Twins Minor League Report (5/5): Sabato and Saints, Olivar and Wind Surge Bring Their Power on the Road

[Steve Lein]

Image courtesy of Elisa Chavez (photo of Ricardo Olivar)

At Twins Daily, we agree with the "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" phrase, but we have been given the OK from both the St. Paul Saints and the Las Vegas Aviators to write about what happens this week at Last Vegas Ballpark this week. And trust me, you're going to want to see what the minor league leading home run-hitting Saints did on Tuesday night. Specifically, check out Aaron Sabato's performance! 

TRANSACTIONS
There was a bunch of movement in the Minnesota Twins farm system in advance of games this week.

• The St. Paul Saints received OF/1B Hendry Mendez and RHP C.J. Culpepper from the Wichita Wind Surge. They also transferred RHP Grant Hartwig to the Development List and placed OF Walker Jenkins on the 7-day injured list after his crash into the wall at CHS Field over the weekend. RHP Julian Merryweather was sent on a rehab assignment with the FCL Twins.
• The Wind Surge received a pitching reinforcement from the Cedar Rapids Kernels in RHP Jacob Wosinski, who had a 2.51 ERA and 0.84 WHIP with 19 K’s and 2 BB’s in 14 1/3 innings thus far.
• Down in the Midwest League, the Kernels were assigned RHP Adam Falinski from the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels to take Wosinski’s place on their pitching staff. On Monday they placed OF Caden Kendle on the 7-day injured list and sent RHP Miguelangel Boadas on a rehab assignment in the FCL.
• The Mighty Mussels were assigned SS Henry Kusiak, who they just signed from the out of the Atlantic League. He was playing for the Long Island Ducks who are coached by #OldFriend and Twins legend, Lew Ford, before the Twins signed him. He hit .474 with two home runs, two doubles, eight RBI, with two stolen bases and a 1.395 OPS in five games for the Ducks on the season. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 15, Las Vegas 7
Box Score
A couple of weird things in this one, as it is an International League team playing a Pacific Coast League one and also coincides with the start of the experiment with the “check-swing challenge” system in the PCL. In addition, about 20 minutes before first pitch, outfielder and leadoff man Kyler Fedko was replaced in the lineup by Kaelen Culpepper as the DH, and Alex Jackson took his spot in left field on defense. Could mean something, could mean nothing.

All that said, Aaron Sabato, my friends.

That’s it, that’s the summary.

I kid. But really, when your first four at-bats in a game have you sitting at 4-for-4 with four runs scored, a double, three home runs, seven RBI, and you have only seen five total pitches, it might as well end there.

In the top of the second Sabato got it started for the Saints with a bases clearing double on the first pitch that made it 3-2. Later in the inning Kaelen Culpepper lined a double the other way to bring in Sabato for the 4-2 lead.

In the top of the fourth Sabato crushed a first pitch slider 440 feet to left center to lead off the inning. His next time up he took a first-pitch slider for a strike but clubbed the next one that caught more of the plate out to left for his second homer of the night to tie the game at six. After a Ben Ross double in the fourth, Sabato green lit himself again and took the first pitch over the fence in left for his third bomb of the night.

The entire Saints lineup then started catching the vibe. Culpepper led off the eight with his seventh home run of the year. Two batters later Gabriel Gonzalez launched a 434-foot shot for his eighth of the season. Two batters after that Alex Jackson launched his fifth homer of 2026.

Sabato did go down swinging to end the eighth (with some healthy cuts), but you don’t forget those first five pitches.

I guess there was some pitching in the game as well. Ryan Gallagher made his second start with St. Paul and finished the first 4 1/3 innings. He was charged with four runs (two earned) on four hits and three walks. He struck out one. Lefty Kendry Rojas went the next 2 2/3 frames, allowing two earned runs of his own on four hits and a walk while striking out two. Trent Baker finished off the final two innings, allowing one run on three hits while striking out two.

Four other hitters in the Saints lineup finished with multiple knocks (Culpepper, Gonzalez, Orlando Arcia, and Ben Ross) as they racked up 15 as a team. They were 7-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left only four men on base.

As for Sabato, I’ll leave you with this stat: he started the game with a .754 OPS on the season. He finished it with a mark of 1.018.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 9, Amarillo 4
Box Score
The Wind Surge struck first and loudly in the second inning against the Sod Poodles on the road. Appropriate for the team leading the Texas League in home runs early in the season.

