Matt Braun

Image courtesy of © Yannick Peterhans / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images RHP Justin Topa Age on Opening Day 2026: 35 Service Time: 5 years, 44 days 2023 Salary: League Minimum 2024 Salary: $1,250,000 2025 Salary: $1,000,000 2026 Salary: $2,000,000 team option ($225,000 buyout) Background: A wandering soul, Justin Topa was originally drafted back in 2012 by the Reds, but didn’t turn pro until the Pirates selected him in the 17th round the following year. Since then, he’s pitched everywhere, appearing with four organizations and the Independent Rockland Boulders before becoming a Twin before the 2024 season. His best year was in 2023, when he put up a 2.61 ERA in 75 games for the Seattle Mariners. He then landed with Minnesota in the Jorge Polanco trade that winter. 2025 Season: Topa entered 2025 as a wild card: his previous success in the Pacific Northwest made him an intriguing arm. Yet, he missed nearly all of 2024 with nagging ailments, only moonlighting with the Twins for three games at the end of the year. His 2025 was… fine. The cursory numbers hold up under scrutiny—a 3.90 ERA, with peripherals more or less in agreement that he was cromulent—but Topa was unreliable in situations that mattered. His -1.64 WPA was the fourth-worst among qualified relievers. FanGraphs credits him with 12 “shutdowns” and 12 “meltdowns”, outings in which a pitcher accrued or lost 0.06 WPA or more. As you'd guess, a good reliever has more of the former than the latter. 2025 Stats: 54 G, 60 IP, 68 H, 18 BB, 49 K, 3.90 ERA, 1.43 WHIP Twins Depth at his Position (Right-Handed Reliever): Cole Sands - 40-man roster Cody Laweryson - 40-man roster Pierson Ohl - 40-man roster Thomas Hatch - 40-man roster Michael Tonkin - Arbitration eligible Triple-A: Travis Adams, Cory Lewis Double-A: Darren Bowen, C.J. Culpepper Summary: There are certainly more names that could be here, but it’s unclear at the moment how the starting pitcher clog will play out. Marco Raya or John Klein could factor into the bullpen. So could David Festa, though mainly because of health concerns. Why the Twins Should Pick up His Option: Topa is a unique case, in that the Twins possess a team option for $2,000,000 with a $225,000 buyout. He’s the only arbitration-eligible player on the team in this boat. The onus is entirely on them to bring back Topa, although they could choose to decline the option and still tender him a deal for arbitration, if they so desire. Topa is more interesting than your average 34-year-old coming off a mediocre year. He throws from one of the lowest right-handed arm angles in the game (10 degrees), which allows him to potentially maximize a unique sinker/cutter/sweeper pitch mix. As such, his groundball rate in 2025 was high, his barrel rate was low, and he commanded his arsenal well enough to walk fewer batters than average. That’s a useful combination of skills. Why the Twins Should Not Pick up His Option: All of those stats are nice, but they’re only descriptive of style, not necessarily of effectiveness, and the sum of Topa’s parts add up to make a mediocre reliever. His 2023 was great, but his stuff has backed up since then, furthering a significant platoon struggle against lefties. We’re not talking about a youngster looking to figure it out. Unless something changes, Topa would be the second-oldest player on the 2026 Twins. For a team interrogating every aspect of their payroll to squeeze value out of every penny, $2,000,000 for a likely average reliever is too rich. There's a Third Option? The Twins could also choose to deny the option but retain Topa's rights and send him through the arbitration process. Now, that would be a very strange thing to do, and it's unclear whether it would save them money, but it is a possibility. Projection: I’m 50-50 on whether Topa stays. In ordinary times, $2,000,000 for a reliever with some interesting traits would be a worthwhile gamble. Minnesota once gave $1,800,000 to Blake Parker before the 2019 season. These are not ordinary times. Early indications point to a stingy offseason that could very well pick off the rest of the meat remaining on the rotting carcass referred to as the “Minnesota Twins.” If the team doesn’t have Griffin Jax money, then they sure as hell don’t have Justin Topa money. What do you think about Justin Topa? He’s one of the tougher arbitration decisions this year, and the known totals on the team option could alter how the Twins handle him. Does he stay? Or will he go? View full article

