Twins Minor League Report (8/10): Tanner Schobel, Jeferson Morales Power Surge Win

[Seth Stohs]

The Twins played the Guardians at Target Field. The Saints played the Guardians' Triple-A affiliate at CHS Field. A couple of two-run homers helped the Surge to a win. The Kernels got a tremendous relief appearance and scored early and often. The Mussels had a big inning and held on. Which 2024 draft pick launched his first professional homer? You can find all that and more in today's Twins Minor League Report. 

Image courtesy of David Malamut (@MWLArchives on X)

Check out all that happened, and please ma 

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 65-51
St. Paul Saints: 56-56
Wichita Wind Surge: 46-61
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 57-48
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 55-47
FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete)
DSL Twins: 25-23 

TRANSACTIONS
The Twins sent Louie Varland, the 27th man on their roster for Friday night’s game, back to the Saints. 

Michael Helman was also activated off of the 7-Day IL. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 7, Columbus 11
Box Score
Whereas the Twins and Guardians were in a pitchers’ duel at Target Field, the Twins Triple-A affiliate and Guardians Triple-A affiliate were involved in the opposite. 

Caleb Boushley started for the Saints. He gave up six runs on nine hits (including three homers) over four innings. Caleb Baragar gave up one hit in a scoreless fifth inning. Nick Wittgren pitched two innings. He gave up three unearned runs on three hits (one homer) over two innings. He had three strikeouts. Giovanny Gallegos got the eighth inning. He gave up two runs on two hits and a walk. Diego Castillo pitched the ninth and had a walk and a strikeout in a scoreless ninth.  

Down 6-0 in the fourth inning, the Saints got on the board in the bottom of the fourth with two runs off of Triston McKenzie. Diego A. Castillo led off with a single. With one out, Jair Camargo walked. After the second out, Wynton Bernard singled to drive in Castillo with the first run. Patrick Winkel singled to score Camargo.  

Down 9-2 at the seventh-inning stretch, the Saints got a third run. With two outs, Payton Eeles doubled. After stealing third base, he scored on a wild pitch. 

Down 11-3 going to the bottom of the eighth, the Saints offense attempted a comeback again. The inning started with singles from Castillo and DaShawn Keirsey. After a pitching change, Camargo doubled to drive in a run. Michael Helman walked. Keirsey scored on a Bernard force out. Winkel then drove in two more runs with another double. 

Going to the bottom of the ninth inning down 11-7, the Saints tried to mount a two-out comeback. Keirsey singled and stole second base. He scored when Camargo reached on an infield error. There was a wild pitch and a Helman walk, but the game ended with a ground out. 

For the Clippers, Kyle Manzardo went 3-for-5 with his 16th home run. Estevan Florial was 4-for-4 with a walk, double, three home runs and seven RBI.

Winkel went 2-for-4 with his 14th double. Castillo went 2-for-4. Keirsey went 2-for-4 with his 27th stolen base. Edouard Julien hit a double. Camargo was 1-for-3 with two walks and his 11th double. In his first game back with the Saints, Helman was 1-for-3 with two walks.   

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 3, Corpus Christi 3
Box Score
The Wind Surge jumped ahead early, fell behind in the middle innings, and then took the lead back in the eighth frame. Were they able to hang on?

Tyler Dearden led off the top of the second inning and reached on a fielding error. With one out, Tanner Schobel launched his ninth homer of the season to give the Surge a 2-0 lead. 

Travis Adams started and gave up one run on one hit and one walk over five innings. He had five strikeouts. John Stankiewicz came in for the sixth inning. He gave up two runs on three hits, and the Surge were down 3-2. 

Travis Floyd came in and threw two perfect innings. With two outs in the top of the eighth inning, Jake Rucker singled. Jeferson Morales launched his eighth home run of the season, a two-run blast that gave the Surge a 4-3 lead. 

That’s where the score remained entering the bottom of the ninth. Kyle Bischoff came on and struck out two batters in a perfect inning for his second save. 

