Cedar Rapids Kernels 2021 opening-night roster announced

Jump from low-Class A to high-Class A means you’ll be seeing a lot of familiar faces

May. 1, 2021 3:43 pm, Updated: Jul. 7, 2021 3:08 pm

Kernels second baseman Spencer Steer throws to first for an out in the first inning at a Midwest League playoff game between the Cedar Rapids Kernels and Quad Cities River Bandits at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)

CEDAR RAPIDS – You don’t have to get to know them, because you already do.

A move from low-Class A to high-Class A this season meant the Cedar Rapids Kernels were sure to have players who already have played here, and a roster reveal Saturday proved that to be true and then some.

Of the 28 active players on the opening-night roster, 21 have spent time in Cedar Rapids. That includes 19 who were low-A Kernels at some point in 2019, the last minor-league season.

The Kernels begin a 120-game season in the High-A Central League against Peoria at 6:35 Tuesday night. It’s the first of a six-game series against the Chiefs, who are affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals.

The highest draft pick on the opening-night roster is outfielder Matt Wallner. He was Competitive Balance A-round selection of the parent Minnesota Twins, 39th-overall, in 2019 out of the University of Southern Mississippi. A Minnesota native, Wallner played in 12 games for the Kernels at the end of the 2019 season after receiving a promotion from Rookie ball.

Right-handed pitcher Matt Canterino was a second-rounder in 2019 out of Rice who spent the final month-plus of that season with the Kernels. Fellow pitcher Blayne Enlow was a third-round pick of the parent Minnesota Twins in 2017 who pitched here the entire 2018 season and made eight starts in 2019 before getting promoted to then-High A Fort Myers.

Infielder Spencer Steer was a third-round draft pick out of the University of Oregon who hit .260 in 44 games for the Kernels in 2019. Fourth-rounders on the club are infielder Seth Gray (2019), outfielder DaShawn Keirsey Jr. (2018) and outfielder Trey Cabbage (2015).

This will mark the fourth separate stint in Cedar Rapids for Cabbage, who played the entire 2018 season here and parts of the 2017 and 2019 seasons. According to Kernels broadcaster/media relations assistant Chris Kleinhans-Schulz, Cabbage is just the seventh guy in the modern era of Kernels baseball (1949 on) to play in four separate seasons here.

First baseman Gabe Snyder and catcher Chris Williams were participants in the 2019 Midwest League All-Star Game, the forerunner of what is now called the High-A Central League.