Twins Minor League Report (4/11): Charlee Soto and the Chalk-Up-A-Lotta-Dubs Factory

[Tom Froemming]

Young Charlee Soto is a golden ticket! He turned in another impressive start for the Kernels in what was an evening full of big dubs across the minor league system. All four Twins affiliates tasted victory Friday night. A sweet sweep! 

Image courtesy of David Malamut (photo of Charlee Soto)

CURRENT W-L Records
St. Paul Saints: 5-5
Wichita Wind Surge: 4-3
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 4-3
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 3-4 

TRANSACTIONS
The Twins recalled RHP David Festa from St. Paul.
Austin Martin placed on the Saints 7-day IL with a hamstring strain.
LHP Gabriel Yanez promoted from Cedar Rapids to St. Paul.
RHP Logan Whitaker promoted from Fort Myers to Cedar Rapids.
RHP Cole Peschl assigned to Fort Myers.
Darren Wolfson reports the Twins will re-sign Darren McCaughan, who elected free agency yesterday, to a new minor league deal.

SAINTS SENTINEL 
St. Paul 6, Omaha 4
Box Score
Luke Keaschall is on the board! He slugged his first Triple-A home run in the bottom of the third inning on a center cut hanging slider. Keaschall is rising to the challenge at the top level of the minor leagues, showing little signs of struggle despite this only being his second full pro season. He also had a single, a walk and a sac fly tonight. Keaschall has a .415 OBP and .834 OPS in 10 games so far with the Saints.

Brooks Lee started at shortstop, continued to look comfortable moving around and played the entire game. He singled in the first inning, drew a walk in a seven-pitch plate appearance in the third, struck out in the fourth and grounded out in the sixth but busted it up the line to avoid a double play. It feels like Lee could re-join the Twins any day now. 

The Saints trailed this game 4-2 entering the bottom of the fourth inning, but an RBI single from Anthony Prato and a Keaschall sac fly tied things up in the bottom of the frame. Carson McCusker blasted an impressive two-run homer in the sixth inning that proved to be the difference. He’s off to a blistering start, boasting a 1.067 OPS so far this season.

Manager Toby Gardenhire had to turn to his bullpen to cover this entire game and that unit stepped up. The St. Paul pen combined to strike out 15 batters tonight, with Alex Speas and Kyle Bischoff leading the way with five Ks each in their two innings of work. Speas topped out at 99.5 mph and Ryan Jensen — who started tonight but is typically a reliever — touched 99.1 mph.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 4, Midland 1
Box Score
The Wichita lineup struggled to take advantage of opportunities, but thankfully the pitching staff was on point. The Wind Surge collected 11 hits and six walks but could only convert that to four runs due to going 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position. 

The Surge staff allowed a fair amount of traffic themselves, but after starter Trent Baker allowed one run over four innings, the bullpen trio of Michael Martinez (one inning), Angel Macuare ( 2 2/3 innings) and Joel Cesar (1 1/3 innings) shut out the RockHounds. 

Tanner Schobel continued his hot start by going 3-for-4 with a walk. Jake Rucker and Andrew Cossetti also had multi-hit games. Kyler Fedko hit his first homer of the season

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 6, Beloit 4
Box Score
Charlee Soto picked up his first strikeout when he needed one most. After allowing a leadoff double in the second inning, the Sky Carp bunted the runner over to third. Soto got ahead of the next hitter 0-2, but was still trying to finish him off three pitches later. Then Soto unleashed a 99 mph fastball above the zone to pick up a huge strikeout. The next hitter flew out to left field, ending the threat and the inning.

Soto struck out the next five hitters consecutively, looking both as dominant and confident as I can ever recall. He needed only 66 pitches to complete five innings, throwing two-thirds of them for strikes. The leadoff double in the second inning was the only base runner he allowed. With six strikeouts tonight, Soto now has 11 Ks in nine shutout innings so far this season. He’s Twins Daily’s top pitching prospect in the system for a reason, but seeing him meet this new challenge of High-A with such success early is impressive.

Logan Whitaker followed Soto and surrendered four runs in his one inning of work. The Twins 19th-round pick in last year’s draft was making his 2025 and High-A debut, but beginner’s luck was nowhere to be found. 

