Twins Minor League Report (6/25): Quentin Young Gives Mussels a Walk-off Win

[Seth Stohs]

Image courtesy of William Parmeter (photo of Quentin Young)

TRANSACTIONS   
Wichita placed OF Caleb Roberts on the 7-Day Injured List. 

Fort Myers placed UT Bryan Acuna on the 7-Day Injured List. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul, Louisville   
Box Score
Elvis Presley once longed for the rain in Kentucky. The Saints and Bats likely would have preferred the rain not arrive until after their Thursday night game instead of before. Instead of playing Thursday, the teams will attempt to complete a doubleheader on Friday. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 0, Midland 6
Box Score
On Thursday, the Wind Surge found some tough times in Tall City. Their offense managed to be shutout on just three hits. Andrew Cossetti and Maddux Houghton each had a single. Marek Houston knocked his first Double-A double. Khadim Diaw was 0-for-2, but he walked twice in the game. 

The Surge went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left six stranded. 

Sam Armstrong has been really good on the mound in June. He wasn’t as dominant on Thursday. He gave up two runs on two hits (including two home runs) over three innings. He struck out just one batter. But what he did was keep his team in the game by limiting the damage. 

Paulshawn Pasqualotto has had a really nice rebound season. In this game, he gave up three hits over two scoreless innings. He struck out two batters. Ruddy Gomez gave up one run on three hits in his inning. Jacob Webb gave up two runs on two hits in the seventh inning. Zach Vennaro gave up one run on two walks in the eighth inning.  

A little more on Khadim Diaw and his start in Wichita. In seven games played, he is 8-for-23, just over a hit a game, and giving himself a .348 batting average. What is incredible is that he has walked 10 times and struck out just twice since joining the Surge. He’s been on base at a .559 clip. He’s always hit line drives and hit for average, and he seems to have always had a real appreciation for getting on base whether by walk or by being hit by a pitch. 

KERNELS CHRONICLE 
Cedar Rapids 1, Wisconsin 9 
Box Score
In the house I grew up in, there was a hole in the wall of the main floor bathroom. It had a mini-door to open. But that’s where we would throw our clothes that needed to be washed. They would magically go in that space and drop into the basement, near the washing machine was brilliant. Most of you probably grew up and maybe still have homes with this “feature.” However, I was today years old when I realized that it was a “clothes chute,” not a “clothes shoot.” Shoot! I thought that the opening just kind of shot the clothes down, probably at a great force that simple gravity, and landed. 

When asked where the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers play their home games, most will answer by saying they play in Appleton, Wisconsin. And, frankly, the team’s mailing address is to Appleton. However, their home stadium, Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium” is in Grand Chute, which is essentially a suburb on the northern side of Lake Winnebago. I got curious and searched “What is a chute?” “A sloping channel or slide for conveying things to a lower level” So yeah, we had a “Clothes Chute.” 

Oh yeah, there was a baseball game in Grand Chute on Thursday night, pitting the Kernels against the Wisconsin Udder Tuggers. What a great minor-league name and check out their uniforms too! They will be the Udder Tuggers this whole weekend. 

Cesar Lares started for the Kernels. The lefty worked out of trouble in the first inning with some big strikeouts. However, he wasn’t able to stop the Tuggers from scoring in the second inning. In total, he gave up eight runs on six hits, two walks, and three hit batters. He had three strikeouts but really struggled with control and command. Adam Falinski got the final out of that second inning. He gave up one run on three hits and two walks over the next three innings. Mitch Mueller threw two scoreless innings, and Sam Rochard got the final three outs. 

Eduardo Tait went 2-for-3 with a walk in the game. He notched his 14th double of the year. He scored the team’s lone run in the sixth inning when Jacob McCombs singled him in. McCombs went 2-for-4. 

The Kernels hosted Wisconsin a couple of weeks ago. Even after top hitters Andrew Fischer and Josh Adamczewski were promoted last week to Double-A, the Rattlers lineup is still quite strong. Check out the Brewers Top 20 prospects, several on this Wisconsin roster, of our sister site Brewer Fanatic. 

MIGHTY MATTERS
Ft. Myers 7, St. Lucie 6
Box Score  
First things first. Yes, Ryan Sprock got a hit. He was 1-for-4 with a walk. He also stole 

OK, this was a good, competitive game. The Mussels took an early 2-0 lead with two runs in the bottom of the first inning. With one out, Ramiro Dominguez reached on an error. Jayson Bass singled him to third. With two outs, Bass stole second and Dominguez stole home. The successful double steal gave the team a 1-0 lead. It was the 17th stolen base for each of them. Luis Fragoza followed with a double to drive in Bass with the second run.

The Mets took the lead in the top of the fourth when they scored three runs. However, the Mussels responded immediately, scoring four runs in the bottom of the fourth. Ricardo Paez led off with a single and went to second on a wild pitch. Ricardo Pena was hit by a pitch. Harry Genth, to no one’s surprise, was also hit by a pitch to load the bases. Merphy Hernandez walked to tie the game at 3-3. 

Ryan Sprock came up and lined a single to right to drive in Pena and Genth. Sprock went to second and Hernandez scored on a throwing error to make it 6-3. 

Ramiro Villanueva started and gave up three runs on six hits. In five innings, he had four strikeouts. Callan Fang came in and gave up one run on one hit and one walk over three innings. He struck out four batters. Nick McAuliffe came in for the ninth. He gave up two runs on three hits and a walk. That sent the game to the bottom of the ninth, tied at six. 

