Twins Promote Top Pick Vahn Lackey to Cedar Rapids

[Seth Stohs]

The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels and the Cedar Rapids Kernels have announced that catcher Vahn Lackey has been promoted to the High-A Kernels. 

He certainly didn't put up the kind of numbers some might expect in his 15 games with the Mussels. He hit just .204 with a .370 slugging percentage, but he did get on base 39% of the time. 

The actual numbers are not important. 15 games is a small sample, and Lackey had not played competitive baseball in about two months.   

Lackey showed some of his talent and the tools that make him such an intriguing catching prospect. Behind the plate, he has several caught stealing videos showing a quick transfer, quick release, good feet, and a strong and accurate arm. That said, he got just six out of 26 would-be base stealers (23%). 

Lackey showed really good speed with the two doubles and two triples. He was also successful in five out of six stolen base attempts.   

Regardless of the statistics themselves, it is time to push the top pick up to High-A Cedar Rapids for the final couple of weeks. 

I am a bit surprised that second round draft pick and fellow catcher Carson Tinney did not take the same flight up to Iowa. Tinney has played in 16 games for Fort Myers. The Texas alum hit .222/.409/.593 (1.001) with two doubles and six home runs. 

After going 3-for-27 in his first nine professional ballgames. He was hitting .111/.385/.222 (.607) with one home run. He had 11 walks to 13 strikeouts. 

In his past eight games, Tinney has gone 9-for-27. He has hit .333/.438/.963 (1.401) with two doubles and five home runs. He's been much more aggressive with four walks and eight strikeouts. 

The Rest of the 2026 Draft Picks (Hitters): 
11th round Aidan Teel: 16 G, 14-for-53, .264/.385/.396 (.781) with 5 doubles, 1 triple. 

12th round Colby Turner: 16 G, 20-for-62, .323/.403/.452 (.854) with 3 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run.  

13th round Isaiah Lane: 14 G, 16-for-47, .340/.418/.617 (1.035), 4 doubles, 3 triples, 1 home run.

15th round Charlie Scholvin: 14 G, 8-for-45, .178/.362/.200 (.562), 1 double. 

17th round Hideki Prather: 7 G, 3-for-23, .130/.214/.174 (.388), 1 double. 

19th round PJ Moutzouridis: Remains on the FCL Twins roster. 

View full rumor

[weitz41]

I'm a little surprised Tinney wasn't promoted with lackey as well. Looking at Cedar rapids roster though, it is a bit crowded with catchers. Could be room for Turner though.

[Sampson5]

Feel like tinney ends the year in high A probably didn't wanna promote 2 catchers at the same time with Tait also at high A my guess is they hope Tait gets hot enough to warrant a promotion then call up tinney in a week 

[DJL44]

Somebody has to catch in Fort Myers or the umpire will get pelted.

[DocBauer]

It doesn't matter about his production at this point. I think we all knew Ft Myers was just an initial introduction to professional ball. It's been that way for a couple of years.

He may or may not hit better at CR to close out the season. But it honestly doesn't matter. He played a full college season, sat for a couple of months, and now he's just adjusting to pro ball.

A move to CR is just a spring board. His offseason development will determine if he begins 2027 at AA, or maybe gets a few weeks at CR to get in a groove. 

Personally, I still think there's room for Tinney to do the same.

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

12 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Somebody has to catch in Fort Myers or the umpire will get pelted.

Prather is up now.  A was stacked at catching.   

[Blyleven2011]

With the 3rd pick of the draft and all the hoopla about how good he is , I thought a high A placement was possible , lackey is there now so let’s see how he finishes out the season there …

lets hope he does well and moves to AA early next year and late 2027 in AAA and at the major league level …

he should be a fast promoted prospect, he should be but one never knows , could have trouble with the curve 😂 ….

[bean5302]

I think the Twins want to work with Tinney on his exchange and technique for controlling the run game. 0/11 in catching base runners. Not surprised he's still in Ft Myers.

[arby58]

Lackey’s following a similar path as Culpepper (9 games at Ft. Meyers) and Houston (12 games) before getting called up to Cedar Rapids.

[jimbo92107]

The clip of Lackey gunning down an attempted steal was...revealing. Out of his hand, the ball never got more than about five feet off the ground. Pitcher bailed out of the way. His catch and release must be one of the quickest in the system, and that ball must've been going at least 90 mph. 

When I was a kid, in about 4th grade, our team had a catcher with a rifle arm. He could peg that ball almost flat to second, and it usually popped my glove on the first base side of the bag. Funny how memories like that stick with you, almost sixty years later, barely seeming to fade. Our team kinda sucked, but that guy was a good catcher. I hope he remembers those days with a smile.

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

On 8/25/2026 at 1:41 PM, bean5302 said:

I think the Twins want to work with Tinney on his exchange and technique for controlling the run game. 0/11 in catching base runners. Not surprised he's still in Ft Myers.

He has 2 now 😉

[Dman]

Congrats to Tinney on a well deserved promotion.  His power has shown up right away.  He has kept the K rate below 30% and is walking at a good clip 21% as well. It's somewhat expected for good college players to do well at A ball so just nice to see he is passing that first test.  

The defense is likely a work in progress for a while, but he has the arm to throw runners out which is a step up from what the Twins usually find when they go with offensive minded catchers. 

Hopefully he dominates High A and isn't there all that long either.  Super small size, but right now it's looking like that was a really good pick in the second round.  Heck with the power in his bat I'd be fine he ended up a first baseman. long way to go, but looking good so far.