Twins Minor League Report (4/24): Yasser Mercedes Hits Fourth Homer in 7 Games; Paulshawn Pasqualotto Earns Win in Double-A Debut

[Seth Stohs]

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge (photo of Paulshawn Pasqualotto)

TRANSACTIONS   
Following the Twins loss in New York on Thursday night, the Twins announced that Kendry Rojas had been optioned to St. Paul. On Friday, the corresponding move was announced, and as expected, Kody Funderburk was activated from the paternity list. 

OF Alan Roden was officially placed on the Injured List with a right shoulder contusion. 

Ben Ross earned a promotion from Wichita to St. Paul. The 24-year-old infielder is off to a great start in 2026. In 16 games, he is hitting .424/.528/.797 (1.324) with seven doubles, five homers and 16 RBI. He is a tremendous defensive player at shortstop, and he has spent time at third base, second base, and a little in the outfield. 

RHP Paulshawn Pasqualotto was promoted from Cedar Rapids to Double-A Wichita. The 24-year-old was the Twins 12th round pick in 2023 out of Cal-Berkeley. He pitched in just four games for the Kernels this season and has converted all three save opportunities he’s had and given up only an unearned run over 5 1/3 scoreless innings. He had no walks and eight strikeouts. 

The Twins signed right-hander Jesse Bergin and assigned him to the FCL Twins. He had been the 11th round pick in 2021 out of UCLA by the Reds. then didn’t pitch in 2022 or 2023. He returned and threw 34 1/3 total innings. He spent most of the 2025 season at Double-A Pensacola. In 35 games and 43 innings out of the bullpen, he was 2-4 with five saves, a 2.51 ERA, a 0.98 WHIP, and opponents hit just .168 off of him. The Marlins released him in late March, and the Twins signed him today. He will likely head to Wichita once his arm gets ready. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 3, Indianapolis 4 
Box Score
It was a bullpen game for the Saints on Friday night. John Brebbia started and gave up one run on two hits over the first two innings. 

In the top of the fifth inning, Alex Jackson tied the game at 1-1 with a leadoff homer. He already has three long balls this season.   

In the bottom of the sixth, Gabriel Gonzalez led off with his sixth home run. 

Emmanuel Rodriguez followed with a walk and stole second base. After Ryan Kreidler reached on an error, Kyler Fedko drove in Rodriguez with a single to make it 3-1 Saints. 

Ricky Castro came in and threw three zeroes on the board. However, after a walk started the bottom of the sixth, he gave up a home run to Tyler Callihan which tied the game at 3-3. Matt Bowman got the next five outs, two of them on strikeout. He also gave up a solo homer. Luis Garcia came in and tossed a 1-2-3 ninth.    

The Saints ended with just six hits and three walks in the game. Gonzalez had two hits, and Orlando Arcia went 2-for-4. Rodriguez had two walks.   

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 5, NW Arkansas 1
Box Score
Jose Olivares is one of the better starting pitcher prospects in the Twins organization. On Friday night, he made his Double-A debut for the Surge.  The right-hander worked through some issues to put three zeros on the board. He tossed three scoreless innings despite two hits and four walks. He had one strikeout. Of his 52 pitches, just 23 of them were strikes (44.2%). 

Paulshawn Pasqualotto came on and duplicated the results with three scoreless innings. He gave up two hits and walked three batters, but he helped himself with three strikeouts. 

Through four innings, there was no score in the. The Wind Surge put a crooked number on the board in the top of the fifth inning. Maddux Houghton started things out with his third double of the season. After one out and a pitching change, Houghton stole third and scored when the throw was errant. Kala’i Rosario walked and went to second on a Kyle DeBarge single. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch. Rosario scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Billy Amick. DeBarge scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-0. 

Wichita added some insurance in the top of the eighth inning. Billy Amick led off the inning with a solo homer, his fourth of the season. 

Spencer Bengard came in for the seventh inning. He was charged with an unearned run on two hits and a walk over his two innings. Luis Quinones came on for the ninth inning and struck out the side. 

Jake Rucker was hit by a pitch and later scored on a passed ball for the fifth and final run. 

Wichita had eight hits and two walks in the game. Ricardo Olivar went 2-for-4 with his fifth double. He has reached base in six straight games. He also has five extra base hits in his past four games.  Houghton hit his third and fourth doubles, and walked, in three at-bats. He also stole his sixth base. The Surge had extra base hits and took advantage of some poor defense, which is good, because they went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position.  

