Twins Minor League Report (6/27): Ty Langenberg, CJ Culpepper Toss Shutout for Saints

[Seth Stohs]

Image courtesy of Malamut Photography (photo of Eduardo Tait)

 

TRANSACTIONS   
The Saints placed RHP Ricky Castro on the 7-Day Injured List. 

Fort Myers sent RHPs Reed Moring and Jake Hunter on rehab assignments to the FCL Twins. 

The DSL Twins placed RHP Eliezer Lucena on the 60-Day IL.  

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 12, Louisville 0   
Box Score
The two teams came into the day with the intention of playing a doubleheader. For the second straight day, they were able to complete Game 1 before rains came and wiped-out Game 2. The plan now is to make up this game when Louisville comes to St. Paul next month. It’ll be a seven-game homestand, and one of the games will have Louisville as the home team. 

The score above makes it look like this game was a blowout, but an eight-run seventh inning for the Saints turned a closer game into a blowout. As the Bats might say, “When it rains, it pours.” 

But let’s start on the mound. Iowa native Ty Langenberg started and gave up just one hit over five shutout innings. He walked two and had three strikeouts. Impressive when you consider that just 38 of his 67 pitches were strikes (56.7%). 

C.J. Culpepper came in and finished out the final two innings of the shutout. He gave up two hits, walked none and had three strikeouts. 

The Saints scored a single run in the first and in the second innings. In the first, Gabriel Gonzalez drove in Alan Roden with the first run. 

 

The top of the second began with Ben Ross’s sixth homer with the Saints. 

 

With two outs in the fourth inning, Cody Morissette singled off the pitcher. He stole second, but he didn’t really have to. Noah Cardenas drove the next pitch out of the park for his fifth homer. 

 

The top of the sixth began with a Cardenas single. Roden was hit by a pitch. Walker Jenkins came up and lined a single off the pitcher that deflected to third and loaded the bases. Kala’i Rosario singled to right to drive in a run. Matt Wallner singled to right to drive in two runs.  Orlando Arcia singled to left to fill the bases. Aaron Sabato stepped to the plate and launched a hanging, 80 mph sweeper 108.2 mph at a 32-degree angle. It landed 404 feet from home plate and gave the Saints the 11-0 lead. 

 

After a pitching change, Ben Ross doubled. With two outs, Walker Jenkins drove him in with a double to make it 12-0. 

 

Ben Ross was 3-for-4 with his 16th double and sixth home run with the Saints. Orlando Arcia went 3-for-4. Noah Cardenas went 2-for-3 with a walk, his fifth home run and two RBI. Jenkins was 2-for-5 with his seventh double. Roden was 1-for-3 with a walk and his sixth double. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 0, Midland 1
Box Score
This was a true pitcher's duel. Unlike the St. Paul game above where just one of the teams realized it was supposed to be a duel. 

Preston Johnson started for Wichita. He tossed four scoreless, hitless innings. He walked two and had eight strikeouts. Jose Olivares walked one and struck out one batter over two scoreless, hitless innings. Sam Ryan pitched the final two innings. He gave up one run on one hit. He walked one and had two strikeouts. 

Unfortunately, Jackson Finley and three relievers combined to shutout the Wind Surge on just four hits. 

Kyle DeBarge went 2-for-3. Andrew Cossetti went 1-for-2 with two walks. Quinn McDaniel had a single, and Garrett Spain walked. 

KERNELS CHRONICLE 
Cedar Rapids 5, Wisconsin 4
Box Score
It has been a rough week for the Kernels in Wisconsin. They lost the first four games of the series by a combined score of 36-8.  And frankly, Saturday’s game could have gone that same direction, but a couple of big moments helped the Kernels make a comeback and then hang on for a one-run win. 

Adrian Bohorquez made his return to the Kernels. He started and gave up no runs on no hits over 1 1/3 innings. He walked two and had a strikeout. Just 16 of his 32 pitches were strikes. Xavier Kolhosser came on and gave up three runs on two hits and three walks. He had four strikeouts. 

Down 3-0 after three innings, the Kernels responded right away in the top of the fourth. Brandon Winokur led off with a walk. Dameury Pena tripled to drive him in. Pena then scored on a groundout by Eduardo Tait.   

 

In the fifth inning, Wisconsin added to their lead when Marco Dinges scored on a sacrifice fly by Daniel Dickinson. 

Down 4-2 after seven innings. Graham Brown led off with an infield single. He moved to second on a ground ball. Brandon Winokur had an infield single which advanced Brown to third base. Winokur stole second. Brown scored on a Pena groundout to cut the deficit to 4-3. Eduardo Tait came to the plate next and crushed a two-run homer to give the Kernels the 5-4 lead.   