Schobel went 2-for-4 with a homer in the game. The Surge had just six hits. Morales had the huge homer in the eighth inning. Carson McCusker hit his 22nd double, a pinch hit. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 7, Peoria 1 
Box Score
The Kernels scored in five of nine innings including a three-run sixth inning on their way to an easy win in Illinois. Connor Prielipp made the start and it had its ups and downs. In 2 2/3 innings, he gave up one run on no hits. He also had five strikeouts. On the other side, he had five walks. Rafael Marcano came in with two runners on base. He got the third out of the third inning, but not until giving up a hit that scored the run charged to Prielipp. 

Cedar Rapids got on the board first with a run in the top of the second inning. Kevin Maitan led off with a ground-rule double. He scored on a single by Nate Baez. 

Peoria tied the score in the bottom of the third inning. However, they retook the lead in the fifth frame. With two outs, Nick Lucky hit his first Kernels homer to give them a 2-1 lead. 

In the sixth inning, Gabriel Gonzalez led off with a walk. He moved to third base on Poncho Ruiz’s first Kernels double. Maitan then drove in two runs with a single. With one out, Wingrove walked. Following a pitching change, Maitan scored on a throwing error. 

The eighth inning began with singles by Maitan and Baez. After an out, Misael Urbina walked to load the bases. With two outs, Lucky walked to make it 6-1 Kernels. 

In the ninth, Gonzalez led off with a walk again. He moved to second on a wild pitch, and after a fly out, he moved to third on another wild pitch. Maitan came up and drove in his third run of the game with a sacrifice fly to conclude the scoring at 7-1. 

The pitching star of the game usually gets written about near the top of an article, but you could say that we’re burying the lede here a bit. Ty Langenberg came in for the fourth inning and completed the final six innings of the game. He gave up no runs on four hits. He had seven strikeouts without a walk.

Maitan went 3-for-3 with a walk, his 12th double, three runs and three RBI. Baez went 2-for-4 with a walk.   

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 6, Jupiter 2
Box Score
A few players were promoted from Fort Myers to Cedar Rapids. Several others were transferred from the Mussels to the FCL Twins roster. However, the Fort Myers roster has basically become Brandon Winokur and the 2024 Draft’s Hitters, at least from the offensive side of the game. That group pulled together for a big five-run second inning to give the early lead. 

With one out in the top of the second inning, Jaime Ferrer singled and stole second. He scored on a Jay Thomason single. The Air Force alum then stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Daniel Pena, another holdover on the roster, reached on a walk. Derek Bender was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Caden Kendle drove in the second run with a ground out to third base. That put runners on second and third with two outs. Leadoff man, Kaelen Culpepper, came to the plate and drilled a shot down the left field line. It managed to stay fair. The Twins top draft pick drove in three runs with his first professional home run. The Mussels led 5-0. 

Intriguing 19-year-old Adrian Bohorquez came up to the Mussels following the FCL season. He made his first start and gave up two runs on three hits and two walks in four innings. He had six strikeouts. In case you were wondering, his fastball averaged 95.0 mph with a max of 96.8 mph. He has an upper-80s slider/cutter. He also threw a few slow curveballs in the upper-70s.  

Jack Noble came on and gave up a hit and a walk, but no runs, over two scoreless innings. He had three strikeouts. Cleiber Maldonado pitched the seventh inning. He gave up one run on two hits and a walk. Xander Hamilton struck out three batters over the final two innings for his ninth save. He got all six batters that he faced out. 

The offense slowed outside of their big second inning. They did add on one run in the sixth inning when Daniel Pena singled in Ferrer with the team’s sixth run. 

Pena went 2-for-3 with a walk in the game. Billy Amick was 2-for-4. 

DOMINICAN DAILIES
DSL Twins 11, DSL Yankees 1
Box Score                                                                                                                                                                        The DSL Twins managed to score 11 runs despite just seven hits and two walks. They also were hit by a pitch four times. In addition, the Yankees squad had five errors in the game and the Twins took advantage. 

