Twins Minor League Report (8/10): Jenkins' Power Surge, Culpepper's Promotion and a Strong Week for the Twins' Affiliates

[Sam Caulder]

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints

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St. Paul Saints activated CF Emmanuel Rodriguez from the 60-day injured list.

ST. PAUL SAINTS SENTINEL
The Saints were so close to a series sweep at CHS Field against the Louisville Bats. They took the first five games of the week, before dropping Sunday’s series finale. They did so despite the roster taking a hit, with Twins Daily’s number three prospect Kaelen Culpepper being promoted to the majors. Walker Jenkins provided the biggest highlight of the week with a two-homer game on Thursday, building on his own strong case to follow Culpepper onto the Twins roster. They Saints will now head south as they take on the Iowa Cubs this week, where the St. Paul offense will be tested.

North Side Baseball’s top pitching prospect (and number three overall prospect), Jaxon Wiggins, has struggled in Iowa. He’s sporting a 9.82 ERA across 22 innings, having allowed more than a hit AND walk per inning on average. The stuff is still there though, as he’s racked up 28 punchouts, and the Saints will have to worry about more than just him. A trio of major leaguers in Edward Cabrera, Braxton Garrett and Daniel Palencia are currently rehabbing in Iowa, and all will present challenges to St. Paul’s bats.

Offensively, the Cubs are led by right fielder Kevin Alcantara. Alcantara, who has bounced between Triple-A and the majors, is slashing .270/.364/.548 (.912 OPS), and has logged 31 extra-base hits across 63 games. Third baseman BJ Murray is also swinging a hot bat, slashing .296/.407/.489 (.896 OPS), and 40 extra-base hits.

WICHITA WIND SURGE WISDOM
It was a strong week for the Wind Surge, taking four out of six against NW Arkansas. They’ll now travel to Texas this week to take on the Corpus Christi Hooks. The Hooks are home to the Houston Astros’ number three prospect (according to MLB Pipeline), catcher Jason Schiavone, who’s slashing .246/.384/.384 (.768 OPS), along with 16 extra-base hits and 15 stolen bases. 

The Hooks’ pitching staff is led by right-hander Brett Gillis, who has posted a 3.57 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP across 16 starts, as well as a 20.1% strikeout rate and an 8.2% walk rate.

CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS CHRONICLE
The Kernels are coming off a series split in South Bend against the Cubs. They’ll now turn their attention to hosting the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers this week. 

The Timber Rattlers’ offense is headlined by a pair of Brewer Fanatic’s top five prospects, including their number two – shortstop Luis Pena. Across 46 games, he’s slashing .315/.402/.455 (.857 OPS), along with 15 extra-base hits and 25 stolen bases. He’s joined by outfielder Braylon Payne, who has already posted a 20-20 season, along with a .960 OPS.

Their pitching staff is led by Brewer Fanatic’s number 14 prospect, Josh Knoth. Knoth currently owns a 4.85 ERA across 52 innings for the Timber Rattlers, along with a 26% strikeout rate. 

FORT MYERS MIGHTY MUSSELS MATTERS
Fort Myers continued the trend of strong performances, taking four of six in Bradenton, Florida against the Marauders. While neither of the Twins’ top two draft picks (catchers Vahn Lackey and Carson Tinney) had particularly strong weeks at the plate, it was a successful week for the team. They’ll now take on the Clearwater Threshers this week, as they return to Fort Myers.

The Threshers are home to a pair of top 10 Phillies’ prospects (according to MLB Pipeline), one of whom being their number six prospect: Alirio Ferrebus. Ferrebus is slashing .324/.375/.520 (.895 OPS).

On the pitching side, the Mighty Mussels will get to see Philadelphia’s number seven prospect: left-hander Cade Obermueller. Across 35 2/3 innings, Obermueller owns a 2.78 ERA, along with an outrageous 35.3% strikeout rate. 

DSL TWINS
Twins 4, Tigers 3
Box Score

The Twins fell behind 2-0 early Monday, but rallied twice to come away with a 4-3 victory over the DSL Tigers 2. The win moves the Twins to 16-31 on the season.

The Twins got on the board in the third inning when Fabian Ulloa doubled and later scored on a sacrifice fly from Jendy Martinez after Daiyer Barboza singled. An inning later, Enmanuel Merlo singled and stole second before Jeferson Abreu launched his fourth home run of the season with two outs, putting Minnesota ahead 3-2.

Detroit tied the game in the sixth, but the Twins immediately regained the lead in the bottom half. Jhon Gonzalez opened the inning with a double, and after an Abel Sosa single, Merlo grounded out to bring Gonzalez home. Gonzalez and Barboza each finished 2-for-3, while Merlo went 1-for-3 with an RBI, a run, and a stolen base. Abreu added two RBI of his own.

