Twins Minor League Report (7/6): FCL Walk Off Win

[Nate Palmer]

TRANSACTIONS
RHP Woo-Suk Go assigned to the Twins.
Minnesota Twins optioned RHP Cody Laweryson to St. Paul Saints.
Wichita Wind Surge placed RHP Zach Vennaro on the 7-day injured list.
3B/CF Brandon Winokur and OF Caden Kendle have been promoted from the Kernels to the Wind Surge. 
IF Jose Salas moved from Wichita to Cedar Rapids. Rayne Doncon was activated from the IL for the Kernels. 
Catcher Ryan Sprock and RHP Kolten Smith have been promoted from Fort Myers to Cedar Rapids. 
IF Miguel Briceno, RHP Adam Falinski, and catcher Luis Hernandez sent to Fort Myers. 
RHP Billy Oldham was activated from the 60-Day IL and joins the Mussels. 
RHP Matt DesMarets assigned to FCL Twins from Fort Myers Mighty Mussels.
RHP Hendry Chivilli assigned to FCL Twins from Fort Myers Mighty Mussels.

SAINTS SENTINEL
The Saints split their series with Buffalo, going 3-3. This week, they make the trek down I-35 to Des Moines and take on the Iowa Cubs. The Saints will likely see the Cubs top organizational prospect, catcher Moises Ballesteros. Ballesteros has seen 22 games worth of action at the majors this season, but is currently in Iowa, where he has also played in 22 games. His Triple-A line is .229/.355/.292 (.647 OPS). 

The Cubs' roster also includes another borderline top 100 prospect and #3 prospect according to our sister site Northside Baseball, in RHP Jaxon Wiggins. Wiggins has dealt with some right elbow inflammation this season, causing him to split sometime between High-A and Triple-A in order as part of his rehab. In Triple-A, Wiggins has tossed eight innings with a 5.63 ERA, a 27.8% K-rate, and a 13.9% walk rate. 

While he has been dropping in prospect rankings, Jonathan Long is currently #9 according to Northside Baseball. The first baseman/left fielder has hit .266/.346/.419 (.765 OPS) in 24 Triple-A games this season. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
The Wind Surge had a rough past week, going 1-5 while hosting Tulsa. Looking to turn the tables, Wichita will host the Northwest Arkansas Naturals of the Kansas City Royals system this next week. Our sister site, Royals Keep, has two players who will be with the Naturals during the series. 

The first player that cracks Royal Keeps’ top 10 is number 8 prospect RHP Drew Beam. At 23 years old, Beam has started 15 games for the Naturals. In those games, he holds a 6.43 ERA, 18.0% K-rate, and 8.2 % walk rate. OF Carson Roccaforte is the other top 10 prospect to watch and is #9 at Royals Keep. Roccaforte is hitting .248/.342/.480 (.822 OPS) with 16 home runs in 2026. 

Another player to watch on the Naturals roster who is on the rise is Justin Lamkin. The left-handed Lamkin recently got the promotion to Double-A after throwing 28 ⅓ innings at High-A with a 1.27 ERA. The 22-year-old has now thrown 11 1/3 additional innings at Double-A and has posted a 3.97 ERA since his promotion. 

KERNEL CHRONICLE
Like the Wind Surge, the Kernels went 1-5 this past week while hosting the Quad City Bandits. The Kernels will look to get back on the winning track as they take on a Chicago Cubs affiliate, the South Bend Cubs. This version of the Cubs roster has two outfield prospects that crack Northside’s top 10. 

Josiah Hartshorn comes in at #4 and is a switch-hitting 19-year-old who has split time between the two Single-A levels in 2026. In 36 games at High-A, Hartshorn is hitting .285/.369/.546 (.900 OPS). Kane Kepley is a left-handed-hitting 22-year-old who makes up the other half of the pair of prospects. Kepley has played 73 games with South Bend, hitting .266/.438/.426 (.863).  

MIGHTY MATTERS
As the Mussels visited Clearwater last week, they managed only a 2-4 record. This week's opponent is the Bradenton Marauders, the Pirates Low-A affiliate. Not even 18-year-old Johan De Los Santos looks to be the most exciting prospect coming with the Marauders to Fort Myers. The middle infielder was recently promoted to Single-A baseball and, in five games, has seen enough success to be hitting .318/.333/.591 (.924). Those numbers aren’t too far off his full-season numbers of .311/.416/.459 (.875). 

FCL TWINS
Twins 7, Orioles 6
Box Score
The Twins gutted out a close game on Monday, walking off the Orioles in the bottom of the ninth. The journey to get to the bottom of the ninth inning was a fun one. Early on, the Twins showed off power. In the bottom of the first, after a walk by Yovanny Duran and Miguel Caraballo reaching on an error, Jhomnardo Reyes hit a three-run home run to left-center field. In the bottom of the second, Duran wanted to join the power-hitting fun and hit his own two-run home run with Darwin Almanzar on base. 

