Seth Stohs

Image courtesy of Kiyoshi Mio - IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect TRANSACTIONS There were no transactions in the Twins organization on Saturday. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 0, Columbus 4 Box Score The St. Paul Saints offense has been a juggernaut throughout most of the 2026 season. Coming into Saturday’s game, the Saints 250 home runs placed them one over the 249 homers hit by Greensboro Grasshoppers, the High-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The next three teams on the team home run leaderboard are the Chicago Cubs (211), New York Yankees (209), and Scranton/Wilkes Barre RailRiders (209), the Yankees Triple-A affiliate. With one more game to go, 13 players have hit 10 or more home runs for the Saints in 2026. Aaron Sabato and Matt Wallner are tied at the top with 25 home runs. Kyler Fedko his 17 homers. Gabriel Gonzalez and Cody Morissette each have hit 16 home runs. Ben Ross hit 15, and Kaelen Culpepper hit 14. Noah Cardenas hit 13 long balls while Orlando Arcia and Walker Jenkins hit a dozen each. Emmanuel Rodriguez and Kala'i Rosario each have 11 Saints homers. Finally, Royce Lewis had 10 home runs in 15 games for the Saints. Alan Roden may have joined that list, but he and his nine Saints homers were called up to the big leagues this weekend. Hendry Mendez can join the list if he hits two homers on Sunday. In addition, the Saints came into Saturday’s game leading the 20-team International League in Runs Scored (836). So, their performance in their penultimate game of the 2026 season was certainly not indicative of their season. On Saturday night in Columbus, the Saints had four hits and no walks. With two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, Tanner Schobel knocked his 18th double of the season. It marked the first time that the Saints had a runner reach second base in the game. It was followed by a ground out which made them 0-for-1 with Runners in Scoring Position in the game. In fact, the top of the second and third innings ended with double plays. The Saints ended the game with just two runners left on base. Jack Anderson made the start. The right-hander went four innings and gave up four runs (3 earned) on seven hits and a walk. He had three strikeouts. Paulshawn Pasqualotto struck out one batter over two perfect innings. Matt Bowman gave up a hit and a walk in a scoreless seventh inning. Eric Orze struck out one batter in a quiet eighth frame. The Saints are now 82-66, tied with the Memphis Redbirds for the best overall record in the International League West Division. The Redbirds grabbed the IL’s first-half playoff spot. The Saints finished the first half at 42-32, 4.5 games back of Memphis. In the second half, the Saints are 40-34. That’s three games behind Indianapolis in the division, and four games behind East-leading Rochester who is currently in the lead for the second playoff spot. They currently have a ½-game lead over the Syracuse Mets. Hitter of the Day: Tanner Schobel (St. Paul): 1-for-3, 2B(5), 1 RBI. Pitcher of the Day: Paulshawn Pasqualotto (St. Paul): 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 23 pitches, 16 strikes (66.7%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects. See how they performed. #1 - OF Walker Jenkins (Minnesota) - 2-for-4, BB, R (batted eighth, played CF) #6 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (Minnesota) - 0-for-2, K (Pinch Hit in 7th, stayed in LF) #7 - OF Hendry Mendez (St. Paul) - 0-for-4 (batted second, played LF) #9 - 1B/OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 1-for-4 (batted first, played RF) UPCOMING PROBABLES Sunday, September 20 St. Paul @Columbus (6:05 pm CT) - LHP Aaron Rozek (4-6, 4.37 ERA) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 72-83 (Final Game 9/27) St. Paul Saints: 82-66 (Final Game (9/20) Wichita Wind Surge: 55-81 (Season Complete) Cedar Rapids Kernels: 48-82 (Season Complete) Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 68-60 (Season Complete) FCL Twins: 33-26 (Season Complete) DSL Twins: 19-35 (Season Complete) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss today’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson (photo of Kala'i Rosario) TRANSACTIONS The Twins placed OF Trevor Larnach on the Injured List. The corresponding move is OF Alan Roden returning to the Twins. