Twins Minor League Report (5/20): Kyler Fedko Goes Nuclear (Again)

[Matt Braun]

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson (photo of Kyler Fedko)

 

TRANSACTIONS
RHP Matt Bowman released
RHP John Brebbia released
RHP Alejandro Hidalgo promoted to AAA St. Paul
C/OF Ricardo Olivar promoted to AAA St. Paul
RHP Ty Langenberg promoted to AAA St. Paul
RHP Cory Lewis reinstated from 7-day IL and transferred to AA Wichita
OF Jaime Ferrer promoted to AA Wichita
RHP Preston Johnson promoted to AA Wichita
INF Harry Genth promoted to AA Wichita
INF Jorel Ortega placed on 7-day IL (AA Wichita)
INF Quinn McDaniel promoted to A+ Cedar Rapids
RHP Brian Zeldin promoted to A+ Cedar Rapids
UTIL Luis Fragoza promoted to A Fort Myers

You got all that?

Oh, and for fun, when Tristan Gray goes on paternity leave in the near future, who will get called up?

Saints Sentinel
St. Paul 14, Omaha 4
Box Score
Aaron Rozek: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
HR: Kyler Fedko 2 (9, 10), David Bañuelos (2), Aaron Sabato (10)
Multi-hit games: Hendry Mendez (2-for-5, RBI), Gabriel Gonzalez (2-for-4, 2 R, RBI, BB), Kyler Fedko (4-for-5, 2 HR, 2 2B, 3 R, 4 RBI), Aaron Sabato (2-for-4, HR, 2B, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB), David Bañuelos (2-for-5, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI)

The Saints bludgeoned their opponent on Wednesday.

Most hitters would struggle to compete with one-upping a 15 total base game; evidently, Kyler Fedko isn’t like most hitters. His April 12th masterpiece that swung his season slugging .400 points forward was impeccable. On Wednesday, he was impossible, totaling a pair of homers and doubles with four RBIs. Mason Black must have been in cahoots with a warlock when he struck him out in the fifth.

Aaron Sabato’s game wasn’t half-bad either: he homered, doubled, and walked. A mere seven bases if you include the free pass. 

Ty Langenberg’s first taste of AAA ball went well, as the Urbandale, Iowa native allowed one earned run across three frames, striking out four. 

Rehabbing big leaguer Cody Laweryson allowed a pair of earned runs in ⅔ of an inning. He threw 26 pitches. 

Starter Shane Panzini ranks as the Royals’ 19th-best prospect. He allowed four earned runs in 4 1/3 frames. 

Wind Surge Wisdom
Wichita 0, Tulsa 6
Box Score
Cory Lewis: 3 2/3 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: Jaime Ferrer (2-for-4)

The Wind Surge were shut out on Wednesday.

Hey! It’s Cory Lewis! 2025 was a tumultuous time for the righty as every number went in the wrong direction: his ERA; his WHIP; his innings. He probably even shrank a little. His efforts to get back off the ground in 2026 have started slowly, yet just getting back on the mound with tepid success in this start could be the start of the comeback. 

Good news in this game is self-evidently sparse, so enjoy Jaime Ferrer collecting his first AA hit.

Kyle DeBarge stole his 12th base, the 10th-most in the Texas League. 

Wondering who the next big Dodgers prospect is? Well, he played on Wednesday: outfielder Josue De Paula clocks in as the ninth-best prospect in baseball according to MLB.com. He walked twice in five plate appearances.

Kernels Nuggets
Cedar Rapids 4, Peoria 3
Box Score
Michael Ross: 5 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: Marek Houston (2-for-5, 2B, RBI), Khadim Diaw (3-for-4, 2B, R, RBI)

The Kernels won narrowly on Wednesday.

Following his worst game of the season, Michael Ross authored his best performance of the year. The righty was efficient, navigating around two hits, a walk, and an error to limit the Chiefs to just one run over five innings. He threw 64 pitches.

It helps when you never throw a pitch while behind. Three straight walks in the first loaded the bases for Khadim Diaw, now presented with a chance to damage the game before it had really begun. He did just that, driving a double deep to left field to score two. He later added two singles to earn his first 3+ hit game since April 29th.

