Twins Minor League Report (4/18): Jason Doktorcyk Ks 10

[Tom Froemming]

The doctor was in. Jason Doktorczyk, that is. Dr. K struck out 10 batters over five innings of work for Fort Myers tonight. Find out everything else that happened in the Minnesota Twins minor league system Friday.

Image courtesy of © Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK (photo of Luke Keaschall)

 

CURRENT W-L Records
St. Paul Saints: 7-9
Wichita Wind Surge: 6-7
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 7-5
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 6-7

TRANSACTIONS
2B/DH Luke Keaschall promoted to Minnesota.
UTIL Mickey Gasper optioned to St. Paul.
RHP Matt Canterino designated for assignment.
RHP Michael Tonkin sent on rehab assignment to Fort Myers.
Fort Myers placed RHP Billy Oldham on the full-season injured list.

Keaschall’s promotion became official today. For more on what to expect from the Twins rookie, check out this morning’s article from Jamie Cameron. Gasper was a feel-good story, but hit .111/.273/.111 (.384 OPS) in 22 plate appearances over 10 games for the Twins.

Canterino was first added to the 40-man roster back in November of 2022. His arm talent is undeniable, but the 27-year-old former second-round pick has seldom been healthy enough to pitch. He had shoulder surgery about a month ago and will miss all of 2025. It’ll be curious to see if he gets claimed off waivers. My uneducated guess is he clears waivers and re-signs a two-year minor league deal with the Twins. We’ll see.

SAINTS SENTINEL 
St. Paul 11, Iowa 8
Box Score
The I-Cubs jumped out to a 5-1 lead by the end of the third inning, but the Saints exploded for eight runs over the next two frames. Carson McCusker delivered the haymaker, a three-run homer hit 106.1 mph to dead center. It was his third home run of the week.

Luke Keaschall? Who needs ‘em!? The Saints lineup tallied 11 runs on 12 hits, drew a handful of walks and was 6-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Anthony Prato played center field and had a three-hit night. McCusker and Yunior Severino each had a pair of hits. Jeferson Morales hit his second home run of the season and drew two walks.

Randy Dobnak had a rough night, surrendering five runs over his four innings pitched. Saints pitchers combined to issue nine walks and the lineup combined for 16 strikeouts, but St. Paul still managed to win this one. That’s tough to do! 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Tulsa 7, Wichita 6
Box Score
Wichita got things going early, as back-to-back singles by Ricardo Olivar and Rubel Cespedes were followed by a Kala’i Rosario home run to give the Wind Surge a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning. They tacked on another trio of runs in the fourth inning, as Aaron Sabato swatted a two-run dinger and Tyler Dearden made it back-to-back bombs. Sabato was 4-for-4 tonight.

Burnsville native Aaron Rozek struck out eight batters while not issuing a walk over five innings. The only two runs he surrendered were on solo homers. Jaylen Nowlin was the first man out of the bullpen and stumbled. He hit a batter, walked two more and then gave up a game-tying grand slam. Ouch.

The score remained tied at 6-6 until the bottom of the ninth inning. Tulsa got three consecutive singles off Cody Laweryson to walk it off. Tough loss.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 8, Peoria 3 (suspended in the top of the fourth inning)
Box Score
The Kernels were lighting up the scoreboard early in this game, but the rain rolled in in the top of the fourth inning. Cedar Rapids had already built an 8-3 lead by then, thanks in large part to Nate Baez, who was 3-for-3 with a double and three RBIs. Both Billy Amick and Khadim Diaw also had multiple hits.

Kernels starter Alejandro Hidalgo may have gone at least one more inning had it not been for the delay. He gave up three runs in three frames but also struck out four batters. They’ll pick this game back up tomorrow at 5 pm, then play another seven-inning contest after a 45-minute break between games.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Bradenton 6, Fort Myers 1
Box Score
Jason Doktorczyk looked great in the first inning, retiring the side in order with a pair of strikeouts. Shortstop Angel Del Rosario committed an error to open the second inning, and things unraveled from there. Three hits, a hit batter and another error later, Bradenton had a 3-0 lead.

Doktorzyk, a ninth-round pick in 2024, recovered from that rocky second inning to put together an impressive start. The 6-foot-6 right-hander struck out 10 batters and did not issue a walk over five innings pitched, throwing 49 of his 71 pitches for strikes (69%). He heavily featured his changeup, throwing that pitch 24 times, per Statcast. Doktorzky only gave up four hits — all singles — and the three runs scored against him were all unearned.

Michael Tonkin, who is recovering from a shoulder injury, made his first rehab appearance for Fort Myers. He struck out three batters over two innings and gave up an unearned run on a pair of hits. Tonkin topped out at 93.1 mph, which is closer to what his fastball averaged last season. He threw 19 of his 24 pitches for strikes.

