Twins Minor League Report (8/13): The Kernels and Wind Surge Got Great Pitching, the Mussels Powered Their Way to a Win

[Seth Stohs]

Image courtesy of William Parmeter (photo of Luis Fragoza)

TRANSACTIONS   
The Twins activated Byron Buxton as their 27th man for the Field of Dreams Game in Dyersville, Iowa. After the game, it was announced that catcher Alex Jackson was DFAd. Hopefully he will clear waivers and remain in the organization. 

The Saints released RHP Eduardo Salazar, and RHP Alejandro Hidalgo was placed on the Development List. 

The Twins signed RHP German Marquez to a minor-league deal. The 31-year-old former All Star had been released by the San Diego Padres last week. When he debuted with the Rockies in 2016, he was one of the youngest players in the big leagues. Pitching in Colorado makes it difficult to know just how good he was. From 2017-2022, he was worth 15.8 bWAR. Since then, he has fought injuries and the struggles of returning from a major injury. Over the past four seasons, he has been worth a total of -1.3 bWAR. Between 2023-2024, he pitched in just five total games. He was 3-16 with a 6.70 ERA in 126 1/3 innings in Colorado. He signed a deal with the Padres this spring and went 4-2 with a 5.26 ERA in 13 games (53 innings).   

Side Note: This is the type of signing that the Twins should consider over the next three weeks. While there can’t be any more trades of players on 40-man rosters, teams can make trades of minor leaguers for minor leaguers. They can also sign players to minor league deals. Is Marquez good? Not really. Can he eat innings in St. Paul and in Minnesota if needed? Sure. And if he turns out good? By having him in the organization before September 1st, he can be eligible for the playoffs. If he’s really bad? He costs them pretty much nothing. If he’s somewhere in the middle, he can opt out.    

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 3, Iowa 10
Box Score
I would guess that a lot of Twins fans, especially those who follow prospects, were hoping that Walker Jenkins would have just stayed in Dyersville, Iowa. So, on Thursday night, when Walker Jenkins led off a game in Iowa with an opposite field home run, maybe a few people thought that he had received The Call. He hadn’t. He was with the Saints in Des Moines.   

Unfortunately, the Iowa Cubs scored six runs in the bottom of the first inning and ran away with this one.

Down 10-1 in the eight, Hendry Mendez lined a homer over the wall in right field to cut the deficit to a touchdown with an extra point. The Saints were unable to get any closer.   

Ricky Castro started and was charged with six runs on five hits and a walk. He gave up three home runs and only got two outs in the first inning. C.J. Culpepper came in to get out of the first inning. He gave up one run in 2 1/3 innings. He had five strikeouts. Matt Bowman gave up two solo home runs over two innings of work. Garrett Acton gave up a run on three walks in the sixth. Marco Raya and Julian Merryweather each had 1-2-3 innings. 

Jenkins led the Saints offense. He went 3-for-5 with his seventh home run. Cody Morissette went 2-for-4. Mendez went 1-for-3 with a walk and his seventh homer. Gabriel Gonzalez walked twice.     

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 5, Corpus Christi 1
Box Score
The Caden Kendle train continues to role. On Thursday night, he got the scoring started with a two-out, first-inning home run. 

In the second inning, Kyle DeBarge and Graham Brown walked. With two outs, Marek Houston drove in DeBarge with a single. Brandon Winokur walked to load the bases. That brought Kendle to the plate, and he came through again with a two-run single to give his team a 4-0 lead. 

Riley Quick made the start, and it was easily his best start since joining the Wind Surge. He gave up one run on four hits in four innings. He walked two and had four strikeouts. 

Chris Vallimont came on and struck out six batters over four scoreless, hitless innings. He walked two batters. 

Hunter Gregory struck out one batter in a perfect ninth.  

Garrett Spain homered for the third time in his last two games in the seventh inning to give the team a 5-1 lead. That gives the minor-league Rule 5 pick 21 homers this season.   

Kendle went 2-for-4 with his sixth Surge homer and three RBI. In 26 Double-A games, the former fifth-round pick is hitting .400/.469/.674 (1.143) with eight doubles and six home runs. 

Houston went 2-for-5 and stole his 23rd base. Andrew Cossetti walked three times. Graham Brown walked twice.  