Just one home run for the Wind Surge, but they still have hit 23 homers over the past nine games. 

KERNELS CHRONICLE 
Cedar Rapids 8, Peoria 4
Box Score
A baseball team wants to score early and often. That is exactly what the Kernels did on Friday night in Peoria. They scored one run in the first inning and scored one run in each of the following six innings. The only inning in the first seven innings that they didn’t score one run was the fifth inning, when they scored two runs.  

It was deja vu all over again for the Kernels in the top of the first inning. Like Thursday night, Eduardo Tait homers in the first to give his team a 1-0 lead. It was his fourth homer of the month. 

Nolan Santos was the starting pitcher for Cedar Rapids. Unfortunately, he needed 35 pitches and only got two outs. He was charged with one run on one hit and three walks. The outs he got were both on strikeouts. That’s a lot of pitches. Sam Rochard came in and left the bases loaded and a 1-1 game. He went 2 1/3 innings and gave up one run on one hit, a solo home run. 

In the second inning, Caden Kendle and Jay Thomason walked. After a groundout, Kendle scored on a balk. 

Marek Houston led off the third inning with his third double. He went to third base on a Tait fly out and then scored on a Brandon Winokur single to center. 3-2 after three innings. 

Jacob Wosinski worked the middle innings. In three innings, he gave up just one run on two hits (including one homer). He had three strikeouts. Cole Peschl struck out two batters over two scoreless, hitless innings. Christian Becerra gave up one run on two hits in the ninth inning. He struck out two batters.

Let’s catch up on that offense. In the fourth inning, Rayne Doncon doubled and scored on a Luis Hernandez single. 

In the fifth inning, Danny De Andrade led off with a single. Kendle walked again and both runners advanced on a wild pitch. De Andrade scored on a Doncon ground out. Then Kendle scored on a Miguel Briceno single. 

In the sixth inning, De Andrade struck out but got on base on a wild pitch. Kendle walked yet again. De Andrade scored on a Jay Thomasson double. 

With one out in the seventh, Briceno singled. Andy Lugo pinch ran for him and stole second base and went to third base on a throwing error. After a Hernandez walk, Houston grounded to shortstop for a force out but beat the throw to first base to get an RBI. 

What happened in the eighth and ninth innings? Why didn’t they score? I kid, of course, it isn’t that easy. That said, the Kernels did have a runner on base in those final two innings too. 

Marek Houston went 2-for-5 with his third double. It was his fourth straight multi-hit week this week against Peoria. He is now hitting .303 with an OPS of .808. Tait went 2-for-5 with his fourth homer. Winokur was 2-for-5. Briceno was 2-for-4. Hernandez, Thomason and Doncon each had one hit and one walk while Kendle had three walks in the game. 

MIGHTY MATTERS
Ft. Myers 5, Dunedin 4
Box Score  
A four-run fifth innings gave the Mussels a 5-3 lead, and they were able to hang on to give them a dozen wins. 

Matt Dalquist started and was charged with three runs on six hits and three walks over 4 1/3 innings. He had three strikeouts. Michael Hilker kept an inherited runner from scoring a third run in the top of the fifth frame. The team’s 20th round pick last July gave up two hits and a walk over 2 2/3 scoreless innings. He struck out two batters. 

With two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning, the Blue Jays made a pitching change. Their starter was already at 58 pitches after 3 2/3 innings. That was a positive for the Mussels. Jayson Bass got to second on an error and scored on a single by Ian Daugherty. 

Byron Chourio led off the inning with his first home run of the season.     

Ricardo Pena followed with a walk. Yilber Herrera doubled Pena to third base. With two outs, Yasser Mercedes did it again. He knocked his fourth home run, a three-run, opposite-field homer to give the team a 5-3 lead.   

Mitch Mueller worked a perfect eighth inning.  Brian Zeldin came on and got the first two outs easily, with a groundout and a strikeout. But then Blaine Bullard hit his fourth home run which cut the Mussel lead to 5-4. Zeldin then hit a batter. However, he got a ground out to end the game and pick up his second save of the year. 

Chourio went 2-for-3 with the homer. Mercedes homered in back-to-back games and four the fourth time in his last seven games. 

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day  
Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul): 2-for-4, HR(5), R, RBI, K.

