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Storybook Moment: The Twins Are Calling Up Carson McCusker

Nick Nelson
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Nick Nelson GOAT

Nick Nelson

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Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints

The Minnesota Twins will have a new face, and hard-to-miss physique, in their dugout on Sunday. Carson McCusker, the towering 6-foot-8, 250-pound slugger nicknamed McCrusher, is heading from Des Moines to Milwaukee to join the major-league club, as reported by Dan Hayes of The Athletic and others on Saturday evening.

The circumstances, unfortunately, are sobering. Outfielder Byron Buxton is being placed on the 7-day concussion injured list, joining Carlos Correa, after their violent outfield collision on Thursday. Buxton had been under daily evaluation, but the Twins ultimately opted for caution following concussion protocol guidelines.

While the injury news is tough, McCusker’s call-up is undeniably one of the most heartening stories of the Twins’ season.

A few years ago, McCusker was on the verge of retirement. As Bobby Nightingale of the Star Tribune noted, the Oklahoma State product was coming off a second season in independent ball without a single offer from a major-league organization. But the Twins took a flier on him, and he’s made them look smart ever since.

 

McCusker has mashed at every level of the system, and this year he's turned it up to 11. In 38 games with the St. Paul Saints, he’s slashing .350/.412/.650 with 10 home runs and 11 doubles, ranking third out of 119 International League hitters in OPS. That kind of production has made him impossible to ignore, especially for a Twins team that ranks in the bottom third of the league in slugging and home runs, and is now going to be without its most prolific power bat in Buxton.

Make no mistake: this is not your typical big-league promotion. McCusker isn’t on any top prospect lists. He’s nearly 27, was drafted in the 26th round out of college, and has a career minor-league strikeout rate over 30 percent. He’s not a polished, five-tool player. But he does one thing exceptionally well: hit the baseball very hard. In profiling McCusker earlier this season, Jamie Cameron pointed out that his max exit velocity clocked in at over 114 mph, and he boasted a hard-hit rate above 60 percent.

 

In other words, the Twins are adding something they are sorely lacking with Buxton down and Royce Lewis still not looking like himself: right-handed thump.

McCusker’s late-bloomer trajectory, sky-high whiff rates and lack of discipline might make some skeptical, but Twins fans are ready to root for a grinder who earned his shot the hard way. Whether he becomes the next slugging sensation or simply a feel-good flash, he’s earned this moment.

And for a team still searching for offensive identity — and now down two cornerstone players — it might be the perfect time to unleash McCrusher.

Are you as excited as I am about this news?! Sound off in the comments!


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tony&rodney St Paul Saints

tony&rodney

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I'm very excited.

Carson McCusker is by no means a finished product and he just had his worst day as a St. Paul Saint, but he works really hard and has adapted to pitchers. I have been watching as many of his at bats as possible since last May. In general I'm not a huge fan of high strikeout batters, thus the tony&rodney byline. Nevertheless, there is a sort of magnetism to McCusker. I'm hoping he nails his opportunity. I believe he can play a very solid right field too.

Dman Wichita Wind Surge

Dman

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I love it when these types of players get a chance. You never know how it might turn out.  There are plenty of warts in his underlying numbers, but these power hitters can make up for a lot of short comings with the power they have.  He looks a bit like Wallner from the right side.  Let's see if he can manage an .800 OPS like Wallner has been able to do. It's a tall order moving up to the top level I sure hope he can do some damage when he gets his chance.

LanceJS College Ball

LanceJS

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I watched McCusker play in Indy ball with the Tri-City ValleyCats and I was thrilled when I heard the Twins signed him in ‘23. His power was excellent and while his whiff rate wasn’t as high there, he did come up with key hits with RISP. His defense in right field was fine. Average, but he didn’t make many errors or throw to the wrong base - fundamentally sound. I am not ready to write him in for the All-Star game, but I do think he’ll do fine for team that needs right side power. Hope he can stick when Buxton returns. 

jmlease1 Cedar Rapids Kernels

jmlease1

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Good for McCusker! Hope he does well. Rooting for him. 

