Twins Minor League Report (5/24): The Return of Marco Raya

[Tom Froemming]

Image courtesy of William Parmeter

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 29-22
St. Paul Saints: 25-22
Wichita Wind Surge: 23-21
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 25-18
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 20-24
FCL Twins: 9-6
DSL Twins: Season starts June 2.

TRANSACTIONS
Fort Myers activated infielder Peyton Carr from the 7-day IL.

SAINTS SENTINEL 
Game 1: Norfolk 12, St. Paul 1
Box Score
This was a statement performance from Marco Raya. The 22-year-old entered today struggling mightily in his first full exposure to Triple-A competition. Maybe all he needed to get into gear is for us here at Twins Daily to start wondering if he should be moved to the bullpen. No matter the reason for tonight’s impressive performance, it was great to see from the young right-hander.

Raya immediately showed he was poised to impress, striking out the side in order in the first inning on 12 pitches while tallying five swinging strikes. He kept it rolling in the second inning, striking out the side in order once again. Norfolk finally put the ball in play a couple times in the third frame, though Raya turned in another perfect inning.

Pitching into the fourth inning for the first time this season, Raya capped his outing with a 1-2-3 frame. When all was said and done, Raya had delivered four perfect innings with seven strikeouts. He threw 32 of his 49 pitches for strikes, which is 65 percent. Entering tonight’s outing, Raya had only thrown 56 percent of his pitches for strikes on the season.

Raya topped out at 97.4 mph and got six of his 13 whiffs on his curveball. Per Baseball Savant, he deployed his six-pitch arsenal remarkably evenly, throwing no individual offering more than 10 times among his 49 total pitches.

Could this be a turning point for Raya? Time will tell, but if nothing else it was a great reminder of what he looks like when everything is clicking.

As for the rest of this game, uh … I guess it could be summed up by saying Anthony Prato pitched. He’s not a pitcher.

The St. Paul bullpen combined to walk nine men in just 2 2/3 innings (not counting the out Prato recorded). Yuck. And it’s not like the lineup was firing on all cylinders, either. The only Saints run came on Mike Ford’s eighth homer of the season. 

Game 2: St. Paul 6, Norfolk 4
Box Score
Speaking of Anthony Prato, he hit a home run in this game. Defensively, he started at third base and ended up playing center field. If they asked him to sell popcorn in the stands, I bet he’d do that too. That guy can do anything!

Mickey Gasper continues to turn into Superman whenever he dons a Saints uniform. He blasted a pair of homers, giving him nine home runs in 21 games with St. Paul.

Andrew Morris got off to a rough start in this one, surrendering three runs and three extra-base hits in the first couple innings. He gutted through a solid outing from there forward, thanks in part to some nice work from his defense.

The Saints had an excellent and unique double play to end the top of the third inning. The Norfolk batter hit one into the tricky right field corner at CHS Field, where things get tight toward the pole as a shorter wall in foul territory angles toward the field of play. Right fielder Jeferson Morales anticipated the carom perfectly, playing the bounce off the wall in foul territory and firing an on-target one hopper to second base.

The throw beat the runner by a mile. Shortstop Ryan Fitzgerald ran the batter back toward first base while monitoring the other runner, who had already advanced from first to third on the hit. Fitzgerald eventually tossed to first baseman Jose Miranda, who put the tag on the hitter to get one out. While this was happening, the other base runner broke for home. Miranda quickly fired to catcher Patrick Winkel, who put on the tag. It was a bang-bang play, but the Saints got the out there, as well.

That’s some fine team defense. It’s not often you see four different players touch the ball on the same play.

Morris surrendered a solo homer in the fourth inning, but turned in scoreless frames in both the fifth and sixth innings. Though he gave up four runs on eight hits and a walk, Morris also delivered some length, completing six innings for the first time this season. He threw over 70 percent of his pitches for strikes, which is incredible. For context, the current MLB average strike rate is 63.7 percent so far this season. Oh, and Morris also topped out at 99.0 mph.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
San Antonio 5, Wichita 2
Box Score
Christian MacLeod turned in another scoreless outing. The left-hander started out this season a bit behind, so he’s still building up his innings and pitch count, but in that process he’s also pitched very well. He kept his momentum going tonight, delivering four shutout innings of one-hit ball for the Wind Surge. He did also walk three batters, but managed to strand them all thanks in part to five strikeouts. 

