Twins Minor League Report (8/20): You Can't Get Kyler Fedko Out

[Matt Braun]

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge (photo of Kala'i Rosario)

TRANSACTIONS
LHP Connor Prielipp transferred to Development List (St. Paul)
RHP Cody Laweryson activated from 7-day IL (St. Paul)
RHP John Klein activated from Development List (St. Paul)

Saints Sentinel
St. Paul 5, Round Rock 7
Box Score
Kendry Rojas: 3 2/3 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 4 K
HR: Jhonny Pereda (2)
Multi-hit games: None

The Saints came up short on Wednesday.

Kendry Rojas continued his tepid introduction to the Twins organization. The talented lefty struggled to find the zone, and got hit when his offerings crossed the plate, resulting in far too many “fours” in his stat line than one would care for. His Saints’ ERA sits at 4.97 with a WHIP of 1.66, inflated largely by nine walks issued across 12 2/3 innings. Hopefully, he can find his groove with his next start.

The Saints’ offense was… condensed. They scored two in the fourth off a Jhonny Pereda home run and then returned the following frame for three runs off a run-scoring groundout, an Aaron Sabato flop shot, and a wild pitch. 

With a hit and two walks, Kyler Fedko is now slashing .357/.439/.671 in 17 games since being promoted to the Saints. 

Old friend Michael Helman played center field for the Express and homered once in five at-bats.

Craig Kimbrel—he of 440 MLB saves—closed out this affair with a 1-2-3 inning and two strikeouts.

No member of the Rangers’ top 30 prospects played in this game. 

Wind Surge Wisdom
Wichita 5, Midland 7
Box Score
Darren Bowen: ⅔ IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
HR: Kala’i Rosario (20)
Multi-hit games: Kala’i Rosario (2-for-4, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI), Maddux Houghton (2-for-4, 2 2B, K)

A late-inning scrap did not favor the Wind Surge on Wednesday.

Starter Darren Bowen failed to net a third out in the game’s opening frame—though not necessarily for performance reasons. With two on and two out, Bowen balked, allegedly, which ushered in two events: a run scoring, and Bowen to argue with the umpire, likely uttering one of George Carlin’s famous seven words on his way to an ejection from the game. This was now an impromptu bullpen game.

The results were reasonably acceptable given the circumstances until John Stankiewicz took the mound in the eighth. What was once tied became untied thanks to a flurry of walks, hits, and steals. The carnage resulted in a three-run lead for the Rockhounds.

The game was only tied at the point, though, thanks to Kala’i Rosario doubling in a run in the third, a second run scoring off a wild pitch, and a balk that called home the hero mentioned earlier in this sentence. Then Rosario stepped up to the plate in the eighth and bashed a homer down the left field line.

Jake Rucker smacked in another run in the ninth, but it was all window dressing: Kaelen Culpepper lined out to end the game one batter later. 

Athletics’ new uber prospect Leo De Vries—ranked 3rd in all of baseball—singled once in five at-bats.

Kernels Nuggets
Cedar Rapids 6, South Bend 4
Box Score
Jacob Kisting: 4 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: Danny De Andrade (2-for-3, R, 2 BB), Poncho Ruiz (2-for-3, 2 RBI)

A sixth-inning explosion carried the Kernels to victory on Wednesday.

Laying the foundation for that game-winning frame was a pair of scores in the second. The Kernels loaded the bases with no one out before nearly squandering their crooked number opportunity when Misael Urbina lined out to short, which then turned into a double play when an overly excited Danny De Andrade took off for third. A walk reloaded the bases for Poncho Ruiz, who wisely placed his line drive in the safe outfield oasis, scoring two on the play. 

Then, the sixth. Again, the Kernels loaded the bases, and they quickly took advantage with a two-run swinging bunt from Misael Urbina, a sacrifice fly, and three consecutive base on balls to give Cedar Rapids a sixth and final run.

Matt Gabbert worked 3 1/3 unnings with one earned run out of the bullpen.

South Bend, as you can imagine, is an affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. Their best prospect to play on Wednesday was Cristian Hernandez, an infielder ranked 10th in their system. He doubled once in four at-bats. 

Mussel Matters
Game One: Fort Myers 4, Tampa 15 (7 Innings)
Box Score 
Joel Garcia: 1 ⅓ IP, 8 H, 10 ER, 5 BB, 1 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: Dameury Pena (2-for-3, R, BB)

Last Wednesday, the Mighty Mussels lost 15-4. This is not an ideal pattern.