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 4, Columbus 3 Box Score Occasionally you will hear a Baseball Guy say that the hardest out to get is the 27th. And something that’s true even if you have 26 outs and two strikes. More on that later. The Saints got the scoring started in the top of the second inning when Cody Morissette hit his 17th home run of the season to make it 1-0. Kendry Rojas started for the Saints, and by design, he went two innings. He gave up one hit and walked one, but he gave up no runs. He also struck out three batters. Alejandro Hidalgo gave up one hit but struck out three batters in a scoreless inning. Ryan Gallagher came on and gave up just one run on three hits and two walks over four innings. Tied at 1-1 through five innings, the Saints reclaimed the lead in the top of the sixth inning. Aaron Sabato hit a one-out single. Then with two outs Kala’i Rosario doubled him in to make it 2-1. In the bottom of the eighth, Garrett Acton took over for Gallagher. However, things didn’t go great for him. The first batter he faced, Kody Huff, led off with his 23rd homer of the season to make it 2-2. Blake Perkins followed with a triple, and he scored on a Dom Nunez sacrifice fly that gave the Guardians Triple-A affiliate the 3-2 lead. But things started well for the Saints in the top of the ninth. Matt Wallner and Kala’i Rosario started the innings with singles. Morissette came up and grounded into a force out which left runners on first and third. Tristan Gray came up and lined out to shortstop for the second out. That brought Jake Rucker to the plate. The first pitch was a called strike at 99.3 mph. The second pitch was 98.8 mph and Rucker was able to just tip it. Down to the final strike, Carlos Hernandez tried to sneak one more fastball by Rucker. On 0-2, Rucker lined a 98.7 mph drive to left field. Wallner scored, and Morissette scored from first to give the Saints a 4-3 lead. Marco Raya came in for the bottom of the ninth. He got a groundout before issuing a walk. With Kyle Manzardo batting, Raya got ahead 1-2 before a changeup was grounded up the middle. Tristan Gray fielded it, stepped on second base and threw to first base to end the game. The Saints scored their four runs on eight hits and two walks. Rosario went 3-for-4 with his fifth double and an RBI. Hendry Mendez was 1-for-2 with two walks and his 13th double. Morissette’s homer was his 17th signing joining the Saints. Rucker’s double was his second with the Saints this year. The Saints named Aaron Sabato their team MVP for 2026. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter(s) of the Day Kala’i Rosario (St. Paul): 3-for-4, 2B(5), 1 RBI. Pitcher(s) of the Day Kendry Rojas (St. Paul): 2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 39 pitches, 26 strikes (66.7%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects. See how they performed. #1 - OF Walker Jenkins (Minnesota) - 3-for-4, HR(3), R, RBI (batting eighth, playing CF) #6 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (Minnesota) - 0-for-4, 3 K (batting sixth, played LF, robbed a homer) #7 - OF Hendry Mendez (St. Paul) - 1-for-2, 2 BB, 2B(13) (batted second, played DH) #9 - 1B/OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 0-for-4 (batted first, played LF) #15 - RHP Ryan Gallagher (St. Paul) - 4 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, WP, 75 pitches, 50 strikes (66.7%). UPCOMING PROBABLES Saturday, September 19 St. Paul @Columbus (6:05 pm CT) - Jack Anderson (5-6, 4.84 ERA) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 72-82 (Final Game 9/27) St. Paul Saints: 82-65 (Final Game (9/20) Wichita Wind Surge: 55-81 (Season Complete) Cedar Rapids Kernels: 48-82 (Season Complete) Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 68-60 (Season Complete) FCL Twins: 33-26 (Season Complete) DSL Twins: 19-35 (Season Complete) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss today’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson (photo of Gabriel Gonzalez) TRANSACTIONS No Transactions today. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 16, Columbus 6 Box Score The Saints held a fairly comfortable lead throughout most of this game, but a seven-run eighth inning rally put it out of reach. Before the game started, the team knew that the Rochester Red Wings had already won an afternoon game which eliminated the Saints from playoff contention. So maybe a game like this, where everyone contributed something. Eight out of nine batters in the lineup had at least one hit, and five hitters had multi-hit games. After two scoreless innings, the Saints scored in six straight innings. Trent Baker made the start. He gave up one run on four hits and a walk in four innings. He struck out seven batters. C.J. Culpepper gave up three runs on three hits and a walk in the fifth inning. He struck out two batters. Ricky Castro came in and worked the final four innings. He was charged with two runs on four hits and two walks. He had four strikeouts. Hendry Mendez went 3-for-5 in the game with his 12th double. Jake Rucker went 3-for-4 with a walk and his first Saints double. Matt Wallner went 2-for-5, was hit by a pitch and hit his 17th double. He also hit his 25th home run of the season, tying him with Aaron Sabato for the Saints single-season home run record. With three more games to go, it will be interesting to see who wins that title. Gabriel Gonzalez went 2-for-4 and was hit by two pitches. He also hit his 16th home run of the season. Alan Roden led off and went 2-for-5 with a walk. Roden, Gonzalez, and catcher Ian Daugherty each drove in three runs in the game. Wallner, Rucker, and Cody Morissette each drove in two runs. Morissette went 1-for-3 and walked three times. