Twins Minor League Report (4/30): A Clean Sweep

[Matt Braun]

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge (photo of Aaron Sabato)

TRANSACTIONS
RHP Cole Percival signed and assigned to A+ Cedar Rapids
RHP Agustin Campusano assigned to DSL Twins
RHP Michael Ross activated from 7-day IL (A Fort Myers)
RHP Will Armbruster assigned to FCL Twins
RHP Matt Canterino re-signed and assigned to they 7-Day IL of AAA St. Paul 

So concludes our right-handed pitcher update.

Saints Sentinel
St. Paul 8, Columbus 7 (11 Innings)
Box Score
Andrew Morris: 4 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
HR: Mike Ford (5)
Multi-hit games: Ryan Fitzgerald (2-for-5, 2B, 2 R, RBI, BB), Mike Ford (2-for-5, HR, R, 2 RBI), Patrick Winkel (2-for-5, 2B)

The Saints won in extras on Wednesday.

Who cursed Andrew Morris? After starting the season with back-to-back scoreless starts, the righty experienced his second clunker in his last three outings. The damage was immediate and consistent; he didn’t see his first 1-2-3 frame until the 4th, which proved to be his final inning. The good news is that he still struck out five and only walked one.

St. Paul’s offense favored democracy; only two starters went home without a hit, and five batters drove in at least one run. Most potent was the Carson McCusker/Mike Ford/Armando Alvarez run at the lineup’s heart; the three hitters combined for six RBIs, four hits, and three runs. 

Ford sure hits them high.

The Saints and Clippers traded Manfred Man runs in the 10th before St. Paul scored again in the 11th and held their counterparts at bay to win the game.

Rehabbing big-leaguer Royce Lewis went 0-for-5 with two strikeouts. He played nine innings at third base before being lifted for a defensive substitute. 

Rehabbing big-leaguer Michael Tonkin appeared for the first time since April 25th. He threw two innings, allowing a run while striking out two and walking two.

Columbus is the AAA affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. First baseman C.J. Kayfus—ranked eighth on the team—served as their finest prospect. He homered and singled in five at-bats. 

Wind Surge Wisdom
Wichita 7, Frisco 0
Box Score
Trent Baker: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
HR: Aaron Sabato (2), Kyler Fedko (5)
Multi-hit games: Ricardo Olivar (2-for-2, 2 RBI, 2 BB), Aaron Sabato (2-for-3, HR, 2B, 3 R, RBI, 2 BB)

The Wind Surge smoked their competition on Wednesday.

Already one of April’s top performers, Trent Baker added to his resume with five brilliant innings, punching out four while blanking the RoughRiders. He allowed just three baserunners. It’s hard to make a better organizational impression than Baker, who joined the Twins following four seasons with the Cardinals. He was also a Mankato MoonDog back in 2019!

Baker handed the ball to Mike Paredes, who continued the pitching vibes with three shutout frames of his own. Joel Cesar concluded things to give Wichita their second shutout in five days (the other was also a 7-0 victory.)

Offensively, the Wind Surge scored early and often. Aaron Sabato blasted an opposite-field homer in the 2nd to kick off the festivities, and Andrew Cossetti singled in a run two frames later.

In the sixth, Kyler Fedko launched a moonshot to plate a third run, soon to become four after a Ricardo Olivar RBI knock in the seventh.

The eighth is when things got absurd. Four consecutive walks augured a run, which soon stacked into three with a Tanner Schobel single and Olivar sacrifice fly. 

The 16th-best prospect in MLB, Sebastian Walcott, played shortstop for Frisco on Wednesday and went 0-for-4 at the plate. 

Kernels Nuggets
Cedar Rapids 4, Iowa 3
Box Score
Chase Chaney: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K
HR: Brandon Winokur (1), Kyle DeBarge (3)
Multi-hit games: Kyle DeBarge (3-for-4, HR, 2 R, RBI), Billy Amick (2-for-4)

The Kernels squeaked out a win on Wednesday.

Starter Chase Chaney’s outing was unique; unique in that starters in April don’t often reach six innings in the minors; unique in that he walked more than he struck out; and unique in that he only needed 78 pitches to do so. We may never see a start quite like this again—and the good news is that he also excelled in run prevention, with only two men scoring against him.

Nate Baez kicked off the scoring with an RBI double in the second, before Brandon Winokur extended the lead with a two-run shot the following frame, his first homer of the year.

The runs portended an extended streak of emptiness from both squads: starting with the fourth inning and running until the eighth, neither team scored, and they only ever mildly threatened to do so. Sometimes a man reached second. That’s as far as he would get. Lonely was the base paths; dull was the adventure. But that would eventually change.

In the eighth, Carter Trice homered for Iowa to knot the game at three, inspiring Kyle DeBarge to respond with an absolute tank. Minor-league cameras are never great, yet they usually at least find some semblance of the ball; good luck seeing where this one went.

Spencer Bengard shut the door in the ninth to cap off a brilliant three-frame outing out of the bullpen. His minor-league ERA over 110 career innings is now 2.05.

The best of the baby Cubs is mostly waiting on the franchise’s AAA squad, but Iowa does enjoy the presence of Jefferson Rojas, the team’s 7th-ranked prospect. He singled and drove in a run in four trips to the plate.

Mussel Matters
Fort Myers 6, Jupiter 5
Box Score
Michael Ross: 2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: Will Holland (2-for-4, 2B, R, RBI), Poncho Ruiz (3-for-3, 2 2B, 3 RBI, 2 BB)

The Mighty Mussels walked off their opponent on Wednesday. 