The Mussels lineup was hitless through seven innings, but Jose Rodriguez capped an at-bat in which he fouled off three two-strike pitches with a home run. Byron Chourio added a single in the ninth inning for the only other Fort Myers hit.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY 
Pitcher of the Day: Jason Dokrorczyk, Fort Myers (5 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 10 K)
Hitter of the Day: Aaron Sabato, Wichita (4-for-4, HR, R, 2 RBI)

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for more. 
2. Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul): 0-for-5, RBI, 2 K
3. Luke Keaschall (Twins): 2-for-4, 2B, SB, R, RBI 
8. Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-3
13. Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-3
15. Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers): 0-for-2, 2 BB, K
17. Billy Amick (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-2, 2 R
18. Kala’i Rosario (Wichita): 2-for-4, HR (2), SB (3), R, 2 RBI, 2 K
19. Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-2, 2B, 2 R
20. Ricardo Olivar (Wichita): 1-for-4, BB, R, K

TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul at Iowa, 3:08 pm CT: Darren McCaughan
Wichita at Tulsa, 1 pm CT: Connor Prielipp
Wichita at Tulsa, 6 pm CT: Darren Bowen
Cedar Rapids at Peoria, 5 pm CT: Continuation of Friday's game
Cedar Rapids at Peoria, Game 2: Tanner Hall
Fort Myers vs. Bradenton, 5:05 pm CT: Dasan Hill

 

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[Bodie]

Doktorczyk?

We may have a successor to Meintkeiwitcz!

[Old Twins Cap]

Wait, McCusker is not a top 20 prospect?

[D.C Twins]

Fear not.... Tonkin is on the way back! 😏

[Tom Froemming]

41 minutes ago, Old Twins Cap said:

Wait, McCusker is not a top 20 prospect?

Nope. He’ll be 27 next month and has a career 31.1 K% in the minors. Very fun player, might be a Major Leaguer before too long, but there’s limited utility. 

[FlyingFinn]

McCusker vs. Severino. Is there a difference? The one main tool they have is power. Not sure either can consistently hit .300 even though they show flashes of it at times. Defense is lacking or is McCusker good enough to play an average corner OF in MLB? Speed isn't great (is McCusker a little faster?). The Twins clearly don't have any plan to bring Severino up to the majors unless there is a slew of major injuries (or they plan to DFA him within a couple weeks to send him back down like they've done with Blewett, McCaughan, etc.). I'm curious what people who watch rather than read box scores think. I'm really wondering if McCusker has any chance of being a Wallner rather than a Severino. @tony&rodney @Seth Stohs what do you think?

 

[FlyingFinn]

I read the above on Fort Myers and @Dman is exactly right. These guys are the bad news bears. Hard to evaluate pitchers unless you're watching. Doktocyck just didn't let them touch the ball most of the time, striking out 10. When they did touch the ball, disaster!

Amick doesn't belong in Cedar Rapids. He needs to be challenged more as the pitching seems similar to what he faced in college.

[LambchoP]

Mccusker sure is hitting like he wants a chance in the majors. If Larnach continues to struggle it might not be a bad idea to send him down and call Mccusker up for awhile, see if he can handle big league pitching. It sure looks like E Rodriguez is having a hard time in AAA. Hopefully he can turn things around, he's a big part of our future OF plan. Both Stewart and Tonkin on rehab assignment. That's good, our pen has looked pretty bad as of late. 

[DJL44]

20 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

Not sure either can consistently hit .300 even though they show flashes of it at times. 

Almost nobody consistently hits .300. Aaron Judge has a career batting average of .290. Ohtani is .282. The average major leaguer hits .235.

[FlyingFinn]

3 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Almost nobody consistently hits .300. Aaron Judge has a career batting average of .290. Ohtani is .282. The average major leaguer hits .235.

Okay, I picked the wrong batting average. What tools does McCusker have or need to get to in order to be an MLB player? Judge and Ohtani obviously have more than one tool.

[Tom Froemming]

18 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

McCusker vs. Severino. Is there a difference? The one main tool they have is power. Not sure either can consistently hit .300 even though they show flashes of it at times. Defense is lacking or is McCusker good enough to play an average corner OF in MLB? Speed isn't great (is McCusker a little faster?). The Twins clearly don't have any plan to bring Severino up to the majors unless there is a slew of major injuries (or they plan to DFA him within a couple weeks to send him back down like they've done with Blewett, McCaughan, etc.). I'm curious what people who watch rather than read box scores think. I'm really wondering if McCusker has any chance of being a Wallner rather than a Severino. @tony&rodney @Seth Stohs what do you think?

 

I know you didn't ask me, and I'd also be curious of what anybody else thinks, but here's my two cents:

Yunior looks more lean to my eye this season. Not sure, but that may be part of why he's getting some looks at second base again. In the majors, he'd probably only be a 1B/DH, but it's a bonus he could be an emergency option at 3B/2B/RF if needed. Being a switch hitter who traditionally has very even platoon splits is a nice bonus, too, so he might have a broader set of skills to bring to a bench role. Whether that matters would depend on the team need at any given time.

