Twins Minor League Report (6/10): Andrew Cossetti Takes Off

[Matt Braun]

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge (photo of Andrew Cossetti)

TRANSACTIONS
OF Byron Chourio activated from 7-day IL (Fort Myers)
RHP Travis Adams optioned to AAA St. Paul
C Noah Cardenas promoted from AA Wichita to AAA St. Paul
RHP Simeon Woods Richardson recalled from AAA St. Paul
C Nate Baez promoted from A+ Cedar Rapids to AA Wichita
RHP Trent Baker promoted from AA Wichita to AAA St. Paul
INF Bryan Acuna promoted from FCL Twins to A Fort Myers
C Luke Napleton promoted from A Fort Myers to A+ Cedar Rapids

Saints Sentinel
St. Paul 3, Indianapolis 2 (10 Innings)
Box Score
Travis Adams: 4 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: Edouard Julien (2-for-4, 2B, RBI)

The Saints fell in extras on Tuesday. 

Travis Adams earned his second start of the season. The righty had known bulk appearances all year—he has yet to see an outing last fewer than two frames—yet the timing of his return to the rotation feels notable given the suddenly shrinking depth of starting pitchers available to the Twins. And, Adams pitched well, allowing a lone earned run across four innings with four strikeouts.

The Saints offense was… concise? They certainly weren’t overwhelming. Before the ninth, a St. Paul runner reached second base just once, when an Anthony Prato HBP moved Carson McCusker to scoring position in the fifth. 

But they did get off the schneid eventually. McCusker walked and scampered to second off a wild pitch to set up Edouard Julien with a chance to tie the game. He looped a fly ball to left. A defeated bat toss ensued. The ball continued to fly, though, propelled by a chaotic force just nefarious enough to make Indianapolis’ left fielder miss the catch. 

In extra-innings, St. Paul would add a run with a Payton Eeles sacrifice fly, but Indianapolis scored twice, with the dagger arriving in the form of a swinging nubber hit too slow for Kyle Bischoff to field and throw out the runner at home.

Noah Cardenas made his AAA debut with a single and a walk in five plate appearances. 

Rehabbing big leaguer Michael Tonkin tossed a scoreless inning. He struck out one and topped out at 93.8 MPH.  

Indianapolis is an affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates and second baseman Nick Yorke is ranked as the franchise’s 6th-best prospect. He singled in four at-bats. 

Wind Surge Wisdom
Wichita 8, Corpus Christi 2
Box Score
Pierson Ohl: 4 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K
HR: Andrew Cossetti 2 (6, 7), Aaron Sabato (9), Rubel Cespedes (4)
Multi-hit games: Gabriel Gonzalez (2-for-4, R, BB), Aaron Sabato (2-for-5, HR, 2B, R, RBI), Rubel Cespedes (3-for-5, HR, 2B, 2 R, 3 RBI), Andrew Cossetti (2-for-5, 2 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI), Ben Ross (3-for-4, RBI)

A home run explosion helped the Wind Surge win on Tuesday.

The first homer to drop actually wasn’t one from Wichita. Edwin Diaz, unrelated, drove a Pierson Ohl delivery over the wall in left-center to start the scoring. Then, in the second, Andrew Cossetti dropped his first of the day way out to center field. 

A second Corpus Christi homer pushed the Hooks into the lead, but that concluded their offense for the day. The Wind Surge? Barely even started. In the fourth Aaron Sabato cranked his ninth homer of the season and Ben Ross singled in Rubel Cespedes to take the lead. 

One frame later, Cespedes switched scoring a run for knocking one in. Kyler Fedko added on in the sixth. Finally, in the seventh, Cespedes demolished his fourth homer of the season, and Cossetti concluded his offensive barrage with a massive shot to go back-to-back with his teammate. 

Cole Percival, Jacob Wosinski, and Michael Martinez combined for five scoreless innings in relief of Ohl. They punched out five and allowed two hits. 

Corpus Christi is connected to the Houston Astros. No longer the talent firestorm of a system that dominated MLB for years, they nonetheless offered their 10th-ranked player, outfielder Luis Baez, who went 0-4, with three strikeouts. 

