Twins Minor League Report (8/6): Taj Bradley Impresses in Saints Debut

[Matt Braun]

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints

TRANSACTIONS
RHP Cole Percival placed on 7-day IL (St. Paul)
LHP Brady Feigl transferred to 60-day IL (St. Paul)
C Daniel Pena activated (FCL Twins)
3B Billy Amick placed on 7-day IL (Cedar Rapids)
C Khadim Diaw placed on 7-day IL (Cedar Rapids)
C Ian Daugherty promoted to A Fort Myers
C Jefferson Valladares promoted to A+ Cedar Rapids
OF Jayson Bass promoted to A Fort Myers

Saints Sentinel
St. Paul 4, Iowa 7 
Box Score
Taj Bradley: 6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
HR: Noah Cardenas (7)
Multi-hit games: Noah Cardenas (2-for-4, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI)

A disastrous seventh inning sank the Saints on Wednesday.

With eyes aplenty casting judgement upon his start, Taj Bradley performed marvelously. The 24-year-old kicked off his Twins organization debut with four consecutive 1-2-3 innings, with two coaxed double plays, and ended his day with a lone earned run struck against him—a solo homer off the bat of Chase Strumpf. He earned eight swings and misses. 

Unfortunately, John Klein found no such fortune. The Brooklyn Park native crushed AA this season with a 3.12 ERA across 95 strikeouts, earning a promotion to the Saints. Wednesday was his first appearance with his new team. He’d probably like a mulligan. The Cubs batted him around, totaling six knocks, two walks, and a hit by pitch in a seventh inning he started, yet could not escape from. Trent Baker arrived to nab the final out. Hopefully, Klein’s second AAA outing goes better.

St. Paul’s hitting effort was tepid; they plated an early run off a dribbling infield hit by Kyler Fedko before falling dormant for five frames. Noah Cardenas drew them from the doldrums with a ninth-inning three-run shot, though the blast was too little, too late. 

Iowa sent rehabbing big leaguer Javier Assad to the mound, and he pitched 4 ⅓ innings, allowing one earned run.

MLB’s 47th-ranked prospect, Moisés Ballesteros, DH’d for the Cubs, doubling once in five at-bats. 

Wind Surge Wisdom
Wichita 6, Naturals 0
Box Score
C.J. Culpepper: 4 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: Kala’i Rosario (2-for-4, 3B, R), Hendry Mendez (2-for-3, 2 R, BB)

The Wind Surge pitched a combined shutout on Wednesday.

C.J. Culpepper kicked off the fun with four workman-like innings, narrowly escaping a bases-loaded situation in the third before ending his day with a breezy fourth. Logan Whitaker begat Jacob Wosinski, with both hurlers adding a pair of innings to the effort. That left Kade Bragg to conclude things—which he did, though not without two walks to add drama. 

For six innings, it seemed that Wichita’s bats may not do enough to support their pitchers, as the infamous murder’s row lineup went quiet. The silence did not last. Kala’i Rosario cracked a triple and broke the seal by scoring on a wild pitch. Two walks and a hit by pitch loaded the bases with two outs. Then, mild carnage: Ben Ross lined a two-run single to left, Jorel Ortega nubbed an infield hit to score one more, and Kaelen Culpepper pulled out his pitching wedge and dropped a flop-shot in front of the right fielder to cap the rally. 

Andrew Cossetti doubled in a sixth and final run the following frame.

Hendry Mendez is hitting .588 in 17 at-bats since joining Wichita.

Kansas City’s fourth-best prospect, pitcher Ben Kudrna, started for NW Arkansas, allowing three runs across 6 ⅓ innings. 

Kernels Nuggets
Cedar Rapids 2, West Michigan 8
Box Score
Adrian Bohorquez: 5 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
HR: Caden Kendle (8), Eduardo Tait (1)
Multi-hit games: None

The Kernels fell convincingly on Wednesday.

It was a day for team debuts, and Adrian Bohorquez was amongst those looking to impress his new peers. The reigning FSL Pitcher of the Month was… fine. He whiffed four—always a skill in his toolset—but allowed eight hits and hit two batters. The seemingly endless traffic resulted in three runs, likely a somewhat fortunate amount. Still, his feet at A+ ball have now been soaked, and the talented righty has a platform to grow from as he continues to develop.

