Twins Minor League Report (7/20): Big Innings Key Big Wins Throughout the Twins System

[Seth Stohs]

First, a reminder to make your vote heard by ranking your Top 20 Twins prospects here. 

The Twins salvaged the final game in Colorado, so now they get to take on Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers in California the next three days. 

Three of the four full-season affiliates played games on Sunday afternoon. Wichita starts at 6:05 tonight, so this article will be updated when that game goes final. 

TRANSACTIONS
St. Paul activated infielder Ryan Fitzgerald from the injured list. 

According to the Transactions page, Mickey Gasper’s ‘roster status changed.” What does that mean? It could mean any number of things, but we learned soon after that he is with the Twins, on their taxi squad. Ryan Jeffers’ wife could be having the couple’s second baby anytime over the next week. They want Gasper to be available at any time so that Jeffers can be with his wife. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 6, Louisville 1
Box Score
After getting shellacked in Louisville on Saturday night, the Saints responded with a very well-played game on Sunday afternoon to take the series finale. 

Jose Urena threw well, tossing three zeroes on the board to start the game. He gave up four hits and walked a batter but was able to wiggle out of things. Cory Lewis entered the game to start the fourth inning and provided five strong innings. He gave up one run on three hits and a walk. He also struck out six batters. Erasmus Ramirez pitched a scoreless ninth to close the door. 

Ryan Fitzgerald returned to the lineup, and in his first at-bat, he launched a long home run to give the Saints a 1-0 lead in the second inning. 

In the fourth inning, Fitzgerald singled to drive in Carson McCusker who had ld off the inning with a double. 

Then in the sixth inning, McCusker was on second base with Fitzgerald at the plate again. This time Fitzgerald struck out, but the ball was in the dirt, so he ran toward first, and when the catcher threw the ball errantly, McCusker scored the team’s third run. 

In the eighth inning, Aaron Sabato ripped a one-out triple. Due to a pitching change to a left-hander Anthony Prato pinch hit for Fitzgerald. And Prato did what Prato does. He got hit by a pitch and then stole second base. With runners on second and third, Jose Miranda hit a three-run homer to give the Saints a five-run cushion.   

Luke Keaschall went 2-for-5 and stole two bases. Fitzgerald was 2-for-3 with his seventh homer and two RBI. Jose Miranda went 2-for-4 with his fifth homer and three RBI. McCusker scored twice. He was 1-for-3 with a walk and his 17th double. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 4, Springfield 7
Box Score
Wichita fell behind early thanks to some unearned runs, but then they fell even further behind and were unable to catch up. 

Connor Prielipp made the start for the Win Surge. He went four innings without giving up an earned run. He gave up three hits, walked none, and had three strikeouts.  Unfortunately, in the third inning, a single was followed by an error on a sacrifice bunt attempt. After a strikeout, another single loaded the bases. A sacrifice fly was followed by another single. The final out was on a caught stealing but the third run scored on the same play. 

Ricky Castro came in and worked two innings. He gave up three runs in the fifth frame and then a scoreless sixth. Joel Cesar struck out two batters in a scoreless seventh inning. Cole Percival gave up a run in the eighth inning. 

The Wind Surge went scoreless through the first five innings. Walker Jenkins led off the top of the sixth inning with a single. Gabriel Gonzalez followed with another single. With one out, Kyler Fedko hit his 13th double which drove in Jenkins with the first run. Gonzalez scored on a sacrifice fly by Nate Baez.   

 

Down 7-2 with two outs in the top of the ninth inning, Kaelen Culpepper crushed a two-run homer, his fourth since joining the Surge.       

 

Gonzalez was 2-for-3 and was hit by a pitch. Jenkins was 2-for-5. Culpepper's home run was his lone hit in five at-bats. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 5, Wisconsin 4 (10 innings)
Box Score
The Kernels took an early lead with a four-run fourth inning. Wisconsin gradually worked their way back into the game and tied it up and sent it to extra innings. Fortunately, just one extra inning was necessary. 

The bottom of the fourth began with singles from Danny De Andrade, Poncho Ruiz, and Kyle Hess. Hess’s single drove in De Andrade for the first run. Jaime Ferrer drove in Ruiz with a sacrifice fly. After a pitching change and a second out, Luke Napleton homered to make it 4-0.       

Jose Olivares started and gave up just one hit over five scoreless innings. He had three walks and struck out five batters. 

