Twins Minor League Report (9/10): Jenkins' Double-A Debut

[Steve Lein]

The top Minnesota Twins prospect made his debut at a new level, while a couple of affiliate’s players enjoyed their first week off since back in March. The St. Paul Saints got contributions from up and down their lineup against a team fighting for a playoff spot.

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge (photo of Walker Jenkins)

TRANSACTIONS
In addition to the promotions announced yesterday to the Wichita Wind Surge that included top prospect OF Walker Jenkins and RHP Jacob Wosinski, there were a few moves in Triple-A in advance of Tuesday’s game in Columbus, Ohio.

• The Minnesota Twins sent LHP Kody Funderburk on a rehab assignment with the Saints.
• OF Maddux Houghton was also assigned to St. Paul from the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels.
• RHP Kyle Bischoff was assigned from the Wind Surge.

The seasons of the Cedar Rapids Kernels and Fort Myers Mighty Mussels are over, and for the first time since 2018, the Kernels won’t be in the Midwest League playoffs. The Kernels finished the second half 30-36, eight games back of the West Division winning Quad Cities River Bandits of the Kansas City Royals organization. They finished the first half of the season in second place at 37-27, four games behind the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers of the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Mighty Mussels finished their second half 35-25, just a half-game behind the Lakeland Flying Tigers, the Detroit Tigers Single-A affiliate, who took four of six games against Fort Myers last week to clinch the division. Fort Myers finished the first half with a 31-34 record, which was good for fourth place in the division. Their last playoff appearance was in 2022.

Onto Tuesday’s games!

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 7, Columbus 4
Box Score
Taking the mound for the second time with the Saints since being placed on the injured list all the way back in April, was lefty Brent Headrick. He allowed a walk in the first inning, but erased it with a double-play ball for a scoreless inning.

In the second he allowed a leadoff single, and two batters later a two-run home run for an early 2-0 Clippers lead. Headrick was back out for the third, but reached his pitch count after two batters and was relieved by Ryan Jensen. In all, Headrick threw 2 2/3 innings, allowing two earned runs on two hits and two walks. He threw 49 pitches, with 27 going for strikes (55%).

The Saints got a one-out triple from Jeferson Morales in their second inning, but weren’t able to string anything together to bring him in. They made up for that, and then some, in the third.

Diego Castillo got them on the scoreboard with a one-out solo home run to center, his eighth of the season.

Yunior Severino followed with a single in front of consecutive walks to Emmanuel Rodriguez and Carson McCusker to load the bases. Chris Williams then tied the game at two with an RBI single. Morales then hit a liner at third base that was misplayed, allowing Rodriguez to score to take the lead, but the Clippers did record a force out at second. Rylan Bannon then delivered a double to make it 4-2, before Anthony Prato traded places with him to drive in two more and put the Saints out front by four. Payton Eeles then committed a cardinal sin, grounding out to first to end the inning, meaning he unfortunately made the first and final out of the frame in the same manner. I think we can forgive him.

St. Paul’s lineup added a single run in the fourth after Severino clubbed his 19th double of the season. A hard single from McCusker drove him in, putting them out front 7-2.

Out of the bullpen, Jensen recorded the final out of the third then gave way to the rehabbing Kody Funderburk for the fourth. Funderburk pitched a one-two-three inning, picking up a strikeout on his final hitter. Then Randy Dobnak took over the rest of the way.

Over the final five innings Dobnak allowed two earned runs on four hits and a pair of walks. He struck out four. He retired the side in order in two of his innings, and allowed just a walk in another. Of his 76 pitches, 47 went for strikes (62%) and he improved his Triple-A record to 12-6 on the season.

The Saints got multiple hits from Castillo (2-for-5, R, HR, RBI, K, SB), Severino (2-for-4, 2 R, 2B, BB, K), and Morales (2-for-4, R, 3B, RBI, K). Six different hitters scored a run, and six different hitters had an RBI in the win.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Tulsa 5, Wichita 4
Box Score
Lefty Jaylen Nowlin toed the rubber for the Wind Surge on Tuesday, and delivered a strong outing, but the biggest storyline here was the Double-A debut of soon-to-be number one prospect in all of baseball, Walker Jenkins.

He was in the leadoff spot playing center field, and in his first at-bat took a cut at the first pitch he saw…and popped it up to the third baseman. It was a really high pop-up, if that matters. One of those “had the height…” ones. In his second at-bat, he swung and missed at a couple of changeups, but laid off everything else and drew a walk.

