Trip to Cedar Rapids: Kernels 5, Cougars 1

The Cedar Rapids Kernels -- the Twins affilate in the Midwest League and the organization's entry point to full-season professional ball -- are wrapping up the 2018 regular season. But they'll have at least a few more games after their schedule ends this weekend; on Monday night the Kernels clinched the second half divisional title, so they'll be in the playoffs again.

The striking part about this to me is that they put up a better record after their top-shelf prospects -- Royce Lewis, Alex Kiriloff and Brusdar Graterol are all easily among the top five talents in the organization -- were moved up to Fort Myers and the Florida State League.

That kind of player movement is pretty standard in low A. But that they got better after having to replace so many top talents speaks to the developing depth of the organization.

Four of Monday's starters were 2018 draftees: second baseman Michael Helman (11th round, Texas A&M); catcher Ryan Jeffers (2nd round, North Carolina-Wilmington); right fielder Trevor Larnach (1st round, Oregon State); and shortstop Michael Davis (24th round, Texas Tech). The first three listed hit 2-3-4; Davis was the No. 8 hitter, but he homered and singled for three RBIs. His one out was also well hit.

But the star for the Kernels was starting pitcher Randy Dobnak, who allowed one run on three hits in seven innings. Dobnak was signed as an undrafted free agent last summer after pitching college ball for a D-II school in West Virginia, and he leads the Kernels in wins and innings.

The rest of his stat line isn't that impressive. He's allowed more hits than innings pitched, and his strikeout rate is the worst of the 22 pitchers who've taken the mound for the Kernels at least three times. He's old for the league as well.

What Dobnak does do well is pound the strike zone. And that has worked well for him at this level. The odds are against him -- he's not going to get as many chances as Kohl Stewart has, because the organization hasn't much invested in him -- but he's nowhere near as excruiating to watch work as, say, Jake Odorizzi and Mike Pelfrey.

And on Monday night, when the game ended, he got to spray some sparkling beverage on his teammates outside the dugout.

A game in Cedar Rapids, part IV: Random observations

Cedar Rapids manager Jake Mauer — Joe's older brother —
watches the grounds crew shape up the infield after a
heavy overnight storm.
(Photo by Linda Vanderwerf)

It was a stormy trip Sunday and Monday — a blinding downpour around Albert Lea on the way down, another one on the way back, tornado watches, and an overnight storm in Cedar Rapids.

Nothing like the disaster that visited Oklahoma City on Monday, but the overnight storm in CR knocked out power to Veterans Memorial Stadium and forced the game, scheduled for noon, to be put off until 1:30.

In truth, it was impressive that the game got played at all. At one point as the grounds crew worked on the playing field, the Kane County manager walked the infield and tested the footing, then talked to the crew.

There was one moment when it appeared the field was an issue. Bryon Buxton fielded a base hit in the second inning and tried to plant a foot to pivot and throw, but the ground did not hold. Buxton regained his footing, conceded the base and tossed the ball back into the infield before replacing his divot. But I couldn't help but wonder if there would be ramifications if Buxton blew out a knee on a wet field.

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A Kernels player of interest I didn't see was Adam Brett Walker, who the Twins drafted last June in the third round. Walker's power is said to comparable to Miguel Sano — which is to say it's top-of-the-charts — but there's been some question about his hit tool. Lots of strikeouts, lots of swing-and-miss.

But he bopped 14 homers for Elizabethton last summer after signing, and he already has 10 for Cedar Rapids.

All I saw him do Monday was coach first base.

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Kane County features a couple of ponderous first basemen. Dan Vogelbach, who played first on Monday, is listed as 6 feet, 250 pounds; I suspect the listing is generous on the height and understates the weight. He's got a Prince Fielder build to him. And he hit several balls hard; 2-for-5 with two RBIs and a monster foul ball.

Despite the bulk, he seemed fairly nimble around the base and scooped a couple of poor throws from his infielders, something Fielder frequently struggles with.

The other is the wonderfully named Rock Shoulders. With a moniker like that, he has to be a powerfully built fellow — it's impossible to imagine a scrawny guy named Rock Shoulders — and he fits the bill at 6-2, 225. Shoulders, the DH Monday, drew three walks and went 0-for-2.

A game in Cedar Rapids, Part III: The infield

Jorge Polanco, playing shortstop, reacts to a pitch.

Byron Buxton may be the biggest reason for Minnesotans to make the trek to Cedar Rapids to see the Twin's low-A affiliate, but the Kernels have a number of other significant prospects on the roster.