Of all the awards we do here, this one is my favorite. “Most Improved” is a perfectly up-for-interpretation concept: do we mean to reward breakouts, acknowledge rises to superstardom, or shed light on those who rose from the perimeter of roster considerations to everyday player status? I don’t know. And I’m glad I don’t know. Nine players appeared on a ballot for this honor, and today, we’ll go over the top three vote-getters. 3. Austin Martin You’d be forgiven if you didn’t tune in much for the second half of the season. What with the 40% roster dismantling and sudden announcement that ownership wouldn’t change hands. Plus, the Twins just stunk. Austin Martin was not one of the reasons the Twins stunk. Though his 2024 season painted him as a tweener—someone ok at too many things for their own good; yet not great at anything—his 2025 was an upgrade on almost every front. Fueled by incremental improvements in contact and chase rate, and a more all-fields approach, Martin’s wRC+ jumped from 92 in 2024 to 113 in 2025. That’s more than enough to demand a spot in the lineup. Perhaps more significant was Martin’s defensive prowess in 2025. Advanced stats thought he was abysmal in 2024. Whether coming in or going back, Statcast believes he was worth -6 Outs Above Average in the outfield—a bad omen for such a great athlete. This year was different. Statcast credited him with +3 Outs Above Average in left field, the sixth-most in MLB for the position amongst players with at least 50 attempts. He probably should still only play center in a pinch. But an above-average left fielder who can also moonlight at second is a useful player. Martin’s baserunning remains insane. He’s a madman on the paths. His aggression has led to some glorious plays, with a few too many “what-are-you-thinking” moments. Still, it grades out as above-average. And maybe we could use some more excitement in our lives. 2. Louis Varland Well, this is a little awkward. The Twins moved Louis Varland to the bullpen, pushed his knuckle-curve to the extreme, and watched him rack up ground balls at an elite rate as a fire-breathing reliever. Then they traded him. It was by far the most shocking of their mid-season deals. Varland suffered a significant drop-off in play following the deal—perhaps unsurprising given how hard he took the trade—yet, he’s now a critical part of what looks to be an important Blue Jays team. 1. Kody Clemens Kody Clemens? Kody Clemens. The guy who was a Philly when the season started? The son of one of the greatest pitchers of all time? Clemens joined the Twins under inauspicious circumstances. A plethora of injuries begat the acquisition of Jonah Bride on April 16th, with Clemens arriving 10 days later. Bride’s time as a Twin is best left as just this sentence, yet the latecomer proved more consequential. He started bashing homers. His bat speed had improved. Suddenly, as the team collapsed around him, Clemens stood out as one of the few bright spots on the roster. Only a sporadic utility guy in his previous endeavors, the Twins penciled in Clemens almost everywhere: he played 58 games at 1st, 50 games at 2nd, 21 games in the corner outfield, and he even spent a frame as a center fielder. He was plus or neutral at every position. At 1st alone, he was worth 3 Outs Above Average, the 7th-most amongst all 1st basemen with at least 100 attempts. The zenith of Clemens’ season came in a dramatic mid-September game. Most of the fanbase had checked out. This author only watched it because he had postgame responsibilities. He led off the 3rd with a homer, ordinary enough, before blasting another one the following inning. He simply doubled in the 6th. Then—as the opener for a grand, dramatic walk-off—he completed the trifecta with a solo blast in the 9th, giving the Twins their first three-homer game since Miguel Sanó in 2021. Overall, Clemens slashed .216/.284/.442—lopsided and a touch tepid for a 1st baseman—but with an xwOBA that suggests he deserved better (.341). Even if he remains a slug-happy utility player, that is a much better outcome than the team ever could have predicted when they acquired him at the beginning of the season. For that reason, he is Twins Daily’s Most Improved Player for 2025. View full article

