Twins Minor League Report (8/15): Ryan Gallagher Delivers Another Quality Start

Gallagher is impressive.  Handling AA in his first full pro year is a good sign.  He seems a fair bit like Morris.  It would be nice for him to hunt a few more K's other than that what's not to like?

Speaking of Morris nice to him back and pitching well. Will be interesting to see how he does the rest of the way.  SWR looked really good too.

I know he is not a top prospect, but Smith went 3 for 5.  So far he has been making good contact.  It will be interesting to see how he does as he moves up levels since contact is supposedly not his forte and the Breaking stuff gets much better High A and AA.  Still nice to see him doing well and always nice to see pick 17 making some noise early.

While I had written Ross off for next year I might have to change my tune.  It's been the same low batting average and low slugging for Ross for pretty much a full two years at AA.  While the K and Walk rates are good it hasn't been enough for him to make solid contact with the ball.  Until of course the last month of the season where he carries a .994 OPS heading into today.  August isn't over and he could still slump to the end, but he also might find enough momentum to see if one more year will help him get over the hump.  He had a brutal July and hasn't had an OPS over .700 in any month this year until of course August.  Hopefully he has figured something out, but he is on the precipice of being out of pro ball. 

Outman with another home run and two more K's.  With his OPS rebounding in St. Paul it won't be much longer before we see him at the MLB level.

I start talking about Fedko and he goes and has an 0 for 6 night with 2 K's.  Hopefully he gets back on track soon. And it better be soon as Rosario is right there with him having hit 19 HR's with 25 stolen bases.  Those numbers would likely be much better if he hadn't gotten off to such terrible start to the season.  Fedko has the edge with the walk to K ratio and ability to play all three outfield spots, but Rosario has done well this year.  He could stand to cut the K rate even more, but he is on track to be an option next year with a bit more polish.

My man Jimenez with another Home Run.  Seems the Twins have him trying to hit the ball harder?  2 K's and no walks though which is uncharacteristic for him. Love that .900 OPS though.

30 minutes ago, LambchoP said:

Also, Outman should get a shot with the big league club. It's pretty clear Roden can't hit big league pitching. He's also another LH OF. With his thumb Injury, they should see if Outman can give them anything and get a look at whether or not he could have a role with the team next year. Gasper clearly needs to go to. Guy can't hit, can't bunt, can't throw out base stealers and his defense sucks. Give innings to some of our younger catchers. Might as well audition a few to see if any have a shot at the backup catcher role next year or if we need to sign one in FA.

Not sure you can make that judgement on Roden yet.  He has a total of 150 plate appearances.  He is a career .302 hitter in the minors and was hitting .331 in AAA this year.  He won the starting LF in Toronto out of spring training hitting over .400 with >200 wRC+.  He is a plus defender.  The guy can obviously hit.  I am not saying he will be a great major league hitter, but he should be given every chance the rest of this year to adjust.  
Outman has struggled for the better part of 2 seasons at the major league level.  Why should he be given the opportunity over Roden?  I understand that may be the move if Roden goes on the IL after his thumb injury.

1 hour ago, FlyingFinn said:

How do you compare Fedko, Gonzalez, and Rosario? Am I correct in putting Gonzalez and Rosario in the same bucket - they can hit but defense isn't going to be good (though I'm seeing some posts that Gonzalez D is getting better - of course he's now struggling a little in his start with the Saints). Fedko is different right? Better defense and speed? But is he a one year wonder who can beat the label of "career minor leaguer?" Of course, Fedko turning 26 soon really doesn't help him. That and Gonzalez passing up Rosario, going from A ball to AAA while Rosario stays at AA, tells me Gonzalez is the guy the Twins think is most likely to be in MLB.

With Jenkins arriving for sure by 2027 and Buxton still there, Rodriguez probably up if he's ever healthy, sure doesn't leave a lot of future room for these three. Things happen though.

I'm just comparing the bat, not the defense with Rosario and Fedko.  If guys can hit they usually find spots for them.  They both seem to have good power and decent Onbase Skills even their number of steals is close. So offensively they don't seem too far apart to me.

Gonzalez is a slightly different bucket.  Only 21 and he hasn't shown the power those two have yet.  Doesn't mean it's not there.  He also hasn't stolen many bases like Fedko and Rosario have. He's more of a pure hitter though.  All three have a chance, but Fedko is the oldest so the least likely to get a shot.

