Twins Daily Minor League Report (5/1): Tanner Schobel Celebrates Return to Top 20 Prospect Status with Huge Game for Wichita

In February, the Twins Daily minor league writers updated the Top 20 Twins Prospect rankings. Over the past 7-10 days, you have been able to vote, and many of you did. Thank you! 

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 13-19
St. Paul Saints: 13-14
Wichita Wind Surge: 15-9
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 15-8
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 13-11
FCL Twins: Season starts on Saturday!!

TRANSACTIONS
Believe it or not, but the Twins made no official transactions before games played on Sunday. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 2, Columbus 5
Box Score
The Saints were supposed to play two games on Thursday in Ohio, but you guessed it, Game 2 was postponed due to rain again. The teams will attempt to play two games on Friday afternoon.  

Fortunately, any rain held off until the conclusion of the first game. 

The Saints started out well. Ryan Fitzgerald led off with a single. With one out, Jeferson Morales singled. Carson McCusker put the Saints on the scoreboard with another single, and Mike Ford’s single drove in Morales to give the Saints the 2-0 lead. 

Cory Lewis was on the mound for the Saints, and as a knuckleballer, he can be prone to some tough innings due to bouts with control and command. In the bottom of the first, he began with a walk and then recorded a strikeout. Then a single and a walk loaded the bases. He hit a batter to allow the first run. After another strikeout, he gave up a two-run single to Kody Huff. 

The Saints were down 3-2 after one inning. The bottom of the second inning started better. He got a strikeout and an infield pop out. Unfortunately, a hit batter was followed by three straight singles and the team was down 4-2. 

Lewis was able to throw two zeroes on the board. In all, he gave up four runs on seven hits and three walks over four innings. 

Ryan Jensen worked the final two innings and gave up one run on one hit and a walk. 

The Saints had seven hits in the game. Anthony Prato was 2-for-3.

Simply put, the Saints have almost no depth, and that amount dropped again during this game. In the top of the third, Armando Alvarez singled. On a pick off throw to first, Alvarez lunged toward the bag. He appeared to roll his ankle and immediately was off the bag. When the trainer got to him, they checked his ankle and his knee, and kind of everywhere in between. However, he was able to stand up and (very slowly) walk off the field under his own power, but he was definitely limping. 

The next half inning, Alvarez was replaced in the lineup by Emmanuel Rodriguez (in center field), and Dalton Shuffield moved from center to third base. Royce Lewis is with the team, but he had a scheduled off day in his rehab. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 5, Frisco 2
Box Score
The Wind Surge jumped out to an early lead, and the pitching staff was very good in a 5-1, Thursday night down in Texas. 

Leading off the game, Tanner Schobel drilled a 1-2 pitch well beyond the wall in left field to give the team a 1-0 lead. 

With one out in the top of the second inning, Tyler Dearden hit his second homer of the season to make it 2-0. Jorel Ortega followed with a single. He stole second base which proved to be unnecessary when Schobel drilled a 3-2 fastball for a long home run to make it 4-0. 

Ricardo Olivar came up next and on a 1-0 pitch lined his third home run of the season to make it 5-0.   

I’m sure Pierson Ohl appreciated the run support. He tossed four scoreless innings. He gave up three hits, walked none and had five strikeouts. John Klein came on and was charged with two unearned runs over the next three innings. He had two hits, walked one, and struck out six batters.

Jaylen Nowlin had two strikeouts in a scoreless eighth inning. John Stankiewicz got the final three outs to record his first Save of the season. 

Maybe Schobel got some advanced warning about returning to the Twins Daily Top 20 prospect ranking today. He put on a show. He homered in his first two at-bats and hit a double in his third plate appearance. He went 3-for-5 in the game and now has four doubles and four home runs. He is now hitting .293 with an .851 OPS. 

Ricardo Olivar went 2-for-5 with his third home run. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 8, Wisconsin 7 
Box Score
It was a back-and-forth game between the Kernels and the Cubs. At no point was the game comfortable, at least until the game’s final out was recorded.

Alejandro Hidalgo made the start. He was charged with six runs on six hits and two walks. He had four strikeouts. He gave up single runs in the first and second innings. Then there was a big four-run fifth inning which included homers from a couple of the Cubs top young prospects, Ivan Brethowr and Cristian Hernandez. 

The Kernels were working to keep the game close. In the bottom of the first inning, Kaelen Culpepper singled and Kyle DeBarge walked before successfully completing a double steal. Culpepper scored on a Brandon Winokur ground out that tied the game at one. 

Down 2-1 in the fourth inning, Winokur singled and stole second. He went to third on a throwing error. He scored on a groundout by Gabriel Gonzalez to tie the game at 2-2. 

