Twins Minor League Report (5/29): Ricardo Olivar's Triple-A Breakout; Carlos Taveras's 2026 Debut

[Seth Stohs]

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints (photo of Ricardo Olivar)

TRANSACTIONS   
The Twins placed lefty Kendry Rojas on the 15-Day Injured List with left elbow inflammation. They also optioned Travis Adams to St. Paul. RHP Cody Laweryson completed his rehab stint and was activated from the IL. LHP Kody Funderburk has also been recalled. 

The Twins also signed a pair of right-handed pitchers. RHP Yolcar Garcia is 18 years old, and RHP Manuel Meza is already 19 years old. Both have been assigned to the DSL Twins roster. Their games begin on Monday down in Boca Chica.

Fort Myers has added RHP Matt DesMarets to their roster.         

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 7, Louisville 11 
Box Score
Two big innings by the Bats were the big difference in this game in Kentucky on Friday night. Lefty Aaron Rozek started. He was charged with five runs (4 earned) on seven hits. He walked none and had four strikeouts. He left with one out in the fourth inning. Grant Hartwig came on and struck out both batters on strikeouts. 

Ty Langenberg came in and gave up single runs in the fifth and sixth innings. He faced three batters in the seventh inning and didn’t record an out. Trent Baker came in with two runners on and nobody out. Both runners scored. So Langenberg’s final line was two innings, six hits, five runs, one walk and four strikeouts. Baker gave up a run of his own in the seventh as well, but that’s it over the final two innings. 

The Saints offense wasn’t the problem. In the top of the third, Ben Ross led off with a walk. He scored on a double off the bat of Ricardo Olivar to tie the game at 1-1. Tanner Schobel reached on an error. With one out Hendry Mendez singled to drive in Olivar. Mendez got picked off at first, but Royce Lewis doubled to right field to drive in Schobel with the third run of the inning.  

The Saints increased their lead in the top of the fourth inning. Gabriel Gonzalez led off with an infield single. The next two batters got out, but Ricardo Olivar picked them up. He launched his first Triple-A home run to give his team a 5-1 lead.   

Unfortunately, the Bats scored four runs in the bottom of the inning to tie the game at five. 

The teams exchanged runs the next two innings. Kaelen Culpepper led off the top of the fifth inning with his 12th home run to take a 6-5 lead, but the Bats tied it in the bottom of the fifth. 

With two outs in the top of the sixth, Ben Ross hit his fourth home run since joining the Saints to give his team the 7-6 lead. 

The Bats scored the tying run in the bottom of the sixth inning. They put up four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to take over the game and grab the win. 

Olivar led the offense. He went 2-for-4 with his second double and his first home run with the Saints. Ross went 1-for-2 with two walks and his ninth overall season. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 3, Springfield 6
Box Score
After a rain out on Thursday night, the Wind Surge had the opportunity to face Cardinals top pitching prospect, lefty Liam Doyle. They have had some success against him in two previous outings. This time, the Surge scored two runs (1 earned) on two hits in 4 2/3 innings against Doyle. They struck out eight times but also worked four walks. 

Sam Armstrong took the ball for Wichita. He gave up three runs on two hits and four walks in two innings. He had two strikeouts. Darren Bowen came on next. He was charged with an unearned run on one hit in 2 2/3 innings. He had two walks and two strikeouts. Sam Ryan got the final out of the fifth inning and worked a scoreless sixth as well. William Fleming came in and gave up two unearned runs on two hits over the final two innings.  

Down 3-0 through two innings, the Wind Surge got on the board in the top of the third. Billy Amick worked a one-out walk. With two outs, Garrett Spain doubled in Amick with the first run. Spain scored on a passed ball and Wichita was down 3-2.   

By the eighth inning, the Surge were behind 6-2. Spain knocked his 11th home run of the season. Spain went 2-for-3 with the homer and his seventh double. What's more impressive? He was hit in the face with a 99-mph fastball in the first inning.  

