Twins Minor League Report (5/1): The Doubles Machine and The Streak

[Seth Stohs]

Image courtesy of Malamut Photography (photo of Khadim Diaw)

Happy Opening Day in the Florida Complex League!!

TRANSACTIONS   
Fort Myers announced before their Friday night game that Eduardo Beltre has been shifted from the 7-Day IL to the Full-Season Injured List with his knee injury.  

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 5, Iowa 6  
Box Score
The Saints went with an opener again on Friday night. John Brebbia gave up two runs on two hits and three walks over 1 1/3 innings. Kendry Rojas gave up an inherited run and two runs of his own on four hits and two walks in 3 1/3 innings. He had three strikeouts. Trent Baker gave up two runs on four hits over 2 1/3 innings. Grant Hartwig and Christian Roa each tossed a scoreless inning in relief. 

Down 1-0, the Saints tied it up in the bottom of the first frame. Walker Jenkins led off with a double. He advanced to third on a Kaelen Culpepper fly out to right and scored on an Emmanuel Rodriguez sacrifice fly.   

Down 2-1 going to the bottom of the third inning, Noah Cardenas led off with a walk. Jenkins hit a ground-rule double. Culpepper followed with another ground rule double to score both runners and give the Saints the 3-2 lead. 

After an Emmanuel Rodriguez walk and a fly out, Culpepper scored on a Kyler Fedko force out. 

In the fourth inning, Cardenas started with a double, and Walker Jenkins doubled for the third time in the game to give the Saints a 5-2 lead. 

Jenkins went 3-for-5 and doubled his doubles total from three to six. Culpepper went 2-for-4 with a walk and his fifth double. 

Emmanuel Rodriguez left the game in the fifth inning. He had grounded out to first base. Jonathon Long flipped to the pitcher for the out. Unfortunately, Rodriguez dove headfirst into first base and hurt his thumb.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 1, Arkansas 5
Box Score
The Wind Surge had the, umm, opportunity to face lefty Kade Anderson again on Friday night. The last time they faced the Mariners top pitching prospect, the #3 overall choice in last summer’s MLB Draft out of LSU, was on April 10th. In that game, Anderson tossed five scoreless innings and had 11 strikeouts. On this night, the southpaw threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings and notched eight strikeouts. But the Wind Surge managed four hits. Overall, Anderson has made five starts. He’s 2-0 with a 0.37 ERA and a 0.70 WHIP. In 24 1/3 innings, he’s given up one run on 13 hits and four walks.   

Ty Langenberg started for Wichita. He gave up three runs on four hits and two walks. He had six strikeouts. Ricky Castro came on next and gave up one run on two hits over the next two innings. Jaylen Nowlin worked two innings and gave up one run on no hits but two walks. He had three strikeouts. 

Jake Rucker went 2-for-3 with two doubles, both against Anderson. Billy Amick went 1-for-3 with a walk. The Wind Surge didn’t get on the board until the bottom of the ninth inning when Ricardo Olivar hit his sixth home run of the season. 

KERNELS CHRONICLE 
Cedar Rapids 8, West Michigan 4
Box Score
The Two’s were wild for Khadim Diaw and the Kernels on Friday night. Cedar Rapids scored two runs in the home half of the first, second, third, and sixth innings. 

The bottom of the first began with walks by Marek Houston and Khadim Diaw. Brandon Winokur singled to center to drive in Houston and tie the game at one. Diaw scored the second run on a ground out off the bat of Danny De Andrade. 

With two outs in the second inning, Jaime Ferrer and Marek Houston hit back-to-back singles. Diaw followed with his third double of the season to drive in both runners and make it 4-1. 

In the bottom of the third, Jay Thomason knocked his third home run of the season, a two-run blast to make it 6-2. 

West Michigan cut the lead in half at 6-3. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Rayne Doncon led off with a walk. Ferrer followed with his fourth homer to make it 8-3. 

Michael Ross started and gave up one run on two hits in four innings. He walked two and had three strikeouts. Sam Rochard gave up two runs on two hits and a walk in his inning. Christian Becerra struck out four batters over two scoreless innings. Jacob Wosinski struck out three batters over the final two innings.   

How good has Khadim Diaw been of late?
          Wednesday: 4-for-4, 2B, R, RBI.
          Thursday: 2-for-2, 2 BB, R
          Friday: 2-for-2, 2 BB, 2B, R, 2 RBI

When they were taking batting practice before Wednesday’s game, Diaw was hitting .192/.352/.247 (.599). Three games later, he is now hitting .272/.427/.346 (773).  

MIGHTY MATTERS
Ft. Myers 4, Daytona Beach 5
Box Score  
The Mussels had 20 less runs on Friday than they did on Thursday. Just a short sentence to remind us all how crazy the Mussels 24-run game on Thursday really was. 

The Torgugas took a 3-0 lead in the second inning. The Mussels got on the scoreboard in the top of the fifth. With two outs, Yasser Mercedes singled. After a pitching change, Ramiro Dominguez singled Mercedes to second. Ryan Sprock drove in the run with a single to right. 

Down 4-3 going into the seventh inning, Dameury Pena and Bruin Agbayani started the inning with singles. With two outs, the runners had advanced to second and third base. Ryan Sprock came to the plate and drilled his first home run of the season. The three-run blast tied the game at 4-4. 

Merit Jones started and gave up three runs (2 earned) on seven hits. In four innings, he walked one and struck out one. Michael Hilker gave up an unearned run over two innings. He had three strikeouts. Matthew DesMarets gave up two hits but no runs in the seventh inning. Mike McKenna pitched a scoreless eighth inning. He began the ninth, but before getting an out, the bases were loaded. Brian Zeldin came on and gave up a single to end the game. 

