Twins Minor League Report (9/5): Walker Jenkins, Kaelen Culpepper Lead Kernels to Win

[Seth Stohs]

The Twins got a much-needed Win. The Saints game ended in a walkoff. Wichita put a couple of crooked numbers on the board and held on for a nice win. And the past two top draft picks helped the Kernels to a win over Wisconsin. Of course, the Mighty Mussels need wins if they want to make the playoffs. See if they were able to maintain an opportunity. And much more in Thursday's Twins Minor League Report. 

Image courtesy of David Malamut (@MWLArchives on X)

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 76-64
St. Paul Saints: 65-69
Wichita Wind Surge: 55-74
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 66-61
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 64-57
FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete)
DSL Twins: 30-25 (season complete) 

TRANSACTIONS
It may have taken a little longer than many of us thought it should, but OF DaShawn Keirsey, Jr. has been called up to the Twins. OF Max Kepler went on the 10-Day Injured List. LHP Kody Funderburk was placed on the 60-Day IL to make room for Keirsey on the 40-man roster. 

Also, RHP Josh Winder was placed on the 7-Day IL. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 7, Iowa 6 
Box Score
The Saints scored the first three runs of the game in the bottom of the first inning. In the bottom of the seventh, they added three more. In between, the Cubs scored six straight. Essentially that made this a two-inning game.

With one out in the bottom of the first, Diego A. Castillo doubled and Emmanuel Rodriguez walked. Yunior Severino drove in Castillo with a single. With two outs, Rodriguez scored on a wild pitch. After a fielding error kept the inning alive, Rylan Bannon drove in Severino with a single. 

Caleb Boushley started. He went four innings and gave up two runs on six hits. He had three walks and five strikeouts. Jeff Brigham worked the next two innings. He gave up two runs on three hits and two walks. He struck out two batters. Trevor Richards pitched the seventh inning. He gave up two runs on one hit (home run) and a walk. He had one strikeout. 

Down 6-3 during the 7th Inning Stretch, the Saints mounted their comeback. With one out, Payton Eeles was hit by a pitch. He moved up one base on a Castillo single. Rodriguez singled to right to load the bases. Severino came through again with a two-run single. With two outs and still down a run, Jair Camargo singled to score Rodriguez with the tying run. 

With the game now tied 6-6 to start the eighth inning, Toby Gardenhire turned to veteran Giovanny Gallegos. He was able to get Matt Shaw, Moises Ballesteros and Brennen Davis in order. 

The Saints missed an incredible opportunity. Patrick Winkel led off with a single. Anthony Prato ran for him. Chris Williams singled and Payton Eeles was hit by a pitch to load the bases. The Cubs turned things over to Frankie Scalzo. He struck out Castillo on six pitches. Then on a 2-0 sweeper, Rodriguez got jammed and softly hit into a double play. 

If you enjoy Win Probability, here’s how that inning looked. When the Twins had the bases loaded, they had a Win Probability of 86.8% Following the Castillo strikeout, that number dropped to 77.3% Following the double play, the odds were back to 50.0% 

Hobie Harris came in for the top of the ninth. He gave up a single and a walk, but got three strikeouts to keep the game tied. 

With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Carson McCusker singled. Camargo was hit by a pitch. With two outs, Anthony Prato singled a single to center to drive in McCusker with the winning run. 

The Saints had 12 hits in the game. Only Eeles didn’t have a hit, though he was twice hit by a pitch. Castillo went 2-for-4 with a walk and his 22nd double. McCusker was 2-for-4 with a walk and his second Saints double. Severino was 2-for-5 and drove in three runs. Rodriguez and Camargo each had a single and a walk. Camargo was also hit by a pitch. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 6, Frisco 4
Box Score
Wichita put up five runs in the top of the third, but was it enough? 

Christian MacLeod wasn’t quite on his game the way he has been the last couple of months. He gave up two runs in the first and two more runs in the third inning. However, he stayed tough and was able to give his team five innings. He gave up those four runs on five hits. He walked four and had four strikeouts. 

The top of the third began with a single by Jorel Ortega and a walk by Ben Ross. Following a flyout, Jake Rucker singled to right to put the Surge on the scoreboard. On a double-steal attempt, Ross scored the second run. Tanner Schobel then singled to center to drive in Rucker. Alex Isola followed with his first home run since returning to Wichita recently. 

Wichita maintained their 5-4 lead until the top of the eighth. Isola walked, and with one out, Andrew Cossetti walked. After a pitching change, Kyler Fedko singled to left to drive in Isola and give the Wind Surge an insurance run. 

Was the pitching able to hold that lead? MacLeod finished with two scoreless innings. John Stankiewicz gave up two hits over two scoreless innings. Jarret Whorff walked two but struck out three batters over two scoreless, hitless innings to record his first Wichita Save. And it might surprise you that it also earned MacLeod his first Wichita Win. 

Wichita had six hits, but they also took advantage of seven walks. Fedko was the lone hitter with two hits. He also had the only extra base hit, his 13th double. Isola had the homer along with two walks. Cossetti and Ross each walked twice in the game as well. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 5, Wisconsin 3  
Box Score
The Kernels scored first in the bottom of the third. They took a 5-0 lead through five innings, but how did the second half of the game go? Did they hang on?  

Kaelen Culpepper led off the bottom of the third inning with a single and stole second base. Following an out, Rixon Wingrove hit his fifth Kernels home run to make it 2-0. 

With two outs in the fourth inning, Walker Jenkins doubled and went to third on a balk. He scored when Culpepper reached on an error. 

