Twins Minor League Report (6/25): Kala'i Rosario Completes the Cycle!

[Matt Braun]

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge

 

TRANSACTIONS
LHP Rafael Marcano released (Cedar Rapids)
RHP Ryan Jensen released (St. Paul)
C Patrick Winkel activated from 7-day IL (St. Paul)

Saints Sentinel

The Saints were rained out on Wednesday and will play a doubleheader Saturday. 

Wind Surge Wisdom
Wichita 10, Springfield 1
Box Score
John Klein: 5 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K
HR: Kala’i Rosario (8), Kaelen Culpepper (2)
Multi-hit games: Kala’i Rosario (4-for-5, HR, 3B, 2B, R, 6 RBI), Ricardo Olivar (3-for-5)

Kala’i Rosario hit for the cycle on Wednesday.

He started with a sharply struck double in the first before crushing a homer in the third. A successful day at the ballpark already, Rosario nonetheless tacked on a two-run single in the fourth.

At this point, Rosario lived in the infamous “triple away from the cycle” world. He was technically close to finishing the deed, but a triple is a rare outcome for even the quickest players. He did it, though. The footage is something to watch; hard-cutting from the ball’s violent ricochet off the wall to an aggressively helmet-less Rosario dashing around second with singular intent. He slams his hand against the bag. The third base coach smiles and high-fives the hero. A perfect moment. Rosario is the second Wind Surge hitter in franchise history to hit for the cycle (Christian Encarnacion-Strand, July 17, 2022, vs. Arkansas). He’s also the first Wichita hitter this year with five or more RBIs in a game (6).

Lost in the exultations was John Klein’s brilliance on the mound. The Brooklyn Park righty mowed down the Cardinals, whiffing nine of them, a season high, with just one earned run. His season ERA with the Wind Surge now sits at 3.10. 

Kaelen Culpepper homered for the second time since being promoted. 

As you may have guessed, Springfield is an affiliate of the Cardinals. Their seventh overall pick in 2024, J.J. Wetherholt is ranked as the 17th-best prospect in baseball; he singled and walked in four plate appearances. 

Kernels Nuggets
Cedar Rapids 1, South Bend 4
Box Score
Chase Chaney: 6 ⅓ IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: None

The Kernels lost plainly on Wednesday.

Chase Chaney was the clear star of the show. The righty worked efficiently, netting 19 outs with just 88 pitches. The secret? Grounders. Lots of them. He nabbed nine groundouts, and overall allowed just three balls to leave the infield. Given his prime Keuchel-ian play, he probably deserved an even better line.

Poor Kade Bragg was part of the reason why Chaney’s box score didn’t live up to its potential. You may have had a bad day in the office—or restaurant; store; construction; wherever else our readers may gather to sell their labor for money—but few suffered a tougher day than Bragg. He surrendered an inherited run, an earned run, an unearned run, four walks, five stolen bases, and uncorked a wild pitch before Jacob Kisting mercifully ended his night. Go get a good night’s rest, Bragg. You deserve it. 

The Kernels earned two hits: a double by Andy Lugo and a triple by Danny De Andrade. Kyle DeBarge stole his 40th base of the season. 

South Bend is, of course, an affiliate of the Cubs, and they played the 71st-ranked prospect in baseball, Jefferson Rojas. The second baseman walked once in four plate appearances. 

Mussel Matters
Fort Myers 3, Tampa 1
Box Score 
Michael Carpenter: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
HR: Yasser Mercedes (4)
Multi-hit games: Peyton Carr (2-for-3)

The Mighty Mussels won narrowly on Wednesday.

What a bizarre game. Fort Myers pitchers walked nine, yet allowed just five hits, and nearly escaped with a shutout. On Tampa’s side, their starter, Gage Ziehl, pitched eight innings—an almost unheard of thing in the minors. And he lost. Go figure.

Michael Carpenter has left quite an impression lately. He entered his May 21st outing with an ERA over 7, but has allowed just three earned runs across 13 innings. Not a bad showing from the Menomonee Falls native.

