Twins Minor League Report (4/2): Ben Ross Powers Wichita to Opening Night Win; Weather Wins in St. Paul and Ft. Myers.

[Seth Stohs]

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey (photo of Ben Ross)

 

With the holiday weekend, it appears that some of the leagues gave their teams the option to play Thursday through Saturday this weekend instead of Friday through Sunday. Three of four Twins affiliates were supposed to play, but to no one’s surprise in early April, weather became the winner. Just one of the three games were played. But hey, the Twins won in Kansas City and just down the road from them, the Wichita Wind Surge were victorious in their home opener.  

TRANSACTIONS
Following their Thursday afternoon win in Kansas City, the Twins announced that they had acquired RHP Garrett Acton from the Miami Marlins in exchange for RHP Logan Whitaker (who was on the Wind Surge roster). Click here for more. 

Earlier in the week, the Twins sent their initial opening day rosters. On Thursday’s Opening Day, the teams updated their rosters to include more players listed on the Injured List. 

St. Paul catcher Ian Daugherty was sent back to the Mighty Mussels. He spent about four days with the Saints. Daugherty signed with the Twins shortly after last year’s draft. He had spent four seasons at Oklahoma State.   

Wichita placed three players on the 7-Day Injured List, RHPs Jose Olivares and Kyle Bischoff, and infielder Jorel Ortega. 

Now I see where there were 44 total players including 26 pitchers on the Mussels’ opening day roster. On Thursday, their official roster indicated 16 players on the Injured List. Previously, they had announced players on the 60-Day IL or the Full-Season IL. 

The following players were placed on the 7-Day Injured List: RHP Billy Oldham (right UCL sprain), RHP Justin Mitrovich (right lat strain), RHP Dylan Questad (left oblique strain), RHP Jason Reitz (left ankle sprain), IF Bruin Agbayani (right thumb strain), C Enrique Jimenez (right finger fracture), OF Yasser Mercedes (right oblique strain). 

Here are the players placed officially on the 60 Day IL: RHP Matt Barr (right elbow fracture), RHP Callan Fang (right elbow sprain), RHP Jake Hunter (right shoulder impingement), LHP Jace Kaminska (right elbow surgery), LHP Cesar Lares (left elbow surgery), LHP Cleiber Maldonado (left elbow surgery), catcher Carlos Silva (right forearm strain). 

Two players were placed on the Full-Season IL: RHP Jack Dougherty (right shoulder surgery) and IF Shai Robinson (left shoulder surgery). 

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul, Worcester (PPD Rain)
In 2025, the Saints led all of the baseball world with 17 games postponed. It actually is impressive that the Saints completed five games before having their first postponement. 

The Twins and Worcester are not scheduled to play again throughout the 2026 season after Sunday. They have not yet scheduled a doubleheader but would certainly love to get it completed (even though the odds are low) this weekend. 

The two teams will attempt to play their third game of the series on Friday night. Connor Prielipp is scheduled to make his second Saints start of the season. 

Baseball America named the Saints as the most talented team in all of minor league baseball coming into this season. It’s hard to disagree. 

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WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 10, NW Arkansas 6
Box Score
With 73-degree temperatures when the game started in Wichita on Thursday night, Ryan Gallagher got the Opening Night nod for the Surge. 

He may have been a little nervous, but the game started with him walking the first two batters on eight pitches. There is no ABS system in the Texas League, which is inexplicable, but no fewer than three of those pitches could have been reviewed. However, we know that walks will haunt, and with one out, Brett Squires doubled to score both walkers. Gallagher ended that first inning with back-to-back strikeouts.   

 

He followed with a 1-2-3 second inning. In the third frame, he gave up a two-out single but that’s it. The fourth inning was another 1-2-3 inning for Gallagher, who came to the Twins at last year’s trade deadline from the Cubs for Willi Castro. 

Gallagher came out to start the top of the fifth inning. Unfortunately, the leadoff man reached on an error and went to third base on a single to center. Gallagher got a strikeout, but that marked the end of his night. 

Mike Paredes came on and after a steal, a sacrifice fly and a soft single to give the Naturals a 5-3 lead in the fifth inning. Both runs were charged to Gallagher, and both were unearned. Gallagher went the first 4 1/3 innings. He gave up four runs (2 earned) on three hits and two walks. He struck out four batters. 

Paredes went 3 2/3 innings and gave up two runs on four hits. He had five strikeouts and issued no walks. Both runs scored on a Dustin Dickerson two-run homer in the top of the sixth inning. 

