Jordan Gore – Knuckleballs

Gore and Dobnak Leading By Example

Posted on 7 July, 2018 by Jim Crikket

After the Cedar Rapids Kernels finished batting practice on a warm, humid July 4 afternoon, two of the most productive players on their roster agreed to sit down and talk about the season.

Jordan Gore and Randy Dobnak go through Kernels pre-game workouts on July 4, 2018 (Photo by SD Buhr)

One, an infielder, has been hitting over .300 with an on-base percentage around .400 virtually all season. (And three days after the interview, his bags were packed for Chattanooga, where he’d been promoted to join former Kernels manager Tommy Watkins’ Lookouts.)

The other, a starting pitcher, is 6-2 on the season and leads the Kernels in innings pitched.

Unless you’re a pretty serious student of the Minnesota Twins’ minor league system or a Kernels season ticket holder, there’s a chance you’ve never heard of either of them.

Jordan Gore was selected by the Twins out of Coastal Carolina in the 17^th round of the 2017 draft and Randy Dobnak never got a post-draft call at all after completing his college career at Alderson Broaddus University in West Virginia. They made the most of their college days on and off the field, both making the Dean’s List regularly at their respective schools.

Gore started his college career at South Carolina before transferring to Coastal Carolina in his hometown of Conway, SC, where he underwent Tommy John surgery and ended up sitting out the Chanticleers’ NCAA championship season in 2016. Having to sit out that championship season wasn’t as tough for Gore as one might think.

“Honestly you can say so,” Gore said, “but I’ve said this time and time again. That was best group of guys that I’ve ever been around as far as pulling for each other, working hard, all around good personalities and good people. It was probably better for me to sit back and watch how they did it. They taught me a lot about how to play the game the right way.

“I’ve got nothing but love for everybody at Coastal. I tell you what, it made me a lot better person and a player.”

Dobnak pitched for Alderson Broadus University in Philippi, West Virginia, where he had a career 26-12 record and set a Great Midwest Athletic Conference record with 284 career strikeouts.

You wouldn’t fault Gore, a shortstop by trade, if he had been more than a little troubled by the fact that he was drafted by an organization that also used the first overall pick of the 2017 draft to select a guy who plays the same position. But Gore says he wasn’t concerned at all at the prospect of trying to work his way up through the Twins farm system virtually in tandem with top prospect Royce Lewis.

“Honestly, I was just happy to get the call because after my last (college) game it kind of hit me, man this could be the last time I lace my spikes up,” Gore said, concerning his draft position, “and Royce is a great guy. It’s great to be playing with him. It’s a lot of fun.”

Gore didn’t exactly follow the draft moment by moment, waiting to hear his name called, but admits being relieved when it was over.

“I tried to keep my mind off of it,” he recalled. “I tried to just stay away from thinking about it too much. When I finally did get the call, it was a lot off my shoulders because you can try not to think about it as much as you want, but it’s always going to be there.”

While Gore had to be patient on draft day, Dobnak wasn’t all that surprised that he didn’t get a call when the draft had been completed.

“Being in the mountains of West Virginia, there were a few teams that were talking to me or my coaches,” he explained. “But when they’d try and come see me play, we’d get rained out, snowed out. too cold. So, I didn’t really know what to expect (on draft day).”

Not being drafted didn’t mean Dobnak was ready to call it a career, however. He used a connection made in his freshman year of college to land a spot on the pitching staff of the Utica Unicorns, an independent minor league team in a four-team league about an hour outside Detroit, Michigan.

“I played there for like a month. I had played with (the manager’s) son. He was my catcher my freshmen and sophomore year (of college). After a freshman year tournament, we were all out to eat and his dad was like, ‘I want you come play for my team once you graduate.’ Three years later, I’m like, ‘Alright, let’s do this thing.’”

A few weeks later, he signed with the Twins and he spent the rest of last summer in Elizabethton and Cedar Rapids.

Dobnak put up a combined ERA of 2.43 and a WHIP of 0.96 in six appearances (four as a starter) at the two 2017 stops and has followed that up with a very solid first three months with the Kernels this summer. In 14 appearances (11 of them as a starter), he has a 3.74 ERA and has struck out 49 batters, while walking just 13.

He has averaged seven innings of work in his last five starts for the Kernels.