Cedar Rapids got the go-ahead run into scoring position in both the sixth and seventh innings but could not score. Caden Kendle, who hit his first homer of the season earlier in the game, hit a one-out double in the eighth. Instead of the Kernels’ lineup failing to deliver for a third-straight inning, Misael Urbina promptly delivered a go-ahead RBI double. Later in the inning, Brandon Winokur hit a two-out double of his own to deliver an insurance run.

Rayne Doncon exited this game in the bottom of the second inning. He appeared to be in pain after fouling back a pitch. Doncon eventually exited with a trainer, and it was later reported as a back injury. Kaelen Culpepper also did not complete this game, but that’s consistent with how he’s been handled so far. Culpepper missed part of spring training, so he’s not playing complete games yet. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 6, Tampa 3
Box Score
The Mussels were on the board before they recorded an out tonight. Byron Chourio led off the bottom of the first inning with an eight-pitch walk before Dameury Pena singled to left field. Yasser Mercedes capped an eight-pitch at-bat of his own with a double he hit 107.1 mph into center field and off the wall. A great way to get things started, and Fort Myers kept tacking on. In all, the Mighty Mussels lineup provided six runs of support for starting pitcher Eli Jones.

Jones was pitching out of the stretch for most of the first three innings, but managed to only give up a pair of runs despite the Tarpons getting their leadoff man on in each of those first three frames. Jones got some big strikeouts, and racked up six Ks while topping out at 95.2 mph. 

Cole Peschel, who just joined the Mighty Mussels today, covered the final four innings and only yielded an unearned run. Fort Myers bats with multi-hit games included Mercedes, Dameury Pena and Jefferson Valladares. Jay Thomason had a double, two walks and stole three bases.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY 
Pitcher of the Day: Charlee Soto (Cedar Rapids): 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 66 pitches, 44 strikes (66.7%)
Hitter of the Day: Caden Kendle (Cedar Rapids) 2-for-4, 2B, HR (1), 2 R, 1 RBI

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for more. 

3. Luke Keaschall (St. Paul): 2-for-2, HR (1), BB, 2 R, 2 RBI
4. Charlee Soto (Cedar Rapids): 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 66 pitches, 44 strikes (66.7%)
7. Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-3, 2B
8. Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-4, 2B, BB, K, 1 R, 2 RBI
13. Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-4, 2B, BB, K, R
15. Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers): 2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI
16. Rayne Doncon (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-1, K (exited with a back injury)
17. Billy Amick (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-3, 2 BB, K
18. Kala’i Rosario (Wichita): 0-for-4, 3 K
19. Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-4

TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Cedar Rapids vs. Beloit, 1:05 pm CT: Alejandro Hidalgo 
St. Paul vs. Omaha, 2:05 pm CT: Randy Dobnak
Wichita vs. Midland, 4:05 pm CT: Connor Prielipp
Fort Myers vs. Tampa, 5:05 pm CT: Dasan Hill

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[tony&rodney]

Luke Keaschall had his best game yet at the plate. 

Carson McCusker hits the ball really hard. He did whiff his last time up, swinging a little too hard. I think he wants to hit it over 120 mph, like Jac Cagliaone.

[Linus]

Interesting that Culpepper and Winokur are

getting The reps at SS. DeBarge and DeAndre in utility like roles. 

[stringer bell]

Is there a timetable for Keaschall to be a full-time defensive player? I know both his innings and appearances have been managed as he recovers from TJ surgery. It would appear that he is pretty close to ready as a hitter.

 

[jmlease1]

Great to see Soto have a dominant start. So much talent there, but it doesn't always translate. Soto is really impressing at 19. His starts should be appointment viewing for Cedar Rapids. It's going to be interesting to see how the Twins manage his innings this season. There's no real injury history there, so maybe they'll handle him differently than someone like Raya? 

It's an interesting group of hitters at Cedar Rapids right now. Feels like Iowa is the prime spot for Twins prospects right now. Amick keeps raking: it's only 7 games, but it's everything we could have hoped for from the 2nd round pick. Would love to know more about what his defense is looking like at the corners?

[Ghost of Kirby Puckett]

16 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

Great to see Soto have a dominant start. So much talent there, but it doesn't always translate. Soto is really impressing at 19. His starts should be appointment viewing for Cedar Rapids. It's going to be interesting to see how the Twins manage his innings this season. There's no real injury history there, so maybe they'll handle him differently than someone like Raya? 

