Twins Minor League Report (9/4): Big Innings Hurt Twins Affiliates; Lots of L's.

[Seth Stohs]

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey (photo of Andrew Cossetti)

TRANSACTIONS  
Fort Myers moved RHP Matthew Dalquist to the development list. That makes room for RHP Thomas Burns to be added to the Mussels roster.           

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 2, Omaha 3 (10 innings)
Box Score
Kala’i Rosario got things going for the Saints with an opposite field home run, his eighth since joining the Saints.   

Lefty Aaron Rozek made arguably his best start of the season on Friday night He tossed six scoreless innings. He gave up four hits, walked three and had three strikeouts. 

Matt Bowman came in and gave up two runs on two hits and a walk. He struck out two batters.

With one out in the top of the eighth inning, Matt Wallner reached on a two-base error and went to third on a groundout. Cody Morissette came through with an RBI single to make it 2-2. 

Marco Raya tossed two scoreless innings, the eighth and the ninth innings. He gave up two hits and a walk, but he struck out three batters. 

The Saints went scoreless in the top of the 10th inning. Julian Merryweather came in for the bottom of the 10th. They intentionally walked the leadoff man to set up a potential double play ball. However, the next batter sacrificed himself with a bunt that put runners on second and third with one out. Jacob Berry lined a ball into the gap in left-center field. Emmanuel Rodriguez raced it down and made a very nice sliding-diving catch. But it left no chance for a throw home and the Storm Chasers took the 3-2 win. 

Hendry Mendez went 2-for-4 with his 11th double. Cody Morissette went 2-for-4 with his 15th double and stole his ninth base. Noah Cardenas went 2-for-4. Tanner Schobel knocked his 15th double, and Tristan Gray hit his fourth double. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 4, Tulsa 7
Box Score
A five-run sixth inning for Tulsa was more than enough for them to take the Friday night win. 

Preston Johnson started for the Surge. In four innings, he gave up one run on three hits. He walked three and struck out seven batters. 

Darren Bowen came on for the fifth inning and started the sixth. He gave up six runs on four hits and three walks in 1 1/3 innings. Kyle Bischoff allowed an inherited runner to score. He gave up a hit and walked two but got two outs to close out the sixth inning. Jaylen Nowlin and Mitch Mueller each threw a scoreless inning and struck out one batter. 

Andrew Cossetti went 2-for-3 with a walk. He hit his career-high 18th home run of the season.   

Jaime Ferrer hit his 13th double and drove in the team’s first run. 

In the eighth inning, Marek Houston hit his seventh Wichita home run, a two-run shot that ended the team’s scoring for the day.   

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 3, South Bend 14
Box Score
South Bend jumped ahead early with a four-run first. The Kernels cut the deficit to 5-3 in the fifth inning. However, a seven-run seventh allowed the Cubs to run away with a win.  

Merit Jones started and gave up five runs on six hits and a walk over four innings. He had four strikeouts. Ivran Romero gave up five runs on four hits, two walks and a hit batter in 2 1/3 innings. Cole Peschl gave up four runs on six hits and a walk in one inning. Mike Hilker got the final two outs.   

The Kernels scored their three runs on seven hits and five walks. They had no extra base hits. Byron Chourio went 2-for-4 with a walk and two stolen bases. Yasser Mercedes walked twice. Irvin Nunez went 1-for-2 with a walk. 

MIGHTY MATTERS
Fort Myers 9, Clearwater 13
Box Score
In a bit of a back-and-forth game, the Mussels scored a run in the top of the seventh that gave them a 6-4 lead. Unfortunately, they were outscored 9-3 over the game’s final two innings. 

With two outs in the top of the third inning, Colby Turner and Poncho Ruiz hit back-to-back singles. Isaiah Lane tripled to drive in two runs and give the team a 2-0 lead.   

Bryce Fowler led off the top of the fourth inning with a single and went to second when Yovanny Duran walked. With two outs, Charlie Scholvin drove in Fowler with a single. Turner singled to drive in Duran. Ruiz drove in Scholvin with another single, and the Mussels held a 5-1 lead. 

Leading 5-4, the Mussels added a run in the top of the seventh. Poncho Ruiz and Bryan Acuna walked, and a Bryce Fowler drove in Ruiz with the sixth run. 

