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As the year ends, I will be sharing my Top Prospect listings but in a different way. I will be splitting hitters and pitchers and ranking the Top 30 of each. Over the next 12 days, we’ll count them down, starting today with the Twins hitting prospects that I rank between 26 and 30. Prospect lists are always fun to do, and they’re fun because they can be questioned and discussed. Sure, we’ve separated the pitchers and hitters to get right of one question, that being how do you compare pitchers to hitters? But still, how do you compare or rank an 18-year-old who played in the FCL to a 25-year-old at Double-A? Prospect rankings are far from a perfect science, but if nothing else, it gives us the opportunity to discuss more players and give them the recognition that they deserve. #30 Gregory Duran 2021 STATS: .267/.389/.367, 1 2B, 1 3B, 2 RBI, 36.1 K%, 13.9 BB%, 0/3 SB Gregory Duran was signed as an international free agent in July of 2019 from the Dominican Republic. As you would expect in an 18-year-old’s professional debut in the FCL (after a missed season), Duran struggled. He struck out too much. However, he has a smooth, strong, left-handed swing that projects some power. He is a strong outfielder who could play in center but profiles more to the corners. Duran, who will play the full 2022 season at age 19, is likely to get lots of playing time in the FCL in 2022. #29 Wander Valdez 2021 STATS: .225/.339/.350, 8 2B, 4 HR, 16 RBI, 32.3 K%, 12.2 BB%, 4/4 SB Wander Valdez is not an everyday name for those who follow Twins prospects, and yet he signed with the organization from the Dominican Republic way back in 2016. He began 2021 with the Mighty Mussels, but with other prospects there, he wasn’t playing often, or well. He spent time with the FCL Twins where he was able to show some of his power. Valdez is big and strong, so it is his power that remains intriguing. He is a little shorter, but built like former Twins DH Kennys Vargas. Valdez remains fairly athletic and can play third base, though he may be better at first base, and ultimately at DH. #28 Jesus Feliz 2021 STATS: .238/.300/.420, 8 2B, 9 HR, 26.2 K%, 4.3 BB%, 3/3 SB Jesus Feliz is a difficult prospect for me to rank. I am really high on him and his potential. Having seen him in spring training in 2020, I came away impressed with his athleticism and especially his power potential. While he would have missed much of a 2020 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, he returned in 2021 ready to play. He may be too big and strong to remain at shortstop and actually played more third base with the Mighty Mussels. But again, for him to have eight doubles and nine home runs in the League Formerly Known as Florida State is really impressive. It’s been a slow trek up the Twins ladder since he signed back in 2016, so 2022 will be a big season in determining what his future could be. That said, he’s still just 21 years old until June. #27 Andrew Bechtold 2021 STATS: .239/.328/.459, 23 2B, 18 HR, 48 RBI, 32.3 K%, 11.3 BB%, 1/2 SB 2021 was a big year for Andrew Bechtold. He had some struggles offensively in 2019 between Cedar Rapids and Ft. Myers, and with the lost season, it was interesting to see him jump straight to Double-A Wichita to start the season. He split time pretty evenly between first base and third base, where his arm is a major asset. He also really found his power stroke in 2021 with 23 doubles and 18 home runs. In addition, he spent time all season working behind the plate. After the Wind Surge clinched a playoff spot, he got one start behind the plate and got good reviews. The Twins sent him to the Arizona Fall League where he got one start each week behind the plate as well as time at the infield corners and as the DH. Adding the ability to be a viable catching option certainly makes him more valuable to his team. The team’s 2017 fifth-round draft pick from Chipola College will turn 26 in April. #26 Michael Helman 2021 STATS: .246/.336/.462, 21 2B, 19 HR, 57 RBI, 19.2 K%, 11.3 BB%, 21/26 SB Michael Helman was the team’s 11th round pick in 2018 out of Texas A&M. He had an injury-plagued season in 2019 with the Ft. Myers Miracle. So missing 2020 was not ideal for him. The Twins sent him back to High-A for the 2021 season, this time in Cedar Rapids. Always able to play the middle infield positions, Helman proved very valuable by playing three infield positions and all three outfield spots too. He showed a strong, accurate