Twins Minor League Report (9/14): Wind Surge Playoff Hopes Dashed on Season's Final Day

[Seth Stohs]

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints (photo of Gabriel Gonzalez)

TRANSACTIONS
No transactions.   

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 11, Columbus 7
Box Score
In their final home game of the season, the Saints offense used a big inning to claim the lead and then added more to earn the win. 

Lefty Kendry Rojas started and gave up two runs in the first and the second innings. But he responded with scoreless innings in the third and fourth frames. In four innings, he gave up four runs on seven hits. He walked three and had three strikeouts. 

The Saints were held scoreless in the first two innings. However, they scored two in the bottom of the third off of John Means. Will Holland led off with his eighth homer of the season. Gabriel Gonzalez hit his sixth Saints homer soon after. 

The Saints offense put together a six-run fourth inning thanks to a bit of patience. Emmanuel Rodriguez and Jonah Bride started the inning with walks. After a pop out, Noah Cardenas walked to load the bases. Holland followed with a two-run double to tie the game at 4-4. Cardenas scored on a balk. 

Following a pitching change, Gabriel Gonzalez singled to make it 6-4. Walker Jenkins followed with his second Triple-A home run to give the Saints the 8-4 lead.   

Cory Lewis came on for the fifth inning. He worked three innings and gave up three runs, all on a Kahlil Watson home run in the sixth. 

In the bottom of the seventh, Emmanuel Rodriguez was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Bride singled, and Payton Eeles walked to load the bases. Cardenas singled to drive in two runs. The third run scored on a groundout by DaShawn Keirsey.

Marco Raya threw two scoreless innings to finish out a nice win and send the crowd home happy.  

Gabriel Gonzalez 3-for-5 with his sixth double and sixth home run. Will Holland was 2-for-4 with his eight double and eighth home run. Noah Cardenas was 2-for-3 with a walk. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 5, Corpus Christi 8
Box Score 
Needing a win and a Tulsa loss to see their season continue, the Wind Surge fell just short of their goal on the final day of the season. 

Wichita took the early lead in the top of the second. Ben Ross led off with a single and stole second. Andrew Cossetti reached on an error. Jake Rucker followed with an RBI single to drive in Ross and make it 1-0. After a fielder’s choice, Jose Salas singled to right to drive in Cossetti and make it 2-0. A double play ended the inning. 

Sam Armstrong got the start for Wichita. He’s been terrific in his past two starts. In the bottom of the second inning, three singles led to a run and made it 2-1. 

In the top of the third, Hendry Mendez singled and Ricardo Olivar was hit by a pitch. Ben Ross followed with his 14th home run of the season, a three-run shot that made it 5-1. 

However, the Hooks matched the Surge with three runs in their half of the third inning. And then added two more in the top of the fourth. Armstrong gave up six runs on 10 hits and a walk over 3 2/3 innings. He had six strikeouts. Jaylen Nowlin came on and got the final out of the fourth inning. He also threw a scoreless fifth frame. Of his four outs, three came on strikeouts. 

Gabriel Yanez kept the deficit at just one run for the next two innings. He gave up two runs in the eighth inning to make it 8-5 Hooks. The Surge went scoreless in the top of the ninth. 

Unfortunately, after scoring five runs early, the Wind Surge bats went quiet. Mendez was 2-for-4 with a walk and a double. Ross was 2-for-4 with a walk and his home run. He also stole his 18th base. Jake Rucker was 2-for-3 and was hit by a pitch. Salas went 2-for-3 with a walk. Olivar had two walks and was hit by a pitch. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Midwest League Championship Series
Game 1: Cedar Rapids 3, West Michigan 5
Box Score

There wasn’t much offense for the Kernels in Game 1 on Sunday, but they were able to take the early lead.  In the top of the second, Danny De Andrade doubled and scored on a Caden Kendle single to make it 1-0. 

Jaime Ferrer got things started in the top of the third with a walk. Kyle DeBarge was hit by a pitch. Marek Houston flew out to center with Ferrer advancing to third base. Eduardo Tait grounded into a fielder's choice, but Ferrer scored the second run of the game. Billy Amick followed with an RBI double. 

After a pitching change, two batters walked to load the bases, but the Kernels were unable to add on to their 3-0 lead. 

Garrett Horn made the start for the Kernels. The lefty tossed two scoreless, no-hit innings. However, he threw 57 pitches because of five walks and three strikeouts. 

Jacob Kisting came on. He was charged with four runs on five hits over 2 2/3 innings. He walked none and had five strikeouts. Nick Trabacchi gave up one run on three hits over 2 1/3 innings. He struck out three batters without issuing a walk. Brennen Oxford struck out two in one perfect inning. 

The Kernels were unable to make a comeback. They ended the game with three runs on four hits and five walks. They were just 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left eight on base. De Andrade and Amick were both 1-for-3 with their doubles and a walk. Kendle had the RBI single. Houston had the only other hit in the game. 