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter(s) of the Day Matt Wallner (St. Paul): 2-for-4, HBP, 2B(17), HR(25), 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 K. Walker Jenkins (Minnesota): 3-for-4, HR(2), 2 R, 2 RBI, K. Pitcher(s) of the Day Trent Baker (St. Paul): 4 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects. See how they did today. #1 - OF Walker Jenkins (Minnesota) - 3-for-4, HR(2), 2 R, 2 RBI, K (batted eighth, played CF) #6 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (Minnesota) - 0-for-4, 3 K (batted fifth, playing LF) #7 - OF Hendry Mendez (St. Paul) - 3-for-5, BB, 2B(12), 3 R (batted fifth, played LF) #9 - 1B/OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 2-for-4, 2 HBP, HR(16), 3 R, 3 RBI (batted second, played 1B) UPCOMING PROBABLES Friday, September 18 St. Paul @Columbus (6:05 pm CT) - LHP Kendry Rojas (2-0, 3.00 ERA) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 71-81 (in progress) (Final Game 9/27) St. Paul Saints: 81-65 (Final Game (9/20) Wichita Wind Surge: 55-81 (Season Complete) Cedar Rapids Kernels: 48-82 (Season Complete) Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 68-60 (Season Complete) FCL Twins: 33-26 (Season Complete) DSL Twins: 19-35 (Season Complete) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss today’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article

On Wednesday, Rachell Wolfe updated her Facebook page writing "I'm sorry to write this but after a really really difficult and torturous battle Brian Worlfe passed away early this morning." Brian Wolfe was just 45 years old. He never played in the big leagues with the Minnesota Twins, but he spent parts of six seasons in the Twins minor-league system. They drafted him in 1999 out of high school, and he climbed the organizational ladder slowly, reaching Triple-A. The Twins released him in May of 2005. Ten days later, he signed with the Brewers, and in January of 2006, he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for Corey Koskie. In 2007, he got off to a strong start at Triple-A Syracuse. Through 17 games and 26 innings, he had a 1.04 ERA and a 0.92 ERA. He was called up to the big leagues and went 3-1 with a 2.98 ERA over 45 1/3 innings. In 2008, he went 0-2 with a 2.45 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP in 20 games and 22 innings. In 2009, he pitched in 14 games and 15 1/3 innings for the Blue Jays. From 2010-2018 in Japan. He spent time with the Nippon Ham Fighters, the Softbank Hawks, and the Seibu Lions. In 1999, the Twins drafted him with their sixth round pick out of Servite High School in Anaheim. That draft, the Twins took high school players with their first four picks, then after taking a pitcher from Auburn, they took Wolfe out of the prep ranks too. The team's first-round pick was OF B.J. Garbe. He was in the organization until the trade deadline of 2004. In the second round, the Twins drafted prep catcher Rob Bowen. He was in the organization through the 2005 season and played in 24 games for the Twins between 2003 and 2004. The Twins third-round pick was another prep catcher, a Canadian named Justin Morneau. He debuted in 2003 and then was with the Twins until the 2013 trade deadline. He became one of the best Twins players in their history, a four-time All Star, two-time Silver Slugger, and the 2006 AL MVP. He's part of the Twins front office and the television booth. The Twins fourth-round pick was LHP Jeff Randazzo, a prep pitcher from Pennsylvania. He remained in the organization through the 2005 season, topping out at Double-A. Randazzo has been a long-time sports agent. In the last year, he began his own agency, Covenant Sports Group. Fifth-round pick RHP Brent Schoening was drafted out of Auburn. A pitcher, he remained in the Twins organization through the 2005 season. He spent the last two years in Triple-A Rochester. Eighth-round pick OF Matt Scanlon played for the Gophers. Like Wolfe, Scanlon remained in the Twins organization until early in the 2005 season. Others from that 1999 draft class that signed include: OF Kevin West (16th), Waseca High School infielder Barry Quickstad (18th), RHP Travis Bowyer (20th), RHP Willie Eyre (23rd), infielder Terry Tiffee (26th), RHP Jason Richardson (35th), I mention each of these players, noting that those that signed stuck in the Twins organization five or six seasons. These players get close, and even if they're at different levels, the relationships are still there. Then add in 1998 draft picks such as Tommy Watkins and Kevin Frederick. Or players from the 2000 draft such as Josh Rabe, J.D. Durbin , Jason Kubel, Jason Miller and others. Our thoughts turn to his wife Rachel who is likely in pain, and from how words, has been for quite some time. 72 big-league games for Toronto may not sound like a lot, but he pitched in nine games for the FCL Twins in 1999. He spent the 2000 and 2001 seasons in Davenport, IA, pitching in 59 games for Quad Cities. Between 2002 and 2005, he pitched in 32 games for the Ft. Myers Miracle, 42 games for New Britain, and another three games for Rochester. With the Brewers, he spent time in Brevard County, Florida and Huntsville, Alabama. He also represented the organization in the Arizona Fall League. With the Blue Jays, he pitched in Dunedin, New Hampshire, and Syracuse before his big-league time in Toronto. He also pitched some for Las Vegas in 2009 when it became the Triple-A affiliate of the Jays. Nine seasons in Japan. And, he did some coaching upon retirement. That's a pretty large baseball family. View full rumor

I wouldn't be surprised to see Diaw and Kendle go to the Fall league... Both missed a decent amount of time in the season. Houston's had enough. I could see sending DeBarge and see if he can start hitting again in Arizona. 38 now.

The difference is that Ross has a future with the Twins (in my opinion, and I think in the opinion of the Twins brass). Sabato would truly just be called up as a two-week reward for time served... which would be very cool to do and would send him off with about $55K. I'd like to see Kala'i Rosario get a call up too for the same reason. I can't imagine him wanting to come back, and he should have lots of options.

A good reminder that every organization has their hits and misses in the draft, that prospect rankings only mean so much... Lavalee has carved out a nice pro career. I know I wrote about him quite a bit one day in a minor league report shortly after he was promoted to Louisville. Saints played them in a couple of series and I'm guessing they have a lot to do with him being back at AA.

What in the world??? There are no words for this...

Kreidler being on the list is silly. His defense continues to be incredible, but since the day they called up Culpepper, Kreidler hasn't played very much, and the at-bats were very inconsistent. And likewise, since Jeffers came back, Caratini hasn't played much at all. Jeffers just recently played in 9 straight games. Bell has taken reigns of the DH spot.

Guys have slumps and streaks all season long.

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey (photo of Adrian Bohorquez) TRANSACTIONS Before their Saturday afternoon game, Ben Ross was optioned to St. Paul.The Twins announced that they are calling up outfielder Emmanuel Rodriguez. The Twins released RHP Jesse Bergin. The 26-year-old was the Marlins 11th round pick in 2021 out of UCLA. He remained in the Marlins organization until this spring. The Twins signed him and kept him in the FCL for a while. He moved up to Cedar Rapids in mid-June and almost immediately went on the IL. A month later, he went on the IL again. Before the end of July, he went on the Full Season Injured List. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 7, Syracuse 9 Box Score Syracuse scored multiple runs in each of the first three innings. The Saints scored runs in each of the first four innings. At the end of four innings, the score was tied 7-7. Ryan Gallagher made the start and went the first three innings. He gave up seven runs (5 earned) on seven hits and two walks. He struck out five batters. In the bottom of the first, Alan Roden and Hendry Mendez started things with walks. Aaron Sabato was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Matt Wallner grounded back to the Mets starter Ofreidy Gomez. He threw out the lead runner, Roden, at home. However, catcher Kevin Parada threw wildly to first base which allowed Mendez to score and Sabato to advance to third. Gabriel Gonzalez was then hit by a pitch, and the bases were loaded again. Cody Morissette grounded into a fielder's choice. Sabato scored to make it 3-2 Mets after one inning. In the top of the second inning, Tanner Schobel scored on a ground out by Alan Roden. Through two innings, the Saints were down 5-3. In the top of the third, Billy Amick hit a two-run homer, his 37th overall of the