At the time of his promotion to Chattanooga on July 7, Gore was hitting .307 with a solid .770 OPS and had a .333 average and 1.044 OPS in the month of July. While splitting infield time with Royce Lewis, Andrew Bechtold and Jose Miranda, Gore has made 33 appearances at second base, 23 at shortstop, five at third base and even made one late-game mop up appearance on the mound for Cedar Rapids.

On a team seemingly filled with very young talent, Gore and Dobnak have stood out as 23-year-olds and their manager, Toby Gardenhire, has appreciated the level of effort and leadership they’ve brough to the field, as well as the clubhouse.

“He’s been great,” the manager said of Dobnak. “He grabs the ball and goes out there and does whatever you want him to do. He works really hard every day, shows up ready to go. He’s the epitome of the guy that you want on your team. He doesn’t say much, he just goes out there and does his job every day.

“His skill level has been great, he’s done a great job, but the big thing for us is that he’s very professional with everything that he does. When you have this many young guys on a team like we do that you’re trying to teach how to be professionals, then you need guys like him where you can say, ‘Hey you see how Dobnak does this? You see what he does? You see how he goes about his business? That’s the way it needs to be. That’s how you have to act.’

“So, aside from the fact that he’s doing great, which is all credit to him and how hard he works, he’s just a great person. He’s a great leader for us.”

Gardenhire offered a similar strong endorsement for Gore.

“Gore’s the same way,” his manager said. “He’s ‘game on.’ He’s funny, but the way he goes about his business, the way he goes out and gets it every day – when you put him in the lineup, you know what you’re going to get from him. You’re going to get effort. Dives all over the place and will do anything to win baseball games.

“You would think that with baseball players in professional baseball, you’re going to have a whole group of guys that just want to try to win games, that will do anything for the team, but it’s not always like that. That’s a taught trait. You either have something in you that says ‘Hey, I’ll do whatever it takes to win this game’ or you have to learn that. He’s one of those guys, he just has it. That’s what he wants. He wants to win and he’ll do anything.

“I always call those guys dirtballs. He’s driving all over the place. You’re not going to see him with his uniform clean for very long in a game. That’s one of those things, again, when you have a whole bunch of young talented guys like we have, to have a guy like that who shows them the way. They see him diving all over the place. He’s mad when we lose and he gets fired up. They see that and it starts to kind of rub off on them. That’s what you want.”

A couple of relatively unheralded players on a team stocked with highly-regarded younger prospects could be forgiven if they felt some pressure to perform well enough to get noticed by their front office, but neither Gore nor Dobnak sounded like that was the case for them.

“I don’t think it’s pressure,” Gore said. “Speaking for myself, I come out here and want to work hard. This is fun for us! I mean it’s the best job in the world, right?

“Yep,” concurred Dobnak.

“I mean, come on, who wouldn’t want to come out here and work hard?” asked Gore, “because when you work hard, you tend to play well. It makes it a lot more fun.”

Neither player is concerning himself too much with what’s going on with the Twins’ affiliates at the higher levels, however.

“I check out the scores and see how some of the guys I know are doing,” conceded Dobnak. “I just think if you prove to your coaches or front office that you’re good enough to move up, they’ll move you up. But all the guys, they work hard. They all work the same. You go out there and do whatever you’ve got to do. Compete.”

“I try not to think about (promotions), I’ll be honest with you,” said Gore. “I’m around a great bunch of guys every day and it’s a lot of fun. It doesn’t really pop into your head much. We’re just out here trying to win and we’ve been doing that here lately.”

Given that Gore earned a promotion three days after those comments, his approach obviously worked for him.

One thing that comes through in virtually every conversation you have with any of this group of Kernels is how much they enjoy their teammates. It’s a close group, but even in the tightest of clubhouses, there will be differences. Gore and Dobnak are not completely in agreement in one aspect of the game.

Dobnak’s Twitter profile includes a reference to the hashtag #BanTheDH. Gore doesn’t sound ready to give away the at-bats he gets on days he DHs.

“Let the pitchers hit,” said Dobnak.

And why? “Because it’s more fun for the pitchers. When you grow up, you pitch, you hit, you play the infield!”

It’s all about the pitchers, right Jordan?

“No offense to the pitchers out there, but you’re probably giving up an out every time,” a smiling Gore responded.