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day  
Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul): 3-for-5, 2B(6), HR(6), 2 R, 2 RBI

Pitcher of the Day 
Jaylen Nowlin (Wichita): 1 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 15 pitches, 11 strikes (73.3%)

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 (St. Paul) - 1-for-5, HR(2), R, 2 RBI (played LF-CF)
#2 - Luke Keaschall (Minnesota) - 1-for-3B, SB(13), K (played 2B)
#3 - Kaelen Culpepper (Wichita) - 0-for-5 (played SS)
#4 - Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, R, RBI (DHd)
#5 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 1-for-2, BB, HBP, 2 R (CF)
#9 - Kendry Rojas (St. Paul) - 4 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 83 pitches, 53 strikes (63.9%)
#10 - Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 3-for-5, 2B(6), HR(6), 2 R, 2 RBI (played RF)
#12 - Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-5, 3 K (played SS)
#15 - Marco Raya (St. Paul) - 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, 19 pitches, 11 strikes (57.9%)
#17 - Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, 3 K (played 2B)
#19 - Kyler Fedko (St. Paul) - 0-for-1 (PH-LF)

TUESDAY PROBABLES
St. Paul @ Memphis (6:45 PM CT) - TBD
Midwest League Championship Series
Game 2: West Michigan @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CT) - TBD

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 65-84
St. Paul Saints: 60-82 (27-42 second half)
Wichita Wind Surge: 76-62 (39-30 second half)
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 72-60 (30-33 second half, reg season complete, beat Beloit in MWLW Division series, playing in Midwest League Championship series))
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 52-73 (25-36 second half, season complete)
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!

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[purplesoldier4u]

Meh. Just another day at the ballpark for this sad looking organization. Let's hope some big off-season is forthcoming for all of the teams. 

[jkcarew]

Small sample AAA ISO…

138 PA Gonzalez: 193 (age 21)

78 PA Jenkins: 174 (age 20)

225 PA Rodriguez: 156 (ages 21-22)

 

Context…702 PA Julien: 184 (ages 24-26)

[tony&rodney]

Wichita had a really good season. The looked tired at the end but fought the best they could to win.

Cedar Rapids is playing without Brandon Winokur (injured from HBP I believe) and a little undermanned. They still have a shot but will need better pitching and some clutch hits.

St. Paul gave their home crowd a show today. Gonzalez, Jenkins, and Rodriguez are looking pretty good. Will they be good enough to open with the big club next April?  Holland had a big game.

[mrguy]

An unfortunate end for the wind surge, but honestly they shouldn't beat themselves up about it. They had an amazing run this year and most of the players who were on that team this year deserve some props for the strides they made. Like I said before, feels like every week we'd hear about some player on that team passing a career high in one of their metrics or setting a new franchise record for that team, and generally a lot of guys who played on that team have broken out as guys I honestly have hopes in seeing reach St. Paul or even the majors within the next couple seasons. 

[Patzky]

10 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Wichita had a really good season. The looked tired at the end but fought the best they could to win.

Cedar Rapids is playing without Brandon Winokur (injured from HBP I believe) and a little undermanned. They still have a shot but will need better pitching and some clutch hits.

St. Paul gave their home crowd a show today. Gonzalez, Jenkins, and Rodriguez are looking pretty good. Will they be good enough to open with the big club next April?  Holland had a big game.

We have a doubleheader against Cleveland next weekend. I'm hopeful Gabby or Walker become the extra guy.

[FlyingFinn]

28 minutes ago, Patzky said:

I'm hopeful Gabby or Walker become the extra guy.

No chance on Jenkins. They aren't going to add him to the 40 man at this point. If he is good enough, he will be added at the end of spring training. 

[tony&rodney]

1 hour ago, Patzky said:

We have a doubleheader against Cleveland next weekend. I'm hopeful Gabby or Walker become the extra guy.

Not on 40 person roster. Pitcher is likely.

[jorgenswest]

13 hours ago, Patzky said:

We have a doubleheader against Cleveland next weekend. I'm hopeful Gabby or Walker become the extra guy.

No extra player when rosters are already at 28.

[jmlease1]

Bummer for Wichita, but it was a very good season for the AA squad. Got some guys promoted, brought up some guys from A ball and had them perform well, had some other guys look like they got themselves back on track...a pretty positive season, even if they just missed the playoffs.

I'm really disappointed with how the Twins have handled Rojas, who has looked overwhelmed at AAA, and really had no business being there other than being the most prominent part of a divisive trade. He'd literally had 4 starts in AA before Toronto gave him the 1 game bump (where he got shelled) and rather than just put him back in AA to keep working on thinks and develop the Twins have let him get his brains beat in for...reasons? Seems very foolish to me and a knock against the Twins player development process.