season. Down 7-3, Wallner and Gonzalez had back-to-back walks with one out. With two outs, Ross walked to load the bases. Tanner Schobel cleared the bases with a double to cut the team’s deficit to 7-6. After Ricky Castro put a zero on the board in the top of the fourth, Kala’i Rosario hit a one-out solo homer to tie the game at 7-7. Castro really helped out his team by providing four innings of good work. He gave up one run on four hits and struck out two batters. The run he gave up in the seventh inning, on a solo home run by MJ Melendez, proved to be the deciding run, so Castro gets the loss for his efforts. Garrett Acton struck out two batters in a scoreless eighth inning. Julian Merryweateher gave up a solo home run to Melendez in the top of the ninth to conclude the scoring. The 27-year-old Melendez homered twice for the second straight game. The Saints scored their seven runs on nine hits and eight walks. Gabriel Gonzalez went 2-for-3 with a walk. Aaron Sabato went 2-for-4 Schobel’s double was his 17th of the season. Rosario’s home run was his ninth since joining the Saints. Ben Ross went 1-for-3 with two walks in his return to the Saints. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 5, Frisco 1 Box Score The Wind Surge played a nearly flawless game and things started in the bottom of the first inning. Marek Houston and Khadim Diaw started the inning with back-to-back walks. With two outs, both runners scored on a Kyle DeBarge single. The bottom of the second inning began with a Poncho Ruiz walk and a single by Graham Brown. Houston drove in Ruiz with a single. Brown scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Diaw. The bottom of the fifth inning began with a DeBarge walk. He went to second on a Jaime Ferrer single. That made it 5-0 Wind Surge and ended the team’s scoring for the day. More important, the Wind Surge got tremendous pitching in their penultimate game of the season. And, as he has been of late, Adrian Bohorquez was nearly unhittable. He gave up just one hit and one walk over five shutout innings. He struck out four and has a 1.06 ERA in 17 Double-A innings over four starts. Since July 30th, Adrian Bohorquez has tossed 36 innings over eight games. He has given up three earned runs on 13 hits and 14 walks and 41 strikeouts. In that stretch, the 21-year-old Venezuelan is 2-1 with a 0.75 ERA, a 0.75 WHIP and 10.25 K/9. Sam Armstrong came in and gave up two hits over three scoreless innings. He had two strikeouts with no walks. Luis Quinones gave up a solo home run in the ninth inning. Back to the offense, the Wind Surge scored their five runs on eight hits and eight walks. Quinn McDaniel batted ninth and went 2-for-2 with two walks. Eighth-place hitter Graham Brown went 2-for-3 with a walk. Kyle DeBarge was 1-for-2 with two walks, and he stole his 37th base. Houston and Diaw each had a single and a walk. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter(s) of the Day Quinn McDaniel (Wichita): 2-for-2, 2 BB 2 R, RBI, K. Pitcher(s) of the Day Adrian Bohorquez (Wichita): 5 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 76 pitches, 50 strikes (65.8%). PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects. See how they did today. #3 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (Minnesota) - 0-for-1, HBP, K (batted sixth, played SS) - left game with a shoulder contusion after being hit by a pitch in the upper back. #4 - SS Marek Houston (Wichita) - 1-for-4, BB, R, RBI (batted first, played SS) #6 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (Minnesota) - 1-for-4, HR(1), R, RBI, 2 K, CS(3) (batted ninth, played CF) #7 - OF Hendry Mendez (St. Paul) - 0-for-1, BB, R (batted second, played LF) #9 - 1B/OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 2-for-3, BB, R (batted fifth, played 1B) #12 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Wichita) - 0-for-5 (batted third, played 3B) #13 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Wichita) - 1-for-3, BB, SF, R, RBI, BB, 2 K (batted second, played DH) #15 - RHP Ryan Gallagher (St. Paul) - 3 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 73 pitches, 52 strikes (71.2%) UPCOMING PROBABLES Sunday, September 13 Syracuse @ St. Paul (1:07 pm CT) - RHP Trent Baker (4-3, 4.95 ERA) Frisco @ Wichita (1:05 pm CT) - RHP Preston Johnson (1-3, 3.86 ERA) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 70-78 (Final Game 9/27) St. Paul Saints: 78-64 (Final Game (9/20) Wichita Wind Surge: 55-80 (Final Game 9/13) Cedar Rapids Kernels: 48-82 (Season Complete) Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 68-60 (Season Complete) FCL Twins: 33-26 (Season Complete) DSL Twins: 19-35 (Season Complete) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss today’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! 