I agree Gonzalez will be added for sure so he is the most likely to debut and you are right they have too many outfielder's on the 40 man right now. not really any room to add more.  It is very possible both Fedko and Rosario are not added. Still I can't shake that Fedko is almost exactly what they are looking for in a 4th outfielder.  A right handed bat with some power that can play center, left and right.  I mean they have the left handed version of that in Outman so maybe it doesn't matter, but Fedko looks like he might be able to handle the Bader role if he can hit MLB pitching which is no easy task.

I keep coming back to do I like Fedko better than Martin?  Who has really good plate discipline ,but not much power and is not that great defensively. Do I like him better than McCusker? Who has a ton of power but likely loses value defensively?  It's a tough call and hard to base on such a small sample size, but the better he does at AAA the more he makes me wonder if he could be a right handed 4th outfielder solution.

Maybe with Gonzalez there just is no room for Fedko.  Maybe this is the best year Fedko will ever have as a pro.  Hard to say.  If this is who he is though he really does fit a need IMO.

3 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

When looking at Outman and Roden stats remember how well Gaspar hit in the minors - I am afraid it is not the test we think it should be. 

Yeah it's because the competition is so variable in the Minors.  Anyone who does well there moves up a level and then weakens that team.  At AAA anyone playing well gets moved to MLB and often times arms get picked over at that level because of injuries at the MLB level.  So if a team loses a lot of talent then when other teams face them they do well and can pad their stats.  At the MLB level you are playing against the best of the best every day. there is precious little padding of stats at that level.  So of course the numbers come down and of course like any other level some hitters won't be able to adjust or take a really long time to adjust to that level.

Still while stats aren't completely predictive in and of themselves they are the closest thing we have to determine when  a player is ready.  I'd still rather give a .900 to 1.000 OPS player a shot at MLB time versus someone at AAA with a .700 to .800 OPS.  We don't know which players will make it as their weaknesses get exploited at the MLB level, but you still have throw guys out there and see what they can do.

Really good conversation here. It seems to me that Fedko has inserted himself into the conversation for a possible spot on the major league team next barring any major league free agent signings. I think he's a better OF than Martin with more power and enough speed (he's stolen over 30 bases this year). Gonzales has had a fine year as well and he's much younger Rosario is also young, has hit for power and has some speed.

I think McCusker is considered less of a prospect than any of the three guys. He's been pretty bad since his first cup of coffee in the majors. He doesn't provide any value besides slugging and he is older. 

On 8/16/2025 at 9:57 AM, twinstalker said:

He's going to be lucky to hit anything.  With his profile, striking out at 24.5% (12 K in 49 PA) thus far probably's  won't translate batting avg to A+.  There's some variability from the smallish sample size and bias from new-ness to pro ball, but K rate is more steady than you'd think.  But low A shouldn't even be a speed bump for top college draft pick.

For comparison, Kaelen Culpepper struck out 2 times in 41 PAs in low A, and he's no sure thing.  That's <5%.  He's around 16% at higher levels, which is good, and for Houston it's absolutely necessary.  Kyle DeBarge also struck out at the same rate as Houston at low A, and it's one of the reason I have nearly zero hope for him, the other being the pre-draft chatter.

Anyway, most teams had no interest in Houston and were moving on.  Why would you do that with a great fielder presumably close to the majors because college?  Because you're convinced he can't hit.  Twins, for whatever reason, have no clue what they're looking for in a hitter.  I'm sure he looked fine to them, which is scary.

Your judging Houston on 12 games in low A?  Nobody "backed away" from Houston.  He was the 15th rated prospect by MLB, 22nd by ESPN and was drafted 16th.  The scouting report stated he is a plus defender and contact over power profile.  That has held true through his first 12 games in low A. I am quite surprised he hasn't been promoted to A+ yet.

1. You are ignoring the fact that he is hitting .370,  .868 OPS, and .488 BABIP...That's pretty strong.  Yes, his K rate is up a bit from college (16% at WF vs 22% in A (13K in 59 PA)), but very small sample size creates significant variability.

2. You are using Kaelen Culpepper as a comparison for K rate, but his BA and BABIP numbers are worse than Houston's. (.297, .907 OPS, .273 BABIP)  

Again, I am not saying he is going to ever be a fantastic hitter in MLB, but let's not judge someone in 10-12 games using only K% as a metric.