“I’m just kidding,” the professional hitter in the conversation added. “We’ve got a lot of good athletes on the (pitching staff), I’m sure they could probably pick up a stick and hit it.”

Jose Miranda Heating Up With the Weather

Posted on 11 June, 2018 by Jim Crikket

The month of April was not kind to Cedar Rapids Kernels infielder Jose Miranda.

After hitting .284 and putting up a .824 On-base Plus Slugging (OPS) for rookie level Elizabethton in 2017, Miranda was one of several highly-regarded hitting prospects that were expected to power the Kernels’ offense in 2018, but the 19-year-old from Puerto Rico managed just a .180 batting average in 16 April games for the Kernels before the calendar mercifully turned to May.

Since then, however, Miranda has not only been hitting at a respectable .262 rate, but has six doubles, a triple and four home runs among his 40 post-April hits.

Being younger than almost all of the pitchers he was facing would be enough of a factor to explain the slow start with the bat, but Miranda had one more thing going against him that many of his teammates didn’t have. Unlike some players who spent their high school and/or college days playing ball in the northern areas of the United States, playing baseball in the cold was a new experience for Miranda.

He’s reluctant to blame his slow start on the weather, but facts are facts.

“I don’t want to say it was the weather, but maybe in part, yeah, because the first month it was pretty cold,” Miranda conceded recently. “I’m not used to the cold weather because Puerto Rico is always hot.”

As the temperatures have been rising in Iowa and the surrounding area, so has Miranda’s stat line.

“I’m just making adjustments day-by-day, taking it step by step,” he said, explaining his turnaround. “I don’t want to get too anxious or too frustrated by what happens, I’m just in the moment and making adjustments every day.”

Kernels hitting coach Brian Dinkelman thinks the weather had something to do with the infielder’s sluggish start to the season, as well.

“Over the first month, tough weather conditions, first time experiencing cold weather, so I’m sure that had a little to do with it,” Dinkelman reflected. “He’s got some confidence now. He’s been hitting the ball better the last few weeks. He’s swinging at more strikes.”

Dinkelman is seeing better pitch selection from Miranda. “Especially with guys in scoring position. Not getting himself out on the first or second pitch by chasing or getting in a hole 0-1, 0-2. Been better the last month about getting good pitches to hit. When they’re in the strike zone, he does ok.”

Miranda, himself, admits he has an affinity for taking a good whack at the first pitch. Even so, his aggressive approach hasn’t led to a ton of strikeouts. Through his first 213 at-bats, he’s K’d only 31 times.

“Yeah, I like to battle,” Miranda explained. “Sometimes when I see a first pitch is right down the middle, I just like to swing. Take advantage of it, because sometimes it’s the best pitch you’re going to see. Maybe the first pitch is right down the middle, a fastball, then they’re going to work you with different pitches, so I like to jump at that first pitch. But if I don’t get it, then I’m going to keep battling.

“And no, I don’t like striking out,” he added, emphatically. “I hate it. Since I was little, I’ve tried to battle.”

Miranda has had plenty of talented hitters to watch and learn from in Cedar Rapids this season.

“We’ve got a first overall here, Royce (Lewis), and other guys that are first rounders, second rounders,” Miranda pointed out. “It doesn’t matter if they’re like first 10 rounds, all the guys are super important for me, too. It’s pretty cool to play with these guys.

“I like to watch every other player here. I like to watch what they do. What type of at-bats they take. What type of pitches they swing on. I admire everyone here. I admire what they do. I like everyone here. Everyone here battles. They play hard and that’s what it’s all about.”

Miranda says he’s also feeling stronger as the season progresses.

“I feel like the power is coming on,” he said. “I feel like I’m barreling the ball more. I’m have better swings and it’s summertime, so I think the ball is going to keep flying out.”

Miranda said he’s been playing baseball since he was four years old.

“When I was little I used to play in my back yard. Everybody came to my house,” he recalled.

Jose Miranda and Royce Lewis, either attempting to take flight or going through pre-game warm-up drills. You decide. (Photo: SD Buhr)

He was a shortstop through his high school playing days, but at the time he was drafted, scouts reportedly projected him to end up filling out and moving to third base.

He played almost exclusively at second base in Elizabethton a season ago, however, and seemed to be set there through most of the first couple months of the Kernels season, while 2017 fifth round selection Andrew Bechtold was manning third base.