Image courtesy of © Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images Rocco Baldelli has been fired. Considering the team was butchered halfway through the season, we can only assume he was a dead man walking for the final excruciating months. These Pohlads are a ruthless bunch. At least he was compensated for his suffering. I have to admit, I’m something of a Baldelli sympathist. I think he got too much crap. His hands-off and laid-back approach to managing won him a lot of games: he finished his Twins career with a .511 winning percentage, better than Ron Gardenhire, Tom Kelly, or any Twins manager who manned the job for more than three seasons not named Sam Mele. Irks or quibbles with his demeanor—the “lack of fire” that some interpreted as lethargy or aloofness—to me, stems from an imperfect understanding of leadership. No, he didn’t yell. But he didn’t need to yell. And there are more ways to inspire people outside of yelling. At the end of the day, Baldelli’s teams won. Before this season—which should really only half-count against him—the worst Twins season under Baldelli was a 73-89 performance in 2021, a year sunk by the disastrous signings of Matt Shoemaker, J.A. Happ, and Alex Colomé. It’s not his fault they all turned into pumpkins, unless you think he didn’t inspire them hard enough. Other than 2021, the Twins were competent at worst, and playoff contenders at best. Shoot, his rookie season was literally one of the best in team history: the famous 2019 Bomba Squad that bludgeoned opponents and set home run records. Then, he led the team that beat the streak in 2023, which was a squad that, frankly, overperformed. Bad managers don’t turn a position player group of Kyle Farmer, Donovan Solano, Michael A. Taylor, three rookies, a struggling Carlos Correa, and 85 games of the forever DH Byron Buxton experience into an ALDS appearance. Baldelli did. And he managed his playoff games well. Yet, the hammer must strike for someone. It’s impossible for nobody to be at fault for such a disastrous season. I believe the onus was on him to buck the malaise that had been circling the team since the end of 2024. He didn’t. Mediocrity continued. One could argue it thrived. That has to be on someone. Still, it feels like the team fired him because it was an easy thing to do, not necessarily because it was the needed thing to do. The next person will be asked to conjure magic. They are inheriting little. Knowing how the off-season will likely play out, they will then be aided with little. Until something changes higher up, the system is set up for failure. It appears that the Twins would like to follow in the footsteps of the great Central outperformers, yet they lack the philosophical cleverness or aggressive talent churn that drives such franchises. You can’t expect to be the Brewers when you have the player development and conservatism of the Cardinals. Rocco Baldelli never swung the bat for the Twins. Nor did he take the mound. He didn’t hand Christian Vázquez $30 million just to point towards contracts like his as the reason why Jhoan Duran can no longer pitch for Minnesota. He didn’t whisper sweet nothings into the player’s ears, causing them to collapse tremendously in 2022 and 2024. He didn’t oversee a hitting philosophy that has utterly, disastrously failed the team for the past five seasons. He also didn’t choose to target largely sedentary athletes, lacking in defensive or base running acumen, while slugging at merely an acceptable rate. It’s true that something stinks in the organization, but firing one person low in the total decision-making apparatus isn’t the solution. Real, structural change needs to occur, and this is not it. Your turn. Let's hear your voice in the comments below. View full article

