Twins Minor League Report (4/25): Marek Houston Streak Continues; Ramiro Villanueva Impresses in Mussels Debut

[Seth Stohs]

Image courtesy of William Parmeter (photo of Ramiro Domingez)

TRANSACTIONS   
RHP Ricky Castro was returned to Wichita from St. Paul. 

RHP Nick McAuliffe was promoted from the FCL to Cedar Rapids. McAuliffe spent a long time in college. He pitched at four different colleges. In 2023 and 2024, he pitched at East Stroudsburg University. He went undrafted. Last summer, he pitched independent ball for Evansville in the Frontier League (39 games) and for Sioux City in the American Association (2 games). The Twins signed him on Wednesday, and he joined the Kernels on Saturday. 

Infielder Bryan Acuna was activated from the Injured List. 

RHP Ramiro Villanueva was assigned to the Mighty Mussels. He was previously on the DSL Twins roster. 

Catcher Ricardo Pena was sent from the Mussels to the FCL.  

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 4, Indianapolis 0 
Box Score
The Saints put three runs on the scoreboard in the top of the third inning. They added one more in the sixth. But when there is a shutout, we should start with the pitching. It was an impressive showing for a bullpen game. 

Mike Paredes made the start and gave up two hits over three scoreless innings. He had one strikeout. The rehabbing Travis Adams struck out four batters over two scoreless innings. He gave up two hits. Lefty Aaron Rozek came on and gave up three hits and a walk over two scoreless innings. Dan Altavilla and Drew Smith each threw perfect innings. 

Ben Ross started out the top of the third inning with his first Triple-A hit, a double down the left-field line. He advanced to third base on a line-drive singled by Walker Jenkins. Kaelen Culpepper grounded out but drove in scores. Gonzalez reached on a fielder’s choice. He went to third on a Ryan Kreidler single. Kreidler stole second. Kyler Fedko drove in two runs with a single to make it 3-0. 

Fedko led off the sixth with a walk. A few batters later, he scored the fourth run on a Tanner Schobel single. 

Orlando Arcia went 2-for 4.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita, NW Arkansas
Box Score
This game sat in a delay for a while, but ultimately Mother Nature took the Win. These two teams will try to play two games on Sunday afternoon. 

KERNELS CHRONICLE 
Cedar Rapids 5, Peoria 7
Box Score
For the fifth straight game, Marek Houston had a multi-hit game against Peoria. In those games, the Wake Forest alum is 12-for-24 with three doubles. In this game, Houston went 3-for-5 with his fourth double and two stolen bases. Caden Kendle went 3-for-4 and was hit by a pitch. Jay Thomason was 2-for-5 with his first home run of the season. Brandon Winokur had a double and two stolen bases in the game. 

Eli Jones started and gave up three runs (2 earned) on six hits. In four innings, he walked one and struck out five batters. Nick Trabacchi came on and gave up two runs on one hit and one walk in 2 1/3 innings. He had four strikeouts. Brent Francisco gave up two runs on two hits and a walk in 1 2/3 innings. 

MIGHTY MATTERS
Ft. Myers 9, Dunedin 2
Box Score  
Ryan Sprock singled in Jayson Bass to give the Mussels a 1-0 lead in the second inning.  

A seven-run fifth inning put the Mussels ahead 8-0. Speck started that inning with a double and went to third on a wild pitch. Bryan Acuna walked. Sprock scored on a Dameury Pena ground out. Ramiro Dominguez drove in Acuna with a double. JP Smith singled in Dominguez to make it 4-0. Quentin Young’s third double stove in Smith. Jayson Bass singled Young to third. Young scored on a sac fly by Irvin Nunez. After a pitching change, Chourio walked. Sprock reached on an error which allowed Bass to score. Acuna singled in Chourio and the Mussels were ahead 8-0.  

Ramiro Villanueva was brought in to make his first Mussels start on Saturday. He tossed four scoreless innings. He gave up one hit, walked three and had five strikeouts. 

Aaron Falinski gave up two runs on two hits and three walks in three innings. Xavier Kolhosser had five strikeouts over two scoreless innings. 

Ramiro Dominguez, JP Smith, Ryan Sprock and Bryan Acuna each had two hits. Dominguez had two doubles. 

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day  
Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids): 3-for-5, 2B(4), 2 K.

Pitcher of the Day 
Ramiro Villanueva (Fort Myers): 4 IP, H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K, 62 pitches, 36 strikes (58.1%%)

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

UPCOMING PROBABLES
Sunday:
St. Paul @ Indianapolis (12:35 pm CT) - RHP Zebby Matthews (0-2, 7.71 ERA)
Wichita @ NW Arkansas (12:30 pm CT) - RHP Ty Langenberg (0-1, 3.66 ERA), TBD
Cedar Rapids @ Peoria (2:05 pm CT) - RHP Michael Ross (1-0, 4.50 ERA)
Dunedin @ Ft. Myers (11:05 am CT) - RHP Merit Jones (0-1, 3.00 ERA)

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 12-15
St. Paul Saints: 10-15
Wichita Wind Surge: 11-8
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 8-12
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 13-7
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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