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Image courtesy of Rob Thompson (photo of Aaron Sabato) TRANSACTIONS No transactions on Friday for the Twins. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 4, Syracuse 10 Box Score This game was over almost before it started. The Saints gave up nine runs over the first two innings. The Saints scored in four different innings, but it was way too little. Lefty Aaron Rozek started. He’s been tremendous for the Saints this year. Not so much on this night. He gave up 10 runs (9 earned runs) on 11 hits (3 homers) and four walks in four innings. Matt Bowman struck out four batters over two scoreless, one-hit innings. Eric Orze then struck out two batters over two scoreless, one-hit innings. Marco Raya struck out two in a perfect ninth inning. It was not a good night for the Saints in general, but Aaron Sabato had a couple of nice moments. He went 3-for-4 with a double, a homer and an RBI. The double was his 29th which sets the franchise record, one more than Jermaine Palacios had in 2022. The home run was his 24th of the season, tying him with Matt Wallner this year for the single-season Saints record. Not that the Twins season will not lead to a playoff berth, it would be great to see Jeremy Zoll and Company call Sabato. Cody Morissette went 2-for-3 with a walk and his 17th double. Emmanuel Rodriguez was 2-for-4 with a walk. Rodriguez also had an outfield assist in the game. When #OldFriend Billy Amick was traded to the Mets, he was hitting .217/.338/.482 (.820) with 14 doubles, 23 homers, and 72 RBI. After the trade, he went to Double-A Binghamton. In 12 games, he hit .304/.396/.783 (1.179) with one double, seven homers and 22 RBI. He was promoted to Triple-A Syracuse. In 17 games, he has hit .222/.275/.556 (.831) with three doubles, six home runs and 11 RBI. So, combining all of that, he has hit .227/.335/.526 (.861) with 18 doubles, 36 homers and 105 RBI. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 2, Frisco 14 Box Score Frisco used a six-run third inning to take a huge early lead, and they scored in seven of their nine innings on offense. Riley Quick made his final Double-A start of the season, and it went about as well as most of his starts at the level. In four innings, he gave up eight runs (6 earned) on nine hits and two walks. He struck out two batters. Unless he makes a Triple-A start next week, his season comes to an end with 23 starts and 81 2/3 innings pitched. After pitching just three innings in 2024 due to Tommy John surgery, Quick pitched in 14 games and 62 innings at Alabama in 2025 before the Twins made him their Competitive Balance pick. One thing he did well was miss bats. He had 110 strikeouts in 81 2/3 innings. Unfortunately, he walked 48 batters too. So while he did not pitch well after three games in Fort Myers (4.14 ERA, 1.31 WHIP in Cedar Rapids, 6.68 ERA, 1.73 WHIP in Wichita), the most important thing was keeping him healthy all season. Now he can go through a full, “normal” offseason and some back next spring ready to throw strikes with multiple pitches, miss even more bats and compete for a big-league job sometime during the season. Jaylen Nowlin came in and gave up an unearned run on one hit and one walk in the fifth inning. He struck out three batters. Chris Vallimont came on and worked the final four innings. He gave up five runs (4 earned) on five hits, two walks, and a hit batter. He struck out three batters. Wichita had just two runs on three hits and five walks. Khadim Diaw tied the game at 1-1 with a home run in the first inning, his fourth with the Surge. Marek Houston went 1-for-3 with a walk. He had two errors in the game, giving him 10 errors in Wichita and 19 errors overall this season. 18 of the 19 errors have been at shortstop. He had one error in nine innings at second base in Cedar Rapids. Jaime Ferrer hit his 14th double with the Wind Surge. Andrew Cossetti walked twice. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter(s) of the Day Aaron Sabato (St. Paul): 3-for-4, 2B(24), HR(29), 2 R, RBI, K. Pitcher(s) of the Day Matt Bowman (St. Paul): 2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 25 pitches, 19 strikes (76.0%). PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects. See how they did today. #1 - OF Walker Jenkins (Minnesota) - 0-for-3, K, SH (batted first, played CF) #3 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (Minnesota) - 1-for-3, RBI, K (batted second, played SS) #4 - SS Marek Houston (Wichita) - 1-for-3, BB, K, 2 E(10) (batted first, played SS) #5 - RHP Riley Quick (Wichita) - 4 IP, 9 H, 8 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, HBP, 79 pitches, 46 strikes (64.8%) #6 