Cedar Rapids scored just twice. If you went to pee, you could have missed it: Caden Kendle homered in the sixth, then Eduardo Tait went deep in the same inning. 

That not only concluded the scoring on the day for the Kernels, but the two homers represented the only hits Cedar Rapids accrued on Wednesday. 

West Michigan’s second baseman John Peck ranks as the 17th-best prospect in the Tigers system; he racked up three hits in five trips to the plate.

Mussel Matters
Fort Myers 4, Clearwater 6
Box Score 
Jason Doktorczyk: 5 ⅓ IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: Marek Houston (2-for-5, RBI), Dameury Pena (2-for-4, RBI), Peyton Carr (2-for-5, R), JP Smith II (3-for-5, 3B, 2B, 2 R, RBI), Bryan Acuna (2-for-4, R, RBI, BB), Luis Hernandez (2-for-4, BB)

The Mighty Mussels tried to piranha their opponent to death on Wednesday.

The ratio of players with multi-hit games to runs scored is incongruent. Perhaps it’s no surprise Fort Myers left 13 runners on base—and that’s not even the juiced way of counting. 

Spearheaded by a JP Smith II double in the second, the Mighty Mussels plated a trio of runs; Smith, Marek Houston, and Dameury Pena earned RBIs. Then, Smith—Minnesota’s 17th-round pick this last draft—tripled in the third, placing him in position to score off a Bryan Acuna single.

The Twins selected Houston in the first-round last month thanks in large part to the strength of his glove. He’s a warlock with the leather, they said. He showed off some of that ability in the third inning of Wednesday’s game. 

Rehabbing big leaguer Christian Arroyo earned two hits for the Threshers. 

DH Dante Nori is the Phillies’ fifth-ranked prospect. He tripled and walked in five plate appearances. 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Taj Bradley
Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Noah Cardenas 

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:
#1 – Walker Jenkins (Wichita) - 0-3, BB, K
#2 – Luke Keaschall (Twins) - 2-5 2 2B, 3 RBI
#3 – Kaelen Culpepper (Wichita) - 1-4, RBI, K
#8 – Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 0-4, K
#10 – Marek Houston (Fort Myers) - 2-5, RBI, K
#11 – Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 0-4
#14 – Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 0-4, 2 K
#15 – C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) - 4 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
#20 – Ricardo Olivar (Wichita) - 0-3, R, BB

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[bunsen82]

That is a nice outing by Bradley. The fastball has enough velocity.  There were some out there saying his stuff isn’t as good this year.  I would be curious how it rated this start.  I definitely think you have a very good pitcher to work with.  As long as Bradley is receptive to continuing to learn he still has the ability to be a front line starter. Fingers crossed 🤞.  

[mikelink45]

And so the bar measuring hope for the fans just rose a few notches.  We need that.  Twins playing with some spirit, new additions making excellent debuts. 

[bunsen82]

2 other notes. Tait showed the power. I would still like to see a few more hits but this is still pretty impressive for his age. 2. Mendez is on a tear. Funny note his BA is higher than his OBP LOL. A lot of things are trending very very well on the prospect side. 

[jmlease1]

It'll be interesting to see where the new acquisitions fall on the Twins prospect rankings, especially guys like Tait and Mendez. (I'm guessing no new list until the offseason?) Tait is still pretty raw, but you can see the talent. If he can hang at Cedar Rapids for the rest of the season, I'll be pretty happy.

Bummer to see Billy Amick hit the IL again. He looked like he was finding his form again after missing all of May and wobbling a little when he came back. DeBarge has also come crashing back to earth after a fast start; the steals are fun, but his performance at the plate is a bit concerning. 2+ months of blah production isn't great.

I remain intrigued by Mendez: is this a breakout season for him or a blip? He certainly seems to have impressive contact skills.

Bradley has plenty of talent, nice to see him have a good start in AAA. With Festa, SWR, and Pablo still out, have to wonder if he might get tapped quickly for the rotation or if the Twins keep him in AAA to try and make sure that he's got his pitches where they want them to be.

[Old Twins Hat]

Announcers are going to struggle with Eduardo's name:  In Spanish, every vowel is pronounced, so instead of Tate, it is Tah-eat. 

Hopefully he is special enough that everyone gets it right.