Nowlin completed the first five innings, being charged with two runs (one earned) on two hits and three walks, while striking out five. The Drillers scored single runs in each of the third and fourth innings while Nowlin was on the mound. In the third he was ambushed with a home run on the first pitch of the frame. In the fourth, a pair of leadoff walks preceded a two-out error from Nowlin that allowed a run to score. Of his 84 pitches in the game, 51 went for strikes (61%), including 12 swinging. 

Wichita matched Tulsa in each of the third and fourth frames, with single runs of their own. Their first run came after Jorel Ortega was hit by a pitch, advanced to second on a passed ball, and scored on a single from Ben Ross. They tied the game back up at two in the fourth after Andrew Cossetti and Kyler Fedko each drew two-out walks. Ortega then brought in the run with an RBI single. Ross followed with a single that loaded the bases for Jenkins, but he would ground out to end the inning.

The Wind Surge took a 3-2 lead in the sixth after Cossetti led off the inning with a booming double to left. Unfortunately, he got caught in no-man's land on a chopper back to the pitcher, and was tagged out. But he did give Kyler Fedko enough time to take his place at second base. After a fly out, Ross clubbed another double to score Fedko before Jenkins again grounded out to end the threat.

The recently-promoted Jacob Wosinksi made his Double-A debut after Nowlin was done, pitching the sixth and seventh innings. He worked around a two-out single and a walk in the sixth, then delivered a one-two-three seventh, including a pair of strikeouts.

Regi Grace came on for the eighth with the 3-2 lead, but after it was done the Wind Surge were down 5-3. A leadoff walk led to a two-run homer, and another walk would come around to score on a single after that. He struck out one.

The Drillers brought in the 100 MPH throwing Juan Morillo to start the eighth inning, and the Wind Surge threatened with singles from Cossetti and Kyler Fedko, but a double-play ball shut it down just as quick as it started.

Cody Laweryson pitched a one-two-three top of the ninth, keeping Wichita within two with the top of the lineup and Jenkins getting one more chance. While Jenkins couldn’t quite do enough with a 100 MPH fastball, grounding out to third, Kala’i Rosario turned one of the same pitches into a 110 MPH solo home run, pulling them within one.

Unfortunately Jake Rucker flew out to end the game.

It wasn’t flashy at the plate for Jenkins in his Double-A debut by any means, as he finished 0-for-4 with a walk and will look for his first hit tomorrow. Ross led the way out of the nine-hole, finishing 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI. Rucker added a double to the effort. As a team the Wind Surge finished 4-for-13 with runners in scoring position, and left eight men on base.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day - Jaylen Nowlin, Wichita Wind Surge (5 IP, 2 H, 2 R (1 ER), 3 BB, 5 K)
Hitter of the Day - Ben Ross, Wichita Wind Surge (3-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI, K)

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

#1 – Walker Jenkins (Wichita) – 0-for-4, BB
#2 – Brooks Lee (Minnesota) – 0-for-4, K
#3 – Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) – 1-for-4, R, BB, K
#15 – Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) – 1-for-5, R, HR (7), RBI, 3 K

WEDNESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Columbus (5:15 PM CDT) - RHP Caleb Boushley (9-5, 4.95 ERA)
Tulsa @ Wichita (7:05 PM CDT) - TBD

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

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[LambchoP]

Didn't the Twins have a really hard throwing Juan Morillo in our system years ago? I swear I remember him making like 2 or 3 appearances. Dude threw 100 mph but couldn't find the strike zone. Anyways, congrats to Jenkins. Will be pretty cool to have the number one baseball prospect. Hopefully he can handle all the pressure put on a number one guy. He's looked great so far

[Steve Lein]

8 minutes ago, LambchoP said:

Didn't the Twins have a really hard throwing Juan Morillo in our system years ago? I swear I remember him making like 2 or 3 appearances. Dude threw 100 mph but couldn't find the strike zone. Anyways, congrats to Jenkins. Will be pretty cool to have the number one baseball prospect. Hopefully he can handle all the pressure put on a number one guy. He's looked great so far

Yes, they did. I had to double-check to make sure it wasn't the same guy 😁

[DJL44]

Brooks Lee has exceeded rookie eligibility. He's not a prospect anymore.

[roger]

If Jenkins is the #1 prospect next year, will he be the first Twin ever to be #1?

Exciting seeing Jenkins at AA and ERod at AAA.  On track for both helping the 2025 Twins battle for the playoffs.  Also good seeing Funderburk with a clean inning in his rehab.  Will he return to the Twins before years end?  They sure could use a second lefty in the pen.  But more important, can he be a solid lefty for them in 2025?