Kade Bragg worked the sixth inning. He gave up two runs on two hits. Herbert Perez’s 12th home run drove in both runs. 

Jeremy Lee pitched a scoreless seventh inning, but in the eighth, he gave up a walk, a steal and a single to decrease the lead to just 4-3. Nick Trabacchi came on with two outs and a runner on first. He gave up a walk and a single that tied the game. The game was tied 4-4. Trabacchi worked a scoreless ninth and the game went to the tenth inning. Hunter Hoopes kept the Rattlers from scoring in the top of the inning. 

The bottom of the 10th inning began with Kyle DeBarge on second base. He stole third base, his 49th steal of the season. With one out, Brandon Winokur singled for the walk-off win.   

Napleton went 2-for-4. His home run was his first with the Kernels. Winkour had two hits including the game-winner. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 9, Daytona 3
Box Score
Aside from one rough inning for each team, this was a pretty well-pitched game. The difference was that the Mussels poor inning resulted in three Tortuga runs. The Mussels big offensive inning produced eight runs and gave Fort Myers a fairly comfortable lead. 

Anatomy of an Eight-Run Inning
Bryan Acuna walked.
Byron Chourio flew out.
Peyton Carr singled, Acuna to third.
Yohander Martinez walked.
Jose Rodriguez walked. Acuna scored. 1-0.
Javier Roman force out at second. Carr scored. 2-0.
Dameury Pena singled. Martinex scored. 3-0.
Rayne Doncon doubled. Roman and Pena scored. 5-0.
Wild Pitch.
Yasser Mercedes walked.
Bryan Acuna walked.
Byron Chourio walked. Doncon scored. 6-0.
Peyton Carr singled. Mercedes and Acuna scored. 8-0. 

Yohander Martinez flew out. 

Michael Ross made the start for Fort Myers. He tossed four scoreless innings and gave up just one hit and one walk. He struck out four. Dylan Questad worked a scoreless fifth inning, but in the sixth, he gave up two singles and a walk before being removed in favor of lefty Zander Sechrist. Three batters later - a sacrifice fly, a double, and a sacrifice fly - all three inherited runners scored and cut the lead to 8-3. 

Sechrist went two innings and gave up two hits and two walks. Jason Stasiowski came on for the eighth. He walked the first batter and then went behind the mound, clearly affected by the 105 degree “feels-like” temperature at Hammond Stadium. After getting some water, he got back on the mound and got a double play ball. But again, feeling the heat, he was removed from the game and Julio Bonillo got the final four outs of the game. 

The Mussels scored their nine runs on nine hits and 13 walks. Yes, thirteen! Fort Myers native Peyton Carr led the offense. He went 3-for-4 with a walk and two RBI. Dameury Pena went 2-for-3 with two walks. Yasser Mercedes, Bryan Acuna, Byron Chourio and Jose Rodriguez each had two walks. Doncon and Mercedes each doubled. 

DOMINICAN DAILIES
The Dominican Summer League All Star game was played on Sunday morning. Haritzon Castillo was the only DSL Twins player on the American League’s roster. He entered the game as a pinch hitter in the 8th inning and walked. He came around to score one of four runs the AL squad scored that inning in their 10-8 win. 

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day  
Peyton Carr (Fort Myers):  3-for-4, BB, R, 2 RBI, K

Pitcher of the Day 
Jose Olivares (Cedar Rapids): 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K, 70 pitches, 46 strikes (65.7%)

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Sunday.

#1– Walker Jenkins (Wichita) - 2-for-5, R, CS (played CF)  
#2 - Luke Keaschall (Minnesota) - Rehab St. Paul - 2-for-5, 2 SB
#4 - Kaelen Culpepper (Wichita) - 1-for-5, HR(4), R, 2 RBI, 2 K (played SS)
#5 - Connor Prielipp (Wichita) - 4 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 51 pitches, 34 strikes (66.7%) 
#9 - Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-4, IBB, GW RBI (played SS)
#10 - Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-3, BB, 2 K, 2-SB(49) (played 2B)
#13 - Gabriel Gonzalez (Wichita) - 2-for-3, R, HBP, CS 
#17 - Cory Lewis (St. Paul) - 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 6 K, 74 pitches, 45 strikes (60.8%)
#19 - Danny De Andrade (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, R, K (played 3B)
#20 - Payton Eeles (St. Paul) - 0-for-4, BB, K (played SS)

THE WEEK AHEAD
The Minnesota Twins will head from Colorado to LA where they will take on the Dodgers Monday through Wednesday. Thursday is a day off, and then Friday they will host a three-game series against the Nationals.
Worcester @ St. Paul - The Saints will be hosting the Red Sox Triple-A affiliate. No Roman Anthony. No Marcelo Mayer. But Kristian Campbell and Jhostynxon Garcia will be. Check out our sister site Talk Sox for more on the Red Sox, and see which other prospects are currently with the WooSox.
Frisco @ Wichita - The Wind Surge will be hosting Rangers top prospect Sebastian Walcott and the RoughRiders for six games. 