Kernels Nuggets
Cedar Rapids 7, Peoria 6 (10 Innings)
Box Score
Cole Peschl: 5 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 4 K
HR: Brandon Winokur (6), Caden Kendle (3)
Multi-hit games: Caden Kendle (2-for-4, HR, R, 2 RBI)

The Kernels claimed victory in extras on Tuesday.

Somehow, Cedar Rapids only had four hits. Four. And they scored seven runs. How is that possible?

One of them, a Justin Connell double, plated Rayne Doncon in the second. Doncon reached base via a walk—the first of eight for the Kernels on the day. 

In the sixth, a Kyle DeBarge walk begat a Brandon Winokur home run. Cedar Rapids is halfway through their allotted hits for the day.

Considering how effective that play was, the Kernels ran it again the next frame, with Poncho Ruiz walking to place Caden Kendle as the man to leave the stadium. Cedar Rapids is 75% of the way through their allotted hits for the day.

DeBarge walked and stole two bases in the eighth before Jay Thomason brought him in with a sacrifice fly to tie the game.

Funny enough, Cedar Rapids’ final hit of the day came in the ninth with an ultimately harmless single from Kendle. So, how did they eventually win? How about a 10th inning that went fielder’s choice, groundout, intentional walk, and walk-off sacrifice fly. 

Paulshawn Pasqualotto pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings to lower his season ERA to 0.96.

Kyle DeBarge stole his 31st, 32nd, and 33rd bases of the season.

St. Louis’ 18th-ranked prospect—catcher Ryan Campos—singled in five at-bats. 

Mussel Matters
Fort Myers 5, Dunedin 4 
Box Score
Eli Jones: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
HR: Jefferson Valladares (3)
Multi-hit games: None

The Mighty Mussels won narrowly on Tuesday.

Early scoring proved to be the key to winning. Jefferson Valladares smoked his third homer of the year in the second, ushering in a scrappy three-run third which saw a flurry of singles, BBs, and one critical error give Fort Myers a 4-0 lead. Bryan Acuna collected his first A-ball hit in the melee. 

A fifth and final run came in the eighth thanks to a double steal.

Though starter Eli Jones had to battle through his start, Christian Becerra and Ruddy Gomez combined for four frames of one-run ball to carry the game to its conclusion. 

Rehabbing minor leaguer Walker Jenkins singled, walked, stole two bases, and struck out twice in four plate appearances. He played center field for seven innings.

The Dunedin Blue Jays don’t offer a tremendous collection of prospect talent; second baseman Sam Shaw is the best they have on hand. Ranked 24th in the organization, he doubled once in three at-bats. 

Complex Chronicles
FCL Twins 0, FCL Pirates 11
Box Score
Yoel Roque: 0 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 0 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: None

The FCL Twins were smoked on Tuesday.

Yoel Roque failed to record an out in his start. Will Armbruester relieved him and performed admirably in recovering from the curt outing, netting seven outs with just one earned run. He whiffed three.

Two batters—Yandro Hernandez and Ricardo Perez—recorded a hit for the FCL Twins, both singles. The team also took four walks.

Eduardo Beltre stole his 10th base of the season, tying him for 11th-most in the FCL. 

Rehabbing minor leaguer, Yasser Mercedes, went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts 

Dominican Dailies 
DSL Twins 2, DSL Mets 3 (8 Innings)
Box Score
Jeicol Surumay: 3 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: None

The DSL Twins lost in extras on Tuesday.

Jeicol Surumay delivered three quality innings in his start, as he rebounded from allowing a run in the first, eventually finishing the day without another score on his ledger.

The DSL Twins plated a pair of runs in the fourth when Carlos Taveras tripled in a run before jogging home on a balk. 

Haritzon Castillo singled, walked, and stole a base. 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Travis Adams
Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Andrew Cossetti

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed. You can vote/rank your Top 20 Twins prospects now by clicking here. 