The Twins scored two runs in each of the first three innings. They added one run in the fourth inning, and then scored four runs in the fifth inning.

On the mound, 18-year-old Melvin Rodriguez gave up one run on four hits and a walk over five innings. He had six strikeouts. He is now 3-3 with a 2.98 ERA on the season. He has completed five innings in three of his past four starts, and he went 4 2/3 innings in the other start. In his past three starts, he has given up two runs in 14 2/3 innings. 

Nestor Cafe worked two scoreless, hitless innings. He had four walks but also five strikeouts. 

Daiber De Los Santos went 2-for-3 and was hit by a pitch. He stole home for his 13th stolen base. Ricardo Paez went 1-for-2 with his fourth double and two RBI. Nestor Urbina went 1-for-3 with a walk, his first triple, and two RBI. Victor Leal was hit twice. 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Ty Langenberg (Kernels) - 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K, 74 pitches, 52 strikes (70.3%).
Hitter of the Day – Kevin Maitan (Kernels) - 3-for-3, BB, 2B(12), 3 R, 3 RBI

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our recently-updated Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Saturday.

#1– Walker Jenkins (Cedar Rapids) – 0-for-5, K 
#7 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – 0-for-2, 2 BB, HBP, 2 R  
#9 - Kaelen Culpepper (FCL Twins) - 1-for-4, BB, HR(1), R, 3 RBI. 

SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Columbus @ St. Paul (2:07 PM CST) – LHP Christian MacLeod (first AAA start)
Wichita @ Corpus Christi (5:05 PM CST) – TBD
Cedar Rapids @ Peoria (2:05 PM CST) – RHP John Klein (7-2, 4.56 ERA)
Ft. Myers @ Jupiter (11:00 AM CST) – LHP Ross Dunn (1-3, 6.13 ERA)

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Saturday’s games!

View full article

[Dman]

Prielipp's fastball looks good and the slider is a swing and miss pitch.  He is still struggling to control his pitches and he doesn't appear to have much stamina yet as his pitches looked sharper in the first two innings and while he did manage two quick outs in the third his lack of control did him in.  I think they keep him around 50 pitches and keep him healthy and call it good for this year.  If he gets his control back he looks like he could be really good. I like his delivery and 95 MPH fastball he just needs more time to build up.

Bohorquez looked good the first few innings and then seemed to tire as well.  It's been a longer year for him this year.  His fastball velocity is really good and if you watch him pitch it doesn't seem like it takes much effort for him to pump up the velocity.  Looks like he is playing catch.  Good to see them stretch him out some and give him some A ball time but I would keep the pitch count down. With better command and control he could be a fast mover next year.

I don't know what to think of Langenburg.  It's a different delivery and looks like it takes a lot of effort, but what a night.  He gave up 4 hits but two of those were bunts as Maitan isn't fast and was playing back at third base so Peoria was bunting like crazy to get on base.  With the bases loaded and no outs he K'd the next two guys and got a fly ball to end the inning.  He pitched well and has been pitching well I'm just not sure if I see starter there or not.  Still a great job pitching tonight. I love no walks as that seems like a pitcher that trusts his stuff and is fearless on the mound.

Schobel with a 1.090 OPS in August to almost bring his season OPS to .700.  I don't know if this is just a hot streak or if he has figured something out.  I hope he has figured out how to barrel up those tough breaking balls and be ready to move up to the next level.  He hasn't had a good month at AA yet so I am hopeful this one starts a trend like he had at High A where he was one of the top bats in the league.

That was a clutch HR by Culpepper. Really nice to see him rise to the moment there.  Still looks like issues chasing pitches though.  I think that is something he should work on hard this offseason.  He looks like a good one.

I was down on Amick but he has been making contact and not worrying about power it appears.  He has plenty of power and I know he will get to it in time, but I think focusing on contact is important for him given his in zone swing and miss issue's which dropped him from pick 30 to 60.  If he conquers that he could end up being a steal for the Twins.