Then the Cubs put up their four-spot in the top of the fifth frame, but the Kernels tried to match it. The bottom of the fifth started with a Kevin Maitan triple. With one out, Kyle Hess and Culpepper walked to load the bases. DeBarge walked to drive in Maitin. Two more runs scored when Winokur reached on a throwing error. Through five innings, the Kernels were down 6-5. 

Wilker Reyes pitched a scoreless top of the sixth. With one out in the bottom of the sixth, Nate Baez homered to tie the game at 6-6.     

Maitan followed with a double. Jaime Ferrer came up and was hit by a pitch in the helmet. He went to the ground, but in time, he remained in the game. Kyle Hess followed with a double to left center field. Maitan scored the team’s seventh run. Ferrer advanced to third base. A few pitches later, Ferrer scored on a wild pitch.           

Reyes gave up a single run in the top of the seventh inning which cut the Kernels’ lead to 8-7. Jacob Wosinski struck out three batters over two perfect innings to give the Kernels the one-run win.  

Maitan’s double was his fourth of the season. The triple was his first. Culpepper went 1-for-2 with two walks. DeBarge walked twice, and he stole his 12th base.     

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 1, Jupiter 5
Box Score
Game 3 of the Salas Brothers Series goes to… Andrew. The speedy 17-year-old centerfielder signed by the Marlins in January went 3-for-5 in this game with an RBI. He also stole three bases. The youngest of the three Salas ballplayers has played in 15 games. He is hitting .360/.508/.420 (.928) with a double and a triple. He is 9-for-11 on stolen base attempts. A sign of maturity is that despite his youth, he had 15 walks and just 13 strikeouts. Despite his 0-for-2 on Thursday, the elder Salas (Jose) has hit .400 with a 1.145 OPS in his rehab time with the Mussels. 

Speaking of rehab assignments, the Hammerheads started young Eury Perez in his second rehab appearance since he had Tommy John surgery nearly two years ago. He got the first outs. 

On the mound for the Mussels was Adrian Bohorquez for his first start of the season. While the results are uninspiring (2.2 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 2 K), reports noted his increased velocity from where he was at at the end of the 2024 season. Bohorquez threw 48 pitches and 23 of them were four-seam fastballs. They averaged 95.8 mph, and he hit a high of 97.8 mph. Couple that with 16 sliders which averaged 88. Mph and maxed out at 90.6 mph. Just as important, he is able to slow things down with a slow curveball that averaged 78.6 mph. However, part of the development for a young pitcher is finding a consistent release point and tunneling. I think it’s fair to say that it would be noticeable for hitters to see when he is about to throw a curveball.      

Cole Peschl came on and got the final out of the third inning and worked through the sixth innings. In his 3 1/3 innings, he gave up no runs on five hits and two walks, but he also had eight strikeouts.       

Devin Kirby came on for the seventh inning. He was charged with three runs on two hits and a walk… and a hit batter… and two wild pitches in one inning. Kirby allowed a runner in the eighth and then was replaced by lefty Kade Bragg. He got the next four outs, all on strikeouts. He did give up one walk and hit one batter. Hunter Hoopes got the final two outs of the game. 

In the sixth inning, Jose Rodriguez singled to drive in Jay Thomason with the Mussels first and only run of the game. Poncho Ruiz went 2-for-3 with a walk and his fifth double. Quietly, Ruiz is hitting .339 with a .915 OPS this season. The team was 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left seven on base. 

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day  
Tanner Schobel (Wichita): 3-for-5, 2B(4), 2-HR(4), 2 R, 3 RBI

Pitcher of the Day 
Pierson Ohl (Wichita): 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, 49 pitches, 35 strikes (71.4%)

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our updated Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Thursday.

#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 0-for-1
#7 - Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, R, 2 RBI, SB(6), (played 3B)
#8 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-2, 2 BB, 2 R, SB(1), (played SS)
#10 - Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, RBI, 2 K
#12 - Cory Lewis (St. Paul) - 4.0 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, HBP, 5 K, 79 pitches, 49 strikes (62.0%)
#13 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 3-for-5, 2B(4), 2-HR(4), 2 R, 3 RBI
#14 - Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-2, 2 BB, RBI, K, SB(12), (played CF)
#18 - Carson McCusker (St. Paul) - 1-for-3, RBI

FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Columbus (DH @ 4:05 PM CST) - RHP Marco Raya (0-1, 8.00 ERA), RHP Darren McCaughan (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
Wichita @ Frisco (7:05 PM CST) - LHP Connor Prielipp (0-1, 4.22 ERA).
South Bend @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CST) - RHP Tanner Hall (1-0, 4.50 ERA).
Fort Myers @ Tampa (11:00 AM CST) - RHP Jakob Hall (1-0, 6.10 ERA)

Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the roster, and discuss Thursday’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related!

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!