Image courtesy of © Jerome Miron-Imagn Images With game 162 closing the book on the 2025 Twins, Byron Buxton sat on the bench as a spectator. James Outman netting the start in center essentially ended Buxton’s year; even a stray pinch-hit appearance would have done little to aid or mitigate a tremendous year for the 31-year-old. He completed his evolution from light-hitting defensive wizard to frightening slugger, pounding 35 homers with a .264/.327/.551 line across a career-high 542 plate appearances. A healthy Buxton season, once a scoffed-at notion, is now a documented phenomenon. In completing this excellent season, Buxton has continued a ritual that dates back before he was born. Since the time the Trinity College product first donned a Twins uniform, something seemed special about Kirby Puckett. His infectious personality, Hollywood smile—oh, and incredible baseball abilities—placed him on a quick path to superstardom. His All-Star 1986 season kicked off 10 consecutive placements on the roster for the Midsummer Classic. He finished top-10 in the MVP vote 10 times. He won two World Series. His catch and subsequent walk-off homer in game 6 of the 1991 World Series are memories burned deep in every Twins fan’s psyche. (Did you really need this author to remind you how good Kirby Puckett was?) As Puckett’s career wound down, an 18-year-old named Torii Hunter started his rise through the Twins system. Though he could have given him the Jack Morris treatment, the affable Puckett took Hunter under his wing—even calling the youngster for pep talks when he noticed Hunter was in a slump. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Hunter then became an awesome player for the Twins. He, like Puckett, shed early-career issues with hitting to turn in remarkably consistent play. Between 2001 and 2007, only Carlos Beltrán, Andruw Jones, Jim Edmonds, and Mike Cameron were more valuable center fielders, by fWAR. That sweet right-handed stroke and his athletic glides in the field made him a nightly highlight reel. He also became one of the few men to deny Barry Bonds a homer. Lest you think Hunter wasn’t going to pay it forward, our own Cody Christie relayed how the elder Hunter reacted when his next in line, Denard Span, earned his call to the majors. “He texted me right back,” Span said. “And then, right after he texted me, he called me. … He said: ‘I’m happy for you. Just go out there, have fun and learn.’ I said, ‘I’m sorry for waking you up.’ He said, ‘No, this is the best news I’ve heard in a while.’ ” Though Span was “merely” very good, topping out with a 4.1 fWAR season in 2009, he, too, buoyed what has become a rare stretch of play for one position. Minnesota claims the 5th-most fWAR by primary center fielders between 1984 (Puckett’s rookie campaign) and 2012, the end of Span’s tenure as a Twin. Of the teams ahead of the Twins, most are inflated by one outlier player; the Cardinals are the only other franchise to claim at least four center fielders with double-digit fWAR. (Shane Mack is the fourth Twin, for those looking to keep track at home.) The move from Span to Buxton wasn’t as clean as the baton-passing that came before it. Two (nearly three) years of Aaron Hicks and Danny Santana bridged us to what quickly became yet another hyped debut, with Buxton gracing the 2015 Twins. A passable 2016 gave way to the real start of the Buxton era, in 2017. That year, he played 140 games of some of the most elegant center field defense of the 21st century, earning him the Platinum Glove as he led the team to a surprise playoff appearance. The next seven years became a wasteland of hope, disappointment, and injuries. Brilliant play would arrive and then vanish—vanquished suddenly by a nagging ailment or freak occurrence. He would turn superhuman in 2021… for 61 games. An acceptable outcome in basketball, perhaps, but not in baseball. In 2022, it was much of the same. In 2023, he was wasted as a DH. Last year gave us a glimmer of healthy hope in 102 available games. Now, finally, after 2025, Buxton has shed the questions that have dogged him his entire Twins career—and finds himself in the company and conversation of Twins greats at the position. A one-season wonder? Not anymore. In Hunter’s shadow? The still-active Buxton actually surpassed Hunter’s Twins career fWAR total earlier this year, in 2,000 fewer plate appearances. Since moving to Minnesota in 1961, only the Yankees, Astros, Cardinals, and Giants have accumulated more fWAR from primary center fielders than the Twins. Across almost all times, regardless of team quality, fans could look into the heart of the outfield and take comfort in the fact that the man patrolling the grass was of unusual acumen. It’s a tradition only accelerated in recent years, as Puckett begat Hunter, who begat Span, who then begat Buxton. Though it took some time, Buxton hasn’t just continued the legacy of center-field play—he's elevated it. View full article