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 2-for-4, BB, RBI, K, CS(3) (batted first, played CF) #7 - OF Hendry Mendez (St. Paul) - 0-for-5 (batted second, played LF) #12 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Wichita) - 0-for-4, K (batted third, played 3B) #13 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Wichita) - 1-for-4, HR(4), R, RBI, K (batted second, played DH) UPCOMING PROBABLES Saturday, September 12 Syracuse @ St. Paul (5:07 pm CT) - RHP Ryan Gallagher (7-7, 6.35 ERA) Frisco @ Wichita (6:05 pm CT) - RHP Adrian Bohorquez (0-1, 1.50 ERA) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 69-78 (Final Game 9/27) St. Paul Saints: 78-63 (Final Game (9/20) Wichita Wind Surge: 54-80 (Final Game 9/13) Cedar Rapids Kernels: 48-82 (Season Complete) Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 68-60 (Season Complete) FCL Twins: 33-26 (Season Complete) DSL Twins: 19-35 (Season Complete) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss today’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! 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Unfortunately, E-Rod never made himself an option for the Twins to call up. They certainly pushed him up to Triple-A quickly, and when he was on the field, he produced. They've played him all around the outfield when he is helpful. But when they've had a need for an outfielder, E-Rod hasn't been available. That said, I know he's out of options, but whether or not he got 15-20 games in the big leagues in September wouldn't alter how Jeremy Zoll or any front office would feel about his future in baseball. It wouldn't alter how other organizations feel about him. Yes, Ben Ross got called up, but he's barely played. Gonzalez was called up because he is right-handed, and now Martin is back. This offseason, they will and should take calls on him and see just what they might be able to get in return. That's true of everyone. But assuming they have a board in an office somewhere with their intended goal for a roster in 2028 and beyond, they already have made that decision on him. With the knowledge that any future transactions could shift that thinking.

Image courtesy of David Frerker - IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect The Twins returned home after a tough road trip in Chicago and Detroit. Tonight, they will begin a three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians. The Twins enter the series six games behind the White Sox and 4 1/2 games behind the Guardians in the AL Central. They're also 4 1/2 games behind Cleveland in the "race" for the third and final AL Wild Card. However, they need to pass the Orioles, Rangers and Blue Jays too while at the same time holding off the Mariners and Tigers. The Remaining Schedule 9/11-13: Home vs Guardians 9/14-16: Home vs Yankees 9/17-20: @ Angels 9/21-23: @ Giants 9/24: Day Off 9/25-27: Home vs Rangers And when Derek Shelton met with the media before Friday's game, he told the assembled media that Byron Buxton will be having season-ending surgery on the hip injury that has bothered him throughout the second half. Buxton played in 75 of the team's first 91 games but hurt his hip in a game in New York and was placed on the IL, strategically using the All-Star break to give him time. At the time, he was hitting .271/.328/.575 (.904) with 15 doubles and 25 home runs. He was voted in as a starter in the outfield for the All-Star game but didn't play. He returned on July 20th. He had another set of about 15 games from July 28th through August 12th. He returned on August 13th and played in 11 straight games. His final game was on August 25th. So, since that July 20th return, Buxton played in 18 games and hit just .172/.274/.203 (.477) with two doubles and one RBI. After crossing past 100 games played in both 2024 and 2025, Buxton will end this season with 93 games played. Buxton, who will turn 33 in December, has two years and $30 million remaining on his contract. Early in the season, he passed 10.000 years of service time. Does the decision of Buxton and the team doctors to have season-ending surgery on Monday signify that the team is throwing in the towel on the 2026 season? I guarantee no one in the organization will say that out loud, at least until the team is officially eliminated. But there does come a time when being realistic is important and getting that surgery done in the hopes that he'll be as ready as possible for 2027. It also tells us just how much pain that he has been in for the last couple of months. We will have an offseason to discuss what this means for Buxton and the Twins. I'm sure the question of him being traded will come up, but Buxton has been very, very clear that he has no plans of leaving the organization. Could this necessitate a move to a corner outfield position, hence opening the door wide open for Walker Jenkins to take the center field job and run with it? How much will he need to DH, or could that mean that the Twins aren't going to need to sign a DH type like Josh Bell. That's all for another day. Getting past this upcoming surgery and getting to the rehab process is important. Getting some time with his family will be important. Getting away from baseball for some time will be important. But just knowing how competitive Byron Buxton is, you know he's going to push himself to be ready to make another run in 2027. View full article