Kernels Nuggets 
Cedar Rapids 4, Wisconsin 0
Box Score
More high-quality pitching for the Kernels and specifically another tremendous outing for Adrian Bohorquez. The young right-hander tossed five shutout innings. He gave up one hit, walked two, and he had four strikeouts. 

Michael Ross came on and got a four-inning save. He gave up two hits, walked none and had three strikeouts.

The Kernels didn’t score until the fifth inning. Quinn McDaniel led off the inning with his seventh Kernels double. With two outs, Byron Chourio switched places with him, recording his first Kernels double. Chourio scored on a Jacob McCombs single to center to make it 2-0.   

Jump to the eighth inning. With one out, Yasser Mercedes doubled. With two outs, JP Smith walked and stole second. Danny De Andrade walked to load the bases. McDaniel came up and drove a single past a diving second baseman. Mercedes and Smith scored to make it a 4-0 game.   

The Kernels scored their four runs on seven hits and four walks. McDaniels was 2-for-4 with his seventh double and sixth stolen base. McCombs was 2-for-4 with his 16th stolen base. Smith went 1-for-2 with two walks and his second steal. Yasser Mercedes went 1-for-3 with his 18th double and 33rd stolen base. 

MIGHTY MATTERS
Fort Myers 10, Clearwater 4
Box Score
After two scoreless innings, the Mussels scored in each of the next six innings. This was a solid all-around game for the Mussels, power, speed and some pitching in key moments. 

Matt Barr started and gave up three runs on eight hits over 4 1/3 innings. He struck out three batters. Lefty Matthew Becker came in and struck out four batters over 1 2/3 scoreless innings. He gave up two hits and walked a batter. Jake Covey came on and gave up a hit, hit a batter, and recorded a strikeout. Hendry Chivilli came in for the ninth inning. He gave up one run on two hits and a hit batter. 

The Mussels scoring started with two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the third inning. Colby Turner and Carson Tinney hit singles. Luis Fragoza came up and drilled his 12th home run of the season to give the team a 3-2 lead.   

With two outs in the fourth, Merphy Hernandez walked, stole second and scored when the throw went into the outfield. Yes, he is that fast.   

The Mussels loaded the bases in the fifth inning with nobody out. With two outs, Isaiah Lane picked up his teammates with a line-drive single to center to drive in two runs and give the team a 6-3 lead. 

In the sixth inning, it was all Merphy Hernandez again. With one out, he hit his third home run. 

The team doubled the Mussel in the seventh inning. Luis Fragoza hit his second home run of the game, and two batters later, Quentin Young hit a homer to make it 9-3.   

The Mussels added one more run in the eighth inning. Hernandez doubled and went to third on a passed ball. He scored the 10th run on a groundout. 

Fragoza went 2-for-2 with two walks, his 12th and 13th home runs, three runs scored and four RBI. He is now hitting .314/.377/.588 (.965) with 17 doubles, 13 homers and 50 RBI in 56 Mussels games. Hernandez went 2-for-3 with a walk, his fifth double, his third home run. He also stole his 35th base in 47 games for Fort Myers. Both players started their seasons with 10 games with the FCL Twins.

Quentin Young went 2-for-4 with his 15th home run. Carson Tinney went 1-for-3 with two walks. Colby Turner and Isaiah Lane each had a single and a walk.      

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
DSL Twins 9, DSL Rockies 13
Box Score
If only the game would have ended after the top of the 7th… The DSL Twins had worked their way to a 7-2 lead. Unfortunately, the Phillies scored six in the seventh and fifth in the eighth. 

Yolcar Garcia started for the Twins. He gave up two runs on three hits and a walk in three innings. He had one strikeout. Alam Soriano came on and tossed three scoreless innings. He gave up one hit, walked one and struck out three batters. Jeremy Jimenez came in to start the seventh. He recorded just one out and was charged with six runs (4 earned) on two hits, two walks, and a hit batter. Failin Placencio came on with the bases loaded and allowed all three runners to score. And, he gave up two of his own runs on one hit andfour walks. He recorded three outs. Wisarly Reinoso came in with two runners on in the eighth inning and allowed both inherited runners to score. Before getting two outs, he gave up another three runs on four hits and a walk. 

The Twins did a nice job of putting up crooked numbers. They scored two runs in the third inning, both on wild pitches. The top of the fourth inning began with a walk, a hit batter, and a walk, but even despite a double play the Twins were able to score two more runs, both on RBI singles. 

