Twins Minor League Report (5/26): Nate Baez Blasts a Pair; Pierson Ohl Dominates

TRANSACTIONS
RHP Jay Jackson clears waivers, likely to report to AAA St. Paul soon.

Saints Sentinel
St. Paul 3, Buffalo 8
Box Score
Louie Varland: 5 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
HR: DaShawn Keirsey Jr. (8)
Multi-hit games: Royce Lewis (2-for-5, 2B, R), DaShawn Keirsey Jr. (2-for-4, HR, R, 2 RBI), Michael Helman (3-for-4)

St. Paul’s pitching betrayed them on Sunday.

It’s been a tough season for Louie Varland. He’s halved his MLB ERA with the Saints, but efficiency remains a critical Achilles heel; three of his last four starts have seen hit totals of at least seven. Buffalo banged out eight on Sunday. The big one came in the 3rd, when Addison Barger smoked a liner that just barely cleared the wall, giving him a three-run home that counts all the same.

The blast overshadowed a homer hit the previous half-inning by DaShawn Keirsey Jr. Is it his time? Thoughts vary. At least, that’s what 80 comments tell me. His production cannot be denied, however, as the homer fueled a multi-hit outing that saw his 16th successful stolen base of the season. 

Respectful deke attempt there.

Royce Lewis played his second straight rehab game for the Saints, collecting a pair of hits while satisfying the Twins front office with his plodding baserunning; no steals were attempted during the filming of this game. 

Nick Wittgren struck out a pair of batters in a scoreless inning. His ERA sits at 2.63 since joining the Twins organization.

Buffalo shortstop Leo Jimenez is Toronto’s 5th-best prospect, according to MLB Pipeline. He singled and walked in four plate appearances.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 3, San Antonio 1
Box Score
Pierson Ohl: 6 ⅔ IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
HR: Emmanuel Rodriguez (8)
Multi-hit games: Emmanuel Rodriguez (2-for-4, HR, 2 R, RBI, BB), Jeferson Morales (2-for-4, R, RBI), Jorel Ortega (2-for-4, 2B, RBI)

Pierson Ohl spearheaded a Wichita victory on Sunday.

The start embodied the best Ohl has to offer as a pitcher: he earned four 1-2-3 innings, struck out five, and only allowed a run when he finally broke down in the 7th. He threw 85 pitches. The start lowered his season ERA to 3.51—the 4th lowest of any pitcher in the Texas League with at least 40 innings pitched. Somehow, Logan Evans has a 1.39 ERA in that godforsaken pitching environment. 

Oh, and only one pitcher in the league has pitched more innings (Gunnar Hogland; 48 ⅔ IP to 49 ⅔ IP. 2024 might be the best we’ve seen from Ohl in his professional career so far (and maybe he should be a top-20 prospect!) 

Speaking of unsurprising things, Emmanuel Rodriguez hit a lead-off homer. He torched a liner into right and nearly knocked down an entire row of stands with a bomb reminiscent of prime Robinson Canó’s low-lining screamers. 

He also singled and walked. Totally normal player doing totally normal stuff.

Taylor Floyd and Jared Solomon combined to carry the game to a (relatively) unpainful conclusion. Solomon allowed a pair of runners, but that’s just par for the course for Wichita’s bullpen in 2024.

Tanner Schobel played in the outfield for the first time in his professional career. Are the Twins preparing for a Luke Keaschall promotion? 

Missions’ catcher Brandon Valenzuela is San Diego’s 11th-best prospect. He went 0-4 with a strikeout. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 6, Peoria 2
Box Score
Jeremy Lee: 3 ⅔ IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
HR: Luke Keaschall (7), Nate Baez 2 (2, 3), 
Multi-hit games: Luke Keaschall (2-for-5, HR, R, RBI), Nate Baez (2-for-4, 2 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI)

The Kernels easily handled their opponents on Sunday.