arm, and he also showed good range and improved routes as the season continued. In addition, he really performed well with the bat too. He always took quality plate appearances, and he continued to do so, but he also showed power with 21 doubles and 19 home runs. He then went to the Arizona Fall League and continued to play all over the diamond. In addition, he walked nine times and struck out six times. He will turn 26 in May. (go to 4:00 mark for Helman video.) Again, I think this is an interesting group of players ranked, and maybe you agree. Michael Helman and Andrew Bechtold are guys who could (and I think CAN) be major-league utility players. Their floor is fairly high for a minor leaguer, especially with Bechtold who had success in Double-A), and yet their ceiling is that of role player. The other three players are younger and further from the big leagues. I do think that Jesus Feliz has a very high ceiling. Gregory Duran has a very high ceiling. Wander Valdez has a few more question marks, so his ceiling may not be quite as high as those two. All three have floors that could find them topping out in A-ball, and not even get to the point where Helman and Bechtold are now. Please feel free to add comments to this discussion and ask questions about players or rankings. View full article

For the past six or seven years, I have gone down to Minnesota Twins spring training in Ft. Myers. I most enjoy spending time down on the minor league fields, head on a swivel, watching prospects do their work, practice and play games. It’s fun to see the top prospects in action, but for me it’s always fun to find a few players who aren’t talked about as much, or I haven’t seen in action, that stand out. Here are my three players from 2020 Twins minor league spring training (and a bonus minor league signing).I feel the need to say a few things before getting to the three players that most jumped out at me when watching them. First, every single player in Twins minor league spring training is really, really good at baseball .They are all impressive. There are top prospects that usually jump out even from just watching them practice, field, run or take batting practice. There is often a presence about them. I don’t include the top prospects in these just because I already know a lot about them. They get a lot of words written about them. Watching guys like Balazovic, Enlow, Canterino and Ober throw bullpens is impressive, but I knew that they probably would be. Seeing Keoni Cavaco and watching him take a couple of rounds of batting practice, it’s easy to see why he was drafted in the first half of the first round last June. Same with Matt Wallner, the Twins pick in the Competitive Balance A round, who showed good all-around hitting skill and the ability to hit the ball a long way. Those players will continue to have a ton of words written about them. But be honest, you like coming back to Twins Daily because we talk about all prospects, not just the top guys. That makes this article a fun one for me every year. I do have to point out one other thing. We talk a lot about Small Sample Size. Hey, I could go to Cedar Rapids for a full week of games, and even then what I saw would be considered a Small Sample. So, seeing players for parts of five days of pre-official workouts has to fall into the VERY small sample size category. Of course, another part of that is that I didn’t see players in game situations. I didn’t see more than maybe 30 to 40 pitchers throw bullpens, when there are likely 80 to 100 pitchers in minor league spring training. The players below are guys that were outside of my Top 50 prospects who, after watching them in an admittedly very, very small sample size that this year didn’t even include spring training games, had me intrigued. April 9th was supposed to be Opening Day in the minor leagues, but whenever the minor league season starts, these are players that I will be watching. Who knows? Maybe it’s just a way for me to try to show off some amateur scouting skills. In previous years, I’ve been right a few times. In one case, I wrote about a player impressing me a lot during spring training, and he was released by June. Last year, one of the players that stood out to me was Willie Joe Garry, Jr., and he had a nice season of development. And I got to interview him for a story this spring. OK, let’s get to it. He is my list of players who stood out in spring training this year. 3B Wander Valdez When I landed in Florida, I quickly