Minor League Report 8/11: Kaelen Culpepper Continues to Rake

[Matt Braun]

He might already be better than Keoni Cavaco. 

Image courtesy of William Parmeter

TRANSACTIONS
LHP Jaylen Nowlin activated from 7-Day IL (AA Wichita)
LHP Christian MacLeod assigned to AAA St. Paul

Saints Sentinel
St. Paul 5, Columbus 6
Box Score
Christian MacLeod: 5 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
HR: Edouard Julien (7), Anthony Prato (3), Chris Williams (13)
Multi-hit games: Anthony Prato (2-for-3, HR, R, 2 RBI, BB)

The Saints fell in a tight affair on Sunday. Even Minnesota’s AAA team couldn’t escape the wrath of the Cleveland organization.

Lefty Christian MacLeod made his AAA debut. The Saints needed a starter, and he drew the shortest straw; just three starts with the Wind Surge portended a “go get ‘em” and a figurative slap on the ass from Twins decision makers. It went about as expected. The Clippers pounced for 1st inning runs before hammering MacLeod for three in the 4th (no thanks to an error from the hurler.) Still, he struck out five and walked only one. He’ll be back following more seasoning.

The St. Paul bats were sparse. Knocks were hard to come by. Homers for nothing, and your hits for free. They earned just six base hits all day, but half of them left the ballpark: Edouard Julien, Anthony Prato, and Chris Williams each blasted a bomb, totaling almost enough offense to best Columbus.

 

 

That Williams crush job—the ball traveled 434 feet according to Statcast—gave him the outright record for homers hit by a St. Paul Saint. 

Unfortunately, the long balls were not quite enough, as—just like the last two Twins losses—St. Paul’s opponents added to their lead, rendering the final Williams shot an aesthetic and statistical marvel but not a game-tying blow. 

The Clippers enjoy the services of the 34th-best prospect in baseball, first baseman Kyle Manzardo. He walked once in four plate appearances.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 10, Corpus Christi 1
Box Score
Jaylen Nowlin: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K
HR: Andrew Cossetti 2 (6, 7), Ben Ross (10)
Multi-hit games: Jeferson Morales (2-for-4, R), Carson McCusker (2-for-5, R, 3 RBI), Andrew Cossetti (2-for-4, 2 HR, 3 R, 3 RBI, BB), Kyler Fedko (2-for-3, R, 2 BB), Ben Ross (2-for-4, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB)

The Wind Surge crushed their opponent on Sunday.

Despite missing nearly three weeks of play, Jaylen Nowlin looked spectacular. The Atlanta native buzzed through four efficient innings, punching out five while allowing just two hits; no one earned a free base off him. It was about as good a start anyone could have asked for, given his recent injury.

And the bats had his back. They slugged through the middle innings, pasting each pitcher the Hooks sent out, soiling ERAs with their big flies. The main culprit? Andrew Cossetti, the 2023 breakout star, refound some of his old juice to blast a pair of moonshot.

 

Not to let one man have all the fun, Ben Ross also sent a skyscraper out to left field. 

Wichita's bullpen did a fabulous job in continuing Nowlin's effort. Cody Laweryson surrendered a run, but that was it; Mason Fox, Regi Grace, Ricardo Velez, and Miguel Rodriguez tossed up doughnuts to keep the pitching breezy and dominating. 

The Hooks are the AA affiliate of the Houston Astros, whose minor-league systems resemble very little of the ones they churned out in years past. The team's 38-69 record can attest to that. Still, their 10th-ranked prospect, Kenedy Corona, played in Sunday's game, going 0-for-4 out of the leadoff spot. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 4, Peoria 3
Box Score
John Klein: 3 ⅔ IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 2 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: None

The Kernels broke away late to win on Sunday.

It should have been apparent that we were in for something good when Walker Jenkins led off the game with a first-pitch triple, almost busting down the wall in the process.

 

 

He later scored, and—in conjunction with a 3rd inning scuffle that plated a second run—gave starter John Klein some breathing room early. His two opening frames looked good, but the Chiefs quickly overwhelmed him in the 3rd, scoring a trio of runs against the Brooklyn Park native.

Fortunately, Kyle Hess singled home a run the next inning to tie the game and let Klein off the hook.

That settled things for a while. Peoria put a man on third twice during the middle innings, but a damaging blow eluded them; their runners were forced to jog silently to the dugout, unable to dent the scoreboard. The Kernels, though, did bring one of their runners home, coaxing in Kevin Maitan with an 8th-inning sacrifice fly. 

