Twins Minor League Report (8/29): CJ Culpepper, Jake Rucker Lead Wind Surge

[Seth Stohs]

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey (photo of CJ Culpepper)

TRANSACTIONS
The Mussels placed OF Jacob McCombs on the 7-Day Injured List with spasms in his left quad.  

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 1, Toledo 2
Box Score
Klein Shines in First Saints Start, but Offense Falls Short in Toledo 

John Klein made his first start (fourth appearance) for the Saints since his promotion from Wichita, and it was a good one, going six innings, giving up just two runs (one earned), and striking out six. But he fell to 0-2 with the Saints behind a quiet offense.

The Mudhens grabbed a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. The Saints got on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth inning on Gabriel Gonzalez’s fourth Saints homer. The 21-year-old appears to really enjoy hitting in Toledo. Gonzalez has three home runs in four games there this week.  

Unfortunately, the Saints managed just four hits and two walks in the game. Noah Cardenas had a single and a walk. 

Cody Laweryson struck out three batters over two perfect innings. Travis Adams struck out two in a perfect ninth inning. 

Walker Jenkins went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts. Through his first four games, he is 1-for-15 (.067) with a double, two walks, and five strikeouts. Carson McCusker went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 3, Arkansas 0
Box Score
Rucker Provides the Power While Culpepper, Four Relievers, Complete Shutout 

With the exception of the bottom of the fourth inning, there were no runs scored in this game. Fortunately, the Wind Surge were played at their home ballpark and hit in the bottom half throughout the game. 

With one out, Nate Baez and Ben Ross singled. With two outs, Jake Rucker’s sixth home run of the season drove in all three runs. The Wind Surge had just four hits. Three came in that fourth inning. The only other hit was a Kaelen Culpepper double, his seventh with Wichita. 

But in any shutout, the big story has to be the pitching, and C.J. Culpepper is putting himself in a better situation with every outing. He certainly appears to be back at full health. For the third straight outing, Culpepper tossed five innings. It is the second time in a row that he gave up no runs and he’s given up just one run over his last three starts. In five starts in August, he is 2-0 with a 1.17 ERA in 23 innings. 

From there, Michael Martinez, John Stankiewicz, Hunter Hoopes, and Kade Bragg each pitched a scoreless inning. For Bragg, it marked his third save since joining the Wind Surge. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 4, Beloit 5 (10 innings)
Box Score
Cubs Homers Top Kernels to Take Game and Series 4-2.

The Kernels fell behind early in this one, fought back, sent it to extra frames, and then fell short in the tenth inning. 

Adrian Bohorquez gave up four runs on two hits, two hit batters, and three walks over 3 1/3 innings. He had seven strikeouts. All four runs came in the first inning courtesy of a grand slam off the bat of Brandon Compton, the Marlins' second-round pick from Arizona State. 

Eston Stuff got the next five outs and gave up just one hit. Jacob Kisting came on and tossed four scoreless, hitless innings. He walked one and struck out six batters. Ruddy Gomez gave up the unearned run in the tenth inning to take the loss.

The Kernels got on the board in the bottom of the sixth. With two outs, Misael Urbina and Caden Kendle walked. Both scored on a double by Poncho Ruiz. 

In the bottom of the seventh, Eduardo Tait singled and went to second on a wild pitch. With two outs, Brandon Winokur singled to drive him in and cut the team’s deficit to 4-3. 

The Kernels went scoreless in the bottom of the eighth. The first two Kernels hitters in the bottom of the ninth also got out. However, just when you thought it was over, Kyle DeBarge hit a long solo home run to tie the score. 

Gomez allowed the Manfred Man to score in the top of the 10th. The Kernels got a runner to third in the bottom half of the inning but were unable to drive in the tying run. 

Tait went 2-for-5 with his seventh double. Brandon Winokur went 2-for-5 and an RBI. Jefferson Valladares went 2-for 4 with his third double. Prior to his game-tying home run, DeBarge was 0-for-4 with four strikeouts. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 11, Dunedin 4
Box Score
Mighty Mussels Flex Their Muscles in Dunedin. 

The Mussels scored early and often on Friday night, maintaining a comfortable lead throughout the game.  

Dunedin actually took the early lead with a run in the bottom of the first frame. The Mussels tied it up in the top of the second when Ryan Sprock scored on a bases-loaded fielding error. The Blue Jays also went ahead with a single run in the bottom of the second. 

But in the top of the third, Mussels' right fielder Yasser Mercedes scored on a Daniel Pena single to tie the game. Yilber Herrera followed with his first Florida State League home run to give his team a 5-2 lead. 

The Mussels continued to show their Might-y-ness (if you will) in the fourth. Eduardo Beltre hit his second Fort Myers homer. Later in the inning, Peyton Carr hit a three-run homer that made it 9-2. 

Dunedin scored two more in the fourth to make it 9-4. However, in the top of the sixth Sprock knocked his first professional home run to make it 10-4. 