Reclaim the Lead
The Wind Surge responded in a big way in the bottom half of the inning. Hendry Mendez was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Billy Amick and Garrett Spain followed with walks to load the bases for Ben Ross. 

I don’t even know how that would possibly happen, but here is what really happened. 

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Ross drilled a ball to the opposite field and hit off of the top of the fence for a double. Mendez scored. Amick followed and could have been out, but the ball got away from the catcher which allowed Span to score the third run. Ross advanced all the way to third. 

After a pitching change, Ross scored on a sacrifice fly by Ricardo Olivar. 

Adding On… and Closing the Door 
Kyle DeBarge led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a long, long home run well onto the berm in left field. 

 

In the bottom of the eighth, Spain led off with a walk. Ross stepped to the plate and crushed a homer well beyond the top of the left field fence. 

 

Alejandro Hidalgo came on for the ninth. He gave up a hit and walked one, but he struck out two batters to end a scoreless inning. 

Ben Ross went 3-for-4 with a double, a homer, a stolen base, two runs and four RBI.
Kyle DeBarge was 2-for-4 with a walk, a double, and a home run. He drove in two runs and scored two runs. 
Maddux Houghton was 2-for-4 with a triple and made a diving catch in center field. 

 

That was Quick!
In 2025, Kyle DeBarge began his season by being called safe on his first 27 stolen base attempts. The 22-year-old went on to steal 66 bases in 74 attempts for the Kernels. 

DeBarge led off the first inning with a walk. Travelers catcher Canyon Brown had a good pitch to throw, had a very quick release, and threw a bullet (or a cannon?) just above second base to throw out DeBarge. 

DeBarge had a very nice Double-A debut. He had a line drive double down the left field line for an RBI and then crushed a long home run. 

 

If Ross can Rake, then Make no Mistake, he Can Be a Big Leaguer.
Ross came from a Division II school and was initially known for his bat, but he struggled some early and kept finding himself in the lineup because of his great defense, mostly at shortstop but also at third and second base. I’m trying to think about Twins shortstop prospects over the past two decades. I’m sure I’m missing someone, but I think Ross is, at worst, one of the best defensive shortstops I can remember. 

I think that Wander Javier was a really good defensive shortstop, though inconsistent. Jordan Gore was really good before he made the move to the mound. I think AJ Pettersen would be near the top of this list. Others who have been following this for a couple of decades, who am I missing? 

Double-A Win #1
Congratulations to Wind Surge Manager Nico Giarratano on winning his first game as a Double A manager. 

Giarratano was born and grew up in San Francisco. After graduating from St. Ignatius College Preparatory school in San Francisco. He stayed home and went to the University of San Francisco where he played 218 games at shortstop over his four seasons there. In the 24th round of the 2017 draft, he was selected by the - you guessed it - San Francisco Giants. 

KERNELS CHRONICLE 
The Kernels begin their 2026 season on Friday. They will host Peoria for three games. 

MIGHTY MATTERS
After being rained out on Thursday, Fort Myers will also begin their season with a doubleheader on Friday and another game on Saturday. They will host the Clearwater Threshers. 

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day  
Ben Ross (Wichita): 3-for-4, 2B(1), HR(1), 2 R, 4 RBI, SB(1). 

Pitcher of the Day 
Mike Paredes (Wichita): 3 2/3 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 45 pitches, 33 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 - OF Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - DNP
#2 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - DNP
#3 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - DNP
#4 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - DNP
#5 - LHP Connor Prielipp (St. Paul) - Starting Friday
#6 - LHP Dasan Hill (Cedar Rapids) - Starting Friday
#7 - OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - DNP
#8 - LHP Kendry Rojas (St. Paul) - Injured List (hamstring)
#9 - SS Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - DNP
#10 - RHP Charlee Soto (Cedar Rapids) - Injured List
#11 - RHP Riley Quick (Ft. Myers) - DNP
#12 - RHP Andrew Morris (St. Paul) - DNP
#13 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - DNP
#14 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - DNP
#15 - RHP Marco Raya (St. Paul) - DNP
#16 - OF Hendry Mendez (Wichita) - 1-for-3, HBP, R, RBI
#17 - 2B/OF Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - 2-for-4, BB, 2B(1), HR(1), 2 R, 2 RBI, K, CS, E (led off, played 2B)
#18 - RHP C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) - scheduled to start Saturday
#19 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids) - DNP
#20 - RHP James Ellwanger (Ft. Myers) - scheduled to make his pro debut on Saturday. 