Sprock led the offense, going 2-for-4 with a homer and four RBI. Mercedes and Dominguez each had two hits. Dominguez added his sixth double. Bruin Agbayani went 1-for-3 with two walks. 

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day  
Walker Jenkins (St. Paul): 3-for-5, 3-2B(6), 2 R, RBI, 2 K
Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-2, 2 BB, 2B(3), R, 2 RBI.
Ryan Sprock (Ft. Myers): 2-for-4, HR(1), R, 4 RBI. 

Pitcher of the Day 
Christian Becerra (Cedar Rapids): 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 28 pitches, 21 strikes (75.0%)

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) - 3-for-5, 3-2B(6), 2 R, RBI, 2 K. (batted first, played CF)
#2 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - 2-for-4, BB, 2B(5), R, 2 RBI (batted second, played 3B) 

#3 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 0-for-1, BB, SF RBI (Batted third, played RF).
#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-5, 2 K (batted fourth, played DH)
#8 - LHP Kendry Rojas (St. Paul) - 3 1/3 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 3 K, 65 pitches, 44 strikes (67.7%)
#9 - SS Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, BB, 2 R (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) - 1-for-3, BB, RBI (batted third, played CF)
#14 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - Did Not Play.
#15 - RHP Marco Raya (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch.  
#16 - OF Hendry Mendez (Wichita) - Did Not Play.
#17 - 2B/OF Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - 0-for-4, 3 K (batted fifth, played SS)
#18 - RHP C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) - Did Not Pitch.
#19 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-2, 2 BB, 2B(3), R, 2 RBI, SB(2) (batted second, played C)
#20 - RHP James Ellwanger (Ft. Myers) - 60 IL (right elbow sprain)

UPCOMING PROBABLES
Saturday:
Iowa @ St. Paul (6:37 pm CT) - RHP Zebby Matthews (1-2, 5.91 ERA)
Arkansas @ Wichita (6:35 pm CT) - RHP Jose Olivares (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
West Michigan @ Cedar Rapids (6:05 pm CT) - RHP Jason Doktorczyk (2-3, 10.57 ERA)
Ft. Myers @ Daytona (5:35 pm CT) - TBD
FCL Red Sox @ FCL Twins (9:00 am CT) - TBD 

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 14-19
St. Paul Saints: 13-17
Wichita Wind Surge: 13-12
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 12-13
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 16-9
FCL Twins: 0-0 (Opening Day!)
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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[thelanges5]

Emma. You don’t need to slide into 1B. Hopefully it is a minor thing. 

[Baumer67]

Rodriguez will probably be out like 2 months now because whenever he gets hurt it is never a quick turnaround.

[mikelink45]

When do promotions start happening?  I see some talent that looks like it should be moved to the next level.

[Conman]

Walker to the twins, Wallner to the saints that sounds like a good idea.. right?

[dxpavelka]

13 minutes ago, Conman said:

Walker to the twins, Wallner to the saints that sounds like a good idea.. right?

Jenkins 3 doubles last night.  Wallner two HITS in the last 18 days.  I'm not great at math but.......

[terrydactyls]

1 hour ago, mikelink45 said:

When do promotions start happening?  I see some talent that looks like it should be moved to the next level.

Besides Jenkins and Wallner swapping roster spots, how about Culpepper and Lewis switching teams?

[jmlease1]

Like seeing Jenkins hitting doubles like this. It feels like a sign that he's got his swing working. I'm confident that more power will come, and if he's ripping doubles like this you'll start seeing it more and more without adding in too much swing and miss. His plate discipline has stayed good even when he's struggled a bit. Really the only question left for him is whether or not he's going to hit LHP; he was passable in 2025, not great in 2024 and so far this season he's getting murdered. 

Bummer about Rodriguez; hopefully it's minor and somewhat precautionary because he'd been looking like he was near a call-up.

Diaw is on an impressive heater. Good for him. Need to see his bat click, especially if they want him to keep catching.

DeBarge continues to be in a real hole and having a rotten week. 3-23 with 1 BB, 8 K's, and no xbhs is pretty dire, and he might be a candidate to get demoted at this rate. Yuck.

[Linus]

Rant: getting hurt diving head first into first base is really dumb on a bunch of different levels not the least of which is that it’s been proven that the fastest way to get to the bag is to run through it. This guy has way too much of an injury history to be doing stuff like this. They should just make him quit head first slides after multiple thumb injuries. 

[Scott51104]

Pleased to see Jenkins getting a double due to his hustle.

[jkcarew]

Jenkins more aggressive lately…hitting the ball harder and turning on pitches. To the point he was over-aggressive in his last two at-bats, chasing and striking out, which is rare for him…and will probably continue to be relatively rare. But you love to see him attacking, two of those doubles were rockets.

[D.C Twins]

Dove headfirst into first base?!  Oh for F-s sake!

[Mike Sixel]

2 hours ago, Linus said:

Rant: getting hurt diving head first into first base is really dumb on a bunch of different levels not the least of which is that it’s been proven that the fastest way to get to the bag is to run through it. This guy has way too much of an injury history to be doing stuff like this. They should just make him quit head first slides after multiple thumb injuries. 

100000000 percent. 

[SF Twins Fan]

Anyone know if this is the same thumb he's had issues with?

[DocBauer]

Anyone noticing Jaime Ferrer has been performing really well? 

[dxpavelka]

7 hours ago, SF Twins Fan said:

Anyone know if this is the same thumb he's had issues with?

all we know is that it's HIS thumb

[Bangkok Twins Fan]

Man, Diaw is on a tear this week! Streak or not, I hope he keeps getting on base. Fun to see. 

[Conman]

Kulpepper wasn’t playing today.. maybe he’s on his way to Washington DC..