit .261/.421/.413 (.834) with 18 doubles and nine home runs. He walked (73 BB) more than he struck out (70 K), and caught over 460 innings. Throughout his college and professional career, he has shown a keen eye at the plate, which helps him get into favorable counts where his power can be utilized. Tatum spent most of 2022 in Fort Myers but got a brief taste of Double-A due to a catching need late in the season. He hit .177/.321/.300 (.621) with 15 extra-base hits in 74 games. As he moves up, he needs to make regular contact and cut back on his strikeout totals (93 K in 74 games). He is strong defensively behind the plate and caught two no-hitters this season, but there is always room for players of his ilk in an organization. Baez was a 12th-round pick in 2022 and only appeared in 19 games after signing with the Twins. In his final collegiate season, he posted a .965 OPS, so it will be interesting to see if his bat develops in the Twins’ system. Olivar played most of last season with FCL Twins, where he hit .349/.442/.605 (1.046) with 12 doubles, three triples, and five home runs. He can play catcher, second base, and all three outfield positions. His bat is good enough that the team tries to fit him in the line-up as much as possible. Catching depth is something to watch in any organization. The Twins have drafted multiple college catchers in recent years to add to that depth, but only some of those catchers offer a lot of upside. There are some very intriguing bats in the names mentioned above, and many catchers have some defensive flexibility which could prove valuable. However, none of the catching options look ready to fill a full-time role at the big-league level. Will the Twins turn to any of these options in 2023? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion. View full article

Thursday night was a tough night for the Twins organization all around. The Twins were on the verge of being swept by Houston (and when you read this, it likely has happened). Meanwhile, all of their minor-league affiliates lost all of their games without tallying more than five hits total in any of their games. The one bright spot in the minor league games was Louie Varland continuing his surge of dominance for his hometown team with his third start in a Saints uniform. TRANSACTIONS The Twins signed OF Billy Hamilton to a Minor League deal and assigned him to the Florida Complex League. Just days after the Twins released him, the team signed free agent RHP Michael Feliz to a minor-league contract and assigned him to St. Paul Saints. RHP Josh Winder was assigned to Low-A Fort Myers on Minor League Rehab. SAINTS SENTINEL Iowa 2, St. Paul 1 Box Score SP: Louie Varland - 6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K HR: None Multi-Hit games: David Bañuelos (2-3, RBI (20), K) The Saints entered their third game against the Cubs in Des Moines Thursday night down 2-0 in the series. The team looked to North St. Paul native Louie Varland to lead the team to their first win since Sunday afternoon at home. St. Paul would strike first in the top of the second on a David Bañuelos RBI single that scored Nash Knight from second. That would be all the Saints needed while Varland remained on the mound. Varland dominated for the Saints in his third start since being called up to Triple AAA. He only allowed four base runners on three singles and a walk. Varland also retired nine consecutive batters before giving up his last hit of the night with two outs in the bottom of the sixth. He also struck out nine batters for the evening. The former Golden Eagle has yet to surrender a home run to an opposing batter since being called up to the Saints. In fact, Varland’s last home run surrendered came on July 29 against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. Unfortunately for Varland, the Saints bats did not produce any runs following his removal from the game. The Cubs tied the game in the bottom of the seventh with a sacrifice fly off of Evan Sisk. Then in the bottom of the ninth with Brad Peacock on the mound, the Cubs designated hitter Matt Mervies walked-off the Saints with a solo homer in the 2-1 loss. The Saints