Kala’i Rosario led off the frame with his sixth home run of the season for the 1-0 lead. After a pair of walks and a wild pitch, Jose Salas made it 2-0 with a sac fly. Ricardo Olivar blasted his eighth home in the top of the third to put Wichita up 3-0.

Making the start for the Wind Surge was right-hander Sam Armstrong and he delivered a hitless first four innings. He walked only two hitters and struck out three. He threw 58 pitches in those four innings, with 33 going for strikes (57%).

Ricky Castro was the first call to the bullpen, and Amarillo finally got their first hits of the game. Castro finished two innings but was charged with two earned runs on five hits and a walk. He struck out two.

In the top of the seventh the Wind Surge used some more power to take control of the game. Salas led off with a double, stole third base, and scored on a sac fly from Jake Rucker to make it 4-2. Garrett Spain followed with a triple, then Kyle DeBarge clubbed his third home run of the season to make it 6-2.

Jaylen Nowlin picked up his first win of the season by pitching the seventh inning. He allowed one run on one hit and a walk and struck out one. William Fleming (1 IP, H, ER, BB, K) and Sam Ryan 1 IP, K) finished off the final two innings.

Wichita tacked on three more in the top of the ninth to make the final score. Sapin got it started with a double, DeBarge drew a walk, and Olivar hit his second homer of the game to make it 9-4. Check out the tear Olivar is on:

The Wind Surge got multiple hits from Spain and Olivar, and DeBarge joined them by scoring two runs apiece as the top 3 hitters of the lineup. Andrew Cossetti (0-for-2, 3 BB, 2 K) and Billy Amick (0-for-3, R, 2 BB) reached base multiple times without a hit.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 3, Quad Cities 2 (10 innings)
Box Score
The Kernels and River Bandits went to extra innings after most of the game played out as a classic pitcher’s duel.

Eli Jones made the start for Cedar Rapids and was solid through the first four innings. He had scattered five hits over those scoreless frames, but a pair of singles in the fifth finally put an end to his outing, and he was on the hook for both runners. An RBI single and wild pitch from reliever Nick Trabacchi led to those runs being charged to Jones. In total, he finished 4 2/3 innings and those two earned runs on seven hits, while striking out four.

Cedar Rapids got on the scoreboard first in the top of the third inning when Brandon Winokur delivered a two-out RBI single for a 1-0 lead at the time. In the top of the fifth singles from Winokur and Khadim Diaw and a wild pitch gave them their second run of the game.

The score would stay tied at two through the ninth, as Trabacchi (2 1/3 IP, 2 H, BB, 3 K), Paulshawn Pasqualotto (2 IP, H, BB, 4 K) kept any further River Bandits shenanigans from occurring. The Kernels had a shot to retake the lead in the sixth after a one-out triple from Jay Thomason, but he would end up being thrown out at home on a double-steal attempt.

In the top of the 10th the Manfred Man for the Kernels was Marek Houston, and with one out it was Winokur again who delivered another single to drive in Houston for a 3-2 lead.

In the bottom-half Quad Cities moved the ghost-runner up to third with a sac bunt but were unable to move him any further as Christian Becerra retired the final two hitters after an intentional walk.

Winokur (3-for-5, R, 2 RBI, BB) and Thomason (2-for-4, 3B, K) had multiple hits to pace the offense. Eduardo Tait added his sixth double of the season. Both teams combined to go 3-for-22 with runners in scoring position and left 19 men on base for the game. The win was the Kernels seventh in a row and improves their record to 15-13 on the season.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Tampa 9, Fort Myers 8
Box Score
The Tarpons jumped all over Mighty Mussels starting pitcher Eric Hammond in the first, with a leadoff double being followed by an RBI triple for a 1-0 lead before an out was recorded. A wild pitch later in the inning made it 2-0, then in the second errors around a pair of singles and a walk led to three more runs and a 5-0 Tampa lead.

Fort Myers got two of those runs back in the bottom of the second thanks to the powerful bat of Quentin Young, who launched a two-run shot the opposite way for his second home run of the season.

Hammond went on to finish 3 2/3 innings, being charged with six runs (four earned) on five hits and three walks, while striking out three. Brian Zeldin went the next 2 1/3 innings and reeled in the Tarpons, striking out five and allowing his only baserunner on a hit-by-pitch.

Down 6-2 in the bottom of the fifth, Jayson Bass and Harry Genth drew walks to start the inning, executed a double-steal, and then both scored on a wild pitch when the catcher's throw back toward home also went for an error. 