Given his prolific day at the plate, it was only fitting that Poncho Ruiz was the man to deliver the win for Fort Myers: the catcher reached base all five times he stepped up to the plate, thrashing a pair of doubles and a single while working a pair of walks. Three of the game’s six runs scored thanks to his hits. The final two were ushered home off his game-winning smack deep into the left-center gap.

That was Fort Myers’ first walk-off since Brandon Winokur’s game-ending homer on August 27th, 2024. 

Starter Michael Ross made his second professional appearance on Wednesday, and his first since hitting the IL on April 6th. The Samford product—alma mater of just two big leaguers—worked two inefficient innings with an earned run allowed, displaying the kind of rust expected from a hurler who hadn’t pitched since the beginning of the month. 

Outside of Ruiz, the Mighty Mussels were remarkably balanced offensively: eight of the nine starters reached base at least once, and they took seven walks as a team. Ruiz wasn’t even the only batter to walk twice; Jose Rodriguez accomplished the same feat. 

As a team, Fort Myers went 3-for-17 with runners in scoring position, which is ghastly, but it's also kind of impressive that they hit 17 times with someone in scoring position. 

The Hammerheads are an affiliate of the Miami Marlins. They employ the talents of the team’s 7th-ranked prospect, outfielder, and former 1st-rounder P.J. Morlando. He doubled and walked in five plate appearances. 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Trent Baker
Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Aaron Sabato ft. Poncho Ruiz and Kyle DeBarge

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:
#5 – Andrew Morris (St. Paul) - 4 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
#7 – Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 0-4
#8 – Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 1-4, HR, R, 2 RBI
#13 – Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 3-4, HR, 2 R, RBI
#15 – Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers) - 0-4, R, BB, 2 K
#17 – Billy Amick (Cedar Rapids) - 2-4
#18 – Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - 0-5, 4 K
#19 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) - 0-4, K
#20 – Ricardo Olivar (Wichita) - 2-2, 2 RBI, 2 BB

THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Columbus Game One (11:05 AM) - RHP Cory Lewis
St. Paul @ Columbus Game Two - RHP Marco Raya
Wichita @ Frisco (6:35 PM) - RHP Pierson Ohl
South Bend @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM) - RHP Alejandro Hidalgo
Jupiter @ Fort Myers (5:05 PM) - TBD

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[Doctor Wu]

Another impressive game for DeBarge. This time it's for real! Mike Ford also on a hot streak, but even when hitting a home run it looks like it's a struggle for him to run the bases. 

[DJL44]

Pretty empty stands in Wichita, Cedar Rapids and Fort Myers.

[LambchoP]

Fitzgerald sure seems to be hitting well. He is the starting SS for the Saints if I'm not mistaken. Looks like one of the only AAA position players along with Mccusker who might help the Twins' pathetic offense. Of course neither of these guys are on the 40 man, but I really don't think guys like Gasper, Keirsey or Clemens have done anything to warrant a 40 man roster spot other than a lack of better options because of injuries :(

[D.C Twins]

Please tell me we are not obligated to eventually bring Tonkin up to prove that he will be destroyed in th MLB..... Can we not use history and current performance to bypass that exercise?

[bean5302]

Who cursed Andrew Morris? WHIP, regression, pitches without elite movement, etc.
4.57 ERA vs. 3.33 FIP vs. 4.11 xFIP

Game Logs.
ERA vs. FIP vs. TD Hype Machine
0.00 vs. 2.47 vs. OMG, guaranteed Cy Young 2026!
0.00 vs. 3.47 vs. OMG, OMG, guaranteed Cy Young 2025!!
17.18 vs. 4.56 vs. Cut him some slack, it's all the defense's fault! Still #1 pitching prospect in MLB.
0.00 vs. 4.72 vs. See! He's back to elite ace! Guaranteed Cy Young 2026, trade Pablo Lopez! Morris 1337!!!!
9.00 vs. 1.72 vs. Who cursed Andrew Morris???????

Morris doesn't miss a ton of bats. Morris walks an average number of guys. Morris isn't an elite ground ball pitcher. Those factors combined hold Morris' stock back a bit. He's still a potential back end rotation arm, and that's great, but setting the sky high expectations is asking for an Icarus ending IMHO.

[bean5302]

McCusker's results are starting to push the issue of a potential promotion, but he really does need to take more walks to demonstrate the plate discipline necessary to succeed at the MLB level. I'd like to see him stay in AAA for May before making a decision. Get close to 200 PA, where the sample size and regression starts getting closer to accurate.

When it comes to Royce Lewis, I feel like he might stay in AAA a bit longer than I initially expected. He's really not hitting well so I think keeping him in St. Paul for another week to get a chance to tune up his timing might be needed.

[DJL44]

2 hours ago, bean5302 said:

Morris doesn't miss a ton of bats. Morris walks an average number of guys. Morris isn't an elite ground ball pitcher. Those factors combined hold Morris' stock back a bit. He's still a potential back end rotation arm, and that's great, but setting the sky high expectations is asking for an Icarus ending IMHO.

He's not Roy Oswalt, even if they are physically similar.

[Danchat]

I see Will Holland is rehabbing... I think I'd take him over Clemens and Gasper once he's ready to go. 

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

51 minutes ago, Danchat said:

I see Will Holland is rehabbing... I think I'd take him over Clemens and Gasper once he's ready to go. 

I had noticed that.  Think he will jump up to AAA to see how well he is doing before they would bring him up to the big leagues,  plus see if last year was just a small sample size or there has been some major improvement in his contact rates.  

[bean5302]

Re: Will Holland. He's supposedly great defensively at SS which probably makes him the best shortstop the Twins franchise has, but I think he's going to have a long stint between missing almost all of the past 2 months including virtually all Spring Training. If Holland had looked good in ST, he absolutely would have gotten his number called already. Huge bummer for him on the timing of that hamstring injury.