Wisarly Reinoso earned his first win of the season after recording the final out of the sixth, and Arthur De La Cruz struck out two in a scoreless seventh to earn the save. The Twins finished with eight hits while holding Detroit to five. They’ll take on DSL Miami tomorrow.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Jeferson Abreu: 1-2, 1 H, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 HR
Arthur De La Cruz: 1 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 2 K

TOP 20 PROSPECT WEEK IN REVIEW
#1 - Walker Jenkins (Saints) - .304/.304/.696, 1.000 OPS, 2 HR
#2 - Vahn Lackey (Mussels) - .154/.353/.308, 2 2B
#3 - Kaelen Culpepper (Saints) - 462/.500/.769, 2 2B, 1 3B
#4 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Rehab) - .375/.565/.438, 6 BB, 2 K
#5 - Marek Houston (Wind Surge) - .143/.280/.191, 10 K, 4 BB
#6 - Riley Quick (Wind Surge) - 4 IP, 2 ER, 2 K, 2 BB
#7 - Eduardo Tait (Kernels) - .177/.222/.235, 1 2B, 1 RBI
#8 - Kendry Rojas (Saints) - 3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 5 K
#10 - Hendry Mendez (Saints) - .200/.333/.333, 2 2B, 2 RBI
#11 - Gabriel Gonzalez (Saints) - .467/.467/.733, 2B, HR, 2 RBI
#13 - Carson Tinney (Mussels) - .083/.353/.083, 5 BB, 4 K
#14 - Khadim Diaw (Wind Surge) - .389/.542/.667, 2 2B, HR, 2 RBI
#15 - Brandon Winokur (Wind Surge) - .238/.261/.286, 8 K, 0 BB
#17 - Quentin Young (Mussels) - .357/.333/.786, 2B, 3B, HR, 5 RBI
#18 - Ryan Gallagher (Saints) - 6 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 1 BB, 9 K

TUESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul Saints @ Iowa – LHP Kendry Rojas
Corpus Christi @ Wichita Wind Surge – TBD
Wisconsin @ Cedar Rapids Kernels – LHP Michael Carpenter
Clearwater @ Fort Myers Mighty Mussels – TBD
DSL Twins @ DSL Miami – TBD

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[soyouresayingtheresachance]

With ERod finally back, give him a little time to get up to speed in AAA, then it would be nice to see him at Target Field. He's in his last option year. Gotta let him get his feet wet and see some MLB pitching. 

Is Houston going to be moving up to take Culpeppers spot in St Paul? 

[Coach]

Houston maybe getting tired.

[jmlease1]

50 minutes ago, Coach said:

Houston maybe getting tired.

It definitely seemed to happen to Culpepper last season. There's a real adjustment that guys need to make to the rigors of the long pro season, and Houston might be hitting the wall. Hopefully he can get a few more days off and finish out strong. It shouldn't be a surprise and it's another reason why the people insisting he be promoted to AAA needed a cup of Calm Down Juice.

Diaw had a very nice week and is having an excellent season. He's an intriguing prospect.

Gonzalez and Young both had good hitting weeks as well; Young is definitely a guy who has tools that need polishing. He can make loud contact that makes you see why he was drafted where he was...and then have a week where he misses everything and you wonder if he'll ever get out of A-ball. We'll need to be patient with this guy. GG has been inconsistent this year; hopefully he can finish on a high note. He should be competing for a job in spring training next season if he can get back on track. I still like his RH bat?

[JD-TWINS]

8 hours ago, soyouresayingtheresachance said:

With ERod finally back, give him a little time to get up to speed in AAA, then it would be nice to see him at Target Field. He's in his last option year. Gotta let him get his feet wet and see some MLB pitching. 

Is Houston going to be moving up to take Culpeppers spot in St Paul? 

Houston “might” see MLB by next June/July……he has some seasoning to do at the plate….if he’s fantastic between now and mid-April, they may pull him up by end of April in ‘27.

 

[JD-TWINS]

ROJAS has to find his way back to The Show very soon. I get that Adams has been decent 70-80% of the time ……..he’s still strictly low leverage. Also, I get Rogers has a wealth of experience ……. now though, so do Minter & Hoffman. Kendry’s stuff just plays up so much that he needs to be using his good innings for the betterment of the Big Club!

[mikelink45]

I am sad every time I read about Jenkins and think about the Twins playing Roden instead of him.  The time manipulation is foolish - get him up now. 

Thanks for a good summary. 

[terrydactyls]

1 hour ago, mikelink45 said:

I am sad every time I read about Jenkins and think about the Twins playing Roden instead of him.  The time manipulation is foolish - get him up now. 

Thanks for a good summary. 

At this point in the season (the 15th is only four days away), why bother?  The Twins might as well get another year of control.

[jkcarew]

Jenkins conceivably would have been up many weeks ago if not for the injury. But yeah, now you’re at a point where you might as well wait until the 15th.

Getting on base and playing at least average defensive CF/OF would be great. I don’t expect much power for a while. Still, nice to see him turn on that pitch, he’s starting to do a little more of that. The other HR was a wind-aided fairly routine fly ball the left field.

[TJSweens]

Has anybody started a pool on how soon Emma goes back on the IL?

[ashbury]

8 hours ago, terrydactyls said:

The Twins might as well get another year of control.

I think this came up also in another thread, but now is not the time of year team control is a consideration. 

Rookie of the Year considerations are the only thing at the moment, and that is probably not enough to account for Jenkins being at AAA.