The Mighty Mussels offensive effort was curt. Yasser Mercedes slashed a two-run homer to right in the game’s opening frames. Then the bats fell dormant. Maybe they were resting. In any case, Angel Del Rosario decided to take matters into his hands. In the eighth, he legged out an infield single, stole second, advanced to third on a pickoff error, and finally scored on a wild pitch. That’s high-quality manufacturing. 

The steal was Del Rosario’s 25th of the season, the 4th-most in the Florida State League.

Tampa is an affiliate of the famous New York Yankees farm system. Though it appears a bit more tepid than usual, they still sent their fifth-ranked player, infielder Roderick Arias. He went 0-5, with four strikeouts. 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – John Klein, Wichita (5 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K)
Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Kala’i Rosario, Wichita (4-for-5, HR, 3B, 2B, R, 6 RBI)

PROSPECT SUMMARY

Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects, which was recently updated!
#1 – Walker Jenkins (Wichita) - 1-4, BB, 2 K
#4 – Kaelen Culpepper (Wichita) - 1-4, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB
#9 – Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 0-3, BB, 2 K
#10 – Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 0-3, BB
#12 – Billy Amick (Cedar Rapids) - 0-2, RBI, BB, K
#13 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Wichita) - 1-4, 2B, 2 R, RBI, BB
#18 – Ricardo Olivar (Wichita) - 3-5
#19 – Danny De Andrade (Cedar Rapids) - 1-4, 3B, R, K

THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Louisville @ St. Paul (7:07 PM) - RHP Trent Baker
Springfield @ Wichita (7:05 PM) - RHP C.J. Culpepper
South Bend @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM) - RHP Tanner Hall
Fort Myers @ Tampa (5:30 PM) - RHP Adrian Bohorquez
FCL Braves @ FCL Twins (11:00 AM) - TBD
DSL Cardinals @ DSL Twins (10:00 AM) - TBD

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Wednesday’s games.

 

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[Ghost of Kirby Puckett]

Culpepper has that Keaschall feeling about him. Just keeps hitting and getting better. And I'd say GG is all the way back from injury. He has been cooking for quite a bit now, and certainly has regained some value over a year ago. Nice to see.

[big dog]

Kyle DeBarge has 40 SB?? And it's in 41 attempts according to his Baseball Ref page. Fourth-highest total in the minors, far and away the best percentage among the leaders (and presumably everyone else with at least one caught stealing). Congrats!!

[terrydactyls]

The Mighty Mussels offensive effort was curt. Yasser Mercedes slashed a two-run homer to right in the game’s opening frames. Then the bats fell dormant. Maybe they were resting. In any case, Angel Del Rosario decided to take matters into his hands. In the eighth, he legged out an infield single, stole second, advanced to third on a pickoff error, and finally scored on a wild pitch. That’s high-quality manufacturing. 

If Rosario was on the Twins, he would still be at first base.  Manufacturing runs is not allowed.  Just wait for a home run.

[Doctor Wu]

Given his prime Keuchel-ian play, he probably deserved an even better line.

Kuechel-ian. I love it!

[Doctor Wu]

Just now, Doctor Wu said:

Given his prime Keuchel-ian play, he probably deserved an even better line.

Kuechel-ian. I love it!

Speaking of which, maybe it's not too late to try Kuechel again. 

[Major League Ready]

I thought Rosario looked really good in spring training, so I was keeping an eye on him.  He had a really tough time in April and I was doubting him.  Since May 1st, he is sporting a wRC+ of 162.  Count him as another guy that is back on the radar along with GG and Sabato.  

[FlyingFinn]

12 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

Count him as another guy that is back on the radar along with GG and Sabato.  

All great stories this year. I'm just biased towards guys with more speed now, after seeing how slow the Twins are. All three of these guys have to continue to hit great at every level as I don't think any of them play great defense.

[Major League Ready]

1 hour ago, FlyingFinn said:

All great stories this year. I'm just biased towards guys with more speed now, after seeing how slow the Twins are. All three of these guys have to continue to hit great at every level as I don't think any of them play great defense.

