Twins Minor League Report (8/17): Andrew Cossetti, Gabriel Gonzalez Provide the Pop

[Seth Stohs]

It was a tough day in the Twins minor leagues, at least if you look at Wins and Losses. I guess on Saturday, there are only Losses to look at. However, each team affiliate had a couple of very noteworthy performances, including a couple of three-hit games, several homers including one b a 2024 top pick, and the return of a young prospect. 

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge (photo of Andrew Cossetti)

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 70-53
St. Paul Saints: 56-62
Wichita Wind Surge: 49-64
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 60-51
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 60-48
FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete)
DSL Twins: 28-25 

TRANSACTIONS
The Mighty Mussels announced the return of a mighty bat. OF Jose Rodriguez was activated from the 60-Day Injured List. 

RHP Scott Blewett has had an interesting few days. He made his first MLB appearance since 2011. The next day, he was Designated for Assignment. We learned on Thursday that he had cleared waivers and the Twins outrighted him to St. Paul. Then on Friday night, news came out that he had elected free agency. Well, on Saturday afternoon, the Saints announced that the Twins re-signed Blewett to a minor-league deal. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 5, Indianapolis 6
Box Score
Former Twins bench coach Derek Shelton was named the manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates after the 2019 season. His team is seven games under .500 right now and in fifth place in the NL Central. However, the team signed outfielder Bryan Reynolds a couple of years ago to a long-term deal. Veteran RHP Mitch Keller was locked up before this season. 

Jared Jones made a rehab start against the Saints the other day. The rookie made the team’s opening day roster and has ace potential and a triple-digit fastball. He’s been on the Injured List for a couple of months. Everyone is aware of Livvy Dunne’s boyfriend (Paul Skenes). He was called up two months into the season and started the All Star game for the National League. He will be a Cy Young contender for years to come, assuming health. And Luis Ortiz has done well in whatever role he's played. 

On Friday, the Saints saw RHP Bubba Chandler, a top 40ish prospect in all of baseball. The former two-sport, two-way player has flown up the ladder this year after transitioning fully to the mound just last year. He quieted the Saints in his second Triple-A start. On Saturday, the Pirates #5 prospect, Thomas Harrington, tossed seven scoreless innings against the Saints. He gave up just two hits and no walks. He was the 36th overall pick in the 2022 draft and could be ready very soon. 

In other words, in a couple of years, it just might be good to be Derek Shelton. I mean, it probably already is. He is very well respected around the game, but with that kind of pitching and the likes of Ke’Bryan Hayes and O’Neil Cruz and more, the Pirates could be ready to contend for a while. 

So, you just got a few paragraphs on the future of the Pittsburgh Pirates and some key cogs in that hope who are already at Triple-A Indianapolis. That’s because this wasn’t a very interesting game for a Saints fan. 

St. Paul had just three total hits in the game, and Yunior Severino had two of them. All three were singles. Rylan Bannon went 1-for-2 with a walk. The team went just 0-for-1 with runners in scoring position. 

Randy Dobnak made the start for the Saints. After working sparingly out of the Twins bullpen the past couple of weeks, he was eased back into the starting role. He gave up one run on four hits over four innings. He had two walks and six strikeouts. 

Nick Wittgren came on and gave up two runs on four hits over his two innings. Giovanny Gallegos and Josh Winder each tossed a scoreless inning. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 8, Arkansas 9
Box Score
This was a bit of a back and forth game through the first seven innings. Both teams had a big inning, and scored in more innings too. However, the road team, the Travelers, took the final lead in the top of the seventh and held on. 

Jaylen Nowlin got the start for Wichita. He gave up a first-inning run and tossed a scoreless second inning. However, he started the third inning, but with one out, the Travelers already had two more runs and the bases were loaded. Jarret Whorff came in and allowed all three inherited runners and one of his own to score. He gave up another run in the fourth inning. 

Nowlin went 2 1/3 innings. He was charged with six runs on four hits and four walks. He also had five strikeouts. Whorff was charged with two runs on four hits in 1 2/3 innings. 

The Surge scored two runs in the second inning. Aaron Sabato was hit by a pitch and advanced to third base on Andrew Cossetti’s 15th double of the season. With one out, Kyler Fedko was batting. Sabato scored on a balk, and then Fedko drove in Cossetti with a sacrifice fly. 

Wichita surged to score four very quick runs in their half of the fourth inning. Carson McCusker led off with his 26th double. Sabato singled him to third base. Cossetti drove McCusker in with a single. Then Dalton Shuffield launched his third Wichita homer. The three-run blast cut the deficit to 8-6. 

That’s when Regi Grace came in. He tossed two scoreless innings to keep his team in striking distance. 

With one out in the bottom of the sixth, Cossetti hit his eighth home run of the year. With two outs, Fedko doubled and scored the tying run on a Jorel Ortega single. 

Taylor Floyd came in and allowed an unearned run in the top of the seventh that proved to be the game-winner. Miguel Rodriguez struck out two in a scoreless ninth inning.

Andrew Cossetti had a very nice game at the plate. He went 3-for-4 with a double and his eighth home run. Jake Rucker went 2-for-5 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 6, South Bend 3 
Box Score
South Bend started the game with three runs in the top of the first inning. The Kernels bats responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning, and two other two-run innings. The Kernels pitching responded by putting eight zeroes on the board. 

Connor Prielipp, the lefty who is still essentially rehabbing from his elbow procedure, started and tossed the first three innings. He gave up three runs in the first inning and then threw two scoreless innings.  

Minnesotan John Klein came on in the “bulk” role. He tossed five scoreless innings. He gave up just four hits and no walks, and he had three strikeouts. Mike Paredes struck out two batters in a perfect ninth inning to record the save. Klein improved to 8-2 on the season while Paredes picked up his second save. 