 

Jesse Bergin came into the game in the fourth inning. He gave up one run on two hits and two walks in 1 1/3 innings. Mitch Mueller struck out three batters over 1 2/3 scoreless, hitless innings. Eston Stull walked one in a scoreless bottom of the seventh inning. 

With a lead, Brian Meyer turned to Sam Rochard in the bottom of the eighth frame. It couldn’t come easy, of course. After two groundouts to start the bottom of the eighth, he walked the bases loaded before getting the third out. 

He returned for the ninth, still clinging to a one-run lead. Josiah Ragsdale led off the inning with a double. He advanced to third base with two outs, but Rochard got out of the inning unscathed to earn his first save. 

MIGHTY MATTERS
Ft. Myers, St. Lucie (postponed)
Box Score  
Rain caused this game to be postponed. The teams will attempt to play the game next month when the Mussels play in St. Lucie. 

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
FCL Twins 1, FCL Red Sox 8
Box Score  
Reed Moring made the rehab start. He tossed two perfect innings with one strikeout. Jake Hunter tossed the third inning. He gave up two runs on three hits and a walk. Miguel Rodriguez gave up two runs on four hits over three innings. He had two walks and four strikeouts. Josh Walker pitched the seventh inning and gave up four runs on three hits and three walks, but he did strike out two batters.

The Twins scored one run in the sixth inning. It came on a home run off the bat of Miguel Caraballo. The catcher had two of the team’s five hits. Yovanny Duran went 1-for-2 with a walk. He also stole his 18th base.    

DSL Twins 11, DSL Marlins 13
Box Score  
This was a back-and-forth game throughout. The Twins grabbed the early lead with three runs in the bottom of the first inning. The Rangers followed with three runs in the top of the second. The Twins scored one in the bottom of the third frame. The Rangers scored the next six runs to take a 9-4 lead. . Then the Twins cut the deficit to 9-8 through six innings. In the top of the seventh, the Rangers added a run, but the Twins scored two runs after the seventh inning stretch and the game was tied 10-10. However, the Rangers scored three runs in the top of the eighth, and the Twins countered with just one run in the bottom of the inning. Almost inexplicably neither team scored in the ninth inning. 

Juan Collado started and worked a scoreless first inning. He had a walk and three strikeouts. He faced four batters in the second inning. He hit the first batter and then walked the next three batters. 16-year-old Sebastian Echavarria came on in relief. He walked the first batter he faced, but then he got a ground ball double play and a fly out to end the inning. Collado was charged with three runs on four walks and a hit batter in one inning. He struck out three batters. Echavarria worked three innings. He gave up three runs (1 earned) on two hits and three walks. 

Alam Soriano was next. He gave up four runs on five hits and two walks over three innings. Herkyn Taveras gave up three runs (1 earned) on one hit and three walks in his inning. Failin Placencio walked one in a scoreless ninth inning. 

The Twins scored their 11 runs on 14 hits and 10 walks. They also stole eight bases. 

Abel Sosa went 3-for-5 with a walk, three runs and two RBI. Fabian Ulloa went 3-for-5 with his first two doubles of the season. Daiyer Barboza went 2-for-3 with three walks, his second double, and three runs scored. Jhon Gonzalez went 2-for-5 with a walk and two runs. Luis Duarte went 2-for-5 with three RBI. Jendy Martinez had a single and walked twice. Anibal Beltre walked twice. 

In case you were wondering, David Ortiz, Jr. batted eighth and DHd for the DSL Red Sox. He went 2-for-3 with two walks and his first double in this game. He had three RBI. He hit just .124/.361/.168 (.529) with five doubles last year in the DSL This was just his third game of the 2026 season. He’s 4-for-8 with four walks and a double.      

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter(s) of the Day  
Noah Cardenas (St. Paul): 2-for-3, BB, HR(5), 2 R, 2 RBI, K. (And, he caught a shutout.)

Pitcher(s) of the Day 
Ty Langenberg (St. Paul): 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, 67 pitches, 38 strikes (56.9%)

 

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) - 2-for-5, 2B(7), R, RBI (batted second, played DH) 
#4 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, HR(15), R, 3 RBI, K (batted third, played C).
#5 - SS Marek Houston (Wichita) - 0-for-4, 2 K (batted second, played SS)
#10 - OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 1-for-1, RBI (batted third, played LF)
#12 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-3, BB, 2 R, K, SB(17) (batted first, played CF)
#13 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Wichita) - 0-for-4 (batted third, played C)
#17 - RHP C.J. Culpepper (St. Paul) - 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 33 pitches, 23 strikes (69.7%)
#18 - OF Yasser Mercedes (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, K (batted sixth, played RF)
#20 - 2B/SS/CF Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - 2-for-3, CS(9) (batted fifth, played 2B)  