Right there with you.  I have been disappointed with the lack of focus on athleticism for a long time.  If nothing else it's just a lot more fun to watch players like Buxton and Bader.  Hopefully, that is going to change with Keaschall, Jenkins, E. Rodriguez, Culpepper and DeBarge.  

Ideally, the guys mentioned above become our core of our position player roster over the next couple of years.  If a couple of these less athletic guys become middle of the order bats, that's a good thing to go along with these other players offering speed and defense.   The more guys that develop the better.  We can always trade guys like Rosario and GG if our OF is filled with great all-around players.   

[rdehring]

Count me among those who once were very high on Rosario.  But the last year or so has caused me to kind of forget about him.  Not any longer as he has been hitting like before for awhile.  And then there was last night!

Also hard to understand how Culpepper moves up to AA and nothing changed.  Isn't AA supposed to be the hardest step in becoming a big league player?

[DJL44]

5 hours ago, Ghost of Kirby Puckett said:

Culpepper has that Keaschall feeling about him. Just keeps hitting and getting better. And I'd say GG is all the way back from injury. He has been cooking for quite a bit now, and certainly has regained some value over a year ago. Nice to see.

I know Correa is playing hurt, but his defense is average at best now. Culpepper might be the SS good enough to move Correa to 3B.

[LambchoP]

I haven't heard much about this Klein guy but he looks to be pitching a good season. Glad to see Culpeper finding success in AA along with Gonzalez. Both these guys could be the real deal. Awesome to see DeBarge with 40 SB already!

[jmlease1]

1 hour ago, rdehring said:

Count me among those who once were very high on Rosario.  But the last year or so has caused me to kind of forget about him.  Not any longer as he has been hitting like before for awhile.  And then there was last night!

Also hard to understand how Culpepper moves up to AA and nothing changed.  Isn't AA supposed to be the hardest step in becoming a big league player?

Rosario has been on a heater for a while, and it's great to see. Pretty rough start (he was awful in April), but he definitely seems back on track. Hope he can sustain it. Be great to have his right-handed power be a real option, even if he's not much of a fielder.

I think AA is a major speed bump for a lot of players. You see guys all the time where their athleticism carried them through A ball and when they started facing more advanced players struggled. Or the older, college guys with more experience beating up on younger kids in A ball fall off when they hit AA and are facing more of their peers all the time. But it doesn't apply to everyone. Culpepper is doing great and showing why he was the Twins first round pick.

And the toughest jump has always been AAA to MLB.

[Dman]

I was really starting to doubt myself on the Rosario belief after all the swing and miss early in the season and a not great year last year.  As noted by others he is really coming around after a slow start.  AA is a huge jump no doubt about it but he was MVP of his league when at High A so I thought maybe he would handle it better\faster.  Just like Schobel it looks like he is getting back to the hitter he was.

I really gave up on Gonzalez last year.  Thought he was way over hyped.  I have kept waiting for him to stop "getting lucky", but it looks like he is just a really good hitter.  He has been a doubles machine and his eye at the plate has really improved IMO and I think that is leading him to better pitches to drive.  If he keeps this up the next couple of months he'll be in AAA.

Nice to see Culpepper keep doing what he always does and seeing him already adding power to his game makes his future even brighter.  He is a good low ball hitter, but he does chase down there as well.  His defense looks really good the times I have watched him.  Looks like a really nice pick the Twins made last year.

[Cody Christie]

Here are some John Klein highlights from last night.
 

 

[Dman]

2 hours ago, Cody Christie said:

Here are some John Klein highlights from last night.

 

I was a pretty big Klein fan in 2023 and then in 2024 it looked like he needed something more to be more than just filler.   He has had some tough games but the overall numbers do look really good at a pretty tough level.  K9 has really improved and FIP and xFIP pretty much match his ERA so he is not getting lucky he just been good.  If he is topping out at 97 all the better.  If he can continue to dominate like this the Twins might have something.