[thelanges5]

Nice to see the draft picks doing well for the Mussels. 

[mikelink45]

Connor Prielipp starts and goes 2 2/3 while 19-year-old Adrian Bohorquez goes 5 - time to start pushing the all minor league pitchers to more innings, whether they give up runs or not.  Stretch them out.  Adrian Bohorquez looked good and it is nice to see at least 5 innings from a young pitcher.

 

[FlyingFinn]

MacLeod up to AAA. That has to mean he's going to have to be added to the 40 man roster this winter. Good LH starting pitchers are like gold, especially for the Twins, and he would definitely be snatched in the Rule 5 draft.

[Blyleven2011]

8 hours ago, Dman said:

Prielipp's fastball looks good and the slider is a swing and miss pitch.  He is still struggling to control his pitches and he doesn't appear to have much stamina yet as his pitches looked sharper in the first two innings and while he did manage two quick outs in the third his lack of control did him in.  I think they keep him around 50 pitches and keep him healthy and call it good for this year.  If he gets his control back he looks like he could be really good. I like his delivery and 95 MPH fastball he just needs more time to build up.

Bohorquez looked good the first few innings and then seemed to tire as well.  It's been a longer year for him this year.  His fastball velocity is really good and if you watch him pitch it doesn't seem like it takes much effort for him to pump up the velocity.  Looks like he is playing catch.  Good to see them stretch him out some and give him some A ball time but I would keep the pitch count down. With better command and control he could be a fast mover next year.

I don't know what to think of Langenburg.  It's a different delivery and looks like it takes a lot of effort, but what a night.  He gave up 4 hits but two of those were bunts as Maitan isn't fast and was playing back at third base so Peoria was bunting like crazy to get on base.  With the bases loaded and no outs he K'd the next two guys and got a fly ball to end the inning.  He pitched well and has been pitching well I'm just not sure if I see starter there or not.  Still a great job pitching tonight. I love no walks as that seems like a pitcher that trusts his stuff and is fearless on the mound.

Schobel with a 1.090 OPS in August to almost bring his season OPS to .700.  I don't know if this is just a hot streak or if he has figured something out.  I hope he has figured out how to barrel up those tough breaking balls and be ready to move up to the next level.  He hasn't had a good month at AA yet so I am hopeful this one starts a trend like he had at High A where he was one of the top bats in the league.

That was a clutch HR by Culpepper. Really nice to see him rise to the moment there.  Still looks like issues chasing pitches though.  I think that is something he should work on hard this offseason.  He looks like a good one.

I was down on Amick but he has been making contact and not worrying about power it appears.  He has plenty of power and I know he will get to it in time, but I think focusing on contact is important for him given his in zone swing and miss issue's which dropped him from pick 30 to 60.  If he conquers that he could end up being a steal for the Twins.

It's baby steps for preilipp  ...

Have you any insight on canterino  , it's been a year now since surgery , still having setbacks ? , is he throwing at all ???

Haven't heard or read anything on him this year  , but I was gone most of the first 4 months ...

[tony&rodney]

1 hour ago, mikelink45 said:

Connor Prielipp starts and goes 2 2/3 while 19-year-old Adrian Bohorquez goes 5 - time to start pushing the all minor league pitchers to more innings, whether they give up runs or not.  Stretch them out.  Adrian Bohorquez looked good and it is nice to see at least 5 innings from a young pitcher.

 

Read what Dman wrote. It is right on. I did not see him pitch last night but have been catching his starts. Prielipp is coming off an injury and it will be a long process for him to build back to 80-100 pitches. He looks like superman for about 25-35 pitches and then is gassed. Prielipp has a bright future if he can stay healthy and develop. It will be a slow climb.

I also did not see Bohorquez pitch. Did you watch him? What did you think was noteworthy. I'm going to watch the next time he is on the mound. 