grabbed my bags, got my rental car and went straight to Hammond Stadium to see if there were any minor leaguers still practicing.The first field I walked up to had a group of seven or eight guys taking batting practice. The first hitter I saw was Wander Valdez, and he stood out. He is barely over 20, but he is big and strong. I know he ended the 2019 season at about 225-230 pounds. He looks like he may have gained even more strength this offseason. He is big and strong and quite impressive. Throughout the week I was there, I saw him take some batting practice hacks at least three or four times. From that, he just looks like a solid all-around hitter, and he has a ton of power potential. He also looked fairly solid in fielding ground balls at third base. He had a real strong State-side debut in 2019 in the GCL. He hit .323/.382/.516 (898) with six doubles and four home runs which was good for #2 in the Twins Daily Short-Season Hitter of the Year voting. OF Carlos Aguiar Aguiar was signed to a seven-figure bonus in September 2017, less than a month after he turned 16. It made him one of the youngest players in that international class. After a year in the DSL, Aguiar spent the 2019 season as a 17-year-old in the GCL. It came with struggles and injuries. He had just one hit in 18 at-bats, and he struck out 11 times. I got to spring training a week before minor league spring training officially opened. About 98% of the minor leaguers were already there. However, they were practicing in Twins workout gear, shorts and t-shirts. They weren’t wearing uniforms, so it wasn’t easy to identify players. Aguiar was a player who stood out instantly. He’s tall (about 6-3) and really strong. After he stood out to me for a couple of days, I finally asked a coach who he was. It was Aguiar… and now I fully understand why scouts would have been excited about him. He’s big. He’s strong. He has a ton of power potential. One of the days, I watched batting practice in which two pitching machines were used. One threw fastballs. The other threw breaking balls. The BP pitcher raised both arms and then dropped a ball into one of the two machines. The hitter had to quickly determine what pitch was coming and then try to hit it. It isn’t easy. The 17-year-old had some ups and downs, but I saw him hit some of the longest batting practice homers I’ve seen. He’s very young, and he’s very raw. He will likely go back to the GCL in 2020. And he may not even get to Cedar Rapids until 2022, but he is definitely one to watch. RHP Jon Olsen I fully admit that I didn’t watch a lot of bullpens. I saw a bunch of pitchers throw, but generally just saw one bullpen. As I mentioned above, I saw Balazovic and Enlow a couple of times. Canterino working in the bullpen is really impressive. Sawyer Gipson-Long was impressive working in the bullpen as well. I saw Jon Olsen work a bullpen, and he looked really good. He will turn 23 in mid-May, and he is yet to throw his first pitching in a professional baseball game. After three seasons at UCLA, the Twins made him their 12th round pick in 2018. He had undergone Tommy John surgery earlier that year. He signed and immediately jumped into the Twins rehab program. He hoped to be ready sometime in 2019, but he had a setback. With that, he threw pretty hard. He seemed to have good control and a good breaking ball. Obviously you can’t tell everything from a bullpen, but he looks healthy.k And, just from observing, he seems like the kind of pitcher and has the kind of stuff that could make him a guy who pitches at three levels in 2020, if healthy. Innings will certainly be kept monitored in 2020 after not pitching for two years, but he could move quickly. Honorable Mention: SS Calten Daal I normally don’t include minor league free agents in this category, but there was one that stood out to me. The Twins signed 26-year-old Calten Daal to a minor league deal. He didn’t get an invite to big league spring training, though he has played in four big league games. The Curacao native signed with the Reds in 2012 and remained in that organization through the end of 2019. He played 122 games at AA between 2016 and 2019. He hurt his shoulder in June 2016. After rehabbing, he tore a shoulder and missed all of 2017 and all but four games in 2018. Way back in 2011, I went to see Miguel Sano, Eddie Rosario and AJ Petterson play for the Beloit Snappers. In one of the series, I watched them play against West Michigan, a team led by Nick Castellanos. He played third