[Steve Lein]

17 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Brooks Lee has exceeded rookie eligibility. He's not a prospect anymore.

You are correct. However, this is our Top Prospect list, which was last updated in early August. We have not ever made changes to this list on the fly for graduating players. Perhaps this is a suggestion for us? Probably a little more complicated for us and our writers to implement than you think.

[Steve Lein]

27 minutes ago, roger said:

If Jenkins is the #1 prospect next year, will he be the first Twin ever to be #1?

Exciting seeing Jenkins at AA and ERod at AAA.  On track for both helping the 2025 Twins battle for the playoffs.  Also good seeing Funderburk with a clean inning in his rehab.  Will he return to the Twins before years end?  They sure could use a second lefty in the pen.  But more important, can he be a solid lefty for them in 2025?

No. Joe Mauer and Byron Buxton for sure have had that distinction. Royce may have appeared there at some publications. Liriano was pretty high at one point. That's who I can come up with off the top of my head.

I think Funderburk will definitely be seen with the Twins again.

[DocBauer]

I hate the idea of removing Nowlin from the rotation and turning him in to a reliever at this point. The guys has good stuff. His hits and K's per 9 are both quite good. The BB are too high, but if he could be a little more consistent there, he's probably a legitimate back end starter with #3 potential. 

But then again, he's behind a handful of other arms in the system, some of them literally ahead of him at AAA and the ML level. And the Twins could sure use some quality LH arms in the pen that are more than just good against LH bats. Moran comes back in 2025 from TJ and has a great change to throw to RH. Funderburk has the stuff to get both sides out if he can just gain some more command. Does Headrick move to the pen starting next season? Rotation depth is great, but don't you want the best 13 arms you can get for your staff? Nowlin might be one of those best 13, or close to it. And if he doesn't seem to have a clear path to the rotation in the future, it might be time for that pen move.

It's only about a week, but nice to see Rodroguez and Jenkins finish the season healthy and each a level up.

**Are McCusker and Eeles both viable options to help in 2025 and we're discounting their rise just because they've been on an abnormal trajectory?

[Steve Lein]

19 hours ago, DocBauer said:

I hate the idea of removing Nowlin from the rotation and turning him in to a reliever at this point. The guys has good stuff. His hits and K's per 9 are both quite good. The BB are too high, but if he could be a little more consistent there, he's probably a legitimate back end starter with #3 potential. 

But then again, he's behind a handful of other arms in the system, some of them literally ahead of him at AAA and the ML level. And the Twins could sure use some quality LH arms in the pen that are more than just good against LH bats. Moran comes back in 2025 from TJ and has a great change to throw to RH. Funderburk has the stuff to get both sides out if he can just gain some more command. Does Headrick move to the pen starting next season? Rotation depth is great, but don't you want the best 13 arms you can get for your staff? Nowlin might be one of those best 13, or close to it. And if he doesn't seem to have a clear path to the rotation in the future, it might be time for that pen move.

It's only about a week, but nice to see Rodroguez and Jenkins finish the season healthy and each a level up.

**Are McCusker and Eeles both viable options to help in 2025 and we're discounting their rise just because they've been on an abnormal trajectory?

Personally, I think they've already waited too long on moving Nowlin to the bullpen. I agree the stuff is definitely there, but he needs to eliminate a pitch or two to reach that consistency we all want to see, I think. He has improved that some this year, but it is still always the walks that get him. That can be somewhat minimized in the bullpen if he's also striking out a bunch of guys, and I definitely think the stuff will play up.

Rodriguez I hope goes on to play in the Arizona Fall League. I think he would benefit a lot from it, even if he's technically now at Triple-A (he played less than 40 games at Double-A). I think Jenkins is a great candidate for that, too. I'm personally hoping for a banner year there after the last one, hah!

I would think of McCusker and Eeles, if they both come back to the organization, as a start to next years batch of Quadruple-A players. Both are great finds for the system! I love watching Eeles play and McCusker is a unit.

Edited September 12, 2024 by Steve Lein

[DJL44]

59 minutes ago, DocBauer said:

**Are McCusker and Eeles both viable options to help in 2025 and we're discounting their rise just because they've been on an abnormal trajectory?

Magic 8 ball says "Ask Again Later". Both are doing well but AAA talent is depleted due to callups and injuries in September. Fortunately, the Twins don't have to make decisions about adding either to the roster until 2026 for McCusker and 2027 for Eeles.