Gabriel Yanez shut things down in the 8th, and Nolan Santos cruised through the 9th to give the Kernels their 58th win of the season. 

The Chiefs are led by St. Louis’ 6th overall prospect, outfielder Chase Davis. He reached base three times in five plate appearances. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 5, Jupiter 4 (10 Innings)
Box Score
Ross Dunn: 3 ⅔ IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: Kaelen Culpepper (2-for-5, 2B, R, RBI), Khadim Diaw (2-for-3, RBI, 2 BB), Jay Thomason (2-for-5, RBI)

The Fort Myers 2024 Draft Picks won in extra innings on Sunday.

Kaelen Culpepper continues to swing an incendiary bat. Minnesota’s 1st round selection just a few weeks ago has already clubbed a trio of extra-base hits across three games, going 5-for-13 total with a pair of walks. Early returns suggest an excellent investment.

 

 

The Mighty Mussels, as a whole, were scrappy and annoying, but in a good way. They took eight walks—three alone by Byron Chourio—and paired their plethora of free bases with nine hits; only one for extra bases, certainly, yet their Piranha-like intensity was enough to scrape by their opponents. Only one batter failed to reach base safely. He (Jaime Ferrer) still earned an RBI and a run. 

And they (mostly) pitched well. Starter Ross Dunn found one of his finest outings of the season, reaching the 4th inning without an earned run. He struck out three. Devin Kirby then delivered the game to the 7th before the typically tremendous Samuel Perez experienced a rare blowup. His first frame was fine; the 8th was not. A few runners reached base, and Tomas Cleto allowed them to score—with aid from a balk and an error from Kyle DeBarge. 

Fort Myers took the lead in extras when Jay Thomason immediately singled in the Manfred runner, and they finally earned the win when Wilker Reyes slammed the door shut in the bottom half of the frame.

Miami’s 15th-ranked prospect, Yiddi Cappe, singled once in three at-bats.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Jaylen Nowlin
Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Andrew Cossetti

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:

#1– Walker Jenkins (Cedar Rapids) - 1-4, 3B, R, BB
#6 - David Festa (Minnesota) -  3 ⅓ IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K
#9 - Kaelen Culpepper (Fort Myers) - 2-5, 2B, R, RBI, K
#12 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) - 0-4, BB, 2 K
#16 - Kyle DeBarge (Fort Myers) - 1-4, R, BB, 2 K
#17 – Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 1-4, R, RBI, BB

MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
DSL Rangers Blue @ DSL Twins (10:00 AM) - TBD

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[terrydactyls]

Walker Jenkins led off the game with a triple off the wall but ended up going 0 for 2?????   Does not compute!!

[roger]

Another good game by a trio of recent draft picks playing in Fort Myers.  Always good seeing Jenkins getting an extra base hit.  Has been more of them of late.

[Jeff K]

Julien seems to be rediscovering his game.  I hope he keeps it up.  Twins might need him if Brooks Lee is out for awhile.  Meanwhile, somehow, Kyle Farmer is still with the Twins.  My goodness.

[LambchoP]

Nice to see Julien with that hit streak going. I wonder what his K numbers have been like, as that was his problem in the majors seemingly all year, staring at strike three at bat after at bat. If he could get hot it'd be a nice boost for our middle infield. Austin Martin has been serviceable defensively, but hasn't shown much at the plate. Hopefully Correa gets his butt back out there soon. Castro is not a SS and Farmer should have been DFA'd months ago. Nice to see some early success from K Culpeper. Maybe we can grow him into a solid power hitter down the road...

[TwinsTX]

4 hours ago, LambchoP said:

Nice to see Julien with that hit streak going. I wonder what his K numbers have been like, as that was his problem in the majors seemingly all year, staring at strike three at bat after at bat. If he could get hot it'd be a nice boost for our middle infield. Austin Martin has been serviceable defensively, but hasn't shown much at the plate. Hopefully Correa gets his butt back out there soon. Castro is not a SS and Farmer should have been DFA'd months ago. Nice to see some early success from K Culpeper. Maybe we can grow him into a solid power hitter down the road...

23 Ks in his last 60 PA in St. Paul. Not good.  But a .900 OPS over that time so he's crushing it when he makes contact.

[Doctor Wu]

That 3-week break seemed to do Jaylen Nowlin a lot of good: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K

That's a VERY nice outing!