KERNELS CHRONICLE 
Cedar Rapids 6, Quad Cities 11                                                                                                                                        Box Score
While his final stat line won’t look good, Ivran Romero provided his Kernels teammates with exactly what they needed. Romero gave up three runs in the first inning and another in the second inning, but he settled down and put three zeroes on the board. He gave up four runs on six hits and a walk. He had five strikeouts.

Unfortunately, when Romero was done, Nick Trabacchi was called upon to start the sixth inning. He gave up six runs on four hits and two walks. 

Yehizon Sanchez got the final out of the sixth inning and gave up a run in the seventh. Brian Zeldin struck out two batters over two scoreless, one-hit innings. 

The Kernels offense wasn’t bad. They scored at least one run in five of the first seven innings. 

In the first inning, Marek Houston led off with a single. Eduardo Tait walked, and Brandon Winokur singled to put the team on the scoreboard. 

Winokur led off the third inning with a double. Khadim Diaw singled him to third. Yasser Mercedes drove him in with a sacrifice fly. They almost scored another. Quinn McDaniel doubled, but Diaw was thrown out at home. 

In the fourth inning, Rayne Doncon led off with his sixth double. He went to third on a single by Danny De Andrade and scored on a sacrifice fly off of Tait’s bat. That cut the team’s deficit to just 4-3. 

However, the River Bandits scored six runs in the top of the sixth. Down 10-3, the Kernels scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to cut the new deficit in half. Jay Thomason led off with a single. With two outs, Thomason scored on a Houston single. Houston stole second and scored on a Tait single. 

With one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, McDaniel singled and stole second. Thomason walked, and then they were successful on a double steal. With two outs, De Andrade walked. After a pitching change, McDaniel scored on a Marek Houston walk. 

Houston was 2-for-4 with a walk. Tait was 1-for-3 with a walk. They both had two RBI. Winokur went 2-for-4 with a walk and his ninth double. McDaniel was also 2-for-4 and notched his first double. 

MIGHTY MATTERS
Ft. Myers 5, Jupiter 1
Box Score  
Both teams scored a run in the second inning. The Mussels scored on two walks, a double-steal and a sacrifice fly off the bat of JP Smith.   

The score remained at 1-1 until the seventh inning. Justin Mitrovich started and gave up one run on three hits. In four innings, he walked two and had four strikeouts. Matthew DesMarets came in and went 2 2/3 scoreless innings. He gave up one hit, walked two, hit one, and had two strikeouts. Brent Francisco got the final seven outs, two of them on strikeouts. He improved to 5-0 on the season. 

Tied 1-1, JP Smith led off the bottom of the seventh with a walk. With one out, Graham Brown walked. Luis Fragoza came up and doubled in Smith with the go-ahead run. Following a pitching change, Brown scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-1.   

In the bottom of the eighth, Ryan Sprock led off with a walk. Ramiro Dominguez singled to shortstop and Sprock was thrown out trying to hustle to third base. Henry Kusiak walked. Both runners advanced on a double steal. Smith recorded another sacrifice fly to make it 4-1, and Kusiak scored on a Brown single for the game’s final run.   

The Mussels scored their five runs on only five hits. However, they were helped by 12 walks. Kusiak was 0-for-1, but he walked twice and stole two bases. Ryan Sprock also walked twice. Graham Brown went 2-for-3 with a walk and his first double. 

COMPLEX CHRONICLE
FCL Twins 6, FCL Red Sox 8
Box Score  
Both teams had a two-run inning early in the game. The Twins had a big four-run inning in the sixth inning. Unfortunately, the Red Sox had a six-run inning in the bottom of the fifth, and the Twins were unable to catch all the way up. 

Lefty Cesar Lares made another rehab start. He gave up two runs on three hits over 3 2/3 innings. He had five strikeouts and maybe most important issued no walks.  

Santiago Rojas came in from the bullpen to get the final out of the fourth. However, in the fifth inning, he was charged with six runs (3 earned) on two hits and four walks. He came out with two outs, and Josh Walker came in. He allowed two inherited runners to score before getting the third out. But, he got three more outs in the sixth inning with no further damage. 

