Twins Minor League Report (6/1): Quiet Bats in DSL Opener

[Nate Palmer]

 

Monday kicked off the month of June, which also kicked off games for the DSL Twins. Below, we will recap the games the FCL and DSL Twins played and preview the upcoming series for the other Twins affiliates, as Monday is their traditional off day. 

TRANSACTIONS
The St. Paul Saints, in conjunction with the Minnesota Twins placed C Ricardo Olivar placed on the 7-day IL (Right Knee Sprain)

The Minnesota Twins and Fort Myers Might Mussels transfer INF Yilber Herrera to the FCL. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
As the Saints head into the week, they welcome Indianapolis into town, who are currently 10th in the International League West. Indianapolis will have a tall task. The Saints have several players swinging hot bats, with the top six players in Twins Daily's May Minor League Hitters of the Month spending part of their month with the Saints. That, of course, includes Twins Daily’s hitter of the month, Aaron Sabato, who slashed .312/.402/.699 (1.101 OPS) with eight home runs. (The Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Month, along with the Twins top hitter and pitcher for May, will be announced in the next day or two.) 

Indianapolis boasts many of the Pittsburgh Pirates top prospects, and the Saints will hope they can fare better against the "Baby Bucs" than their major-league counterparts fared over the weekend in the major league matchup of these two organizations. Indianapolis will bring six Top 10 organizational prospects to CHS Field. On the offensive side are OF Esmerlyn Valdez (6), 2B/OF Nick Yorke (9), and 2B Termarr Johnson (10). On the pitching side are LHP Hunter Barco (5), RHP Antwone Kelly (7), and RHP Thomas Harrington (8). 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
The Wichita Wind Surge are also playing a series at home this week as they welcome the San Diego Padres affiliate, the San Antonio Missions, to town. The Missions bring in nationally recognized catching prospect Ethan Salas, who tops the Padres' system. It is the second series already this season between Ethan and Wind Surge utilityman Jose Salas. Alongside Salas is the Padres' second-ranked prospect, RHP Miguel Mendez. Both are putting together a good season. Salas is hitting .311/.359/.503 (.862). Mendez’s ERA isn’t as pretty as he would like at 4.76, but his 26.9 K% and 11.1 K/9 are looking good. 

A reminder that Padres Mission is our sister site. Check out how their writing staff ranks the Pades prospects. 

KERNELS CHRONICLE
The Kernels are set to welcome the Wisconsin Timber-Rattlers, the Milwaukee Brewers High-A team, to Iowa. Wisconsin will bring three top 10 organizational prospects, all on the offensive side. The highest-ranked is SS Luis Pena (2), who is 19 years old and putting together an incredible offensive start to 2026, hitting .348/.463/.485 (.948 OPS). He returned to the team after missing about a month after collapsing in the dugout during a game. CF Braylon Payne (6) will join Pena. Payne’s numbers are not as impressive across the board as Pena's, but he is still hitting well in his own right, slashing .260/.368/.569 (.937). Rounding out the top prospects making the trip to Cedar Rapids is 3B Andrew Fischer, who is hitting .275/.411/.625 (1.036). The Kernels pitching will have a tall task keeping those three at bay throughout the week’s series. 

Check out another sister site of Twins Daily, Brewer Fanatic. Check out how their writing staff ranks the Brewers prospects. 

MIGHTY MATTERS
The Fort Myers Might Mussels will be traveling to play the Lakeland Flying Tigers, affiliate for the division rival Tigers. Lakeland isn’t bringing much in the way of top-end organizational talent, but there are a pair of starting pitchers that will look to challenge Fort Myers. Kelvis Salcedo would like to bring his 5.68 ERA down and will look to do so by striking out batters. Salcedo brings to the series a 32.8% K% and a 13.5 K/9. 

Malachi Witherspoon will feel similarly to his teammate. His 5.18 ERA is not where the right-hander would like to be, but he also has the ability to induce some strikeouts. He isn’t quite as prolific as Salcedo but still has a 29.2% K% and a 11.5 K/9. 

FCL TWINS
Twins 2, Rays 7
Box Score 
As the FCL Twins took on the top team in their league, the Rays, none of their pitchers walked away with a clean outing. In his second rehab outing, right-hander Matt Barr got the start and went 1 1/3 innings. He allowed two hits, one run on a home run, and issued one walk. Hendry Chivilli had the longest outing He went 3 2/3 innings and allowed five hits, four runs (three earned runs), three walks, and two strikeouts. Yoel Roque worked the final two innings. He gave up two runs on two hits. He walked three and had one strikeout. 

On the offensive side, Jhomnardo Reyes led the team with two hits and scored one of the Twins two runs on a Carlos Taveras single. Reyes also had three stolen bases. Jose Barrios scored the Twins second run on a Yovanny Duran single that at the time brought the Twins within one run of the Rays in the bottom of the fourth inning. Barrios reached on his third double of the season. Teilon Serrano walked twice. 

DSL TWINS
Twins 1, Rangers 5
Box Score
The Twins DSL opener did not go as they had hoped it would. Agustin Campusano got the start for the DSL Twins. Campusano pitched 12 games in 2025, recording a 0-1 record, 4.80 ERA, and 25 strikeouts over 30 innings. The 18-year-old right-hander went 3 2/3 innings, gave up five hits, two walks, struck out three, and gave up three runs. Two of which were earned runs. 

Miguel Martinez came in relief of Campusano and had a strong outing for the Twins. Martinez went 3 1/3 innings, giving up no hits, no runs, walking one batter, and striking out four strike outs. 

As evidenced by the lack of run scoring, the offense was not quite fully firing on all cylinders in its 2026 debut. Outfielder Jhon Gonzalez had the most impressive of outputs, gathering two hits, which included a triple on a line drive to left field in the sixth inning. Luis Duarte, Juan Holmann, and Abel Sosa each collected a hit to round out the team's five total hits on the day. 

Sosa also drove in the Twins lone run on a sacrifice fly that scored Joaquin Arias Jr. in the bottom of the 5th inning. At the time, it brought the Twins within two runs of the lead, 3-1. 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter: Jhon Gonzalez: 2-4, 1 BB, 3B, 2 K
Pitcher: Miguel Martinez: 3 1/3 IP, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 Ks

TUESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Indiana @ St. Paul Saints- Aaron Rozek
San Antonio @ Wichita Wind Surge- Sam Armstrong
Wisconsin @ Cedar Rapids Kernels- TBD
Fort Myers Mussels @ Lakeland- TBD
FCL Twins @ FCL Rays- TBD
DSL Twins @ DSL Tigers- TBD

 

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[jmlease1]

Boy i hope the prospects get healthy soon. Tired of seeing so many guys hitting the IL.