base. Dixon Machado played shortstop. To this date, I hadn’t seen another shortstop that I enjoyed watching play defense as much as I enjoyed watching Machado field the position in batting practice, infield practice and games. At least not until I saw Calten Daal take ground balls and infield practice. He looked smooth. He showed good range, soft hands. Again, it stood out enough that I had to ask who it was. Compared to others at the position, Daal is taller, and he’s got the long, lanky build that screams big league shortstop. I didn’t see him hit, and based on his track record, he probably won’t hit. Because of that, he may never get to the big leagues, but he can play shortstop any day, and that can help the Twins minor league pitchers and their development. So there you have it, four Twins minor leaguers who stood out to me while watching minor league spring training for a week this spring. Take it for what it is. Maybe parts of five workouts. No game action. Another observation… even with Royce Lewis, Alex Kirilloff, Trevor Larnach, Brent Rooker, Gilberto Celestino and Ryan Jeffers working in big-league spring training, it was still clear that the minor league fields were filled with talent too. Click here to view the article

Following the completion of the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft, organizations kick off their short season leagues. For the Minnesota Twins, their Gulf Coast team stays at the southern headquarters in Fort Myers, while the Appalachian League Elizabethton Twins head out to Tennessee. Both teams had plenty of intriguing names on them this season, and kicking off the awards swing, it’s the Twins Daily 2019 Short Season Hitter of the Year.A list of previous winners of this award is comprised of an interesting trio. In 2016 it was the recently traded Lewin Diaz. Having broken out in a big way during 2019, he became a hot commodity and was the piece Miami coveted in exchange for big league reliever Sergio Romo. For his efforts in 2017 Akil Baddoo took home the honors. He played in just 29 games for High-A Fort Myers before needing season ending elbow surgery. Last year’s winner was Chris Williams who split time between Cedar Rapids and Fort Myers this season. The goal with the Short Season Hitter of the Year award is to put a focus on both the GCL and Elizabethton clubs. While promotions are great for players, only their exploits in those respective leagues are to be considered. The seasons are shorter and the stats obviously have less ability to accumulate, but these bats all made an immediate and powerful impact. Previous Winners: 2016: Lewin Diaz 2017: Akil Baddoo 2018: Chris Williams Stay tuned to Twins Daily for the announcements of the rest of the minor league awards in the coming days. Before we profile the top five, here’re the guys that rounded out the Short Season Hitter of the Year ballots. Others Receiving Votes: Jeferson Morales, GCL Twins: 26-110, .236/.373/.436, 7 2B, 3 3B, 3 HR, 16 RBISeth Gray, Elizabethton Twins: 49-218, .225/.336/.445, 15 2B, 11 HR, 36 RBIParker Phillips, GCL Twins/Elizabethton Twins: 54-204, .265/.367/.407, 9 2B, 3B, 6 HR, 26 RBIShort Season Hitter of the Year: Here are the top five players for the Twins Daily Short Season Hitter of the Year 5. Albee Weiss, Elizabethton Twins: 25-96, .260/.295/.604, 4 2B, 3B, 9 HR, 25 RBI Weiss was selected in the 23rd round of the 2018 MLB draft. He played the entire season last year at Elizabethton and mustered just a .610 OPS in 36 games. Repeating the level this year, his power played significantly higher and he parlayed that in to opportunities with both Cedar Rapids and Fort Myers. He’s split time between left field and first base during his professional career. 4. Max Smith, Elizabethton Twins: 61-213, .286/.353/.451, 12 2B, 3B, 7 HR, 28 RBI The Twins took Smith in the 31st round of the 2019 MLB draft out of UNLV. The Tucson, Arizona native was a senior sign and turned in a respectable debut season in pro ball. Power isn’t really his game, but seeing seven long balls show up in his first year is a nice development. A left-handed bat, he played primarily in left field for Elizabethton, but can man all three outfield spots. 3. Spencer Steer, Elizabethton Twins: 25-77, .325/.442/.506, 6 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 13 RBI Minnesota made the former Oregon Ducks shortstop their third-round pick in the most recent amateur draft. It’s not surprising that a talent taken that high would be better than the rookie ball level, but Steer proved it quickly. He hit on a nightly basis and left Elizabethton with a .949 OPS. Moving up to Cedar Rapids, he was an important cog for a team with postseason aspirations. This is definitely a player to watch in the Twins system going forward. 