I don't have a clue why McCusker has never had even a look at 1B. There's a lot more to playing there than just being tall, of course, but it's a pretty massive advantage. I have to believe they've at least toyed with the idea of him at first on a backfield or something and it went so poorly they didn't further explore the option. McCusker moves around a lot better than you might imagine for a guy who's 6-foot-8, but I believe he's comfortably below MLB average on defense. Not a complete butcher, but you're giving something up by putting him out there. Keep in mind that the bar is very high. We've seen recent Twins outfields with Bader and Keirsey in the corners, which is just remarkable.

Even watching a lot of the minor league games, defensive evaluation is still pretty tough to feel super confident on. You can watch a lot of a team and not see a guy be presented with a difficult play even once. Still, I don't view Severino or McCusker to be an asset anywhere in the field.

I don't view either of these guys as anywhere near the level of Matt Wallner. Between the two, McCusker has better raw power, but Yunior has as good of in-game power.

I think that they called up Keachall over these two (or the several other options in St. Paul) says a lot about how they feel about them. I know they adore Luke, but this feels like it would have been as good a time as any for some of these other guys to get their shot.

[Linus]

56 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

I read the above on Fort Myers and @Dman is exactly right. These guys are the bad news bears. Hard to evaluate pitchers unless you're watching. Doktocyck just didn't let them touch the ball most of the time, striking out 10. When they did touch the ball, disaster!

Amick doesn't belong in Cedar Rapids. He needs to be challenged more as the pitching seems similar to what he faced in college.

Correct. High level D1 ball is pretty close to high A. Always important to remember when older college guys do well in A ball - it’s not much of a jump. AA is usually the first real test for this type of player and usually a place you start seeing guys failing hard. 

[Linus]

1 hour ago, FlyingFinn said:

McCusker vs. Severino. Is there a difference? The one main tool they have is power. Not sure either can consistently hit .300 even though they show flashes of it at times. Defense is lacking or is McCusker good enough to play an average corner OF in MLB? Speed isn't great (is McCusker a little faster?). The Twins clearly don't have any plan to bring Severino up to the majors unless there is a slew of major injuries (or they plan to DFA him within a couple weeks to send him back down like they've done with Blewett, McCaughan, etc.). I'm curious what people who watch rather than read box scores think. I'm really wondering if McCusker has any chance of being a Wallner rather than a Severino. @tony&rodney @Seth Stohs what do you think?

 

I think the biggest concern is a similarity: they both k at a very high rate in the minors. That doesn’t portend well for success in the big leagues and likely the reason neither have or will get a shot in the bigs. 

[LanceJS]

Having seen McCusker when he was in the independent Frontier League, this is his MO…he’ll always be a high power high strike out guy. Not quite a Joey Gallo type but he’s certainly a three true outcomes player. Going by what I saw in Tri-City, he’s average to above average defensively. His height helped and decent range with a long stride, but nothing spectacular. Would love to see him get a crack at the majors…but would also not be surprised to see him in a trade package.

[bean5302]

McCusker was signed out of Indy Ball during his age 25 season so this is his 2nd full season in the minors. He followed a very similar path to Payton Eeles, but McCusker's promotions came a little slower. He's not a typical prospect as a result. It's worth noting that McCusker has improved in multiple facets of his game since his initial season, cutting his K rate from 36.8% in A/A+ during the 2023 season to 31% in AAA this year so far. His walk rate also jumped from 7.9% during his first season to 12.1% this year. It's clear McCusker has been working hard on plate discipline, and what looked like an high grade power tool took a back seat to improved sustainability at the plate last year. This year, he may have put it together. He's currently 26 years old so too old for a typical prospect, but it's hard to gauge him purely based on age. It's also not like age doesn't matter at all since he's certainly had plenty of experience in the indy leagues.

When it comes to Canterino, I don't think multi-year deals are allowed in MiLB so if Canterino signs a MiLB deal with Minnesota, it'd only be for this year. I'm not sure as there's a reason to sign him to a MiLB deal as he's not going to be able to play at all this year. It would be a nice gesture, I suppose?

Winokur's bat is starting to show some consistent life in A+ ball after a truly dreadful first few games in Cedar Rapids. No HR's yet, but I'll take his last 7 games as .258/.395/.355 OPS .750 wRC+ 121 with a 16% BB vs. 18% K rate. His first 5 games were miserable .050/.174/.100 OPS .274 wRC+ (14) with a 8% BB vs. 30% K rate. SSSS. 

[Tom Froemming]

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

I don't think multi-year deals are allowed in MiLB so if Canterino signs a MiLB deal with Minnesota, it'd only be for this year

Incorrect. You can sign guys to two-year minor league deals, but that's the max. A recent example was Adbert Alozay's two-year minors deal with the Mets. 

[bean5302]

15 hours ago, Tom Froemming said:

Incorrect. You can sign guys to two-year minor league deals, but that's the max. A recent example was Adbert Alozay's two-year minors deal with the Mets. 

Thanks for the example! I was looking for one myself, but I didn't spend too much time on it. I'm not sure how the Twins feel about Canterino at this point so it'll be interesting to see if they do a 2 year MiLB deal.