Twins Minor League Report (4/11): Charlee Soto and the Chalk-Up-A-Lotta-Dubs Factory

CURRENT W-L Records
St. Paul Saints: 5-5
Wichita Wind Surge: 4-3
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 4-3
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 3-4 

TRANSACTIONS
The Twins recalled RHP David Festa from St. Paul.
Austin Martin placed on the Saints 7-day IL with a hamstring strain.
LHP Gabriel Yanez promoted from Cedar Rapids to St. Paul.
RHP Logan Whitaker promoted from Fort Myers to Cedar Rapids.
RHP Cole Peschl assigned to Fort Myers.
Darren Wolfson reports the Twins will re-sign Darren McCaughan, who elected free agency yesterday, to a new minor league deal.

SAINTS SENTINEL 
St. Paul 6, Omaha 4
Box Score
Luke Keaschall is on the board! He slugged his first Triple-A home run in the bottom of the third inning on a center cut hanging slider. Keaschall is rising to the challenge at the top level of the minor leagues, showing little signs of struggle despite this only being his second full pro season. He also had a single, a walk and a sac fly tonight. Keaschall has a .415 OBP and .834 OPS in 10 games so far with the Saints.

Brooks Lee started at shortstop, continued to look comfortable moving around and played the entire game. He singled in the first inning, drew a walk in a seven-pitch plate appearance in the third, struck out in the fourth and grounded out in the sixth but busted it up the line to avoid a double play. It feels like Lee could re-join the Twins any day now. 

The Saints trailed this game 4-2 entering the bottom of the fourth inning, but an RBI single from Anthony Prato and a Keaschall sac fly tied things up in the bottom of the frame. Carson McCusker blasted an impressive two-run homer in the sixth inning that proved to be the difference. He’s off to a blistering start, boasting a 1.067 OPS so far this season.

Manager Toby Gardenhire had to turn to his bullpen to cover this entire game and that unit stepped up. The St. Paul pen combined to strike out 15 batters tonight, with Alex Speas and Kyle Bischoff leading the way with five Ks each in their two innings of work. Speas topped out at 99.5 mph and Ryan Jensen — who started tonight but is typically a reliever — touched 99.1 mph.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 4, Midland 1
Box Score
The Wichita lineup struggled to take advantage of opportunities, but thankfully the pitching staff was on point. The Wind Surge collected 11 hits and six walks but could only convert that to four runs due to going 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position. 

The Surge staff allowed a fair amount of traffic themselves, but after starter Trent Baker allowed one run over four innings, the bullpen trio of Michael Martinez (one inning), Angel Macuare ( 2 2/3 innings) and Joel Cesar (1 1/3 innings) shut out the RockHounds. 

Tanner Schobel continued his hot start by going 3-for-4 with a walk. Jake Rucker and Andrew Cossetti also had multi-hit games. Kyler Fedko hit his first homer of the season

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 6, Beloit 4
Box Score
Charlee Soto picked up his first strikeout when he needed one most. After allowing a leadoff double in the second inning, the Sky Carp bunted the runner over to third. Soto got ahead of the next hitter 0-2, but was still trying to finish him off three pitches later. Then Soto unleashed a 99 mph fastball above the zone to pick up a huge strikeout. The next hitter flew out to left field, ending the threat and the inning.

Soto struck out the next five hitters consecutively, looking both as dominant and confident as I can ever recall. He needed only 66 pitches to complete five innings, throwing two-thirds of them for strikes. The leadoff double in the second inning was the only base runner he allowed. With six strikeouts tonight, Soto now has 11 Ks in nine shutout innings so far this season. He’s Twins Daily’s top pitching prospect in the system for a reason, but seeing him meet this new challenge of High-A with such success early is impressive.

Logan Whitaker followed Soto and surrendered four runs in his one inning of work. The Twins 19th-round pick in last year’s draft was making his 2025 and High-A debut, but beginner’s luck was nowhere to be found. 

Cedar Rapids got the go-ahead run into scoring position in both the sixth and seventh innings but could not score. Caden Kendle, who hit his first homer of the season earlier in the game, hit a one-out double in the eighth. Instead of the Kernels’ lineup failing to deliver for a third-straight inning, Misael Urbina promptly delivered a go-ahead RBI double. Later in the inning, Brandon Winokur hit a two-out double of his own to deliver an insurance run.

Rayne Doncon exited this game in the bottom of the second inning. He appeared to be in pain after fouling back a pitch. Doncon eventually exited with a trainer, and it was later reported as a back injury. Kaelen Culpepper also did not complete this game, but that’s consistent with how he’s been handled so far. Culpepper missed part of spring training, so he’s not playing complete games yet. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 6, Tampa 3
Box Score
The Mussels were on the board before they recorded an out tonight. Byron Chourio led off the bottom of the first inning with an eight-pitch walk before Dameury Pena singled to left field. Yasser Mercedes capped an eight-pitch at-bat of his own with a double he hit 107.1 mph into center field and off the wall. A great way to get things started, and Fort Myers kept tacking on. In all, the Mighty Mussels lineup provided six runs of support for starting pitcher Eli Jones.

Jones was pitching out of the stretch for most of the first three innings, but managed to only give up a pair of runs despite the Tarpons getting their leadoff man on in each of those first three frames. Jones got some big strikeouts, and racked up six Ks while topping out at 95.2 mph. 

Cole Peschel, who just joined the Mighty Mussels today, covered the final four innings and only yielded an unearned run. Fort Myers bats with multi-hit games included Mercedes, Dameury Pena and Jefferson Valladares. Jay Thomason had a double, two walks and stole three bases.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY 
Pitcher of the Day: Charlee Soto (Cedar Rapids): 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 66 pitches, 44 strikes (66.7%)
Hitter of the Day: Caden Kendle (Cedar Rapids) 2-for-4, 2B, HR (1), 2 R, 1 RBI

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for more. 

3. Luke Keaschall (St. Paul): 2-for-2, HR (1), BB, 2 R, 2 RBI
4. Charlee Soto (Cedar Rapids): 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 66 pitches, 44 strikes (66.7%)
7. Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-3, 2B
8. Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-4, 2B, BB, K, 1 R, 2 RBI
13. Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-4, 2B, BB, K, R
15. Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers): 2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI
16. Rayne Doncon (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-1, K (exited with a back injury)
17. Billy Amick (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-3, 2 BB, K
18. Kala’i Rosario (Wichita): 0-for-4, 3 K
19. Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-4

TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Cedar Rapids vs. Beloit, 1:05 pm CT: Alejandro Hidalgo 
St. Paul vs. Omaha, 2:05 pm CT: Randy Dobnak
Wichita vs. Midland, 4:05 pm CT: Connor Prielipp
Fort Myers vs. Tampa, 5:05 pm CT: Dasan Hill

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!