In recent weeks, however, manager Toby Gardenhire has often swapped the two, giving Miranda time at third base, with Bechtold at second, while Lewis continues to hold down shortstop and Jordan Gore gets a lot of work in a utility role, filling in at all three positions.

Dinkelman acknowledged the change in pattern, but cautioned about reading too much into it.

“Just a little versatility,” he explained. “We like them both at second and third and Gore can play all three. Just to get the experience at each position, because you never know, the higher you go up the ladder and to the big leagues, what position you’re going to play. So, if you can get a little experience at each and figure out maybe what is your best position, it’ll be good for all of them.”

Jose Miranda catches a throw from Ben Rortvedt before tagging out a Lumber Kings runner attempting to steal second base (Photo by SD Buhr)

As for Miranda, he’s open to playing wherever the team and it’s leadership need him to play.

“I kind of play wherever they want me, he said. “I do like both (second base and third base). Since I was young, I used to play shortstop, but now I’m playing more second and third and I don’t have a preference. I just want to be in the lineup!”

With the 2018 draft taking place early this month, Miranda was recalling what it felt like to go through the draft process two years ago, as a 17-year-old in Puerto Rico.

“It’s been one of my biggest moments in my life,” he recollected. “I was at my house with my dad and my grandma and I was watching it because I wasn’t sure if I was going to go in the second round or third round. The first two rounds are the first day, so I was kind of unsure if I was going to go in the second round. I was just watching it and hoping to get the call from my agent. And then it was like the 59th pick or something like that when my agent called me and told me, ‘you’re going to go in the 73rd pick to the Twins.’

“So I was kind of nervous and anxious. I was getting a lot of messages and calls and I just wanted to watch it on TV and enjoy the moment. I got a call from the scout for the Twins in Puerto Rico, (saying) ‘Hey, good luck, I know you’re going to do well.’ I said, ‘Hey, they haven’t called me yet, let me watch it first and I will call you back.’

“So, yeah, it was one of my biggest moments in my life and I enjoyed it.”

Kernels: Will Offense Suffer As Prospects Move Up?

Posted on 23 May, 2018 by Jim Crikket

When this season was in its infancy, I had a lot of high expectations for the 2018 Cedar Rapids Kernels. I was not alone, of course, since the Kernels’ opening day roster was filled with big-bonus position players, highlighted by 2017’s first-overall draft pick, Royce Lewis, and the Twins’ 2016 first round pick, Alex Kirilloff.

Unlike some, though, I was freely effusive with my high expectations. I told more than one person that I felt the 2018 roster had the potential to be every bit as good as, if not better than, the Kernels’ class of 2013 that included Byron Buxton, Jorge Polanco, Max Kepler and a number of other very talented position players.

With Cedar Rapids sitting in fiftth place in the Midwest League’s Western Division last week, one of the people who had heard me express my early season optimism approached me during what was turning out to be a lopsided loss to Quad Cities and, in so many words, asked me, “what happened?”

It’s a fair question and I think I may have even surprised myself with my answer. I said I still believe what I said at the outset about this roster is true. There’s a lot of talent on the Cedar Rapids roster.

Like their big-league parent club, the Kernels have been treading water at or near the .500 mark. On the surface, that would seem inconsistent with having something I would have referred to (and did refer to) as a “loaded roster” to start the season.

Having two first round picks should be enough to keep just about any Class A roster at or above the .500 mark and that’s pretty much what Lewis and Kirilloff have done. After Wednesday’s win over Kane County, the Kernels’ record stands at 21 wins and 20 losses, good enough for fourth place in their Division, a game and a half behind Clinton, Peoria and Quad Cities, who are in a virtual three-way tie for the Division lead with about a month left in the season’s first half.

Under MWL rules, the top two teams in each division at the end of the first half of the season automatically qualify for the postseason, so the Kernels have just over four weeks to pass at least two of the teams ahead of them in the standings to clinch one of those automatic playoff spots.

With Kirilloff and Lewis both hitting above .300, it wouldn’t be at all surprising to hear that one or both is being promoted to the Ft. Myers Miracle at any time. If and when those promotions occur, the Kernels’ chances of qualifying for the postseason would obviously take a serious hit.