UPCOMING PROBABLES
Sunday, June 28
St. Paul @ Louisville (12:05 pm CT) - LHP Kendry Rojas (1-0, 4.96 ERA) vs Hunter Greene
Wichita @ Midland (1:00 pm CT) - RHP Chris Vallimont (0-1, 2.70 ERA)
Cedar Rapids @ Wisconsin (1:10 pm CT) - RHP Michael Ross (5-3, 7.54 ERA)  
St. Lucie @ Ft. Myers (11:05 am CT) - RHP Eduardo Salazar (0-0, 0.0 ERA)

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 39-45
St. Paul Saints: 45-33
Wichita Wind Surge: 26-46
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 32-39
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 42-30
FCL Twins: 22-19
DSL Twins: 6-13 

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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[Jeff K]

Any word on why Gabriel Gonzalez came out of the game early?

[DJL44]

CJ Culpepper is doing okay at AAA. He needs to walk fewer batters.

[stringer bell]

Whatever happened to Julian Merryweather? Is he still on the IL for St. Paul? IIRC, his injury was a pulled muscle in March. 

[DocBauer]

CJ looking Ike the next man up in the bullpen these days. Not tomorrow, but soon. I've been a fan for a while, so I'm feeling good he's the next successful bullpen convert.

While he's not hitting as well for St Paul as he was at the begining of the season at Wichita, (impossible to maintain that kind of performance), he's doing really well still. Go have a look at his Baseball Reference page and see his total numbers for this season. Pretty impressive. I don't think we can say this is an illusion any longer. He might give Kreidler a run for his money as the Twins Super Utility player in 2027.

I'm not exactly sold on Sabato yet, but this is his first FULL season at AAA after about a half season in 2025. Is there a chance he really could just be a late bloomer?? I wouldn't mind seeing him get a look see at some point this season, but he's behind more than a couple of guys on my list.

Is Tait trying to prove that a recent article concerning a promotion to AA isn't a silly idea? How good he's been lately isn't really reflected in his season totals. But I'm as concerned about his glove and game calling as I am about his bat. If those are also improving, I could see a promotion by the end of July.

[jmlease1]

1 hour ago, DocBauer said:

I'm not exactly sold on Sabato yet, but this is his first FULL season at AAA after about a half season in 2025. Is there a chance he really could just be a late bloomer?? I wouldn't mind seeing him get a look see at some point this season, but he's behind more than a couple of guys on my list.

So hard to know whether there's anything there with Sabato. He's certainly able to punish mistakes, but he also K's a lot and the OBP isn't exactly lighting the world on fire. But the power is impressive? That last jump is treacherous. Considering all the LH hitters we have lurking in AAA it'd be nice to see a RH slugger emerge, but it's taken Sabato so long to even get to this point. That said, he's been better at AAA than last season, so clearly he's a guy who can improve year over year...

GG is on a heater right now, speaking of RH hitters. He's had a bit of an odd season, but seems to be rounding into form. Wouldn't mind seeing him get another look this year; we've already burned the option, so hopefully he gets a more extended look at some point. Would like to get a better idea of what he could be next season.

[Trov]

3 hours ago, DocBauer said:

 

I'm not exactly sold on Sabato yet, but this is his first FULL season at AAA after about a half season in 2025. Is there a chance he really could just be a late bloomer?? I wouldn't mind seeing him get a look see at some point this season, but he's behind more than a couple of guys on my list.

 

I am in same boat on Sabato.  He is still young enough that he could come up and have a decent enough career.  I point to Nelson Cruz a guy that got late start to career but his bat was good enough in his 30's he had a nice career. Cruz did not have his first full season at MLB until he was 28, and he did have half season at 26, and quarter at 27, but they were not good overall.  It was not until 28 that he finally broke out.  

Also look at recently Brent Rooker at age 28 finally getting full shot at MLB level, after a few failed chances earlier on, to finally have 3 decent to very good seasons.  This year not so much, but his injured now. 

Point is, there is history of 28 year old guys finally getting a shot and putting together a couple of decent seasons.  Do I expect Sabato to be Cruz, no, but could he put up a decent year or two like Rooker, sure he could. 

[ashbury]

16 minutes ago, Trov said:

I am in same boat on Sabato.  He is still young enough that he could come up and have a decent enough career.  I point to Nelson Cruz a guy that got late start to career but his bat was good enough in his 30's he had a nice career. Cruz did not have his first full season at MLB until he was 28, and he did have half season at 26, and quarter at 27, but they were not good overall.  It was not until 28 that he finally broke out.  