Diaw wasn’t the only Kernel with an RBI double; Marek Houston—that’s him in the video, trust—also ripped a run-scoring two-bagger. 

Though the Cardinals enjoy yet another quality farm system, most of their prospects inhabit the upper levels of the minors, leaving just their 17th-ranked youngster—outfielder Tai Peete—as their finest player on Wednesday. He went 0-2 before leaving the game after three innings.

Mussel Matters
Fort Myers 6, Dunedin 4
Box Score
Ramiro Villanueva: 3 2/3 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K
HR: JP Smith II (3)
Multi-hit games: Dameury Pena (2-for-4, 2 R, BB), Jayson Bass (2-for-4, 2B)

The Mighty Mussels held on to win on Wednesday.

Platonic ideal leadoff man Dameury Pena continued his tremendous start to the season. Need a man on base? He’ll reach first. Need an extra-base hit? He’ll reach first. His small-talk skills with the opposing team’s first baseman must be major-league quality already. He’s slashing the rare “all 3’s” line in 2026—.321/.390/.368.

JP Smith II provided the big swing for Fort Myers, popping an opposite-field homer in the fourth.

Buried in the box score is Kolten Smith’s outstanding relief outing: the 22-year-old righty whiffed six over three scoreless frames, providing a crucial bridge in the middle-to-late innings. The Georgia product has 39 strikeouts in 23 2/3 innings in 2026.

Luis Fragoza made his FSL debut, playing center field for the Mighty Mussels. He doubled once and struck out three times. 

Rehabbing big leaguer Nathan Lukes started for Dunedin. He walked twice and hit a sacrifice fly before being pinch-hit for.

MLB.com’s 32nd-ranked prospect, JoJo Parker, manned shortstop for the Blue Jays on Wednesday, doubling and singling in five at-bats. He’s a 19-year-old former first-round pick from the 2025 draft. 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Aaron Rozek
Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Kyler Fedko

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:
#2 – Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - 1-4, 2B, 3 R, 2 RBI, BB
#5 – Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 0-3, R, 2 BB, 2 K
#7 – Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 2-5, 2B, RBI, 2 K
#10 – Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 2-4, 2 R, RBI, BB
#12 – Andrew Morris (Twins) - 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
#13 – Hendry Mendez (St. Paul) - 2-5, RBI, K
#14 – Quentin Young (Fort Myers) - 1-4, 2 K
#15 – Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 0-4, R, BB
#19 – Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids) - 3-4, 2B, R, 2 RBI
#20 – Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - 1-4, 2 K

THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Omaha @ St. Paul (6:37 PM) - RHP John Klein
Tulsa @ Wichita (6:35 PM) - RHP Jose Olivares
Cedar Rapids @ Peoria (6:35 PM) - RHP Jason Doktorczyk 
Fort Myers @ Dunedin (3:30 PM) - TBD
Fort Myers @ Dunedin (Game Two) - TBD
FCL Twins @ FCL Pirates (11:00 AM) - TBD

 

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[SteveLV]

Seems to me that Fedko should be next man up with Gray goes on Paternity leave.  Or Sabato.

[DataNerd]

Hidalgo's fastball looks legit.  96-97mph, 19"IVB.

Disappointed with Langenberg.  91-92mph fastball, down 1mph from 2 years ago at Fort Myers.  At 24, probably should move him to a 1 inning role to see what the fastball can get up to, would be surprised if it was playable currently.

Kolten Smith up to 39Ks in 23.2IP.  4.18 ERA/1.47 FIP, 93mph 17"IVB, Slider has a whiff rate around 50%

[Sampson5]

Hope it's saboto who gets the nod for gray as good as fedko has been he's a of so makes less sense but I'd be happy either way both deserve a chance I'll just tell twins fans not to expect Culpeper no chance they add someone to the 40 for a few days long cup of coffee more likely to be someone already on the 40 and even then I'm not even confident whoever gets the call even gets more then a pinch hitter ab or 2 . 

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, SteveLV said:

Seems to me that Fedko should be next man up with Gray goes on Paternity leave.  Or Sabato.