Niko Goodrum tried his
hand at first base Monday.

Not all of them were in the lineup Monday, and some of those who were, were in unusual positions.

D.J. Hicks, the usual first baseman and cleanup hitter in Jake Mauer's lineup, sat out Monday's game. Niko Goodrum is usually the shortstop and No. 2 hitter; on Monday he played first base and hit third. Jorge Polanco, usually the second baseman and No. 3 hitter, played short and hit cleanup. Travis Harrison was at his accustomed third base and hit fifth.

Goodrum, Polanco and Harrison are all significant prospects. Goodrum was a second round selection in the 2010 draft. Polanco, still a teenager (he turns 20 in July) was signed as a free agent out of the Domincan in the same summer as Miguel Sano; Sano's signing overshadowed Polanco's, but Polanco got a $700,000 bonus as a 16-year-old, evidence of his perceived talent. And Harrison was a supplemental first round pick in 2011.

Some observations:

Polanco has hit probably better than anticipated the past two seasons (he was hitting .326 on the season Monday, according to the scoreboard), but his arm has been described as probably too weak for shortstop. I'll buy that critique. He had one play Monday on which he ranged well to his left to scoop the grounder only to make a terrible throw to first base. He had another in which he backhanded the ball but then dropped it trying to hurry his transfer.

The problem for Polanco as a second baseman is that Eddie Rosario, an even better-regarded prospect, is playing well there a level ahead of him. It makes sense for the Twins to try to push Polanco at shortstop.

At the plate Monday, Polanco was 0-for-3 with a walk and a sac fly.

Travis Harrison awaits the pitch he
swatted out of the park in the seventh
inning.

Goodrum didn't look like a novice at first base, but he's not likely to have that position be a big part of his future. He's listed as 6-foot-4, 200 pounds, and he looks it — long and slender. He was 1-for-4, but what a one — a bases-loaded triple in the sixth that put the Kernels ahead to stay. He's not as fast as Byron Buxton (who is?) but he flew around the bases on that triple.

The big question with Goodrum is whether he's destined to play short, and watching him play first does little to suggest an answer to that question. I'm not sure he has the bat to play a less demanding position.

Harrison can hit, and showed it: 3-for-4 with a home run. But his ability to remain at third base has been questioned, and he didn't look good in the field. Some third basemen can get by with range that amounts to a step and a dive; Harrison didn't show even that Monday.

Like Polanco, Harrison is a level behind a better prospect at his position (in Harrison's case, Sano). I rather suspect one of the two will wind up at first base if they both become regulars with the Twins.

A game in Cedar Rapids, Part II: The battery

Catcher Tyler Grimes listens as
pitching coach Gary Lucas shares
some wisdom Monday.
(Photo by Linda Vanderwerf)

There are 13 active pitchers on the Cedar Rapids roster. Four of the names are of particular interest to me: J.O. Berrios, the teenager who pitched for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic; Hudson Boyd, a high draft pick in 2011; and Tyler Duffey and Mason Melotakis, two of the college relief aces the Twins drafted last summer and are trying as starters.

As luck would have it, I saw none of those four Monday. Brett Lee, a lefty, started; he gave up six runs in five innings. He walked four, struck out five, hit a batter, committed a balk, gave up six singles and a double and got little help from his infield defense. Tim Atherton, a righty from Australia, gave the Kernels two strong innings of relief (only two fair balls hit off him) and earned the "W"; Steve Gruver, another southpaw, finished with a strong eighth and a shaky ninth for the save.

Nothing grabs me there for commentary.

The catcher was a another matter. Tyler Grimes was drafted in the fifth round in 2011 as a shortstop out of Wichita State. He signed immediately and was assigned to Beloit, an aggressive placement by Twins standards. He hasn't moved up; this is his third season in the Midwest League, and he has a career batting average of .209 in low A ball.. The first two years he was a shortstop; this year the Twins have moved him to catcher. He hasn't played an inning elsewhere.

He didn't look bad back there to me. He picked off a runner at first base to end the first inning. He handled a pair of popups without much difficulty.

And at the plate he smacked a pair of hits, a single and a double, in four at-bats.

I don't know if Grimes is going to make it as a catcher. It seems clear that he wasn't going to make it as a shortstop. A lot will depend on how well he hits, obviously, and while there is precedent for a player to hit better when playing a less demanding position, that's not what's happening here.