Cruz was indeed a late bloomer, but in AAA at age 27 (same as Sabato) he was putting up an OPS of 1.123.  Granted that Oklahoma City tends to inflate batting numbers, but we're saying the same of all of AAA these past several years.  Sabato has a ways to go before Nelson Cruz becomes a meaningful comp, which you acknowledge, so I'm not quite sure the real point of invoking him.

[DocBauer]

@jmlease1jmlease1 I'm IN on Gonzalez coming back up for another shot. He really proves himself last season, and he's been on fire since early to mid May. BUT, I DON'T want him up as a platoon RH bat. I don't have his splits available at the moment, but with contact and power, I'm sure he can hit RHP at least decently. Rodriguez and Jenkins are, ideally, your corner OF next year. But there's room for Gonzalez at both corner spots once in a while against RHP, as a DH, and as a 1B fill in.

Mendez could complicate the roster construction because I'd really like another RH bat besides Gonzalez. But I don't think it's going to be Fedko, and consider how he's been performing, I'm starting to doubt Martin's future. 

It stinks, but there might not be room for Roden, which is a shame. I think he's a really solid and versatile player who can do a bit of everything and help cover 1B as well. But there's only so many spots on a 13 man roster.

Speaking of Mendez, what happen3d to him playing some 1B? Unless he just looks completely lost, keep playing him some there. It would be pretty awesome if he and Gonzalez could both play some 1B for Royce to have a day off, or if he gives Lee a day off, or has an injury.

[DocBauer]

@trov and @ashbury, I also think mentioning Sabato in the same breath as Cruz IS a stretch to be sure, but not a horrible example along with Rooker. Could we toss Max Muncy in to the comparison as well? Absolutely NOT as direct comparisons, but simply as rough examples of players who somehow didn't figure it out until later in their career. After all, Cruz and Muncy simply weren't Cruz and Muncy until  they BECAME Cruz and Muncy. So yeah, recent history makes Rooker a better example with some 20/20 rear vision. 

Again, I'm not yet sold. And @ashburyis correct to bring up a very high AAA OPS for Cruz at about the same age. And Sabato's K/BB numbers are disproportionately out of whack currently. And that's actually a bit surprising considering his college career and his first couple of MILB seasons where the AVG wasn't good, but he BB enough to always maintain a fairly decent OB%. But his current AVG is the best he's ever had as a pro, but the BB are way down. And the power has definitely been on display. So even though he just recently turned 27yo less than a month ago, he remains a mystery player. As a HITTER, his he turning in to a "Gallo type"? (Is that a new description for players)? Only, in this case, is he sacrificing OB% for a better AVG by just hitting hard line drives instead of taking BB? And then stroking a bunch of Dbls and HR? In truth, his current .933 OPS is nothing to sneeze at. 

While a TOP prospect ready for his debut might be more in the .950-1.000 OPS range, .933 is something to give a little credence to. Unless he goes on a heater the next couple of months, he's a POSSIBLE September call up when the Twins can add 1 more position player. But I think he's going to be behind a solid list of other possibilities. 

Can I state for the record YET AGAIN, that I DESPISE the 28 man September roster bump?! If you really and truly believe that the integrity of the games in September are somehow "lessened" because a non playoff team is playing prospects, you're being foolish.

Let me say that again, MLB is worried that non playoff teams, many of who might have losing records, will suddenly provide an EASIER path to WINS for playoff teams playing teams who already have losing records down the stretch that could impact the final standings.

Read that last paragraph again and convince me that isn't one of the most ridiculous positions MLB has ever taken? While a "losing" team might give a couple of weeks to a "good organizational guy" in September...which I believe to be a REAL WIN for the sport on a PR level...it's also JUST AS POSSIBLE that a handful of prospects come up for September and actually are HOT and make those "losing" teams even tougher to play. 

Regardless, I digress. Sabato won't be protected this offseason and shouldn't be. The ONE player addition made for September is going to be a higher prospect. But they also aren't going to "dump" him at this point either. They need players and depth at AAAA, so he's probably not going anywhere. 

But just as a reminder, Sabato wasn't drafted as some kind or BUM. He was drafted at 27 in the 1st round in the crazy 2020 season after his sophomore college season, which amounted to ONLY 19 games. Some college and HS teams didn't play at all. So he was drafted at 27 in a weird and crazy year, and still pretty young, and probably under developed. But there was the PROMISE of not only power, but a good eye that BB a lot. Well, again, he did that early in his MILB career. There's no question he's probably going down as a "wasted" pick that season. But again, I don't think the Twins will cut him. I think he's back at St Paul in 2027. And I'm certainly not going to bet on his future. Who knows, he might have an OPS ABOVE 1.000 early in 2027 and get his shot due to production and/or injury. And he might show something worth keeping around for a few years, similar to Rooker. THAT will be his chance. I just don't see it here in 2026 because I just don't see OPPORTUNITY.