start at 7:08 p.m. CT for their game Friday night against the Cubs with Ronny Henriquez on the mound for them. WIND SURGE WISDOM Frisco 2, Wichita 1 Box Score SP: Daniel Gossett - 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K HR: None Multi-Hit games: Will Holland (2-3, R, 3B) The Wind Surge came into Thursday’s game having won the night before 4-0 against Frisco. Daniel Gossett made his first start since his no-hitter for the Wind Surge Thursday night and continued off the success he had that night. The bid for back-to-back no-hitters for Gossett ended in the first inning when he gave up a hit with two outs. That did not stop him from tossing a great outing. He went five innings and gave up only two additional hits and one run. He struck out two. Gossett’s command of the zone kept the Wind Surge in the game where the team's bats were silenced. Wichita scored the first run of the game on an RBI fielder's choice hit by Austin Martin in the top of the third. Frisco came along to tie the game off Gossett with a sacrifice fly out to center field. Martin’s RBI single accounted for the only run of the game for the Wind Surge. The game went into extra innings, but lefty Bryan Sammons walked consecutive batters in the bottom of the 10th inning to load the bases. Wichita dropped the game with a walk-off walk. The Wind Surge start their game against Frisco at 7:05 p.m. CT Friday night and left Kody Funderburk will make the start. KERNELS NUGGETS Lake County 8, Cedar Rapids 4 Box Score SP: Luis Rijo 2.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K HR: Pat Winkel (6), Seth Gray (15) Multi-Hit games: Winkel (2-3, R, HR 2 RBI (28)) Cedar Rapids entered Thursday night dropping their first two games against the Lake County Captains and were hoping to keep themselves from a three-game losing streak with Luis Rijo on the mound. Unfortunately for the Kernels, the Captains got to Rijo early in the game. Rijo surrendered three runs (two earned) against the Captains, all in the bottom of the third inning. He was removed after giving up four straight hits with two outs in the inning. Derek Molina got the Kernels out of the inning. The Captains managed to create more damage against the Kernels relievers in the fifth adding two more runs, and then the sixth inning when they scored three more. The hitters for the Kernels were quiet until the seventh inning. They managed two runs thanks to catcher Pat Winkel’s two-run shot. They made a small comeback but were still down 8-2 following the inning. When the Kernels looked to be down and out of the game in the top of the ninth, Seth Gray hit a two-run homer. Even with the extra pop at the plate, the Kernels still dropped the game 8-4. The Kernels will play their next game against the Captains early Friday evening with a 5:35 CDT start time. David Festa will make the start for the Kernels. MUSSEL MATTERS Game 1 : Lakeland 6, Fort Myers 3 Box Score SP: Josh Winder 2 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K HR: Misael Urbina (5) Multi-Hit games: None The Mighty Mussels played two games against the Lakeland Flying Tigers Thursday and game one had Josh Winder on the mound for the start of his rehab assignment. Winder did not fare well in the two innings he pitched. He allowed four runs on three hits and two walks. The good news out of Winder’s bad rehab start is his fastball velocity averaged 92.7 mph while his max velocity hit 94.7 mph. The Mighty Mussels bats looked like their Major League big brothers as they only tallied two hits in the first game. One was a leadoff solo home run by center fielder Misael Urbina. Johnathan Lavallee came on to pitch following Winder’s removal from the game. Lavallee threw three innings and gave up two earned runs on a walk and two hits but struck out four in his relief outing. Game 2 : Lakeland 1, Ft. Myers 0 Box Score SP: Pierson Ohl 4 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K HR: None Multi-Hit games: None In Game 2. the Mussels had Pierson Ohl on the mound for his 17th start of the season. Ohl went four strong innings and allowed only one run on four hits. He struck out five. The Mussels bats only managed three hits