It's an interesting group of hitters at Cedar Rapids right now. Feels like Iowa is the prime spot for Twins prospects right now. Amick keeps raking: it's only 7 games, but it's everything we could have hoped for from the 2nd round pick. Would love to know more about what his defense is looking like at the corners?

I would add Dasan Hill to the must see list also. We have some really, REALLY promising arms at pretty much every level now. 

[DJL44]

31 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Is there a timetable for Keaschall to be a full-time defensive player? I know both his innings and appearances have been managed as he recovers from TJ surgery. It would appear that he is pretty close to ready as a hitter.

He is up to 47th in OPS in the International League.

[Tom Froemming]

42 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Is there a timetable for Keaschall to be a full-time defensive player? I know both his innings and appearances have been managed as he recovers from TJ surgery. It would appear that he is pretty close to ready as a hitter.

 

I haven't seen a specific target date set, but I imagine he'll continue to see a decent amount of time at DH for the next couple weeks at least. He did play second base on back-to-back days prior to DHing yesterday, so that's encouraging. 

[LambchoP]

Hopefully Keaschal continues to take and get more reps at second base. Maybe he's able to make his debut sometime around the all-star break? Mccusker sure looks like he's off to a good start. Another power hitting OF. What we need is IF who can both hit and play good defense. Getting Lewis and Lee back should help, but I still feel like Keaschal could help our lineup. Too bad Eeles is hurt, he could have been a real spark plug type guy for us. Is there any time table on his return yet? Good to see Soto having success. Hard not to be encouraged by all our young pitching. Do we eventually dip into all this pitching to acquire some offensive help this year?

[rdehring]

Thanks, Tom.

Sure looks like both Lee and Keaschall should be ready to join/help the Twins by early summer, at the latest.  Will be lots of questions about who they replace, etc.  But those questions usually are answered by injuries and/or poor play by player X.

Can't be anything but impressed by Soto.  Will be following the Wind Surge game tonight with Prielipp on the hill.

Does anyone have any current information on how close Lewis is to returning?  Sure would be nice to find out if this group, Lewis, Lee, and Keaschall, has what it takes to be good to very good big league players...not pretenders.

[D.C Twins]

Can we call up Toby G. from AAA to manage?

[tony&rodney]

Curious what other people think who have watched the games that Brooks Lee has played for St. Paul.

What did you see? I thought Lee had a few good swings but he mostly looks tentative. In the field, Lee is pretty smooth yet I cannot tell if he is just really measured or moving carefully. His throws are solid if looking like he doesn't want to test his arm strength. On the bases, Lee is shockingly slow. In sum, I don't see Lee helping on offense but he has sure hands and will make all of the routine plays, which could certainly help. I don't think his body seems ready for dives or ranging plays. An example .... the ball up the middle that kicked off the mound and handcuffed Julien last night .... Lee might field that ball but has no play. My thoughts are that the Twins are making the correct decision in taking it slow with Brooks Lee. I'm simply basing this on how tentative he looks as compared to  Spring Training or last year before his back problems flared up.

Back to the top, I'm curious what others saw.

[tony&rodney]

22 minutes ago, rdehring said:

 

Does anyone have any current information on how close Lewis is to returning? 

This is an ongoing speculative matter. Last night there was a comment that Lewis is doing some baseball activities and is expected to begin a rehab in early May. Based on nothing but prior experiences, we should not look for Royce until Memorial Day weekend. Maybe we are all surprised with an earlier return though. 

I know the Twins are also being careful with Luke Keaschall and Emmanuel Rodriguez, but at some time the Twins may be forced to play somebody who might provide offense and have a chance at playing in the field too.

[Doctor Wu]

23 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

Great to see Soto have a dominant start. So much talent there, but it doesn't always translate. Soto is really impressing at 19. His starts should be appointment viewing for Cedar Rapids. It's going to be interesting to see how the Twins manage his innings this season. There's no real injury history there, so maybe they'll handle him differently than someone like Raya? 

I was wondering the same thing. Soto has a much bigger body than Raya, and maybe that translates to letting him pitch more innings. I also understand his his youth is a factor. But man oh man, what an arm!