Tampa was able to pull away again in the top of the seventh against Mussels right-hander Mitch Mueller. In his lone inning he gave up three runs on three hits and a walk to make it 9-4 Tarpons.

They needed all those runs as Fort Myers nearly batted around in the bottom half. Genth, Dameury Pena, and Bruin Agbayani loaded the bases with walks. Yasser Mercedes then shot a laser-beam of a single into left field to score the first run of the inning.

Ramiro Dominguez followed with an RBI groundout in front of a JP Smith 2-run single to close the lead to one. Michael Hilker delivered two scoreless innings to give the Mighty Mussels chances. He struck out two and walked one. 

Mercedes delivered a two-out double in the bottom of the ninth to get the tying run in scoring position, but Dominguez grounded out to end the comeback attempt.

Mercedes went 3-for-4 with a run scored, double, RBI, walk, and two stolen bases. His three hits matched the total of the rest of his team, but they did draw eight total walks and stole five bases in the game. Unfortunately, their four errors as a defense also loomed large.

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
Monday: FCL Pirates 11, FCL Twins 2 (7 innings)
Box Score
Twins hitters were unable to find many hits on Monday, being held to just three on the day as a team. Two of those came from Yovanny Duran, who finished 2-for-2 with a run scored and stolen base. Miguel Caraballo added his first double of the season to account for all of them.

Santiago Rojas made the start and pitched into the third inning. He was charged with one earned run on one hit and three walks, while striking out three. Hendry Chivilli was the first reliever summoned after two batters reached base in the third, and retired all five hitters he faced, including inducing a double-play ball. Miguelangel Boadas made his first rehab appearance and finished two innings. He allowed four runs (two earned) on two hits and four walks. He struck out two. Omar Montano gave up six earned runs in his lone inning on five hits and three walks. He struck out one.

Tuesday: FCL Twins 4, FCL Pirates 8
Box Score
Right-hander Julian Merryweather made his first rehab appearance with the FCL Twins by starting this one. He allowed single runs in both the first and second innings and finished 1 2/3 innings total. He gave up three hits and struck out three. Cristian Hernandez took the brunt of the Pirates' damage in the game, allowing six earned runs on four hits and three walks in his 1 2/3 innings, striking out two. Relievers Nick McAuliffe (1 2/3 IP, H, BB, 2 K), Yoel Roque (2 IP, H, BB, 2 K), and Rainer Marin (1 IP) kept the Pirates off the scoreboard over the final 4 2/3.

The Twins scored their first runs of the game in the top of the third, tying it two briefly. Miguel Caraballo hit his first home run which also drove in Victor Leal, who had singled earlier. They added one in the fifth on a bases loaded sac fly from Telon Serrano, and their final run in the seventh thanks to a homer from Daiber De Los Santos. He led the way for the lineup by finishing 2-for-4 with two runs scored.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Sam Armstrong, Wichita Wind Surge (4 IP, 0 H, 2 BB, 3 K)
Hitter of the Day – Ricardo Olivar, Wichita Wind Surge (2-for-4, 2 R, 2 HR (9), 4 RBI, BB, K)
Aaron Sabato, St. Paul Saints (4-for-5, 4 R, 2B, 3 HR (5), 7 RBI, K)

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did today.

#2 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul): 2-for-5, 2B, HR (7), 2 RBI, BB
#4 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-5, 2B
#7 - OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul): 2-for-6, R, HR (8), 2 RBI, K
#8 - LHP Kendry Rojas (St. Paul): 2 2/3 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB. 2 K, 53 pitches, 34 strikes (64.2%)
#9 - SS Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-5, R, K                                     
#13 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 3-for-5, R, 2 RBI, BB
#14 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Fort Myers): 1-for-4, R, HR (2), 2 RBI, 2 K
#17 - 2B/OF Kyle DeBarge (Wichita): 1-for-4, 2 R, HR (3), 2 RBI, BB
#19 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-5

WEDNESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Las Vegas (9:05 PM CDT) - RHP Mike Paredes (1-1, 4.76 ERA)
Wichita @ Amarillo (11:05AM CDT) - RHP Ty Langenberg (0-2, 4.08 ERA)
Cedar Rapids @ Quad Cities (6:30 PM CDT) - RHP Riley Quick (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Tampa @ Fort Myers (5:35 PM CDT) - RHP Matthew Dalquist (0-1, 5.40 ERA)

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Tuesday’s games!

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[FlyingFinn]

Love how Olivar and Mercedes are playing lately. If only Olivar projected as a catcher that could be at that position in the majors.