The two first-rounders have accounted for a disproportionate amount of Cedar Rapids’ offense. If you remove their hits and at-bats from the club’s totals, the Kernels would have a .231 team batting average, which would be just two points above the Great Lakes Loons, who currently rank 16^th among the 16 MWL members in team batting average.

Seven of the 12 current position players on the roster have batting averages below .234 and seven have an OPS below .700. Two players are hitting below .200 and have an OPS below .500.

So why would I remain bullish about the 2018 Kernels?

One of the by-products of having a roster of position players that have gotten off to a slow start is that not too many of them are going to be promoted to the next level any time soon. Outside of Kirilloff and Lewis, it’s hard to identify anyone among the current position players that one could honestly say has earned himself a shot at the next level.

And most of these guys are still very young.

Lewis is still 18 for a couple more weeks and Kirilloff is just 20, but they aren’t the only hitters still unable to legally buy a beer around here.

Catcher Ben Rortvedt and outfielder Jean Carlos Arias are each just 20 years old while infielder Jose Miranda and outfielder Akil Baddoo (recently placed on the Disabled List) are just 19. Newly arrived outfielder Jacob Pearson is also still 19, though just until his June 1 birthday.

Trey Cabbage, David Banuelos and Shane Carrier come in right at 21 years old.

Among the club’s position players, only Andrew Bechtold (22), Ben Rodriguez (23) and Jordan Gore (23) would likely be considered above the average age for this league.

And here’s the thing about MiLB leagues that split their seasons into two halves – often the teams that finish the season the strongest are those that have young talent that start slow enough that they don’t get promoted, leading to less than average turnover in their ranks. Those players often develop into a competitive unit by the end of the summer.

The Twins have a lot of bonus money tied up in this unit of position players and it would seem unlikely that they would release or demote a 19 or 20 year old ballplayer that they’ve invested heavily in just because he’s gotten off to a slow start in Cedar Rapids.

A year ago, the Twins sent 23 different position players to Cedar Rapids during the course of the season. Thus far, among the team’s hitters, only the 12 current position players plus Akil Baddoo (now on the Disabled List) and previously promoted outfielder Mark Contreras have suited up for Cedar Rapids.

It’s not difficult for me to envision a scenario where, even should Lewis and Kirilloff get their promotions, the rest of the current group of position players is largely left intact to develop together through most of the rest of the season.

Yes, it would have been a bonus to have Wander Javier in line to replace a promoted Lewis, but his season-ending labrum surgery means that won’t be happening. (Javier will still just be 20 years old when he likely makes his Kernels debut in 2019.)

Players that demonstrate they’re ready for new challenges get promoted. That’s what minor league ball is all about. Fans in Cedar Rapids have had a rare opportunity to watch two of the most promising young prospects in the Twins’ system play for the Kernels this spring and those players have certainly not disappointed. The result is that one or both could be promoted to the next level at any time.

While the rest of the everyday lineup have not been as productive with the bat as Royce Lewis and Alex Kirilloff so far, several of them have been picking up the offensive pace.

Jordan Gore has hit .371 in his last 10 games, Jean Carlos Arias his hit .324 over his most recent 10, Jose Miranda has hit .294 over the same stretch, while Akil Baddoo, Ben Rortvedt and Trey Cabbage have each hit .250 or better in their last 10 games for Cedar Rapids.

The “new guy,” Jacob Pearson, even had a pair of hits in his first game as a Kernel on Wednesday.

Minor league baseball is what it is, and that means players will come and go. But this group of Kernels hitters is not just a two-man unit. The lineup has offensive talent up and down the batting order and I think we’ll continue to see plenty of runs scored by the home team at Veterans Memorial Stadium this summer.

Kernels win over Clinton – Photos

Posted on 21 May, 2018 by Jim Crikket

Just a handful of action photos from the Cedar Rapids Kernels 6-1 win over the Clinton Lumber Kings on Sunday, May 20, 2018.