As it was the first game of a doubleheader, Joel Garcia’s early struggles couldn’t be spelled by a reliever; he had to eat it. So he devoured: 61 terrible pitches with eight hits, 10 earned runs, five walks, and just four outs. Go get them next time, Garcia.

Though they accrued just five hits, the Mighty Mussels took eight walks, and—in fact—the Tarpons found themselves in a walking mood as well. All told, there were 15 free passes and three hit by pitches, a gentle reminder of the frayed relationship low-minors pitchers often have with the strike zone. 

Dameury Pena, with his two hits, walk, and stolen base, put forth the best offensive effort of any Mighty Mussel. The 19-year-old is reaching base at a .413 clip in August. 

Tanner Schobel walked twice in four plate appearances on a minor league rehab assignment.

Tampa is a member of the juggernaut Yankees farm system. Their eighth-ranked prospect—shortstop Dax Kilby—picked up a pair of hits and walked once in five trips to the plate.

Game Two: Fort Myers 0, Tampa 4 (7 Innings)
Box Score
Michael Ross: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 6 BB, 1 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: None

Fort Myers lost the second game of their doubleheader on Wednesday.

At least the previous match possessed some intrigue; game two was a desolate, uneventful slog. The Mighty Mussels reached base five times all game. The Tarpons reached base five times before their first trip through the lineup concluded.

Bryan Acuna earned the team’s only extra-base hit with a second inning double.

The aforementioned Kilby DH’d and walked twice in four plate appearances. 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Matt Gabbert
Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Kala’i Rosario

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:
#1 – Walker Jenkins (Wichita) - 1-3, R, BB
#2 – Luke Keaschall (Twins) - 2-4, 2B, BB
#3 – Kaelen Culpepper (Wichita) - 0-5, K
#5 – Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 1-4, 2B, 2 R, BB
#9 – Kendry Rojas (St. Paul) - 3 ⅔ IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 4 K
#13 – Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 0-3, RBI, BB
#17 – Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 0-5, K

THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Round Rock @ St. Paul (7:07 PM) - TBD
Wichita @ Midland (7:05 PM) - RHP Ryan Gallagher
Cedar Rapids @ South Bend (6:05 PM) - RHP Jose Olivares
Tampa @ Fort Myers (6:05 PM) - RHP Jonathan Stevens

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[Matt Braun]

I’d like to thank The Band and Simon and Garfunkel for getting me through a pretty bad night in the minors.

[Doctor Wu]

7 hours ago, Matt Braun said:

I’d like to thank The Band and Simon and Garfunkel for getting me through a pretty bad night in the minors.

"Up on Cripple Creek" works for me!

[Otaknam]

The Varland trade was a big head scratcher. I hope Kendry Rojas improves his command. I’m not a big fan of acquiring pitchers who have great stuff but can’t throw it for strikes. I guess the Twins brass figures they can fix it. Hope so, or they lost a valuable potential closer under team control in Varland for no good reason.

[jmlease1]

Good for Fedko in continuing to rake. I'd love for him to have figured something out and develop the kind of consistent swing and offense you'd hope for. We could definitely use his kind of RH thump in the OF and it's great if he can keep rolling. I'm a little curious about his RH/LH splits; he mashes LHP just fine, but the BA drops. Not sure if that's just small sample size or something about his approach? 

Rosario is having a nice season after that awful start. Thought he might get bumped up to AAA, but he at least seems to be setting himself up to be in Saint Paul next season. Wonder if he'll get protected? The bat is intriguing, but he's also the sort of guy you might be able to slip through in the Rule 5 because he's average at best in the OF, can't handle CF, and probably hasn't done enough at the plate to show that he's ready to contribute at the MLB level on offense. He's going to K a lot, so I'm sure some people around here would like to drop him on a raft and send him out to sea, but he absolutely annihilates LHP.

Not liking what we're seeing out of Rojas so far. Feels like he's not ready for AAA and was placed there more because the trade made people mad in losing Varland and they are trying to show that "no, no, we got someone really good who is close!" and right now he ain't there. That's probably not why they did it, but perception can feed reality. With Roden looking like just another guy, Rojas is clearly the reason for the deal...and he's got a lot of work to do.

[rdehring]

Curious about Prielipp going on the Development List.  Assume it isn't an injury.  Does anyone know more about the reason?  Or is it a way to rest his arm after the huge jump of innings this year?  Or could they be working with him a bit before moving across the river in September?