The Wind Surge weren’t the only team to start their game with a homer; Luke Keaschall obliterated the third pitch of the game, blasting his seventh homer of the season over the left-center wall. He’s hitting .335 on the season. Midwest League pitchers may soon petition the Twins to give him a promotion. It was his sixth leadoff home run of the season. 

Cedar Rapids continued the rally, turning a pair of singles into a second run thanks to a Misael Urbina sacrifice fly.

South Alabama product Jeremy Lee—an alma mater brother with Luis Gonzalez, Lance Johnson, and Twins legend P.J. Walters—made his Kernels debut on Sunday. He breezed through his first two frames before finding trouble in the 3rd and 4th; that final frame proved to be his last, as Juan Mercedes entered the game following a two-out walk. The 13th-round pick lowered his minor league ERA to 2.03.

Mercedes opened for what became a tremendous showing for the Cedar Rapids bullpen: four relievers combined for 5 ⅓ innings with one earned run, striking out five in the process. The work culminated in a dominant 9th by Gabriel Yanez, who dropped his season ERA to 1.29. 

Though Keaschall began the game with a homer, the offensive star proved to be Nate Baez, a 2022 12th-round pick from the same college as Keaschall. Baez blasted a pair of homers to claim his second career two-homer day. He only has eight career home runs! Apparently, he only hits them in bunches. 

(For those counting at home, that means that Kernels who went to Arizona State outscored the Chiefs on Sunday.)

Peoria is the A+ affiliate for the St. Louis Cardinals, and their starter—Cooper Hjerpe—is a former 1st round pick and their 6th-best prospect. He went four innings and allowed two earned runs. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 7, Daytona 4 (10 Innings)
Box Score
Charlee Soto: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: Gregory Duran (3-for-5, 3B, 2 R, 2 RBI)

The Mighty Mussels outlasted the Tortugas on Sunday.

Starter Charlee Soto was… dull, I suppose. He labored through two-plus innings—tossing 40 pitches in the process—before earning the hook with an opening-batter walk to start the 3rd. He also plunked a pair. Hopefully, Sunday is a critical lesson for the 18-year-old hurler; he’s too talented to continue to pitch so poorly.

The truncated start begat a three-man effort to deliver Fort Myers to the end of the game. 2023’s 14th-round pick, Xander Hamilton, enjoyed the finest outing of them all; he struck out five over 2 ⅓ innings and held the Manfred Runner at bay in the 10th.

Fort Myers turned in a strange offensive performance. You don’t often see a team score seven runs despite going 3-16 with runners in scoring position. The Mighty Mussels collected nine hits and seven walks, but the big, relaxing thank-god-someone-broke-the-curse knock didn’t occur until deep into the game. With two on, staring at two outs and two strikes, Gregory Duran smacked a triple to crack the game open. He later scored on a wild pitch. Three Mighty Mussels runs scored with a hit.

DH Ricardo Cabrera serves as the 9th-best prospect in the Reds’ system. He singled and struck out in five at-bats. 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Pierson Ohl
Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Nate Baez

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:

#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Wichita) - 2-4, HR, 2 R, RBI, BB, K
#7 - Charlee Soto (Fort Myers) - 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
#8 - Austin Martin (St. Paul) - 2-5, 2B, RBI
#9 - Luke Keaschall (Cedar Rapids) - 2-5, HR, R, RBI, 2 K
#10 - Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) - 0-5, R, 3 K
#12 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - 1-4, 2 K
#13 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 0-2, BB, K
#18 - Yunior Severino (St. Paul) - 0-3, BB, 2 K

TUESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Rochester (3:05 PM) - RHP Randy Dobnak
St. Paul @ Rochester (Game Two) - TBD
Wichita @ Springfield (7:05 PM) - TBD
Lake County @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM) - TBD
Bradenton @ Fort Myers (6:05 PM) - TBD
FCL Twins @ FCL Orioles (11:00 AM) - TBD

Interested in learning more about the Minnesota Twins' top prospects? Check out our comprehensive top prospects list that includes up-to-date stats, articles and videos about every prospect, scouting reports, and more!