Fort Wayne @ Cedar Rapids - The Kernels will be hosting one of baseball’s top prospects this week when they welcome Leo DeVries and the Padres Midwest League affiliate. Be sure to check out our sister site, Padres Mission, to see which other TinCaps players are among their top prospects.
Fort Myers @ Lakeland - The Mussels will head north to take on the Tigers Low-A affiliate.
FCL Twins - The Twins will play one game on Monday and two against the Orioles on Tuesday. The FCL doesn’t schedule games on Wednesdays, but the Twins and Orioles will be playing another makeup game. On Thursday, the Twins and Orioles will play a regularly-scheduled game. That is the end of the FCL season. The Twins have a good chance to make the playoffs with a strong week.
DSL Twins - The Twins are scheduled to play one game on Monday and another on Tuesday. The DSL rarely has games on Wednesdays. They return to action on Thursday morning. On Friday, they will take on the Marlins, and they’ll finish the week against the Angels on Saturday.    

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 48-51
St. Paul Saints: 44-50
Wichita Wind Surge: 47-43
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 53-36
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 39-49
FCL Twins: 35-19
DSL Twins: 12-22

Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss Sunday’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related!

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[mikelink45]

I will be at the Kernels game on Tuesday - suggest what I should be looking at!

[Dman]

Happy to see Lewis with a nice line.  Was getting worried about him.  He was giving up so much contact and so many runs.  Still not sure what role he would fit best, but just nice to see good results.

Would have loved to see that Sabato triple.  Always interesting when those slower players get one.

It's still a small sample but Winokur with a 1.058 OPS for July.  Recently he has looked like the best hitter on the team IMO.  Will see if he can keep this up, but nice to see him being more consistent here in July.

[FlyingFinn]

Gonzalez and Jenkins are having so many multi hit games lately. That is currently a murderous top of the order with Culpepper in front of them and Rosario and Fedko behind them.

[Seth Stohs]

3 hours ago, Dman said:

Would have loved to see that Sabato triple.  Always interesting when those slower players get one.

Sabato is not fast. However, I noted before the season that he seems to be in the "best shape of" well, at least of his pro career. He's moving so much better. 

[Doctor Wu]

Another great roundup, Seth. Plenty of encouraging performances from the likes of Prielipp, Keaschall, Lewis, Culpepper, Jenkins, Winokur, and Gonzalez. Exciting to have so many quality prospects for a change!

[rdehring]

Thanks, Seth.

Great seeing Keaschall back on the field playing baseball.  Loved that he stole two bags and attempted a third.  How long do you think it will be before he rejoins the Twins?

Hadn't looked at Gonzalez' numbers recently.  He has been at Wichita for awhile and it no longer is a small sample.  What impressed me the most was 23 walks to 21 K's, which are around 10% of his plate appearances.  Let's hope he is that special player the Twins thought he was when that trade was made.  Could be big long term win for the front office, HUGE.

[tony&rodney]

13 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

I will be at the Kernels game on Tuesday - suggest what I should be looking at!

Watch Winokur play shortstop. Try to ascertain whether Gonzalez looks like he can play in the outfield.

[madtowntwin]

When the Twins drafted Culpepper I opined Tim Anderson as his ceiling....Don't bump your head Kaelen!!

[SF Twins Fan]

You have to wonder if Gonzalez moves up to AAA soon and if Jenkins is right behind him.  If they're both hitting like this by the end of the first week in August, they should move up.

[DocBauer]

Very nice appearance by Lewis. I've still got faith in him. Just wonder if it's a bad season, or if it's the pitch mix change of more knuckleballs?

I need to start paying closer attention to Jose Olivares at CR. Only 37 H in 58 IP? Along with 70 K? If his BB weren't so high his numbers would looking a video game. 

[Jeff K]

1 hour ago, SF Twins Fan said:

You have to wonder if Gonzalez moves up to AAA soon and if Jenkins is right behind him.  If they're both hitting like this by the end of the first week in August, they should move up.