In the seventh, Mercedes drove in Emmanuel Rodriguez with a sacrifice fly. That gave the Mussels an 11-4 lead. Rodriguez, returning from an oblique injury, played center field for seven innings. He was 1-for-3 with two walks. Dameury Pena went 2-for-6 with his 10th double. Sprock was 2-for-3 with two walks and a homer. Carr went 2-for-4 with a walk and his fourth home run. Beltre went 1-for-3 with two walks and a homer. Daniel Pena went 1-for-3 with two walks. Herrera was 2-for-4 with a homer and three RBI. 

Michael Carpenter started and gave up four runs (three earned) on six hits and a walk over four innings. He struck out four batters. Anthony Narvaez came in and gave up one hit and one walk over two scoreless innings. Zander Sechrist gave up one hit over three scoreless innings to record his second save. 

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day  
Ryan Sprock (Fort Myers): 2-for-3, 2 BB, HR(1), 4 R, RBI

Pitcher of the Day 
CJ Culpepper (Wichita): 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, HBP, 4 K, 74 pitches, 41 strikes (55.5%) 

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

#1– Walker Jenkins (Wichita) - 0-for-3, BB, 2 K, (played CF)
#2 - Luke Keaschall (Minnesota) - 0-for-4, BB, K, (played 2B)
#3 - Kaelen Culpepper (Wichita) - 1-for-3, 2B(7), (played SS)
#4 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - Rehab in FM (1-for-3, 2 BB, R, K (played CF))
#5 - Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-5, 2B(7), R, K (DH)
#11 - Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 2-for-4, HR(4), R, RBI, K (played LF)
#14 - Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-5, RBI, K (played SS)
#17 - Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-5, HR(7), 4 K (played CF)
#18 - C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) - 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, HBP, 4 K, 74 pitches, 41 strikes (55.5%)
#20 - Hendry Mendez (Wichita) - 0-for-2, 2 BB (played LF)

SATURDAY PITCHING PROBABLES
St. Paul @ Toledo (6:05 PM CT) - RHP Pierson Ohl (0-1, 2.82 ERA)
Arkansas @ Wichita (6:05 PM CT) - RHP Alejandro Hidalgo (0-3, 15.55 ERA)
Beloit @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CT) - LHP Dasan Hill (0-1, 7.11 ERA)
Fort Myers @ Dunedin (5:30 PM CT) - RHP Joel Garcia (0-2, 31.15 ERA)

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 61-73
St. Paul Saints: 58-70 (25-30 second half, 7th in IL West, 14 GB)
Wichita Wind Surge: 67-57 (30-25 second half, 3rd in Texas Lg North, 4 GB)
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 68-56 (28-30 second half, T-3rd in MWL West, 4.5 GB, first half winner)
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 49-70 (22-33 second half 6th in FSL West, 9.5 GB)
FCL Twins: 39-20 (finished 2nd in FCL playoffs)
DSL Twins: 24-32 (season complete)

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

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[Eris]

Prospect Summary. Walker Jenkins is in St. Paul. 

[FlyingFinn]

CJ Culpepper - I think you have just pitched your way onto the 40 man roster this winter. Pitchers like this are who teams draft in the Rule 5 draft.

[Major League Ready]

50 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

CJ Culpepper - I think you have just pitched your way onto the 40 man roster this winter. Pitchers like this are who teams draft in the Rule 5 draft.

The Saints are going to be stacked with pitching next year.  If the Twins only trade 1 of Ryan/Lopez/Ober and fill out the rotation with Matthews / Bradley and one of Abel/Festa/SWR that would leave Festa or SWR or Abel plus Morris/Rojas/Raya/Prielipp/Ohl and Ohl at AAA.  That's 8 guys that deserve to be at AAA, 2 or 3 that deserve to be in the majors.  This assumes they don't get a AAA SP in return for whichever SP is traded.  Does Culpepper stay at AA?  Do they start converting a couple of these guys to RPs or do they have the guys on the bubble pitch a 4 innings per outing. 

[jmlease1]

Have you been injured by your team's ownership? The firm of Culpepper & Culpepper is here to help. :P

The Bad Bohorquez showed up yesterday. His stuff is hard to hit and he hunts K's effectively, but the 3 walks and 2 HBP says what his control was looking like.  He's still quite young, though, and patience is required. Have to like the arm talent.

Much as you'd like Walker Jenkins to immediately start pummeling opposing pitching in AAA, I'm not worrying about a 1-15 start. He didn't destroy AA pitching when he got his first taste at the end of 2024 and turned out just fine this season. Just stay healthy mah dude.

[LambchoP]

My guess is that some of these AAA SP are going to be converted to relief work. Especially with a major league bullpen that needs to be completely rebuilt.

[Doctor Wu]

On 8/31/2025 at 5:41 AM, LambchoP said:

My guess is that some of these AAA SP are going to be converted to relief work. Especially with a major league bullpen that needs to be completely rebuilt.

That idea makes a lot of sense. Use what we have in-house and do it anyway that works. Some of these pitchers will most likely end up in the bullpen at some point in the near future, so why not get them started now.