A game in Cedar Rapids, Part I: Bryon Buxton

How fast is Bryon Buxton? He was out of the camera
frame before the bat landed in his first at-bat Monday.
(Photos by Linda Vanderwerf)

Last week, in taking note of a dramatic game-ending grand slam by prized Twins prospect Byron Buxton, I said I'd better get a move on if I'm going to see him play for Cedar Rapids this year, because he might be promoted quickly to Fort Myers.

And so it was that I essentially burned two days off — Sunday and Monday — to see one minor league game. Monday afternoon, the Kane County Cougars (Cubs affiliate) at Cedar Rapids.

I have plenty of observations to make from that game, and I'll dole them out over the next few days, but today's post will be about Buxton, because he was the big reason for the trip.

Buxton homered in his second at-bat, a majestic fly ball that flew over everything in left field. That was his only hit in five trips to the plate. He struck out twice, reached on an error and was retired on a grounder to third.

Byron Buxton awaits a pitch.

And he made two magnificent catches in center field. In the first inning, Kane County's Gioskar Amaya drove a ball to deep center. Buxton made the catch with his back to the infield and hit the fence on his next step. The impact knocked him down, but he got up quickly.

In the ninth, Pin-Chieh Chen drove a liner to left-center. Buxton made a diving catch just before the ball found the grass.

(I was sitting right behind the Kernels dugout. Kernels coach Tommy Watkins had been moving left fielder J.D. Williams toward center on Chen, then had him move two steps back toward the foul line. After Buxton's catch, Watkins,who spent the game on the top step of the dugout, turned around  and said with a grin to somebody inside the dugout: I moved him back because he was crowding Buck.)

Tom Kelly has said that Buxton is the fastest player he's ever seen, and I saw some of that in play Monday. He hit a one-hopper in the first inning right at the third baseman, and the throw only got him by a step at first base.

Buxton led off the fifth. He tried a bunt and fouled it off but ran it out as if to show us all how fast he is and how easily that speed comes. He followed with a soft grounder to short; the shortstop charged the ball and juggled it trying to make a rapid exchange from glove to throwing hand, and Buxton was safe. It was ruled an error, and I suppose that, had the shortstop made the play perfectly, he would have been out. I suppose. It certainly would have been a close play. I'm convinced: There is no such thing as a routine groundball out to the left side with Buxton.

Having reached first, he stole second base easily. He then came around on a pair of ground outs.

Bye-bye Beloit, hello Cedar Rapids

Miguel Sano takes a rip during a May game before
a typically sparse crowd in Beloit.

The Cedar Rapids Kernels today are to announce that they have signed a four-year working agreement with the Twins, which means Minnesota's eight year attachment to Beloit in the low-A Midwest League is ended.

It was fairly obvious all year that the Twins would look for a new affiliation in the Midwest League. Beloit is said to have the worst facilities in the league, and as I noted during my visit there in May, the Snappers didn't draw. The Twins had three expiring affiliations this year, and they kept the two they wanted to retain (Rochester in Triple A, New Britain in Double A) and found an upgrade in the one they wanted to swap out.

Cedar Rapids is the closest affiliated minor league team to Mankato, so this is a welcome shift for me. I used to have an annual minor league pilgrimage to Iowa, and fell out of that habit some time ago; having a Twins affiliate in C.R. makes it very likely that I'll head that way in future summers.

Taking a quick look at the Elizabethton roster -- because the Cedar Rapids roster next year will have many of those players -- makes it all the more enticing to point the vehicle south to see some baseball next summer. Max Kepler, an outfielder with a fascinating backstory (his parents were world-class ballet artists in Berlin, and he signed with the Twins as a 16-year-old three years ago), had a wonderful season for E-town; he'll certainly move up. Byron Buxton and Jose Barrios, the Twins top two draftees last summer, ended their season with Elizabethton; I wouldn't be surprised if either opened in Cedar Rapids, and certainly expect them to get there at some point.

There will always be intriguing, and certainly unproven, talent there; that's what Low-A ball is about.

I should note here that Jim Crikket of the Knuckleballs blog, who broke the news of the Cedar Rapids affiliation agreement on Monday night, said in a comment on this blog last summer that he expected the Twins affiliation to move there. He's a Twins fan who lives in C.R., and I rather expect he'll be passing on insights to the Kernels players. One of the things I expect to do this winter when I update the siderail to this blog is create a section of blogs on the minor league system. I know Knuckleballs and Twins Fan from Afar (New Britain) will be two of them; feel free to tell me of others worth keeping track of.