MacLeod, a fifth-round pick from the 2021 Draft, has a 0.73 ERA and 0.93 WHIP in 24 2/3 innings so far this season. He made a spot start for the Saints his last time out and figures to see more time up in Triple A as the season progresses, especially if he keeps this up.

This game was locked in a 0-0 tie through five innings but the Wind Surge finally scratched across a couple of runs in the top of the sixth. Unfortunately, that lead didn’t last long.

Shortstop Tanner Schobel committed a pair of errors in the bottom of the sixth, contributing to what ended up being a five-run inning for San Antonio. The first Schobel error was on a grounder hit right at him and the second was on a high infield pop fly that the wind got creative with. Ben Ross also nearly made a pair of fine tumbling catches in center field that inning but both bounced off his glove.

That was it for the scoring; all seven runs in this game came in the sixth frame. It wasn’t all bad for Schobel tonight, as he hit his 12th double of the season and scored a run. He’s hitting .301 with an .825 OPS for Wichita.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 12, Fort Wayne 4
Box Score
The Kernels tallied 12 runs despite the fact they only had one extra-base hit, a double by Nate Baez. Cedar Rapids drew a dozen walks, two of which were with the bases loaded. They also had a run-scoring hit by pitch.

While the run-scoring effort wasn’t highlighted by big blasts, the Kernels did a nice job of keeping the line moving and running the bases well. The lineup was 6-for-18 with runners in scoring position and were successful on all three of their stolen base attempts. One of the steals came from Kyle DeBarge, who is a perfect 24-for-24 on stolen base attempts this season.

Cedar Rapids starting pitcher Chase Chaney did a nice job of providing length, covering six innings while throwing 103 pitches, 70 of which were strikes. He struck out seven batters.

In addition to having the only Kernels extra-base hit, Baez also had a single and drew a pair of walks. Kaelen Culpepper also reached safely four times, hitting a pair of singles to go with two walks. He also stole his 11th base of the season and has a .941 OPS so far in 2025.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 5, Lakeland 4 (10 innings)
Box Score
Dasan Hill’s start got off to a nightmarish opening. He gave up a leadoff ground rule double, which was immediately followed by a two-run homer. Then Hill woke up and retired the next seven batters he faced. The 19-year-old lefty struck out five batters in his 2 2/3 innings, topping out at 97.4 mph. Six of his 11 swinging strikes came on his changeup.

This game was a back-and-forth affair. Fort Myers took the lead on three different occasions, but Lakeland kept clawing their way back and tying things up. The Mussels scored immediately in extra innings, with Dameury Pena hitting a seeing-eye single on the first pitch of the top of the 10th inning to score the bonus runner. Pena stole second base, but was stranded there.

It was up to Hunter Hoopes to protect the lead in the bottom of the 10th, a difficult task given that pesky bonus runner starting at second base in extras. Hoopes, who had pitched a scoreless ninth inning, retired the first batter he faced on a ground out to third base, preventing the bonus runner from advancing. A five-pitch walk set up a potential game-ending double play, but framing things this way is always wishful thinking, right? Well, not this time.

On the very next pitch, the Lakeland hitter sent the ball rolling toward second base. While there is no such thing as a routine double play ball in the lower minors, the Mussels looked smooth on this one. Dameury Pena gathered the ball and did a backhand shovel toss over to shortstop Angel Del Rosario, who avoided the sliding runner and fired a strong throw to first base to end the game. 

The Mighty Mussels improved to 5-0 in extra innings, and are just 15-24 in games that don’t go into extras.