[big dog]

Marek Houston doesn't seem to be having too much trouble in his first week in the FSL.

.391/.417/.851

2/2 in SB

several fielding highlights

Keep up the good work!

[Dman]

It was a really nice outing for Bradley. My one nit to pick would be K rate. It would have been nice if it was higher, but hey get used to the new team, catcher etc with an impressive no walks allowed is a good place to start.

Bummer for Klien, but he does have days like that.  Not sure what the deal is, but he can be squared up kind of Paddack like at times.  Still I am glad they moved him up. A little surprised a guy with his stats at AA isn't in the top 30, but maybe that will change?

Gonna have to keep my eye on this Mendez kid.  His contact skills seem better than advertised at this point.  Still they should work with him to take some walks.  He's going to need that skill to make it at the MLB level IMO.

Tait looking good for 18 at High A.  Nice to see his power plays at such a young age.

[madtowntwin]

1 hour ago, big dog said:

Marek Houston doesn't seem to be having too much trouble in his first week in the FSL.

.391/.417/.851

2/2 in SB

several fielding highlights

Keep up the good work!

I truly don't get the concern for his hitting ability. The guy was an RBI machine for his team in college this past season...His glove is not impeccable, but should easily play. The guy seems like a player!!

[jmlease1]

3 minutes ago, madtowntwin said:

I truly don't get the concern for his hitting ability. The guy was an RBI machine for his team in college this past season...His glove is not impeccable, but should easily play. The guy seems like a player!!

His college stadium is a bandbox and that was where the bulk of his homers were, so it's fair to be concerned that in the professional, wood-bat context he might struggle to show anywhere near the same kind of pop, and as we've seen: if you have no power potential it's hard to be a consistently effective player on offense.

We'll see where he goes. I don't think he needs to turn into any kind of slugger to be successful (it helps a lot that he's a plus defender already), but it'll help him a lot if he can show that he can turn on a fat pitch and punish a pitcher who thinks he can get away with one. So far he's showing that he's got good contact skills and can get hits just fine, which is a fine start to his pro career.

[TopGunn#22]

Good to see Tait UNLOAD on that pitch.  I hope he can stick at Catcher.  I loved the Houston pick in round #1.  I love his glove.  This kid will stick at SS.  In today's baseball everyone is obsessed with power.  When it comes to Marek Houston, I wouldn't mind if he was a Gold Glove contending SS who hit .285 with a .350-.380 OBP who hits 10 HR's and stole 20-25 bags.  There's a place for a guy like that in MLB.  Especially if he's hitting 30+ doubles and 5-8 triples.  

[jorgenswest]

Bradley has a reasonable chance to be the most productive player they acquire in the deal. It could be boom or bust but I see a path where he is their number 3 starter next year or he is matching the performance of Jax from the bullpen.

[DocBauer]

Call it a hunch, or an impatient wish, but I just keep thinking about Bradley in the bullpen for 2026.

1] Good K rates IN MILB, (good numbers all the way around), even better his first 2 ML seasons, but they've been dropping.

2] He's got good velocity and a nice mix of pitches to go along with ML experience. 

3] SOMEONE has to move to the pen. We almost have too many arms for the Twins and the Saints right now for 2026. And the pen needs help. While a trade or two might happen, and a couple decent FA might be brought in, there's still need for a couple young arms to transition and make a difference. 

I hate to move any young arm to the pen too soon, but again, SOMEONE needs to move there. Bradley just feels like a natural choice to me.

 

[jmlease1]

7 hours ago, TopGunn#22 said:

Good to see Tait UNLOAD on that pitch.  I hope he can stick at Catcher.  I loved the Houston pick in round #1.  I love his glove.  This kid will stick at SS.  In today's baseball everyone is obsessed with power.  When it comes to Marek Houston, I wouldn't mind if he was a Gold Glove contending SS who hit .285 with a .350-.380 OBP who hits 10 HR's and stole 20-25 bags.  There's a place for a guy like that in MLB.  Especially if he's hitting 30+ doubles and 5-8 triples.  

If Houston plays GG-quality defense at SS, has a triple slash of .280/.365/.425 (which is where you might land at 30 doubles, 6 triples, and 10 homers) and steals 20-25 bases he'll have a place. On the all-star team!

I think you may be underrating how hard it is to do that...