2. Wander Valdez, GCL Twins: 30-93, .323/.382/.516, 6 2B, 4 HR, 13 RBI Signed on the July 2 International Free Agent date back in 2016 as a 16-year-old, Valdez spent the past two seasons playing in the Dominican Summer League. In his first season on US soil the Twins got to see plenty of excitement from a talent they doled out a half-million to. Still young, power should be a developing aspect of the corner infielder’s game, but the impressive output during 29 games of GCL action is something to build off of. 1. Matt Wallner, Elizabethton Twins: 56-208, .269/.361/.451, 18 2B, 3B, 6 HR, 28 RBI A hometown star from Forest Lake, Minnesota, Wallner was grabbed by the Twins with their 39th overall selection in the most recent MLB draft. After three great seasons for Southern Mississippi, and a handful of shattered Conference USA records, it was time to go pro. Wallner has an electric arm, but was drafted as a hitter for Minnesota. The power stroke is something of a calling card for him, and putting him in the same system as 2017 draftee Brent Rooker gives Minnesota two of the most accomplished Division I ballplayers of recent memory. For the Golden Eagles Wallner hit at least 16 homers in each of his collegiate seasons, and topped out with 23 as a junior in 2019. He owned a career 1.113 OPS across 189 games in Conference USA and left his mark all over the program. Talking with Wallner after the draft in June, he mentioned the level of excitement being taken by his hometown team saying, “It’s a dream come true and can’t wait to get started with the Twins organization.” Wallner was actually selected by the Twins out of high school in the 32nd round, but the intention then was always to go to school. He mentioned comparisons of his power-lefty style to Justin Morneau, and Minnesota fans would be elated to see that replicate itself at the highest level. Wallner earned a late season promotion to Cedar Rapids, and has been involved in a postseason run that will no doubt help development and growth down the line through valuable experience. Matt has operated entirely as a right fielder for Minnesota, and continuing to see his power play from that role as he helps teams at different levels throughout his journey to the big leagues will be must-watch excitement. The Ballots In an attempt to be transparent, here are the votes from our Twins Daily minor league writers: Seth Stohs- 1) Matt Wallner 2) Max Smith 3) Seth Gray 4) Parker Phillips 5) Wander ValdezTom Froemming- 1) Matt Wallner 2) Albee Weiss 3) Seth Gray 4) Jeferson Morales 5) Wander ValdezCody Christie- 1) Wander Valdez 2) Matt Wallner 3) Max Smith 4) Spencer Steer 5) Jeferson MoralesMatt Braun- 1) Spencer Steer 2) Wander Valdez 3) Jeferson Morales 4) Albee Weiss 5) Matt WallnerTed Schwerzler- 1) Spencer Steer 2) Albee Weiss 3) Wander Valdez 4) Matt Wallner 5) Jeferson MoralesSteve Lein- 1) Matt Wallner 2) Max Smith 3) Wander Valdez 4) Seth Gray 5) Jeferson MoralesFeel free to discuss. What do you think of our rankings? How would you rank them? How would your ballot look? Click here to view the article

Twins v. Yankees… Always entertaining and always fun to see the Twins win! Rochester wasn’t scheduled to play on Monday, and Ft. Myers and Elizabethton were rained out. However, there was still a lot of action in the Twins minor leagues on Monday. A top prospect homered in Cedar Rapids, though two infielders ended up pitching for the Kernels. The GCL Twins swept a doubleheader on Monday. And Pensacola won with a walkoff!Find out everything that happened happened in the Twins system on Monday, starting with the transactions of the day. TRANSACTIONS The Twins placed 1B CJ Cron on the IL (thumb), and they officially optioned RHP Zack Littell.LHP Lewis Thorpe was promoted while RHP Cody Stashak was added to the 40-man roster and then the 25-man roster.RHP Randy Dobnak was promoted to AAA Rochester.Infielder Michael Helman was placed on the Miracle Injured List with a right forearm fracture.RED WINGS REPORTRochester Box Score Travel Day for the Red Wings. BLUE WAHOOS BITES Pensacola 5, Mobile 3 Box Score The Wahoos grabbed an early 2-1 lead in this game, and extended it to 3-1 in the 7th innings. However, Mobile grabbed one run in the 