Twins Minor League Report (8/15): With System Surging, Another Monster Lurks in the Dominican

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 68-53
St. Paul Saints: 56-60
Wichita Wind Surge: 48-63
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 59-50
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 59-47
FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete)
DSL Twins: 27-25

TRANSACTIONS
Edouard Julien and Ronny Henriquez were recalled from St. Paul while Louie Varland was optioned to the Saints and Byron Buxton was placed on the 10-day IL with right hip inflammation. 

Scott Blewett cleared waivers and was sent outright to the Saints. 

SAINTS SENTINEL 
Indianapolis 6, St. Paul 4
Box Score
With Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton both on the injured list, perhaps the most noteworthy thing in regard to the Triple-A club at the moment might be who’s playing shortstop and centerfield. Tonight, that was Michael Helman (2-for-5 with a double) and DaShawn Keirsey Jr. (1-for-3 with a double, a walk, a hit by pitch and a run scored). While it doesn’t appear that either of those guys will get a look in the big leagues at the moment, you never know.

It’s also worth keeping a close eye on the Triple-A club’s bullpen. Zack Weiss had a strong outing, delivering 2 1/3 shutout innings, and the recently-signed Giovanny Gallegos surrendered a run on two hits, a walk and a wild pitch while sitting 92.2 mph with his fastball.

In terms of the game itself, the Saints fell behind 4-2 in the third inning and never got back into it. It was an especially tough night for the lineup, who combined to strike out 16 times. Yuck.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Arkansas 6, Wichita 5
Box Score

Debuts are difficult. Not everybody passes with flying colors and makes them look as easy as Zebby Matthews (who moved up to the majors) and Andrew Morris (who was promoted to Triple-A) did recently.

C.J. Culpepper made his Double-A debut tonight for the Wind Surge. He struck out the side in order in the first inning and it was pretty smooth sailing in the second. But in the third inning, Culpepper surrendered hits to the first three batters he faced. He didn’t survive that frame.

If nothing else, Culpepper looked awesome in the Wichita Tumble Vacas jerseys. Totally awesome, like Jeff Spicoli (spitting image if you ask me, but this may just be my hair envy talking more than anything).

Alright, so there were other positives. Culpepper struck out four of the 12 batters he faced and threw 65.2% of his pitches for strikes. He also didn’t walk anybody. Again, debuts are difficult. This one certainly could have gone better, but it’s not as if there’s nothing to build upon.

Offensively, the hot-hitting Tanner Schobel kept rolling, going 2-for-3 with a triple and a walk. Jake Rucker also supplied a two-run home run, his seventh homer of the year. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
South Bend 6, Cedar Rapids 4
Box Score
Again, debuts are difficult. 

Something in Tanner Hall clicked recently, and he started dominating for Fort Myers. He struck out 39 batters over a stretch of 26 2/3 innings for the Mighty Mussels (13.2 K/9), and earned a promotion up to Cedar Rapids.

Moving up to a new level, in a new city, with new teammates and new coaches can be challenging. There are extra things to attend to both outside and inside the lines. It’s difficult … wait, is there an echo in here?

Hall showed some positive signs in his Kernels debut, striking out five batters over 4 2/3 IP, but also gave up three runs on five hits and a pair of walks. With Hall, much like Culpepper, at least their debut is simply out of the way. They’re here, they’ve been christened. Now it’s time to move forward.

Walker Jenkins, who DHed tonight, was 2-for-4 with a walk and scored twice.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 4, Lakeland 1
Box Score
The 2024 draft class has provided a nice boost to this Mighty Mussels club that was already having a good season. Tonight, Fort Myers took the advantage in the third inning with a Kyle DeBarge (2024 first-round pick) run-scoring single and a Billy Amick (2024 second-round pick) two-run double.

That was all the pitching staff needed, as 21-year-old right-hander Jose Olivares threw four no-hit innings followed by three shutout innings from Samuel Perez. Both of those Venezuelan hurlers have ERAs comfortably below 3.00 on the season for the Might Mussels (Olivares at 2.57 and Perez with a 2.77 mark).

Brandon Winokur, who played shortstop tonight (Kaelen Culpepper was at third base), stole his 17th and 18th bases of the season. Byron Chourio was 2-for-3 with a walk and scored two of the Mussels’ four runs.

DOMINICAN DAILIES 
DSL Rockies 8, DSL Twins 3
Box Score
There may be plenty of supporting cast, but there’s no doubt that Eduardo Beltre is the leading man for this year’s DSL Twins. He continued to impress in his starring role today, going 3-for-4 with an RBI and his seventh stolen base of the year.

Beltre, who is still only 17-years-old, is hitting .328/.461/.661 (1.072 OPS) in 40 games with the DSL Twins. This has been a banner year for the system, otherwise a performance like Beltre’s would likely garner much more attention.

It can be tricky to properly evaluate a performance in such a low level, but Beltre was a well-regarded international prospect out of the Dominican Republic and received a $1.5 million signing bonus, so this impressive showing is more evidence the Twins may have identified a stud.

Personally, I bumped Beltre up to my No. 16 prospect in the Twins system in my August rankings, but I consider myself a bit more risk-averse with short-season guys. I think it could be justified to put him even higher. As I teased in the intro, this could be a player who pushes the system even further up the ranks as evaluators take notice of his impressive performance.

Beltre is currently ranked as the No. 26 prospect by MLB Pipeline and No. 28 by Baseball America. Both resources love the Twins system as is, but I won’t be surprised if they further appreciate this org as they become more familiar with guys like Beltre this offseason.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY 
Pitcher of the Day: Jose Olivares, Fort Myers
Hitter of the Day: Walker Jenkins, Cedar Rapids

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

#1 Walker Jenkins (Cedar Rapids) 2-for-4, 2B, BB, 2 R
#7 Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) 0-for-4, BB
#9 Kaelen Culpepper (Fort Myers) 0-for-3, BB, R
#12 Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) 1-for-4, R, RBI, 2 SB (18)
#16 Kyle DeBarge (Fort Myers) 1-for-3, BB, RBI
#17 Tanner Schobel (Wichita) 2-for-3, 3B, BB, R, RBI
#19 C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) 2.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 0 HR (65.2% strikes)

TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul at Indianapolis, 6:05 pm CT: Caleb Boushley
Wichita vs. Arkansas, 7:05 pm CT: Marco Raya
Cedar Rapids vs. South Bend, 6:35 pm CT: Ty Langenberg
Fort Myers vs. Lakeland, 6:05 pm CT: TBD
DSL Twins vs. DSL Mets Blue, 10 am CT: 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!