With one out, Quentin Young stepped to the plate. He was 0-for-4 at that point with three strikeouts. The first pitch was a 97 mph fastball that Young took for ball one. It was just above the strike zone. The second pitch was a 95.9 mph fastball, thigh high in the middle of the inner half of the plate. Young swung. The ball left his bat at 108.1 mph at a 26-degree angle. It landed well beyond the fence in center field. The Mussels won in a Young walk off! 

The Mussels scored their seven runs on six hits and five walks. Fragoza went 2-for-4 with his 10th double. Hernandez walked twice and stole his 19th and 20th bases. 

Check out the newest of our DiamondCentric sites, Grand Central Mets. Check out their Top 20 Mets Prospect rankings. Several are members of this St. Lucie roster. 

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
FCL Twins 3, FCL Braves 1
Box Score  
There wasn’t a lot of offense in this game, but the Twins were able to score two runs in the sixth inning to take the lead and hold on for the win. 

It also helps to have a young phenom throw well at the start of the game. Frederick Hiciano started and gave up one run on two hits over four innings. He hit a batter, walked none, and struck out six batters. Carter Holjes struck out three batters over the final three innings. He gave up no runs and no hits. He walked one and hit a batter to earn the Win. 

The Twins took the first lead in the top of the second when Darwin Almanzar singled to drive in Joyner Perez. 

The Braves tied it in the bottom of the fourth with a run. With one out in the top of the sixth, the Twins jumped ahead with some more traditional FCL runs. Yilber Herrera walked and advanced to third on a couple of wild pitches. Almanzar walked, and Daniel Pena was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Herrera scored on a ground out by Daiber De Los Santos, and Almanzar scored on a wild pitch to give them the 3-1 lead. 

Hiciano signed with the Twins on his 18th birthday. In late May, he was assigned to the FCL Twins from the DSL Twins. This is pretty rare. I can’t think of another pitcher in recent Twins history to have essentially skipped the DSL the year that he signed. I could be wrong. And frankly, he’s older than touted 2025 signings like Santiago Castellanos and acquisitions like Geromy Villoria and Miguel Caraballo. But it is exciting to see an 18-year-old get that opportunity to make that jump and take advantage of it by pitching quite well. 

Yovanny Duran and Darwin Almanzar each had two hits and a walk in the game. Duran hit his fourth double. Almanazar hit his second triple. Duran stole his 16th and 17th bases of the season. 

DSL Twins 0, DSL Phillies 7 (Suspended)
Box Score  
Jendy Martinez led off the game for the Twins with a double. The next three batters struck out. And, it was downhill from there. The Phillies batters scored five runs in the first inning and two more in the second inning. The Twins had nine straight batters get out. And then the rains came, and after a delay, the game was suspended going into the bottom of the third inning. 

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter(s) of the Day  
Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-3, BB, 2B(14), K

Pitcher(s) of the Day 
Frederick Hiciano (FCL Twins): 4 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 6 K

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

#4 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-3, BB, 2B(14), BB, R, K (batted second, played C).
#5 - SS Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, 2B(1), K (batted second, played SS)
#12 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4 (batted first, played 3B)
#13 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Wichita) - 0-for-2, 2 BB (batted third, played C)
#14 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - 1-for-5, HR(9), RBI, R, 3 K. (batted sixth, played SS)
#18 - OF Yasser Mercedes (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, K (batted fifth, played RF)
#20 - 2B/SS/CF Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - 0-for-4, 2 K (batted first, played 2B)  

UPCOMING PROBABLES
Friday, June 26
St. Paul @ Louisville (3:05 pm CT) - RHP John Klein (3-2, 5.52 ERA), RHP Ty Langenberg (2-2, 5.79 ERA)
Wichita @ Midland (7:00 pm CT) - RHP Cory Lewis (0-2, 4.57 ERA)
Cedar Rapids @ Wisconsin (6:40 pm CT) - RHP Ivran Romero (2-3, 9.63 ERA)  
St. Lucie @ Ft. Myers (6:05 pm CT) - RHP Jason Reitz (0-0, 2.63 ERA)
FCL Twins @ FCL Red Sox (9:00 am CT) - completion of 6/20 game + regularly schedule game
DSL Miami @ DSL Twins (10:00 am CT) -  

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 38-44 (3rd place (of 5) in AL Central, 4.5 GB))
St. Paul Saints: 43-33 (3rd place (of 10) in IL West Division, 4.0 GB))
Wichita Wind Surge: 26-44 (5th place (of 5) in TL North Division, 20.0 GB))
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 31-38 (4th place (of 6) in MWL West Division, 11.5 GB))
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 41-30 (2nd place (of 6) in FSL West Division, 0.5 GB))
FCL Twins: 21-17 (3rd place (of 6) in FCL South Division, 1.5 GB))
DSL Twins: 6-11 (6th place (of 7) in DSL East Division, 5.5 GB)) 

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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[Sampson5]

That high A lineup been a tough watch which is understandable with so many recent call ups man when they lose Tait at some point here they may be damn near unwatchable . Nice to see young continue to have his moments probably gonna be a while before we see him start having consistent success gonna have to be patient and hopefully at some point the k rate can get down to a normal slugger range