Matt Barr started and gave up four runs on five hits and two walks in 3 1/3 innings. Brad Rudis gave up one hit and one walk in a scoreless 1 2/3 innings. 

Thomas Burns came in for the bottom of the sixth inning to make his professional debut. The first two batters he faced hit singles. However, Burns got a ground ball double play and a strikeout to end the inning.   

Burns went out to start the bottom of the seventh inning. He walked the first three batters he faced before giving up a bases-clearing double. Adam Falinski came in and after a passed ball and a single, Burns' line was complete. He was charged with four runs on three hits and three walks.

Heading into the eighth inning, the Mussels were down 9-6.

However, in the top of the eighth inning, Charlie Scholvin and Colby Turner were hit by pitches to start the inning. Then Mussel manager Jordan Smith went to his bench and called on Jimmy Keenan. The non-drafted free agent came through with a three-run homer that tied the game at 9-9. It was his second home run.   

Falinski gave up five runs on five hits and two walks in 1 2/3 innings. He had two strikeouts, but the two home runs certainly hurt. Aidan Russell came in and got the final out. 

Poncho Ruiz went 2-for-3 with a walk. Colby Turner went 2-for-4 with two hit batters. Bryce Fowler went 2-for-4 with a walk. Charlie Scholvin was 2-for-4 and was hit by a pitch. Isaiah Lane was 1-for-4 with two walks, his fourth triple, and two RBI. Yovanny Duran and Hideki Prather were both 1-for-3 with a walk and a double. 

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter(s) of the Day 
Andrew Cossetti (Wichita): 2-for-3, BB, HR(18), 2 R, RBI 

Pitcher(s) of the Day
Aaron Rozek (St. Paul): 6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 75 pitches, 47 strikes (62.7%). 

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 (Minnesota) - 0-for-3, BB (batted ninth, played CF)
#3 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (Minnesota) - 1-for-3, BB, SB(1) (batted eighth, played SS)
#4 - SS Marek Houston (Wichita) - 1-for-4, HR(7), R, 2 RBI (batted first, played SS)
#6 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 0-for-5, K (batted first, played CF) 
#7 - OF Hendry Mendez (St. Paul) - 2-for-4, 2B(11) (batted fourth, played LF)   

#8 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-5, RBI (batted third, played Catcher)
#9 - 1B/OF Gabriel Gonzalez (Minnesota) - 0-for-2, K (pinch hit, played LF)
#12 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Wichita) - 0-for-4, 3 K (batted third, played CF)
#19 - OF Yasser Mercedes (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-3, 2 BB, K, (batted second, played DH)

UPCOMING PROBABLES
Saturday, September 5
St. Paul @ Omaha (6:05 pm CT) - RHP Jack Anderson (5-4, 4.29 ERA)
Wichita @ Tulsa (7:00 pm CT) - RHP Riley Quick (0-2, 5.79 ERA)
Cedar Rapids @ South Bend (6:05 pm CT) - RHP Justin Mitrovich (2-1, 4.00 ERA)
Ft. Myers @ Clearwater (5:30 pm CT) - RHP Jason Reitz (0-2, 2.76 ERA) 

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 67-74
St. Paul Saints: 76-59
Wichita Wind Surge: 51-77 (Final Game 9/13)
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 47-81 (Final Game 9/6)
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 67-59 (Final Game 9/6)
FCL Twins: 33-26 (Season Complete)
DSL Twins: 19-35 (Season Complete)

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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[thelanges5]

Lackey to AA for another week of games or see ya next season?

[mikelink45]

What is our catching depth chart like with the minors included?

Jeffers we all assume will be gone.

Caratini seems to be the anointed one.  Jackson second.  But that is not very exciting so from the standpoint of next in line - not who has the most upside how do you rank these catchers?

Lackey - Tait - Diaw - Cossetti - Cardenas - Banuelas - Ruiz - Jiminez? 

If we have an emergency in 2027 who gets called up?

[Paul Walerius]

So I am not sure that the Mussels added someone that died in 1928 (Thomas Burns) but its a bold strategy.