while being shut out. Fort Myers has only one game against Lakeland on Friday which is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. CT. Marco Raya will make the start for the Mighty Mussels TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Louie Varland (St. Paul) - 6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K Hitter of the Day – Pat Winkel (Cedar Rapids - 2-3, R, HR, 2 RBI (28) 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) - 1-4, R, K #4 - Austin Martin (Wichita) - 1-3, RBI (22), K #7 - Noah Miller (Ft. Myers) - Game 1: 0-2, R, BB, K, Game 2: 0-3, BB #9 - Matt Wallner (St. Paul) - 0-3, HBP, K #12 - Louie Varland (St. Paul) - 6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K #14 - Edouard Julien (Wichita) - 0-3, BB #18 - Tanner Schobel (Fort Myers) - Game 2: 0-3, 3 K #20 - Kala'i Rosario (Fort Myers) - Game 2: 1-3 FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS All Twins Minor League Affiliates play night games on Friday. Here are the start times and probables for their games. Toledo @ St. Paul (7:07 PM CST) - Ronny Henriquez vs Matt Swarmer Arkansas @ Wichita (7:05 PM CST) - LHP Kody Funderburk vs. RHP Zak Kent Cedar Rapids @ Lake County (5:35 PM CST) - David Festa vs TBD Clearwater @ Fort Myers (6:00 PM CST) - Marco Raya vs TBD Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Thursday's games View full article

Aaron Sabato had his biggest swing of the year. Jordan Balazovic had an excellent outing. Austin Martin returned from the IL, and Simeon Woods Richardson is one step away from the big leagues. Plus, Minor League affiliates went 4-0! Read about this and more in Wednesday's Minor League Report! Let’s see what happened this Wednesday in the Twins organization. TRANSACTIONS The Twins claimed RHP Jake Jewell off waivers from the Cleveland Guardians and optioned him to AAA St. Paul. RHP Simeon Woods Richardson was promoted from AA Wichita to AAA St. Paul The Saints placed C Roy Morales on the 7-day IL with a lower back strain LHP Aaron Rozek was promoted from High-A Cedar Rapids to AA Wichita The Wichita Wind Surge activated SS Austin Martin from the 7-day IL The Wichita Wind Surge transferred OF Leobaldo Cabrera to the development list LHP Jaylen Nowlin was promoted from Low-A Fort Myers to High-A Cedar Rapids SAINTS (AAA) St. Paul 6, Scranton 0 Box Score Is Jordan Balazovic back? The former Twins’ top pitching prospect has had an abysmal year but turned in four scoreless innings tonight for St. Paul, striking out four batters. The Saints got three early runs in the top of the second. After Chris Williams hit his first AAA double, Andrew Bechtold hit a 2-run single to score Williams and Caleb Hamilton. Later in the inning, Jermaine Palacios came through with a single to tack on an extra run. The game remained scoreless for a few more innings thanks to Balazovic and Evan Sisk, who was first out of the bullpen. Sisk threw 1 ⅔ innings while not allowing a hit and striking out two. Matt Wallner picked up his first triple as a Saint in the bottom of the seventh. This was Wallner’s only hit of the night as he went 1-for-5 with three strikeouts. The Saints added three more in the bottom of the seventh thanks to a catchers’ interference and a John Andreoli two-run single. Juan Minaya, Michael Feliz, and Drew Strotman all had scoreless outings in relief as the Saints quickly completed the shutout of Scranton 6-0. Sisk picked up the win, his second for the Saints. Andreoli and Michael Helman had two hits. Helman also stole his 17th base of the year. The Saints improve to 55-56. WIND SURGE (AA) Wichita 9, Tulsa 5 Box Score Wichita won a thrilling extra-inning game thanks to some late-game heroics from Aaron Sabato. Sabato, who was 3-for-25 with no extra-base hits going into his last at-bat on Wednesday, came up clutch. With the bases loaded and one out, Sabato took a 2-0 slider and hit it over the center field wall for a walk-off grand slam. The home run was Sabato’s 19th of the year between Cedar Rapids and Wichita, and hopefully, this breaks him out of his slump in AA so far Wichita took an early 4-1 lead through four innings, thanks to four good innings from Wichita