Twins Minor League Report (4/22): Jose Salas Knocks Two of 14 Home Runs in Twins Minors

[Seth Stohs]

Image courtesy of Kason Huckabay, Wichita Wind Surge (photo of Jose Salas)

TRANSACTIONS   
Following the Twins loss in New York, Kendry Rojas was optioned to St. Paul. Presumably, the corresponding move would be to activate Kody Funderburk from the paternity list. 

Infielder Ryan Kreidler reported to the Saints in Indianapolis on Thursday morning after being optioned by the Twins on Wednesday. 

The Twins claimed Christian Roa, a 27-year-old right-hander who was DFAd by the Houston Astros earlier this week. Roa was the Reds second-round pick in 2020 out of Texas A&M. He has fought a ton of injuries in his career, but clearly has something teams like. He pitched in two games for the Marlins in September of 2025. He pitched in seven games for the Astros this season. In 8 2/3 innings, he gave up five runs on 10 hits, seven walks and three hit batters, and just six strikeouts. 

The Twins have been very active in making claims on relief pitcher options for the back of the 40-man roster and potentially for the back of the 26-man roster. It’s a solid strategy for a team in the Twins current position. The nice part is that he could be optioned meaning the Twins can invest some time with him if they want.  

To make room on the 40-man roster, the Twins have DFAd infielder Eric Wagaman. He was one of the last cuts for the Twins this spring after playing in 140 games for the Marlins last year. In 18 games with the Saints this year, he is hitting .159/.284/.254 (.538). Those numbers aren’t great, or good, or even adequate, but it’s also important to realize the small sample size. On Sunday, he went 3-for-4 and hit his lone double, triple, and home run of the season. That one game increased his OPS by about .130 points. Wagaman just never made much sense for the Twins, and it’s hard to believe they had to give up a Double-A lefty reliever Kade Bragg for him. It’ll be interesting to see if he’ll clear waivers and stay in the organization.  

Catcher David Banuelos transferred back to the Development List for St. Paul. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 1, Indianapolis 6 
Box Score
Gabriel Gonzalez hit a long home run, his fifth homer of the young season. The solo shot in the fourth inning cut the Saints’ deficit to 3-1.

The only other Saints player with a hit in this game was Ryan Kreidler who doubled. Walker Jenkins and Kaelen Culpepper both walked. Culpepper returned to the Saints lineup after being out of the lineup the first two games of this week. 

John Klein made the start for the Saints. He gave up three runs on four hits and a walk over three innings. Marco Raya came on and gave up three runs on two hits and three walks over two innings. Zak Kent gave up two hits and two walks over two innings, but no runs. Drew Smith struck out two batters in a scoreless ninth inning. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 12, NW Arkansas 13 (10 innings)
Box Score
25 runs, 29 hits, 12 walks. Occasionally some big pitching and defense. Actually, defense played a certain role in the results of this game. Wichita committed three errors to NW Arkansas’s zero errors. Three unearned runs certainly looms large in a one-run, extra inning game. We had several Surge highlights, but no tally in the win column for Wichita. The Wind Surge took the early first-inning lead with a four-spot. The Naturals put six on the board in the fourth inning.  

C.J. Culpepper started. He was charged with five runs (3 earned) on seven hits over three innings. He walked none and had seven strikeouts. He started the fourth inning but was replaced by Darren Bowen with a runner on base. The inherited runner scored, but Bowen was charged with three runs on one hit and two walks in his two innings. He struck out four. Sam Ryan went 2 2/3 innings. He gave up two runs on five hits and a walk. Jaylen Nowlin threw two innings. He gave up three runs (2 earned) on three hits. 

In the top of the first, Hendry Mendez led off with a walk. With one out, he scored on Billy Amick’s third home run of the season. Jorel Ortega and Jake Rucker had RBI singles in the four-run first. 

Jose Salas led off the top of the third inning with his third home run of the season. 

With one out in the top of the fourth, Mendez knocked his fourth homer of the season.

In the top of the fifth inning, Jake Rucker doubled to drive in Ricardo Olivar. Poncho Ruiz tied the game at 8-8 with a single to score Rucker. 

Jose Salas led off the top of the seventh inning with his fourth home run of the season to give the Surge a 9-8.   

With one out in the top of the ninth, Olivar hit his fourth home run of the season to tie the game at 10-10. 

Jorel Ortega was the Manfred Man on second base to start the top of the 10th. With one out, Poncho Ruiz hit his first home run of the season to make it 12-10. With two outs, Mendez and Kala’i Rosario walked. Billy Amick lined a single to left field. Mendez attempted to score but was thrown out at home. Maybe that’s what gave the momentum for the Naturals to put three runs on the board in the bottom of the inning.   

KERNELS CHRONICLE 
Cedar Rapids 10, Peoria 12
Box Score
Try as they might, the Kernels fell behind early and kept working their way back into the game. They were behind 6-2 after three innings. The Kernels scored two runs in the top of the sixth which cut their deficit to 7-6. However, Peoria scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth which made it 12-6. But there was no Quit in the Kernels. In the eighth inning, they scored four runs but fell short in the end. 