Jordan Gore slides into third base safely to complete a first-inning triple. (Photo by SD Buhr)

The camera bag was already packed up by the time Alex Kirilloff lined a home run to right field in the ninth inning, but here he’s lifting a sacrifice fly in the first inning, driving in Jordan Gore. (Photo by SD Buhr)

Andrew Bechtold with an easy throw to first base. (Photo by SD Buhr)

Brusdar Graterol turns to make an attempted pickoff throw to first base. (Photo by SD Buhr)

Shane Carrier lifts a sacrifice fly to right field, and then… (Photo by SD Buhr)

… Ben Rodriguez slides in safely under Clinton catcher Ryan Scott’s tag.on that Carrier sacrifice fly. (Photo by SD Buhr)

Trey Cabbage gets a secondary lead off second base. (Photo by SD Buhr)

Conference on the mound between (L to R) pitching coach Cibney Bello, catcher Ben Rortvedt and pitcher Brusdar Graterol. (Photo by SD Buhr)

Andrew Bechtold slides into second base safely after the throw from Clinton catcher Ryan Scott sails into the outfield. (Photo by SD Buhr)

Kernels Class of 2018 “Should Be Pretty Entertaining”

Posted on 1 April, 2018 by Jim Crikket

It seems like just yesterday, doesn’t it?

Byron Buxton as a Cedar Rapids Kernel in 2013 (Photo: SD Buhr)

The Minnesota Twins and Cedar Rapids Kernels were entering the very first year of their brand new affiliation agreement in the spring of 2013 and there was plenty to be excited about with the baseball talent the Twins were planning to send through Cedar Rapids that season.

Three of that year’s Kernels had been handed signing bonuses of over $1 million and 11 more from their opening day roster that season had received six-figure bonuses. In short, it was as loaded as any Cedar Rapids roster had been in several years.

Optimism was high and not only for the Kernels. That Cedar Rapids class of 2013 represented, to many, the future of the Minnesota Twins franchise – a franchise that had fallen on tough times after nearly a decade of postseason participation.

As with any roster of Class A ballplayers, you don’t have to look too hard to find players that, despite being early round draft picks or well-regarded international free agents, would ultimately fall short of their goals of having successful Major League careers.

But you also don’t have to look far down that 2013 roster to find names that have since become part of the core group of players that led the Twins to a wild card berth in 2017, with even greater expectations for the next several seasons.

Byron Buxton and Jorge Polanco were on that opening day roster in Cedar Rapids in 2013, as were pitchers Tyler Duffey and Taylor Rogers. Then there were two more mid-season additions to the Kernels that are also now playing major roles in Minnesota, Max Kepler and Jose Berrios.

But that was five years ago.

Several additional Cedar Rapids alumni are poised to contribute to whatever success the Twins have in the near future, as well, but that class of 2013 will long be remembered by Kernels fans.

But is it possible that the class of 2018 could end up being even better? It’s certainly not impossible.

The class of 2013 had Buxton, the Twins’ 2012 first round pick in the amateur draft (second selection overall), but the 2018 Kernels roster will include a pair of first rounders.

Shortstop Royce Lewis, the first overall selection in 2017, will start the season in Cedar Rapids after suiting up for the Kernels for the final month of the 2017 season. He will be joined by the Twins’ first round pick in 2016, as well. Outfielder Alex Kirilloff missed last season after elbow surgery, but will wear a Kernels uniform on Opening Day this year.

Royce Lewis with the play at shortstop (Photo: SD Buhr)

That’s not bad for a start, but when you look over the Kernels’ roster, It’s easy to find plenty of other players who were highly touted draft picks and international signings.

That group includes two Compensation round picks, outfielder Akil Baddoo and infielder Jose Miranda, and a second rounder, catcher Ben Rortvedt (who spent 2017 in Cedar Rapids).

Kernels manager Toby Gardenhire and Akil Baddoo (Photo: SD Buhr)

Right handed pitcher Blayne Enlow was selected by the Twins in the third round of 2017’s draft and will open 2018 in Cedar Rapids’ rotation.

Trey Cabbage, who is slated to be part of the Kernels’ outfield, but could also play the corner infield spots, is also returning to Cedar Rapids, where he finished the 2017 season. Cabbage was the Twins’ fourth round pick in 2015.

The Kernels will have 2017 fifth round pick Andrew Bechtold at third base and David Banuelos, who was Seattle’s fifth round pick in 2017, will share time with Rortvedt behind the plate. Banuelos was obtained by the Twins from the Mariners over the off-season in return for a million dollars worth if international bonus cap space.

Lewis, Rortvedt and Cabbage aren’t the only Kernels alums who are returning to open the 2018 campaign.