Speaking of AAA pitching, Cory Lewis really had the AAA wall smack him right in the face. He's been dreadful and will be off the top prospect list. Can't throw strikes, getting hit a lot, and whatever his different pitch mix and faster knuckleball were doing in lower levels to baffle hitters ain't fooling anyone in AAA. Too bad; after his fast rise in 2024 he looked like a potential rotation option and now he looks like no option for anything. Maybe he can get a re-set in the offseason and give AAA another shot, but he's in trouble.

Excellent season for Gonzalez, who would be getting a lot more conversation if he wasn't playing along side Walker Jenkins. I'm willing to bet the most important thing for him this season was simply being healthy and being able to let his talent show out. There's maybe some concern because he stopped drawing walks as well at AAA, but the contact skills were there at every levels and it's not like he was unwilling to take a walk. Think it was encouraging how consistent he was in hitting for power this season at all levels too, and as a RH bat he'll pair up well with his OF mates in Jenkins and Rodriguez. While I feel the Twins simply won't bring up Jenkins, Gonzalez, and Rodriguez all at the same time next season (especially not to start the year) I hope we see GG sooner rather than later in MN.

Not a great season for Raya, who I doubt was ever given serious consideration for a promotion this year, and certainly didn't earn one. But at least he's finishing the season better, and I wouldn't be sad at all about a move to the 'pen for him. It might suit him better and there's a real need.

 While it's still early in his career and he's shown some useful skills, DeBarge is having a rotten close to his season. He's been dreadful for over a month now, and there hasn't been any pop in his bat since May. Maybe that's getting worn down after a first full pro season and he can do some things in the offseason to build up better to handle it...but it's also possible teams have started to get a book on him that better pitchers can exploit. I'm curious if anyone has any insights on his home/road splits? He's been great at home and unplayable on the road. Fluke? (Winokur is the other way, which is actually more surprising)

Kaelen Culpepper has appeared gassed, but it's still a very successful season for him. It'll be interesting to see where he starts next season. He could get pushed aggressively to Saint Paul or start the season back in Wichita, and I have no feel at all for where the Twins will go for him. But a very good first full pro season and it seems their confidence in his ability to stick at SS was warranted.

I'd argue it's been more of a mixed bag on Houston: the glove looks legit, but the bat is questionable. I'd say he passed the Lemon Test, but you'd hope a 3-season college starter would handle High A bit better. Small sample to be sure, but so far he's gotten overwhelmed at Cedar Rapids.

A very interesting minor league season for the Twins as things wind down. It'll be fun to see how the top 30 lists look after all is said and done.

[terrydactyls]

Here is a quick sketch of a thought I just had and please feel free to crap all over it.  All of this consternation over bringing up a player because he would have to be added to the 40-man roster is denying a lot of players valuable experience.  I am proposing to revamp the entire process (and greatly simplify it).  Here are my new rules.

1.  For any international draft signings:  the team retains player control for eight years.

2.  For anyone drafted who has just finished high school:  the team retains control for seven years.

3.  For anyone drafted while in college or a recent graduate:  the team retains control for five years.

4.  For unrestricted free agents:  the team would be assigned control based on their age that is similar to drafted players.

This gives all players an opportunity to be a free agent in their mid to late 20's.  No more Pre-Arbitration, Arbitration, or Service Time.  Teams have between five and eight years to either sign them longterm, put them on the major league roster (with no options), or lose them to free agency.

Thank you for reading and let the crapping begin.

[D.C Twins]

Looks like the Twins have finally caught up with what us casual observers have known for well over a year...

Raya = Bullpen

Congrats... or something... 

[Patzky]

1 hour ago, jorgenswest said:

No extra player when rosters are already at 28.

Ah thanks.

[jmlease1]

1 hour ago, terrydactyls said:

.Thank you for reading and let the crapping begin.

LOL. It's not crazy, and with some tweaks could probably shape into something that could get considered. (i.e., treat international signings under 18 with a special rule, but 18 or above gets treated like HS grads, etc) You'd have less of an issue with an international prospect still (correctly) in A-ball needing to get added to a 40-man, etc. There's some interesting ideas here.

[rdehring]

Great game to end a great season for GG.  Also great seeing Jenkins with another home run to end his season.  And for a third great, or is it fifth, it's great seeing EmRod playing baseball.

Now if the newish ownership group and the FO can have a 'great' winter, we will all have a great spring!

[jorgenswest]

46 minutes ago, Patzky said:

Ah thanks.

That doesn’t stop the Twins from exchanging some of the 14 position players currently rostered.

[FlyingFinn]

4 minutes ago, rdehring said:

Great game to end a great season for GG.  Also great seeing Jenkins with another home run to end his season.  And for a third great, or is it fifth, it's great seeing EmRod playing baseball.

Note that they aren't done in AAA. Next game is on Tuesday.