Twins Minor League Report (5/30): Good Day for the Hitters, and Several Pitchers Too.

[Seth Stohs]

Image courtesy of Malamut Photography (photo of Marek Houston)

TRANSACTIONS   
In a surprise Saturday morning move, the Twins announced that Simeon Woods Richardson was Designated for Assignment. Despite a rough start to his 2026 season, he is just 25 years old and has shown he can pitch in the big leagues over extended points in 2023 and 2024. 

Taking his spot with the Twins is RHP John Klein who had been scheduled to start for the Saints on Saturday. How did Brian Dinkelman adjust?

RHP Mitch Mueller was promoted from Fort Myers to Wichita. Born in the Twin Cities, he grew up and went to high school in Brookfield, Wisconsin. He pitched one college season at Winona State. The Twins signed him in early May 2015. (Here is his first Double-A strikeout, against a rehabbing big leaguer).

Cedar Rapids placed RHP Eston Stull on the 7-Day IL. 

Infielder Yilber Herrera returned to the Mighty Mussels from the FCL Twins. 

RHP Callan Fang, the Twins 13th round pick in 2025 out of Harvard, began a rehab assignment with the FCL Twins. He’s been on the 60-Day Injured List all season. Fang went to Pennsbury High School in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania, the same school that 16-year NFL star Troy Vincent, a former Walter Payton Man of the Year Award recipient, went to in the 1980s. Maybe a bit more relevant to this article and this website, Fang and Twins 2025 ninth-round draft pick Justin Mitrovich were both 2022 graduates of Pennsbury. Mitrovich is currently in the Mighty Mussels starting rotation. 

RHP Frederick Hiciano was assigned to the FCL Twins from the DSL Twins roster. The Twins also signed 17-year-old RHP Cristian Alvino.      

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 7, Louisville 2 
Box Score
For the second straight game, the Saints scored seven runs. They just feel much better about that when the team gives up two runs like on Saturday rather than the 11 runs they gave up on Friday night in Louisville. 

The Bats scored single runs in the bottom of the first and the bottom of the second innings. The Saints had two runners reach base in the first two innings but didn’t score. That drought ended in the third. Kaelen Culpepper and Hendry Mendez started the inning with singles. With one out, Kyler Fedko knocked his 10th double to drive in Culpepper with the first run. With two outs, Gabriel Gonzalez singled to left to drive in Mendez and Fedko and give the Saints the 3-2 lead. Gonzalez now has an 11-game hitting streak during which he has hit .447. 

With one out in the top of the fifth inning, Matt Wallner singled. With two outs, Ben Ross singled. Following a pitching change, Ricardo Olivar hit his second home run in as many days to give the Saints a 6-2 lead. He took a 0-1 fastball and crushed it 107 mph. It landed about 430 feet from home plate. 

That was it for the scoring until the top of the ninth. Culpepper singled to lead off the inning. With one out, Royce Lewis doubled to left field at 108 mph to drive in the seventh run. 

Culpepper went 3-for-4 with a walk. Lewis and Wallner were both 2-for-5. Lewis’s double was his third. 

Marco Raya made his first start of the season. He gave up two runs on three hits over three innings. He had four strikeouts. Alejandro Hidalgo came in and had five strikeouts over three scoreless, one-hit innings. Raul Brito recorded the save with three scoreless innings. He walked one and had two strikeouts. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Game 1: Wichita 3, Springfield 3 (Suspended after six innings)
Box Score
They were hoping to get two games in on Saturday. Instead, they got through six innings. The game was tied, and with just one inning to go (maybe), the field conditions became unplayable and the game was suspended. 

The hope is to play out the suspended game (a 7-inning game) and then play a nine-inning game after that. The missed game will be made up later in the season. 

A more complete rundown of this game will be available when it gets final. A couple of quick notes. First, in the top of the second, Andrew Cossetti’s third home run of the season drove in Kala’i Rosario and gave the Wind Surge a 2-0 lead. Through four innings, they found themselves down 3-2. In the top of the fifth inning, Jose Salas hit his fifth home run of the season, a solo shot that tied it up. 