The Kernels faced another top college draft pick from recent years who is returning from Tommy John surgery. Jaxon Wiggins had six strikeouts over the first three innings, but he did give up two runs on five hits, two walks and a hit batter. 

Walker Jenkins led off the bottom of the first inning with a double. After two outs, he stole third base. Rixon Wingrove hit his third home run since joining the Kernels just over a week ago. 

The Kernels took the lead for good with another two-spot in the fourth inning. Yovanny Cabrera came in to replace Wiggins and got the first out. Jenkins drew a walk and scored on a Gabriel Gonzalez double. Rubel Cespedes followed with an opposite field single to drive in Gonzalez with the go-ahead run. 

It took until the eighth inning, but Cedar Rapids added a couple of insurance runs. Jose Salas led off with a single. Nick Lucky was hit by a pitch. With one out, an errant pickoff attempt allowed the runners to advance. Gabriel Gonzalez then drove in both runners with his 14th double of the season. 

Gonzalez led the way. He was 3-for-5 with two doubles and three RBI. Eight of the nine Kernels batters had at least one hit, though Gonzalez was the only hitter with multiple hits on Saturday. Nate Baez went 1-for-2 with two walks.  

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 4, Lakeland 2
Box Score
These teams played 18 half-innings in this game at Hammond Stadium on Saturday, and fans only saw runs scored in three of them. Lakeland put up three runs in the fifth inning. The Mussels scored two in the bottom of the seventh, but that’s as close as they got.  

The big takeaway from this game was the start by young Adrian Bohorquez. He tossed four scoreless innings and gave up just one hit. He walked three and had four strikeouts. 

In case you were wondering... He threw 28 four-seam fastballs and got five whiffs. They were between 92.5 mph and 95.8 mph with an average of 94.2 mph. He threw 27 sliders that averaged 86.1 mph. He also threw five slow curveballs which averaged 76.6 mph.

Paulshawn Pasqualotto came in and worked the next four innings. He gave up three runs in the fifth inning before tossing three scoreless innings. He gave up five total hits and had two strikeouts. Cleiber Maldonado gave up one run on one hit and had two strikeouts in the ninth inning. 

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Caden Kendle walked, and with one out, Kaelen Culpepper hit his second pro homer to make the score 3-2. 

Byron Chourio was the lone Mussel with multiple hits. He was 2-for-4. Culpepper went 1-for-4 with his home run. In his return to the lineup, Jose Rodriguez went 1-for-3 with a walk. 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – John Klein (Cedar Rapids) - 5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 65 pitches, 42 strikes (64.6%).
Hitter of the Day – Andrew Cossetti (Wichita) - 3-for-4, 2B(15), HR(8), 3 R, 2 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) – 1-for-4, BB, 2B(6), 2 R, SB(2), K 
#6 - David Festa (Minnesota) -  5.0 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 81 pitches, 54 strikes (66.7%)
#7 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – 3-for-5, 2-2B(14), R, 3 RBI, K.   
#9 - Kaelen Culpepper (Fort Myers) - 1-for-4, HR(2), R, 2 RBI.
#12 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – 0-for-4, K
#16 - Kyle DeBarge (Fort Myers) - 1-for-3, BB, R, 2 K, SB(7).
#17 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 1-for-5, 2B(17).
#20 – Connor Prielipp (Cedar Rapids) – 3.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 3 K, WP. 44 pitches, 30 strikes (68.2%) 

SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Indianapolis (6:05 PM CST) – RHP Andrew Morris (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Arkansas @ Wichita (1:05 PM CST) – LHP Christian MacLeod (0-1, 3.52 ERA) 
South Bend @ Cedar Rapids (1:05 PM CST) – RHP Jeremy Lee (1-4, 4.50 ERA)
Lakeland @ Ft. Myers (1:05 PM CST) – LHP Ross Dunn (1-3, 5.68 ERA)

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

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[FlyingFinn]

Behourquez - he really is a pitcher to watch. Another good outing for him.

[DJL44]

Culpepper not having much trouble adjusting to wood bats.

[Old Crow]

Morris going for the Saints tonight should be fun to watch.

[roger]

 

great seeing Gonzalez playing well.  Hopefully, he can stay on the field the rest of the season.  Good seeing Prielipp settle down after a trying first inning.  See he had just over 40 pitches again.  

Is there any news on ERod? 

[terrydactyls]

Only losses to look at?  Half the teams won.

[LambchoP]

Culpepper keeps on hitting. Good to see Gabby Gonzalez break out a bit and have a good game. It'd be really nice to get an update on E Rodriguez though. Is his season done? I know it was a re injury, but I thought it was just a jammed thumb or something. It's been two months now. Makes you wonder what they're not telling us. I was really hoping he could come back and push for a September call up to AAA, making a MLB call up next year a possibility. Looks like that won't happen now:( Should be fun to see how Morris does in his first AAA start. He's been just as lights out as any pitcher in our system this year.

[madtowntwin]

Chourio is a hot surname in MLB right now....

[SaberNerd]

Culpepper and Kendle both are making too much contact to stay at low A.  SSS, but with a 5% and 3% K-rate respectively, I'd promote both of them Monday.

[DJL44]

2 hours ago, SaberNerd said:

Culpepper and Kendle both are making too much contact to stay at low A.  SSS, but with a 5% and 3% K-rate respectively, I'd promote both of them Monday.

There's only 3 weeks left in the season for all levels below AAA. Keep them in Fort Myers through fall instructs.

[DJL44]

Speaking of only 3 weeks left in the season, are Fort Myers and Cedar Rapids going to make the playoffs? Are there any players from Wichita who could join the Saints for September (McCusker, Adams, Raya, Nowlin, Grace)?