Zebby Matthews, Taj Bradley, and Mick Abel, three young starting pitchers who will likely be crucial cogs in the Twins' rotation of the future. What did they do to succeed in their final starts of the season? View full video

Image courtesy of © Bill Streicher-Imagn Images Box Score SP: Joe Ryan: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K Home Runs: Christian Vázquez (3) Bottom 3 WPA: Trevor Larnach (-0.248), Byron Buxton (-0.134), Brooks Lee (-0.088) Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) I think I will miss this team. There’s a comfort in baseball, in the everyday slog that follows a team through the season. The ups and downs—they mimic the grind of life we all must persevere through. That’s probably why winters are so tough: we’re forced to struggle alone. Well, I guess we have football, but a once-a-week respite can’t ever touch the connection we develop with baseball and its players. Joe Ryan took the mound for the final time in 2025. Though he faltered a bit following the trade deadline, the righty may have created his magnum opus season, totaling 185 strikeouts over a career-high 166 innings, with a career-low 3.47 ERA entering Friday. For a team desperate in their search for consistency, the 29-year-old was a breath of fresh air. His mound opponent was Aaron Nola, the longtime Phillie stuck in an unusual quagmire. Competence is in his DNA. His season ERA sits over 6. These contradictions shouldn’t exist. Philadelphia struck immediately with a first inning run. Kyle Schwarber scored an infield single off Brooks Lee, whose admirable attempt at a great play resulted in an off-target throw, Edouard Julien’s foot to lose touch with the bag, and a dismayed Lee to walk sullenly back to his position. Then Bryce Harper shot a single to left center. Then Alec Bohm summoned Schwarber home with a sacrifice fly to right. A malaise fell upon the ballpark (yes, Jimmy Carter is not the only person who can find a use for that word.) The two pitchers settled into a groove. Though, not a tremendously smooth one. Perhaps more akin to Take the Money and Run; in that its scattershot rhythm and sudden emphasis revealed a loose control of the situation. Yet, control commanded. Or command controlled. Either way, three innings passed without either team scoring a run. Edmundo Sosa broke the stalemate with a solo shot in the fifth, though Christian Vázquez quickly hit a homer of his own to return the game state to its original deficit. The slim disadvantage lasted three batters, as Joe Ryan’s exit from the game gave way to Travis Adams, whom the Phillies jumped on to plate a sixth-inning run, pushing the shortfall back to two. As the innings melted away, and the endgame became clear, a singular thought conjured in every Twins fan: Jhoan Duran will enter this game. The Twins will be buried in part thanks to their own incompetence. And so it happened: the ninth came, and Duran took the mound for Philadelphia. It wasn’t clean—he allowed two hits—but he earned the save, giving Minnesota their 91st loss of the season. Notes: Post-Game Interview: What’s Next? The Twins and Phillies play the season’s penultimate game on Saturday, with the former Philadelphia prospect, Mick Abel, set to start opposite Ranger Suárez. First pitch is at 5:05 PM. Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet View full article

Simeon Woods Richardson provided the best start of last week. How did he do so? And should we be excited for him going forward? View full video

Image courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images Box Score Pablo López: 4 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K Home Runs: None Bottom 3 WPA: Cole Sands (-.385), Brooks Lee (-.153), Byron Buxton (-.101) Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) I find Springsteen’s “Nebraska” album to be strangely attractive. It’s certainly dower in tone, but the Boss has always excelled at bringing to life tales of the downtrodden and troubled; sometimes the aesthetics of such songs begat a darker, brooding spirit. Shoot, the first half of “Born in the U.S.A.” is arguably just as dark in lyrical content. He just dresses it up with high-powered synths and an upbeat backing band. Yet, the tales of the unsuccessful are critical. Not every narrative should be about