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
FCL Red Sox 5, FCL Twins 3
Box Score
Today’s game mirrored the output the FCL Twins lineup has put together on the season so far. The club is doing a decent job of getting on — posting an above league average on-base percentage — but little else is going well. They entered today with the worst team batting average (.183) and second-worst slugging percentage (.304) in the FCL.

The Twins drew five walks in this seven-inning game, two of them by Bryan Acuña, but collected just three hits. Jayson Bass was the only Twin with an extra-base knock, a double. Twins starting pitcher Joel Garcia gave up three runs on five hits and three walks over his three innings of work. 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY 
Pitcher of the Day: Marco Raya, St. Paul: 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K, 49 pitches
Hitter of the Day: Mickey Gasper, St. Paul: 4-for-8, 2 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for more. 
3. Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul): 0-for-0, 3 BB
6. Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-4, 2 BB, R, 2 RBI, SB (11)
7. Marco Raya (St. Paul): 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K, 49 pitches
8. Andrew Morris (St. Paul): 6 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 5 K, 87 pitches
9. Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-5, BB, 2 R, RBI, K
10. Dasan Hill (Fort Myers): 2 2/3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 5 K, 49 pitches
11. Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-3, 2 BB, R, 2 RBI, K, SB (24)
14. Gabriel Gonzalez (Wichita): 1-for-4, K
16. Eduardo Beltre (FCL): 0-for-4, 2 K
17. Tanner Schobel (Wichita): 1-for-4, 2B, R, K, 2 E
20. Ricardo Olivar (Wichita): 0-for-4, RBI

TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul vs. Norfolk, 5:07 pm CT: Darren McCaughan
Wichita at San Antonio, 1:05 pm CT: Trent Baker
Cedar Rapids at Fort Wayne, 5:35 pm CT: Alejandro Hidalgo
Fort Myers at Lakeland, 11:00 am CT: Michael Ross

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[Dman]

I've always liked MacLeod as he has always put up decent numbers, but he is one of those crafty lefties and that makes me nervous when making the leap to MLB.  He kind of feels a bit like Funderburk part 2.  Hoping he keeps it up, but it has just been hard to get too excited since he  seems to have limitations.

Gasper I don't get it.  He is a monster at AAA but just seems to have such a hard time at the MLB level.  I know it's different but with how dominant he is at AAA you would think some of that should translate.  Love what he is doing maybe if he gets another callup things will work out better for him?

So nice to see Raya have a nice outing.  He just seems to get rocked almost every time out there.  He has plus stuff or so I am told, but his results have never really been all that great IMO.  Maybe this will be a turning point for him?

Kernals grabbed a bunch of walks so good plate discipline tonight.  Gotta believe Culpepper isn't going to be at High A much longer.  I'd also think about pushing Diaw as he seems like one of the few catchers that might have a chance so would be good to get him reps at a higher level since his bat and approach appears ready.

 

 

[Doctor Wu]

Fantastic, and wild, double play for the Saints! Good heads-up baseball! Any very nice to see Marco Raya come back strong. As noted:

Pitching into the fourth inning for the first time this season, Raya capped his outing with a 1-2-3 frame. When all was said and done, Raya had delivered four perfect innings with seven strikeouts. 

The first time he's hit the fourth inning plateau this season? I hope it gives him more confidence going forward. Of course, he will need to be "allowed" to pitch past the five inning barrier at some point, but at least this was an encouraging performance. 

[Obie]

It doesn't appear that Wallner played in either game of the doubleheader. Any known reason?

[DJL44]

56 minutes ago, Obie said:

It doesn't appear that Wallner played in either game of the doubleheader. Any known reason?

Quote

The slugger was in the Twins’ clubhouse at Target Field on Saturday before returning for another game at St. Paul on Sunday. - mlb.com

https://www.mlb.com/news/matt-wallner-nearing-end-of-rehab-assignment-return-to-twins

Looks like the Twins trainers had him at Target Field for injury rehab work.

[Tom Froemming]

1 hour ago, Obie said:

It doesn't appear that Wallner played in either game of the doubleheader. Any known reason?