 

[SaberNerd]

17 hours ago, TopGunn#22 said:

In today's baseball everyone is obsessed with power.  When it comes to Marek Houston, I wouldn't mind if he was a Gold Glove contending SS who hit .285 with a .350-.380 OBP who hits 10 HR's and stole 20-25 bags.  There's a place for a guy like that in MLB.  Especially if he's hitting 30+ doubles and 5-8 triples.  

Currently there are only 20 qualified hitters in MLB hitting .285, and only 8 with a .380 OBP.  The reason power is valued is that it makes it so that you don't have to hit .270 to provide offensive value, as few people are able to hit that.  Also hard to have a high OBP if pitchers aren't afraid you will hit a fastball over the fence.

[SaberNerd]

13 hours ago, DocBauer said:

Call it a hunch, or an impatient wish, but I just keep thinking about Bradley in the bullpen for 2026.

1] Good K rates IN MILB, (good numbers all the way around), even better his first 2 ML seasons, but they've been dropping.

2] He's got good velocity and a nice mix of pitches to go along with ML experience. 

3] SOMEONE has to move to the pen. We almost have too many arms for the Twins and the Saints right now for 2026. And the pen needs help. While a trade or two might happen, and a couple decent FA might be brought in, there's still need for a couple young arms to transition and make a difference. 

I hate to move any young arm to the pen too soon, but again, SOMEONE needs to move there. Bradley just feels like a natural choice to me.

 

Gotta move people to the pen, but no way I would do it with Bradley.  He has shown that he can be a back of the rotation starter already, and he doesn't have a large dropoff 1st->3rd time through the order.  Festa/SWR would make more sense, and maybe Ober if we can't fix him for next year.

[Doctor Wu]

21 hours ago, Dman said:

no walks allowed is a good place to start.

A great thing indeed! I'm guessing they may keep Bradley down for another start or two, but he should be pitching at Target Field sometime very soon.

[TopGunn#22]

For the bullpen next year a lot depends on who they see as their closer.  Will it be someone they bring in, certainly at a discounted rate, who is a veteran with closing experience, maybe on the wrong side of 35 years old who had a bit of a down year in 2025?  Say, someone like Kirby Yates?  

Or do they decide that someone like David Festa or Taj Bradley belongs in that role?  It would be surprising to see the Twins new ownership and FO give up on Festa and Bradley as SP this early.  I have always seen SWR as a better fit in a long reliever role.  He's usually good for about 4 innings and than he falters.

What I could REALLY see happening is Twins looking to trade a SP to the Red Sox...but NOT Joe Ryan.  If the Twins are serious about a quicker rebuild, Ryan and Lopez need to remain the #1 and #2.  However, with guys like Mick Abel, Taj Bradley and David Festa to slot in as #3, #4 and #5 with Zebby Matthews, SWR, Connor Prielipp and Marco Raya also in the que, I see Bailey Ober as trade bait.

Maybe the Twins try to work a deal with Boston for Jarren Duran or Wilyer Abreu??  They are both excellent players who would improve the outfield defense and lineup potency.  The only negative?  They are both LH HITTING outfielders!! 

So if you were to see a deal like that, you can count on at least one of Wallner/Larnach being traded, and probably BOTH of them with Roden, Outman, Jenkins and E-Rod in the mix. 

What might the Twins look to add with a Wallner and/or a Larnach trade?  Depending on whatever else was a part of the deal, I'd have my eye on Kyle Teel/Edgar Quero, 2 young catchers with the White Sox, or Jefferson Quero, a talented young catcher in the Brewers system held back by All Star William Contreras.  

The Twins are far from being done with wheeling and dealing in re-shaping this roster.  They could choose to move Prielipp and Raya into bullpen roles to gradually break them in.  They could make a number of trades with players on their major league roster this off season.  With new ownership, they could choose to strategically use some of the $25-$30 million saved on payroll through their deadline deals.  

It seems like we've been saying "This off season is sure going to be interesting for the Twins" for like the last 5 years.  But in many of those off seasons, the moves made were just at the margins.  THIS off season there is a LOT of work to be done.  Most of the deadline moves were pretty good.  The Varland and Brock Stewart moves were questionable.  But there is no denying that THIS off season is going to be VERY INTERESTING.  The conversation on Twins Daily will be "stimulating."