triumph. Sometimes, we need to sit in and wallow with the deeply flawed to learn more about ourselves. That was Bruce’s unique talent: he spoke about the average—and, frankly, below average—American in uncompromising terms. These are the intros you get for a team 20 games below .500. Friday continued the extended procession for our Ship of Theseus Twins. Their recent tangle with the Yankees resulted in exactly what you would expect, though Simeon Woods Richardson’s dominant start proved a nice respite from the same-old same-old. Today, they greet Cleveland, a team red-hot and nearing a playoff spot. Could Minnesota play spoiler to their old foe? Pablo López took the mound. Though not for long. The righty pounced on a grounder that ricocheted off his person and tossed the ball to first to net the out. It was a hell of a play. It also forced him out of the game two innings later with right forearm tightness. So it goes. Parker Messick commanded the ball for the Guardians. Yet another in the long line of Cleveland’s factory-assembled pitching competence, the anxious lefty baffled the Twins. He commanded a five-pitch mix like he had pitched since birth. He threw breakers when Minnesota expected the heat, and stole strikes with fastballs when Twins’ hitters were convinced something looping was coming. The end result was nine strikeouts—a total made more impressive considering the southpaw only went 5 ⅓ frames. Well, that seems like a low total for a start that the author painted as dominant. It is. Messick looked unbeatable until the sixth, when Austin Martin shot a grounder back at him, which portended a horrific overthrow of the first baseman as Martin strode into second. Luke Keaschall then dumped a double into right as Martin advanced to third. He then scored off a wild pitch. Messick netted one more out before being replaced by Matt Festa, who believed a chest-high fastball was an acceptable out pitch against Royce Lewis. He was wrong. The excitement of a tied game died off as Cody Laweryson gave way to the other Kody, Funderburk, who gave way to Cole Sands. Sands’ troubles remained… troubling. The righty surrendered a pair of runs in the eighth, even as Funderburk gifted him the first out of the inning. Perhaps sensing his teammate needed company, Michael Tonkin then matched the appearance by allowing two more runs to push Cleveland’s advantage to four. Such a lead doesn't require a Cade Smith ninth-inning appearance, but the righty was warm anyway, so Stephen Vogt decided he shall appear. The half-inning took about three minutes, and the Twins dropped yet another game. Notes: Royce Lewis stole his ninth base of the month, the most in MLB. Luke Keaschall holds the fifth-highest batting average for a rookie in Twins history. The record is .334 set by Luis Arraez in 2019. Byron Buxton is near a career-high in plate appearances; his current total of 508 is three behind his 2017 mark of 511. Post-Game Interview: What’s Next? The Twins and Guardians play a doubleheader on Saturday, with Game One set to start at 12:10 PM, and Game Two slated for a 5:10 PM first pitch. Joe Ryan will start first, as Bailey Ober takes the night game. Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet View full article

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints (photo of Emmanuel Rodriguez) TRANSACTIONS No moves were made on Wednesday. Saints Sentinel Box Score John Klein: 4 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 3 K HR: None Multi-hit games: Emmanuel Rodriguez (2-for-3, 2 BB), Aaron Sabato (2-for-4, R), Tanner Schobel (2-for-4, R) The Saints never had a chance on Wednesday. Starter John Klein has found the St. Paul confines oppressive and rude. Though he crushed Wichita with a 3.12 ERA, his mark with the Saints sits at 6.66—a far cry from his AA success. The Redbirds simply found him hittable; they drummed him for seven hits and five earned runs, with all the scores arriving in the game’s initial two frames. St. Paul responded with some small ball in the fourth, churning in runs off an RBI groundout from Walker Jenkins and a sacrifice fly by Gabriel Gonzalez. Gonzalez returned to smack an RBI double in the sixth. That pushed the score to 3-5. It never got closer. Memphis answered with a run in the same frame before tacking on two more in the seventh to place what would become the cemented final score. MLB’s 6th overall prospect J.J. Wetherholt played for the Redbirds on Wednesday. He went 1-4, with a walk. Wind Surge Wisdom The Wind Surge season concluded on Sunday. Check back in 2026. Kernels Nuggets The Kernels fell on Tuesday, losing the Midwest League championship to the West Michigan Whitecaps. They will return in 2026. Mussel Matters The Mighty Mussels season has ended. We’ll see them again in 2026. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Trent Baker Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Emmanuel Rodriguez PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 – Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - 0-4, RBI, BB, K #4 – Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 2-3, 2 BB #9 – Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 1-4, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 K #14 – Marco Raya (St. Paul) - 1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 K #18 – Kyler Fedko (St. Paul) - 0-4, BB, K THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul @ Memphis (11:05 AM) - RHP Mick Abel View full article

Three pitchers, three different lessons. This week, we take a look at Bailey Ober, Simeon Woods Richardson, and Pablo Lopez to learn how they each earn outs at the major league level. View full video

Image courtesy of Matt Blewett-Imagn Images Box Score Pablo López: 5 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 6 K Home Runs: Kody Clemens 3 (17, 18, 19) Top 3 WPA: Kody Clemens (.445), Byron Buxton (.198), Austin Martin (.167) Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) We’re in the final act. Arguably, this has been the case since the infamous mid-summer fire sale set into motion that which became inevitable; that the Twins would play forgettable baseball; that what used to bring a modicum of joy would only serve as a monument to discarded potential; that pretentious nerds like this author would dictate such terms in purple prose. What were we talking about again? Oh, yes, a baseball game. Pablo López—a vestige of the before times—started for the Twins, his second appearance since his three-month injury absence. Brandon Pfaadt climbed the hill for Arizona. Early returns looked to portend the usual slop often put forth by Minnesota; Geraldo Perdomo walked, stole second, and extended his trip to third base off a Jhonny Pereda throw that the word “errant” finds egregious. A Corbin Carroll knock drove him home. Yes, there will be eight more innings of this. Two shutout frames by Pfaadt exacerbated the struggle. Then, leading off the third, Kody Clemens worked the count full and smoked a solo homer to right. And Friday would be the day of Kody Clemens. The Twins came back in the fourth with a beautiful chance to score a crooked number. The bases were loaded with no one out. Brooks Lee hit a fly ball deep enough to score the runner. The throw was cut off, and a lethargic Matt Wallner was nabbed at second. A run scored, but at a terrible cost. A crooked number seemed out of reach… until Clemens stepped to the plate to hit his second homer of the game. Skirmishes in the fifth added runs to the total, while López still didn’t have an earned run. Luke Keaschall was the offender this time, as he successfully slid to stop a grounder from bleeding into the outfield, then overthrew first base by such a margin that had a second Kody Clemens stood on the shoulders of the first one, the clone still likely would have missed the ball. In the sixth, Clemens cracked another RBI hit—this one a measly double—to earn his tenth base of the game. Minnesota’s 6-2 lead lasted all of three combined batters, as Geraldo Perdomo rudely greeted Michael Tonkin with a massive blast to cut the advantage in half. So the game stood until the ninth. Three measly outs. That's all they need. Even bad pitchers can often get those. Unfortunately, Cole Sands was a ticking time bomb. Or the wrong wire to cut. It's unclear how this metaphor works. He allowed one run to push the game state uncomfortably close before Gabriel Moreno unloaded a brutal gut punch: a three-run WPA swinger of a homer to catapult Arizona into the lead. Yet, the Twins weren't done. With no respect for writers who need to juggle pacing with timeliness in posting, Minnesota's batters went back to work. Clemens hit his third homer of the game, and the Twins followed his blast