FRIDAY PROBABLES
Worcester @ St. Paul (6:37 pm CT) - LHP Connor Prielipp
NW Arkansas @ Wichita (6:35 pm CT) - RHP Ty Langenberg
Peoria @ Cedar Rapids (6:05 pm CT) - LHP Dasan Hill
Clearwater @ Ft. Myers (DH @ 3:30 CT) - Joel Garcia, James Ellwanger 

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 2-4
St. Paul Saints: 3-2
Wichita Wind Surge: 1-0
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 0-0
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 0-0

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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[FlyingFinn]

Dreaming that DeBarge can hit like this to go along with his speed and defense. Great start.

Did I miss the article on the Fort Myers roster, like the rest had?

[Dman]

Happy to see DeBarge hit for some power.  Getting the ball in the air was an issue for him last year.  If his hit tool comes around he could be a nice option for the infield.

Ross with a heck of a game.   Hopefully he can finally crack AA pitching.

Gallagher with an up and down outing.  He didn't look as sharp I've seen him in the past.  Betting he'll look better as time goes on.

[jmlease1]

Nice start to the season for DeBarge, who really struggled at the plate in the second half of the season in Cedar Rapids. Hopefully this gives him some confidence and whatever offseason work he did helps him be an impact bat all year. He's got some tools I like, but the total power outage and collapse of his batting average last season was concerning to the point that I wasn't sure he would get moved up. It'll be interesting to see if he's still running wild on the bases?

Ben Ross was an interesting prospect, but his career really stalled out at AA when he simply couldn't hit enough. This is his 4th spin at the AA wheel, and it's a reminder that even if you can really pick it, if you can't show something with the bat down in AA you don't have a lot of future. He did a nice job in the AFL after the 2024 season...and then turned in another turkey at the plate in 2025. Maybe this will be the year he figures it out? He's almost 25 and it's starting to get late early...

Curious to see how Mendez does and how much time he gets at 1B? He did great when he came over, and I wondered if he was going to get bumped to Saint Paul. I think if he has a fast start we'll see him get the midseason promotion for sure. Interesting bat, and lord knows we could use someone with a future at 1B. Of course, he's another LH bat...

[rdehring]

Found your comments about Ross's defense interesting, Seth.  Very interesting.

Curious how he would compare to Houston, who some have called one of the best shortstops in minor league ball?  Also surprised you included AJ.  Didn't know his D at short was that special.

What an odd start to the season for DeBarge.  Wins the minor league gold glove, then commits a throwing error in his first game.  I think he led the minors in stolen bases last year, then gets caught on his first attempt.  I know he set the Twins organizational record, did he also lead all of minor league ball?

[jmlease1]

4 minutes ago, rdehring said:

What an odd start to the season for DeBarge.  Wins the minor league gold glove, then commits a throwing error in his first game.  I think he led the minors in stolen bases last year, then gets caught on his first attempt.  I know he set the Twins organizational record, did he also lead all of minor league ball?

A reminder to take minor league awards and stolen base totals with a grain of salt. possibly an entire block. At least one prospect evaluator was not particularly enamored of his D last season, and A-ball pitchers don't hold runners (and A-ball catchers frequently don't have rifles for arms, they have shotguns...)

[Seth Stohs]

2 hours ago, FlyingFinn said:

Dreaming that DeBarge can hit like this to go along with his speed and defense. Great start.

Did I miss the article on the Fort Myers roster, like the rest had?

Yeah, it is in process now, but it's my fault it's not out there already. I kind of refused to write up a roster preview that had 44 players on it including 26 pitches. 

But then I saw that there were literally 16 players starting the season on the IL. That's crazy! 

[DataNerd]

4 hours ago, rdehring said:

Found your comments about Ross's defense interesting, Seth.  Very interesting.

Curious how he would compare to Houston, who some have called one of the best shortstops in minor league ball?  Also surprised you included AJ.  Didn't know his D at short was that special.

What an odd start to the season for DeBarge.  Wins the minor league gold glove, then commits a throwing error in his first game.  I think he led the minors in stolen bases last year, then gets caught on his first attempt.  I know he set the Twins organizational record, did he also lead all of minor league ball?

I'm not able to quickly look up players who played at multiple levels, but Kendall George for LAD stole 100 bases.  A lot of minor league C don't have MLB-caliber arms