The Kernels actually had the first lead of the game. In the top of the first, Eduardo Tait drilled his third home run of the season to make it 1-0. Tait also drove in the team’s second run with a groundout in the third inning.       

Jason Doktorczyk made the start. He was charged with five runs on five hits and three walks in the first two innings. Ivran Romero was next. He gave up two runs on five hits over 2 2/3 innings. He had five strikeouts and no walks. Eston Stull came on with a runner on and got the final out of the fifth inning without further damage. Then in the sixth, he gave up five runs on five hits and a walk.

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Kwite the Kwestion
Yehizon Sanchez came on and had four strikeouts over two perfect innings. In his first inning, the seventh inning, he threw an immaculate inning. It is something that Kernels pitchers have not done since 2015. For those who don't know, an immaculate inning is when a pitcher strikes out the side on nine pitches. However, in this case, Sanchez needed just eight actually thrown pitches because there was a time clock violation on one of the hitters. What is more than impressive than "immaculate?" 

By definition and by rule, an Immaculate inning is 1.) three strikeouts, 2.) exactly nine pitches, and 3.) all recorded as strikes. And inning with eight pitches thrown plus a pitch-clock violation does not qualify because the strike was not delivered as a pitch. 

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With two outs in the top of the fifth, Jaime Ferrer was hit by a pitch. He moved to third on a Marek Houston single. Tait came through again. His fifth double of the season drove in both runs and cut the Peoria lead to 6-4. 

With two outs in the top of the fifth, Caden Kendle hit a two-run homer, his second of the season, to make it 7-6. But as noted above, that was as close as it got.   

Down 12-6 going to the eighth, Kendle drove in two with a single to left. Miguel Briceno knocked his second home run in limited April play, a two-run homer that ended the scoring with the Kernels down 12-10. 

Tait went 3-for-5 with his fifth double, third homer and four RBI. Kendle was 2-for-4 with his second home run. Houston went 2-for-5. It is his third straight multi-hit game. Heading into the week, he was hitting .246/.328/.404 (.732). Three games later, he is hitting .296/.359/.437 (.796). 

MIGHTY MATTERS
Ft. Myers 12, Dunedin 7
Box Score  
Like the Kernels, the Mussels fell behind early. After four innings, the Blue Jays led 5-2. When the Mussels came to bat for the bottom of the fifth inning, they were behind 7-2. But like the Kernels (and like the big-league clue), the bats didn’t quit early. Fort Myers responded with four straight crooked numbers while their pitchers ended with four straight zeroes. Nice win at Hammond Stadium. 

With two outs in the top of the third, Yasser Mercedes knocked his first triple and scored on an error to make it 2-1 after three innings. 

Kolten Smith started and gave up two runs (1 earned) on a walk and a home run. He had four strikeouts. 

Down 5-1, Quentin Young started the bottom of the fourth inning with a walk. Consecutive ground outs advanced Young to third base, but with two outs. Ramiro Dominguez doubled to drive him in. 

Eric Hammond came in and gave up four runs on three hits (including a homer) and two walks over two innings. Xavier Kolhosser gave up one run on one hit and two walks. 

Down 7-2, Dameury Pena singled to lead off the bottom of the fifth frame. Yasser Mercedes followed with his third home run since joining the Mussels last week.   

Down 7-4, Ramiro Dominguez hit a two-out solo home run, his second of the season. It was followed by a single by Irvin Nunez, and a triple by Dameury Pena.   

Down 7-6 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Jayson Bass knocked a two-out, two-run homer to give the Mussels their first lead of the game.   

Now to the really strong late-inning pitching. Mike McKenna pitched a scoreless sixth inning and struck three batters. Matthew DesMarets came in and tossed the final three innings. He gave up no runs on one hit. He walked three and had three strikeouts to earn his first professional win. 

Now leading 8-7, Dominguez led off the bottom of the eighth with a single. Nunez was hit by a pitch. With two outs, there was a double steal. Eduardo Beltre came through with a two-run single to center for some insurance. Beltre then stole second and third, but JP Smith told him that was unnecessary, that he was already in scoring position. Smith drilled his first home run of the season to make it 12-7 Mussels. 

Ramiro Dominguez went 3-for-4 with his first double and his second home run. Dameury Pena went 3-for-5 with his first triple. He’s still hitting .418. Yasser Mercedes hit his first triple and third home run. JP Smith went 2-for-4 with a walk and his first homer. The Jayson Bass homer, his second of the season, was the one that turned a deficit to a lead. 