starter Cody Laweryson who allowed one run and struck out four. Laweryson has been dominant in AA through 34 innings. He is 4-0 with 39 strikeouts and a 1.05 ERA. Alex Isola started the scoring with an RBI single in the first, and Cole Sturgeon followed with an RBI walk. In the fourth, Austin Martin drove in a run with a groundout, and Will Holland later came in to score on a wild pitch to give Wichita a 4-1 lead. Osiris German allowed three runs in 1 ⅔ innings out of the bullpen to bring the game to a tie. Will Holland came up clutch with an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to give Wichita the lead back. Everything went smoothly until the ninth, when Casey Legumina allowed a leadoff homer to Ismael Alcantara to tie the game back up. After a scoreless bottom of the ninth, Legumina returned for the tenth. Legumina allowed the extra-inning runner to get to third with one out but stranded him thanks to a fielder's choice and a strikeout. In the bottom of the tenth, Holland drew a walk to open the inning. When DaShawn Keirsey moved up to third on a wild pitch, Tulsa opted to intentionally walk Edouard Julien to load the bases. After Austin Martin lined out, Aaron Sabato ended the game. Isola had the only multi-hit game for Wichita, but plenty of players had multi-walk games. Julien had four walks, Anthony Prato had three, and Sturgeon, Yunior Severino, and Keirsey had two. KERNELS (HIGH-A) Cedar Rapids 2, Wisconsin 1 Box Score The Kernels won a pitchers’ duel on Wednesday thanks to a strong outing from starting pitcher Travis Adams. Adams had allowed 11 earned runs through 10 ⅓ innings in Cedar Rapids until Wednesday, when he turned in his best outing in High-A this far. Adams went five innings, allowing one run on three hits while striking out eight. The game was tied at zero until the fourth inning, when Adams allowed his only run of the day on a single. This score held until the bottom of the sixth when Pat Winkel singled to center field, scoring Jake Rucker. After a strikeout, Wisconsin’s pitcher balked with two outs to score Seth Gray from third base. After taking the lead, the Kernel pitching locked down the game. Bobby Milacki entered the game in relief of Adams and threw two scoreless innings, picking up the win. After Milacki, Hunter McMahon threw scoreless eighth and ninth innings to lock down the save, his second of the year. McMahon has allowed only two earned runs in 29 ⅔ innings at Cedar Rapids this year. Winkel led the game offensively, going 3-for-4. Cedar Rapids improves to 65-45 with the victory and continues to be a force in High-A. MIGHTY MUSSELS (LOW-A) Fort Myers 6, Palm Beach 5 Box Score Fort Myers won in an extra-inning thriller on Wednesday thanks to a game-winning RBI single in the top of the 11th by 2022 second-round pick Tanner Schobel. The scoring was very back-and-forth all game long. Palm Beach jumped to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first off of starting pitcher Malik Barrington. Fort Myers answered right away as Ben Ross hit a 2-run homer in the top of the second for his first professional home run. That was followed by a Kala’i Rosario single and a Rubel Cespedes double, adding another run to the lead. In the bottom of the third, Palm Beach added three runs to chase Barrington, who went 2 ⅔ innings, allowing four runs on three hits and two walks while striking out two opposing hitters. The game was scoreless for a few innings until the top of the seventh when Misael Urbina tied it up with his fourth homer. Ross drew a bases-loaded walk later in the inning to give Fort Myers a 5-4 lead. It was looking suitable for Fort Myers, who needed two more outs in the bottom of the ninth to secure the victory when RJ Yeager hit a solo homer to tie it up and send it to extras. In the bottom of the tenth, Jackson Hicks induced a double play with two runners on base to send it to an extra frame, where Schobel would give Fort Myers the lead before Hicks stranded a runner at third with one out in the bottom of the eleventh to secure the win. Fort Myers had phenomenal relief pitching, as Hicks, Regi Grace, and John Wilson combined to throw 8 ⅓ innings while