Pitcher of the Day 
Paulshawn Pasqualotto (Wichita): 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 B, 44 pitches, 27 strikes (61.4%)   

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-4, K (batted second, played CF) 
#2 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - 0-for-4 (batted first, played SS) 

#3 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 0-for-2, 2 BB, K (batted fourth, played RF)
#4 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-5, HR(4), R, RBI, 2 K, E(2) (batted second, catcher)
#5 - LHP Connor Prielipp (Minnesota) - Did Not Pitch
#6 - LHP Dasan Hill (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Pitch
#7 - OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 2-for-4, HR(5), R, RBI, K (batted third, played 1B)
#8 - LHP Kendry Rojas (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch, Optioned
#9 - SS Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-5, 2B(3) R, RBI, 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) - Did Not Pitch.
#13 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-5, RBI, K, CS(1) (batted third, played CF)
#14 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - Did Not Pitch
#15 - RHP Marco Raya (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch. 
#16 - OF Hendry Mendez (Wichita) - Did Not Play.
#17 - 2B/OF Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - 1-for-5, R, K, E(5) (batted third, played SS)
#18 - RHP C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) - Did Not Pitch.
#19 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Play.
#20 - RHP James Ellwanger (Ft. Myers) - 60 IL (right elbow sprain)

UPCOMING PROBABLES
Saturday:
St. Paul @ Indianapolis (5:35 pm CT) - RHP Mike Paredes (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Wichita @ NW Arkansas (7:05 pm CT) - RHP Sam Armstrong (1-2, 3.68 ERA)
Cedar Rapids @ Peoria (6:35 pm CT) - RHP Eli Jones (1-0, 1.35 ERA)
Dunedin @ Ft. Myers (6:05 CT) - RHP Jonathan Stevens (2-0, 4.82 ERA)

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 12-14
St. Paul Saints: 9-15
Wichita Wind Surge: 11-8
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 8-11
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 12-7
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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[mikelink45]

The Twins need some position players to push for MLB, but I looked at the lineups for both St Paul and Witchita and there are only three batters between the lineups hitting in the 250s - none above,  And there are six below 200.  This does not count Ross.  I hope he keeps it going.  We need something.  At the beginning of the season I looked at the Saints prospect lineup and thought it would be better than the Twins, but now both teams are below 500 and I don't know what to expect. 

[Linus]

Good to see Houston with two more hits. I’m guessing the Twins will be really patient with him and let him build a bunch of confidence before he goes to Wichita. Nice grab by Culpepper- sorry Brooks but you don’t get within a foot of that ball. 

[rdehring]

I understand the season isn't all that old, Seth.  But most of those wonderful prospects we all are excited about aren't hitting, a lick.  Looking at yesterday's box score, there were only two in Cedar Rapids that caught my attention, Houston and Tait.  Glad to see Tait getting time behind the plate.  Houston is one of the few to be really excited about.  Question remains if he will continue hitting as he moves up to AA, however with his defense he only needs to hit a little.

With Ross moving up to AAA, who is going to play shortstop?

Have a question Seth, about Mercedes.  I see he is from Puerto Rico, yet was signed as a 16-year-old International free agent.  Aren't prospects from Puerto Rico included in the draft? I know Jose Berrios was.

[Jeff K]

I have the same question regarding SS at St. Paul.  Is Culpepper going to be called up to play SS?  Or 2nd and demoting Keaschall?  I think Keaschall deserves more leeway, but the Saints have two starting shortstops and two back up shortstops.  

Hopefully Marek Houston moves up to Wichita with that opening at SS.

I also noted that Gabriel Gonzalez played first base.  I haven't been paying attention, has he been getting time there?  It is such a position of need and Gabriel seems to be hitting pretty well.  If he moves up as a first baseman, that likely means the end of Clemens with the Twins.  

[jmlease1]

Congrats to Ben Ross on promotion. Nice reward for his impressive start. Hope he can keep the bat going in Saint Paul, because the glove is excellent. Be interesting to see how they divide up the infield innings with him in the mix and whether someone will get moved?

Very impressive start to the season for Mercedes. Might be looking at a promotion of his own soon.

Like seeing Houston get the double in there; his ability to crack a few xbhs in there will be important to his progress at the plate. He's on a very nice track so far, and if he stays near this then he's in AA midseason at the latest. 

Amick is doing ok after that nightmare in the AFL, but he may be selling out a little too much for the homers. Like to see him making more contact, show a little more patience.

