Kernels reflect on terrific season, Mauer heads to big leagues

CEDAR RAPIDS - Jake Mauer hopped in his car Tuesday morning and drove four hours, stopping at home quick in the Twin Cities to say hello to his wife and kids and heading right back to the ballpark.

Not the one he's made home these last three seasons. The Cedar Rapids Kernels manager was at Target Field in Minneapolis, on the bench for the Minnesota Twins-Cleveland Indians game Tuesday night.

He'll remain in the big leagues until the regular season ends in a couple of weeks, including going on the road to Detroit and Cleveland. His younger brother, Joe, of course, is the Twins first baseman.

'It will be a neat atmosphere to be up there (in),” Mauer said. 'They haven't had meaningful games in Minnesota in September in a long time. It's going to be fun to be around it and hopefully stay out of the way.”

Many major league clubs 'promote” members of their minor league staff in September. It's a way to get them introduced to the big-league atmoshere and to say thanks for a job well done.

Kernels hitting coach Tommy Watkins spent some time in the dugout with the Twins a couple of years ago. Ivan Arteaga, last year's pitching coach for the Kernels, is joining Mauer in Minneapolis this year.

'I'm going to try and take advantage of it as much as I can,” Mauer said. 'I'll show up, throw a uniform on and see what they think.

'When I (first) found out, I was excited. But, obviously, we wanted to be here until the last day of the season, the last day you could possibly play.”

That sure happened, with the Kernels dropping the winner-take-all Game 5 of the Midwest League Championship Series to West Michigan, 3-2, Monday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium. Cedar Rapids made quite a run, sweeping its first two postseason series and taking a 2-1 series edge against West Michigan.

Despite coming up just short of this city's first MWL title in 21 years, it was a very good season. The Kernels finished 83-66, including playoffs.

'It's been a long year,” Mauer said. 'The boys competed and battled. We pitched and caught the ball. Some guys improved offensively and continued to. It's just a shame our bats just really didn't show up here the last three days.”

Pitching and defense definitely were the strengths of the 2015 Kernels. They trotted out competent starting pitchers every night and had a shutdown bullpen.

If they scored four runs, they had a really good chance to win.

'Just how they competed,” Mauer said, when asked what he'll remember about his team. 'We very rarely got blown out. Very rarely. We were in everything. That goes from our starting pitching setting the tone to our bullpen, when they got a lead, locking it down. Unfortunately we just couldn't get them a lead the last three days.”

First-round pick Nick Gordon blossomed into a very good hitter and shortstop as the season wore on and is a sure-fire major leaguer some day. Catcher Brian Navarreto needs to improve offensively but threw out 58 percent of would-be basestealers and has the defensive chops to play in the big leagues for a long time.

After that, there probably weren't a lot of position players who strike you as future major leaguers. Pitching-wise, Stephen Gonsalves lit it up early, got promoted to high-A and is a very solid starting prospect. Felix Jorge put in 155 innings, playoffs included, and jumped back on the prospect map.

There were power arms gallore in the bullpen, with guys like Yorman Landa, Luke Bard and others impressing.

Some of these guys will return to Cedar Rapids to begin the 2016 season, some will move up to Fort Myers, others will be released. Mauer, Watkins and pitching coach Henry Bonilla await their assignments from farm director Brad Steil for next season

There's not much more Mauer can prove in low-Class A.

'I've enjoyed it here. With my family, it's ideal for me, other than them being in Minneapolis,” Mauer said. 'Brad has been nice enough to let me be here for three years. I don't know where I'll fit moving forward. A lot is probably going to depend on what happens above us, and if (Twins Manager Paul) Molitor decides there should be any changes up there. I don't know if he's going to.

'I'll just go into the offseason and talk to Brad, see what he thinks. Dominoes fall, and we'll see where we're at. I enjoy it here, no doubt. But I also understand, too, in order to get to my ultimate goal, I've got to move up.”

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