Twins Minor League Report (6/5): Julien, Lee Return to Saints

Over the past weekend, MLB Pipeline updated their Top 100 Prospect rankings because Rangers outfielder Wyatt Langford surpassed prospect eligibility. Most prospects moved up a spot, and Twins right-hander David Festa jumped into the #100 spot. Their rankings now include: #7 Walker Jenkins, #14 Brooks Lee, #31 Emmanuel Rodriguez, #83 Gabriel Gonzalez, #100 David Festa. 

On Wednesday, Baseball America updated their Top 100 Prospect Rankings. Here is where the Twins players lined up. #7 Walker Jenkins, #16 Emmanuel Rodriguez, #45 Brooks Lee, #66 Luke Keaschall, and #100 Zebby Matthews. 

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 32-26 
St. Paul Saints: 26-31
Wichita Wind Surge: 20-32
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 31-21
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 26-27
FCL Twins: 14-9 
DSL Twins: 0-2 

Let’s get to the report. As always, please feel free to discuss and ask questions. 

TRANSACTIONS
Wichita activated RHP Zebby Matthews from the Development List. Jaylen Nowlin took his place on the Development List. 

In Fort Myers, Danny Moreno was placed on the 7-Day IL. RHP Jose Olivares - who tossed five shutout innings on Tuesday, was placed on the

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 5, Syracuse 1
Box Score
The storyline for this game was the return of Brooks Lee to the St. Paul lineup. And understandably so. One of the Twins top prospects was one of the last cuts from spring training but back spasms kept him off the field for six or seven weeks. He has been playing in rehab games in Fort Myers the past couple of weeks. A rainout on Tuesday pushed his return back a day. Lee grounded out to second base in his first at-bat. In the sixth inning, he drove in Austin Martin with a single to left field.  

Lee wasn’t the only storyline to come out of this game though. And, it didn’t take too long to find another. Edouard Julien returned to the Saints after being optioned by the Twins on Sunday. He led off the bottom of the first inning with a long drive to left field for a home run. That was his lone hit of the game, though it should be pointed out that he had zero strikeouts in four at-bats. 

Another story happened on the mound. Right-hander Caleb Boushley continued to pitch fantastic for the Saints. He improved to 6-1 on the season with seven strong innings. He gave up one run on four hits. It came on a solo homer to Trayce Thompson. Boushley had eight strikeouts without issuing a walk. 

Michael Helman had the big hit for the Saints offense. In the sixth inning, the Saints had just taken the 2-1 lead on Lee’s RBI single. Helman came to the plate and blasted his eighth home run of the year, a three-run shot that made it a 5-1 ballgame.  

Matt Wallner and Austin Martin were both 1-for-3 with a walk in the game. Since he was sent back to St. Paul, Martin has played in 13 games and hit .310/.492/.405 (.897) with a double and a homer. What we have been paying closest attention to has been his walk-to-strikeout rate. Over that time frame, he has 15 walks and just three strikeouts. 

Wallner has also been very good of late. In his past eight games with the Saints, he is hitting .296/.424/.852 (1.276) with three doubles, four home runs, and 10 RBI. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 4, NW Arkansas 2
Box Score
Emmanuel Rodriguez was again out of the Wind Surge lineup. He had not played since last Sunday with a hand/thumb issue. He singled in his first at-bat and then had a hustle double in the third inning. On the play, he dove headfirst into second base and … well, Tom has the video here.  

Travis Adams pitched very well. He gave up one run on four hits over five innings. He walked two and struck out three batters. Regi Grace came on and gave up only an unearned run over two innings. He walked two batters and struck out two batters. Austin Brice worked the final two innings. He struck out six batters. The lone blemish was that he hit a batter.  

The Wind Surge scored three runs in the third inning. Following Rodriguez’s leadoff double, he advanced to third on a wild pitch. Jeferson Morales singled to drive in the team’s first run and tie the game. Morales stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. He scored on Tanner Schobel’s ninth double. With two outs, Jake Rucker switched spots with Schobel with his ninth double of the season. 

They added another run in the fifth inning. Luke Keaschall doubled and scored on a two-out single by Carson McCusker. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 3, Great Lakes 10
Box Score
This game was really just a story of one, half-inning. Great Lakes took advantage of an error to put together a six-run third inning. 

Christian MacLeod started. After two scoreless innings, he was charged with six runs (2 earned) in the third inning. In all, he went 2 2/3 innings and allowed five hits and four walks.

Juan Mendez got the final out of the third inning and then worked two more scoreless frames. He had five strikeouts. Rafael Marcano gave up two runs on two hits and two walks in his inning. Finally, Sheldon Reed gave up two runs on one hit and two walks over two innings.  