[mikelink45]

13 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Read what Dman wrote. It is right on. I did not see him pitch last night but have been catching his starts. Prielipp is coming off an injury and it will be a long process for him to build back to 80-100 pitches. He looks like superman for about 25-35 pitches and then is gassed. Prielipp has a bright future if he can stay healthy and develop. It will be a slow climb.

I also did not see Bohorquez pitch. Did you watch him? What did you think was noteworthy. I'm going to watch the next time he is on the mound. 

Adrian Bohorquez video  

[ryan189]

1 hour ago, FlyingFinn said:

MacLeod up to AAA. That has to mean he's going to have to be added to the 40 man roster this winter. Good LH starting pitchers are like gold, especially for the Twins, and he would definitely be snatched in the Rule 5 draft.

for one start he will be back after sunday

[ryan189]

2 minutes ago, ryan189 said:

for one start he will be back after sunday

they will also put him on the phantom AAA roster at the end of the year so if he is taken in rule 5 they got to put him on major league roster that won't happen

[LambchoP]

I would also love an update on Canterino. It's been all year now with no updates. Also, what's up with Emmanuel Rodriguez? Got hurt again June 6th. That's almost two months ago and still no updates?

[tony&rodney]

37 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

Adrian Bohorquez video  

Thank you. While I do enjoy watching Tom, I much rather watch the games on milb.com. This is simply a personal preference where I can see the sequences, situations, and flow of the game. I have read about Bohorquez and watched some video, but now I am looking forward to seeing him in a game (milb.com).

[sftwinsfan]

Looks like Prielipp had 3 walks, not great, but better than 5. Agree with others, seems to be a stamina issue for him early on in his comeback from injury. Would be great if he could develop as a starter but I'd take a dominant lefty reliever as well if nothing else. Expectations still pretty low for me on him, some pitchers just can't stay healthy, and he's hardly thrown since he was in high school. 

[tony&rodney]

25 minutes ago, LambchoP said:

what's up with Emmanuel Rodriguez? Got hurt again June 6th. That's almost two months ago and still no updates?

Second that. There was a mention that he was working at the Ft. Myers complex and expected to start play in the FCL, now ended. A report also stated it was a strain (pulled muscle?). Emmanuel was totally dominant and then poof ... he's gone.

[Dman]

3 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Read what Dman wrote. It is right on. I did not see him pitch last night but have been catching his starts. Prielipp is coming off an injury and it will be a long process for him to build back to 80-100 pitches. He looks like superman for about 25-35 pitches and then is gassed. Prielipp has a bright future if he can stay healthy and develop. It will be a slow climb.

I also did not see Bohorquez pitch. Did you watch him? What did you think was noteworthy. I'm going to watch the next time he is on the mound. 

Here is a link to his first game at high A (he starts as at 2:00:00 mark).  It's hard to see much on MiLB TV and in this one the camera work was especially bad at least to start IIRC.  Still on the good shots it looks like a nice easy delivery to me.  I still think there are some control issues, but his stuff appears to be tough to square up and he gave up no runs in his 3 innings of work in that one.  I think Stamina is something he will need to work on, but he is very young so I assume that build up will occur slowly.

I am not quite as high as this Fangraphs writeup is on him, but I do see the same kind of potential they see. I think he and Soto could move through the system together, but will have to wait and see.

"Bohorquez looks, rather soundly, like the best pitcher on the Twins’ Florida complex roster and like one of the higher-upside arms in the entire system. The physically mature righty will command a 92-96 mph fastball that sometimes has 19 inches of vertical break. Off of that he locates an upper-80s cutter to his glove side and then pulls the rug out from under hitters with a slower, mid-70s curveball that features 2,800 rpm of spin on average. He is going to carve up complex-level hitters all summer with this kind of stuff and, based on how advanced his feel for location is, he might not meet any resistance until he reaches High- or Double-A. Look for Bohorquez to develop something with some arm-side action like a split or changeup, something he can use to thwart lefties. That’s virtually the only thing standing between him and a contender’s no. 4 starter projection."