[ashbury]

Alex Jackson has superficially decent overall AAA stats, but I looked at his game logs and he has base hits in only 5 of his 12 games.  For reference, Ryan Jeffers has had base hits in 11 of his 17 starts at catcher or DH, and that's against major leaguers.

Baseball averages are basically the "mean", and I've often wondered whether a second-order measure such as "standard deviation" would be revealing about certain players having uneven performances, but I've never invested the time to try to investigate. 

Anyway, my working theory (lacking real analytics) is that Jackson is one of many hitters who knows how to feast against lesser opponents, with Plan A being "wait for your pitch," but who has no Plan B and flails when the opponent has the command to put his best stuff where he wants it time after time. 

Last year's breakthrough at Baltimore appears to have been a mirage.   If the need arises to bring Jackson up, I don't expect good results. 

I realize this is a controversial take, not to mention answering a question no one has even brought up.  🙃

[jkcarew]

Seems there’s a bit of a misconception in some of these and some game review threads that Kaelen Culpepper is tearing it up in AAA. Maybe because of the nice start. Currently 337/402/739…quite pedestrian for the IL. Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t promote him, because…why not. But my offensive expectations would be quite tempered for a while.

[Road trip]

1 hour ago, Jeff K said:

I have the same question regarding SS at St. Paul.  Is Culpepper going to be called up to play SS?  Or 2nd and demoting Keaschall?  I think Keaschall deserves more leeway, but the Saints have two starting shortstops and two back up shortstops.  

Hopefully Marek Houston moves up to Wichita with that opening at SS.

I also noted that Gabriel Gonzalez played first base.  I haven't been paying attention, has he been getting time there?  It is such a position of need and Gabriel seems to be hitting pretty well.  If he moves up as a first baseman, that likely means the end of Clemens with the Twins.  

I also noted that Gonzalez is suddenly getting reps at 1B.  Four games now.  This seems a like a wise thing to try.  1B is an organizational hole, and there are likely multiple outfielders ahead of Gonzalez (Jenkins, ERod, possibly others) in the minors org.  Besides, reports are the Gonzalez is not good in the outfield anyway.  It certainly appears that Gonzalez may be a hitter, but he needs a position where he can be adequate and isn't blocked.  He's shorter than ideal for 1B, but there have been other short first basemen that have provided good defensive value.  Hopefully he is able to learn the position... and quickly, because there is no apparent internal solution there.

[Major League Ready]

It's hard to imagine Ross is suddenly this much better than he has been the previous 4 years in Milb.   I am very hopeful he is the breakout of all breakout players.  His skill set would be a huge boost to this team.

A couple of the other AA guys are off to a great start.  Mendez has been a beast.  Let's hope he can transition to 1B because what I have seen of him in the OF is not good.   Olivar is the guy I am really pulling for because he could pair very nicely with Tait.  Those guys could both have enough bat to play another position or DH when they are not catching.  Off course, one is a LHP and the other RH.  Those two together could really help roster depth.  

[Mike Sixel]

I'd have Ross at second in St Paul. I'd have Gonzalez and Mendez full time at first. I don't care about sabato or fedko getting at bats. 

[Major League Ready]

34 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

I'd have Ross at second in St Paul. I'd have Gonzalez and Mendez full time at first. I don't care about sabato or fedko getting at bats. 

They have only played Mendez at 1B twice so far according to BB Reference.  They don't have any other legit prospects for 1B in Wichita so I hope we see more of Mendez at 1B.  

[Mike Sixel]

18 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

They have only played Mendez at 1B twice so far according to BB Reference.  They don't have any other legit prospects for 1B in Wichita so I hope we see more of Mendez at 1B.  

Their insistence on playing guys where they will never play continues to hurt my brain. 

[Major League Ready]

3 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Their insistence on playing guys where they will never play continues to hurt my brain. 

I have not seen Mendez at 1B.  It's quite possible he just does not look like he has a chance to ever play 1B so they are sticking with LF.  I have seen Gonzalez at 1B twice.  He at least looked like he might be able to make it work.

[Mike Sixel]

39 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

I have not seen Mendez at 1B.  It's quite possible he just does not look like he has a chance to ever play 1B so they are sticking with LF.  I have seen Gonzalez at 1B twice.  He at least looked like he might be able to make it work.

I mean, that is totally fair! Stop it.