Down 2-0, Jhomnardo Reyes drove in Yilber Herrera and Jose Barrios to tie the game. 

Down 8-2 going into the top of the sixth, Teilon Serrano led off with a triple. He scored ahead of Reyes who hit his fourth home run of the season. The exit velo on the homer was 109 mph. Carlos Taveras walked and stole second. With two outs, he scored on a Herrera single to center. He advanced to third base on Pablo Castillo’s first double. Herrera scored on a Jose Barrios single. 

Jhomnardo Reyes led the offense again. He went 3-for-4 with his fourth homer and four RBI. Herrera went 2-for-3 with his sixth stolen base. 

Carlos Taveras played in his first game of the 2026 season. The highly-talented, highly-touted prospect went 2-for-3 with a walk. He also stole two bases. His first at-bat was a ground out, but it was 98 mph. In his second at-bat, he singled to center. He put that ball in play at 110 mph! After a walk, he hit a single at 94 mph. He is young for his signing class. He will turn 18 on Sunday. 

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day  
Jhomnardo Reyes (FCL Twins): 3-for-4, HR(4), R, 4 RBI
Ricardo Olivar (St. Paul): 2-for-4, 2B(2), HR(1), 2 R, 3 RBI. 

Pitcher of the Day 
Brent Francisco (Ft. Myers):  2 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 25 pitches, 20 strikes (80.0%)

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) - 7 Day Injured List (left shoulder)
#2 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - 1-for-5, HR(12), R, RBI, K (batted first, played SS)
#3 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 7 Day Injured List (thumb) - Had surgery.
#4 - LHP Connor Prielipp (Minnesota) - Did Not Pitch.
#5 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-3, BB, 2 RBI, 2 K (batted second, DHd)  
#6 - LHP Dasan Hill (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Pitch.
#7 - SS Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-4, BB, 2 R, 2 RBI, SB(11) (batted first, played SS)
#8 - RHP Riley Quick (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Pitch.
#9 - LHP Kendry Rojas (Minnesota) - Did Not Pitch. Placed on 15-Day IL.  
#10 - OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, R, 3 K. (batted fifth, played RF)   
#11 - RHP Charlee Soto (Cedar Rapids) - Injured List
#12 - RHP Andrew Morris (Minnesota) - Did Not Pitch.
#13 - OF Hendry Mendez (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, RBI, K (batted second, played LF) 

#14 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-3, BB, 2 K. (batted fifth, played SS)
#15 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-4, BB, 2B(9), R, RBI, K (batted second, played 3B)
#16 - RHP Ryan Gallagher (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch
#17 - RHP C.J. Culpepper (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch
#18 - RHP James Ellwanger (Ft. Myers) - 60 Day Injured List (right elbow sprain)
#19 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-5 (batted fifth, played CF) 
#20 - 2B/SS/CF Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - 1-for-5, 2 K (batted first, played SS)

UPCOMING PROBABLES
Saturday, May 30:
St. Paul @ Louisville (6:15 pm CT) - RHP John Klein (1-1, 6.10 ERA)
Wichita @ Springfield (DH starting at 4:05 pm CT) - RHP Jose Olivares (0-3, 8.00 ERA), TBD
Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 pm CT) - RHP Riley Quick (0-1, 4.38 ERA)
Jupiter @ Ft. Myers (5:05 pm CT) - RHP Matthew Dalquist (0-1, 4.02 ERA)
FCL Red Sox @ FCL Twins (9:00 am CT) - TBD  

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 27-31 (3rd place (of 5) in AL Central Division, 6.5 GB))
St. Paul Saints: 27-27 (6th place (of 10) in IL West Division, 6.0 GB))
Wichita Wind Surge: 21-26 (4th place (of 5) in TL North Division, 8.0 GB))
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 24-25 (3rd place (of 6) in MWL West Division, 6.0 GB))
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 27-22 (2nd place (of 6) in FSL West Division, 2.0 GB))
FCL Twins: 10-9 (3rd place (of 6) in FCL South Division, 2.5 GB))
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! 

  

View full article