Looking at the box scores, see that Jenkins had another Jenkins type game.  1-3 with a walk and run scored.  See he also stole his 10th base.  Seeing he has only played 48, that number was impressive to me.

[LambchoP]

Rojas may need to be moved to a relief role next year. Either way he has to get his command under control. Ryan Gallagher, who is much less heralded of a prospect seems to be having a good season. Abel has also been solid with the Saints. If we can get Bradley to start pitching with some consistency we may actually have a bit of a pitching pipeline going. As long as we don't trade away Lopez Ryan and or Ober,,,,which we probably will:(

[NYCTK]

1 hour ago, LambchoP said:

Rojas may need to be moved to a relief role next year. Either way he has to get his command under control. Ryan Gallagher, who is much less heralded of a prospect seems to be having a good season. Abel has also been solid with the Saints. If we can get Bradley to start pitching with some consistency we may actually have a bit of a pitching pipeline going. As long as we don't trade away Lopez Ryan and or Ober,,,,which we probably will:(

I can guarantee you that they are NOT giving up on Rojas as a starter at the age of 23 because of 4 rough AAA starts. 

I think it's probably right that he's not ready for AAA quite yet. But he'll spend time in AAA next year, and then go from there. 

[Matt Braun]

2 hours ago, rdehring said:

Curious about Prielipp going on the Development List.  Assume it isn't an injury.  Does anyone know more about the reason?  Or is it a way to rest his arm after the huge jump of innings this year?  Or could they be working with him a bit before moving across the river in September?

Moving a pitcher to the development list is almost always just roster shenanigans to get another hurler to make a start. They won’t need him until next week, anyways. 

[DocBauer]

15 hours ago, Matt Braun said:

I’d like to thank The Band and Simon and Garfunkel for getting me through a pretty bad night in the minors.

Good call I guess. But I would have turned to AC/DC and Metallica maybe to rock so much dysfunction away. 😁

[DocBauer]

2 hours ago, Matt Braun said:

Moving a pitcher to the development list is almost always just roster shenanigans to get another hurler to make a start. They won’t need him until next week, anyways. 

Additionally, not surprising to get a newly acquired or promoted pitcher a chance to throw on the side and let the staff there take a look at him and also let him just get his bearings for a couple of days. For instance, Gallagher got shelled at Wichita in his first start and has looked pretty good his last two.

[Danchat]

Not surprising to see Rojas struggling in AAA, he's very young for that level and has been getting promoted aggressively. Give him some time, get back to me mid-2026 with a much bigger sample size.

[DocBauer]

There's no way to know right now what kind of HIT POTENTIAL Fedko might have at the ML level. But he's generally kept his MILB OB% 80-100 points higher than his AVG. And maybe his new found power and apparent speed that is leading him towards a 30/30 season might not be sustainable. But what if his power and speed are 20/20 capable? What if he's "only" capable of 15/15 with good defense and solid OB/OPS as a good 4th OF? That's worth something isn't it?

I love me some Baseball Reference, but I admit to getting lost a little bit here and there when I try to dig deep. Does anyone have month by month breakdown of Rosario in regard to AVG and OB% numbers, if not the whole quad slash line month by month?

Once again, MVP of the Midwest League in 2023 while only 20yo. Anyone remember that? He had an injury affected 2024 and didn't perform very well. He had a solid AFL after the season to "get back" some of the PA/AB he lost in '24.

After just a HORRIBLE start to this season, for whatever reason, he's up to .252/ .365/ .474/ .839 with 22 Dbls-4 Trips-20 HR- and 25 SB out of 31 Attempts. Here there if you read and listen Rosario has a strong RF arm and isn’t a bad athlete or slow. His biggest problem defensively is ball tracking and route taking. And I have ZERO clue how much better he might or might not be in those crucial areas TODAY.

I seriously DOUBT he has 30 SB ability at the ML level, and probably not 20 SB ability, but I don't care. That only tells me he's NOT a statue in RF, and NOT a statue on the bases. His consistently better OB% vs AVG tells me he has SOME idea of the zone. I honestly see a perhaps better version of Larnach here but from the RH side. As good or better arm. Maybe moves a little better. A DH who doesn't stink as a backup corner OF when needed. Barely 23yo at AA, I think he's been forgotten/dismissed by some due to his 2024 injuries and a slow start to 2025.