#1 – Walker Jenkins (rehab with Fort Myers) - 1-3, R, BB, 2 K
#6 – Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 0-5, K
#9 – Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 1-5, HR, R, 2 RBI
#11 – Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 0-2, 3 R, 3 BB, K
#14 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Wichita) - 2-4, R, BB
#16 – Eduardo Beltre (FCL Twins) - 0-1, BB
#18 – Yasser Mercedes (rehab with FCL Twins) - 0-3, 2 K
#19 – Carson McCusker (St. Paul) - 0-3, BB, 2 K
#20 – Ricardo Olivar (Wichita) - 1-4, 2B, R, BB, K

WEDNESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Indianapolis (12:35 PM) - RHP Marco Raya
Corpus Christi @ Wichita (12:05 PM) - RHP Darren Bowen
Peoria @ Cedar Rapids (12:05 PM) - RHP Ty Langenberg
Fort Myers @ Dunedin (5:30 PM) - RHP Jason Doktorczyk

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[ryan189]

could of used adams today in Minnesota 

[David HK]

Thanks for all these updates! Especially welcome on a day when the big club went bust, nice to have some good news.

Hmmm, a lotta catchers on the move up... 🤔 I'm intrigued by this Napelton fella.

[Major League Ready]

Does this promotion for Cardenas set the stage for Cardenas.  If he continues to hit at AAA, is he the back-up catcher next year?  I suppose it depends on what's available on the free agent market but he can't be worse offensively than Vazquez, can he?

[Doctor Gast]

Congratulations to Noah Cardenas on his 1st AAA hit. 1 of the few in a hard-fought pitching duel. Hope it's a sign of good things to come.

[Trov]

I think it is time to move Sabato up to AAA.  I am not expecting anything long term from him but he is crushing AA no point in keeping him there any longer. 

[tony&rodney]

Sorry to include a negative comment but Jose Miranda had a horrible plate appearance in a situation where he could have sealed the game. The pitcher gave him four grooved pitches to hit. A sac fly was what was needed. Miranda took huge line drive hacks and grounded into a DP. He needs a complete reset in Ft. Myers.

[DJL44]

Do they still do minor league all-star games? That was always the milestone to move players up to the next level.

[mikelink45]

Where is Cosetti in the Catcher ranks?

I will remain puzzled by the Adams demotion and the flailing arm of Alcala in the majors.  Something is wrong here. 

[Matt Braun]

4 hours ago, David HK said:

Thanks for all these updates! Especially welcome on a day when the big club went bust, nice to have some good news.

Hmmm, a lotta catchers on the move up... 🤔 I'm intrigued by this Napelton fella.

Well if the Dodgers have taught us anything, it's that Louisville catchers are the way to go. 

[Matt Braun]

7 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

Where is Cosetti in the Catcher ranks?

Interesting question. I guess a lot of it depends on how much of a "catcher" Ricardo Olivar really is. I'd go Cartaya, Cardenas, Diaw, Olivar, then Cossetti. That sounds about right to me but it's also difficult to understand and evaluate catcher defense in the minors. 

[AceWrigley]

Good to see the bats of Sabato and Cossetti heating up. I thought at the beginning of the year it was possible both would end up on the scrap heap but now it looks like their baseball journeys will continue. I'm sure Sabato will get a chance to hit for the Saints sometime in the near future.

[AceWrigley]

44 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Sorry to include a negative comment but Jose Miranda had a horrible plate appearance in a situation where he could have sealed the game. The pitcher gave him four grooved pitches to hit. A sac fly was what was needed. Miranda took huge line drive hacks and grounded into a DP. He needs a complete reset in Ft. Myers.

That and the way the Saints lost the game with Kyle Bischoff not being able to hit the side of a barn no matter where he was trying to throw the ball. That was a bad loss.

[LambchoP]

Adams needs to replace Alcala in the Twins pen ASAP. Kyle DeBarge having a great season, 33 stolen bases already! When was the last time the Twins had a potential SB champion on their team. Payton Eeles has been doing great since being activated. I know he can play multiple positions,just not sure how good his defense is. If Brooks Lee or Castro gets hurt, or struggles badly, I think Eeles could be a good table setter at the top of our lineup. Would have to add him to the 40 man roster, but I think that needs to happen anyway so nobody can nab him in the rule 5 draft. If he's even eligible yet, I don't know... Gabby Gonzalez continues to hit in AA. Hopefully he's a potential productive big league. Not much power or speed yet though.