only allowing one run. Cespedes and Noah Cardenas each picked up two hits to lead the offense in the victory. Fort Myers improved to 59-47 with the win. DOMINICAN DAILIES DSL Twins 4, DSL Brewers 6 Box Score Starting Pitcher: Orlando Rubio (5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K) Multi-Hit Games: Yilber Herrera (3-for-3), Isaac Pena (2-for-2) 2B: Herrera (6), Jose Rodriguez (14) TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Travis Adams (Cedar Rapids) - 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 8 K Hitter of the Day – Yilber Herrera (DSL Twins) - 3-for-3, R, 2B, BB 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) - 1-for-4, 2 K #4 - Austin Martin (Wichita) - 0-for-5, R, RBI, BB, K, 2 SB (24) #7 - Noah Miller (Fort Myers) - 1-for-5, R, 2 K #9 - Matt Wallner (St. Paul) - 1-for-5, 3B (1), R, 3 K #11 - Jordan Balazovic (St. Paul) - 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K #14 - Edouard Julien (Wichita) - 0-for-2, 2 R, 4 BB, K, SB (14) #15 - Blayne Enlow (Wichita) - 1 ⅓ IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K #18 - Tanner Schobel (Fort Myers) - 1-for-4, RBI, BB #20 - Kala’i Rosario (Fort Myers) - 1-for-5, R, K THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Scranton @ St. Paul (7:07 CST) - RHP Louie Varland (1-0, 0.00 ERA) Tulsa @ Wichita (7:05 CST) - LHP Brent Headrick (2-1, 5.28 ERA) Wisconsin @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CST) - TBD Fort Myers @ Palm Beach (5:30 PM CST) - RHP Mike Paredes (7-4, 2.88 ERA) Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Wednesday’s games! Thank you for reading, and Go Twins! View full article

A team committed four errors, and that somehow did not set the record for most booted plays by a squad on Wednesday. Read all about that gross play and more in this edition of the minor league report. TRANSACTIONS INF Christian Encarnacion-Strand Re-Instated from IL RHP Ryan Shreve was activated from IL at Cedar Rapids. LHP Aaron Rozek was activated from IL at Cedar Rapids. INF Austin Martin was placed on Wichita IL (left elbow) C Frank Nigro added to AA Wichita from AAA St. Paul Saints Sentinel St. Paul 4, Louisville 6 Box Score Cole Sands: 5 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 7 K HR: Jake Cave (11) Multi-hit games: Tim Beckham (2-for-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI) The Saints lost a messy game on Wednesday. The match started quietly; after 4 innings, the Saints held a 2-1 lead after Tim Beckham doubled home two runs to inflate rehabbing-big leaguer Justin Dunn’s ERA. Cole Sands was surgical in the early innings, cutting up and down the Bats’ lineup at will before his reign crumbled in the 5th inning. A barrage of doubles mixed with a single from technically old friend Taylor Motter shot Louisville’s run total up to four; Sands suddenly had a loss on his hands. The Saints stormed back. After the Bats tacked on another run in the 6th inning, Jake Cave Did the Darn Thing, swinging at a 3-0 pitch and blasting a Grand Slam to left field to give St. Paul a slight 6-5 edge. His on-base streak is now 48 games. Louisville did not acquiesce to the sudden deficit; a Stuart Fairchild homer knotted the game at 6. The game moved into extra innings, where the Bats won off of what appears to be a double fielding error from Michael Helman. St. Paul’s bats must have been smaller than usual; they struck out 17 times total, with five players facing the K multiple times. Let’s hope that Thursday is a more blessed day. Wind Surge Wisdom Wichita 2, Amarillo 4 Box Score Louie Varland: 6 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 6 K HR: None Multi-hit games: Edouard Julien (2-for-5), Andrew Bechtold (3-for-4, 2B, RBI) Louie Varland gritted out six effective innings in his start. The antiquated “quality start” deems an outing like his worthy of its title, so Varland will take that and run. The damage could have been less severe; two of his runs came from a 6th inning homer, indicating a “careful, Icarus” moment, to steal a term from another baseball site. Wichita’s bats were up to the task on Wednesday, but poor coordination resulted in just two runs off