Wichita Wind Surge Opening Day Roster - 2023

The Wichita Wind Surge roster had 28 players on it. There are 15 pitchers and 13 position players. 17 players return to the club that played there last year. The team will have two Top 20 prospects including the #1 overall Twins prospect Brooks Lee. 

Let's take a look at the Wind Surge Opening Day roster. 

Coaching Staff 
Ramon Borrego is back for his third season as the Wichita manager. He is one of the more respected people in the organization. He was a coach for Team Venezuela in the WBC. His pitching coaches will be Dan Urbina and DJ Engle. The hitting coach is Shawn Schlechter. Takashi Miyoshi is the team's bench coach. 

Pitchers
Pitching is what wins, right? So that's where we'll start. 

Starting Pitchers: David Festa, Travis Adams, Carlos Luna, Kody Funderburk, Aaron Rozek 
Festa was the Twins 13th round pick in 2021 from Seton Hall. He has developed into a very exciting prospect. He's got three solid pitches, but it comes with a fastball that routinely hit 97 and 98 mph a year ago and touched 99. Travis Adams spent most of 2022 in Ft. Myers, but he spent the final month in Cedar Rapids. He was the Twins sixth round pick in 2021 from Sacramento State. A command and control guy, Adams was hitting 97 mph by the end of last year. Kody Funderburk is a little underrated in the system, but he's one to watch. A left-hander, he's become crafty southpaw. At Dallas Baptist, he was a fantastic two-way player, but the Twins have developed him into a pitcher to watch. Rozek is a Minnesota native and went to Minnesota State-Mankato. He signed with the Twins in 2021 and has pitched at each level including Double-A, the past two years. Carlos Luna comes to the Twins from the Brewers as a minor-league free agent. Sits in the low-90s and mixes his pitches really well. 

Relief Pitchers: Tyler Beck, Michael Boyle, Jose Bravo, Jordan Brink, Chad Donato, Blayne Enlow, Osiris German, Hunter McMahon, Seth Nordlin, Alex Scherff. 

Good to see Tyler Beck back on the mound again. He had Tommy John surgery shortly after the 2021 season and was excited that he would be full-go to start this season. Blayne Enlow came off of the Twins 40-man roster this offseason, but the organization was thrilled when he cleared waivers and will stick in the organization. He is now further from the Tommy John and should be full-go this year. German is intriguing in that he has one of the best changeups in the organization. Hunter McMahon was finally healthy in 2022, and he was terrific, one of the best relievers in the organization all year. He started the season in Ft. Myers, moved up to Cedar Rapids, and ended with a few outings for the Wind Surge. Speaking of guys being healthy, Alex Scherff came to the Twins from the Red Sox organization. He had been a really good prospect as a starter, but injuries derailed that a bit. He has been on the Injured List the majority of the time with the Twins but is finally healthy and ready to go this year. Boyle, Bravo, Brink, Donato, and Nordlin all signed with the Twins as minor-league free agent this offseason.       

Catchers: Alex Isola, Patrick Winkel  
Just two catchers in Wichita to start the season. Isola returns and may need to do more catching because of it. He had a nice showing in the Arizona Fall League, mostly playing first base. He's got a good combination of plate discipline and some pop in his bat. Winkel is arguably their best catching prospect. The organization is very high on him. He spent last season in Cedar Rapids and gets the bump to Double-A this year. He should do the majority of the catching. 

Infielders: Seth Gray, Will Holland, Brooks Lee, Anthony Prato, Jake Rucker, Aaron Sabato, Yunior Severino. 
Clearly Brooks Lee is the top prospect in this group. I mean, he's the #1 prospect in the organization by many outlets, including Twins Daily. He ended the season last year by DHing for the Wind Surge in the playoffs. He had a solid showing in his first big-league camp. He didn't hit much, but he showed a good approach and played very good defense at shortstop. Likewise, Gray, Holland, Prato, Sabato and Severino all spent the final month or more in Wichita last year. Holland has primarily an outfielder at this stage. In fact, that's all he played in big-league spring training games, but he was drafted as a shortly. Prato broke out in 2022. He became a solid on-base guy with some power, and he showed he can be a plus-defender in the infield and in the outfield too. Severino seemed to put some things together last year with the bat and did a nice job after moving up to the Surge. He played mostly second base in Cedar Rapids and then mostly third base in Wichita. Aaron Sabato continued to struggle to make contact, but he kept walking and he kept hitting home runs. He moved up to Double-A late and was just getting going when a pitch hit his wrist and ended his season. Jake Rucker started last year in Ft. Myers and then he moved up to the Kernels. When their season ended, he was promoted to the Saints for the final couple of weeks of their season.  

Outfielders: Yoyner Fajardo, DaShawn Keirsey, Jr., Armani Smith, and Alerick Soularie. 
DaShawn Keirsey was healthy in 2022 and really put things together. First and foremost, he is a tremendous defensive centerfielder, with great range and the ability to close on fly balls and create web gems. But he also had a ver solid offensive year as well. He got on base, but he hit for some power. He turns singles into doubles. He had a couple of inside-the-park homers. And he can steal bases like crazy. Hopefully he can get up to Triple-A at some point. Alerick Soularie was the second round pick in 2020 from Tennessee, but he started his career by getting hurt. Last year in Cedar Rapids, he struggled with the bat, but he can play second base and in the outfield. Hopefully a bump to Double-A will help him take off. Fajardo and Smith were both selected in the minor-league portion of the Rule 5 draft. Smith is very intriguing. He's a big dude with tremendous power potential, kind of in the Franmil Reyes mold. 

TWINS DAILY TOP 20 PROSPECTS
#1  - Brooks Lee
#13 - David Festa 

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!