Neither is on the roster. The most obvious player to bring up to replace an infielder is Royce Lewis.

[twinstalker]

Quote

Platonic ideal leadoff man Dameury Pena continued his

First, I scramble to find a second definition for platonic.  Hang on...

Okay, it's not platonic we're talking about but platonic ideal.  I learned a new phrase!  It's arguable, though, that it fits with leadoff man.  I suppose a case can be made.  

Damn, now I sort of realize I shouldn't have been skimming so many of the articles.

[mikelink45]

I am curious why we hear so much about Tait and not Diaw.  Diaw seems to be doing really well.  

[mikelink45]

5 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Neither is on the roster. The most obvious player to bring up to replace an infielder is Royce Lewis.

At this point I hate to see Royce come up so quickly despite the roster - make some more moves Twins.

[karcherd]

5 hours ago, Sampson5 said:

Hope it's saboto who gets the nod for gray as good as fedko has been he's a of so makes less sense but I'd be happy either way both deserve a chance I'll just tell twins fans not to expect Culpeper no chance they add someone to the 40 for a few days long cup of coffee more likely to be someone already on the 40 and even then I'm not even confident whoever gets the call even gets more then a pinch hitter ab or 2 . 

Fedko and Sabato would have to be added to the 40 man as well.  It will be either Mendez or Gonzalez called up.  They are the only two options on the 40 man.

[Trov]

8 hours ago, SteveLV said:

Seems to me that Fedko should be next man up with Gray goes on Paternity leave.  Or Sabato.

Neither will get a call for that as neither are on the 40 man roster.  They would need to either put someone on 60 man IL, or DFA someone to make that move.  They will not take that level of move just to bring a guy up for a few days.

[jorgenswest]

Go to a Saints games and expect to see 11-12 runs (11.5 total average runs per game). Batter stats look superhuman and pitcher stats worthless. That is an astounding 30% greater than the average MLB game. I wonder what kind of implications that has on the hitter.

Do the hitters get such good feedback from there at bats in this run scoring environment that they don’t see the need to make the adjustments required to be successful at the next level?

Is it the opposite for pitchers? Are they getting feedback on pitches that might actually lead to success?

[jmlease1]

7 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Neither is on the roster. The most obvious player to bring up to replace an infielder is Royce Lewis.

With Arcia & Kreidler both up there's plenty of room to add an OF for Gray's paternity leave, so I'd look at Mendez, who is having no trouble with AAA pitching so far.

I'm not really sure what benefit there is to calling up Royce, who has barely been at Saint Paul and after hitting 2 homers he might think he's back and deserves to stay, rather than get sent back again when Gray returns, and now you have A Thing. Mendez can get a cup of coffee now and you have to think he'd get a look this season regardless (even if it might normally be september) so you're not really burning an option for nothing.

Congrats to Olivar on the promotion to AAA! He should get a long look to see if he can keep catching and I'm looking forward to seeing how he adapts to a new level of competition. He was someone that was looked at a lot previously as being a big upside guy and fell off a bit, but seems to be back on track. He's not getting a promotion just because they need catching in Saint Paul: he deserves it based on production.

[DJL44]

29 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

With Arcia & Kreidler both up there's plenty of room to add an OF for Gray's paternity leave, so I'd look at Mendez, who is having no trouble with AAA pitching so far.

I'm not really sure what benefit there is to calling up Royce, who has barely been at Saint Paul and after hitting 2 homers he might think he's back and deserves to stay, rather than get sent back again when Gray returns, and now you have A Thing. Mendez can get a cup of coffee now and you have to think he'd get a look this season regardless (even if it might normally be september) so you're not really burning an option for nothing.

I thought we were supposed to bring up bad veterans like Royce to sit the bench to allow the real prospects like Mendez and Gonzalez to play everyday in AAA.

If they are deciding between Gonzalez and Mendez I assume they will pick the player with the platoon advantage for those 3 games.

[AceWrigley]

1 hour ago, jmlease1 said:

I'm not really sure what benefit there is to calling up Royce, who has barely been at Saint Paul and after hitting 2 homers he might think he's back and deserves to stay, rather than get sent back again when Gray returns, and now you have A Thing.