KERNELS CHRONICLE 
Cedar Rapids 3, Quad Cities 2                                                                                                                                                                        Box Score
Riley Quick was back on the mound for the Kernels on Saturday night. He gave up two runs in the first inning but then worked three more frames without letting the Bandits add on. He gave up two runs on two hits and two walks, and he had three strikeouts. Early in the game, he was sitting 96-97 mph. 

Michael Ross came in and worked the next four innings. He gave up no runs and just one hit. He had four strikeouts and no walks. In fact, he faced the minimum of 12 batters in four innings. The second batter he faced singled, but he was erased on a double play ball. 

Eston Stull returned from the Injured List. He was given the ninth inning. He faced three batters and struck out all three of them to earn his third save.

The Kernels faced one of the Royals top pitching prospects, lefty David Shields. He started with two scoreless innings despite multiple base runners in both frames. 

Marek Houston led off the bottom of the third inning with a single. He advanced to second with his 12th stolen base. With two outs, Yasser Mercedes doubled, his fourth, to right field to drive in the first Kernels run. Quinn McDaniel followed with a triple to the left center field gap to drive in the second run and tie the game. It’s his second triple since joining the Kernels las week. 

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Jay Thomason reached on an error. Danny De Andrade followed with a walk. A wild pitch moved runners to second and third with nobody out. After a strikeout, Houston flew out to right field, deep enough to drive in Thomason from third base and give the team a 3-2 lead. And that was it for the scoring in the game as both bullpens pitched well. 

Marek Houston went 3-for-3 with two stolen bases. The team had just seven total hits and three walks in the game.  

By the way, if you're into sports photography 

MIGHTY MATTERS
Ft. Myers 4, Jupiter 1
Box Score  
The Mussels got a fantastic start, took an early lead, added on a bit, and the bullpen came through late to help the team to a very nice win on Saturday. 

Matthew Dalquist started the game with five shutout innings. He gave up three hits, walked none and had three strikeouts. He was also efficient, needing just 60 pitches (44 strikes, 73.3%). Consider that the first inning began with a ground rule double against him, and two batters later, they had runners on first and third with one out. He worked out of that situation. He gave up just one more hit and no more runners reached third base over his final four innings. 

The Mussels took a 1-0 lead in the second inning. JP Smith and Henry Kusiak started the inning with singles, and Jayson Bass walked to load the bases. Smith scored on an Irvin Nunez sacrifice fly. 

They added on in the bottom of the fifth inning. With one out, Smith singled. After a pitching change, Kusiak got a 1-0 hanging curveball over the inner half of the plate and hit his first home run in affiliated ball to give the team a 3-0 lead. 

Dylan Questad pitched the sixth inning. He gave up one run on two walks. He had two strikeouts. Jonathan Stevens came in and gave up a hit and two walks, but no runs in 1 2/3 innings. Lefty Jake Murray recorded the final four outs. He walked one batter, but he had four strikeouts to earn the Save. 

There were a lot of baserunners for both teams, but not a lot of them crossed home plate. Jupiter went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position. They left nine on base. The Mussels, on the other hand, scored their four runs on 10 hits and 11 walks. They were also 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position, but they left 15 runners on base. 

Dameury Pena went 2-for-2 with three walks. JP Smith went 3-for-4 with a walk. Henry Kusiak went 2-for-3 with two walks and his first home run. Luis Fragoza went 2-for-4. Irvin Nunez and Jayson Bass each walked twice. 

COMPLEX CHRONICLE
FCL Twins 9, FCL Red Sox 10
Box Score  
Callan Fang made his first appearance in a regular game since he was drafted last July. In his first rehab appearance, he gave up two unearned runs on one hit, a hit batter, and two walks. He recorded two outs, one on a strikeout. 

Melvin Rodriguez came in and gave up five runs on one hit and four walks over two innings. He struck out three batters. Carter Holjes gave up one run on two hits and two walks over 1 1/3 innings. Brad Rudis struck out two batters over two scoreless innings. Nick McAuliffe struck out five batters over two innings. He gave up one run on two hits. Pablo Castillo gave up an unearned run (the Manfred Man) in the ninth inning on one hit. 

The FCL Twins committed six errors in this game. They also allowed four players to steal a combined 13 bases. Edwin Darville alone had five stolen bases.  