[DJL44]

Isaiah Lane has outperformed his 13th round pick expectations 

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, mikelink45 said:

What is our catching depth chart like with the minors included?

Jeffers we all assume will be gone.

Caratini seems to be the anointed one.  Jackson second.  But that is not very exciting so from the standpoint of next in line - not who has the most upside how do you rank these catchers?

Lackey - Tait - Diaw - Cossetti - Cardenas - Banuelas - Ruiz - Jiminez? 

If we have an emergency in 2027 who gets called up?

Whoever is on the waiver wire

[SE23]

23 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Whoever is on the waiver wire

Gary Sanchez is available...

[rdehring]

Another ugly night with three of the teams giving up 34 runs.  The two Fort Myers teams had decent seasons, as did the Saints.  But overall, not great.  And the pitching has been ugly, flat out ugly.

Gets us to that eternal question when thinking about minor league systems.  Is the goal to have teams who win with a couple playing for championships?  Or is it all about individual player development?  Ideally, the answer would be both.  Curious how others think about these questions?  

[DJL44]

11 minutes ago, rdehring said:

Is the goal to have teams who win with a couple playing for championships?  Or is it all about individual player development?  Ideally, the answer would be both.  Curious how others think about these questions?  

100% player development. You can’t hold players back trying to win minor league trophies.

[PuckettPond]

Curious who the Twins send to AFL this fall. Always a good read to see who needs more developing. Hopefully the Twins Winter Trade Winds are strong with an influx of young pitching as we need more Abel, Bradley & Rojas. 

[Permanent Twins Fan]

2 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Caratini seems to be the anointed one.  Jackson second.  But that is not very exciting so from the standpoint of next in line - not who has the most upside how do you rank these catchers?

Lackey - Tait - Diaw - Cossetti - Cardenas - Banuelas - Ruiz - Jiminez? 

If we have an emergency in 2027 who gets called up?

I think Diaw would be the one to get the call next year because he is higher up and I don't think Cardenas or Banuelas have any future with the Twins. You also forgot Carson Tinney. In terms of pure upside, I would rank them Lackey, Tait, Tinney, Diaw, Cosetti, Jiminez, Ruiz. 

[Seth Stohs]

2 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

What is our catching depth chart like with the minors included?

Jeffers we all assume will be gone.

Caratini seems to be the anointed one.  Jackson second.  But that is not very exciting so from the standpoint of next in line - not who has the most upside how do you rank these catchers?

Lackey - Tait - Diaw - Cossetti - Cardenas - Banuelas - Ruiz - Jiminez? 

If we have an emergency in 2027 who gets called up?

Guessing the catching assignments at the start of 2027. I'll assume Jeffers will go elsewhere, but he could be offered the Qualifying Offer (if that remains a thing). But I'll guess without. 

Twins: Caratini and a one-year, $8-10 million type of catcher. 

Saints; Cardenas, Cossetti 

Wind Surge: Diaw, Tait, Ruiz

Cedar Rapids: Lackey, Tinney, Jimenez,

Fort Myers: Prather, Caraballo, Nunez

Depth: Luis Hernandez, Ian Daugherty, Jimmy Keenan.

Alex Jackson had a really good season with the Twins. Even his offensive numbers were solid. But he would likely get a decent raise in arbitration. I could see them going to him and asking him if he'll sign for the same amount or a slight raise for next year. He is really solid defensively. 

[mikelink45]

8 minutes ago, Permanent Twins Fan said:

I think Diaw would be the one to get the call next year because he is higher up and I don't think Cardenas or Banuelas have any future with the Twins. You also forgot Carson Tinney. In terms of pure upside, I would rank them Lackey, Tait, Tinney, Diaw, Cosetti, Jiminez, Ruiz. 

Thanks for bringing in Tinney.  I see his bat being great but have been prejudiced by articles criticizing his catching skills.  

[mikelink45]

3 minutes ago, Seth Stohs said:

Guessing the catching assignments at the start of 2027. I'll assume Jeffers will go elsewhere, but he could be offered the Qualifying Offer (if that remains a thing). But I'll guess without. 

Twins: Caratini and a one-year, $8-10 million type of catcher. 