Royce Lewis hit his 2 homers for the Saints on April 18th & 19th during his rehab recovering from a knee sprain. I don't think he has appeared in a Saints game since being sent down on Tuesday.

[Road trip]

2 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

 

Congrats to Olivar on the promotion to AAA! He should get a long look to see if he can keep catching and I'm looking forward to seeing how he adapts to a new level of competition. He was someone that was looked at a lot previously as being a big upside guy and fell off a bit, but seems to be back on track. He's not getting a promotion just because they need catching in Saint Paul: he deserves it based on production.

I saw that too.  Olivar absolutely hit the snot out of the ball this year at AA (.978 OPS).  Everything I read on here is that he is "barely" a catcher... but maybe if Brian Harper could learn well enough to be passable, so can Olivar.  

[DataNerd]

3 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

I am curious why we hear so much about Tait and not Diaw.  Diaw seems to be doing really well.  

Diaw is 3 years older than Tait, doesn't have near the exit velos that Tait has. IMO he's a top 30 guy, but nowhere near the prospect Tait is.

[jmlease1]

1 hour ago, AceWrigley said:

Royce Lewis hit his 2 homers for the Saints on April 18th & 19th during his rehab recovering from a knee sprain. I don't think he has appeared in a Saints game since being sent down on Tuesday.

whoops! forgot about his rehab when I peeked at his Saints stat line this morning.

He's definitely not getting recalled for Gray's paternity leave then.

[BSLinPA]

2 hours ago, Trov said:

Neither will get a call for that as neither are on the 40 man roster.  They would need to either put someone on 60 man IL, or DFA someone to make that move.  They will not take that level of move just to bring a guy up for a few days.

Concur. 

And why does it have to be a position player??  Why not a pitcher for a couple days:  is Laweryson ready yet...or Funderburk or Klein (multiple innings)??  I see Prielipp goes tonight,,,,,,,,,so if Gray on leave for his next start, I favor the latter to piggyback.

[WarPath1211]

2 hours ago, BSLinPA said:

And why does it have to be a position player??  Why not a pitcher for a couple days:  is Laweryson ready yet...or Funderburk or Klein (multiple innings)??  I see Prielipp goes tonight,,,,,,,,,so if Gray on leave for his next start, I favor the latter to piggyback.

There are rules on how many pitchers can carry on the 26-man roster nowadays, they can only have 13 until September. The Twins right now are already at 13, and most teams carry that maximum all the time to be able to play bullpen matchups more aggressively.

So it'll have the be position player to sub in for Gray and probably one on the 40-man unless a DFA/trade is made, and a move like that seems unlikely to accommodate such a short absence. That leaves Gonzalez, Mendez, Lewis, and Wallner as the only healthy options in AAA.

Kind of an odd group to choose from. Wallner was sent down a bit ago and has been bad in AAA. Lewis was just sent down and hasn't even made an appearance yet. Gonzalez has been struggling badly this year in AAA, although he's perked up a little lately. Mendez was just promoted and has hit well in AAA, but it's only been 12 games.

I think the question was posed because there's no obvious choice. As someone mentioned above, it may come down to the handedness of the pitchers faced during Gray's absence. So I think the safest bet is Mendez, who's been an ascending guy the last couple of years. If they were healthy, this would be Roden or Rodriguez for sure, but because they aren't, let's go with the other LHH outfielder who is hitting well. 

 

[Seth Stohs]

It won't be Royce. We know that. Otherwise they would have waited a week to make the move to send him down. 

[Seth Stohs]

6 hours ago, AceWrigley said:

Royce Lewis hit his 2 homers for the Saints on April 18th & 19th during his rehab recovering from a knee sprain. I don't think he has appeared in a Saints game since being sent down on Tuesday.

He took his allotted time to report to the Saints. He reported today and is in the lineup. 

 

[AceWrigley]

1 hour ago, Seth Stohs said:

He took his allotted time to report to the Saints. He reported today and is in the lineup. 

 

Thanks Seth. A little time for a mental reset before reporting I imagine.

Or, a total melt down while clamoring for his agent to find him a new home. 😀