8th and another in the 9th inning to tie it. But outfielder Mark Contreras didn’t want extra innings and ended the game with a two-run walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth to give Pensacola the win. GCL TWINS TAKES Game 1 - GCL Twins 6, GCL Pirates 0 Box Score Dakota Chalmers returned to the mound for another rehab start. The right-hander gave up just one hit over five shutout innings. He walked four and struck out five batters. Junior Navas gave up just one hit over the final two innings. The Twins scored six runs. Sergio Toribio walked twice and had a sacrifice fly. He drove in two of the runs. Francisco Martinez tripled. LaRon Smith doubled. Keoni Cavaco had a single and an RBI. Game 2 - GCL Twins 9, GCL Pirates 4 Box Score The Twins came away with the doubleheader sweep. Wander Valdez hit a three-run homer, his fourth of the short-season. Francisco Martinez went 2-for-4 with a double. Jake Hirabayashi tripled. Donny Breek started and went the first three innings. He was charged with an unearned run on one hit and four walks. He struck out three batters. Steven Theetge came on for his professional debut. He gave up one run on two hits and a walk over two innings to record his first professional Win. Petru Balan gave up two runs on three hits over the final two innings. He struck out three. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day - Griffin Jax, Pensacola Blue Wahoos Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Brian Navarreto, Pensacola Blue Wahoos PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Midseason Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 - Royce Lewis (Ft. Myers) - Rained Out #2 - Alex Kirilloff (Pensacola) - 2-4, K #3 - Brusdar Graterol (Pensacola) - Injured List (shoulder) #4 - Trevor Larnach (Pensacola) - 0-4, 3K #5 - Wander Javier (Cedar Rapids) - 1-4, R, RBI, HR(5) #6 - Jordan Balazovic (Ft. Myers) - Rained Out #7 - Keoni Cavaco (GCL Twins) - 1-4, RBI, 3K #8 - Brent Rooker (Rochester) - Injured List (groin). #9 - Jhoan Duran (Ft. Myers) - Rained Out #10 - Blayne Enlow (Ft. Myers) - Rained Out #11 - Lewis Thorpe (Minnesota) - In Progress #12 - Nick Gordon (Rochester) - No Game Scheduled. #13 - Ryan Jeffers (Ft. Myers) - .Rained Out. #14 - Luis Arraez (Minnesota) - In Progress #15 - Matt Wallner (Elizabethton) - Rained Out #16 - Ben Rortvedt (Pensacola) - 0-4, 3 K #17 - Akil Baddoo (Ft. Myers) - Injured (Tommy John) #18 - Jorge Alcala (Pensacola) - Did Not Pitch. #19 - Misael Urbina (DSL Twins) - Did Not Play #20 - Travis Blankenhorn (Pensacola) - Injured List TUESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Norfolk @ Rochester (6:05 CST) - TBD Mobile @ Pensacola (6:35 CST) - LHP Bryan Sammons (2-3, 5.26 ERA) Ft. Myers @ Dunedin (DH @ 12:00 CST) - RHP Cole Sands (3-2, 2.04 ERA), RHP Jhoan Duran (2-8, 3.16 ERA) Cedar Rapids - No Game Scheduled Princeton @ Elizabethton (5:30 CST) - RHP Tyler Benninghoff (2-1, 6.38 ERA) GCL Pirates @ GCL Twins (11:00 CST) - TBD Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Monday games or any other minor league topics you would like. Click here to view the article

Jaylin Davis is as close to being automatic as you can get right now. He slugged his 13th home run in what was just his 31st game with Rochester tonight. Royce Lewis also had a nice night, going 3-for-5 to help to lead Fort Myers to a win. Come see what else happened across the system Friday.TRANSACTIONS LHP Sam Clay was promoted from Pensacola up to Rochester. Cedar Rapids activated LHP Kody Funderburk from the IL and placed RHP Carlos Suniaga on the IL with a forearm strain. RED WINGS REPORT Gwinnett 8, Rochester 4 Box Score Drew Hutchison: 5.1 IP, 10 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 66.0% strikes (64 of 97 pitches) HR: Jaylin Davis (13), Jimmy Kerrigan (3) Multi-hit games: Davis (2-for-4, HR), Nick Gordon (2-for-3, BB), Wilin Rosario (2-for-4, 2B) The Red Wings managed to tie this game up 4-4 on a Jaylin Davis two-run homer in the seventh. It was Davis’ 13th home run in just 31 games with Rochester, and 23rd of the year overall. Unfortunately, Gwinnett was able to bounce back with two runs in the bottom of that inning. Drew Hutchison had a rough start, but Sam Clay had a very nice Triple-A debut. Clay allowed an inherited runner to score, but pitched around an error and all five outs he recorded were via strikeouts. BLUE WAHOO BITES Mississippi 4, Pensacola 2 Box Score Charlie Barnes: 4.