The Kernels offense didn’t do much. In the fifth inning, a Ricardo Olivar single drove in Agustin Ruiz. In the ninth inning, Jay Harry knocked a two-run homer. 

Harry was the team’s leadoff hitter. He went 2-for-3 with two walks and the homer was his fourth of the season. Kevin Maitan went 2-for-3 with a walk. 

Former Twins first-round pick Noah Miller led off for Great Lakes. He went 2-for-4 with a walk and a home run. The 21-year-old was the Twins Competitive Balance pick after the first round in the 2021 draft. After this game, he is now hitting .249/.336/.369 (.705) with eight doubles and six home runs. Last year with the Kernels, he hit .223/.309/.340 (.649) with 20 doubles, five triples and eight home runs. In March, he went to the Dodgers in exchange for OF Manuel Margot infielder Rayne Doncon who was recently promoted to the Kernels. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 9, Tampa 3
Box Score
The Mussels scored three runs in the first inning, three more in the second inning, and then scored a combined three runs in the eighth and ninth innings. 

Jair Camargo, making another rehab start, led the offense. He went 3-for-4 with a double. He also worked behind the plate in the game. Walker Jenkins went 2-for-4 with a walk in this game, his first two hits of the season. He had a double, scored two runs and drove in two runs. 

The Mussels also got some solid performances on the mound. Ty Langenberg gave up one run on four hits and two walks over five innings. He had four strikeouts. Danny Moreno was charged with two unearned runs in the sixth inning. Ricky Castro came on and struck out four batters over three scoreless innings to record his first Save. 

In the first inning, Byron Chourio led off by reaching on an error. Then Jenkins singled. Camargo drove in a run with a single. Then Brandon Winokur drove in two runs with another single. 

In the second inning, Isaac Pena walked and stole second. Yohander Martinez singled him in. Following a Chourio walk, Jenkins knocked in two runs with a double. 

Gregory Duran knocked his third home run of the season to give the Mussels a 7-3 lead in the eighth. They added two more in the ninth inning on a Rixon Wingrove single.  

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
DSL Twins 1, DSL Nationals 2
Box Score
The Dominican Summer League schedule began on Monday. In fact, these two teams started on Monday. However, after two-and-a-half innings, the rains came and it was delayed. They completed the game on Wednesday. 

Anderson Chacon got the start on Monday. He went two innings and gave up a hit and a walk, but no runs. Melvin Rodriguez took over when the game resumed. He gave up two runs on four hits over 3 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out five batters. Anderson Ramos got the final two outs of the sixth inning, one on a strikeout. 

The Twins managed just four hits in the game. Romiro Dominguez, Yandro Hernandez, Luis Rodriguez, and Davirik Fuenmayor each had a single.  

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day - Jay Harry (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-3, 2 BB, HR(4), R, 2 RBI.   
Pitcher of the Day – Caleb Boushley (St. Paul) - 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 8 K, 78 pitches, 53 strikes (68.0%)

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

#1 - Walker Jenkins (Fort Myers) - 2-for-4, BB, 2B(1), 2 R, 2 RBI
#2 - Brooks Lee (St. Paul) - Game 2: 1-for-3, BB, RBI (rehab in FM, DHd)
#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Wichita) - 2-for-2, 2B(12), R (left with injury)
#8 - Austin Martin (St. Paul) - 1-for-3, BB, R, SB(3)
#9 - Luke Keaschall (Wichita) - 1-for-4, 2B(2), R 
#10 - Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) - 1-for-4, BB, RBI, SB(11)
#13 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 1-for-3, BB, 2B(9), R, RBI, K. (played 3B)
#18 – Yunior Severino (St. Paul) - 0-for-4, 2 K
#20 – Ricardo Olivar (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-5, 2 K (DHd)

THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE AND PITCHING PROBABLES
Syracuse @ St. Paul (DH @ 5:07 PM CST) - RHP Adam Plutko (0-1, 4.26 ERA), RHP Louie Varland (2-4, 4.30 ERA) 
Wichita @ NW Arkansas (DH @ 4:05 PM CST) - RHP Jarret Whorff (0-2, 3.80 ERA), LHP Aaron Rozek (1-3, 1.43 ERA)
Cedar Rapids @ Great Lakes (6:05 PM CST) - RHP Darren Bowen (2-2, 4.74 ERA)
Fort Myers @ Tampa (5:30 PM CST) - RHP Tanner Hall (0-0, 2.45 ERA)
FCL Twins @ FCL Braves (11:00 AM CST) - TBD
DSL Twins @ DSL Tigers 2 (10:00 AM CST) - TBD

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Wednesday’s games or any other Twins minor league topics! 

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!