Randy Dobnak, Bryan Sammons and Tyler Watson are all slated to open the season in Cedar Rapids’ starting rotation after seeing time with the Kernels last year.

Logan Lombana and Ryan Mason return to the Kernels’ bullpen after playing key relief rolls for Cedar Rapids in 2017.

Infielder Jordan Gore and ouitfielder Shane Carrier also returning to Cedar Rapids to open the season.

Other players slated to suit up for the Kernels for the first time to start the season include pitchers Nick Brown, Edwar Colina, Calvin Faucher, Jared Finkel, Kevin Marnon, Jose Martinez and Jovani Moran.

They’ll be joined by first-time Kernels position players Ben Rodriguez (1B) and Mark Contreras (OF).

New Cedar Rapids manager Toby Gardenhire is optimistic about his Kernels and knows he’s being entrusted with a number of the Twins’ most prized young prospects.

“It should be a lot of fun. We’ve got a really good group of kids,” Gardenhire said as spring training was winding down. “They’ve been playing really hard and they’re ready to get (to Cedar Rapids), I know that.

“We’re definitely young, but there’s a lot of guys that have a lot of ability – a lot of talent, that the Twins think very highly of. It makes them fun to watch. I’ve been watching them all spring and we’ve got some exciting guys, so it should be pretty entertaining.”

Today’s Twins fans are hoping that Buxton, Kepler, Berrios and other Kernels alumni of the past five years will lead the parent club through a period of postseason success. Five years from now, will the Cedar Rapids class of 2018 be preparing to step in and join – or perhaps take over for – their predecessors?

Only time will tell.

But Kernels fans in Cedar Rapids will soon be getting a good opportunity to see just how good this next wave of young Twins prospects can look.

Kernels Rolling with Royce

Posted on 13 August, 2017 by Jim Crikket

Ever since the Minnesota Twins used the first overall pick of the 2017 amateur draft to select California high school shortstop Royce Lewis, fans or the Kernels and/or Twins in Cedar Rapids have been wondering if and when we’d get a first-hand look at the athletic 18-year-old.

On Saturday, when the Twins and Kernels announced that Lewis was being promoted from the Gulf Coast League Twins up to Cedar Rapids, skipping the normal interim stop at Elizabethton, we got our answer.

Manager Tommy Watkins had Lewis’ name in the leadoff spot on his lineup card Saturday night and again Sunday afternoon, as his team finished up a four-game series with Midwest League Western Division second-half leading Quad Cities.

Neither the Kernels nor their highly heralded new arrival disappointed the locals.

In his Kernels debut on Saturday, Lewis singled in each of his first four at-bats, finishing the night 4 for 5 with an RBI and a pair of runs scored. He accounted for four of his team’s 11 hits as they topped the River Bandits 9-1.

On Sunday, Lewis led off the bottom of the first with another single, then came around to score when number two hitter Aaron Whitefield launched a home run.

The Kernels sent seven batters to the plate in the first, scoring three runs, then did almost nothing at the plate for the next seven innings. They trailed QC 6-3 heading to the home half of the ninth.

The Kernels still haven’t made an out in their half of that inning of Sunday’s game.

Jimmy Kerrigan led off with a single and Lewin Diaz followed with one of his own. Caleb Hamilton worked a walk and Shane Carrier made it a 6-4 game with a single.

Trey Cabbage came back from an 0-2 count to work a walk that plated Diaz to make it 6-5.

Joe Cronin shot the first pitch he saw up the middle, scoring Hamilton and pinch runner Christian Cavaness and setting off a celebration as Cronin’s teammates mobbed him in the infield.

The arrival of Lewis and the inspired efforts the his new teammates could prove to be just what the Kernels need as they prepare for the postseason. The club’s pitching has generally been good enough to win games lately, with particularly effective work coming from the bullpen, but the offense has often struggled to score runs.

With Lewis and Whitefield at the top of the order, Shane Carrier riding a hot streak, Lewin Diaz continuing to 100+ mph rockets off his bat and, hopefully, Travis Blankenhorn back soon from the Disabled List, a playoff run is not at all out of the question.

It’s something to look forward to watching.

In the mean time, a few pictures from the Sunday and, no, they aren’t ALL of Royce Lewis!