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 6 BB, 2 K, 49.4% strikes (41 of 83 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: Mark Contreras (2-for-4) Ian Anderson, the No. 26 overall prospect in baseball per MLB Pipeline, carved up the Blue Wahoos lineup in this one. He struck out 10 batters over seven innings of one-run ball. This was still a 1-1 game heading in to the bottom of the seventh. Charlie Barnes somehow managed to mostly pitch around a career-high six walks and Tom Hackimer pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings in his first game action in nearly a month. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 6, Florida 5 Box Score Blayne Enlow: 5.0 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 71.4 % strikes (60 of 84 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: Royce Lewis (3-for-5, 2B), Ryan Costello (2-for-5) After a rough three months of the season, things are now trending the right direction for Royce Lewis. He had three more hits today, giving him five multi-hit games so far this month. He now has a .302/.387/.472 line (.859 OPS) so far in July. Blayne Enlow got knocked around a bit, giving up five runs (four earned) in his five innings, but the Miracle bullpen was outstanding. Johan Quezada struck out three batters in two one-hit innings before Joe Record picked up a two-inning save, holding Florida hitless while striking out a pair of batters. KERNELS NUGGETS Lake County 8, Cedar Rapids 3 Box Score Andrew Cabezas: 5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 59.0% strikes (49 of 83 pitches) HR: Gilberto Celestino (5), Gabe Snyder (11), Trevor Casanova (4) Multi-hit games: None All three of the Kernels’ runs came on solo homers. They went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and combined for 11 strikeouts as a team. Cedar Rapids entered the bottom of the eighth inning holding a 3-2 lead but that’s when things fell apart. Lake County sent 11 men to bat that inning and ended up scoring six runs. After another solid start today, Andrew Cabezas now has a 1.37 ERA over his last seven starts (39 1/3 innings). E-TWINS E-NOTES Greenville 4, Elizabethton 2 Box Score Sawyer Gipson-Long: 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K HR: Charles Mack (5) Multi-hit games: Charles Mack (2-for-3, HR), Max Smith (2-for-4) Sawyer Gipson-Long was electric for Elizabethton today. He gave up only one hit over three scoreless innings and struck out six batters. The 2019 sixth-round pick now has nine Ks in five scoreless innings to start his professional career. The only E-Town runs came on a Charles Mack two-run homer that scored Matt Wallner. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Twins 4, GCL Red Sox 1 Box Score Matt Canterino: 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K HR: Wander Valdez 2 (3), Jesus Feliz (2) Multi-hit games: Jesus Feliz (3-for-4, 3B, HR), Wander Valdez (2-for-3, 2 HR, BB) Five of the six hits for the Twins came from Jesus Feliz and Wander Valdez. Feliz was a double short of the cycle and Valdez hit two home runs. Matt Canterino, the Twins’ second-round pick from this year’s draft, struck out four batters in three shutout innings. Miguel Rodriguez followed with three scoreless innings of his own before Matthew Swain held the Red Sox to one run over the final three frames. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Sawyer Gipson-Long, Elizabethton Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Wander Valdez, GCL Twins TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Prospects performed: 1. Royce Lewis (FM): 3-for-5, 2B, 2 R 2. Alex Kirilloff (PNS): 0-for-4, K 4. Trevor Larnach (PNS): 1-for-4, RBI, 3 K 5. Wander Javier (CR): 0-for-3, BB, K, E (throw) 7: Keoni Cavaco (GCL): 0-for-4, R, K 10. Blayne Enlow (FM): 5.0 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 71.4 % strikes (60 of 84 pitches) 12. Nick Gordon (ROC): 2-for-3, BB, R, SB, CS 13. Ryan Jeffers (FM): 1-for-4, BB, RBI, R, K 15. Matt Wallner (ELZ): 1-for-4, 2B, R, 2 K 16. Ben Rortvedt (PNS): 1-for-4, K, E (catcher’s interference) 19. Misael Urbina (DSL): 1-for-4, 2B, R SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester at Gwinnett, 5:05 pm CT (Devin Smeltzer) Pensacola at Mississippi, 6:05 pm CT (Jorge Alcala) Fort Myers at Florida, 5:00 pm CT (Lachlan Wells) Cedar Rapids at Fort Wayne, 5:05 pm CT (Kai-Wei Teng) Elizabethton at Bluefield, 5:30 pm CT GCL Twins at GCL Red Sox, 9:00 am CT Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games. Click here to view the article