When the FCL Twins came to the plate for the bottom of the fourth inning, they were already behind 8-0. They got on the board when Teilon Serrano and Carlos Taveras started the inning with singles. Serrano scored on a double play ball. Just one run, but it was a start. 

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Jose Barrios walked with one out. He scored on a double by Yovanny Duran which cut the deficit to 8-2. 

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Ricardo Paez led off with a walk. Darwin Almanzar doubled him to third. They scored on a wild pitch and then a passed ball. 8-4. 

With one out, Victor Leal walked and went to third base on a Jose Barrios double. Leal scored on a sacrifice fly by Duran. 

That made the score 8-5. In the top of the seventh, the Red Sox added a run to push the lead back to four runs.

Paez and Almanzar walked. A strikeout and a flyout left the Twins one out from a loss. Barrios was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Yovanny Duran came to the plate and crushed his third home run of the season, a grand slam that tied the game at 9-9. 

The Twins went scoreless twice in extra innings. In the ninth inning, position player Pablo Castillo pitched.  

Yovanny Duran is a switch-hitting, 18-year-old outfielder from Venezuela. He went 2-for-3 with a walk, his second double, his third home run, and five RBI. Jose Barrios went 2-for-3 with a walk and his second double. He was also hit by a pitch. He stole his third base. Jhomnardo Reyes was 1-for-3 with two walks. Miguel Caraballo hit his fifth double. He also walked once and was hit by a pitch. Danny Almanzar hit his second double. 

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter(s) of the Day  
Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul): 3-for-4, BB, 2 R, K.
Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids): 3-for-3, R, SF RBI, 2 SB(13)
Dameury Pena (Fort Myers): 2-for-2, 3 BB.
Henry Kusiak (Fort Myers): 2-for-3, 2 BB, HR(1), R, 2 RBI
JP Smith II (Fort Myers): 3-for-4, BB, 2 R, K
Yovanny Duran (FCL Twins): 2-for-3, BB, 2B(2), HR(3), 5 RBI.

Pitcher(s) of the Day 
Matthew Dalquist (Fort Myers): 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 60 pitches, 44 strikes (74.2%)
Alejandro Hidalgo (St. Paul): 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, 31 pitches, 23 strikes (74.2%)
Michael Ross (Cedar Rapids): 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 48 pitches, 31 strikes (64.9%) 

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) - 3-for-4, BB, 2 R, K. (batted first, played SS)
#7 - SS Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 3-for-3, R, RBI, 2 SB(13), PO (batted first, played SS)
#8 - RHP Riley Quick (Cedar Rapids) - 4 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, HB, 3 K, 56 pitches, 35 strikes (62.5%)
#10 - OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, 2 RBI, 2 K. (batted sixth, played 1B)   
#13 - OF Hendry Mendez (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, BB, R, K (batted second, played DH)
#15 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, 2 K (batted second, played 3B)
#19 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-3, BB (batted third, played CF) 
#20 - 2B/SS/CF Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - 0-for-3, game suspended (batted first, played SS)

UPCOMING PROBABLES
Sunday, May 31:
St. Paul @ Louisville (12:05 pm CT) - RHP Mike Paredes (2-1, 3.38 ERA)
Wichita @ Springfield (suspended game + 9-inning game starting at 2:15 pm CT) - RHP Eli Jones (0-2, 4.20 ERA),
Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (1:05 pm CT) - LHP Garrett Horn (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Jupiter @ Ft. Myers (11:05 am CT) - RHP Reed Moring (1-0, 1.42 ERA)
Monday, June 1: 
FCL Rays @ FCL Twins (11:00 am CT) - TBD
DSL Rangers Red @ DSL Twins (10:00 am CT) - TBD 

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 27-32 (3rd place (of 5) in AL Central, 6.5 GB))
St. Paul Saints: 28-27 (6th place (of 10) in IL West Division, 6.0 GB))
Wichita Wind Surge: 21-26 (4th place (of 5) in TL North Division, 8.5 GB))
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 25-25 (3rd place (of 6) in MWL West Division, 6.0 GB))
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 28-22 (2nd place (of 6) in FSL West Division, 2.0 GB))
FCL Twins: 10-10 (3rd place (of 6) in FCL South Division, 3.5 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!

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