by loading the bases with no one out. It went smoother this time. Trevor Larnach worked a walk to tie the game, setting the stage for Keaschall with a chance to win the game. He didn't get a hit. But he didn't need a hit. A simple medium-deep fly ball ushered in Byron Buxton, as Minnesota walked off one of the craziest games of the season. Notes: Kody Clemens' three-homer game was the 14th in team history and the first for a Twin since Miguel Sanó on May 18th, 2021. Pablo López reached the five-inning plateau for the 12th time in 13 starts this year. Austin Martin is slashing .372/.509/.465 across his last 15 games. Jhonny Pereda is slashing .417/.462/.583 in 13 plate appearances as a Twin. Post-Game Interview: What’s Next? The Twins and Diamondbacks meet once for a Saturday melee, as Joe Ryan takes the mound opposite Ryne Nelson. First pitch is at 6:10 PM. Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet View full article

Image courtesy of Thiéres Rabelo TRANSACTIONS RHP Cory Lewis activated (St. Paul) LHP Aaron Rozek placed on Development List (St. Paul) Saints Sentinel St. Paul 1, Columbus 7 Box Score John Klein: 4 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 5 BB, 4 K HR: None Multi-hit games: None Little went right for the Saints on Wednesday. Our friends in St. Paul continued a dreary season, falling by six in an uncompetitive game. Starter John Klein had a rough go of it. Control eluded him, as the righty walked five, which portended a 12-walk game authored by Saints pitching. His first two innings were excellent, though, as he whiffed three and didn’t allow a base runner. The Saints scored their lone run of the day off a Walker Jenkins RBI double in the third. 2024 first overall pick and 15th-ranked MLB prospect, Travis Bazzana, took three walks in five plate appearances. Wind Surge Wisdom Wichita 2, Corpus Christi 1 Box Score C.J. Culpepper: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 2 K HR: Harry Genth (2) Multi-hit games: Kala’i Rosario (2-for-4), Maddux Houghton (2-for-4) The Wind Surge scored two in the ninth to win on Wednesday. Perhaps inspired by J.J. McCarthy and the Vikings on Monday, Wichita turned what once looked like a hopeless endeavor into a sweet reality. They had nothing going. Nothing. They were whiffing at an unthinkable rate. Only twice did a Wind Surge runner even touch third. Bringing in one of those guys? Ushering them home safely? What, are you crazy? Jose Salas struck out and Maddux Houghton grounded out to start the ninth. Hooks pitcher Anderson Bido was already thinking about his celebratory dinner. Harry Genth walked to the plate. A recent indy-ball signee. OPS’d over 1.500 for Haverford this year. Stands 5’8.” “No problem”, thought Bido, who decided to bend in a first-pitch slider to Genth. The righty walloped the pitch, sending the ball flying deep into the night as the game shockingly moved to a tie. Wichita wasn’t finished. Fired up by Genth’s shot, Hendry Mendez took a walk, Kala’i Rosario singled, and Ricardo Olivar punched a liner to center to score Mendez and take the lead outright. Kade Bragg held on in the ninth to secure the win. Hooks center fielder Joseph Sullivan is the sixth-ranked prospect in the Houston Astros system. He went hitless in four at-bats. Kernels Nuggets The Kernels did not play on Wednesday, but will be back on Thursday for the second game of their playoff series. Mussel Matters The Mighty Mussels season has ended. We’ll see them again in 2026. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – C.J. Culpepper Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Hendry Mendez PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 – Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - 1-4, 2B, RBI, 2 K #2 – Luke Keaschall (Twins) - 1-4, 2B, BB, K #4 – Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 0-3, BB, K #11 – Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 1-3, BB, 2 K #18 – C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) - 5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 2 K #20 – Hendry Mendez (Wichita) - 1-2, R, 2 BB THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Columbus @ St. Paul (6:37 PM) - RHP Darren McCaughan Wichita @ Corpus Christi (6:35 PM) - RHP Alejandro Hidalgo Beloit @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM) - LHP Dasan Hill View full article