of 12 hits. In all but three innings, the Wind Surge had a man on base, and they often had multiple players ready to score on a moment’s notice, but they could only plate runs in the 1st and 3rd innings. Perhaps better luck would have altered this game in their favor; Wichita left 18 men stranded. Cody Laweryson continued his AA shutout streak, allowing one hit over two innings while striking out a pair. Jordan Gore struck out two in his single inning of work. Matt Wallner threw another baserunner out on Wednesday. Since minor league fielding stats are basically impossible to find, let’s say it was his 50th gunned down runner of the year; that’s how history works. (Editor/Seth Note: I don't want to mess with history, or a fun narrative, but it is Wallner's 8th assist of the season.) Kernels Nuggets Cedar Rapids 3, Quad Cities 5 Box Score Cade Povich: 5 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 11 K HR: None Multi-hit games: Pat Winkel (3-for-4) The Kernels lost an atypical game on Wednesday. Cade Povich submitted his attempt at one of the weirder pitching lines you’ll see. His 11 strikeouts reflect domination, a complete ability to miss bats at an elite level; his seven hits and three earned runs represent mistakes the River Bandits jumped on. For helping win the game, the start was not the best; for showing promise as an overpowering arm, this is an incredible start. Cedar Rapids’ bats were locked out of hits, only securing five of them despite walking more times than they struck out (7 to 5); either their BABIP luck failed to materialize, or their batted balls were not ideal. Maybe they should have mimicked Pat Winkel, as he netted 60% of their total hits. Hunter McMahon and Bobby Milacki cleaned up an impressive 16 strikeout showing from the Kernels’ pitching staff on Wednesday. While Povich shouldered much of that effort, Milacki’s four strikeouts over two innings are also impressive. Despite only knocking in five hits, every batter in the Kernels lineup reached base; this was a deeply weird ballgame. The number 9 hitter (Jake Rucker) picked up three RBIs. Mussel Matters Rain washed away Fort Myers’ match against the Tampa Tarpons; the teams will play double-headers on the 7th. (Also in Ft. Myers, there were no games in the FCL on Wednesday) Dominican Dailies DSL Twins 6, DSL Cardinals 5 Box Score Ledwin Taveras: 5 IP, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K HR: Jose Rodriguez (5), Rafael Cruz (2) Multi-hit games: Rafael Cruz (2-for-4, HR, 2B, R, 2 RBI), Jesus Peraza (2-for-2, 2 RBI, BB) The DSL Twins won a game in which they committed six errors; you don’t see that every day. DSL games are notorious for being sloppy, but that error total is one of the higher totals you’ll ever see outside of tee-ball or drop-dead-drunk beer league softball. Ledwin Taveras led the way with solid innings of work, and his relievers—Oscar Paredes and Anthony Narvaez—combined for four frames without an earned run. The DSL Twins’ offensive output was even, with every batter in their starting lineup reaching base. Rafael Cruz stood out from the group, hitting both a homer and a double. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Cade Povich, Cedar Rapids Kernels Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Rafael Cruz, DSL Twins PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #6 - Spencer Steer (St. Paul) - 1-4, R, BB, K #10 - Cade Povich (Cedar Rapids) - 5 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 11 K #11 - Louie Varland (Wichita) - 6 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 6 K #12 - Matt Wallner (Wichita) - 1-4, R, BB, 2 K #15 - Edouard Julien (Wichita) - 2-5, 3 K #16 - Christian Encarnacion-Strand (Cedar Rapids) - 0-3, BB, K #17 - Cole Sands (St. Paul) - 5 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 7 K THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul @ Louisville (6:05 PM) - RHP Jordan Balazovic Amarillo @ Wichita (7:05 PM) - RHP Sawyer Gipson-Long Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM) - RHP David Festa Fort Myers @ Tampa (3:00 PM) - LHP Jaylen Nowlin Fort Myers @ Tampa (Game 2) - RHP Malik Barrington View full article