First it's Fitzgerald, now McCusker: two guys that probably have wondered more than a few times if they were ever going to get a chance. Now both of them will always be able to say they played in the majors. (I'm jumping the gun a bit on McCusker, but I'm pretty confident that Rocco won't just park him on the bench for whatever time Buxton is on the IL)

Good for the Twins in scouting Indy ball for players like this and giving them a chance. I like how they're also not fussing around with them for long periods in the low minors: once in the system, it didn't take long for McCusker and Eeles to get moved up to AAA, really.

I assume McCusker is going to K a lot. I'm not expecting him to don the super hero cape. But if he makes contact good things will happen. Here's hoping he makes some for the MLB club.

mnfireman Ft Myers Mighty Mussels

mnfireman

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2 hours ago, Post-Concussive Blues said:

Was it Chris Colabello that came up at 29 and had a nice little career between the Twins and Blue Jays?

I'd rather hope he turns out more like the last 3 years of Brent Rooker....

LambchoP FCL Twins

LambchoP

Verified Member
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We all saw the impact Keaschal had when he was called up. Hopefully Mccusker can do the same. We just need to do good enough and keep winning series until we get our starters healthy again. Buxton, Correa, Keaschal, Wallner, Castro, Coloumbe.....you add these guys to a lineup that's producing runs with basically bench guys and we could be looking at a really good team in the second half!

Heiny Draft Eligible

Heiny

Verified Member
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15 hours ago, Blyleven2011 said:

We haven't had a player with a good nickname in a very long time ...

I hope he lives up to his nickname and gives us the production on offense ...

Let's play ball ...

No good nicknames?????

How about:

Bader - Darth Bader

Buxton - Bucky - The Buck Truck

Correa - C4 - or Charlie No Hustle

Larnach - Lurch

France - Frenchie

Lee - Broccoli

Ryan - Joe Cool

Ober - Beetle Bailey

Duran - The Undertaker

Festa - The Big Slim

Rocco - Meathead

Blyleven2011 Ft Myers Mighty Mussels

Blyleven2011

Verified Member
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1 hour ago, Heiny said:

No good nicknames?????

How about:

Bader - Darth Bader

Buxton - Bucky - The Buck Truck

Correa - C4 - or Charlie No Hustle

Larnach - Lurch

France - Frenchie

Lee - Broccoli

Ryan - Joe Cool

Ober - Beetle Bailey

Duran - The Undertaker

Festa - The Big Slim

Rocco - Meathead

I said good nicknames , baseball related , McCrusher because he's crushing at AAA  and hopefully will live up to it in MLB ...

Big hurt, Thomas  , the rocket , Clemens, killer , killebrew  , wizard of oz , Ozzie are a few just a few good nicknames that are also in the hall of fame ...

I have a good nickname for Baldelli but I can't use it on site because I'll get reprimanded  ...

Joe cool , frenchie and the slim reaper are OK , I'll try and get acquainted with undertaker , Duran ...

saviking First Round Pick

saviking

Verified Member
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17 hours ago, Blyleven2011 said:

We haven't had a player with a good nickname in a very long time ...

I hope he lives up to his nickname and gives us the production on offense ...

Let's play ball ...

We could really use his power

dxpavelka FCL Twins

dxpavelka

Verified Member
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10 hours ago, Althebum82 said:

Randy Dobnak?

Continues to remain on the 7 day IL.

similar career path.  hope this one works out better

Doctor Wu FCL Twins

Doctor Wu

Verified Member
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22 hours ago, Post-Concussive Blues said:

Was it Chris Colabello that came up at 29 and had a nice little career between the Twins and Blue Jays?

A name I had totally forgotten about. Good trip down memory lane!

Hosken Bombo Disco All-Star

Hosken Bombo Disco

Community Moderator
Posted
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On 5/18/2025 at 9:50 AM, Heiny said:

No good nicknames?????

How about:

Bader - Darth Bader

Buxton - Bucky - The Buck Truck

Correa - C4 - or Charlie No Hustle

Larnach - Lurch

France - Frenchie

Lee - Broccoli

Ryan - Joe Cool

Ober - Beetle Bailey

Duran - The Undertaker

Festa - The Big Slim

Rocco - Meathead

We need to channel Gardy for this one:

Larnach - Trev

Lee - Brooksie

Bader - Bade

Lewis - Roycie 

Buxton - Buck

France - Frenchie

Wallner - Wally

Ober - Obesie

Ryan - Joey 

Sands - Sandsie

Jax - Jaxie 

Jeffers - Jeffie

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