[Major League Ready]

3 hours ago, Matt Braun said:

Interesting question. I guess a lot of it depends on how much of a "catcher" Ricardo Olivar really is. I'd go Cartaya, Cardenas, Diaw, Olivar, then Cossetti. That sounds about right to me but it's also difficult to understand and evaluate catcher defense in the minors. 

You would rate the catcher with a 390 OPS the best catching prospect?  

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, LambchoP said:

I think Eeles could be a good table setter at the top of our lineup. Would have to add him to the 40 man roster, but I think that needs to happen anyway so nobody can nab him in the rule 5 draft. If he's even eligible yet, I don't know... 

Eeles is not eligible for the Rule 5 draft until 2027

[mikelink45]

4 hours ago, Matt Braun said:

Interesting question. I guess a lot of it depends on how much of a "catcher" Ricardo Olivar really is. I'd go Cartaya, Cardenas, Diaw, Olivar, then Cossetti. That sounds about right to me but it's also difficult to understand and evaluate catcher defense in the minors. 

I am not a fan of Cartaya.  Diaw is too young and still has some proving to do.  

[Matt Braun]

2 hours ago, Major League Ready said:

You would rate the catcher with a 390 OPS the best catching prospect?  

Well, 

1. Catching depth in the Twins system isn’t particularly good.

2. He’s the closest to the majors.

3. His 2025 so far is just a 14 game sample. 
 

The only one in competition with Cartaya is Cardenas, whom Cartaya is two years younger than. 

[chpettit19]

6 hours ago, Trov said:

I think it is time to move Sabato up to AAA.  I am not expecting anything long term from him but he is crushing AA no point in keeping him there any longer. 

I think it's more about who's in AAA than Sabato himself. He's no longer a prospect. At least not in the sense that you clear space for him at the level above. The Twins likely prefer Miranda, Julien, Schobel, Eeles,  Gasper, McCusker (has been taking ground balls at 1B pre-game, fyi), etc. get ABs and they aren't going to clear space for Sabato to get ABs there. 

[Major League Ready]

16 minutes ago, Matt Braun said:

Well, 

1. Catching depth in the Twins system isn’t particularly good.

2. He’s the closest to the majors.

3. His 2025 so far is just a 14 game sample. 
 

The only one in competition with Cartaya is Cardenas, whom Cartaya is two years younger than. 

I would love to see Cartaya turn it around but he has not been good offensively since high A.  His OPS last year in AAA for LA was 643.  Maybe he was rushed and he comes around offensively.  Cardenas has always hit except last year so there seems to be some basis to expect he can continue to hit.  It could be argued that Diaw has the highest ceiling and is therefore the best "prospect".  IDK.  It's certainly not clear cut.

[DocBauer]

Catching prospects based on upside?

DIAW (best overall combination of talent and potential)

Then CARDENAS (defense, game calling, arm, bat control, limited power)

FERRER or OlIVAR some combination for 3rd and 4th. (Ferrer was a top prep catcher prospect who got moved to the OF. The bat could be really good if he makes a successful transition back to catcher. Olivar has played more C than OF this year and thr bat plays, but can he actually CATCH? And this year's 17% CS% is the highest in his career do far)

After that, a mixed bag of WINKEL, COSSETTI, and BAEZ. Winkel can't throw, and doesn't do a lot with the bat and has limited power. Has Cossetti improved his skills? He's still not throwing well and his bat disappeared all of 2024 and the begining of this season. Baez is a good athlete and can smack the ball. But he  can't throw it and hasn't shown much power.

I just don't have any faith in  Cartaya. 

Anyone else is a teenager at this point. 

[FlyingFinn]

9 hours ago, Matt Braun said:

Interesting question. I guess a lot of it depends on how much of a "catcher" Ricardo Olivar really is. I'd go Cartaya, Cardenas, Diaw, Olivar, then Cossetti.

Camargo is on the 40 man roster so obviously the Twins like him otherwise they would just have DFA'd him already in one of our earlier transactions. Need catchers who can actually play defense and with Cardenas resurgence, Cartaya hasn't looked good all year, including spring training. Right now, my order is Camargo, Cardenas and Diaw. I don't see the other names listed as being capable of being a major league catcher on defense.