Saints; Cardenas, Cossetti 

Wind Surge: Diaw, Tait, Ruiz

Cedar Rapids: Lackey, Tinney, Jimenez,

Fort Myers: Prather, Caraballo, Nunez

Depth: Luis Hernandez, Ian Daugherty, Jimmy Keenan.

Alex Jackson had a really good season with the Twins. Even his offensive numbers were solid. But he would likely get a decent raise in arbitration. I could see them going to him and asking him if he'll sign for the same amount or a slight raise for next year. He is really solid defensively. 

Thanks for the perspective.  From what I read on TD it seems as if Lackey will get a quick bump to Wind Surge and I wonder if Diaw won't be a Saint so he would be in position for a quick promotion. 

[D.C Twins]

Would be a great local boy made good story if they call up Rozek for a cup of coffee at the end of the season ..... make it happen FO!

[LambchoP]

Tinney sure seems to have some power in his bat. Potential first baseman down the line?

[Seth Stohs]

5 hours ago, thelanges5 said:

Lackey to AA for another week of games or see ya next season?

He could. That would be the reason... to get him 3-4 more games and 12-18 more at bats. 

[Mike Sixel]

4 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

What is our catching depth chart like with the minors included?

Jeffers we all assume will be gone.

Caratini seems to be the anointed one.  Jackson second.  But that is not very exciting so from the standpoint of next in line - not who has the most upside how do you rank these catchers?

Lackey - Tait - Diaw - Cossetti - Cardenas - Banuelas - Ruiz - Jiminez? 

If we have an emergency in 2027 who gets called up?

Some random backup they sign is number three. 

[bean5302]

2 hours ago, LambchoP said:

Tinney sure seems to have some power in his bat. Potential first baseman down the line?

 

2 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Thanks for bringing in Tinney.  I see his bat being great but have been prejudiced by articles criticizing his catching skills.  

Tinney won the Rawlings ABCA Gold Glove for best defensive college catcher last year. The Twins think they can improve Tinney's transition skills. I haven't seen anything "negative" about Tinney, but the unfounded rumor you're spreading remains.

Tinney's been praised for a strong arm, pitch calling and framing in multiple articles. Seems like, around Twins territory, it's important to trash him in order to keep Lackey looking better.

https://www.abca.org/ABCA/ABCA/Awards/Gold_Glove/2026.aspx

[MeleMouth]

7 hours ago, Seth Stohs said:

Guessing the catching assignments at the start of 2027. I'll assume Jeffers will go elsewhere, but he could be offered the Qualifying Offer (if that remains a thing). But I'll guess without. 

Twins: Caratini and a one-year, $8-10 million type of catcher. 

Saints; Cardenas, Cossetti 

Wind Surge: Diaw, Tait, Ruiz

Cedar Rapids: Lackey, Tinney, Jimenez,

Fort Myers: Prather, Caraballo, Nunez

Depth: Luis Hernandez, Ian Daugherty, Jimmy Keenan.

Alex Jackson had a really good season with the Twins. Even his offensive numbers were solid. But he would likely get a decent raise in arbitration. I could see them going to him and asking him if he'll sign for the same amount or a slight raise for next year. He is really solid defensively. 

Pickings will be slim in free agency for back-up catchers. After Carson Kelly, who may get more money than we expect, the top choices may be the not-too-exciting group of Heim, d'Arnaud, Hedges, Sanchez, and Rogers. 

I would hope they sign another Jackson or Pereda for St. Paul, so that neither Cardenas nor Cossetti are the emergency catcher. 

Consideration should be given to having Lackey leap ahead of Tait.

[SE23]

9 hours ago, bean5302 said:

 

Tinney won the Rawlings ABCA Gold Glove for best defensive college catcher last year. The Twins think they can improve Tinney's transition skills. I haven't seen anything "negative" about Tinney, but the unfounded rumor you're spreading remains.

Tinney's been praised for a strong arm, pitch calling and framing in multiple articles. Seems like, around Twins territory, it's important to trash him in order to keep Lackey looking better.

https://www.abca.org/ABCA/ABCA/Awards/Gold_Glove/2026.aspx

Not sure that's entirely charitable. Here's the scouting report from MLB.com

https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/twins/carson-tinney-806245