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day  
Jose Salas (Wichita): 2-for-5, 2 HR(4), 2 R, 2 RBI, K.
Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids): 3-for-5, 2B(5), HR(3), R, 4 RBI, K
Ramiro Dominguez (Fort Myers): 3-for-4, 2B(1), HR(2), 2 R, 2 RBI, K.
Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers): 2-for-5, 3B(1), HR(3), 2 R, 2 RBI, K 

Pitcher of the Day 
Matthew DesMarets (Fort Myers): 3 IP, H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K, 58 pitches, 31 strikes (53.4%)

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) - 0-for-3, BB, K (batted first, played DH) 
#2 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - 0-for-3, BB, 2 K (batted second, played SS)
#3 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 0-for-4, 2 K (batted third, played CF)
#4 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 3-for-5, 2B(5), HR(3), R, 4 RBI, K (batted second, DHd)  
#5 - LHP Connor Prielipp (Minnesota) - Did Not Pitch
#6 - LHP Dasan Hill (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Pitch
#7 - OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 1-for-3, BB, HR(5), R, RBI, K (batted fourth, played RF)
#8 - LHP Kendry Rojas (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch
#9 - SS Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-5, R, K (batted leadoff, played SS)
#10 - RHP Charlee Soto (Cedar Rapids) - Injured List
#11 - RHP Riley Quick (Ft. Myers) - Did Not Pitch
#12 - RHP Andrew Morris (Minnesota) - 2 2/3 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 37 pitches, 27 strikes (73.0%)
#13 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Play. 
#14 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-4, BB, R, 3 K (batted fifth, played SS)
#15 - RHP Marco Raya (St. Paul) - 2 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, K, 27 pitches, 14 strikes (51.9%)
#16 - OF Hendry Mendez (Wichita) - 1-for-4, 2 BB, HR(4), 2 R, RBI, K (batted first, played LF)   

#17 - 2B/OF Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - Did Not Play.
#18 - RHP C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) - 3 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, 67 pitches, 46 strikes (68.7%)
#19 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-K (batted third, catcher)
#20 - RHP James Ellwanger (Ft. Myers) - 60 IL (right elbow sprain)

UPCOMING PROBABLES
Friday:
St. Paul @ Indianapolis (5:35 pm CT) - RHP John Brebbia (0-0, 3.86 ERA)
Wichita @ NW Arkansas (7:05 pm CT) - RHP Jose Olivares (1st AA Start)
Cedar Rapids @ Peoria (6:35 pm CT) - RHP Nolan Santos (0-1, 5.40 ERA)
Dunedin @ Ft. Myers (6:05 CT) - RHP Matthew Dalquist (0-1, 7.71 ERA)

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 12-13
St. Paul Saints: 9-14
Wichita Wind Surge: 10-8
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 7-11
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 11-7
FCL Twins: 0-0 (season begins Monday, May 4)
DSL Twins: 0-0 (season begins Monday, June 1) 

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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[twinstalker]

Nice start by the Saints.  Overwhelming talent.

[jmlease1]

Tait seems to be warming up. He's still so young, so it's great to see him finding some success at the plate.

Salas is finally finding some success as a hitter...is he also finding a position at 1B? Not sure what is future is, but he's making me curious with this solid start.

Mercedes off to a very nice start as well. It's a pretty small sample though so let's give him another 10-15 games before we get too hyped, but good to see success for him as well.

[Tibs]

What is the most homeruns hit in the minor league system in one day?

[jkcarew]

Man, the Saints pitching is beyond awful. Dead last in the 20-team IL in about every category that matters…WHIP, ERA, OPS, HR, BA. 

The offense is struggling to get to middle of pack. And the team owns the worst run differential in the league. Seems like the offense probably will come around more…guys like Jenkins and Gonzalez have very low BABiP, for instance. Unfortunately, the pitching’s best chance at improving might be different pitchers.

The lesson for those that claimed the Saints were “loaded” with talent: 

other teams have top-20 prospect lists too

[Danchat]

Man, Raya is just not getting it done. And Klein has been rough too, I doubt he is going to be a MLB starter... so it might be time to move him to a relief role. I'd keep Zebby stretched out just because we need rotation depth. Morris is also likely a reliever, and we're at the point where the MLB pen is in dire enough shape that maybe he works into that. 

It would have been fun to see those Wind Surge and Kernels games!

[Dman]

With the warmer weather Tait is crushing the ball.  At 19 his OPS is better than Diaw and Houston who are three years older than he is.  Have to admit I was worried about the lack of contact and K's early in the year, but he is stinging the ball now with more than half of his hits going for extra bases.  If he can keep this up he might get promoted to AA before Diaw,

Pena keeps swinging a hot bat.  He has been a .400 hitter from the start of the season.  Very consistent so far.  With more walks than strikeouts.  Another few weeks of this and they'll need to move him up.

Mercedes continues to crush baseballs and just needs to stay consistent and he should move up as well.  He has looked much better at the plate this year. Still just 21 so not real young for this level but not old either.

I had to go back to Baseball America to figure out where the Twins got Dominguez from.  He has been tearing the cover off the ball since the Twins moved him up to A ball when they moved Genth up.  They got him from Mexico for 10,000 according to BA and he has hit the ground running with the best OPS on the team in a very small 5 game sample size.  This guy might be something.  For those of us who like little guys like Eeles here is your new hitter to dream on.

The Twins have some very interesting young hitters at a ball. Young, Beltre, and Dominguez are all 19. Pena is 20 and Mercedes is 21.  Nice to see those young bats grow and hopefully move up soon.