With two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, Misael Urbina hit his fifth home run, a two-run shot to make it 5-0. 

Spencer Bengard made the start for the Kernels. He tossed four scoreless innings. He gave up just two hits and a walk while striking out three batters. 

Jacob Wosinski gave up one run on two hits and two walks over his two innings. Nolan Santos was charged with an unearned run over his two innings. He gave up no hits and a walk, and he had two strikeouts. Samuel Perez gave up a solo home run in the top of the ninth but that was hit. He recorded his first Kernels Save. 

Walker Jenkins led off and went 3-for-4 with a walk and his 12th double. He also stole two bases. Culpepper batted second and went 1-for-3 with two walks. He also reached on an error and stole a base. Wingrove and Urbina each went 1-for-3 with a walk and their fifth homer with Cedar Rapids this year. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 2, Lakeland 0 (Game Suspended)
Box Score
Coming into this game, the Mussels needed to win three of the four remaining games to move past Lakeland and make the playoffs. So relative to the Florida State League playoffs, this is a pretty important game so they will try their best to play not only the remainder of this game, but also to play all four of the remaining games. 

Both teams went scoreless in the first inning. The Mussels scored two runs in the top of the second inning, but that’s when the game was delayed and eventually suspended. In fact, two Mussels hitters were hit by a pitch, so play clearly needed to be stopped. 

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day - Walker Jenkins (Cedar Rapids) - 3-for-4, BB, 2B(12), R, 2 SB(8).
Pitcher of the Day - Spencer Bengard (Cedar Rapids) - 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, 78 pitches, 49 strikes (62.8%) 

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

#1– Walker Jenkins (Cedar Rapids) – 3-for-4, BB, 2B(12), 2 SB(8).   
#2 – Brooks Lee (Minnesota) – 0-for-1 (PH) 
#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, BB, 2 R, 2 K
#9 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-3, 2 BB, SB(2).  
#12 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – Game Suspended  
#15 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - 0-for-5, 3 K.
#16 - Kyle DeBarge (Fort Myers) - Game Suspended.
#17 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 1-for-5, R, RBI, 2 K.

FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Iowa @ St. Paul (6:37 PM CST) – RHP Andrew Morris (1-0, 3.15 ERA)
Wichita @ Frisco (7:05 PM CST) – RHP Marco Raya (2-4, 4.68 ERA)
Wisconsin @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CST) – RHP Darren Bowen (2-9, 5.94 ERA)
Ft. Myers @ Lakeland (DH @ 4:00 PM CST) – RHP Jose Olivares (2-2, 2.93 ERA), TBD 

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

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[Doctor Wu]

Thanks for another thorough roundup. I was lukewarm to the Culpepper pick initially, but his play has been impressive thus far. 

[DaveW44]

I was at the saints game last night. Got to see Trevor Richards walk a guy, throw a wild pitch and give up a two run bomb. 
kind of hard to believe the guy stayed with the big club as long as he did. 

[jmlease1]

Walker Jenkins continues to impress. Please stay healthy! I keep having to remind myself that this is his first full season in pro ball. But I'm increasingly of the opinion that he will start next season in AA. Maybe the Twins will want to see more than 35-40 games at high A, but...maybe not! He's so good.

[SaberNerd]

1 hour ago, DaveW44 said:

I was at the saints game last night. Got to see Trevor Richards walk a guy, throw a wild pitch and give up a two run bomb. 
kind of hard to believe the guy stayed with the big club as long as he did. 

Everyone gets seduced by his changeup (we're team #5 for him).  If only he had the ability to control where it went.

[LambchoP]

Good to see our high minors bats doing well. Rodriguez and Severino both look like they are knocking on the door. Hopefully sometime next year. Eeles also really looking like he wants to be in the majors. I'm hoping these guys force their way into the team with performance and aren't forced into a debut because of injuries. Jenkins is a doubles machine! I think he could possibly start at AA next year. Most likely he starts at A+ and gets a early season promotion. The key here with all of these guys is keeping them healthy and getting their playing time in. Our team seems to struggle with this...

[DJL44]

23 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

Walker Jenkins continues to impress. Please stay healthy! I keep having to remind myself that this is his first full season in pro ball. But I'm increasingly of the opinion that he will start next season in AA. Maybe the Twins will want to see more than 35-40 games at high A, but...maybe not! He's so good.

I expect he will start again at Cedar Rapids. There is so much attrition as the season goes on due to injuries. In the spring teams are still hoarding players and trying to figure out what they have which makes the AAA roster full of veterans. Some of that depth pushes "org" players down to AA. 

[SaberNerd]

16 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

I expect he will start again at Cedar Rapids. There is so much attrition as the season goes on due to injuries. In the spring teams are still hoarding players and trying to figure out what they have which makes the AAA roster full of veterans. Some of that depth pushes "org" players down to AA. 

I could see that, but I also think he could go to the AFL to make up lost time and start at AA if he does well there.  You don't keep your top prospect at a lower level then you want to keep org filler guys at a higher level.

[roger]

Absolutely fantastic, Seth, seeing ERod's name in the Saints box score.  After missing so much time I don't care what the results are.  Just want to see him playing every day.

It seems like almost every game there is a mention of Jenkins in the Kernels write-up.  Usually with a double.  A few more three hit games like yesterday and he will be hitting over .300 average with a .900 OPS.  Not bad for a what, 19 year-old, in high-A after missing a good chunk of the season.  Continue to dream that this kid just might be the real deal?