Starting pitcher Halton Hardy was able to give the Twins some length, going five innings while allowing four runs on four hits (two home runs), one walk, and four strikeouts. Brad Rudis ended up being the pitcher of record after going 2 2/3 innings, allowing no hits, no runs, one walk, and striking out four. Matthew Desmarets had a rough outing, allowing the Orioles to tie up the game, but it was his ability to get Angel Garcia to ground into a double play that helped stop the bleeding in the top of the sixth inning. 

The final blow for the Twins in the ninth inning to secure the walk-off win was Caraballo hitting a sacrifice fly to drive in Duran for Duran’s third run scored in the game. Reyes, who hit one of the early home runs, also accounted for two runs scored. That means Duran and Reyes combined for five of the seven runs scored by the Twins in Monday’s win over the Orioles. 

DSL TWINS
Twins 3, White Sox 7
Box Score
The White Sox would top the Twins on Monday after jumping out to an early 3-0 lead entering the third inning. In that inning, the Twins drew themselves within one run. The first run was set up by a Fabian Ulloa single, contact from Luis Suarez that resulted in a fielder’s choice and an error, and finally a Jendy Martinez walk that loaded the bases. Daiyer Barboza would put the first Twins run on the board with a sacrifice fly to left field. 

With Jhon Gonzalez up to bat and runners on first and second, Suarez and Martinez would each advance a base on a balk. The balk set up a scoring opportunity on a groundout from Gonzalez, pulling the Twins within one run at 3-2. Unfortunately, in the White Sox half of that same inning, they would put three more runs on the board, extending their lead to 6-3. Gonzalez maintained his nearly .300 batting average (.296) by going 2-for-3 on Monday. 

The Twins third and final run would come courtesy of back-to-back doubles in the top of the fourth inning. Enmanuel Merlo hit the first double to left field, and Juan Holmann was up next with his own double, allowing Merlo to score and make it 6-3. Holmann had one more hit on Monday, bringing his game line to 2-for-3 with one strikeout. 

On the pitching side, Agustin Campusano is likely looking to flush his Monday outing after going 3 2/3 innings, allowing five hits, seven earned runs, including a home run, walking three, and still managing five strikeouts. The final three Twins pitchers covered 2 1/3 innings and did not allow any runs or walks the rest of the way. The trio consisted of Failin Placencio, Juan Quinones, and Alam Soriano. 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Jhomnardo Reyes: 2-3, 1 HR, 2 R, 3 RBIs
Brad Rudis: 2 2/3 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 4 K

TOP 20 PROSPECT WEEK IN REVIEW
#1- Walker Jenkins (Saints)- .350/.381/.650, 1.031 OPS, 1 2B, 13B, 1 HR. 
#4- Eduardo Tait (Kernels)- .200/.222/.280, .502 OPS, 2 2B
#5- Marek Houston (Kernels)- .263/.348/.263, .611 OPS
#6- Riley Quick (Kernels)- 4 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K
#7- Kendry Rojas (Saints)- 2 2/3 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
#8- Hendry Mendez (Saints)- .200/.188/.200, .388 OPS. 
#9- Dasan Hill (Kernels)- 1 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
#10- Gabriel Gonzalez (Saints)- .125/.125/.188, .313 OPS, 1 2B. 
#12- Brandon Winokur (Kernels)- .250/.273/.450, .723 OPS, 1 2B, 1 HR.
#13- Khadim Diaw (Wind Surge)- .211/.375/.316, .691 OPS, 1 3B. 
#14- Quentin Young (Mussels)- .235/.409/.412, .821 OPS, 1 HR. 
#15- Ryan Gallagher (Saints)- 4 2/3 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
#17-C.J. Culpepper (Saints)- 2 2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 1 K. 
#18- Yasser Mercedes (Mussels)- .471/.571/.647, 1.218 OPS, 1 HR. 
#19- Billy Amick (Wind Surge)- .273/.393/.818, 1.211 OPS, 3 2B, 3 HR. 
#20- Kyle Debarge (Wind Surge)- .300/.333/.500, .833 OPS, 1 2B, 1 HR. 

TUESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul Saints @ Iowa- RHP John Klein
NW Arkansas @ Wichita Wind Surge- TBD
South Bend @ Cedar Rapids Kernels- RHP Xavier Kolhosser
Bradenton @ Fort Myers Mussels - TBD
FCL Rays @ FCL Twins - TBD
DSL Twins @ DSL Phillies- TBD

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[DJL44]

I think Houston is with the Wind Surge now

[wesnewy]

I really hope Marek can figure out AA pitching soon. It’s a really big jump in talent from +A, but I think he is due for a breakout there