Jhon Gonzalez hit his first home run as a professional leading off the top of the fifth. That gave the team a 5-2 lead. 

Then in the top of the seventh, Gonzalez led off with his 11th double. After a walk and a wild pitch, he scored on a sacrifice fly. They added one more to make it 7-2. 

Daiyer Barboza led off wand went 2-for-4 with two walks and three RBI. Gonzalez was 2-for-4 with a walk, his first homer and his 11th double. Misael Rodriguez went 2-for-3, and he stole his 10th base. Jefferson Abreu was 1-for-2 with two walks. Jendy Martinez stole his 20th base of the year. 

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter(s) of the Day  
Luis Fragoza (Fort Myers): 2-for-2, 2 BB, 2-HR(13), 3 R, 4 RBI
Walker Jenkins (St. Paul): 3-for-5, HR(7), R, RBI, K
Merphy Hernandez (Fort Myers): 2-for-3, BB, 2B(5), HR(3), 3 R, RBI, K, SB(35) 

Pitcher(s) of the Day 
Adrian Bohorquez (Cedar Rapids): 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, 63 pitches, 38 strikes (60.3%)
Riley Quick (Wichita): 4 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, HBP, 4 K, 68 pitches, 41 strikes (60.3%)
Chris Vallimont (Wichita): 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, 64 pitches, 41 strikes (64.0%)
Michael Ross (Cedar Rapids): 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 40 pitches, 28 strikes (70.0%) 

 

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

#1 - OF Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - 3-for-5, HR(7), R, RBI, K (batted first, played CF)
#3 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (Minnesota) -1-for-4, 2 K (batted ninth, played SS) 
#4 - SS Marek Houston (Wichita) - 2-for-5, R, RBI, K, SB(23) (batted first, played SS)
#5 - RHP Riley Quick (Wichita) - 4 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 4 K, 68 pitches, 41 strikes (60.3%)
#7 - OF Hendry Mendez (St. Paul) - 1-for-3, BB, HR(7), R, 2 RBI, K. (Batted fifth, played LF) 
#8 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4 (batted third, played catcher) 
#9 - 1B/OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 0-for-2, 2 BB (batted sixth, played 1B)
#11 - C Carson Tinney (Fort Myers) - 1-for-3, 2 BB, 2 R, K (batted third, DH)
#12 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Wichita) - 0-for-4, BB, 2 K, (batted second, played 3B) 
#18 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - 2-for-4, HR(15), R, RBI, K (batted sixth, played SS),
#19 - OF Yasser Mercedes (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-3, BB, 2B(18), R, SB(33), K (batted second, played CF)

UPCOMING PROBABLES
Friday, August 14
St. Paul @ Iowa (7:08 pm CT) - RHP Trent Baker (3-3, 5.40 ERA) 
Corpus Christi @ Wichita (6:35 pm CT) - TBD
Wisconsin @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 pm CT) - RHP Justin Mitrovich (2-0, 2.41 ERA) 
Clearwater @ Ft. Myers (6:05 pm CT) - RHP Cristian Hernandez (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
FCL Twins - Season Complete. 
DSL Phillies @ DSL Twins (10:00 am CT) - No Game 

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 60-63
St. Paul Saints: 66-50
Wichita Wind Surge: 44-65
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 44-65
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 61-48
FCL Twins: 33-26
DSL Twins: 17-32 

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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[FlyingFinn]

Vallimont has had enough great games that it's time to move him up to the Saints. Also nice to see Bohorquez turning his season around.

[Bangkok Twins Fan]

Another terrific roundup of the minor league action. Keep it coming, Seth! I agree about the Twins signing Marquez to a minor league deal. Definitely worth a roll of the dice. As you noted he was already on the Twins' radar a year or two back, so hopefully there is something there the team can use. Zebby and Ober haven't exactly been lights out recently, and even Bradley's game yesterday was cause for concern, so even a so-called innings eater might not be a bad thing to have the final month. 

[DJL44]

I am surprised they didn’t send Roden down to AAA. If they’re keeping him around, I don’t see how they add Jenkins. If they’re going to call up Jenkins next week, they could have optioned Roden now and waited to see if there was an injury this weekend instead of cutting Jackson.

[mikelink45]

I thought Jackson has outperformed expectations and I was surprised to see him go.

And yes, many of us wish Jenkins was now a Twins player.