Given the history of how they've handled guys on rehab assignment, I'm guessing it was just a scheduled off day for him. Wallner had played both Thursday and Friday. That's somewhat unusual in itself, as they don't typically let guys go back-to-back right away when rehabbing. This has been a weird weather week, though, so maybe the earlier postponements had some impact on their plan with him.

[D.C Twins]

FREE CULPEPPER!

[rdehring]

Add me to the list of those intrigued by MacLeod.  Will second Dman's comment that I will be shocked if Culpepper doesn't soon move down I-35 to Kansas.

Add that it is good to continue seeing a lot of positive every time Hill is on the hill!

 

[bean5302]

The Tides came to swing.. at anything and everything. Raya was missing the entire strike zone map, and spiking pitches with regularity, but the Tides were still aggressive against him vs. just taking a ton of walks and crushing the forced mistakes. Luckily, Raya had professional catcher, Micky Gasper, behind the plate to block all the spiked pitches. Seriously, though, where is this power coming from? Gasper's never been a power threat in the minors, but he sure is making it known he can put a ball over the fence in AAA right now.

Emma managed 3 walks, but his is how they were pitching him...

By the way, Weston didn't have trouble hitting the strike zone against other batters I was reviewing, he was just throwing junk to Rodriguez.

It's good for guys with elite stuff to have some hiccups, IMHO. Connor Prielipp and Dasan Hill have gotten reminded that every hitter can capitalize on a mistake this year.



 

[Dman]

4 hours ago, bean5302 said:

The Tides came to swing.. at anything and everything. Raya was missing the entire strike zone map, and spiking pitches with regularity, but the Tides were still aggressive against him vs. just taking a ton of walks and crushing the forced mistakes.

 

Interesting note on Raya. Thanks for that.  He really does have trouble throwing strikes.  Either he doesn't trust his stuff or just has no idea where it is going, but it seems like he ends up needing to groove one or give up another walk far too often IMO.   Still am happy he had a good night if nothing else than for his confidence and if the other team is gonna swing might as well stay out of the zone so good for him.

FWIW it seems like a lot of hitters are having a tough time with just how low the strike zone goes with automatic pitch tracking.  Being at the game so many of those pitches seem like they are at the ankles only to be called strikes and many challenges fail on those low pitches.  On some of challenges the ball scrapes the top of low part of the zone at the knees literally making it slightly below knee high but still a strike. So I can see why there might be more swings at balls in the dirt as it can be hard to judge how low is too low until it is too late. Somewhat the same with the top of the zone as it can seem chest high or higher on some players with almost no chance to hit that, but the auto zone has it as a strike.

 

[DJL44]

13 minutes ago, Dman said:

Being at the game so many of those pitches seem like they are at the ankles only to be called strikes and many challenges fail on those low pitches.  On some of challenges the ball scrapes the top of low part of the zone at the knees literally making it slightly below knee high but still a strike. 

Which is why the emphasis on making contact with the pitch in front of the plate.

[bean5302]

4 hours ago, Dman said:

Interesting note on Raya. Thanks for that.  He really does have trouble throwing strikes.  Either he doesn't trust his stuff or just has no idea where it is going, but it seems like he ends up needing to groove one or give up another walk far too often IMO...

I think he's got a lot of pitch options and his stuff moves pretty well, but not being able to have control of pitches feels like a mechanical issue to me. When guys are good, I think they can just rely on movement until they get into AA, and especially AAA. Seasoned hitters can lay off non-competitive pitches, even if they move really well, and a lot of guys at AAA have MLB experience.

With Raya being unable to locate his pitches with any kind of regularity, he's not going to be successful at the MLB level. Kinda feels like Alcala, right?

[Doctor Gast]

I wasn't very high on the Twins' draft picks last year. But the top picks look pretty good, especially if Culpepper sticks at SS. DeBarge continues his tear on the bases & Diaw can eventually catch in the bigs. Does Diaw belong in the Twins' top 20 prospects? AA will be the true test.