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey (photo of Ty Langenberg) TRANSACTIONS On Thursday’s off day, the Twins announced that OF Austin Martin has been activated from the Injured List. To make room on the 28-man roster, OF Gabriel Gonzalez was optioned to St. Paul. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 2, Syracuse 6 Box Score In the bottom of the second inning, Tanner Schobel drilled a double that drove in Kala’i Rosario and Jake Rucker to give the Saints a 2-1 lead. However, the Mets scored the final five runs of the game to take a 6-2 win. Jack Anderson started and gave up five runs on seven hits in 3 2/3 innings. He walked one and had four strikeouts. Paulshawn Pasqualotto gave up one run on one hit and two walks in 1 1/3 innings. He had two strikeouts. C.J. Culpepper went two scoreless innings. He gave up two hits and a walk but struck out one. Alejandro Hidalgo tossed two scoreless innings. He also gave up two hits and a walk, but he had four strikeouts. Schobel went 2-for-4 and it was his 16th double that drove in two runs. Rosario went 2-for-4 which has him hitting .302 in his time with the Saints. Hendry Mendez went 2-for-5. He stole his fourth base. Jake Rucker went 0-for-0 in the game, but he walked four times. You can bid on these game-used Saints/Peanuts jersey! WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 3, Frisco 1 Box Score Wichita took an early 1-0 lead after one inning. It wasn’t a big offensive output, but they added on enough to hang onto a lead. Kyle DeBarge led off the bottom of the first inning by being hit by a pitch. He stole second, his 36th base. He went to third on a fly out and scored on a sacrifice fly by Brandon Winokur. With one out in the bottom of the third inning, Quinn McDaniel hit his first Double-A homer to make it a 2-0 game. Ty Langenberg made the start and was again very good. The former Hawkeye gave up just one run on six hits over six innings. He walked none and had four strikeouts. He gave up a run in the sixth inning. The Surge responded quickly. Khadim Diaw led off with his 11th Wichita double. He scored on a Winokur single to center to give the team a 3-1 lead. Spencer Bengard struck out three batters over two perfect innings. Kyle Bischoff walked one in a scoreless ninth inning to earn his sixth save. McDaniel was the lone Wind Surge batter with more than one hit. He was 2-for-3 with the home run. DeBarge reached twice. He was hit by a pitch and walked PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter(s) of the Day Quinn McDaniel (Wichita): 2-for-3, HR(1), R, RBI, K. Pitcher(s) of the Day Ty Langenberg (St. Paul): 6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 72 pitches, 51 strikes (70.8%). PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects. See how they did today. #7 - OF Hendry Mendez (St. Paul) - 2-for-5, K, SB(4) (batted second, played DH) #12 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Wichita) - 1-for-3, SF, 2 RBI, K, SB(11) (batted third, played SS) #13 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Wichita) - 1-for-3, 2B(11), HBP, R (batted second, played catcher) UPCOMING PROBABLES Friday, September 11 Syracuse @ St. Paul (6:37 pm CT) - RHP Ryan Gallagher (5-6, 6.78 ERA) Frisco @ Wichita (6:35 pm CT) - RHP Riley Quick (0-2, 5.72 ERA) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 69-77 (Final Game 9/27) St. Paul Saints: 78-62 (Final Game (9/20) Wichita Wind Surge: 54-79 (Final Game 9/13) Cedar Rapids Kernels: 48-82 (Season Complete) Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 68-60 (Season Complete) FCL Twins: 33-26 (Season Complete) DSL Twins: 19-35 (Season Complete) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss today’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article

Of course he should be back. It shouldn't even come up as a topic this offseason. The only scenario in which it would even make sense is if the Pohlad's sold the team and brought in all of their own front office and let the new front office pick their own manager.

Strategically chosen when the team was facing a left-handed pitcher.