And take Kaelen with them.  Our best prospects are in AA.  Let's move them up!  Not much blocking them in St. Paul.

[Mike Sixel]

3 minutes ago, Jeff K said:

And take Kaelen with them.  Our best prospects are in AA.  Let's move them up!  Not much blocking them in St. Paul.

Agreed. But not happening I'd wager..

[jmlease1]

36 minutes ago, Jeff K said:

And take Kaelen with them.  Our best prospects are in AA.  Let's move them up!  Not much blocking them in St. Paul.

we'll where the team stands after the trade deadline. Seems like that's the right time to juggle the rosters a bit, when you know exactly what you have.

But Culpepper & GG have been doing everything right so far, and I'm really impressed with how well they've taken to AA. That said, it is still only 19 games at AA for Culpepper, and Jenkins is only at 26 for the season after the injury.

Fedko is a guy I'd like to see get moved up: not sure we'll learn anything more about him in AA at 25, so if there's any belief in him at all as a player, he should get tested at AAA soon.

[Jeff K]

10 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

we'll where the team stands after the trade deadline. Seems like that's the right time to juggle the rosters a bit, when you know exactly what you have.

But Culpepper & GG have been doing everything right so far, and I'm really impressed with how well they've taken to AA. That said, it is still only 19 games at AA for Culpepper, and Jenkins is only at 26 for the season after the injury.

Fedko is a guy I'd like to see get moved up: not sure we'll learn anything more about him in AA at 25, so if there's any belief in him at all as a player, he should get tested at AAA soon.

Yup; the trade deadline will, hopefully, help clarify things.  That said, they should move Fedko up too.  Not impressed with the players at AAA.  Even Emma Rodriguez is becoming more of a question mark.

[LambchoP]

Maybe they clear some dead weight in AAA off the roster at the deadline opening up starts for guys like Culpeper, Gonzalez, Fedko, Jenkins, any pitchers that seem ready....

[jorgenswest]

3 hours ago, DocBauer said:

Very nice appearance by Lewis. I've still got faith in him. Just wonder if it's a bad season, or if it's the pitch mix change of more knuckleballs?

I need to start paying closer attention to Jose Olivares at CR. Only 37 H in 58 IP? Along with 70 K? If his BB weren't so high his numbers would looking a video game. 

Sometimes the stuff is so good that it is really hard to put the ball in play. That results in longer counts with more strikeouts and walks. As he sees more advanced hitters the increase in balls in play will bring both rates down and the walk rate may be acceptable.

[Seth Stohs]

4 hours ago, Jeff K said:

And take Kaelen with them.  Our best prospects are in AA.  Let's move them up!  Not much blocking them in St. Paul.

What's the rush? 

Gonzalez has 215 PAs in Wichita. Jenkins has 149, and Culpepper has 89. 

Culpepper is 22. Gonzalez is 21. Jenkins is 20. 

That's not to say that they couldn't be and they might be just fine with moving up, I just don't see any rush. If they move up, it's likely the organization has to release 2-3 guys from St. Paul. And it's not about those 2-3 players as it is about doing what's right for the 3 players who we all hope are a big part of their future. 

And, if the Twins sell several pieces, there's no reason that they couldn't call them up directly from Double-A. 

[Mike Sixel]

1 minute ago, Seth Stohs said:

What's the rush? 

Gonzalez has 215 PAs in Wichita. Jenkins has 149, and Culpepper has 89. 

Culpepper is 22. Gonzalez is 21. Jenkins is 20. 

That's not to say that they couldn't be and they might be just fine with moving up, I just don't see any rush. If they move up, it's likely the organization has to release 2-3 guys from St. Paul. And it's not about those 2-3 players as it is about doing what's right for the 3 players who we all hope are a big part of their future. 

And, if the Twins sell several pieces, there's no reason that they couldn't call them up directly from Double-A. 

I feel like this is always your answer. How's their development process working going slowly? The rush is they could be up next year, but every time they wait, the excuse is to wait because they haven't been promoted yet. 

[tony&rodney]

12 hours ago, DocBauer said:

Very nice appearance by Lewis. I've still got faith in him. Just wonder if it's a bad season, or if it's the pitch mix change of more knuckleballs?

I need to start paying closer attention to Jose Olivares at CR. Only 37 H in 58 IP? Along with 70 K? If his BB weren't so high his numbers would looking a video game. 

He is fun to watch.